Chapter 63 Liu felt someone shaking him. He opened his eyes, and he found a face staring at him. The man said, “Hey, coal seller, your horse…” The man seemed to recognize Liu. Liu touched his own pistol. He recognized the man with little eyes was Cao Fade.Liu thought it a coincidence for them to meet again. Last time Liu climbed up the honey locust tree, and saw Co below. This time it was Cao again. It seemed that Liu was on the verge of dying.Cao was short but strong. Liu realized that gunshots could kill Cao, but would also alarm the PLA soldiers in the city. Then, it would be more dangerous.Liu warned in an evil tone, “Mr. Cao, I’m coming to kill Zhang. It’s you who look for trouble.”Liu had hardly finished speaking when Cao trembled all over. He looked timid. Some passers-by stopped and watched them.Cao begged, “Dear brother, don’t be angry. Don’t…I just want to tell you your horse is dying.”Liu turned back and found the horse unwell.The passers-by thought them to be acquaintances, and left. Cao was aware that Liu had once killed many people, including Japanese invaders and Red Army soldiers. If he fought against Liu, that would be unwise. And his dream of romance with his lover would be disillusioned.Cao did not want to die in this way. He just wanted to enjoy his life. He could not leave Wu Simei.Last night, Wu did not allow him to touch her though she was naked with her breasts. He was excited but could do nothing about it. He wanted to live with her, and enjoy her love. Wu was aware of his passions, and said, “How can I give you my body? You just want to play with me. Money and sex!”Cao was eager to have sex with her, begging, “Honey, didn’t I make it clear to you? I’ll get you some gold and jewelry tomorrow.”Wu thought she should not press him too much. If he got annoyed and left her, it would be a loss for her. Then, she said:“Ok. Let’s make it clear: I just want to be your wife instead of concubine. And I don’t want to take care of your sons. If you divorced, would you marry me?”Cao replied, “Sure.”Wu asked, “If you could not get me some treasures tomorrow, what would you do?”“Then I’ll not enter your house.”Wu slashed his face, demanding, “Do you want to widow me this way?”“No.” Cao said, “Honey, how could I leave you? You’re so sexy.” He hugged her and said, “Tomorrow I’ll get the things for you. If so, what would you do?”She pretended not to believe, uttering, “Then I’ll fry eggs on my palms.”He pressed his beard against her, saying, “Ok. Please allow me to put my two eggs into your frying-pan now.”Cao still remembered these words. He was unlucky today, as many local people described: When you got unlucky, everything bad could be possible.Cao was glad to be assigned to supervise the Zhang’s house for the Christmas party. He came here early. He was afraid that Yang and Zhang might find him. So he came to this quiet flatland. He found the Zhang’s courtyard opened, and a few Christmas trees decorated the gate. Cao got so happy with his assignment that he sang some Beijing opera. He saw a man lying against the phoenix tree, and wanted to take care of him. But he found he met Liu, a desperate bandit.Liu found Cao’s cowardice, and realized that he was a mean man who would torture those weak people. Liu recalled Wang Zhenqiang, a militiaman who dared to kill others but feared to be killed. Liu also recalled his daddy and brother crying for mercy in the big fire. He recalled their pitiful calls for help.Liu had experienced many nights like that. Rongrong’s cries, his daddy’s begging for mercy and other things came into his mind. It was really hard to get rid of them. Liu hated to speak his dialect for this.Liu escaped to Sichuan after he had burned his daddy and brother. He did not believe the Communists would find him. One afternoon, he was sleeping under a cypress when he heard someone wake him up with a horse-whip and ask, “Are you a refugee?”Liu could not tell the truth. Thus, he answered in Sichuan dialect that he had just picked up, “I come out for work.”“That’s hopeless.” The man with the horse-whip replied, “Why not join the army? Maybe someday you can be a leader, and everything will be good.”Liu knew this man was a military leader, for there were four armed guards beside him. Then, he said, “If I could serve you like them, I would join the army.”The man was delighted at this, ordering, “Then why fuck you stand here in a silly way? Follow me!”That man was Warlord Yang Sen. In the spring of 1934, Liu was ordered to chase the Red Army. They caught 7 wounded Red Army soldiers. That night, the captives were taken to the headquarters for questioning. It was drizzling at that time. Then, Liu heard a voice in his own dialect, “They come for killing.”Liu got shocked at this. The past experiences flashed by in his mind. Then, by the torchlight, he saw a familiar man, Wang Zhenqiang, the militia head in his hometown!Liu could never forget this man who had burned Rongrong and her relatives dead. He seemed to smell the burning flesh. He started to vomit.The seven wounded soldiers helped each other in walking. Wang Zhenqiang was wounded in his arms. They were not bandaged. Wang moaned. He did not look so wounded. Two men, including Wang, were dressed in shabby military uniforms. Liu realized that they were veteran Communists. One of them said, “I don’t want to go. Kill me here if you please.”The other captives stopped at this. They moved close to the man and wanted to guard him. Liu came and gnashed his teeth, roaring, “Fuck! If you want to die, come by him.”The other captives walked towards Liu. The soldier who helped Wang also wanted to come over, but was stopped by Wang, “Wang Kang, are you crazy?”Wang smelled that Liu was the enemy head. He spoke in the darkness, “I am the battalion leader. I am what you want.” He pointed at his own head, uttering “The information is inside my brains.”Liu was reluctant to hear his own dialect. He was not afraid of Wang but his shouts and moans. The dialect reminded Liu’s past. Liu hated his own past, for he had killed some innocent landlords. He could hardly tell the right from the wrong. He had been deceived by his father and brother. He was evil himself and could not know what justice was.Hearing Wang speak, Liu rushed over and pushed him down. He shone the torch on himself, asking in Sichuan dialect, “Do you recognize me, Mr. Wang?’Wang stared for a while and said, “It’s you, Liu.” Liu was puzzled with Wang’s laugh. Then, Wang struggled to stand up, moving close to Liu and relating, “Liu, you have joined the Kuomintang, right? You look great, brother!”Liu replied, “Are we brothers?”Wang recognized that Liu did not want to forgive him. He said, “Dear brother, it was a misunderstanding. We knew you had burned your daddy and brother dead.”Liu did not want others to expose his vice of killing his own relatives. He seemed to hear his daddy and brother cry to him for mercy, “Hey, give back our lives!”Liu crazily shot into the sky, and then pointed his pistol at Wang’s head, asking, “Yes, I killed my daddy and brother. But are you a good man? Should I make friends with you?”Wang was frightened. He knelt down before Liu, crying for mercy, “Dear Liu, we are from the same place. Please have mercy on me.”Liu shouted, “Why didn’t you show mercy to Rongrong and her relatives? Why did you kill them and burn their house?”Wang crawled on the ground, “I was forced to do that. You know your daddy and brother ordered me to do that. Please have mercy on me. I’ll serve you all my life.”Liu was reluctant to hear the voice in his own dialect. He shot at Wang and he died.The little soldier held Wang’s corpse, uttering, “Battalion leader!”“Great!” The other veteran leader said, “You have done a great job. That traitor is not worth mercy.”Liu was annoyed, shouting, “Are you willing to die?”The little soldier held the veteran leader. So did the other captives. Liu killed them one by one except the little soldier and the leader.Liu should have been punished for this act. But Yang Sen was chasing the Red Army at that time and treated the Communists as enemies. Thus, Liu was promoted in military rank.Cao Fade was what Liu hated, like Wang. If it were in another place, Liu would kill him. But he wanted to live on and stay with Dai. So he did not shoot.