Li, Zishuo

A Real Story

Script

“If you take one more step, I‘m gonna jump off with the kids!”, I heard the hoarse voice of my neighbour. It was midnight, and I was on my summer vacation at my parents’ place in Beijing, China. It’s a 32-storey-high condo, with three concierges sitting in the lobby day and night, who would never stop gossiping about the landlords. We lived on the 21st floor.

I still remember the first time I met her. It was a cold winter morning, and someone knocked on my door. I opened the door, and saw a woman, tall, and thin, in her forties, well groomed, leaning against my door frame. “I’m your new neighbour. We just moved here yesterday. I have a sleeping issue, so I’m sleeping in the daytime. Don’t make any noise at any time of the day. My husband is a lawyer, by the way, I don’t think you want to get into any trouble with us.” She turned away right after I said hi to her. It seemed like she was here only to warn me not to mess with a lawyer’s family.

The husband usually came home very late at night and drunk. He would keep on banging and banging, spoiling the last of his strengths until she opened the door without saying a word, then follows the muffled sounds of them arguing, yelling and things falling apart. Deaf to the outcry of their children, they unleash the worst of themselves upon each other, for an hour or two, sometimes even more that the security had to drag themselves over to stop them, hoping it would be long before it happens again. They would argue over the most minuscule things, and the husband always blamed her for not doing good enough.

The condo has seen a lot of changes over the years. Online shopping is so popular now, the concierges are always drowning in deliveries. Every day, a group of people hang around the lobby to line up for their packages at the same time, they gossip about their neighbours. Some of them sat at the benches for the entire afternoon, at there, no privacy could survive. You will learn about someone losing his job in his 50s, someone’s daughter going to the top college and marrying rich, or someone caught having an affair and is in the middle of a divorce. They disseminated their names and floor numbers with giggles and amusement. Most of the time, I look the other way and wait for my unit number to be called, but there was an eeriness I couldn’t ignore. I’ve heard this one gossip many times, they said the lawyer on the 21st floor often beat his wife and they saw the bruises on her face in the elevator. I’ve only met her a few times. Although she lives next door to me, we never talked. When she saw me, She always turned away or pretended to be busy on her phone, and we would pass each other silently as if nothing happened.
Not too long after I heard about the gossip, the arguing and yelling sound started again. Some images flashed through my mind: Is the lawyer actually beating his wife? Is that why those kids cried so hard? No way … I picked up the phone to call the police, but my mom stopped me. She said: “Maybe she doesn't want the police to come. There will be even more trouble for her to deal with if you call the police.” I hesitated. I picked up the phone again and dialled the security line instead, at least they can stop the fight right away. The securities came up in 5 minutes. The woman answered the door with her voice shaking and, she said they were only arguing about some trivial things. It’s all their own family matters. Sorry for being so loud. Days later, I met her again in the hallway, she said: “Someone was so busy poking at other’s business.” She looked into the air, pretending she was talking to no one. I kept my head down and walked as fast as I could. I kept asking myself, did I do it wrong? Did I only stir up more gossip and laughter for those loitering in the lobby? I’m so angry. There’s nothing I can do about this. I want to leave this place. There were also times the woman called the police herself. The police told her not to waste their time on family matters, and told the husband to take care of his family and control his temper, and they left.


The agony repeated itself like there’s no end. And then, I heard the hoarse voice of my neighbour. “If you take one more step, I‘m gonna jump off with the kids! ”

I knew - something seriously went wrong. He is threatening her life this time! I grabbed the phone without hesitation and dialed the police. Ten minutes later, the police were there. The endless cries of the woman and the kids echoed throughout the hallway, and she screamed. You can’t take him away! How do we live without him? He’s a lawyer! He will sue you all!!! The husband was taken custody for about ten days. Ten days only, for beating up his wife for years.

I met her a few days after her husband was taken. She stared at me, and without a moment’s pause, her eyes were filled with anger. I saw the bruises around her eyes and lips, with half of her face swelling. She looked right into my eyes and said, Do you know how much loan we had on this condo? Do you know how much it costs for two kids to go to school here? A lawyer with a criminal record, who did you think will pay the bills for us? The kids are getting bullied at school You know nothing about us.

A month later, I went back to Canada. I learned the rest of the story from my mom.
The couple divorced half a year later. The lawyer had put all the professional skills he had in law practice against his wife. He gave nothing but the condo they lived in to his wife and two children, but he mortgaged the unit for private loans before he changed the title of the property. After the lawyer moved out, the collecting company hammered on their door every other day. The woman screamed louder, and the kids cried harder. Not too long after their divorce, the woman packed up and moved back to her hometown, a small town in the south. Before she left, she told my mom that she has a college degree, and used to be a broadcaster for a local TV channel. She gave up her job and all her savings for a new life with her husband in Beijing, the capital city she dreamed for. After they got married, she had been staying at home, taking care of their children for many years, and now there’s no job for a middle-aged, single mom anywhere. She can’t afford their lives here anymore. She’s going back to her hometown, where most people are living in poverty, where there’s even more and worse violence hidden behind the peaceful country life.

Like a droplet of water, she disappeared in a died pool without making a splash. She never mentioned her name. When I think of her, I can only recall her whimper: When and Where will all this come to an end?


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