Brothers

by Yu Hua

Virgin Beauty #1358 still stood there, tears running down her face as she stared dolefully at Baldy Li. Meanwhile, he continued to apologize, saying, "I'm sorry. I've never been with a virgin before, and therefore I don't know how to speak to one."

  After wiping away her tears, Virgin Beauty #1358 took out her cell phone and again said that she needed to ask her mother. While saying this, she walked into the bathroom and shut the door. Baldy Li heard her saying something, and after a while he heard the sound of water splashing. Baldy Li laughed, thinking that her mother must have agreed to let him look at her hymen, thereby sparing him the trouble of a whole lot of persuasion. He said to himself, Her mother is truly a sensible person.

  When Virgin Beauty #1358 emerged from the bathroom, she was also wearing pajamas, like Baldy Li. She went directly to Baldy Li's bed, lay down, and buried her head in a pillow. Baldy Li removed his own pajamas and, bare-bottomed and holding his magnifying glass, telescope, and microscope, he too crawled onto the bed. He lifted her nightgown as if he were raising her skirt and enjoyed the sight of the virgin beauty's round and plump butt, exclaiming delightedly, "Nice ass."

  First he grabbed her butt and kissed it four times, then he bit it four times, making Virgin Beauty #1358 cry out so hard that her entire body trembled. Next he began to use his magnifying glass and telescope. Realizing that the microscope was of no use whatsoever, he threw it under the bed. Because the angle was too flat, Baldy Li couldn't see her hymen, and therefore he asked her to turn over so that she was lying on her back. She, however, refused by wiggling her butt. Baldy Li ultimately had no choice but to compromise and asked her to lift her butt up. She, however, again refused. Baldy Li couldn't help cursing, "Damn it. Virgins are such trouble."

  He thought to himself that even saints can be tempted, so he promised, "If you lift up your butt, I'll guarantee that you'll be one of the three finalists."

  Virgin Beauty #1358 wiggled her butt again, as though she was still unwilling, but while wiggling it she gradually lifted it up. With her face still buried in the pillow, she mumbled, "My mother said that I could only let you look at it. Nothing more."

  Baldy Li was elated. He took his magnifying glass and inspected the hymen for a while, then switched over to the telescope. Deciding that the telescope wasn't clear enough, he switched back to the magnifying glass. After he had inspected the hymen as carefully as his own hand, he again took the telescope. This time, however, he turned the telescope around to look through it in reverse. The hymen now seemed far away, as though he were glimpsing flowers through the mist, only in this case it was a hymen in the mist. He became profoundly confused and muttered to himself, "This hymen looks rather ridiculous. Regardless of whether I look at it from close up or far away, it doesn't look at all innocent or cute."

  Virgin Beauty #1358 asked in a quivering voice, "Are you done?"

  "Not yet," Baldy Li said.

  Baldy Li then set down his magnifying glass and proceeded to do precisely what the virgin beauty's mother had said he shouldn't. He immediately stuck it in, thereby ripping the hymen. Virgin Beauty #1358 let out a shriek of pain and cried out, "My mother said not to."

  "Fuck your mother."

  While pounding her, Baldy Li happily told #1358, "You should give your mother a call, because now you are the champion. You have won the million-yuan prize."

  The virgin beauty's sobs gradually died away, but her painful moans continued. She cried out in a wavering voice, "Mama, mama …"

  Baldy Li did it from behind for a while, then asked her to turn over, explaining that he wanted to switch positions. She, however, adamantly refused to turn over. Baldy Li therefore forcibly turned her over, and she again began to cry and beg him, saying that this was her first time and she was very scared and therefore didn't dare look at him. Baldy Li eventually took pity on her, having no choice but to continue taking her from behind while at the same time cursing, "Virgins are truly a fucking pain."

