HUINA ZHENG

In It Together

Yu sensed something was not quite right with her husband Ming. He was often in a trance or preoccupied. She planned to ask him at night.

When Ming came home, he took a transparent disposable crisper from his bag containing red cherries and said, “I bought your favorite fruits.” Ming forced a smile.

When Yu first ate cherries at a relative’s house in high school, she fell in love with this fruit. She even named her English name Cherry. But cherries were expensive, and to save enough to buy an apartment, she seldom allowed herself the luxury.

Yu took the crisper box and wanted to tell Ming not to spend the money again, but she stopped herself when seeing his stiff smile.

Ming looked grim and said, “I have something to confess. Let’s go for a walk.”

Yu nodded and walked out with him.

#

Yu and Ming had married for four years. Because of the high housing prices in Guangzhou, they lived with Ming’s parents after marriage. They had been saving money to have their own apartment, recording every expenditure, hoping to save enough to pay for the house’s down payment.

“Tao borrowed money from me,” Ming said.

“I know. We lent him 40,000 yuan.”

Yu would never lend money to anyone. Two years ago, her cousin begged her to lend him 6,000 yuan because he suffered a great loss in stocks, but she refused. Ming was the opposite. He would help any relatives and friends if they turned to him. But after getting married, influenced by Yu, he would only lend money with Yu’s consent.

Six months ago, Ming’s cousin, Tao, borrowed money from him to start a business. Tao was one year younger than Ming. They grew up together and were like brothers. When Ming’s uncle, or Tao’s father, learned they were short of money to fix Ming’s parents’ apartment, he gave them 30,000 yuan. So, when Tao told them he needed to borrow 40,000 yuan, and promised higher interest than the bank, Yu agreed.

“He borrowed another 150,000 yuan from me. I didn’t have that much money. Tao told me I could use my credit card and get a bank loan.”

“Credit card loans have high-interest rates.” Yu couldn’t help but interject.

“I know, but Tao said he would pay the bank interest and the interest of the money I lent him. After Tao had paid me for two months, he disappeared. His phone was turned off. You know, my salary is not high. I don’t have extra money to pay the bank interest.”

After Ming finished speaking in one breath, he looked anxiously at Yu walking beside him. Under the dim streetlights and shadows of leaves, he couldn’t see Yu’s expression.

Yu fell silent, and her pace quickened. Whenever she plunged into deep thinking, she trotted. Ming quickened his pace to keep up with her.

She thought to herself, Ming was not good at dealing with stress, and I had to weigh how to express my thoughts and demands. Ming’s colleague spent 300,000 yuan on the video game, and his wife filed for divorce. Ming must worry that I would divorce him because of this. She knew she would not leave him.

When she was young, her parents worked in a state-owned enterprise, but the company had a rule that if the employees were couples, they had to take turns working in companies located in different towns. So, her parents took turns caring for her.

For this semester, her father worked in her town to look after her, and her mother worked in another town; in the next semester, her mother returned, and her father went to another town.

Yu’s parents managed their own salary. But Yu’s mother spent freely. At the end of the month, she didn’t even have the money to buy rice and vegetables, so she always borrowed rice from neighbors. They had porridge for the last few days of each month. His father refused to help. One weekend, her father visited them. She heard her mother asking for money from his father, who said, “We get the same wages. Why is my money enough to support the family and yours not?” Yu resolved to never turn a blind eye when her partner was in trouble.

Ming lent Tao 150,000 yuan without discussing it with me because he knew I would definitely object once he told me. Besides, Tao steadily paid off the interest of the 40,000 yuan for half a year, and Tao’s business seemed to flourish. And I had discussed financial freedom with him for several years. Our motivation for saving money was that in addition to buying a house, we can have a deposit and live on its interest, so we can afford an early retirement.

Yu decided that she should not blame Ming. If anyone was to blame, it was Tao for taking advantage of his kindness.

But she didn’t want this matter to be turned over so easily. She needed to express her anger appropriately so that Ming could learn a profound lesson.

Ming followed Yu all the way, not daring to speak. Yu stopped, turned to look at him, and said, “It’s hard to imagine you doing this without telling me. You know how much I care about money and work hard to save it. I don’t know how to express my feelings right now. I’m angry and sad.” Ming lowered his head.

Yu took his hand and said, “But we will face it together.”

#

Yu and Ming used part of their wages to pay the bank monthly.

One night during dinner, Ming’s father said, “Tao sold his flat and his car; his father helped pay his debts with his company funds, and now even his own business is affected. Tao also borrowed from relatives and friends but still hasn’t paid off the debt. I have some savings for retirement, and I think—”

Ming’s mother interrupted him, saying, “Ming has already lent almost 200,000 yuan to Tao. We can’t lend him any more money.”

“How much money does Tao owe in total? Why is he in debt?” Yu asked the questions she had been wondering for a long time.

“I don’t know. They just said he failed in business, but I wonder if he lost money from gambling.” Ming’s father said.

They all nodded, feeling that gambling was a more convincing reason.

The next day, Ming said to Yu, “My uncle called and told me about Tao’s difficulties. Everyone makes mistakes. I can’t stand by.”

Yu broke down and cried. It was the second time that she had cried before Ming. The first time she cried was when learning that her grandfather had passed away after she came back from a business trip, and she did not see him for the last time.

She felt desperate. Why doesn’t he know the boundaries of helping people? Why doesn’t he put his family first? Why doesn’t he see his cousin’s true self?

Startled by Yu’s reaction, Ming wanted to embrace her but did not dare. He sighed.

Yu knew her husband was soft-hearted. She wiped away tears with the back of her hand and said, “He shamelessly lied to you, left you with the mess, and disappeared.”

She paused and said, “An acquaintance of Tao told me his wife flew to Thailand to take artistic photos. This kind of service would cost at least 10,000 yuan. They had the money for this expensive service but wouldn’t return it to us. They don’t deserve our sympathy.”

Ming nodded and said, “You’re right.” But Yu knew that Ming still wanted to help his cousin.

Tao borrowed money from a small loan company and left Ming’s phone number as an emergency contact. One afternoon, the loan company called Ming and said, “We can’t reach your cousin. Tell him to pay back the money quickly.”

“I can’t get in touch with him either.”

“Don’t you have a daughter in kindergarten? Mind your daughter’s safety if he doesn’t pay back the money.”

After Ming hung up the phone, he called the police. He also told his uncle, who acted as if it was nothing serious. Ming felt betrayed. When he learned that his uncle even sold his house for Tao and gave him his car, he realized his uncle had always spoiled his son. His parenting must be problematic, or Tao wouldn’t take it for granted that others had to clean up his mess.

That night, Ming told Yu, “Tao’s debt is like a black hole that sucks in everyone nearby. I should stay away from him.”

Ming never mentioned helping Tao again. Yu was confident that Ming would not lend him any more.

One year and five months later, they paid off the 150,000 yuan loan, bank interest, and the 40,000 yuan initially lent to Tao. They repaid a total of 250,000 yuan.

On the day the debt was paid off, Ming bought Yu cherries. Ripe cherries exuded a light fragrance. Yu took a bite, and the sweet and sour taste filled her mouth.

Huina Zheng holds a M.A. in English Studies degree (Distinction) and works as college essay coach. She also serves as an Associate Editor (Review Reader) for Bewildering Stories. Her stories were published in Baltimore Review, Variant Literature, Midway Journal, Tint Journal, and other journals. Her fiction "Ghost Children" was nominated for Pushcart Prize. She lives in Guangzhou, China with her husband and daughter.