Remembering Li Chuan: Chapter 4 Part I
I'm sorry for not posting up for such a long time, but the first round of midterms hit me like a tonne of bricks, and it was all I could do to cope. I didn't even have time to reply to any comments asking why I was asking late. To be honest, I have other projects as well, so when I see that a project isn't as popular as the others, it goes lowest on the priority list, so if you could all comment, I'd get a more accurate picture of how popular this was, and I'd pay more attention to this.
Either way, talk over, time to torture you with the first part, aka Long and Tiring.
Since he dropped me off, Li Chuan hasn’t visited the coffee shop again. I wasn’t totally anticipating his return, to be honest, but I did think of our evening. In my opinion, his good manners came from a good education and good family, and he was nice to everyone, not just me. Since I saw him, the characteristic that has struck me the most is his manners*. The next time I meet him, I decide, I definitely need to buy him a drink, to show my gratitude.
A month passes by gradually, and still no Wang Li Chuan.I heard that he visited several times during the morning, but since I have classes then, I can’t work that shift. Sometimes Xiao Ye works the breakfast shift, but her luck isn’t too good either, since she hasn’t bumped into him. There aren’t many of the senior customers coming either. Our street, Jin Rongjie, is in a pretty high class neighborhood, and every other person is young, fashionable and rich. This means that the Boss tries to implement more lucrative changes to the place, and he talks with Xiao Tong about making most of the senior citizen and disabled parking spaces into normal ones, to cater to the majority of the clientele. Boss finally turns two of the disabled parking spaces into normal ones. He does not see that he is really neglecting the potential. Xiao Ye argues vehemently against this change. She argues that this is not only unfair to the elderly and the disabled, it is also against the law. Boss doesn’t take away anything much from this valid argument except decide that Xiao Ye had no head for business. Finally, Xiao Tong got a sudden inspiration and saved her. He suggested to the Boss that the physical disabilities and senior citizen parking spaces get merged. Since this would lessen the number of reserved parking spaces, but still be fair to the disadvantaged, Boss agreed.
Xiao Ye, to be honest, wasn’t arguing solely for the sake of ethics either. She knew that if there wasn’t a physical disabilities parking space, there would be no patronage courtesy of Wang Li Chuan. Everytime he came, he came driving, indicating that his workplace was pretty far out, and the only reason he came to ours was because we had the special parking spaces. Why else would he come so far out each time, considering the number of Starbucks in Beijing?
That evening, Xiao Ye treated Xiao Tong to a meal. The next day, Xiao Tong told me that she had gotten herself heavily drunk, and cried a lot.
He had sighed deeply as he recounted the past night. Basically, Xiao Ye had fallen too deep in love to extricate herself out of it, he told me, and that having this unrequited love for half a year had almost driven her crazy, and she didn’t even know his name*.
I had originally wanted to tell Xiao Ye about how Wang Li Chuan had driven me to my dorm and walked me to the front door, or at least tell her what his name was. But after Xiao Tong spoke to me, I thought it better to keep my mouth shut.
I sympathized with Xiao Ye very much, but Xiao Ye wasn’t really a friend of mine. She never took any initiative to talk to me, and it was always me who spoke. Once I made a mistake giving back change, and she had been quite malicious for it, even though everyone at the café knew that Xiao Ye was horrendous with change, and half the time people rushed to the cash register so that she didn’t have to deal with it. I had been quite distressed about the incident, since I had thought that I had made a huge mistake if Xiao Ye had reacted to it so strongly. The next day, knowing that she had been excessive and feeling guilty, she had treated me to a coffee. In brief, she was a very moody person. I, on the other hand, had had a mother who had passed away when I was very young, and I was brought up my father the same way as you would a boy. This meant that I always kept a strong check on my emotions, and didn’t allow myself to get worked up too easily.
