"If I leave you someday would you look for me?" "Like Mardar?" "Yes." "would you look for me forever?" "Yes." "Your whole life?" "Yes." "You´re lying." "I Iike to take my camera to the Suzhou River" "and just drift along," "West to East through shanghai." "There´s a century worth of stories here and rubbish of stories here and rubbish which makes it the filthiest river." "Many people live here anyway making a living on the river." "They spend their whole lives here." "Look, you can see them." "If you watch it long enough, the river will show you everything." "It will show you people working it will show you friendship" "families, love and loneliness as well." "I have even seen on the boat" "Once a baby was born" "Once a girl jumped to her death from a bridge outside my window." "I saw tne bodies of two young lovers being dragged out the water by the police." "As for love" "I couId tell you that I saw a mermaid once sitting on the muddy bank combing her golden hair." "But I´d be lying." "Videographer, that´s me." "Pay me and I´II shoot it." "You can see my pager number on any street-corner." "Pay me and I shoot anything." "Weddings, parties..." "I´II even shoot you pissing or making love if that´s what you want." "But... don´t complain if you don´t like what you see." "Cameras don´t lie." "That´s what I told the owner of the Happy Tavern." "I hadn´t had a job for some time when he paged me and said he had something special for me." "What do you want?" "Your boss wants to see me." "Are you the boss ?" "So you´re the videographer." "Go ahead, sit down." "Two beers." "What I´m after I´m pursuing that kind of..." "The feeling I want is totally..." "You get it, right?" "It doesn´t look special now..." "I know." "Cheers..." "let´s see... over here..." "He rambled a Iong time before I understood what he wanted." "He wanted me to shoot his mermaid show" "to help bring in customers." "I don´t believe in mermaids... but then I saw her..." "Her name was Meimei." "She´s the mermaid." "I fell in love the first time I saw her in the water." "She gave me her pager number joking" "I couId call her if I miss her." "I did call her and we started going out." "Page 26089 twice please." "tell her to come to Huang He Road as soon as possible." "I didn´t know anything about Meimei´s past." "She didn´t say, and I never asked." "I just liked to look at her, and video her." "And soon we were spending all of our time together." "But sometimes she´d suddenly get sad." "I had no idea why." "I even did not understand that" "Sometimes she´d disappear for days without a word and then she´d show up again as if nothing had happened." "It drove me crazy." "Every time she disappeared I thought it´d be the Iast time I ever saw her." "Every time she closed the door behind her I felt as if my Iife had stopped." "Page 26089 twice please." "I would stay on my balcony, watching the peope outside my window." "Waiting for Meimei to return." "until I would see her crossing the bridge, and I couId smile again." "I Ioved her way of walking with her hands crossed." "She´d come here" "We´d have a drink on the balcony and then she would leave." "I have to go." "Don´t be late." "okay" "But if she had one too many, she´d always ask me, if she left one day and didn´t come back would" "I Iook for her , Iike Mardar did?" "I asked her, who´s Mardar?" "She told me a story about Mardar, a motorbike courier who spent his life..." "looking for this girl he had loved and lost." "She said that everyone should have a love story like that." "I couId make one up too." "The motorcycle courier." "Mardar." "He made a little money making deliveries" "in Shanghai." "Maybe rode past my window on his way home to watch his favourite pirate videos, which is what he did all night." "That´s his life." "What else?" "Let me think." "He´s about 26 or 27." "His past..." "could be..." "Mardar dropped out of school and started hanging around the river with other people without anything to do." "One day a friend drives up on a stolen motorcycle." "She runs great.Max speed 160" "Pretty fast.Soft accelerator." "Like a dream." "Can I try it?" "Sure, no problem." "Mardar loves it so much... he buys it." "He thought he would go far on it... make something of himself." "He never thought he´d end up a motorcycle courier." "Shanghai is swarming with so many delivery boys that you hardly notice them." "But Mardar stood out." "girls liked him because he was good looking." "His clients liked him because he kept his mouth shut." "Mardar