Seventeen
Huang Qi considered that someone like Uncle Biao, a jack-of-all-trades, would surely be well known if he’d been working nearby for a long time. If she shamelessly asked around enough, she was bound to find him. After walking two streets, she passed an auto repair shop and had a sudden inspiration. She approached and asked, “Master, do you know a construction boss around here called Uncle Biao?”
The mechanic replied, “Uncle Biao? You mean Brother Biao—the contractor whose wife died last year? He often comes here to fix his motorcycle. What are you two young girls looking for him for?”
Huang Qi said, “I have a relative working on his site. Do you know where his construction site is?”
The mechanic pointed ahead, “Go straight past two intersections, there’s a district health clinic. The construction area behind it is his site. It’s easy to find.”
Sasha broke into a smile through her tears, “Sister Qi, you really have a way. We’ll see Brother Ying soon—how wonderful!”
If it were Xiao Ying searching for someone in a strange place, he’d surely be even more resourceful than she was. Huang Qi was happy, but also uneasy, wondering if she’d soon see Xiao Ying, sweat-soaked and carrying bricks. He’d always hidden this from her—certainly because he didn’t want others to know about such an embarrassing thing.
The two arrived at Uncle Biao’s construction site during the lunch break. The inside of the walled area was quiet, just a few workers tidying up. From afar, they heard a little girl’s wailing cries, “Mama! I want Mama!”
Sasha spotted Sha Zhouying at the entrance and called out joyfully, “Brother Ying! Brother Ying!”
Sha Zhouying was trying to calm the crying girl, who wouldn’t listen and was rolling on the ground, leaving him exasperated. Hearing Sasha’s shout, he turned and saw Huang Qi, immediately blushing with embarrassment. He let go of the tantruming girl and stood up, “Sasha, Qi! How did you two find your way here?”
The little girl was not yet ten, thin and small, with a defiant expression. Seeing Sha Zhouying ignore her to attend to others, she wailed and rolled even harder.
Sasha, having discerned she was just putting on a show, snorted disdainfully, “Such a big girl rolling on the ground, looking like a mud monkey. How ugly.”
The little girl, probably spoiled by adults, suddenly faced taunts from a slightly older girl and sat up abruptly, “And you think you look good? You’re as black as a coal ball! Turtle!”
Sasha retorted, “I may be dark, but I’m clean! Unlike you, shamelessly rolling all over, covered in dirt, filthy—beggars are cleaner and prettier than you!”
The two girls bickered back and forth. Unable to out-argue Sasha, the little girl began to shriek and threaten, “You’re all bullying me! I’ll tell my dad! He’ll dock your pay and fire you both!”
Sasha said, “So your dad is the boss—others are just letting you have your way because of him, and you actually think you’re a princess? Annoying brat!”
This time, the girl cried in anger, “I hate you! Hate you… I’m going to find Mama! Mama!” She ran into the building, covering her face and sobbing.
Sasha watched her go and said, “Whose child is that, so annoying. Why doesn’t her mother do something?”
Sha Zhouying didn’t reply immediately, but led them out to the street before explaining, “She’s Uncle Biao’s daughter, Jingjing. Her mother died in a car accident last year, but everyone’s kept it from her. The little girl still doesn’t know, thinks her mother went to stay with relatives out of town. But after all this time, I suspect she’s figured something out—lately she’s been crying for her mother more than ever.”
Sasha felt guilty, “Oh! I didn’t know… Did I say anything too harsh just now?”
Sha Zhouying smiled, “It’s fine. How did you two find your way here? Have you eaten yet?” Seeing Sasha shake her head, he said, “There’s a noodle shop nearby that’s pretty good. Let me treat you to a bowl.”
The three walked around the corner to the noodle shop Sha Zhouying mentioned, which was bustling at lunchtime. Sasha sat down and looked at the wall menu, pretending to be serious, “So many kinds, I can hardly choose. I’ll have the signature plain noodles!”
Sha Zhouying tapped her forehead, amused, “You’re so small, what’s the point of plain noodles? It’s just noodles with a sprinkle of scallions, hardly nutritious. You think I don’t know your favorite is pork chop noodles?”
Sasha hurriedly said, “Pork chop noodles are too expensive, I’ll just have the plain noodles!”
“Don’t worry, I can afford a bowl of noodles.” He held Sasha’s hand and turned to Huang Qi, “Qi, what would you like?”
Huang Qi, feeling a bit stifled, turned to the menu and chose the pickled greens and shredded pork noodles—not too cheap, not too expensive. Sasha was clever and thoughtful, Xiao Ying was understanding; she wanted to say something, but felt anything she might say would be unnecessary.
“You have good taste. The pickled greens and shredded pork noodles here are unassuming, but actually the best. Reminds me a little… of my mother’s homemade noodles.”
Huang Qi turned to look at him, but he looked away, raising his hand to call to the boss, “Two pickled greens and shredded pork, one pork chop noodles.”
As they ate, Huang Qi asked Sha Zhouying, “Ying, how did you do in the standardized exam?”
Sha Zhouying replied, “Not bad, fifth in the grade, 537.”
Huang Qi paused, “So what did the top scorer get?”
“Over 570—a girl. She only ended up at our school because she messed up the high school entrance exam. She works incredibly hard, sleeps only five or six hours a day, and has over thirty points more than the second place. I’m convinced I can’t beat her. The next few students are pretty close in score—maybe I can catch up next semester. How about you?”
Huang Qi dodged, “I didn’t do as well as my entrance exam, dropped to twentieth in the class. I need to try harder next semester, too.” She lowered her head and buried herself in her noodles, and Sha Zhouying didn’t press further.
