In the Pond by Ha Jin

kindled his anger, but he forced himself to remain unperturbed. He kept saying to himself, a strong man must be able to stoop and stand up according to circumstances. Housing is something outside yourself and shouldn’t be valued too much.
    Without Bin’s knowledge, that afternoon the official news of his admission had arrived. It indeed came like thunder and blew up the leaders’ plan to make a jackass of him in the eyes of the plant. Shao Bin had done it again!Whatever you called him, a lunatic or a mad dog, you couldn’t deny he was bursting with talent and energy and was a scholar by nature. With only five years’ education, he had tackled those difficult exams and got admitted to a college, whereas every one of the commune’s three hundred high-school graduates had flunked the exams this year. Who could deny that Shao Bin had an extraordinary mind?
    The leaders, especially Ma, felt they should have let Bin do the propaganda work; such a conciliatory gesture on their part could have prevented the hostility between Bin and them from mounting up.
    “You know what,” Ma said to Liu on their way to Workers’ Park, “we should’ve made better use of this odd man and given him an apartment last year.”
    “Yes, but it’s too late now,” Liu said thoughtfully. “He’s already our deadly enemy. From now on, we must be very careful when dealing with him, or he’ll capsize our boat. Who could foretell he’d grow into such a big fish?”
    Ma made no further comment and parted company with Liu. He and his wife had saved four thousand yuan for their youngest daughter’s college education, but year after year the girl failed the exams. Shao Bin, this wizard of a fitter, had made it with only two weeks’ preparation. What could you say? You had to admit he was a tremendous learner at least. In his heart Ma couldn’t help but respect Bin. It seemed there was simply no way to stopthis weird fellow, and sooner or later he would become somebody.
    At dinner Ma told his wife of the news. Mrs. Ma was amazed and upset at the same time, because two days ago they had been informed that their daughter was thirty points below the admission standard. This meant they would have to send her to the preparatory school in Gold County again the next year.
    “How come it was so easy for him?” she asked her husband, chewing spinach.
    “Beats me.”
    “You know, this will be big news in town. Are you going to let him go?” Her bulbous nose was wet with beads of perspiration.
    “I don’t know. Liu Shu and I haven’t talked about it yet.”
    “I think you should let him go this time. If you don’t, he’ll remember you for the rest of his life. He’ll take more revenge. Who wouldn’t?” She thrust a spoon of stewed potatoes into the mouth of their two-year-old grandson, who was sitting in her lap.
    Ma didn’t say another word and kept eating his corn porridge. It was his principle that his wife shouldn’t interfere with his work. He picked up a fried loach with his chopsticks and sipped the sorghum liquor from his cup. Though he tried not to think of the admission for the moment, his wife’s words were sinking in. He had fivechildren and a grandson and two granddaughters; for them he had better accumulate some virtuous deeds, so that people would treat them well after he left this world. Shao Bin would ruin them if he hurt him too much.
    The moment the Mas finished dinner, Bin and Meilan arrived. Mrs. Ma poured them each a cup of jasmine tea and then went to the kitchen to do the dishes. Bin was shocked that the leaders had heard of the admission. Ma told him the letter hadn’t been discussed yet. Bin begged him to raise his noble hands just this once and let him go; Ma said that he was not inclined to keep him here and that the admission was also an honor to the plant.
    To a certain extent Ma felt for Bin, because he had hit his crotch in the theater, even though Bin thought it was Liu who had done that. “I’ll talk