Miss Chopsticks (10 page)

‘This isn't a hospital. We do occasionally give the customers some herbal medicine to drink to sort out internal problems but it's not usually that bitter …'

‘But I don't know anything about medicine!' The more Five heard, the more alarmed she became.

‘You're an assistant, Five, not a medic. You will accompany Auntie Wang on her rounds. If anybody runs out of something, has a message to send or an urgent task they need done, you'll help them.'

‘Will I have to wear a uniform?'

‘Everyone here has to wear a uniform. Each uniform has coloured bars on the sleeves and collar to help clients understand what job that person does; gold for the doctors, silver for the technicians, green for the medicine pool managers, fiery red for the office workers and earthy yellow for the patrol team run by Auntie Wang. So, you'll be yellow.'

‘But you and the green girl aren't wearing white clothes with tabs,' Five protested.

‘That's because we're different. Ms Lin is often out on business and so it would be inappropriate for her to wear a uniform. I wear orange to help people find me if a machine needs fixing.'

‘Do I have to be able to swim?'

Engineer Wu laughed.

‘No, walking on the ground is fine! OK, let's go and see Auntie Wang. She's got a quick temper but a soft heart. She'll show you the ropes in no time.'

Later Five would remember that first meeting with Auntie Wang as being the first time anyone had praised her. Auntie Wang's kindness had given her the courage to think that she might be able to survive in the Water Dragon's Palace after all.

She heard the woman's laugh before she saw her. Then Engineer Wu led her into the patrol-team office and she was overwhelmed by an enthusiastic welcome.

‘Here she is, here she is, great stuff. Thank you, Engineer Wu. Now, tell me, did your mother see great things for you when she named you Charming? Perhaps she knew that one day you'd come to our Water Centre, a place which practises beauty therapy. You'll go far here – we wizened old things need a little bit of charm to keep us young! What's that, Engineer Wu? Her name actually means Five. Well, that's even better! We haven't got any fifth daughters working here yet. That makes you even more special, Five, because you'll have learned a lot of clever tricks from your older sisters.'

Faced with this woman who was to be her boss, Five suddenly remembered the polite words Three had taught her to say.

‘I'm a country girl,' she blurted out, ‘I'm no good at anything. Please be so kind as to look after me.'

‘Look at that, what a nicely spoken young woman!' exclaimed Auntie Wang. ‘Now don't you go looking down on yourself. City people differ from country people, just as tall people differ from small people, but everyone has their virtues. Short people raise their heads to look at people and so they see people's eyes turning up when they smile and happy jaws; tall people look down on people so all they see are bald heads and long faces. Don't believe me? You stand on a stool some time and look down on those tall people. You'll see how different happy faces can look from a new angle. Ha! I'm sure you're going to be one of those clever countryside girls. Now come along with me so that I can show you where you'll be sleeping tonight. Every little bird needs a nest …'

And with that, Auntie Wang led Five on a winding route through doors and corridors until they came to a big room in which six or seven girls were busy folding up quilts and arranging them underneath a number of sofas that were pushed against the wall.

Five was surprised to hear Auntie Wang's laughing voice transform itself into a serious, professional tone.

‘This is our new assistant, everyone. She's called Five and will be sleeping in Bed Ten. She's not yet twenty, and it's her first time in the city, so everyone keep an eye out for her. Remember what Manager Shui is always saying: helping others is like helping oneself, and doing ill to others is bound to come back to haunt you one day. You girls should look after each other when you're together, just like sisters, and then your days will be happy. Good, Five, put your things in the box under your bed, let Mei Mei from Bed One show you where the bathroom is, then wait for me here. I'll be back shortly.'

Five watched with anxiety as Auntie Wang bustled out of the room but Mei Mei seemed kind enough. She was a tall girl with pale, delicate features and a gentle voice.

