CHAPTER XI

Liu went into the next room with the script of the speech. The Tsuis' combination bedroom and office was a large, confusing place, with a jumble of worn red leather armchairs, dark oak desks, swivel chairs and filing cabinets. A washline stretched slanting down from the steam pipes to the handle of the unused ice-box, a Westinghouse, that stood beside the double bed.
Ya-mei was over at her desk telephoning- Tsui was lying on the sofa reading the evening newspaper with one leg swung up, stepping barefoot on the cool plastered wall. A woman Service Officer, an amah in her Liberation Suit, was holding the two-year old boy, poising his little bottom in the air, above the white enamel chamber pot. Another woman Service Officer squatted before a little charcoal stove, fanning the tiny fire with a newspaper. Something was cooking in a red-flowered enamel basin covered with

another wash basin turned upside down over it. This family had an air of camping out and making the best of things with veteran resourcefulness. There was also a kettle of water sitting on a hot plate, its wire trailing across an expanse of empty floor. The dusk was growing outside the window and the light was on. The scene looked quite unreal in the golden gloom of the lamplight-
After Ya-mei finished telephoning she took the paper from Liu and pored over the speech, her forehead knotted in an automatic frown. She tended to be difficult on such occasions-
"Can't you put in some figures?" she asked. "I thought the papers are full of them. We want more facts here and less theory."
The last time he had put in statistics she had had. difficulty in translating the number of digits into ten thousands, hundred thousands and millions and had resented being straightened out- Now she would cut him short by suddenly discovering some "serious political error" somewhere.
"Not so many difficult words," she said. "You must remember these' women I'm addressing are mostly factory girls and housewives- Their Standard of Culture is very low: Very low."
Liu rather suspected that she could not pronounce such words herself. He had tried once before to put it all down in plain colloquial language. But she had pointed out that over-simplication could be a form of distortion and might cause misunderstanding 'among the simpleminded. Still, she had delivered that speech just as it was.
Fortunately for Liu, she now started to talk about the women who would be in the audience- The suburbs being more backward than Shanghai proper, the women there were extremely ignorant and oppressed, she said. But the Association was doing great work among them-

"I've been telling Ah Ching here to go to the Women's Association in her alley," she said, pointing to the young amah fanning the stove- "Her husband ill-treats her and takes away every cent she earns. And her mother-in-law is always trying to get them to quarrel." She launched on the woman's life story. She spent interminable hours talking to each new amah, cross-questioning them about their birth place, their father's occupation, how many people in the family, how they got married, and all about their husbands and in-laws. All the amahs were screened before they were taken on. Ya-mei. was merely idly probing around as a matter of interest -- just la, Ia.
"Ah Ching, don't be afraid. to expose your husband," she paused to admonish the woman- "Nowadays the poor 'have Turned Over and the women have Stood Up! Don't be afraid, the Masses are right behind you The Women's: Association will give him a good talking-to- They'll win him. over, don't worry. And if he's going to be a Fort of Bigotry. you can always get a divorce-"
Ah Ching listened politely, her mouth hanging open in what was meant to be a smile. Her pale, heavy face seemed impregnable- But then they always looked dubious, Liu thought, even if they were quite ready to act on your advice. You never could tell- The thing was just to ignore them and say your say, loudly and over and over again, as Ya-mei was doing- He supposed it would never do for a propagandist to be too sensitive.
"Her husband keeps telling her she's sold to his family," Ya-mel told Liu. "Just because her family got thirty dollars from them as a betrothal gift. — It won't do now to have such feudal ideas! Not after the Liberation! The women have Stood Up now!"
She went over the story several times, returning to every forgotten detail, and interrupting it with endless. exhortations and explanation, partly for Liu's benefit, it

