Chinese Stories in English
Opposite Shore (Page 6)
Stories printed in The Other Shore《彼岸花》作家网*选编|冰峰*主编
Page citation and link to Chinese text noted after each story.
1. Saved 3. The Mynah 4. Planet Misery
2. Shadowy Swords 5. Group Leader
1. Saved (挽救)
Sun Maowei (孙毛伟)
“Not bad!” I blurted it out. I liked the condo almost at first sight. It had two bedrooms and a well-lit living room, north-south ventilation, a reasonable layout and a good location. It was only ten minutes away from a subway station and near all the necessities of life, like supermarkets, farmers markets and restaurants. What made me like it even more was that the balcony directly faced a park, so there was a lush stretch of greenery outside the window. I thought of the air being full of negative ions and immediately felt that I could breathe better there.
My liking for the place was a bit out of control and I kept nodding my head at Lindsy, the agency salesperson who’d brought me to see it. Lindsy's surname is Lin and everyone calls him Lindsy. My colleague Big Liu introduced him to me. Big Liu is a trustworthy fellow, so the people he introduces must be alright.
Lindsy poured some cold water on me. “This condo also has its disadvantages. It’s close to the main road on the west side, so it might be a bit noisy. Also, four families per elevator seems a bit crowded. You need to think about it carefully.”
“Hey, this guy’s weird,” I thought. When an agent takes a customer to see a house, even if it’s a tiny, dilapidated old place, he can compare its beauty to a flower. How can he find fault with it?
In fact, I didn’t think the two shortcomings Lindsy mentioned were problems at all. When I finished viewing the condo, I said it was acceptable and I’d buy it if the seller could make some concessions on the price. In fact, the asking price wasn’t too much and I could’ve lived with it. Bargaining is an indispensable part of the game, though, and besides, wouldn’t a lower cost be nice?
Lindsy didn’t seem very excited for someone looking at a million-yuan sale with a considerable commission. He just said he’d meet with the owner directly another day to discuss the matter. He asked me to wait for his call.
I was looking forward to meeting the owner and closing the deal as soon as possible, but after more than a week, Lindsy still hadn’t called. I’d phoned him several times, but he said either that he hadn't contacted the owner or that the owner didn't have time these days. Finally he said the owner was on a business trip and we’d have to wait a few more days. I was burning up with anxiety but he was calm and collected as a fisherman waiting for a bite.
I really liked the place and was afraid that a long delay would screw things up. The owner might change his mind or someone else might buy it. So, I told Lindsy straight out that I wouldn’t haggle over the price and would just go with what the seller was asking. If the deal was confirmed, I’d pay the deposit right away. Lindsy, still calm, said, “You have to sign the contract before you can pay the deposit, so you’ll have to wait for the owner to get back.” I apparently had no choice except to wait.
I went for another stroll around the neighborhood one day. I walked around the common areas and, before I knew it, I was in the elevator on the way up to see the condo. I got to the floor and had just stepped out of the elevator when I saw the condo’s door open. A man came out -- obviously the owner.
So, he wasn’t on a business trip. Lindsy’d lied -- but why? Why put off a meeting with the seller? What did he really intend? Didn’t he want to close the deal? They say real estate agents play hide-the-ball, and it seemed to be true. I couldn’t stifle my anger and immediately went to see Lindsy at his office to find out the truth.
Lindsy seemed to know what I wanted when I barged into his office. He led me to a secluded place outside and listened to my questions with a resigned air. “You’re right,” he responded in a measured tone of voice. “I really don't want to close the deal on this condo.”
That surprised the heck out of me and I demanded that he explain. He said, “Calm down and listen. The man and woman who own the place are selling it because they’re getting a divorce. They each came in and told me negative things about the other. I could tell there wasn’t in fact any big conflict between them, just petty disputes about trivial matters. They got where they are only because they’re both stubborn and don't want to be the first to give in. I figured they might calm down and reconcile given time, but if the condo was sold, there’d be no saving the family.
