Under the Hawthorn Tree

by Anna Holmwood

  Remembering this she started to chuckle. ‘What are you laughing about?’ Old Third asked. ‘Aren’t you going to share the joke with me?’

  She told him the story and he asked, ‘Do you miss your father?’

  She didn’t reply to his question, but instead told more stories about her father, although most of them were from when she was small and were actually stories her mother had told her. Old Third listened to each one. ‘Your father loves you all so much,’ he sighed. ‘Let’s go and visit him some time. He must be really lonely on his own in the countryside, missing all of you.’

  He was too bold, Jingqiu thought. ‘My father is a landlord, he’s being re-educated. If we go and the school finds out they’ll say we haven’t drawn a line between him and ourselves.’

  ‘If we carry on like this people will never again dare talk about morality, or love,’ Old Third said. ‘Give me his address and I’ll visit him. There won’t be any problems.’

  Jingqiu hesitated. ‘If you really do visit my father, tell him he mustn’t mention it in any letter he sends my mother, otherwise she’ll know about us. Tell me when you go and I’ll buy some sugared peanuts for him. He used to love eating sweet things, especially those peanuts.’

  They cycled nearly all the way to quay number thirteen, which was about as far as the city buses went. They found a place by the river empty of people and sat down. Her feet were especially swollen by the evening, and it was getting difficult to wear her flip-flops. As soon as she sat down they fell from her feet and tumbled down the bank towards the river. He chased after them and caught them before returning to her side so that he could slip them on her feet. ‘No, don’t, I don’t need my flip-flops while I’m sitting.’ She drew her feet under her skirt as she spoke.

  ‘Why won’t you let me touch your feet?’ He crouched before her and lifted her skirt, grabbing one of her ankles. She tried to fight him off but didn’t succeed. When he discovered that her feet were covered in sores, he cried out softly, ‘Jingqiu, Jingqiu, don’t work like this. Let me help you, if you keep going I’m afraid I’ll go mad . . .’

  ‘Don’t worry, I’ve got boots now, there’ll be no more trouble.’

  He slipped the flip-flops on to her feet and pulled her up. ‘Come on, we’re going to the hospital.’

  ‘What would we do at the hospital now? Won’t they have finished for the day?’

  ‘The emergency room is always open. With sores like this you could have got poisoned, your feet could become infected.’

  ‘No they won’t, anyway, it’s not just me. Lots of people have feet like this.’

  He was stubborn, and he continued to pull at her. ‘I don’t care about anyone else, I only care about you. You’re coming with me to the hospital.’

  ‘The doctors will ask my name and work unit, and I didn’t bring my medical papers. I’m not going.’

  He suddenly let go of her and pulled out his knife, and slashed the back of his left hand. Blood started to pour from the wound.

  Frightened, Jingqiu scrabbled around for a handkerchief to wrap up his hand. ‘Are you crazy?’

  She wrapped the handkerchief tight but the blood continued to seep out. Her legs began to give way with fright. ‘Let’s go to the hospital, now! You’re still bleeding.’

  ‘So you’ll go? Okay, come on.’

  ‘I’ll take you on the bike.’

  ‘You can’t ride, your feet are too sore. You sit on the front and I’ll ride.’ He sat her on the crossbar and told her to hold on to the handlebars, and with his good hand on hers, he rushed them to the hospital.

  He spoke to a doctor who then looked at Jingqiu’s feet, while another in a white coat took Old Third to a separate room. When Jingqiu spotted a flash of red peeping out from under his white coat she thought he might be an army doctor; she had never been here before.

  The doctor kept calling her Little Liu. Old Third must have given a fake name. The doctor looked over her feet and wrote out a prescription for some cream along with some disinfectant and sterilised cotton. ‘Once you get home wash your feet, pick out the bits of coal from the sores and then rub on this ointment. Don’t put them in unsterilised water, boil it first, and certainly don’t let any more bits of coal get into them.’ He filled out another form and told her to go to the room opposite where a nurse would clean her feet and bandage them so that she could get home. The nurse helped Jingqiu to tie her flip-flops to her bandaged feet. She told Jingqiu to wait for Sun on the bench in the corridor outside.