used to go to a bar to meet Xia-Ho... and Lao B ...who gave him a Iot of business." "Hi, Mardar." "hollywood?" "Yes" "The usual?" "Same as ever." "Yes?" "That´s Xia-Ho, there." "This time the job was different." "This time the delivery was a girl," "Moudan." "I think I saw her." "Is her hair braided?" "Carrying a backpack?" "She´s walking towards the Suzhou Road." "Where do you want me to sit?" "How about sitting in front of me?" "I´d prefer to sit here." "close your jacket." "Not like that." "Swing your leg over." "hold on tight." "Moudan´s father was a weII-known dealer... who made a fortune dealing in buffalo grass vodka from Eastern Europe." "After his divorce, there were only two things he loved alcohol and women." "Every time he brought home a new girlfriend, he´d call Mardar... to take Moudan to her aunt´s to get her out of the way." "What are you looking at?" "Watching you." "Why watching me?" "Can´t I watch you?" "You always drive your bike so slowly?" "Anything wrong with that?" "It´s boring." "Why?" "It´s just boring." "When you ride a bike you should do it for real." "It´s too slow" "How should I drive it?" "Like Schwarzenegger." "Or like" "I don´t drive like him?" "Not at all." "I don´t think" "You´d be able to take it if i drove fast" "It´s you who can´t take it." "OK, Iet´s do it." "Why not?" "Let´s go." "Let´s go." "Aunt!" "Moudan." "Did you get paid?" "Yes." "Thank you." "But Mardar and Moudan found they liked each other." "Moudan loved riding on Mardar´s motorbike... and always got him to take detours so she could stay with him longer." "Then, one day..." "It was her birthday." "Mardar gave her a mermaid doll." "They spent the whole day together... and got drunk on a bottle of vodka." "She stole it from her father." "Both of them were drunken" "Mardar had never seen a girl as happy as Moudan that day." "A boy and a girl who hardly know each other sit next to each other" "What happens next?" "well..." "Love, of course." "Where are we going?" "I don´t want to go home yet." "Where do you want to go?" "What?" "Where do you want to go?" "I don´t know." "The movies?" "No" "The bar?" "No!" "Where do you want to go?" "To your place." "I want to go to your place!" "Did you hear me?" "I cannot see your face" "I cannot see your eyes" "But you always appear In the rainy nights" "There are no stars." "There is no light" "But your face always appears in my dreams" "I wish you would be here" "You´re always like the wind blowing by." "blowing away my joy" "Leaving my loneliness" "Or the story was not as romantic as imagination" "is not so simple." "There´s more to it." "Maybe Mardar´s not simply a courier." "What if Xia-Ho has some criminal connections?" "And what if she and Mardar had been lovers?" "You did well, Mardar." "Right, so what do you want next." "Trust me." "Why should I trust you?" "play with open cards.No secrets." "You don´t trust me?" "Then I don´t trust you." "Forget it." "What I" "actually mean is..." "Mardar and I want out share." "Did I say anything else?" "After that night," "Mardar avoided Moudan." "He wouldn´t see her." "He didn´t answer her calls." "until one rainy night..." "You only let me stay when I´m drunk." "You like me, don´t you?" "That´s why you don´t want to see me." "What is your problem?" "What´s taking you so long?" "I haven´t had the right chance." "Then right chance?" "You love her, don´t you?" "Don´t be ridiculous!" "ridiculous?" "Just do it." "What are you quarrelling about?" "Come in." "You." "Barber." "Out of here." "Here´s the plan." "Her father´s got a new girl on Wednesday." "He´II send Moudan to her aunt´s, as usual." "Take her to the building" "And..." "Keep her there." "We would go to get the money" "Wait for my call." "That´s it." "After that, you can do whatever you Iike." "I know you´re involved with this girl." "Maybe we shouldn´t trust you." "And what if I don´t want to do it now?" "Don´t push your luck." "The girl is rather pretty, isn´t she?" "You do like her, don´t you?" "Whats wrong with you?" "Nothing." "One evening he got her drunk... and took her to the Kuan-Fu Road." "Where are we going?" "What is this place?" "Sit down." "Let´s go to your place." "We´re not going anywhere." "Sit down!" "Sit down!" "You can speak to her , but if you call the police she´s dead." "Just leave the money as I told you..." "hold on." "You´re good at singing , right?" "Sing something for him." "Sing." "Hurry up!" "But your face always appears in my dreams" "Dad!" "Do as you´re told and nothing