“I felt a little sorry for them, but that wasn’t the important thing. If it weren't for the child, I might’ve just done my job and helped them sell their home as soon as possible. I could still get a considerable commission. But the wife brought their child into the office one day, a five or six-year-old kid. I can’t tell you how pathetic he was. He beat his mother with his little fists and cried and shouted not to sell their home. Maybe he felt that the family would be gone along with the condo. The disappointed and sad look in his eyes would upset anyone!
“I’m from a single-parent family, too, so I know what a blow a broken family can have on a child. Right then and there I started thinking about what I could do to save this family. All I could do was try to delay the sale. Maybe the child’s parents would calm down and reconcile after a few days.” Tears came to his eyes as he spoke.
I was sniffling a bit myself. It wasn’t out of a forced compassion for Lindsy, but because the jagged stone that had long been in my heart suddenly irritated me. The anger I’d felt when I burst into his office had disappeared. I patted his shoulder lightly and said nothing.
Lindsy called me a week later, his voice overflowing with uncontrollable joy. “That couple reconciled, and the condo is no longer for sale.” Then his voice became low again. “But I do apologize to you. I know you liked the place. If things had turned out differently, I'd have gotten it for you. Don't worry, I’ll find you a home to your liking.”
I interrupted him. “Don’t. I won't be looking to buy a place for now.”
He hesitated for a moment before expressing some regret: “Oh. I understand. It's all my fault. I hope I’ll have a chance to serve you again someday.”
“No, you don’t understand,” I thought. I didn’t blame him for the deal falling through. In fact, I quite appreciated his good intentions.
It’s true that I was no longer looking to buy a home, at least for the time being, but of course I didn’t tell him the reason. My own marriage had run into a red light six months before. I was the one who proposed a divorce, but she refused and wouldn’t give in come hell or high water. I was going to buy a condo just to separate from her. But now I’m having second thoughts -- because I also have a six-year-old son.
Text at 《彼岸花》 p. 007, also available here.
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2. Shadowy Swords at the Palace Gate (宫门刀影)
Meng Fusen (蒙福森)
Rested Huang, the Prime Minister of the State of Chu, had been having frequent dreams of late. Most of them were about a large snake, and they were very vivid. Sometimes he dreamed he was walking in a remote, uninhabited wilderness when the snake sprung hissing from the grass with its scarlet tongue sticking out; other times he dreamed that the snake crawled along the ground until it abruptly flew up into the sky, flying farther and farther until it disappeared in the clouds; still other times he dreamed that the snake swallowed him in one gulp.
One day when he was leaving the court, Rested met Garden Li, his former retainer who currently held the title King’s Uncle. Garden was good at divination and astrology, so Rested invited him home for a drink and to talk about his dreams. He asked Garden how he would interpret them.
“Congratulations, Prime Minister,” Garden whispered. “This is a good omen! The snake is a dragon, the symbol of the king, our supreme ruler. Its form is unique: horns like a deer, a belly like a snake, scales like a fish, feet like a phoenix and a beard like a human. When it rises, it soars to the Ninth Level of Heaven, and when it hides, it lies dormant under the billowing waves. We are now well into spring, and the dragon is taking advantage of the changing season. We’ll have results in not too many days.”
This interpretation filled Rested with indescribable enthusiasm. It seemed that the plan he and Garden had devised in secret back then was going to succeed. The King of Chu had been taken seriously ill not long ago and no medicine could cure him. Could it be that the time had actually come for “the dragon to take advantage of the changing season”?
Sure enough, news came from the palace three days later: the king had passed away and the crown prince had succeeded to the throne. A eunuch came to Rested's mansion and, after reading the king’s will, continued: “Prime Minister Rested Huang has developed policies and made great contributions toward safeguarding the country. Now that the king resides in Heaven and the prince has ascended to the throne, the prime minister is ordered to go to the palace forthwith to discuss matters, to serve as an auxiliary to the new king, and to preside over the government.”
