Enemies

Dawei had lived a happy life in his first thirty years. Being the only son of his parents, he had always had everything parents could give to their child. After graduation, instead of going back to the small town where he grew up, he managed to stay in Shanghai and became the human resource manager of an international company. Then he married well. His wife, Lanlan, was neither really good-looking nor particularly well-educated, but she was desperately in love with him, and she had the first thing men ask of their wives—she could cook. And just when Dawei was thinking about having a baby, Lanlan got pregnant. She gave birth smoothly to a healthy girl.

It is said, however, that "The moon's shape varies; people's luck changes." Dawei was no exception. When Lanlan's maternity leave was about to end, a problem arose. Who was going to take care of the baby during the day after she returned to work?

"We need to hire a babysitter to come in when we are both at work," said Dawei one day to Lanlan at the dinner table.

Before Dawei began speaking, Lanlan was about to eat the piece of cabbage she had just picked up from the serving plate. On hearing "babysitter," however, she let the cabbage fall back to the plate and forcibly set down her chopsticks. "A babysitter!" she exclaimed, "a babysitter can't be trusted. What if she doesn't change diapers regularly or feed the baby well? What if she mistreats or kidnaps the baby? You know we can't be home to check on her." Lanlan was not sure if she had persuaded her husband, but never mind. She had convinced herself so well that her eyes grew wet.

Dawei was amused by Lanlan's imagination when she said "kidnap" but then noticed Lanlan was about to cry. He held back his laughter, trying to manage a serious expression. His face, though, looked as if he had a toothache.

The baby also chose this awkward time to scream, which made the situation even more tragic. Dawei had no choice but to change his mind. "Maybe my mother can come to Shanghai to help us," he said, "until the baby is old enough for a day care center, but Mom will have to live with us if she comes."

Lanlan didn't give a response. She took the baby and began to nurse her. The baby's eyes were closed, her legs kicking resentfully.

Dawei studied his wife's facial expression for a while. Then he continued, "Or maybe your mother can come to help, which is even more convenient. Your parents live in Shanghai, too. Your mother can come during the day and go home after we come home." Dawei was glad for his good idea.

But his wife said ironically, "What a good human resource manager you are! Do you want to use my mother as cheap labor?"

Dawei had never known his wife could be that quick-minded and insightful.

Lanlan didn't want to give her current enemy a chance to breathe, so she went on quickly. "You know my mother has arthritis. There's no way for her to take care of the baby, even though she does live here in Shanghai. What's more, the baby is going to carry on your family name. So your mother has better reasons to take care of the baby." After she finished her speech, a heroic expression appeared on her face. She was moved by the sacrifice she had just made for the interest of her daughter and her mother—to live with her mother-in-law.

Unfortunately, Dawei neither read her expression nor understood her sacrifice. He was only impressed by his wife's extraordinary reasoning. He stared at Lanlan's forehead to figure out how her brain worked. He failed.

II

Dawei's mother, Shuzhen, was efficient. She took the earliest train to Shanghai the next day after she received the call from Dawei. At dinner time she appeared at Dawei's front door with five bags, panting. She climbed all the way up to the seventh floor, for she didn't like elevators.

Dawei and Lanlan hadn't expected her to come so soon—Lanlan still had two weeks' leave to stay at home and take care of the baby. At the sight of this unexpected guest, Dawei's heart was touched, for he had such a caring and helpful mother. On the other hand, Lanlan's heart sank, for the next two weeks she would have to face her mother-in-law alone at home while Dawei was at work. But both Dawei and Lanlan managed to smile and say, "Mom, we're glad you came to help us so soon." Dawei took his mother's bags inside the door and Lanlan brought a pair of chopsticks and a bowl of rice to the table.

Shuzhen didn't want to sit down at the table yet. She couldn't wait to see the baby. The baby was lying in the crib, sound asleep. She looked so adorable that Shuzhen couldn't help wanting to hold her.

As Shuzhen reached for the baby, Lanlan bit her lip hard to hold back the words: "Please don't—I just put her to sleep."

