Boy in the Twilight: Stories of the Hidden China by Hua Yu

Author:Hua, Yu [Hua, Yu]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9780307908643
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2014-01-20T16:00:00+00:00

ONE EVENING SEVERAL WEEKS LATER, Wen Hong arrived at Li Ping’s apartment. Li Ping was doing herself up in front of the mirror. She had just finished combing her hair and had begun to paint her eyebrows. She had an eyebrow pencil in her hand as she opened the door, and seeing this Wen Hong asked: “Are you going out?”

Li Ping nodded and returned to her seat in front of the mirror. “I’m going to a movie.”

“Who with?” Wen Hong pricked up her ears.

Li Ping smiled, but did not answer.

“You’ve got a boyfriend!” Wen Hong exclaimed. “Who is he?”

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

“So that’s the way you want it.” Wen Hong gave Li Ping a jab. “You have a boyfriend, and you don’t even tell me.”

“I’m telling you now, aren’t I?”

“Then I’ll stay and meet him.” Wen Hong sat down on the sofa and watched Li Ping putting on her makeup. As Li Ping painted her lips, she said, “This imported lipstick is really good.”

Wen Hong thought of something. “I ran into Li Qigang this morning. He was wearing an imported tie. It looked really nice.”

“That singer Scarlet gave it to him,” Li Ping said.

“That’s right, that’s what he told me,” Wen Hong said. Then, with a trace of suspicion, she said, “How did you know?”

Li Ping massaged her face with both hands. “He told me.”

Wen Hong smiled. “Do you know something? Scarlet likes Li Qigang.”

Seeing Li Ping nodding in the mirror, Wen Hong asked: “Did you know that too?”

“Yeah,” Li Ping answered.

“Did he tell you himself?”

“That’s right.”

“This Li Qigang …” Wen Hong seemed displeased. “He told me not to tell anyone, but the guy goes around himself telling lots of people.”

“He hasn’t told a lot of people. Just you and me, right?”

“Who knows?” said Wen Hong.

Li Ping stood up, and tried on the dress she had laid out on the bed. “How do I look?” she asked.

“You look great,” said Wen Hong. “How much did he tell you?”

“About what?”

“About Scarlet chasing him.”

“Not much.”

Wen Hong watched as Li Ping swiveled from side to side in the mirror. “Did you know that he and Scarlet spent the night in her hotel room?”

Li Ping spun around and stared at Wen Hong. “He told you that too!”

“That’s right.” Wen Hong was rather pleased. Then she noticed something. “He told you too?”

Li Ping could see there was something odd about Wen Hong’s expression. She turned around and said offhandedly, “I asked him about it.”

Wen Hong smiled. “I didn’t ask him. It was he who told me.”

A fleeting smile appeared on Li Ping’s face. Wen Hong laid her arms on the back of the sofa and gazed at her friend’s figure. “This Li Qigang is actually quite classy, don’t you think?”

“That’s right,” said Li Ping. “Otherwise, why would a woman as pretty and popular as Scarlet take a fancy to him?”

Wen Hong nodded. She put her hands in her lap. “Actually Scarlet is no beauty. From a distance she looks good, but when you get close up she’s not so pretty.

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