“No wonder I’ve been dreaming of a large snake these days,” Rested thought. “Snakes are dragons. A dragon takes advantage of the change of seasons. It seems that my ship has come in.”
Rested strode out the door and took a carriage to the palace. A vivid memory of events many years in the past flashed through his mind like lightning.
Serving as the Prime Minister of Chu, Rested held sway over the affairs of the palace. He was the richest person in the land but was generous to people in need and had many followers. The world knew him as The Lord Gentleman of Spring. He was also famous as one of the “Four Lords of the Warring States Period“ along with Xinling of Wei, Pingyuan of Zhao and Mengchang of Qi.
There came a day when Rested noticed his retainer, Garden, while he was going out, although he didn’t know him at the time. He had too many retainers, more than 3,000, and there was no way he could recognize so many. Anyway, a charming woman with a beautiful figure and a radiant look was walking behind Garden. As he watched them, Rested asked his attendants, “Who is that?” The attendants didn’t know him, either, but one of them ran over to ask. He learned that the man was called Garden and was a native of Zhao. He'd come to Chu a few months previously and become one of the prime minister’s retainers.
Rested said nothing. He got into his carriage and continued on his way to the palace, but he ran into Garden again a few days later. Garden was alone this time. Rested thought of the woman at once, so he asked, “Who was that walking behind you the other day?” Garden bowed deeply and answered, “She’s Beauteous Li, my younger sister.”
Rested said “Oh”.
Garden was a shrewd fellow. That night he sent Beauteous to Rested's bed.
It wasn’t long before Beauteous became pregnant. And soon after that, a shocking conspiracy to stage a coup was revealed along with her pregnancy.
One night, after Beauteous and Rested had shared a tender interlude, she sighed and whispered in his ear: “You’re a powerful Prime Minister, but you’ve become a thorn in the side of many princes and ministers. How will you respond if the king dies and the situation changes?”
Rested thought for a moment before asking: “Do you have any good ideas, my Beloved Lady?”
Her face flushed. “People say the king is infertile and is being treated by the famous Qin doctor Bent Wang. I'm a dizzy woman, but I say I’ve only just become pregnant. No one knows yet. You’d better offer me to the king. The child I birth will inherit the throne someday. Wouldn't you then be the Supreme King? The State of Chu would belong to you!”
The idea made Rested take in a breath of cold air. His defenses and his bottom line were completely broken by such a shocking and perfect plan to steal the whole country. After a fierce ideological struggle, the ambition that had been buried in Rested's heart for so long was brought to the fore in a flash.
He decided to take the risk. After repeated planning with Garden, he sent Beauteous to live outside his home, whitewashed her identity, and presented her to the King of Chu.
Nine months later, Beauteous gave birth to a son whom she named “Valiant Bear”. The King of Chu was so happy to have a son in his old age that he made Beauteous the queen, Valiant Bear the crown prince and Garden the King’s Uncle.
Garden remained patient and bided his time. He accumulated strength and cultivated assassins, preparing to seize the position of prime minister. Winter passed, and spring, and in the blink of an eye many years had gone by. But now the king had died of some disease and Valiant Bear had succeeded to the throne. His opportunity was finally at hand.
Rested dressed in pure white after receiving the new king’s decree. He rode to the palace in high spirits at the head of his entourage. The sadness on his face couldn’t hide the ecstasy in his heart -- the crown prince had ascended to the throne. No, make that, Rested's son had ascended to the throne. He wanted to create his own era, and he looked forward to telling the new king that he was his biological father.
The palace was getting closer and closer, just a stone's throw away. The sun was setting and it was getting dark. The withered yellow leaves from the trees on both sides of the road fluttered down in a gust of wind. All was silent.
Rested got out of the carriage, looked up at the majestic palace and quickened his pace. The heavy palace gate slowly opened. One step, two steps, three steps – all of a sudden, something that felt like cold murder was coming towards him.
Before he could react, hundreds of masked assassins holding sharp blades rushed out of the darkness. They seemed to have fallen from the sky. “You impudent lunatics, how dare you assassinate the Prime Minister....” But before he could finish the sentence, a flurry of arrows was flying through the air, and Rested's entire entourage fell in a pool of blood.
