Beijing Story (Lan Yu)

Chapter 2

...I have always been fond of the bowling room at the 'Imperial Palace'. It is spacious, not very crowded and more importantly it hardly attracts low-end customers. Keeping me company that particular afternoon were Wei-Guo and Sister Zhang, who was well-connected and on very good terms with me. Seeing me looking at the entrance Sister Zhang asked:

"Who are you waiting for?"

"Liu Zheng, and the son of a big brother from another province. The boy just came to Beijing for college."

"You sure kept your hands full." She laughed.

At about 6 or 7, Liu came, followed by the boy, who looked not too tall and ordinary looking, judging from where I stood. I suddenly felt disappointed and cursed Liu secretly.

"Sister Zhang. Wei-Guo."Greeted Liu.

The boy stood at a far distance, his eyesight never leaving Liu.

"This is General Manager Chen." Liu turned around and introduced the boy to me.

"His name is Lan Yu. Lan is a last name rarely heard of."

"How do you do." I smiled and reached out my hands.

"How do you do."Lan Yu shook my hand nervously.

I will never forget the moment when our hands touched, he raised his eyes and looked at me. In his bright eyes, I saw concern, uneasiness and doubt. He was not smiling at all, unlike what I was accustomed to. His face was not too white but clean. He had a delicately pretty face and a straight nose. His mouth was closely shut. There seemed to be no expression on his face. My heart jumped wildly all of a sudden. That was an impulse I had not expereinced in a long time.

However, I was not a kid any more. So I looked away from his staring and turned to the other company who were busy bowling. I asked the boy carelessly:

"Do you like bowling?"

"I don't know how."He seemed to have a Northern accent.

"You are from the North?"

"Yes."

"He may not have had dinner yet." Liu whispered to me.

"Good. I have not had mine either."

"Sister Zhang. I've found something to do. I must take my nephew to dinner. Or my big brother will scold me for mistreating his son. You want to join us? My treat."

"I'll stay out. You have fun yourself."

I always felt she meant something else between the lines. But who cares?

We drove to the 'Country Brother' Restaurant because I had a reserved private room there.

The restaurant was spacious, well lit and splendidly decorated. Unfortunately the Cantonese food served there was not too tempting but beat Italian and French cuisine easily.

"How old are you?" We hardly talked on the way, until we were seated in the dining room.

"16, almost 17."

"Why did you go to school at such a young age? I remember the year I entered college, I was almost 19."

"I started elementary school one year earlier and skipped one more year later on." He was still not smiling and kept his eyes on me while talking, with a look of a well-educated kid. The blue in his eyes almost made me lose my control. I was busily picturing pushing him onto bed.