“Mai Ling?”
It was Yifan. I had not bothered to call him since our last meeting in the Suseng Teahouse and now he was alone, separated from his friends in the great maw of the city.
Fei Fei hurried over and introduced herself, “I work in the same factory as Mai Ling.”
“Another engineer?”
Fei Fei giggled, perceiving irony where none was intended.
“Will you come with us to the ferris wheel?” she asked.
Yifan glanced towards me, “If that’s alright?”
“Sure,” I said.
Yifan dropped in step beside me and we chatted about his studies, but Fei Fei kept interrupting. It was so embarrassingly obvious she fancied him.
He told us stories about his work, “Once,” he said, “there was a patient who kicked up a real fuss. He needed urgent treatment for chest pain, but had no cash or insurance paperwork, although he insisted he was a millionaire and promised to make a donation to the hospital if we agreed to treat him. The senior doctors relented because of the plans to build a new wing.”
“Did he cough up?” said Fei Fei.
“Yes. Unfortunately, the man’s donation was a body organ and not money. He died of a heart attack during his operation and we were left with a clogged aorta!”
Ren laughed; a beautiful, unfamiliar sound that lifted my spirits.
Yifan was nothing like the serious student I remembered from the Suseng Teahouse. We joked about the people around us, made up stories about where they’d come from and what they were doing in Nanchang.
“Look at those love birds,” said Fei Fei, “kissing in the street.”
“And the couple glued with their hands inside each others’ back pockets,” I laughed.
“What about her on the bench?” Ren pointed to a solitary young woman cradling a baby inside her coat.
“Looks like she’s waiting for someone.”
“My guess is that in a few hours that baby will never see its mother again. She’ll leave it on the steps over there.” Ren inclined her head towards a white-washed, monolithic building on the opposite side of the road.
“Welfare institute,” she added.
“Is that what happens when a mother doesn’t want her child?” I asked.
“Sometimes,” said Yifan, suddenly serious, “If the child’s lucky.”
I was about to ask him what he meant when Ren pulled me aside, her voice urgent in my ear.
“Don’t get in any deeper with the manager, Sky Eyes, or that could be you.”
I laughed.
Fei Fei called for us to hurry. We rejoined the excitable crowds, but I couldn’t help glance over my shoulder, unnerved by the sight of the young woman, all alone and rocking her child.
As we neared the ferris wheel, narrow alleyways gave way to broad avenues of neon light. I could hear screams as people reached the highest point of the wheel. It was spectacularly grand and the sight of it stopped us in our tracks.
Yifan paid for our tickets. He spent an embarrassingly long time counting out loose change from his grubby cloth wallet. I felt that not losing face cost him his last yuan.
On the ferris wheel, I bagged a seat by the window and watched the people below begin to shrink, their mouths gaped in wonder. I gripped the handrail, feeling dizzy.
“Don’t look down, look up,” Yifan said.
I stared up at the wheel’s creaking iron structure and hoped the workers who made it were better fed and rested than us.
“The city’s beautiful from up here,” said Yifan. “Look! You can see the university and there’s the Tengwang Pavilion. The river looks so wide!”
I felt a hand brush mine. At first I thought it belonged to the young boy at my knee, who stood on tiptoes, his nose pressed to the glass. Then Yifan squeezed my little finger gently, discreetly. Ren and Fei Fei were too busy admiring the view to even notice. I sat, frozen, Yifan’s hand laced around mine as the wheel completed its revolution.
When we reached the bottom, I expected Ren to say it was a waste of money or complain about something.
Instead, she beamed. “We were so high! I could have flown away.”
“Like a bird,” I said, stepping down.
“Free,” added Fei Fei, bustling to my side. “Free at last.”
“We shouldn’t lose this moment,” I said.
I spent twelve yuan on a disposable camera from one of the funfair stalls and Yifan snapped photos of us in front of the wheel, where a large sign said, Welcome to Nanchang!
