一地鸡毛 (2 page)

目 录Contents

Ground Covered with Chicken Feathers

1

Young Lin's bean curd has spoiled.

Half a kilo of bean curd contains five cubes, one hundred grammes each, the common kind on sale in state groceries. The bean curd cubes you buy from a privately owned shop or pedlar weigh half a kilo each. They are watery and thin, and disintegrate if stir-fried in a wok.

He gets up at six each morning to queue for bean curd in front of a state grocery. In spite of this early morning effort, there is no guarantee he will get it. Sometimes there are too many people queuing and the bean curd is already sold out by the time it's his turn, and at other times, it is already seven o'clock and he has to leave the queue and hurry to catch the work unit bus. A certain Old Guan has recently been assigned to the office as the new head who pays close attention to late-comers and early-leavers —a new broom sweeps clean. It's most disheartening when your turn in the queue is just about to come and it's already time to go to work. After walking away, Young Lin always curses the long queue for bean curd: "Damn! It's really too bad there being so many poor people on earth!"

This morning, however, he succeeded in getting the desired bean curd even though he queued till 7 : 15 thus missing the shuttle bus. It doesn't really matter today. Old Guan, the head of the office, is supposed to be attending a meeting at the ministry while the deputy head, Old He, has gone on a business trip, so a university graduate newly assigned to the office is temporarily in charge of the job of checking up on attendance. So Young Lin did not worry about queuing late for bean curd. Since he was in a rush to catch the public bus to work, he forgot to put the bean curd in the fridge. When he got home that evening, the bean curd was still wrapped in the plastic bag in the hall. In hot weather like today, there was no way the bean curd wouldn't turn sour.

The bean curd has spoiled and Young Lin's wife has returned home before him, which makes the matter complicated. At first, his wife blames the childminder for not putting the bean curd into the fridge. But the nanny refuses to take any blame. She is unhappy with her pay, which she thinks is low, and with her employer's poor cooking. She has long threatened to go on strike or go somewhere else. She remains only because Young Lin and his wife have repeatedly persuaded her to stay. She doesn't feel at all sorry about the spoiled bean curd and unhesitatingly shifts the blame onto Young Lin arguing that he didn't tell her to put the bean curd away before going to work that morning. So his wife vents her anger on him as soon as he comes back from work, saying that it might have been all right if you hadn't bought the bean curd in the first place. But once you've bought it, how could you allow it to go off in the plastic bag? Why did you do it? Young Lin has had an unpleasant day in the office today. He didn't expect the newcomer to take things so seriously. Seeing that Young Lin was not there at 8 am, he marked him down as "late." Although Young Lin tartly changed it into "on time," the matter has been weighing on him the whole day long, not knowing whether or not the newly assigned university graduate will report on him tomorrow. Now back home, he is once again disheartened knowing that the bean curd has turned bad. On the one hand, he blames the childminder for being too petty. Couldn't you have just made the effort to put it in the fridge even though I didn't tell you to? Would it really have tired you out to just carry the few cubes of bean curd to the fridge? On the other hand, he blames his wife for making a fuss over a trifling matter like this. Half a kilo of bean curd, that's all there is to it. Nobody made it turn bad on purpose. Why nag about it endlessly? Both are very tired after a day's work and there is the child and the dinner to attend to. Is she deliberately trying to create a tiring atmosphere at home? So he responds: "Let it pass, will you? Say it's my fault. Just half a kilo of bean curd after all. If the worst comes to the worst, we'll have our dinner without it tonight. I'll be careful in future."

If he says this much and no more, the matter will be dropped. It's a pity that he can't contain his resentment and adds: "Is half a kilo of bean curd worth raising to a higer plane of principle and going on and on? How much does bean curd cost? Last time you accidentally dropped and broke a thermos flask worth seven or eight yuan. Did anyone ever blame you for that?"

Upon his mentioning the thermos flask, his wife becomes angry again: "At every turn you have to mention that thermos flask. But was I to blame? The thermos wasn't set down properly. Anyone could have broken it merely by touching it. Let's talk about the vase instead of the thermos. What happened to the vase last month? It was perfectly all right on top of the wardrobe. You had to break it while doing the cleaning. How come you reprove me?"

