Yu Hua - Brothers

Periodically Lin Hong would remind him, "You promised."

Song Gang, however, would always stubbornly reply, "I just couldn't."

Once when he said this, he happened to be taking Lin Hong to work on his bicycle. She was sitting behind him with her arms around his waist and her cheek pressed against his back. She said, "Why don't you just consider it money spent on me, okay?"

Song Gang still insisted, "I couldn't," and rang his bell. As it turned out, Song Gang actually didn't have any money in his pocket at that point. The last time he dropped Lin Hong off at the knitting factory and was on his way to the metal factory, he had run into a famished Baldy Li, who was gnawing on some sugarcane stalks he had picked up from the ground. During that period Baldy Li was so poor that he never knew where his next meal would come from, and though he was often limping and his elbows were out of joint, he still sauntered about as if he owned the town. He savored the discarded sugarcane stalks as though he were eating the best banquet food. When he saw Song Gang riding his way, he turned away, pretending he didn't recognize him. Song Gangs heart ached when he caught sight of Baldy Li's bedraggled state. He stopped in front of Baldy Li, took the money and the grain coupons out of his pocket, and called out, "Baldy Li!"

Baldy Li turned around while still chewing on the sugarcane. He looked about and asked, "Who's calling me?"

"It's me," Song Gang replied, handing Baldy Li the money and coupons. "Go buy yourself a steamed bun."

Baldy Li originally intended to keep up his act, but when he saw Song Gang hand him the money and the grain coupons, he immediately grinned and took them, saying warmly, "Song Gang, I knew that you wouldn't abandon me. Do you know why?" Baldy Li then answered his own question. "It's because we are brothers. Even if it were the end of the world, we would still be brothers."

After this, every time Baldy Li saw Song Gang ride by on his bike, he would call him over and accept the money and grain coupons Song Gang was carrying in his pocket. He did so with such an air of entitlement that it seemed as if it were actually his own money and was merely stored in Song Gang's pocket for safekeeping.

THE DAY Baldy Li beat up Poet Zhao and also scared the stuffing out of Writer Liu, he rested under a wutong tree listening to everyone discuss what had just happened. As he gulped down his saliva to quell the rumblings in his stomach, he heard the ringing of the Eternity bicycle bell. Baldy Li knew that Song Gang was on his way over, so he immediately stood up and called out, "Song Gang, Song Gang. I haven't eaten anything all day."

When Song Gang heard Baldy Li's cries, he immediately stopped ringing his bell and pedaled over. Weaving through the crowd, he came up to Baldy Li and shook his head at his bedraggled appearance. He started to get down off his bike, but Baldy Li stopped him and said, "No need to get down, just give me some money."

Song Gang remained on his bike and pulled out two ten-cent bills from his pocket. Baldy Li cockily took them, as if Song Gang owed him the money. Song Gang then reached into his pocket to get the grain coupons, but Baldy Li, knowing Song Gang was on his way to pick up Lin Hong, waved him away as if he were brushing away a gnat and said, "Go on, leave."

Song Gang retrieved the grain coupons from his pocket and handed them to Baldy Li. Baldy Li, however, shook his head, took one look at them, and said, "I don't need these."

Song Gang asked Baldy Li, "Do you have grain coupons?"

Baldy Li replied impatiently, "Go quickly. Lin Hong is waiting for you."

Song Gang nodded and put the grain coupons back in his pocket, then rode his bicycle through an opening in the crowd. As he was leaving he turned around and said, "Baldy Li, I'm off."

Baldy Li nodded and watched Song Gang speed away. He then turned to the crowd and said, "This brother of mine is as garrulous as an old woman, isn't he?"

With Song Gang's two ten-cent bills in hand, Baldy Li walked away, his long hair flying in the wind. The crowd watched as he walked toward the People's Restaurant, thinking that he would have a couple of bowls of noodles. To their surprise, however, he walked right past the restaurant and into a barbershop next door. They all gasped— Wasn't Baldy Li absolutely famished? Did he consider a haircut as equivalent to a bowl of noodles? Someone remarked, "Hair and noodles do have some things in common — namely, they are both long and thin."

Someone else added, "Women's hair is like noodles, while men's hair is too short and doesn't resemble noodles as much as it resembles whiskers."

Everyone laughed out loud at the thought of Baldy Li eating women's hair as though it were noodles. Writer Liu decided that the crowd was imbecilic, so he corrected them in a loud voice, saying that even if Baldy Li were starving to death, he wouldn't eat hair. He further explained that Baldy Li had gone to shave his head bald again and suggested that Baldy Li was as hungry as a character in some story by Lu Xun (he couldn't remember which one) who, rather than thinking of how to fill his belly, was instead concerned with his shining bald pate. Writer Liu couldn't resist adding, "Baldy Li is fucking incorrigible."

Just as Writer Liu had predicted, when Baldy Li emerged from the barbershop, he was once again bald. At noon the next day, the people of Liu saw the bald-headed Baldy Li strolling down the street. His head was shiny, and even his swollen face seemed to give off a rosy glow, as though he had just eaten a whole fish and a bowlful of meat. Although the famished Baldy Li still limped like an injured soldier, he nevertheless cheerfully greeted all his acquaintances. Burping with hunger and rubbing his stomach, he walked along the road as though he had eaten an entire tableful of food. Everyone asked him, "What delicacies did you eat, to keep you burping like this?"

"I didn't eat anything," Baldy Li answered, rubbing his empty belly. "I am burping air."

Baldy Li then walked to the Good Works Factory. He hadn't been there for more than seven months, and as soon as he walked into the factory yard he heard the two cripples in the director's office cursing each other and knew that they were back to playing chess. He walked into the director's office, burping loudly, and when the cripples spun around and saw him, they flung down their chess pieces and rushed forward, calling out, "Director Li, Director Li!"

The two crippled factory directors led Baldy Li to the workshop next door, where the three idiots, four blind men, and five deaf men were all snoozing or staring off into space. The cripples shouted at them, "Director Li is here!"

After having been beaten mercilessly by his former partners for three straight months, Baldy Li had returned to his former factory and the site of his former glories. His fourteen loyal minions crowded around and curiously examined the bruises on his face and his braised-pork-feet-like hands. The fourteen loyal minions continued calling out "Director Li" for ten minutes, and after their shouts started to die down, Baldy Li again began to burp. He burped three times in a row, and the two cripples looked at him enviously, saying, "Director Li, what delicious food did you have for lunch?"

"I am just burping empty air. And why is that? It is because I haven't eaten anything all day. And not only today — actually I haven't had a full meal for three months, and as a result, I have been burping empty air for three straight months."

First the two cripples gasped in astonishment, followed by the four blind men. The five deaf men couldn't hear what Baldy Li was saying, but upon seeing everyone else's surprised expressions they also gasped in surprise. The three idiots just kept cackling away. Baldy Li took advantage of the situation and extended his open hands, saying, "Dig into your pockets, and take out all of your money and grain coupons. Help your Director Li get a good meal."