"Xu-Ying," she answered after a pause.
"Work unit?"
"She hasn't got work yet, we're going back to Beijing," he answered for her.
"There's a five-yuan deposit. It's one yuan per day, and the account is settled when you vacate the room."
He paid the money. The woman kept his identity card and came out from behind the counter with a bunch of keys. She opened a small door by the stairs and pulled the light cord inside. A light bulb hung from the sloping ceiling. Having squeezed into this little nook, a storage space under the stairs that had been converted into a small room with a single bed, they couldn't straighten up. At the other end of the room was a washbasin stand and nothing else, not even a chair. The fat woman shuffled off in her slippers, waving her bunch of keys.
He shut the door. He and this woman, Xu Ying, looked at one another.
"I'll go out soon," he said.
"There's no need," the woman said, sitting down on the bed. "It's all right."
It was only then that he took a good look at the woman. She was very pale, so he asked, "Are you very tired? You can lie down and rest."
The woman remained seated and didn't move. Footsteps clattered overhead. Someone came down the stairs, then, outside, there was the sound of splashing water, most likely the person was having a wash in the courtyard. The little room had no window for ventilation, and it was unbearably hot and stuffy.
"Would you like the door open?" he asked.
"No," the woman said.
"Would you like me to get you a basin of water? I'll wash outside," he said.
The woman nodded.
When he came back later on, the woman had washed and combed her hair. She had changed into a round-neck sleeveless top with little yellow flowers, and, shoes off, was sitting on the bed. She had replaited her hair tightly, and the color had returned to her face; she had a girlish look. She bent her knees to leave half the bed clear, and said, "Sit down, there's room here!"
For the first time, the woman smiled. He also smiled, relaxed, and said, "I had to say that." He was, of course, referring to when they registered and he had put them down as husband and wife.
"I understood, of course." The woman's lips scrunched up into a smile.
He then bolted the door, took off his shoes, sat cross-legged at the other end of the bed, and said, "I can't believe it!"
"What?" the woman asked, tilting her head to one side.
"Do you need to ask?"
This woman called Xu Ying again scrunched up her lips into a smile.
Afterward, many years later, when he thought back to that night, there was also flirting, seduction, lust, passion, and love. It was not just a night of terror.
"Was that really your name?" he asked.
"I can't tell you right now."
"Then when will you?"
"You'll know when the time comes. Wait and see."
"See what?"
"Isn't it clear to you yet?"
He stopped talking and felt cozy and comfortable. The footsteps on the stairs had stopped, and there was no more splashing out in the courtyard. A sort of tension began to coalesce, and it was as if something was about to happen. It was only some years later, when he thought back to that time, that he again experienced such a feeling.
"Is it all right to put out the light?" he asked.
"It is a bit too bright," she said.
When he felt his way back to the bed after putting out the light, he bumped her leg, and she immediately moved away but let him lie beside her. He was very careful, and lay on his back very straight on the outside part of the bed. However, in the single bed, their bodies inevitably touched, and, if she didn't move away, he didn't try too hard, either. The woman's clammy warmth and the stifling heat in the room made him sweat all over. In the dark, he could vaguely make out the sloping ceiling that seemed to press down on him and made the heat feel even more oppressive.
"Would it be all right if I took off my clothes?" he asked.
The woman didn't respond, but didn't indicate that she objected. When their bodies touched after he'd removed his shirt and trousers, she didn't move away, but she was obviously not asleep. "Why are you going to Beijing?" he asked.
"To see my maternal aunt."
Surely this wasn't the time to be visiting relatives? He didn't believe her.
"My aunt works in the Ministry of Health," the woman added.
He said he also worked in a state workplace.
"I know."
"How do you know?"
"When you took out your identity card."
"And do you also know my name?"
"Of course, didn't you register just now?"
In the darkness, he seemed to see, or, rather, sense that the woman had her lips scrunched up in a smile.
"Otherwise, I wouldn't…"
"Be sleeping with me, right?" he said it for her.
"As long as you know!"
He detected something gentle in her voice, and when he unavoidably put his hand on her thigh, she didn't try to move away. But then he thought she trusted him and he didn't dare do anything else.
"Which university are you at?" he asked.
"I've already graduated, I'm waiting to be assigned work," she said, evading his question.
"What did you study?"
"Biology."
"Have you dissected corpses?"
"Of course."
"Including human corpses?"
"I'm not a doctor, my studies are theoretical, but, of course, I've done practical work in hospital laboratories. I'm just waiting to be assigned to a work unit. The project was set up, if it hadn't…"
"If it hadn't what? This Cultural Revolution?"
"It had already been settled that I would go to a research institute in Beijing."
"Are your parents cadres?"
"No."
"Then your maternal aunt is a high-ranking official?"
"You want to know everything."
"I don't even know if your name is real or not."
The woman was smiling again; this time, her whole body was shaking, and he could feel it with his hand. He grasped her thigh and could feel her flesh through her trousers.
"I'll tell you," she put her hand on his and shifted it from her thigh as she murmured, "I'll tell you everything…"
He took her hand in his, and it gradually became relaxed, soft.
Banging on the door! It was the front door of the inn.
The two of them went stiff, and, listening with bated breath, tightly clutched one another's hands. There was a commotion, and the front door opened; it was either a night search or a special investigation. A group of people loudly questioned the woman in charge, then went around knocking at each of the downstairs rooms. Some of them went upstairs, and their footsteps resounded above on the wooden steps. A door-to-door search was taking place on both floors. Suddenly, there was a loud thumping noise on the floor-boards, someone was running. Shouting and swearing immediately followed, then total chaos. There was a dull thud, like a heavy burlap bag falling to the ground, a man howling, and then a confusion of footsteps. The howling abruptly turned into a piercing scream then gradually faded.
They sat on the bed, their hearts pounding wildly, as they waited for someone to knock on the door. There was another period of agony as the search was repeated upstairs and downstairs. However, no one came to their door, either they had overlooked this small room under the stairs, or the details he gave upon registering meant that he was of no interest to their investigation. The front door was locked, the woman grumbled for a while, then silence prevailed again.
In the darkness, she was suddenly shivering. He swept her trembling body into his arms and kissed her sweaty cheeks and soft lips. Their perspiration and tears mingled as they lay in the bed. He ran his hand over her sweat-covered breasts, unbuttoned her trousers, and put his hand between her legs, she was wet, couldn't move, and let him do whatever he wanted. When he entered her body, the two of them were naked…