Chapter 763 – The Poor

Fu Fu gave a shout, jumped into the ditch, and began wielding his shovel with gusto. Fu Bu'er spat out the cigarette butt that was burning his lips and hopped down after him. He had spent half the previous night mulling over this conversation: Fu Fu wanting to marry Yijin was all well and good, but if he mustered out and came home just to add another mouth to feed, living off the family—besides, as a son he'd eventually have to be given his own household share. Better to let him make a name for himself in the army. That way the family wouldn't have to spend its own money, and having an officer son-in-law would carry weight in the township.

And if Fu Fu didn't make officer, Fu Bu'er naturally wouldn't have to honor his promise. If Fu Fu died in battle—and Manager Wan had hinted there were tough fights ahead—Yijin wouldn't exactly be a widow. In this remote southern county, the concept of chastity wasn't strict, but a maiden and a remarried widow certainly commanded different bride-prices.

Fu Fu, oblivious to his "father-in-law's" calculations, felt his wish had been granted. Energized from head to toe, he worked harder than ever. As they chatted, Fu Bu'er vented quite a few of his troubles, the biggest being that his village headship was only half-effective. East and West villages didn't get along; his word carried almost no weight in West Village. Only when the leadership handed down specific orders did the West Villagers comply. It wasn't like East Village, where his word was law.

"At least the militia captain is reasonable, or the village would never know peace."

Meiyang Village's militia captain was a West Village settler, a veteran who had taken an arrow during the Chengmai campaign. The injury had damaged his tendons and bones; though he could walk fine, he could no longer march long distances under load or run. So under the injury-retirement policy, he had settled in Meiyang Village as militia captain. He lived in West Village. As a fellow village cadre, he had more interaction with Fu Bu'er.

Fu Fu said, "I think next time you go to the county for a meeting, you should mention this to the elders and see what they say—the elders always have ideas; maybe they can solve it for you. Keeping it bottled up won't do; what if trouble breaks out later?"

"True enough," Fu Bu'er said. "Next meeting I'll definitely bring up the settler issue…"

Just then, Fu Eryin came running up in a panic: "Quick! Jiang Wu is trying to run away!" He turned and bolted back the way he came.

Hearing this, Fu Bu'er threw down his hoe and scrambled up the ditch bank in seconds. Snatching his clothes from a tree branch, he shouted over his shoulder, "Something's up—I have to go look!"

Fu Fu saw the master in such a rush that he hadn't even put on the straw sandals he'd left by the ditch. Not knowing what the emergency was, but now considering himself a "prospective son-in-law," he felt invested in the Fu family's affairs. He quickly climbed out, put on his sandals, and followed.

By the time they reached the village entrance, a crowd had already gathered. Many had clearly come straight from the fields, farm tools still in hand. The circle was noisy, but the screeching curses of Fu Bu'er's wife rose above the din.

Curious, Fu Fu pushed his way through the press of bodies and saw Jiang Wu in the center. He knew Jiang Wu—a landless villager who, with his wife, tenant-farmed a few mu of Fu Bu'er's vegetable plots and worked odd jobs. One of the poorest households in the village.

A bundle lay open on the ground, spilling rags, dried sweet potatoes, and two pairs of straw sandals. Another bundle sat nearby. A battered straw work hat had been trampled flat.

A small woman knelt on the ground near them, weeping and begging for mercy—same rags, hair disheveled.

Fu Bu'er had already grabbed Jiang Wu. Jiang Wu was small and chronically underfed; he was no match for the well-fed, hard-working Fu Bu'er. Fu Bu'er's wife had messy hair and a torn sleeve—clearly she had already scuffled with Jiang Wu and his wife before Fu Bu'er arrived.

Fu Bu'er seized Jiang Wu by the collar and delivered several punches, driving Jiang Wu's neck down into his shoulders until he simply squatted on the ground, adopting the posture of a dead pig that doesn't fear boiling water.

"Jiang Wu! You ungrateful little bastard!" Fu Bu'er panted, scolding him. "You and your wife—two able-bodied adults, missing neither hand nor foot! You took two chickens from the Tiandihui and couldn't even turn in forty eggs! Ended up losing the chickens entirely! Then came the sheep loans. The Tiandihui wouldn't lend to you, but I stood guarantor so you could get them! Fine—a few days later you say the sheep are lost. And now you think you can just run off? How am I supposed to answer to the Tiandihui?"

