When they reached. Repulse Bay, he helped her out of the taxi, then pointed to the dense copse alongside the road. "Do you see that tree? It's a southern variety. The English call it `flame of the forest.'"
"Is it red?" asked Liusu.
"Red, red, red!"
In the darkness, Liusu couldn't see the red, but she knew instinctively that it was the reddest red, red beyond belief. Great masses of little red flowers, nestled in a huge tree that reached up to the sky, a riotous welter burning all the way up, staining the indigo sky with red. Leaning her head back, she gazed upward.
"The Cantonese call it the 'shadow tree,'" said Liuyuan. "Look at this leaf."
The leaf was as light as a fern; when a slight breeze made the delicate silhouette flutter, they seemed to hear a faint, almost melodic sound, like the tinkling of wind chimes in the eaves.
"Let's walk over there a bit," said Liuyuan.
Liusu didn't say anything. But as he walked, she slowly followed. After all, it was still early, and lots of people go out for walks on a road—it would be all right. A short distance past the Repulse Bay Hotel, an overhead bridge arched through the air. On the far side of the bridge there was a mountain slope; on the near side, a gray brick retaining wall. Liuyuan leaned against the wall, and Liusu leaned too, looking upward at its great height, the wall so high that the upper edge faded out of sight. The wall was cool and rough, the color of death. Pressed against that wall, her face bloomed with the opposite hues: red lips, shining eyes—a face of flesh and blood, alive with thought and feeling.
"I don't know why," said Liuyuan, looking at her, "but tbis wall makes me think of the old sayings about the end of the world. Someday, when human civilization has been completely destroyed, when everything is burned, burst, utterly collapsed and ruined, maybe this wall will still be here. If, at that time, we can meet at this wall, then maybe, Liusu, you will honestly care about me, and I will honestly care about you."
"So you admit you like to play games," Liusu sniffed coyly. "That doesn't mean you can drag me along too! When have you caught me lying?"
"Fair enough," Liuyuan said with a snicker. "There's no one more openhearted than you."
"That's enough ... stop patronizing me."
Liuyuan was silent for a long time. Then he sighed. "Something you're unhappy about?" Liusu asked.
"Lots."
"If someone as free as you are thinks life is unfair, then someone like me ought to just go and hang herself."
"I know you're not happy," said Liuyuan. "You've certainly seen more than enough of all these awful people, and awful things that are everywhere around us. But if you were seeing them for the first time, it would be even harder to bear, even harder to get used to. That's what it's been like for me. When I arrived in China I was already twenty-four. I had such dreams of my homeland. You can imagine how disappointed I was. I couldn't bear the shock, and I started slipping downward. If... if you had known me before, then maybe you could for­give me for the way I am now."
Liusu tried to imagine what it would be like to see her Fourth Sister-in-law for the first time. Then she burst out: "That would still be better. When you see them for the first time, then no matter how awful, no matter how dirty they are, they—or it-is still outside of you. But if you live in it for a long time, how can you tell how much of it is them, and how much of it is you?"
Liuyuan fell silent. After a long pause he said, "Maybe you are right. Maybe what I'm saying is just an excuse, and I'm only fooling myself." Then he laughed suddenly. "Actually, I don't need any excuses! I like to have a good time and I have plenty of money, plenty of time—do I need any other reason?"
He thought it over, and again grew frustrated. He said to her, "I don't understand myself—but I want you to understand me! I want you to understand me!" He spoke like this, and yet in his heart he'd already given up hope. Still, stubbornly, plaintively he went on: "I want you to understand me!"
Liusu was willing to try. She was willing to try anything, within limits. She leaned her head in his direction, and an­swered softly, "I do understand. I do." But while comforting him, she suddenly thought of her moonlit face. That delicate profile, the eyes, the brow—beautiful beyond reason; misty, ethereal. Slowly she bowed her head.
Liuyuan began chuckling. "That's right, don't forget," he said, in a new tone of voice. "Your specialty is bowing the head. But there are those who say that only teenage girls can bow the head well. If you're good at it, then it becomes a habit. And when you've bowed the head for many years, you might end up with a wrinkled neck."
Liusu turned away, but not without raising her hand to her neck. "Don't worry," laughed Liuyuan, "of course you don't have any wrinkles. When you get back to your room, when no one else is around, you can unbutton your collar and check."
Liusu didn't reply. She just turned and started walking. Liuyuan caught up to her. "I'll tell you why you'll keep your good looks. Saheiyini once said she didn't dare get married be­cause Indian women, once they start relaxing at home, sitting around all day, just get fat. I told her that Chinese women, when they sit around, aren't even good at fattening up-since even that takes some kind of effort. So it turns out that laziness has its advantages!"
Liusu utterly ignored him, and from then on he held him­self in check, making conversation and small jokes all the way back. She did not soften until they'd arrived at the hotel. Quietly they returned to their respective rooms.
Liusu assessed the situation. It turned out that what Liuyuan cared about was spiritual love. She approved entirely, because spiritual love always leads to marriage, while physical love tends to reach a certain level and then stop, leaving little hope of marriage. There was just one small problem with spiritual love: while courting, the man always says things that the woman doesn't understand. Not that it matters all that much. In the end the marriage goes through anyway, and then you buy a house, arrange the furniture, hire some servants-and in such matters the woman is much more expert than the man. Given all that, Liusu felt that the little misunderstanding of that evening was not anything to worry about.
The next morning there was not a peep from Mrs. Xu's room, which meant she must be sleeping in. Liusu remembered that Mrs. Xu had told her that in this hotel there was an ex­tra charge for room delivery, not to mention the tip, so she de­cided to go to the dining room and save a bit of expense. She washed and dressed, and walked out the door. There was a porter waiting outside. Seeing her, he immediately knocked at Liuyuan's door. Liuyuan appeared at once. "Let's have breakfast together," he smiled.
"Mr. and Mrs. Xu haven't raised the bed curtain yet?" he asked, as they walked together.
"They must be tuckered out from their good time last night!" returned Liusu. "I didn't hear them come in. It must have been close to dawn."
They took a table on the veranda outside the dining room. Beyond the stone railing stood an enormous palm tree, its feathery fronds trembling slightly in the sun, like a fountain of light. Under the tree was a pool with its own fountain, much less magnificent.
"What arc Mr. and. Mrs. Xu going to do today?" asked Liuyuan.
"I think they're going to look at houses."
"Let them look at houses—we'll go have our own fun. Would you rather go 10 the beach or go have a look at the city?"
Liusu had, on the previous afternoon, surveyed the beach scene through binoculars. Strapping youths and lovely girls. Very exciting but a little 10o rowdy. Preferring to err on the side of caution, she suggested that they go into town. So they caught one of the buses provided by the hotel and went into the city center.
Liuyuan took her to the Great China to eat. Liusu heard the waiters speaking Shanghainese, filling the air with her native tongue. "Is this a Shanghai restaurant?" she asked with some surprise.
"Don't you feel homesick?" Liuyuan laughed.
"But ... coming to Hong Kong so that we can eat Shanghai cuisine seems a bit silly."
"I do a lot of silly things when I'm with you. For instance, take a tram around in circles, go to a movie I've seen two times already-"
"Because you've caught silliness from me, right?"
"Take it to mean whatever you please."