Chapter 7#

The Three Young Masters of Yuquan Road#

Chu Xun grew up in a military compound at the foot of the Western Hills, a veritable child of a military family and the compound.

In Beijing in the early 1980s, not long after the reform and opening up, everything was waiting to be rebuilt. Outside the Third Ring Road, the capital wasn’t particularly prosperous. Large swathes of low residential houses could be seen everywhere. Huge billboards by the roadside proclaimed “The Road of Socialism with Chinese Characteristics” in bright colors. Iron-gray wires strung between wooden utility poles hummed and buzzed in the north wind, under a sky of pure, pale blue.

Beijing at that time still retained much of the Soviet-style urban planning from the 1950s. Surrounding the old city center were numerous military and government dormitory compounds. West of Muxidi were the Navy Headquarters, Air Force Headquarters, General Logistics Department, General Political Department, General Staff Department, 301 Hospital, 304 Hospital, and the Air Force Command College. To the northwest were the compounds of ministries and commissions such as the Planning Commission, the National Bureau of Statistics, the Ministry of Aerospace, the Ministry of Water Resources, and the Ministry of State Security.

The military compounds were all enclosed by high walls. The front yard was for offices, and the back yard was for family dormitories. At the gate, PLA soldiers stood guard with guns. These young soldiers lived in the barracks next to Zizhuyuan Park. Every morning, dressed in military uniforms, wearing military caps, and carrying guns on their shoulders, they marched in unison with neat steps, setting off in a mighty contingent to the gates of various compounds to change the guard. It was quite majestic.

Chu Xun grew up watching these young soldiers in uniform goose-stepping to change the guard.

Every morning, hearing the commands from downstairs in the distance, he would jump out of bed. Afraid of the cold, he would wrap himself in his small quilt, stand on the edge of the bed, wipe the condensation off the window with his hand, and watch from afar the teams of tall, upright, and handsome young soldiers at the compound gate…

Chu Xun had admired heroic and handsome boys since he was little, a natural sense of intimacy.

This compound near Yuquan Road was the family compound for officers of the 38th Army of the Beijing Military Region. In the illustrious ace 38th Army, the families and children of high-ranking and meritorious generals, political commissars, and officers of subordinate divisions and regiments all lived in this compound.

Chu Xun’s father, Chu Huaizhi, was a division commander in the 38th Army at the time. His grandfather was a retired veteran cadre. There were two grandsons in the family, and Chu Xun was the second. Chu Xun’s grandfather, the old general surnamed Gu living upstairs in their building, and the old man surnamed Shen in the next building were comrades-in-arms and colleagues back in the day. The three families had always been on good terms. Because of this, Chu Xun had known Shao Xiaojun (Shao Jun) and Shen Bowen since the days he ran around upstairs and downstairs in split-crotch pants.

The fathers were stationed in the troops and barracks all year round, with no time to take care of and supervise their children, so the kids were left to their grandparents. Shen Bowen’s father was in a certain armed police unit in the suburbs of Beijing at that time and couldn’t manage the child, while Shao Jun was raised at his maternal grandfather’s house. These three kids naturally came together, playing on the same kang since childhood, and were later sent to the same military kindergarten.

Each family compound was like an independent small society, a closed city, with everything needed and self-sufficient. Interpersonal relationships here were simple and intimate. Families saw each other all the time, knew each other too well, recognized each other’s children, and loved to gossip.

Among this group of children of similar age, Little Xunxun was the most likable and lovable one, recognized by everyone in the compound.

Little Bowen was too naughty, and Little Junjun, well, loved to cry too much.

When adults carried Little Bowen out, uncles and aunties would pinch him and coax, “Call me Uncle, call me Auntie.”

