Yu Hua - Boy in the Twilight - Stories of the Hidden China

Li Ping gave a sudden giggle. “That moron?”

“He’s seen us,” Wen Hong said.

“He’s coming over?”

Wen Hong nodded. “Yes.”

“That geek tried to go out with me,” Li Ping said.

“He asked me out, too,” Wen Hong whispered.

Both girls burst out laughing. Li Qigang walked up to them with a smile on his face. “What’s so funny?” he asked.

The girls laughed all the more loudly, one almost bent over double, the other clasping her knees as she sprawled on the couch. Li Qigang stood unflappably at their side, maintaining his smile. He was wearing a short-sleeved shirt, trousers, and shiny leather shoes. With the back of his hand he wiped away the sweat on his forehead. “Everybody’s looking at you,” he said.

Hearing this, the two girls stopped laughing and took a quick look around. They noticed a few people casting glances in their direction. Wen Hong straightened herself and gave her hair a good shake as Li Ping sat up and pulled her nightgown over her knees.

“You girls should get a haircut,” Li Qigang said.

The two girls looked at him and then at each other.

“Do it in a page-boy style,” Li Qigang went on.

Wen Hong spoke up at this point. “I like my hairstyle,” she said, running her hand through her hair.

“I like your hairstyle too,” Li Ping chimed in.

Wen Hong glanced at her. “Where did you have your hair done?”

“At Rougerie, the place on Zhongshan Boulevard.”

“They did a really good job. That cut is all the rage in Europe these days.”

Li Ping nodded. “I saw this style in a foreign magazine. It was all in English, not a single Chinese character. Your hairstyle was featured too. At the time I was really keen on doing my hair like you. Your hair really complements your face.”

“Lin Jing and the other girls said the same thing.” Wen Hong toyed with her hair.

Li Qigang noticed how the two girls were talking to each other and not paying him the slightest attention, so he tried to get a word in edgeways. “I still think the page-boy look is prettier. It’s so cute, and besides, the weather is so hot. With long hair—”

Wen Hong interrupted him. “Aren’t you hot in your long pants?” she asked.

Li Qigang looked down at his trousers. “They’re wool. They don’t feel hot.”

Wen Hong practically screamed. “You’re wearing woolen pants?”

Li Qigang nodded. “Ninety percent wool.”

Wen Hong stole a glance at Li Ping. “Wow, ninety percent wool.”

The two girls snickered, and Li Qigang watched them with a smile. Li Ping sat up on her rattan couch. “Why didn’t you buy one hundred percent pure wool pants?” she asked.

Li Qigang squatted down and untied his laces, then took his left foot out of his shoe and placed it on Li Ping’s couch. Pointing at the straight crease on his trouser leg, he said: “See this line? If it was one hundred percent wool, it wouldn’t be so straight.”

“You could iron it,” said Li Ping.

Li Qigang nodded. “That’s true, but after wearing the pants for ten minutes, the line would disappear. Pants that are one hundred percent wool are no good.”

Wen Hong reached out a hand and felt Li Qigang’s trousers. “Pants this heavy will feel hot even if they’re ninety percent wool,” she remarked. Turning to Li Ping, she said, “What do you think?”

“You can see right away those are thick pants,” Li Ping answered. “Just now, as you were coming over here, I thought you were wearing cotton pants.”

Wen Hong tittered. “I thought they were serge.”

With a smile, Li Qigang removed his foot from Li Ping’s chair, slipped it into his shoe, and bent down to tie his shoelace. “Of course, compared to them …” He pointed at several youths passing by in Western-style shorts: “Compared to them, these are warmer. Long trousers are always warmer than shorts. Some people wear shorts the whole summer long and expose their chests as well, slouching around in sandals. That’s okay for them, but it won’t do for us. We in official positions need to maintain our image. We might get away with not wearing stylish clothes, but at least we have to look neat, don’t we?”

At this point, Li Qigang took a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped his forehead. Wen Hong and Li Ping exchanged glances and smiled conspiratorially. “Where have you people in the Cultural Bureau moved to?” Wen Hong asked.

“Tianning Monastery.”

“You’ve moved to a temple?” cried Wen Hong.

Li Qigang nodded. “It’s wonderfully cool in the summer there.”

“What about the winter?” asked Li Ping.

“In the winter …,” Li Qigang conceded, “it’s cold.”

“Why don’t you people in the Cultural Bureau get yourselves an office building? Look how impressive the headquarters of the Finance and Business bureaus are,” Wen Hong said.

“We don’t have the money,” said Li Qigang. “No department has a smaller budget than we do.”

“So, of people in official positions, you’re the poorest.”

“I wouldn’t say that.” Li Qigang smiled.

Li Ping looked at Wen Hong. “No matter how poor they are, they’re still officials, and officials are always going to have higher status than us.” She turned to Li Qigang. “Isn’t that right?”

He smiled modestly. “I wouldn’t say we have higher status than you, but compared to the average worker, having a job in a government agency is a bit more dignified.”

The two girls chortled. Li Qigang again broached the topic of their hairstyle, repeating his recommendation. “You should really think about short hair.”

Again they laughed — and all the more loudly — but he took this in stride. “Do it the way Scarlet does her hair,” he went on.

“Who?” asked Wen Hong.

“Scarlet, the singer,” replied Li Qigang.

“Oh,” the girls responded. “I can’t see what’s so great about Scarlet’s hairstyle,” said Li Ping.

“Her face is too pointy,” said Wen Hong.

Li Qigang smiled. “Next month I’m going to Shanghai to escort her here.”

Hearing this the girls were taken aback, and it was a moment before Wen Hong asked, “Scarlet’s coming?”

“That’s right.” Li Qigang gave a restrained nod.

“To give a performance?” asked Li Ping.

Li Qigang nodded. “The most expensive seats will cost fifty yuan, and even the cheapest ones will be thirty.”

The girls’ eyes gleamed. “You’ve got to get us a couple of tickets,” they said.

“No problem,” said Li Qigang. “I’m involved in setting up the whole event, so there’s no problem at all in getting you two tickets.”

“Make it complimentary tickets,” said Li Ping.

“That’s right,” said Wen Hong, “I bet you can get your hands on lots of tickets. Give us two for free.”

Li Qigang hesitated a moment. “Okay, they’re on me.”

The two girls beamed. “Give us the fifty-yuan seats,” Li Ping said.

“We don’t want the thirty-yuan ones,” said Wen Hong.

“That’s right,” said Li Ping. “Don’t make us sit in the back row, where we won’t be able to see Scarlet’s face.”

Li Qigang again hesitated. He wiped his forehead. “I’ll make every effort to get you fifty-yuan seats.”

“Don’t say ‘make every effort,’ ” said Wen Hong. “It’s a real letdown when someone of your position says ‘make every effort.’ ”

Li Ping smiled. “That’s exactly right. It must be a piece of cake for someone of your status to come up with a couple of superior seats.”

“All right then,” Li Qigang said, after a moment’s reflection, “I’ll get you two fifty-yuan tickets.”

The two girls gave whoops of delight. Li Qigang smiled, looked at his watch, and announced that he had to attend to some business. The girls got up to see him off and, as soon as he had walked away, they murmured in almost the same breath, “What a dummy.”