Jingqiu thought he was being difficult and this made her angry. ‘You’re the boss, you’re the one responsible for my work, that’s why I came to you. Aren’t you supposed to be the one who sends me to Mr Liu?’
‘I told you to go help with the noticeboard, did I tell you to go for walks with him?’
‘When did I go for walks with him?’
‘I thought you were a decent girl,’ Mr Wan spluttered. ‘Spending all that time pretending to be a decent girl, more like. You work for whoever you want to work for, but I don’t want you here working for me.’
Jingqiu was fuming.
‘Aren’t you going? I’m going to get breakfast.’ With that, he walked off in the direction of the canteen.
Jingqiu was left behind, cursing herself that she had come back to work for him. How totally spineless, she thought. If only she had not been persuaded to come back by Granny Copper she wouldn’t have had to face the humiliation of being fired. She was certain that Wan Changsheng was going to talk to Director Li, and spread nasty rumours about her and Mr Liu. He’ll drag my name through the dirt.
Shaking with anger, she thought of finding someone to report Mr Wan to but Mr Wan would be able to clear himself with just the one question: ‘If I did something to her that day, why did she come back to work?’
Feeling wronged, she headed for the factory exit. As she passed the factory noticeboard she saw Mr Liu working frantically, but rather than say hello she slid past. As she left the factory compound she caught sight of Zhang Yi coming towards her eating a fried dough stick.
‘Jingqiu? Aren’t you working today?’
‘The boss fired me,’ she said, betraying her plan to keep silent about the injustice.
Zhang Yi stopped. ‘Why did he fire you?’
‘Never mind, it’s got nothing to do with you. You get on.’
‘I’m not busy, I’ve just come off my night shift. I didn’t want the canteen food so I popped out for breakfast before heading back to sleep. Tell me, what happened? Why did he fire you?’
Feeling that it was more than she could bear, Jingqiu told Zhang Yi all about Mr Wan’s behaviour, although she glossed over the parts she thought particularly embarrassing.
Zhang Yi flew into a rage, flung the remainder of his dough stick to the ground, then grabbed Jingqiu’s hand and pulled her back towards the factory. ‘C’mon, I’ll settle things with that hunchback. He must have been aching these last few days, I’ll give him a run around, no problem.’
Seeing him raging, looking for a fight, frightened Jingqiu, and just like she used to do when they were young, she pulled at his hand to hold him back. Zhang Yi struggled free from her grip and said, ‘Are you scared of him? I’m not scared of him, a man like that only responds to force, the more you’re scared of him the fiercer he becomes.’ Fuming, he stomped off towards the factory.
Jingqiu had no option but to follow him to the factory. If something happens, she thought, I’ll have put Zhang Yi in danger. He was speaking to someone ahead, probably asking them if they had seen Wan Changsheng, and then he made straight for the canteen. Alarmed, Jingqiu ran after him. By the time she got to the door she could hear them arguing inside.
She saw Zhang Yi shoving Wan Changsheng, shouting, ‘Hey, hunchback, what are you doing firing my friend? Looking for a fight?’
Wan Changsheng looked pitiful, and repeated one sentence over and over, ‘Say what you have to say. Say what you have to say . . .’
Zhang Yi grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him outside. ‘Let’s go, we can talk at the scene of the crime.’ He dragged Mr Wan to the southern wall of the compound, and though they attracted plenty of looks on the way, no one seemed bothered about getting involved. Even though a couple of people called out, ‘Fight! Fight! Someone call security,’ nobody actually responded, and nor did anyone come forward to mediate. Only Jingqiu followed, startled, calling to Zhang Yi to stop.
Once at the wall Zhang Yi released Mr Wan, and pointing at him shouted, ‘You son-of-a-bitch scoundrel, you took advantage of my friend, do you still want to live?’
Mr Wan continued to deny it. ‘How could I possibly take advantage of your friend. Don’t listen to her rubbish, she’s the one that’s loose.’
Zhang Yi walked up and kicked Mr Wan in the shin. Mr Wan let out an ‘ai-ya!’ and slumped on to the ground, picked up a brick and then surged forward.
Jingqiu called out, ‘Watch out, he’s got a brick in his hand!’
Zhang Yi seized Mr Wan’s hands and started shouting and kicking him. ‘Stop it or you’ll kill him!’ Jingqiu called out, frightened.
Zhang Yi stopped. ‘I’m going to report you, you scumbag, taking advantage of my friend like that, do you know who I am?’
‘I didn’t take advantage of her, honest. If you don’t believe me go ask her, I didn’t lay a finger on her.’
‘Do I need to ask? I saw with my own eyes, you fucking pig’s head.’ Zhang Yi’s fist flailed in the air.
Mr Wan protected his head with his hands and shouted, ‘What do you want? You want me not to fire her, is that it? If you hit me, will you get away with it?’
‘I only hit people for pleasure, I never worry about whether or not I can get away with it.’ Zhang Yi let go of Mr Wan. ‘It must be your lucky day. Hurry up, what job are you assigning her, so I can go sleep?’
‘You can help Mr Liu with the factory notices,’ Mr Wan said quietly to Jingqiu.
