Huixian covered her face with a newspaper, lacking the courage to watch Old Cui as he plied the scissors. ‘Go ahead,’ she said to encourage him. ‘Do what you have to do. I can live with however it turns out. I won’t blame you even if it’s terrible.’
People gathered around to get a closer look. They watched and watched until suddenly they started clapping. ‘It’s lovely!’ they shouted. ‘Terrific! She’d look great with any hair-do. Goodbye Li Tiemei, hello Ke Xiang!’
Still holding the newspaper over her face, Huixian sneered, ‘What do you mean, Ke Xiang? I’m not that old.’ When it was finished, she lowered the newspaper and looked at herself in the mirror. ‘Not bad,’ she said after a long pause. ‘Maybe a little old for me, but so what?’ She got out of the chair, walked over and kicked the braid, which rolled across the slick tiled floor until it finally came to rest. There was a smile on her face, but tears glistening in her eyes. Refusing to embarrass herself by crying, she covered her mouth with her hand and said, ‘Did you see how that braid crawled across the floor? Looked like a snake, didn’t it?’
The atmosphere became strained; no one knew what to say as they gaped at the braid on the floor, somewhat stunned. Deep down they felt that Old Cui’s scissors had shortened more than Huixian’s hair, maybe even her destiny, and they didn’t know what to do to console her. The grain-distribution-centre bookkeeper had a sudden flash of inspiration. ‘Pick that up, Huixian. You can sell it at the purchasing station. A fine braid like that will fetch a good price.’
Without giving it so much as a second look, Huixian said, ‘Who’d want it? Nothing you can sell at the purchasing station is worth anything.’
* * *
Huixian was ‘hung out’ for half a year or more, during which she spent all her time at the barbershop, which was fine with her, until she was assigned a job by the General Affairs Building. She went out early in the morning and returned to the dormitory after nightfall, almost as if she worked in the barbershop. Then one day Leng Qiuyun changed the lock on their door, and Huixian had to force it open, leading to a violent argument. The confrontation worsened the next day, when Huixian found her chest and bedding out in the hall. Her tin lantern rested atop the chest. She raised the roof outside the room, but Leng Qiuyun had gone off somewhere after hanging a sign on the door, indicating they’d fight another day. Occupants of nearby rooms rushed into the hallway to calm Huixian down, telling her that Leng’s husband was coming to visit, and that Huixian’s presence in the room would make it awkward for the couple. ‘Awkward for her,’ Huixian insisted. ‘What about me? We share the room, half each, and unless I agree, her husband can go somewhere else!’
‘It doesn’t matter if you agree or not,’ they said. ‘The Party Secretary has given the OK, so you have to give up the room for now. Leng Qiuyun talked to Zhao Chuntang, who said you can sleep in the third-floor conference room.’
‘What does he take me for?’ Huixian shouted. ‘Tables and chairs live in the conference room, and I’m neither. I won’t sleep there!’
Her face was white with rage as she looked through her things, one item at a time, getting angrier by the minute. She stamped her foot and uttered every dirty epithet she could think of: ‘Leng Qiuyun, you rotten cunt, I’ll thump you, thump you to death, just see if I don’t thump that cunt of yours!’
The officials standing nearby all knew exactly what she meant. These were all swear words used by the boat people. Struck dumb at first, they quickly gathered their wits about them and launched an angry attack from all sides: ‘Go to hell, Little Tiemei! The organization wasted its time trying to educate you, mentored you for nothing! How could you fall so low so easily? When there are disputes between comrades, you don’t settle them with filthy low-class language you learned on the boats.’
Huixian knew she’d caused a public outrage, but she said, ‘Why are you all taking her side? She had it coming. If people left me alone I’d leave them alone, but if they won’t, I won’t stand by and take it. Chairman Mao said that!’
She could see people looking at her in disgust as a result of her using one of Chairman Mao’s sayings to defend herself. One of them sneered and said sarcastically, ‘See that? Who said she neglects her studies? She’s learned the art of distortion.’
Lantern in hand, Huixian went up to the fourth floor to see Zhao Chuntang, who was well aware that she and Leng Qiuyun were at loggerheads. In the past, Huixian had started most of the arguments, but as her protector, he’d backed her up. This time, while there was no denying that Leng had tossed Huixian’s things out into the hall, he placed the blame squarely on Huixian. Before she even stepped into his office, she heard him bellow, ‘What are you, a spoiled mistress of the bourgeois class? You’ve got a nerve, coming here to lodge a complaint! A husband and wife belong together, so what’s wrong with sleeping in the conference room for a few nights?’
Unaware of the current situation, Huixian stood in the doorway with her lantern and railed at Zhao, ‘You’re not being fair! Why can’t they sleep in the conference room?’
‘He’s a soldier, and she’s a soldier’s wife. It’s policy to give them special treatment. Who do you think you are, anyway? Don’t you think I’ve treated you well enough?’ Zhao glanced down at the red lantern. ‘What are you trying to prove by holding on to that? Just look at you. Do you really think you’re qualified to raise a red lantern? Wearing your hair like a disgusting mass of noodles. Go and take a look at yourself in a mirror and tell me if you see even a trace of Li Tiemei!’
The withering criticism rendered Huixian speechless. She raised the lantern and took a look at it, then let her hand drop, causing the lantern to bump against her leg. ‘Why do I have to look like Li Tiemei?’ she mumbled. ‘I’m not her, and that’s not my fault. Do I have to be Li Tiemei to bed down in the dormitory?’
‘When you’re not Li Tiemei,’ Zhao said, ‘you’re nothing. Now stand aside, treat a soldier’s dependant the way she deserves and take your things up to the conference room.’
‘I’ll stand aside, all right, but I won’t treat her the way you say. I’m supposed to go to the conference room just because she says so, is that right? Well, I’m not going to do it. She tossed my chest out, so tomorrow I’m going to toss her blanket out!’
‘You do that and I’ll toss you out, all the way back to the Sunnyside Fleet. Think I won’t?’ Zhao banged his hand on the table and glared at her. ‘Do you want to go back to the fleet? Well, do you? No? Then do as I say, and bed down in the conference room.’
‘Why does it have to be the conference room? I could stay somewhere else, like Li Ling’s dorm or Little Yao’s.’
‘You could, but they don’t want you. You think you’ve won over the masses, don’t you? You’re not the Little Tiemei you once were. Who do you think your friends are now? Not one person in all four dormitories wants you as a room mate.’
‘So what? I don’t care if they don’t like me. I don’t care if I never see them again. But I’m not going to sleep in the conference room. It’s not safe for a girl to be alone, and it’s inconvenient too.’
‘What do you mean, safe? And inconvenient? You’re haughty, you’re wilful, and you’re more trouble than you’re worth.’ His patience exhausted, Zhao turned and gazed out of the window. Suddenly, a look of steely determination filled his eyes. ‘Why don’t you move out of the General Affairs Building altogether and take up residence in the People’s Barbershop. You spend every day there anyway, learning what you can about how the bourgeoisie live, so move in. You’ll be safe there, and it couldn’t be more convenient.’