Under the Hawthorn Tree (31 page)

‘How did you get hold of it?'

‘I hired it. There's a bike repair place by the pier, and they hire bikes too.'

It had been a long time since she heard of anyone renting bikes; it must have been when she was small, when her father had hired a bike from the very same bike business by the pier. He had put her on the crossbar, and they had ridden the streets, wind in their hair, her father riding and she ringing the small bell. Then somehow the bell had fallen to the ground and by the time her father had discovered it they had already gone some way. Father stopped by the side of the road, pulled out the bike stand and placed her on top while he went to look for the bell. Terrified that the bike would topple over, she had started bawling. She cried with such force that it shook the skies above and ground below, drawing in a crowd of onlookers.

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.'