Yu Hua - Chronicle of a Blood Merchant

“Erle’s next. What do you feel like eating, Erle?”

Erle said, “I want red-braised pork too. I want five slices.”

“Okay, first I’ll slice five pieces for Erle, half fatty and half lean. Then I’ll blanch it in some boiling water, and when it’s ready, I’ll take it out and set it aside to dry. Next, I’ll go ahead and—”

Erle cut in, “Dad, Yile and Sanle are swallowing.”

“Yile,” Xu Sanguan scolded, “it’s not your turn to swallow yet.” He continued, “Erle gets five pieces of meat. I’ll throw the meat into the wok and brown it in oil, and then add some soy sauce, a pinch of five-spice powder—”

Erle said, “Dad, Sanle’s still swallowing.”

Xu Sanguan said, “Sanle’s swallowing because he’s still eating his meat, not yours. Yours isn’t ready yet.”

When Xu Sanguan had finished making Erle’s red-braised pork, he turned to Yile. “Yile, what are you going to have?”

Yile said, “Red-braised pork.”

Xu Sanguan, slightly annoyed, said, “If all three of you brats want red-braised pork, why didn’t you say so in the first place? If you had told me before, I could have made it all at the same time. I’ll slice five pieces for Yile—”

Yile said, “I want six pieces.”

“I’ll slice six pieces for Yile, half fatty and half lean—”

Yile said, “I don’t want lean meat. I just want the fatty meat.”

Xu Sanguan said, “It tastes best if you use some of both.”

Yile said, “I want fatty meat. There shouldn’t be any lean meat at all.”

Erle and Sanle joined in. “We want fatty meat too.”

When Xu Sanguan finished making the fatty red-braised pork for Yile, he proceeded to clear-braise a carp for Xu Yulan. He secreted a few slices of ham inside the fish’s belly, added a couple slices of ginger and some dried mushrooms, rubbed its scales with a coat of salt, drizzled the dish with yellow rice wine, and sprinkled chopped spring onions over the top. Then he braised it for an hour in the wok. When the fish finally emerged from under the lid, its delicate scent filled the room.

Xu Sanguan’s vividly depicted clear-braised carp made another wave of swallowing sounds resonate through the room. Xu Sanguan scolded his sons, “I made this fish for your mom, not for you. What are you salivating for? You ate so much meat already. I think it’s time for you to go to bed.”

Finally Xu Sanguan made himself something to eat. His meal consisted of fried pork livers. He said, “First I’ll cut the livers into slices, very fine slices, then I’ll put them all in a bowl and sprinkle them with salt and a little cornstarch. The cornstarch helps keep the liver nice and tender. Next I’ll pour in a half cup of yellow rice wine for flavor and sprinkle little slices of spring onion over the top. When the oil in the wok starts to smoke, I’ll pour the livers into the oil, stir once, stir twice, stir three times. . ”

“Stir four times, stir five times, stir six times,” Yile, Erle, and Sanle continued his sentence for him, each taking one turn at the wok.

But Xu Sanguan corrected them. “No, you only need to stir it three times. After four turns it would be overdone, after five it would start to get tough, and after six turns you wouldn’t even be able to bite through the liver. After the third turn, I’ll take the livers out of the wok. But I’ll take my time before I start to eat. First I’ll pour myself two shots of yellow rice wine and take a sip. I’ll let the wine roll slowly down my throat and warm up my insides. It feels just like washing your face with a hot towel. The wine just cleans out your belly. Then I’ll pick up a pair of chopsticks and lift a slice of liver up to my mouth. This is the life, this is the moment of paradise.”

The sound of saliva once again resonated throughout the room. Xu Sanguan said, “The fried pork livers are my dish. Yile, Erle, Sanle, and you too, Xu Yulan — you’re all swallowing. You’re stealing my dish.”

Xu Sanguan burst into loud and happy laughter.

“It’s my birthday. I want all of you to have some of my fried pork livers.”

The day after his birthday Xu Sanguan counted on his fingers the number of days that his family had eaten corn flour gruel: fiftyseven days in a row. And then he said to himself, I’ve got to sell some blood so they can eat a square meal.

It was thus that Xu Sanguan arrived at the hospital and found himself facing Blood Chief Li. And he thought to himself, Everyone in town is gray with hunger, but Blood Chief Li still has ruddy cheeks. Everyone in town has lost weight, but Blood Chief Li’s face is as fleshy as ever. Everyone in town is always scowling, but Blood Chief Li has a big smile on his face.

Blood Chief Li gave Xu Sanguan a welcoming grin. “I know you. You’ve come to sell blood before. Last time you brought some things for me. How come you don’t have anything today?”

Xu Sanguan said, “My family’s been eating corn flour gruel for fifty-seven days in a row. All I have left is my blood. I’m coming empty-handed to beg you to let me sell two bowls of blood. If I can bring some money home, my family will finally be able to eat a square meal. If you can help me out now, I’ll find a way to pay you back later.”

Blood Chief Li asked, “How are you planning to pay me back?”

Xu Sanguan said, “I don’t have anything I can call my own right now. But in the past I’ve given you eggs, meat, and even a pound of sugar. You didn’t want the sugar. Not only did you not want it, you even scolded me for bringing it. You said you were a Communist Party member and that you wouldn’t take ‘so much as a needle and thread from the masses.’ I didn’t know that you’d be willing to accept things again now, so I didn’t come prepared, and I don’t know how I should repay you.”

Blood Chief Li said, “These days I don’t have any choice in the matter. With times as hard as these, the town blood chief might end up starving to death if he didn’t accept a little something to eat and drink now and again. When things get a little better, I’ll go back to the old policy of not taking ‘so much as a needle and thread from the masses.’ Just forget that I’m a party member for the time being. Look at me as your benefactor. They say that you should repay a drop of kindness with a flood. But I don’t want a flood. All I want is a drop in return. Why don’t you just give me a few yuan from out of what you make selling blood? You can give me the change and pocket the rest.”

After Xu Sanguan sold his blood, he gave five yuan to Blood Chief Li and took thirty home. He handed the money to Xu Yulan and told her he had earned it selling blood and that he had “flooded” Blood Chief Li with the remaining five yuan. Then he told her that the family had eaten corn flour gruel for fifty-seven days in a row and they couldn’t go on eating the stuff forever. Now they had enough money to add a little something different to their diet every few days, and when they ran out of money, he would go sell blood again because his blood was like a well — the level would stay about the same no matter if you drew water every day or never at all.

Finally he added, “Let’s not eat corn flour gruel tonight. Let’s go to the Victory Restaurant and eat a square meal.” He said, “I feel really weak right now. I can’t even talk too loud. Can’t you tell? Listen to me. After I sold blood today, I didn’t drink two shots of yellow rice wine or eat a plate of fried pork livers. That’s why I don’t have any energy left. It’s not that I didn’t want to eat some. I went over to the Victory Restaurant, but all they have is plain soup noodles. They’re in the same boat as everyone else, what with the famine. Used to be they’d make their soup noodles with meat broth, but now they use boiled water and throw in a little soy sauce. They don’t even have any spring onions. That’s the way it is. And they’re asking one yuan seventy fen a bowl. Before it was just nine fen a bowl. I’m totally exhausted. I didn’t eat any fried pork livers. I’m running on empty. They say that if you don’t have enough to eat, you should supplement your diet with sleep. I’m going to sleep now.”