The Pearl Jacket and Other Stories. Shouhua Qi
are mine and I will love you forever: You are my one and only love. . . .
With loving kiss, Yours,
Honghong
I couldn’t help but smile and then shake my head. I took out the cigarette lighter, lit up the beautiful letter, and watched it wither into a black roll as those tender words evaporated in dreamy whitish smoke.
My name is not Ah Ming. My name is Ah Qiang.
(2003)
A “Lovebird” for You
Xing Qingjie
The day the girl’s flower shop opened, there was not much business. Only one young man came and strolled around with a bored look on his face. Then, almost whimsically, he bought three red roses, and asked the girl to deliver the flowers for him. Since she ran the shop all by herself, she asked the young man to take care of the shop for her before she returned. The young man said yes readily. When the girl had wrapped up the flowers, she picked a green flower from the bucket, inserted it into the red roses, and said:
“You are my very first client. So here is a bonus ‘lovebird’ for you!” Seeing the confused look in the young man’s face, she said, “Oh, it’s a flower from the south. ‘Lovebird’ is its name.”
The girl delivered the flowers to the address the young man had given her and saw the girl by the name of Quan. When Quan took the flowers and checked the name on the card, she murmured “thanks,” put the flowers aside, and went on doing whatever she was doing.
The girl felt sorry for the young man. Yet when she returned to the flower shop and met his warm eyes, she told him, against her own instincts: Quan was thrilled with the flowers and asked me to say thank you. The young man’s face blossomed with joy.
From then on at around the same time each weekend, the young man would come to the flower shop, buy three roses, and ask the girl to deliver the flowers to Quan. Every time Quan took the flowers from her, there was no look of joy in her face. Sometimes she even looked annoyed. So the girl felt she had to tell the young man the truth so that he would not waste any more time and money on Quan. Yet how could she bring it up to him? The girl thought: Perhaps with time Quan will be touched by the young man and he will win her heart. Gradually the girl became convinced of this possibility and didn’t think much of it any more.
Thus about half a year passed. One weekend morning the young man came to the flower shop quite early. He said to the girl: “Please deliver flowers for me one last time. Today Quan will be engaged.” The girl was surprised by this unhappy ending and even more so by the young man’s calm acceptance of the inevitable.
Once again, when she wrapped up three roses, she inserted a “lovebird” right in the middle: a perfect fusion of brilliant red and tender, dewy green. The girl said: “For last time’s sake, here is another ‘lovebird’ for you, on the house.”
When she was about to leave, it began to rain heavily. The young man was concerned, but the girl said: “Don’t worry. I’ll take a taxi.”
When the girl returned it was still pouring like crazy. Once out of the taxi the girl dashed to the flower shop, but was still drenched from head to toe. The young man didn’t turn to leave as usual, though. He said to the girl: “I . . . I want three more red . . . red roses.” The girl looked at him, puzzled. She wrapped up three flowers and, once again, inserted a “lovebird” in their midst. The young man took over the flowers, bent to smell them, and then presented them to her with both hands: “This is for you!”
Stunned, the girl lowered her head, her face reddening. Then she looked up and said; “Your feelings for Quan are so deep. How can you start to court someone else so fast?”
The young man said mysteriously: “It is time I tell you this secret: Quan is my sister.”
“What? You sent flowers to your own sister?” The girl couldn’t believe her ears.
The young man looked into the girl’s eyes and said: “Otherwise, what excuse do I have to come and see you?”
The girl smiled, her face blossoming like a flower.
(2003)
Mosquito Nets
Wu Shouchun
Qun succeeded his father and became a worker at the chemical fertilizer factory.
The factory’s living quarters for its workers were very cramped. As it happened, one of the workers in the men’s living quarters, who had been married for two years, was finally issued the key to a one-room unit. The “freed up” berth was assigned to Qun.
It was right in the middle of a cold winter. Yet the other three beds all had their mosquito nets up. Only his bed was bare like a pared-down chicken. Mosquito nets are for protection from mosquitoes. What’s the use of having mosquito nets up in winter when there are no mosquitoes? Isn’t this trading energy for inconvenience? When Qun strolled down the hallway, he noticed that the beds in all the rooms, men and women alike, had their mosquito nets up. Qun was even more puzzled.
The room was small and didn’t have even a stool. In leisure time when buddies gathered here, everyone and his brother sat his butt along Qun’s bedside because his bed was the only one that didn’t have a mosquito net hanging massively all around it. The bed groaned with so many people sitting on it; his quilt and clothes were pushed aside in a messy pile. Qun figured out the answer to the puzzle and followed suit right away. At first, being inside the mosquito net felt so stuffy, as if a wok was hanging over his head. Gradually, though, he became used to its presence.
One day he was changing shifts and was supposed to go home, but failed to catch the bus. So he came back to the dorm and crawled into the mosquito-netted bed, following the folksy wisdom of “Early to bed, late to rise/the Sun warms you in daylight/Saves you firewood and rice.” Soon he fell asleep. In the middle of the night he was woken up by some squeaky noises. It reminded him of a scary movie he had seen. He became alarmed. Of the three roommates, one was on sick leave, and the other two had gone home. Where did the strange noise come from? Had a burglar broken in? Qun was too terrified to make any noise or move himself. He listened hard. The noise came from Master Zhang’s bed diagonally across from his own. Mixed in it was a moaning sound. Qun sensed what was going on. Damn! When did Master Zhang return to the factory with his new bride? Must be because of the mosquito net, he thinks I have gone home and the coast is clear. That night Qun didn’t dare get out of bed despite the pressure mounting in his bladder. Not until Master Zhang and his bride had quieted down did Qun dare to tiptoe out and run to another room down the hallway to seek shelter, much like a lost monk.
The next morning when Master Zhang saw Qun, he asked: “I knew your schedule. Why did you return after only one night at home?” Qun caught a glimpse of Zhang’s bride and blushed as if he had done something really shameful. He mumbled some excuse and let it be.
That evening Qun sought a place in another room so as not to be in the way.
The next day Qun worked the second shift. Master Zhang said to him, “Don’t act like a guerilla when you come back from work at night. Just go to bed and you’ll be fine. Me and my wife are not shy first-timers any more and couldn’t care less. If you try to mess around and cause trouble, though, my wife will beat you up until you cry uncle. So when Qun came back from the shift, he crawled into the mosquito net. He was amazed that besides protection from mosquitoes, the mosquito net had other unintended functions.
Qing, his girlfriend, came to the factory to visit Qun.
Puzzled by the mosquito net, she rolled and strung it together and asked: Why use a mosquito net in winter? Qun smiled meaningfully and said: You’ll understand shortly.
Before leaving, Master Zhang and the other two roommates said: Settle down and have a good time. Don’t worry about us.
So the two settled down in their own territory and space: inside the mosquito net.
Qun tried to kiss Qing. Qing