Chapter 10 Flowing Water

Chapter 10: Flowing Water

Mou Wen's hometown was Yakeshi, an obscure fourth-tier city.

This place was magical, like a ribbon linking the endless Hulunbuir grasslands to the Greater Khingan Mountains.

In high school, Mou Wen once bragged in an essay: "I've got the open-mindedness of the grasslands and the tolerance of the forests..." Her teacher liked Mou Wen and said, "Your essays are pretty good—they'd be even better if you were a bit more modest."

Mou Wen then snapped to attention and saluted her teacher, saying, "Got it, teacher! I'll remember!"

Summers in Yakeshi were short, winters long. Winter took up half the year. The first snow fell in late September, and then winter came charging in.

Her dad, Mou Dechang, didn't drive big rigs anymore.

Mou Dechang had a rough go of it. All those years driving big rigs had built up some savings, enough to live comfortably in Yakeshi. One winter, he got caught in a blizzard and crashed on the highway. His cab was crushed and mangled. When the traffic cops pulled him out, his body was smashed flat, barely a breath left in him.

They rushed him to the hospital, as per standard procedure. He went through a dozen or so major and minor surgeries and pulled through. His savings were wiped out, and he'd racked up some debt. Luckily, Mou Wen's parents were hardworking and optimistic, and slowly they got their lives back together.

Mou Wen used to be a fun-loving kid, coasting on her natural smarts to stay near the top of her class. After her dad got hurt, she thought, "I need to study hard and show my dad all my awards for being a top student and getting first place." And she did it—from then on, she always came in first and never slipped again.

Now things were better. Dad didn't drive big rigs anymore, and Mom didn't have to worry day and night. Dad drove a small car, shuttling between the pastures and the forest, giving folks rides and selling goods, sometimes taking tourists around Hulunbuir.

The income was unstable, but life was steady.

Mou Wen loved tagging along with her dad on delivery runs.

She'd barely warmed her feet at home before she was off with her dad to the Ewenki Banner. Going to the banner in winter was a blast. They'd find a safe spot and watch eagles circling overhead. It was a spectacular sight.

All she could see now was an endless sea of white. Mou Wen wore little sunglasses, wrapped herself in a wool blanket, and sniffled as she said to her dad, "Dad, let's get a new car next year, yeah?"

"This one still runs fine!" Mou Dechang cranked the heater, but it was useless. The car, about to be scrapped, seemed to let wind in from every direction.

Mou Wen felt for her dad, but she stayed upbeat: "Once I graduate, I'll start working for real. My workplace pays really well—I'm definitely getting you a new car."

Mou Dechang didn't burst her bubble. He smiled warmly and said, "Alright then, get me a small truck. A small truck can haul more stuff."

"Deal!" Mou Wen said proudly. "I know a ton about cars now—from thirty or fifty thousand to three or five million! I've got it all down!"

"You know cars that cost three to five million too?"

"Heh heh. I've been in one." Mou Wen said. "A client from my internship gave me a ride once. But Dad, that car—pricey as it was—was so airtight that I got carsick riding in it too long." She tapped her finger on the frost on the window. "Our car's better—it keeps you grounded and awake!"

"Awake, sure—it's frozen your nose into a runny mess!" Mou Dechang burst out laughing.

In the afternoon, they got to the Gacha village, unloaded the supplies at the village committee office, and called each herder one by one to come get them. Mou Wen loved making those calls to the herders, because the signal was bad there—she had to find a spot with better reception first, then start yelling into the phone.

After going to school in Tianjin and getting tamed by city life, Mou Wen rarely got the chance to yell at the top of her lungs.

She stood in the heavy snow and yelled:

"Subehrub! Your stuff's at the village committee office! Where? The village! Committee! Office!"

"Narison! Your stuff's at the village committee office! The village! Committee! Office!"

...

Mou Dechang stood off to the side, chatting with a village official. The official said once the road here was fixed, they'd run a bus route to Ulanhot. In a few more years, they'd build a railway, and trains would go all the way to Hohhot...

Mou Dechang said, "Then I'll be out of a job. Once everyone can get around easily, they won't need me to buy and deliver stuff for them."

"With better transportation, more people will come here. Then you can be a tour guide," the young official said. "You're really good at this."

Mou Wen saw her father smile happily.

Her phone buzzed with an unknown number. She answered and spoke, but the person on the other end seemed unable to hear her. She shouted for a while, then finally hung up. During the call, she caught three or four words that sounded like "Xie Chong." She spaced out for a moment, then decided it wasn't him. She had his number after all!

Herders came riding horses through the wind and snow to pick up their goods, and Mou Wen once again played salesgirl, selling off everything her father had left. Some people remembered her and would ask, "Girl, on break? Back to be a village cadre?"

Mou Wen waved her hand. "I'm going to work in Beijing."

The person would widen their eyes and say, "Beijing? That far? I love Tiananmen Square in Beijing."

