Chapter Two
1988 Words
Chapter Two – Piss InOne’s Pants
**Pi gun niao liu**
When I was a first-year university student, I had a lover.She was my classmate. I called her White Swan because she was of afair-complexion. In the spring of 1963, the Education Commissionissued a decree -- love affairs were absolutely banned in schools.Students who violated the decree would be punished severely withoutmercy. If the offender had overdone it, he or she must be expelledfrom the school. To avoid love affairs, the weekend ballroomdancing party was banned as well.
The deanof our department announced the decree in the great hall. His sternvoice for a long time had been echoing in my mind. "Comrades, Iwould like to warn those of you who had dates over the weekends inthe woods of the park near our school: While you are enjoying yourromantic dream there, you might be caught red handed. A specialteam has been set up. The team specializes in catching anyone whopartakes in such activities. Take care!” After the announcement,all those lovers had gone underground.
At that time,I was head over heels in love with White Swan. The decree was, nodoubt, a head-on blow to me. Logically, I should have pulled in myhorns a little bit and gone underground with the others. We didstop dating for one week, but the fire of love burned vigorously. Icouldn’t put it out.
Everyday I thought of White Swan; of her full and round body and of herfascinating breasts. She had a bewitching figure. She was so sexythat even some girls were jealous of her. From Monday on, I wouldbe waiting the arrival of the weekend. One day, while we werehaving class, I secretly passed a slip of paper to White Swan, begging her to meet me in the approachingweekend. She sat just before me. She turned around, took a look atme and nodded. When the weekend came, I slipped into the park asusual to wait for her.
I got therehalf an hour early. There I waited impatiently. I was as restlessas ants on a hot pan. Time seemed to have solidified. Half an hourfelt like an age. I was nearly losing my patience when sheappeared. I got hold of her and began to kiss her. It was earlysummer. Though it was about 7:00 pm, the curtain of darkness hadnot fallen.
A group ofteenagers happened to pass by. They chanted in a chorus, “We areall short sighted. We can see nothing!”
White Swanpushed me away and we stood there stock still until those teenagersdisappeared. Then I embraced her again and kissed her wildly. Ifelt like my blood was on fire. Then I tried to untie her trousers.She struggled and pushed me away and got angry.
“You don’t know love, Soapy!” she said.
Soapy was mynickname. I acquired it on the first day I became a universitystudent. That’s a long story (see Gunners of Shenyang).
“Why do you say so?”
“Love is not just s*x…” she replied.
I gave upunwillingly.
“We shouldn’t date anymore,” she continued.
“Why?”
“Have you heard the decree?”
“Yes, I have.”
“If we are discovered in love, we’ll get intotrouble.”
“Nobody knows we are in love.”
“Somebody suspects we are.”
“Who?”
“Plump Doll.”
WhiteSwan was right. Plump Doll might poke her nose into our business.She was the secretary of the Communist Youth League and the topstudent leader in our class. She was invested with considerablepower. She was the eyes and ears for the leaders of the department.She was required to report on the class members regarding mattersof morality, intelligence and physique. In the event of an outbreakof ugly individualism, she would bring the class together to showthe wayward member the error of his or her ways and gently draw himor her back into the fold. We called her Plump Doll, “pang wawa”,because when she smiled she looked like a charming little plumpdoll.
“She had been watching me this afternoon. It took me a lot ofeffort to break away from her,” White Swan said.
“Oh, she knows we are in love. She saw us one night in onecorner of our campus with her own eyes.”
“She does know that. She might come to catch us.”
“How do you know that?”
“I have a premonition. Her facial expression toldme that she might come to catch us tonight.”
“We are hiding in the woods and in the darkness. Nobody willdiscover us!” I persisted.
“She might search the woods for us. Everybody knows the parkis the place for romance.”
“She dared not come. It’s so dark, so secluded.”
“She’ll come with the political supervisor. The school hasorganized a special team to catch the students who are dating. Sheis in the team. They might come tonight. Don’t you remember whatthe dean said in his report?”
