Da Qiao Xiao Qiao
Chapter One
Before her yoga class, Xu Yan received a call from Qiao Lin.
Hearing that she had come to Beijing, Xu Yan was somewhat surprised and suggested they meet up that evening.
There was a brief silence on the other end of the line before Qiao Lin spoke in a pleading tone: “Where are you right now? Can I come find you?”
They hadn’t seen each other in two years.
The last time had been when Nai Nai passed away—Xu Yan had returned to Tai’an for a quick visit and taken some items from her childhood.
As she was leaving, Qiao Lin had asked, “Are you not planning to come back anymore?”
Xu Yan had replied, “You can come to Beijing to see me.”
Qiao Lin had then asked, “Can I call you when I’m feeling down?”
Of course, Xu Yan had said.
Qiao Lin always called late at night, sometimes crying for a long while.
But in the past five months, she hadn’t called at all.
Outside, the sky had turned completely dark as they climbed into the car.
The glow from the streetlamp fell across Qiao Lin’s profile, revealing two bruises on her cheekbone and the corner of her mouth.
Xu Yan asked what she felt like eating.
Qiao Lin turned her head, flashing a smile at Xu Yan.
“Something spicy would be good—my mouth feels bland.”
She straightened up in her seat, pulling the seatbelt across her belly.
“Can I skip buckling it? It’s squeezing me uncomfortably.”
Buckle it anyway, Xu Yan said.
“I’ve only just learned to drive, and the car’s borrowed.”
Qiao Lin leaned forward a bit.
“Drive faster then—take me for a spin.”
The road was heavily congested.
The car barely inched forward a few hundred meters before stopping at an intersection.
Xu Yan turned to her and asked, “When are Mom and Dad leaving?”
Qiao Lin replied, “Early tomorrow morning.”
Xu Yan followed up, “What did you tell them?”
Qiao Lin said, “I told them I was going to visit some high school classmates—they couldn’t care less.”
Xu Yan added, “If they ask about me, just say I’m on a business trip.”
Qiao Lin nodded.
“I know, I know.”
The car pulled into the underground parking garage of the mall.
Xu Yan hit the brakes and told Qiao Lin they’d arrived.
Qiao Lin slumped back against the seat.
“I don’t even want to move—this seat heats up, it’s so comfortable.”
She closed her eyes, as if drifting off to sleep.
Xu Yan gave her a gentle shake.
Qiao Lin grabbed Xu Yan’s hand and placed it on her belly, whispering, “Baby, this is your Aunt Xu Yan. Come on, say hello.”
In the dim light, a smile spread across her face.
Xu Yan almost felt something stir—like a gentle wave lapping softly against her palm.
She pulled her hand away and said to Qiao Lin, “Let’s go.”
Xu Yan crouched on the ground, clutching her stomach.
The sun blazed harshly overhead, people’s legs swinging as they vaulted one by one over the hurdle.
Jump—hurry up and jump—someone shouted at her.
She summoned every ounce of strength to stand, the hurdle looming right in front of her, drawing closer, until someone yanked her back…
She felt like she was in the car now, Qiao Lin’s voice drifting overhead: “Driver, go faster.”
A sense of relief washed over her, and she closed her eyes.
Xu Yan had long forgotten that she once bore the surname Qiao.
In truth, she’d carried it for fifteen years.
When she applied for her ID card, she changed it to Nai Nai’s surname.
Nai Nai had said, “Maybe I’ll die next year, and you’ll have to go back to your parents. If that happens, you can change it back to Qiao then.”
From as far back as Xu Yan could remember, Nai Nai had always talked about dying soon, yet she lived on for many more years—right up until Xu Yan finished her university studies in Beijing.
As soon as Xu Yan was born, everyone who heard her cries was terrified.
It was supposed to be utterly silent, no need even to wash her—just seal her in a small jar and bury her on a hill in the suburbs.
Her father had already chosen the spot, a distance away from the ancestral graves, because a dead infant carries resentment that could disrupt the feng shui.
