Song Gang timidly responded, "Is it the same zhu that appears at the beginning of chairman, as in ‘Chairman Mao?'"
"Correct!" Song Fanping said. "You're very clever."
At this Baldy Li exclaimed, "He didn't raise his hand."
Song Fanping said to Song Gang, "He's right, you didn't raise your hand, but you can raise it now."
Song Gang quickly raised his hand. He asked anxiously, "Is it too late to raise my hand?"
Song Fanping laughed. "Of course not."
On this day the boys learned five characters. They first learned land, then the zhu character in "Chairman Mao." They finally understood what the placard said: It was that Song Fanping was the chairman of the land.
Song Fanping and his placard had to travel together every day. He took the placard with him in the morning and came back with it in the evening, just like those women who brought their grocery bags to work and back. Baldy Li and Song Gang still roamed freely exploring the entire town. They had been absolutely everywhere, even visiting places where only ducks, chickens, cats, and dogs went. The streets were still overgrown with red flags and dotted with people as numerous as the hairs on a cow, who dispersed at the end of every day like an audience at the end of a movie. Gradually, more and more people appeared wearing dunce hats and bearing wooden placards. Initially, Song Fanping had been the only one sweeping the streets in front of the middle school, but he was joined a few days later by two other teachers. They stood next to Song Fanping, all three in a row, wearing placards around their necks. One of the two teachers was a bespectacled, scrawny old man, whose placard bore the word LAND-LORD, just like Song Fan-pings. This made Baldy Li and Song Gang very excited. They said to him, "So you're also a Chairman Mao of the land."
The children's words caused the teacher to tremble. His face turned as white as a corpse, and he said to them, "I'm a landlord, I'm a bad man. Please hit me, please yell at me, please criticize me."
Baldy Li and Song Gang often spotted Sun Wei, Victory Zhao, and Success Liu practicing their sweeping leg kicks. The three middle-schoolers spent just about every day under a wutong tree by the side of the road, hugging the tree while practicing their kicks around its trunk. Sun Wei could actually circle the entire tree while kicking continuously. His movements resembled a theater troupe performer's as his long hair blew in the breeze. Victory Zhao and Success Liu could kick only about halfway around the tree before landing on their butts or dropping their raised legs midkick. Therefore, Sun Wei became their coach. Running his fingers through his hair, he would repeat what Song Fanping had taught them: "Quicker, quicker. Only when your moves are swift can you perform the three moves as one."
Baldy Li and Song Gang strutted past. They knew that these three were still missing a move, since only they knew the real sweeping leg kick. Song Fanping hadn't taught the others the real deal, having saved the most important part for the two of them. So they would walk back and forth hand in hand, watching the middle-schoolers and giggling.
The students were so absorbed in their kicks that they didn't notice that the two snot-faced little boys were secretly laughing at them. The long-haired Sun Wei started to practice circling the tree twice without stopping. Once he was going so fast he lost control, and his entire body went flying.
Baldy Li and Song Gang couldn't contain their laughter. The middle-schoolers stalked over to them, glaring. Sun Wei, covered with dust and dirt, got up, walked over to them, and spat out, "What the fuck are you laughing at?"
Baldy Li and Song Gang weren't at all scared of him. Song Gang raised his head. "We're laughing at your sweeping leg kick."
"Heh." Long-haired Sun Wei looked back at his mates oddly, saying, "How dare he laugh at my kick?"
Song Gang scoffed to Baldy Li, "His sweeping leg kick?"
Baldy Li chuckled and also scoffed, "His sweeping leg kick?"
Baldy Li's and Song Gang's cocky attitude astonished the older boys, who exclaimed, "Fuck!"
Song Gang said evenly, "Let me tell you guys. There's a move my father didn't teach you, but he taught it to us."
"Fuck!" the students retorted. Sun Wei added, "So you're saying that you also know the sweeping leg kick?"
Song Gang pointed at Baldy Li. "We both know it."
The three middle-schoolers burst out laughing. They looked over Baldy Li and Song Gang. "You know the sweeping leg kick? You're still as short as our dicks."
Long-haired Sun Wei said to Song Gang, "So sweep for me."
Song Gang said, "You stand steady first."
Sun Wei looked even more astonished. He turned to Victory Zhao and Success Liu. "He wants me to stand steady? Fuck, he thinks he can sweep me off my feet?"
Amid their snorts and laughter, Sun Wei stood in front of Song Gang. First he stood with his legs apart, then he brought them together again, and finally he ended up perched on one leg. He asked Song Gang, "So how do you want me to stand?"
Song Gang pointed to the ground. "Stand on both legs."
Sun Wei grinned and lowered his leg. Song Gang turned to Baldy Li. "You want to kick first? Or shall I?"
Baldy Li wasn't so sure of himself, so he said to Song Gang, "You go first."
Song Gang backed up a few steps and made a running start to sweep-kick Sun Wei's leg like a bunny rabbit kicking a dog. Long-haired Sun Wei just stood there smirking while Song Gang bounced to the ground like a rubber ball. Song Gang got up again, unable to understand what had happened, and looked over uncertainly at Baldy Li. At this point Baldy Li realized the truth about his and Song Gang's sweeping leg kicks, but Song Gang was still completely in the dark. The three middle-schoolers roared, and their laughter caused Baldy Li's insides to tremble. With a smile, Sun Wei swept out his leg and flipped Song Gang over. He said to Baldy Li, "See, now that's a sweeping leg kick."
The revolutionary crowds in Liu Town saw the three middle-schoolers kicking the two little preschoolers and scolded them furiously, saying that they were oppressing the weak, just like the military in the old society. Victory Zhao and Success Liu didn't dare reply, but long-haired Sun Wei argued, "They are landlord Song Fanping's sons. They are little landlords."
The revolutionary masses were silenced. They watched as Baldy Li and Song Gang again and again fell to the ground until both of them simply lay there, unable to get up. Sun Wei, Victory Zhao, and Success Liu were drenched in sweat and breathing heavily, but they gathered around Baldy Li and Song Gang, laughing and shouting at them to stand up again. The brothers had nothing left in them. They couldn't stand up, so they lay on the ground, saying, "We're just fine lying here."
Once they said this, they immediately realized how to escape the middle-schoolers’ sweeping leg kicks, which was simply to stay lying on the ground. No matter how the older boys kicked them, cursed them, and threatened them, they steadfastly refused to get up. Finally the three middle-schoolers resorted to trickery, saying, "If you get up, we won't kick you anymore."
Baldy Li and Song Gang didn't fall for this and continued lying in the street. Sun Wei pointed at an electrical pole, trying to lure Baldy Li up. "Hey, kid, go over to the pole and vent some of your sex drive."
Baldy Li shook his head. "I don't have any sex drive now."
Victory Zhao and Success Liu also encouraged him. "If you go and rub a few times, you'll get your sex drive."