The assassins rushed forward and slashed at Rested with their blades. The knives flashed with reflected light. His throat was cut, and his bright red blood gushed out in an instant, staining the floor tiles outside the palace gate red.
Just as Rested was gradually losing consciousness and in the moment before he died, two hideous and murderous faces appeared at the palace gate – It was Garden, and behind him the expressionless Beauteous.
Valiant Bear, known to history as King You of Chu, had succeeded to the throne. Garden became his powerful and influential Prime Minister.
Soon a nursery rhyme circulated in the streets and alleys of Yingdu, the Chu capital:
“The sky is vast,
“The wilds boundless.
“The minister isn’t a minister
“Nor is the king a king.
“The king and minister died
“While the plum trees bloomed.”
This ditty floated over the magnificent palace in the morning breeze for ages.
Translator’s note: Rested Huang (黄歇Huang Xie) and Garden Li (李园 Li Yuan) are historical figures. You can find detailed info about their lives here. This story is a modern retelling of an ancient account in the Records of the Grand Historian (史记).
Text at 《彼岸花》 p. 013, also available here.
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3. The Mynah (鹩哥)
Dai Tao (戴涛)
One day Pristine Depths Hong took the subway home after work. He felt the wind move his body against his will as soon as he came out of the subway station. He lived in a coastal city in southern China, an area that experiences several typhoons every summer.
Another gust of wind carried branches and leaves with it and, all of a sudden, a black bird fell in front of him. He knew about this bird -- it was a mynah. He’d once heard this kind of bird speaking human language in a park and, out of curiosity, had asked the old man who owned it what it was called.
The mynah lay on the ground and flapped its wings weakly a few times. With its eyes half-open and half-closed, it seemed about to faint dead away. Pristine couldn't bear the sight, so he took the bird in his arms and carried it home.
At home he found a cardboard box and a clean towel to spread inside it. He put the bird in the box and it lay there motionless. Pristine made himself a hasty snack before going to look at the bird again. It was still sleeping. He knew he’d just cover his head and take a nap whenever he felt bad, so he decided to let it sleep. He turned off the lights and went to bed early, without turning on the TV or playing games on the computer, so that the bird could sleep quietly.
He rushed over to look at the mynah as soon as he opened his eyes the next morning. It was standing up in the box, watching him with its big, black, bright eyes. He was so excited that he picked the bird up in his hands and touched its beak with his nose.
It was the weekend, so Pristine took his bird to a pet market to buy food, a water dish and a place for it to live. The vendor told him that if he wanted to save trouble, he could buy prepared pellet feed, but if he wanted to do a better job, he could make his own feed by mixing fish, pork liver, eggs, millet and mealworms. Pristine said he didn’t have time for all that, so he just bought the ready-made pellets.
The vendor also told him that the cage would have to be sturdy, because the bird had a strong beak. It would also need to be large, since mynahs are lively and active by nature. Pristine nodded and bought the cage recommended by the vendor.
The bird kept jumping up and down when they got home, seemingly happy with its new cage. Pristine threw some bird food into the cage but the mynah didn't even look at it. It just stared at him with its big eyes, as if to say that it would never eat this kind of junk food.
Pristine ignored it and went to make himself some instant noodles. When he finished eating and went over to look at the mynah again, it was still staring at him wide-eyed. He continued to ignore it and sat down on the sofa to watch a movie on TV. He turned around when the movie ended and saw the mynah still staring intently at him. He couldn’t remain calm any longer and ran out to buy liver, millet and mealworms. He steamed the liver and cut it into small pieces. Then he put the liver, millet and mealworms in three small cups and placed them on a shelf in the cage.
The mynah's eyes finally softened and it began to eat daintily. After a while it looked up at him and said, "I'm full. Thank you, Grandpa." Its sudden speech startled him. When he came to his senses, it spoke again, "I'll sing a song for Grandpa. Grandpa is the best in the world…." Pristine began to wonder who this “grandpa” was. Maybe the bird’s owner?
