By Di Li

I was born in a provincial hospital in the dead of night. As my father waited outside the gate, pacing back and forth on the hard dirt road, an astrologist happened to walk by. He noticed my father standing alone in the moonlight and paused in his journey. They spoke to each other for a long while when suddenly the hospital door was flung open. A nurse poked her head out and announced my birth. My father breathed a sigh of relief and the astrologist shook his hand in congratulations.

"Your son will certainly be a great man of nationwide reputation. He’ll be your pride and treasure," the man said before disappearing down the dark road.

At the time my father thought nothing of the unexpected remark.

***

At the age of three, I was unable to speak, though I could understand most of what my parents said to me. This fact alone saved me from being categorised as mentally challenged by the psychologists who tested me. Some even said that my speechlessness was an improvement over the noisy clamour that usually accompanies children. Moreover, I was an obedient child, so my parents did not feel much regret for my one flaw.

By the time I started primary school, I was still mostly closemouthed. Instead of talking in class I stayed mostly silent, absorbing my teachers’ lectures. In terms of actual intelligence, my capacity was only average, but by virtue of my careful listening on the one hand and my absolute obedience on the other, my teachers gave me excellent marks. With that advantage, my name was constantly on the list of the top ten students throughout high school, despite the fact I remained rather taciturn.

"Your duty is to listen, whereas, my task is to talk," said one of my well-known teachers. For the rest of my life, I bore this advice in mind.

Unfortunately for me, I failed my university entrance examinations after finishing my secondary education. Consequently, my life turned in another direction, eventually reaching beyond my parents’ expectations.

After I bombed the exam, my Dad managed to find me a job in a detergent factory. My daily work was to deliver pouches of powdered soap to the company’s agents and shops. Thanks to my diligent efforts and honest nature, I was usually commended by my superiors and often rewarded. After a meeting between the employees and the boss one evening, he summoned me into his office.

" What do you have to say now?" he asked me.

"Nothing, Sir."

"During the meeting, I saw you letting your mind wander. I noticed that you said nothing the entire time. In my opinion, you must have had something on your mind but you were too timid to express it. Now you can tell me what was distracting you."

"Frankly speaking, I’ve got nothing special to say, sir."

"Then what were you doing during the meeting?" he asked.

"I was just listening to your address, sir."

"Really? Can you give me a summary of the main points then?"

I reiterated nearly the entire speech, a skill I had practised during my days at school.

Taking a handkerchief out of his pocket he wiped away the tears falling down his cheeks and said in a choked voice, "You really are a talented youth." Then he gave me an incoherent and boring lecture about the relations between the masses and the leader. , knowing how to listen is the first proof of a leader’s relationship with the masses. If a leader wants to understand the thoughts and aspirations of the masses, he must know how to listen to them. Listening will lead to better understanding, and the masses call for those who are interested in listening to them. If we know how to …" He went on and on, in high spirits that someone was listening to his nonsense.

"You may go very far in the future, my dear son. What if I appoint you to the post of deputy head of the business section? " he asked, with an encouraging smile.

"Surely, it’d be a great honour for me, sir."

The next day I was promoted to a new position, which my section head was not pleased about, even though I was still his subordinate. He grumbled that I had neither the qualifications, nor the business skills for the position. It was only a short time before I proved his complaints were unfounded. After only a little while, my efficiency had increased remarkably. My business plan was fulfilled two quarters ahead of schedule. One day the section head asked me sheepishly, "Can you share your knowledge with the other inexperienced group heads and their employees?"

"In fact, I’ve got no knowhow, sir," I replied.

"Surely, you have something to say to them."

"No, nothing at all, sir."

"What methods have you followed?" he asked me angrily.

"I followed your directions, no more no less."

"Okay, tell me my instructions then, will you?"

I repeated the advice he had given me word for word.

"Only what I’ve told you?"

"Yes, sir."

In reality, I didn’t know how I delivered the products entrusted to me so quickly. Even when my stock of detergent had been shipped, I succeeded in selling out detergent that had been sitting in the warehouse for years.

"You’re a genius in business operations, indeed," he said in congratulations, shaking my hand. "Knowing how to listen, working hard and following instructions from your superiors is the first step to success."

One month later the personnel in my section lodged a petition to the general director to promote me to the post of section head in place of the existing leader for two reasons: first, I’d managed to rescue the company from the brink of bankruptcy and second, I was a very modest young man who always listened to the opinions of the staff. Two days later their petition was ratified and I was promoted to business section head.

***

For the first time in my life I discovered that I possessed an extraordinary capacity: truly listening to people without being bored, no matter what they were talking about. In addition, I attentively listened to customers’ requests to get high-quality detergent and their complaints about other manufacturers’ ways of distributing their products and even, sometimes, their personal stories. As a result, I became more and more successful. Sometimes, I was invited by other companies to take charge of their businesses. Another businessman once told me, "We businessmen hardly ever answer press interviews." I bore this fact in mind and limited my contact with reporters. Soon I became the talk of the town.

By this point, it could be said that the astrologist’s prophecy from so many years ago had come true to some extent. I fell in love with a pretty girl, the daughter of a car magnate. However, she did not love me, nor did her family. They said that money meant nothing to them. The only thing they cared about was whether or not their prospective son-in-law would glorify the lineage of the bride. In this respect, I could hardly meet their requirements. When I contacted her father, I did not dare to utter a word. Before going home, I heard the girl’s mother complaining about her back-ache. "My mother has the same trouble as you, ma’am," I said, grateful for a conversation starter.

"Really? Where does it hurt her?"