‘Thank you,’ Jingqiu said after Mr Wan left, ‘I was really worried that you were going to do something stupid.’
‘Don’t worry, he won’t dare touch you again. Worthless guys like that, if you don’t hit them they don’t know how tough you are. You go and help Mr Liu, and if that hunchback gives you any more trouble come tell me and I’ll sort it out.’
Now she owed Zhang Yi, and she wasn’t sure how to repay him. She hoped he didn’t want to go out with her, but Zhang Yi didn’t appear to be acting any differently. Yes, he always said hello when they met, and sometimes carried his lunch over to say a few words, or else watched as she worked at the noticeboard, but he hadn’t asked her to be his girlfriend, so she relaxed.
Mr Wan behaved much better than before. When handing out work he wouldn’t speak to her and while the work he gave her was a bit on the heavy side, she preferred it that way.
She arranged to meet Old Third by the river. It was the first time he had seen her with her top tucked into her skirt. He leant in close to her ear and whispered, ‘Your outfit looks really good.’
She had always been embarrassed by her large breasts. All the young girls she knew were the same, they all wore bras that made them look flat. If when they ran their breasts bobbed, they would be laughed at. She was unhappy that Old Third had noticed. ‘You’re just like that hunchback Wan, he said the same thing—’
‘What did he say?’ Old Third interrupted.
She had no choice but to tell him, as well as the part where Zhang Yi had hit Wan. His face went ghastly pale and he bit his lips together tightly. The same look that Zhang Yi had had appeared in his eyes. ‘You don’t understand how it makes a man feel when he hears that the girl he loves has been taken advantage of by another man.’
‘But he didn’t take advantage of me.’
‘He made you jump down from a wall. What if you’d hurt yourself? What then?’
She tried to soothe him. ‘Don’t worry, next time I won’t jump, I’ll push him off. It’s already in the past,’ she urged him repeatedly, scared that he would do something to Mr Wan. ‘Don’t get involved, he’s not worth it.’
‘Don’t worry,’ he said, his voice cracking, ‘I won’t do anything stupid. I just want to move to Yichang as soon as possible, so I can take care of you. Being so far away, every day I worry about someone taking advantage of you, or that you’ll exhaust yourself with work, or injure yourself. I don’t ever get a good night’s sleep. When I’m at work all I want to do is sleep, but when it’s time for bed I’m thinking of you.’
His words touched her, so for the first time she took the initiative and embraced him. He was sitting and she stood before him. He rested his head on her chest and said, ‘I really could sleep like this.’
He really mustn’t be sleeping well, she thought, and then he rushes over here during the day to see me. It’s tiring him out. She sat down beside him and he lay down, made her lap his pillow, and fell asleep at once. Her heart ached to see him so tired, and she feared that even the smallest movement might startle him awake.
At nearly eight-thirty she woke him. ‘I have to go back otherwise if Mother gets back before me she’ll worry.’
He looked at his watch and asked, ‘Did I just fall asleep? Why didn’t you wake me? You go back at once . . . Sorry.’
‘Why are you apologising?’ she smiled. ‘As long as we’re together that’s all that matters. Or is there something else?’
He laughed, embarrassed. ‘No, not exactly, it’s just that we so rarely get to see each other and you let me fall asleep.’ He sneezed a few times, his nose seemed blocked and his voice raspy.
‘I should have used something to cover you just now.’ She was shocked. ‘You must have caught a chill while sleeping. We’re right by the river here, and this stone bench is cold.’
Holding her he said, ‘I’m the one who slept and you’re apologising? You should be hitting me instead.’ He sneezed again, turned his head to one side. ‘I haven’t been exercising so I’m in such bad shape, I’m like those glass whistles, blow and I break in an instant.’
‘You’ve probably caught a cold. Remember to take some medicine when you get back.’
‘It’s nothing, I hardly ever get sick. I don’t need to take medicine.’
He took her back home and she told him not to cross over with her as it was possible her mother was also on her way back. ‘But it’s already dark, how can I relax knowing you’re crossing on your own?’
‘If you’re worried you could walk with me but on the other side of the river.’
So they walked on either side of the river, she taking special care to walk right along the edge so that he could see her. He was wearing a white vest and he carried a white short-sleeved shirt in his hands. A little way along she stopped and looked across to the other side where she saw him stop level with her. He raised his white shirt and flapped it in a circle.
Laughing to herself she wanted to say, Have you surrendered? Why are you flying the white flag? But he was too far away and wouldn’t be able to hear her. She continued before stopping again to look over in his direction. He stopped and flapped his white shirt again. They walked and stopped like this until she got to the gate of the campus. The last time she stopped to look over at him she waited for him to leave but he didn’t move. She waved her hand at him, shooing him away to find a place for the night. But he too started waving, perhaps to tell her to go first.
Then she saw him stretch out his arms, this time he was not waving, but rather it looked as if he was holding her. She checked that there was no one around and then reached out to him. The two of them stood, on either side of the river, their arms wide, holding each other. Tears welled in her eyes so she turned and ran into the campus where she hid behind the gate.
