Yu Hua - Brothers

After the competition concluded, a chorus of criticism emerged in the papers, radio, and television, complaining that this Virgin Beauty Competition represented a return of feudal values, that it trampled on women's self-confidence and self-esteem, and so forth. The focus of the criticisms was ultimately on the competition's creator, Baldy Li, though PR Liu was also implicated. The initial critiques were then followed by a flurry of rumors. Some of the beauties who weren't selected among the top three couldn't contain their fury and proceeded to anonymously leak the fact that the judges had accepted sexual bribes from some of the virgin contestants. Of course, the biggest scandal was the fact that the grand winner of the Virgin Beauty Competition was already a mother. This news immediately circulated throughout the country. But in dealing with the press, #1358 turned out to be a veritable female Baldy Li. She repeatedly stated her views and accepted all invitations for interviews. She admitted that, indeed, she had a two-year-old daughter, but she nevertheless insisted that she was still a virgin. She explained that, spiritually, she would always be a virgin, because she had maintained her spiritual purity. Contestant #1358 gave virginity a new definition, which in turn inspired wide-ranging social commentary. She had her detractors as well as her supporters, and they argued back and forth for more than half a year.

During that half year, Baldy Li was delighted. As long as discussions about him continued he would remain a choice bone. He fully supported #i358's new definition of virginity and told PR Liu that, ultimately, the most important thing was spiritual purity. Baldy Li sighed over how times had changed, complaining that today's women were all unreliable and that in a mere twenty years social mores had been turned upside down. Twenty years earlier, 90 percent of unmarried women were still virgins, but now at most one out of every ten was. Baldy Li immediately corrected himself, saying that out of every ten women today, there wasn't even half a virgin. Of the women strolling out on the streets, not a single one is a virgin. Nowadays, the only place one can still find virgins might be in preschool! Outside preschool, finding a virgin is harder than finding a needle in a haystack.

"But," Baldy Li added, changing the subject, "spiritual virgins can still be found everywhere."

Then he extended Virgin Beauty #1358's spiritology to himself. He knew that those doglike reporters would forget him very quickly, but he no longer minded. He said philosophically, "At a spiritual level, I, Baldy Li, will always be a bone."

WANDERING ZHOU sold his last artificial hymen before the Virgin Beauty Competition had even concluded. As the final round was about to begin the charlatan was prepared to bid farewell to Liu Town, to the straw-embedded buns in Missy Su s snack shop, and to the virgin beauties who bought his artificial hymens. He also bid farewell to Poet Zhao, noting that he owed Zhao one thousand yuan for working for him for ten days, plus two hundred yuan for letting Zhou use his house as a warehouse, and two thousand yuan as a bonus for good performance. Zhou licked his finger and counted out Zhao's thirty-two hundred yuan. Then he licked his finger again and counted out five hundred yuan more, saying that this was for Missy Su, to pay for the buns. He couldn't remember how much exactly he owed her but said that five hundred yuan should definitely be enough and asked Poet Zhao to pass it on to her.

Wandering Zhou didn't say goodbye to Song Gang, although he did give him one thousand yuan in wages and two thousand yuan as a bonus. Then he sat down on the couch in Song Gang's home. The enormous success of his artificial-hymen sales in Liu Town made Wandering Zhou very ambitious, and he expansively sketched out a glorious future. He told Song Gang he needed an assistant, and this assistant would be Song Gang. When it came to work ability, Poet Zhao was much stronger than Song Gang, but Zhao was unreliable and was capable at any point of selling him out. Wandering Zhou said that after working together for ten days, he felt that Song Gang was a friend he could trust implicitly.

"You are the kind of person," Wandering Zhou said as he sat on Song Gang's couch with his legs crossed, "that even if I were to leave you all my money and go away for a year, when I returned, I'd find that you wouldn't have spent a single cent."

Then Wandering Zhou exclaimed passionately, "Song Gang, come with me!"

Song Gang was excited by this opportunity. He knew that he didn't have a future in Liu Town, where he would never be more than "chief sub." If he went with Wandering Zhou to make a living away from home, however, he might be able to establish a career. He shuddered to think how much money Lin Hong had already spent on his medical bills, not realizing that it was actually all Baldy Li's money. Lin Hong had told him that her parents, friends, and relatives had supplied the money, but he knew that none of them was rich. He suspected that she had borrowed money from someone, and if things continued like this, she would be crushed by the burden of supporting him. Song Gang nodded to Wandering Zhou and said with determination, "I'll go with you."

That evening, when Song Gang gave Lin Hong the three thousand yuan he had earned selling artificial hymens, she was flabbergasted, never having expected that he could earn so much in ten days simply following that Wandering Zhou character up and down the street. Seeing her surprise, Song Gang stammered out a long explanation about how he felt much better after his treatment, sighing over how much money that treatment must have cost, and finally rambling on about how if there's a will, there's a way, and great rewards come at great risk, and so on. His ramblings left her completely in a fog as to what he was trying to get at. Finally, he told her straight out that he was planning to go out into the world with Wandering Zhou and try to make a career for himself. He then related to her word for word what Wandering Zhou had discussed with him. Then Song Gang earnestly asked her, "Do you agree to let me go?"

"No, I don't agree." Lin Hong shook her head emphatically. "You must first finish your treatment, and after you are better, we can discuss it."

Song Gang said sorrowfully, "But I'm afraid that by that point it may be too late."

"Too late for what?"

Song Gang sighed as he explained, "We don't have enough money to pay for my treatment, and your friends and relatives don't have that much money either. I know that you have borrowed the money from someone, and even if I am cured, we still won't be able to pay back the money we owe."

"You don't need to worry about the money." Lin Hong understood his concerns. "Just concentrate on getting better."

Song Gang shook his head and didn't respond. He knew that even if he continued to insist, Lin Hong wouldn't agree. During their twenty years of marriage, whenever she hadn't agreed to something, Song Gang hadn't done it. So when he fell silent, Lin Hong assumed that he wouldn't continue to press his point. What she didn't realize, however, was that Song Gang had already made up his mind to follow Wandering Zhou on the road. She had forgotten about Song Gang's capacity for stubbornness. When she went to bed as usual, Song Gang lay at her feet unable to sleep. As he listened to her rhythmic breathing, he gently caressed her calves, and countless memories came flooding back to him. When he thought of how he would have to leave Lin Hong the next day, he suddenly felt a pang of sorrow. This would be the first time since they were married that they would be separated.

The next morning, when Lin Hong left for the knitting factory, Song Gang stood at the doorway and watched her ride away down the street. Then he went back inside and sat down at the table, got out a sheet of paper, and wrote her a letter. Song Gang wrote very simply, first asking that she forgive him for leaving, and then asking that she trust him, promising that this time he would definitely make something of himself. Even though he couldn't compete with Baldy Li, he would earn enough money to allow her to live comfortably for the rest of her life. Finally, he told her that he was taking with him a photograph of the two of them and a house key. He would look at the photograph every night before going to bed, and the key signified that he would return home as soon as he earned enough money.