"The vertebra at the bottom of the backbone, ma’am."

"It’s the same for me. What kind of medicine has she been using?"

"Just some oriental medicinal herbs, ma’am."

"Yes, that’s the right way to treat the pain. My husband and daughter tend to take western medicines," she said with a frown. Then she began to explain to me that most of our diseases came from our five innards. She went on and on about the different kinds of eastern medicine our forefathers used to treat illnesses. For the first time in my life I could hardly remember what someone talking to me had said. However, it was worth it as she promised to arrange another rendezvous for her daughter and myself the next evening. When I stepped out of the door, it was already pitch-dark. When I had arrived that morning, the family was just finishing their breakfast.

The next day the girl rang me up and said that she was only going out with me because her mother asked her to. As for herself, she had no impression of me at all. She suggested we meet in a nearby expensive restaurant. After finishing our appetisers in silence, she dropped her spoon with a clatter. "Why are you so taciturn? Did you invite me here just to watch me eat a bowl of soup?" I nearly blurted out that it was she who had invited me to this place, but on second thought, I decided the wiser course would be to silent, slurp up my last few spoonfuls of eel soup.

"You’re similar to the guard at my office," she said. "He’s always speechless like a church mouse. His only purpose in life is to watch people coming and going. He only looks up like a robot."

"Quite a robot, indeed."

"Really?" I replied awkwardly.

"All other young women are envious of you," I remarked after a long silence.

"Why’s that?" she asked, looking bored.

"I don’t know, but I’ve got the idea in my head," I told her sincerely.

"Such a flatterer," she said, rolling her eyes.

After we finished dessert, she asked if we should bother having another meal like this.

I have read many books which said the best way to conquer the fairer sex was to use flowery words. As for me I decided to follow the tenet of "silence is golden". Soon she said good-bye to me forever.

***

Afterward, I learnt some more skills in addition to my practice of listening. Previously, I learnt by heart what others had said, but now owing to my experience and wide range of acquaintances, the more I listened the more cunning I became. Now, not only did I listen, but I learned that by carefully composing my facial expressions, I could add to the impression that I was incredibly interested in what was being said to me.

As a result, I became so sensitive to other people’s emotions and so good at silently responding, that I became known as a wise man. Once I attended a dinner party with a number of esteemed professors. I managed to fall into conversation with a group of scholars on the wrong side of seventy. Most of them had very little interest in eating, drinking or listening to others (especially since most of them were wearing hearing aids). Nevertheless, they were still able to talk my ear off. When a linguistics professor began dissecting the difference between "weak points" and "strong points", I modified my countenance to express my eagerness. When an agriculture expert dealt with the application of the rice breeds TC 10 and TC 15, I expressed my utter surprise. When a poet read one of his brief works, I showed my admiration for his poetic talent. By the end of the party, they were greatly impressed with my erudition and asked one another why such a man was not in the circle of savants and, what’s more, they discussed ways to promote me to the rank of professorship.

Now the prophecy was proving to be quite right. Soon my name began appearing in various scientific magazines and journals published by learned men. The press found me quite a mystery, saying that I was a modest lecturer who did not like to disclose much about himself.

With the passage of time, I found myself losing the strength I had as a young man. Previously, I had been able to listen to a long speech for hours without being tired, but now I found myself occasionally nodding off. Sometimes I would see a look of confusion pass over my conversation partner’s face and realise that my facial expression was completely wrong. This began to worry me. "My glory days are past!" I said to myself.

While I pondered my situation, I was struck by an idea. "Why can’t I be an instructor, like an old football player past his prime?" I asked myself. Finally, I opened a course called "The Art of Listening". I put up posters and had ads printed in leaflets. For the whole week, no one enrolled. Perhaps people wanted to learn something about the arts of oration, communication, persuasion and negotiation, but people didn’t seem that interested in listening. After all, a one-year old child could do it without being taught.

I decided to change my tactics and put up a giant poster which said, "Learn the secret to achieving 100% success!" Almost immediately, people began flocking to my lectures. At first I felt a bit lost and confused. I had spent half of my life in silence, after all. Public speaking was a big problem for me, so I started by copying the lecture that had started me on my life’s path.

"Knowing how to listen is the first indication of natural leadership qualities. If you want to understand the thoughts and aspirations of the masses, you must know how to listen to them. The masses need people who know how to listen. If you know how to listen…"

To my surprise, I found students hanging on my every word at the first class. At the second class, there were a few people nodding off, but I kept talking. By the third class, half the students were snoring away with their heads laid on the desktop. I felt compelled to remind them that "those who can abstain from falling asleep will be successful later". But in the fourth class, the number of students sleeping soundly had climbed to two thirds of the packed classroom. But nobody seemed willing to quit, owing to the high fee they had paid, I suppose.

The next semester, the number of students remained fairly high, for everyone wanted to find out my secret to success. The more I talked, the stronger my voice became. I began to feel that speaking was a wondrous thing, especially with a captive audience. I began to regret that I hadn’t discovered the joy of speech until half my lifetime had already passed me by. I felt that now was the time for me to talk about everything that I had kept bottled up inside, but there was too much, it felt too late.

***

One day a scandalous headline appeared splashed across the front page of a number of newspapers. "Prof X, a successful businessman, one of the most talented men in our country, has been hospitalised due to a mysterious disease that doctors have been unable to identify or treat. The malady has been temporarily dubbed the ‘Talking Disease’. From the moment he was admitted to the hospital until press time, the professor hasn’t eaten or drunk. As for the masses, they must regret that such a talented man will end his glorious career so prematurely." (VNS)

Translated by Van Minh