Yu Hua - Chronicle of a Blood Merchant

Yile said, “Ma, how could you? How could you say he’s my real dad? Don’t you have any shame?”

“What did I do in my last life to deserve this?” Xu Yulan cried and wheeled around to face He Xiaoyong’s woman. “Now even my son’s saying I’m shameless. It’s all because of what He Xiaoyong did to us. If he’s going to die, let him. I don’t care anymore. I really can’t be bothered.”

Since Xu Yulan refused to help, He Xiaoyong’s friends said to his woman, “We’d better go get Xu Sanguan. Maybe if Xu Sanguan shows up, Yile will cry for him.”

Xu Sanguan was at the silk factory pushing his cart when two of He Xiaoyong’s friends came running up to him. “Yile refuses to cry or to shout for the soul. All he’ll do is sit up on the roof and say that He Xiaoyong isn’t his real dad, that you’re the only dad he’s ever had. When Xu Yulan tried to make him cry or call out, he told her that she was shameless. Xu Sanguan, would you come and see what you can do? This is a life-or-death situation.”

Xu Sanguan listened to their description of the situation and set his silkworm cart to one side. “That’s my boy.”

When Xu Sanguan arrived at He Xiaoyong’s house, he looked up at the roof and said, “You’re a good son, Yile. You really are a very good son to me. I’ve raised you these thirteen years, and all my efforts have paid off. After what you said today, I’ll be happy to take care of you for another thirteen years.”

When Yile saw that Xu Sanguan had come, he said, “Dad, I’ve been up here long enough. Come get me down. I’m too scared to get down on my own. Dad, come up and get me down.”

Xu Sanguan said, “Yile, I can’t come up and get you just yet. You haven’t cried and you haven’t called out, so He Xiaoyong’s soul hasn’t come back yet.”

Yile said, “Dad, I’m not going to cry. I won’t shout either. I want to come down.”

Xu Sanguan said, “Yile, listen to me. Just cry a little and call for him a couple times. That’s all you have to do. I’ve already given my word that I’d help out, and when you promise something, you have to follow through. You have to keep your word. And after all, He Xiaoyong really is your dad.”

Yile began to cry. “Everyone says you’re not my real dad. Mom said you aren’t my real dad either. Now you’re saying the same thing too. That means I don’t have a dad. I don’t have a mom either. I don’t have a family. All I have is me. I’m coming down on my own.”

Yile stood and took a couple of strides across the roof until, frightened by the steepness of the incline, he stopped, sat back down on the tiles, and burst into noisy tears.

He Xiaoyong’s woman shouted up toward the roof, “That’s it, Yile, good job! You’ve finally started to cry. Now you can shout!”

“You shut up!” Xu Sanguan roared at He Xiaoyong’s woman. “Yile’s not crying for that bastard husband of yours. He’s crying for me.”

Xu Sanguan lifted his head up to look at Yile. “Yile, you’re a good son. Once you’ve shouted, I’ll come up and get you. Then I’m going to take you to the Victory Restaurant to eat fried pork livers.”

Yile sobbed, “Dad, come up and get me.”

Xu Sanguan said, “Yile, all you have to do is shout a few times. Once you shout, I’m going to be your real dad. Just shout a few times, and when you’re done, that bastard He Xiaoyong will never be your real dad again. From now on I’m your real dad.”

When Yile heard what Xu Sanguan said, he lifted his face to the sky and shouted, “Dad, don’t go. Dad, come back.”

When he was finished, he looked back down toward Xu Sanguan. “Dad, come up and get me.”

He Xiaoyong’s wife said, “Yile, shout it a couple more times.”

Yile glanced down toward Xu Sanguan, who said to him, “Just two more times, Yile.”

Yile shouted, “Dad, don’t go. Dad, come back. Dad, don’t go. Dad, come back.”

Yile said to Xu Sanguan, “Dad, come up and get me.”

He Xiaoyong’s woman said, “Yile, you have to keep on shouting. Mr. Chen said you had to shout for half an hour. Yile, shout!”

“Enough already!” Xu Sanguan barked to He Xiaoyong’s woman. “That Mr. Chen’s a real bastard too. Yile’s done his part. Now it’s up to He Xiaoyong. If he lives, fine, and if he dies, he dies.”

Then he said to Yile, “Yile, hang on. I’m coming up to get you.”

Xu Sanguan climbed the ladder and clambered onto the roof, told Yile to hold on to his neck, and then carried him on his back down the ladder.

When they reached safety, Xu Sanguan lowered Yile to the ground and said to him, “Yile, stay right here and don’t move.”

Xu Sanguan proceeded to walk straight into He Xiaoyong’s house. He emerged seconds later with a vegetable knife in hand. Standing by the door of He Xiaoyong’s house, he lifted the blade to his face and sliced his own cheek. Then he stuck out his hand, rubbed it with the blood running from the gash, and announced to the crowd, “You saw what I just did, right? I cut my own face with this knife. From now on, if any of you”—he paused to point toward He Xiaoyong’s woman—“and I mean you too. If any of you ever dares to say that Yile is not my real son, I’ll do the same to you.”

When he was finished speaking, he tossed the knife to one side and took Yile by the hand. “Let’s go home.”

One summer day Xu Sanguan came home and said to Xu Yulan, “On the way back it seemed like no one who lives in our lane was at home. Everyone’s in the streets. I’ve never seen so many people in the streets before in my entire life. There are people with red armbands, and people marching, and people writing political slogans, and people pasting up big-character posters. The walls on the main street are covered with big-character posters. They paste them up one on top of the other, thicker and thicker, until it looks like the walls are wearing cotton-padded jackets. And I saw the county secretary, that fat guy from Shandong. He used to think he was really something. Whenever I used to see him, he would be holding a nice cup of tea in his hand, but now he’s got an old metal washbasin in his hand, and he keeps banging on it and cursing himself, saying he’s a dog through and through.”

Xu Sanguan said, “Have you heard? Do you know why the factories have shut down, and the stores are closed, and why there are no classes at the schools? You know why you don’t have to go fry dough? Why some people have hung themselves from trees, and some people are locked up in ‘cow sheds’ and beaten half to death? Do you know why? Do you know why as soon as Chairman Mao says something, people take what he said and make it into a song, and paint his words on the walls, and on the pavement, and on cars and ferry boats, on their sheets and pillowcases, on cups and cooking pans, and even on bathroom walls and the sides of spittoons? Do you know how it was that Chairman Mao’s name grew so long? Listen to this: He’s the Great Leader Great Teacher Supreme Commander and Helmsman Chairman Mao May He Live Ten Thousand Years! That’s fifteen words in all, and you have to say it in one breath, without missing a beat. You know why that is? Because the Cultural Revolution has arrived.”

Xu Sanguan said, “I’m only just now starting to understand what this Cultural Revolution is all about. It’s actually just a time for settling old scores. If someone offended you in the past, now’s the time to write a big-character poster about him and paste it on a wall on the street. You can accuse him of being an unreconstructed landlord, or a counterrevolutionary, or whatever. You can say whatever you like. There aren’t any courts or police these days anyway. There’s just a lot of different crimes. You can pick any one you like, put it up on a poster, and sit back and watch everybody hound whomever you’ve accused to death. These days when I lie in bed, I think to myself, maybe I should find an enemy too, write a poster, and settle some old score. But the only enemy I ever had was that bastard He Xiaoyong, and he was hit by a truck and killed three years ago. I’m a good man, and I haven’t made any other enemies all these years. That’s good, because at least I don’t have to worry about someone putting up a poster denouncing me.”