will happen to her." "We´re rich!" "How much did you get for me?" "What?" "How much did you get for me?" "45 thousand." "45 thousand." "I´m that cheap?" "What?" "I´m that cheap!" "?" "Where are you going?" "Leave me alone!" "Where are you going?" "Leave me alone!" "Come back!" "Leave me alone!" "Are you crazy?" "Come back." "You lied." "You don´t like me at all." "Don´t move or I´II jump!" "So you can be baited too!" "Do you think I´II jump or not?" "I will come back as a mermaid, and I will find you again!" "I remember reading an article about it in the paper." "The papers were full of the mermaid story for weeks." "For a while, every boatman in Shanghai claimed to have seen Moudan... or the Mermaid." "Mardar went to jail for a few years." "When he got out... he disappeared for a while... wandering from city to city" "finally he came back to Shanghai." "No one knew what had happened to him." "people just thought... that he had gone crazy because he couldn´t forget about Moudan." "He started as a courier again... criss crossing the city from morning to night... just so he could keep looking for Moudan." "He asked everyone he met... but no one knew what had happened to her." "You´re new here." "Yes." "Did you know Xia Ho?" "She used to own the place." "No." "I heard she was dead." "How?" "They say some guy called Lao B killed her." "Over money." "Do you know Lao B?" "No." "You?" "No." "He´s dead too." "The police were chasing him and he jumped off the roof." "He´s dead too?" "Yes." "And then?" "That´s the end, I suppose." "Not much of a love story... but I don´t know how to go on with it." "unless..." "Mardar can finish telling his story himself." "Yeah?" "OK, I`II be there in a minute." "Sorry." "What are you looking at?" "Something funny?" "Wait a minute." "I`II buy you another beer!" "Is the water cold?" "Not so" "Bye." "Drink?" "No, thank you." "What do you want?" "You." "Who the hell are you?" "Mardar." "Don`t you remember me?" "Sorry , I don`t." "What happened to you?" "OK, that`s enough." "Meimei." "call the guards." "I`ve had enough of creeps like you." "Piss off." "On your way!" "Get going!" "Get going!" "You`ve made a mistake." "I don`t do `extras`." "I don`t want anything." "Why are you following me?" "Get lost or I`II call the police!" "But what happened to you?" "What do you mean?" "I`ve been looking for you ever since I got out of jail." "In jail?" "Don`t worry." "I`m not dangerous." "I`m not drunk." "So you want a drink now." "Do you?" "No, I don`t." "shall I drink with you?" "No problem." "Your turn." "I don`t want a drink!" "I just want to ask you..." "Listen..." "Listen... we knew each other before." "We were on the bridge..." "I didn`t lie to you, Moudan." "I`m not lying now." "You were Moudan..." "Wait." "Sorry to disappoint you." "But you`re wrong." "Something is wrong with you." "What`s the matter?" "Nothing." "I just have a show tonight." "You don`t have to go." "No, I can`t." "please." "It`s impossible." "I can`t." "AIright.Fine. I have to go." "Bye." "That night," "Where are you from?" "Meimei led Mardar to me." "What`s matter?" "He told me that" "Meimei was Moudan, the girl he had been looking for." "A few years ago I knew a girl." "She looked exactly like Meimei." "It`s true." "Her name was Moudan." "She jumped from a bridge... into the river... and never came back." "I keep looking for her" "They never found her body." "I`m telling you this because she looked exactly like Meimei." "exactly the same." "impossible." "Your story had been long time ago" "You`re wrong." "I`ve known Meimei for a Iong time." "She`s my girlfriend." "Meimei is my girl." "OK." "I`II leave." "The boss told me that Mardar kept going to see" "Meimei at the bar." "He went to her dressing room after the show... and told her all... about Moudan and himself." "Every detail." "How Moudan like to wear upress-on tattoos of flowers on her leg... how she liked to paint her fingernails blue." "The first time I saw her was in front of her home" "I went to pick her up" "Every night," "And I saw her again... the same story..." "She brought the aIcohaI and the her mermaid doll" "I took her to a derelict building." "It had huge holes in the floor and no toilet." "She was scared, I think." "The next day, when I was about to set her free... she asked me how much we got for her." "I told her 45 thousand." "She ran off, shouting that she was worth more than that." "I jumped into the river after her but couIdn`t find her." "They never found her." "What did