Brothers

by Yu Hua

  Several of the old landlord s poor relatives followed Song Gang to the village entrance to help him spread out the mats; they were joined by other villagers. Song Gang carefully lowered his grandfather onto the mat as if he were laying him down in bed. Several relatives helped roll up the mat, then wound three loops of heavy twine around the bundle. This would serve as the old landlords coffin. A few men from the village helped to dig a grave, and Song Gang carried the bundle containing his grandfather over to the grave and knelt down beside it. He placed his grandfather inside, stood up and wiped the tears from his eyes, then started filling the grave. Watching the now solitary Song Gang, the women from the village couldn't help shedding tears. The old landlord was buried next to Song Fanping and Li Lan. For fourteen days Song Gang wore a hemp shirt in mourning, and at the conclusion of his second seven-day mourning cycle, he packed his things, leaving the shack and the few pieces of furniture to his relatives. Someone happened to be going into town, so Song Gang asked him to relay a message to Baldy Li: Song Gang was coming home.

  Song Gang was awake by four the next morning, and when he opened his door, he saw that the sky was still full of stars. Remembering that he was about to see Baldy Li, he hurriedly shut the door and set off for the village entrance. When he got there, he stood for a while in the moonlight, gazing back at the village where he had spent the past ten years and down at Song Fanping and Li Lan s graves as well as the old landlords freshly dug one. Then he set out on the desolate road under the moonlight, heading toward the sleeping town of Liu. Song Gang bid farewell to his grandfather, upon whom he had depended for the preceding ten years, and left to resume his life with Baldy Li.

  At dawn Song Gang entered Liu Town through the southern gate. Completely covered in dust from the road, he was finally returning home. He was carrying the same travel bag that Li Lan had taken with her to Shanghai when she sought medical treatment there; the same bag she had when, traveling back from Shanghai, she received news of Song Fanpings death; and the bag into which she had stuffed the bundle containing the soil soaked with Song Fanpings blood. And when Song Gang went to the countryside to live with his grandfather, this was the bag that Li Lan used to pack Song Gangs clothing and the White Rabbit candies. Now Song Gang was carrying the bag back again, though all that it now held was a few pieces of old clothing. This constituted the extent of Song Gangs possessions.

  Having left Liu Town as a child, Song Gang was returning home a handsome young man. But when he arrived, Baldy Li was not home, because, knowing that Song Gang was returning that day, he had also woken up at four and set off before dawn to have the locksmith make Song Gang a new key. He naturally hadn't expected that Song Gang would set off in the middle of the night and be waiting at their doorstep by dawn. Song Gang stood there with his travel bag for more than two hours while Baldy Li stood on the main street waiting for the locksmith to open his shop. Song Gang was now as tall as his father had been, though not as well built. Instead, he was pale and lean, with a shirt too short and sleeves and pants legs lengthened with patches from different colored fabrics. Song Gang stood patiently in front of the door to their house, waiting for Baldy Li to return home. He passed the travel bag back and forth from one hand to the other, careful not to place it on the ground so that it wouldn't get dirty.

  On his way back to the house, Baldy Li spotted Song Gang from far away: this tall brother of his, holding a travel bag and standing blankly at the front door. Baldy Li snuck up on Song Gang from behind and kicked him in the rear. Song Gang staggered for a moment and then heard Baldy Li's laughter. The two brothers proceeded to chase each other around in front of the house for a full half hour, raising a huge cloud of dust in the process. Baldy Li alternated between kicking his feet and swinging his leg as Song Gang hopped and jumped out of the way—all the while holding onto his travel bag. They continued scuffling, Baldy Li attacking like a spear and Song Gang defending himself like a shield. Eventually the brothers collapsed into a hysterical heap, laughing until tears flowed from their eyes and snot from their noses, then both of them doubled up coughing. Finally Baldy Li, gasping for breath, took out the new key and handed it to Song Gang, saying, "Open the door."

