Yu Hua - Chronicle of a Blood Merchant

As he spoke, Xu Sanguan opened the cabin hatch, covered himself with the quilt, lay down, and fell asleep. By the time he awoke, it was already dark outside, and the barge was nestled against the riverbank. Emerging from the cabin, he saw the brothers standing by a tree. He watched by the light of the moon as they struggled to break a branch as thick as a man’s arm from the trunk. After they pulled it free, they realized that it was too long, so they snapped it in half with their feet, picked up the thicker of the two halves, and walked back to the side of the boat. Laixi placed one end of the branch in the ground and held it steady as Laishun picked up a rock and began to pound it into the ground. After five strokes, only about six inches of the branch protruded from the soil. Laixi fetched a rope from the deck of the barge and tied it around the branch.

When they noticed that Xu Sanguan was standing on deck, they said, “You’re up.”

Xu Sanguan gazed past them. It was pitch dark, save for a few scattered lights in the distance. “Where are we?”

Laixi replied, “I don’t know where we are, but we’re not in Tiger’s Head Bridge yet.”

They lit the stove, cooked dinner on the moonlit deck, and ate steaming bowls of rice in the cold winter breeze. When Xu Sanguan finished eating, his body began to feel warmer. “I’m warmer now. Even my hands are warm.”

The three men lay down to sleep in the cabin. Xu Sanguan was still in the middle, under their quilt, his body pressed close to their bodies. Though the three men were crowded together, the two brothers were very happy. Having earned thirty-five yuan in a single day for their blood, they suddenly felt that earning money wasn’t nearly as hard as they had once thought. They told Xu Sanguan that they had decided not to work the barge anymore, that when they had finished their work in the fields, they would no longer need to earn whatever extra cash the boat would afford them, because working the barge was too hard and left them too exhausted. If they needed extra money, they would sell their blood instead.

Laixi said, “This selling blood business is really great. Besides the money itself, you also get to eat fried pork livers and drink yellow rice wine. Usually we wouldn’t even think of going to a restaurant and eating such delicious fried pork livers. When we get to Seven-Mile Fort, we’re going to sell blood again.”

“Don’t even think about it. You can’t sell blood again when you get to Seven-Mile Fort.” Xu Sanguan jabbed the air with his fingers for emphasis. “When I was young I was just the same. I thought selling blood was like shaking money from a tree. When I ran out or needed a little extra, I could always give the tree a shake, and the money would come tumbling down. But that’s not how it is at all. I still remember the first time I ever went to sell blood. Two friends of mine showed me how it was done. One was named Ah Fang, and the other was Genlong. Where are they now? Ah Fang’s a wreck, and Genlong died selling blood. Don’t you two even think about selling too much blood. Each time you sell, be sure to rest up for at least three months before you go again, unless you absolutely need the money. If you keep on selling blood, you’ll ruin your health. Remember what I’m telling you now, because I’ve been there and back.”

Xu Sanguan stretched out his arms, gave them each a light slap. “This time out I sold blood at Lin’s Pier, and then I sold some more just three days later at Hundred-Mile. When I went to sell blood four days later at Pine Grove, I passed out. The doctor said I was in shock. That means I was completely out of it. So they gave me a transfusion of seven hundred milliliters of blood. That and the money they charged to save me meant that the first two times I sold blood were a complete waste. I ended up buying blood back instead of selling it. I almost died in Pine Grove.”

Xu Sanguan sighed deeply. “I don’t have any choice in the matter. I have to keep on selling blood because my son’s seriously ill in the hospital in Shanghai, and if I don’t find a way to collect the money, the doctors will stop giving him the shots and medicine that he needs. But my blood’s gotten thinner over the years. I’m not like you two. One bowl of your blood is as good as two of mine. I was planning to sell some more at Seven-Mile Fort and at Changning, but now I don’t dare, because if I sell blood one more time, I’ll probably sell my life along with it.

“I’ve earned about seventy yuan so far. I know that won’t be enough to cure my son. So I guess I’ll just have to find some other way to earn the money when I get to Shanghai.”

Laixi said, “You say one bowl of our blood is as thick as two of yours. Does that mean that one bowl of our blood is worth more than two of yours? We all have round blood, right? When we get to Seven-Mile Fort, why don’t you buy a bowl of our blood? We’ll sell you one bowl of our blood, and that way you’ll be able to sell two bowls to the hospital.”

Xu Sanguan thought this was a good idea, but he replied, “How could I possibly take your blood away from you?”

Laixi replied, “If we don’t sell it to you, we’ll just end up selling it to someone else.”

Laishun added, “It’s better to do business with a friend than a stranger, after all.”

“You need to row the barge. You need to save some strength for yourselves.”

“I have an idea,” Laixi said. “We can conserve our strength. We’ll each sell one bowl to you. If we each sell you one bowl, you’ll be buying two bowls all together. That way when you get to Changning, you’ll be able to sell four bowls.”

Xu Sanguan smiled. “The most you can sell at a time is two bowls.” Then he added, “All right then. I’ll buy just one bowl of your blood, but I’m only doing it on account of my son. Anyway, I can’t afford two bowls of blood. If I buy one bowl of your blood, I’ll be able to sell two when I get to Changning. That means I’ll have earned an extra bowl’s worth of blood money.”

Just as Xu Sanguan finished speaking, the brothers’ snores began to resonate through the cabin. Their legs once more crossed atop his own. They made his back hurt and his waist ache, but he was warm because of the heat of their young bodies. And so he lay there as the wind whistled outside the little cabin, sweeping whorls of dust down from the deck, through the hatch that led to the cabin, and onto his face and shoulders. He could see a few pale stars through the hatch, and though he could not see the moon, he saw the way the moonlight frosted the night sky. He lay for a while looking at the sky, then closed his eyes, listening to the sound of the water beating against the hull, so close that it seemed to be slapping against his own ears.

Five days later they arrived in Seven-Mile Fort. The silk factory at Seven-Mile Fort was about a mile outside of town, so they made straight for the hospital. When they arrived at the front door of the hospital, Xu Sanguan called them back. “Don’t go in yet. Now that we know where the hospital is, we should go to the river.” He added, “Laixi, you haven’t drunk any water yet.”

Laixi said, “I shouldn’t drink anything this time. If I’m going to give you some blood, then I can’t drink any water.”

Xu Sanguan slapped his own head. “As soon as I saw a hospital, all I could think about was drinking water. I almost forgot that this time you’re selling the blood to me—” Xu Sanguan stopped short. “Laixi, I still think you should really drink a little bit of water. They say you should never take advantage of your brother.”

Laishun said, “You aren’t taking advantage of anyone.”

Laixi said, “I’m not going to drink any water. If you were in my place, I’m sure you wouldn’t drink any either.”