“Appeal? Is that necessary?”
“No matter what, she won’t accept that judgment. She has devoted all her energy to the lawsuit and will fight to the bitter end. Do you understand what I’m saying?”
“Of course I do. With certain people behind her, she might get what she wants.”
“Well, then, I’ll drop the subject.” The girl smiled. “Would you do me the honor of a dance?”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t know how to dance. In fact, this is my first time here. Why don’t you ask someone else?”
“What a shame. All right, I will.” She waved to a waiter. “Bring a Coke for this gentleman, on me.” She walked off.
Meng was so humiliated, he could only ask the waiter where to find Liu Yue.
“She didn’t come down today, so she must be in her room. Go through that door and take the staircase to your right to the third floor. She’s in room 18.”
He took some money out and handed it to the waiter. “Please give this to the lady. Tell her I can’t let my lover pay for drinks after I asked her out.”
Meng rang the doorbell at room 18, but heard nothing, so he rang again.
“Who is it?” Liu Yue asked.
“It’s me.”
“Go see the business office. I’m with an important guest.”
“It’s me, Meng Yunfang.”
The door opened. She was so heavily made up, he barely recognized her. “It’s so hard to get to see you now, Liu Yue. What’s that perfume? You smell awful, like a Westerner.”
She signaled with her eyes. “There’s a Western guy in my room,” she whispered. She motioned toward a suite inside; the door was ajar. Meng went into the room. “Meng Laoshi,” she said, “none of you have come to see me since you married me off.” Then she lowered her voice. “Who’s your dance partner today?”
“I’m half-blind and half-deaf, so who would have me? Zhuang Laoshi has been in a terrible funk, so we thought we’d come see you.”
“Don’t use me as an excuse if you’re looking for fun. What could be bothering Zhuang Laoshi? Now that I’m gone, he should be worry-free.”
“You’re an ungrateful little monkey.” He told her about Tang Wan’er’s disappearance, Niu Yueqing’s departure, and Zhuang’s sad, lonely state. Her eyes reddened. “Where is he now?” she asked.
“We agreed to meet here at four, but I couldn’t find you on the dance floor. Try to cheer him up. See if you can talk him into apologizing to your dajie and patching things up with her.”
“I’ve been busy here since I got married. I’ve wanted to go visit them, but I can never find the time. Luckily no one looks down on me here, and I’ve been thinking about inviting you all to watch my performance. But after Ruan Zhifei got beaten up, I had to take over for a while. That’s why I haven’t had time to return to the compound. I didn’t know all this had happened to him.”
“What did you say? Ruan Zhifei was beaten up?”
“You didn’t know? He collects the take every night after the place closes. Two nights ago, someone stopped him at the top of the stairs. ‘Are you Mr. Ruan?’ he asked. Ruan didn’t know the guy, who said he was a secretary at the Pacific Company. They were having some sort of celebration and wanted some fashion models to help with the festivities. Ruan told him the models never perform outside the dance hall. The guy asked whether Ruan could talk to their manager, who was waiting in a car downstairs. Ruan followed him down. There were three men in the car. One of them, a fat guy, reached out to shake Ruan’s hand, but the moment their hands touched, the man jerked him forward as the so-called secretary shoved him into the car, which sped off. Knowing he was in trouble, Ruan held on to his money pouch and asked what this was all about. The fat guy punched him in the eye, smashing his glasses. A shard punctured his eye, which bled. The fat guy told him, ‘That’s what it’s about. We know you’ve gotten rich, but you can’t leave us hungry all the time. If we ask for a loan, you won’t give it to us, so we’re sorry, but this is the way it has to be.’ Ruan said, ‘Before you do this, you need to know that Liu Yue works at my dance hall. Do you know who she is?’ The fat guy said, ‘Sure. She’s married to the mayor’s son; so what? You’ve made plenty, and now you’re holding on to your left eye in order to identify us.’ He slugged Ruan again, this time in the left eye. They drove to Nanhuang Road, where they dumped him out and sped off. Luckily, a vegetable vendor found him and took him to the hospital, but he’d been blinded. It was big news. I’m surprised you haven’t heard. Dazheng’s father was outraged and ordered the police to catch the criminals. They set up roadblocks at the four city gates, but didn’t turn up anyone suspicious. When they asked Ruan what the three men looked like, he was unable to say for sure, only that one of them was fat and they drove a red car.”
Meng was shocked by the news. Liu Yue told him how difficult it was going be to solve the case, even though the police had been working hard on it. Uninterested in what the police were doing, Meng asked which hospital Ruan was in and how he was doing. She told him he was at the Western Medical School Hospital, but she didn’t know his condition, since she had been too busy to visit him.
“Ruan was smart to have you take over, but you need to be careful. Working here is more complicated than being a maid.”
“If the bad guys aren’t afraid of the mayor, I’ll give them whatever they want. I’m not going to be like Ruan Zhifei, who values money more than his life.”
Meng laughed as he eyed the suite inside. “Where’s he from?” he whispered. “Is the dance hall engaged in international trade?”
“He’s a teacher at the foreign language school. He knows some Chinese and comes here to dance, which was how we met. He’s an American. Want to meet him?”
“I can’t stand their cologne,” Meng said. “How long has he been here? Why is he hanging around?”
“He’s just here to talk. Americans are like that. Don’t get any ideas, OK?”
“You’re not a young girl anymore. You’re married to the mayor’s son, and everyone is watching you.”
“I’m old enough to know how to take care of myself.”
Meng looked at his watch. It was four o’clock, so he said he would go down to wait for Zhuang and the others at the door and come back up with them later. Liu Yue said she would stay in her office and send the American away so she would be free to dance with Zhuang.
Meng waited downstairs for a long time without seeing his friends, even after Liu had sent the American away. Worrying about Ruan, Meng went up to tell her that he was going to the hospital, adding that she shouldn’t tell Zhuang what had happened to Ruan, so as not to ruin the outing. When he returned from the hospital with a better sense of Ruan’s injury, he would talk to everyone and settle on a day when they could go see him together. Moved by Meng’s thoughtfulness, Liu Yue stayed at the dance hall till dark, but Zhuang never showed up, nor did Meng return to see her, which led to a night of anxiety.
Meng did not get to see Ruan at the hospital; the doctor told him that Ruan had just had a double eye transplant, and no visitors were allowed. The news of a successful operation put Meng’s mind at ease, and he wondered what the transplant surgery was all about. “Can you really get a new eye?” he asked. “Of course,” said the doctor. “When did you lose sight in that eye? Why don’t you come in for surgery?”
“One eye is enough for me. With all the robberies occurring these days, what has the world come to? One more eye to see what’s happening would simply upset me more.”
“How can you talk like that, comrade?” The doctor looked annoyed.