The next moment, she is face to face with him, tears in her eyes, her chest heaving up and down and her face very pale. Judging by experience, her pale face indicates a disagreeable day at work. Her office, like Young Lin's, seldom makes people happy. But are we ever justified in bringing our unhappy feelings back from work and releasing them at home?

He wants to continue remonstrating with her about the vase. But if it continues like this, they'll find themselves in a vicious circle with many plates and dishes and the like involved. In the end, his wife would throw the bag of bad bean curd at his head. The childminder, used to the couple's quarrel, is calmly trimming her nails as if nothing is happening. Her attitude further arouses the couple's anger. Young Lin has written the case off as hopeless and is ready to act recklessly. Fortunately, just at this moment someone knocks at the door and they both shut their mouths. The wife hurriedly dries the tears on her face while he manages to suppress his fury. The childminder opens the door and finds it is the old man who is in charge of reading the water meter.

The elderly inspector is lame. He comes to do his job once a month. Because he walks with a limp, it's not easy for him to climb the stairs. He arrives at each household his face streaming with sweat and has to gasp for a while to regain his breath before reading the meter. The elderly man is enthusiastic about his work. Sometimes he pays extra visits to see, he explains, whether the meters are working properly. Today is the date for a regular check. Young Lin and his wife suppress their rage for the time being and ask the childminder to go with the elderly man to read the meter. After having done his job, the old man doesn't take his leave. Without being asked, he sits down on the edge of their bed. This makes Young Lin feel nervous, for whenever the old man sits down, he will invariably brag about his experiences when young. According to him, he once fed horses for a certain high-ranking leader, now dead. Young Lin was quite interested the first time he heard this and asked for more details. Could anybody imagine that this crippled man had any contact with a big leader in his youth? But after having heard the same story time and again, Young Lin becomes impatient. You're still a meter reader, despite your horse-feeding experience. What's the use of it all, bragging about the big leader when he's already dead? But you mustn't displease him just because he is a meter reader. If offended, he is capable of cutting off the running water for all the households on that stairway. The spanner to turn off the water supply is right in his hand. You have to listen to his horse-feeding experience because of this spanner in his hand. But today, he truly hates a repetition of the story. Why should you sit down without being invited when we are being mad at each other! Can't you feel the tension? So he keeps a straight face, stays where he is instead of going over to greet him as usual.

The elderly meter reader, however, doesn't take the hint. He has taken a cigarette from his pocket and lit it. Right away the room is filled with the smell of tobacco. Young Lin is certain the meter reader is going to indulge in his talk about horses. But this time he has guessed wrong. Instead, the elderly man announces, with a serious expression on his face, that he is going to talk business. He proclaims that according to a report, certain residents in apartments on this stairway are stealing water by deliberately not turning the tap off properly at night so as to catch the drops in a bucket. The dripping cannot be metered and water collected this way is dishonest, isn't it? This practice can't go on. If everybody does the same, how can the waterworks handle it?

This makes Young Lin and his wife blush and then turn pale. They feel ashamed that last week they stole water that way. His wife heard about this method from a casual chat in her office and asked the childminder to try it out. Then Young Lin frowned upon it thinking it was too petty. A ton of water costs only several cents. It wasn't worth it. Besides, the noise of dripping water made sleeping with an easy conscience impossible. Two days later they stopped. But how did the old man get to know about it? Who reported them? Young Lin and his wife immediately suspect their neighbours opposite, a fat couple. The woman claims to look like an Indian and often puts a red dot between her eyebrows. The couple have a child about the same age as the Lins. The two children often play together and fight, too. Young Lin's wife and the "Indian" woman are polite to each other on the surface but actually they don't get along very well. Nevertheless, the childminders of the respective families are on very good terms even though they are not from the same province. They often put their heads together to discuss how to deal with their employers. The two must have gossiped about them so the "Indian" woman learnt that the Lins had collected dripping water twice and reported them to the old man. What he says must have come from this source. How can one bear such a matter being talked about openly? How can the Lins show their faces in public if they admit to having done such a shameful thing? So Young Lin hastens over and declares with a stern countenance that he has no idea whether any resident on their stairway is stealing water or not. His family, anyway, has not done such a thing. Poor as they are, they are people of moral integrity. His wife also comes up and remarks that whoever reported it must be the person who does it, for otherwise how would they know such a trick. It's a case of a thief crying "stop thief," isn't it? The old man flicks the ash off his cigarette and says:

"OK. That's all this time. Whether it's true or not, let the matter rest. We should make sure it'll not happen again."

