The Explosion Chronicles by Yan Lianke Page B

He came over and stood in front of his son, and asked,
    “Do you realize you won’t be elected village chief?”
    Kong Mingliang looked at this father without saying a word.
    Kong Dongde handed his son two sheets of paper covered in writing. Mingliang took the sheets and saw with surprise that they were also labeled
Village Chief Kong Mingliang
and
Whore Zhu Ying,
respectively. On the sheet labeled
Village Chief,
there were the names of some of the households in each village, and below, written in red: “Total: 105 households, or 535 individuals.” On the sheet labeled
Whore
, there was an even longer list of names of households, below which, in red: “Total: 165 households, or 825 individuals.”
    This was identical to Kong Mingliang’s own calculations.
    Kong Mingliang stared in shock at those two sheets of paper, until finally his father asked, “Given that you won’t be elected villagechief, do you know what you need to do to be elected?” It was only at that point that Mingliang snapped out of his daze. He simultaneously nodded and shook his head. In a fog, he seemed to hear the words “Come with me,” then saw his father turn around and head back to his bedroom. His hunched shoulders resembled a pair of balls rolling forward. Mingliang followed in his father’s footsteps, into his father’s room.
    III.
    In accordance with their father’s arrangements, the Kong family sprang into action. They rode a tractor into the county seat to purchase malted milk, crackers, cigarettes, and wine, and when they returned they distributed cigarettes and wine to all of the heads of household who smoked and drank, and gave health supplements to some of the elders. Mingliang himself also went out, accompanied by his elder brother Kong Mingguang and his fourth brother Kong Minghui. Together, the three of them visited the families of those villagers who had lost their lives unloading goods from the trains. In the families’ homes, they placed the gifts on the table, exchanged some pleasantries, and then Mingliang said very bluntly,
    “When it comes time to vote for village chief, I hope your family will vote for me.
    “At the end of the day, we are all Kongs, and it is ultimately better for a Kong to serve as village chief than for an outsider.
    “The plot of land on which your home rests is somewhat smaller than everyone else’s. Once I’m elected, the first thing I’ll do will be to grant you a larger plot.”
    The brothers went to visit another family, and similarly offered them gifts and exchanged a few pleasantries, then asked, “Are your parents still bedridden? Why don’t we send them to the hospital!” Irrespective of what the illness happened to be, they carefully proppedup the invalid and assigned someone to take him to the hospital for an exam, while also providing the family with money to cover the medical expenses.
    After visiting all of the households in Explosion, the Kong family split up to visit the families in Liu Gully and Zhang Peak. In order to convince everyone to vote for Mingliang, Kong Dongde and three of his sons rode to battle. Kong Dongde unloaded the tractor-full of gifts on the mountain ridge road. He told his eldest son, Mingguang, to go pay a visit to all of the families with school-age children and told Mingliang to visit the families whose daughters had followed Zhu Ying into the city. Meanwhile, Kong Dongde himself went to visit those families with sick elders, and he told Minghui to stay on the mountain ridge to keep an eye on the remaining gifts and wait for them to return.
    Kong Mingliang went to visit a family whose daughter had followed Zhu Ying into the city. As soon as he entered the courtyard, he saw the newly constructed residence and exclaimed, “Great house! Great house!” He proceeded inside and looked around both upstairs and downstairs, then suggested to the family where they could install a water faucet and put in a couch. Finally, he sat down in the living room and