  That night Baldy Li fucked Virgin Beauty #1358 nearly to death. She had thought that after doing it once he would let her go. She hadn't expected that he would keep her there and do her over and over again all night—four times in all. The first two times she insisted on lying facedown, adamantly refusing to turn over. She was afraid that as soon as she turned over, Baldy Li would see her stretch marks. By the time she finally fell asleep from pain and exhaustion, Baldy Li had fallen asleep as well. She didn't expect that he would wake up after two hours and, while she was still asleep, turn her over and take her a third time. It was then that Baldy Li noticed that she had some marks on her stomach. When she woke up and noticed him looking at them, she immediately rolled back over, leaving him no choice but to continue taking her from behind. While pounding her, Baldy Li asked why she had these marks. Moaning, she explained that they were scars from a skin condition she had as a child. Baldy Li didn't ask again, and after taking her the third time, he fell asleep once more, but she didn't dare, afraid that if he had a chance to examine her stretch marks again, he would guess the truth and her secret would be revealed. Therefore she continued lying facedown hugging a pillow. At daybreak, Baldy Li took her a fourth time, from behind again. Then he slept for five more hours, and by the time he awoke, she was dressed and sitting on the couch.

  After sending Virgin Beauty #1358 away, Baldy Li was jubilant for a couple of hours. When PR Liu came, Baldy Li still had a broad smile on his face. Liu was pleased to see this, thinking that Baldy Li must have had a brilliant time in bed that night. He grinned and said, "I just saw #1358 limping away. I imagine that last night you must have swept her off her feet."

  Baldy Li held up four fingers and said, "I swept her four times."

  PR Liu jumped in surprise, holding up four fingers, said, "If I could sweep someone once every four weeks, I would consider myself to be doing well."

  "I have finally known a hymen." Baldy Li laughed proudly, then added with disappointment, "That fucking hymen wasn't what I had expected. It wasn't at all innocent and romantic."

  He pointed to the magnifying glass, telescope, and microscope and continued, "I couldn't use the microscope, and it was only when I turned the telescope around that it showed me something interesting, as though I were peeking at a hymen from across the street. The magnifying glass was the most useful, allowing me to see everything clearly.

  "My biggest regret," he concluded, "was that all four times I had to do it from behind."

  Suddenly Baldy Li frowned, remembering the marks on #1358s belly. He was reminded of how, when doing this kind of thing with young mothers, he had seen similar marks on their bellies as well. Suddenly realizing why Virgin Beauty #1358 had insisted on lying facedown, refusing to turn over, he cried out, "Damn it, I've been had!"

  PR Liu stared at Baldy Li, who exclaimed, "She's had a baby! That's why she had stretch marks on her belly. She must have fucking had her hymen reconstructed. She wasn't an out-of-the-box virgin. She was a fucking refurbished one."

  PR Liu stared at Baldy Li for a long time before finally understanding what had happened. Very uneasily he said, "I'm sorry, Boss Li. This is my fault, it's my fault that you didn't break your record."

  "It wasn't your fault," said Baldy Li. "I was the one who picked her." Then he laughed magnanimously and said, "She did have a great body, though—a round ass, thin shoulders, long, plump legs, not to mention a pretty face. At the very least, I broke my height record."

  PR Liu swore that he would go and find someone else, and this time he would make sure she was a real virgin. Before the Virgin Beauty Competition concluded, he promised, he was going to make sure Baldy Li broke his personal record.

  Now that PR Liu had a sense of Baldy Li's type, he carefully inspected each of the finalists and found #864, who was also over six feet tall and who also had a round ass and long, plump legs, though her face wasn't as pretty as the first one's. PR Liu decided that that she would do.

  What PR Liu didn't know, however, was that not only was contestant #864 not an original vi
rgin; she wasn't even a refurbished one—at most she was just unassembled parts. In order to secure the championship, #864 had already slept with six of the judges and had already bought six Joan of Arc artificial hymens from that charlatan Wandering Zhou in order to have six bloody deflowerings. Therefore, all six judges were tricked into thinking that they had slept with a virgin. This #864, therefore, was even worse than #1358, because at least #1358 was a refurbished virgin who had maintained her secondary virginity until she went to bed with Baldy Li.

  When PR Liu went to find #864, this unpackaged virgin was in the process of flirting with the seventh judge and was about to go to bed with him.

