Black Gold 1983

Chapter 51

Renye turned around. The remains had been wrapped in a sheet by Han Tianfang and lay quietly in the basket, with only a small patch of hair showing. Han Tianfang knelt beside the basket, head bowed, his shoulders trembling slightly.

Ma Tiejun stepped forward, closed the lid of the basket, and tied it tightly with a rope. He tested the weight and nodded: "It's not heavy, I can carry it by myself."

He squatted down, put the basket's straps on his shoulders, and stood up steadily.

Han Tianfang took one last look at the cavern. The kerosene lamp, the enamel mug, the candle stubs—he stared at them for a long time, then turned around: "Let's go."

The three walked out along the alley. The road they came from seemed longer, darker, and more oppressive than the one they came in from. The weight in the basket on his back wasn't heavy, but Ma Tiejun walked very slowly, each step firm and deliberate, as if he were carrying something heavier than cement.

When they reached the bottom of the shaft, Renye looked up. The wellhead was twenty meters above his head, small and round, like an upside-down coin, letting in a faint sliver of moonlight.

"I'll go first, then I'll hoist the basket up, and then you can go up." Ma Tiejun put down the basket, grabbed the rope, and started climbing up the well wall, pushing off with his feet. The rope swayed back and forth, and the mud and gravel on the well wall fell straight down as he pushed off with his feet.

After he reached the bottom, he lowered the rope again. Renye tied the basket to the rope, looked up, and shouted, "Pull!" The basket swayed and rose, wobbling slightly as it approached the well. Renye's heart skipped a beat, fearing the basket would tip over. Ma Tiejun grabbed the basket's straps and lifted it steadily up.

Then it was Han Tianfang's turn. He gripped the rope and climbed up slowly, as if he were floating in water, each step requiring immense effort. Ren Ye waited below, and only after Han Tianfang reached the wellhead did he grab the rope and begin to climb.

When they came out of the well, it was past midnight.

The moonlight remained pale, and the clouds grew thicker and hung low, obscuring all the stars. Ma Tiejun put his basket down, took a breath, and none of the three spoke.

Ma Tiejun re-covered the tarpaulin, weighed it down with stones, and then spoke: "The back mountain? Go now?"

Han Tianfang nodded.

Renye glanced at Ma Tiejun's basket, then at Han Tianfang, and asked, "Should we call someone else? More people can lend a hand."

Han Tianfang shook his head: "Just the three of us."

The back mountain is north of Shigou Village; you just need to cross a ridge to reach it. It's a small, flat area overgrown with weeds. To the north, there's an earthen embankment, below which lies a low-lying area with a few crooked jujube trees. During the day, standing here, you can see the rolling hills to the south and the distant mountain silhouettes. At night, you can see nothing but the dark sky and the dark ground.

The tools Ma Tiejun brought from home for digging the hole were a shovel, a pickaxe, and a hoe. The three of them took turns digging. Ren Ye dug out the first layer of soil, then Ma Tiejun continued digging, while Han Tianfang stayed by his side, digging for a while before taking over.

The soil was hard, the kind that hadn't been turned over for years; each swing of the pickaxe only broke off a small piece. When we dug down to a foot deep, we encountered rocks, not big, about the size of a fist, embedded in the soil in small pieces. We had to loosen them with the pickaxe before shoveling them away.

The three of them took turns digging for nearly two hours before the pit reached waist-deep.

Han Tianfang said, "That's enough."

He took the bundle of sheets out of the basket; it was so light, almost too light for a person's weight. He squatted down and slowly, steadily placed the bundle into the pit. Then he used his hands, handful by handful, to scoop the soil from the edge of the pit into the pit.

Renye and Ma Tiejun stood by, watching him dig up handfuls of soil.

Ma Tiejun started first, sticking his shovel into the ground and shoveling the first shovelful of soil. Then Ren Ye followed. The two silently filled the pit with soil, while Han Tianfang knelt by the edge, still digging with his hands.

The earth was leveled. Han Tianfang moved a few stones from the side and built a small mound on the earth. It wasn't big or high, only about knee-high. If you didn't look for it specifically, you wouldn't even notice there was a grave there.

The three of them stood in front of the grave for a long time.

Han Tianfang knelt down and kowtowed three times, his forehead touching the ground, and he did not get up for a long time.

The wind blew down from the mountain ridges, rustling the wild grass. In the distance, a few lights still shone from the mining area, flickering in the night like eyes that refused to close.

