Friday, 4 September

Much cooler

This morning, Kitty had another of her fantastic whims again. When she saw a little rouge on the corner of my mouth, which I had got from the glass she had used, she accused me immediately of bringing a woman into the room by a rope through the window. I tried to reason with her but she refused to listen. The same quarrel and yellings continued for two hours. I had to turn on the radio and read a novel to divert myself. What misery! I wonder how long I can endure it after these long years! My only comfort is to resort to Buddhism.

The restaurant is an excellent place for studying human behavior. Two things I noticed tonight:

1) Four Moroccan students dined in the inner room upstairs. When they left, they passed through the main room where they found all other guests had left.  On one table, another group had left about 2000 francs for payment of their account. One of these Moroccans grabbed 1400 francs and left. By the time the waiter Zhu Jiang (朱江) noticed the loss, they were already out of the restaurant. Zhu wanted to go after them but Qian stopped him because, as he said, there was no witness and it would do the restaurant no good to make a scene. Zhu wanted to pay back this sum to the restaurant to compensate, but Qian would not allow him.

2) A beautiful Moroccan girl has been a regular customer since the opening of the restaurant. She is around twenty-six years old which is the best age for woman, with a graceful figure and an attractive oval face. Her colour is not at all black but that of a new copper coin. She is a nurse by profession and has a very pleasing disposition, smiling at everybody as if all were her patients. She arrived fairly late with two men, and when very few were left in the dining room one of the men conveniently left for a little walk, while the other man held her tight around the waist showering her with hot long kisses which she responded to warmly. Naturally I turned my head, but after a while the waiter clumsily approached to enquire whether they need anything. They should need a towel if anything at all! But why awake the loving birds? I felt a bit angry with the unsympathetic waiter!