Sheng Keyi - Northern Girls - Life Goes On

‘You take your time and have a look round. You’re our last customers today.’ Ah Xing supported her belly as she sat down, picking at her teeth with her nail, as if without a care in the world.

Specs browsed through the section with martial arts novels. He looked through The Swordsman then reluctantly put it back.

‘Hey come here. Look at this.’ Sijiang held up a book called The Pregnancy Encyclopaedia. It was at least as thick as two copies of his coveted volume of The Swordsman . On the cover was a beautiful woman with a sunny smile.

‘I’m going to buy this,’ Sijiang said happily.

Specs turned it over to look at the price tag. ‘Thirty kuai . That’s expensive! It’s still early. Do we really need to buy it now? Can’t we just learn from Ah Xing, Wu Ying and the others?’ He looked distractedly back at The Swordsman series.

‘Eh? That’s no good. There’s so much to learn and it’s annoying to others if you keep pestering them.’ It was the first time Sijiang had been so firm.

From where she sat, Ah Xing laughed. ‘Just buy it. I’ll give you a twenty per cent discount. I don’t earn anything from the sale but, you know, just to show my support.’

Specs had no response to that. Sijiang said, ‘We’ll buy it and The Swordsman. ’

Specs hesitated, then joked, ‘That’s a lot of money. We’ll have to eat nothing but vegetables and tofu for a while! Sijiang, I don’t want the novel. I’d rather eat meat!’

Ah Xing clacked away on a calculator and said, ‘Eighty per cent. Just make it fifty kuai then.’

Sijiang took a wad of folded notes from an inner pocket, smoothed one out and handed it to Ah Xing.

Specs was still saying, ‘Sijiang, don’t buy the sword-fighting novel. I was just flipping through it.’

‘Come on, don’t take the fun out of it. I’ve known for a long time how much you like to eat meat. Actually I wanted to buy The Swordsman for you before but I used the money for meat instead. If I just cut down on the household expenses, it should be OK.’

As Sijiang glared at him, he noticed that her tiny eyes made her a classic beauty, like the famous women of ancient times. He couldn’t help but love her all the more for it.

At night when they were back in the dim light at the rented flat, he sat down to study the pregnancy book with her. Specs became unusually serious and excited, as if Sijiang were going to deliver a baby the next day. They were bathed in a special kind of happiness. They turned the pages slowly, lingering over each one, spending half the night poring over the book. When they had just crawled into bed and cuddled up to one another, there was a sudden ruckus. Someone was banging on their door.

‘What the hell?’ Specs shouted boldly.

‘ID check! Let’s see your papers!’

‘Sijiang, quickly get dressed.’ Specs, half-clothed, opened the door. Several men in camouflage uniforms burst rowdily into the room. All had work badges on, but the couple could not see clearly what department they were from. Or, rather, neither Sijiang nor Specs had the guts to look carefully enough. One fellow who seemed to be the lead officer stood in the centre of the room with his feet spread wide apart. Behind him, the others stood ready to be deployed.

‘Papers.’

Specs found both of their IDs and temporary residence cards.

‘Take out your Family Planning Certificate and let me see that too,’ the officer said, looking their documents over slowly.

‘Family Planning Certificate?’ Specs stammered. He shook his head.

‘What’s that?’ Sijiang was at a loss.

‘It’s a card for those who aren’t married,’ said one of the camouflaged men. Like dogs, they had immediately sniffed trouble and were closing in. Sijiang felt their breath crashing in around her like the wind of industrial-sized exhaust fans.

‘You don’t have it?’ the officer repeated again, with difficulty.

‘No. We didn’t know we needed it. We’ll go and take care of it first thing tomorrow.’ Specs didn’t know much about these guys.

‘Take her in!’ The officer waved his hand and four of the camouflaged men moved in, breathing heavily. They took Sijiang’s arm, pulled her up and bustled her out the door. Outside, there was a car, sleek and black. No sound was to be heard, aside from the running of engines. There were red lights flashing on the car, like a police van.

‘Why are you taking her away? Where are you going with her? What are you doing?’ Specs grabbed the officer.

‘The women and children’s hospital. Remember to bring some money. She’ll need to stay for three days.’

‘Days? What are you doing to her? What does she need to go to the hospital for? She’s not sick!’

Specs cried out in his panic, but in a brief moment, the officer and his car were swallowed up in the darkness.

II

When Specs had rushed to the hospital, everything was brightly lit and overrun with people. It was blazing hot. Every window was lit up, and everyone seemed to be shouldering a heavy burden. Specs was at a loss, not sure where Sijiang had been taken or who to ask. He ran up several staircases, through various departments and finally found himself in a crowd milling around in front of an operating room. Every single seat was occupied and no one seemed the least bit sleepy. People hustled and bustled around him, walking hurriedly, as if it were a clinic on the front line of a war zone. Everything was tense and everyone was anxious.

Specs turned to ask an old woman sitting on a nearby stool. ‘Auntie, it’s late. What’s everyone waiting for? What surgery are they doing here?’

The old woman looked at him a moment, slow to answer. ‘I’m waiting for my daughter-in-law. The surgery is sterilisation.’

‘Sterilisation?’ Specs, feeling he had suffered a staggering blow, almost fell to the ground. Just then, he saw a familiar pair of slippers hanging from a hook on the wall. He picked them up and looked more closely. They were Sijiang’s. Blood rushed hotly to his head. He turned and ran to the door of the operating room. Unfortunately, it was locked. He dashed his fist against the words No Admittance printed in red along the glass door. Immediately, he was caught by two men in camouflage.

‘What are you doing? Try that again and we’ll haul you in,’ the men pushed Specs aside with a stern warning.

‘I’m looking for my girlfriend. Where is she?’ His legs felt weak. He dropped to his knees, as if kneeling before them.

‘We don’t know. Don’t go around making trouble in the surgical ward.’

‘You’ve got the wrong person! She’s just a girl! You can’t sterilise her! I’m begging you! Doctors! Doctors, I’m begging you! Please let her go!’ Specs quaked, crying as he desperately tried to break away. He wanted to go into the surgical ward and to the doctors’ offices. He wanted to pull Sijiang off the operating table, but his hands were wrenched firmly behind him by the guys in camouflage, like some criminal they had subdued and contained.

Just then the old woman sitting on the stool, whose face had been so cold moments earlier, stood up and said to Specs, ‘Is she a round-faced girl? She was barefoot. She really put up a fight. At the door to the operating room, she yelled for all she was worth. It took four men to come and drag her in, carrying her by the arms and legs. They should be done by now. You’re not married? What a shame!’ The old woman sighed and, looking ancient, walked back to where she had been sitting.

Specs fell silent. The men in camouflage released their hold on him. He went limp, tumbling to the ground like a mound of wet sand. His glasses slipped. Those plain, cheap glasses that he had bought purposely to make himself look more professional when he went for interviews, were now being trampled underfoot into a crooked heap.