“What did he say?”
“He said: ‘I warn you, those students who are dating - youmight suddenly get caught.’”
“They can’t catch us. Both of us are sprinters. We are veryquick. If they come, we’ll run. They can’t catch up with us.” Sosaying, I embraced her again and was trying hard to untie hertrousers.
Shedidn’t resist at all and allowed me to go ahead. After I had undoneher trousers’ belt, I found that the lower part of her body wastightly wrappedwith a long piece of cloth,which I couldn’t undo. I was very disappointed andgrumbled:
“Why have you wrapped yourlower body with a long cloth and tied it up with a string? Where isthe knot? I can’t find it.”
“Even if you find it, you can’t untie it. It’s a fast knot,”White Swan said.
“Oh my God! Please give me chance,” I begged her. I was eagerto put it in.
“I don’t want you to put it in. You only know howto put in. You are no differentfrom an animal if you only know to put it in. Love is a nice,beautiful and wonderful thing. But you only know to put itin!”
“You have already let me do it once. You shouldn’t mind if Ido once again.”
“Last time you pressed me hard. I couldn’tresist yourlure, so I gave you a chance. But I never thought that you would go sofar as to release yourself.”
“I couldn’t control myself.”
“You should have controlled yourself. You should haveconsidered my safety. You just wanted to enjoy a wonderful time,but you made me suffer through mental pain for such a long time. Ihave been worrying about myself. I might be pregnant. If I ampregnant, that will be the end of me!”
“Don’t worry too much. I’ll be responsible for it.”
“What’s the good of that? Both of us will be expelled fromschool.”
“Are you sure that you are pregnant?”
“Who knows? You are in good health. I am too. Logically, Imight be pregnant.”
“Have you found anything improper about your body?”
“Not yet. It’s only been two weeks. Who knows what will happenin the future?”
“Nothing will happen. I just put it in once.”
“Once is enough.”
“I really couldn’t control myself. I didn’t mean to hurtyou.”
“If you hadn’t moved back and forth, you could have controlledyourself.”
“Why didn’t you stop me from moving back andforth?”
“Don’t try to shift the responsibility on me. Butthen, it is not only your fault. I shouldbe responsible for it too. I couldn’t control myself either.
“In that case, give me a chance again. Let’s enjoy our timetogether.”
I embracedWhite Swan and we kissed each other wildly. Then I fumbled, lookingfor the knot, but failed.
“Where is the knot?” I asked White Swan. “Please show me. Ireally can’t control myself anymore!”
“Promise not to move back and forth,” White Swan said,panting.
“I promise I won’t.”
“I don’t trust you. You’ll cheat me.”
“I mean what I say. Show me where the knot is.”
“I can’t find it either. Excuse me, Soapy. I have to protect myself thisway.”
“I think I’ll die if you don’t give me the chance.”
“Be patient! Please keep a clear head. You can’t do it with menow. You have to wait until we graduate. By that time, we’ll getmarried. I’ll give myself completely to you. You can do whateveryou like.”
“I wonder why the education commission has issued the decree. The punishment is toosevere.”
“The decree has actually suppressed our desire. It’s not good for ourgrowinghealth.
“If you know it’s not good to stop us, then let’s doit.”
“Promise not to move.”
“I promise.”
“How can I trust you?”
“I swear to the sky that if I move and shoot sperm, I may bestruck by thunder.”
“Once you put it in, you can’t control yourself.”
“I can. I guarantee that I can.”
“If only we had a condom.”
“I don’t even know where to get them.”
“Any medical centre must have it. Our school clinichas it too. To tell you the truth, I havebeen there already. I tried to get some there.”
“Oh, great, did you succeed?”
“No, I was refused resolutely. I can’t forget my experience inthe school clinic. You know what happened to me?”
“What happened?”