Fu Bu'er had his own interests at stake, of course. He was guarantor for the sheep loan; if Jiang Wu ran, Fu Bu'er would have to repay principal and interest in full. Furthermore, Jiang Wu rented several mu of vegetable land from him. Fu Bu'er had used the loan guarantee as leverage to force Jiang Wu into harsh crop-sharing terms. If this cheap laborer ran away, renting the land out again wouldn't be nearly as profitable.

Jiang Wu wilted on the ground, daring not to speak. Around them, some people offered mediation while others watched for amusement. It was bizarre that Jiang Wu had managed to fail two consecutive Tiandihui loans. The layer-hen loan especially—almost no one lost money on it. Return twenty eggs and the capital was repaid; all eggs were guaranteed purchase; feed to boost laying was provided cheap; and when the hens stopped laying, they were bought back. It was practically free money from the Tiandihui.

Raising sheep wasn't hard either—cut some grass daily, let the kids or old folks graze them during the day. If hands were short, just take them to the fields and let them graze on the ridges while you worked. Peasants might be suspicious, but they weren't stupid; after a year, they knew the Tiandihui sincerely helped them boost production and income. So most had little sympathy for a "failure" like Jiang Wu: given such favorable conditions, he had still messed it up.

Moreover, despite two failures, the Tiandihui hadn't arrested him, beaten him, or seized his wife to sell—in the old days, a creditor doing so would have been considered perfectly justified. The Tiandihui merely gave him six months to clear the principal and interest, or they would sue him in court.

"Master Fu, please have mercy…" Jiang Wu's wife knelt and begged bitterly. "We really have no way out. If we stay, we'll never clear the debt to the Tiandihui. We have to go find work…"

"Nonsense! If you run off, where will the Tiandihui elders find you? How will you pay anything? You're just planning to skip out!" Fu Bu'er barked.

Jiang Wu argued, "Master Fu, you know clearly! We tenant your vegetable plots, working day and night, but after paying rent we can hardly eat… let alone pay the Tiandihui…"

Fu Bu'er's face darkened instantly. Just as he was about to explode, his wife jumped up: "Oh, you pair of dogs! So renting land to you is our fault now? Who was the unconscionable wretch who begged my husband to stand guarantor in the first place? Heavens…" She sat on the ground and began to wail. The scene grew even livelier.

Amid the noise, the resident police officer pushed his way in.

"Show's over, show's over," he said, waving people back. "If you have field work, go work; if you're going home, go home—don't block the way!" Under his prodding, the crowd thinned somewhat, though many remained to watch.

Seeing the police, Fu Bu'er felt he couldn't keep shouting. He glowered: "If you don't want to rent my land, fine! But you can't just run off! Clear the accounts first!"

The resident officer learned the details and ordered Jiang Wu and his wife to return home; they were forbidden to leave the village without permission. Under the latest household registration regulations, if Jiang Wu and his wife wished to leave their registered domicile for extended work elsewhere, they had to register their destination and purpose with the village beforehand and obtain a certificate.

Owing Tiandihui loans, they were already a "priority population." Now they had tried to sneak away. The resident officer knew that if his "priority population" vanished, his monitoring reports would look very ugly. He sternly herded the couple back to their home.

Fu Fu stood by but said nothing. He had seen plenty of this sort of thing. Fu Bu'er's rise to wealth had been built largely on petty usury. Through it he had seized land from many village families, forcing some to flee. Fu Fu had once gone with Fu Bu'er to strip timber and thatch from the houses of fled debtors to recover some interest.

However, since the Tiandihui began offering small agricultural loans, Fu Bu'er had stopped lending—his terms couldn't compete with the Australians'. Besides, as village head he had to care a little about his reputation. Usury didn't sound good.

As he watched, Fu Fu suddenly caught a glimpse of Fu Yizhuang in the crowd. His eyes lit up, and he immediately followed. Back when they were being marched to Bopu to enlist, this Fu Yizhuang had not only threatened them with a machete but beaten and cursed them, feeding them only raw sweet potatoes. When Fu Fu had squatted by the roadside with uncontrollable diarrhea, unable to stand up in time, Fu Yizhuang had lost patience and kicked him over right into his own filth… He remembered that, and the image of the boy who had died of dysentery on the road floated before his eyes. Malice rose from his gut, and he quietly tailed him.

At dinner the previous night, Fu Fu had learned that Fu Yousun's family had taken a hard fall during last year's autumn tax collection and land survey; most of their land had been confiscated. Erzhuang and Sanzhuang had gone to town to become workers, leaving only Yizhuang and Fu Yousun. Fu Yousun had become half-mad and was ignored by everyone. Yizhuang was left guarding fifty mu of land, his family's former arrogance completely gone. The Fu Bu'er household felt largely vindicated.

(End of Chapter)