‘We have to fold up our beds so they can be used as
foot massage couches during the day,' she explained. The timetable here takes a bit of getting used to. You can stay in bed till eleven-thirty every day because business hours are 1 p.m. to midnight and we can't go to bed until all the clients have left. There's a meal at twelve-noon before we start work, then we eat supper in different sittings from six to eight. After we shut up shop, they come round with a snack, which is mostly food that clients haven't ordered and which won't keep till the next day. Some girls decide to miss supper so they can have this nice food later in the evening but it's a risk: sometimes there are so many clients there's nothing left, and then they're sorry. This is the shared bathroom. You can use my shower gel and shampoo if you want. And ask me if you need anything else. I'm a foot masseur so you'll always find me in this room.'

Five was about to thank Mei Mei when she heard Auntie Wang returning down the corridor.

‘Oh yes, she'll be good, this one. Not like the last girl. How was a crazy old bat like me supposed to keep up with a vocational school graduate? This Five, you can see at a glance she's a stayer … Ah yes indeed, aren't we lucky …'

Auntie Wang came back into the room.

‘Now, Five, have you got yourself sorted out? I hope you could hear what Mei Mei was saying. The little thing always speaks in such a quiet voice that we all grow long ears listening to her talk. Come with me and we'll get to work.'

Auntie Wang gave Five a clean uniform and spent the next hour showing her how the medicines were arranged in the storeroom. Five felt as if she was beginning to find her feet until a message came that Auntie Wang was wanted in the Pool of Mental Cultivation. Five followed her boss through a door only to be confronted with a pool full of men and women in tight, revealing swimming costumes laughing and chatting together.

She immediately blushed a fiery shade of red, averted her eyes and fled. A bemused Auntie Wang called after her to stop, but no amount of shouting could call her back.

Six had been left all alone at Mr Guan's job centre when Five had left. Three had gone back to work, and the man from the teahouse who was coming to collect her had telephoned to say he had got stuck in a traffic jam. To her relief, Mr Guan had suggested she come into his office to wait. All his staff were so busy they didn't have time to look after her, he said, but she could spend the time looking at his books.

Books were precious to Six. There were none in her village and she hadn't owned one until she had started attending the middle school an hour's walk from the village, and been given a textbook. After that she would sometimes go to her teachers' houses to look at their books, since the school didn't have a library. But, until now, she had never seen a collection of books as large as Guan Buyu's. The shelves in his office were filled, from floor to ceiling, with hundreds of volumes and, for a moment, Six had no idea where to start. In the end she decided to pick the one with the most eye-catching spine to look at first. Pulling out a book with a painting of a woman's face on the spine, she saw that it was a novel called
Jane Eyre
by an English writer called Charlotte Brontë. It looked quite long and complicated so she put it back and continued browsing. The next volume to catch
her attention was a book with the title
Sexual Love – A Basic Human Need
written in red. She was astonished to see that a man like Guan Buyu had something like this on his shelves. Her teacher had warned her that books with the word ‘sex' in the title were dirty, and that she should steer clear of them if she didn't want to end up in prison. Looking away rapidly, Six cast her eye further along the shelf until she noticed something called
My Books
. Attracted by the title, she took it down and discovered that it was written by a French student who had come to study in China in the fifties. In it the student had listed all the books that he liked best and written descriptions of them. Without quite knowing why, Six didn't put this book back but kept it in her hand as she looked along the other shelves.
Ulysses – A Reader's Guide
,
Rodin's Art
,
On Plato
,
Nietzsche
… There were rows and rows of books on subjects she had never heard of, as well as many volumes called things like
Zen and Enlightenment
,
The Study of Daoism
, and
The Hundred Scholars of Early Confucianism.
She was struck by how many books had the word ‘beauty' in the title, or had titles that mixed the Chinese character for ‘study' with the character for ‘beauty' (which she later learned meant ‘Aesthetics'):
Thoughts on Aesthetics, Analysis of Western Aesthetics, Communication and Aesthetics
… What was a city man doing openly reading books on such a female subject? Perhaps there was more respect for the idea of beauty in the city. Six thought sadly about the girls who had been to primary school with her and were now all married. If they tried to make themselves look beautiful, they became a laughing stock. It simply wasn't done. Maybe now that she had escaped her village, she would have a little more time for beauty …

Six lost all track of time as she stood in front of Guan Buyu's bookshelves. She was neither hungry nor thirsty, but drunk on the knowledge around her.