“The doctor stared at me with a pair of surprised eyes for such a long time, as if he waslooking at a creature fromsome other planet. My face was burning with shame. Then he asked myname and which department I was from, like he was questioning acriminal.”
“Did you tell him?”
“No. I’m not that silly. I ran away in time.”
“I wonder why it’s so difficult to get condoms inChina.”
“China lacks freedom. Not only do we lack the freedom ofspeech, but we lack freedom to s*x as well.”
“Why do you want a condom?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know the answer. I tried to getcondoms simply for you.”
I knewshe was in a state of contradiction. So, I kept begging her,“Pleasegive me a chance.”
“Promise not to move again.”
“I promise.”
“I might trust you again, but I know I will be cheated oncemore.”
“Where is the knot?”
“Here. But it’s hard to untie it. It’s a fastknot.”
“Why did you make a fast knot?”
“To prevent you from putting it in. I have to protect myself.But I am in a dilemma.”
“I’m a man. I mean what I say.”
“Here isthe knot. If you can untie it…”
I wasoverjoyed and busied myself, undoing it in a frantic rush.Suddenly, a flash of light went by. I heard mixed and disorderlysteps. A group of people were approaching. I was startled. WhiteSwan quickly fastened her trousers in alarm. We stood stock-still.A familiar voice was heard:
“Soapy and White Swan must be somewhere here. Theymeet every weekend. Today, in class, I saw with my own eyes thatSoapy passed a slip of paper to WhiteSwan. It must be an invitation fortheir next meet.” It was Plump Doll.
We movedslowly, but caused rustling.
“Who isthere? Come out!” It wasthe voice of our political supervisor.
“Come out. We have seen what you are doing!” other voicesshouted.
I took WhiteSwan by the arm and darted into a thick growth of grass, my heartthumping with shock. There, we saw a pair of lovers from themathematical department. They were held in an embrace, passionatelyrolling together on the grassland. Our sudden intrusion into theirprivacy made them very angry. They jumped to their feet in aninstant. The young man let out a mighty roar and got ready to fightme.
Whenthey understood what had happened, they desperately ran deeper intothe woods, likerabbits. We followedthem. Though we were sprinters, we fell far behind. Soon theydisappeared in the distance. We rushed about in darkness. Westopped at a big tree, resting a little, puffing and blowing, stillpanic-stricken.At the foot of the tree satanother pair of lovers. They looked at us with eyes as wide aseggs.
We told themthat we were being chased after. The girl student uttered a cry inpanic and fainted. Then we continued to run blindly and wildly,paying no attention to the girl in a stupor. The wall of the parkwas very old. At one place, we found a large hole on the wall andit was there that we made our escape.
On theroad back to school, we could still hear the thumping of ourhearts. We stopped about forty meters tothe school gate. Under the bright gate lamps, two security guardswere questioning a pair of students who had just come back from thewoods.
“We can’t enter the school through the gate together,” I saidto White Swan.
“No, we can’t.”
“You go into the school through the gate. I’ll climb over thewall,” I said. She nodded and we parted there.
Our schoolwall was not high. It was very easy to climb. I jumped up to thetop of the wall with the help of my hands, turned my body over andfell to the ground. Just as I landed on the ground, I found myselfstanding face to face with two security guards. I felt my heart andhands turn ice-cold, as if I had fallen into an igloo.
“Come with us!” they ordered me.
I obedientlyfollowed them to the mailroom by the school gate where I foundanother three pairs of lovers. They were being questioned in turns.White Swan had not escaped her misfortune. She stood at the cornerof the room waiting to be registered.
“I know you are a pair. I saw you two coming back,hand-in-hand. But before entering the gate, you separated. I knewwhat you wanted to do. So, we ran along the wall, saw you climbover it and caught you red-handed,” one guard said, pointing atWhite Swan and me. We said nothing and lowered ourheads.
OnMonday morning, the names of all those who were caught red-handedwere written on a large piece of paper that was stuck on thebulletin board.
- Writer
