n

n

n

nMaybe Xiao Qin was worried that if we idled around downstairs, we would bump into Auntie Ren, who would be home early. So she reluctantly carried the canned food and supplements into her unit. Before she left, she told me to keep in touch with her and to call her whenever I wanted.

nI, on the other hand, told her to not make Auntie Ren mad. Xiao Qin was a little surprised that I suddenly cared a lot about her mom, but she didn’t think much of it and thought I was merely trying to impress my future mother-in-law.

nI have no idea if she will become my mother-in-law, but there’s a good chance she would become my stepmother! I won’t have any good days ahead of me if I don’t try to get on the good side of a stepmother who knows martial arts! Snow White’s stepmother at least asked a hunter to kill Snow White, but my stepmother would get the job done herself.

nAfter parting with Xiao Qin, I went back to the shoe repair shop and the main door was still closed. But the cursing had stopped and you could hear the TV playing a program discussing the national team’s loss.

nI wanted to knock, but heard the sound of two people speaking. One was obviously the shoemaker uncle, the other was a fairly young man who used a lot of official jargon like a government official.

nTheir voices were about the same level as the TV, so you would only be able to hear from where I was standing. The nearby fruit seller looked at me with disdain as i was eavesdropping, but I pointed to her watermelon indicating I would buy one later, so she happily left me alone.

nAfter bribing the fruit seller, I pressed my ears against the door. I couldn’t hold back my curiosity of a conversation between a government official and an ex-intelligence officer.

nThe shoemaker uncle was the one to speak first. I could feel his anger even through the door, but unexpectedly his anger was laced with grief.

n“The country has let me down. My comrades who died in Yugoslavia still haven’t been avenged in so long.”

n“You have calm down, it’s still not the time…”

n“I’ve waited long enough, I’m going to do things my way.”

n“Comrade Hu Lai.” the government official stamped his feet in anger, “I advise you to not take things too far. The country knows about your behavior and can arrest you any time. We only let you off in consideration off your contributions to our nation. If you keep doing this, it will have a negative affect towards the country’s general policy.”

nThe shoemaker uncle whose name was Hu Lai snorted, “If China doesn’t have the guts to mess with the US imperialists, there are still tons of other countries who do have the guts like Cuba, Iran, Venezuela, North Korea…”

n“Hu Lai, don’t mess around, how much intel were you able to gather from the American embassy? Why not give the reports to your own country rather than other anti-American countries?”

n“Sorry, but I no longer work for the government. Gathering information is my hobby and I have the freedom to give it to whoever I want.”

n“Fine, keep doing whatever you want, but just remember who gave you that freedom. Anyway, you don’t even have an effective means to pass of the information to anti-American countries. Even if it was out neighbor North Korea, they wouldn’t believe you even if you gave it to them for nothing.”

n“That’s not true.” The shoemaker uncle sneered, “I’m close to piecing together all the information around the US-South Korean nuclear deployment, so as long as they look for me, I’ll give them the information.”

n

n

n“Stop dreaming.” The government official slapped the table, “You’re only a shoemaker, why would the North Korean military come looking for you? I advise you to turn in the information to the state, then I could guarantee your frozen pension will be paid on time and you will also be given a salary adjustment.”

n“No need.” The shoemaker uncle said coldly, “I can live by repairing shoes. I’ll give the information to whoever can avenge my comrades. Director Jiang, please return, I still have to curse at the national team along with the TV program.”

nI quickly moved back to make it seem as if I just walked here. And indeed the sliding door opened and Director Jiang walked out while sighing and shaking his head.

nHe shivered when he saw me. Perhaps because he thought I looked evil or maybe I was a spy from North Korea. I wasn’t afraid since I didn’t do anything wrong, so I stared back at him and he soon left.

n“Watermelons are two fifty a pound.” The fruit seller quickly called out.

n“I’ll but it later.” I waved my hands and stepped into the shoe repair shop, “Don’t worry, I won’t be able to run.”

nBuying listening devices was illegal, so I closed and locked the door after I entered.

n“I’m not in the mood to do business.” The shoemaker snorted.

nI walked quietly towards the shoemaker and lowered my voice and said:

n“Uncle… Xiao Qin… Ren XiaoQin, the one who lives above here introduced me… I want to buy a listening device…”

nThe shoemaker paused, then turned up the volume on the TV to mask our conversation.

n“Who’s Xiao Qin’s mother?” The shoemaker wanted to test me.

nI smiled and said: “Ren HongLi, or Madam Ren. Female MMA world champion who now works as a martial arts director. She’s worked in movies ‘Ba Dao’, ‘Chai Gu Zhen’….”

n“That’s enough.” The shoemaker waved his hand and asked another question, “Who’s Ren XiaoQin’s father?”

n“Ummm…. I only know his last name is Huo…”

n“You don’t know, I guess it’s fine if you don’t know.” The shoemaker stroked his black and white beard, “It looks like you’re Ye Lin, Xiao Qin’s boyfriend.”

n“Huh, how did you know?” I was deeply impressed my comrade Hu Lai’s ability to analyze information since he was able to determine who I was from those two questions.

n“Uncle, how did you deduce that, can you teach me?” I asked with an open-mind.

nThe shoemaker shook his head, “I didn’t deduce anything, Xiao Qin showed me a picture of you before.”

nWhy did you test me if you already recognized me? Is it fun messing around with me?

n“Umm…. can you sell me a good listening device. A short distance one since I would only be one room away.”

nThe shoemaker interrogated me like a customs officer: “Do you have relatives in Cuba?”

n“No.” I wondered, “Does buying a listening device have anything to do with having relatives in Cuba?”

