1978 Synthetic Writers

Chapter 599 Lü Liping: It's all your fault, Seahorse!
Feng Xiaogang took a deep breath and pushed open the heavy glass door.

A wave of warm, humid air, a mixture of cooking fumes, leftover food, and the smell of cheap cleaning agents, hit him, almost making him dizzy.

The restaurant was bustling with noise; the clatter of plates and dishes, the sizzling of woks, and the shouts of waiters created a lively and noisy atmosphere.

As he hesitated about who to ask, a sharp, cursing voice suddenly came from the direction of the kitchen. It was Chinese with an accent he couldn't place, but Feng Xiaogang could roughly understand it.

"You old hag! Where are your eyes?! Do you know how expensive this plate is? I couldn't afford to pay for it even if I sold you!"

An obese middle-aged man, wearing an apron stained with oil, was yelling at a woman huddled in a corner.

Feng Xiaogang glanced at her and saw the face of a Chinese woman. She was wearing a stained waitress uniform, her head was down, and her slightly thin shoulders were trembling.

As for the ground, there were shattered porcelain plates and splattered leftovers of food.

"I'm sorry, boss, I'm so sorry my hand slipped, I really didn't mean to." The woman's voice was weak, filled with undisguised fear and sobs, and it was in familiar Mandarin.

"What good is 'sorry'! Half of your wages this month will be deducted! If you don't do a good job, get out! Do you think this place is for idlers?"

The boss became increasingly aggressive in his insults, even raising his hand and striking the woman's head and shoulders hard with the greasy menu.

The woman dared not dodge, but curled up even tighter, like a helpless fallen leaf in a raging wind.

Feng Xiaogang felt a pang of guilt; he couldn't bear to watch any longer. As a fellow sufferer, he deeply sympathized with the woman's helplessness and fear.

But before he could even lift his foot, it was as if it had been hammered into the ground.

He came to this restaurant for a job interview, and if he upset the owner, he wouldn't even have the chance to apply.

Moreover, if this woman really gets fired, wouldn't his chances of getting the job be even greater?

Feng Xiaogang was frozen in place, unable to move forward or backward.

On the other side, the boss finished cursing, spat, and turned around to yell and direct the other workers.

The woman slowly straightened up, squatted down, and silently picked up the broken pieces on the ground. When she turned her face to the side, Feng Xiaogang saw tears glistening in the corners of her eyes and a barely perceptible redness on her face, clearly indicating that this was not the first time.

As he looked at it, Feng Xiaogang felt that he had seen this face somewhere before.
"Lü Liping?!" Feng Xiaogang exclaimed in surprise, "You're Lü Liping?"

When Lü Liping heard someone shouting and sensed that someone was watching him, he looked up and met Feng Xiaogang's gaze.

It was a face etched with weariness and vicissitudes, but it was unfamiliar; Lü Liping had never seen it before.

So this person was quickly categorized as a fan.

She quickly lowered her head, hurriedly tidied herself up, and muttered, "You...you've mistaken me for someone else."

As a former Shanghai Film Studio actor, Lü Liping absolutely does not want anyone who knows her to see her like this now.

"impossible."

Feng Xiaogang squatted down and took a closer look. "It's definitely you, Lü Liping, the actress who played in 'Old Well,' right? I've seen your movies."

Lu Liping's body trembled. He didn't look up, but shook his head very slightly, his voice so low it was almost inaudible:

"You should leave now. I don't know what you're talking about. If the boss sees you talking to me, he'll scold both of us."

"."

Feng Xiaogang roughly guessed Lü Liping's concerns and didn't say much. He was just very curious about why Lü Liping was in such a situation, but now was obviously not the time to ask. He had his own things to do and needed to apply for a job at the restaurant.

Feng Xiaogang had been eyeing this restaurant for a long time because the owner was also of Chinese descent, and he felt that he had a high probability of getting a job at the restaurant.

With his good speaking skills, humble attitude, and low salary requirements—he only wanted food and lodging and nothing else—Feng Xiaogang finally got the job of cleaning toilets in the restaurant from the fat boss.

He had long since run out of money to continue renting that old, run-down apartment, and these days he had been spending his time on a bench covered with newspapers.

The foreman showed Feng Xiaogang around his work environment briefly. Lu Liping glanced at him, not expecting him to be her colleague.