Mou Wen would tease them: "Pretty impressive of me, right?"

The herder would reply in a thick accent, "Impressive, impressive!"

She was happy the whole Spring Festival—being with her parents was enough to make her happy. Occasionally she'd think of Xie Chong and wonder what he was doing. Would he ever think of her in some moment too?

She was still young, her heart burning hot, not yet filled with too many things. She'd hope Xie Chong would call her to chat, since their last meeting had been quite pleasant, and they already seemed like friends.

But she overlooked one thing: some people are warm when you meet them, but cold when you're apart. Xie Chong was that kind of person.

He'd thought of Mou Wen when passing by Baishi Bridge, but only for a brief moment. He had too many things to deal with. Mou Wen's appearance was like the finale of 2010—unique. But 2010 would eventually pass, and they would move on to 2011.

He successfully collected all his outstanding payments and, on New Year's Eve, went to the new apartment.

According to Mou Wen, the new place should already have white walls and wooden floors by now, clean and tidy. She hadn't lied to him.

Qian Song carried two camping chairs from the car and set them up in the empty living room. The two of them sat quietly for a while.

Qian Song said that Jiang Wu had recently been spending a lot of time with some man, and told Xie Chong to step up his game, or Jiang Wu would slip away. Xie Chong felt listless—he felt that he and Jiang Wu had completely run out of fate.

He'd always remember Jiang Wu somersaulting boldly on horseback, or leaping without hesitation in front of his suddenly agitated horse to save him.

He wouldn't fight or snatch—he always felt that people who fought over love were undignified. Anything that required fighting for wasn't true love.

He needed to go to Foshan to see his parents, who were living there temporarily, and then head to the UK to handle some work.

Remembering that there was still some finishing work on the apartment, he took out his phone to call Mou Wen, but the battery was dead. He borrowed Qian Song's phone and called. That scatterbrained Mou Wen—who knew what she was doing—there was a fierce wind howling on the other end, and she wasn't speaking properly either, just yelling "Who is this? Who is this?"...

Even through the phone, he could feel the wind stinging his forehead, and it was probably snowing too. He even joked, "Have you been sold off to some remote mountain village?" His joke fell flat, because Mou Wen couldn't hear him at all. She kept asking tirelessly, "Who—are—you?"

Xie Chong found himself raising his voice too: "I'm Xie! Chong!"

And she, still, asked: "Who! Are! You! Do! You! Need! Something!!!"

Xie Chong got annoyed and shouted, "I'm your grandpa!" then hung up the phone directly.

Qian Song laughed so hard he nearly fell off his camping chair: "Hahaha, how did a phone call turn into a shouting match? And how did you become someone's grandpa?"

"Crazy!" Xie Chong was still fuming. "I've never seen such a strange person!"

The next day, he went to Foshan and met his parents, Xie Dongfeng and Liao Xiaohua.

His parents had always been in business. He'd grown up rotating between his maternal grandparents' and paternal grandparents' homes, so he wasn't really "close" with his parents. The family of three toured Foshan, took some tourist photos, had a few meals together, and then Xie Chong went to the UK.

Mou Wen started arranging her return to school on February 25th.

When she returned to school, Yakeshi was still in the throes of a long winter. Her parents saw her off to the train station in Hailar. Mou Wen looked at her hometown still "hunkering down" for winter and felt a pang of reluctance to leave.

Before parting, she said to Mou Dechang again and again: "When Chinese New Year comes, I'm definitely going to buy Dad a new car! Trust me!"

Mou Dechang didn't actually care whether he got a new car or not; he just hoped his daughter wouldn't have to push herself so hard. He felt that because of his accidental car crash, his daughter had already been forced to give up part of her life—otherwise, with her excellent grades, she could have continued on to a master's or even a doctoral degree, immersed in the sea of books she loved.

As the train pulled away, Mou Wen shed a couple more tears. Her hometown gradually receded, and she traveled from the frozen landscape all the way to Tianjin.

"Graduation season" felt like it dragged on forever. She rarely left campus. She skipped the Fifth Avenue she loved to stroll and the Liberation Bridge's opening ceremony she'd wanted to see. She spent all her time preparing for graduation. During that period, she almost cut off all contact with the outside world, and in the end, her college years wrapped up perfectly.

She was on her way back to Beijing.

Chu Ling had already rented an apartment.

It was a two-bedroom on the first floor. The landlord had locked some of his stuff in the second bedroom, while the master bedroom had two twin beds with a long, narrow table in between. She and Chu Ling split the 1,500 yuan rent down the middle. They had their own bathroom and kitchen. Chu Ling sent photos of the room to Mou Wen, and when Mou Wen saw the few pots of small flowers on the windowsill, her mood lifted instantly. She went straight to the bank and transferred her half of the rent to Chu Ling.

