by Xinran
‘Who are the clients?’ asked Six.
Five looked at her sister in wonder. Her question seemed very stupid. ‘I said just now. The clients are the ones who come to spend money on bathing and massage.’
Three still wasn’t convinced that Five’s workplace was completely above board and tried to find out more.
‘You’re sure it’s not one of those places where men and women do it together in little rooms?’ she asked.
‘Well there aren’t any little rooms,’ said Five, not understanding the question. ‘The smallest one is big enough for two beds …’
‘Two beds!’ exclaimed Six. ‘Five, you’re not doing anything dirty, are you? My boss has talked to me about city people who make dirty money out of country girls.’
‘Aiya, what are you saying? It’s not a dirty job at all. The Green Girl says there are books about this “nurturing of the body and mind” that are three thousand years old. Long ago it was only for the emperor but, recently some clever people have remembered about it.’
‘Who’s the Green Girl?’ asked Three, feeling more reassured.
At the mention of Ms Lin, Five became very animated: ‘Three, she’s even more beautiful than those girls in your film-star pictures!’
‘What do you mean by beautiful?’ asked Three, amused.
‘How beautiful? I can’t explain it. Her waist, her face, the way she walks … Oh, if only you could meet her. Then you’d believe me! She’s just impossibly pretty! Not like some of the women clients. Oh, those women are face-changers. You should see them! When they come in, their faces are as pretty as a peach-blossom, but get them in the water and there’s no colour to them at all … Even their snow-white arses are prettier!’
‘What about the men?’ Three and Six asked simultaneously.
‘Well, city men are quite nice looking …’ Five didn’t have time to finish before her sisters butted in.
‘How do you know? Have you been spying on them?’; ‘How many city men have you seen?’
‘What are you saying? I don’t spy. But sometimes I do see things. When men and women come to the centre, they pay at the reception desk and get a set of these things called “tokens”. Tokens are bits of bamboo that come in different sizes depending on how much money you spend. You have to hand over a token whenever you go to a pool or treatment room. When they’ve bought their tokens, the men and women go to separate rooms to take their clothes off. The men put on a pair of pants and the women change into these really tight clothes that remind me of that magic headband in the story of the Monkey King, which squeezes his temples to punish him if he disobeys his master. Once Auntie Wang took me to the women’s shower room to check there were enough towels, and there was this woman having a wash. She hadn’t drawn the curtain, and I swear she had absolutely no hair on her hidden parts …’
Three gasped. ‘You mean you saw a White Tiger?’ Three asked fearfully.
‘I did … I did …’ Five said excitedly. ‘Later on I saw that woman bathing next to a really handsome man in the Pool of Tranquillity. They were getting ever so close. I was dead worried the woman was going to suck out all his vital essences and kill him.’
Six thought about what her mother had said about White Tigers. In the past, before any marriage could take place in the village, the matchmaker would perform an inspection of the bride-to-be. She would check that she wasn’t broken already, that she had no moles anywhere on her face, and that she wasn’t a ‘White Tiger’ – a woman without body hair. It was believed that such women would destroy a man. Her mother had told them how, during the Cultural Revolution, these inspections had been forbidden and therefore many men had married bad wives without knowing it, and suffered a terrible fate.
‘Aiya, have you eaten the whole bag of crispy turnips?’ shouted Five, interrupting Six’s thoughts. ‘I knew it! You’re asking me all these questions so you can scoff all the nice food while my mouth’s busy …’ Five stuck out her bottom lip.
‘Don’t panic, I’ve saved some for you here,’ said Three, waving a bulging paper bag in front of Five’s face. Six, meanwhile, realising for the first time that Five could teach her something she didn’t know, asked what the names of the other pools were at the Dragon Water-Culture Centre. Five listed them proudly.
