Chapter Two: Japanese Soldiers

After the Zhao clan settled near the Stone Man Ridge in the Ming dynasty, they began to flourish and multiply at Zhao Family Mansion for more than six hundred years.

In that long span, there were rises and falls, triumphs and ruin, departures and returns; yet what never changed was their livelihood as cooks and their special ties to the imperial court.

Among the famed banquets and feasts of the Ming and Qing courts, they took part in them all.

From the imperial birthday celebration of the Wanli Emperor in the Ming dynasty, to the so-called Envoy Feast of the Hungry Ghosts, of which people said not even the plates were left uneaten; from the Thousand Elders Banquet in the Kangxi reign of the Qing dynasty, to the Ten-Thousand-Year Banquet in the Guangxu era, when even a single grain of rice was said to cost a silver coin, members of this clan were always there, contributing their skill and devotion.

Thus the Zhao family became entwined, thread by thread, with the court, the Imperial Kitchen Office, the culinary craft, and the temple of the five viscera. In short, they lived through much and were steeped in the art of cooking for a very long time....

Until the early years of the Republic, when all of it came to an abrupt end.

After the fall of the Qing, China no longer had imperial chefs born of the Imperial Kitchen Office or the Inner Court, and the Zhao family lost the protection of the state. Their standing plunged at once. Add to that the fact that, for centuries, the Zhaos had known only how to cook and had never learned how to run a business; though their skill was astonishing, it was sadly out of step with ordinary life.

In the years after the Republic was founded, every restaurant the Zhaos opened among the common people failed one after another. Gradually, they lived off their old savings and sank into the role of a "professional clan" that sold its craft while working for grand inns and fine restaurants.

Because of this, the Zhao people began roaming far and wide. More and more of those who left Zhao Family Mansion never came back.

And during the War of Resistance Against Japan, the disappearance of Old Zhao Family House became the final, decisive event that shattered the Zhao clan once and for all.

In nineteen thirty-seven, the Japanese invaded the Central Plains, first taking the bridge at Lu Gou, then opening the customs, their spearhead aimed straight at Jinan. Yet at that time, Han Fuju, then chairman of Shandong Province, for the sake of a private grudge and to preserve his own inner circle, ignored orders from the central government and carried out a policy of nonresistance, causing the land of Qi and Lu, the homeland of the sages, and the old course of the Yellow River to fall into Japanese hands.

On the eve of the occupation of southern Shandong, the Japanese suddenly sent a Black Dragon Society agent named Onitsuka Chihiro to Zhao Family Mansion by night to see the Zhao clan head.

At the time, for reasons known only to himself, the clan head did not drive away this distant "guest," but kept Onitsuka Chihiro in Old Zhao Family House, where the two of them talked for three days and three nights.

On the night of the third day, the Zhao clansmen were aghast to discover that the Zhao Family House, standing there for more than five hundred years, was ablaze. The fire was already so fierce that by the time they noticed it, it was too late to put it out.

Thus Zhao Family Mansion was reduced to ashes, and with that fire, most of the Zhao family’s property went up in smoke as well. Even the clan head of the Zhaos lost his life in the blaze. As for the Japanese agent named Onitsuka Chihiro, he vanished as though into thin air, never to be seen again. No one found the body, and no one knew where he had gone.

From that point on, the Zhao family began a rapid decline.

During the war, under the impact of Japanese assaults and sweeps, the Zhao people gradually left this ancestral land, scattering in all directions, and almost none ever returned.

After the war ended, the Zhao people who remained in Shandong once raised funds to rebuild Old Zhao Family House, but fate saw fit to drag them into civil war once more. The Zhao Family Mansion, nearly finished in reconstruction, was utterly demolished by a shell fired from who knew where during the battle of Mengliang Ridge.

With that shell, too, the Zhao people’s hope of returning to their homeland and restoring the clan was forever shattered....

When I finished speaking, I could not help sighing. "The old squad leader said that the people who later moved into Zhao Family Mansion were all refugees who came one after another during the Republic. After liberation, with land reform, the government branded all the Zhaos as landlord elements. After all that back and forth, there were hardly any Zhao people left in Zhao Family Mansion. Now only our old squad leader’s household remains, living in the southeast corner of the village, and they can count as the ones keeping incense burning for the ancestors."

After hearing me, Zhao Hong suddenly asked, "How come I never knew about this? The old squad leader treats you pretty well! He even told you the family’s whole story!"

I shot back, "Of course you wouldn’t know! Who told you to fail to renew your volunteer contract? Besides, the old squad leader is my master. Though we never went through the formal rites of apprenticeship, still...."

Before I could finish showing off, the wise Red Leaf beside me suddenly nudged me with her elbow.

I came back to myself, saw that her expression was off, and immediately asked, "What is it?"

Red Leaf widened her eyes, pointed excitedly toward an alley in front of us to the left, and said, "Look! Someone just went in!"

Her words set my heart pounding with excitement.

Ever since we arrived at Zhao Family Mansion, we had not seen a single living soul. And this village, while not especially small, had streets that were so obviously empty and abnormal that it was hard not to feel a chill.

Now that we had finally seen someone, we were thrilled, and eager beyond measure to go ask what was going on here.

What on earth was the meaning of this? Why was there not a single person around?

So I told Zhao Hong and Ah Si to keep watch over the unconscious Wang Hou and the cart, while Red Leaf and I followed the direction she had pointed and went after the fleeting figure.

