人生若只如初见 Chapter 7

I quit my job a few months after Kate went to America. When I said good-bye to and shook hands with Da Sun in all formality, I felt the coldness we nourished toward each other. But I didn’t care. I had decided to take the TOEFL and GRE exams, and apply for admission to some American universities. My college roommate, Wang Jiu, who was working in Beijing, bought the exam preparation books from the New Oriental School for me upon my request. If things did not work out that way, I would go to Beijing, or Shanghai, or southern China to find a job: it had to be better than me withering away in Da Sun’s company.

 

I moved back to school. My Go buddy from the chemistry department, Zhang Yong, who became a graduate student now, found me a place to stay. There was a spare bed in a room for the graduate students of the department of English.

 

So I came to be roommate with Lao Yu. He was about ten years older than me, and he was a very funny guy. His beard grew very fast. In the morning, when he got up, he put soap on his face and have it shaved very cleanly. In the afternoon, his chins were black again. He loved sports, especially tennis. But his favorite phrase was, “I still want to be a woman in my next life.” He was a chronic farter. When he farted loudly, he sometimes said, “Harry, this is for an American novel – the Call of the Wild.”

 

We became very close. We often had our lunch and dinner together. When I went to the rest room, he would grab a newspaper and a cigarette and follow me to the restroom. We occupied two adjacent stalls, smoking and talking. One day he said, “There was a rumor in the department of English, that you and I are gays.”

 

I told him about Kate. He said, like a big brother, “There are good women everywhere. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”

 

One evening, Zhang Yong came to our dorm room after dinner.

Lao Yu said, “ I heard there was a Kate in your department, cute and smart.” He winked at me.

Zhang Yong said, “Yes. She went to America.”

“She got 670 in TOEFL? That is a very high score.” Lao Yu said, “A girl in my department took the test and only got 630.”

“Who said that? She got 610.” Zhang Yong said.

“She got a full scholarship from some university in Michigan?” Lao Yu asked.

“No. She only got tuition waiver. For everything else, she has to pay out of her own pocket.” Zhang Yong said.

“How could she afford that?” I said.

“She can sell her pussy.” Zhang Yong said, laughing.

 

Lao Yu said, “Harry is her admirer.”

Zhang Yong was surprised, and said, “I am sorry, Harry, I am sorry.”

I said, “It is ok.” It really was ok. I was not offended at all. Kate did not give a rat about me. I knew that. Hearing her name mentioned no longer gave me excitement; hearing her name trashed did not give me pain. Besides, I just leared that she was such a good braggart.

 

 

A few days later, Zhang Yong treated me to dinner in a small restaurant on campus. We were drinking beer. He said, “To be honest with you, Harry, you need to forget Kate. She had more than ten guys after her. She was the kind of the girl who relishes having a bunch of guys hanging around her, but never commits herself to anyone of them. I knew she had admirers from the department of Engineering, from the College of Law, and from my own department.”

I took a drink of beer, and said, “Thanks for your advice.”

 

Someone introduced a girl, Xiao Yang, to Lao Yu. They dated for a while. One day when Lao Yu and I were talking after lunch, Xiao Yang stopped by. There was a reunion meeting among her college friends, and she wanted Lao Yu to go with her. Lao Yu said he had something else to do that afternoon. Xiao Yang pleaded, “Come with me. Come with me.” stubbing the ground with her feet, like a little girl.

 

Lao Yu went with her. When he came back in the evening, he complained, “I really should not go to the party. I spent my whole month’s salary for a tennis bat, and only had forty Yuan in my pocket. And I had to spend that for some fruit – I cannot go to the party empty handed, can I?”

 

Lao Yu heard some bad story about Xiao Yang in her college days. She was partying with two guys one night. All three of them drank a lot of wine, and stayed in the same hotel room. The next morning, the two guys offered to pay her a sum of money, and the thing was: she accepted the money. Lao Yu was very angry. “How could they introduce such a woman to me?” he said.

