Jia Pingwa - Ruined City

“No need to call her. I know everything; now I want to hear it from you.”

“What did we do? She went home after we walked Liu Yue to City Hall. What do you think we did?”

Niu Yueqing had no answer for that, so he pressed on: “You don’t know, do you? Well, I’ll tell you. We had sex right there on the street in front of all the passersby, and then we went to her house and did the same in front of Zhou Min.”

“Why are you yelling? Are you trying to pick a fight?”

“ You ’re the one who’s picking a fight.” He raised his voice. “Why don’t you call Liu Yue in and have her explain it to you?”

“You’re good at winning arguments, and I have to believe you for now. But let me tell you this. I can take any hardship regarding your life, your health, your career, and your future, but I won’t stand for any fooling around. You were close to Jing Xueyin and I didn’t say anything, did I? I could have washed my hands of the whole fiasco when she turned against you. She was an upright person who could be helpful in your career when you were friends. I’m not the jealous type. But societal mores have degenerated to such a degree that the country is filled with women who love money, status, power, and their own pleasure. I won’t allow you to waste time with them.” She walked out to resume eating.

The episode should have blown over when she went to work the next day, but Niu Yueqing could not stop thinking about Liu’s comment as she sat in her office alone. “Dajie is the Happy Buddha, with a belly big enough to take in things that are too hard to swallow.” Finally realizing that there was more to what the girl had said, she recalled how Tang Wan’er had always looked her best when she came to visit. Her eyes were emotional and expressive, ideal for seducing a man. Although Zhuang was on the timid side, writers tend to be sensitive, tenderhearted, and sentimental, so it was unlikely he was not affected. If Tang Wan’er had avoided tempting him, he might have had the desire, but not the nerve to act on it. But Tang was not the type to stay within bounds; she had run away from Tongguan with Zhou Min, so what was there to stop her from seducing Zhuang? The slightest hint from her could unleash the man’s adulterous urges. Niu Yueqing searched her memory and recalled the day Tang Wan’er had tucked in Zhuang’s blanket in front of her. That was not something an ordinary guest would do; if they hadn’t been intimate, she would not have acted so naturally. Niu Yueqing then thought back to the day she had run into the two of them at the building by the nunnery. Tang Wan’er had looked uncomfortable. If she had indeed been looking for a part-time job, why hadn’t she mentioned it before or since? Suspicion grew in Niu Yueqing’s heart and prompted her to call Zhou Min at the magazine office. When he came on the phone, she asked him whether Tang Wan’er had been home on the night Liu Yue went to meet Dazheng. Zhou Min said it was nearly midnight when she returned. “I thought Shimu had asked her to spend the night.”

“Nearly midnight?” Niu Yueqing repeated.

“It was. Is anything wrong? Why are you asking about this?”

“No reason. I was just worried that something might have happened to her, because I haven’t seen her for quite some time.”

Zhou Min was curious about the call when he put down the phone. Was it just about that? Why did Niu Yueqing stress the time Tang Wan’er came home? Was it because she hadn’t walked Liu Yue over? But when she came home, she said she had walked the girl over with Zhuang. So why was Shimu calling? He went home full of questions. Wan’er was lying on the bed, counting something on a wall calendar. He craned his neck to look over her shoulder, and saw that some of the dates were circled in red, some had triangles around them, and others were marked with exclamation points.

“What are those marks for?”

She was in the habit of making a note on the calendar each time she returned from a tryst with Zhuang. When she was free, she could count them and savor the details. The question came out of the blue, and she was so startled that she shuddered, with goose bumps sprouting on her arms. She hung the calendar back up. “What for? I’m counting how many days a cattie of cooking oil lasts us, when I last bought pork, and how much we can afford to eat. Why did you sneak up on me like that? For a moment there I thought you were an intruder.”

She was so convincing that he did not doubt her. “What would you have done if I had been an intruder?”

“What do you think? I’d screw him! What’s the matter with you today? You’re acting weird, like I’m keeping a lover at home while you’re out.”

Feeling certain he was in the wrong, Zhou Min laughed off the discussion.

But Niu Yueqing had a huge fight with Zhuang that night, saying that he and Tang Wan’er must have been on very good terms, better than good friends; otherwise, why would he have lied about her going home early? Zhuang tried to talk her around, but she would have none of it, insisting that he tell her how they got together, how intimate they had been, if they had made love, and if so, how and where. Zhuang decided to keep his mouth shut, but the more he refused to respond, the angrier she got. Irritated, he headed for his study, but she followed him, so he went into the bedroom, only to see her walk in behind him. He got into bed fully dressed, with a terrycloth blanket over his face, and she lay down next to him, not letting up on her interrogation. Then she went on about how hard she worked for the family, how she had been underappreciated by him since the day they were married, how he never went shopping with her on holidays or weekends, how he never went to a movie with her, how he never lifted a finger when it came to the household chores. She took care of his food and clothes, and she also had to take care of all the guests, ignoring her job and her own mother, all to please him. But in the end, he had eyes only for someone else.

“Are you giving me the silent treatment?” she asked. “You think everything will be fine if you don’t say anything? I’ve let you off the hook in the past when you’ve clammed up, but it’s not going to work this time. I want you to tell me what’s going on. Go on, tell me everything.”

But Zhuang slept on, even snoring softly. Niu Yueqing snatched the blanket away and jerked at his collar, “You’re asleep? You’ve actually fallen asleep? You don’t treat me like a human being. What kind of wife am I to you? If I were a dog or a cat, you wouldn’t ignore me and fall asleep like that.”

He sat up and shook her off, then got out of bed and headed to the study. She began to sob. When Liu Yue heard the sobbing from her room, she knew it was all because of her, yet she was waiting to see what would happen next. She got nervous when Niu Yueqing started to wail, so she went into the bedroom to talk to Niu, who realized that the girl had heard everything. Feeling a great loss of face in front of her maid, Niu Yueqing threw caution to the wind and ran over to the study, where she wrested a painting album out of Zhuang’s hands and threw it to the floor.

“Look at this good wife, Liu Yue,” he said. “She’s started throwing things.”

“Watch out for that pen on the desk, Zhuang Laoshi,” Liu Yue said unexpectedly. “That’s how you make a living, so make sure Dajie doesn’t destroy it out of anger.”

That only spurred Niu Yueqing into grabbing the pen and flinging it against the door. “I am a good wife, and I know how to throw things. I’ll show you how good I am.” She turned on Liu Yue. “Go back to your room. Why are you out here stirring things up?”

“What am I stirring up? Nothing. You’re upset, so go ahead and vent your anger on me. I’m your maid, so I can’t be mad at you.”