Shuzhen couldn't hear Lanlan's thought, so she held the baby in her arms. The baby woke up and stared at Shuzhen with her round eyes. Shuzhen said cheerfully, "What a clever baby! You recognized your grandma immediately." She kissed the baby's cheek. "Let me have a good look at you. You've grown so big. You look more and more like your father. Look at that big forehead. Look at those beautiful eyes. You're going to be as smart as your father, too, I bet."

Lanlan was annoyed because Shuzhen didn't give her any credit for her qualities in the baby. Then she comforted herself, "At least she didn't insult me by saying the baby doesn't resemble Dawei at all." She was amused by her own humor.

Shuzhen happened to turn and saw the smile on Lanlan's face. She thought her daughter-in-law was happy about the compliments she gave to the baby.

When Shuzhen finally settled down at the dinner table, the first thing out of her mouth was, "Lanlan, you've gained weight."

Shuzhen meant Lanlan had recovered well after childbirth, but Lanlan interpreted it as an insult about her plump figure. The muscles on Lanlan's face twisted. It looked almost like a smile.

Just as Lanlan was about to respond, Dawei said, "Mom, you've traveled a long way today. You must be very hungry. Have some more food." He put some more chicken in his mother's bowl and, at the same time, gave his wife a soothing look.

This look didn't escape Shuzhen's sharp eyes. She pushed her bowl away, saying, "I don't want any more to eat. I've had enough. The chicken is too salty."

III

The next day, when Dawei came home from work, he stood at the front door and sensed it was unusually quiet inside. He wondered if anybody was in, but he still knocked at the door as usual. He never liked using keys. He heard footsteps immediately. The door opened. It was his wife. "You're twenty-five minutes late today."

Dawei was about to tease her, "You're not accurate enough. I'm twenty-six minutes late," but the scene in the sitting room stopped his words. His mother was standing on a small stool on top of the dinning room table. Dawei almost had a heart attack. He rushed to the table at once. Lanlan complained behind him, "You haven't changed your shoes yet."

Dawei didn't hear Lanlan, or he pretended not to hear her, but guarded his mother with his hands. "What are you doing up there, Mom?"

"I'm cleaning the light fixture. It's dusty," said Shuzhen calmly.

"Mom, you're going to hurt yourself. Please get down. Let me clean it." Dawei kept on making a fuss.

"I'm almost done. Okay, it's as clean as new now." Shuzhen gave a last close look at her handwork and stepped down off the stool onto the table. Then she sat on the table, hanging her legs down, and reached her feet for the ground.

Dawei supported his mother's arm. "Mom, please don't do anything like that anymore." He sweated at the thought that maybe the next day he would come home to see his mother kneeling on the windowsill, leaning out of the window, trying to clean the dust on the outside of the glass.

"I'm fine." Shuzhen was back on the floor, safe and sound. "Dawei, I'm cooking your favorite pork and bamboo soup. I'll go get ready for dinner." Shuzhen put the stool away, cleaned the table, and went into the kitchen.

Shuzhen was quite busy in the kitchen, but it didn't prevent her from raising her ears and watching the young couple out of the corner of her eye. She heard Dawei say, "Why didn't you stop Mom from doing that? It's too dangerous for her to climb up that high at her age."

"How could I stop her? Please change your shoes and take off your coat." Taking Dawei's coat, Lanlan lowered her voice secretively, "Would you please come to the bedroom for a second?"

The bedroom door closed behind the young couple. Shuzhen was sure they were talking about her in the bedroom. "Wicked women," she murmured, forgetting she was a woman, too.

Shuzhen was right. The dialogue in the bedroom started like this:

"I have never been so well-informed about the content of the newspaper," Lanlan grabbed the newspaper from the bed and waved it. "The whole day I couldn't do anything but read the newspaper because it was the only thing which your mother had no interest in...oh, and I nursed the baby, too. She let me do that because she couldn't do it herself." Lanlan threw the newspaper onto the ground.

"That's good. So you had a good rest." Dawei stooped and picked up the newspaper.

"Any interesting news today?"

"What news? I don't know. I couldn't concentrate. Your mother was moving everything around and making all kinds of noise all day. I told her the curtains had just been cleaned, but she took them down and cleaned them anyway. She even moved our wedding picture from the coffee table to the stand by the window. She's been acting like our apartment is hers to do what she pleases with."