nThe shoemaker continued to ask: “Then do you know anybody from Venezuela, Iran, or North Korea?”

nI shook my head.

n“What a shame.” The shoemaker sighed, “Why is there no one who can help me deliver information even with all these people coming and going?”

nSo you wanted a way to give away the information on your hands? But even if you ask everyone you meet, the chance of meeting the right person is low since people only come here to get their shoes fixed!

n“Who are you eavesdropping on? I won’t sell it to you if you’re trying to eavesdrop on Xiao Qin.”

nHuh, so you would sell it if she’s trying to eavesdropping on me? That pisses me off.

nBut I could only smile along and say shamelessly:

n“I actually have a noble purpose. I’m using it to eavesdrop on a spy sent by the American imperialists.”

nAi ShuQiao held American citizenship, so it’s not far fetched to call Su Qiao and American spy.

nThe shoemaker quickly became excited, “Really, I thought your generation had already fallen to their sugar coated words, but I never thought there would still be a patriotic young man like you. In that case, I’ll give you the listening device at no charge.”

n

n

nHe said as he pulled out a small black rectangular item that was 2cm in width and 1cm in height that seemed like it was used to hold matches. Snapping open the back cover revealed a slot to hold lithium batteries.

n“In your case, this model is sufficient. Using anything more complicated will actually make it easier to give yourself away. Right, it also comes with this receiver, if you plug in headphones it works in the same way as a radio. Since it only works in short distances, you only need to replace the batteries once every half a month…”

nSince Su Qiao would only be living at my home for half a month, I won’t even need to change the batteries.

nI put the listening device carefully in my bag and asked: “How much do I have to pay?”

nThe shoemaker looked displeased: “Didn’t I say I wouldn’t charge you? Anyone who fights against Americans are my friends, just make sure to embarrass them.”

nMy face darkened. I might not be aligned with the Americans, but my own sister is an American, so in his eyes I would be connecting with a foreign country. So I feel guilty for accepting a listening device for free.

nThus I went to the fruit seller to buy a watermelon and gifted it to the shoemaker uncle. He was trying to reject, but I told him it would be inconvenient to carry it home on the subway so he accepted.

nAs I left the market with the listening device in my bag, I remembered I might not be able to take the subway home.

nIf you want to know why, it’s because you have to pass inspections to ride the subway! Since listening devices are illegal, it would be a problem if they found it.

nThat’s why I went to ride the bus home.

nIt was a bit troublesome taking the bus home from Xiao Qin’s place since I had to transfer buses in between. Fortunately, there weren’t a lot of people on the buses, I was even able to find a seat on the second bus. I saw at the last row and would reach home in about five more stops.

nMy phone suddenly began to vibrate in my pockets.

nI thought it was from Xiao Qin, but when I took a look it was from a number I didn’t recognize.

n“Hello.”

n“Do you know who I am?”

nIt was the voice of a female student who spoke impolitely.

n“I don’t know, who are you? An insurance salesman?”

n“First, apologize to me.”

n“Huh, I don’t even know you, why would I apologize?”

n“Anyway, you have to apologize. And you have to treat me to a meal, a Western-style restaurant.”

n“Hey, at least tell me who you are.”

n“I’m He Ling.” She finally announced her name.

n“Ah… I was wondering who it was, so it was Uncle He’s daughter, He Ling…”

n“How rude, call me sister He Ling.” She seemed unhappy.

n“Okay, well for Uncle He’s sake, sister… He Ling, why do I have to treat you to a meal?”

n“Why?” He Ling began to laugh, “The woman who came to the dojo last time called Ren HongLi, didn’t she refer to herself as your mother-in-law?”

nAuntie Ren did indeed say I was her son-in-law, it was pretty embarrassing.

n“Hmph, Ye Lin, so did your mother-in-law tell you that she lost her silver necklace?”

nI was immediately alerted, “Do you mean you were the one who picked up Auntie Ren’s necklace after she dropped it at the dojo?”

nHe Ling didn’t really confirm or deny it and stayed silent.

nI was a bit upset, “That necklace might not be worth a lot of money, but it’s something Auntie Ren’s mother left behind. If you picked it up, when didn’t you tell us sooner?”

nHe Ling was slightly annoyed, “It’s not like I was the one who found it. One of the male students found it and thought I was the one who dropped it and he brought it to me. Silver prices are now less than ¥4 a gram and it doesn’t look like an antique, so how would I know it was worth a lot to you guys.”

nI thought about it and I had no reason to be mad at her, so I switched to a gentler tone:

n“Sister… He Ling, Auntie Ren really does treasure that necklace. Can you take care it for now, I’ll definitely treat you to a meal at a Western-0style restaurant. Which day are you free?”

nHe Ling scoffed proudly after reaching her goal, “Friday night at eight, lets meet at Traktir Pushkin. You have to make reservations, if I have to wait in line, then don’t blame me if I don’t return the necklace.”

n“Russian restaurant? Are you sure you could get used to their flavors? I hear the food there is a bit rough, although the portions are filling, so I would like it…”

n“Don’t worry about if I could eat it or not, is there something wrong with trying somethings new?” it sounded like He Ling was playing with keys and I could hear it clanging, “A lot of foreigners go to Traktir Pushkin and I heard the owner is also a foreigner, doesn’t that set a good mood? Oh right, don’t forget to apologize to me during dinner.”

n“Why would I apologize.” I feigned innocence.

n“Of course… it’s because you embarrassed me on stage.” she said spitefully, “Not only did you made me lose miserably, you also… ripped open my uniform and took advantage of me. If it wasn’t because of Uncle Ye, there’s no way I would let you off this easily.”

n

n