Chapter 52

The Red Guards were originally organizations formed by middle and high school students. A group of students would gather together to write big-character posters, destroy the “Four Olds,” raid homes, and carry out revolutionary movements. Overall, the students in the Red Guard organizations were relatively simple and earnest in their activities. However, some people who were looking to exploit the situation realized that this was not only an honorable task but also a great opportunity to gain personal benefits, so they quickly joined the Red Guards.

In their view, joining the Red Guards to raid homes meant they could openly destroy and seize the property of capitalists. The capitalists’ homes not only had plenty of rice and flour, but also gold and antiques. Only a fool would destroy and burn such treasures. Instead, they could hide them and rely on them in the future to become rich.

There weren’t many people who thought this way, especially those of lower status, who liked to get involved in these matters. Previously, they were looked down upon for being lazy and mooching off others, but now they could rob under the guise of being Red Guards, and others would even praise their revolutionary zeal.

The raid on the Meng family was led primarily by these lower-tier Red Guards. When they first joined, they used excuses to attack people they had personal grievances with. Until a few days ago, the “Today’s Battle Team” raided the wealthy businessman Zhang Xiuming’s home, where they not only found a lot of silver notes, silver dollars, and large amounts of rice and flour, but also stole some bottles of Maotai liquor—high-priced liquor worth sixteen yuan per bottle.

A young man named Miao Fuhai, who lived next door to one of the leaders, was delighted by the revolution. Since the movement began, he had gathered together his usual group of good-for-nothing friends, and even called his younger siblings and relatives from school to form a Red Guard group called “Today’s Battle Team.” Recently, they were going around the streets, looking for people to harass, enjoying the thrill of oppressing others. But when Miao Fuhai’s mother mentioned the sixteen yuan liquor, and he looked at the corn flour he had stolen, his anger flared.

He thought about raiding a capitalist’s house, certain it would bring in a lot of spoils. Not only did he rally the members of his Battle Team, but he also gathered his younger siblings and relatives. After assembling everyone, Miao Fuhai raised his arm and shouted: “Strike against the reactionary bourgeois authority, we must dare to resist! Let’s raid the capitalists’ homes and drag them through the streets!” The crowd responded in unison, but the greed on their faces betrayed their true intentions.

One of Miao Fuhai’s close friends, Ye Luo, quickly joined in: “When I worked at the fur factory, I was constantly exploited by the capitalist Meng Qingxiang. He would always find excuses to deduct my wages every month, he’s nothing but a capitalist scoundrel!” He waved his arm and shouted: “Down with the capitalist Meng Qingxiang!”

Miao Fuhai quickly rallied everyone to join in and was extremely excited. He had seen Meng Qingxiang’s big factory when he had dragged Ye Luo out of work to go fishing and hunting. He had heard that each month, Meng Qingxiang earned a lot of money from the factory. And that was just one of his many factories. Surely, Meng Qingxiang’s home must be filled with treasures.

Miao Fuhai patted Ye Luo on the shoulder and asked, “Do you know where Meng Qingxiang lives?”

“I know, I’ve followed him before,” Ye Luo volunteered to lead the way. The group marched toward Meng Qingxiang’s house, but when they arrived, they found the gate locked and the doors closed.

A fifteen or sixteen-year-old student stuck his head out from behind and whispered, “Do you think they’ve moved out?”

Miao Fuhai frowned, “Even if they moved out, they couldn’t take everything. Right now, there are Red Guard teams all over the street. If they had left openly, they would have been stopped by now.”

Ye Luo nodded, then led the group toward the gate, charging it. The young men, strong and determined, pushed and shoved until the ornate lock on the gate was broken. Shouting slogans, they entered the yard with great momentum.

The outer lock was a decorative one meant to keep honest people out, but the inner lock was sturdy. Meng Qingxiang had likely left it unlocked to let antique collectors in, but he hadn’t bothered to fully lock the door. When Zhenzhen came, she hadn’t noticed that the door was left slightly ajar.

Miao Fuhai was at the front and, seeing the thick wooden door, kicked it with all his strength. The door crashed open, and Miao Fuhai, unable to stop himself, fell face-first onto the marble floor. He lifted his head, bloodied, with a loose front tooth.

Wiping his nosebleed, Miao Fuhai stood up and was about to curse, but then froze, looking at the empty room. He got up from the floor and turned to Ye Luo, asking harshly, “Is this Meng Qingxiang’s house?”

Ye Luo looked at the empty living room in disbelief. He quickly ran through the house, opening door after door, but every room was not only empty, but even the exquisite curtains that had once hung on the windows were gone.

“Where the hell did they go? I saw him drive back just the other day. The house was full of stuff!” Ye Luo spat on the floor, enraged.

