Beijing Private Eyes - Part 3 Room Service

The next morning, in the middle of shooting the second short scene of the day a commotion erupted. “Mr Zhang is here!” said Lily. Zhang entered the studio. He was medium height, about 40, and slightly chubby in the face and around the waist line. Evidently his success had started to have an effect. He made his way to Evie and held out his hand. She extended hers and Zhang raised it to his lips kissing it lightly and holding it as he spoke.

 Tian'anmen, Beijing (Photo. M Griffiths)

Beijing Private Eyes - A foreign teacher in Beijing meets an unexpected and attractive visitor in need of assistance. He offers to help and things begin to get complicated.



Read Beijing Private Eyes - Part 1  Arrival  here, Part 2  Lights, camera...  here


(For my six peak oil short story competition entries set in Australia and China see here)

Beijing Private Eyes

Part 3 – Room Service

 

 

The next morning, in the middle of shooting the second short scene of the day a commotion erupted. “Mr Zhang is here!” said Lily. Zhang entered the studio. He was medium height, about 40, and slightly chubby in the face and around the waist line. Evidently his success had started to have an effect. He made his way to Evie and held out his hand. She extended hers and Zhang raised it to his lips kissing it lightly and holding it as he spoke.

“It is an honour to finally meet you Miss Thomasson. Please accept my humblest apologies. I have just returned from a business trip. I trust you been well looked after.”

“Thank you My Zhang.” Evie responded “It’s great to be here. Your staff have been wonderful. They are a pleasure to work with.”

“And you are even more beautiful in person than on the TV!” He turned to the assembled crew, and spoke in Chinese, “Please everyone. Take a break. Let us have lunch together to formally celebrate the cooperation between China and USA on this project!” He turned to Evie and spoke in English. “We will have lunch together.” He kissed her hand again and led them out of the studio.

At a nearby restaurant they occupied a large private dining room and sat around the large circular table. Evie sat next to Zhang with Mark next. On the other side of Zhang sat the director and co-stars with the assistants spread around the table. Evie introduced Mark as her assistant and Zhang shook his hand without enthusiasm, speaking to Evie “I did not realise you had your own assistant.” He turned to Miss Zhao. “Where is the assistant I arranged for Miss Thomasson?”

Miss Zhao moved behind his chair and whispered in his ear. He nodded as she spoke and then waved her away.

     After the formalities were over and eating recommenced Zhang leaned over to Evie and began to apologise for the mix up in arrangements.

“Miss Zhao has told me of the hotel problem. I am very sorry that it was not arranged before you arrived. Many staff come and go quickly. Young people these days are not so dedicated.” He laughed holding his hands up in mock exasperation. “Maybe you know also Beijing is very busy at this time, many important government meetings, but I will get Miss Zhao to find something close by the studio and of a high standard for your comfort Miss Thomasson.” The secretary looked up at the mention of her and gave her a half-hearted smile.

     Evie smiled and nodded to Zhang as she weighed her response. “Thank you for your very kind offer Mr Zhang. I appreciate your concern and your hospitality. Please do not put your staff to any more trouble. I know they are very busy with all the productions you are doing at the moment. I understand the difficulty finding suitable accommodation at this time so I am happy to stay where I am, thank you very much. I am settled in now. My stuff is all over the room and I hate packing!”

Zhang smiled in return and replied with mild surprise in his voice.” Are you sure Miss Thomasson? I am sure we can find you something. I have contacts in some very good hotels who can help.”

“Mr Zhang, Thank you again but I will be fine where I am. You and your staff have shown me every hospitality since I have arrived. My accommodation is satisfactory and close enough to make sure I won’t be late for work. Director Liu runs a tight ship!”

The lunch continued with a succession of dishes. Evie ate politely but without overdoing it and demurred when offered drinks several times, maintaining that she must be sober to work in the afternoon. Zhang was happy to raise several toasts with her drinking only water and his face became slightly red from the effects of the alcohol. Mark watched with admiration at the ease with which she handled the situation. He found deflecting the pressure to drink at Chinese banquets very difficult.

  

Back at the studio Mark noticed an unfamiliar SUV parked near the front door as they entered. An email had come through from Evie’s agent with a script attached. Mark downloaded it onto a memory stick and got Lily to print it out in Miss Zhao’s office. Zhang went into his office and shut the door. A heavy set man sat outside chatting with Miss Zhao.

 

Shooting finished early for the day. “Everyone be ready for an early start tomorrow.” said the director.

“Zhang seems a charming guy.” Evie commented over dinner, Cantonese this time, sweet and sour pork, fried rice and custard tarts to follow. “Yes, quite the ladies man.” Mark replied. Evie raised her eyebrows but said nothing.

    

Back at the apartment Mark commented, “I’m surprised you wanted to stay here with the offer of five star accommodation there for the taking.”

Evie shrugged, “I’ve seen plenty of hotel rooms and it’s not all it’s cracked up to be. It’s fun to be living more like a local. And anyway the service here isn’t too bad.”

“Pleased to hear you’re satisfied ma’am.” Mark responded, putting on his best English butler accent,” If you need anything at all please do not hesitate to call”

“Thank you Jeeves.” She replied in a much more convincing upper-crust accent, and then reverted to her normal voice. “See you tomorrow.”

