Mr. Wu You
Translated by Howard Goldblatt
1.
Not until the two middle-aged policemen in white uniforms and their young skirt-clad female partner showed up did the villagers reluctantly recall Mr. Wu You. That bygone episode, like a maiden's lost chastity, stirred the people's emotions. And since their recollections were triggered by the introduction into their lives of the three outsiders, village elders were quick to tell youngsters eager to revisit the painful past, "Time erases all memories."
Thanks to the three uniformed guests, the villagers learned of such things as handcuffs and, so they were told, alarm sirens. A sense of security accrued from the presence of the outsiders, even though they were not above putting on airs at times. One of their favourite pastimes was getting farmers to stop work, either out in the woods or in the shade of the high walls, to relate obscure details regarding Mr. Wu You. They failed to get the answers they sought, not because the people were so uninformed but because they were so blasé. Nothing excited the people of the village. I, on the other hand was eager to work with the outsiders. I still recalled how the condemned man was shot that morning.