Chapter Three: Flustered

Wang Erlang stood on the scaffold, studying the apsara he had painted, staring at it blankly for a long while without a word. He had poured perfect care into every step of the process, every stroke rendered with reverence and precision — but he seemed to have forgotten that being high in the air did not necessarily mean "flight." There was wind up here; when something moved through flight, its sashes ought to carry a life of their own, not merely serve as an elaborate, heavily inked display.

The joy of nearing completion was swiftly replaced by a nameless confusion and unease. The world outside the cave had taught him: however beautiful the imagination, it must still be rooted in truth.

He brooded for the better part of the day, and at last Wang Erlang took up his scraper and gently began scraping away the painted ribbons. One, two, three... His heart ached with each stroke, his hand faltering slightly, yet he kept scraping until every ribbon on the apsara had been stripped away entirely.

He felt his own hand trembling slightly — and his heart along with it.

Having scraped away the pigment, he applied a fresh coat of white plaster and waited for it to dry.

He had barely turned around when he saw the young woman cradling a water skin, drinking from it. Suddenly he too felt thirsty, and before he could reach for his own water skin, she spoke first.

"Want some?" She held the water skin out toward him.

Wang Erlang startled, then stammered, "I... I have my own."

"Here." Without another word, the young woman stood and brought the water skin right up to him.

Seeing this, he could hardly refuse any further. A little bashfully, he took it and drank, his eyes lighting up despite himself.

"Good, isn't it?" the young woman asked.

"So sweet!" Perhaps it was because he hadn't had a drop to drink in so long, but in that moment it seemed to Wang Erlang the most delicious water he'd ever tasted in his life. Before he knew it, he had drained it completely.

"I'm... sorry..." Just as Wang Erlang felt the water's sweetness lingering in his throat, his whole body refreshed and clear, he suddenly remembered he had drunk every last drop of her water — how terribly rude of him. Shame flooded through him at once.

"It was just so good, I drank it all without thinking. If you're thirsty, have mine instead." Wang Erlang scratched his head awkwardly, his face full of apology.

"All right." The young woman, without any false modesty, agreed readily.

Handing the water skin back to her, Wang Erlang suddenly felt the urge to relieve himself. He glanced at the young woman, then at the wooden bucket nearby, his face flushing with embarrassment.

"I... you... um..." He stammered again, unable to get the words out for a long moment.

The young woman looked at him, utterly puzzled.

"What is it you want to say?"

Seeing that she wasn't catching on, Wang Erlang broke into a sweat. In the bone-dry air of the desert, sweating was no small feat — but between that and his growing urgency, he was practically on fire, his whole face and head damp.

This only deepened the young woman's confusion. Since Wang Erlang wasn't making himself clear and seemed to be in some kind of a panic, she asked again, "What exactly are you trying to say?"

Seeing no other way out, Wang Erlang abandoned all sense of decorum, gritted his teeth, and said loudly, "I need to relieve myself." Better to say it plainly than to end up wetting himself and looking even more foolish.

Hearing this, the young woman froze for a moment, looked at Wang Erlang's flushed face, then glanced at the wooden bucket, and finally grasped the "profound meaning" of it all. She snapped her hands up at once, pressing them firmly over her eyes. "Go ahead. I'll keep my eyes covered and won't look. Just let me know when you're done."

But Wang Erlang, after all, had never married — he had never once had a woman present while he relieved himself, and even though she covered her eyes in earnest, his heart was still racing with panic. His waistband seemed to have knotted itself into an unbreakable snarl; he fumbled with it for ages before it finally came loose, and when it did, his trousers slipped down and landed in a heap on the scaffold boards. He stole a glance at her — true to her word, her two small hands were pressed tightly over her eyes without the slightest gap. Just as he was about to breathe a sigh of relief, her voice reached his ears, urging him on.

"Are you done yet?"

Wang Erlang flinched. Her asking only made him more nervous than if she'd said nothing at all. He relieved himself in a rush, and because he had been holding it in for so long, there was simply too much to stop quickly. Just then her voice came again: "Are you really not done yet? My eyes have been covered for so long..."

"Just a bit more..." Wang Erlang had never realized that taking off one's trousers was hard, but putting them back on was even harder. He finally managed to pull them back up, only to get them inexplicably stuck around his hips, flustering him further the more he hurried...

"My hands are starting to ache..." She kept her eyes dutifully covered, though clearly not without complaint.

"There." At last Wang Erlang shook out his trousers, tied the waistband back on any which way, and declared "mission accomplished" just before she could complain again. He let out a long breath, as though he had just finished fighting a hard-won battle — never had he imagined that something as simple as relieving himself could be so nerve-wracking.

The moment she was free again, Wang Erlang, judging her by his own feelings, thoughtfully offered that if she ever needed to relieve herself, she need only say the word, and he too would be happy to cover his eyes.

No sooner had he finished than the young woman replied coolly, "No need," and sat back down at the edge of the scaffold, looking as though she couldn't be bothered with him at all.

Wang Erlang, thoroughly rebuffed, felt like a fool. What young woman would ever relieve herself in front of others? Of course she would simply slip off to the privy while he was busy painting. He felt as though his brain had been kicked by a mule, to have said something so presumptuous to her.

After all this commotion, evening drew near. The young woman glanced out toward the mouth of the cave at the fading light, then stood up and started to make her way down.

"It'll be a good while yet before it dries. I'm off."

Wang Erlang supposed that made sense — a young woman should be getting home. He told her to take care on her way, but she didn't respond at all, simply walking off on her own...