The beginning of this month has ushered in the exam period, and I have three this month alone. Although I am a hard worker, when I compare myself with my dormmates, I fall miles short. My average grade right now is 65, due to my weak reading skills. I have never before had an average grade as low as 65, and I’m deeply ashamed of myself. At one point, I feel so low that I cannot even bear to face my dormmates. What makes it worse is that even though their averages are so high, their attitude is extremely carefree. It is only now that I feel the difference between the education of a village’s high school education and a metropolitan private one.
Wei Haixia doesn't study at all, and instead spends all her time going to dances, movies and markets. Feng Jinger, though, takes the cake for being the most relaxed one. She falls in love constantly, and skips classes constantly. But unexpectedly enough, she is the highest scorer. If she is able to keep these grades up, she is simultaneously eligible for four different scholarships, the most prestigious out of them being the Hong Yu Fund, which is granted only to the top ten students in university.
I, on the other hand, was feeling miserable. I wasn't a good student, and neither was I a good daughter. The only thing marginally ok was that I had finally started making enough money to send some back home, which would help pay for my younger brother’s tuition. From the money that I didn’t have to send back home and pay for the living expenses with, I bought a recorder and lipstick. At Starbucks, the boss requests the female staff to put on make-up, and I had to continuously use Lin Qing’s, and I couldn’t wait to return it to her. When I did, however, she was also embarrassed, and told me that the make-up had already expired, “Make-up has a lifetime, you must finish it before its expiration date.” She also urged me not to have to buy inferior cosmetics, and only buy Oil Of Olay. I showed her the make-up I had already bought, and which was, in my head, already pretty expensive. At first she was skeptical, but after looking more closely she said that the shade went well with my skin, praising my esthetic abilities. I told her about having studied watercolour paintings with my father. She gave me a disbelieving smile. I explain further, that while we lived in the village, my father was originally Shanghainese.
“So do you have any Shanghainese relatives?”
“My grandfather [1] lives in Shanghai.”
“Are you and your Grandpa close?”
“In order to marry with my mother, he and my father had a falling out, and my father never went back again. They didn’t stay in contact either.”
“What does your grandfather do?”
“I don’t know.”
My third exam is that evening, and I’ve strategically rotated my days off, so I haven’t gone to the coffee shop. After my exam, when I get back to the dorm, there is a big group of guys in the bedroom, and I only know one of them, Lu Jie. Lu Jie’s dorm and mine often hold “party evenings”. Because I’m normally working in the evening, I’ve missed a lot of these and am I’m not really acquainted with many of them. I listened as Ning Anan introduced me to everyone, and told me what they normally did. In these “party evenings”, the guys and girls from both dorms partner up and either go to a movie or dancing, allowing them to become friends. After several of these “friendly exchanges”, one guy “Xiao Gao” had already started pursuing Wei Haixia fiercely.
Out of our dorm, Xiao Rui is pursued the most, both, by guys that come to the party evenings and those who don’t. For instance, I have to go to the dorm’s waterhouse to get water, or get hot water from the cafeteria for my everyday uses, like washing dishes and clothes. Xiao Rui on the other hand, has never pumped a single sip of water. Some guy always draws it for her and delivers it to her bedroom. The chocolates that are a staple in her purse are also one of these deliveries.
That evening, I go to the East Wing ballroom for the first time. The dance floor probably also serves as an assembly hall due to its large size. From the ceiling hangs a huge chandelier, and there is an orchestra playing upfront, the singer alternating everything from ballads to jazz to rock and roll. The music echoes, and everybody is eager to dance.
Qian Dazhi, a third year from the philosophy department , teaches me how to dance. He is working towards becoming a doctor, since to him that is the only job worth doing. He treats dancing as a sport, and thinks that I have talent. I like swimming and volleyball, and have also done some Taijiquan, so I’m pretty fit. This means that by the end of the evening, I’ve got a firm grasp of the basics. He asks if we can go someplace after the dancing, since he’s listened to me complain about my grades. He tries to counsel me, telling me so very earnestly that play is play and work is work, and that the two cannot be mixed. Qian Dazhi is perhaps the only guy to have the qualifications such to say that, being the head boy [2] of our university. He got into the professors’ good books early, and him attending graduate school was considered a sure matter, sooner rather than later.