“The other day? That’s impossible. I’ve been at the street corner these past few days, watching people get their heads shaved, and I didn’t see any big cars leave,” Miao Fuhai’s cousin said confidently. “It was only small cars that came and went.”

“Could it be haunted? A three-story western-style house, they can’t possibly move everything out without a sound,” one of the group suggested. Everyone stood around, confused, their earlier excitement gone. Some of the girls looked nervously at the darkening house, starting to feel uneasy. “Maybe we should just leave for now.”

Zhenzhen, who had been watching, smiled to herself. With a subtle motion, she beckoned. Soon, huge rats appeared from all directions, scurrying toward the front gate of Meng’s house. They lined up and entered the house through the door. Miao Fuhai’s sister, standing at the back, heard the growing rustling sound and remembered someone had mentioned ghosts. Her skin crawled.

Just as she was trying to figure out how to convince Miao Fuhai to retreat, she felt something tugging at her pants leg. Looking down, she saw two large rats climbing up her pants.

“Ah!” A scream echoed through the empty house, the sound bouncing off the walls.

Miao Fuhai jumped in surprise and turned to yell at her. But just then, he felt a tug on his leg. Looking down, he saw four or five rats circling his feet. He instinctively kicked one of them away. This only enraged the rats, and they swarmed at him, biting at his legs.

Pain surged through Miao Fuhai’s legs as the rats continued to attack. He looked at the eerie house and, too terrified to stay any longer, stumbled out, shaking off the rats. The group rushed outside, but the rats stayed in the yard, standing in a perfectly aligned row, staring at them.

Miao Fuhai glanced at the already dimming sky, then looked at the Western-style building next door. The lights were flickering inside, and there were faint shadows behind the curtains.

Ye Luo moved closer, looking at the beautiful Western-style house, feeling tempted: “Captain, how about we go to the house next door?”

Looking at the darkening sky and the rats in the yard, Miao Fuhai felt a bit scared: “This place feels a bit eerie. Let’s come back tomorrow.”

Ye Luo glanced at the shadow behind the curtains and asked worriedly, “What if the person runs away tonight?”

Seeing that no one was around, Miao Fuhai didn’t want to hide his feelings anymore. He suppressed his anger and said in a low voice, “We’re here for the stuff, not to care whether they leave or not.” He rubbed his still sore nose and explained, “Even if they leave tonight, they won’t be able to take much with them. Foolish boy, I’ll tell you—these capitalists have a lot of valuable things besides gold bars, silver bars, and renminbi. At that time, we can divide up everything from their house.” Looking at the people he brought, Miao Fuhai instructed, “We’ll leave early tomorrow morning to make sure no one gets there first.”

The group set a time and hurried off. Zhenzhen, looking at the rats all over the yard, couldn’t help but rub her goosebumps. The rats, startled, looked around and scattered.

The owner of the four Western-style buildings next door, after the arrival of the soldiers, noticed the activity. When they finally left, the owner hesitated but was about to wait a bit longer. However, seeing the bloodthirsty actions of the soldiers today, he regretted his indecision. At this point, he didn’t care about anything else. He hastily packed some important items and prepared to flee that very night.

Thinking about how the group would come tomorrow to raid the house, Zhenzhen didn’t want them to get anything, so she quickly grabbed eight large yellow fish. She hurriedly wrote four notes and wrapped them around the gold: “Two large yellow fish will buy all the items in your house. If you want to retrieve them, please place an ad in the newspaper. The code is today’s date.”

While they were busy moving things, Zhenzhen tossed the gold and notes into their car trunks, as if paying for the items. She had never been to these people’s homes, so she didn’t know whether their belongings were worth the gold, but at this moment, moving the stuff and preventing the soldiers from getting it was more important.

Once they left, Zhenzhen quickly appeared in the alley. Seeing the increasingly dark sky, she felt anxious. There was no time to pack things up, so she just hoped no one would show up tonight. Looking at the four Western-style buildings, Zhenzhen stomped her foot angrily: “If only I had a space like in novels, I could just move the buildings back without all this effort.”

No sooner had she spoken than the five Western-style buildings in front of her disappeared, leaving behind five large pits.

Zhenzhen was stunned: “What just happened…”

—

By the time the last traces of the sunset had disappeared, Zhenzhen finally arrived home. Grandma Li was standing at the door with a stern face. As soon as she saw Zhenzhen, she got even angrier: “You still know how to come back? Didn’t you see the sky is already dark? If you didn’t come back, I would’ve thought a tiger took you away.” Ming Bei was chopping firewood in the yard. When he heard this, he quickly stifled his laughter, his face turning red.

