Yu Hua - Chronicle of a Blood Merchant

XU SANGUAN heard the rumors over and over again. He thought to himself, These people keep talking and talking, and once they get started, it never stops. Could it actually be true? He approached Xu Yulan and asked, “Have you heard what they’re saying?”

Xu Yulan knew exactly what he was talking about. She set down the clothes she had been washing, lifted her apron to wipe the soap suds from her hands, and stepped out the front door. Finally she sat squarely down on the doorstep and began to wail, “What did I do in my past life to deserve this?”

The sound of Xu Yulan weeping on the doorstep brought her sons running home. They gathered around her, looking on with fright as their mother’s cries grew louder and louder.

Xu Yulan wiped a handful of tears from her face and flicked them down to the ground as if she had just wiped her nose. Then she rocked back and forth as she wailed, “What did I do in my past life to deserve this? They say my three sons have two different fathers. How can that be? I’m not a widow, I’ve only been married one time, and I’ve never fooled around with someone else’s man. What did I do to deserve this? It’s clear they just have one dad, but people keep saying there’re two.”

When Xu Sanguan realized Xu Yulan had gone to the doorstep to cry, his ears buzzed with anger and he shouted at her, “Get back in here! Don’t sit on the doorstep. What the hell are you crying about? What are you saying? You’re hopeless! What’s the use of crying about it? What’s the use of screaming like that? Get back inside!”

One by one their neighbors gathered around the doorstep. “Xu Yulan, why are you crying? Not enough grain coupons again? Has Xu Sanguan been bullying you?” “Hey, Xu Sanguan! Where’s Xu Sanguan?” “I thought I heard him say something just a second ago.” “Xu Yulan, what are you crying about? Did you lose something?” “You owe someone money?” “Did something happen to one of the boys?”

Erle said, “You’ve got it all wrong. My mom’s crying because Yile looks like He Xiaoyong.”

They said, “Oh, so that’s what it’s all about.”

Yile said, “Erle, go back inside. Don’t stand out here.”

Erle said, “I’m not going anywhere.”

Sanle said, “I’m not going either.”

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

Xu Sanguan stood inside the door gnashing his teeth in frustration. This woman, he was thinking to himself, is a stupid fool. You’re not supposed to air your dirty laundry, and here she is sitting on the doorstep crying for the whole world to hear, and there’s no telling what kind of idiocy she’ll come up with next. Xu Sanguan gnashed his teeth as he listened to Xu Yulan’s tearful litany.

“What did I do in my past life to deserve this? I’m not a widow, I’ve never remarried, and I’ve never fooled around with another man. I’ve given birth to three sons. What did I do to deserve this? Why did I have to meet He Xiaoyong? Oh, he’s just fine, it’s not a problem for him, but what am I supposed to do? Yile looks more and more like him. There was only that one time, and I never let him do it again, but still Yile looks more and more like him.”

What? Just that one time? Xu Sanguan’s blood rushed to his head, and he kicked open the bedroom door and shouted to Xu Yulan on the doorstep, “Get the fuck back in here!”

Xu Sanguan’s shout scared the living daylights out of everyone standing around outside, and Xu Yulan suddenly stopped crying and yelling and turned her head to look inside at Xu Sanguan.

Xu Sanguan advanced to the doorway and dragged Xu Yulan inside, shouting toward the neighbors as he turned, “Get out of here!” As he tried to shut the door, his sons clamored to come inside, so he shouted to them, “Get out of here!”

He shut the door, dragged Xu Yulan to the bedroom, closed the bedroom door, knocked her down onto the bed with a slap across the face, and screamed, “You let He Xiaoyong sleep with you?”

Xu Yulan, sobbing, rubbed her face with her hand.

Xu Sanguan screamed once again. “Tell me!”

Xu Yulan sobbed. “He slept with me.”

“How many times?”

“Just once.”

Xu Sanguan pulled Xu Yulan up from the bed and slapped her once again across the face. “You whore! I thought you said you’ve never fooled around with another man!”

“I’ve never fooled around with another man,” Xu Yulan said. “He Xiaoyong did it. He pressed me up against the wall, then he dragged me into bed—”

“I’ve heard enough!” Xu Sanguan shouted, but immediately thought better of it. “So why didn’t you push him away, bite him, kick him?”

“I pushed him, and I kicked him,” Xu Yulan said. “He pressed me against the wall, and then he grabbed my tits—”

“That’s enough!”

As he shouted, he slapped her again, first to the right and then to the left. But when he was finished slapping her, he still wanted to know more.

“So after he grabbed your tits, you just let him do it?”

Xu Yulan held her face in her hands and covered her eyes.

“Tell me!”

“I can’t.” Xu Yulan shook her head. “As soon as I say anything, you’ll slap me again. You hit me so hard I can’t see, and my teeth hurt, and my face feels like it’s on fire.”

“Tell me! After he grabbed your tits?”

“After he grabbed my tits, I didn’t have any strength left in my body.”

“So you got into bed with him?”

“I was completely worn out. He carried me over to the bed—”

“Enough!” As he shouted, he aimed a kick at her thigh. Xu Yulan was left speechless with pain. Xu Sanguan said, “Was it at our house? On our bed?”

After a moment Xu Yulan replied, “It was at my dad’s place.”

Xu Sanguan suddenly felt tired. He sat down on a stool and was overcome by sadness. “Nine years. I was happy for nine years, but Yile isn’t really my son. I was happy for no reason. I’ve wasted nine years raising that boy, and it turns out that after all he really belongs to someone else.”

Something else occurred to Xu Sanguan, so he sprang up from the stool and shouted, “He Xiaoyong was your first?”

“No,” Xu Yulan said. “You were the first man I ever slept with.”

“No, I remember now. He Xiaoyong must have been your first. I wanted to turn on the lamp, but you wouldn’t let me. Now I know it was because you were afraid I’d find out that you’d already slept with He Xiaoyong.”

“I didn’t let you turn on the lamp,” Xu Yulan cried, “because I was too embarrassed.”

“He Xiaoyong must have been first. If he wasn’t first, why doesn’t Erle look like him? Why doesn’t Sanle look like him? No, it’s Yile who looks like that bastard, and he was our first child. My woman did it for the very first time with another man. And that’s why my first son belongs to someone else. How can I go on living? I’m ruined. I’ll never be able to hold up my head again.”

“Xu Sanguan, think about it,” Xu Yulan said. “Didn’t you see some blood on our first night?”

“So what if I did? You whore. You were ‘on vacation’ that day.”

“Oh, for the love of heaven.”

Xu Sanguan sat back in a rattan chair, his feet resting on a stool.

Xu Yulan approached him and said, “Xu Sanguan, we’re running out of rice. There’s just enough for tonight. Here are the grain coupons, the money, and the rice sack. Go down to the store and buy some rice.”

Xu Sanguan said, “I’m not going to buy the rice. I’m not going to do anything around here anymore. As soon as I come home, all I’m going to do is sit back and enjoy myself. You know what that means? I’m going to sit in this chair, with my feet up on the stool, just like I’m doing now. You know why I’m going to sit back and enjoy myself? To punish you. You made a serious mistake. You slept with that bastard He Xiaoyong behind my back. What’s even worse is that he knocked you up with Yile. It makes me angry just to think about it. You want me to go buy you rice? Dream on.”