Little Bowen would blink his big eyes, grunt for a while, turn his head, and refuse to call anyone. Then he would start squirming up and down; he had ADHD. In the blink of an eye when adults weren’t watching, this kid could crawl and run all the way to the reception room. Catching people off guard, he would hug the leg of the young soldier on sentry duty, gnaw, bite, and drool all over, making the young soldier scream in terror, “Child, whose child is this? He’s biting—”

When Little Junjun was carried out to sunbathe, Junjun was dressed fashionably and beautifully, wearing a small hat with a pink pompom. Aunties and grannies liked him the most, pinching his arms and cheeks, “Call me Auntie.”

Junjun was delicate. After being pinched and ravaged for a while, he couldn’t hold it back anymore. His mouth twitched, lips trembled, and mist quickly filled his eyes, “Wah!!!!!!”

Cried.

Other kids would cry for two minutes and be fine after some coaxing. Not Shao Jun. Once Shao Jun started crying, it would last for half a day, extremely stubborn. He would cry from noon all the way until the cafeteria opened for dinner in the evening, as if he had suffered a huge grievance. His wailing spread from the compound’s open space to the entire family dormitory area, his grievance shaking the heavens and earth. Thus, he got the nickname “Little Crybaby”. No one dared to provoke or tease him.

Among the three children, Little Xunxun was the most pleasing. He didn’t like to cry or make a fuss since childhood. He was smart, sensible, and had a very sweet mouth.

“Auntie—hello.”

“Uncle—hello.”

“Grandpa—”

Chu Xun had lovely features and a crisp voice. When greeting people, he would drag out the sound, his eyes and mouth curving into a smile. This little person was born delicate, with long fingers and legs, wearing a suit vest and trousers tailored specially for him. When held in an adult’s arms, Little Xunxun would twist his waist flexibly and elegantly, turn his head, his black eyes lively, greeting everyone he saw. He let people knead him all over, inside and outside his crotch, behaving very obediently.

Chu Xun didn’t cry because he felt crying wasn’t worth it.

Not crying meant getting candy, kisses from aunties, and various benefits. What was good about crying? After crying, eyes would hurt and the throat would be ruined. Little Second Chu had his own ideas since childhood and wouldn’t do things that put him at a disadvantage.

When he was little, he had a red mole on his brow, a trademark brought from the womb.

It grew right above his right eyebrow, a small rose-red mole, embellishing his pink-and-white face. His hair was soft and naturally curly, making him look like a big mixed-race doll, unforgettable at first sight.

The military region compound opened a kindergarten specifically for its own children. The young masters of the three families were sent to the military kindergarten in the same year, returning to their grandparents’ homes every day, growing up slowly together.

On weekends, the three children played with toys on a bed at Shen Bowen’s grandfather’s house.

The play usually went like this: Little Junjun would assemble a model car toy, Little Bowen would get itchy hands and be naughty, unscrewing and dismantling it for him. Junjun wouldn’t have it and would start crying. Xunxun, like a butler brother, would hug and rub him to coax him. Then the two would pounce on Little Bowen together, biting, gnawing, and tickling him. Little Bowen would roll around begging for mercy, and the three brothers would happily make up and continue playing.

Once, after lunch and a nap, the three lay side by side in a row, sleeping like a litter of piglets.

Chu Xun had drunk a lot during the meal. It was the newly popular almond dew drink, distributed by the office in boxes. He thought it tasted great and unknowingly drank too much. He slept and slept, then opened his eyes, touched under his butt, and realized he had wet the bed…

Little Second Chu was born fair and delicate. Wearing a small suit when going out, he looked presentable, a born handsome boy. He only had one problem: bedwetting in his childhood.

Wetting the bed was not a decent thing, especially for a man already in the senior class of kindergarten, and this was at someone else’s house!

Chu Xun sat up. The sheet was wet, uncomfortable to sit or sleep on.

He opened his sleepy, confused eyes and looked to the left; there was Bowen. Looked to the right; there slept Junjun. Those two guys occupied the clean and dry spots, while he slept in a puddle of water. What to do?

Chu Xun touched his head and thought, weighing the two people on his left and right. So he moved lightly, crawling over Shen Bowen.