A few minutes later, as Lü Liping was passing the cold corner of the fire escape staircase behind the restaurant on her way to the restroom, Feng Xiaogang called her over:

"Hey."

"."

Lu Liping ignored him and continued walking forward.

Seeing this, Feng Xiaogang said to himself from behind, "Lu Liping, I've seen you before. You may not recognize me. My name is Feng Xiaogang, and I'm from 'Seahorse'."

"Kaiba?"

Upon hearing those two words, Lü Liping abruptly stopped in his tracks.

Seeing that she reacted, Feng Xiaogang continued, "Yes, Haima, Haima Film and Television Creation Center, the one that filmed 'Stories from the Editorial Department'."

"."

Lu Liping turned her head away abruptly, tears welling in her eyes.

"You remember us?" Feng Xiaogang smiled, thinking that Lü Liping was just excited to see an acquaintance.

Who knew that Lü Liping would rush over like a madman, grabbing Feng Xiaogang's shirt and tearing it violently, while raising his other hand to slap him across the face several times, yelling, "Beasts! You are all beasts!"

"What?!"

Feng Xiaogang was stunned by the beating, but he was a man after all. After being slapped a few times, he raised his hand to stop Lü Liping's actions.

Touching his neck, he found several bloody scratches from the woman's claws.

"are you crazy?!"

"Who did anything to you?!"

Feng Xiaogang was furious after being bullied like this for no reason.

"You beasts! You've ruined me!" Lü Liping was still struggling, trying to slap Feng Xiaogang a couple more times, but he held her firmly in his arms. She could only wail and cry, "I'm like this because of you! You've ruined me!"

What did we do?

Feng Xiaogang was confused and it took him quite a while to calm Lü Liping down.

"Tell me first, what have we, the seahorse, done to you that makes you hold such a grudge against us?"

"."

Seeing that Feng Xiaogang seemed genuinely unaware, and perhaps because she desperately needed to vent her pent-up frustrations, this woman—Lü Liping—recounted her experiences over the past few months in fits and starts:
A few months ago, Lü Liping came to the United States, to New York, almost as if he had taken a desperate gamble.

As soon as she got off the plane, dragging her heavy luggage, she looked around the maze-like lobby, watching all sorts of people gather there, feeling as if the whole world was contained within it.

Lu Liping found it incredibly novel, as if he couldn't see enough of it.

Afterwards, the people sent by Jiang Xian met her and picked her up in a car—a luxurious Cadillac sedan with advanced and sophisticated equipment and spacious, comfortable seats.

Looking out the window, Lü Liping felt incredibly excited and refreshed by everything. The four- or five-story multi-level highways and the endless rows of car lights were dazzling and eye-catching.

For a moment, the car even entered an underwater tunnel, and the streetlights at the drainage outlets were still flashing past the car window.

Lu Liping still remembers that when the car climbed out of the undersea tunnel, she couldn't help but exclaim "Ah!"

New York, like a mirage, shimmered with lights, unfolded before her eyes in dazzling splendor.

After paying the toll, the car drove into Manhattan, the heart of New York City.

This bizarre and dazzling city, the world's largest metropolis, filled Lü Liping, a newcomer, with immense wonder. However, the car soon slowed down.

All the cars here turned into snails, slowly crawling forward little by little.

Yellow taxis occupied most of the street.

They squeeze into any available space, stand wherever there's room, and compete with each other, navigating the traffic with ease.

Furthermore, one skyscraper after another, like one colossal monster after another, looked down and stared at the dense crowds and convoys, as if the cars were weaving in and out between their toes, and these behemoths remained unmoved.

The colorful neon lights, in all their varied forms, competed for attention, illuminating the night sky.

A sky-blue police car weaved left and right through the congested, frozen traffic, blaring its siren at the top of its lungs.

“These police cars are a major feature of New York; they’re never idle, 24 hours a day,” the person who came to pick up Lü Liping told her.

However, the noise and excitement soon subsided.

What appeared before Lü Liping was:

Dilapidated buildings.

In front of the building, groups of street urchins huddled in dark corners, bending over to warm themselves by the fire.

On the side of the road, dirty homeless people lay sprawled out, constantly pouring alcohol into their mouths.

Two scantily clad women winked and waved at Lü Liping inside the car.

