Luckily, he got wind of the hunting dogs closing in on the horizon. By this time, he already knew how the political hunt operated. Based on the Number One War Preparation Mobilization Command authorized by Deputy Commander-in-Chief Lin Biao, large numbers of personnel and their families had been sent to the countryside, and this was the sign of an even more thorough purge. The peaceful mood, despite the hard physical labor people were subjected to, swiftly vanished. With the arrival of the newcomers, hostility was reignited and replaced that bit of friendly solidarity that had developed. The old company, platoon, squad units, were dismantled and reorganized, and a branch of the Party was reestablished with cadres appointed by the Army Control Commission in Beijing. He had to watch for a chance to break through their siege and escape before the hunt closed in. In the middle of the night, he sneaked into the county town to send a telegram to his middle-school classmate Rong.

It is said that Heaven never cuts off the road for people. In his case, it was more like Heaven took pity and gave him a road out. In the afternoon, while everyone was working in the fields, he was in the empty dormitory, writing his confession. Someone was outside, so he put on an act and wrote down a few of Mao's sayings. The postal worker from the commune was on his bicycle in the square outside the door, shouting, "Telegram! Telegram!"

He ran outside; it was from Rong. He was smart: for "sender" Rong had written only the telegraphic registration number of the farm technology promotion station of the county where he worked. The message read: "In the spirit of the Party Center document on war preparation, it is agreed that such-and-such a comrade may settle down and work in the agricultural commune of our county. He must report immediately, before the end of the month, after which he will not be accommodated."

While everyone was still working in the fields, he rushed to the cadre-school office that was more than five kilometers away. No one was in the big room with a telephone and typewriter. The small inner room was where Officer Song worked and slept. The door was shut, and there was a rustling noise inside.

"Reporting to Officer Song!"

This was military practice, and he had learned well. After a while, Officer Song emerged in his army uniform, looking immaculate except for an undone hook-and-eye on his collar.

"I count as having graduated from this cadre school, but I am waiting for you to issue me with a certificate!"

He had thought this up on the way, and he said this in a casual manner and with a happy look on his face.

"What do you mean, you've graduated?" Officer Song had an unfriendly look on his face.

With a smile firmly fixed to his face, he presented the telegram in both hands. Officer Song took it with one hand. The man was barely literate and pondered over each word before finally looking up. But, no longer frowning, he said, "Quite right, it does accord with the spirit of the document. Do you have relatives there?"

"I'll be joining relatives and friends to make a living." He quoted verbatim from the war mobilization document transmitted by Officer Song, then hastened to add, "A friend there has arranged it. I'm going to a farming village to settle down permanently! I'll receive a thorough reeducation from the poor and lower-middle-class peasants and then marry a village girl. I can't stay a bachelor all my life!"

"Have you already found a girl?" Officer Song asked.

He detected friendliness, or, maybe, it was sympathy or understanding. Song was a farm villager when he joined the army, and, starting off as an army bugler, he would have had to tough it out before becoming the deputy operations staff officer of a regiment. His wife and children still lived in the village, and he only had two weeks of annual leave to visit his family, so, of course, he missed having a woman. The Army Control Commission had assigned him the hard task of supervising die work of this very large group of people. It was, indeed, a case of Heaven's will in the dark unknown that the deputy chairman of the Army Control Commission, Officer Pang, who was in charge of the purge, had finalized arrangements with the company Party branch secretaries and had hurried back to Beijing two days earlier.

"A friend has set up a girl for me, and, if I don't show up, the whole thing will fizzle out. People are doing hard labor everywhere, so, if I get myself a wife, I'll just set up a home!"

He had to say something that would appeal to Officer Song's village background.

"Quite right. But think about it properly, because, once you go, your Beijing resident permit will be revoked!"

Officer Song had stopped talking as a bureaucrat. He took a book of forms from his drawer, told him to fill it out, then shouted toward the inside room, "Little Liu, he needs a letter with an official stamp!

Hurry up and type the letter!"

The young telephone operator and typist emerged gracefully. The rubber bands tight against the back of her head made her freshly combed hair stand out in two bunches. She unlocked a drawer and took out the stamp, then, sitting on the stool in front of the type-writer, began striking one character at a time on the heavy keyboard. As Officer Song checked the letter, he hastened to ingratiate himself, "I'm the first person to graduate under Officer Song!"

"This damn place is all alkaline soil, and nothing will grow except wind and sand. It's not like my old home, where whatever you plant grows, so, it's not, in fact, a matter of it being hard labor everywhere!"

Officer Song eventually put a red stamp on the official letter. Many years later, he met a person who had worked with him in the cadre school and learned that, not long after he fled the place, this kindly Officer Song was caught without his trousers. They happened to shine a torch into the wheat field, and there he was, doing it with the telephone operator. They sent him back to the army. It was Officer Song's fate that his career in the army would be stunted, just like the wheat growing in that poor soil.

On the way back, he heard in the distance the chugging of a tractor plowing the soil and shouted out, "Hey, Tang!"

Tang, who used to ride a motorbike as a traffic officer in Beijing, had lost his job and now worked on the farm in the machinery squad, riding a tractor. He ran across the soft, loose soil and caught up with the tractor.

"Hey!" Tang raised an arm to greet him.

"I need your help." He was running alongside the tractor.

"In these turbulent times, when the clay Buddha statue is crossing the river, it's hard even for Buddha to protect himself. What is it? Be quick and don't let anyone see me talking to you, I've heard you're being investigated in your company."

"It's all right now! I've graduated!"

Tang stopped the motor. He climbed up onto the driver's platform and flashed his official letter with a red stamp in front of Tang.

"Right, let's have a smoke!"

"It's all thanks to the kindness of Officer Song," he said.

"You've managed to escape from the sea of suffering, so hurry up and get away."

"Can you help get my luggage to the county railway station at five o'clock tomorrow morning?"

"I'll get a truck. After all, you do have Officer Song's permission."

"Don't mention it to anyone, who knows what dangers are still lurking."

"I'll definitely be there with a truck. If there are any questions, I'll tell them to see Officer Song!"

"Remember, tomorrow morning, at five o'clock sharp!" He jumped down from the driver's platform.

"I'll sound the horn on the road near your dormitory, and you can get on board. Leave it to me, I won't let you down!" Tang said, beating his chest.

The tractor chug-chug-chugged into the distance. He took his time walking the remaining two or so kilometers as he worked out how to deal with this last night, and how to move his luggage and those heavy boxes of books with utmost speed from the dormitory onto the truck at dawn. He waited until dark, dawdled through the dinner period, and only showed up in the dormitory when people had started crowding around the well to draw water for a wash. He also had a wash, and, at the same time, collected all of his things. Before the lights went out and people had to be in bed, he called on the company Party secretary to present his documents for settling permanently in a farming village. The secretary, who had been newly appointed by the Army Control Commission, was sitting on a bench with his shoes off, washing his feet. Once again with an air of jest, he reverently announced to the room full of people, "Officer Song has approved my graduation, so I have come to bid farewell to all you comrades. This does not mean we will not meet again, but just that I am one step ahead. I'm going to be a real peasant, so that I can thoroughly reform myself!"