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“Can it be that porn flicks don’t have music?”
    The man lay down once more, shoulder to shoulder with the woman. They linked feet and pulled a blanket over their naked bodies.
    “How was it?” Horsie heard the man ask.
    “Fantastic,” the woman answered.
    After a moment of silence he suddenly heard his own name spoken. “Am I better than Horsie, then?”
    “Oh, no comparison.”
    Just as Horsie was wondering if he had imagined it, he heard his name once more. “What’s Horsie like in bed?” the man asked.
    “What a pain you are!” She gave him a little punch. “Didn’t I tell you already?”
    “I want to hear it again,” the man said.
    The woman laughed. “He doesn’t move.”
    “What do you mean, he doesn’t move?”
    “You won’t leave it alone, will you?” Another laugh.
    The man persisted. “What do you mean he doesn’t move?”
    “Once he’s in, he just doesn’t move … You’re such a pain.” She gave him another punch.
    “What does he do then?”
    “He gets on top of me and lies there, not doing anything, just pressing down on me, so hard I can hardly breathe … Satisfied?” the woman asked.
    “How long does he spend there on top of you, not doing anything?”
    “It varies. There have been a few times when he fell asleep on top of me …”
    “What do you do if he falls asleep?”
    “I give a heave and push him off … Is that enough for you now?”
    They burst out laughing. Then the man sat up. Turning toward the camera, he got out of bed. “Let’s have a look at our recording,” he said.
    Horsie recognized the man who came forward. It was Guo Bin. Toward the back of the shot, the woman was now sitting up. Lü Yuan smiled at the camera.
    A WEEK LATER , Lü Yuan returned home. As she pushed open the door, she could see Horsie eating his dinner at the table by the balcony. Lü Yuan observed, needless to say, those familiar parallel lines; a bowl of noodles had flushed Horsie’s face to a deep red. She tossed her handbag onto the sofa. “Go fetch my suitcase,” she said.
    Horsie raised his head and cast her a glance, then resumed dining. Lü Yuan went into the kitchen, turned on the faucet, and splashed water on her face. She patted her face lightly with the palm of her hand, took some cream from the rack,and massaged her cheeks. When she returned to the living room, Horsie was still meticulously attending to his meal. She looked around. “Where’s my suitcase?” she asked.
    Horsie carried on as before, not bothering to look up. “Where’s my suitcase?” Lü Yuan repeated.
    Still no answer. Lü Yuan’s voice rose several registers. “Get downstairs now!” she practically bellowed.
    Horsie looked up and pulled a tissue from the box on the table. He delicately wiped his mouth. “Why did you say I don’t move?” he asked.
    Lü Yuan, having lost her temper, was quite unprepared for this sort of question and did not take it in at all. “Go fetch my suitcase!” she yelled again.
    Horsie persisted. “Why did you say I don’t move?”
    It began to dawn on Lü Yuan just what had happened. She stopped shouting and looked at Horsie very intently. He took another tissue and wiped the sweat from his face. “Actually I do move …,” he said.
    Horsie paused. “At the critical moment, I do move.”
    So saying, Horsie lowered his head and attended to the last two mouthfuls of noodles. Lü Yuan quietly went into the bedroom, and after sitting on the bed for a while she quietly went downstairs and brought up the suitcase herself.
    There was no further drama. My friend Horsie did not return the videos to Guo Bin, nor did Guo Bin ask for them back. In the weeks that followed, Guo Bin would sometimes, as before, walk the length of the longest street in town, wearing his gray windbreaker. Hands in his pockets, he would arrive outside Horsie’s apartment, curl his long fingers, and knock on the door.

V ICTORY
    Lin Hong, tidying Li Hanlin’s drawers, came upon an old