Jia Pingwa - Ruined City

“Yes, I hit you. I’m the mistress of the house and you’re the maid. You colluded with a cheap woman to deceive me, so why can’t I hit you? Even if the mayor were here, he wouldn’t stop me. Tell me, how many times has that cunt been here? And how did you make the bed and get everything ready for them? How did you keep watch for them?”

Still thinking that the mistress was simply jealous, Liu Yue said, “How would I know what happened between them? I was just venting my anger when I mentioned it, but you took it seriously and stirred up trouble in the house. Now you’ve hit me for no reason. I may be a lowly maid, but I’m human, too. You really hurt me. Do you want to kill me? Even if you don’t respect me or my peasant parents, I’m a member of the mayor’s family. What gives you the right to beat me?”

Niu Yueqing brought over the pigeon and threw the note at Liu’s feet. “This! You stay home all the time, feeding the pigeon and receiving notes, so you must have played a role in their trysts. If I didn’t beat you, what would you expect me to do? Thank you? Show you respect?” Niu Yueqing hit the girl with each outburst of anger, raising welts on her arms and legs. Liu Yue groaned inwardly, aware that Niu Yueqing now knew everything. Feeling sheepish, she softened her tone as she reached out to grab at the duster. “What does what they did have to do with me?”

“How did it start? Tell me everything today or I’ll keep hitting you, and I’ll tell Dazheng and his mother. If they still want you, you can carry on your dirty deeds at City Hall. If they don’t want you, then you can take off those clothes and go back to the hills of northern Shaanxi.”

Liu Yue sobbed and told Niu Yueqing about how Zhuang and Tang Wan’er made love in the house, how he went to see her at her place, how the pigeon delivered messages that had her lipstick mark on them, sometimes even pubic hairs. In order to please Niu Yueqing and lessen her guilt, she told her everything, even things that hadn’t happened. Niu Yueqing had had her suspicions, which had fueled her imagination, but Liu Yue’s confession gave her such a vivid, detailed picture of what had gone on that she wished she hadn’t asked. Weighed down by what she learned, she felt so helpless that her blood pressure soared and caused her to twitch; the room seemed to spin.

“God,” she cried out, “I’ve been blind and deaf. They’ve been doing all of that, and I’ve been in the dark.” Opening her eyes wide, she spread her hands and asked in a quivering voice, “What do I have left, Liu Yue? I’ll tell you. I have nothing, not a thing.”

Liu Yue got down off the stool and knelt before Niu Yueqing. “I wanted to tell you, Dajie, but I’m just a maid, and I didn’t have the nerve to bring it up. Besides, would you have believed me if I’d told you back then? I helped by making it easy for them, I did. I’m truly sorry. Hit me, beat me to death.”

Niu Yueqing threw down the duster and held Liu Yue in her arms as she wept, begging the girl to hate her. She had wanted to frighten her and hit her only because of her reluctance to tell the truth. “Please forgive your poor dajie. Can you ever forgive her?”

“Of course,” Liu Yue said, and she too began to cry.

Niu Yueqing gradually calmed down. She wiped her own tears before drying those on Liu Yue’s face.

“I’ll go with you, Dajie, and rip that slut’s face off.”

“What is she, anyway?” Niu Yueqing shook her head. “A tramp who abandoned her husband and son to run away with another man, whom she then betrayed by seducing another man, a whore who loses all sense when she sees a man. I would soil my hands if I did that. Besides, people might hear about it, and everyone would know that your Zhuang Laoshi was having an affair with her. That would ruin his reputation and make her look good. He has so many admirers who can only dream of meeting him, while she slept with him. Moreover, you’ll be marrying Dazheng soon, and I wouldn’t be able to face their family if a scandal like this broke out. He did break my heart, but I still have to do my best to save him, even if he’s intent on throwing away his future, his career, his fame, and his reputation. I put up with all the arguments at home because if they had occurred outside, he’d have flung caution to the wind and insisted upon being with the slut. That would have finished him. It was hard getting to where he is now, and all I want is for him to turn over a new leaf and stop seeing her. You mustn’t let any of this reach anyone else’s ears. Don’t say a word when I confront him; pretend you don’t know anything. But you have to think about me. Let me tell you this: you and I have to keep this predilection of his in mind and keep a close eye on him. Do you know what I’m saying?”

Liu Yue, who had never known that Niu Yueqing had that kind of analytical ability, felt sorry for her for what she had to put up with as Zhuang’s wife. She nodded, and after Niu Yueqing gave her more instructions, she washed up and put on some makeup before leaving the house.

She was sent to see Tang Wan’er, who looked anxious as she invited her in. “Did you come from the apartment?” she asked. “Did you see the note? Isn’t Zhuang Laoshi home?”

“He’s home. Dajie went to Shuangren fu, so Zhuang Laoshi wants you to come over.”

Elated, Tang Wan’er took a piece of candy out of a box for Liu Yue and, when she refused, unwrapped it and put it in the girl’s mouth. “It’s very sweet. Suck on it slowly, and you can feel the sweetness reach the bottom of your heart. Since he’s home, he could have sent a message back with the pigeon. Why have you come all the way out here?”

“I’m going to buy some noodle sauce at the Yang Family Shop in Desheng Lane. It’s not far from here, so I brought the message over,” Liu said and left.

Tang carefully made herself up and got on her bike to head over to the compound.

When she had returned from seeing Zhuang that night, Zhou had been drinking with a man nicknamed Tiger, who worked for some corporation. After Zhou met him while working at the nunnery, he came to visit a few times, and Tang Wan’er got to know him a little. So she greeted Tiger before bringing a stool over to sit down to listen to them talk. An articulate man, Tiger had a fleshy face and thin lips. She quickly realized that he was trying to get Zhou to write a book for someone who had just made a lot of money. He told Zhou that the man was so rich he didn’t know what to do with his money. He wanted to be known as a cultured person, which was why he was looking for someone to write a book for him. When it was done, he would take care of the printing and publication; all he asked was for his name to be on it. He would pay Zhou twenty thousand yuan. Zhou was reluctant at first; writing a book is hard, and putting someone else’s name on it did not sound like a good deal. “You’re not a famous writer, so what makes you think you can publish a book under your own name?” the man said. “Even if it got published, how much do you think you could make from it? Think about the life you and Wan’er are living. Why pass up an opportunity to make some real money and get out of your impoverished state? Besides, I’m not asking for a masterpiece; all you have to give me is two hundred thousand words. That’s not too much work, is it? Many writers have come to me, and I’ve turned them all down. I’m saving this breeze of a job for you, so what’s with the self-righteous attitude?”

Zhou told him he would be happy to take the job if not for the lawsuit. When Tiger asked him about that, Zhou told him everything, including the spot he was in at the moment. When Zhou mentioned Zhuang’s plan to seek the mayor’s help, Tang Wan’er cut in: “You’ve had too much to drink, Zhou Min. Stop the nonsense. Why would Zhuang Zhidie resort to that kind of backdoor ruse? You’re smearing his reputation, and you could get the mayor in trouble.”