by Zoey Gong
They walked across the wide promenade to the water’s edge and looked at the city’s skyline. Even though Shanghai is home to almost thirty million people, there were so few people around they were practically alone.
“Hey, turn around,” Kai said as he held up his phone to take a selfie of them with the Pearl Tower in the background. Kai smiled with his tongue out and flashed a peace sign while Winnie gave a small smile and stood stiff as a board. He wrinkled his nose when he looked at the picture.
“You don’t look like you are having a good time,” he said.
“Sorry,” she said.
“Let’s try again,” he said, holding up the camera again. This time her smile showed a little of her front teeth, but she still looked posed.
“Your parents are never going to believe that we are a couple,” he said, shaking his head.
Winnie frowned and turned back to the river.
“Hey, come on,” Kai said, grabbing her arm and turning him to face her. He then shook his whole body, his arms and legs flailing.
“What are you doing?” Winnie asked.
“Shake it off! Shake it off!” he said ala Taylor Swift.
“Oh my God,” Winnie mumbled to herself as she tried to suppress a laugh, but Kai grabbed her arms and shook them for her. Finally, Kai could feel Winnie’s stiff arms loosen and her smile became more natural, her laughter more fluid.
“Okay, now!” Kai said, turning her to face the camera while they were still laughing. “That was a good one! Let’s take a few more.” They took a few more silly pictures, then a couple of serious ones of them staring across the water or at each other. He sent them all to Winnie so she could have photographic evidence of their relationship to show her mother.
“Thanks,” Winnie said as they started walking again. “That was a good idea.”
“So, how did we meet?” Kai asked her.
“Umm, well, my parents think I’m a nurse at Shanghai Medical Center,” Winnie said. “So maybe we met there.”
“Maybe I drove you to work one day,” he joked.
“No way!” Winnie said. “We cannot let my parents know you are just a taxi driver.”
Kai’s steps slowed at her words. He hadn’t considered in all of this that he really wasn’t good enough for a girl like Winnie.
Winnie paused once her words got back to her. “Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean that the way it came out.”
“No,” he said, trying to put a smile back on his face. “Why do you think I’m single? I hardly earn enough money to impress many parents.”
“You aren’t the only one not good enough for them,” Winnie said, clearly talking about herself.
“I’m sure that once you are able to tell them what you are really doing with your life, they will be proud of you,” Kai said. Winnie gave him a forced smile and nodded. “Besides, I’m not just a taxi driver. I’m actually in IT. I just drive in my spare time. I work for Rad Phoenix Games.”
“Oh, I’ve heard of them,” Winnie said. “They have that one game, that MMO that’s popular. Legend of the Sword?”
“Yeah,” Kai said. “I love that game. Do you play?”
“I haven’t the time,” Winnie said. “But I have friends who play.”
“I’m actually working on debugging a new game we are releasing soon,” Kai said. “Could be the next big thing.”
“That’s great,” Winnie said. “Well, we can just tell my parents you work for Rad Phoenix. The fewer lies we tell, the easier it will be to keep things straight.”
“Maybe we met online,” Kai said. “That’s sort of true. We got together because of your WeChat post.”
“We met chatting online?” Winnie said. “Sounds plausible.”
“No!” Kai said. “We were scouring a dungeon. Fighting a massive boss. You were nearly out of life, but you already had the sacred crystal! If you died, the whole expedition would be lost. I ran over and give you my health, then I blocked you from the dragon’s blows as you crawled to safety!”
“So dramatic!” Winnie said with a laugh.
“Why not have an exciting story of how we met?” Kai said. “Have some fun. We are only going to be together for five days. Let’s enjoy it.”
Winnie smiled. “Sure,” she said, but the worry behind her eyes was still clear.
Kai wished there was more he could do to put her mind at ease, but he didn’t really know the dynamics of her family. Were they really going to believe he was her serious boyfriend? Would they accept him? What if they didn’t even let him into their house when they got to Harbin? He guessed they would have to figure out all that when and if it happened. All they could do was show up and hope for the best.
After they had walked the whole length of the Bund, Winnie looked at her watch. “Well, it’s pretty late. It will take us a couple hours to get back to the hotel and you still have to go see your mom. And we have to get up early to catch the flight.” Thankfully, Winnie had been able to secure Kai a seat on the same flight as hers through an app on her phone.
As they walked back to the car, Winnie stopped at an ATM and withdrew some cash, which she then handed to him. As he took it, he almost felt guilty. They had been having such a good time together, he almost forgot that this was all business. But he needed the money. So he smiled and slipped the cash into his jacket pocket.
The ride back to the hotel was relatively silent. The road was still packed, and people were in such a rush, they were driving dangerously. They passed a few accidents on the way, so Kai had to keep his attention on the road--when he wasn’t thinking about Winnie. He knew she was worried, and he wished there was more he could do to reassure her. He fought the urge to reach out and give her hand a comforting squeeze, but he wasn’t sure if that would be allowed or not. What was he to her? He knew this was a business arrangement. But were they becoming friends? Was it possible that when the week was over, they could become more?
