Under the Red Flag Read Online Free PDF

caused by the dizziness. His hands were slimy.
    “Let that wimp do what he wants. Come back in,” Sang said aloud, straddling the threshold.
    They went in to enjoy themselves. “Ridiculous, scared by a dog,” Wei said, giggling and scratching his scalp.
    Holding the corner of the cauldron range in the dark, Nan managed to stand up, and he staggered out into the windy night.
    As Ming said, Nan lost his potency altogether. In fact, he lay in bed for two days after that night when he walked home bareheaded through the flying snow. At first, he dared not tell his parents what had happened, but within a week the entire village knew Nan had been frightened by Sang’s dog and had lost his Yang. His father scolded him a few times, while his mother wept in secret.
    Two weeks later the Soos returned to the Haos the Shanghai wristwatch and the Flying Pigeon bicycle, two major items of the dowry already in Yan’s hands, saying Nan was no longer a normal man, so they wouldn’t marry their daughter to him. Despite Mrs. Hao’s imploring, the Soos refused to keep the expensive gifts. However, they did say that if Nan recovered within half a year they might reconsider the engagement.
    For four months Nan had seen several doctors of Chinese medicine in town. They prescribed a number of things to restore his manhood: ginseng roots, sea horses, angelica, gum dragon,deer antler, tiger bones, royal jelly, even a buck’s penis, but nothing worked. His mother killed two old hens and stewed them with ginseng roots. Nan ate the powerful but almost inedible dish; the next day he had a bleeding nose and soon began losing his hair. His father cursed him, saying the Hao clan had never had such a nuisance. Indeed, after eating two or three slices of buck’s penis, a normal man wouldn’t be able to go out because of the erection, but nothing could help Nan. There was no remedy for such a jellyfish.
    By now the villagers no longer counted Nan as a man. Children called out, “Dog-Scared,” when they ran into him. Though quite a few matchmakers visited the Haos, they all came for his sisters. Among all the unfilial things, the worst is childlessness. But what could Nan do? He had once thought of poisoning Sang’s wolfhound, but even that idea didn’t interest him anymore. One afternoon when he was on his way to the pig farm, the dog came to him, lashing its tail and wagging its tongue. He wanted to give it a kick, but he noticed Soo Yan walking two hundred meters away along the edge of the spinach field; so instead he threw his half-eaten corn cake to the dog, who picked it up and ran away. Nan watched the profile of that girl. She wore cream-colored clothes, her fiery gauze scarf waving in the breeze. With a short hoe on her shoulder, she looked like a red-crowned crane moving against the green field.

Sovereignty
    Liao Ming of Horse Village was drinking sorghum liquor in his yard. The dog barked and the front gate opened. Raising his thick eyelids, Liao recognized the visitor and stopped the dog. “What wind brought you here, Old Leng?” he said loudly.
    Leng was panting hard, so Liao asked again, “How are things?”
    “Not very good, Old Liao,” Leng said, coming closer. Sweat was trickling down his forehead and cheeks, and he wiped it off with his soiled hand. That turned his face into an opera-mask, full of streaks. “Old Liao, I came to beg you for help.”
    “How can I help you?” Liao asked, and tilted his gray head. “Why don’t you sit down and have a cup first?”
    “No, thanks,” Leng said, standing in front of Liao with both hands on his narrow hips. “Vet Bai said today is the best time for my sow, but Ma Ding, the son of a bitch in Willow Village, didn’t show up with his boar. He promised me to come at three o’clock. Damn his grandma, I washed my sow and cleaned up everything, waiting for him all the while. It’s past four already. My sow can’t wait anymore. So …”
    “So what?” said Liao. He struck a