At seven months pregnant, they had induced labor on her mother.
It was said to involve injecting a poisonous solution through the amniotic fluid into the fetus’s head.
But perhaps the doctor had missed or used too little, because she came out alive, and her cries were extraordinarily loud.
All the babies in the hospital combined didn’t make as much noise as she did alone.
Nai Nai said she had followed the sound of the crying to find her.
The operating room was empty, and she had been left on the table.
Maybe they still held out hope for the poison, thinking it might take effect later, sparing them the need to inject another dose into her fontanelle.
Nai Nai gave the nurse some money and wrapped her in a blanket to take her away.
It was a clear early summer night, the sky filled with stars.
Nai Nai ran the whole way, rushing into another hospital, watching as the doctors placed her in an incubator.
“Stop crying now, get some sleep, and I’ll sleep too, okay?” Nai Nai said.
She spent Xu Yan’s first night after birth on a chair outside the monitoring room.
Xu Yan ordered a mandarin duck hotpot, turning the spicy side toward Qiao Lin.
Qiao Lin only ate a bit of mushroom; her chin had swollen even more, and the bruise at the corner of her mouth had turned purple.
“How did the fight start?” Xu Yan asked.
Qiao Lin said, “Dad was yelling in the Family Planning Office building, the security guards tried to drive him out, they got into a scuffle, and someone pushed me—I don’t know who—and I slammed into the door.”
Xu Yan sighed. “What good does coming to Beijing do anyway?”
Qiao Lin said, “I just wanted to come see you.”
Xu Yan asked, “And them? Why didn’t you try to talk them out of it?”
Qiao Lin said, “A trip to Beijing lifts their spirits a bit—at home, they’re fighting all day, and last time Dad nearly set the house on fire.
Plus, there’s this Lawyer Wang who’s interested in our case; he even said he’d help connect us with the ‘Legal Focus’ TV program team, see if they can do an interview.”
Xu Yan said, “Haven’t there been enough interviews already? What’s the point?”
Qiao Lin said, “That show has a big impact—several cases like ours got resolved after appearing on it.”
Xu Yan asked, “Are you going to do the interview too? With that big belly, don’t you feel ashamed?”
Qiao Lin lowered her eyes, picking up the lamb soaked in bloody broth and tossing it into the pot with a plop.
After a while, Qiao Lin quietly asked, “Working at the TV station, do you know anyone who could put in a word for us?”
Xu Yan said, “I don’t even know everyone in my own channel—the station’s laying people off lately, who knows, I might be unemployed tomorrow.”
She looked at Qiao Lin. “Mom and Dad sent you here, didn’t they?”
Qiao Lin shook her head. “I really just wanted to come see you.”
Xu Yan didn’t speak.
Over Qiao Lin’s shoulder, she caught sight again of that nightmare that had chased her for so many years.
Petitioning, seeking justice.
Her father’s eyes, dried out like insect specimens, and her mother’s voice, sharpening to a finer point with every grind.
Of course, Xu Yan had no right to disdain them, because she was their nightmare.
Her father, Qiao Jianbin, had originally been a middle school teacher, fired from his job for violating the birth quota.
He felt deeply wronged—his wife, Wang Yazhen, had gotten pregnant unexpectedly after having an IUD inserted, and she had rheumatic heart disease; several hospitals refused to operate, passing her around until seven months in, when the central hospital finally took her.
They went to the Family Planning Commission, hoping to get Qiao Jianbin’s job back.
The commission said that as long as the child lived, the violation stood.
The child had lived, but it wasn’t them who had let her live.
The couple began petitioning, approaching all sorts of people, giving plenty of gifts, but in the end, they didn’t even get a bit of compensation.
Qiao Jianbin’s mental state deteriorated more and more; when he drank, he’d smash things and often hurt himself—he needed constant watching.
Though he shouted about going back to work, anyone could see he was already a broken man.
Wang Yazhen’s parents were both old traditional Chinese medicine doctors, and she knew a little medicine herself, so she found a storefront and opened a clinic.
