The Virtuous Man

Next evening, at the Festival Centre, outside the Banquet Room.

Gaius and Kong Fu-Zi are waiting for Margaret.

Margaret turns up, in a warm padded jacket.

Kong! says Margaret. I hardly recognised you.

Kong Fu-Zi looks pleased. That was his intention.

Oh look, says Margaret. David and Vello!

David and Vello mooch over.

Hello, Kong. Here for the lecture? asks Vello.

Yes, says Kong Fu-Zi. Terrible weather you're having.

Terrible, says David. Storms and blackouts. Had to ditch three frozen dinners.

Tch, says Kong Fu-Zi. How is your mother?

Katherine? Oh perfectly fine.

The small crowd is allowed into the Banquet Room after a mysterious hold up.

They sit down.

David, Vello, Kong Fu-Zi, Gaius and Margaret sit in the first row.

The speaker is introduced. Born in 1649.... oops, that can't be true!

Ha ha, the tension is broken. The audience laughs. Professor Teng throws his hands up in mock dismay.

Professor Teng, born in 1964, begins his lecture, 'Lost in Translation': Transnational American Rock and its Map of Misreading in China.

But something is wrong with his power point presentation.

Kong Fu-Zi looks out of the window. He sees the smoke rising from the Good Fortune Markets outside.

Margaret also sees it. She hopes that the rain will hold off, so that she and Gaius (and Kong, she supposes) can have some street food dinner....

Professor Teng is on a roll now. His technology is working, although not smoothly.

He speaks about the birth of Chinese Rock, rather late, in the eighties.

The relationship between music, society and government. He mentions Bob Dylan.

He plays a music video. Nothing to My Name, by Cui Jian.

He plays another, by Tang Dynasty. Heavy metal.

Gaius ears prick up. Margaret sees them.

She will question him later.

The lecture ends, and questions are over. Time to file out.

Going to the Good Fortune Markets? asks Vello.

Oh yes, says Margaret.

It's a bit chilly, says David, eyeing Kong, in his Hawaiian get up.

I'm up for it, says Kong.

The virtuous man thinks of dinner, says Gaius.

....

It is bitterly cold.. The riverbank is sloppy.

Flags and paper lanterns flutter spitefully.

Vello and David head straight for the barbecue. The others follow.

Soon they are sitting at a long wooden table, spooning up barbecued pork, rice, chips and soy-soaked chicken.

What did you think, Kong? asks Vello. Learn anything?

I did not know Du Fu had been exiled, says Kong.

He must have been, says Vello.

Why did your ears prick up when Professor Teng mentioned Tang Dynasty? asks Margaret.

It reminded me of a friend of mine, Shu, replies Gaius. He admired Du Fu as a poet.

Who is this Dufu? asks David.

The most famous middle Tang poet, says Gaius. He wrote, among other things, Reply to a Friend's Advice, in the difficult form of a lùshi.

I'm surprised you know that, says Margaret.

Your face has gone bright red, says Gaius.

It's the chilli, says Margaret. I was trying to avoid it.

Well, this has been nice, says Kong, but my toes are beginning to turn blue. Dòng sî le!

David peers under the table, at the blue toes in blue Havaianas.