Sheng Keyi - Northern Girls - Life Goes On

When she had finished her turn about the dance floor, Youqing saw Xiaohong. She tossed Xiao Yuan aside and went over to the table.

‘Ah Hong!’ she said, ‘you just arrived?’

‘Happy birthday, Youqing. I had something I needed to do, so I’m a bit late. Here’s a lipstick case, just a little something for you,’ Xiaohong said, handing the pretty little package to her.

‘You didn’t have to do that. Here, have an apple.’ Youqing took the gift from her as she welcomed Xiaohong like a courteous host.

‘Why don’t you dance?’ Youqing said to Xiaohong, waving to the men.

When the light from the dance floor flashed across Youqing’s face, Xiaohong suddenly saw on her earlobes a pair of green studs. Other than the colour, which she could not see very clearly, the earrings were just like those Julia Wilde had always worn, exactly the same size and style. The image of Julia in those studs leapt into Xiaohong’s mind.

‘Hey, Youqing, those earrings are really pretty! I like them.’ Xiaohong laid hold of Youqing. Moving in closer to look at the earrings, her fingers squeezed tightly on the other girl’s arm. When the lights flashed on them again, illuminating Youqing’s face, Xiaohong was almost certain that this was the same pair of green earrings.

‘I like them too,’ Youqing said, smiling happily.

‘Where’d you buy them? I’d like to get a pair,’ Xiaohong said casually.

Youqing, smiling sweetly, was invited to dance with one of the men. Xiaohong sat down slowly, her heart pounding. She was excited by the mystery, so excited she was filled with a sort of terror. It was as if she had just seen Julia Wilde herself walk into the party, making her hair stand on end and her skin crawl. She felt like she had seen a ghost. She suddenly began to tremble violently.

She looked through the crowd at Xia, who was weaving his way through the tables and chairs on his way out of the karaoke room.

II

Xiaohong tossed and turned on her bed for half an hour, trying to sleep. She suddenly felt something caressing her chest, then a wet tongue was dragged across her breast, licking and sucking on it. She had just begun to feel very comfortable when the licking and sucking turned into a pair of manly hands, poking, prodding and pinching with fingers hard as dead twigs. She felt the pain, and cursed angrily. Jolted into wakefulness, she heard the last of the cursing escape her mouth, ‘Fuck!’

She got up. Without bothering to turn on the light, by the dim glow from the window she flip-flopped in her bedroom slippers to the bathroom to relieve herself, listening to the splashing sound through her sleepy daze. She straightened up, rubbed her eyes, went back to the room and plopped down onto the bed again. Feeling her pyjamas were a bit tight, she tugged at the front, then the back, yanking at the fabric. As she pulled, she discovered that her breasts were swollen, as if her body were inflated. She probed her breasts and found that they were tender to the touch. She might as well bare her breasts, the way they were swelling, as if demanding to be released. They bounced a couple of times, like balls falling to the ground. She pressed them with both hands and felt they had grown. Inspecting them again, she did not find any lumps. They were as soft as they had always been. She took comfort in touching them for a moment and it occurred to her that the swelling might have been caused by ovulation. Putting the matter out of her mind, she went back to sleep.

The next morning when she was putting on her bra, she realised that she had not imagined the extent of the swelling. Practically speaking, her bra could not cover her breasts. The flesh spilled over the bounds of the garment. Like flowing oil, they refused to be bound. Xiaohong undressed and stared at the things she had been carrying for years. She could not understand why this cycle of ovulation was causing such a major change. She sat down again and examined them carefully. The flesh was white with the small blue lines of blood vessels showing through like earthworms crawling under the surface. She noticed that the nipples were redder than normal and that they stood up as if excited. The look was that of a balloon not fully blown up, with plenty of room left for expansion.

Xiaohong tossed the bra aside, picking up some loose-fitting clothes to put on. It did not cross her mind that, from now on, her breasts might only live without the confines of a bra. She walked slower than usual, so that the unfettered swing of those two fellows inside her clothes wouldn’t be too extreme. She felt like a woman suffering from engorged breasts, but without a child to nurse.

‘Wow, you’re not wearing a bra anymore. Fashionable.’ Youqing was not the first person to discover that Xiaohong had not worn a bra, but she was the first to announce it in shrill tones. Xiaohong had just plopped two scoops of rice into a bowl and handed it to Youqing. With the movements of her body, her breasts glided here and slid there, like bowling balls on a well-waxed alley. Laughing, Xiaohong scooped her own rice and went to sit with Youqing.

‘Where’d you buy those earrings? I really like them.’ Now out of the dance floor lighting, Xiaohong could clearly see the earrings Youqing was wearing. They were light green. She knew without a doubt that they were Julia’s.

‘My lover gave them to me. I’m sure you can’t buy them.’ Youqing’s arrogance reared its head again.

‘Which lover? Can I guess?’ Xiaohong sipped at her soup, only half-joking.

‘You’d never guess.’ Youqing smirked. Her hair was still the same as it had been at her party. Obviously she had not washed it since then.

‘Give me three guesses.’

‘What makes you think I’ve got three lovers?’

‘I only know of Xiao Yuan. So, can I guess?’

‘Sure. But if you don’t get it right, you have to eat four more scoops of rice.’

‘Xia Jifeng.’

‘What the hell?’ Surprised, Youqing denied it sharply.

‘Then it’s Xiao Yuan?’ Xiaohong said with a weak smile.

‘ Non. Last chance.’

‘Or…. Xia Jifeng.’

‘Uh—!’ Youqing coughed as if she had swallowed a jar of pepper. She sputtered, her face turning red and her eyes beginning to water.

III

The peak season had passed and the powers that be had not notified Xiaohong to go back to the publicity department. The hospital seemed to have forgotten the matter. Xiaohong waited several days and, while she was waiting, received a telegram from her sister saying her father had died. Xiaohong, feeling that the world had turned black, took a week off work to go home for the funeral.

She called Liao from the train station and told him about Youqing’s earrings. She said that they were just like those Julia had often worn and that, since they had been a family heirloom, it was not possible to buy them in a market today. Perhaps this was a clue, she said. Liao replied enthusiastically, ‘We’ll investigate. If they really are Julia’s earrings, it’s certainly a very important clue that could be the key to the case.’

‘I’m at Guangzhou train station. My dad died. I’ve got to make a quick trip home.’ Xiaohong hung up, biting her lip. She fought to hold back the tears, her throat tight, and walked calmly through the crowd.

When she got home, her sister told her that their father had had an accident at the construction site. A heavy object had fallen on him and he had drawn his final breath on the way to the hospital.

As her sister spoke, she looked at Xiaohong’s chest with eyes that were red from crying. ‘Why’re they… like that?’ She noticed the unusually large breasts.

‘I don’t know. It’s like they get bigger by the day. They don’t hurt. I don’t feel anything at all.’