Frog

Chen Bi also jumps up and moves across the stage on his crutches, stops, supports himself on one crutch and beats Second Man with the other.

The men in black break free of Chen Bi and his dog and flee to the edge of the stage, where they draw daggers. Chen Bi and his dog stand together.

Chen Mei stands downstage, forming a triangle with Chen Bi and his dog.

CHEN BI: (roars) Let my daughter go!

FIRST MAN: You old derelict, you drunk, you scoundrel, you old beggar, how dare you claim her as your daughter!

SECOND MAN: You say she’s your daughter. Call her and see if she responds.

CHEN BI: Mei… my poor, suffering daughter.

CHEN MEI: (coldly) You’ve mistaken me for someone else. I’m not who you think I am.

CHEN BI: (agonising) Mei, I know you hate your dad. I let you down, I let your sister down, and I let your mother down. Your dad caused you all great pain. Your dad is a sinner, a good-for-nothing, a man stranded on the line between life and death.

FIRST MAN: Is that what you call a confession? Is there a church nearby?

SECOND MAN: There’s a newly renovated Catholic church twenty li east of here, following the river.

CHEN BI: Mei, your dad knows they tricked you. Your dad’s old friends have cheated you, and I’m going to help you get justice.

FIRST MAN: Step aside, old man.

SECOND MAN: Come with us, Miss. We promise you’ll get to see your baby.

Chen Mei walks towards the men in black. Chen Bi and his dog block her way.

CHEN MEI: (angrily) Who are you to block my way? I want to go see my baby, don’t you know that? He hasn’t had a drop of milk since the moment he was born, and if he doesn’t eat soon, he’ll starve, you know that, don’t you?

CHEN BI: Mei, you hate me, I understand that. You say you’re not my daughter, I can live with that. But don’t go with them. They sold your baby, and if you go with them, they’ll throw you into the river to drown, then make up a story that you threw yourself in. They’ve done that before, and more than once.

FIRST MAN: I think you’ve lived long enough, old man. You can’t smear us like that.

SECOND MAN: How can you spout such rubbish? Murderous, ugly butchery like that does not exist in our society.

FIRST MAN: You’ve been watching too many videos in roadside shops.

SECOND MAN: You’re delusional.

FIRST MAN: You’ve turned socialism into capitalism.

SECOND MAN: Turned good people into bad ones.

FIRST MAN: Turned good will into donkey’s guts, pure malice.

CHEN BI: You’re the donkey’s guts, cow parts, filth vomited by cats and dogs, the dregs of society.

SECOND MAN: How dare he accuse us of being the dregs of society! You’re a pig that feasts on piles of garbage. Do you know what we do?

CHEN BI: Of course I do. I not only know what you do, but what you’ve done.

FIRST MAN: I think we ought to invite you down to the river for a cold bath.

SECOND MAN: Tomorrow morning, people who come to burn incense and choose dolls will discover that the old beggar that asks for alms in front of the temple is not around. Even his crippled dog will be missing.

FIRST MAN: No one will care.

The men in black attack Chen Bi and his dog. The dog is killed, Chen is knocked down. They are about to stab Chen to death when Chen Mei rips off her veil to expose a hideous face; her shriek terrifies the two men, who leave Chen Bi and run off.

Curtain

Act VI

An enormous round table, set for a meal, sits in the yard of a peasant’s house. At the rear of the stage, a banner proclaims: ‘Celebration of Jin Wa’s first month’.

Tadpole, dressed in a glossy silk Chinese-style jacket embroidered with the words (good luck) and (long life), greets guests at the gate.