A Red Guard pushed the kitchen door open and yelled at me, “You’re having a feast, aren’t you? How much time have you been dawdling here? Come on, hurry up!”
Old Zhao and I followed them upstairs. Chen’s mother also followed us up. The Red Guards and the rebels who stayed behind wanted us to help wrap our own things so they could carry them away at any time. I couldn’t wait for them to get out of here, so I worked very hard to help them organize. The sight of these Red Guard rebels looming over me was harder to bear than the loss of my property. They seemed to be uncivilized savage creatures from another world, and I had nothing to say to them.
In the eyes of the Red Guard rebels, Lao Zhao was not among the class enemies. Although they thought he was not properly educated and his socialist consciousness was too low to willingly serve people like me. I saw them talking to him quite casually, and Lao Zhao did his best to get along with them. We were all sitting on the floor, wrapping up objects scattered all over the place, and the Red Guards were talking excitedly about their trip to Beijing to be received by Chairman Mao. A few of them, who had participated in the “August 18” (August 18, when Mao Zedong reviewed the Red Guards at the Tiananmen Square), spoke proudly and eloquently, describing their experiences in detail. They also talked about how the troops in Beijing received them warmly, provided them with meals and lodging, issued them with uniforms, and trained them how to participate in the parade. The head of the army also personally chose the relevant quotes and slogans for the Red Guards.
Their conversations were intriguing. This seems to indicate that it was the PLA who supported and guided the actions of the Red Guards behind the scenes during the Cultural Revolution.
When the objects were all wrapped and ready, the truck came. To my disappointment, the Red Guards stayed after the truck left.
One of the female rebels said to me, “You must stay in the house and not leave, the Red Guards will take turns to watch you.”
I was shocked and angry. I asked, “What right do you have to imprison me here?” Excessive disappointment made me tremble all over.
“I have the rights of a rebel faction.”
“Unless you have written orders in hand.” I said, trying my best to restrain my trembling voice.
“Why do you have to run out? Where are you going? If a woman like you walked out at this moment, you’d be beaten alive by people. We are keeping you at home to protect you. We gave Old Zhao permission to stay and buy food for you. Do you know the situation outside? The Cultural Revolution has reached a new climax.”
“I don’t have to go outside. But this is a matter of principle.”
“What matter of principle? If you don’t want to go outside, what’s all the fuss about? You must stay here until we make a deal. That’s an order.”
After saying that, she swaggered away. I was furious, but there was nothing I could do.
At night, they allowed me to put my own bedspring mattress on the floor for sleeping. In the empty closet, only a few replacement clothes and a sweater were left hanging. In one corner of the room was a suitcase containing my winter clothes. There was also a grass-green canvas bag with my winter blankets and bedding. Apart from the kitchen table and chairs, the only furniture left were two chairs and a small coffee table. The Red Guards occupied the two remaining chairs outside the door of the room and watched me discreetly. So I had to sit on a mattress on the floor, and they opened the door to monitor my movements from time to time, so I could only enjoy a little privacy in the shower room.
They allowed my daughter to stay in her room, but she was not allowed to talk to me. It was also rare for her to come home. Because of the increasing number of meetings at the factory, she had to be there for the Cultural Revolution. Every evening I left the door gently open a little in the hope that we could meet when she came home and passed by the door of her room on her way upstairs. On the nights she came home, we always tried to see each other. It was the only comfort I could get. Every night that I saw my daughter, I slept more soundly.
Lao Zhao still bought food for me, but they forbade me to eat with Lao Zhao and Man Ping. Those Red Guards lined up the duty roster to watch me in turn. During the day, they all went home to eat, leaving one or two Red Guards to sleep in bunks outside my room at night.
Two days after I was placed under house arrest, Chen’s mother’s daughter came from overseas to Shanghai to take her home. We said goodbye to each other with tears in our eyes. Chen’s mother wanted to leave me a woolen undershirt that she had knitted herself, but the Red Guards chided her for not being aware and forbade her to give it to me. “She doesn’t have enough winter clothes and her health is not good, you know?” Chen’s mother begged the Red Guards bitterly.
“Can you carry it off? She is a class enemy, and you care whether she has enough winter clothes or not.” The Red Guards said.
Chen’s daughter seemed to be very afraid of the Red Guards, and she kept urging her to leave the place. But Chen’s mother said, “I must say goodbye to my sister.” As she said that, her tears were flowing down her face.
One of the Red Guards got impatient. She said to Chen’s mother in a critical tone: “Haven’t you stayed here long enough? She is the daughter of the class enemy, and you still want to say goodbye to her?”
I put my arms around Chen’s shoulders and prepared to embrace her for the last time. She cried out loudly. The Red Guards pulled my arms away and pushed Chen’s mother and her daughter out. Old Zhao helped them take their luggage out and called a tricycle for them.
In order to understand the situation outside, I read the newspaper that Lao Zhao left in the kitchen every day with a hunger. One night when I went into the kitchen to eat dinner, I saw an oil-printed leaflet on a chair that read “Red Guard Newsletter”. The main headline read “Resolutely Fight the Rampant Attack of the Class Enemy”. It intrigued me, and I wanted to read it to understand. Seeing that no one was around, I secretly stuffed it into my pants pocket and took it to the shower afterwards to read it quietly. Since then, I always pay close attention to the scraps of paper dropped by the Red Guards. Because these Red Guard leaflets were exaggerated propaganda of bourgeois and revisionist crimes. In the course of their fight against these enemies, they must have leaked some information about the impacted Communist leaders, the names of which have not been released to the public so far. I was particularly interested in the reports accusing the leaders of the Shanghai Municipal Committee and the municipal government of trying to “oppose” or “sabotage” Mao’s instructions. From the contents of these leaflets, it appears that the struggle between the two factions of the Party is more intense than I had imagined. The bulletins and leaflets published by the Red Guards were uncensored and therefore inadvertently gave away some of the inner struggles of the Party.
After a week of house arrest at home, I asked the Red Guards: How long would I be imprisoned? and asked them to let me go for a walk in the garden. After they spoke to my superiors on the phone, I was allowed to go for a walk in the garden. Sometimes I just sat on the steps of the terrace with Frosha in my arms. They no longer seemed to care about the crime of Frosha biting the head of the rebellion, and sometimes they played with Frosha themselves.
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