We took the camera to a processing booth on the corner and huddled around the machine as they popped out one by one.
“I can’t believe how scrawny I am,” said Fei Fei, crestfallen. “I look like I’ve been fighting the Japanese. Am I really that pale?”
“It’s the flashlight,” said Yifan generously.
Ren buried a few of the photographs in her jacket. “Come on, Mai Ling, it’s getting late. Let’s go back before the guard changes shift,” she tugged on my sleeve. “We’re never free.”
We left the store and headed in the direction of Bayi Square for a taxi.
“Are you sure I can’t buy you a drink?” said Yifan.
“Perhaps another time,” I said, suddenly weary.
“Mai Ling – there’s something I’ve been meaning to ask you all evening.”
“I must get back. Work starts very early. I’m under a lot of pressure. I can’t begin to explain.”
He grappled for my hand. “Then say you’ll meet me again.”
I shook it away.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to offend you.”
“You haven’t, I’m tired.”
“Take my number again. Call me this time.” He fished in his satchel for a pen and some paper. “My exams will soon be over. I need to see you again.”
I nodded and shoved his number in my pocket just as Fei Fei and Ren rounded the corner.
Back at the factory, Fei Fei said she needed to sit a while before she could sleep. The excitement had made her head spin. Ren and I left her in the courtyard.
We paused on the landing to our dorm and caught our breath. I looked out over the courtyard expecting to see Fei Fei, but in the few moments it had taken us to climb the stairs, she had disappeared.
“Strange, she’s never in the places you think she’s going to be,” I muttered.
“You need to watch her,” said Ren, “She’s not who she says she is.”
I laughed. This was such a typical Ren-statement. “What makes you say that? Fei Fei is hopeless at keeping secrets.”
We stared at the empty courtyard.
“Ren, not everyone in this factory is out to get us the way they got Du. Some people would actually be your friend if you let them.”
Her face flashed. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The managers here aren’t all …”
“You think you can silence me with a ‘reward’ trip?”
“I thought you might enjoy coming.”
“Can’t you see what’s in front of you, Sky Eyes?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I’m faithful to you without bribery. I’ll never tell anyone about you and him, but you should end it. Stop seeing the manager before it’s too late, I mean it.” She let go of my arm and hurried away, leaving me adrift on the landing.
So that was all the thanks I got for treating her to a night out. Perhaps I should have had Manager He cut her precious wages.
I waited until my resentment subsided. Waited and watched for signs of Fei Fei, whose gossiping mouth and solidarity I was going to need more than ever.
Something moved behind the mei trees - a bird, perhaps? But when I looked again there were two pairs of legs. It was definitely Fei Fei, I recognised her trousers. Something swished again. Someone else paced back and forth behind the tree. A voice inside told me to keep watching, even though I didn’t want to. Just then a figure stepped out of the gloom and marched
purposefully across the courtyard in his dressing gown. The figure, I realised, my legs suddenly leaden, was Manager He.
Mr Nie
Ren gave me the silent treatment for two whole days after our exchange. She was touchy and her moods drained my qi. Energy that could be “better spent leading others in the way of productivity,” as Manager He would say.
Unable to meet in his bureau, we had agreed to see each other in the basement at lunchtime whilst workers ate or napped at their work stations. We were kissing by the bins, when I broke off to ask him about his encounter with Fei Fei in the courtyard. What had he been doing in the early hours of the morning, talking to a nobody like her?
His eyes closed at the mention of her name.
“I was taking a stroll to clear my head. Why do you ask? And why were you snooping on me? You should be sleeping when not on the line, otherwise how can you expect to do a decent day’s work?”
“But I saw you talking to her.”
“Yes, yes, I did bump into Fei Fei. Nothing wrong with that.” He pulled away. “If you must know, I issued her a warning.”
“For what?”
“Stealing is rife. Workers like Fei Fei think they can take a few bits of metal here, a few tools there, not to mention all the titbits stolen from the canteen.”