seemed. He had the feeling that she thought she was helping him to make Progress as she had promised. She was holding a little glass with her back to the tail window- All the lights of the city had blinked on in the diluted purple-gray twilight, the color of grape juice stain- Traffic noises floated up softly. The small clear jangle of a tram bell came through the partly open window. Liu wondered how he had ever got up here, in this grey disordered room. in a skyscraper- The hum and stir of the city down below filled him with an impatience close to fear- Time seemed to go faster in the world below and would not wait for him.
Tsui had not said a word or paid the least attention to him all the time he was in the room- He had just lain there reading the evening paper. Could it be, as Chang had said a while back, Tsui was getting jealous? It was ridiculous, but it was just possible Tsui did not like to have him around so much. Liu was determined to get away at the first lull in Ya-mei's story-telling, and he did.
There was to be a meeting after office hours. Liu's unit was supposed to get together with another unit for- the Cross-Flow of Experience- But as usual nobody was on time. After waiting around for a while in the meeting room, watching the clock, Liu slipped back to' his office to work on the photos. The next day was the deadline for the China Pictorial to go to press-
He was alone in the front office. It was so quiet it gave him a slight turn when he heard. Ya-mei speaking in the next room. The doors were never shut tight- She was speaking to Tsui and there was a quietness in her voice which showed that they were alone.
"You're worried again," she said. "I can see you're worried."
When he did riot answer she said, "Well, don't mope-
Let's practice again."
"All right," Tsui said gloomily.
Liu was astounded to hear rapid kissing noises. He supposed that they must have taken for granted that there was nobody in the room outside, as it was after hours- He ought to get away at once before he was discovered. But for a moment the shock pinned him to his seat. As they do to all romantic young men, most married people looked humdrum to him and not the least bit in love with each other. Certainly the Tsuis had never struck him as a particularly amorous couple.
"Let's begin at the beginning," Ya-mei said, giggling a little.
There was the sound of footsteps, which broke into a run as they approached each other. Promptly the stac¬cato kissing sounds began again, in pairs. Then Ya-mei gave a half-playful little shriek of pain.
"If you'd been wearing glasses they would have been knocked off," Tsui said dispiritedly..
"You always think of the most awful things."
"A lot of them do wear glasses," Tsui said. "I've seen pictures of them taken in Peking."
It dawned on Liu that Tsui was practicing for the party to be given for the World, Youth Delegates. Liu had heard that all the delegate's had been greeting every--body with spontaneous bear-hugs and lightening kisses on both cheeks, Russian style.
"The important thing is to smile," Ya-mei said. "Don't look so grim. Smile!"
"And get my teeth knocked off? And somebody'll get bitten on the face."
"Ai, those foreigners!" Ya-mei sighed. "Must be worse for them than for us- So much more nose to bump into- It's just that they're used to it, I suppose."
"What gets me is this swinging your head right and

left, right and left, you get so dizzy," Tsui said. "A few times is all right, but with fifty people grabbing at you, one after the other — I guess I'm too old for this sort of thing."
"If you were old the Organization wouldn't have you at a meeting of World Youths," she answered. "The Organization ought to know."
Her reasoning must have reassured Tsui, though he still sounded gruff when he said, "Well, let's have another go at it."
But this time the hurried smacks had scarcely begun when Ya-mei screamed. For a while neither of them spoke-
Then she said, "I'm never going to practice with you again." She seemed to be crying.
"All right- Never mind," Tsui said.
"And you're not going to practice with anybody else either."
"But — with men," Tsui said patiently. "With men."
Liu did not stay to hear the rest of it. As it was he was very lucky that nobody had seen him in the front office- If the Tsuis got word of it, they would think he was eavesdropping-
The meeting had been scheduled for half past six- It. was past seven now. Only two people turned up from the other unit. Chang was napping, bending over the table. To avoid talking, Liu also pretended to doze off in his chair.
He knew it was no laughing matter, Tsui's practicing. If he was clumsy or seemed lukewarm in the mob kissing scene he would have lost face for his country and his Party in front of international friends. His career would suffer for it in spite of his long Revolutionary History. Liu felt a little sorry for him-
After ten or twenty years of roughing it and deliberately dropping all his manners, he was now required to turn suave overnight. Then Liu could, not help thinking since it was so difficult for men like Tsui to adapt themselves, why not skip the intermediate phase of rustication and let young men like himself come out front and face the world?
As a matter of fact it had been done. He had heard of some high school boys and girls just out of school who had been given a year's training and sent to the friendly countries as embassy staff members. All of them were under twenty. Perhaps, a college graduate like Lin was already considered too old. He had been exposed, to all kinds of poisonous influences in the old society and was not to be trusted until he had been thoroughly tested- The shortcuts in officialdom were not for him. Liu had to wrench his mind away from the subject. Always thinking in terms of promotion — he felt it was all the more despicable because it was so futile. everyone had finally arrived. Liu roused himself and at up  straight. In these informal meetings where every body was required to say something, the trick was to  speak up as soon as possible and say the expected thing  before it got too repetitious. The meeting did not take long, once it got started.
At quarter past eight Liu and Chang were on the crowded tram, going back to their hostel- The rush hour on trams and busses came much later since most office workers did not go home until seven or eight- The harassed-looking, skinny little conductor expertly plowed a path through the passengers, singing out hoarsely, "Move farther in! Still plenty of room inside! Come right in! Come right in! Come sit in the parlor! Why is everybody hanging 'round the doorway? You think there's a tiger inside there to eat you up?"
Liu kept his money in the envelope from one of Su

