Chapter 8 His neck was chopped off
The construction of the hospital and its supporting projects required obtaining a construction permit from the county to which the town belonged. Father Paul and Gu Weiyi accompanied her to the county, but unfortunately they encountered many people protesting and surrounding the city hall, so the construction permit was not obtained.
"What happened?"
Father Paul announced that an oil field had been discovered nearby, and several nearby tribes were engaged in a war over the black gold. After leaving the city hall, the priest parked his car at the county church to visit a friend. Gu Weiyi prayed for a while in the church, while Li Wenjing, a nonbeliever, waited outside.
When Gu Weiyi walked out, Li Wenjing was crumpling the paper in her hand into a ball, loosening it, and then crumpling it again.
"Have you prayed yet? So you believe in Christ."
"It's not really faith, but last time you were sick, I prayed to him and I have to thank God."
"God can still take care of me, okay? Actually, Chinese people don't believe in any religion, but if they meet any gods or Bodhisattvas, they will always worship them, just to make money and get rich."
Li Wenjing clasped her hands together and bowed in mock ceremony. "Hello, God! I am the kindhearted Li Wenjing. Please increase the government's efficiency a hundredfold and bless us to get our construction permit quickly."
"I'm not in that much of a hurry. It's not too late to come back next week. Do you want to go shopping or have a drink?" Gu Weiyi looked towards the coffee shop on the street. "Coffee?"
"I don't like coffee. It's like hot pot water."
Li Wenjing's gaze stopped at a street-side barbecue restaurant. A large crocodile was hung outside, and the open-air grill was emitting a smoky aroma of charcoal. Four chefs were cutting meat, basting it, and grilling it, while waiters came in and out serving dishes.
Gu Weiyi smiled and said, "I see. You want to eat barbecue and have an appetite for meat, which means you are almost well again."
"It's been a long time since I last saw you."
After entering, the black guy in a floral dress was very enthusiastic. He asked them where they were from, whether they were Chinese or Japanese. Gu Weiyi said he was French. The guy whistled, and the chef popped his head out from behind the grill. In a loud voice, he boasted that he learned cooking in France and insisted on giving them a grilled foie gras.
"The barbecue has the usual beef and mutton, and you can also eat crocodile meat. It's all self-service. Putting up this flag means you're full, otherwise the waiter will keep bringing more dishes."
He pushed the small flag to Li Wenjing's hand.
Li Wenjing said: "Boys eat more, you take the flag."
"If you don't even want to eat, what's the point of me eating alone?"
"This isn't your Parisian etiquette, is it?"
"There's no such thing as dating etiquette. To be honest, I don't know how to ask a girl out."
Li Wenjing asked tentatively, "Is this considered a date?"
"If you say so, then so be it," he smiled faintly. "If it's a date, let me treat you later."
"I don't want you to treat me, but I will try my best to let you eat more so that you don't lose money."
A bunch of grilled meats were served, the chef personally prepared foie gras, and also brought two glasses of specially blended sparkling sweet wine.
Li Wenjing shook the bubbles off the wine and said, "Drinking in broad daylight, I'm so dizzy I can't do my work."
"I'm not used to drinking in broad daylight, unless I'm really unhappy. Then I'll have two glasses of vodka and get so drunk that I can't get up. That's the best."
"When are you unhappy?"
"When you don't want to live, just drink and get drunk. It's like dying once, the gentlest way to die."
"Don't want to live?"
"There are many times, like when all the mice I raised suddenly died, I wanted to die too. I felt so sorry for these young scientists."
Li Wenjing laughed. "You're so good at making people happy. Are you very popular with girls? Do you have a lot of girlfriends?"
"I don't have a girlfriend."
"Is this true? I don't believe it. You're asking too much, Oxford brother."
"I don't have any requests."
"The more you say that, the higher your expectations are." Li Wenjing thought he was joking and teased him, "If you don't have a girlfriend, then you have a boyfriend, right?"
"Ah! That's even more impossible." He said, "You are the type that both boys and girls like."
He didn't ask about her past relationships, and whatever she asked, he'd just laugh it off with a smile. He was always like this, smiling gently at everyone, and he treated her no differently than everyone else. Li Wenjing felt a little down, lowering her head to eat her barbecue. She couldn't help but feel a little ridiculous for taking other people's jokes so seriously. She was almost thirty, and she'd met someone so kind to her, yet she was still fantasizing about love. Because she could sense the contradictions in him, she hoped he'd speak out instead of lying.