At dusk the mynah, which had been resting with its eyes closed, abruptly opened its eyes and squawked, over and over, "101 Express, 1100 Jinxiu Road. 101 Express, Number 1100 Jinxiu Road."
The screeching startled Pristine again. “Are you crazy, bird?” He cursed at it but then started to wonder where that address was. Could it be the mynah's home?
The next day was Monday and Pristine rushed off to work early in the morning. He was busy the rest of the week, so even though he would hear the mynah crowing “101 Express, Number 1100 Jinxiu Road” when he got home every day, he didn’t have a chance to go check it out.
Saturday finally came again. Pristine decided to take his bird to find the place. He entered the address into his phone and got a Baidu map showing it was seven kilometers away. When he clicked on drive time (he liked to take the subway to work but drive on the weekends), the map showed that the drive would take fifteen minutes.
Pristine drove into a residential area fifteen minutes later. He got out of the car and saw “Minsheng Road No. 899” written on the building’s wall. He was confused for a moment and asked a security guard for help. He learned that each building had three numbers because this community was bordered by three roads.
He finally found the right building. A gated iron fence surrounded a small yard in front. Pristine went to press the doorbell but found that it was broken. He tried to push the door open but it was locked. He peeked inside and saw that the apartment door and windows were closed. He noticed a bird cage under the window with the cage door open.... He got a bad feeling.
Pristine went to the community’s property management office. The staff said that an elderly man named Wang lived in that building. He usually took his bird on a walk through the community commons every day, but he hadn’t been seen for a while. They called the man’s son, who lived nearby, and he said he’d be there in ten minutes.
He arrived in less than ten minutes and used a key to open the iron gate and the door of the apartment. The moment he opened the door, a suffocating smell of decay hit their noses.
When the mynah saw the old man lying on the bed, it became agitated and jumped up and down. "Hello, Grandpa,” it cawed, “I’ll sing a song for you…."
Text at 《彼岸花》 p. 019, also available here.
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4. Planet Misery (苦命星)
Chen Huaigui (陈淮贵)
The spaceship to Planet Misery had returned. The gray-faced and disheveled team members crawled out from the ship one by one. They each carried bulging, heavy bags and looked exhausted. Their pitiful appearance, almost unbearable to look at, moved men to tears. The Alien Exploration Base Commander came out to greet them in person. He expressed his condolences and thanked them for their hard work in exploring Planet Misery.
After they’d handed over the relevant exploration data and soil samples, the base held a grand party to welcome the exploration team home and to review and honor their extraordinary achievements. They’d been willing to endure loneliness and hardship. They’d overcome the difficulties and persevered to complete various arduous tasks on the desolate and dangerous planet. All astronauts were encouraged to learn well the lessons of fearlessness and selfless dedication of this team and its spirit of exploration!
A new round to register members of the next Planet Misery Exploration Team was launched after the commendation ceremony concluded. As expected, only a few astronauts applied, just like previous missions. Everyone had known about the terrible conditions there since the return of the first exploratory mission: anyone would tremble with fear at the prospect of year-round category fifteen typhoons, temperatures more than a hundred degrees below zero and an atmosphere less than three percent oxygen. Moreover, it took ten years to travel back and forth at sub-light speed, an extremely lengthy journey.
For these reasons, Planet Misery had become famous overnight. Few people remembered its original name –it acquired the nickname “Misery” because the people sent there had such a miserable life.
On the other hand, the team members who’d just returned were unwilling to shirk their duty. They said they were aware of the conditions on the planet but, to everyone’s surprise, they all signed up for the next mission. This greatly moved the commander. However, some team members had signed up for three missions in a row. As a commander, he couldn't just crack the whip and assign whoever was obedient and easy to send. In the end, only the two youngest astronauts from the five team members were kept on. The three team members who weren’t selected expressed their disappointment and then applied for retirement.