  Baldy Li and Song Gang were like weeds that, despite having been trampled underfoot, had continued to grow vigorously. Not a single factory was willing to hire the infamous Baldy Li upon his graduation from middle school. However, by that time the Cultural Revolution had concluded; Deng Xiaoping's Reform and Opening Up Campaign had just begun; and their old benefactor, Tao Qing, was now the deputy director of the county's Civil Affairs Bureau. Tao Qing—recalling Song Fanping's abject death in front of the railway station and how Li Lan, in her gratitude for his help, had kowtowed with such force that her forehead was reduced to a bloody pulp—decided to give Baldy Li a hand up in life. He arranged to have him assigned to the Good Works Factory, which employed only charity cases and which happened to be administered by the Civil Affairs Bureau. Besides Baldy Li, the Good Works Factory had fourteen other employees: two cripples, three idiots, four blind men, and five deaf men. Song Gang's legal place of residence was still Liu Town, so upon his return he was assigned to work in the metal factory, where Success Liu-cum-Writer Liu was now section chief for supplies and marketing.

  The two brothers collected their first months wages on the same day. Song Gang got home first, since the metal factory was closer. Firmly grasping the eighteen yuan in his pocket, he stood in the doorway waiting. When Baldy Li arrived, his wages grasped tightly in his sweat-covered palms, Song Gang asked excitedly, "Did you receive yours?"

  Baldy Li nodded. He saw Song Gangs delighted expression and asked, "How about you?"

  Song Gang also nodded. The two walked into the room and quickly shut the door and pulled the curtains, as if afraid of thieves. Then they both began to laugh hysterically as they laid out their wages on the bed: thirty-six yuan in all, each of the bills damp with sweat from their palms. The two sat on the bed and counted the thirty-six yuan over and over again. Baldy Li's eyes lit up while Song Gangs crinkled into narrow slits. Song Gang by this point was very nearsighted and had to bring the money right up to his nose to see it. Baldy Li suggested that they pool their earnings and that Song Gang be in charge of them. Song Gang felt that since he was the elder, it was indeed appropriate that he should assume that responsibility. Therefore, he collected the bills on the bed one at a time, arranged them in a neat pile, and let Baldy Li count them one last time. Then Song Gang also counted the pile of bills a final time before sighing contentedly. "I've never seen so much money before."

  While speaking, Song Gang stood up on the bed and bumped his head on the ceiling. He then bent over and unbuttoned his pants, revealing underwear stitched together from old scraps. There was a small pocket sewn on the inside of his underwear, and it was in this pocket that Song Gang carefully stashed their combined earnings. Baldy Li complimented Song Gang on the pocket and asked who had made it for him. Song Gang replied that he had stitched it himself, adding that he had also cut the pattern and sewn the underwear. Baldy Li expressed his admiration and asked, "Are you a man or a woman?"

  Song Gang laughed. "I also know how to knit a sweater."

  After the brothers received their first month's wages, the first thing they did was go to the People's Restaurant for a steaming bowl of plain noodles in broth. At first Baldy Li wanted to order the house-special noodles, but Song Gang argued that they should wait until they were living more comfortably before pampering themselves like that. Baldy Li acknowledged that Song Gang had a point, and since this time the money was coming out of his own pocket rather than that of someone trying to buy the secrets to Lin Hongs bottom, he readily agreed to have just the plain noodles. Song Gang walked up to the cashier, unfastened his pants, and, as the woman at the register watched, proceeded to fumble around inside. Baldy Li immediately burst into peals of laughter while the middle-aged clerk, who seemed altogether too familiar with this sort of scene, waited impassively fo
r Song Gang to fish out the money. He finally succeeded in extracting a one-yuan bill from his underwear pocket and handed it over to the clerk, then stood there patiently holding up his pants while waiting for her to give him change. Two bowls of plain noodles cost eighteen cents, and after he received his eighty-two cents in change, Song Gang meticulously folded up the money, starting with the larger bills and proceeding to the smaller ones, and then placed everything, including the two pennies, back in the secret pocket in his underwear. Then he tied his pants back on and accompanied Baldy Li to an empty table.

  After the brothers finished their plain noodles, they left the People s Restaurant while wiping the sweat from their foreheads and proceeded to the Red Flag fabric shop to pick out some dark blue khaki cloth. This time it was a young woman who was working at the counter, and she watched in horror as Song Gang once again undid his pants and started fumbling around inside. The young woman blushed crimson as Baldy Li leered at her, and she abruptly turned away to speak to one of her workmates. Song Gang fumbled around in his pants for a long time, all the while counting out loud. When he finally pulled out the money, it was precisely the amount he needed to pay for the fabric. As the red-faced young woman accepted the money, Baldy Li asked Song Gang in surprise, "Where did you learn that trick?"

