Deputy Commissar Zhao continued. “Effective immediately no family member may conduct business inside the camp grounds. You must close the cold jelly stall.”
Shuiying pressed her hands against the edge of the stall feeling as though the sky had fallen.
“Commander Zhao.” Lu Qingnian stepped forward.
“Doctor Zhao intercepting military mail and forging official documents are separate matters from selling cold jelly. They should not be treated as one.”
“I am not merging them,” Deputy Commissar Zhao met his gaze. “Discipline is discipline and regulations are regulations.”
“Zhao Xueting you will submit a written self criticism to the political office.”
Forging an official commune seal and all she received was a written self criticism.
Zhao Xueting lowered her head her shoulders relaxing visibly. She darted a quick glance at Shuiying and the look in her eyes spoke clearly.
Shuiying smiled back.
“Very well,” she said. “I will close the stall and she will write her self criticism.”
Zhao Xueting’s shoulders dropped further.
“But Commissar I have two questions I would like to ask.”
“Go ahead.”
“First. A few days ago Qingnian told me the regiment will be conducting inspections next month and you want Niannian and me to move out. Is that correct?”
Deputy Commissar Zhao glanced at Lu Qingnian. “It is.”
“On what grounds are we being asked to leave?”
“The regiment inspection requires nonresidents to vacate camp housing.”
“So we are considered improperly housed?” Shuiying smiled again.
“Commissar you yourself confirmed my identity at the gathering and did not dispute it. This letter also carries the official commune seal. Am I included among those with unconfirmed status?”
Deputy Commissar Zhao’s brow twitched.
“You are not.”
“Then why must we leave if we are not on the list?”
Deputy Commissar Zhao paused and spoke calmly. “You misunderstand. The move is not about your identity it is about the inspection. The guest house will be used to accommodate the inspection team for two weeks. During that time you cannot remain here.”
Shuiying’s smile faded.
“Two weeks.”
“Furthermore,” he added. “The guest house is intended for temporary stays by visiting family members. The authorized visit period is three months. When that ends the space must be vacated.”
“My second question. Three years ago when Qingnian was injured he was carrying a letter I wrote. Where is it now?”
Shuiying looked steadily at Zhao Xueting whose face drained of color instantly betraying herself.
“I burned it.”
“You burned it?”
Shuiying took two steps forward.
“Doctor Zhao three years ago you told me personally you had kept it safe so it would not be lost. Now you say it is gone.”
She stood firm speaking clearly.
“Then tell me did you read it before you burned it?”
Zhao Xueting’s face went deathly pale. Deputy Commissar Zhao dismissed the gathered soldiers.
When they had left only the few of them remained in the yard.
Lu Qingnian held both letters. The genuine one bearing the commune seal lay on top. The other the counterfeit showed an uneven smudge of paste along the resealed flap.
He ran his thumb over the mark.
“What is it?”
“This letter has been tampered with.” Lu Qingnian held it up to the light.
“It was opened and then hastily resealed. The paste was applied unevenly and the edges are lifting.”
Shuiying caught her breath.
“She could not have done it alone,” Lu Qingnian said. “Opening the envelope replacing the paper resealing it and returning it to my desk would have required someone keeping watch.”
“Who was on duty at the battalion office the day it reappeared?”
“Wang Jun.”
Lu Qingnian said no more. He looked toward the mail room where Wang Jun stood his back held perfectly rigid.
And so Shuiying’s stall closed down. Worse still in two weeks they would have to leave their room and obtaining permanent family housing permits would take far longer than that.
Early the next morning Shuiying lifted the worn wooden board from the bricks and leaned it against the door inside the guest house. Its edges were polished smooth from being carried back and forth every day.
She knelt down wiping each condiment bottle carefully and arranging them in her basket.
Niannian crouched beside her his face wrinkled in confusion.
“Mother are we not selling anymore?”
“Not here.”
“Why not?”
“We are not allowed to inside the camp.”
Niannian thought for a moment. “Then let us go sell outside.”
Her hands paused. She stroked his head and smiled.
“That is right. We will go outside where no one can forbid us.”
She arranged the last two bottles and stood up pulling a small cloth pouch from inside her clothing. She opened it and counted the notes and coins one by one.
Pennies and small bills adding up to eleven dollars and sixty cents. That was everything she had earned since arriving in the Northeast nearly a month ago.
“Mother is it not enough?” Niannian looked up.
“It is enough.” She folded the money carefully. “Enough to buy flour.”
It was not enough. The previous day Sister Zhang had mentioned a temporary nursery in the family compound. It would care for him during the day for two dollars a month. Two dollars which now seemed a very large sum.
She would need to earn more.
That afternoon Shuiying borrowed an old handcart from Sister Zhang loaded everything onto it and pushed toward town.
The town lay six li away along a rutted dirt road. It took forty minutes to reach the busiest street in the center.
At the corner stood a state run grocery store built of red brick with a white sign bearing red characters. A large man in a fine cotton shirt sat outside fanning himself beside an ice cream machine watching her approach.
Shuiying stopped beneath an old elm tree directly across from the store. She had barely set down her basin when the man sauntered over.
“Hey you cannot set up here.” He pointed with his fan.
“Why not?”
“Why not?” He looked her up and down and smirked. “This spot is mine. You standing there blocks my business.”
“You sell ice and I sell cold jelly. How do I interfere?”
“Feisty little thing are we.” His expression hardened.
“I am the manager of this store Ma Erbiao. Everything along this street is under my authority. You can stay but it will cost you twenty dollars a month for a permit.”
Twenty dollars. Shuiying nearly laughed aloud. Including every coin she possessed she had only eleven dollars and sixty cents.
“Manager Ma.” She tied her apron and smiled. “I am poor and cannot pay. Let me offer you a taste. If you like it we can talk.”
She prepared a bowl quickly adding spices and rich red oil. The scent of garlic and Sichuan pepper drifted on the air.
He had meant to scold her but caught the scent and paused.
“Just try it. If it is not good you pay nothing.”
He hesitated then took the bowl and took a sip. He could not stop.
He finished it completely even drinking down the last of the broth.
“What is this? How can it taste so good?”