Jia Pingwa - Ruined City

“Liu Yue can’t be that bad. Maybe she was so good at her job that the family didn’t want her to leave. Now that she’s gone, they’re jealous of us and are trying to drive a wedge between Liu Yue and us.”

“That’s what I thought, too. Being so pretty, so neat and tidy, she can easily make people like her. It’s one thing for me to treat her well, but you need to be careful. Don’t get too cozy with her.”

“I’ll let her go tomorrow if that’s how you feel.”

“You’re just saying that because you know I don’t want her to leave.” She moved close to him, saying she wanted to make love, but he complained that it would be too much for him with his bad foot. She straightened out her legs. “All right. But don’t forget you owe me.” She lay back down and fell asleep.

The next morning, she went to work as usual. Her cousin called her at the office. Niu Yueqing asked how her mother was doing. “She’s fine. She had a bowl and a half of rice porridge with red beans for breakfast, only half a bowl of rice for lunch, but with plenty of odds and ends. My husband caught three fish in the Wei River, which we saved for her. The children were not allowed to touch them. For dinner we steamed two eggs for her, to go with a glass of fresh milk. Aunty has put on weight, and her skin is brighter. All she worries about is the vat of vinegar, since it has to be stirred. She asked me to tell you not to keep the lid on it all the time. Oh, and she complains about not having a radio to listen to opera.” Niu Yueqing said her mother was an opera fan who had spent much of her time at the theater when she was young. She went on to tell her cousin about life at home — the vinegar was fine; the old lady’s shoes had been washed and dried in the sun; Granny Wang had come several times and brought over a yellow stomacher. Niu Yueqing ended the report by telling her about Zhuang’s foot. It so happened that one of Niu Yueqing’s superiors would be going to the Wei River at noon to buy some cheap mutton for the staff, so she hurried back to the compound to pick up a Walkman and two opera tapes for him to take to the Deng Family Fort, where he would deliver the package. But by the time she got home, her mother was there. When Yueqing’s cousin had told her mother about Zhuang’s foot, the old lady had insisted on coming back to Shuangren fu without delay. Unable to change her mind, the cousin had brought her home on the bus. After checking on Zhuang’s foot, her mother grumbled about Liu Yue not folding the blanket neatly, placing the bottles incorrectly on the table, putting too much water in the flower pots on the windowsill, and for sweeping away a spider’s web on the wall. Liu Yue didn’t dare say anything. At night, Liu Yue slept in the same room as the old lady, who continued to use the coffin as her bed and started talking around midnight. At first the girl thought she was talking to her, so she pretended to be asleep. But the old lady kept on, almost as if she were having an argument with someone, softening her tone to reason with the other person one moment, then hardening her voice to frighten the listener the next. She even threw her pillow at the door. Liu Yue couldn’t see a thing in the darkness, and she was so scared that she got up and went to knock at the other door. Zhuang and his wife got up to ask her mother if she’d had a bad dream.

“They all left when you called out. I did my best to talk them out of it.”

“Who were they?” Niu Yueqing asked.

“How should I know? I saw several of them come in with clubs, and I knew they were here to hit Zhidie’s foot. I have no idea where they came from or why they wanted to hit my son-in-law’s leg, since we haven’t done them any harm.”

“Mother was talking about ghosts again,” Niu Yueqing said. Liu Yue’s face was pale. “No more, Mother,” Niu Yueqing said. “You scare us every time you go on and on like this.”

“Let her talk,” Zhuang said. “Did you manage to stop them, Mother?”

“They were evil spirits, so they wouldn’t listen to me. Go see the abbot at the Yunhuang Temple tomorrow and get some paper amulets. The city is overrun with evil spirits, and only the monk can subdue them. When you get them, paste one above the door and burn a second one, then put the ashes in some water and drink it. Your foot will be fine.”

“I’ll go tomorrow. Now you go back to sleep.” He told Liu Yue to go back to bed, but she decided to sleep on the living room sofa.

Niu Yueqing went to work the following morning. Liu Yue woke up with puffy eyes after a virtually sleepless night. Following a breakfast of milk, a flaky pastry, and one or two other items, the old lady dug up a piece of cloth to make another mask. Liu Yue offered to help, but she did not like the girl’s needlework, so Liu Yue went to talk to Zhuang in the study. When she heard them talking, the old lady looked at them over the top of her glasses.

“Zhidie, didn’t you say you’d go to the Yunhuang Temple?”

“I know.” He went to the bathroom, and when he returned to the living room, he sat down to watch Liu Yue hang a newly washed curtain over the kitchen door. She had on a pair of heels she had bought with the money they’d given her the day before, and the sight of her without stockings was strangely charming. In her tight black shorts she strained to hang the curtain on the doorframe, stretching her body and highlighting her graceful figure.

“You look really nice in those shoes without stockings, Liu Yue,” he said.

“I don’t have hairy legs,” she said, still struggling with the curtain.

“Do they pinch your toes?”

“I have narrow feet.”

“Your dajie has big feet and thick toes, so her shoes usually lose their shape after a week, but that’s nothing compared with some of the people I know. Xia Jie has a hammertoe and can’t wear heels at all, even medium height. Have you noticed how she always hides her feet when she sits down?”

The girl raised her leg to take a closer look. Zhuang took the foot in his hand and, pressing his face close, sniffed the leather and the fleshy fragrance of her foot. With her hands still on the doorframe, she quickly lowered her foot, but not before Zhuang managed to give it a peck. As she stood there, she experienced a ticklish sensation so strong that it even turned her face red. Feigning nonchalance, Zhuang told her he liked the style of her new shoes, which settled her down.

“For a man, you’re very attentive to women’s feet and shoes. People would find that hard to believe.”

“A good farmer makes sure to plant his seeds at the edge of his plot, a good dishwasher always cleans the rim of a pot, and a woman’s beauty shows in her head and feet. So long as you have nice shoes, you’ll look terrific even in rags. Tang Wan’er knows this, which is why she’s so meticulous about her hair. But she’s lucky to have thick, healthy, long hair, with a light yellow tint. Have you ever seen her in the same hairstyle twice? Why do you always wear your hair in a ponytail?”

“Because I don’t have a small purse, and none of my summer shirts or skirts has a pocket. So when I go out and take a handkerchief to wipe my sweat, I have to tie it to my skirt or to my hair for easy access.”

“Why didn’t you tell me? I’ll give you money to buy a purse. I’ve recently discovered why women carry purses. I used to think it was to carry money, but it turns out they contain nothing but handkerchiefs, tissues, and cosmetics. “

Liu Yue laughed.

“It’s getting late, Zhidie,” the old lady said when she heard them. “Why aren’t you going to the temple?”

He winked at the girl.

“I’m leaving now.” He grumbled about why Niu Yueqing had told her mother about his foot injury and then agreed that she should come home. She was probably worried that something might happen if he was home with nothing to do but chat with Liu Yue. The thought depressed him; his scalp tingled and he felt itchy all over. Deciding to call Meng Yunfang and ask him to pick up a couple of paper amulets at the Yunhuang Temple, he realized that the phone was off the hook.