Dawei looked through the newspaper, diverting his eyes from Lanlan. "Mom's always like that. Housework is her hobby. Just let her take care of things, and you rest more. Oh, look, America carried out airstrikes in Iraq again today."

Whatever happened in Iraq had no effect on Lanlan. She was more interested in diapers than bombs. "Your mother brought four bags of diapers made of old cotton sheets. She used them on the baby without asking my opinion."

"Those are traditional diapers. We all used them when we were little."

"But she washes them without using soap...."

Shuzhen knocked at the door and called, "Time for dinner." Lanlan stopped speaking abruptly.

After dinner, Lanlan made an attempt to wash the dishes, but Shuzhen began washing them before she could even step into the kitchen. Lanlan shrugged her shoulders at Dawei and went to see the baby. "Watch out. Don't wake her. I just put her to sleep," said Shuzhen from the kitchen. Lanlan felt her mother-in-law was operating her like a remote control: she could start and stop her at will.

Dawei went into the kitchen to help Shuzhen put the dishes away. Shuzhen took the dishes from his hands. "You don't have to do that. Housework is women's work. Men shouldn't be so trivial...." Her eyes fixed on Dawei's face alertly. "Does Lanlan make you do housework when I'm not here?"

"No, Lanlan does most of the housework. She's a good wife. She really takes care of me. I like her cooking. See, I have gained more weight from eating her food than I did when you cooked for me." Dawei didn't want his mother to suspect that his wife mistreated him, so he tried hard to praise her. He forgot that in a woman's presence a man should never praise another woman too highly.

He suddenly realized that his sensitive mother was deeply hurt by what he just said. "I know you think your wife is the best. That's why you always listen to her whispers and follow her everywhere. People say, 'To a married man, mom's nobody, and wife's everybody.' Exactly." Tears were shining in her eyes.

Women's tears were a fatal weapon against Dawei. His wife use them numerous times to defeat him. Now his mother defeated him, too. He didn't know what to say any more. Looking like a puppet, he opened and closed his mouth several times without making any sound.

IV

In the following week, Dawei was miserable. Every day after he got home, the two women would take turns secretly complaining to him about the other. He tried to remain completely neutral, but the result was that both sides were unsatisfied with him. He thought about choosing one side, but he knew he was like hamburger meat. His wife was the bun on top; his mother was the bun on the bottom. To be complete, he needed both of them.

As a human-resource manager, he had mediated numerous complicated relationships, but he had never met such a tough situation. Dawei felt that the situation was ridiculous. He had to try his best to help the two women get along.

One evening, when Shuzhen was washing dishes in the kitchen, she saw Lanlan drag

Dawei into the bedroom again. Lanlan tried to close the door, but Dawei stopped her and left the

door open.

Shuzhen turned off the running water to hear them more clearly, but their voices were too low. Anyway, she didn't need to hear it clearly to understand it was about her. Her daughter-in-law couldn't do anything other than drag her poor son around and whisper to him, trying to alienate him from his mother. Shuzhen squeezed the sponge hard in her hand. Then she turned on the water and went back to washing the dishes.

When she was almost done, she heard Dawei suddenly yell at the top of his lungs, "Stop talking like that!" Shuzhen was shocked. The baby was shocked, too. She started to cry.

Shuzhen turned off the running water, dried her hands with her apron, and rushed to calm the baby. At the same time she tried to listen to what was going on in the bedroom.

Dawei went on loudly. "You wouldn't use a baby-sitter. You wouldn't let your mother take care of the baby. And when my mother comes to help us out, the only thing you do is complain. You're impossible." It seemed that Dawei had finally decided to be a real man, yelling at his wife for the sake of his poor mother. Shuzhen was glad she hadn't wasted her love all these years on an ungrateful son.

Then, Shuzhen heard Lanlan murmur something. Her voice was so low that Shuzhen couldn't hear it clearly. She was lucky not to hear it, or she would have fainted. It was "Your mother is a hick and so are you."

