By the River: Seven Contemporary Chinese Novellas by Charles A. Laughlin

Author:Charles A. Laughlin
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: University of Oklahoma Press
Published: 2016-03-15T00:00:00+00:00

Love and Its Lack Are Emblazoned on the Heart

Fang Fang

TRANSLATED BY ELEANOR GOODMAN

1

As the bird flew directly overhead, Yao Qin watched a white glob drop through the sunlight onto Xin Rong’s hair. Her gasp was a sharp pin that pierced the tense assembly hall, and it started a disturbance like a distended balloon releasing air. Startled, she covered her mouth with her hand. The general manager of the factory was onstage reading out names. He paused. His gaze fell on Yao Qin, and he announced her name. She stiffened as the others turned to look at her. She had never thought this round of layoffs would affect her.

Yao Qin believed herself to be good-looking. Whenever one of the factory managers saw her, he would smile, and Xin Rong would pinch her arm and say, “Look, the manager’s smiling at you again.” She noticed it, too. Everyone likes a pretty face, she thought to herself. And wasn’t hers just as pretty as a picture? So she’d assumed she would never be laid off, and she hadn’t thought about what she would do if she were. But today as she half-listened to them announcing the names, she heard her own. Everyone else heard it as well. She recoiled as though she’d been clubbed with a stick, split open with a knife, and fallen against a floor covered with spikes. Pain engulfed her body.

Xin Rong, who had long since prepared to be laid off, hadn’t been called. Yao Qin couldn’t help looking over at her, and saw that her face was flushed with excitement. Yao Qin had never thought Xin Rong was pretty, but now she appeared to be. And Yao Qin suddenly understood why she’d been fired: Xin Rong was the pretty picture now, while her own scenery had faded. She had thought the managers were smiling at her, but actually they’d been smiling at Xin Rong. She felt terrible, and a bit angry. She had once liked their managers, but now she hated them. She thought, They looked at me so much it aged me, and now they’re going to throw me away like an old rag?

She had a good cry when she got home. She cried hopelessly through the dinner hour. The room was silent; no one was there to hear her. The phone rang, and she wiped her tears before she answered. The person on the other line said nothing and instead just started crying. She could tell it was Xin Rong. What do you have to cry about, Yao Qin thought. As though she’d heard her thoughts, Xin Rong said, “Yao Qin, I know you’re going to say what does she have to cry about . . . but I just need to cry. I feel terrible. I thought I was the one who was going to be laid off. I didn’t try to talk to the managers, I just got ready for it to happen . . .” Yao Qin hung up on her. She had stopped weeping.

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