The day after Zhao Xueting made that phone call, the inspectors showed up at the door.
It was an afternoon. Shuiying was busy serving cold jelly to customers when footsteps suddenly clattered down the path leading to the camp gates.
“Make way! Everyone make way!”
Several men in blue uniforms pushed through the crowd and burst in.
At their head was a man with a thin mustache clutching a small notebook in his hand. He shouted at the top of his voice, “Who is running this stall? Do you have a business license?”
Shuiying set down her ladle firmly and stepped forward to meet them. “Comrade, I am selling bowls of cold jelly for just five cents apiece earning money to buy eggs for my child. What? Is that against the law?”
“No license means speculation!” The mustachioed man waved his arm. “We received a report that someone is nurturing the tail of capitalism! Seize the stall! Confiscate all goods!”
The two men behind him moved instantly one flipping over the tabletop, the other lifting the entire basin of cold jelly into his arms.
Niannian let out a cry of “Wah” and darted over, throwing his small arms wide to block the basin. “This is my mother’s stall! Do not take it!”
The man holding the basin grew impatient and shoved him aside. “Where did this snot-nosed kid come from? Get out of the way!”
The force of the shove sent Niannian stumbling. He landed hard on the stony path, his palms scraping raw bright red patches across the skin.
“Niannian!”
Shuiying’s ladle clattered into the basin as she rushed to scoop him up. A hush fell over the crowd so deep you could hear a pin drop.
Then a voice cut through the silence sharp and low from the back of the crowd. “Who did that.”
Lu Qingnian strode forward, his military uniform crisp and precise, the stars on his epaulettes glinting cold in the sunlight. He walked straight over, knelt down, and gently lifted Niannian’s hands to examine them two layers of skin had been scraped clean off the palms. His jaw tightened visibly.
“Grandpa” Niannian’s lip quivered, tears welling in his eyes. “They are taking Mother’s stall away.”
“I see.” Lu Qingnian stood up and positioned himself squarely between Shuiying, Niannian, and the intruders. He fixed his gaze on the man still holding the basin and held out his hand. “Put it down.”
The man instinctively tightened his grip.
“I am going to count to three.”
“Who do you think you are?”
“One.” Lu Qingnian took a step forward.
Clang. The basin hit the ground.
The mustachioed man hurried over trying to smooth things over. “Comrade, mind your own business! We are from the Administration for Industry and Commerce we are here acting on an official report! We are just following orders!”
“Is that so?” Lu Qingnian pulled his identification from his pocket and placed it firmly over the man’s notebook. “I am Lu Qingnian, Battalion Commander of the First Battalion.”
The man glanced down and his face drained of color. Lu Qingnian of the First Battalion someone of great standing, a favorite of the division command!
“This is the battalion’s guest house,” Lu Qingnian continued, enunciating every word clearly. “It falls within the military administrative zone. You entered without authorization, shoved the family of a service member, and injured my son.”
“Enforcing regulations against speculation is your duty.”
“Entering a restricted military zone without permission is mine.”
“What restricted military zone?”
“Guards!”
Two sentries at the gate ran over at once. It was shift change, and seven or eight soldiers returning from drill also converged forming a ring around the men in blue.
The mustachioed man’s legs began to tremble. “Commander Lu, it is a misunderstanding! A pure misunderstanding!”
“Misunderstanding?” Lu Qingnian took half a step closer. “A service member’s family earning an honest living with their own hands stealing from no one, cheating no one and you call that speculation? A single word from you and it is a report? Who made the call?”
“It was anonymous just a phone call”
“A phone call.” Lu Qingnian nodded slowly. “Go back and tell the person who called as long as my wife runs this stall, I will stand guard over it. If you return, I will have you formally summoned to the regimental headquarters.” He gestured toward the gate. “Escort them out.”
The sentries ushered the men in blue beyond the perimeter line. The mustachioed man stumbled as he walked nearly tumbling into a ditch by the roadside.
The military wives gathered round burst into animated chatter. “Goodness! The Commander speaks as plainly and firmly as his wife does!”
“He laid down the law at the get-together last time and now he is standing guard over her stall. Shuiying is so lucky to have such a husband!”
Shuiying sat on a small folding stool holding Niannian and gently blowing on his scraped palms. Lu Qingnian knelt beside them pulling his son close checking his knees, elbows, and the back of his head for injury.
“It does not hurt so much when I am with Grandpa,” Niannian mumbled sniffling, and patted his arm reassuringly. “Do not be angry, Grandpa. I am tough I will be fine.”
Lu Qingnian’s throat tightened. He hugged his son tighter then stood up and looked at the stall. “Can you keep serving?”
“Yes.”
“Then do.” He pulled out a stool and sat down. “Serve me a bowl.”
“But you already ate lunch.”
“I know.” His expression did not change. “I will have another let everyone see. If I eat here, who dares say a word?”
Shuiying filled a generous bowl and added an extra spoonful of spicy red oil. Right there before everyone’s eyes, Lu Qingnian ate every last drop then pulled out five cents and placed it carefully in the money box.
Niannian leaned over the table counting the coins then suddenly looked up and grinned. “Grandpa! You had two bowls today!”
The line of customers burst out laughing.
Far from hurting business, the incident made the cold jelly stall even more famous. Everyone knew the First Battalion’s Commander stood behind his wife’s stall five cents a bowl, fair and square, honest to all.
Yet beneath it all, Shuiying felt a quiet heavy dread. She knew who was behind it Zhao Xueting. This would not be the end. Having failed once, she would surely strike again.
And she did barely two days later.
That afternoon, Lu Qingnian was away at a meeting at division headquarters. Seizing her chance, Zhao Xueting slipped unnoticed into his office. She drew a letter from inside her coat and placed it carefully on his desk. It was the very letter she had intercepted at the post office except every word had been rewritten. She had burned the original and copied the village party secretary’s handwriting to forge a new one:
Upon investigation, the marriage certificate presented by Shuiying is found to be counterfeit. No record of a marriage between the two exists in our village registry. Records show Shuiying was married to another man in 1982 he has since passed away, and the boy’s origins are unclear. I urge you to proceed with caution and not be deceived.
Beneath it was a forged official commune stamp. Perfect, she thought flawless.
Satisfied, she gave a cold triumphant smile. “Shuiying let us see you get out of this one.” With a snort, she slipped out of the office.
When Lu Qingnian returned that evening, the letter was the first thing he saw. The postmark was from Sichuan.
A reply from Sichuan? He had only just sent his second letter how could there be a reply so soon? Something was wrong. He had sent the second one through official channels addressed to the commune party secretary. Replies could not possibly arrive this quickly. Yet the envelope bore his name. He picked it up examining it closely. The paper was worn, the postmark faint and blurry.