Sheng Keyi - Northern Girls - Life Goes On

Just after she received her first month’s salary of 400 yuan, she was invited over to Chunhua’s for a round of mah-jong. The two girls planned to relax together and renew their old friendship. They only played for small stakes, not more than a couple of mao a game. Luck was with Xiaohong and she picked up twenty or thirty yuan during the course of the evening. Mr Ma sat across from Chunhua, and chatted to Xiaohong about her work. He was as content losing a hand as winning. Xiaohong spoke candidly of her gratitude to Chunhua, saying she had earned 400 yuan this first month. Mr Ma nodded and said, ‘Not bad. Keep it up.’

Chunhua glanced at Mr Ma and he winked at her. Xiaohong noticed and wondered what they were up to. Figuring that the pair didn’t want to talk about it in front of others, she pretended she hadn’t noticed. After a moment, she felt something tap against her under the table.

‘Something on your mind, Chunhua?’ she finally asked, unable to stand it anymore.

Chunhua, with a conspiratorial smile, said, ‘There’s a simple way we can make a lot of money, but I don’t know if you’re up for it.’

‘What would I have to do?’

‘You’ve got a key to Mr Tan’s warehouse, right?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Well, you know how much the stuff in there is worth?’

‘Yeah, I know.’

‘Mr Tan’s got a great big inventory and he wouldn’t notice if it was down by just a little each month. I know where you can get a lot of money for that scrap on the streets. You bring it to us and we’ll help you sell it. We’ll split the money sixty-forty, or seventy-thirty, or whatever. After a few months, we leave town. Whaddya think?’

Lost for words, Xiaohong thought to herself, So that’s how ‘tightly bound’ Mr Ma is to Mr Tan, huh? Aloud, she only said in a sedate tone, ‘Let me think it over.’

Actually, she had already considered the possibility before, going so far as to attempt to smuggle out a few metal pipes worth 500 yuan or so. Having walked a short distance with them hidden under her blouse, she felt the metal suddenly get very hot. The streets had been empty that night, willow branches swaying along the side of the road, their rhythm driving her own heartbeat to an even higher tempo. She felt like a thief.

Xiaohong, are you so greedy for a few extra yuan ? she berated herself, her curses stirring her to such an extent that she felt she was hovering above the street. Thus, she had turned around and walked back to the warehouse, putting everything back where it belonged.

She didn’t discuss the plan further with Chunhua. She felt caught between two loyalties. On the one hand, she had a boss who trusted her, and on the other she had a friend who had served as her benefactor. If she didn’t go along with the plan, Chunhua would suspect she had told on them. But if she did go along with it, not only would she be letting Mr Tan down, but if things didn’t go right, they could get caught. It seemed Chunhua thought of her as a mouse and had purposely released her into Mr Tan’s granary. But, Xiaohong thought, While I might have stolen glances and a few hearts, I never stole anything for money! Moved by her own decency, she thought, I’m actually kind of virtuous.

Later that night, Xiaohong lay on her bed in the guard room, staring all night at the glimmer of the white walls. She finally came to a lamentable resolution: she would resign. She remembered seeing a restaurant near the bus stop that was hiring and thought it worth having a look.

The next day, she went to Mr Tan and told him of her decision. He sat, as always, with a cigarette clasped between his fingers.

‘Xiaohong,’ he said, ‘if you’re unhappy with something, feel free to tell me. Don’t leave in a temper.’

Waving her hands, she quickly said, ‘No, no, it’s nothing like that. You’ve been very good to me, Boss. The work is good. How could I be unhappy with anything?’ She was embarrassed and a little breathless. One of the buttons popped off the front of her blouse and dropped to the floor, rolling under Mr Tan’s desk. Her blouse was obviously too tight, or her breasts too unwilling to be bound by the conventions of the world around her. Xiaohong didn’t even notice.

As she turned to leave, Mr Tan tried another tactic, hoping to change her mind. ‘I’ll give you another 300 yuan .’

Xiaohong wasn’t interested. ‘Why would you offer me money?’

‘Consider it a bonus,’ he replied.

‘I don’t want it. I didn’t do anything to deserve it.’

‘What is it you want, then? Do you think the 300 yuan will be some sort of black mark against you? Or that refusing it will make you noble?’

‘I just don’t deserve it. Mr Tan, don’t you ever worry about back-stabbers?’

‘Sure. It’s a big jungle, so it’s no surprise if you meet all sorts of beasts.’ Mr Tan didn’t even bother to try to hide his own experience in this area.

‘You’ve been around a lot longer than I have. I’m sure you know much more than I do about the way such betrayals go.’ Xiaohong was trying her best to at least drop him a hint.

‘You don’t need to worry about me. Trust me, Xiaohong,’ he said, beginning to chuckle, ‘I know all about it.’

‘You know? What the hell do you mean you know ?’

‘Let me tell you something, Xiaohong. That whole scheme with Chunhua was all my idea. Let me formally apologise to you. I have no reservations about your loyalty now.’

So that’s how it was. As the offense of it began to sink in, Xiaohong said evenly, ‘But Mr Tan, the problem is, I don’t trust you anymore. Best of luck to you.’

IV

‘You’re hiring, right?’

Xiaohong had stormed out of Mr Tan’s place and hoofed her way over to the Contentment House Diner. The manager, a woman in her thirties, glanced up, displaying a face plastered with makeup — liner-blackened eyes, mascara-curled lashes, lips painted pig-blood red — and earrings dangling almost to her shoulders with hoops as big as the hand-grips on a bus. Xiaohong felt that all it would take was a smile on that face and the whole façade would crumble, tumbling to the ground in a dusty heap.

The manager inspected Xiaohong, eyes running a couple of times up and down her length. She smiled faintly as her gaze came to rest on the girl’s breasts and asked, ‘Why don’t ya come and tell me about your experience?’

‘What experience?’ The testy tone of the question caught Xiaohong off guard.

‘I mean your work background, of course. You didn’t think I was asking about experience in the bedroom, did ya?’ The woman reached over and turned up the radio by her side.

Xiaohong knew all about what went on in bed, and even knew that the correct terminology for it was ‘lovemaking’. She didn’t get what the hell all that had to do with her getting a job. Obviously, this woman was just toying with her.

Just then an unkempt man emerged from a back room, mumbling, ‘You an applicant?’

‘Yeah,’ she answered huffily, ‘and I got plenty of experience at work, and in the bedroom, too!’

‘Girl, you’ve got spirit,’ he said, a little stunned. ‘How old’re you?’

‘Who cares?’ the manager butted in, with a pronounced roll of the eyes. ‘I say she’s not cut out for work here.’

‘I’m sixteen, and I’ve got plenty of fucking experience,’ Xiaohong retorted. She could tell the older woman felt threatened by her. Young as she was, she’d learned a thing or two about the female psyche, and she could see clearly enough how other women felt about her.

‘Sixteen, hm? Well, you’re no child, are ya? You done restaurant work before?’ He was obviously attracted to her.