Dragon Seed Page #3

And so is my bed, and I must get to it.

She still is not cured.

Wait 500 heartbeats. Then go to her.

I will have my shadow

to walk home with.

Yes, the moon is round tonight

and the color of a ripe peach.

I have read that the Earth, too, is round.

You have told me that

but one thing troubles me.

How is it then if the world is round

that men on the bottom side can walk?

Everything is opposite there.

Children are born

with white hair and blue eyes.

Scholars begin to the write

from the wrong side of the page...

...and youth is admired instead of age.

So why can we not believe they walk

with their heads hanging down?

And enjoy it too.

Old woman, have you ever thought

that somewhere very far below...

...the spot where we stand,

our land goes on and on...

...until at last a stranger stands on it?

And plants seed and takes his harvest

from it as though it were his own?

But it is not. It is ours.

And our sons' after us.

Yes, the land is ours

as deep as it goes beneath our feet.

And the stars above our heads belong to us,

and whatever there is beyond them.

But I'm troubled

about that stranger on our land.

Somewhere he reaps his grain

without telling you.

- You should ask him for rent.

- That I would do.

I would have the law on him

if I knew how to tell him so.

Do not be troubled, my son.

It is often good to beat a woman.

Oh, yes. Yes, my mother.

Old man, there is something here and now

that troubles me.

It is Jade.

Orchid is stupid

but she does what I tell her to do.

While Jade...

I do not think I like her.

Do you know why? Because

she is the same as you are yourself.

No man can tell what will come out of her.

And here is another thing:

Our second son will never tire of her

as I have never tired of you.

This is the first time

I found you waiting for me.

Who will speak first, then?

You. Ask me what you will.

Well, then...

What are you thinking all day?

I think 20 and 30 things at a time.

My thoughts are like a chain,

and one is fast to the other.

- But what are they?

- I think of the bird and how it flies.

And why is it I cannot lift myself

above the earth.

But now, what are you thinking now?

Now?

I think nothing.

Well, then...

...what did you think of me

the first time you saw me?

- I cannot remember.

- No, I mean... I mean...

...after we were married.

I was glad you were taller than I.

For a woman, I am too tall.

No, you are not.

Then what did you think?

And then I wondered

what you thought of me.

But you knew that I wanted you.

- And then I wondered...

- Yes?

I wondered if you would give me

the thing I would have.

Tell me. I will buy it for you.

Buy?

Perhaps all the things I want

cannot be bought.

All women like presents.

Tell me what it is.

I want...

Earrings.

Yes, that is it. A pair of earrings.

I will buy them for you tomorrow.

- Now have I made you happy?

- Yes.

No. You have not made me happy.

I do not want earrings.

But there is something that can be bought

that I would have.

- Buy me a book.

- A book?

- But you cannot read.

- I can read.

- Women like you never read.

- I learned.

A word or two at a time. My brother

could read and I learned from him.

A little every day.

But I have no book of my own.

I never thought to see a woman read

in this house.

There must be changes even in a household

if there is to be life and growth.

I do not know that.

My mother and my father have done well.

- But they are of the old. We are of the new.

- Oh, I am not sure if I am of the new.

I will buy you the book.

- You are angry?

- There is no room in my mind for anger.

It is...

It is just that I do not understand.

- Ten thousand greetings, Mr. Chow.

- Thank you.

- You are well, young sir?

- Yes.

- I would see my brother-in-law, Wu Lien.

- He is within. He takes his morning rest.

Are all asleep in this house?

I greet you, my brother-in-law.

And your honored mother.

Welcome, welcome. Sit down.

Here's your second brother,

mother of my children.

- Sit down, sit down.

- Thanks.

Well, then, you're a farmer

and one who looks it.

The dirt is still beneath your fingernails.

My brother, how are the old ones

and all of the others?

- Well, thank you.

- Tell me...

...is my sister-in-law, Jade,

with child yet?

Can it be you take no interest?

It would seem

you take interest enough for both.

- My interest will never make him a father.

- No.

But you are hungry. I can tell.

In each generation,

a city man should do as I have done.

Take for a wife

a woman from the country.

Thus the line...

Thus the line is kept strong and hard.

And here is the proof of your wisdom.

Brother-in-law?

Will you dip into your wisdom

and tell me a thing?

- Yeah?

- I know you're a man who reads.

Yes. Yes, I read.

Often in the winter to warm my blood.

Sometimes in the summer to cool it.

If you were to buy a book,

what book would it be?

Well, there are books for every need.

If a man wishes to read secretly

for his own private pleasure...

...there are books for that.

No? Well then,

for what is your book wanted?

I married my woman thinking her

like any other one and...

Now I find out she can read

and wants a book.

So.

You're only a woman,

mother of my children...

...but if you could read,

what would you like to read?

- I never thought...

- I have thought of the one.

It has everything in it. The good prosper

and the wicked are punished.

The name of the book

is All Men Are Brothers.

- Thank you. I will remember what you...

- Sir.

Sir. Sir, there is something.

- As before?

- Worse than before. Much louder, sir.

They said they have warned you many times

and their patience is at an end.

These students cause trouble.

An honest merchant

cannot live in peace these times.

Well, what is this?

We ask you once more,

do not deal with the Japanese.

We're at war. You cannot buy and sell

Japanese goods and call yourself a patriot.

Do you ask me

to stop breathing in and out?

There's a call for these,

and a profit in them.

Save your breath for arguments

you can win.

Then we must speak to you

in words you can hear.

- Leave nothing.

- Stop. You are vandals. Stop.

Destroy all Japanese goods.

We must make him understand

what he has done.

Bandits. Thieves.

You'll pay for this. Thieves.

This is the only way to make him see.

What's happens here will happen

to every shop that sells Japanese goods.

No. No.

Wu Lien walks hand in hand

with those who deal in your blood.

I'm only a merchant.

Why do you destroy my goods?

He pays for Japanese goods in money

that'll come back to us in pain and death.

No, no, I deal only in innocent things

that harm no one.

This man, Wu Lien,

loves his cash box above his country.

That is not true. That's not true.

Turn away from this traitor

as you would turn from the Japanese.

Come.

How can you say that?

Can it be that the thing

I have done all my life...

...is now held against me as a crime?

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