‘Six, have you still not seen enough?' said Mr Guan, poking his head around the door. ‘It looks like you're
really
fond of books! How much of what's here can you understand? You'll be able to read lots of books at Shu Tian's teahouse. You'll have to tip me off if any interesting new titles come in. I go there often myself. But I'm afraid I'm going to have to throw you out of my office now: your lift's here. Shu Tian says he's three hours late because there was a traffic jam. Honestly … In the days when no one had cars, they used to blame their alarm clocks for not going off, but now traffic jams are eveyone's favourite excuse for being late. People really are lamentable: instead of owning up to their faults, they treat other people like idiots who'll believe their lies. Ah, the baseness of human nature! Come on, let's go. If you like that book you've got in your hand, you can borrow it. Just make a note of it here so I won't forget who's got it.'

It seemed that Guan Buyu often lent books to people because he had a little noticeboard on the wall with lots of pieces of paper pinned to it giving the titles of books. When Six had written her note, he added it to the board. She felt a sense of pride that her own handwriting had joined the words of so many scholars – and in such a grand office too! Then she pocketed the book and followed Guan Buyu.

Outside stood a man who looked like a teacher. He had glasses as thick as the bottoms of soy sauce bottles and a traditional Chinese black jacket that fastened down the front. He walked up to her, bowed politely and shook her hand.

‘Pleased to meet you. I am Shu Tian.'

‘My name is Six. Please be so kind as to look after me.' This was the first time in Six's life she'd introduced herself so formally.

‘Mr Shu is the boss of the Book Taster's Teahouse, 'Guan Buyu explained. ‘I'm sure you're going to enjoy
working there, but if you're worried about anything, don't hesitate to come and find me here by the big willow. You must treat this place as your own home, is that clear?' Then he turned to his friend. ‘Six is a real bookworm, Old Shu. You did her a favour by coming three hours late: she got the chance to go through my bookshelves. She may be young, but she's got the makings of a great reader.'

‘Thank you, Old Guan. You always know how to find the right person for the job. The last thing my teahouse needs is a good worker who doesn't like books. The place would be like a prison to them. And her youth isn't a problem at all. I'll make sure I look after her. Come on, Six, let's go.'

With a last nod of gratitude to Mr Guan, Six followed Thick Glasses down the street to his waiting car.

Six had never been in a car before. In fact she had only ever been in a bus four times: once to travel to the local town and back to represent her school in an essay competition, once when she had gone with Aunt Two to visit Uncle Three (his son had given them a lift back on his tractor), and the fourth time to come to Nanjing. As soon as Thick Glasses turned the ignition key, sweat broke out on Six's palms. The ramshackle car juddered and roared like a tractor, then set off at such a pace that it seemed to Six they were in danger of hitting every pedestrian who crossed the road. She managed to stop herself from crying out loud – she didn't want Mr Thick Glasses to think country people were cowards – but she opened her eyes wide, breathing in great gulps of air, and very soon she realised she had got the hiccups.

‘Six, here's some water. Take ten sips and you'll be fine.'

Thick Glasses took one hand off the steering wheel to hold out a bottle.

‘I'm fine – hic – I know how to stop – hic – hiccups … You just have to pinch the nail of the fourth finger hard – hic – and you're fine …'

Six pinched with all her might, but somehow it didn't work. How strange. At home she always managed to stop her hiccups like this …

‘Quick, take a few sips of water. It hurts just listening to you.'

Six couldn't see how she was going to manage to hold the bottle of water. She had put her meagre luggage on the back seat of the car, but the book she had borrowed from Mr Guan was still clasped between her legs and she was clinging tightly to the seatbelt with both hands, not daring to take her eyes off the street or the people rushing towards her. It was as if she herself were driving, and she was afraid that if she were to close her eyes for an instant, the car would hit something.