“Oh [3].”
“Do you work a lot of shifts?” he asks me, “working too much can also have a negative effect on your studies.”
“Oh.”
“Although I’m not in the foreign language department, my foreign language is at level 8, at the specialized level. It’s just that my spoken langauge isn’t up to the mark, especially my accent.”
“Really?” I said.
“Every morning I place a marble under my tongue and practice speaking. And I go to speaking practice every Friday evening. Do you?”
“I’ve never been… where is it?” I ask.
“The western garden.” He has a surprised look on his face, as if asking how I could study a foreign language and not go to practice.
“Are you free this Friday evening? We can go together. We can also go with Jie Lu and watch English movies after practice, spend the night out.”
“Mmm... next Friday I have a test I must prepare for, how about another Friday?”
“You mustn’t always be thinking of studying, you should alternate work with rest. Specially near tests, you must relax well.”
“I must work.”
“Then the next time.” He shows a faint smile, no longer insistent.
The dance ends, and everyone rushes to get snacks, laughing and chattering, and after some time we head back to the dorm, the night spent. I continue worrying.
After that day, I get up at five every morning, and except the time I’m working or attending class, I’m constantly studying.
I take advantage of the late sunsets in autumn and look out onto the dew covered grass. The staff get a 10 minute coffee break every four hours. I had a test the day before, and I’m completely exhausted, so I sit in a nook nursing my coffee and watching the people on the streets. The chilly autumn winds have swept the streets clean, and the light reaches far into the night. I sip my coffee slowly when I realize that there’s a person next to me.
And so I see Wang Li Chuan again.
[1] The word used specifies grandfather on father’s side.
[2] The literal translation is Student Studies Minister, and I have no idea if there is an equivalent in English at a University level.
[3] These Ohs are more like, Mmns, or Yeahs, or Enns (depending on which language you’re used to). They’re not used as surprised noises.
Either way, talk over, time to torture you with the first part, aka Long and Tiring.
Since he dropped me off, Li Chuan hasn’t visited the coffee shop again. I wasn’t totally anticipating his return, to be honest, but I did think of our evening. In my opinion, his good manners came from a good education and good family, and he was nice to everyone, not just me. Since I saw him, the characteristic that has struck me the most is his manners*. The next time I meet him, I decide, I definitely need to buy him a drink, to show my gratitude.
A month passes by gradually, and still no Wang Li Chuan.I heard that he visited several times during the morning, but since I have classes then, I can’t work that shift. Sometimes Xiao Ye works the breakfast shift, but her luck isn’t too good either, since she hasn’t bumped into him. There aren’t many of the senior customers coming either. Our street, Jin Rongjie, is in a pretty high class neighborhood, and every other person is young, fashionable and rich. This means that the Boss tries to implement more lucrative changes to the place, and he talks with Xiao Tong about making most of the senior citizen and disabled parking spaces into normal ones, to cater to the majority of the clientele. Boss finally turns two of the disabled parking spaces into normal ones. He does not see that he is really neglecting the potential. Xiao Ye argues vehemently against this change. She argues that this is not only unfair to the elderly and the disabled, it is also against the law. Boss doesn’t take away anything much from this valid argument except decide that Xiao Ye had no head for business. Finally, Xiao Tong got a sudden inspiration and saved her. He suggested to the Boss that the physical disabilities and senior citizen parking spaces get merged. Since this would lessen the number of reserved parking spaces, but still be fair to the disadvantaged, Boss agreed.
