Jia Pingwa - Ruined City

“Yes, he’s sleeping in the study.”

That elicited a sad sigh from Niu Yueqing. “Let him. I don’t have the energy to deal with him. Wait till he’s on the defendant’s stand, and we’ll see how pompous he can be.” She went into their bedroom and locked the door from the inside.

When Zhuang was washing up the next morning, he learned that Niu Yueqing had left for work. He asked Liu Yue if she had said anything. Nothing, she told him. Zhuang phoned Meng Yunfang, then sat in his study to drink, feeling glum. The postman came at around three in the afternoon and delivered a notice from the court, including a copy of the complaint and a request for a rebuttal. Zhuang was told to wait for the court’s notice regarding an inquest and trial date. He read the first three pages. It was Jing Xueyin’s handwriting, but the tone was clearly someone else’s, which told him that someone was helping her strategize and adding fuel to the fire. He cursed three times before reading on to see the five people listed in the suit: Zhou Min, followed by Zhuang Zhidie, Zhong Weixian, Li Hongwen, and Gou Dahai. Zhuang was the second defendant, but the charge against him was the longest, with the most sarcastic terms, painting him as a relatively well-known figure with a sordid soul, an ingrate who sold out friends, and a despicable man who fabricated romantic conquests without regard for others’ reputation. Zhuang felt his face burn, knowing full well that Jing had torn their former friendship to shreds and that he was totally worthless in her mind. He was hurt by the unfairness of it, and his self-esteem suffered a serious blow, as rage rose up inside him. After downing half a bottle, he staggered out the door. He was going to Zhou Min’s house. Zhou, who had also received the notice from the court, was drinking, too, so Zhuang sat down to drink with him. Zhou told him that a copy had also been sent to the magazine office, where they had studied the tone and concluded it was by Wu Kun, who specialized in this kind of thunderous statement and vociferous claim. Zhou added that someone had once seen the woman doing something unsavory with Wu Kun, but her husband trusted him.

“Stop talking about her. Not another word,” Zhuang shouted as he smashed his glass and fell down, dead drunk. He was still in a stupor at lunchtime, so Tang Wan’er went out to phone Niu Yueqing, who hung up. “I can’t control him,” was all she said.

Tang was piqued. Maybe you can’t control him, but don’t accuse me of getting him drunk in my house , she grumbled to herself.

She returned home and moved Zhuang into bed with Zhou Min’s help. Zhou needed to go to the magazine office to check on new developments, so he told her to stay home and watch Zhuang to make sure he didn’t fall off the bed.

Tang shut the yard gate the moment her husband left. Zhuang, still inebriated, was sweating profusely, so she unbuttoned his shirt before sitting down by the bed to read Dream of the Red Chamber . But she had a hard time concentrating, distracted by the wonderful sound of him breathing evenly on the bed while she was reading. The pear tree outside the window creaked under a gentle breeze, and a mouse appeared in a ceiling baffle. It watched them with its bright, beady eyes for a long time before sliding down the lamp pull cord and landing on the blanket at the head of bed, where it disappeared in a flash. She was immediately plunged into a dreamy state in which she mistook the man sleeping on the bed for hers. In her mind, he had fallen asleep by listening to her read the novel aloud. “You’re so bad,” she said. “I read until my throat is parched, and you fall asleep.” Putting down her book, she crawled over and kissed him on the lips. He didn’t stir. Struck by an idea for a prank, she took a writing brush and began painting his body, turning his nipples into a pair of eyes and his belly button into a mouth. She turned up the corners of the lips to create a smiling face. “What are you smiling at? Don’t laugh at me.” She added a string of tears under each eye, and the face looked to be laughing through them. He was still asleep when she finished. “Why aren’t you awake? You’re faking sleep.” But he was in fact fast asleep, and she wished he would stay that way forever, as she got the idea of untying his pants and taking out his tool to play with. ☐☐ ☐☐ ☐☐ [The author has deleted 26 words.] Soon she felt heat rising between her legs. When she got up to look at the stool she’d been sitting on, she saw a round wet spot and abandoned all reason. ☐☐ ☐☐ ☐☐ [The author has deleted 53 words.] With her shoes off, her legs moved back and forth on the floor, and just as she was overtaken by the sensation, a bang on the back of her head sent her jumping to her feet, her face drained of color. She turned around, but there was no one behind her. Zhuang was winking and smiling at her when she turned back; she covered his eyes before getting onto the bed, where she sat on top of him and put him inside her. “You’re shameless,” he said.

“Don’t talk. I want you to be drunk,” she said as she put her mouth over his. He rolled on top of her and rocked like a wolf, working hard while pinching, biting, and nibbling at her. “I’m drunk. I’m still drunk.”

It was getting dark outside when he collapsed on the bed and sighed repeatedly. “It’s dark, Wan’er,” he said.

“Yes, it is. Why is the day so short?”

“Did you put a love potion in the liquor? This is the first time I’ve ever been that drunk. I have to go home now, but how can I walk on these rubbery legs?”

“Don’t go home. It’s dark and you can sleep here. It’s sleep no matter where you spend the night.”

“What did you just say? Say that again.”

“It’s sleep no matter where you spend the night.”

“That’s a wonderful phrase. It makes you a poet, Wan’er.”

She reached over his head to get a pair of panties from the closet. After putting them on, she smoothed her hair. “Really? Well, you’re the novelist, so I’ll be the poet. We can spend the night chatting when Zhou Min comes back. Do you really have to go home for a night of intimacy with your wife?”

“I’ll sleep in my study. I have no more love in me, and a loveless person lives in darkness as black as the night.”

“Then I’ll give you light.” She reached over to pull the lamp cord, but the switch popped twice without turning the light on. “Power outage again. This happens too often in Xijing. If I were the mayor, I’d fire the head of the Electricity Board. No power. I’ll light a match for you.” She struck the match, and they smiled in the dim flickering light before it went out. She struck another, but it went out right away. Before she could start again, he said, “I just called you a poet, and now you’re going to turn yourself into a poem. Stop that. Don’t waste matches. Where’s Zhou Min? Did he go to work?”

“He did. He goes out to play his xun every night. It’s late and he’s still not back, so it must mean something’s up at the office. You can get dressed while I make us some soup.”

“Forget the soup. He’d be suspicious if he came back and saw us in a dark house.”

“If you leave now, you might run into him at the gate. Then there’d be plenty for him to be suspicious of. Let’s do this: Put on your clothes and go back to sleep. I’ll lock up and go out. We’ll pretend I locked you in for the afternoon. I won’t come back until he returns.”

Joking that she was more devious than any man, he took a roll of bills out of his pocket. “If you’re going out, why don’t you buy yourself a new outfit? The shopping malls don’t close before midnight. I’ve always wanted to buy you something, but was worried it might not fit. So go get it yourself.”