Strange Beasts of China, page 12
I hung up on him and looked at Zhong Liang, who was sitting across from me, dark circles under his eyes. ‘Do you want to eat?’ he asked.
‘No.’
‘I’m hungry,’ he pouted.
‘Then you eat,’ I said tartly. ‘I need to write.’
‘No, you have to keep me company. You’re older, you should be taking care of me.’ He leaned his handsome face closer to mine.
‘Fine, we’ll go get some noodles.’ Zhong Liang said he wanted seafood hotpot, but I said no. The noodles from the stall downstairs were famous – generously laden with meat, in a thickly fragrant sauce. I was just mixing in the sauce when I heard a loud slurping next to me. Zhong Liang had already finished his food, every scrap of it.
‘Are you a hungry ghost?’ I chuckled, taking a bite of my own noodles, but my stomach wasn’t quite ready yet, and I spewed them out right away.
Zhong Liang jumped up with a cry of alarm. He poured me a glass of water to rinse out my mouth, then dragged me upstairs as if I were a little child. In the lift, I said, ‘Zhong Liang, why are you here?’
‘Where else would I be?’ he said, rolling his eyes. ‘One of us needs to have some sense.’ What a man. I could hear the old fox in his voice.
After a while, he said, ‘I still want to research thousand league beasts.’
He looked uneasily at me, and I looked at myself in the lift doors. Silver light flickered across my reflection. My face was yellowish and devoid of expression, my eyes were dark. If my professor could have seen me like this, he’d definitely have a string of insults ready.
‘Go ahead,’ I said. ‘Let’s go and talk to Jiang Tan.’
I didn’t think there was anything he could do now.
* * *
—
THE TROUBLE WAS, JIANG TAN WAS NOWHERE TO BE FOUND. He might look innocent, but he was a slippery customer. The excavation site was completely deserted, and when I called his number, it didn’t go through.
Luckily, not for nothing had Zhong Liang been our professor’s pupil. He was able to dig up Jiang Tan’s address.
It turned out he lived in a rubbish collection company’s staff quarters to the south of the city, not far from the archaeological site. We found the place easily enough. On the seventh floor, we went past a row of doors until we found his. A middle-aged woman who looked a lot like Jiang Tan answered. ‘Can I help you?’
‘Is Mr Jiang in?’ asked Zhong Liang.
She stared at us for a long time. ‘No,’ she finally said.
‘When will he be back?’ said Zhong Liang, unperturbed. We could wait.
‘He doesn’t live here.’
‘Where does he live? We have urgent business to discuss with him.’ Zhong Liang flashed his most charming smile, but she just glared at us, clearly unprepared to divulge any more. Finally, Zhong Liang gave up and handed her his card. ‘If you hear from him, please give us a call. I’m an admirer of his, from Yong’an University.’
Nice work, I thought. Your face didn’t change at all as you were licking her boots.
The air felt colder as we walked out. ‘Let’s got for a drink,’ I said.
‘Can I say no?’ Zhong Liang said pathetically.
‘No.’
* * *
—
IF THIS WERE FICTION, IT WOULD BE FAR TOO CONTRIVED TO say I saw Jiang Tan at the Dolphin Bar – but he really was there, sitting in a corner, downing glass after glass, clearly tipsy.
‘How much has he had?’ I murmured to the bartender, who pretended he hadn’t heard.
Zhong Liang didn’t care. He darted over to sit opposite Jiang Tan. ‘Remember me?’ he said.
‘Who are you?’
‘Zhong Liang.’
‘Don’t know you.’
‘That doesn’t matter.’ Zhong Liang, the king of public relations, flashed a smile and poured him another drink. ‘The main thing is that I know you. Have you dug up anything new?’
‘We’re not digging any more.’
‘Why not?’
For the first time, Jiang Tan answered, like a good boy. ‘Professor Cai is gone.’
‘When will he be back?’ I persisted.
‘He’s not coming back.’ Jiang Tan downed his drink in one, and topped up his glass again. ‘I’ve seen you. I remember you. But you’ve lost weight, haven’t you?’