  After a while Old Third appeared, his left arm in a sling. ‘Is it serious?’ Jingqiu asked nervously.

  ‘No. How about you?’

  ‘I’m okay, the doctor wrote me a prescription.’

  He took her prescription and told her to wait there. Presently he returned, patting his shoulder bag. ‘Got the medicine, everything’s sorted. Let’s hurry home so you can put on some of this cream.’

  As soon as they were outside Old Third removed his sling and stuffed it into his bag. ‘If I have my arm in a sling people will think I’m starring in that model opera, what it’s called? Shajia River .’

  ‘What about your cut? What did the doctor say?’

  ‘He said my blood wasn’t clotting properly so he gave me two stitches. But how could I have problems with blood clotting? I’m as healthy as they come. I even got into the air force and only didn’t join because my dad was scared I would be killed if there was a war.’

  ‘Aren’t you just dying with regret?’ Jingqiu asked, overcome with envy.

  ‘Regret what?’ He glanced at her. ‘Would I have met you if I had gone into the air force?’

  Jingqiu let him take her back on his bike. Once they got to the ferry crossing he refused to leave her. ‘It’s only just past eight, your mother won’t be back yet. Let me take you to the campus gate on my bike. Your feet are so swollen, you can’t walk.’ He took off his short-sleeved shirt so that Jingqiu could drape it over her head. ‘No one will recognise you.’ When they drew up to the campus gate he said, ‘Let me take you in, that way you won’t get your feet dirty.’

  Jingqiu lifted the shirt from her head and looked in the direction of the gate. There was no one around, but then she turned to discover her mother making her way towards them from the ferry crossing. They might even have passed her on the way without realising it.

  ‘Damn,’ she whispered. ‘My mother is coming, you’d better go quickly.’

  ‘It’s too late to escape,’ he said under his breath.

  Jingqiu’s mother came up to them and stopped. ‘Where are you going?’

  ‘I . . . I went to the hospital to get my feet checked. This is . . . this is the person I was telling you about . . . my friend Sun Jianxin from the geological unit.’

  ‘Jingqiu, go home,’ her mother said. ‘I want to say a few words to Sun here.’

  ‘Then please let me take her home first,’ Old Third interjected. ‘Her feet are terribly swollen and infected, she can’t walk.’

  Her mother saw the bandages on Jingqiu’s feet and said, ‘All right, but I want to speak to him. I’ll go first, but don’t hang around outside and let people see you, it’ll create a bad impression.’ She walked through the campus gate.

  ‘Let me get down,’ Jingqiu said to Old Third. ‘I’ll go by myself. You should leave now, my mother will only send you to the police.’

  ‘Don’t be afraid, I’ll take you. Your mother only wants to speak to me.’

  ‘How can you be so stupid?’ Jingqiu responded, fidgeting anxiously. ‘She told me ages ago not to have any contact with
you. Now she’s caught us, do you really think she wouldn’t take you to the police? Let me get down and then go, quickly.’

  He pushed her towards the school. ‘Won’t your mother be furious with you if you let me run away? It’s just like Yamin said, we haven’t done anything. What can anyone do?’

  Jingqiu allowed him to take her home. Once they got to the house Old Third pulled down the bike stand and supported her as she dismounted. He locked up his bike, then followed her inside.

  Mother told Jingqiu to close the door and invited Old Third into the inner room, asking him to sit down. It was hot and stuffy, and Old Third was now soaked in sweat. Jingqiu’s younger sister was perceptive; she scuttled out and returned with a bowl of cold water so that Old Third could wash his face, and seeing the bandage on his hand even wrung out the towel for him. Old Third was too scared to take it, and looked over to Jingqiu’s mother as if awaiting instruction.

  ‘It’s too hot, maybe it will make you feel better,’ Mrs Zhang said.

  He was extremely grateful and washed his face. He used one hand to splash the water on his face, and then took the towel Jingqiu’s sister was holding for him and wiped it. He sat obediently, waiting for Jingqiu’s mother to start the trial.

