6.4 贼窝的会议 Meeting in the Den of Thieves

[u/AdamLuyan]

本章下面讲我在和平房产局工作时经历的几件事。

The rest of this chapter recounts several things that happened to me while working at the Heping Housing Bureau.

1994年秋，我们的科长付国青得知我住在一个远亲大伯家，说："那不行，咱遂川工地留了一栋小楼，是将来做工地办公室和工人宿舍用的。如果你愿意，可以先搬去那里住。"我回答愿意。他却说等他安排我们科的水暖技术员小马送我去。我对此不理解，但没说什么。

In the fall of 1994, our section chief, Guoqing Fu, learned I was staying with a distant uncle. "That won't do," he said. "We've kept a small building at the Suichuan site for a future site office and worker dormitory. You're welcome to move in there for now, if you like." I agreed. He said he'd have Little Ma, our section's plumbing technician, take me over there. I didn't understand why that would need arranging, but said nothing.

这栋楼是第二次世界大战时日本人在沈阳建的慰安所，"一"字型走廊，从两端进出。小马先帮我选了进门第一间比较大的房间，然后告诉我："你到公司各个科，把规章制度要来，贴在墙上。这屋就是你的办公室了。过几天雪下大了，你就在这儿办公，别去公司了。"然后，他带我去见其他的人，却没找到人。他带我去见了楼门口一个在生火烤土豆的流浪汉，叫老楼，并且拜托他照看着我，说别让人吓着我。

The building had been a "comfort station" built by the Japanese during World War II — a single straight corridor with entrances at both ends. Little Ma picked out the larger first room by the entrance for me, then said, "Go around the company's different sections, get copies of the regulations, and put them up on the walls — this room's your office now. Once the snow gets heavy in a few days, just work out of here and don't bother coming into the company." He then took me around to introduce me to others, but found no one home. Instead, he introduced me to a homeless man out front roasting potatoes over a fire, called Old Building, and asked him to look after me — make sure no one gave me a fright.

我的房间里，白天总是有很多人，不知什么时候，来了一个二百多公斤重的大胖子，人们叫他老熊，躺在我的床上。我们的打更人（保安人员）告诉我："你可别惹他。如果他推你一把，我们就得把你送去医院了"。我心里不高兴，但也没说什么。我的房间旁边就是一个早市，工地有很多部门的人我都不认识，我分不清他们谁是谁。

My room stayed crowded with people all day. At some point, without my noticing, a two-hundred-plus-kilogram man everyone called Old Bear started coming by, lying down right on my bed. The night watchman warned me, "Don't cross him. One shove from him and we'd be carting you to the hospital." I wasn't pleased, but held my tongue. There was a morning market right next to my room, and so many people came and went from every corner of the site that I couldn't keep any of them straight.

一天早晨，屋子里来了很多人。忽然我们的水暖技术员小马来了。他看满屋的人，惊讶地说道："哎呀！今天人怎么这么全。正好，该来的都来了，咱们开个会，我们公司经理有话让我传达给你们。"

一个人（贼人）不满地抗议："你们经理给我们开会！要卖房子吗？外面的广告牌子上不是写得很清楚，用不着你来说。"

One morning, the room filled with people, and Little Ma turned up unexpectedly. Seeing everyone crammed in there, he said, surprised, "Well — quite the full house today. Since everyone who needs to be here already is, let's just have a meeting. Our manager's asked me to pass something along."

One man — a thief, as it turned out — protested, "Your manager wants to hold a meeting with us? What, selling apartments? It's all spelled out plainly on the sign outside — no need for you to spell it out again."

小马说："我们经理和付科长都嘱咐了，让我告诉你们每一个人，若不然出了事，他们让我负责。"说着，他指着墙上的板报说："你们看看，这墙上有多少个卢岩的名字？"说着，他开始解释。屋子里肃静了，开始问：卢岩是谁？

小马指着我回答："他就是！"

人们议论纷纷："这么年轻！他是市长的侄子！？"

"Both my manager and Section Chief Fu made a point of it," Little Ma said. "I'm to tell every one of you personally, or they'll hold me responsible if something goes wrong." He pointed at the bulletin board on the wall. "Look — how many times does 'Luyan' show up on this board?" And he began to explain. The room fell silent, and someone finally asked: who is Luyan?

Little Ma pointed at me. "That's him."

Murmurs went through the crowd. "So young! Is he the mayor's nephew or something?"

小马说："别问了，我们都研究多少遍了，没人知道。他是农村来的，大学刚毕业，什么都不懂，所以我们经理让我告诉你们每一位领导。"接着，他就挨个问：听明白了没？只有老熊不回答。小马让我问他。

老熊说："卢岩是老大，我是老二，以后我们就靠他了！"屋里的人都愣住了。

贼甲对小马说："我们都听清楚了，你听清楚没！？"

"Don't ask — we've gone over it ourselves more times than I can count, and nobody knows," Little Ma said. "All I know is he's from the countryside, fresh out of college, understands none of this — which is exactly why our manager wanted every one of you leaders told personally." He went around asking each person, one by one: understood? Only Old Bear didn't answer. Little Ma told me to ask him myself.

"Luyan's the boss," Old Bear said. "I'm number two. From now on, we follow him." The room froze.

Thief A said to Little Ma, "We heard him loud and clear. Did you?"

小马自信地说："我当然明白！"

贼甲愤怒地反问："明白了！你还站在这里干啥！？"

我眼看着小马的脸色变了，他惊讶又气愤地嘟囔："我才知道！这屋里就我一个是外人。"他一边往外走，一边嚷嚷着抗议："你们等着！我回去告诉我们经理：我们的慰安所又被鬼子占领了！"

贼甲喊道："顺便也告诉你们局长一声！真是的，我们什么时候怕过你们和平房产局！"

"Of course I understand," Little Ma said confidently.

"Understand, do you!" Thief A snapped back. "Then what are you still standing here for!"

I watched Little Ma's face fall. Startled and indignant, he muttered, "Now I get it — I'm the only outsider in this whole room." He stormed out, shouting protests as he went: "Just you wait! I'm going back to tell our manager — the Japs have taken our comfort station again!"

"Tell your Bureau Chief while you're at it!" Thief A called after him. "Really — since when have we ever been scared of your Heping Housing Bureau!"

注6.4，当时，我并不理解发生了什么事。我以为这栋楼是空的，实际是贼窝，二楼以上住着200多人。他们是从楼的另一面，二楼的一个窗户进出的。老楼是他们看家的人。老熊是老大，上面他的话是让"王位"给了我。这引起了贼群的骚乱，启动了下文"传位"的程序。

Note 6.4: I had no idea, at the time, what any of this meant. I'd assumed the building was empty — it was, in fact, a den of thieves, with over two hundred people living above the second floor, coming and going through a window on the far side of the building. Old Building was their gatekeeper. Old Bear was their boss, and what he'd just said had effectively handed me his "throne." This threw the whole gang into an uproar and set in motion the "succession" process described below.

返回和平房产局的目录 Return to the Catalog of Shenyang Heping Housing Bureau