By the time he dropped her off at the hotel, his mind was swimming with questions he wasn’t ready to ask and he wasn’t sure he would like the answers to.
“I’ll meet you at the airport in the morning,” she said as she climbed out of the car. “Don’t be late.”
“I won’t be,” he said, and he reached out and grabbed her sleeve. She stopped and looked back at him, her eyes wide, wondering at what he was going to do or say next. “Everything will work out.”
He thought he saw her eyes moisten a bit, but she just gave him a tight smile and nod and got out of the car. After he watched her enter the hotel, he shook his head. This was probably all a huge mistake.
By the time he got to the hospital, the light and excited feeling he felt when he had agreed to this had evaporated, only to be replaced by anxiety and fear. What was he even doing?
But as he walked to the accounting department at the hospital and handed them five thousand yuan, he remembered why he was doing this.
He then went to his mom’s room, where she was sitting all by herself watching TV.
“Kai!” she said excitedly when she saw him. “How are you? Have you eaten?”
“Of course,” he said, even though he hadn’t eaten since morning. He was too nervous. He then handed his mom a red envelope with the remaining one thousand yuan in it.
“Oh, Kai,” she said. “You are such a good son. I’m sure you need this more than I do.”
He shook his head. “I need to know that you are taken care of,” he said. “I have a job in Harbin I have to do. I leave tomorrow and won’t be back until after the holiday.”
His mother’s face dropped. “You’re going to be gone for the whole holiday?” she asked. “What kind of job is it?”
He patted his mother’s hand. “Don’t worry,” he said. “I just have to meet some important people. Have fancy dinners. Drink lots of baijiu.”
His mother laughed and patted his cheek. “I know you will be good at that.”
“I’m sorry I won’t be here to celebrate the New Year with you,
” he said.
She waved him off and stood up. “Don’t worry about me,” she said. “Your auntie will take me to see our parents in Haiyun. It’s your grandparents you will have to apologize to.”
“I can call everyone on WeChat that day,” Kai said as he let her lean on her arm and they walked out of the little apartment and into the still bustling neighborhood. While most of Shanghai would empty out during the holiday as everyone traveled to the countryside to visit their relatives, most people who lived in Cancer City would have to stay here. Many of the residents were too sick to travel, while many others simply didn’t have the money. Almost all of the families who lived here were in the same situation as Kai and his mother--every jiao had to go towards treatments.
Kai’s mother walked over to a booth that had sprung up selling New Year decorations. Door banners, firecrackers, paper money, hanging lanterns, and much more--all in red--filled the booth. Kai’s mother picked up two floating lanterns, paper lanterns that were flat now, but could be expanded and a small square of flammable paraffin placed in the bottom to ignite, causing the lantern to fill with hot air and float into the sky. All major holidays and Heaven.
“Here,” Kai’s mother said, handing him one of the lanterns. “Take this with you. On New Year’s evening, you light your lantern and I will light mine. Even if we cannot be together, maybe our lanterns will find each other.”
Kai laughed to keep from crying as he hugged his mother. He had never spent New Year away from her before, and he didn’t think he would be so upset by the prospect when he agreed to be Winnie’s boyfriend. His heart sank at the possibility that this could be his mother’s last New Year ever. If she died, would he ever be able to forgive himself for spending her last New Year far away pretending to be something he wasn’t?
But then he remembered that his mother was the whole reason he was doing this. With enough money for treatment, this wouldn’t be his mother’s last New Year. Hopefully, she would have many more New Years ahead of her.
And he would spend every New Year with her for the rest of her life.
7
Winnie was surprised when she woke up with the--very early--alarm the next morning. She hadn’t expected to sleep a wink she was so nervous about taking Kai to meet her parents the next day. But she had been so exhausted from the whole ordeal already, she couldn’t help but fall asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. Good thing too, since she would need her strength to get through the difficulties ahead.
As she stood in the security line with Kai, she thought about how much easier all this would be if Kai was actually her boyfriend. She hadn’t given much thought to dating over the last few years...Or ever, really. In high school, her only goal was scoring well on the gaokao so she could get into a good college. In college, her only goal was performing well so she could get into a good medical school. Now in medical school, her only goal was getting in a specialized obstetrics fellowship that would pave the way for her to do whatever she wanted. Her whole life had been a series of goals she wanted to reach. And she had accomplished everything she set out to do. One day, she would probably add get married and have a kid to that list, but it was so far in the future, she didn’t see those things getting added to her list anytime soon. If her mom would just get off her back about getting married now, she could focus on the next step and make time for a man when she was ready.
But for her mother, the only goal was ever getting married. She didn’t really want Winnie to go to college to get a good job, but to be able to catch a better quality husband. And her parents outright opposed her desire to go to graduate school for fear that she would then become too educated or earn too much money to catch a man. Winnie figured that any man made insecure by her education or earning potential would not be the man for her, but her parents only saw it as limiting her marriage options.
