Chapter Seventeen
EASTERN SUN'S SICK LEAVE was extended.When he helped the Japanese to create terrorism，he had never thought what terrorism itself was like.He had never thought about how the young boys and girls trembled when they were arrested，or how broken were their parents'hearts.He knew only that he had position and wealth，and that knowledge made him happy.
But now he knew also that Rey Tang had brought him a cartridge.He dared not touch the cartridge.He thought that if he should touch it，it would explode. It was so shiny and so cold，always looking at him，following him like an eyeball which could move.
He did not think of retribution for he had never admitted to himself that he had any guilt，that he had committed any crime.He was now looking directly at death.He did not admit his crimes nor could he think of redemption.Redemption such as religious people believe in could give hope，but he had no hope.
He was afraid，afraid.Gnawing his fingernails he screamed and rushed to his bed.He covered his head with the bedclothes.He held his breath for a long time and hid，sweating.He dared not raise the bedclothes.He felt that death was waiting for him outside his quilts.
Only when Fat Chrysanthemum came home did he dare push aside the bedding and sit up.He called her over and frenziedly embraced her.He bit her fat arm savagely.She was his fat woman，before he died he must bite her，grind her under his feet，so would he get his money's worth.
After he had bitten her he looked around the room，at the things in the room，and counted how much money he had.He shouted，“I mustn't die， I mustn't die.”
Without waiting to put on his shoes he went for pencil and paper to list all the furniture，clothes，teapots，and rice bowls he had.He even listed the brooms and the feather dusters.The higher the numbers he put down the more elated he became and the more frightened.If he should die soon to whom would he leave all these things？No，he would not leave them to Fat Chrysanthemum.She had married him only because of his money and position;he would not leave her his goods.
He again embraced her and putting his mouth against her face and said，“You must die with me， with me.” Yes，he must have a companion to lie with him in the coffin，or after death he would be afraid day and night.
Fat Chrysanthemum drew away from him.He ground his teeth.Ha！She was after all one of the Chi family！She would probably return to the Chi family and marry Rey Tang.
He pled with Chrysanthemum not to leave him again.At the same time he discussed with her how he could escape from Peiping.
Yes，he must escape from Peiping.Once he was out of Pei-ping Rey Tang would not be able to find him.There was under heaven only one Rey Tang. Once he got somewhere else he could again wear the big purple and the big red. Except for Rey Tang he had no enemies.
But if he should escape how would he manage to take all his things with him？Those tables and stools were far from being as important as gold and silver，but，after all，they were his; and whether they were of wood or of porcelain they all had his blood in them. But if he took too much he would certainly be stopped by the Japanese.
In the night if he heard a report — perhaps a rickshaw tire bursting—he would with one roll be under the bed and cover his face with both hands.
This anxiety and fear made him lose his appetite but he forced much food down himself. He must eat，so he would have the strength to resist.After he had eaten he could not digest the food and his breath stank even more.Since all the doors and windows were tightly closed，after a day or two the air in the room was like that in a fox's hole.
His sick leave aroused the suspicions of the Japanese.The Japanese doctor came to examine him.The doctor knocked and opened the door.The stench of the fox nearly suffocated the doctor.Quickly he opened all the windows.
Ordinarily if a Japanese doctor should have come to visit him how many times Eastern Sun would have bowed.This day，however，he was not pleased.On the contrary he was afraid.Were not those who worked for the Japanese often poisoned by them？
The doctor gave him medicine for his indigestion but he would not take it.The doctor administered the medicine as he would to a fractious child.
Eastern Sun lay on the bed and was sure that he would die.He began to weep.
The medicine moved down and shortly his bowels began to rumble.He was sure he had been given arsenic.He struggled out of bed and again shut all the windows and the door，and then relieved himself in the room. His abdomen being a little more comfortable he smiled.Oh no，the Japanese doctor had not given him poison.He was still the confidant of the Japanese.Good，he must find a sure way to escape from Peiping.
