Northern Girls: Life Goes On

by Sheng Keyi

  ‘Your whole body is hot, but your mouth is cold. How do you do that?’ Through the layers of clothing, Xiaohong pressed against him. He smiled in embarrassment and said he didn’t know. He was passive alongside her manipulations, keeping his eyes closed the whole time, as if that would help him avoid temptation. Her bust, to him, was like a mound of warm, wet sand. When she pressed it against him, it was like the rise and fall of the tides, the ebb and flow in the wash of his red-blooded desire. His face burned. Xiaohong stripped off his jacket and his shirt. He reached out his hand then stopped. When she slid her hand into his trousers, he trembled and stretched out his hand, leaving it suspended in the dim light, looking like the distress signal of a drowning man. He sighed deeply.

  ‘You don’t like me, do you?’ Xiaohong poked at the hand hanging there, feeling a little abashed. Seeing the signs of emotional distress, she looked down at her breasts. They seemed almost vulnerable. Dachang let out a little wordless groan, then patted her back and said, ‘You are a good girl, and I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want to hurt anyone. If I did this, wouldn’t it make me a complete lowlife?’

  ‘When you ignore me, that hurts me.’

  ‘Xiaohong. Ah Hong, you will understand one day. I am a Hakka man.’

  ‘What does being Hakka have to do with anything?’

  ‘What I mean is, well, I’m from the area around the Guangdong Mei District. And I’m going to be married soon.’

  ‘Oh, you’re afraid you’ll hurt her.’ Xiaohong pulled back, hand and body, like the tide receding from the shore.

  ‘At first, I was a secondary school teacher. I only put on a cop’s uniform when I came here. She came over not long ago. She’s a school teacher.’ He stood up, looking at his watch. ‘It’s nearly time for my shift. I’ve got to go.’

  He stood unevenly, straightening his uniform and cap. Looking at Xiaohong, he said, ‘You get some rest.’

  The closing of the door erased any trace of Zhu Dachang.

  IV

  The following morning, someone knocked on the door. Xiaohong opened it to find a man about the same age as Dachang, dressed in the drab hues of autumn.

  ‘Eh? Dachang isn’t here?’ The man glanced around, his mouth slightly opened in a look of innocent surprise.

  ‘Um… I’m a friend of his. I’m just staying here for a few days,’ she said, leaning languidly against the door frame. She knew this guy lived next door and that he was also a cop. Reckoning that knowing one more cop would just create another avenue that might prove useful in the future, she retreated into the room and said, ‘Have a seat.’

  He came in, his professional eye making a sweep of the room, then said, ‘Seat? I don’t see any seats in here.’

  ‘Sit on the bed,’ she replied, pointing to the mattress.

  His eyes roved here and there, always coming back to settle on Xiaohong’s breasts.

  ‘Isn’t that a generous offer on our first meeting?’ he asked.

  ‘I’m sorry. There aren’t any chairs,’ she replied, pretending not to understand what he meant.

  ‘Huh. Never mind, I don’t need to sit. I’m Zhu Dachang’s colleague, Ma Xiaoming.’ He took out a pack of Triple-5 cigarettes and lit up.

  ‘Oh, Ma Ge, are you here to take care of me?’ Xiaohong smiled. Ma searched for something to say, obviously hoping to get to know her a little more intimately.

  ‘You mean Dachang taking care of you isn’t enough?’ He wore an ambiguous expression, as unclear as water dumped into a roadside gutter. After a moment, he added ‘Ma Ge will take good care of you. What you feel like eating? I’ll go and get something.’

  ‘Anything’s fine. Whatever you buy, I’m sure it’ll be good.’ Xiaohong fanned the pages of the book, creating a noisy stir. Ma was very thin, like a pole with clothes dangling from it. She suddenly imagined what he would look like in the act of making love, and thought his body might just snap like a twig if things got wild. She couldn’t keep back a giggle as she pictured it.

  ‘When you laugh, you sound like a Hunan girl,’ he said, the way he stood on his scrawny legs making him look like a comic figure.

  Xiaohong thought, Dachang must have told him about my situation and so he’s purposely come knocking on my door. Though she had always been a little in awe of police officers, she was not in the least bit stirred by her visitor. He was just another cop.