Xiao Ye, to be honest, wasn’t arguing solely for the sake of ethics either. She knew that if there wasn’t a physical disabilities parking space, there would be no patronage courtesy of Wang Li Chuan. Everytime he came, he came driving, indicating that his workplace was pretty far out, and the only reason he came to ours was because we had the special parking spaces. Why else would he come so far out each time, considering the number of Starbucks in Beijing?
That evening, Xiao Ye treated Xiao Tong to a meal. The next day, Xiao Tong told me that she had gotten herself heavily drunk, and cried a lot.
He had sighed deeply as he recounted the past night. Basically, Xiao Ye had fallen too deep in love to extricate herself out of it, he told me, and that having this unrequited love for half a year had almost driven her crazy, and she didn’t even know his name*.
I had originally wanted to tell Xiao Ye about how Wang Li Chuan had driven me to my dorm and walked me to the front door, or at least tell her what his name was. But after Xiao Tong spoke to me, I thought it better to keep my mouth shut.
I sympathized with Xiao Ye very much, but Xiao Ye wasn’t really a friend of mine. She never took any initiative to talk to me, and it was always me who spoke. Once I made a mistake giving back change, and she had been quite malicious for it, even though everyone at the café knew that Xiao Ye was horrendous with change, and half the time people rushed to the cash register so that she didn’t have to deal with it. I had been quite distressed about the incident, since I had thought that I had made a huge mistake if Xiao Ye had reacted to it so strongly. The next day, knowing that she had been excessive and feeling guilty, she had treated me to a coffee. In brief, she was a very moody person. I, on the other hand, had had a mother who had passed away when I was very young, and I was brought up my father the same way as you would a boy. This meant that I always kept a strong check on my emotions, and didn’t allow myself to get worked up too easily.
The beginning of this month has ushered in the exam period, and I have three this month alone. Although I am a hard worker, when I compare myself with my dormmates, I fall miles short. My average grade right now is 65, due to my weak reading skills. I have never before had an average grade as low as 65, and I’m deeply ashamed of myself. At one point, I feel so low that I cannot even bear to face my dormmates. What makes it worse is that even though their averages are so high, their attitude is extremely carefree. It is only now that I feel the difference between the education of a village’s high school education and a metropolitan private one.
Wei Haixia doesn't study at all, and instead spends all her time going to dances, movies and markets. Feng Jinger, though, takes the cake for being the most relaxed one. She falls in love constantly, and skips classes constantly. But unexpectedly enough, she is the highest scorer. If she is able to keep these grades up, she is simultaneously eligible for four different scholarships, the most prestigious out of them being the Hong Yu Fund, which is granted only to the top ten students in university.
I, on the other hand, was feeling miserable. I wasn't a good student, and neither was I a good daughter. The only thing marginally ok was that I had finally started making enough money to send some back home, which would help pay for my younger brother’s tuition. From the money that I didn’t have to send back home and pay for the living expenses with, I bought a recorder and lipstick. At Starbucks, the boss requests the female staff to put on make-up, and I had to continuously use Lin Qing’s, and I couldn’t wait to return it to her. When I did, however, she was also embarrassed, and told me that the make-up had already expired, “Make-up has a lifetime, you must finish it before its expiration date.” She also urged me not to have to buy inferior cosmetics, and only buy Oil Of Olay. I showed her the make-up I had already bought, and which was, in my head, already pretty expensive. At first she was skeptical, but after looking more closely she said that the shade went well with my skin, praising my esthetic abilities. I told her about having studied watercolour paintings with my father. She gave me a disbelieving smile. I explain further, that while we lived in the village, my father was originally Shanghainese.
“So do you have any Shanghainese relatives?”
“My grandfather [1] lives in Shanghai.”
“Are you and your Grandpa close?”
“In order to marry with my mother, he and my father had a falling out, and my father never went back again. They didn’t stay in contact either.”
“What does your grandfather do?”
“I don’t know.”