Prosperity Bao hesitated but then signed up. He had the least experience, no supporters and no one to speak for him, and if he didn't sign up, who would? Truth is, everyone knew who’d be chosen for the remaining three places. A comparison of the astronauts’ experience and background made that clear without waiting for their superior to point a finger. The ones with seniority would naturally be going to planets with sunny, springlike weather.
His girlfriend cried bitterly. She asked why he’d signed up and why he had to go. He replied that he’d had no choice because the mission was crucial and required a lot of first-hand data and top-flight sampling. He was despondent, though, and told her, “Don't wait for me. You can’t wait that long. Even if you do, I’ll have gone through so much suffering that I’ll no longer resemble a human being. I won’t be worthy of a beautiful and spirited girl like you.”
She replied, “I don't care. I’ll wait for you until the end of time.”
The spaceship set off for Planet Misery and finally reached the planet’s upper atmosphere after five years of lonely, sub-light speed travel. Strong winds raged furiously, howling like ghosts and wolves, and the sun and moon shone only dimly. The spaceship spun dizzily, like a small boat in huge waves or a kite with a broken string in a storm. The astronauts felt helpless and half dead. Prosperity trembled with fear, his heart in his throat.
One of the experienced team members comforted him. “Don't be nervous. Just hold on.”
After they’d descended for some time, white, snow-capped mountains appeared. Prosperity shuddered. He remembered that the temperature was supposed to be under one hundred degrees below zero and felt like the spacecraft had turned into a popsicle.
They continued to descend and finally passed the snow-capped mountains. Prosperity watched as yellows, blues, greens and other colors gradually appeared before them. As they got closer, Prosperity noticed that the green areas were actually large tracts of grassland and forest. The yellow and blue areas appeared to be….
“Eh? No way!”
The spacecraft came to rest on a wide stretch of yellow ground. Prosperity started to don his protective suit, but then saw the two experienced team members opening the hatch directly without their suits. He yelled at them, “You guys, your suits….”
“Oh, they aren’t necessary,” one of them laughed. “We forgot to tell you that only the high altitudes and some areas on the surface have strong winds and extremely low temperatures. Where we are now has bright sunshine and gentle breezes as warm as spring.”
“Impossible!” Prosperity blurted out.
“It’s true. Maybe this area has rich geothermal sources of heat, and the surrounding mountains block the cold winds. That makes the trees here lush and the oxygen abundant, which is why we can survive.” A gust of fresh air rushed in when the hatch opened. The veteran team members cheered and rushed out first.
Prosperity looked around at the golden ground and confirmed his suspicions. “Is this gold?”
“Sure is. Ha ha ha ha!” the veteran laughed.
“And those blue things are diamonds?”
“Yep, you got it!”
“Then... then....” Prosperity was overwhelmed with emotion. “Why didn't you report it? Why did you lie...?”
“We didn't lie at all, young man,” the experienced team member replied. “We completed all our tasks and the data we compiled is accurate. We also mentioned that the planet has gold and diamonds and provided correct data about the reserves. The mountains of gold and diamonds in this area are just a special case, but we included the data anyway. We concealed nothing and lied about nothing!”
“But you didn’t describe this special place!”
The veteran remained patient. “No rule required us to say anything about it!” he explained. “Like you, I also condemned the previous team members the first time I came here, but I don't blame them anymore. Think about it. What would happen if news about mountains of gold and diamonds on Planet Misery got out?”
Prosperity answered without hesitation. “Tons of people would come and dig up the mountains!”
“Yeah! And what would happen to the planet?”
“Total destruction of the original ecology!”
“Uh, huh! Would that be good or bad for observation and research?”
“Not good, of course!” Prosperity had come to a realization.
“Also,” the veteran coaxed, “do you think this team counts as ‘tons of people’ coming to dig for gold and diamonds?”
“Absolutely not!” Prosperity answered without hesitation. “We’ve got no connections and no background, so if we were here to mine, nothing good would come to us!”
“Well, then, do you think we should report it?”