He gently nudged Shen Bowen, pushing the soundly sleeping Little Pig Shen to the middle position, occupying the dry spot himself, and continued to sleep soundly.

When they woke up from the nap that day, the adults immediately discovered that a bad child had wet the bed.

“Who peed this?”

“Bowen, was it you?”

Bowen’s grandfather pulled a stern face, pointing at the stain under Little Bowen’s butt.

Shen Bowen was groggy from sleep, scratched his head, lowered his head to sniff. This… did I pee?

Bowen’s grandmother picked up her precious grandson, touched his damp pants, and clicked her tongue: “It must be you. Child, how old are you, still wetting the bed.”

“You are older than Xunxun and Junjun, several months older. They stopped wetting the bed long ago, but you still do!”

“No look of an older brother!”

Chu Xun leaned on Shao Jun’s shoulder, burying his head to listen, stealing glances at Shen Bowen, licking his lips…

That night, the three children left this building and ran into the next building to play at Chu Xun’s house.

In that era, boys were raised free-range, not as meticulously as now. Adults were usually not strict, busy with their own things, letting the children play by themselves.

The adults of Commander Chu’s family were not in. The three children ran wild, chasing each other around the sofa and coffee table in the living room for a few rounds, and fell onto the big sofa together. The houses allocated to chiefs and cadres with military ranks were extremely spacious and bright, facing north and south, with large living rooms and bedrooms. In those years, these were buildings with particularly good conditions. Even large furniture like sofas, dining tables, and bookcases could be purchased through internal channels. In the early 1980s, when materials were relatively scarce, the military could enjoy many good things that ordinary people couldn’t buy even with money.

Chu Xun rested for a while, reached out to touch the soft hair on his forehead, and said: “Bowen, I peed just now.”

Shen Bowen heard this and stared wide-eyed: “You peed? You wet the bed and framed me!”

Chu Xun laughed, his chest shaking: “I didn’t frame you, your grandparents insisted it was you.”

Shen Bowen leaned over, staring at him: “How did you pee under me? What happened!”

Shen Bowen pounced, choking Chu Xun’s neck, half-jokingly riding on him, shaking him, fighting and playing, “Little Xun, you bad egg, people like you are the most wicked inside!”

Chu Xun kept laughing, raising his hands in surrender: “I was wrong, wrong, okay.”

Shen Bowen rode on him, reaching out to knock on Chu Xun’s head, flicking his forehead until Chu Xun begged for mercy crying pain.

Shao Jun covered it with his hand, blocking it, afraid Xunxun’s head would be broken by the flicking.

The three chattered and played. Shen Bowen tickled Chu Xun from top to bottom, and casually pinched Chu Xun’s lower body, saying wickedly: “Hmph, pinch your little willy.”

“Ouch…”

Chu Xun cried out softly; Shen Bowen really pinched it.

Seeing this, Shao Jun couldn’t help but pinch it too.

Chu Xun covered his crotch: “Get lost, you perverts!”

“Let us see how you peed, why do you always wet the bed!”

Shen Bowen and Shao Jun pretended to pull down his pants. Chu Xun desperately held onto his pants, rolling all over the sofa, laughing, getting pinched several times down there, painful and itchy.

Chu Xun threatened: “If you pinch me again, I’ll pee on your hand!”

Shao Jun quickly said: “Don’t pinch him anymore. If he says he’ll pee, he’ll pee. You’ll make him pee.”

Shen Bowen immediately withdrew his hand: “Oh my god, don’t pee on me, or pee on my face.”

Chu Xun pulled up his pants again, quietly reaching into his underwear to put the little guy back in place. His willy actually hurt a bit from those two bad eggs pinching it.

Children’s interests changed quickly, and the three quickly found new fun. Chu Xun hooked his fingers at his two buddies, beckoning them into the study.