Han Tianfang stood up, his face covered in dirt and tear stains.

"Let's go," he said.

The three walked back along the way they came. When they reached the old locust tree at the village entrance, Ma Tiejun stopped, glanced at the dirt on his back, then at Ren Ye and Han Tianfang, his lips moved as if he wanted to say something, but in the end he only said, "I won't mention this to anyone."

Renye nodded.

Han Tianfang didn't say anything, but patted Ma Tiejun on the shoulder.

Ma Tiejun disappeared into the darkness of the village lanes with a basket on his back.

Ren Ye and Han Tianfang walked side by side towards the mining area. The dirt road was full of potholes, and the gravel under their feet crunched loudly. After walking for a while, Han Tianfang suddenly spoke up: "So, what are you planning to do next?"

Renye knew that he wasn't asking about the female corpse.

"Mining will continue as usual," Renye said. "I'm determined to mine that coalfield in West Second."

"That underground chamber, and that tunnel—"

"Seal it off. Next time we go down, bring some explosives and blow up that cave and the nearby alleyways, connecting it to the collapse that happened three years ago. Then no one will ever know what was down there."

Han Tianfang was silent for a while: "The amount of explosives needs to be calculated carefully. We can't shake the coal seam above, nor can we shake the shaft to collapse."

Renye glanced at him, but Han Tianfang didn't look at him, his eyes fixed on the road ahead.

"You know about explosives?" Renye asked.

"I studied it. I studied it in a mine."

Renye didn't press the matter. He knew what Han Tianfang meant by "studied." The blasters in the mine were all specially trained, and there were strict procedures for the amount of explosives used, the loading method, and the detonation sequence. Han Tianfang had worked in the transportation team for so many years and had dealt with the blasting team quite a bit, so he knew a little about these things.

"I'll figure out the explosives," Han Tianfang said. "I can get into the transport team's explosives warehouse."

Renye's heart tightened: "Don't take the risk. Being discovered is no small matter."

"I know."

When the two arrived at the gate of the mine, the light in the guardhouse was still on. The old man guarding the gate was dozing on the table, and the radio was still on, playing soft opera tunes at a very low volume, like the buzzing of a mosquito.

Renye stopped: "You go back first, I'll go around that way."

Han Tianfang nodded, said nothing more, and turned to walk into the mine gate. After taking a few steps, he stopped, not turning back, but his voice came from the darkness: "Renye, thank you."

Then his footsteps faded into the distance, disappearing into the night of the mining area.

Renye stood at the entrance of the mine, looking at the dim light in the guardhouse. He put his hand in his pocket, found the almost empty pack of cigarettes, took one out, put it in his mouth, and fumbled for a while before finally finding his lighter.

The instant the firelight came on, he saw a person crouching at the base of the wall across the street.

The person was huddled in the shadows by the wall, wearing a dark cotton-padded coat, so his face was not visible, but Renye recognized the posture at a glance.

It's Tian Sui'er.

He paused for a moment, then extinguished the lighter and lit it again. The man stood up when the flame came on a second time.

Tian Sui'er stood opposite him, separated by a dirt road less than five meters wide. She had been squatting there for who knows how long, and she didn't know if she had seen him coming back from the back mountain.

She didn't say anything, just stood there with her hands in the pockets of her cotton-padded coat, her hair slightly disheveled by the night wind.

Renye looked at her, took the cigarette out of his mouth, and had a million things he wanted to say, but in the end he only said one sentence: "What are you doing here?"

Tian Sui'er looked at him for a while, her voice not loud, but every word was clear: "I heard you went to Shigou Village, and I'm worried about you."

Renye stood at the entrance of the mine, a cigarette still unlit between his fingers, looking at Tian Sui'er across the street. The night wind blew her stray hairs across her forehead, then they fell back down, then fell back down again. She didn't move, just stood there, her hands in the pockets of her cotton-padded coat, her eyes not clearly visible in the shadows of the streetlights, but Renye knew she was looking at him.

"Who told you that?" Renye asked.

"I heard it from your mother." Tian Sui'er's voice was soft, a little hoarse from the night wind. "Aunt Yue'e couldn't find you and was so worried she asked everywhere, eventually coming to me. I told her you might have gone to Shigou Village, and she got even more anxious." She paused. "So I came to check on you for her."