Soon, along the blue-gray stone-paved road, we trotted to the alley where she had seen the figure.

The moment we entered, I indeed caught sight of a black silhouette.

In my line of sight, I saw the person stooped over, walking up a gently rising set of steps. The figure moved very slowly and had not gone far, only some ten or twenty paces from us.

Seen from behind, the person wore a black cloth jacket, with white at the temples; clearly an elderly figure. In the hand was something like a string of candied haws, with a little white-flour doll on top, seeming to be a child’s toy.

Seeing that flour-doll toy, I naturally assumed the old person had.... gone out to buy a toy for a child.

Red Leaf and I quickened our steps, and before long we caught up to the old figure.

"Sir!" Red Leaf called softly from behind, then said respectfully, "Is this Zhao Family Mansion?"

Hearing Red Leaf’s voice, the old person immediately turned around.

It was an old woman.

She was very aged, her skin wrinkled and sallow, her hands like dried claws, and her body somewhat frail. Yet she seemed in excellent spirits, her face wreathed in smiles as she nodded happily at Red Leaf. One hand clutched the flour-doll toy tightly, while the other waved furiously in Red Leaf’s direction.

Before Red Leaf could continue her question, the old woman took the initiative and said, "Such a pretty girl! How about being my son’s wife? Will you?"

I nearly fell over then and there.

That old lady was something else! She came right out with a matchmaker’s pitch, bold enough for any age. If Wang Hou had been awake then, I would have called him over to study this woman’s advanced experience.

Clearly, this old lady was no ordinary person.

Faced with the old woman’s directness, Red Leaf was evidently thrown off by the sudden, blunt approach. But she had, after all, come from a state-owned enterprise and was quick on her feet, with first-rate skill in handling human relations.

Very soon, she turned the crisis into a smile and said, "Sir, I’m married. I have a husband, so I can’t be your son’s wife."

Hearing Red Leaf say that, I was taken aback, thinking she had simply brought marriage into it just like that.

When Red Leaf said those words, I admired her deeply. I had to, because in her answer I heard the spirit of a true man and the courage to burn one’s bridges. She flat-out said she already had a husband, skipping even the stage of "being with someone," and firmly blocked the old lady’s words, leaving no room for further wild talk. A sweet little mouth, but a poisonous one too.

But then.... I felt Red Leaf had gone a little too far.

Because after hearing her, the old woman suddenly smiled and said to me, "Then you must be her man! Lucky fellow! Such a pretty girl, one earned in a past life!"

I had no words.

Ah.... What a mess of my own making. Who could I blame?

Helplessly, Red Leaf and I exchanged a look, both of us blushing slightly, then quickly steered the conversation elsewhere and said to the old woman, "Auntie.... We just wanted to ask whether this is Stone Man Ridge, Zhao Family Mansion Village."

At last, the old woman did not continue discussing marriage with us, but answered plainly, "This is Zhao Family Mansion! Whom are you looking for?"

After hearing that, the stone in my heart finally fell away. But I still had many questions. Why had there been no one to be seen in the village? Why were every household’s doors locked, as though hiding from something? And why was there only this old woman left, holding a flour doll in her hand?

So I did not answer her kind question directly, but instead asked, "Sir, has something serious happened here lately? Why are all the houses locked, and where are the villagers?"

My question made the old woman smile even brighter. She reached out to touch the flour doll in her hand, then, radiant as sunlight, told us, "They’ve gone to a wedding banquet!"

"Oh!" I suddenly understood.

No wonder there was not a soul in the village. So someone was holding an event!

The countryside is not like the city. In the villages, whether for weddings or funerals, one must serve a long banquet, and it has to be held in one’s own courtyard. The more guests, the better, and ideally the whole village should be invited.

Only then is it lively. Only then can it be called truly hosting an affair.

This rule is the same in rural places all across China, so I immediately understood the "truth" behind the village’s emptiness that day.

After hearing the old woman’s reply, I felt genuinely fortunate. Good thing we had not gone straight to the old squad leader’s house, or we would have arrived only to find that they had all gone out to eat and drink at someone else’s invitation, and we would surely have made a wasted trip.

So, with twelve parts curiosity, I asked the old woman again, "Sir! Whose house is hosting the event in our village?"

The old woman extended a hand and pointed at a main road beside us. "Southeast corner, the Zhao family!"

The Zhao family?!

In Zhao Family Mansion, only my old squad leader’s household bore the surname Zhao. The Zhao family she mentioned must undoubtedly be my old squad leader’s home!

But among the Zhaos.... who was getting married?

I immediately asked the old woman, "What Zhao family member is hosting the banquet?"

Without a second thought, the old woman answered, "The second son of the Zhao family, Zhao Haipeng!"

Her words struck me like a bolt of lightning, so much so that it took me quite a while to digest the meaning hidden within them.

My squad leader, Zhao Haipeng.... was getting married?!

Could it be that my old squad leader had called us all the way here just so I could attend his wedding feast? No wonder he had phoned in such haste yesterday, telling us to hurry over through the night. Was he getting married today, afraid we would arrive late and miss the auspicious hour?

But for such a wonderful thing.... why hadn’t the old squad leader made it clear on the phone? Why had he sounded as grim as though his father had died?

At that moment, a terrifying thought suddenly took shape in my mind.

Could it be.... a forced marriage?