Sheng Keyi - Death Fugue

He heard the provocation in her words, surrounded by the desolate, snow-covered landscape. If he were just to casually press her down to the snow-covered ground, he could change her perspective, and convince her of his superiority. But he was in no hurry to prove anything. He locked eyes with her for a full minute, as if using infra-red rays to make her transparent. A jackal would rather eat carrion than starve, but for a fresh piece of meat he was patient enough to play with his prey.

‘Look at it from another perspective. Say you encounter the sort of thing Su Juli is facing…it would be hard enough to bear.’ His attitude was like that of an elder. ‘Of course I would be worried about you too, and I would help you think of a way to abort the problem.’ As he spoke, another thought flashed into his mind. ‘Yuyue, you are very clever. Tell me honestly, if this were happening to you, what would you do?’

‘Um, let me think…when the time came, I would make a civet cat take the place of the prince.’

‘No, that would be wicked. Moreover, every child is a national treasure. And where would you find a civet now that they’ve all been killed to save us from disease?’

‘Well, you could consider hiding, or go into the mountains and give birth there.’ She was a little proud. ‘The law does not mention this, so there’s a loophole.’

He felt enlightened as he listened. You should engage in a game of hide-and-seek with the government. You should not have to witness them killing a child. When things had blown over, you could come back. It could be done, one step at a time.

Having such frequent contact with Yuyue, Mengliu’s understanding of and trust in her had deepened. He felt she was the most clear-headed person in Swan Valley. She was calm, rebellious and spoke clearly and logically. Occasionally she relied on the uniqueness of her genetic disposition to act without restraint. When she gave a backward kick like a mule, nobody could resist her power. Even Michael, the head of the hospital, seemed a little afraid of her, and was always careful not to provoke her.

Yuyue had both brains and beauty, she was a really stunning woman. Mengliu praised her. She was unceremonious in accepting his praise.

‘Do you believe every child we would have together would be a genius?’ she said, laughing. She put on her cashmere gloves. ‘But I don’t want to have a child. I don’t like children. You see the relationship between me and my mother is…so distant. Anyway, I don’t want to be a reproductive machine.’

‘But, Yuyue, there are some things no one can defy. One day that official red letter will come to you, then you’ll…’

‘I’ll jump off a ledge!’ she unzipped her down coat. ‘I take it off and put it on…When it comes to my body, I am likewise master of myself.’

Mengliu snorted with a laugh, obviously indicating that he thought she was terribly naive. She did not understand that the ‘self’ was never free in Swan Valley. It didn’t even exist.

She knew he didn’t believe her. Raising her trouser leg, she knocked her right shin a couple of times. It sounded like hard rubber. ‘My jumping skills were not very good. I survived, but my leg did not. Damn…’ She laughed cheerfully, into the wind, her face especially fair and clear. ‘I was only seventeen at the time, pure and noble…The next time they tried to force me into a marriage, I took poison…then I fell in love with a man, but he chose the fucking red letter, just like you. I understand you both. You see, I’m still intact, right? No one bothers me now. I used death to fight for my freedom. Don’t say I don’t understand it as well as you.’

She spoke happily. He was shocked. When he came to himself, he found that she was already in his arms, and his arms and her body were welded fast together. He was not quite sure how they came to embrace one another. He touched her neck, which had the fragrance and light glow of fresh snow. For the first time, his hands discovered the real feeling of hair that was smooth as silk. She was a young girl, as dazzling as sunlight on the snow. He felt that if he whispered in her ear, she would blow away, like a petal carried off by a running stream. His kiss would defile her, like a dirty streak across the whiteness of the snow. So he just held her, frozen in stillness. He just held her, like the wind brushing a cloud, as if he were holding the hidden secret of spring, a sprouting seed, a river through the mountains, like holding time, like holding his past and present self. He felt the heat of his body warming the surrounding cold air, like an unsullied flower blooming in the middle of a pond.

After a while, as if she had been asleep on his bosom, Yuyue rubbed her eyes. Then she left him, as if she was getting up from a sofa, lifting her face slightly to see the river disappearing around a bend in the distance.

‘Tell me, will I ever meet the person who is willing to die with me?’ She turned to face him.

‘Why do you want to die for love? You should think about how to live happily with the person you love.’ He was especially good at reasoning out such things, he didn’t need to think about it at all. ‘Of course, it’s more difficult to figure out how to live than how to die, and much more valuable.’

‘Really? I think it depends on the way you live and the way you die. I mean…’ she paused and looked up at the snow on the tree, ‘death at the guillotine of freedom is valuable.’

He very much agreed with what she said. But he had lost the ability to express such things, and he didn’t know how to respond to her. She shook the branches of the tree then quickly ran away, so that the snow dropped on him. She stood laughing on the side. This was how their serious conversation would end.

‘Have any more people died at the hospital these past few days?’ He changed the subject, suddenly recalling the matter of the infectious disease. ‘Was it “just the flu”?’

‘A dozen more have been admitted, one has died, and a couple are in a critical condition. Also, a nurse has been infected. She collapsed, and died a few hours later. It’s incurable. The hospital staff is running round in circles right now.’ Yuyue picked up a frozen leaf, and stripped the ice from it, leaving the leaf imprint on the ice. She shut one eye, and looked at him through the ice-leaf with the other. ‘We stopped short of wearing gas masks. Gowns, surgical masks, shoe covers, gloves…anyone who didn’t know better would think we were a biochemical team. Michael reported the situation to the higher-ups in Swan Valley. I heard that they are sending out their top medical experts.’

He had become a weird shadow through the ice, moving oddly. ‘The most critical thing right now is to inform the people, instruct them to stay at home and take preventive measures. As much as possible, they should not go out, so that we can reduce the spread of the infection and prevent an epidemic. Otherwise, the situation will be even more difficult to control in the future.’ He spoke flatly. His heart wasn’t in what he said.

‘The higher-ups have already enacted provisions stating that we cannot broadcast these things. In fact, we aren’t allowed to say how many people have died, out of fear that this would cause a panic. To destroy the perfect image of the present, that will be hard to salvage.’ Yuyue threw the ice into the river. He noticed here was a flaw in the way her leg moved during the course of this activity. He felt guilty for noticing, as if he were responsible. ‘Michael, the deputy director, and the heads of the various departments were taken to a government building for a meeting. They came back and conveyed the spirit of the meeting to all of us “grassroots comrades”. What a joke! They had learned the art of spinning and bluffing. Damn!’ She looked as if she completely understood why things were this way. Her laughter flew to the sky like dandelion seeds, but the stem remained on the ground, standing gracefully.