On the morning of the fifth day of the fifth lunar month, 1939, in the largest village ofNortheast Gaomi Township, Shangguan Lü led her mortal enemy, Aunty Sun, into her house,ignoring the bullets whizzing overhead, to help deliver her daughter-in-law’s baby. At thevery moment they walked through the door, out on the open field near the bridgehead,Japanese horse soldiers were trampling1 the corpses2 of guerrilla fighters.
Shangguan Fulu and his son were milling in the yard with the horse doctor, Fan Three, whoproudly held up a bottle filled with a viscous3 green liquid. The three men had been in thesame spot when Shangguan Lü left to find Aunty Sun, but were now joined by the redheadedPastor Malory. Wearing a loose Chinese robe, with a heavy brass5 crucifix around his neck, hewas standing6 beneath Shangguan Lu’s window, head up, facing the morning sun, as heintoned a prayer in the local dialect: “Dear Jesus, Lord in Heaven. Merciful God, reach out totouch the heads of me, Your devoted7 servant, and the friends gathered here, give us thestrength and the courage to face this challenge. Let the woman inside safely deliver her infant,give the goat plenty of milk and the laying hens plenty of eggs, throw a sheet of black beforethe eyes of the evil invaders8, let their bullets jam in their weapons, and let their horses losetheir way and perish in bogs9 and marshes10. Dear Lord, send all Your punishments down on myhead, let me take unto myself the suffering of all living creatures.” The other men stoodsilently listening to his prayer. The looks on their faces showed the depths to which they weremoved.
With a sneer11, Aunty Sun pushed Pastor4 Malory aside and walked in the door. His “Amen”
came as he stumbled wide-eyed to keep his balance, hurriedly crossing himself to bring hisprayer to an end.
Aunty Sun’s silvery hair was combed into a bun held in place by a shiny silver ornament;her sideburns were pinned with mugwort spikes12. She was wearing a starched13 white cottonjacket with a slanted14 lapel that buttoned down the side; a white handkerchief was tucked inbetween two of the buttons. Her black cotton trousers were tied around the ankles above apair of green cotton slippers15 with black embroidery16 and white soles. The fresh smell of soapclung to her body. She had prominent cheekbones, a high nose, and lips that formed a tightline above her chin. Bright, piercing eyes were set deeply in lovely sockets17. Her poise18 andconfident bearing stood in stark19 contrast to the prosperous, well-fed Shangguan Lü. Takingthe bottle of green liquid from Fan Three, Shangguan Lü walked up to Aunty Sun and saidsoftly, “Aunty, this is Fan Three’s potion to hasten childbirth. Will you use it?”
“My dear lady Shangguan,” Aunty Sun said with obvious displeasure, her gaze coveringShangguan Lü with icy beauty, then shifting to the men in the yard, “who have you asked tohelp with the delivery, me or Fan Three?”
“Don’t be angry, Aunty. As they say, ‘When a patient is dying, find doctors where youcan,’ and ‘Anyone with breasts is a mother.’” Forcing herself to be congenial, she kept hervoice low and controlled. “I’m asking you, of course. I wouldn’t have disturbed such aneminent personage if I hadn’t reached the end of my rope.”
“Didn’t you once accuse me of stealing your chickens?” Aunty Sun remarked. “If you wantme as the midwife, tell everyone else to stand clear!”
“If that’s how you want it, that’s how you shall have it,” Shangguan Lü said.
Aunty Sun removed a thin piece of red cloth from around her waist and tied it to thewindow lattice. She then strode purposefully into the house, and when she reached the door ofthe inside room, she stopped, turned, and said to Shangguan Lü, “Lady Shangguan, come withme.”
Fan Three ran up to the window to retrieve20 the bottle of green liquid Shangguan Lü had leftthere. He stuffed it into his bag and headed quickly toward the gate, without so much as abackward glance at the Shangguan father and son.
“Amen!” Pastor Malory repeated, making another sign of the cross. Then he nodded to theShangguan father and son in a show of friendship.