After all, he is just the client I met at work. I shouldn't bring too many personal feelings into work. The real thing is to handle the project at hand. As for him, I may never see him again.
Li Wenjing quickly calmed down. She was always rational about work and boys.
After the small flag was raised, the waiter handed Gu Weiyi the bill. Before she could ask to pay separately, he rushed to pay. Li Wenjing had no choice but to treat him next time. As they left the restaurant, a black man, bent over, slowly swayed through the gap between his arms. His voice choked as he spoke of his two small children and his disabled wife. Gu Weiyi handed him two bills and then bumped fists with him. The black man's brows relaxed, and he also extended his hand to Li Wenjing. Wenjing only gave him a brief fist bump.
After he left, Li Wenjing wiped the back of her hand that had just touched his and said to Gu Weiyi, "You are too soft-hearted. In our country, people like this are all liars."
"He's very pitiful."
"He could have gone to work and always been able to support himself."
"It's difficult. There aren't that many jobs here. It's not a question of whether they work hard or not. The world is very divided. Maybe it's not Africa's problem, but the world outside is moving too fast, forcing everyone to live by the same set of rules."
"You can't blame it all on the rules. Even if this isn't human society, in the primeval forest, everyone has to find a way to survive. That's the rule, and it can't be changed."
Gu Weiyi sighed, "Let's not talk about this anymore. It's too heavy to just go out and have a meal."
Li Wenjing stopped talking.
He changed the subject and asked her what the food in this restaurant was like.
"It's just okay. He's a French chef. The meat is roasted dry. It would be better if it were a little softer and juicier. The dipping sauce is okay, it's sour and spicy. It's not tasty without the sauce."
“I guess he learned it in Morocco,” Gu Weiyi said. “A real French chef is right in front of you.”
The person wearing a white coat could be a doctor or a chef.
Gu Weiyi was barbecuing at sea. The delicious sea fish and lobsters that the fishermen had just caught were immediately sent to the grill.
People from the village church, the clinic, and the workplace drove to the beach for a meal and set up tents for the night. The barbecue was neatly laid out, and as the plates were placed, the eyes of those sitting on the beach lit up, their chopsticks dropping and clearing out the food. Some tourists came to watch the fun, and Gu Weiyi invited them to join him for a bite.
"Doctor Gu, it's almost done, come and have a piece!"
He came up from the shore, squeezed the water from his trouser legs, and sat next to Li Wenjing. He had a smell of charcoal mixed with the scent of wet seaweed.
"How was your day?"
"French chef!" Zhang Gong gave him a thumbs up. He turned to ask Li Wenjing, but she just lowered her head to eat the meat and made two vague "hmm" sounds.
They ate so much that their burps reeked of barbecue all day. After packing up their stalls, they all went swimming in the sea, where life shimmered brightly. Black, white, or yellow, everyone drifted on the azure waters, everything pure and flawless. The waters washed away fatigue, sweat, sunburned faces, and sparkling eyes. The hot wind blew through the trees, and as night fell, the truth slipped from their lips.
Li Wenjing was lying on the sofa looking at the stars in the sky when suddenly a spray of mist came over.
"Don't forget the mosquito repellent." Gu Weiyi said, wearing only shorts at the beach, lying down in the sand.
Li Wenjing climbed to her feet, snatched the bottle from his hand, and sprayed him with it. He covered his eyes and waited for her to finish. The wind cooled, and the scent of seaweed and flowers from the deep sea came up from mysterious corners on the wind. He handed her a bottle of beer.
"It would be nice to be able to lie here forever," said Li Wenjing.
"It's simple, just settle down and it's OK."
"How can it be that simple? When you're a kid, everything is simple. When you grow up, the world suddenly becomes complicated. You have to keep working, working, making money, and supporting yourself. Lying down is comfortable now, but what will you do in the future? Will you beg like that black man every day?"
"You're so capable, so of course you don't need to beg. My life in Kenya is simple. I visit patients every day and walk around the village. The air and weather are great—much better than London! There's enough food, too. But knowing you, why don't I understand?" Gu Weiyi said. "I'm curious about China. Is life there complicated? Can you tell me more about that experience? Working in a factory, riding a motorcycle, and then what?"
