Yu Hua - Brothers

The woman yelled back, "Can't you see that I'm hanging out clothes?"

"Fuck," Little Guan cursed, then continued to call out, "Song Gang and I haven't seen each other for more than ten years. Quick, go buy us a bottle of baijiu liquor, a chicken, and a fish."

"Quick, go!" the woman snorted. "Are you going to come hang out the clothes?"

Little Guan pounded the table with his fist. Noticing Song Gang's uneasy expression, he shook his head, saying, "Miserable wench."

After the woman finished hanging the clothes, she took her apron from the window ledge, then turned to Little Guan and cursed, "You're the miserable wench."

"Fuck." Little Guan watched his wife walk away, then turned and said to Song Gang, "Don't mind her."

Then he urgently asked Song Gang after many of their mutual acquaintances from Liu Town, including Baldy Li, Yanker Yu, Popsicle Wang, Blacksmith Tong, Tailor Zhang, and Mama Su. Song Gang slowly told Little Guan about each of them, inserting bits of his own story. As Song Gang was speaking Little Guan's wife came back with the liquor and fish and placed them on the table. Then she put on her apron and began cooking on the coal stove just outside the door. Little Guan opened the bottle but noticed that they didn't have any glasses, so he shouted, "What about glasses? Quick, bring us some fucking glasses."

"Don't you have hands?" Little Guan's wife hollered from outside. "Get them yourself."

"Fuck that."

Little Guan cursed as he stood up and went to find two shot glasses for the baijiu. He drank a swallow and wiped his mouth, then noticed that Song Gang hadn't picked up his glass. Little Guan said, "Drink."

Song Gang shook his head and said, "I can't drink."

"Drink!" Little Guan ordered.

As he was saying this he lifted his own cup and waited for Song Gang. Therefore, Song Gang had no choice but to pick up his glass and toast Little Guan, then take a little sip. As the strong baijiu went down his throat Song Gang started to cough. This was the first time he had ever drunk baijiu. Little Guan ended up downing seven shots, and Song Gang three. As the two drank and chatted, their conversation gushed forth like a river. When Little Guan heard about Baldy Li's vast fortune, how Yanker Yu and Popsicle Wang had gotten rich along with him, how Blacksmith Tong had gotten rich independently, and how Tailor Zhang and Mama Su were also getting along increasingly well, Little Guan, who had endured countless hardships, did not have any complaints or envy but calmly nodded and smiled. Then Song Gang carefully brought up Old Scissors Guan, saying he hadn't seen him for a long time, but he had heard that the old man was sick and bedridden. When Little Guan heard this, his eyes filled with tears. He recalled how, when he had excitedly left Liu Town, his father had followed behind him with his cane, hollering. Little Guan wiped away his tears and said, "Let's not speak of that. I'm too ashamed to go back and face him."

Song Gang described how he had lost his job, looked everywhere for work, ruined his lungs, and subsequently left Liu Town with a certain Wandering Zhou to seek his fortune. Now, however, Zhou had returned to Liu Town but Song Gang was still wandering aimlessly through distant provinces while Lin Hong waited in Liu Town for him to return. Profoundly moved by Song Gang's account, Little Guan sighed repeatedly and muttered to himself, "I know how hard it can be to leave home. I myself have been away for more than ten years, and if I had known that it would be like this, I certainly would never have left."

Song Gang lowered his head and also muttered to himself, "If I had known it would be like this, I would never have left either."

"This is fate," said Little Guan. "Neither of us was fated to have wealth." He looked at Song Gang sympathetically. "My father would often say: If you are fated to have only fifteen ounces of rice in this life, then even if you go away to seek your fortune, you still won't end up with a full pound."

Song Gang drank a sip of baijtu and coughed fiercely. Little Guan took a big gulp of the liquor and waited for Song Gang's coughing fit to subside. He then urged Song Gang, "You should go home. Lin Hong is back in Liu Town waiting for you."

Little Guan told Song Gang that during the first two years he spent wandering abroad, not a day went by that he didn't yearn to return home, but he lacked the courage. Four or five years later, he found that it had become impossible for him to do so. He said, "You've only been away for a year, so you are still able to go back. After a few years, your very desire to return will die."

As the two sat drinking and recounting their difficulties, Little Guan s wife cooked dinner. She hurriedly wolfed down her share, then began to pack, repeatedly walking in and out of the room but completely uninterested in what the men were saying. After she had neatly arranged all the belongings in a corner, it was well past eleven o'clock. Without saying a word, she lay down in bed, pulled up the covers, and went to sleep. Song Gang then got up and bid Little Guan farewell, noting that it was quite late and he needed to go back to his room at the hotel. Little Guan wouldn't let him leave, saying plaintively, "I haven't seen anyone from Liu Town for more than ten years and have no idea when I'll get another chance."

Song Gang sat back down, and the two continued to exchange accounts of the sufferings they had each endured. After coming to Hainan Island, Little Guan had, like Song Gang, worked the docks. After a year he went on to Canton and Fujian, where he worked as a construction worker for several years. He was traveling with five contractors, but at the end of the year, when it was time to hand out wages, all five disappeared without a trace. It was then that he started his current job selling cutlery. Little Guan smiled bitterly, noting that back in Liu Town he had sharpened blades for a living and now he sold them— it seemed he was fated to keep coming back to blades. Later they began to laugh happily as they reminisced about their childhoods. Little Guan began to cheer up, then turned and looked at his sleeping wife with a grateful expression. He said that, though he still hadn't found his fortune, at the very least he had had some luck in love, and found himself a good woman. He said, "I would never have found such a good woman back in Liu Town."

Then Little Guan described their wedding. It had taken place thirteen years earlier. Little Guan had first seen his future wife when he was in Fujian selling cutlery. She was squatting by the side of the river, wiping away her tears as she washed her clothes. This sight broke Little Guan's heart, and he stood watching her for a long time without her noticing. He eventually let out a long sigh, but she didn't hear him, engrossed in her own sorrow. Finally he turned and walked away.

His years of solitary existence had left Little Guan feeling lonely and desolate, and he couldn't get her sorrowful image out of his mind. After he had walked several li, he suddenly turned and headed back to the riverbank. She was still squatting there, wiping away her tears and washing clothes. Little Guan walked down the steps to the riverbank and sat down beside her. The two began to talk, and Little Guan learned that her parents had both passed away and her husband had run off with another woman. She also got to know Little Guan, about his solemn pledge as he left Liu Town and how miserable he had been, encountering obstacles at every turn. They were both far from home and immediately felt as though they had known each other for a long time. Little Guan told her earnestly, "Come with me. I'll take care of you."

By this point she had finished washing her clothes and was about to get up, but when she heard Little Guan say this, she plopped back down again. She stared vacantly at the river for a while before finally gathering up the clothes and proceeding up the steps. Little Guan followed her all the way home and watched as she hung the clothes out on the line. He repeated, "Come away with me."