Ah，why not？Why not go to Japan？That was his fatherland.
Fat Chrysanthemum was in the midst of planning for herself.She did not feel it unfair to Eastern Sun that she was unwilling to wait on him.She had already patiently supplied her fat flesh to him for more than three years;she need not go out of the way to try to please him.
If she wanted to leave—taking Eastern Sun's money with her — she must leave at once.She could not wait until he had recovered.His illness was her opportunity.
She had already changed into gold and silver the money she had taken from Eastern Sun，and hid it in her maternal home.But who could say that the Japanese would not search her maternal homeif Eastern Sun should die？She should run away and run quickly.If she ran away now she could not only save the things she had hidden at her maternal home，but she could also take away a part of Eastern Sun's valuables.
If，for instance，she could escape to Shanghai or Nanking，with the gold in her hands and the techniques she had learned all these years from Big Red Pepper and from Eastern Sun， she could certainly build up a new stove to cook up something new.
She could not calculate any longer.She must leave quickly，and seize the opportunity while Eastern Sun lay half dead and half alive，to take all the valuables to her maternal home，and then — with Eastern Sun's seal — cash his bank account.
Taking the most valuable things and the cash，and leaving the less valuable at her maternal home，she went to Tientsin.
When Eastern Sun dicovered that Chrysanthemum had gone he did not miss her too much.In these troublous times he knew that he could exchange a sack of flour for a young girl.He liked fat women，but if women's flesh was counted according to weight he could — with two bags of flour — get him a fat one.
But when he discovered that Chrysanthemum had taken his treasure，his eyeballs rolled up and he was unconscious for half an hour.To be sure he still had all the possessions in the house，and there was money in the banks about which Chrysanthemum had not known，but these could not console him.
Eastern Sun became very ill.Anxiety，cold，and fear attacked him from all sides.
His green face — because he was suddenly cold and suddenly hot — was sometimes greyish white and sometimes purple.When he was cold his yellow teeth chattered incessantly.He tried to plan but the cold kept him from concentrating.All he could think of was death.
Then suddenly he would be hot all over and his thoughts would become very active，like a swarm of locusts flying wildly and without order.When a thought came he would shout loudly，“I will not die.Give me money.Go to Japan — ”
The Japanese doctor came again.Afer taking some medicine Eastern Sun slept fitfully.His sleep was not sound for his mind would not be still.He worried about money and about Chrysanthemum.
Because of Eastern Sun's long illness another headmaster was appointed to the School of Railway Administration.
If this had happened in other times Rey Shuan would certainly have considered whether he should follow the traditional custom to resign，but now he decided not to waste thought and went to his classes as usual.If the new headmaster wanted to keep him he would follow Rey Tang's instructions and teach the students.If the new headmaster did not want him he would think about how to meet the problem when the occasion arose.
The new headmaster was a middle-aged man without much vision，whose intentions，however，were not bad.The position of headmaster was one that he had sought，but he did not plan to squeeze or kill the students，nor did he wish to change his fellow workers.Rey Shuan kept his position.
To Rey Shuan it was not only a position，but an opportunity to do his duty to the students and to his country. He explained every word to his students — broke open the meaning and rubbed away the accumulation of ages，so they could understand every usage of every word.He used many references outside the textbook.He picked purposely examples of literature that would stimulate their imaginations and their love for their country，ones that would help wash the sense of national humiliation from their minds.He picked the references casually as if only to explain the passages being studied.He thought that in this way，even if there were secret agents among the students，they would not easily find fault with him.
The most difficult task was to find subjects for compositions.To follow his educational theories he was unwilling to give them empty and trite subjects that forced the students to have no way but to begin with，“Man in the world，” and then chew the ends of their brushes trying to think of what to say next.But he could not give them the big subjects that had to do with current events and the great affairs of the time.If he had dared to write anything closely related to the lives of the students on the blackboard he would at once have been arrested.In order to avoid empty themes and to avoid being arrested he always gave them topics that had to do with understanding the lessons taught.In this way he gave them themes about which they had words，and also he could get the reactions of the students to what he taught them.