she look like?" "Like you." "But she always wore her hair in two pony-taiIs" "like a little girl." "And?" "What else?" "And she had a press-on tattoo on her left leg." "So?" "They sell those everywhere." "Lots of girls have them." "Do you have one on your leg?" "No." "I`m not your Moudan." "Even if I do have one..." "I don`t believe you." "You don`t?" "You want to see for yourself?" "Am I the girl you are looking for?" "Am I the girl you are looking for?" "What`s wrong?" "tell me what`s wrong." "Has something happened?" "Say something." "Is it over?" "Are we finished?" "Or should we have sex first?" "Wait, please." "Don`t touch me." "Love is a nightIess city, memories are stars" "Tears are warm, feelings are cold" "He lost his heart to another girl It hurts" "whole nights alone" "The sun like a light in my room" "Beer, please." "What are you doing?" "What are you doing?" "Stop it!" "You`re killing him!" "A few days later, Mardar came to see me again." "He ranted for a Iong time." "He knew it was me who had him beaten up but he wasn`t angry." "If I would let him go on looking for Moudan he would give Meimei back to me." "What was he talking about?" "The bastard messed up my Iife but still had the nerve smoke my cigfarettes;" "K drink my vodka... and keep me up all night with his nonsense about love." "I`m going to go away for a while." "Do you think Moudan is still alive?" "I feel she is still alive, somewhere in the city." "I need to keep looking for her." "But what about Meimei and you?" "Meimei told me a Iot about her feelings." "She loves nobody" "She loves nobody but you." "AIthoug she didn`t tell me directly that she loves you." "But I know" "Meimei`s feelings." "The next day the Happy Tavern was closed down." "And suddenly it was as if none of this had ever happened." "No Happy Tavern, no boss... no Meimei... no Mermaid." "Some time later, a courier delivered strange package." "Inside was a bottle of buffalo grass vodka and a note from Mardar." "It said:" "`Thank you." "You let me find her.`" "Now I can tell you the end of the story.`" "`I found her in a 24 hour shop out in the suburbs.`" "`I had heard they sold buffalo grass vodka.`" "`The vodka found Moudan for me.`" "Can I help you?" "Do you have wild buffalo grass vodka?" "Yes, we have." "That`s 175." "Mardar..." "Take me home." "The knocking on the door brought me out of my daydream." "I didn`t know when it had started raining again." "Can you come with us please,sir." "It was the police." "They wanted me to identify a body." "It happened not far from the bridge" "Where Moudan had jumped." "They told me that the guy was a courier and the girl worked in a 24 hour shop." "They were drunk on buffalo grass vodka." "I was scared to see the bodies, this guy?" "but it was Mardar." "They found my address and telephone number on him." "Next to him was a girl who looked exactly the same Meimei." "I couIdn`t believe it wasn`t her..." "I needed to see her..." "I saw Meimei on her houseboat." "She knew nothing." "I told her what had happened." "She was choked but insisted on seeing for herself." "There`s been an accident." "Mardar is dead." "I thought" "it was just a story." "I didn`t think Moudan really existed." "I thought he was Iying." "I thought it was me he wanted." "But he wasn`t lying..." "He never lied." "Never..." "If I Ieft you would you look for me?" "Like Mardar?" "Yes." "Forever?" "Yes." "Your whole life?" "Yes." "You`re lying." "Things like that... only happen in love stories." "Your don`t believe me?" "No, I don`t." "Do you mean it?" "On that rainy day on Meimei`s houseboat... we were together again." "Like old times." "I sat up all night watching old videos I had shot of her." "In the morning, I went back to see her." "Long time ago..." "There was so much" "I wanted to say to her." "But I was too late." "She was gone." "Find me if you love me" "It was the best damn drink I`d ever had." "It reminded me of the days I had with Meimei." "If she hadn`t run away, maybe we`d be drinking together now," "like we used to." "floating down the Suzhou River to the sea." "The sun would come out... and the river would be clear and full of fish." "I couId run after her," "look for her like Mardar." "I couId go back to my balcony... and wait for her to appear on the bridge, walking with her hands crossed... and then this love story of mine might go on." "But I won`t because nothing lasts forever." "So I`II just take another drink and close my eyes... waiting for the next story to start."