“You flatter me,” Qibao said, with secret satisfaction. “Laundry is about all I can do. It’s easy, as long as you use plenty of water.”
Later, after Qibao left, the landlady paced the yard, wondering how to raise the rent. She went to look once again at the water meter, and when she came back she noticed the light was on in the room. She pushed her way inside and saw the bed covered in DVDs. “What’s this?” She pointed at the bed.
“Movies,” said Dunhuang.
“No, they’re DVDs, pirated DVDs. Where’d you get them?”
“I bought them.”
“What’d you buy so many for?”
“To sell them.”
“Oh, you sell pirated DVDs.” The landlady’s finger shifted to him. “So you’ve been breaking the law!”
“It’s not really illegal, ma’am,” Dunhuang said. “The streets are full of them. They’re in all the shops.”
“Piracy is illegal! I’m a Party secretary, you can’t fool me! And you also lied about being a graduate student!”
“I never said that, you did.”
“I did? How would I have known if you didn’t tell me?” Dunhuang couldn’t be bothered to argue, and started packing up his things. “Ma’am, if there’s something you want to say, then say it.”
“All right then, I’ll be direct. I can’t let a seller of pirated DVDs live in my house, and for only four hundred and fifty kuai! If the police knew about it, this old face would be lost completely. I’m a Party secretary!”
“How much extra?”
“One hundred.”
Dunhuang looked at her. He slapped the wall. “Ma’am, the lease isn’t even up yet, do you think it’s reasonable to raise the rent? Also, before it’s completely dark, go and take a look at this place from the outside. If you still think it’s worth that much, come back in for the money.”
She really was a secretary — she switched strategies instantly. “It’s not the money I’m concerned about, it’s my reputation. I can’t just invite any old lawbreaker into my home. If you think it’s too expensive you can leave. It’s not hard to find lodgers around Zhongguancun and Peking University.”
“You think students will rent from you? They’re putting up new dorms at Peking University all the time, everyone lives in high rises now, just one thousand twenty kuai a year! The student apartments in Wanliu used to be bursting, now they’re full of tumbleweeds.”
“You’re just fooling me.”
“I’m an applicant for the doctorate program at Peking University, you better believe I did my homework. Forget it, I’m not arguing with you. I’ll add fifty, take it or leave it. I can move out tomorrow.”
The landlady left, but knocked on the door again a little later. Dunhuang said, “It’s open.” She said she wouldn’t come in. She’d just called her daughter, who urged her to take pity on a single man in the city. She could accept a little less — fifty was fine. Starting the next month, and not to forget. “Stingy bitch,” mumbled Dunhuang.
“What did you say?” the landlady asked.
“I said I’ll soon be rich,” answered Dunhuang.
When Dunhuang told Qibao, she said, “If it had been me, I would have had it out with the old hag, at worst you find a new place to live. In a city this size how hard could that be? Goddammit, if I ever have money I’ll build a hundred apartment buildings, fifty stories at least, and rent them all out. Then I’ll sit at home all day and count my cash.”
“If you can’t count it all I’ll help you.”
“That’s all you’re good for — sitting at home! Why can’t you just say, ‘fuck it, I’m going out to earn rent for you?’ Grow a spine — hey, I’m talking to you!” She whacked him on the shoulder. It hurt a bit. “You see? A little smack and you stare like an idiot. You go around looking like the weight of the world is on your shoulders.”
Dunhuang stopped short, as though he’d been stung by a wasp. She was right. When had he started worrying so much about other people’s rotten business? What had happened to that expansive sense of him-against-the-world he’d had when he first got out of jail? Back then he’d scoffed at Beijing: worst come to worst he could always sleep under a bridge, could always beg for a meal, begging wasn’t a crime. What had happened to that sense of taking each day as it came, of not having a care in the world? Back then, women were nothing to him: nice if you could get them, but to hell with them if you couldn’t. As long as he wasn’t under lock and key, life was good. When had life suddenly gotten so complicated? When had he started fretting? Jesus Christ.
“Fuck, are you meditating again?” Qibao poked his cheek. “You’re either staring at the wall or you’re catching flies in your mouth, how the hell did I ever fall for you? Now you’re having an out-of-body experience — wake up!”
“I want to go visit Bao Ding.”
“So go, you don’t need to notify me.”
“Will you go with me?”
“No.” She started putting on her sneakers. “What am I going to tell him — that we’ve been sleeping together?”
“So don’t go.”
“Fine, I won’t.”
* * *
That night, they went to the Old Summer Palace, climbing over the wall in a small alley. They’d done it with a group of friends a few nights before, but had only stayed half an hour. Qibao hadn’t had her fill, and dragged Dunhuang back again. He boosted her over the wall, hands on her ass, and they heard the frogs croaking before they’d even reached Fu Lake. “Damn it’s big,” said Qibao. “Those Qing dynasty pigs really knew how to enjoy themselves.” The night-silence in the Summer Palace had a weight to it that pressed down on the surface of Fu Lake. Dunhuang was a little surprised at Qibao’s guts, running around happily in the pitch-black park, making a show of playing the tour guide for Dunhuang, explaining which palace girl had died here, or which eunuch had been executed there. Wronged ghosts everywhere. As they neared the ruins of the great fountains Dunhuang was getting goose bumps, but Qibao was perfectly unconcerned, ducking among the ruined walls and uttering strange bird-like cries. The sound was gentler than a crow’s cawing, and terribly eerie. Then she laughed. Dunhuang told her to keep quiet or she’d have the park guards on them. Later, tired, she lay down on a broken slab of stone and told him to lay down next to her. She said if the stone wasn’t so chilly they could sleep there, and leave by the front gate in the morning. Dunhuang assented, and rolled over on top of her.
“Don’t get frisky, look where we are!”
“I couldn’t get frisky if I wanted to, I think it’s frozen off completely.” Dunhuang kissed her. “There’s something I want to ask you.”
“As long as it’s not about money.”
“Old married couples can’t stand on ceremony. If a man borrows money he’ll repay it!”
“A man shouldn’t have to borrow money!” Qibao held Dunhuang close, her eyes wide as she said, “You’ve got a one-track mind. I told you, give up on ‘saving’ Bao Ding. Even if you sold the two of us it wouldn’t do the trick. If two or three thousand was enough I’d have put it up long ago. Do you have any connections? You’re not going to meet Buddha just by lighting incense!”
“Well I need to meet him somehow! I can’t just stand here while someone rots away because of me.”
“Because of you? It’s because of money! Anyone who does our work is going to jail eventually, it’s just a matter of time.” “I can’t explain it to you,” Dunhuang said, pushing her arms away and rolling off her. “You women will never understand men’s business.”
“It was women that squeezed you fucking men out, what’s so hard to understand? You’re just a typical Neanderthal, you can never be wrong. Why can’t you just save the money up, and then give it to him when he gets out? He’ll need it more then than he does now.”