Chapter 3 (1/2)
The whole thing ended just like that and I went back to running my little rental shop.
Summer came in the blink of an eye. Students went on summer break and business was good.
The girls liked reading romance novels so I stocked up on pirated pocket books from Taiwan despite the strict watch on piracy from the ministry of commerce. I mean I could not just let money slip through my fingers. I hid the pirated books in the back room and only regular customers could go in. If people came to investigate, I would lock the back room door. I made it through quite a few surprise checks and built a good reputation. Many girls would come from the other side of town to borrow books.
Later, some of them asked me to get some manga. There actually was manga in the shop—Slam Dunk, Case Closed, Saint Seiya, all the ones airing on TV—but they pouted and complained. “It’s 1998 for G.o.d sakes!”
Are those out already? I wondered. To be honest, my generation grew up watching martial arts movies and movies from Hong Kong and Taiwan, and the only cartoon we had were Havoc in Heaven, Astro Boy, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers and the like. All I knew about these things they called manga was that they were like comic strips, thus the manga books I bought were not up to par with my videos. The girls kept nagging me about Zetsuai 1989, Ranma ½,Rurouni Kens.h.i.+n, RG Veda and other stuff I had no knowledge of, but kids were the biggest market for my business so I had to keep learning. I bought Zetsuai 1989 and some of their so-called cla.s.sics, as well as a set of j.a.panese romance novels they recommended countless times to me.
In the end, business was absolutely great. Wave after wave of girls lined up to rent my books.
I was utterly puzzled. We had not been this excited back then to read about Qiao Feng, Chu Liuxiang or Xiao Qiushui! Tsk, tsk.
My little shop was small but busy and became an oven in the summer. I considered getting an air conditioner but it seemed like a waste of money too. The money I earned in a month would go entirely to pay for hydro.
That day was scorching hot and no one was coming in during the middle of the day.
I wiped myself off, stretched for the sky and turned on the TV. I could only watch TV. My second-hand s.h.i.+nco VCD player had finally gone to its last resting place so I was also considering getting a DVD player.
Ah, it all cost so much money!
“Oi, Qian!” Three thugs came into my shop. I took a good look at them. They turned out to be Shen Bin’s buddies.
How long has it been now? And they’re here again?
“What, you don’t recognise us no more?” They didn’t look friendly but they didn’t sound too bad either. I let out a sigh of relief.
They were kids after all. There was nothing I could do but I could not help but think that the rascal would not have ended up behind bars if it were not for me. I mean, ten years! He was eighteen and would be twenty-eight when he came out. There was no way that prison life would be nice. All the naughty pups that went in came out as big bad wolves. I had a wild imagination and immediately thought of a lot of prison-themed novels and movies.
Sigh. I just felt like I had wronged him.
Therefore, I said in a rather kind tone, “Of course I do. You’re Shen Bin’s bros. How is he doing in there?”
Only the leader of the three was okay to the eyes; he looked like a mini-sized “Chicken” Chiu. The other two had not yet even hit their growth spurt, yet they were acting all high and mighty with a half-burnt cigarette in their mouths. I wanted to laugh so badly.
“Yer not such a bad person. He’s doin’ fine!” The smallest one bragged.
“What can I do for you? You want to rent videos? I can give you a dis—.”
“f.u.c.k your movies. Only Shen Bin likes that s.h.i.+t!”
They shared a look with each other and then Mini-Chicken spat, “Hey, you Qians made Shen Bin go in the slammer for ten years. Shouldn’t you at least show some goodwill?”
Were they trying to wring money out of me?
I closed the shop and got dragged along by them. It was so d.a.m.n hot that I was sweating too much to keep my eyes opened.
I arrived at the Shen pig sty on the old street once again.
“Stop it. I can walk myself,” I grumbled as I was pushed into the house.
Last time I had only gone into the living room. This time I was pushed into the room where you sleep (I couldn’t find it in my heart to call it a bedroom). There was a wooden bed that still had some colour on it with a black, grimy white canopy, and someone was lying on it, probably Ding Hongmei. I almost did not recognise her dishevelled hair, bloated stomach and thin, twig-like arms and thighs.