The Explosion Chronicles by Yan Lianke Page A

swinging his arms and legs around. He did this every day, coming every morning to announce his feeling of victory and delight to the person in the grave. On this particular morning, however, as he was exercising in the square, he suddenly noticed that the winter jasmine had not yet begun flowering, even though it was already the end of the third lunar month; and while there were a handful of willows that had begun to bud, those buds had already dried up and the hint of green had retreated to the very center of the branch.
    Kong Dongde felt rather unnerved by this.
    He remembered that when Mingliang returned from his meeting in the provincial seat the previous day, he had mentioned that both the county and the town wanted to initiate a reform movement. They wanted to use Explosion as a model and have the villagers hold an election for village chief. At the thought that Zhu Ying might be elected, however, Kong Dongde’s heart skipped a beat and his arm froze in midair. He turned to look at Zhu Qingfang’s grave, then listened as the two mynah birds squawked, “I’m better than you!I’m better than you!” He nodded and exchanged a few words with villagers who passed by, accepting everyone’s greetings and well-wishes. Then he completed his exercises and walked over toward Zhu Qingfang’s grave.
    After waiting until no one was around, he proceeded to urinate on the grave, peeing all over the area where Zhu Qingfang’s face would have been. Then he put on his clothes, picked up the two “I’m better then you!” mynah birds, and returned home.
    II.
    There was indeed an election.
    On the ballot provided by the town there were two names: Kong Mingliang and that whore, Zhu Ying!
    Kong Mingliang had bags under his eyes. He rushed to the town and the county seat, and bought a lot of wine and expensive cigarettes to give away. It turned out, however, that there was no way to change things. There would be an election, and one of the candidates would in fact be that person who had opened the Worldly Pleasures brothel in the city and the provincial seat. As a result, Kong Mingliang and Zhu Ying would inevitably collide on this narrow path to the village chiefdom, and only one of them would succeed. From the break of dawn until the sun was high in the sky, Kong Mingliang struggled to predict who in the three villages would vote for him and who would vote for Zhu Ying. He understood that every family in Explosion was like a watertight bucket and family members would definitely vote for whomever they said they would. He ripped two empty pages from his brother Minghui’s school notebook, and on one sheet he wrote
Village Chief
followed by his own name, and on the other sheet he wrote
Whore
followed by Zhu Ying’s name. He calculated from Explosion Village to Liu Gully, and then from Liu Gully to Zhang Peak, and after he tabulated his totals he concluded that most of the residentsof Explosion would vote for him, though most of the residents of Liu Gully and Zhang Peak would vote for Zhu Ying. He was the one who had enabled Explosion to grow wealthy, while she was the one who had enabled those other two villages to achieve prosperity. By Mingliang’s calculations, there were 105 households and a total of 525 individuals who would vote for him, while there were 165 households and a total of 825 individuals who would vote for Zhu Ying.
    So, it appeared that he would lose.
    Kong Mingliang threw away those two sheets of paper and walked out into the courtyard. He stood there for a moment, but when he looked back he saw that those two sheets of paper were fluttering in the air like white funeral paper. Then, those two sheets became rain clouds, floating for a while before drifting away. He turned his face toward the sun overhead and, frowning, repeatedly wet his lips with his tongue. As Mingliang was worrying about the election, his father emerged from his bedroom, and when he arrived at the doorway he saw the birdcage hanging outside.