Following Lanlan's murmuring Shuzhen heard a smack. She shuddered at the sound, and then she immediately doubted what she heard.

Shuzhen did hear correctly. The sound was a smack—Dawei smacked Lanlan in the face. It was the first time he had ever struck her.

Lanlan was too shocked to cry at first. With a hand on her hurt cheek, she stared at Dawei, who looked like an angry bull. Several seconds later, Lanlan regained her strength and screamed, "How dare you hit me? How dare you? You savage. I can't live with you any more...."

She burst into a heartbreaking cry.

Her tears were not effective today, though. Dawei didn't retreat at the sight of them as usual. Instead, he said calmly, "You don't have to live with me."

"Don't you think I'm afraid of divorcing you," threatened Lanlan hysterically.

Her threat of divorce didn't really affect Dawei, but it affected Dawei's mother. Holding the baby in the sitting room, Shuzhen's heart halted at the word "divorce." She quickly figured what it would be like if her son and her daughter-in-law broke up. Shuzhen didn't have the least doubt of Dawei's ability to get a new wife easily, but the problem was that the baby would have a stepmother who might treat her poorly. Shuzhen's heart was broken at this thought. She suddenly realized Lanlan was not so bad after all. At least Lanlan never said anything disrespectful to her face. Anyway, no matter what kind of woman Dawei would end up with next time, Shuzhen wouldn't expect to get along with her, either. Young people were all too strange.

Shuzhen decided she should do something to stop them from getting divorced. She yelled from the sitting room, "Dawei, stop yelling! You frightened the baby. Don't talk about divorce so lightly. Lanlan gave birth not long ago. Being upset will affect her health. If you don't care, I do.

Dawei, shut up and let Lanlan rest."

Dawei stopped abruptly, but Lanlan didn't want to rest. She went on persistently, "I was blind to agree to marry a bastard like you." She forgot it was she who twisted Dawei's arm to marry her. Saying this, she grabbed a pillow and threw it at Dawei with all her strength. Pillows are always the best things to throw in a family fight: they are big, light, unbreakable, and meaningful. "Get out!" Lanlan glared at Dawei, panting, her eyes red and swollen.

Holding the pillow, Dawei backed out of the room. Every time after a big fight with his wife, he had to move out of the bedroom. He didn't even question it anymore. He just obeyed.

The next day, when Dawei came home, his mother opened the door for him. Lanlan treated him as air—she neither heard him nor saw him. After dinner, Lanlan smiled to Shuzhen and said, "Mom, I'll do the dishes."

"Okay. I have diapers to wash," said Shuzhen.

Dawei went to play with the baby. While playing, the baby got a hold of his index finger. Dawei tried to pull his finger back, but the baby wouldn't let go. She just stared at him innocently. Dawei foresaw the baby was going to grow up to be just like her mother.

After finishing the dishes, Lanlan silently took the baby away from Dawei and went to feed her. Dawei was left to lie on the sofa, his comfortable new home, but he couldn't rest. Shuzhen put a big basin full of diapers on the sitting room floor. She was washing diapers

by hand. The smell of diapers filled the room.

Dawei frowned. "Why don't you just soak them for a while and then put them into thewashing machine, Mom?"

"I never trust the job machines do. It's cleaner to wash by hand."

"You even don't use soap. How can it be cleaner?"

"You don't know anything. Baby pee washes out easily. It's a waste to use soap on it."

"How much does soap cost? I can afford it."

"I know it doesn't cost much to wash them once, but small things add up."

"You're always right." Dawei decided to be an ostrich. He pulled the sheet over his head.

"Do you still have to sleep on the sofa today?" asked Shuzhen, with sympathy.

No answer.

Shuzhen sighed and started to think about her dilemma again. Yesterday after Dawei and Lanlan's fight, she had a sleepless night. She was honored that her son fought with his wife for her, and she knew how much her son and her granddaughter needed her here. She imagined how sad her son would be if she told him that she was leaving. He would plead with her to stay. If she stayed, however, her son would fight continuously with his wife about her. She was not a selfish woman. She couldn't let her son risk his marriage for her. What should she do? To go or not to go, that was the question.

