Yu Hua - Chronicle of a Blood Merchant

“Let’s go home.”

People said, “Blacksmith Fang’s son was beaten so badly by Xu Sanguan’s son that he broke his head right open. I heard his skull is cracked open, like a watermelon that’s been dropped on the ground and broken into bits and pieces.” “I heard he used a cleaver, cut almost an inch into the skull, so you could see his brains oozing out. The nurse at the hospital said his brains looked like stewed tofu, and steam was coming out from between the cracks in his head.” “Dr. Chen had to sew up his head with almost a hundred stitches.” “How can you sew through something as hard as a skull?” “I don’t know how he did it.” “He used steel needles, they’re about so thick, a few times thicker than the ones you use to stitch the soles of your shoes.” “Even those wouldn’t work. I heard he had to use a little hammer to hammer in the steel needles.” “But first you have to pull out all his hair.” “What do you mean, pull out his hair? How do you do that?” “I mean shave his head clean. It’s not as easy as pulling up a patch of weeds, with the skull all broken to pieces like that. If you pulled too hard, pieces of his skull might come away along with the hair.” “That’s called ‘clearing the area.’ Before an operation you have to clear away all the hair. When I had my appendix removed last year, they shaved off all my pubic hair.”

XU SANGUAN said to Xu Yulan, “Have you heard what people are saying?”

PEOPLE SAID, “Dr. Chen saved Blacksmith Fang’s son’s life. He was operating on him for over ten hours.” “Blacksmith Fang’s son’s head is completely wrapped in gauze bandages, all you can see are his eyes, his nose, and a little bit of his mouth.” “After the kid got out of the operation he didn’t move for almost twenty hours. Wasn’t till yesterday morning that he finally opened his eyes.” “Blacksmith Fang’s son can eat a little gruel now, but as soon as he takes a sip, he brings it all up again. Vomits everything. He even threw up some of his own shit.”

X U SANGUAN said to Xu Yulan, “Have you heard what people are saying?”

PEOPLE SAID, “As long as he’s in the hospital, Blacksmith Fang’s son is going to need medicine, and shots, and an IV bottle too. It costs a fortune. Who’s going to pay for all that? Xu Sanguan? Or He Xiaoyong? Anyway, Xu Yulan’s the one who’s really on the hook, because no matter who the dad might be, we all know that she’s his mom.” “Is Xu Sanguan going to pay? He’s been going around saying that He Xiaoyong should take Yile back.” “He Xiaoyong really should pay. After all, Xu Sanguan has raised his son for nine years now for nothing.” “Xu Sanguan’s slept with Yile’s mom for nine years for nothing too. If I’d spent nine years with a woman for nothing and her son got himself in trouble, I sure would stand to one side.” “You’re right there.” “What’s so right about that? Spending nine years with a woman as pretty as Xu Yulan doesn’t seem so bad to me. If her son got into trouble, I think it would only be natural to do what you can to help out. And Xu Sanguan spent good money to get her for his own. So no matter what you think, they’re still a married couple. That’s hardly what you could call ‘spending nine years together for nothing.’ ” “You think Xu Sanguan will pay up?” “No way.” “No way.” “Xu Sanguan’s been a cuckold for nine years now. But he didn’t know what was going on before. I guess it wouldn’t matter if he was still in the dark. But now that he knows, wouldn’t paying up just add insult to his injury?”

XU SANGUAN said to Xu Yulan, “Have you heard what people are saying? Even if you haven’t heard all of it, you must have heard some. Blacksmith Fang has already come by a few times to ask you to bring the money to the hospital. So tell me, how much have you and He Xiaoyong been able to come up with? What are you crying about? What’s the use of crying? Don’t come begging to me. If it had been Erle or Sanle who’d gotten into trouble, I’d do everything in my power. Hell, I would willingly wipe Blacksmith Fang’s ass for him. But Yile isn’t my son, I raised him for nine years, and for what? All for nothing. How much of my own money have I spent on him? I’ve been kind enough not to demand that He Xiaoyong pay me for what he owes. Haven’t you heard what they’re saying? They’re saying that I’m a good man, that I’m generous, that if it was someone else in my position, He Xiaoyong would already have been beaten within an inch of his life, not once but several times over. So don’t ask me to talk it over, because this has nothing whatsoever to do with me. This is a He family affair. Haven’t you heard what they’re saying? Wouldn’t paying up just add insult to injury?. . All right already, stop crying, it’s driving me crazy, the way you’re always crying. All right, I give up. Forget it. Go see He Xiaoyong. You can tell him that we’ve been together almost ten years. You can tell him that Yile’s thought of me as his dad for almost as long. That’s why I’m allowing him to stay here. And why I’ll agree to be responsible for raising him from now on. But only if he pays what he owes this one time. Just this once. He has to pay up, if only just this once. Otherwise I’ll have no face left at all. Why am I letting that bastard off so damn easy?”

Xu Yulan announced to Xu Sanguan that she was on her way to see He Xiaoyong.

Xu Sanguan was sitting inside, knotting some rags to make a mop. When he heard what Xu Yulan said, he stuck out his hand to rub his nose, wiped his mouth, and wordlessly continued to work on the mop.

Xu Yulan continued, “I’m going to see He Xiaoyong, but only because you asked me to. I swore long ago that I would never see him again.” She asked Xu Sanguan, “Should I dress up before I go over there, or is it better if I go as I am?”

Xu Sanguan thought to himself, She wants to dress up to see He Xiaoyong? Does that mean she’s going to comb her hair in the mirror, moisten it with hair oil, rub Snowflower cream on her face, put on her best sweater, pat the dust from her shoes, and wear that silk scarf around her neck? And then cheerfully saunter off to see the man who made me a cuckold these nine years? Xu Sanguan threw the mop to one side and bounded up from his seat.

“You still want He Xiaoyong to squeeze your fucking tits? You still want to have your fun with him? You want to look nice for him? You’re going just as you are. Better yet, rub your face with ashes from the stove.”

Xu Yulan said, “But if I go with stove ash on my face and my hair all a mess, don’t you think He Xiaoyong might say, ‘Hey everyone! Come look! This is what Xu Sanguan’s woman looks like! ’ ”

Xu Sanguan had to agree that she was right. He was not about to let that bastard He Xiaoyong have a good laugh at his expense. “Then you better dress up before you go.”

So Xu Yulan put on her finely woven sweater, over which she wore a dark blue khaki jacket with a turned-down collar. She adjusted the collar so as to show as much as possible of the sweater underneath, then went to get the silk scarf from her trunk. She tied and knotted it around her neck, but after a glance in the mirror revealed that it covered the sweater, she shifted the knot to the side and tucked it under her collar. After another glance in the mirror, she tugged the two ends of the knot out from underneath and let them rest atop her collar.

Xu Yulan walked over to He Xiaoyong’s house enveloped in a cloud of fragrance emitted by the Snowflower cream on her face. The ends of her scarf fluttered in the breeze like a pair of chicks flapping their wings. She passed two intersections, turned down a small lane, and came to He Xiaoyong’s door.