Sheng Keyi - Death Fugue

‘If you think that Qizi is the roadblock between you and Hei Chun, you’re wrong.’

‘I like him, and that’s my own business. It’s got nothing to do with anyone else,’ Shunyu said.

Mengliu stood up straight as a flagpole and replied, ‘Shunyu, you can extract sweetness from the bitterest root, and that’s a real talent. I, on the other hand, suck bitterness from a sugar cube. Our perspectives are different, and our tongues don’t detect the same flavours. But why don’t you compete with Qizi? You’re also very pretty. Don’t you have a long line of suitors behind you? Why are you only entranced with Hei Chun? Let me tell you, he’s a selfish bastard, and a bit of a playboy. When is he ever free? The rumours about him never stop, and he likes to read love letters from his female fans in public. He’s not good enough for you. You should look for a guy who’s more…’

Shunyu was kneeling on a white banner outlining the words, ‘Long Live Freedom’. Her brush suddenly stopped. She screwed up her face, looked up at him and said, ‘However bad Hei Chun is, I don’t mind. Even if he were in prison, I’d bring him food every day.’

‘What? Are you really that far gone?’

Ignoring Mengliu, Shunyu dipped her brush into the ink and continued to outline the words.

Just then Sixi ran onto the basketball court, her clothing dazzlingly colourful. Two others trailed along in her wake, Jia Wan and Mogen. Neither said anything, they simply rolled up and neatly stacked the banners that had already dried and checked to see how many more strips of cloth were left. They went to work turning them into banners, Jia Wan commenting on those that had been filled with words, saying which strokes were too thin, where the ink was too light, and which characters should be written in a way that looked more imposing. He almost completely negated the effort that had been put in by the others.

Shunyu tossed her brush aside and looked at Jia Wan in exasperation. Mengliu knew she did not like the fellow, and he also felt there was something sordid about him, like a painting in a vulgar frame. He always wore a suit, as if he thought it would make him look classier. Instead, it only proved he had no taste. From Shunyu’s point of view a pretentious poet who wore a suit every day, as if he was in a hurry to attend a banquet, wouldn’t be able to write anything worth reading.

Tired and with an aching back, she didn’t even attempt to be polite to him. ‘What do you think you’re doing, coming over and pointing here and pointing there? You don’t like it? This is the way I do things. Why don’t I go buy some cloth and you rewrite it all?’

When Jia Wan heard these angry words, he realised he had offended Shunyu. He smiled obsequiously and said, ‘No, no, no. Don’t be angry. I didn’t mean to criticise. I just think we should pay attention to every detail, so that we will be taken seriously. These banners and writings are the voice of the people, and can be taken as the face of the Wisdom Bureau.’

‘So you’re saying that I’m making everyone lose face? What were you doing all this while? Go back to the press conference and talk to the reporters. Why bother coming back here where all the dirty work is done? It doesn’t do much for your image!’

Sixi interrupted, ‘Don’t bicker. We’re all doing our best. Jia Wan has joined the Unity Party. He’s in charge of publicity and logistics, and he’s just trying to fulfill his responsibilities.’

‘Oh, is that right?’ Shunyu said. ‘If I’d known I was working for him, I wouldn’t have come even if there were eight sedan chairs waiting to escort me here. I would rather be at home lying in bed, reading a novel.’

The short-haired Mogen said, ‘Our fellow student here seems a little biased. Actually, you aren’t doing this for any one person. We are all working for the country, for the good of the people.’

This just stoked Shunyu’s anger. ‘Are you trying to make a fool of me? I don’t want to hear it. You tell me how many people really have the best interests of the country and the people at heart. Aren’t they all after a little power? What is it about the country, or the people? Do they need you to be in charge?’

Once Shunyu lost her temper the insults flew from her mouth like daggers, and she wouldn’t relent on anyone’s account. Mengliu knew that her heart was in turmoil because she was completely lovesick over Hei Chun. He led her away from the basketball court, listening quietly as she vented her frustration.

‘Just look at him, with his slip-sliding eyes. I think it’s pretty clear he’s not a gentleman. He joined the Unity Party, and next thing you know, he may bring the whole thing crumbling down.’ Shunyu wiped vigorously at the ink on her fingers. Walking past a cluster of willow trees, she said, ‘Let’s go to Round Square. Maybe we’ll find something to do there.’

‘Let’s not. I’m worried about your father.’ Mengliu pretended to object, but actually he wanted to see Qizi.

‘My father donated two thousand kuai to the Unity Party yesterday.’

‘That doesn’t mean he allows you to participate.’

‘Let’s just go. I’m bored.’

‘I guess I could go and help construct the broadcast station.’

‘I’ll come with you.’

‘Well, I’m not your father. I can’t stop you.’

‘Yuan Mengliu, you arsehole. Are you being cheeky with me?’

‘Sure I am! If I’m the one who has to look out for you, doesn’t that make me your father?’

‘You’re incorrigible. Hey — do you want to hear one of my father’s romantic stories?’

She told him the story as they walked towards the square. ‘It’s from when he was in the army. Of course, he hadn’t met my mother at that time. My father’s company rested in a village for a few weeks. He got a little stir crazy, so sometimes he went to the river to play the chuixun . Because he played so well, a beautiful girl was fascinated by the music. He taught her to play the xun . On the night before he was to depart, my father and the girl went into the bushes by the river and, you know…He also left the xun with the girl.’

‘What sort of xun ?’

‘He didn’t say.’

‘What happened next?’

‘There was no “next”. My father only knew her nickname, something like Little Liu. Maybe she was the sixth child in her family, so they called her liu .’

‘Your father really was a romantic, seducing a village girl while in military uniform.’ Mengliu pretended to be preoccupied, but he was thinking of all the rumours he had heard about his own father. He took out his xun and looked at it, noting where his adoptive father had seen the engraved words meng liu and taken that as his name. Could there be some relationship between these two ‘sixes’, these ‘ lius ’?

Impossible! Inwardly, he laughed at himself. It was too fantastic. How could he even entertain such a ridiculous notion?

Shunyu spoke on her father’s behalf, saying he had taken the thing he loved most and given it to Little Liu. ‘That xun was the only thing my father cherished. It was an heirloom.’

‘At least he had a heart. Go back and ask your father, what did the family heirloom look like? Was it an oval xun , a bottle-gourd xun , a grip xun , a mandarin duck xun , an attached xun , a cow’s head xun, or was it like this…a lady-charming xun ?’ He thought a moment, then laughed. ‘Well, for people with low IQs like you, it’s too complicated. How about this — you take my xun back to your father and ask him what era it comes from.’

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