Now the sight of Dawei sleeping on the sofa made Shuzhen's heart ache. She decided to talk with her son about her going home. She would try her best to persuade him into letting her go.

So she said, "Dawei, I need to talk to you. I'm thinking of going home."

Dawei was silent. Shuzhen sighed. She could imagine the sad and shocked expression on his face under the cover. It would take Dawei some time to accept her leaving, but he would finally understand that she did it all for his benefit.

Just as Shuzhen was expecting Dawei to plead with her to stay, he spoke up with a hidden joy. "Mom, it's good you decided to return home. You need some rest. My friend introduced me to a baby-sitter today. She's very experienced and doesn't charge a lot, so you won't have to worry about us. When do you want to leave? I can go and get the train ticket for you when you make up your mind."

Shuzhen threw the diaper she was washing into the water. What? No pleas? No sadness?

On the contrary, Dawei seemed to be glad about her leaving. How could he treat her as if she were of no importance at all?

"You've been planning on my going? You're happy to see me go? You ungrateful thing.

What did I do wrong? Look at the baby! Since I came here, she has grown so well. Look at your apartment! Can you see dust anywhere?" Her tears began to fall to increase Dawei's guilt. "Don't forget it was you who begged me to come, but if you want, I'll go. I'll leave you alone. I'll go right now." The phrase "right now" sparked her to stand up and run to pack. It was pitch-dark outside. She was aware there was no train leaving so late, but she was sure her son would stop her, which would help her save face.

Her packing was quick. In a few minutes, she came back with a full bag. As she walked heavily to the front door, she peered at Dawei. He remained motionless on the sofa with his face covered. Shuzhen made her last threat, as she opened the front door slowly. "I'll go now. I'll go now. I'll leave you alone. Don't ever beg me to come back again because I won't."

The cruel man lay there, still. He made no attempt to stop her. He just calmly said, "Make sure you lock the door when you leave." His words were deceptive, for under the sheet, there was a big smile on his face. He was sure his mother wouldn't go.

And Shuzhen didn't go. Just as she was about to walk through the door and give her ungrateful son regret for ever, she heard Lanlan's voice. "Mom, please don't go."

Shuzhen dropped her bag onto the ground immediately and said, "Let me go. Don't stop me." But she did not go any further out the door.

Lanlan took Shuzhen by the arm and closed the door behind her. "Mom, please don't go. It's already late. There's no train at this time. Don't listen to Dawei's nonsense. We're not going to get a baby sitter. We need you here. Please stay. I want you to." Lanlan went to pick up

Shuzhen's bag and put it away.

When Lanlan came back, Dawei became visible to her for the first time since their fight, even though he was covered by a sheet. Lanlan sneered at the sheet. "Dawei, I never saw you so clearly! You are a hard rock. You are not only hard on me, you are hard on your own mother.

How can you let your mother go and take a train at this time at night? You didn't even try to stop her at all! You're a cruel hearted bastard!" Now, she was a toreador trying hard to annoy the bull.

But the bull remained still and silent at her challenge.

Lanlan took his silence to be a sign of weakness, so she raised her chin to claim her victory, as if Dawei could see her from under the sheet.

V

The next day when Dawei came home after work, he knocked at the door as usual. Nobody answered. It took him a few minutes to find the right key and unlock the door.

He found the two women cooking together in the kitchen, chatting like mother and daughter. Dawei was invisible to both of them. Only the baby greeted him by kicking her legs, waving her arms, and talking in her alien language. "Daddy's home, Baby." Dawei held her tiny chubby hands, smiling.

Dawei wasn't called to the dinner table that evening. He seated himself without invitation. Only two pairs of chopsticks and two bowls of rice were on the table. Dawei had to go to the kitchen to fetch his set. As he walked towards the kitchen, the newly allied forces at the table exchanged a look and laughed.

Shuzhen and Lanlan didn't know Dawei felt even more glad than they. He was honored to be their common enemy, for "a common enemy makes two countries allies."

He was sure they would speak to him sooner or later. No matter how they despised him now, they would have to forgive him, because they couldn't help loving the father of such a cute baby.

Dawei was once again a happy man.