“Fei Fei? Are you sure?”
She wasn’t a bad worker, immature perhaps, but not a thief. She desired beauty and glamour, and for that she needed cash. She needed to stay in line.
“It’s unacceptable, 2204, and must stop before Schnelleck arrives. Imagine if he caught her at it.”
The mention of his name was sobering. I was barely meeting my own targets, let alone inspiring others to amazing feats of productivity.
“Did Schnelleck say which department he wanted to see first?” I asked, hoping it wouldn’t be ours.
“I got a fax this morning from his secretary; he wants to see it all, starting in bodywork – but I think I can engineer it for him to come to circuitry and bypass those idiots altogether. Ha ha! Engineer it … Ha! Sometimes I don’t know my own wit. Schnelleck will be eating out of my hand this time next week.”
He kissed my forehead as though it was a lotto ticket.
“When the Chief Executive hears I’ve secured foreign business, he’s sure to put me in charge of overseas accounts. And you know what the West represents?”
I wasn’t sure if he expected me to answer when he was in full flow. To me the West was Wrigley’s, Americans with money to burn in bars and fat white fingers that strayed too far up my leg; then there was white beauty, sexy knickers and French perfume, a language I’d never master beyond the odd word on the circuit boards and, of course, The Colonel – although I didn’t think any of this was the answer Manager He wanted.
“A potential goldmine, that’s what! I’m going to be so rich, I’ll have enough yuan to fill my bureau, floor to ceiling.”
I buried my head into his chest. His heart went tic-a-tac-tic-a-tac like a wind-up toy.
He guided me to the front of his trousers. I touched him until his mouth slackened and his eyelids screwed up with a pleasure that looked almost painful. He slumped back and the bin took his weight, cushioned by a heap of overflowing trash – thinking of his productivity figures, no doubt. There was nothing for me in return. I was left wanting, burning – the fire dragon who stirred whenever he was around.
Manager He straightened and pushed some of the rubbish back into the bin.
“It’s such a mess, Mai Ling,” he muttered.
I stared at the bags that surrounded us.
“I need Fei Fei to shift this crap – can you tell her? There’s far too much rubbish everywhere. Bags and boxes and bubble wrap and buckets of scrap metal, old worn out hand tools, I can’t have Schnelleck thinking we’re slap dash.”
“Of course, Manager.” I kissed his cheek.
“Be sure you ask her today. I want to see it looking tidier when we meet here tomorrow.”
I found Fei Fei in the canteen, fluttering her eyelids at Kwo and showing off the new denim jacket I bought her in town. Kwo, the dumb egg, succumbed and gave her an extra spoonful of bean sprouts.
A girl behind us in the lunch queue noticed and demanded the same.
“They’re only for certain workers,” said Kwo.
“What’s she done to deserve extra? She’s only a cleaner.”
“Excuse me!” Fei Fei spun round. “Who do you think tidies your work stations and keeps your conveyor belt running? Without me, this place would grind to a halt.”
“I doubt that,” said the girl, wearing green quality control overalls; her friends huddled around to gawp at Fei Fei’s pristine jacket.
“Don’t be so quick to look down on her,” I butted in. “She works hard to get ahead. Everyone has the same chance of being rewarded.” I nudged Fei Fei. “Isn’t that right?”
“Oh, yes … rewards,” she faltered.
“Was your jacket a reward too, Sichuan mei?” A girl stepped forwards from the huddle and touched Fei Fei’s sleeve. “I’ve been wanting one like this.”
“She got it last night,” I said.
“Last night?”
Fei Fei nodded. “I went to see the new ferris wheel.”
Her friends gasped in collective disbelief.
“They let you out?”
“How?”
“What was it like?”
“Did you ride the wheel?”
“Was it scary?”
“How high does it go?”
“What did you see?”
“Move it, girls,” shouted Kwo. “You’re slowing everybody down.”
Fei Fei pulled away, but the group followed, encircling us.