"Nothing much. The factory I worked at during the summer vacation was very remote. There were no buses. I didn't know how to do it then, so I took a motorcycle taxi driven by a young man. As we drove, the road became more and more desolate. It was like suddenly dropping you on a highway in Kenya. There was nothing there. But in Guangdong, there are very few places like this."
Gu Weiyi listened to her quietly. She took a sip of beer and let the bitter bubbles dissolve in her throat.
"I'm a carefree person, but I'm also scared. I might get robbed, raped, or worst of all, murdered..." Li Wenjing gestured to her neck, making a throat-slitting motion. "I was thinking about what to do. I played dumb and chatted with him. I asked him how old he was, and he said seventeen. I told him that my cousin would be the same age if he were still alive, and he was closer to me than my own brother. My own brother often pulled my hair and asked my mom to beat me. He was my best friend when we were little, always following me everywhere. We played house together, collected bird eggs, gathered mushrooms, and dug bamboo shoots... But he died. My uncle owed money, and when he went to collect, he was hacked in the neck with a hoe. He went out to hide from his debts, and he died the next year too. He fell from the scaffolding at the construction site. I still remember when their body was brought back, in a large coffin the size of a sofa. It was pitch black, and my grandmother, aunt, and the others lay on it crying..."
Gu Weiyi opened his eyes wide without blinking.
"Why do you look like that? You look just like the guy on the motorcycle." Li Wenjing laughed first, then turned her head and pretended to rub her hair, wiping away the tears from her eyes. "One day I dreamed of my brother. We were on the mountain where we often played. When we were about to go home, he told me he was leaving and wouldn't be coming back. Then I woke up crying. After I said that, the guy on the motorcycle fell silent all the way, turned in a different direction, and immediately dropped me off at the factory. He told me that girls shouldn't ride motorcycles alone in the future. It's unsafe."
Gu Weiyi listened quietly and drank a bottle of beer.
"Why aren't you talking?"
"I don't know what to say," he said. "I'm sorry to hear that."
"I don't care, you can say whatever you want. I've already said so much."
"Hmm..." He thought for a moment, "I also have a younger brother and a younger sister, born to my father and stepmother. They are both still alive and well. They treat me very well. Except for my mother, everyone else is normal."
"I'm so envious."
"I don't like family life. I'm the extra one. Am I just not meant to get along with people? I went through middle school and high school. My dad told me to stay in France, but I refused and insisted on going to the UK, a country they looked down upon. They're full of bigwigs there, publishing big papers, traveling the world, taking classes on luxury cruise ships, volunteering for international organizations, giving speeches at the United Nations, rescuing endangered animals, saving countless lives, and applying for all sorts of patents. I don't understand how they can be so brilliant. They're all so abnormal. They'd be better off just sitting in a lab watching mice."
Now it was Li Wenjing's turn to remain silent. Gu Weiyi imitated her and insisted that she say a few words.
"I don't understand," she said. "I don't have money, I've never been on a luxury cruise, I'm not very smart, I've never published a paper, and I go to a very ordinary school. It can't be compared with Oxford. I really don't understand."
"Me too."
The two clinked their glasses and finished the rest of their beer.
Li Wenjing drank three bottles in a row and was drunk. Gu Weiyi helped her back to the tent. The places where their skin touched were hot. It was undeniable that Li Wenjing admitted that she had a good impression of him. Reason could not control irrational things.
Stepping on the beach, she leaned towards him, perhaps leaning on his arms. She looked up and saw the bright moonlight, which just shone on his lips. She felt a shudder in her heart. It was a thought that people had lived for until now, but it had not been realized yet. But here he was, right at her hand, exuding life from his whole body, like a wild animal on the grassland that she had only seen on TV and lived in a mysterious corner.
She lost her balance and fell to the beach, rubbing her ankle but not getting up.
"Sprained your ankle?"
"No," she shook her head, "I was just wondering why fate is so unfair."
"God is fair to everyone."
At the time, Li Wenjing didn't understand what this meant. Later, when she read the letter he left behind, she realized he was just an illusion. Popping the bubble, she found him hiding beneath these facades, curled up in a ball, frozen in place. Pain isn't meant to be compared. Human feelings aren't meant to be shared. Only when you truly feel another person's pain can you truly fall in love with them.
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