It was the first time Huang Qi truly felt how much the environment could affect a person. She’d gone to school with Xiao Ying since childhood and knew how smart he was. If he’d attended No. 1 High School, his grades certainly wouldn’t have been worse than hers. But after a year at the vocational school, he was a full hundred points below her. 537—according to last year’s college admission cutoffs, that would only get him into the most ordinary second-tier universities.
Huang Qi had come up from a township middle school and understood well the vast disparities in teaching between schools. Even if you were a high-achieving, intelligent student who’d slipped through the cracks, working hard and sleeping only five hours a day in your first year, the miracle you could produce was just the difference between 570 and 530. Yet she, in the honors class at No. 1 High, had regressed and still easily scored 640—a gap that vocational students could never hope to bridge.
And Xiao Ying had to work part-time to cover his tuition and living expenses. Reality was nothing like she’d imagined: working together, studying together, getting into the same university, and then being together—such ideals were never so easily achieved.
She suddenly felt utterly dispirited, silently picking at her noodles. “Ying, why didn’t you tell me you were working part-time? Whenever I asked you out, you wouldn’t come. If you just explained, I wouldn’t blame you.”
“I… didn’t want you to worry, Qi…”
She didn’t let him finish and pressed on, “So what do you do at Uncle Biao’s site? Is it hard work?”
He hurried to reply, “Not at all. My dad helped Uncle Biao before, so he takes good care of me. I just help him with inventory and bookkeeping, and watch Jingjing when he’s busy—just odd jobs, nothing hard.”
“If it’s not hard, why were you afraid I’d worry?”
He was stumped, unable to answer for a long time.
Sasha watched them covertly, then spoke up to help her brother, “So your job is babysitting—like a nanny! No wonder you’re embarrassed to say. I wondered why Uncle Biao would have a teenage boy take care of his daughter—maybe he’s planning to marry you off to her?”
Sha Zhouying rapped her on the forehead, “What nonsense is in your head? Where did you get ‘child bride’ from!”
Sasha said, “I don’t care. With my sister Qi here, you better not try to woo any other girls! That Jingjing is so ugly, and her temper’s awful—how could she compare to Sister Qi? She’s even younger than me! If you liked her, I wouldn’t admit you’re my brother!”
Both Huang Qi and Sha Zhouying blushed, exchanged a glance, then quickly looked away. They each knocked Sasha on the head, “Are you really a grade schooler? What are you thinking?” “Jingjing is only nine!”
The three finished their noodles in cheerful spirits. The bill came to eleven yuan. Sasha boldly pulled a fifty-yuan note from her pocket and slapped it on the table, “I ate the most, so I’ll pay!”
Huang Qi had wanted to pay, but checking her wallet, realized she’d spent four yuan on the bus and only had nine left, so she awkwardly withdrew her hand.
Sha Zhouying asked Sasha, “Why do you have such a large denomination bill?”
“Mom gave me pocket money!”
“Don’t lie—your mom would never give you that much.”
Sasha grew nervous, “She gave it to buy an English cassette… The rest really is for pocket money!”
Sha Zhouying turned and whispered to the boss, who ignored Sasha and went straight to the counter. Sha Zhouying followed, paid with small change, and pulled the protesting Sasha out of the shop.
After walking a few steps, Sasha hesitantly said, “Brother Ying, are you really short on money? Don’t work part-time anymore. How can you do well in school if you’re working? You must get into a good university and find a good job—then you can earn back much more. If you really need money, I, I…” She took out the fifty yuan again to give him.
Sha Zhouying smiled but didn’t take it. “If you give me your money, what will you use to buy your cassette?”
“I… I’ll ask Mom for more… She’s most worried about my English, so whatever I ask for, she’ll agree!”
“Fifty yuan will only last me a week at most. After that, how will you help?”
Sasha was stumped, “Then I’ll… I’ll…” Even her twelve-year-old mind knew she couldn’t get fifty yuan from her mother every week. After thinking for a long time, she almost burst into tears.
Sha Zhouying knelt to wipe her face, folded the fifty yuan and put it back in her pocket. “A child should be careful with money, don’t take it out randomly. Look, I need several hundred yuan a month for living expenses, thousands for tuition every year, and even more for college later. Can you help with all that? What I need isn’t this fifty yuan, but a long-term solution—and I have to figure that out myself. Everyone does. Understand?”
Sasha half-understood, “Have you found a way? College costs tens of thousands—working part-time isn’t enough!”
He patted her head and stood up, “One step at a time, don’t worry. There’s always a way. Can’t let a living person die of thirst, right?”
“Brother Ying, how can you say something so uncivilized—you’ve picked up bad habits!” Sasha laughed, wiping her tears away. “And don’t buy things for me anymore. The set of paints and brushes you bought cost 180 yuan, right? That’s almost enough for you for a month! I don’t paint well, never even taken art classes. Mom says my drawings are just scribbles—people don’t look like people, flowers don’t look like flowers, animals don’t look like animals, I made her look like a monster. She won’t let me paint anymore, says I should spend that time on homework instead…”
Sha Zhouying took her hand, “Your style is postmodern—of course your mom doesn’t understand. Art is always hard for ordinary people to appreciate, alas!”
Sasha laughed too, “Exactly! I paint what I see in my mind—if I wanted realism, I’d just take a photo. Why bother painting?”
Huang Qi watched the two kindred spirits, both misunderstood artists, and couldn’t help but smile. Xiao Ying’s circumstances made her ache, but every time she saw him, he always managed to lift her from gloom and fill her with renewed resolve. He never lost heart or gave up, striving for his goals even in hardship. The wise and resolute Lord Huang would never let himself be outdone!