Attitudes in China toward girl children were changing, but not fast enough for Winnie. Parents had gone from not wanting daughters at all to being just as happy at the birth of a girl as a boy. But old-fashioned gender expectations still ruled. Boys were expected to have careers; girls were expected to have children. There was some variation on the theme, of course. And some parents were proud of their daughters who wanted careers. Lian’s parents weren’t thrilled about her decision to study in Australia, but they came to terms with it. Of course, Lian had a brother, so there was less pressure on her to find a husband to support the family and carry on the family line. Winnie had hoped that when her sister Lingling had gotten married, her parents wouldn’t pressure her so much to follow suit, but they seemed to only grow more concerned. It wasn’t right for the younger daughter to marry first, they said. Then after Lingling’s son was born, surely, Winnie thought, they would back off now. But no. Now they were concerned at just how much Winnie was falling behind Lingling in building her family.
Winnie had expected the pressure to build this year, the year she turned twenty-seven. For years, sentiment toward educated unmarried women in China had soured, and for some reason, the age twenty-seven became the unofficial cut-off age from when a girl went from “marriageable” to “old maid.” So Winnie knew this year would be especially difficult. But she hoped that if she could just get through it, her parents might accept that marriage just wasn’t on the table for Winnie and they would back off.
She didn’t expect them to go so far as to practically arrange a marriage for her.
“Hey,” Kai said, waking Winnie from her thoughts as they settled into their seats on the plane. “Are you okay?”
“Ha,” she said without any humor in it. “Not at all. This is going to be awful.”
“Don’t think that,” Kai said as he gave her a comforting smile. “It’s only five days. You lost two days by missing your flight.”
“Maybe I should thank you for that,” Winnie said raising her eyebrow.
Kai settled back in his seat with a pleased smile on his face. “You don’t have to,” he said, “but I would accept it if you did.”
Winnie laughed and elbowed his arm off the shared armrest between them. Kai elbowed her back as they both fought for a place to relax their elbows without touching each other too much.
“Wenwen!”
Winnie’s mother’s voice seemed to carry over the voices of all the other people yelling for the attention of their friends and family members as Winnie and Kai stepped through the arrivals doors and into the public area of the Harbin airport terminal.
“Ma?” Winnie gasped in surprise as her mother ran up to her and gave her a hug. As did her father. And her sister. And her aunt. And her uncle. And her other uncle. And her other aunt. And two of her cousins. And a few friends of the family that Winnie had grown up with. And some people she didn’t recognize.
“You’re finally here!” her mother said, squeezing Winnie’s cheeks.
“Where are your bags?” her father asked.
“You look wrecked,” Lingling added. Winnie started as she looked at her sister. She was farther along in her pregnancy than she expected. At least six months by the look of her.
“Wha-what are you all doing here?” Winnie asked. “I told you I would just take a Didi to the house.”
Her mother waved her off. “Didi is too expensive!” she said. “Chang has a car.”
“Chang?” Winnie asked, suddenly alarmed, her eyes darting around.
“Yes, you remember,” her mother said, pushing through the sea of people and bringing a guy forward that Winnie didn’t recognize at all. “Wenwen, say hello to Chang.”
Winnie froze. Chang ran his fingers through his hair and gave her a half-cocked smile.
“Hey, Wenwen,” he said.
He had turned out better looking than she expected. His puppy-dog eyes and wispy mustache and a less formal, more laid-back approach in his dress all came together nicely. But Winnie felt a sense of panic well up at seeing him, and not just because her mother was pushing them together. Suddenly, Winnie recalled the way Chang and his friend
s had bullied her in primary school with full force. She knew, logically, that they had been kids, and she would hate to think that people held stuff against her she had done twenty years ago. In fact, she hadn’t even thought about Chang or how mean he had been in years. She was sure that if they had casually run into each other at a restaurant or if he sent her a friend request on Facebook, she could be civil without a moment’s thought. But that didn’t mean she wanted to date him, much less marry him.
The large group seemed to go quiet for a moment, as though everyone was holding their collective breath to see how this first meeting would go.
Then, Winnie felt a hand on her back. She turned and saw Kai looking at her expectantly. He had no idea what to do or say, but just looking at him helped break her out of her stupor. She turned back to her family.
“Ma, Ba, everyone,” she said. “This is Kai. My boyfriend.”
No one spoke. And no one dared breathe. Everyone--even her father--seemed to take a step away from her mother in the hopes they could blend into the background.
“What did you say?” her mother asked, her brow knitted in confusion.
“I told you, on the phone,” Winnie said. “I have a boyfriend. This is him. Kai.”
“That is not your boyfriend!” her mother suddenly snapped. “Chang is your boyfriend.”
“Oh, Ma,” Winnie said, her mother’s foolish outburst giving her the strength to stand firm. “I haven’t even spoken to Chang since middle school.”
Several other members of the group began whispering among themselves, and Chang looked at Winnie’s mother, all of which seemed to make her mother more angry.
“No,” her mother said, shaking her head. “I don’t accept this.”
“Juju,” Winnie’s father said, gripping his wife’s elbow. “We can talk about this at home. Wenwen is tired.”
“Wenwen is tired?” her mother asked incredulously. “After all I do for this family? All the cleaning and cooking and sacrifices I make? But no, let’s not make poor Wenwen tired.”