“The view from the top was breathtaking. I saw the whole city,” Fei Fei said.
“Even Forwood?”
She laughed.
“What did it look like?”
“Did you meet any guys?”
“Did you go to the funfair?”
“Oh, tell us, tell us everything,” said a worker who looked barely sixteen with heavy, bloodshot eyes.
Fei Fei beamed, pleased to be the centre of attention for once. “We saw it all: the twinkling lights spread out below, fireworks exploding along the river, young couples kissing as they waited their turn. The wheel looked five times bigger than the factory tower and wider than this canteen.” She gestured to the walls.
“Who did you go with?”
I slipped my arm through Fei Fei’s. “She went with me.”
“Oh, I get it. You’re the one on the posters.”
“We work hard, we get rewards. It’s simple.” I tugged Fei Fei’s arm, wanting her to back me up, but she stared at the floor.
“Well your jacket is pretty and I think a trip out to the ferris wheel is worth the hard work,” said a sturdy, square faced woman, probably a Guangdong mei.
“I agree, we’re already knackered, we might as well get the benefits,” added a wiry girl. “Do you think the bosses in quality control would let us go?”
“Of course!” I said. “But you’ve got to work faster and speed up on the checks. No radio in the afternoon, no sweets on the line when the boss isn’t looking, no disappearing off to the sanitary room pretending you need the loo when really you want to try on your friend’s lipstick.”
They laughed.
“I’m serious. If you girls want to live happily and richly you’d better start by making a difference to your lives today. No more wasted time. You only have yourselves to blame if you can’t shine like stars.”
“She’s right.”
“I don’t want to be stuck here forever.”
“We should carve out our own worlds.”
“Yes,” I nodded. “Our time here is brief, it’s best to work our hardest while we are young and reap the rewards. Isn’t that right Fei Fei?”
She glanced up at the expectant faces. “I … I want to eat my lunch now.”
“But there’s so much more we
want to know,” said the youngest girl with bloodshot eyes.
Fei Fei swayed slightly, a few beads of sweat had gathered at her temples.
“You heard her, girls, leave us alone now and go and sit with the others from your department.”
The girls wandered off, gossiping enthusiastically about the ferris wheel and how they would work hard for rewards. Apart from one dumb ox, who tutted and complained that her rice was stone cold.
I waited until they were out of earshot, then grabbed the sleeve of Fei Fei’s denim jacket. “We need to talk now,” I said, manoeuvring her sparrow-like frame towards a table in the corner, away from the rest.
“I’m sorry, Mai Ling, I don’t know why I didn’t praise you in front of them. I was only sharing in your reward.”
“Never mind that, what’s this about you stealing?”
“Stealing?”
“It’s against the rules. Don’t you know they’ll fire you?”
Her eyes widened, as if she might cry.
“But I’ve not taken a thing.”
“Don’t lie, you’ll only make things worse. Listen, I’m the star of Forwood, do you understand? A star can’t be friends with a thief. If you know what’s best, you’ll put back whatever it is you’ve stolen. If it happens again, we’re finished – no more trips into town, no treats. You’re on your own.”
She snivelled into the sleeve of her new jacket. “I understand.”
“Good. Because from now on I need you and this factory to be squeaky clean.”
That night, Ren wasn’t in the dorm. I threw back the covers and ventured into the familiar gloom of Forwood’s corridors, figuring she must be on overtime.
I could hear voices in the canteen. The women from personnel were eating late.
There was even more rubbish lying around outside their living quarters: food wrappers and plastic bags, cigarette butts, drinks cartons, even pairs of worn-out shoes. It was as if the lazy sheep had tipped up their rubbish bins.
Directly outside Bonding there were more obstacles: cardboard boxes stacked waist-high, some labelled hazardous. I tried pushing them aside, but they were too heavy. I climbed over, trying to fathom out why the entrance was blocked and by whom?
The Secret Mother Page 17
