Yu Hua - Brothers

Song Gang bowed his head and didn't respond. He remembered how he had resolved to completely sever relations with Baldy Li, and therefore he simply couldn't go back and ask for his help now that Baldy Li was rich and successful. Seeing that Song Gang wasn't responding, Lin Hong added, "Surely he wouldn't ignore you…"

Song Gang lifted his head and said stubbornly, "I have already severed my relationship with him."

At that point Lin Hong almost told him about the humiliation she had suffered in Director Liu's office, but she bit her tongue. Instead, she merely shook her head and didn't say anything more.

Song Gang knew that he was no longer able to perform heavy labor, so he instead started looking for another line of work. He told Lin Hong that as he was walking around he would often see young girls from the countryside selling white magnolia flowers strung together with wire thread. The young women of Liu wore the flowers on their chest or tied to their braids. Song Gang said shyly that the flowers were very becoming. He had learned that these flowers were purchased from the nursery, costing an average of just five cents per bundle. Lin Hong looked at Song Gang in surprise, unable to imagine a grown man like him carrying a basket selling magnolia flowers. He entreated her, "Let me give it a try."

Lin Hong agreed, and Song Gang went out bright and early the next day with a little basket, a roll of wire, and a pair of scissors, and walked for more than an hour to the nursery. There he bought the flowers, sat down in the grass, and proceeded to string them together with the needle and wire. Then he placed them in the basket and walked back toward town.

Song Gang squinted his eyes in the sun and headed toward the horizon. After about ten minutes he started to sweat and began to worry that the sun would wilt his flowers. Therefore, he walked into a field beside the road and picked several melon leaves, laying them carefully over the flowers. Still anxious, he went to a nearby pond and sprinkled some water on the flowers. Reassured, he continued forward, periodically looking down at his little flowers hiding under the melon leaves, as though he were peering down at a swaddled baby. He felt that he hadn't been this happy in a long time. Walking along the narrow path through the vast fields, he would give his flowers a little more water every time he passed a pond.

By the time Song Gang returned to Liu Town it was already noon. Not taking time for lunch, he stood in the middle of the street and started hawking his magnolia blossoms. He carefully arranged the melon leaves around the edges of the basket so that green leaves would surround the white flowers. He stood under a wutong tree holding his basket, smiling at everyone who walked past. Some people noticed the flowers he was holding but would only glance down and continue on their way. A couple of young women looked at his flowers and exclaimed appreciatively how charming these magnolia blossoms surrounded by green leaves were, but Song Gang merely smiled at them. As they walked away he felt a pang of regret, realizing that he should have cried out "For sale," since they apparently hadn't realized he was selling the flowers.

Then a peasant girl walked by, hawking the same flowers. Carrying her basket in her left hand, she held a string of flowers in her right as she walked back and forth shouting, "Magnolia blossoms for sale!"

Song Gang followed the girl, similarly holding his basket in his left hand and a string of flowers in his right. Every time she cried out, "Magnolia blossoms for sale," Song Gang would add shyly, "Me, too."

Seeing a young woman walking over, the peasant girl called out, "Big sister, won't you buy a string of magnolia blossoms?"

Song Gang leaned over, hesitated, and then said, "Me, too."

He followed the peasant girl halfway down the street, saying a dozen or so "Me, toos." Displeased, she turned around and said to him, "Don't follow me."

Song Gang stood still and watched in confusion as she walked away. At that point Popsicle Wang ambled over and started bellowing with laughter. Wang had been sauntering around all day, but upon seeing Song Gang with a basket of flowers and following a little girl peddling flowers, he started laughing so hard his stomach began to hurt. He walked over and pointed to Song Gang, saying, "You can't just follow her around all day."

"Why not?" Song Gang asked.

"I used to sell popsicles for a living," Popsicle Wang said proudly. "If you always follow someone else, everyone would simply buy from the person in front, and then who would buy from you? This is like fishing — two people can't fish in the same hole; they have to separate."

Song Gang nodded and, with flowers in his right hand and the basket in his left, headed in the opposite direction from the girl. Popsicle Wang then thought of something else and called out, "When the girl sees a young woman, she calls her ‘big sister.’ You, however, would need to call her little sister.'"

Song Gang hesitated and then said, "I can't say that."

"Then don't say it," Popsicle Wang said. "But you can't go around calling young women ‘big sister.’ You're thirtysomething years old."

Song Gang humbly nodded and was about to walk away when Popsicle Wang called out to him again. Wang took a one-yuan bill from his pocket and said, "I'll take two strings."

Song Gang accepted the money and then passed him the two strings of blossoms, saying "thank you" over and over again.

"Remember," said Popsicle Wang as he accepted the flowers with both hands and lifted them to his nose. "I, Popsicle Wang, was the first person to buy your flowers. If, therefore, you go on to start a flower business, I want to come and invest."

Popsicle Wang shifted into his role as investment banker and proudly told Song Gang, "I successfully invested in the scrap business and could just as well invest in the flower business."

Popsicle Wang lifted the two strings of magnolia blossoms and sniffed them greedily as he walked away, looking as if, rather than sniffing flowers, he was actually sucking on two cream popsicles.

As the day wore on Song Gang learned how to hawk his magnolia blossoms, albeit in an embarrassed tone of voice. He even learned a few tricks of his own, such as how to stand at the door of a clothing store waiting for young women to pass by. He wouldn't go in and disturb the customers as they were picking out clothes but instead would wait patiently for them to come out and then hand them the flowers, saying modestly, "Please buy a string of white magnolia blossoms."

Song Gang always had a tender smile on his handsome face, and the young women of Liu liked that smile and therefore bought his lovely white flowers. Several of the young women who knew him and knew about his back injury asked in concern how he was doing. Song Gang smiled and replied that his back was healed but that he could no longer do heavy labor. He would then add, embarrassed, "That is why I am selling flowers."

With his basket in hand, Song Gang visited each of the clothing stores in Liu, standing out front for a long time. Every time he sold a string of flowers, he would break into a grateful smile. He didn't eat anything all day but still didn't feel hungry. As soon as one store would close up for the night he would immediately move on to the next. He lost all track of time, knowing only that it was quite late. He wandered around under the moon and the streetlamps, selling one string of flowers after another. When there was only one string left and the last clothing store was closing up for the night, Song Gang was about to head home when a young woman carrying an assortment of shopping bags approached. When she saw Song Gang's final string of flowers in his basket, she took out her purse and asked how much it cost.