Yu Hua - Chronicle of a Blood Merchant

“That’s the best part,” Ah Fang said with a sigh.

Xu Sanguan put down his chopsticks, lifted his wine pot, and took a sip. The wine flowed down his throat, warming his insides as it went, and he too unwittingly emitted a long hissing sound.

Ah Fang and Genlong grinned. “Now that you’ve sold blood, do you feel dizzy?” Ah Fang asked.

“I’m not dizzy, but I feel like I don’t have any energy left, and my feet and legs seem kind of rubbery when I walk.”

Ah Fang said, “You’ve sold your energy. That’s why you feel weak. What we sold just now is energy, understand? City people call it blood, but we country folks call it energy. There are two kinds of energy. One kind comes from the blood, and the other comes from muscle. But the kind that comes from the blood is worth a lot more money.”

Xu Sanguan asked, “What kind of energy comes from the blood? What kind comes from muscle?”

Ah Fang said, “When you climb into bed, or when you pick up a bowl of rice from the table, or when you walk from my house over to Genlong’s, you don’t use much energy at all. That’s the kind that comes from the muscle. But when you go into the fields and work, or you carry a hundred pounds of watermelon into town, when it comes to that kind of hard labor, you have to use the kind of energy that comes from the blood.”

Xu Sanguan nodded. “I think I understand now. The kind of energy you’re talking about is like money in your pocket. If you spend some, you have to go out and earn some more.”

Ah Fang nodded and turned to Genlong. “These city folks are really pretty bright.”

Xu Sanguan said, “You two work in the fields every day, but you still have enough extra energy to sell your blood to the hospital. You’re really a lot stronger than me.”

Genlong said, “We’re not necessarily stronger than you. It’s just that we country folks are more used to spending our energy. We depend on selling blood to make enough money to afford a wife, or build a new house. We make just enough in the fields to make sure we don’t starve.”

Ah Fang said, “Genlong’s right. I’m saving the money I made today for a new house. Another couple of times, and I’ll have enough to start construction. Genlong’s selling blood because he’s got his eye on a girl named Guihua in our village. Originally she was engaged to someone else, but then they broke it off, and Genlong ended up falling for her instead.”

Xu Sanguan said, “I’ve seen Guihua. Her behind is too big. Genlong, do you like big behinds?”

Genlong grinned while Ah Fang explained, “Women with big behinds are nice and solid. Being in bed with them is like being on a boat — nice and comfy.”

Xu Sanguan broke into a broad smile.

Ah Fang went on. “So, Xu Sanguan, have you thought it through? What you’re going to do with the money you earned from selling blood?”

“I don’t know yet,” Xu Sanguan said. “I’ve only just learned what it means to sell the kind of energy that comes from the blood. What I earn in the factory is just sweat money, but what I earned today is blood money. You can’t spend that kind of money on just anything. I have to find something important to spend it on.”

Genlong interrupted. “Hey, did you happen to notice those underpants Blood Chief Li had on?” Ah Fang smirked as Genlong continued. “Do you think they might have been that Ying Something-or-other’s panties?”

“Obviously. My guess is that they accidentally put on each other’s underwear when they got up this morning,” Ah Fang said.

“I would really like to see”—Genlong chuckled—“whether or not she’s wearing Blood Chief Li’s underwear.”

Xu Sanguan sat in the melon patch eating watermelons. His uncle, to whom the melon patch belonged, stood, stretched his arms behind his back, and brushed the dirt from his rear. A little cloud of dirt swirled around Xu Sanguan’s head and settled on the watermelon in his hands. He blew the dirt away as he continued to bite into the tender pink flesh. When his uncle was finished patting off his backside, he sat back down on the low bank of dirt at the edge of the plot.

Xu Sanguan asked, “What are those shiny yellow melons called?”

Just beyond the mass of tangled watermelon vines was a row of trellises fashioned from bamboo poles, from which dangled clumps of golden yellow melons, each about the size of a hand. On the other side of the trellis were an equal number of glossy green melons, which appeared to be a little longer than the yellow ones. The fruit sparkled brightly in the sunlight. When the wind blew, first the leaves, then the vines, and finally the melons themselves began to sway in the breeze.

Xu Sanguan’s fourth uncle lifted his skinny, wrinkled arm to point across the melon patch. “Do you mean those shiny yellow ones? Those are Goldens. The glossy green ones to the side are Old Lady melons.”

“I’m not going to have any more watermelon, Fourth Uncle. I think I’ve already eaten two whole melons.”

His uncle said, “No, you haven’t. I had some too. I think I ate half of one of yours.”

Xu Sanguan said, “I know Goldens. The flesh smells really good, but they aren’t actually all that sweet. But the seeds are sweet. People in town always spit out the seeds when they eat Goldens, but I never do. I figure if it grows in the earth, it’s got to be good for you. I’ve had Old Lady melons too. They’re not too sweet, and they’re not very crisp either. By the time you open one up and take a bite, it’s all mushy. When it comes to eating Old Lady melons, it doesn’t matter if you have teeth or not. Fourth Uncle, I think I could actually eat some more. I think I’ll have a couple of Goldens and then eat an Old Lady.”

Xu Sanguan sat in his uncle’s melon patch all day long and didn’t get up to leave until the sun began to set. By the time he stood to leave, his face shone as red as pork livers in the light of the setting sun. Gazing toward the smoke curling up from the farmhouses, he patted the dirt from his rear and started to rub his stomach, which was swollen with watermelon, Goldens, Old Ladies, cucumbers, and peaches.

As he rubbed his belly he turned to his uncle and said, “I’m going to get married.”

Then he turned back toward his uncle’s melon patch and began to pee.

“Fourth Uncle, I want to find someone to marry. Fourth Uncle, for the past two days I’ve been thinking about the thirtyfive yuan I made selling blood and what I ought to spend it on. I wanted to give some to Grandpa, but he’s too old now, really he’s so old he wouldn’t even be able to spend it. And I wanted to give you some too, because of all my father’s brothers, you treat me the best, but Fourth Uncle, I just can’t give it to you, because I earned it by selling blood, not just ordinary muscle. That’s why I can’t bear to give it away. Fourth Uncle, when I stood up just now, I suddenly realized I should get myself a woman. Then my blood money wouldn’t go to waste. Fourth Uncle, all I ate was a bunch of melons, so how come it feels like I drank lots and lots of wine? Fourth Uncle, my face is burning, my neck is hot, the soles of my feet feel like they’re on fire.”

Xu Sanguan’s job was to push a trolley heaped with puffy white silkworm cocoons back and forth across a huge workshop, delivering them to the flock of young women who ran the spinning machines. He horsed around with them every day, joking and laughing amid the deafening roar of machinery. Often their hands would reach back and pat his head, or find their way to his chest and playfully shove him back a few steps. If he were to choose one of them to be his woman, to share a quilt with him on a snowy winter’s night, then he would choose Lin Fenfang, the girl with the braids that dangled down to her waist, the girl whose smile revealed a row of straight, white teeth and a pair of dimples, because he figured that he would never tire of looking at her, even for a lifetime. And sometimes Lin Fenfang was among those who would pat him on the head. Once she even surreptitiously squeezed his hand. After that he always gave her the best cocoons, and he could never bear to give her any of the ones that had gone bad.