Just as she was wondering how to respond, the person who picked her up told her, "Considering your financial situation when you first arrived here, the rent here is relatively cheap."

As he spoke, the man took out an envelope from his designer wallet: "This is five hundred US dollars, and my phone number. Please accept it, don't be shy!"

Lu Liping took the envelope, got out of the car with trepidation, and approached the house whose walls had been covered with obscene paintings.

"So," Lu Liping asked, as if asking himself, and also as if asking that person, "I live here?"

"No." The man leaned out of the car window.

"I knew it," Lü Liping breathed a sigh of relief.

But soon, her breath hitched again, because she heard the man add:

"These floors are too expensive. I booked the basement for you. The rent and deposit are 400 yuan in total. Adding the 500 yuan I lent you today, it's 900 yuan in total. Please pay me back as soon as possible. Also, I have something to do tomorrow morning. If you have any difficulties, call me after 8:30 tomorrow night."

After giving her a detailed account of the expenses, the man started his car and drove away.

Lu Liping watched the car disappear, then turned around and stared fearfully at the dark building entrance.

The building was extremely dark; the dim light, instead of bringing light, only added to the eerie atmosphere.

She pushed open the basement door.

The door groaned, and a hard-to-describe smell wafted out.

She couldn't help but cough twice, then turned on a small yellow light, and then saw all the furniture in the room:
An empty wooden crate used in the market for storing fruit.

A chair without a back.

A dirty mattress.

Gone.

Lu Liping's entire American dream shattered at that moment.

Her first thought was to move.

But where to move to?

She already owes nine hundred yuan in debt!

After settling in, getting some boiled water, and eating a few steamed buns from his bag, Lü Liping fell into a deep sleep, thus spending his first day in America.

Then, at the time agreed upon, Lü Liping tried making a phone call.

Because she wasn't used to using American phone numbers, it took her three whole hours to get through to this number.

As for the purpose of her call, it was naturally to inquire about her enrollment in school.

The response was a rhetorical question:
"Are you ready so quickly?"

"what to prepare?"

"Have you prepared for the exams and tuition fees?"

After the man finished speaking, Lü Liping's heart sank.

She thought she was just here to study!

So there's going to be an exam?

Good heavens, how could she possibly know those things for the exam?

Tuition fees?

She still owes nine hundred dollars!
Where can I get the tuition fees?

Just as she was hesitating to ask if she could borrow some tuition money, the other party hung up the phone directly, as if saying another word would be a waste of his time, showing no human touch whatsoever.

In her despair, Lü Liping had no choice but to try to find a job. After all, she was an actress and an artist at the Shanghai Film Studio, so surely she couldn't be unable to find a job to support herself.

Moreover, before coming to the United States, several friends she contacted introduced her to several "high-paying jobs".

Once I've earned enough money, and then work part-time while studying, I should be able to enroll in school soon.

This is how Lü Liping planned for himself.

As a result, reality dealt her a heavy blow.

She only held a tourist visa and was not legally allowed to work, and the so-called high-paying job "introduced by a friend" was completely fictitious.

The money he had brought with him, along with the five hundred dollars he had borrowed, was quickly exhausted. The pressure of debt and the shame of returning home made it impossible for Lü Liping to turn back.

To survive, she had to work illegally.

First, I went to work at a sweatshop sewing machine, working twelve hours a day, my fingers were pricked by needles countless times, but the wages were pitifully low.

Before she even received her wages, the garment factory was investigated, and she lost her job. She eventually ended up at this Chinese restaurant.

The restaurant provides food and lodging, but the so-called "lodging" is just a warehouse where they store miscellaneous items, with a broken mattress placed there.

The work is from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., including serving dishes, washing dishes, cleaning, and doing everything else.

The boss was extremely harsh, often beating and scolding her and deducting wages. Lü Liping was almost trapped here because if she left, she would lose even that damp corner of the warehouse.

What's even more terrifying is that the fat boss would often take advantage of her when he had nothing else to do, and just one month ago, a drunken fat boss pushed open the door to the warehouse where she lived.
"If it weren't for the promise you made to me, I would never have come to this godforsaken place!"

Lu Liping screamed at the top of her lungs, tears streaming down her face, "Forget acting, even surviving here is so difficult!"

(End of this chapter)