A Case of Two Cities

such a well-known wife. Still, it was not for Chen to judge who was responsible for her failed marriage. Deep in his heart, he guessed there was something parallel in his life—a peg, a string—he didn’t want to touch at the moment.
     
    “Thank you for telling me all this,” he said. “Indeed, every household has a difficult account. Look at me. Still a bachelor, about which my mother worries all the time. I wish we could all be back in the days of our reading group.”
     
    “No need to be too hard on yourself,” she said, reaching across the table to pat his hand. “The past is past, but we still have the future in our hands.”
     
    A clever remark, echoing perhaps another book they had read together in the group.
     
    “Gather the flower while you may,” he said, taking a drink, “or you have only a barren twig in your hand.”
     
    “Exactly.” She then tried to make him talk about his work, which he managed to evade.
     
    “You’re not that unfamiliar with the official world, An. Nothing but sordid details. I don’t think we should spoil the evening with those things. On the other hand, you have a PR company. It’s a huge success, I’ve heard. Tell me more about it.”
     
    “How long do you think I can work as an anchorwoman, Chen?”
     
    “What do you mean?”
     
    “It’s a star-making age. As a woman, how long can I remain attractive to the public? I have to be realistic. Several people have been coveting my position at the TV station, and you should see them—younger, and much prettier too. In the entertainment industry, new young faces come along every year. Xie Donghong at CCTV, you know, is only in her midtwenties, and with an MBA degree from an American university.”
     
    “But you have so many loyal fans who watch you every night. I’m one of them.”
     
    “Come on, Chen. A man may blossom in his forties, but a woman goes downhill in her thirties. I’m thirty-seven. It is a fact I have to acknowledge,” she said, gazing into the wine, as if in search of her own reflection. The early summer evening spread peacefully outside the window, while autumn waves rippled in her eyes. “But you are different, a rising star in the political world.”
     
    It reminded him of two lines of a poem— As always, a general is like a beauty, / there’s no seeing a white hair. In China’s new cadre policy, age became a crucial criterion. He was lucky, but he had better seize the moment too.
     
    “The car, the apartment, and the new boarding school for my son, all these I have to pay for,” she went on. “Do you think my state company salary is enough? I have to earn money for the future of my son, if not for myself.”
     
    There was real worry in her voice. Spoiled by her success, she might not be able to envision the life of an ordinary woman. It wasn’t something she had planned, but it wasn’t something she could help, he understood.
     
    “I know what you mean. I have to do translation to make up for my bureau salary.”
     
    “Besides, I have to keep myself busy. Because of my working schedule at the TV station, and my son studying away at school, I am all alone when I come back,” she said, taking a sip of the wine. “One or two solitary evenings may not be too bad, but—”
     
    “You are multitalented,” he said, in an effort to change the topic. “You have so many fans of your show. Now you have so many clients for your PR company.”
     
    “It’s nothing but connections,” she said. “You can do it too. In fact, you can help me a lot.”
     
    Was she going to include him as one of her connections? If so, she would talk more freely.
     
    “Well, you never know,” he said.
     
    “Heaven and Earth of Connections. That’s the name of another PR company, my biggest rival in the city. The company owner is the son of an ex-politburo member. All he needs to do is to make phone calls to important people, ‘Hi, Uncle, my father asks about you,’ or ‘Oh, Aunt, I’ve just talked to my father about you,’ and he then slips in a few words for his clients. These ‘uncles’ and ‘aunts’ are in powerful positions, capable of making decisions. So he charges for the calls—”
     
    Abruptly Chen felt something moving in his pants pocket—throbbing. His cell phone began vibrating instead of ringing. He must have accidentally pressed a button. As he took it out, the caller hung up. He was clumsy with the new gadgets and he fumbled with it a bit, unsure how to