He was still standing there, with his arms reached out. Behind him stretched the long riverbank and the street lights shone above him. He was wearing white and looked so small, so lonely, so bleak.
Chapter Twenty-Six
That night Jingqiu slept badly and had several dreams about Old Third. One minute she was dreaming that he was coughing until he started bringing up blood, the next that he was fighting hunchback Wan. She kept thinking in her dream, as long as this is only a dream, as long as this is only a dream.
Later, when she woke and discovered it really had been a dream she let out a sigh of relief. The sun still hadn’t risen but she couldn’t get back to sleep. She didn’t know if Old Third had found a place to stay the previous night. He said that sometimes he couldn’t find a place because he didn’t have the papers that said he was on a work trip required by all hotels, so he would stay in the pavilion overnight. Before midnight there would be people in the pavilion playing chess and cooling off after the day’s heat, and then after midnight he would be left on his own, he said, thinking about her.
She didn’t know when she would next see him – they hadn’t been able to fix a time – though she knew that as soon as he had the opportunity he would come see her. Before, she had been afraid that he would tease her and not come, but it wasn’t like that any more.
The next morning she went to the paper factory and as before went first to Wan Changsheng’s office to be assigned her job for the day. As his door was still closed she sat on the ground outside and waited. Soon other workers came and sat down to wait too.
‘The boss must’ve tired himself out burning the midnight oil and now he can’t get up,’ someone said. ‘As long it all gets counted I don’t care when he comes, the later the better.’
They waited until half past eight but Mr Wan still hadn’t arrived and everyone was concerned because if they delayed much longer they wouldn’t get any work that day. Some of them discussed going to find someone else at the factory to see if anyone knew what had happened to him.
After some time the factory sent a section manager who told them, ‘Last night Mr Wan was beaten up so he can’t come today. I don’t know what work he had planned to give you so I can’t organise any. Why don’t you all go home and come back tomorrow.’
The temporary workers made their way out of the factory, swearing and muttering, if we aren’t going to work today they should’ve told us earlier. Half the day’s already gone before they say anything, they’ve wasted our time.
Jingqiu started to fret, it must have been Old Third. But, she reasoned, after he took me back to the campus he stood there for ages, surely the crossing must have closed? He can’t have swum across to beat Mr Wan up, surely? If he had wanted to swim across, though, it was perfectly possible. Was he saying goodbye to me yesterday when he reached out his arms and stood there for such a long time? Maybe he knew he would go to jail for what he was about to do?
She simply had to find out what exactly had happened, how badly Wan had been hurt and whether they had caught the person who had done it. Did the police even know who it was? She didn’t know who to ask, and in desperation she tried everyone. She even ran to Mr Liu’s office to ask him if he knew what was going on.
‘I’ve only just found out myself that he was beaten up,’ Mr Liu replied. Seeing Jingqiu so worked up he became curious and asked, ‘Mr Wan usually stirs up negative feelings in people. I never thought you would be so worried about him.’
Jingqiu had no intention of explaining, and instead stuttered a few words in reply before running off to find Zhang Yi. Zhang Yi was still asleep and was woken by his roommates. He emerged in the hall, rubbing his eyes. ‘Have you heard? Someone beat up Mr Wan last night, he couldn’t come to work.’
‘Really?’ Zhang Yi replied excitedly. ‘Serves him right. Who did it? Whoever it was is more ruthless than me.’
‘I thought it was you,’ Jingqiu replied.
‘Why did you think it would be me? I was working the night shift.’
‘I thought you might have been teaching
him a lesson for last time,’ Jingqiu replied, now thoroughly disappointed. ‘I thought you might be in trouble over it.’
‘Don’t worry about me,’ Zhang Yi replied, visibly touched. ‘It wasn’t me, honest. Since coming to work here I’ve not been in a fight once. I only did that last time because he took advantage of you. You’ve always been good to me, helped me, ever since primary school.’
Jingqiu recalled all the times she had wished he would call in sick and felt ashamed. ‘What do you mean helped you, didn’t the teacher tell me to do it?’
‘Did you notice I only ever listened to you? That’s why the teacher asked you to look after me.’
Jingqiu didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, and thought to herself, no matter how I tried to hold you back I couldn’t, and you say you only listened to me.
‘If you’re not working today,’ Zhang Yi said, ‘let’s go and watch a film.’
‘You’ve just got off your night shift,’ Jingqiu said quickly. ‘You go to sleep, otherwise you won’t have energy for work tonight.’
‘I’ll go back to bed now then. See, I still listen to whatever you say.’ He went back to his dorm to sleep and Jingqiu went back home.
At home Jingqiu was as fidgety as before, and the image of Old Third having his hands tied and being led away by the police kept floating before her eyes. How could you be so hot-headed? Is it worth giving up your life for this hunchback? But then she blamed herself. Why did she go blabbing about it in the first place? If she hadn’t said anything, how would Old Third have known about it? If he got caught it’d all be her fault.
She thought about running to the police station to confess that it was all her doing, that she had hit him because he had taken advantage of her, that she’d had no alternative. But they would never believe her, and anyway, Mr Wan would definitely know if he’d been beaten up by a boy or a girl.
Under the Hawthorn Tree Page 23