 

I witnessed their next meeting – their last meeting. She was sitting on a chair, happy, not knowing that some ugly story had reached Lao Yu’s ears, not seeing a breakup was afoot. She was a petite. I looked at her, and felt very sorry for her.

 

“We should not see each other anymore.” Lao Yu said.

“Why?” she was taken unawares.

“I have erectile dysfunction.” Lao Yu said.

She stood up from the chair, and looked at Lao Yu in shock and di*****elief. Her smiles frozen. her lips quivering, she seemed to be going to cry. She did not say anything and ran out.

 

I did well in my TOEFL and GRE exams, and got a teaching assistantship from a university in San Francisco. I took a train to Beijing to apply for F1 visa. The train car was crowded and hot. I thought about the trips I took when I was a little boy. When I was a little boy my father and I took annul trips from Hubei to northeastern China. My father would take a bian dan, with our luggage on one end, and me in a cylinder on the other. When we got on the train, there was no seat available. My father would put some newspaper under the seat, and ask me to crawl under the seat and lie down on the newspaper. He would put our luggage on the overhead rack, and sat down on the floor near me. You could not go to the rest room. Not that there was no rest room in the train. But the car was so crowded you could not walk through. Some mother would let the baby pee and shit on the car floor. I could see the urine running like a brook and smell it.

 

It will be over soon. I wish I can get the visa and go to America. Everybody has a car in America. I will travel in my own car. It has to be very convenient and comfortable. Please, God, please, let me get the visa.

 

I stayed in Wang Jiu’s place. He asked about my GRE score. I said I got 2300.

He said, “Tell me your knack – I am preparing for GRE too.” He told me that he was dating a beautiful woman. This woman let him have sex with her, but did not want to marry him. She said she had to marry some rich guy to support her spending habit. Wang Jiu’s salary was obviously too little. Seeing my friend, who was a virile and handsome guy, succumb to the power of Mammon in the matter of love, was quite some food for thought.

 

We took a taxi to the US embassy in the evening, hoping to get in front of the line for the visa. I touched the mirror of the taxi when I got in. The driver said with a menacing tone, “If you damage my mirror I will be beat you up.”

I said, “I will pay you if I damage your mirror.”

Wang Jiu said, “What damage did he do? He did not do anything.”

He sounded angry and tough; the driver did not talk back.

 

When we got to the embassy, a Chinese guy on a bike was there taking registrations. So we did not have to wait there all night, as we previously thought. I registered myself for a 100^th something position in the line, and we went back to Wang Jiu’s place.

 

We returned to the embassy the next morning at 8 AM. There was already a long line now. There were sellers peddling water and food. We were questioned at the entrance of the embassy. The visa officer was a white woman. I prayed when I was getting close to her: please, God, please, let me get the visa.

 

I overheard her talking to the guy in front of me.

She said, “Why do you want to go to the University of Virginia?”

He said, “It is a world class university, with a very beautiful campus.”

She said, “You need to go into the embassy for an interview.”

 

When it was my turn, she asked, “Why do you want to go to this university?”

I said, “I applied to several universities for admission. This is the only university that gave me financial assistance, without which I can not afford a US education.”

She said, “Good. Come to pick up the visa in the afternoon.”

When I was leaving, some people gathered around me, asking me questions: what did the visa officer ask you? How did you answer? Did you have financial support?

 

I gave my father a call, using Wang Jiu’s cell phone, telling him that I got the visa, and I would pick up the visa that afternoon.

 

I called Kate’s father a few days before I left for America. I got his number from the university information line. He sounded a good old man.

I said, “I am a friend of Kate’s, and I am going to the states soon. Can you tell me her phone number?”

He hesitated, and said, “How about me giving you her email address? You can get in touch with her through email.”

I said, “Ok,” and jotted down her email address on a piece of paper.