Yu Hua - Brothers

"Enhancing what pills?"

Song Gang would smile, hand them the instructions to the Apollo and Fierce Zheng Fei pills, and patiently wait while they read them and decided whether they wanted to buy some or not. Some people read the instructions over and over again but in the end left empty-handed. Wandering Zhou felt that Song Gang missed out on a lot of good opportunities, but Song Gang disagreed. He felt that the efficacy of these pills was very dubious to begin with, and a hard sell would only make people more suspicious. He said that when selling something, one should use reverse psychology. After two months, Song Gang had sold twenty-three vials of virility-enhancing pills. His reverse-psychology business model turned out to be twice as effective as Wandering Zhou's highway-bandit approach.

Wandering Zhou began to look at Song Gang with newfound respect. He no longer regarded Song Gang as his assistant but, rather, as a partner, saying that they would divide their profits 80/20, with Wandering Zhou taking 80 percent and Song Gang 20 percent. Furthermore, from here on out he would make his financial operations completely transparent. That night they stayed in a small town in Fujian, in the basement of a small hotel. Wandering Zhou had a worried look and said that even though they had stayed in the cheapest hotels and eaten the cheapest food, they nevertheless had sold only thirty-three vials over the past two months, and consequently all of their revenue had been spent on room and board. Song Gang didn't respond for a long time, since his thoughts had once again wandered to Lin Hong all alone in Liu Town.

After he returned to the present, with some hesitation he told Wandering Zhou that when he was selling magnolia blossoms in Liu Town, he discovered that it was easier to sell them when standing in the door of a clothing store rather than in the street. Why was that? Because young women who are fond of beauty go to clothing stores, and after buying clothing they were likely to buy a string of magnolia blossoms.

"You have a point." Wandering Zhou nodded and asked Song Gang, "Where do men tend to congregate? Particularly those who aspire to become ‘real macho men'?"

"In bathhouses," Song Gang replied after considering for a moment. "Plus, there you can tell at a glance who is somewhat on the small side."

"You have a point." Wandering Zhou's eyes brightened. "That is called targeted marketing."

"But," Song Gang said hesitantly, "in order to get into the bathhouses, we would need to spend more money."

"We will spend what we need to spend," Wandering Zhou said firmly. "As they say, if you can't bear to sacrifice the child, you won't be able to lure the wolf into the trap ."

The two of them decided to go with this plan, so they took ten vials each of the Apollo and Fierce Zhang Fei pills and went to a bathing center near the hotel. They left the pills in their locker, took off their clothes, and ventured inside. This bathhouse was not very fancy, but it was enough to astonish Song Gang. Inside there were three large pools: the middle one filled with water, a second filled with milk, and the third filled with roses. Wandering Zhou led the way to the milk pool, where he was joined by Song Gang. Zhou saw several men taking showers and whispered to Song Gang that, given that they had spent the money to get in, they might as well enjoy themselves. Song Gang nodded and submerged his body in the pool, then asked Wandering Zhou in a low voice, "Is this really milk?"

"It is made from powdered milk," Wandering Zhou responded knowingly. "Low-quality powdered milk."

The two sat soaking in the low-quality powdered-milk pool for half an hour. Then Wandering Zhou got up, walked past the clear-water bath, and, with a comfortable look on his face, submerged himself in the rose-petal pool. Song Gang remained in the milk bath but felt somewhat uneasy hanging out there alone, so he went and sat in the rose-petal bath. He grabbed a fistful of petals and, seeing the red water, remarked with surprise, "The color has seeped out."

"It is red dye," Wandering Zhou told Song Gang calmly. "They pour in a few bottles of dye and then toss in a few rose petals."

When Song Gang heard that it was red dye, he quickly stood up. Wandering Zhou pulled him back down and made him sit next to him, saying that even if it was merely red dye, it was still more expensive than plain water. Wandering Zhou smelled the steam rising from the rose petals and announced with satisfaction, "They also throw in several drops of perfume."

Both of them closed their eyes and lay soaking in the red-dye bath. At that point, a well-built man with an enormous member walked by, leading a German shepherd. Wandering Zhou glanced at the mans crotch and said quietly, "A real macho man." The man heard Wandering Zhou and, standing next to the clear-water bath, shouted, "What did you say?"

As the man shouted his dog also barked a couple of times. Song Gang began to tremble, and Wandering Zhou, a smile plastered on his face, lifted his hand from the rose water, pointed at the mans crotch, and repeated, "I said that you are a real macho man."

The man glanced down and chuckled with satisfaction, then he jumped into the clear-water pool like a cannonball, splattering clear water into the rose-petal bath and splashing water all over Wandering Zhou's and Song Gangs faces. Soaking in the pool as his dog lay next to him, the man rubbed his chest with his right hand and scratched the dogs back with his left. The dogs eyes looked like those of a professional assassin as he stared at Zhou and Song Gang, making their hearts pound in fear. Song Gang asked with a quavering voice, "How can dogs come in here?" The dog immediately started barking and snarling at him, terrifying Song Gang and Wandering Zhou so much that they didn't dare say anything else, instead simply lying there without moving.

At this point several naked men walked in carrying white towels. When they entered, they were talking and laughing, planning on soaking in the clear-water bath. When they saw the German shepherd lying beside it, however, they turned pale and beat a hasty retreat. Outside in the changing room they angrily asked the attendant what the hell a dog — and what's more, a fucking German shepherd — was doing in the bathing room. The dog, hearing the commotion outside, for a second stopped watching Wandering Zhou and Song Gang and instead turned around and barked a couple of times in the direction of the changing room, making the changing room become as still as death. Then an attendant carefully walked in and stood about five yards away from the dog and said quietly, "Excuse me, mister…"

This attendant had originally planned to convince the well-endowed man to take his dog outside, but when the dog lunged at him, he quickly retreated in terror back to the dressing room. Wandering Zhou took this opportunity to move to the side of the rose pool, but as soon as he stood up, the dog turned around and resumed snarling at him. Wandering Zhou couldn't decide whether to advance or retreat, so just stood there staring at the man with a broad smile on his face. The man petted his dog and told it to lie down. Zhou held his breath and, feigning calmness, climbed down the stairs. Then, seeing a door, he pushed it open and walked inside. Song Gang also began to move slowly toward the side of the pool. The dog stared at him the entire time, and he continued staring at the dog with a kind smile. As soon as he stood up at the side of the pool, the dog also stood up and barked. The man again patted the dog and made it lie down, whereupon Song Gang jumped down the stairs. He also saw the wooden door and rushed in.

One after the other, Wandering Zhou and Song Gang entered the sauna. When Song Gang entered, he saw that Zhou was sitting in the sweltering wooden room with a dazed look on his face. Song Gang asked him, "What is this place?"