‘My professor died,’ I said.
‘Mine too,’ he said.
This was a shock.
‘Why didn’t it say so in the papers?’ asked Zhong Liang suspiciously.
‘It’s a secret. He went after the thousand league beasts. I knew he would die. I knew it,’ he muttered. ‘Do you know what fate is? Fate is nine o’clock. Eight o’clock is over, and poof, it’s nine o’clock. No matter what you do, or how slowly you move, you’ll still get to nine.’
‘You knew?’ said Zhong Liang. ‘Does that mean you killed him?’
‘No!’ Jiang Tan was agitated. ‘I wanted to save him! I even killed an innocent person to save him. I thought it was a mistake, but he died. He wanted to die.’
‘How could you let this happen?’ To warm my icy hands, I placed them in Zhong Liang’s. His eyes widened.
‘I told him the person who was most precious in the world to him would die, but he couldn’t tell that to the girl, we can only change our fate by hiding from it,’ he babbled. Then he jumped to his feet and roared like a madman, ‘I tricked him! I did! But I couldn’t trick fate.’
Shaking, I tried to hold him. ‘Why would he believe you? Such a clever man, why?’
Jiang Tan turned to me, his enchanting face contorted. His eyes glowed amber. Suddenly, he grinned, and lowered his mouth to my ear. ‘Don’t you understand?’ he whispered. ‘He loved her, and I’m a mongrel.’ Looking into my eyes, he repeated, ‘I’m a mongrel.’ A tremor went through me. He let go of my hand and ran out of the bar.
I plopped down on the floor. Zhong Liang helped me up, startled by my expression. ‘You’re finally crying,’ he said mournfully. ‘I’m happy for you, but does your nose need to run too?’
I threw my arms around him and howled for our professor. This time, I would remember asking. ‘I need to see him again,’ I said. ‘Zhong Liang, I understand why he wanted those scapes. This was all my fault!’
The year I turned eighteen, the professor had given me a watch, a limited edition with a silver face. ‘You idiot,’ I’d yelled at him. ‘Don’t you know that’s bad luck? You’re saying time’s up.’
He looked startled, then rapped my head. ‘What a lot of strange things you believe.’
I should have known. His last message to me, scrawled on the newspaper, was not A SCAPE but ESCAPE – he’d been warning me to get out.
But this had all been a trick. A lifetime of cleverness, but the one person who couldn’t escape was him. Like he said, I was sent to test him.
* * *
—
THREE DAYS LATER, ZHONG LIANG CAME TO SEE ME. I SAT AT a table laden with food, waiting for him.
He sighed, ‘I got the head chef of Yong’an Hotel to make this takeaway, and you’re just sitting there not eating it!’
Sitting down, he cupped his chin in his hands and stared at me. ‘Hey!’ he said.
I jumped. ‘What?’
He hesitated. ‘Don’t be shocked, okay? Jiang Tan’s dead. He killed himself. His mum called me.’
‘Should we go have a look?’
Before he could answer, I’d dragged him out the door.
* * *
—
‘MY SON’S DEAD,’ SAID THE WOMAN. ‘HE SAID HE WAS exhausted.’
We were back at the staff quarters of the rubbish collection company. The place was spotless, as if the tenement block contained no signs of life, nothing at all. She thrust a photo at us. ‘Look, his father lost his mind early on. He died young, and now his son’s dead too.’
Zhong Liang’s eyes widened. ‘Look!’ He shoved it at me.
A monochrome shot from decades ago. No way to tell what colour the male beast’s skin would have been, let alone his pupils, but his body was slim and upright, his hair long and black, eyes narrow, lips pale, neck long and sorrowful. There was a woman too, a beautiful one, like a female version of Jiang Tan. Jiang Tan himself sat at the couple’s feet, just a child, staring coldly at the camera. His eyes were empty and melancholy, like a deceased old man.
‘A thousand league beast,’ said Zhong Liang hoarsely.
‘I know.’ I remembered, all of a sudden, the stabbing pain when his heel spur had dug into my ankle. ‘He told me he was a mongrel.’