  Song Gang squinted at the red-faced clerk, but his nearsightedness rendered him oblivious to her embarrassment. Smiling, he fastened his pants and explained to Baldy Li, "Since I fold the bills in order from the smallest to the largest, I always know which bills are in front."

  With their bundles of khaki fabric in hand, they proceeded to Tailor Zhang's shop and asked him to make each of them a Mao suit. For the third time Song Gang stuck his hand down his pants and started fishing inside. Tailor Zhang draped his tape measure around his neck and, seeing Song Gang with his hand inside his pants, laughed and said, "What a great place to hide your money."

  Song Gang pulled out the money and handed it to Tailor Zhang, who then held it up to his nose and sniffed, saying, "It smells of dick."

  Though he couldn't see clearly, Song Gang gathered that Tailor Zhang had sniffed his cash. As they left the shop Song Gang, squinting, asked Baldy Li for confirmation: "Was he sniffing our bills?"

  Realizing then that Song Gang was extremely nearsighted, Baldy Li insisted that they go to the optician to buy him a pair of glasses. Song Gang shook his head, saying that they should wait until they were living more comfortably. Baldy Li had compromised earlier in not ordering the house-special noodles, but now he held his ground. He stopped in the middle of the street and shouted at Song Gang, "By the time things are more comfortable, you may very well have already gone blind!"

  Song Gang was flabbergasted by Baldy Li's outburst, and through his squinting he could see that a good number of people had stopped to watch them. He asked Baldy Li to lower his voice, but Baldy Li spat back that if Song Gang didn't go get glasses today, they might as well split up. In a ringing voice he commanded, "Let's go! Let's go get you some glasses."

  As Baldy Li said this he began to strut toward the optician's shop, with a reluctant Song Gang following behind. They were no longer striding side by side, as they had been a moment earlier, but instead walked in single file. The two looked as though they had just been in a fight, with Baldy Li parading ahead as the victor and Song Gang trailing dispiritedly behind.

  By the following month the brothers had their dark blue Mao suits and Song Gang was wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses. Baldy Li had insisted on the most expensive frames in the shop, thereby reducing Song Gang to tears. On the one hand, Song Gang begrudged spending so much money; on the other hand, he was moved by his brother's generosity, deciding that Baldy Li was really quite all right after all. After putting on his new glasses and walking out of the optician's shop, Song Gang gestured excitedly to Baldy Li and exclaimed, "Everything is so clear now!"

  He told Baldy Li that, with the new glasses, the world became as clear as if it had just been freshly scrubbed. Baldy Li laughed and said that now that Song Gang had an extra pair of eyes, he should alert Baldy Li when he spotted a pretty woman. Song Gang nodded and laughed as well and started scanning the street for a pretty woman for Baldy Li. Wearing brand-new khaki Mao suits, the two brothers walked down the main street of Liu. A few elders playing chess by the side of the road looked up in surprise and remarked that, the night before, these two had been dressed like beggars but today they looked like county cadres. Sighing, the elders said, "Its certainly true that clothes make the man."

  Song Gang was tall and slim, had a handsome face, and now looked quite scholarly with his dark-rimmed glasses. Baldy Li, on the other hand, was short and squat and, even in his Mao suit, still looked like a bandit. The brothers were inseparable as they strolled down the streets of Liu. The town elders gestured to them, saying that one looked like a civil official and the other a military official. The young women of Liu, meanwhile, were not so polite, instead comparing them to the Buddhist monk Tripitaka in the folktale Journey to the West and his companion Pigsy.

  CHAPTER 28

  SONG GANG had secretly fallen in love with literature and was very respectful of the metal factory's section chief for supplies and marketing, Writer Liu. There was a tall pile of literary journals on Writer Liu's desk, and every time he opened his mouth he uttered a string of fanciful ruminations. Writer Liu loved to expound on literature, and when he buttonholed someone at the factory, he could go on for hours. Unfortunately, the workers at the metal factory couldn't understand a word he said. They would stare at him blankly with stupid grins on their faces, secretly asking each other whether Liu was even speaking Chinese or perhaps another language altogether. Why couldn't they understand a single word he said? These remarks reached Writer Liu, and he thought to himself, These vulgar masses!

