The Troubleshooters,' by Wang Shuo

50 CHINESE EDUCATION AND SOCIETY
45 MISTY STREET / EXTERIOR / EVENING
It is still raining, but lightly: each street lamp creates a pool of light, and as
pedestrians pass through the light one sees that their shoulders are hunched
against the rain. The shops, red and green neon lights, mist, all blend into a
lovely urban scene.
46 IN A TAXI / EXTERIOR / NIGHT
Yu GUAN, DING XIAOLU, BAO KANG, and others, are jammed into a taxi,
laughing and talking all the while. me nervous taxi driver constantly scans the
street: his concern deepens when he sees a solitary police car pass nearby.
DRIVER: There are too many of you guys in this car. If a cop sees all of you he’ll
give me a ticket for sure.
M.4 QING hunkers down on the seat and then stretches out to hisfull length.
MA QING: What are you complaining about’? You’re really most annoying. Even
if you were to get a ticket it’d only be a few bucks.
DRIVER argues while cautiously negotiating the streets.
DRIVER: Well, the point is the police won’t give the ticket to you. You aren’t
worried, of course, and I wouldn’t either were I you.
BAO KANG is in the back seat but cannot be seen: only his voice is heard.
BAO KANG: I’m really happy to be hanging out with you guys. You don’t give a
shit about anytAing and you don’t have any problems.
LIN &I
is squashed between YANG ZHONG and BAO KANG.
LIN PEI: If you’re laid back, you don’t care at all about anything.
BAO KANG: No, no; I think laid back means, in this case, that you don’t have any
expectations. By the way, I’ve read all your poems and I like them very much.
LIN PEI: (Laughs) I’ve never written a poem in all my life. You were deceived by
these guys. I was asked to substitute for the poet at the last moment.