Prologue
The sun shone on the backs of the shirtless boys who laughed, pushing each other in that one little river, surrounded by shrubs and trees. One of the boys had pure red skin, a large yellow star just barely on his eyelid, and four others on the other side of his face, forming an arc around the largest star. He was the oldest of eight children, four boys and two girls. The oldest, China, who was 15 years of age, followed by Mongolia who was 14 years of age, North Vietnam and South Vietnam both 12 years of old, Taiwan at 6 years, Cambodia at 3 years, Thailand at 1, and Laos at 2 months.
Cambodia and South Vietnam were the two girls. The four oldest boys were having normal boy fun in the rivers, pushing each other in the water, splashing all about, daring each other to do various things. Very normal.
These were the times when being a Countryhuman wasn't outlawed. A time when they were free.
China laughed until his lungs felt like they were on fire, stumbling out of the river while his brothers were still playing in the water, and his sisters were at home, studying or something he didn’t know. He panted, but knelt down, searching in each groove of his body to look for ticks.
He didn’t want a tick at any cost, as he had heard about people getting nasty illnesses from them. After he checked himself, he grabbed a towel that was hanging on a man made railing, shaking the towel in case there were any bugs, and Dried himself off, running up the mountain to their little home in the thick bush. He slowly opened the door to their shikumen style house, one of the newer models.
When China entered the house, he could hear Ma and Ba, but they were yelling, fighting, not what he expected… He suddenly felt bad for his 4 younger siblings, for they were not used to the constant fighting and bickering. China wasn’t used to it either, but he could deal with it better than his younger siblings definitely could. He sighed, creeping closer to his parents room, straining to hear the barely muted words on the other side of the thin thin walls. He pressed his head against the door, breathing as quiet as he could so as to not get caught.
“We can’t move! We don’t have enough money! And for a farm? What kind of opium are you on!?” He heard Ma shout, evident anger in her voice.
“Chun Hua, we have enough money! I have all that gold from my old empire, and plus we can just blend in as a normal family! I don’t get why it matters to you.” Ba huffed gruffly. China could basically see Ba folding his arms, his eyebrows knitted tightly together to show his frustration. He knew Ba probably wasn’t doing this, but he couldn’t help but infer what may be happening. His father rarely got mad before, or at least at China for he was the favored older child, so he had barely any memory of Ba getting mad at anything.
It was always Ma who had such a terrible temper, getting mad at anyone and anything in the room she felt fit.
China had expected Ma to be one of the kind of moms who beat her kids when drunk, but instead she would just sit there, taking a swig of her red wine or her rice wine, and sometimes she’d cry, but most of the time she’d just look distant. As if she were dead… or as if everyone around her were dead. Merely ghosts.
He found it odd, but he was used to it. He’d grown up with the concept that his parents were heavy drinkers, and that they drank often, often late into the night, and it didn’t get better when Ma had gotten pregnant with Laos. Laos was only two months old, yet he was already a trouble maker and obviously Ma wasn’t having any of it.
China could tell she was so close to taking all the money and leaving. She could just decide it one night and then she’d steal one of the horses and ride North to the Soviet Union and into Mongolia, if she were still alive by then.
“If we’re going to move, it’ll be better to move to Hong Kong. I don’t get what’s wrong with you. What’s better, staying in one place because of family or freedom in a different place!? You are so delusional.”
“You only want to run away with my money!” There was this stupid fight again. China had heard it so many times before. “That’s all you care about! Money and freedom! You don’t care about family at all. It’s as if you have no feelings for other people at all! This is why I should still be emperor! I actually helped people! I didn’t let my soldiers kill anyone they liked!”
“Oh, shut up, we all know you were a terrible emperor.” Ma said bitterly, poison spewing out of every word.
“I had an amazing economy and you know it. You didn’t live when my country was at its richest. You have no say in how good my country was.”
“Yea, well I know stories from other people who were under your stupid rule-”
“SHUT UP. SHUT UP. YOU ALWAYS SAY, “Mao said this, xing said that,” STOP. JUST STOP. You don’t know shit, sha bi.”
China visibly cringed at the swear. Probably not the best thing to call Ma when she was in a bad temper.
“Oh, you…”
China could hear the sneer in her voice, and he could feel her pure hatred towards Ba.
She continued, almost yelling every word. “I’m getting OUT of this stupid STUPID HOUSE. I’m taking your money and LEAVING ONCE AND FOR ALL.”
China certainly hadn’t expected this. He felt shooken. Not the way you’d think, he felt…empty somehow. He felt sad. Ma was going to leave. Even though she had always been so mean and cruel, he somehow felt like a part of himself was disappearing.
“Fine. You can have a LITTLE bit of the money. Only 100,000 Yuan. That’s enough for you and you only. And then the kids and I will live on a farm, and prosper more than you ever will in your stupid future. Bye, Chun Hua.”
China couldn’t believe his ears. His mother was leaving… but when? And they were going to move! To a farm!? He felt terrified. He couldn’t leave! He had a whole life here! His friends were too important. His girlfriend! They couldn’t move! They just couldn’t…
He stumbled away from the door, his breathing getting faster. He couldn’t… he couldn’t leave his whole world behind! But they were. And he could hear a little bit more chatter on the other side of the door, but he didn’t stay to listen. He couldn’t. He couldn’t handle it anymore. He hated his mother. He hated her for leaving, for making Ba move them. He just… he hated life.
He clenched his fist, and quietly hurried into his room, burying himself into his bedsheets. He didn’t want to think about any of it. He closed his eyes tight, his breathing slowed, and his heart rate decreased, in a light slumber.