‘Apart from the Pool of Tranquillity, there’s the Pool of Mental Cultivation, the Pool of Beauty, the Pool of Yin and Yang and the Pool of Strong Bones. They’re all heated differently and I go round with Auntie Wang to check that they are exactly the right temperature. Auntie Wang says that city people don’t do hard labour, but they tire their brains out every day, so lots and lots of people get sore heads. That’s why they need the Pool of Mental Cultivation. It has waterfalls that wash over their heads and neck muscles. The Pool of Beauty is to cure skin problems and make you more beautiful, but I’ve never seen anyone in there with scabies like people have in our village, and not many ugly people bathe there either …’
Once again, Three and Six could not restrain their laughter at their sister’s ignorance of city life.
‘Now what are you laughing at? … The Pool of Yin and Yang is the one I don’t really understand. Auntie Wang says it’s to help men and women to have kids, but having kids is a woman’s business, so what’s the use of men going in? Still, perhaps if Mum could’ve gone in there, she would’ve had a son. But then we wouldn’t be here … Anyway, the Pool of Strong Bones is only for men. It’s half hot and half cold and it helps them grow big muscles. As well as the medicine, it’s got these waves. I nearly got knocked over by one when I was helping Engineer Wu fix something in there. It scared me half to death. Still, it’s the most popular pool with young city men – they really like that pool. Auntie Wang says they’re trying to get some meat on their bones. How ridiculous! Why don’t they just go and work in the fields? The way I see it, because city men already have enough to eat and everything else they want, they think they need to go looking for something else. All the same, the men in that pool are worth a look. They don’t mumble to themselves like the potbellied men in the Pool of Mental Cultivation. Instead they fool around in the water. It gives that pool a special atmosphere. Very male …’
Five’s last few sentences had Three and Six staring at her in astonishment.
‘Look at you two, gawping like idiots!’ cried Five. ‘Don’t worry. If you want come and have a look at some big muscles yourselves, I can ask Engineer Wu. Perhaps you could get a job in the Pool of Strong Bones …’
Three jumped up and thumped Five on the back. ‘How can you talk like that, Five! You’ve only been in the city three weeks and already you’re trying to lead your sisters astray!’
‘Aiya, I’m only teasing. There are male assistants to look after the men and their changing rooms are miles away from the women’s … Maybe your heart isn’t made of stone after all, Three. I can see images of men in your eyes! Six, what do you think?’
‘I’m wondering how someone like you can get all this straight in your mind,’ said Six, feeling guilty immediately for implying that Five was stupid. However, Five did not take it to heart.
‘It took me a week of running errands with Auntie Wang before I could find my own way back to the “foot massage room” where I sleep, and in the beginning I thought everything was magic. Some strange things happen, that’s for sure. You should see the clients when they walk in. They’re all limp and listless, like wheat sprouts after a dry spell. But when they go out the door they’ve got rosy cheeks and a spring in their step, like plants after a good watering … Oh, and another thing, what sort of lamps d’you think they have?’ Five asked mysteriously.
‘Electric of course,’ Three and Six answered together.
‘That’s what I thought they’d be,’ said Five grandly, ‘but now I know that they have these things called “Kongming lanterns”. Bet you don’t know what they are!’ Three and Six shook their heads.
‘They’re these paper lanterns that rise up to the ceiling when they are
lit because of the hot air. There are lots of them floating about in the steam above the pools. They look really beautiful. Auntie Wang says they are sometimes called “sky lamps”, and she told me the stories people tell about how they came to be. Some people say that a clever man from the time of the Three Kingdoms invented them to send signals to his armies. Others that they were used in south China to worship the gods. And there’s another story about how, during the Qing dynasty, the people of Fujian Province brought them back from foreign countries, and used them to give the all-clear when villagers were hiding from bandits in the mountains. Auntie Wang says that in some places, they still release sky lamps during Lantern Festival.’
Six was extremely impressed by her sister’s short lesson and told her so. ‘It seems as if you’re really learning a lot, Five,’ she said, congratulating her sister.