  With another giggle, she said, ‘Ma Ge, you’re so smart! I am from Hunan!’

  V

  A few days later, in the evening, it rained cats and dogs. The downpour and the floods were in furious conversation, their exchange carried back and forth on the whipping winds. When the rain had stopped for a while, Xiaohong heard the ground groaning with the sound of overflowing waters that continued to bubble through the drains. The rain was like a sentient thing in its onslaught against the breadth of the earth’s bosom. The further it spread out, the more the ground seemed bound to give way under it, as if its weight would open a great gaping chasm.

  Xiaohong leaned on the edge of the window sill, watching the waters cleanse the streets, like tears washing over an eye. She suddenly thought of her home and her brother-in-law, and felt that those things were like a ravaging storm. She’d come so far and yet they whipped back at her, like the winds blowing in the night. The rain was too heavy, the leaves bruised by the convulsive shake of the wind and the shine of the neon lights was like the sudden flash of a set of white fangs. Cars ran through puddles, the water splashing arrogantly onto a nearby pedestrian, who screeched like a bird in alarm.

  When the storm passed, the night was pale and still.

  Restless, Xiaohong used her finger to take measure of the various books in the room. ‘So thick. Who wants to read that?’

  She lay on the bed, bored, staring at the ceiling till she thought her eyes would fall out. She thought of the suggestiveness of Mr Zhuang. She remembered Lu’s face. The tall guy and Shorty. The Ape and her protruding teeth. The way Mr Zhan’s trousers had blown in the wind. Li Sijiang and Bud in bed. Ah Qing’s pimply face. Zhu Dachang’s overheated flesh. Ma Xiaoming’s unbelievably thin frame.

  Tap-tap-tap.

  She hopped off the bed, flopping like a fish out of water. It was just Ma with a plastic bag dangling from his fingertips as he stood trembling.

  His eyes squinted over a mouth opened in a wide grin.

  ‘I bet you must be bored to tears. Look: beer, peanuts, phoenix claws and fried noodles.’ He brought the plastic bag in, rustling it in front of her nose, offering her a whiff.

  ‘You’re so sweet, Ma!’ she slapped him on the back, liking the prospect of some food and a drink.

  Xiaohong chomped away on a phoenix claw – a grand name for a chicken’s foot – chewing and spitting out the bones.

  ‘If you eat in such an unladylike way, you’re never going to get married! Of course, I don’t mind. Here. Bottom’s up!’ Ma, lips bulging as if he were gargling mouthwash, took a toothpick and began to pick at his teeth.

  ‘Ugh. This beer is bitter.’ She wiped her mouth. Basic needs met and belly full, her spirits rose as the night wore on.

  ‘How have your first couple of days at work been?’ Ma stood up, looking a little plumper now, but still grinning like a cartoon character.

  Xiaohong laughed and said, ‘You don’t need to think. Just go through the motions each day. A robot could do it.’

  ‘Is it tiring?’ He looked at her warmly.

  ‘Not tiring exactly, but we’re not allowed to talk. It’s like walking on eggshells the whole day.’ She took off her shoes and settled back on the bed.

  ‘If you talk, you’ll be distracted. If you’re distracted, you’ll get less work done. What boss wouldn’t like for his employees to go at it with gusto for him?’ Ma settled a hip onto the mattress and sat facing Xiaohong. She giggled.

  ‘What’re you laughing at?’ he asked innocently.

  ‘Go at… what?’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘
Aw, come on. I’m just teasing.’

  He thought for a minute, then broke out into another cartoonish grin, and said mischievously, ‘You’re young, but you’re very naughty, aren’t you?’

  ‘Who says I’m naughty? I just say whatever comes to mind.’

  Ma, feeling his eyes grow a little dim, wondered if it was the effect of the three cans of beer. After the can she had drank, Xiaohong actually felt more sober than normal. She could see he had something in mind, but then Ma wasn’t Dachang, and she felt no desire for him.

  ‘What’s that book you got there?’ he asked, pointing to the volume lying beside her. Seeing him stretch across her and take the book, she quickly picked it up and handed it to him.

  ‘It’s Dachang’s. I don’t know what it is.’

  He took it and flipped through the pages, back to front, then front to back. He squinted at her and said, ‘Zhu Dachang, has he mounted you?’

