Shanghai Baby by Wei Hui Zhou

Author:Wei Hui Zhou [Zho, Wei Hui]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781780337562
Publisher: Little, Brown Book Group

18

Two Sides of Love

‘We’re lovers. We can’t stop loving each other.’

Marguerite Duras

Two years ago I was sent to Hong Kong to do a series of interviews on its ‘Return to the Motherland.’ Late each night when I had finished work, I would sit on the stone steps of Victoria Harbour, smoking and gazing at the stars, leaning my head so far back my neck almost snapped. Every so often I would lose myself in thought, forgetting the existence of the universe around me, even of my self. In these moments it felt as though there were probably a few sparsely distributed brain cells left breathing very quietly, like a fine layer of blue mist.

While writing, I entered a state like that from time to time, except that I was stargazing with my head down. The stars twinkled among words that appeared spontaneously, and then I achieved nirvana – that is, I no longer feared illness, accidents, loneliness or even death: I was immune to them all. But real life is never the way we want it to be.

I ran into Mark’s family on the field at the Pudong campus of the American School. Mark looked exceptionally handsome that day, perhaps due to the bright sunlight and pleasant surroundings. This elite school for the children of expatriates felt as if it were built in the clouds, far removed from the dust-blown world outside. The entire campus had a newly-washed freshness; even the air seemed to have been sterilised. An unbelievably classy atmosphere.

Mark was chewing gum. Greeting us with perfect composure, he introduced his wife to Zhu Sha and me. ‘This is Eva.’ Eva was holding his hand. She was prettier and better built than in the photo I’d seen. Her pale blonde hair was casually pulled back into a ponytail, a row of silver studs lined her ear, and her black sweater contrasted with her white skin. In the sunlight that whiteness had a honey scent to it, giving her a dreamlike quality.

A Caucasian woman’s beauty can launch a thousand ships. In contrast, the beauty of an Asian woman relies on the knit brows and enticing eyes of a pin-up girl from some erotic bygone era, like the singer Sandy Lam or movie star Gong Li.

‘This is a colleague from my firm, Judy. And this is Judy’s cousin, Coco, a terrific writer,’ said Mark. Smiling and squinting in the sunlight, Eva shook hands with us. ‘This is my son, B.B.’ Mark lifted his child out of the buggy and kissed him. He hung around for a moment, and then handed B.B. back to Eva. ‘It’s time to get out there.’ He stretched his legs, smiled, threw me a glance out of the corner of his eye, picked up his kitbag and left for the changing-room.

While Zhu Sha chatted to Eva, I sat aside on the grass, realising that meeting Mark’s wife hadn’t made me as jealous as I’d have expected. On the contrary, I liked Eva. Who made her so beautiful? People always like lovely things.

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