She nodded.
‘This may sound a bit strange, but I’m sure you’re not from here. You’re from somewhere in Eastern Europe, such as Germany, Poland, the former Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria… your parents and siblings and friends must be there. Think about it. Isn’t that so?’
‘I don’t remember.’
‘I suspect that your memory has been tampered with. Tell me, what is the earliest memory you have? What year? Where?’
She thought, then shook her head.
‘I believe we can get to the bottom of this.’ Mengliu felt he could talk to her about the robot. He told her about his meetings and conversations with the machine and the circumstances surrounding them. ‘You have amnesia for a reason. And it’s not just you. It’s Juli, Esteban, Darae. They all have this problem. Perhaps after a few years I will be just like you, forget the past, my family and friends, and think of myself as Swanese. This is a frightening prospect. We will all be like fruit from a tree, picked and put in a basket, never knowing which tree we’ve come from. We’re alive, but our names are already recorded in Hades, we’re dead without having seen the grave. Our relatives grieve over us. Have you ever wondered why Esteban is dark-skinned, Juli appears to be of mixed Indian blood, Darae looks Korean, and you seem like someone from an Eastern European aristocracy? There are people here from all sorts of races. We all speak English in our own accents. It’s obvious we come from different countries. I can’t explain how. You say you are a child-bearing machine, and I’m just a breeding stud. We’re like grasshoppers on a string.’
‘I can see you are bewitched.’ The yellow leaves rustled as Rania spoke, coldly. ‘And quite sick.’
12
The meetings had become boring and were eventually replaced by debates. Esteban was always a major figure at the debates. On this occasion he was leaning against one of the pavilion’s pillars, watching the decorative fish in the pond as if he were one of them, a fish that had left the school and was swimming alone. Perhaps he had something on his mind, something he could not say to the fish, because the fish population was the incarnation of morality. He could only blow bubbles in the midst of the fierce ideological turmoil within him, and think of a plan while facing the bubbles as they floated constantly to the surface.
Mengliu threw a pebble into the pond, startling and scattering the fish. The lone black koi swayed its tail a few times, not moving from its spot. When Mengliu finally spoke to Esteban he said, ‘Who knows what fish think? When two of them swim together, can they be considered a couple? Do they have any concept of a family connection? Do they shed tears?’
He went on to say he was tired but he couldn’t sleep well. He woke up in the middle of the night and stared at the stars. He felt tortured. God had too many suffering souls to look after, and the devil was given free rein to go about at his pleasure. ‘What should I do Esteban? Tell me, Rania and I…don’t you think it’s just too absurd?’
The black carp started swimming away, looking for a more secluded spot. It stuck its head under a rock, leaving its rear exposed to the world.
‘Mr Yuan, to tell you the truth, you are the nastiest person I have ever met. You know it to be true too, but you don’t want to admit it.’
Talk of the spirit and that sort of thing was like a drug to Esteban. Once it had taken effect, a rosiness emerged from the darkness of his face. It was hard to describe that sort of radiance. It looked like he had activated some sort of impenetrable shield. No language or culture or onslaught of gun or cannon fire could shake his inner faith.
Mengliu remained silent for a while. Other than feeding the black fish with bits of the bread he held in his hand, he could think of no word or act that was consistent with his inner world.
But then he resumed. ‘I’d very much like to know where you are from. One day when we all return to our own homes, we should remain in close contact, and visit one another often. We may even become brothers in adversity. Actually, I’ve had a lot of brothers who’ve been through trials and tribulations with me, but you wouldn’t know. They bled, died, disappeared, fled, sought refuge elsewhere…but me, I have escaped through the gate of history, and I have lost contact with my brothers.’
Mengliu’s words felt fuzzy. He was like a koi blowing bubbles, with smooth spangled scales, perfect lines of muscle. He could not be singled out as he swam among the fish. The school made him feel safe and secluded. It was a quiet group of fish. They swam as one, playing by the rules. He became completely caught up in his recollections of the past. When he looked down again, the black carp had disappeared, leaving only an empty crevice and a confusion of young shrimp learning how to jump.
Several days of unusually heavy rain left Swan Valley in a state of disorder and darkness.
The rain showed no intention of stopping, so Mengliu took an umbrella and went out. The rain beat on the umbrella like a drum, creating waterfalls at its edges. He was like a rock, a wasted log, a huge ship, his heart turning in agitation. Later, the rain let up a bit, and a misty red strip of cloud appeared in the sky. The sun poked its face out, still half-hidden by the clouds. The light rain looked both alive and tired in the sunlight. He walked to Juli’s house, his shoes and socks getting soaked. It was just like the first time they had met, with Juli bringing clean clothes for him to change into. They started to talk about the rain. The great inconvenience it brought also had its benefits. It was as if Mengliu had come specifically to discuss the rain.
Juli took his damp clothes to dry, then casually went about making tea, her movements haphazard and her eyelashes sticking to her cheeks, her speech cool and courteous. Mengliu felt like they were looking at each other from opposite sides of a river. With the waters between them surging, he grew somewhat bored. The distance made him sad. It was as if they were being pushed apart by some unseen hand. He hoped Juli was hiding something, that she was in fact about to collapse, and would soon be throwing herself into his arms in tears. The porcelain teacups had three painted herrings swimming in them, with a muddy yellow line running around the sides of the cup. Juli knitted her brow, her eyelashes trembled, and her hands shook. She spilled the tea.
He felt that she was fatter than before, her face was like a Buddha’s, full of meaning. From time to time she would break into a crazy laugh, creating a tense atmosphere in the room. When she wasn’t speaking, she was like a mushroom growing in the crevice of a cliff, lying low, wet and preoccupied. He wanted to talk to her about something more than the weather, like artificial insemination, or a marriage ordered in red ink by forms from the state, or the present, or the future. But Juli’s unbreakable quiet elegance prevented him. He took a book from the table and flipped through it idly. He remembered a topic that interested her, grew animated, and decided to end his dilemma.
‘Let me tell you something interesting.’ He put the book on his knee, caressing the cover with his palm. He wanted to see a renewal of life in her eyes, and so he paused, waiting for her to ask him what it was.
But there was nothing urgent in Juli’s demeanour when she asked flatly, ‘Is it a funny story about the Three Musketeers? Or is it about the leaders? You shouldn’t rely on the same old material all the time. Come up with something fresh.’
‘This is something I’ve never talked to anyone about. It’s a secret about Hei Chun and Shunyu. Shunyu was always in love with Hei Chun, but his heart was just not inclined that way. Love is unfathomable, sometimes it is able to attack a long-standing fortress and topple it in an instant.’ Mengliu stalled again. The house grew dim, as the sun set behind the slight misty rain that fell on the trees. ‘At that time, the crowds on the streets had carried out a sit-in that lasted almost a month. One day, there was a conflict between the civilians and the military on West Beiping Street. A military vehicle was smashed up. Hei Chun took a brick and, in anger, threw it at the pile of scrap metal. Suddenly he saw a girl in a white dress digging out two bricks from the door frame of the public toilet and slamming them at another military vehicle. It was Shunyu. Hei Chun was very surprised. He thought her posture had perfect revolutionary style when she threw the bricks, and he was enchanted. He trotted over to her, grabbed her hand, and ran. Shunyu said, “What are you doing? Leave me alone. I’m not a party member. I quit the Plum Party.” Hei Chun said, “You better stay in the Plum Party. I want people to see how I do a Plum Party member.”’