The Explosion Chronicles Read Online Free PDF Page A

her away.
    The crowd exploded with laughter.
    Kong Mingliang did not join this crowd full of light and laughter. He didn’t know what his encounter with his enemy’s daughterZhu Ying—who was the first person he encountered as he proceeded west—prophesied. What Zhu Ying had shouted to him remained engraved on his heart, but he couldn’t quite figure out what it meant—as though he had walked up to a door and had a bunch of keys but didn’t know which was the correct one. He stood hesitantly at the westward side of the intersection, feeling as though something hard was digging into the sole of his foot. He wanted to pick it up but at the same time suspected it was merely a pebble. As he was standing there unwilling to bend down, that object bore into the sole of his foot like a drill. Eventually, he leaned over to get it but then held it tightly in his fist and couldn’t bring himself to look. Instead, he gazed at the crowd gathered in the intersection.
    In the crowd all sorts of lights and lamps jostled together, like two sheets of iron rubbing against each other. At that point, Mingliang saw his elder brother Mingguang returning, accompanied by their two younger brothers, Mingyao and Minghui. The three brothers were smiling brightly, as though each had found his heart’s desire.
    At that point, Kong Mingliang took advantage of the light of the lamps and opened his right hand, which was clenched tightly into a fist. His palm was covered in sweat, which had soaked the object he was holding. It turned out to be a square seal wrapped in a sheet of white paper. Its owner had apparently lost it before having had a chance to inscribe anything, and now that Mingliang had found it, it became his destiny.
    * In 1951 and 1952, China’s development extended throughout the country. As socialism was implemented from the city to the countryside, the nation initiated an “anticorruption, antiwaste, and antibureaucratism” campaign, followed by an “antibribery, antitheft of state property, antitax evasion, anticheating on government contracts, and antistealing of state economic information” campaign.

CHAPTER 3
Year One of the Revolution
    1. A RECORD OF TEN-THOUSAND-YUAN HOUSEHOLDS
    Everything happened suddenly, like a torrent gushing out of a dream. People began farming their own parcels of land, picking fruits and vegetables in their own fields, and after they had eaten their fill they would take the remainder to sell at the market.
    In this way, the market, which had been discontinued for many years, once again regained its vitality.
    Because the riverbank in front of Explosion Village was wide open, it was used as a marketplace. On the first day of each lunar month, the riverbank would be lined with people selling chickens, ducks, and pork, as well as lumber, local specialties, and new clothes and shoes from the city. The most important thing was that the government issued a statement saying that it wanted to establishand cultivate a group of “ten-thousand-yuan households.” * In other words, it wanted to let a minority “get rich first.”
    Everyone went crazy. Pig farmers, goatherds, cow and horse breeders, weavers, furniture sellers, and house builders—all aspired to be among the small minority who would get rich first, and to be the first to get a no-interest loan from the government, which would allow them to brag and let them live a dream life.
    That spring, Third Brother Kong Mingyao ended up joining the army. On the night when the villagers were following their dream paths, Mingyao had proceeded south. When he left the village he saw an army truck pulling a cannon, and therefore he knew he was fated to join the army and leave Explosion. In fact, during the next recruitment that spring, the army was no longer concerned with recruits’ family or political history, and as long as recruits talked about protecting the nation and physically there was nothing wrong with them, they were welcome to apply.
    So,