Yu Hua - Chronicle of a Blood Merchant

Xu Yulan said, “I saw Lin Fenfang over at the silk factory wearing some white sneakers over red nylon socks. I’ve seen red nylon socks before, Lin Pingping around the corner wore them a few days back. But it was first time I’ve ever seen women’s sneakers that come in white.”

Erle said, “I’ve seen those before. There was a pair on display at the counter in the department store.”

Xu Yulan said, “I’ve seen plenty of men’s sneakers in white. Lin Pingping’s brother has a pair. And Wang Defu on our street.”

Erle said, “That lady who always goes over to Wang Defu’s house wears white sneakers too. .”

Xu Yulan said. Erle said. And so on.

But Yile and Xu Yulan had very little to say to each other. Yile never wanted to hang around Xu Yulan or do anything with her. If Xu Yulan was going to buy vegetables at the market, she would call to him, “Yile, help me carry the shopping basket.”

Yile would say, “I don’t want to.”

“Yile, help me thread this needle.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Yile, fold the laundry.”

“I don’t want to.”

“Yile. .”

“I don’t want to.”

Then Xu Yulan’s temper flared, and she would shout, “What do you want to do?”

Xu Sanguan paced back and forth across the room, looking up at the rays of sunlight filtering down into the house through the ceiling. Then he said, “I’m going up on the roof to fix the tiles. Otherwise, when the rainy season comes and it’s pouring outside, it’ll be drizzling in here too.”

Yile quickly said to Xu Sanguan, “Dad, let me go borrow a ladder.”

Xu Sanguan said, “You’re still too little to carry a ladder.”

“Dad, will you let me ask for it? Then you can carry it home yourself.”

When Xu Sanguan got the ladder home and was about to climb up to the roof, Yile said, “Dad, I’ll hold the ladder steady for you as you climb up.”

Xu Sanguan mounted the roof, the tiles below squeaking and straining under his weight. As soon as he reached the roof, Yile was off like a shot. He ran to get Xu Sanguan’s teapot and set it down next to the bottom of the ladder. Then he ran to get a washbasin, filled it with water, and folded a washcloth neatly over the rim.

Finally, teapot in hand, he shouted up to the roof, “Dad, come down and take a break. I brought you some tea.”

Xu Sanguan, standing on the roof, replied, “I don’t want any tea. I just got up here.”

Yile wrung out the towel, draped it over his arm, and called up to the roof, “Dad, come down and take a break. I brought you a washcloth.”

Xu Sanguan, squatting atop the roof tiles, replied, “I’m not sweaty.”

Sanle wobbled toward them. As soon as Yile saw him coming, he waved him off. “Sanle, go away. This is none of your business.”

But Sanle didn’t want to leave. He walked under the ladder and held it steady.

Yile said, “We don’t need you to hold the ladder now.”

So Sanle sat down on the first rung of the ladder.

Yile, at his wit’s end, looked up and shouted, “Dad, Sanle won’t go away.”

Xu Sanguan shouted at Sanle from the rooftop, “Sanle, go away. What if one of these tiles were to fall and hit your head?”

Yile often said to Xu Sanguan, “Dad, I don’t like to be with mom and the rest of them. All they do is go on and on about which girls are pretty and who has the nicest clothes. I like to spend time with the men. Men talk about more interesting stuff.”

Xu Sanguan, wooden bucket in hand, went to the well to get water. The rope attached to the handle of the bucket had been soaked a hundred times and dried in the sun just as many times. This time, when Xu Sanguan attempted to draw the bucket out of the well, all that emerged was a piece of broken rope. The bucket had been swallowed up by the water and sunk to the bottom of the well.

Xu Sanguan went home and fetched a long bamboo pole that they usually used for hanging the wash out to dry. Then he brought a stool over to the side of the well, sat down, and working with a pair of pliers, fashioned a slender hook out of a piece of wire. With another piece of wire, he fastened the hook to the end of the pole.

When Yile saw him, he walked over and asked, “Dad, did the bucket fall into the well again?”

Xu Sanguan nodded. “Help me make a knot.”

Yile sat down on the ground next to him and held the long pole steady while Xu Sanguan fastened the hook onto its tip. Then Yile took one end of the pole over his shoulder and Xu Sanguan took the other end. Father and son carried the pole over to the well.

Usually it only took Xu Sanguan less than an hour or so to find the bucket. He would reach down into the well with the pole and feel around the bottom. After thirty minutes or an hour he was able to hook the handle of the wooden bucket and bring it back up to the surface.

But this time he grappled with the pole for almost an hour and a half, all to no avail. Wiping the sweat from his brow, he said, “It’s not on top, and it isn’t to the left or the right. It just seems like it’s nowhere to be found. Must be that it landed handle side down. This time it’s bad. This time we’re in real trouble.” He slid the pole from out of the water and laid it across the top of the well, scratching his head in bewilderment.

Yile bent over the edge of the well and gazed down at the water for a moment. Then he said, “Dad, look how hot and sweaty I am.”

Xu Sanguan grunted absently.

“Hey, Dad, you still remember the time I put my face in the washbasin and held my breath? I was under water for one minute and twenty-three seconds.”

Xu Sanguan said, “If the handle’s on the bottom, what the hell are we going to do?”

Yile said, “Dad, the well’s too deep. I’m too scared to jump. Dad, the well’s too deep, and I’m scared I wouldn’t be able to get back out. Dad, get some rope to tie to my waist. Let me down little by little, and then I’ll dive in. I can dive for one minute and twenty-three seconds. I’ll find the bucket, and then you can pull me up.”

Xu Sanguan, slowly coming to the realization that Yile’s plan might actually work, ran home to grab a length of brand-new rope. He was afraid that if he fastened him with a piece of old rope, Yile might disappear down the well just like the bucket. That would really be the end.

Xu Sanguan wound the two ends of the rope around Yile’s thighs and then fastened the rope to his own belt. Just as he began to let Yile slide slowly down into the well, Sanle came wobbling over toward them. As soon as he approached, Xu Sanguan warned him, “Sanle, go away! You might fall down the well.”

Sanle stood quietly to one side as the rope, and Yile along with it, slid deeper and deeper into the well. Soon the rope went taut and tugged sharply at Xu Sanguan’s belt.

Xu Sanguan began to slowly and softly count the seconds to himself as Sanle, mouth agape, looked on. “Ten seconds. . twenty seconds. . thirty seconds. . forty seconds. .” Xu Sanguan paused to take a deep breath and continued, “Fifty seconds. . sixty seconds. . one minute and ten seconds. .”

There was a sudden sharp tug on his belt that dragged Xu Sanguan a step closer to the mouth of the well. He braced his feet against the stone steps and began to pull with all his might on the rope. Sanle took up the count where his father had left off, sounding out the seconds as Xu Sanguan panted with the effort of pulling the rope up from the depths: “One minute and eleven seconds. . one minute and fifteen seconds. . one minute and twenty seconds. .” Xu Sanguan heard what sounded like the distant echo of a heavy stone falling into the water, and then a gasp and a splutter as Yile emerged above the surface of the water.