The Dark Road Read Online Free PDF Page A

office as well.
    Looking to the north again, her gaze follows a line of telegraph poles that become shorter and shorter until they vanish into the ground. Beyond them, Nuwa Mountain stretches along the horizon. At its foot is Nuwa Village, where Meili’s parents still live. Meili knows she is a mother now only because three years ago she climbed to Nuwa Cave and rubbed the sacred crevice of Goddess Nuwa. A few days later she fell pregnant with Nannan. After Nannan was born, Kongzi said that their next child must be a boy. When he found out that she was pregnant again, he paid a Taoist priest to write an ancient spell on a piece of paper, which he then placed inside a longevity locket and buried beneath the date sapling, saying, ‘This is where the seventy-seventh generation male descendant of Confucius will be born.’
    A propaganda van draws near. From the large loudspeaker strapped to its roof a voice blares out: ‘The County Family Planning Commission has dispatched officers to our village. This morning they will visit every household to fit women of childbearing age with an intrauterine device, and to provide information on reproductive health and fertility management . . .’ A truck follows closely behind, its open back packed with pregnant women whose legs are tightly bound with rope. Meili spots an old friend from primary school among them and looks away. A minute later comes the purple minibus which Kongzi’s cousin Shan uses to deliver materials to local factories and ferry villagers to the county town to sell their vegetables and eggs. His fares are half the price of the public buses, so his service is very popular. Meili clambers back onto the road and waves him down. The minibus stops briefly, drives on, then reverses and screeches to a halt. Justice Wang, the corpulent president of the Hexi law court, steps out followed by two policemen who seize Meili by the arms. ‘Let go of me!’ she shouts, kicking at the door as they try to shove her inside. ‘I have a birth permit! I’m allowed to fall pregnant so I don’t need an IUD!’
    ‘The family planning officers will want to check whether you’ve conceived yet, then,’ says the taller of the two policemen.
    ‘He’s my husband’s cousin,’ Meili says, pointing at the driver. ‘Shan, tell them I’m not pregnant!’
    ‘She can’t be pregnant, Justice Wang,’ says Shan, hunching his shoulders against the cold. ‘She had a daughter two years ago and had an IUD inserted straight after the birth.’
    ‘Well, the officers will need to confirm that the IUD’s still in place,’ the other policeman says. ‘Now, get inside.’
    Suddenly Kongzi reappears, with Nannan following behind him. ‘Let go of my wife or I’ll set fire to the minibus!’ he shouts, flicking his lighter and holding the flame to a cotton shirt he’s pulled from his sack. ‘You can’t go around arresting people for no reason. Have you no knowledge of the law?’
    Shan sticks his head out of the window. ‘Don’t set fire to my minibus, cousin,’ he implores, the wind blowing his fringe right back.
    ‘Me want to pee, Daddy,’ Nannan whines, tugging at Kongzi’s trousers. The red quilted jacket she’s wearing is three sizes too big and almost reaches her ankles. ‘Do it yourself in that ditch,’ Kongzi snaps.
    ‘Family planning efforts aren’t bound by the law,’ the tall policeman says, switching on his electric baton and staring at the blue sparks dancing over the tip.
    ‘Bloody traitor,’ Kongzi snarls, eyeing Shan coldly.
    ‘Meili flagged me down,’ Shan replies, his face colouring. ‘I wouldn’t have stopped otherwise. The Hexi family planning squad has commandeered every vehicle in the county. They’re paying us sixty yuan a day.’
    ‘We’ll let her go for the time being,’ Justice Wang says, then he turns his fiery gaze to Kongzi. ‘As for you, Kong Lingming – if you attempt to obstruct our efforts again, I’ll slam you in jail, and not even