Sheng Keyi - Northern Girls - Life Goes On

‘Ah Qing, Ah Ling, here are a couple of new girls. I want you all to get on with each other, OK?’ The Ape waved her simian arms. When she had finished her introduction, she picked up a shopping basket in her two large, working-class hands and headed to the market.

‘The boss is a good person,’ said Ah Qing, a girl from Guangdong with a fair-skinned face covered in acne. She spoke with a long, lazy drawl. Ah Ling was twenty-two or twenty-three and a real beauty. Since she knew how to cut hair, her salary was much higher than that of a shampoo girl and she thought of herself as in a whole different league from them. Her smile was always a little strained. She had a regular customer, an older Taiwanese man, who often came to see her. Every salon had a massage room and The 007 Salon was no different. The man did not care who washed his hair, but he only wanted Ah Ling to do the massage. When the time came, the pair would slip off into the massage room, not emerging until much later.

‘That Taiwanese guy is loaded. He wants Ah Ling to be at his beck and call, but doesn’t want to keep her on a retainer, if you know what I mean. What an old miser! Working in Taiwanese factories never has as good benefits as getting in with a Hong Kong company,’ Ah Qing said, her pimples dancing all over her face as she spoke. It was her dream to one day find a sugar daddy of her own.

The salon was not very busy. Whenever a scalp came through the door, one of the girls would scrub it, wash the face and add on a massage, all at a leisurely pace without having to worry about anyone sitting in a queue rushing them.

‘How long you been away from home?’ Xiaohong asked Ah Qing, who seemed like an old hand at this business.

‘Two years,’ she said after a pause.

‘Two years?’

‘Yeah. I can cut hair too, but my technique isn’t as good as Ah Ling’s.’

‘Ah Qing, what a pretty name,’ Sijiang said in a sing-song voice.

Ah Qing laughed, her teeth looking like rice that had been washed clean.

‘Ah Hong, Ah Jiang,’ as Xiaohong and Sijiang had become known, in keeping with local custom, ‘there’s a lot to learn. You’ll pick it up as you go. Anyway, I’ve got no real interest in working in a salon, but it’s better than working in a factory. That’s exhausting. The dorms are bad, the food is terrible and the wages are even worse,’ Ah Qing whined.

‘Can you teach us to do facials?’ suggested Sijiang.

Ah Qing looked at the two girls in the mirror and patted the seat in front of her. ‘Come on then. Who wants a seat?’

Sijiang sat down. Ah Qing wrapped a dry towel around her neck and another tightly around her hair. She squeezed facial products out of tubes and set to work applying them to Sijiang’s face, with Xiaohong as an eager spectator.

A man entered, interrupting them. His face was as dark as a chestnut. He carried a helmet in his hand and wore faded jeans that were almost completely white.

‘Ah Qing, how about a facial? Oh! Two new girls, huh?’ he said.

‘Hey Bud, you want a wash? This is Ah Hong, and this is Ah Jiang. Which one you want?’ Ah Qing obviously knew him well and she spoke as if she were the mama-san at a brothel.

‘Either one’ll do.’ Bud sat in the chair and held out a comb, offering it to whoever would like to give him a hair-wash and facial.

‘Ah Jiang, go ahead. You’ll be fine. This is Bud Kun. He’s a nice guy.’

Bud really was nice. Sijiang stood behind him. He quietly looked at her in the mirror, closed his eyes, and tilted his head to one side. Sijiang, copying Ah Qing’s earlier actions, wrapped a towel around him and began applying the scrub cleanser. Bud’s face was like a toad’s, covered in pimples. Sijiang cringed as she touched it.

‘Bud, you still out catching bad guys day and night?’ Ah Qing asked, leaning against another stool.

‘Yep. Thieves and robbers, they’re everywhere. Everyone’s looking for something extra to take home for the Spring Festival.’ He couldn’t open his mouth all the way, and his words came out muffled.

‘Bud, what do you do?’ Sijiang asked.

‘Village security.’

‘This is a village? With all the factories and tall buildings? How can it be a village without any fields?’

‘There are still fields, but with villagers these days getting so many benefits from the government to build factories, who wants to farm the land anymore?’ Sijiang stared at him. She suddenly felt the lump under her fingertips was less repulsive — maybe even a little endearing. Her fingers began to move with more confidence, taking great care over her work. When Bud finally left, his face was no longer the same dull chestnut that had come in earlier.

That night, the two girls slept in the salon’s massage room, with its one small window and set of bunk beds. The air was stagnant and stale.

‘Hey Honghong, what’s that smell?’ Sijiang was always sensitive to odour.

‘Sijiang, I think you must have been a dog in a previous life. The air is pretty bad, well… I think it’s semen.’

II

Ah Ling gasped in the massage room, a deep-throated hum like a woman in the throes of ecstasy sounding on and off at irregular intervals. The human expressions of pleasure and pain are often interchangeable, like when tears of joy flow or a nervous laugh escapes. Xiaohong saw no contradiction here. Joy often has a hint of sorrow buried within it, and even a series of horrifying events can transform into happiness.

From the sounds emanating from the massage room, one could guess that the old Taiwanese guy was giving his best effort, despite the helpless embarrassment he must have felt. It was unlikely he knew much about what went on in a young woman’s mind and he certainly had no clue about how to manage her sexual needs. No matter how long he spent with her, panting unevenly, he never seemed able to bring her any satisfaction. Ah Ling hoped the old man would give her money to open a coffee shop and offer an escape from salon life. He always dressed in brilliant colours that reflected well on The 007 Salon, though his manner of speaking betrayed some stinginess.

Whenever he came to the salon, Ah Qing would smile like a thief and say, ‘He’s just an old cat gnawing on a hunk of fish. He can’t even finish the task. Just the smell of it, and he’s already full!’

‘Gross. With those age spots all over, it must be horrible to do it with him!’ Xiaohong giggled as she combed her newly-dyed blonde hair.

‘Sijiang, don’t get cleanser in Bud’s eyes,’ Ah Qing warned. Sijiang had been assigned to wash Bud’s face on a regular basis and the two had become quite friendly. When he was free, he would take her for a spin on his motorcycle or out for a snack. Sijiang, having grown used to cradling his head against her chest, no longer blushed when she washed Bud’s face. The more experience she gained, the chattier she became. She was as comfortable scrubbing as he was lounging against her, and the time she spent giving him facials grew longer with each of his visits.

A perceptive girl, Ah Qing was good at discerning what ought to be said and what ought not. When she chose not to speak, as she seemed to do more often in recent days, she wore a lonely expression, like fallen leaves floating on water.

One day, after his facial, Bud suddenly said, ‘There’ve been lots of crooks to catch lately. I’m aching all over. How about a massage?’ Ah Qing turned away as Sijiang followed him into the massage room. Xiaohong, having just finished washing a customer’s hair, caught sight of an embarrassed look on Ah Qing’s face as she went into the washroom.

‘Ah Jiang, how many siblings do you have?’ Bud asked when they were in the massage room.

‘I’ve got two sisters. I’m the oldest.’