(no subject)

[paulshandy]

I almost wasted a lot of unnecessary time at the bank. I had all my paperwork ready, then took a number, but there were ten numbers ahead of me, so I started reading a book, glancing up from time to time to keep track. Since the numbers are called out in Chinese, I have to keep my eye on the numbers over the counters. My number was 14, but 12 and 13 had apparently left without doing business so it jumped from 11 to 15 without my noticing because it was a pretty interesting part of “Dreams of Red Mansions,” where Xifeng discovers her husband having an affair with the wife of another man, and that wife trying to convince him to divorce Xifeng and marry Pinger, his concubine, because Pinger would be easier to control than Xifeng (Pinger had no idea of any of this until she was being shouted at). This leads to a four way argument between Xifeng, Pinger, the husband, and the other woman. The oddest thing about the whole situation is that Pinger is not just the concubine of Jia, the husband, but also one of Xifeng’s confidants, so in a way Xifeng and Pinger are more allied against Jia than Jia is with either of them, because Jia, like many men in the book, is too lecherous to be trusted by any woman (or a wise husband). Then the “other woman” committed suicide and her family threatened to sue the Jia family unless they were given hush money and then Xifeng said she’d just sue them for blackmail. Now that is the sort of court trial that would make for an interesting soap opera. In a way, “Dreams” is like a soap opera, if it was written by someone as talented as Shakespeare to the length of “Lord of the Rings.”

But fortunately the bank tellers know me by sight so Bin Bin, the teller on duty, just let me go after number 15. I go every Monday because there are limitations on how much Chinese money can be turned into American money a day and transferred in a year. I just copy over the same paperwork, changing the date each time.