Xu Zechen: Running Through Beijing

As Xiaorong stuffed the pillow cover into her mouth and bit down, Dunhuang was coming as well. As he worked, he reached for the shelf at the head of the bed — he had to get a condom on soon. Xiaorong pulled the cover from her mouth and said, “Don’t bother, I’m pregnant.”

Dunhuang stopped.

“I found out two days ago.”

Dunhuang stayed motionless, and the name “Kuang Xia” flashed in his head. The blood ebbed from where it had gathered, vanishing as quickly as the cup of water he’d just drunk. He was gradually losing sensation, losing shape and volume, until he finally drifted from her body like a wisp of smoke.

The sound of night trucks passing by the window. A dull explosion from somewhere nearby, and the sound of car alarms going off. Later, all sound faded away, and the night was still but for the ticking of the bedside clock.

“I shouldn’t have asked you to come up.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Do I have any choice?”

“You’ll keep it?”

“I’ll keep it. I can’t get rid of it. It’s my child, it’s part of my body.”

“So get married, have the kid, and live in Beijing?”

“I’ll take it one day at a time. It’s the only thing in this place that belongs to me.”

Dunhuang immediately thought of all those women who sold DVDs and ID cards with babies in tow, their shirts open and nursing in public as they asked, Want a DVD? Need an ID? Xiaorong got dressed and walked to the bathroom, looking lonely and abandoned with her shirt hanging askew. Dunhuang imagined that she was walking not toward the toilet but toward the street, children appearing on her back and in her arms. She sat down at the curbside and hiked up her shirt, stifling the cries of a child named Kuang Xia with one large, white breast. Dunhuang lit a cigarette. Xiaorong emerged from the bathroom, her clothes tidied and hair combed, and said, “Don’t smoke in here, it’s bad for the baby.” Dunhuang obediently pinched it out, and thought it might not be as bad as he imagined. Perhaps she’d spend her days sitting in state in the Cosmic DVD shop, smiling at all the customers, gracefully counting their earnings. Who knew?

Dunhuang left the room on the pretense of wanting another cigarette. He didn’t go back. As he left the building he looked up at the windows, most of which were dark, and no faces showed in the ones that were lit. That’s good, thought Dunhuang. It’s best this way.

At last, spring had truly arrived. But Beijing’s springs are short — yawn and you’ll miss them, and the next day will hit 28 degrees Celsius while you’re still wearing your sweater. The novelty had begun to wear off for Dunhuang and Qibao, too — they each dealt with their own lives, focused on their own business, and didn’t see each other as much as before. Qibao was still refusing to move in with him, and told him to quit pushing or she’d dump him. So Dunhuang continued to live in his little room in Weixiuyuan, and thought that was fine — if he had to piss in the middle of the night he could just do it on the scholar tree. He thought he might be personally responsible for some of the tree’s new leaves.

Dunhuang gave Qibao a key to his room so she could come over when he wasn’t home. When she was bored she would show up with some junk food and watch DVDs until Dunhuang got back. Then she might do his laundry, but she wasted so much water the landlady developed a facial tic just watching her, since utilities were included in the rent. She couldn’t come right out and complain, instead she tried an oblique approach, “My goodness, you’ve been at those two shirts so long, I thought you were washing ten at least.”

Qibao immediately knew what she was getting at. When she’d first arrived in Beijing she’d stayed in a place just like this one, where the landlord was constantly at her to use fifteen-watt bulbs, and telling her, “Don’t expect to make anything worth eating in those electric rice cookers, what you need is a coal stove, buy a coal stove.” Qibao wasn’t having any of it, and six months later the landlord drove her out. This old bag, thought Qibao, she’s even a cheapskate about the water.

“Well you know, ma’am, Dunhuang was a poor child, he’s only got these two shirts, and he wears them one after the other. He’s as filthy as a metalworker and it takes a lot of work to get them clean. The sheets are worse.”

The landlady’s heart nearly broke. Sheets, too. . There wouldn’t be enough water in the whole Yangtze river, the water meter was sure to burn out altogether. “That Dunhuang sure is lucky,” she said, “to have a girlfriend as good as you.”

“You flatter me,” Qibao said, with secret satisfaction. “Laundry is about all I can do. It’s easy, as long as you use plenty of water.”

Later, after Qibao left, the landlady paced the yard, wondering how to raise the rent. She went to look once again at the water meter, and when she came back she noticed the light was on in the room. She pushed her way inside and saw the bed covered in DVDs. “What’s this?” She pointed at the bed.

“Movies,” said Dunhuang.

“No, they’re DVDs, pirated DVDs. Where’d you get them?”

“I bought them.”

“What’d you buy so many for?”

“To sell them.”

“Oh, you sell pirated DVDs.” The landlady’s finger shifted to him. “So you’ve been breaking the law!”

“It’s not really illegal, ma’am,” Dunhuang said. “The streets are full of them. They’re in all the shops.”

“Piracy is illegal! I’m a Party secretary, you can’t fool me! And you also lied about being a graduate student!”

“I never said that, you did.”

“I did? How would I have known if you didn’t tell me?” Dunhuang couldn’t be bothered to argue, and started packing up his things. “Ma’am, if there’s something you want to say, then say it.”

“All right then, I’ll be direct. I can’t let a seller of pirated DVDs live in my house, and for only four hundred and fifty kuai! If the police knew about it, this old face would be lost completely. I’m a Party secretary!”

“How much extra?”

“One hundred.”

Dunhuang looked at her. He slapped the wall. “Ma’am, the lease isn’t even up yet, do you think it’s reasonable to raise the rent? Also, before it’s completely dark, go and take a look at this place from the outside. If you still think it’s worth that much, come back in for the money.”

She really was a secretary — she switched strategies instantly. “It’s not the money I’m concerned about, it’s my reputation. I can’t just invite any old lawbreaker into my home. If you think it’s too expensive you can leave. It’s not hard to find lodgers around Zhongguancun and Peking University.”

“You think students will rent from you? They’re putting up new dorms at Peking University all the time, everyone lives in high rises now, just one thousand twenty kuai a year! The student apartments in Wanliu used to be bursting, now they’re full of tumbleweeds.”

“You’re just fooling me.”

“I’m an applicant for the doctorate program at Peking University, you better believe I did my homework. Forget it, I’m not arguing with you. I’ll add fifty, take it or leave it. I can move out tomorrow.”

The landlady left, but knocked on the door again a little later. Dunhuang said, “It’s open.” She said she wouldn’t come in. She’d just called her daughter, who urged her to take pity on a single man in the city. She could accept a little less — fifty was fine. Starting the next month, and not to forget. “Stingy bitch,” mumbled Dunhuang.

“What did you say?” the landlady asked.