The super said, “You need any help?” He was finding all of this odd too. If she ever wound up screaming and cursing at someone in the street, she’d look no different from the way she did now. She felt vicious, coarse expressions exploding on her face one after another. She kept blowing aside the hair that fell across her face, her lips twitching nonstop. A female secret talker? In her mind, Hongmei kicked open this person’s front door, grabbed their hair, and dragged them out into the street. She wasn’t even sure if she was spelling some of these swear words correctly, but she didn’t care When she paused and brought the glass to her lips, she found it empty. This person had toyed with her so much, she was half crazy. She slowly deleted her rant and coldly typed out, Then there’s a fundamental misunderstanding between the two of us. I’m a straight woman—I only like men.
She logged off and stood up. The newspaper came down and revealed the super’s knowing face. He’d seen her entire tirade, a flurry of furious typing. He’d just been playing the part of a meek little employee rather than sneakily trying to pair up with her. He bid her goodbye politely, saying he’d help her ask permission at the next residents’ committee meeting.
She was confused—“Permission for what?”
He said, “To get the key to the roof, of course.” What a good little employee, so responsible.
She said, “That’s too much trouble. Forget it.”
He said, “No trouble at all.” Then, with a change of tone, “What on Earth are you planning to do up there?”
She asked what other residents went up for.
“Fixing TV antennae,” he answered.
She said, “You see, if I’d said that’s what I would be doing, wouldn’t you have given me the key at once?”
He said, “That’s right. You ought to have said that. I don’t want to know what you would actually do up there.”
She smiled. “I’m not going to kill myself.”
He smiled too. “Can I trust you?”
She said, “Of course you can’t.”
He pulled a face at her, acknowledging her meaning. Just to be sure, she asked him how to spell “disappoint.” He got it right, not a single letter missing. Her suspicions were completely dispelled now, and he was found not guilty.
* * *
The secret talker enlightened Hongmei, telling her there was no problem; it was safe to receive another woman’s admiration.
Hongmei bluffed, I know who you are. When you’re spying on other people, please don’t forget that you’re being spied on too.