My third exam is that evening, and I’ve strategically rotated my days off, so I haven’t gone to the coffee shop. After my exam, when I get back to the dorm, there is a big group of guys in the bedroom, and I only know one of them, Lu Jie. Lu Jie’s dorm and mine often hold “party evenings”. Because I’m normally working in the evening, I’ve missed a lot of these and am I’m not really acquainted with many of them. I listened as Ning Anan introduced me to everyone, and told me what they normally did. In these “party evenings”, the guys and girls from both dorms partner up and either go to a movie or dancing, allowing them to become friends. After several of these “friendly exchanges”, one guy “Xiao Gao” had already started pursuing Wei Haixia fiercely.
Out of our dorm, Xiao Rui is pursued the most, both, by guys that come to the party evenings and those who don’t. For instance, I have to go to the dorm’s waterhouse to get water, or get hot water from the cafeteria for my everyday uses, like washing dishes and clothes. Xiao Rui on the other hand, has never pumped a single sip of water. Some guy always draws it for her and delivers it to her bedroom. The chocolates that are a staple in her purse are also one of these deliveries.
That evening, I go to the East Wing ballroom for the first time. The dance floor probably also serves as an assembly hall due to its large size. From the ceiling hangs a huge chandelier, and there is an orchestra playing upfront, the singer alternating everything from ballads to jazz to rock and roll. The music echoes, and everybody is eager to dance.
Qian Dazhi, a third year from the philosophy department , teaches me how to dance. He is working towards becoming a doctor, since to him that is the only job worth doing. He treats dancing as a sport, and thinks that I have talent. I like swimming and volleyball, and have also done some Taijiquan, so I’m pretty fit. This means that by the end of the evening, I’ve got a firm grasp of the basics. He asks if we can go someplace after the dancing, since he’s listened to me complain about my grades. He tries to counsel me, telling me so very earnestly that play is play and work is work, and that the two cannot be mixed. Qian Dazhi is perhaps the only guy to have the qualifications such to say that, being the head boy [2] of our university. He got into the professors’ good books early, and him attending graduate school was considered a sure matter, sooner rather than later.
“Oh [3].”
“Do you work a lot of shifts?” he asks me, “working too much can also have a negative effect on your studies.”
“Oh.”
“Although I’m not in the foreign language department, my foreign language is at level 8, at the specialized level. It’s just that my spoken langauge isn’t up to the mark, especially my accent.”
“Really?” I said.
“Every morning I place a marble under my tongue and practice speaking. And I go to speaking practice every Friday evening. Do you?”
“I’ve never been… where is it?” I ask.
“The western garden.” He has a surprised look on his face, as if asking how I could study a foreign language and not go to practice.
“Are you free this Friday evening? We can go together. We can also go with Jie Lu and watch English movies after practice, spend the night out.”
“Mmm... next Friday I have a test I must prepare for, how about another Friday?”
“You mustn’t always be thinking of studying, you should alternate work with rest. Specially near tests, you must relax well.”
“I must work.”
“Then the next time.” He shows a faint smile, no longer insistent.
The dance ends, and everyone rushes to get snacks, laughing and chattering, and after some time we head back to the dorm, the night spent. I continue worrying.
After that day, I get up at five every morning, and except the time I’m working or attending class, I’m constantly studying.
I take advantage of the late sunsets in autumn and look out onto the dew covered grass. The staff get a 10 minute coffee break every four hours. I had a test the day before, and I’m completely exhausted, so I sit in a nook nursing my coffee and watching the people on the streets. The chilly autumn winds have swept the streets clean, and the light reaches far into the night. I sip my coffee slowly when I realize that there’s a person next to me.
And so I see Wang Li Chuan again.
[1] The word used specifies grandfather on father’s side.
[2] The literal translation is Student Studies Minister, and I have no idea if there is an equivalent in English at a University level.
[3] These Ohs are more like, Mmns, or Yeahs, or Enns (depending on which language you’re used to). They’re not used as surprised noises.