Jia Pingwa - Ruined City

“These fit perfectly. Just wearing them refreshes me.”

He reached out, made an arc in the air, and then pulled his hand back to cup his chin. She was quiet for a while before lowering her head and pulling her foot back.

“Zhuang Laoshi.”

“Yes?” He looked up and met her gaze; neither of them could think of anything to say.

“Don’t call me laoshi.”

“What should I call you?”

“Call me by my name. Laoshi creates a distance between us.”

“I could never do that,” she said as she stood up, at a loss for what to do, before going over to fuss with the bronze mirror.

“Meng Laoshi says you’re an avid collector of antiques. How could you bear to part with this mirror?”

“It makes me happy to see you enjoy it. Your surname is Tang, and this is from the Kaiyuan reign of the Tang dynasty, so it’s more fitting for you to have it. You’ve only seen the smooth bright side. Now take a closer look at the decoration on the back.”

She turned the mirror over to see a pair of mandarin ducks atop a water lily under the loop and mandarin ducks on both sides atop lotus flowers holding a ribbon in their beaks, while above the button were two cranes, their wings spread, their necks down, tugging on a sash with a heart knot.

Her eyes shone brightly as she read the description of the appearance and function of the mirror:

Reveals benevolence and virtue

foreshadows a long life

shows truth and beauty

highlights excellence and eminence

reflects dressing-table carriage

finds beauty in homeliness

displays blooming and withering

brightens like a full moon .

“Does this mirror have a name?”

“A bronze mirror with two cranes tugging a sash and mandarin ducks holding a ribbon.”

“How could Shimu part with this?”

Caught off guard, Zhuang did not know what to say. She was blushing so much that her forehead was bathed in tiny beads of sweat.

“You must be hot,” she said illogically, while getting up to prop open a window with a wooden peg. It was an old-fashioned window, with a nailed bottom half and a movable top. After several tries, she was unable to keep the peg in place, so she stood on tiptoes to fix it, stretching up and exposing her waist under the short blouse. He went over to help by putting the peg in place, but it slipped off, sending the window crashing down and causing her to scream in fright. When he reached out to steady her, she fell into his arms as if on a pulley. He turned her around, and they found each other’s lips; they stayed that way for a long time, breathing hard through their noses, as if glued together. ☐☐ ☐☐ ☐☐ [The author has deleted 23 words.]

Zhuang pulled away.

“Wan’er,” he said, “I finally have you in my arms. I’m very fond of you.”

“I’m fond of you, too,” she said, as tears ran down her face. He tenderly reached out to dry them. Then he kissed them away. She giggled and pushed him away, only to have their lips meet once more, all their energy devoted to sucking. Before they knew it, their hands were roaming over each other’s body; soon his hand snaked down, but her skirt was so tight, he could only tug anxiously at the waistband. She stepped back to unhook her skirt, and his hand slipped in; she was wet. ☐☐ ☐☐ ☐☐ [The author has deleted 11 words.]

“I desperately wanted to touch your feet that day when I gave you the shoes.”

“I could tell, and I hoped you would, but then you stopped.”

“Why didn’t you give me a hint?”

“I didn’t dare.”

“I was an idiot. I fell for you the moment I laid eyes on you and believed that we were destined for each other. You are the first woman I’ve ever really wanted, and I was intimidated. I knew that if you showed only a hint of feelings for me, my courage would know no bounds.”

“But you are a famous man, and I was afraid you wouldn’t find me desirable.”

He carried her limp figure over to the bed and took off her skirt, then rolled her stockings down to her knees. It felt like stripping the tender bark off a spring willow, as he had done as a child back in Tongguan, or removing the outer layer of a green onion when her ample white legs came into view. She wanted to take off her shoes and her stockings, but he said he liked her with her shoes and stockings on. He stood beside the bed and raised her legs. ☐☐ ☐☐ ☐☐ [The author has deleted 379 words.] She moaned the moment he entered her and started moving, a new experience to him, so arousing his desire for conquest that he still had not come after prolonged thrusting, to his surprise. Her face was flushed red and her hair disheveled when she sat up.

“Let’s change positions,” she said. She got up and leaned against the bed.

Zhuang stared at a mole on the left side of her buttocks, but was panting too hard to speak. She stopped and took off her shoes and silk stockings. ☐☐ ☐☐ ☐☐ [The author has deleted 213 words.] He watched her squirm through drunken eyes; his lips twitched, his eyes rolled back, and he cried out. ☐☐ ☐☐ ☐☐ [The author has deleted 50 words.]

When he finished dressing, she was still curled up, as if dead, so he went over and laid her out straight before sitting down across from the bed to smoke a cigarette and feast his eyes on the alluring sleeping figure. She opened her eyes to look at him and laughed soundlessly, as if embarrassed; she was too weak to get out of bed, which reminded him of the lines of Tang poetry about the Imperial Consort who looked weightless after bathing in a hot spring. He realized that it was not about getting out of the bath, but about the sight of a woman after sex.

“You were amazing,” she said.

“Really?”

“I’ve never enjoyed it like that before. You really know how to make love to a woman.”

Immensely proud, he said earnestly, “You’re only the second woman I’ve had, after my wife. Today was special. I’ve never performed like that before. Honestly, I come too soon every time with Yueqing. I thought I was finished, that I was not a man anymore.”

“If a man is impotent, it’s his wife’s fault.”

He was so touched by her words that he rushed over to take her into his arms and burst into tears.

“Thank you, Wan’er. I won’t forget you as long as I live.”

She lifted him up and called out softly, “Zhuang-ge, my elder brother.”

He could only murmur a reply.

“It’ll be better if I call you Zhuang Laoshi.”

“Are you pitying me?”

“I’ve been calling you that all along, and it wouldn’t be good if I suddenly stopped. So I’ll keep doing that when there are people around, but in private I’ll call you Zhuang-ge.”

They fell into each other’s arms again and kissed for a while before she got dressed. After tidying her hair, she reapplied her eyeliner and lipstick.

“I’m yours now, Zhuang-ge. Wang Ximian’s wife, whom you’ve invited today, must be as pretty as a fairy. Will I look shabby when I go to lunch?”

“I invited you so you could gain some confidence.”

“But I’m still worried.”

“What’s there to worry about?”

“Will your wife welcome me to your house?”

“That all depends on how you deal with her.”

“I should be all right, but I’m not sure. She’ll probably laugh at my clothes.”

“That’s a nice outfit. If we had time, I’d give you some money to buy something fancy and trendy.”

“I won’t take your money, but I’d like you to help me choose an outfit.”

She opened her wardrobe and tried on every piece she owned. Growing anxious, Zhuang waited until she chose a black dress, and then, after holding her in his arms for one more kiss, he rushed home.