  Mount? What sort of dirty talk was this? There was far too much colourful language to pick up here. It was the first time she’d heard the term.

  ‘He did you, didn’t he?’ he said, changing to a more familiar phrase.

  ‘Don’t talk nonsense. Zhu Ge has a girlfriend. He wouldn’t go fooling around behind her back.’

  ‘So what if he has a girlfriend? If he wants to mess around, he’ll mess around.’

  ‘I don’t know about people like you, but I know Zhu Ge hasn’t done anything to me. He’s a gentleman.’

  ‘Being a gentleman just means he does it in secret. Gentlemen know how to do everything, and do it just right. If you say he hasn’t done it with you, I find that hard to believe.’

  ‘For God’s sake. Let’s drop it. I’m tired of it. If I say he hasn’t, then he hasn’t.’

  ‘Hasn’t slept with you and yet he helps you find a job? Lets you stay here?’ His eyes narrowed.

  ‘Well, if you want to say it like that, you brought beer, phoenix claws and peanuts over. Does that mean you’ve got something up your sleeve?’ she said heatedly. Only when it was too late did she feel that this was like opening the door for him. Hoping to remedy the situation, she quickly added, ‘I don’t think you’re that kind of guy!’

  But Ma didn’t miss an opportunity. Eyes bleary from the beer, he said, ‘You’re absolutely right! I do have an ulterior motive. I think you’re sexy!’ He seemed unable to control himself. He grabbed her and pressed himself onto her, pinning her to the bed with his bony body. He was strong and, though she struggled, she couldn’t move. As he pawed at her, it brought to mind the claws they’d just consumed. She was unable to do anything.

  Breathing heavily, he said, ‘Don’t move. Please. That’s it… that’s it…’ He pressed against her. Though he did not undress, he thrust his pelvis repeatedly against hers, madly, as if he had never seen a woman before. In less than two minutes, he let out an odd sound.

  And then he went limp.

  VI

  In the end, which was weaker, a man’s cock or his will? Ma was just like a pig in the dog days of summer, wallowing in a puddle of sewage for the sake of cooling its overheated body.

  Xiaohong did not feel any sense of loss, nor did she feel that Ma was a bad fellow. Compared to those creepy men who, when aboard a public bus, liked to rub their privates up against a woman as the vehicle bounced along on its route, he was at least honest, doing things openly. Those creeps on the bus took advantage of the crowded conditions which made random collisions of body parts inevitable. But if a woman dared to glare at one of them, he would respond with an innocent look, as if denying that anything had happened at all. Ma, on the other hand, even as he was thrusting frantically, had looked at her with miserable eyes, so he at least acknowledged his own weakness.

  Ma was ridiculous and pathetic. Her maternal instinct sparked just enough pity in Xiaohong to make her willing to tolerate his performance.

  Her work at the factory was neither very tiring nor very demanding, and it was a way to make a living. Other than her toilet breaks, it was almost like her backside was glued to the stool where she sat working. Twenty or thirty people worked on the assembly line, all girls around her age. Her line manager, from Guangdong, was taller than average, with a round, pale face. Her features were long and angular, her chest flat and her voice coarse. She didn’t work on the line, but just stood with her hands behind her back watching everyone. From time to time, she would take a more active managerial role, her high heels clack-clack-clacking as she walked up and down, supervising. In tribute to her flat chest, Xiaohong and the rest secretly called her Runway. One of Xiaohong’s colleagues, Ah Jun, was a girl from Guangxi and a member of an ethnic minority group. She was shorter than Xiaohong and had hair so long that it brushed against her buttocks when she walked. Her plaits were her only really striking feature. Her speech was as sharp as a knife and she was always ready to help others. Xiaohong hit it off with her very well.

  ‘The manager originally came from the assembly line. Most importantly, if you want to move up you’ve got to be extremely good-looking and secondly you have to be willing to make some sacrifices. Look at her. She’s so flat-chested! Your prospects are much brighter than hers.’ A knowing smile appeared on Ah Jun’s skinny face.

  ‘Wouldn’t I love for that to be true? That slut!’ Xiaohong said in frustration.

  ‘Runway only worked on the assembly line for two months, did you know?’

  ‘Quiet! She’s coming!’