The woman took back the photo and held it to her chest. ‘What did you like about my son?’ she said to Zhong Liang. ‘He had so many boyfriends, but it was Professor Cai he liked most. He even helped the professor find my in-laws’ old house, and told him where they all went. But it turned out they’re all dead. Such a shame, all dead.’
Zhong Liang smiled foolishly. ‘He was beautiful, and very clever.’
‘You’re right,’ said Jiang Tan’s mother. ‘He was very beautiful, and too clever. He knew everything, but he couldn’t change it. What he would do today, what he would do tomorrow, every detail. Like a walking corpse, he couldn’t change direction. My husband was so much luckier. He went mad, so he didn’t know anything. Do you know, when my boy was at school, he got full marks in every single test…’ She was no longer looking at us.
Zhong Liang couldn’t stand it any longer. He gave the woman some money, grabbed my hand, and strode out. The air was still cold and dry, and still holding my hand, he abruptly let out a laugh. ‘What’s so funny?’ I said.
‘I can’t blame him,’ said Zhong Liang. ‘Our whole lives, everything he did, all prearranged.’
I had to laugh too, when he put it like that.
‘Remember the time we had together, remember that I once loved you. Then we’ll part forever.’ My mother’s words to me.
* * *
—
THOUSAND LEAGUE BEASTS SEE A THOUSAND YEARS AHEAD, but with all that knowledge, all they can do is walk along the path that’s been laid out for them. Young beasts know everything under the sun, but cannot speak or walk. When they’re grown, their memories fade and their brains weaken, until they are no different from ordinary humans. With time, their minds deteriorate further, and living becomes difficult. After ten or twenty more years, their lives end. Despite their wisdom, they come to appear foolish, and people question if they deserve such a lofty name.
Eventually, the thousand league beasts grew weary of their reputation, and spread a lie that they had gone extinct. Instead, they went underground – building houses and courtyards beneath the surface of the earth. With their amber eyes, they could see in the dark, and their swollen bellies stored air for breathing. Each time an old beast died, they moved a little further away, and now they are a thousand leagues from Yong’an.
When a human mates with one of these beasts, their child looks like the mother: a shortened body, no other markings than a sharp bone at the heel. Yet these half-beasts know the will of heaven, and will not forget with maturity. They become walking corpses, witnessing the desolation of the world, utterly alone. Eventually, they end their lives.
No one can tell from the outside if a thousand league beast has retained his wits or not.
All they can hope for is to stay alive, and to share the world with those they love, even if they are a thousand leagues away.
HEARTSICK BEASTS
THE HEARTSICK BEASTS ARE MAN-MADE CREATURES. MORE than twenty years ago, the biology department of Yong’an University announced that it had created a new beast, one with a mild temperament and an exquisite heart. Their diet consisted of steamed buns, silver fungus, and char siu pork. They made adorable pets, and would be known as heartsick beasts. This grand press conference is broadcast again every year during Yong’an’s New Year concert.
Reporters from all over the world showed up in Yong’an, and their camera flashes all but blew off the roof. The young, newly appointed mayor and the even younger inventor unveiled a video of the beast: a young one, its face still not fully formed, smooth as an eggshell, with slits where the eyes and nose would be. It was just learning to speak. It had powdery-white skin and inky-black hair. A female beast. Everyone loved her. The attendants fed her char siu, mashed potato, and orange juice. She devoured it all, like the wind scooping up ragged clouds. Another video showed her fully grown two months later, her eyes large and dark, her nose straight, exactly like a human child. Astonishment swept through the audience.
The young academic shot to fame, and was put in charge of the zoology department at Yong’an University.
He was my professor.
* * *
—
BUT ALL OF THAT HAPPENED A LONG WHILE BACK, MORE THAN twenty years ago, and much has changed since. These days, you can buy a heartsick beast on the seventh floor of Yong’an’s largest shopping centre, Heavenly Beauty Mall. They cost 88,800 yuan each, and don’t bother asking for a discount. Ordinary people wouldn’t dare dream of acquiring one, but there’s no shortage of rich folk heartsick enough to open their wallets. The young beasts float in tanks of formaldehyde, their bodies perfectly smooth and flawless, male and female for the choosing, a blank where their face should be.