One entire wall of Commander Chu’s study was a bookcase, filled with biographies of various political and military figures. Looking at it, it was a vast sea of books. Chu Huaizhi was known as a knowledge-type strategic general in their 38th Army, a rising star in the army. This reputation was not empty.

Chu Xun had long secretly scavenged his father’s bookcase. He knew exactly which compartment hid what treasure, and his memory was excellent. Standing on a stool, he fished out a package wrapped in tin foil with a foreign trademark from an upper shelf of the bookcase and showed it off to his buddies.

“What is this?”

The other two had never seen it.

“Coffee, from Hong Kong.”

“Never drank it? I’ll make it for you to drink.”

“How do you drink this stuff? Is it good?”

“Should be mixed with water… or soaked? Boiled?…”

The pack of coffee hidden in Commander Chu’s bookcase was brought by a friend from Hong Kong as a gift. He didn’t drink this kind of thing usually, couldn’t get used to it. The three children studied how to drink coffee in the kitchen. Chu Xun poured a small half cup of black powder into each cup and mixed it with boiling water.

Shen Bowen couldn’t wait to taste a big mouthful.

“Pfft—”

Shen Bowen spat out as much as he drank: “Bitter! …Tastes like chicken poop!”

Shao Jun and Chu Xun also tasted a mouthful…

The two immediately grimaced bitterly, spitting “pfft”, “pfft”. The coffee powder didn’t dissolve at all, hot water couldn’t melt it, all floating in the cup, filling the three’s mouths with grounds.

In fact, the three silly boys were inexperienced and didn’t understand. The pack of coffee they stole to drink wasn’t the instant coffee popular in the market later, but the kind foreigners drank, authentic coffee powder ground from coffee beans, which needed to be brewed in a coffee machine and filtered with filter paper…

The three little rascals gathered around the kitchen sink, complaining to each other while spitting wildly “pah”, “pah”…

On the tree-lined avenue outside the compound wall, there was a large row of tall and upright French plane trees, with dense foliage and grandeur.

The plane tree leaves turned green and then yellow, falling again and again. A few years passed, and the three little brothers who went to kindergarten together attended the same elementary school affiliated with the military region.

The three went to school together with their schoolbags almost every day. Every evening after self-study, one would run to the door of another’s classroom, gather everyone, and go home together.

In the evening, bathed in the setting sun on the horizon, the orange-red sunset glow shone on their faces. Chu Xun walked in the middle, slender figure, dressed clean and handsome. Shao Jun walked on the right, with a pair of long, beautiful phoenix eyes. Shen Bowen walked on the left, tallest since childhood, taking big strides, walking with wind, his brows and eyes carrying two points of a playboy’s ruffian air.

Young Master Shen usually liked to wear a shearling hat, full of the arrogant style of military children.

Until graduating from elementary school, Little Third Shao always wore the woolen hat his mother dressed him in—pink, yellow, blue, with a pompom at the back of the head. With his beautiful features, he didn’t look like a girl, but was better looking than the girls in school.

And Chu Xun?

Chu Xun didn’t like wearing hats, exposing his hair, a head of dark brown curly soft hair, forehead smooth, eyes deep and bright, a red mole between his brows, a smile always on his lips, warm and sunny.

These three brothers, back in the day, were the coolest, most glorious teenagers in this compound, entering and leaving, hanging out in that area of military and government compounds, known as “The Three Young Masters of Yuquan Road”.

At that age, apart from being better looking, smarter, and sweeter-mouthed than the average child in the compound, Chu Xun didn’t seem different in any way. He was still an ordinary boy, laughing heartily when happy, knowing pain when bumped, occasionally throwing a young master’s tantrum when unhappy, showing no “abnormality”.

Childhood at that time was innocent and beautiful.

*

[Note] Regarding the life status in the military compounds in the 1980s, reference is made to many recollection posts on the Tiexue Forum, as well as Dou Liang’s “Blood-colored Romance”, Shi Zhongshan’s “Children of the Compound”, and some novels by Wang Shuo.