Yu Hua - Chronicle of a Blood Merchant

Xu Sanguan said, “What do you think would happen to me if I chopped him to pieces? If I went over there with a cleaver, I’d end up in jail, that’s what. I’d be executed, and you’d be a fucking widow, that’s what would happen.”

When Xu Yulan had heard him out, she stood, walked out of the room, and took a seat on the doorstep. When Xu Sanguan saw her sit down on the doorstep, he knew what was coming. Xu Yulan, flicking the handkerchief she had just been using to wipe her tears back and forth through the air, began her tearful litany.

“What did I do in my past life to deserve this? He Xiaoyong took advantage of me. And if that wasn’t enough, he got me pregnant. Not only did he knock me up, but I even gave birth to Yile. If giving birth to Yile wasn’t enough, he had to go and get himself into trouble.”

Xu Sanguan growled at her, “Goddamnit, get back in here! Do you have to let everyone on the fucking street know that I’m a cuckold?”

Xu Yulan sobbed, “And if Yile getting into trouble wasn’t bad enough, Xu Sanguan said he couldn’t help him out of it. Xu Sanguan won’t do anything, and neither will He Xiaoyong. He Xiaoyong not only refused to pay up but even pulled my hair and slapped my face. He Xiaoyong’s a crime against nature. He Xiaoyong will not die a happy death. But what am I supposed to do when Blacksmith Fang comes for the money tomorrow? What am I supposed to do? What am I going to do?”

Yile, Erle, and Sanle heard their mother’s sobs and ran to her side.

Yile said, “Mom, don’t cry, go inside.”

Erle said, “Mom, don’t cry. Why are you crying?”

Sanle said, “Mom, don’t cry. Who’s He Xiaoyong?”

The neighbors came to her as well. The neighbors said, “Xu Yulan, don’t cry, you’ll strain yourself.” “Xu Yulan, why are you crying?” “What are you crying for?”

Erle said to the neighbors, “It’s like this. My mom is crying because Yile—”

Yile cut in, “Erle, do me a favor and shut up.”

Erle said, “I will not shut up. It’s like this: Yile isn’t my dad’s kid.”

Yile said, “Erle, if you don’t shut up, I’ll kill you.”

Erle continued, “Yile is He Xiaoyong and my mom’s kid—”

Yile slapped Erle on the face, and Erle broke into loud sobs as well.

Xu Sanguan heard what was happening from inside the room and thought to himself, So that little bastard Yile thinks he can get away with hitting one of my sons? He catapulted out the door and slapped Yile’s face. Then he pinned him against the wall and shouted, “Little bastard! Just because your dad messes with me, you think you can bully my son too?”

Yile, dazed by Xu Sanguan’s sudden attack, stood in silence, rubbing his hand against the wall.

Xu Yulan pointed in their direction and once again sobbed, “My fate is bitter. But that child’s fate is even worse. Xu Sanguan doesn’t want him. He Xiaoyong doesn’t want him either. The child has no father, no one to call his own.”

One of the neighbors said, “Xu Yulan, why don’t you have Yile go over to He Xiaoyong’s place? Who wouldn’t be moved by seeing their own flesh and blood? He Xiaoyong doesn’t have a son yet, just two daughters. Who knows? Maybe he’ll even start to cry when he finally sees his own son.”

Xu Yulan immediately stopped crying and turned toward Yile, who was still standing against the wall, biting his lip. “Yile, didn’t you hear what the man said? Go on. Go find He Xiaoyong. Go over there and call him your dad.”

Yile backed himself against the wall and shook his head. “I’m not going.”

Xu Yulan said, “Yile, listen to what your mother’s telling you. Go on. Quick. Go call He Xiaoyong your dad. If he doesn’t listen to you, just try again.”

Yile shook his head. “I’m not going over there.”

Xu Sanguan pointed at him. “You’re not going, huh? If you don’t go over there right now, I’ll beat the shit out of you.”

As he spoke, Xu Sanguan approached Yile, grabbed him with one hand, pulled him away from the wall, and then pushed him a few steps forward. But as soon as Xu Sanguan had released him, Yile backed himself once more against the wall.

When Xu Sanguan turned and saw Yile pressed flat to the wall, he lifted his hand menacingly in the air. But just as he was about to slap him, he thought better of it. Damn. Yile isn’t even my own son. I have no right to hit someone else’s child.

As Xu Sanguan began to walk away, Yile’s voice rang out, “I’m not going. He Xiaoyong’s not my dad. My dad is Xu Sanguan.”

“Bullshit,” Xu Sanguan commented to the neighbors. “Look at this little bastard. He thinks he can implicate me, but I had nothing to do with him.”

At this point Xu Yulan once again burst into sobs. “What did I do in my past life to deserve this?”

By now Xu Yulan’s litany had lost much of its interest for the spectators. She went through the changes several more times, but her voice had begun to weaken with fatigue and, lacking its original bite and elasticity, became dry and gravelly. She waved her handkerchief back and forth with less and less force, and the gasps she took for air between sentences became lower, heavier, and slower. Her neighbors picked up and left, like theater patrons after a show. Even her husband left. Xu Sanguan had long ago become accustomed to her litanies on the doorstep. She might as well be sitting there knitting a sweater, for all he cared.

Only Yile was left standing there, glued against the wall, with hands behind his back scraping up against the whitewash. When everyone else had left, Yile approached his mother.

Xu Yulan’s body was propped against the door frame. She was no longer waving the handkerchief in the air. Her chin was cupped in her palm. When she saw Yile approach, the tears that had already ebbed once again began to flow.

Yile said to her, “Mom, don’t cry anymore. I’ll go over and call He Xiaoyong my dad.”

When Yile arrived at He Xiaoyong’s door, he saw two girls a little younger than himself playing with rubber bands. As they stretched out their hands and hopped back and forth, their braids bobbed back and forth behind them. “You’re He Xiaoyong’s daughters, right?” he asked. “That means you’re my little sisters.”

The two girls stopped jumping up and down. One of them sat on the doorstep, and the other sat down next to her sister, and together they stared in Yile’s direction.

When Yile saw He Xiaoyong and his skinny wife emerge from inside, he called to him, “Dad.”

He Xiaoyong’s woman said to He Xiaoyong, “Your wild oat is here. What are you going to do about him?”

Yile called out again, “Dad.”

He Xiaoyong said, “I’m not your dad. Why don’t you go home now? And don’t come around here again.”

Yile called out once again, “Dad.”

He Xiaoyong’s woman said to He Xiaoyong, “Why don’t you just get rid of him?”

Yile called out once more, “Dad.”

He Xiaoyong said, “Who’s your dad? Get out of here!”

Yile stuck out his hand to wipe the snot from his nose. “My mom said so. My mom said if I called you my dad and you didn’t answer me, then I should say it a few more times. I’ve called you my dad four times now, but instead of answering me, you just told me to go away. I’ll be going home now.”

Blacksmith Fang came to Xu Sanguan and demanded that he bring the money to the hospital immediately. “If you don’t bring the money,” he said, “they won’t give him any more medicine.”

Xu Sanguan said to Blacksmith Fang, “I’m not Yile’s dad. You’ve got the wrong man. You ought to go after He Xiaoyong.”

Blacksmith Fang asked, “When did you stop being Yile’s dad? Before Yile injured my son? Or just after?”