Then he stands up, assumes a generous posture and limps away, leaving Young Lin and his wife feeling embarrassed. The intervention of this case makes the sour bean curd incident appear less important. Young Lin feels his wife is to blame. How could a university graduate become so vulgar? For two buckets of water which hardly costs anything, she has been disgraced by a sharp reproof. His wife feels quite ashamed herself and finds it difficult to go on complaining about the bean curd incident. Glancing at him angrily, she goes to the kitchen to prepare dinner. The incident has brought peace to his family just when it was on the brink of war. Young Lin is somewhat grateful to the old man for this.

Dinner tonight includes stir-fried string beans, stir-fried bean-shoots, a small plate of sausage and a bowl of mixed stew leftover from yesterday. The sausage is mainly for the child, the other three for Young Lin, his wife and the childminder. But the childminder does not eat leftovers which, she once said, gave her diarrhoea. Young Lin's wife had a quarrel with her over this. It seems you are an aristocrat. I eat leftovers myself yet I'm the employer. How come that you can't for fear of diarrhoea? What fine food did you eat in the countryside before? Upon this, the childminder made a tearful scene. She threatened to go on strike or leave. Only after Young Lin had mediated between the two was the childminder persuaded to stay. Using this to her advantage, the childminder will not even touch leftovers. The couple finish off the leftovers before they start on the newly cooked dishes. The child is very naughty during the meal, trying to get hold of things. His wife suspects that she is catching a cold for she seems to have a runny nose. At last, at nearly 8:30, the dinner is finished. As a routine, the childminder now has to wash up, Young Lin to bath the child and his wife to go to bed. Her unit is farther away than his, she has to get up earlier. So of course she should go to bed earlier. But tonight she doesn't go to bed early or wash her feet either. She just sits on the bed, deep in thought. Whenever his wife has something on her mind like this, Young Lin feels scared, not knowing what new topic she will bring up. She is not too bad this time. After a while, she carelessly washes her feet and goes to bed without saying anything. Although usually she nags nonstop, fortunately once in bed she stops nagging and is asleep and snoring in three minutes, faster than a child. Young Lin was very unhappy with this when they were newly married a few years ago. How could she do this? He once asked her: "How come that you fall asleep in almost no time? If you go on like this, I won't be able to bear it!" His wife explained with embarrassment:

"After a day's work I'm tired as a pig. How can I stay awake for long?"

Later they had a child. Life became more and more complicated. They were busy moving again and again; busy going to and from work; busy with food and drinks; busy caring for both the child and adults in the family. They were tired with all the work and Young Lin's wife gradually became garrulous. It was then that he found his wife's sleeping habits an advantage, something he could look forward to when they were at odds with each other. The internal war would stop when her head touched a pillow. Young Lin realizes that there aren't absolute merits or demerits in the world. They can transform themselves into their opposites.

His wife is asleep, so are the child and the childminder. All three of them are lightly snoring. Young Lin checks the electrical and water devices and then he too goes to bed. In the past he had the habit of reading a book or a newspaper before going to sleep. More often than not, he would even get up and take some notes. But now, being through with all his chores, he is already fighting to keep his eyes open. So the idea of reading and note-taking is dropped. He'd better go to bed as early as possible for he will need to get up and queue for bean curd early. This reminds him of that half a kilo of spoiled bean curd. He suddenly remembers it's still in the hall, untouched. That's something that might spark off a major incident. If his wife sees it tomorrow morning, a new quarrel might start. So he gets out of bed, makes for the hall, turns on the light and disposes of the spoiled bean curd.