One Man’s Bible

He preferred to meet Lin outdoors: in a park, by the city wall, or among lilac and jasmine bushes. They would spread their overcoats on the ground, or have quick sex standing against a big tree. If Lin’s husband had to go away on an assignment to a military site, they would go to the hollows of Badaling and stay until sunset, then at twilight, in the night wind, grope their way down the mountain to catch the last bus back to the city. Sometimes they took a train further off to the Western Hills and got off at Mentouqi, where Peking Man was discovered, or some small station where the train stopped for only one minute. They took food with them, and would climb to the other side of the mountain and find some secluded spot where they would totally abandon themselves in the sun and the howling mountain wind. It was only at such times, lying on the grass in the wilds and looking at the clouds floating in the sky—free of worries, free of danger, and making love—that he felt natural.

Lin, two years older, was a fireball of lust, and she loved with a burning passion. Sometimes she was quite unreasonable, but he needed to exercise self-restraint. Lin dared to play with fire, but he had to consider the consequences. Lin had no intentions of divorcing her husband, and even if she were to raise the matter of marrying him, her parents would not approve of taking into their revolutionary family a son-in-law with an ordinary family background, who was not even a member of the Communist Youth League. Also, Lin’s husband had the backing of a military family, and if the matter were taken up at the workplace, Lin would escape punishment. Disaster would fall on him alone. If such a time came, Lin would be level-headed. She would not break with her family and give up her elite status just to spend a life with him as one of the ordinary people. In addition to the marriage laws, a new regulation stipulated that workers of the state had to be twenty-six years of age before they were eligible to register for marriage. In the brand-new society, where unprecedented innovations were occurring every day, the new people loved and married for the sake of the revolution, and that was how the new plays and films of the time promoted it. The state issued tickets for performances, and attendance was compulsory.

One day, bypassing the department and section chiefs, Wang Qi’s secretary asked him to report immediately to the bureau chief’s office. He therefore knew it was not a work-related matter. Comrade Wang Qi, a wise and kindly middle-aged woman, was seated behind a big desk: the size of the desk denoted a cadre’s rank. Comrade Wang Qi rose to her feet and closed the door to her office. This was further indication of the irregularity of the situation. He started getting nervous. However, the bureau chief got him to sit on the long sofa and drew up a leather chair for herself; she was making a deliberate show of being friendly.

“I’m a busy person.” That was clearly the case. “I haven’t had time to chat with university graduates like you who have recently arrived. How long have you been working here?”

He responded.

“Are you used to working here?”

He nodded.

“I’ve heard that you are bright, that you have become good at your work very quickly, and also that you even do some writing in your spare time.”

The bureau chief knew everything, someone must be reporting to her. She then warned, “Don’t let it affect your work here.”

He hastened to nod. Luckily, no one knew what he wrote.

“Do you have a girlfriend?”

So this was the problem. His heart started pounding. He said no, and instantly felt his face turn red.

“It’s worth thinking about finding a suitable match.” The word “suitable” was emphasized. “But it is too soon for marriage. If your revolutionary work is done well, your personal matters can be easily resolved.”

The bureau chief said that they were just having a casual chat, and throughout spoke gently, but this conversation, too, was revolutionary work. She was not having an idle chat with him, and, before standing to open the door, she warned, “I have heard comments from the masses about your having too close an association with Lin. If it is just a comrade relationship because you are both working together, then it is all right, but you must be careful about the consequences. The workplace is concerned about the healthy development of young people.”

The workplace was of course, the Party, and the bureau chief’s asking him in for a talk naturally reflected the concern of the Party. She returned to Lin, “She is a simple woman, she is very friendly, but she lacks wisdom.”