A shriek21 from Aunty Sun tore from inside the room, followed by horrible wails22 fromShangguan Lu.
Shangguan Shouxi hunkered down on the ground and covered his ears with his hands. Hisfather began pacing the yard, hands clasped behind his back, head down, as if he were lookingfor something he’d lost.
Pastor Malory repeated his prayer in a muted voice, eyes cast to the misty23 blue sky.
Just then the newborn mule24 emerged from the barn on shaky legs. Its damp hide shone likesatin. Its weary mother followed it outside to the accompaniment of Shangguan Lu’sagonizing wails. With its ears standing straight up and its tail tucked between its legs, thedonkey wobbled over to the water trough under a pomegranate tree, casting a fearful glance atthe men in the yard. They ignored it. Shangguan Shouxi, his ears covered, was weepingloudly. Shangguan Fulu was still pacing the yard. Pastor Malory was praying with his eyesclosed. The donkey buried its mouth in the water and drank noisily. When it had drunk its fill,it walked slowly over to the peanut vines held up by stalks of sorghum25 and began nibbling26 atthe stalks.
Meanwhile, inside the house, Aunty Sun stuck her hand up the birth canal to extract thebaby’s other leg. The pregnant mother screeched27 once before passing out. Then, afterinserting some yellow powder into Shangguan Lu’s nostrils28, Aunty Sun grabbed the baby’slegs and waited calmly. Shangguan Lu moaned as she regained29 consciousness, then sneezed,causing a series of violent spasms30. Her back arched, then settled back down heavily. That waswhat Aunty Sun had been waiting for: she pulled the baby out of the birth canal, and as itslong, flat head cleared the mother’s body, it made a loud popping sound, as if shot from acannon. Aunty Sun’s white jacket was spattered with blood.
Hanging upside down in Aunty Sun’s hand was a purplish baby girl.
Shangguan Lü began beating her chest and wailing31. “Stop crying! There’s another one inthere!” Aunty Sun demanded angrily.
Shangguan Lu’s belly32 was jerking and twitching33 horribly; blood gushing34 from between herlegs washed out another down-covered infant.
When she spotted35 the little wormlike object between the baby’s legs, Shangguan Lü fell toher knees beside the kang.
“What a shame,” Aunty Sun said pensively36, “another stillborn.”
Suddenly dizzy, Shangguan Lü fell forward and banged her head on the kang. She stoodwith difficulty, propping37 herself up by the kang, and gazed at her daughter-in-law, whose facewas stone gray. Then, with a moan of despair, she shuffled38 out of the room.
A pall39 of death hung over the yard. Her son was on his knees, the bloody40 stump41 of his neckresting on the ground, a stream of fresh blood snaking along the ground; his head, a look offear frozen on the face, sat perfectly42 upright in front of his torso. Her husband was gnawing43 abrick on the path; one of his arms was tucked under his abdomen44, the other stretched out infront of him. A mixture of gray matter and bright red blood from a gaping45 wound in the backof his head stained the path around him. Pastor Malory was on his knees, making the sign ofthe cross and mumbling46 something in a foreign tongue. Two massive horses, reins47 drapedacross their backs, were eating the sorghum stalks supporting the peanut vines, while thedonkey and her newborn mule huddled48 in a corner of the wall, the young animal’s headtucked under one of its mother’s legs, its tail writhing49 like a snake. Two Japanese men inkhaki stood there, one cleaning his sword with a handkerchief, the other hacking50 downsorghum stalks with his sword, sending peanuts to the ground, where they were eaten by thetwo horses, whose tails swished happily.
Suddenly feeling the earth wheel on its axis51, Shangguan Lü had a single thought: to rescueher son and her husband. Instead, she crumpled52 heavily to the ground like a toppled wall.
Aunty Sun quickly skirted Shangguan Lü’s body and strode steadily53 out of the yard. Butone of the Japanese soldiers, who had remarkably54 wide-set eyes and short eyebrows55, threwdown his handkerchief and moved to block her way, standing rigidly56 between her and thegate. Pointing the tip of his sword at her heart, he said something that was only gibberish toher, a loutish57 expression on his face. She looked at him calmly, the hint of a sneer on her lips.
