The Young, the Old, the Sick, and the Disabled

Given Ge You's temperament, he had planned to wait a few days before paying a visit. To his surprise, Chen Qi took the initiative and invited him to a small dinner the very next day.

Ge You took it seriously enough to wash his hair.

At dinnertime, he knocked on the door of room 302, a little nervous. Chen Qi opened it. "Oh, right on time! Come in, come in! I went home during the day, and my mom gave me some food to take back. I figured I couldn't eat it all myself, so I asked you guys over to share it. Hope you don't mind."

"Please, don't say that. I'm the one imposing... Oh, hello, Teacher Liang!"

Ge You was still very polite. Liang Xiaosheng smiled and said, "You'll see once you've spent more time with him. He's the last person to stand on ceremony, and being so stiff and formal is tiring. Come on, sit here!"

Liang Xiaosheng helped get things ready, opening several aluminum lunch boxes. "I asked the canteen chef to warm these up for us. Little Chen found a restaurant outside and bought a pot of liquor too. Can you drink a little?"

"I can manage a few cups!"

Ge You's eyes lit up. He was fond of a drink, and when he saw the food, his eyes grew brighter still. There was meat and dumplings!

They turned the table sideways, with two sitting on the bed and one on a chair. They used enamel mugs for cups and poured about two liang of liquor for each person.

Chen Qi smiled. "Come to think of it, I'd saved up nearly forty yuan, and today was the first time I spent any of it. That little shop is a sent-down youth cooperative too. They sell loose liquor and things like that, though I don't know how it tastes.

"Come on, don't be shy. Let's eat!"

A good meal was hard to come by these days. He was living away from home too, and only got this kind of treatment when he went back for a visit. Things were even harder for Liang Xiaosheng. His family was in such difficulty that he couldn't possibly be more frugal.

So for a while, all they did was bury their heads in their food.

After eating for a while, they felt like talking. With the liquor in them, they rambled from one thing to another, nothing of any real importance. But for men, drinking and shooting the shit were pleasures in themselves.

As they chatted, the subject turned to Ge You's work.

His mood instantly sank. He said dejectedly, "I've taken exams for lots of work units, but I haven't gotten into any of them. The commune where I was sent down even wants me back. They said I was good at feeding pigs, and the big pigs and little pigs all miss me terribly.

"Sigh, I've lived these twenty-two years for nothing. Only pigs think about me."

"Don't say that. When Heaven is about to entrust a great mission to someone, it must first torment his heart and strengthen his will. Didn't your parents say they'd help you find something?" Liang Xiaosheng said.

"The All-China Federation of Trade Unions Art Troupe is recruiting, but I still have to take an exam. My dad's teaching me to act, hand over hand, and he even picked a piece for me called 'Feeding Pigs.' He says it's close to real life. But I understand. I don't know how to do anything else, only feed pigs."

"Then why don't you perform it for us? Let us have a look."

"No, no, I couldn't possibly do that! I'd be too embarrassed!" Ge You hurriedly waved his hands.

"We've only just started spending time together, but let me say something. Don't take offense."

Chen Qi said, "I think there's a problem with your mindset too. If you're embarrassed to perform in front of the two of us, how are you going to perform in front of the examiners? You're not letting yourself go in the first place. You subconsciously think it's something shameful. How can you pass the exam like that?"

"I, I..."

Ge You wanted to argue, but quickly gave up. Discouraged, he said, "Maybe you're right. I get nervous too. I do fine rehearsing at home, but when I get there, I don't know what to do."

"Then try to ease your nerves. Take deep breaths, for instance. Deep breathing makes me feel very relaxed," Liang Xiaosheng suggested.

"I've tried. It doesn't work."

"Then, then..."

Liang Xiaosheng scratched his head. He worked with words, not performances.

"Everyone gets nervous during an exam. There's no getting around it."

Chen Qi spoke up too, but then changed tack. "Still, you could try forcing yourself to relax by exercising. March in place, do some calisthenics, jog a few laps. Just get yourself moving."

"Does that work?" Ge You asked doubtfully.

"You've been running before, right? Every time you finish, you're tired, but at the same time, don't you feel relaxed, even satisfied?"

"I suppose that's true!"

"So give it a try. It should help at least a little."

In fact, exercise produced endorphins and dopamine, which made the body feel more comfortable and gave a certain sense of accomplishment. But Chen Qi couldn't be bothered to explain. He raised his enamel mug and said, "Come on, first let's wish you success on your exam!"

"You'll be fine!" Liang Xiaosheng added.

"..."

With the liquor in him, Ge You nearly teared up, and his emotions surged. "I'll take you both at your word. I'll definitely pass this time. If I fail again, I'll have let both of you down!"

The three of them took a drink.

Relationships were built through spending time together.

Chen Qi was deliberately building relationships. He had been at the Beijing Film Studio for a while, and although he got along smoothly with everyone, he hadn't made many friends. They were all senior veterans, middle-aged people like Jiang Huaiyan, or formidable characters like Liu Xiaoqing.

He was too young, and everyone treated him like a child.

Liang Xiaosheng and Ge You were fairly suitable, and there was that little girl too.