Zhenzhen heard the “puff puff” sound from the yard and didn’t have time to deal with Ming Bei. She grabbed Grandma Li’s hand, acting cute and making promises. Eventually, she made Grandma Li laugh, and Zhenzhen sighed in relief.

Grabbing Zhenzhen’s hand, Grandma Li pulled her toward the house while chattering, “It’s fine to play outside, but why didn’t you come back for lunch? Let me see…” Under the dim light in the kitchen, Grandma Li looked at Zhenzhen and her face twitched with concern: “Your face has gotten thinner.”

Zhenzhen helplessly looked at Grandma Li: “Grandma, you’re exaggerating.”

Wang Sufen poked her head out from the kitchen and angrily tapped Zhenzhen on the forehead: “This is what happens when you’ve never gone hungry. Playing so much you forget to eat. People like Ming Bei, who’ve been through hunger, may not remember much, but they never forget meal times. They’ll know when it’s time to eat no matter how far they run.”

“Mom, I won’t do it again next time,” Zhenzhen said quickly, hugging Wang Sufen’s arm and grinning.

Wang Sufen gave her a look of disapproval, but couldn’t help but smile. She lifted the lid from the pot on the stove, revealing a bowl of dumplings: “Your grandma was worried you’d starve, so she told me to make dumplings for you this afternoon.”

Zhenzhen quickly grabbed the bowl, picked up some dumplings, and stuffed one into her mouth. As she chewed, she mumbled, “Cucumber, egg, and black fungus filling.”

“Still know how to eat well.” Wang Sufen watched Zhenzhen enjoy the meal with a smile: “Go inside and eat, Ming Bei caught some fish today. Mom’s making braised fish for you, you can have some more later.”

Zhenzhen agreed and, still eating, carried the plate toward the room. Just as she sat on the kang (bed), she heard Ming Bei calling from the yard: “Second brother, third brother, why are you both back together?”

Hastily placing the plate and chopsticks on the cabinet, Zhenzhen rushed out. She saw Ming Xi and Ming Nan, each carrying a ceremonial set and a big bag.

Grandma Li had been talking about how Ming Nan should be home by now, but she didn’t expect Ming Xi to also return. Although Ming Xi graduated this year, he had attended a military academy, which was different from regular universities. Normally, students graduating from military academies would be assigned to different units, and this was the first time Ming Xi had returned directly.

“Why are you back?” Wang Sufen asked instinctively. Ming Xi’s eyes immediately reddened, and with a hoarse voice, he said, “Mom, the military academy was disbanded, and we’ve all been discharged.”

Before attending the military academy, Ming Xi had been a fair, delicate young man, but after his time there, he had become tanned, taller, and full of hard muscles. During the past few years, he hadn’t complained even when his shoulders had been scraped raw during training.

But now, being forced to leave the military, Ming Xi was truly upset. He wiped his tears in Grandma Li’s room for a long time, and Grandma Li didn’t know how to comfort him.

While preparing honey water for Ming Xi, Grandma Li quietly told the family: “Don’t ask about Ming Xi’s school, and don’t bring up finding him a job this month. He’s having a hard time coming to terms with it. Let him take his time.”

Wang Sufen quickly agreed, though she couldn’t help but worry: “Mom, do you think Ming Xi will get over it? I noticed he has dark circles under his eyes. He probably hasn’t slept well these past few days.”

Grandma Li sighed: “In time, he’ll be fine. People have to look forward.”

Originally, the return of the children should have been a joyful occasion, but due to the somber atmosphere surrounding Ming Xi’s situation, Zhenzhen ate her dumplings, followed by some fish, and excused herself to go to bed, saying she was tired from the day’s activities.

As she listened to the conversations in the other room, Zhenzhen sat on the kang, deep in thought. The five Western-style buildings had mysteriously disappeared, and she felt like it had something to do with her earlier words. But where had the buildings gone? Zhenzhen was completely confused.

What Zhenzhen didn’t know was that the “Morning Combat Team” was even more baffled. They stared at the empty plot of land, their legs shaking in fear: “Where did the house go? Where’s the garden? Oh my god, is this place haunted?!”

———

The author’s message:

Don’t worry about Ming Xi~~ Our Ming Xi majored in missile studies~~

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—The “Four Olds” (四旧) were traditional elements in Chinese society targeted for destruction during the Cultural Revolution. They included:

1. Old Customs – Traditional social practices and festivals.

2. Old Culture – Confucian values, old literature, and art.

3. Old Habits – Outdated behaviors and thinking.

4. Old Ideas – Traditional ideologies and beliefs.

The goal was to eliminate these to promote communist values.

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—”Bourgeois” refers to the middle class, especially those who own property or are involved in business. In Marxist theory, it represents the capitalist class that controls production, contrasting with the working class. It can also describe people with materialistic or conventional attitudes.