The shop attendants create a meticulous menu based on what appearance the customer requests. Day one: three grams of sardine for a straight nose, thirty grams of stewed tofu for cuteness, char siu for beautiful eyes, and a char siu bun for single eyelids. Then different quantities of different foods on day two, and again for every day after that, schematic as a computer programme. After three months, the beast will have grown to the size of a five-year-old human, its vocabulary and intelligence similarly accelerated to keep pace with your child and stave off loneliness. Heartsick beasts have an outsize ability to foster morality and develop intellect, and any child growing up in the company of one is sure to become a pillar of society. After five years of use, the company recycles the beasts, so they don’t become a burden on your family. During your time with the beast, the company sends you an annual present: four sets of all-weather outfits, and a three-month supply of tinned beast food. After recycling, you get another small gift: a hamper of health food, a family studio portrait, and a set of CD-ROMs – great value. More treats at Christmas: a full set of Good Baby bath supplies, and a chance to win a South East Asia trip for your entire family.
During our phone call, my cousin recited the advertisement copy to me as if she’d had a stroke, battering my eardrums with her noble mother-love. ‘Are you going to get one?’ I asked. ‘They’re not cheap.’
‘Lucia’s about to start primary school,’ said my cousin. ‘This is a bit of an investment, but it’s totally worth it. These five years are crucial for her development!’
So she’d already been completely brainwashed. Feeling helpless, all I could do was ask, ‘Do you really believe everything they say in that ad?’
‘I don’t just follow people blindly,’ said my cousin defensively. ‘Their statistics are ironclad. Heartsick beasts are nothing but beneficial for children.’
I had nothing to say to that. She wasn’t telling me anything new – the most important officials, big-shot business leaders and famous artists of Yong’an City, had indeed had heartsick beasts as children. Also 85.7% of high-ranking executives, at the very least.
‘What about the other 14.3%?’ I persisted.
A roar came down the line. ‘Do you really think my daughter could be that useless?’
‘You’re right, you’re right.’ Having trodden on a tiger mum’s tail, I had no choice but to beat a frantic retreat. ‘I was just worried about your husband’s hard-earned money. Why are you asking me, anyway, if you’ve already made up your mind?’
‘I want you to take Lucia to pick one out this Sunday, of course. Luckily you studied zoology for a couple of years. And didn’t the person who invented them teach in your department? Do you know him?’
‘Yes, I knew him.’
‘Are you close?’ she asked, then let out an anguished yelp. ‘Oh right, he died recently. Shame, otherwise I’d have got you to ask him for a discount…’
‘It wouldn’t have had anything to do with him – the government procured the rights long ago,’ I calmly informed her.
My cousin finished with a stream of meaningless small talk that concluded with, ‘All right then, we’ll see you at Heavenly Beauty Mall this Sunday. Front entrance, half-past nine.’
* * *
—
THE SUN WAS BRIGHT THAT SUNDAY, AND LUCIA’S SMILE EVEN more radiant, which swiftly smoothed over the psychological assault of my cousin’s magenta jacket embroidered with gold thread. The girl lunged over to hug me. ‘Auntie!’ she cried.
No wonder people have kittens or puppies or little children. This felt nice.
My bones softened and I scooped her up to plant a vigorous kiss on her cheek. Lucia made a sudden grab for my face and turned it this way and that. ‘Why are you so skinny, Auntie? You look like you haven’t been eating.’
It was enough to bring me close to tears. I would have done anything for her.
We went to the seventh floor, which had been done up to look like a mad scientist’s lab. If these commerce-minded parasites could have actually seen my professor’s lab, the one I’d repeatedly vandalised, they’d surely have vomited blood. We chose a female beast for Lucia, though there wasn’t actually much choice: the entire row of beasts looked exactly the same, the faces smooth as eggs, with dots to mark where their eyes and nose would be, and a line for the mouth. They floated in individual jars, like some sort of pickles.