Tsk!

Chen Qi took a sip of liquor. Just look at this bunch of rotten garlic bulbs: the young, the old, the sick, and the disabled.

Chen Qi had arrived in mid-April, and in the blink of an eye, it was early May.

That meant he had to finish revising the script.

On Tuesdays, the afternoon was set aside for study at work units across the country. Work and production stopped, and schools held no classes either. The practice continued for many years, and later, when television sets became widespread, TV stations also chose Tuesdays for maintenance.

So there were no programs that afternoon. Instead, a "colorful round disc" appeared on the screen, formally known as the PM5544 Television Test Card.

After lunch.

The sunlight grew more intense, signaling the arrival of early summer.

After a short nap, Chen Qi took the script, which had grown into a thick brick, and hurried to Jiang Huaiyan's office. When he entered, Jiang Huaiyan wasn't there. His daughter was sitting inside instead, cracking sunflower seeds as she did her homework.

"Brother Little Chen!"

"Where's your dad?"

"He's at a meeting. He'll be done soon."

Jiang Shan looked at what he was holding. "Is that the script you wrote? I heard Dad say it's a love story. Can I read it?"

"What does a kid like you want with a love story? That's all bourgeois stuff."

"Bourgeois, huh? I'm learning English too. Does English count as bourgeois?" She waved her textbook, which was indeed an English textbook.

"You already have English classes?"

"Our school's part of a pilot program!"

The previous year, the Ministry of Education had advocated introducing foreign-language classes starting in the third grade of primary school, but the program hadn't been rolled out widely and was still in the pilot stage.

Chen Qi didn't know anything about this and could only express surprise. He sat in a chair to wait for Jiang Huaiyan, but after a while, Jiang Huaiyan still hadn't appeared. Thoroughly bored, Chen Qi glanced at the girl bent over her homework and suddenly asked, "Have you learned the English word for pig?"

"Of course! Pig!"

"What about dog?"

"Dog!"

"Chicken?"

"Chicken... Oh, chicken!"

"How do you say beautiful?"

"Ha, you can't stump me. Beautiful!"

"'Chicken is beautiful.' Can you translate that?"

Jiang Shan frowned and tried. "The chicken... is beautiful?"

"Right, but when we translate, we aim for faithfulness, clarity, and elegance. This sentence can be translated as..."

Before Chen Qi could act like a little hater, Jiang Huaiyan stepped through the door. "Oh, Little Chen, you're here. The whole studio had meetings this afternoon, and each department had one too. We just finished."

"I only just got here myself. I brought the script for you to look at."

"Shanshan, go do your homework outside for now."

"Oh!"

Jiang Shan reluctantly picked up her schoolbag and went out. Jiang Huaiyan took the script and leafed through it carefully. After quite a while, he nodded. "You've revised it well. Your writing is very precise, and you addressed every point we suggested.

"In my personal view, it's already good enough.

"But the studio's rules require all the editors in the literary department to review it together. Then the deputy studio director in charge of this area will conduct the final review and decide whether to approve it. Don't worry, there shouldn't be any problems.

"Leave the script here for now."

Jiang Huaiyan smiled as he spoke. "Little Chen, your age makes it easy for people to get the wrong impression. I didn't expect you to have such a natural grasp of writing."

"It's all thanks to the teachers' guidance. At most, I'm good at carrying things out."

"Good at carrying things out? That's a novel expression. All right, go on back. I'll get in touch with you again."

"All right!"

Chen Qi left the office and saw Jiang Shan standing in the corridor, leaning over the windowsill to do her homework.

She was twelve this year. She wasn't particularly tall, and her frame was rather broad. She hadn't grown into her looks yet as a child, and she didn't stand out much.

But Chen Qi knew what she would look like in the future: a broad face and bold features, with nothing petty or narrow about her by nature. Actresses of this type were extremely rare, and in later years they would disappear altogether. Later on, it was small faces and little chins across the board.

He crept over to her and suddenly shouted, "Ha!"

"Mom!"

Jiang Shan jumped three feet in the air and turned to scold him, but Chen Qi had already vanished in a puff of smoke.

She went back into the room and said indignantly, "Dad, that guy is so annoying."

"He's not much older himself. He was just playing around with you. He's very good at writing, so learn from him when you have time." In Jiang Huaiyan's eyes, Chen Qi, a young man of nineteen, could indeed be called a child.

"Who wants to learn from him? I'm going to a foreign languages institute someday!"

Jiang Shan continued her homework in a huff.

After she had been writing for a while, Jiang Huaiyan went out again on business. Then she suddenly heard someone sneaking about outside. That annoying fellow had come back. He didn't enter the room, but raised his hand and tossed in a few pieces of candy-part of the stash Yu Xiuli had brought him. "Have some candy, and study hard!"

Then he disappeared again.

Jiang Shan looked at the candy. It was Red Shrimp crisp candy, made locally in the capital, with a thin, crunchy shell and distinct layers of filling. It tasted good.

She paused, then unwrapped one and popped it into her mouth.

"Hmph! It'd be a waste not to eat it!"

(No more...)

(End of chapter)