The rent money came from the second 5,000 yuan Xie Chong had given her as a reward before she left Beijing. She'd put the first 5,000 aside for emergencies.

At that moment, she thought of Xie Chong again.

She always thought of him at random moments, but she never reached out to him herself.

She could imagine what Xie Chong was like—if he got a call he didn't want to take, he'd definitely think it was a waste of time. And if he wanted to contact someone, he would. Xie Chong had probably completely forgotten her by now; his life was jam-packed with too many interesting people and things. He could be as social or as solitary as he wanted, living entirely on his own terms. That was a life Mou Wen couldn't have yet, but she always felt she would someday.

In July, Beijing had just had a rain shower, and it was unbearably hot and humid. Mou Wen stood in her "new home." It was across from the overpass, and now she was closer to the supermarket. It was in a really old neighborhood, full of elderly folks and kids.

Chu Ling had already cleaned the new place thoroughly. To welcome Mou Wen back, she'd made a special trip to the supermarket to buy meat and had hot pot ready at home.

Yeah, they had a kitchen now, and cookware too—their own induction stove, wok, and utensils. Back when they were bunking in the dorm, the two had occasionally dreamed of one day escaping the shared-rental life and saying goodbye to that pervert who occasionally ran around naked, but they never imagined that day would come this soon.

Mou Wen's endless "bull energy" kicked in again. She told Chu Ling to wait—she was going to make hand-pulled noodles to add a proper main dish to their hot pot.

She'd honed her dough-kneading skills with Ge Yunqing. She tied on an apron and dove right in. The old range hood above her was making a loud racket, the summer kitchen was stuffy and humid, and a small fan on the counter was blowing right on her. Her hair was plastered to her forehead in damp strands.

She hummed as she made the noodles, while Chu Ling helped out on the side: "Mou Wen, why are you so happy?"

Mou Wen held her hand under Chu Ling's nose: "Smell that—doesn't it smell great?"

The smell of flour covered her whole hand, and it made her feel at ease. It was a habit she'd picked up during the long "hibernation" winters in her hometown of Yakeshi: when the house has food, winter doesn't panic.

It dissolved the lingering sadness of leaving school and eased the faint anxiety of actually living in Beijing.

"I love the kitchen so much, Chu Ling." Mou Wen raised her "little white hand" and swore to Chu Ling: "Every free weekend from now on, I'll be in the kitchen, cooking up everything I've learned for you."

Chu Ling clapped along: "Then I'll buy a bouquet of flowers every weekend to fill our room with fragrance."

Just imagining days like that was wonderful, and Mou Wen was over the moon. In the afternoon, it rained again. Mou Wen walked Chu Ling to her evening shift and, on the way back, passed the restaurant where she'd once bumped into Xie Chong.

Someone was standing by the stone pillar at the entrance, holding an umbrella and talking on the phone. The umbrella hid his face, but the figure was painfully familiar to Mou Wen. She stopped in her tracks and held her breath.

Rain from the umbrella fell in lines, shattering the moment it hit the ground, breaking into circles of splashing droplets that isolated him in a lonely world.

Mou Wen walked past him under her own umbrella. The rain was loud, and she heard him say: "Who'd buy that piece of junk? Unless they sell it to Africa."

It really was Xie Chong.

The world was so, so small.

Mou Wen was thrilled—she had to say hello to Xie Chong, because on her very first day back in Beijing, she'd run into him!

She reached out and tapped his umbrella, and heard him curse: "Are you crazy?"

She laughed, raised her umbrella higher, and just as he was about to let loose, revealed her cheerful face: "Mr. Xie! It really is you!"

Xie Chong's brow furrowed slightly, as if he couldn't remember who she was for a moment.

Mou Wen pointed at her own nose: "Me, it's me! The intern who helped you with the renovation, Mou Wen! Mr. Xie, have you forgotten?"

She waited expectantly for him to recognize her, but then another hand emerged from under his umbrella, and someone teased him: "Hiding from the drinks all the way out here? Come on, let's go!"

Xie Chong was pulled away.

Mou Wen felt a pang of regret: "The great man forgets easily—he actually doesn't remember me."

She realized that in a city like Beijing, meetings and partings between people truly flowed like rushing water, always heading east, carrying away fine sand and pebbles—only large stones would remain.

In Xie Chong's heart, she wasn't that large stone; she was the sand.

This cruel realization left Mou Wen feeling dejected.

She went home, took a hot shower, and sat cross-legged on the bed with wet hair, flipping through a book. It felt so comfortable. Earphones in her ears, her old 5300 played songs for her.

"Rain and tears are the same..."

Mou Wen put down the book, leaned her head against the window, and watched the rain pour down and wash the city. Her phone rang, and without checking who it was, she answered casually.

The voice on the other end was a bit hoarse: "Mou Wen, you're back in Beijing."

Mou Wen instinctively glanced at the phone, and the caller ID showed a name:

Xie Chong.