The Bridegroom

Guhan, a father of two children, expects a promotion at the vice cannery where he works. When he arrives at the cannery, Director Li calls Guhan into his office. Director Li asks Guhan to go to a coal mine in Taifu City to demand money the coal mine owes. Guhan must represent the cannery as a vice director. The trip to Taifu City, he believes, “might either finalize or cancel his promotion” (20).

Guhan takes a train to Taifu City and visits the coal mine. When he arrives, he finds there has been an accident in a tunnel. He returns the next morning, and Manager Ren, a “stout man with a double chin” (21), welcomes him. Manager Ren tells Guhan that he will wire the money the coal mine owes soon. Guhan asks for a written statement that confirms this, but Manager Ren says he cannot provide a statement. Guhan continues to press Manager Ren, who says that he’ll have a meeting with his colleagues regarding the debt.

Guhan returns the following day, but Manager Ren is out of the office. On the fourth day, Guhan returns, and Manager Ren tells Guhan that he does not have enough money to pay Guhan’s company. Guhan writes his daughter that night, suggesting she accept her admission to an agricultural school, because Guhan believes he will no longer receive his promotion to vice director.

That night there is an earthquake. Awakened, Guhan is thrown out of his hotel room, landing in a pile of glass outside the building. He breaks his wrist and goes to an apple tree, which he holds for support. The town shakes and collapses around him. He passes out.

The next afternoon, soldiers arrive and help Guhan. They ask him simple questions, but Guhan is unable to answer. He is only able to scream for help. The soldiers believe he has lost his mind. They place Guhan into a truck along with other speechless adults and children.

In a field hospital, a doctor asks Guhan what his name is, and he says, “Apple.” The doctor later diagnoses Guhan with amnesia. The doctors are unable to identify Guhan, so he must join a group of unidentified refugees. The refugees receive menial jobs, such as picking up trash around the hospital. When the hospital workers must go back to Yingkou City, the city of Taifu receives the unidentified refugees.

Sometime later, authorities enact an initiative called “Form New Families” (29), which urges those who have lost their spouses in the earthquake to remarry. This is meant to provide homes to the elderly and to children who have lost their parents in the earthquake.

Guhan’s bride is a woman in her 30s named Liu Shan who has lost her two children and her husband. They meet for the first time at the Civil Bureau and agree to marry one another without having had a conversation. The couple receive a four-year-old-boy named Mo. The wedding takes place near the Civil Bureau, alongside 21 other couples who are married at the same time. Many of the new couples appear somber. Guhan’s bride, Liu Shan, spills her drink on the mayor. The wedding ceremony ends quickly.

When they return home, Guhan approaches Liu Shan and puts a hand on her back, but she tells him not to touch her. She says, “I can’t do it tonight” (32). Guhan persists in his advances but Liu Shan refuses. Guhan grows angry and kicks a pot, and Liu Shan begins to cry. When Guhan comforts her, she explains that she is sad because she misses her family. She cries throughout the night.

Liu Shan cares for their adopted son, Mo, letting him eat as much as he wants despite low rations. Guhan feels lucky to have married such a good wife. Guhan wants to have another child with Liu Shan, but she refuses.

Walking home one evening, Guhan smells leek dumplings in the air, and the smell triggers a memory in him of his former family. He enters a restaurant and gradually remembers the names of his family members, his own name, and his former work at the cannery. After he remembers, he wonders whether he should return to his original family in Muji or stay in Taifu with his new family. He walks home. That night, after Liu Shan and Mo go to sleep, he leaves behind money and firecrackers and sneaks out of the house.

He arrives at his apartment and knocks on the door. At first his son does not recognize him, then he embraces him and sobs. Later, Guhan goes to his factory, but he finds both his prior position and the vice director position filled. The cannery leaders decide to retire Guhan on a pension.

Guhan and his wife go to live with his brother-in-law. Guhan becomes gloomy, wondering whether he should’ve stayed behind in Taifu with Liu Shan and Mo. 

During a nap, Shaona listens to Teacher Shen speak on the phone in the next room. The teacher is begging a doctor for more time to make a payment. She asks the doctor not to “tell anyone about the abortion” (44). Shaona wonders what an abortion is.

At 2:30pm, Teacher Shen gathers the students in the hallway. They head out to the turnip field behind the school, where Teacher Shen teaches the students how to collect purslanes. The teacher promises the students that they will eat sautéed purslanes for dinner that evening.

After showing the students what a purslane looks like, Teacher Shen assigns each student one row, and the students spread out and begin to search. A boy named Dabin comes up to Shaona and asks how many she has found. He shows her that he has found more than she has. Dabin tells other children that purslanes taste bad and give diarrhea. A girl named Weilan challenges him and swears at him and Dabin attacks her. The teacher comes over to ask who started the fight and Shaona points to Dabin. Teacher Shen takes Dabin by the ear and drags him to the “jail” (47), a cupboard in the kitchen where punished students sit for hours.

Shaona continues her search for purslanes along with the other students. In an hour and a half, the students have filled up an entire duffel bag of purslanes. Before they leave the field, the teacher gives nearly one third of the collection to an old man watching over the field named Uncle Chang.

Instead of purslanes for dinner, as promised, the students get their regular dinner of corn glue, sweet potatoes, and radishes. The students are upset. Teacher Shen takes the purslane harvest home with her. During the dinner, Dabin stares at Shaona. She realizes he is going to try and seek revenge for his punishment in the cupboard. While the children play in the yard, Shaona offers Dabin two long peanuts. He asks for more, and demands more treats in the future.

It rains the next morning, and the children muddy their clothes during play-time. Teacher Shen grows angry and cleans their clothes during nap-time. When Shaona wakes from her nap, she finds that her remaining peanuts are gone from her sweater pocket. Shaona cries, realizing Teacher Shen must have confiscated them. In the afternoon, the students go back out to the turnip field and gather more purslanes. Although there aren’t many left in the field, the students collect what remains.

Shaona is “sulky the whole time” (52). A rabbit appears and Teacher Shen orders the students to capture it. As the students chase the animal down, Shaona goes to the duffel bag filled with purslanes and pees in it. That night their dinner is “more of the usual” (53). Shaona is excited and eats a large meal. She is in such a good mood that she plays with the boys that evening and feels that she won’t cry at night anymore.