  Jingqiu was so nervous she stood to one side looking at the other three act out the scene. She had only one thought: I haven’t gone to bed with Old Third, I haven’t shared a room with him, I would definitely pass any physical examination. She didn’t know if her mother had already called the police from the campus reception – probably not, because they had been so close behind her and they hadn’t seen her stop there to make a call. But still, she listened carefully for any noise outside. Were she to hear anything she would tell Old Third to get on his bike at once and escape.

  Old Third got up and offered his chair to Jingqiu. ‘Sit, your feet must hurt, you shouldn’t stand. I can stand.’

  ‘Jingqiu, go to your room and let me talk to Sun,’ her mother said.

  Jingqiu went back to her room. In fact, the two rooms were really only one room with a wall just taller than head-height down the middle. You could hear everything, so if she really wanted her not to hear her mother should have sent her outside. She sat on her bed near the door so she could see Old Third but not her mother who was sitting opposite him.

  Her sister was also sent out, making a face at Jingqiu as she went. She stood nearby and she too watched the play unfold in the other room.

  ‘Sun boy,’ Jingqiu heard her mother say, ‘I can tell that you are a cautious person, that you are patient with our Jingqiu. I am very grateful that you took her to the hospital today, and I’ve heard that you’ve done a lot to help her. I’m grateful for all that you’ve done. You could say,’ her mother continued, ‘that you and I have the same aims when it comes to Jingqiu. Our feelings are the same. I can tell that you are very sincere about her.’

  Her mother’s opening remarks didn’t seem to be pointing in the direction of the police so Jingqiu started to worry that she might be diverting their attention before making her attack and that a ‘but’ was on its way.

  Jingqiu listened to Old Third add unnecessarily, ‘I am indeed sincere about Jingqiu, I do hope Mother will believe that.’

  ‘People call me Teacher Zhang, why don’t you call me that.’

  ‘I do hope Teacher Zhang will believe that,’ Old Third corrected himself hastily.

  Jingqiu didn’t dare laugh at his terror-stricken, fawning manner, but listened anxiously for her mother to continue. ‘I believe that,’ her mother said, ‘and that is why I feel the need to talk to you. If not, I wouldn’t have anything to say to you. We care about Jingqiu, we cherish her, so we need to take the long-view, not just live for the present. No plans for the future makes for trouble tomorrow. Jingqiu is taking over my job and lots of people are jealous. They’re making all sorts of comments behind our backs. Her job is still not finalised, so if these people see you two together it will be terrible for Jingqiu . . .’

  ‘Yes, indeed.’ Old Third nodded again.

  They were silent for a while until he cleared his throat and said, ‘Teacher Zhang, please don’t worry, I will go home and I won’t come back until her job is sorted out.’

  Jingqiu saw Old Third look at her mother smugly, as if waiting for her praise. But instead she said, ‘The situation is not improved even when she has her job. Until it has been made permanent, the school can get rid of her whenever they please.’

  Old Third sat, silenced for a while, and then replied, ‘Then I’ll wait until her job has been made permanent. Her probationary period is what, a year? Then I’ll come back in a year . . .’ He stopped to calculate. ‘In thirteen months, taking into consideration that she hasn’t started yet.’

  Whether it was his willingness to cooperate or the precision of his calculations that moved her, Jingqiu’s mother was warm in her reply. ‘Do you know this couplet? “When love is long-lasting, why must we meet day and night?” If you and Jingqiu are meant to be then you won’t mind waiting a year or more, isn’t that right?’

  Old Third’s face was veiled in sadness. ‘Yes, of course, you’re right.’ He then elaborated, although it was not obvious who it was he was trying to persuade. ‘It’s only a year, we’re still young, we’ve still got many years left.’

  ‘I can tell that you are a reasonable person,’ Jingqiu’s mother said approvingly, ‘there’s nothing left for me to say. I’m not one of those feudal mothers, I understand how you young people feel, but this is the reality. Gossip is a powerful thing, we need to be careful.’