“No!” Prosperity made up his mind. He imagined his girlfriend cheering excitedly when he put a huge diamond on her finger.
“Okay. When we’ve collected the data, everyone can pick up some gold and diamonds to put in their bags and take back. Just one diamond will cover your food and clothing costs for the rest of your life....”
……
The spaceship to Planet Misery returned. The gray-faced and disheveled team members crawled out from the ship one by one. They each carried bulging, heavy bags and looked exhausted. Their pitiful appearance, almost unbearable to look at, moved men to tears.
Text at 《彼岸花》 p. 022, also available here.
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5. I’m the Group Leader (我是群主)
Zeng Xiantao (曾宪涛)
Young Lin had always had a lousy relationship with his boss at work. They couldn't stand each other.
Lin despised his boss's style. He only cared what his superiors thought and didn’t care about his subordinates. Lin especially objected to the boss being completely two-faced, one face for superiors and another for subordinates. Lin didn't show his dislike overtly, but everyone can sense these things, so of course the boss didn't like him, either.
The boss made life difficult for Lin, pointing out his faults and often reprimanding him. Lin didn't say anything out loud when he got reprimanded, but to himself he thought, "Just wait and see. When I’m the boss...." That was childish. How could Lin become the boss if he had a boss who didn't like him?
But you know what? Lin really did become a leader. Leader of what? A group leader.
A new residential community had been built near his workplace a couple of years previously, and Lin made a down payment on one of the condos. On the day the purchase closed, he went to the sales office to get the keys. It was crowded and someone suggested, "Let's set up an owners’ group so that we can communicate when problems come up." Lin happened to be nearby and volunteered, "I'll do it." He set the group up right away and became its group leader.
He’d really had felt a bit like a boss since then. New owners joining the group had to answer to him and get his verified consent. He also issued group rules: no talking about sensitive topics, no posting unconfirmed rumors or fake news, and no posting advertisements. He thought up some of those rules and copied some from other groups.
He heard that group leaders should control the group's speech, because otherwise they could be held personally responsible under the law. He didn't know if it was true, but it did increase his sense of responsibility. He felt like he was the one in charge of this group.
In fact, he did in truth become the person in charge. The developer asked him to publish rules for selling parking spaces; the property managers asked him to issue notices; and some businesses asked him to post information about remodeling materials. All these could be beneficial, of course, but he steadfastly refused. He was determined to act differently from his boss at work. Eventually he came to understand why he couldn't abide by the man.
When the other owners in the group saw how he conducted himself, they praised him for his integrity and dedication to public service. They also showed him great respect when they bumped into him in the community, treating him like an actual leader. Lin enjoyed that very much and was quite proud of it. He was modest, though, and told the group: "I serve everyone, and as long as everyone has confidence in me, that’s all that matters."
One day an owner with the username "Responsible" applied online to join the group. Lin verified his ownership but asked him to change his username to his condo number. When he was still using "Responsible" two days later, Lin was a little unhappy and felt that his authority was being challenged. He’d already expressed his aversion to the guy’s username and, in a fit of anger, kicked him out of the group.
The fellow reapplied and repeatedly explained that there’d been an inspection at his job over the past two days. He was a department head and work was so busy that he’d overlooked changing his online name.
“No wonder his username is ‘Responsible’”, Lin thought. He told the guy, "You may be a leader in your unit, but here you’re just another owner. The group has its own rules, and you must abide by them. "Being so firm made Lin sound like a leader.
The fellow replied that he would do what Lin wanted and changed his username to his condo number, so Lin allowed him to rejoin the group. His new username was “2171”, i.e., Building 2, 17th floor, Condo 1. To Lin’s surprise, that was just upstairs from his own residence. The icon on the guy’s WeChat messages was just a flag, not a profile picture, so Lin didn't know whether he’d seen him around or not.
After that, 2171 was always respectful to Lin in group messages. In fact he always agreed with Lin. Lin no longer disliked him, but he didn't know what it would be like if they met in person.