While correcting these compositions he felt excited.Many students showed not only that they understood what he taught them but spoke discreetly of their own secret heart pains.In this way the tedium of correcting compositions changed to pleasure.He was talking in a secret language with a group of young people.
He paid special attention to the compositions of the pupils he suspected.He wanted to see if they would consciously or unconsciously show the kind of thought and theory that the Japanese wanted to have planted in the youth of China.
What made him most happy was that he discovered one or two pupils from traitors' families who wrote exactly opposite to what their fathers thought.From this discovery he understood the mistake he had made.He had been pessimistic.He had thought that Peiping once occupied by the Japanese immediately became a pool of stagnant water.He had been wrong.
He decided to let Little Precious go to school.He had no time to teach the boy himself.He saw clearly that the teachers in the schools were not weak and worthless as he had imagined.
At the time when Eastern Sun was suffering from sudden cold and sudden heat，the winter — after having frozen to death many people who had no food and clothes — quietly retreated from Peiping.The new spring wind seemed still not to know how to behave itself.Sometimes it was cold and blew away the snow on the tops of the walls.Sometimes it was warm and brought moisture and spring clouds.The accumulated snow on the old city walls of Peiping began to melt.Moisture began to show between the bricks.At the foot of the walls life seemed especially ready to face danger.There were already small，light green，and tender sprouts of grass.Sometimes the golden tops of the pagodas and the yellow tiles of the Imperial Palace gave out rays of light;sometimes the ice would suddenly form and make the people think again of the frightfulness of winter.
At this time people tore off the thick and tattered winter clothes，but when the gusts of cold wind came they would catch cold and die quickly.The borderland between winter and spring killed many people.
At last the spring was established and melted all the snow and ice.The brave honey bees began to appear in the air.News that was warmer than the spring breeze suddenly came and made all the people of Peiping forget the hunger and cold of the long winter：the American air force had bombed the Japanese homeland. Rey Shuan learned the news from the pamphlets sent out by Old Three.
Having read the pamphlets he did not know how he reached the school.
When he entered the classroom Rey Shuan saw many，many eyes shining with a smilinh light.Those eyes told him that those young people had all heard the news of the bombing of Japan.The happy light in their eyes seemed to have heat and made the classroom unusually warm.He did not say anything but looked at them with the same light in his eyes.The faces of all wore smiles and then tears appeared in many eyes.
Rey Shuan began to lecture. He could not help wanting to say between the sentences，“Japan has been bombed，”but he controlled himself.The words，however，whirled like music in his heart.
He also wanted to say to the students，“My younger brother，my younger brother brought this news to us，”but he dared not say it.
He began to understand propaganda.Before this，because of his pessimism，he had always thought that propaganda was nothing but the use of empty，useless words without much appeal or value.Now — look — this one piece of news could make him and his students and all in Peiping excited and happy.
Why not make more propaganda？He decided to help Old Three make propaganda.He knew how to write.He knew that Old Three had ways to get what he wrote printed，and Uncle Chien had ways to get it sent around.
He met the monk，Clear Moon，on the street and told him his wish to write for the underground.The monk told him several places to which he could send what he had written，and suggested that he change often，to avoid being caught by the spies.
As he left the monk Rey Shuan really saw the light of Pei-ping's spring.He was elated.H had now put himself in a definite role.He need no longer feel ashamed of himself or hesitate.
The hearts of the stored turnips had become pulp，but on their heads fresh green leaves had appeared.There was not much moisture left in the stored cabbages but they had put forth tender yellow shoots.Even the humble garlic had put out shoots of jade green.Everything was decaying and everything was coming to life again.