Under the Hawthorn Tree by Ai Mi, Anna Holmwood

been executed, and of course she’d heard the word ‘rape’ before. There had been a few ‘rapists’ on those posters, and sometimes there would even be a description of the crime, but only in the vaguest terms so you couldn’t tell exactly what had happened.
    Jingqiu remembered once seeing one of these posters. It had said the man had been ‘exceedingly cruel, and had forced a screwdriver into the woman’s lower regions’. She had discussed it with some female friends. Where are a woman’s ‘lower regions’? They agreed it must be below the waist, but where exactly had this rapist put the screwdriver? She had never managed to work it out. All of Jingqiu’s friends were students at No. 8 Middle School, or else daughters of teachers at the adjoining primary school. Some of them were a bit older, and seemed to know more about life, but they enjoyed revealing only half-truths and fragments of their knowledge. To Jingqiu, puzzling it all out was like wandering around in a fog.
    She had heard people saying that so-and-so had been ‘knocked up’, had had their ‘belly made big’ by so-and-so. She had tried to figure it out herself. She gathered it involved ‘sleeping’ with a man, valuable information gleaned from her mother’s colleague whose son had been dumped by his girlfriend. Angered, the mother had gone around saying to people, ‘That girl slept with my son, got knocked up, and now she doesn’t want him. We’ll see if anyone wants her.’
    Mulling over all these stories and gossip, Jingqiu came up with a plan: tomorrow she would walk over the mountain with Old Third, but she would be vigilant. Since she wouldn’t be sleeping on the mountain there shouldn’t be any risk of getting ‘knocked up’, but it would be better to let him walk in front, that way he wouldn’t be able to surprise her, or press her to the ground. The only worry left was if anyone saw them and told her association. That would be a disaster.
    At seven o’clock the next morning Jingqiu got up, combed her hair, said goodbye to Auntie, and left the house on her own. She first walked to the upper reaches of the river, crossed on the small boat, and started to climb the mountain. She didn’t have much with her, so the walk took less effort than last time. She had just reached the top when she saw Old Third. He wasn’t wearing his blue uniform, but rather a short jacket she had never seen before which revealed the entire length of his long legs. She suddenly found she liked men with long legs. As soon as she saw him she forgot the previous night’s pledge.
    Smiling, he watched her as she approached. ‘I saw you leave. When I started out I thought you might not come.’
    â€˜Aren’t you working today?’
    â€˜I took the day off.’ He reached into his backpack, took out an apple and gave it to her. ‘Have you eaten yet?’
    â€˜No. Have you?’
    â€˜I haven’t either. We can get something in town.’ He took her bag from her. ‘You’re very brave. Were you prepared to cross the mountain on your own? Aren’t you afraid of jackals, tigers, or panthers?’
    â€˜Lin told me there aren’t any wild animals up here. He said I should only be careful of villains.’
    Old Third laughed. ‘And am I one of these villains?’
    â€˜I don’t know.’
    â€˜I’m not a villain. You’ll come to realise that.’
    â€˜You were brave yesterday, Auntie nearly saw that note.’ Saying this made her feel like they were up to no good, and as the feeling of complicity came over her, her face reddened.
    But he didn’t notice. ‘It wouldn’t have mattered if she’d seen, she can’t read. And anyway, my handwriting’s messy. I was only worried you wouldn’t be able to understand my characters.’
    The mountain road was too narrow for