Yu Hua - Brothers

Lin Hong was still uneasy and worried every day that Song Gang might suddenly show up. This anxiety gradually began to take its toll on her libido. Whenever she thought of Song Gang, she would burst into tears and feel that she was committing a crime. As a result, her frenzied desire for Baldy Li began to ebb. She felt that for her and Baldy Li to have had these three months was more than enough; this way, when Song Gang returned home, she would be able to love and cherish him with renewed intensity. She understood Song Gang and knew that he was the kindest man in the world, and that no matter what she might do to betray him, he would continue to love her as before. Therefore, she hoped to break off her relationship with Baldy Li before Song Gang returned and agreed to travel to Shanghai for the hymen-recon surgery.

The next day Baldy Li and Lin Hong took the white BMW to Shanghai. Baldy Li needed to go to Beijing and the northeast to do business and would be gone for half a month. He knew that the hymen-recon surgery would take less than an hour. Therefore, he asked Lin Hong to wait for him in Shanghai. He would leave the BMW and a driver for her and told her to use her time in Shanghai to wine, dine, and shop.

When Wandering Zhou reappeared in Liu Town in October, he looked just as he had the first time he arrived — carrying two large cardboard boxes. This time, however, the boxes were not filled with artificial hymens but, rather, with children's toys. And this time, instead of walking over from the bus depot, Wandering Zhou hailed a pedicab and returned in glory. Seeing the men and women along the road, he remarked regretfully to the driver, "Not much has changed. It's still the same people as before."

After the pedicab delivered him to Missy Sus snack shop, Wandering Zhou paid the driver three yuan and asked him to carry his two cardboard boxes for him. Zhou then strutted into the snack shop, and when he saw Missy Su sitting at the cashiers counter, he acted as though he hadn't disappeared without a word for an entire year but, rather, had merely gone on a short business trip. He said warmly, "My dear, I'm home."

Missy Su looked as though she had seen a ghost. Her entire body began to tremble, and she immediately scurried off into the kitchen. Wandering Zhou smiled as he looked around. Noticing some people eating steamed buns staring at him, he asked them, as if he were the restaurant's proprietor, "Taste good, don't they?"

Then he noticed Mama Su sitting there flabbergasted, holding a four- or five-month-old infant. Zhou smiled at her and said sweetly, "Ma, I'm back."

Mama Su didn't know how to respond and, like her daughter, started trembling from head to toe. Wandering Zhou took the infant from her and kissed it repeatedly, saying affectionately, "Daughter, did you miss your daddy?"

Zhou asked the pedicab driver to open the two boxes, and then he put all the toys on the table. He placed his daughter in the middle of the toys, and started playing with her as if no one else were around. The soft-spoken Mama Su stared in astonishment at how easily Wandering Zhou was bantering with everyone, as if he had never left. The other customers finally came to their senses and realized that he was the one who had gotten Missy Su knocked up. Everyone began to laugh and chatter all at once, pointing at the infant playing with the toys on the table and asking Zhou, "Is this your daughter?"

"Of course," Wandering Zhou answered without hesitation.

Everyone looked around and asked again, "Are you and Missy Su married?"

"Of course," Wandering Zhou answered again without equivocation.

"When?" they asked, trying to get to the bottom of things.

"Earlier," Wandering Zhou replied simply.

"Earlier?" Everyone was confused. "How is it that we didn't know?"

"Why would you have known?" Wandering Zhou also looked confused.

This charlatan played happily with his daughter while exchanging nonsensical remarks with the customers, making them more and more confused until in the end some actually believed him and told each other, "They are really married."

Mama Su shook her head repeatedly thinking that he was a bald-faced liar. Missy Su, meanwhile, never reemerged after having fled into the kitchen. Even after the sun had gone down, she could still hear Wandering Zhou chatting with the customers, but she was simply too embarrassed to come out and face everyone. Eventually she ended up sneaking out the side door. At eleven o'clock the snack shop closed for the night, and Wandering Zhou picked up the sleeping infant and calmly followed Mama Su home. He chatted warmly with Mama Su the entire way home, but she merely bowed her head and refused to answer. She tried several times to take her granddaughter away from him, but each time he politely declined, saying, "Ma, I'll hold her."

When they reached home, she didn't immediately close the door but stood looking at Wandering Zhou. She hesitated a moment but in the end couldn't bring herself to send him away. He slept on the couch in the living room for three days, and during that time, whenever he was in the house, Missy Su would lock herself in her room and refuse to come out. Wandering Zhou, however, acted as though nothing was out of the ordinary. He happily went to the snack shop with Mama Su every morning and every night happily followed her home. During those three days, Missy Su didn't go to the snack shop at all but instead stayed home with her daughter. Wandering Zhou was very tactful: Although he wasn't able to see his daughter during the days and every night when he returned home she was in Missy Sus room, he'd nevertheless go to sleep on the couch without saying a word. On the fourth evening, however, Mama Su went into her daughter's room and sat on her bed for about half an hour, softly repeating one thing over and over: "No matter how much he may have done wrong, at the very least your man knew to come back."

Missy Su lay on the bed sobbing. Her mother sighed, picked up the sleeping infant, and walked out of the room. She took the baby to Wandering Zhou, who was sleeping soundly on the couch. Zhou immediately sprang up, wanting to take the infant from her, but Mama Su shook her head and pointed toward Missy Sus room. Wandering Zhou saw that her door was ajar, so he kissed his daughter on the forehead and marched into the bedroom. After shutting the door, he walked toward the bed as if he slept in this room every night, then climbed under the covers and turned off the light. Missy Su was lying with her back to him, and he casually leaned over and hugged her. She struggled briefly but then let him. After hugging her, he didn't take the next step but simply said, "I don't intend to go away on any more business trips."

THAT AUTUMN Song Gang continued wandering throughHainan, carrying with him the remaining vials of Boobs cream. Without Wandering Zhou by his side, he didn't know what to do. He didn't have the courage to unbutton his shirt and flaunt his fake breasts and therefore simply stood on street corners with a dull look in his eyes, as silent as a bump on a log, with his vials of bust-enhancing cream arranged neatly in the cardboard box. The people walking by stared at him curiously, seeing that big-breasted man standing there motionless, hour after hour. A few women leaned over and looked at the vials of bust-enhancing cream, then took them out to inspect them more carefully. Noticing Song Gang's huge breasts under his shirt, they would cover their mouths and chortle. Initially too embarrassed to ask about them, the women would look down at the cream in their hands, then up at Song Gang's breasts, struggling to understand the relationship between the two. Finally, lifting the bust-enhancing cream, they would point first at the cream, then at his breasts, and ask Song Gang, "Did you use this to make those so big?"