She took a step backward; the Japanese soldier took a step forward. She retreated two moresteps, he took two steps forward, the tip of the sword still pressed up against her breast. As hebore relentlessly58 down on her, Aunty Sun reached up and brushed his sword to the side. Thenone of her feet flashed through the air and landed precisely59 on his wrist, knocking the swordout of his hand. She rushed up and slapped him across the face. With a yelp60 of pain, hecovered his face. His comrade ran up, sword in hand, and aimed it at Aunty Sun’s head. Shespun out of the way and grabbed his wrist, shaking it until he too dropped his sword. Then sheboxed his ear, and although it didn’t seem to be much of a slap, his face began to swellimmediately.
Without so much as looking back, Aunty Sun strode out of the yard, as one of the soldiersraised his rifle and fired. Her body stiffened61 for a moment, then sprawled62 forward in thegateway of the Shangguan house.
At that moment, the two youngest mute grandsons, who had come looking for her, werefelled by the same bullet on the steps leading up to the Shangguan gate. The three oldergrandsons were, at the time, occupied with cutting up the rump of a dead horse on theriverbank, where the smell of gunpowder63 thickened the air.
At around noon, a swarm64 of Japanese soldiers filled the Shangguan compound. The horsesoldiers found a basket in the barn, into which they scooped65 the loose peanuts and carriedthem out into the lane to feed their weary horses. Two of the soldiers took Pastor Malorycaptive. Then a military doctor, eyeglasses perched on the pale bridge of his nose, followedhis commander into the room where Shangguan Lu lay. With a frown, he opened his medicalkit, donned a pair of surgical66 gloves, and cut the babies’ umbilical cords with a stainless67 steelknife. Picking up the infant boy by the feet, he slapped it on the backside until a hoarse68 cryemerged from the other end. He then picked up the baby girl and repeated the procedure untilthere were signs of life. After cleaning the cuts on the umbilical cords with iodine69, hewrapped the babies in white gauzy cotton and gave Shangguan Lu injections to stop thebleeding. All the while the doctor was performing his lifesaving procedures on mother andchildren, a journalist was taking photographs from various angles. A month later, thesephotographs would appear in a Japanese newspaper back home to bear witness to thefriendship between China and Japan.
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1
trampling
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| 踩( trample的现在分词 )； 践踏； 无视； 侵犯 | |
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corpses
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| n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 ) | |
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viscous
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| adj.粘滞的，粘性的 | |
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pastor
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| n.牧师，牧人 | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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invaders
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| 入侵者，侵略者，侵入物( invader的名词复数 ) | |
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bogs
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| n.沼泽，泥塘( bog的名词复数 )；厕所v.（使）陷入泥沼， （使）陷入困境( bog的第三人称单数 )；妨碍，阻碍 | |
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marshes
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| n.沼泽，湿地( marsh的名词复数 ) | |
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sneer
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| v.轻蔑；嘲笑；n.嘲笑，讥讽的言语 | |
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spikes
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| n.穗( spike的名词复数 )；跑鞋；（防滑）鞋钉；尖状物v.加烈酒于( spike的第三人称单数 )；偷偷地给某人的饮料加入（更多）酒精（ 或药物）；把尖状物钉入；打乱某人的计划 | |
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13
starched
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| adj.浆硬的，硬挺的，拘泥刻板的v.把（衣服、床单等）浆一浆( starch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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slanted
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| 有偏见的； 倾斜的 | |
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slippers
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| n. 拖鞋 | |
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embroidery
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| n.绣花，刺绣；绣制品 | |
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sockets
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| n.套接字，使应用程序能够读写与收发通讯协定(protocol)与资料的程序( Socket的名词复数 )；孔( socket的名词复数 )；（电器上的）插口；托座；凹穴 | |
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poise
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| vt./vi. 平衡，保持平衡；n.泰然自若，自信 | |
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stark
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| adj.荒凉的；严酷的；完全的；adv.完全地 | |
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retrieve
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| vt.重新得到，收回；挽回，补救；检索 | |
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shriek
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| v./n.尖叫，叫喊 | |
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wails
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| 痛哭，哭声( wail的名词复数 ) | |
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misty
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| adj.雾蒙蒙的，有雾的 | |
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mule
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| n.骡子，杂种，执拗的人 | |
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sorghum
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| n.高粱属的植物，高粱糖浆，甜得发腻的东西 | |
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26
nibbling
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| v.啃，一点一点地咬（吃）( nibble的现在分词 )；啃出（洞），一点一点咬出（洞）；慢慢减少；小口咬 | |
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27
screeched
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| v.发出尖叫声( screech的过去式和过去分词 )；发出粗而刺耳的声音；高叫 | |