Renye held a cigarette in his mouth, but didn't light it or say anything. He stood on one side of the road, and Tian Sui'er stood on the other side, separated by a dirt road less than five meters wide. The dim light from the streetlights spread across the road like a narrow river.

"What did you do in Shigou Village?" Tian Sui'er asked.

Renye didn't answer immediately. He glanced at her; her cotton-padded coat was stained with dirt, and there was a grayish-white stain near her knee, from squatting for a long time against the wall. He didn't know how long she had been squatting there, or when she had arrived.

"I need to take care of something," he said.

Tian Sui'er didn't ask any more questions. The two of them stood there across the road, neither of them speaking. The night wind blew down from the mountain ridges to the west of the mining area, carrying the smell of coal dust and the scent of hay from the livestock sheds in the distance.

Tian Sui'er was the first to move. She stepped across the dirt road, walked up to Ren Ye, stopped, and looked up at him.

"Are you hiding something from me?"

Renye looked at her lips, which were a little dry from the wind, and at the stubborn light in her eyes. He wanted to say "no," but the word lingered on his tongue before he swallowed it back.

"Yes," he said.

Tian Sui'er waited for him to continue.

Renye took the unlit cigarette from his lips, squeezed it in his hand, and then put it in his pocket. He glanced at the old man dozing in the guardhouse, then at the dark tunnels in the mining area, and turned away.

Let's go for a walk.

Tian Sui'er nodded.

The two walked eastward along the dirt road outside the mining area. On both sides of the road were wastelands and scattered vegetable plots. The winter vegetables in the fields had long been harvested, leaving only bare ridges and a few withered eggplant stalks. The sound of dogs barking came from afar, but it was not very clear because of the field.

Renye didn't start from the beginning. He recounted his experience going down the well, the female corpse he saw there, and the things Han Changhe, Ren Shouyi, and Liu Dehou had said. He didn't mention Han Tianfang, nor did he mention that the female corpse was his mother. That was Han Tianfang's secret, and he shouldn't have spoken for him.

Tian Sui'er walked beside him, listening quietly without interrupting him or showing any fear. She simply walked, occasionally kicking aside pebbles on the road and occasionally glancing up at the clouds in the sky.

"So you went down tonight and brought the body up?" she asked.

Renye nodded.

"Buried?"

"Buried. In the back hill."

Tian Sui'er stopped and turned to look at him. The streetlights were already far away, and only the moonlight shone faintly, making her face appear somewhat pale.

"Why are you getting involved in this?" she asked. "That female corpse has nothing to do with you, Han Changhe is not related to you, and Han Tianfang is your friend, but even if you don't get involved, no one will blame you."

Renye looked at her, and for some reason, he suddenly smiled.

"What are you laughing at?" Tian Sui'er frowned.

"I was thinking, you said exactly the same thing as my mom."

Tian Sui'er choked for a moment, turned her face away, and the tips of her ears glowed faintly red in the moonlight.

"My mom also asked me why I got involved in this." Renye turned his gaze away from her face and looked at the dirt road stretching into the darkness ahead. "I told her that I got involved in this not for Han Changhe, nor for Han Tianfang."

"Then for whom?"

Renye didn't answer. He put his hand in his pocket, felt for the almost empty pack of cigarettes, and then let go.

"For one person," he said, "a person who died in the darkness and waited for more than three years before being brought out. I didn't know her, I'd never seen her, I didn't even know her name. But she died in the well, trapped for more than three years, and nobody knew, nobody cared. I felt something was wrong."

He paused, then lowered his voice: "If something is wrong, someone has to take action."

Tian Sui'er didn't speak, she just looked at him, there was something indescribable in her eyes, like moonlight falling on the water, visible but unattainable.

The two walked a little further and stopped at a fork in the road. To the right was the road back to their family compound, and to the left was the road to the back of the mining area.

"I'll take you back," Renye said.

Tian Sui'er shook her head and glanced to the left: "Take me upstairs to take a look."

Renye paused for a moment, then asked, "Where to?"

"The back mountain," Tian Sui'er said, looking at him, "the place where you just buried someone."

Renye frowned: "There's nothing to see there. It's dark, and the roads are difficult to walk on—"

"I'm not afraid," Tian Sui'er interrupted him.

Renye looked into her eyes. There was no fear, no curiosity, only a seriousness he couldn't quite decipher. He was silent for a few seconds, then nodded: "Let's go."