  PR Liu met #864 in the café. He was quite pleased by this virgin beauty's bold and frank manner, which was quite different from #i358's false modesty. She snuggled up to Liu and spoke warmly. PR Liu was much more relaxed with her and didn't feel the need to beat around the bush. He started by explaining that they had discovered that many of the contestants were no longer virgins, and furthermore that some, in order to gain an unfair advantage, had tried to win over the judges.

  PR Liu didn't specify that the contestants had actually slept with the judges, instead using the euphemism win over. When #864 heard PR Liu speak this way, she became very nervous and thought that someone had ratted her out to Baldy Li. Blushing furiously, she denounced women for falsely accusing innocent contestants of sleeping with the judges after doing precisely that themselves. Tears streamed down her face, as she repeatedly insisted on her own purity, saying that she was willing to submit to a medical examination. "You are welcome to take me to the hospital for an examination, or even examine me yourself."

  PR Liu had not expected the conversation to go so smoothly or to have reached this point so quickly. He laughed cordially and told her, "In order to prove your purity, you must be inspected, and furthermore you must be inspected personally by our Boss Li."

  After Virgin Beauty #864 and PR Liu parted, she immediately went to find Wandering Zhou. By that point, Wandering Zhou had only a single Lady Meng Jiang domestic hymen left. He was sitting in the snack shop flirting with Missy Su. Virgin Beauty #864 sent Wandering Zhou a glance from the doorway, and he knew immediately that she needed another artificial hymen. She was Wandering Zhou's old customer, but he pretended that he didn't see her and continued flirting with Missy Su. Virgin Beauty #864 acted as if her house were on fire, but Zhou still waited until Missy Su got up to go check on the kitchen before walking slowly to the door. Virgin Beauty #864 urgently asked him for a Joan of Arc hymen, but he took out his last Lady Meng Jiang and said, "I don't have any more Joan of Arcs, just this final Lady Meng Jiang."

  She accepted the hymen, handed over the money, and cursed, "That bunch of whores!"

  At eight o'clock that night, PR Liu brought Virgin Beauty #864 to Baldy Li's bedroom, where Baldy Li was again watching television in his pajamas. While #864 stood there bashfully, Baldy Li didn't say anything romantic but simply turned off the television and stood up. This time he first bowed and apologized, then pointed to the bathroom and said gently, "Please go wash up."

  Beauty #864 just stood there without moving, saying that she wanted to say something first. Baldy Li couldn't imagine what she would want to say and thought to himself yet again that virgins truly are a pain and that he wouldn't attempt to screw any more of them after this batch. He felt that he simply didn't have the patience to deal with them.

  She began to go on and on about how much she admired Baldy Li and how the first time she read an article about him in the paper, she told herself that if she was going to give herself to anyone, she should give herself to a man like Baldy Li. Having said that, she turned around and walked into the bathroom.

  Baldy Li was elated, thinking that this #864 was certainly much more straightforward than #1358. He thought to himself that if he had realized this from the beginning, he would never have bothered to bow to her. After she finished washing up, she secretly inserted the artificial hymen into her vagina.

  When she walked in wearing her nightgown, she saw that Baldy Li had already undressed and was sitting there butt-naked and grinning. She gasped in surprise and immediately covered her face with her hands. Baldy Li then removed her nightgown and pushed her down onto the bed. During the entire process, she never removed her hands from her face.

  Baldy Li took his magnifying glass and first examined her stomach but didn't see any stretch marks. Very pleased, he then examined her hymen. He could see it clearly but felt it looked somewhat different from #i358's. He didn't think much about this, telling himself that it must be normal that there would be different kinds of hymens. In fact, even a woman's two breasts could be of different sizes.

  As Baldy Li took his magnifying glass and telescope and excitedly began to examine her, #864 continued to cover her face, but her body began to sway suggestively. She lay on the bed in a bashful manner, delighting Baldy Li to no end and making him lose interest in continuing his examination. Therefore, he threw down his magnifying glass and telescope and climbed onto her. She took her hands from her eyes and used one to grasp his neck. They went at it for a while, #864 moaning softly as Baldy Li panted, but not only did the Lady Meng Jiang hymen not bleed; eventually Baldy Li even managed to accidentally poke it out.

