Bi Feiyu - Three Sisters

As a whole, the undercover school security team, represented by Wang Yuyang, was a functioning aspect of Wei Xiangdong’s project. Secret lovers or signs of a budding love on campus did not escape his attention. The only blemish on his record was his failure to catch any of the transgressors in the act. If he ever did, he would not stop at punishing one couple to warn the others, or as the saying goes, “Kill a chicken to scare the monkeys.”

If he caught one, he’d punish one, and if he caught two, he’d punish two. Where romance was concerned, Wei was pigheaded to the point of obsession. Viewed from a certain angle, this was not loathing; it could even be seen as a kind of affection, a fondness. He wanted to catch them, and he wanted to punish them, expose them in broad daylight.

Yuyang worked hard, but the quality of her work was low. Her reports were generally worthless and covered only trivial matters, to Wei’s disappointment. On the other hand, he liked her more than the others. Why? Because the intelligence she gathered was generally accurate and undiluted. She never used her power to serve her own interests or to attack or to exact revenge. This was a work ethic deserving of emulation. Some of Wei’s undercover agents performed much worse than she. Zhang Juanjuan of Section One of the class of ’82, for instance, or Li Jun of Section Four of the same year were highly problematic. Zhang Juanjuan would send in false reports on anyone she didn’t like and abused her power for personal gain. What displeased Wei most were the lies. She had once given a vivid description of a romantic liaison between so-and-so and so-and-so, who “sneak out to the grove every night for a quarter of an hour.”

Wei had lain in wait at the grove twice, each time emerging empty-handed. It turned out that Zhang had fought with the girl in question and had reported her to gain revenge. That had to be stopped. So he called her into the duty office, only to have her stick to her story, insisting that she’d reported the facts. Teacher Wei had not gotten there in time. For the first time, he lost his temper with an undercover agent and felt like slapping her. Zhang’s eyes reddened. She even managed to shed a few tears, as if suffering a great injustice.

By comparison, Yuyang was much better. For Wei, her sense of duty was secondary to her playful, loveable side. He’d always thought that she was a simple girl, like the knot on an elm tree, but in fact, she could be a lot of fun, even a riot when she shed her timid self.

This he discovered one evening behind the library when he found her playing with a Pekinese dog belonging to Teacher Gao. It was a furry, pudgy animal with short legs that made jumping difficult. But Yuyang knew what to do. Teasing the dog by putting her finger in its mouth and pulling it out over and over, she leaped into the air, higher and higher. This excited the dog and it stood up on his hind legs and tried to bite her fingers. Quite a sight. The dog looked like a clumsy but obedient child. When he licked her fingertips, she let out an exaggerated, energetic scream as if there were no one else around. And, of course, no one else was around. Yuyang kept at it over and over, as did the dog; neither was bored by the monotony of the game. They must have been playing for quite a while before Wei spotted them because Yuyang had taken off her winter jacket and had on only a thin sweater.

The sweater, which was too small, seemed to wrap itself tightly around her. What caught his attention was not the size of the sweater but her curves, her vigor, and her vitality. Though not tall, Yuyang was well developed; her breasts moved in a lovely and compliant way, as if they were too dim-witted to know what was good for them. Her bangs were so soaked with sweat that they stuck to her forehead in a shiny crescent.

Wei moved closer, clasped his hands behind him, and squinted at Yuyang and the dog, his eyes brimming with tenderness. Unaware of his presence, Yuyang kept lifting, leaping, and screaming. And as the game continued, she got bolder and let her fingers remain in the dog’s mouth, which prompted Wei to blurt out, “Careful or he’ll bite.”

Startled, she withdrew her fingers, scraping them against the dog’s teeth in the process. They began to bleed. But she paid no attention to the wound; instead, she spun around and stood at attention in front of Wei.

From her bright red face, he could tell that she was nervous and ill at ease. Her shining eyes darted around, unsure of where to focus.

“Just look at you,” he scolded, but with a hint of affection in his voice. He came up and took her hand; after a cursory glance at the wound, he led her in the direction of the infirmary. The dog, obviously unwilling to let her go, trotted along behind them like a ball of yarn. Wei turned and gave the dog a kick, sending him somersaulting through the air before hitting the ground. With a series of loud yelps, the dog twisted itself around and waddled off.

At the infirmary, Wei picked up a cotton ball soaked in rubbing alcohol.

“Be brave,” he said. “This will sting.”

Yuyang looked up at him, not knowing what to do or say so she did as he said. He kept sucking in air, as if each dab were sending a sharp pain deep into his heart and into his mouth instead of hurting her. After taking care of her wound, he looked out the window just before he slapped her on the rear.

“Now be a good girl, and stop playing with that dog,” he said. Then he mumbled, “What a silly girl.” He sounded like her father, or maybe an uncle, but definitely someone from Wang Family Village.

“Now be a good girl, and stop playing with that dog.” “What a silly girl.” These two brief comments left a powerful impression on Yuyang, and she was deeply touched.

Shortly before the winter break, something extraordinary happened to this “silly girl”—she became pregnant. Yuyang herself was unaware of it and would never have known if Wei hadn’t called her into the duty office. The moment she walked in the door she could tell that something was wrong. She’d been treated well by Wei from the beginning; he’d never frowned at her, and the lines around his eyes had felt like sunshine to her.

But things were different this time. He sat in his chair with a stern look, signaling with his chin for her to shut the door and sit down.

She did as she was told, and her heart filled with anxiety. She wasn’t really afraid because she was secure in the knowledge that Teacher Wei was fond of her. Thinking she’d forgotten to report something important, she asked cautiously, “Has something happened on campus?”

Wei came right to the point. “Something has happened to you.”

“No,” she said, feeling confused. “I’m fine.”

Wei slapped his hand down on the desk and produced a letter. “One of your schoolmates has written to expose you, saying that you are involved with someone and that you have gotten yourself pregnant,” he said.

Yuyang’s mouth fell open. She stared blankly for a moment as she tried to comprehend what he was saying. When she did, she nearly fainted.

“Who said that?” she demanded.

“I need to investigate the allegation,” he replied calmly. The conversation could not continue because the tune “The Well Water at the Frontier is Clear and Pure,” sung by Li Guyi, was blaring through the PA system. It seemed both far off and close by at the same time. In Li Guyi’s falsetto, the words were like sighs or labored breathing, and the singer sounded worn out from expressing so much emotion. This created a strange atmosphere in the room, as the words started to seem both progressively distant and increasingly distinct.

“We can go to the hospital, or I can check it out myself,” Wei said.