Lin’s mother-in-law was hospitalized. His brother-in-law was supposed to deliver food(1) that day, but he was busy and Lin’s wife asked Lin to do it. Traffic was heavy, so Lin was late returning to work. His boss read him the riot act and threatened to deduct the time from his bonus. Lin explained that his mother-in-law was in the hospital, but the more he explained, the more his boss castigated him: "Why didn't you ask for leave in advance? I think you don’t respect your leaders!”
Lin felt wronged and, the more he thought about it, the angrier he became. When he got home, his wife tried to comfort him by saying it was all her brother's fault. Lin told her, "I heard that my boss bought a condo in our community, too. I wonder why he hasn't joined the owners group. If he does, I’ll teach him a lesson!"
"I saw his wife coming home the other day,” his wife said. “She wanted to see how we’ve decorated our condo. Oh, and she told me they live in building two, seventeenth floor, number 1. That’s right above our place.”
Lin opened WeChat as soon as he heard that and looked up 2171. Could it be him? No wonder he’d originally chosen “Responsible” for his username! Lin remembered what he’d said about an inspection, and also remembered that some bigwigs had visited his office during those two days. It seems that 2171 was indeed his boss.
Just then 2171 happened to post an advertisement in the group. That was against the group’s rules, but it was an ad for decorating materials, which could be useful to the members, so it didn’t seem like a huge violation. Lin didn't care if it was a minor offense, though. He told himself, “You took your anger out on me, and now I can return the favor.”
So he sent 2171 an explosive text using many of the words the boss had directed at him. He changed the words about disrespecting the leader to disrespecting the group rules -- he didn't dare say disrespecting the group leader. Anyway, he’d vented his anger and felt relieved, even if his reaction was a bit excessive.
No one in the group said anything while he waited for 2171's counterattack. After a while, 2171 did post a message, but he wasn’t angry. In fact he admitted he was wrong and blamed a relative who’d opened a store and wanted him to post the ad. He asked the group leader not to be angry and promised to follow the group rules in the future.
That was something Lin hadn’t expected. It extinguished the embers of anger he still felt.
Thereafter, whenever the boss got mad at Lin at work, Lin would find fault with 2171 in the group chat or make insinuations about him. But 2171 never argued about it -- he always agreed with Lin and even flattered him. Lin didn’t quite understand. How could anyone get nicer to you every time you mistreated them?
Of course, Lin boasted about his position, too. “I was your punching bag at work, and you’re mine here, so it's fair!” He even showed the WeChat posts to his mother-in-law.
His wife said, "You’d be screwed if he knew it was you!"
Lin answered, "Que sera, sera. What’s there to be afraid of! I’ll just say it was all a misunderstanding. I’ll vent my anger now and worry about the rest of it later.”
While Lin was saying this to his wife, his boss was holding his phone and telling his own wife: "This guy’s nit-picking me again. I’m so angry!" His wife asked, "Why do you put up with him?"
"It’s his turf, isn’t it? He's the leader of this group. If I have to put up with him, so be it! "
"Does he know it's you?"
“I imagine he does. You told his wife the number of our condo that day, didn’t you?
"He knows who you are but still has the nerve to treat you like this?"
"He’s got a plan. When the time comes, he’ll just pretend he didn’t know. Wait and see!"
Eventually the boss found a nit to pick with Lin. He called him into the inner sanctum and yelled at him. The office door was ajar and people hid to one side to eavesdrop. As the boss kept yelling, Lin's face turned pale, then red, blue, and purple. Finally he couldn't hold back shouted, "I’m the group leader!"
The people in the department had been wondering why the boss was so out of sorts that day. Lin's words left them even more puzzled. But then something incredible happened. The boss jumped up from his chair, stretched out his hand and bowed to Lin. In a respectful tone, he invited Lin, "Please, sit down. Have a seat!"
(1) Chinese hospitals don’t provide meals to patients as a matter of course. The patient’s relatives are expected to bring food in.
Text at 《彼岸花》 p. 026. Also availablehere.