胡堡胡同 Huburg Hutong：008 第八章：赵莉俐 Lily

第八章：赵莉俐

每次我走进白龙饭店的后屋，虽然我看不到他们，但是我想象天花板旁边的墙角飘着的鬼。

后屋的墙边堆满了箱子，从地上一直堆到天花板，箱子里面是商业文件和法律文件。我想象所有先于我来的胡家人、林家人和王家人的鬼，坐在箱子上面的五十年代风格的饭店椅子上，看着我怎么处理他们的事情。

“小姐，我帮您吧，我帮您吧，”白龙饭店厨房的一位工作人员小陈用带福州口音的普通话说，一边说一边很快地从我身边跑进后屋。

“小陈，我自己来吧，”我用中文说。

“不，不，不，”小陈说。他弯下腰，捡起离他最近的一个箱子，一个棕色的纸箱，可能是六十年代的啤酒箱，然后把箱子放在我的行李车上。

我用行李车把箱子一个一个地从白龙饭店的后屋搬到我在白堡广场的法务办公室。

我本来是可以在白龙饭店的后屋看那些文件的，但是鬼和饭店里一直都有的大蒜和洋葱的味道让我想回到我的办公室，这里有大会议室、大桌子和咖啡机。

“谢谢，谢谢，”我说。

“不用谢，”小陈说。

小陈转换成英文说：“每次您来，您都叫我。我帮您。”

“谢谢，”我也用英文说。

我们互相点了一下头。我把行李车往后倾了一下，开始把它拉出门。

“不，不，不，”小陈说，又转换成中文。“我帮您吧！”他想抓行李车的把手。

“没问题，”我说，“我需要运动。”

“对您不好，”小陈用英文说我。“您应该让我帮您。”

“没事儿，”我说。“再次谢谢你。”

我和小陈已经大概说过五十次这个对话了。这也差不多是我从后屋搬过的箱子数量。

小陈从来没提到过鬼。我也没有。

Word List

天花板 tiānhuābǎn ceiling
墙 qiáng wall
角 jiǎo corner
飘 piāo to float, to drift
堆 duī to stack, to pile up
装 zhuāng to hold, to contain, to load
法律 fǎlǜ law, legal
风格 fēnggé style
福州 Fúzhōu Fuzhou (a city in Fujian Province, China)
弯 wān bend, curve
腰 yāo waist, lower back
弯下腰 wān xià yāo bend down, stoop
捡 jiǎn pick up
棕色 zōng sè brown
行李车 xíng lǐ chē luggage trolley, luggage cart
广场 guǎngchǎng plaza, square, wide/open space
本来 běnlái originally, formerly; “could have” implying an unrealized possibility
大蒜 dàsuàn garlic
洋葱 yángcōng onion
转换成 zhuǎnhuàn chéng to switch to, to convert to, to change into
倾 qīng to tilt, to lean, to incline
大概 dàgài approximately, about
搬过 bān guò moved, carried (past experience)
数量 shùliàng quantity, number

Chapter 8: Lily

Every time I enter the backroom of Bright Dragon Restaurant, although I can’t see them, I imagine ghosts floating in the corners near the ceiling.

The walls of the backroom are stacked from the floor to the ceiling with boxes full of business papers and legal documents. I imagine the ghosts of all the Hus, Lins, and Wangs that came before me, sitting on the tops of the boxes in 1950s-style restaurant chairs, watching to see how I will handle their affairs.

“Let me help you, let me help you,” Chen, a member of the Bright Dragon Restaurant kitchen staff says in Fuzhou-accented Mandarin, hurrying past me into the backroom.

“Chen, I can do it,” I say in Chinese.

“No, no, no,” Chen says. He bends over, picks up the nearest box, a brown cardboard beer box, probably from the 1960s, and puts it on my luggage trolley.

I am using a luggage trolley to roll one box at a time from the backroom of the Bright Dragon Restaurant to my law office in the Brightsburg Plaza.

I could have gone through the papers in the Dragon’s backroom, but the ghosts and the ever-present scent of garlic and onions from the restaurant motivate me to return to my office with its spacious conference room, large conference table, and coffee machine.

“Thank you, thank you,” I say.

“No need to thank me,” Chen says.

Chen switches to English and says, “Every time you come, you ask for me. I’ll help you.”

“Thank you,” I say, also in English.

We nod to each other. I tip the luggage trolley and start to pull it out the door.

“No, no, no,” Chen says, back to Chinese. “Let me help you!” He tries to take the handle of the luggage trolley.

“No problem,” I say, “I need the exercise.”

“Not good for you,” Chen scolds in English. “You should let me help you.”

“I’m okay,” I say. “Thank you again.”

Chen and I have had this conversation about fifty times. That’s about how many boxes I have gone through from the backroom.

Chen has never mentioned the ghosts. I haven’t either.

Huburg Hutong 胡堡胡同 is a serialized novel written at the intermediate level in both Simplified Chinese characters and in English. Chapters are published weekly. The novel is written by Anne 安妮 Giles, edited by 侯慧颖 Hóu Huìyǐng “Mary,” and illustrated by Lear.

Huburg Hutong: Start Here
Huburg Hutong: Table of Contents
Huburg Hutong: Background
Huburg Hutong: Places and Characters
Huburg Hutong: Just English