the mirror attached to the front door as she applies her lipstick. ‘Does that mean we’ll have to lie low today?’ She’s wearing her favourite cream coat and a white maternity dress she paid a seamstress to copy from a photo in a fashion magazine.
‘No, don’t worry,’ Kongzi says. ‘Director Jie won’t have a chance to inspect anything. Heaven officials will whizz him around town on a quick sightseeing tour, then take him out to lunch and get him drunk.’
‘Dad, when the family planning has finished, will we be able to go home?’ Nannan asks.
‘The Family Planning Policy is a protracted war waged against women and children,’ Kongzi replies. ‘No one knows how long it will last. That’s why your little brother is still inside Mummy’s tummy. He’s too afraid to come out.’
‘Why didn’t I get family planned?’
‘You were our first child, so your birth was legal. When you’re older you’ll be able to apply for a residence permit and go to university.’
‘Mummy has a residence permit, so how come she was arrested when she went to that big city?’
‘Because she has a rural permit, not an urban one, and she didn’t have any money on her.’
‘Do we have money now?’
‘Some. Not much. When we have a bit more, we’ll be free. We’ll be able to go to whichever city we like.’
‘I don’t want to go to university. I want to make money for you and Mummy.’
‘Nannan, remember that saying I taught you: “Children who don’t read books don’t know what treasures they contain. If they knew how precious these treasures were, they’d stay up all night, reading by candlelight.” The meaning is simple: if you study hard, you’ll get rich.’
‘But, Dad, you studied hard, so why aren’t you rich?’
‘Because I’ve had to concentrate on making sure you have a little brother. Once he’s born, I’ll make lots of money for us, I promise.’
‘Why doesn’t Grandpa give you money?’
‘You mean my father? He doesn’t have much money now. But before the Communists came to power, his father – my grandfather that is – was very wealthy. He was a rich landowner and respected scholar. Everyone in the village looked up to him. In 1951, when Mao told peasants to attack counter-revolutionary forces, every landowner in Nuwa County was buried alive, but no one touched my grandfather. He was arrested ten years later, though, and died in prison.’
‘What happened to his wife?’
‘You’re too young to hear about all this, Nannan. All I can tell you is she died a few years later, in the Cultural Revolution.’
‘What about your mother’s parents – what happened to them?’ For the last week, Nannan has refused to eat breakfast. She hasn’t touched the fried eggs and soya bean milk Meili gave her, and is just nibbling on a coconut bun left over from yesterday.
‘They died years ago. Enough questions! Back to your work. Let’s have a look at Lesson Five. The title is “What a good idea!”’
Nannan turns to the page and starts reading: ‘“One day, when Chairman Mao was seven years old, he and his friends went into the mountains to let their cattle graze on fresh pastures. The question was: how could they keep an eye on the animals, collect firewood and pick wild fruit, all at the same time? Mao had a good idea. He divided his friends into three teams and told the first team to look after the cattle, the second team to chop wood, and the third team to pick fruit—”’
‘Fine, class over,’ Meili interrupts. ‘Nannan, you’re coming with me today.’ She ties a scarf around Nannan’s neck and heads off to work.
‘Don’t forget to kill the rat in the toilet, Dad,’ Nannan shouts to Kongzi as they walk out of the gate.
When they’ve left, Kongzi wonders again how much he’ll be able to get for his broken van. Three hundred yuan at the most, he thinks. The owner of the car-repair workshop is coming to buy it back this morning. Once it’s sold, Kongzi will open a new bank account. Since they arrived in Heaven, they’ve been stashing all their earnings under their bed, apart from the small sums they send back to their parents or spend on food and rent. They’ve saved sixteen thousand yuan already. If they bought shares with the money, they could make a fortune. Kongzi visited an underground gambling house the other day. It charges no entrance free, provides a free lunch at noon, and if your money runs out, it will lend