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28
nostrils
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| 鼻孔( nostril的名词复数 ) | |
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regained
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| 复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地 | |
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30
spasms
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| n.痉挛( spasm的名词复数 )；抽搐；（能量、行为等的）突发；发作 | |
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31
wailing
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| v.哭叫，哀号( wail的现在分词 )；沱 | |
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belly
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| n.肚子，腹部；(像肚子一样)鼓起的部分，膛 | |
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twitching
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| n.颤搐 | |
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gushing
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| adj.迸出的；涌出的；喷出的；过分热情的v.喷，涌( gush的现在分词 )；滔滔不绝地说话 | |
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spotted
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| adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的 | |
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pensively
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| adv.沉思地，焦虑地 | |
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propping
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| 支撑 | |
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shuffled
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| v.洗（纸牌）( shuffle的过去式和过去分词 )；拖着脚步走；粗心地做；摆脱尘世的烦恼 | |
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39
pall
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| v.覆盖，使平淡无味；n.柩衣，棺罩；棺材；帷幕 | |
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40
bloody
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| adj.非常的的；流血的；残忍的；adv.很；vt.血染 | |
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41
stump
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| n.残株，烟蒂，讲演台；v.砍断，蹒跚而走 | |
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42
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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43
gnawing
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| a.痛苦的，折磨人的 | |
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44
abdomen
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| n.腹，下腹(胸部到腿部的部分) | |
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45
gaping
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| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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46
mumbling
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| 含糊地说某事，叽咕，咕哝( mumble的现在分词 ) | |
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47
reins
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| 感情，激情； 缰( rein的名词复数 )； 控制手段； 掌管； （成人带着幼儿走路以防其走失时用的）保护带 | |
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48
huddled
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| 挤在一起（huddle的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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49
writhing
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| （因极度痛苦而）扭动或翻滚( writhe的现在分词 ) | |
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50
hacking
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| n.非法访问计算机系统和数据库的活动 | |
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51
axis
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| n.轴，轴线，中心线；坐标轴，基准线 | |
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52
crumpled
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| adj. 弯扭的, 变皱的 动词crumple的过去式和过去分词形式 | |
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53
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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remarkably
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| ad.不同寻常地，相当地 | |
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eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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rigidly
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| adv.刻板地，僵化地 | |
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loutish
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| adj.粗鲁的 | |
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relentlessly
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| adv.不屈不挠地；残酷地；不间断 | |
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precisely
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| adv.恰好，正好，精确地，细致地 | |
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60
yelp
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| vi.狗吠 | |
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61
stiffened
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| 加强的 | |
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62
sprawled
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| v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的过去式和过去分词)；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着） | |
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63
gunpowder
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| n.火药 | |
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64
swarm
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| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
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65
scooped
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| v.抢先报道( scoop的过去式和过去分词 )；（敏捷地）抱起；抢先获得；用铲[勺]等挖（洞等） | |
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66
surgical
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| adj.外科的，外科医生的，手术上的 | |
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stainless
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| adj.无瑕疵的，不锈的 | |
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68
hoarse
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| adj.嘶哑的，沙哑的 | |
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iodine
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| n.碘，碘酒 | |
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