  Ah Jun immediately fell silent, suddenly appearing intently focused on her work. Her eyes were round, as if in surprise.

  Feeling the pounding footsteps stop behind her, Xiaohong caught a whiff of perfume. She looked over her shoulder and saw Runway’s haggard eyes staring at something. Following the line manager’s gaze, she noticed that the big boss was talking to the foreman.

  At the roadside food stalls outside the factory, one kuai could buy a meal that would leave anyone stuffed. During her hour-long lunch break, this was the only place to eat. Xiaohong ate, drank a cup of lukewarm water and looked at her watch. She had twenty minutes before she needed to clock in again.

  ‘Ah Jun, I think Runway likes the foreman. Today, I saw her eyes lingering so long on his figure that I thought they’d fall out!’ She couldn’t help herself. She wanted to find out whatever information she could gather about Runway.

  ‘You’ve got a sharp eye!’

  ‘It’s not that hard to see.’

  ‘Well, Runway got the line manager’s post based on the foreman’s recommendation. But of course, things aren’t quite so simple.’ Ah Jun was still stubbornly munching on a phoenix claw.

  ‘How complicated can it be?’

  ‘You’re new here, so of course you don’t know. The so-called line manager is whoever’s next in line to sleep her way to the next level. Just like Runway, the previous girl who held the post moved right up the line. She’s a secretary in the office now, which meant everyone in line behind her got bumped up too,’ Ah Jun said, disgusted – and perhaps a little disappointed that she’d been passed over. She’d been on the assembly line for over a year and had never been promoted.

  Hearing her friend’s explanation, Xiaohong laughed and said, ‘Someday I’ll move up the line and then I’ll pull you right along with me. I’ll turn the whole line on its head.’

  ‘When’re you going to move into the factory dorm?’

  ‘Maybe in a few days. The supervisor said there’s no bed ready for me yet, so I’ll stay at my friend’s place for now.’

  ‘That cop?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘He likes you, huh?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘I think he does.’

  ‘I told you, he doesn’t.’

  ‘He’s very nice to you.’

  ‘He’s got a girlfriend.’

  ‘So what, I’m sure you can take over that role. You met her?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Who knows? Maybe she’s really ugly.’

  ‘However ugly she is, she�
�s still a teacher.’

  ‘He mounted you yet?’

  ‘Mounted? You mean you say that too? Bit trashy, no?’

  ‘Trashy? That’s the most civilised way I know to say it. You’re so old-fashioned!’

  ‘Shit! I can’t keep up with all this slang. Hey, Ah Jun, you speak Cantonese?’

  ‘Of course. We speak it in my hometown. I’ll start by teaching you some swear words!’

  VII

  After making arrangements for her to work in the factory, Dachang didn’t come back to his quarters to see Xiaohong, nor did he ask her how long she would be staying. Ma Xiaoming, on the other hand, was always in close proximity, often dropping in for no reason, drifting in and out at leisure.

  After the first time he’d had his fun with her, he tried to have another go at it, but since he had not been drinking this time, he was a little more sensible. When Xiaohong gave him a polite refusal, he did not resort to begging as he had before. In his frustration, he took on an especially cartoonish look. He said, ‘It’s already happened once, so why turn me down now?’

  Xiaohong felt it a very strange thing to say, as if what had happened once before gave him licence to do as he pleased with her any time he wanted. She replied, ‘It didn’t mean anything. We are just friends.’

  ‘Don’t you have any sense of decency?’ He was really upset.

  ‘How am I not decent?’ Her face fell in humiliation.

  ‘You worked in a salon! And, you were hauled in! Who do you think you’re fooling?’

  ‘Fuck off! You’re so bloody irritating!’ As she turned up the intensity, she switched to her hometown dialect.

  ‘Well! You little slut!’ Ma turned to Cantonese, fury making each of them switch to a different dialect. It was like a donkey braying at a horse, who then snorted in retort. Neither understanding what the other said, all the venom in their cursing was wasted. Disappointed, Ma turned and stormed bitterly out of the room.

  Xiaohong sat alone, chest heaving in anger. She continued to mutter curses. Venting her resentment, she kicked furiously at the wall, regretting any shred of sympathy she had felt for him. She should have used her all-too-decent hand to slap him right across his lecherous face. It certainly didn’t pay to be nice to people.