  ‘I understand, you’re doing this for us.’

  Her mother must have stood up and signalled for her guest to leave as Jingqiu saw Old Third stand and implore, ‘Just let me get some water to wash Jingqiu’s feet. Her soles are infected and covered in sores, and she has bits of dirt inside them. She can’t see them herself, so I can help her pick them out, and put the cream on. Then I’ll leave at once. I’m begging you, please.’

  ‘You shouldn’t go walking around out here, I’ll get the water.’

  When Jingqiu’s sister heard this she jumped up and said, ‘I’ll go, I’ll go,’ returning promptly and placing the bowl by her sister’s bed. Jingqiu felt like those mothers who are not allowed to go out for a month after giving birth, but who lie in bed all day being served. She wanted to get up, but the three of them wouldn’t let her.

  Old Third removed the bandages from her feet and her mother examined them carefully. With tears in her eyes, she said to him, ‘Please do help her, Si and I will go outside to get some fresh air.’

  Jingqiu wouldn’t let him wash her feet in case he got his bandage wet. She washed them herself and he helped her dry them. He then switched on a nearby lamp and pulled the bulb closer. He asked Jingqiu for a needle and started picking out the bits of coal dust from her sores. ‘Does it hurt? If I go too deep just tell me.’

  Jingqiu shook her head. She thought of the scene that had just passed earlier with her mother and began to laugh at him. ‘You were just like Fu Zhigao, the traitor from Red Crag. Grovelling and fawning.’

  He laughed too. ‘I was scared to death.’

  ‘Were you worried my mother would send you to the police?’

  ‘I wasn’t worried about that, I was worried that she wouldn’t let me wait for you, that she would shout at you. Thank god we weren’t born in Fu Zhigao’s day, else I’d definitely have been a traitor,’ he joked. ‘If the Nationalists took you hostage to threaten me then I would tell them everything, no doubt about it.’

  ‘Do you hate my mother?’

  ‘Why would I hate your mother?’ he asked, surprised. ‘We have the same
interests at heart, she said so herself. Don’t you think she likes me? She agreed that I could come back in thirteen months, she even said our love was “long-lasting”.’

  ‘You’re certainly full of revolutionary optimism.’

  ‘It’s like Chairman Mao said, “When our comrades are in trouble we must look to success, to the light, we must be even braver.” ‘Deep in concentration, he picked out the bits of soot while she gazed at him.

  Her heart sank; another thirteen months before I get to see him again, how will I get through it? ‘Will you really wait thirteen months before you come see me again?’

  He nodded. ‘I’ve promised your mother, and if I don’t keep my word she will never believe me again.’ He looked at her staring at him, utterly miserable. ‘You want me to come and see you? You don’t want to wait that long?’ She nodded. ‘Then I won’t wait, I’ll come in secret, is that okay? So, I’m a traitor after all, I made a promise to your mother and all it took was one word from you.’

  ‘Traitor or not, as long as you don’t get caught,’ she smiled.

  Once he had cleaned out all her sores he rubbed the cream into her feet, emptied the basin of water outside and returned to sit beside her on the bed. ‘Give me a picture, so when I’m missing you I can look at it.’

  She thought she looked ugly in all the photos she had of herself, and she rarely had her picture taken anyway, so it took her some time to find one, and even then it was one of her at six years of age. The girl in the picture had bobbed hair and a straight fringe across her forehead, and was wearing a light green dress. The photo was in black and white but her father had coloured it himself, not very neatly in some places, especially in the green of her dress. She gave him the photo, promising to send him a new one.

  He had previously sent her two passport-sized photos in between the pages of books and letters. He took another from his bag, taken outside. He was wearing a white shirt and a pale pair of trousers, in his hand he was carrying what looked like a roll of paper, and he was standing beneath a tree. She recognised it to be the hawthorn tree. He looked very young in the photo, distinguished even, with a slight smile spreading across his face. She really liked the photo, and now that her mother knew about their relationship she wasn’t scared about having it in the house.