  In this way, Wandering Zhou's cheap counterfeit merchandise almost destroyed #864 s beautiful future. When Baldy Li picked up the artificial hymen and stared at it with a look of bewilderment, #864 thought to herself that this was it. She trembled and watched Baldy Li with a look of genuine fear. He finally realized what he was holding in his hands and began to curse, "Damn it, another fake virgin."

  Seeing Baldy Li furiously throw the artificial hymen away, #864 burst into tears. She begged him to allow her to explain. As she was in the process of trying to figure out what kind of explanation to give him, Baldy Li waved her away, indicating that he had neither the interest nor the patience to hear her stories. "Don't fucking cry, and also don't fucking try to explain. Given that you are not a virgin, then just be a whore. If you can please me, you can still take third place."

  At first #864 stared at him in surprise, then she quickly wiped away her tears, turned over, and positioned Baldy Li beneath her. Baldy Li was astonished to discover how strong she was. She mounted him and began fucking him, moaning and twisting her body. She looked as though she was dancing the world's most erotic dance, and even a jaded old bastard like Baldy Li could only stare in amazement. Previously without rival in bed, Baldy Li had finally met his match. He gave it all he had, and so did she, as the two engaged in endless rounds of battle.

  When PR Liu saw Baldy Li the next day, he noted his look of satisfaction and assumed it was because the night before he had finally encountered an authentic product. Baldy Li, however, told him, "She was also a fake. The fucking thing even fell out." Baldy Li said that as soon as he stuck his thing in, he felt that something wasn't right. "It was like when you have a sock in your shoe, so when you stick your foot in, you feel something."

  Horrified, PR Liu again blamed himself, saying that he had handled things poorly. Liu cursed himself repeatedly and said, with a sigh, "Everything else I can try out for you first, but if I try out a virgin first, even if she were real, she would thereby become fake."

  Baldy Li waved him away, saying that even though the previous night he didn't encounter a virgin, #864 still placed him on cloud nine. In all the years he had been whoring around, he had never before encountered a woman as wild and crazy and as fond of attack as #864. As they say, it's enough in life to meet one true friend, though in this case that true friend was a wild and crazy sex partner. He said that the two of them had gone back and forth, with one blowing the spring winds and the other playing war drums. The East Wind did indeed blow away the West Wind, but then the West Wind blew it right back. He said that even calling her a whore was too fucking refined; instead she was the World Wide Whoring Federation Champion. He said that the previous night the two of them had fought end
less rounds of an extraordinary carnal battle, and finally both ended up so wounded that they had to call it a draw.

  Then Baldy Li instructed PR Liu to go find the ten judges and tell them not to select a champion or a third-place finalist, just a second-place finalist. He said that the champion would be #1358 and the third-place award would go to #864. Even though neither of them was a virgin, both of them had gone to bed with him. While in bed Baldy Li had made certain promises, and now he patted his chest as he announced, "I, Baldy Li, am someone whose word is as good as gold."

  The curtain finally fell on the Inaugural National Virgin Beauty Competition. PR Liu completed the task Baldy Li had given him in instructing the ten judges to award first place to #1358 and third place to #864. Second place, meanwhile, went to #79. This #79 was Wandering Zhou's best customer. She wasn't like #864, buying a new artificial hymen each time she slept with a different judge. Instead, she bought ten Joan of Arc hymens all at once and then proceeded to systematically devour all ten judges.

  The festivities wrapped up quickly, with the one hundred finalists departing on the same day. Baldy Li stood in front of his company all day bidding farewell to the virgin beauties, to the political leaders of the organizing committee, as well as to the judges. While shaking hands with #1358, Baldy Li quietly asked her, "How old is your child?"

  At first she looked confounded, but then she laughed knowingly and whispered back, "She's two."

  When he shook hands with #864, Baldy Li leaned up to her ear and said, "I bow to my superior."

  The ten judges were helped onto the bus like so many elderly cripples, all of them completely depleted. Two were running a low-grade fever, three could no longer keep food down, and four complained that their eyesight had degraded dramatically; only one still looked normal. He climbed aboard the bus himself, and while bidding goodbye to Baldy Li, he still had strength to speak. Baldy Li asked quietly whether this time he had eaten his fill. The judge sighed and replied that he didn't even like women anymore.