“Night.”

 

Evie Thomasson @Evie_T

Enjoying Beijing. Food, fun and a few surprises.

Starting to feel at home here.

 

The next afternoon they finished shooting a scene at the Great Wall early and headed back to the city. More tweets and photos. When they got back to the studio Mark asked Evie, “You’ve done the wall, do you feel like a little bit more sightseeing? I’ll take you to my favourite place in Beijing.”

“Ok.”

“The traffic will be bad so how about we go by ‘Di tie’?”

“Dee tear?” she repeated

“The Underground. The government built several new lines for the Beijing Olympics. One of them runs past the Temple of Heaven park. We will need to change trains but it will be quicker than a taxi and way cheaper.

As they walked through the station he stopped at a kiosk and bought a China Daily, the English language newspaper. It’s headlines were filled with the all the usuals: government officials shaking hands with someone, accusations that Dalai Lama influenced ‘splittists’ were fomenting unrest in Tibet, and an official with three mistresses under investigation for corruption. 

“Some rich and powerful men in China seem to like to collect women.” Mark commented, “It’s an old Chinese tradition which seems to be making a comeback.”

They descended into the station and hopped on a train. When they reached the transfer station for Line 5 they joined the crowd jostling in the carriage doorway. As they slowly moved through the carriage doors onto the platform a young man bumped into Evie. Mark glanced at him and saw his hand snake into her bag and pull out her phone.

“Hey!” he yelled. Te youth began to push through the crowd and run towards the exit. The crowd around them turned to look.  “Xiao tou!”  Thief! Mark shouted and began to sprint after him, dodging passengers, across the tiled floor and up the stairs.  He took the stairs three at a time and his long legs started to gain on the man. He got close and stretched out a hand to flick his leg. The thief tripped and sprawled on the ground. Mark panted to a stop beside him. He reached down and grabbed the phone out of his hand.

     “Xiao tou! Guin!” Thief! Get lost. The thief looked up at him, but didn’t move.

“Kuai dian’r!”  Hurry up! Mark glowered at him as he got up and ran out of the station without looking back. The crowd buzzed with the excitement.

 Evie came up beside him. “Impressive.” she said as he handed back her phone.

“Yeah. Thieves here can be pretty slick. Phones and bikes seem to be the two most popular items. Sorry that had to happen to you.” he said. They headed across and down to the line platform. “Actually some thieves can be relatively nice. A student told me one day someone grabbed her phone out of her pocket as she was biking along. She yelled at him and he gave it right back!”

“Really? I should have known better then to leave my bag half open. Lesson learned.”

 

Evie Thomasson @Evie_T

On the Beijing underground. Pickpocket got my phone.

Got it back though. More action than an episode of #Private_Eyes!

 

At the Temple of heaven Mark showed her the building and explained some of the history. “I love the round shape and the colours and proportions. I first came here by myself one afternoon and just wandered around and took photos on a lovely blue sky day. Apparently the Emperor used to come here every year to pray for good harvests and so forth. If the crops failed or disasters struck China the Emperor tended to get the blame: the mandate of heaven was a fickle thing. Still is I suppose. Governments that don’t look after their people don’t tend to last.”

They took photos of the building and explored the temple grounds. Then they headed back to the underground and caught a train to the centre of the city.

“That first time I went back to Tian’anmen square in a pedal powered rickshaw. The guy took a shortcut through the hutongs, the traditional residential lanes. The real old style Beijing. It was great to see it close up. There was horrible headwind though, I felt so guilty I paid him two or three times the going rate.”

“The hutongs sound interesting. I’d like to have a look.” Evie said.

“Ok. We can have a look on the weekend, there are some near the apartment. We can bike if you want. You can borrow Jason’s.”

 

Evie Thomasson @Evie_T

Sightseeing at the Temple of Heaven.

Great architecture here.

 

 

“Next stop Wangfujing food street.” Mark announced, “Loads of food stalls come out at night.” They wandered along the row of food stalls looking at the delicacies on display. “Fried egg and potato. Good English stuff there.” Mark pointed. “Scorpions on a stick? They’re kind of crunchy.”

“Mmm. No thanks.”

“Mongolian mutton kebabs?” he suggested. “They’re good. There’s some sweet stuff down there for after too.”

     An hour later they started to head for home. Evie’s phone rang. “Oh hi Mr Zhang... Good, thank you.” She listened carefully. “Thank you so much for the invitation Mr Zhang. You have already been most gracious and hospitable. Actually I have already eaten and I’m very tired. The jet lag is still affecting me. I have some lines to practise and I need to get to sleep early. Maybe another time.” After a few more pleasantries she shut off the phone and dropped it into her bag.

“You did that well. Chinese hospitality is sometimes hard to turn down.” Mark commented.

“Quite easily done.” she replied with a grin. “Let’s go home and go through those lines for tomorrow.”

When they got back to the apartment she flashed her smile at him. “Thanks for great time today. It was fun.” 

 “Any time.” he said, his cheeks turning pink.

 

Evie Thomasson @Evie_T

Went to night food market. Yummmmmy!

Didn’t try the fried scorpions though :P

 

When she went to her room he noticed she didn’t bolt the door.

********

Beijing Private Eye - Part 4  Ancient History, is here.

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