‘Well, I’m lucky. Mei Mei is in charge of my dormitory, and she takes really good care of me. She even lets me use her things …’
Three was troubled by this. ‘What are you doing, using other people’s things?’ she asked. ‘We can’t let city people think we won’t pay our own way …’
‘Don’t worry, I know. I asked Engineer Wu to help me buy her a bottle of shampoo …’
‘So what do you use to wash your hair?’ Six asked.
‘I share her shampoo,’ said Five bluntly, ‘just like I share Four’s comb at home.’
‘Oh, Five,’ said Three, ‘using other people’s belongings isn’t the same as borrowing your family’s things! What did Mum tell us before we went away? “Even if there’s no rice in the family bowl, it’s better to starve than take someone else’s gruel”!’
Five looked crestfallen and a tear dripped on to her nose. ‘But how can I buy things for myself when I hardly see you and I can’t read the labels? I can’t exactly go up to all those clever city people and ask them to read things out for me. They’ll laugh at me and I don’t want them to think that everyone in the countryside is as stupid as me.’
Five’s words had a sobering effect on Three and Six. It wasn’t her fault that she hadn’t been to school. The two years that Three had spent at primary school had been extremely difficult for the family and they’d hardly been able to afford cooking oil. Fortunately, Four couldn’t go to school because she was deaf and dumb. When it came to Five’s turn, their father was determined not to waste good money trying to educate a girl who was clearly so slow on the uptake. He would have found a reason to keep Six out of school too if the teacher hadn’t come and begged him to let her stay. He would rant that Six’s eight years of education were the family’s downfall. It was as if she had studied them into poverty … Still, how could their father have known that, in the city, writing was central to everything?
‘Do you earn any tips?’ Three asked Five gently.
‘Yes, we get tips every day, and at the end of the month we get our official money. Auntie Wang says I’m a new girl, so my wages are the smallest you can get in the company. Even so, I’m earning a lot more than Dad. I never thought I’d lay my hands on fifty yuan so soon. I asked Mei Mei to change my money into a fifty-yuan note. When I have another fifty, I’ll get a hundred-yuan note and give it straight to Mum. That’ll give Dad a shock.’
The three sisters were silent as their thoughts turned to their mother – a woman who had never lived a moment for herself since the day she married …
It was pleasantly warm in the early spring sun and Nanjingers, who had been waiting for this moment all through the long damp winter, were taking the opportunity to get out of their houses and into the fresh air. Pedestrians wandered across the Half-Moon Bridge while old people sat on stools in the sun. The men played chess, chatted and read the papers; the women cleaned and prepared vegetables, drank tea and gossiped gently among themselves. There were a few three-year-olds sitting on their grandmother’s knee or in a pushchair, but hardly any other children to be seen.
Meng had told Six that, from the moment they started nursery school at three, city children had very little time to play. Quite apart from their three hours’ homework each day, their parents also wanted them to spend time studying calligraphy, music, painting or some other activity in the hope that they might prove to be talented. On Saturdays, the local Children’s Cultural Palace was swarming with children taking art, dance or music lessons, and some even spent another three hours taking tuition elsewhere. Sunday was the only time for games, but children who were not doing well at school had to use this day to prepare for next week’s lessons and take supplementary classes.
‘Excuse me, would you mind getting out of the way so that we can take a photo?’ said a man who was walking towards them, camera in hand. Three whispered to Five that he was a ‘tourist’, visiting Nanjing from another Chinese town, and that soon the city would be full of people using their holidays to visit new places. They might even see some bignoses from foreign countries too.
As the sisters got to their feet, Three scooped up the discarded tofu skewers and paper rice-ball wrappers from the ground and threw them into a nearby bin.
‘You can’t put rubbish on the floor in the city,’ she said to her sisters. ‘It’s like dropping rubbish in front of someone’s home in our village: people will think you are not showing respect. Let’s go, I’ll show you where I work, it’s only a few steps away. We won’t go right up to it, though, otherwise my boss will offer us a free meal.’
‘Yes, yes, let’s have a quick look so we know how to get there, but don’t let’s bother anyone,’ Six agreed.