Nan's letters. As he took it out of his pocket he felt, as always, a twinge of tenderness. But tonight she seemed farther away from him than ever. He drew out a limp, is colored JMP bill and put away the creased envelope. There was a good supply of these envelopes so he always changed them when they got torn. She wrote fairly often- The letters themselves were nothing much, though- She was now working in the Tsinan branch office of the New Democratic Youth Corps. It was a hard life but she was happy there. She was confident and. optimistic about the future of their country and hoped he was well and happy and making fast progress.
The letters made him feel that he did not know her any more- Of course his own letters to her were just as unsatisfactory. The Organization might open their letters at any time. Writing too, often and writing obvious love-letters were frowned upon. Still, her over-cautiousness maddened him sometimes. What's the use, he would think. Their case was hopeless anyway.
He had heard stories of girl kan-pu cajoled into marrying old kan-pu who had given up much for the Revolution and ought to get their rewards now. Sometimes the girl was engaged already. The Organization would send some Big OW Sister to talk to her, talk and talk and talk, night and day, for days on end. Eventually she had to agree.
Having given the matter considerable thought lately, Liu decided to take such stories with a pinch of salt. The girls had simply decided in the end to marry for position and comfort — or anyhow, relative comfort. Lots of women had been doing that from the dawn of history. There was no reason why they should not go on doing it even if they had, on becoming kan-pu, joined the .Revolution, technically speaking.
He believed that Su Nan was not that kind of person.

In spite of their brief acquaintance he felt he knew a lot about her. But, knowing her, he felt sure that if anybody had been making marital overtures to her or putting pressure on her, she would not give the slightest hint of it in her letters, not wanting to upset him. And the knowledge of that kept him worried all the time.
How many years could she wait for him? What was there to hold her to him, except those few stolen moments that grew less and less real as time went on? It had been as unbelievable as those secret betrothals in "The Gilded Phoenix", "The Twin Pearl Phoenixes" and "It Rained Flowers". In these stories the boy and girl always "secretly booked up their whole lives in the back garden-" In the old days she would. have considered herself "booked" once he had touched her skin, even if it was just her face and hands. That was no bond at all nowadays.
Liu hung on to the strap, looking at the row of faces reflected in the dark window glass. There was a woman who looked a little like Su Nan- It was easy for him to think so, with all the lights along the street passing through her face and hair, and neon signs like jeweled brooches sailing through her.
The man standing next to Liu had. his eyes closed. He held his ticket in his mouth. The pink strip of paper hanging from between his lips looked exactly like a long tongue and was frightening against the grayish yellow of his face with its sunken cheeks. He swayed a little, hanging on to the strap.