  With the arrival of the literature aficionado Song Gang, Writer Liu felt as if he had received a precious treasure. Song Gang not only understood Liu's literary ruminations but seemed completely devoted, nodding and laughing at the appropriate moments. Writer Liu was delighted, feeling that having such a friend was invaluable, and every time he encountered Song Gang he would ramble on endlessly. Once they were in the restroom together, and, after peeing, Writer Liu grabbed Song Gang and spoke to him for more than two hours right there next to the urinal—paying no heed to the stench or to the people squatting and grunting as they shat. After Writer Liu acquired this new student, he felt that he had become a literary advisor. The vulgar masses didn't make him feel this way; even after he had talked his lips raw, they would still just stare at him with stupid grins on their faces. Writer Liu began lending Song Gang some of the literary journals in his office. One day he took a copy of Harvest, carefully wiped the dust off the cover with his sleeve, and proceeded to inspect it page by page in front of Song Gang, demonstrating that it was pristine and not dirty or damaged in any way. He told Song Gang that when he returned the magazine, Writer Liu would again inspect it page by page. "If it is damaged in the least, you will have to pay a fine."

  Song Gang took Writer Liu's literary journal home with him and began reading ravenously, then found himself inspired to start secretly writing a story. He worked on his story for half a year, writing on scrap paper for the first three months and correcting it for another three months. Then he carefully copied the manuscript onto lined paper. Song Gangs first reader was, of course, Baldy Li, who cried out in surprise when he received the work, "Its so thick!"

  Baldy Li counted the pages and discovered that the story was thirteen pages long. Baldy Li looked at Song Gang with newfound respect and said, "You are really amazing, writing thirteen whole pages."

  When Baldy Li started reading it, he cried out again in surprise, "This is actually really well written!" He diligently finished the story and didn't cry out again but, rather, became contemplative. Song Gang watched him nervously, not knowing whether his first story had been successful. Nervously he asked Baldy Li, "Is it any good?"

  Baldy
Li didn't reply but remained contemplative. Song Gang asked again, "Did I write it very messily?"

  Baldy Li remained pensive, and Song Gang felt a wave of disappointment wash over him. He became convinced that he had written the story in a completely disordered fashion, and therefore Baldy Li couldn't understand it at all.

  All of a sudden Baldy Li finally uttered a single word, "Good!" He then added, "Really well written." He earnestly told Song Gang that this was a good story, and even though it was not at the level of stories by literary giants like Lu Xun and Ba Jin, it was better than anything Writer Liu or Poet Zhao could have written. Baldy Li waved excitedly and added, "Now that we have you, Writer Liu and Poet Zhao will be left permanently in the dust."

  Song Gang was surprised and pleased, and that night he was so excited he couldn't sleep. With Baldy Li snoring beside him, Song Gang looked back over his story five more times. He became increasingly convinced that it did not merit Baldy Li's effusive praise and that Baldy Li had complimented it only because they were brothers. However, Song Gang ultimately concluded that Baldy Li's praise was not entirely unfounded. For instance, when he went back and reread the specific passages Baldy Li had singled out, he found that they were actually not bad at all. Song Gang then mustered up the courage to take the draft to Writer Liu for critique. If Writer Liu also said that it was well written, then it must be true.

  The following day Song Gang nervously showed his story to Writer Liu. Liu was initially startled, never having expected that this disciple of his would turn around and write a story of his own. At that moment Writer Liu was on his way to take a shit, with a roll of toilet paper in his hand. Therefore, he grabbed Song Gangs thirteen-page story along with the toilet paper and read it as he headed to the restroom. He continued reading the story as he did his business, finishing both tasks more or less at the same time. He emerged from the restroom with half a sheet of unused toilet paper resting on top of Song Gangs manuscript, and, brows furled in consternation, he walked back to the supplies and marketing office. Writer Liu then spent the entire afternoon in the office correcting Song Gangs story, using a red pen to mark up every page and even filling the blank space on the last page with three hundred more words of critique. When he got off work, Song Gang nervously appeared at the door of the supply and marketing office. Writer Liu solemnly gestured him in and gave him the thirteen-page document, declaring with utmost seriousness, "All of my comments are written here."