Five was about to say that she too was longing to see the restaurant where her sister worked, when a woman wearing a uniform just like Three’s appeared in front of them carrying a basket of vegetables.
‘Aiya, Three, are these your sisters? Well, let me introduce myself. I’m Wang Tong, Three’s boss. Where are you all off to? It’s almost lunchtime. Come back with me for a bite to eat before you go sightseeing.’
Five was astonished. Was Nanjing a magical place where, if you thought about someone, they appeared before you? She watched in admiring silence as her sister tried to reassure Wang Tong that they had already eaten.
‘Now, now, Three, you mustn’t feel you have to stand on ceremony with me. I know you haven’t eaten! What are you worried about? It can’t be the cost. I hope you’ve told your sisters that you’re like family to us, and relatives can eat one free meal a week, with a thirty per cent discount for the second and ten per cent for the third. Come on, stop shilly-shallying!’
The sisters followed Wang Tong to the Happy Fool where they found a woman admiring the vegetable display in the window.
‘Your sister’s handiwork makes us a fair bit of money, I can tell you,’ said Wang Tong, ushering the girls into the restaurant. ‘Now sit down and make the most of this quiet period before the lunchtime rush begins. If it gets busy then you might have to go and chat elsewhere. Now, I know exactly what Three likes eating so I’ll bring you three of her favourite dishes. If you don’t like them, then leave them. It’s not a problem.’
Before Three had time to thank her, Wang Tong turned and sped into the kitchen. It was clear that there was to be no arguing with her, so Three decided to show her sisters the displays of fresh fruit and vegetables on the walls while they were waiting for the food to come.
‘This all looks very nice because it’s spring,’ said Six, ‘but what do you do in winter?’
‘Well, the city isn’t like the countryside: you can still buy vegetables that are grown under plastic, and things like melons and cauliflowers that are imported from abroad. To stop the melons dripping juice, I wrap them in the cling-film stuff that people use here …’
‘That sounds horrible,’ interrupted Five. ‘Why would anyone like to look at out-of-season vegetables which probably aren’t that fresh anyway?’
‘Things don’t have to be fresh to be pretty,’ said Three. ‘In the winter we use a lot of preserved fruit, as well as dried goods, like prunes and turnips. I
make dried vegetables into flowers, or cut them in half so that you can see the pattern inside. City people are so busy, they don’t have time to learn how to dry fruit and vegetables. Here, they can get a lesson while they’re eating …’
‘These city people need a teacher for everything,’ muttered Five. ‘Why can’t they just learn from the street or their home, like country people?’
‘That isn’t a city talent, it’s the wisdom of the countryside,’ said Wang Tong, who had appeared at their table carrying a tray of food. ‘We’re lucky to have Three to enlighten us. Now, here are some appetisers to start you off. I haven’t given you any of the “wild food” Nanjingers love so much. I’m not sure your country appetites are suited to such tiny portions. This is Zhenjiang preserved meat; this is pickled white cabbage from the north-east (you don’t see much of that down your way); this one’s a local, radish-peel salad (we don’t prepare it in the same way as you do). When you’re ready, the kitchen will make a bowl of noodles with spring onions for each of you, and spare ribs in Beijing sauce to go with them – how does that sound? Three knows what we’ve got here. Three, if your sisters want anything, let the kitchen know. I’ll have to leave you to your own devices now because it’s going to get busy, but remember: this is your day off. I won’t let you lift a finger to help … Yes, coming!’ called Wang Tong as some customers came through the door. ‘Good afternoon, over here please, what’ll you have today? We have all the vegetables on the board …’
Despite having eaten earlier, the sisters tucked into their lunch with relish. While they were eating, Three tried to explain the meaning of the restaurant’s name to Five, who didn’t think ‘The Happy Fool’ was very dignified.
‘The name comes from something the owner’s mother used to say,’ Three said, mimicking Wang Tong’s tone of voice as she gave her sister a lesson. ‘She believed that there was so much unfairness in the world that you could never be happy unless you closed your eyes to it, and were content with being foolishly blind to things that worried other people.’