Yu Hua - Brothers

She stared at him blankly and said the first thing that came to her mind: "My clothes aren't dry yet."

Little Guan nodded and said, "I'll return when your clothes are dry."

He then turned around and left. That night he stayed in that small town in Fujian, and the next morning when he arrived at her front door, she was standing there with a large suitcase, waiting. Little Guan realized that she had agreed to leave with him, so he simply walked up to her and asked, "Are your clothes dry?"

"They are dry," she said, nodding.

"Let's go," Little Guan replied with a wave.

Pulling her suitcase along, she followed Little Guan as they left the province, and at that point she began a different but equally hard life on the road.

By the time Little Guan finished recounting the story of his marriage, the sun had started to come up. His wife woke up and got out of bed and did not appear at all surprised to see the two of them still talking. She simply turned off the lights and left the house. After a while she returned with ten piping-hot steamed buns, and as Little Guan and Song Gang ate breakfast she collected the clothes outside, folded them on the bed, and packed them in the large suitcase. She then took a steamed bun and ate it as she surveyed the room to see if she had forgotten anything. Little Guan ate four buns in one gulp, while Song Gang ate only one before announcing that he was full. Little Guans wife then put the remaining four buns back in the bag and carefully placed it in a backpack. Then, hoisting the large backpack on her back, carrying a travel bag in her right hand, and pulling her suitcase with her left, she walked out the door and waited for Little Guan to come out. He emerged carrying his bag of knives and pulling a large suitcase. As he walked by Song Gang, Little Guan patted him on the shoulder and said, "Song Gang, go back! Listen to me and go back to Liu Town, because in a few years you will no longer be able to return."

Song Gang nodded. He patted Little Guan on the shoulder and said, "I know."

Little Guan s wife smiled at Song Gang, and Song Gang smiled back. He stood there watching that adversity-ridden couple walking into the sunrise. After Little Guans wife put on the big backpack, Song Gang could no longer see her form but could see only the suitcase and travel bag in either hand. As the couple left they were arguing loudly. Little Guan, with his bag of cutlery and pulling his smaller suitcase, was insisting on taking the large travel bag his wife was carrying, but she adamantly refused to give it to him. Then he tried to take the large suitcase she was pulling, but she refused to hand over anything. The two argued furiously, and Little Guan roared at her, "Damn it, I have an empty hand."

"Your hand? Hmmm," she said loudly. "You are rheumatic and arthritic."

"Fuck." Little Guan cursed her again. "I must have been blind when I married you."

"I was the one who was blind to have married you," she cursed right back.

ON HAINAN ISLAND that morning, Song Gang waved goodbye to Little Guan and his wife and then stood, dazed and alone, in the market where he first saw Little Guan, and sold off his final two vials of Boobs cream.

He finally decided to go home. Little Guan s remarks had made him miss Lin Hong terribly, and he was worried that if he waited too long he would become like Little Guan and his very desire to return would fade. He stayed at the little hotel one final night, and the next day he went to the plastic surgery clinic to have his breast implants removed. By this point the implants had become stiff, and the doctor, when he saw this silent patient, assumed that this was why he was having them removed. The doctor therefore asked if he had had his breasts massaged regularly, but Song Gang just shook his head. The doctor left it at that and concluded that the implants had hardened because Song Gang hadn't received his massages. After the operation, the doctor told him to return in six days to have the stitches removed, then warmly recommended his own hospital, telling Song Gang that if he ever wanted to have a sex-change operation, this hospital should be his first choice. Song Gang nodded as he took the anti-inflammatory medicine and left the clinic.

That afternoon he took a bus to the seaport. As the bus was driving up the coast, he again saw the gulls soaring between the sun and the waves. This time, however, his ears were so full of the noise of the bus engine that he couldn't hear the gulls’ cries. When he boarded the ferry to cross over to Canton, he was finally able to make out the gulls’ cries in the sound of the waves. At that point he was standing on deck, watching the gulls chase the boat's eddies as though they too were eddies. As the sun set below the horizon, the gulls all soared away together, rising up like a cloud of smoke and gradually disappearing into the horizon.

As Song Gang rode the train from Canton to Shanghai, the gulls had disappeared. He once again put on a face mask, feeling that his lungs were getting progressively worse. Each time he coughed, he felt shooting pains in the wounds under his armpits. He would often take out the sweet photograph of himself and Lin Hong when they were young. At that point, even the Eternity bicycle was still young. Song Gang hadn't looked at the photograph in more than half a year, having been afraid that, upon seeing it, he would feel heartbroken for days on end, or that he would want to drop what he was doing and rush back to Liu Town. Now, however, he had no misgivings. He looked repeatedly at the picture of Lin Hong, occasionally also glancing at his own young, smiling face, but his thoughts were still soaring with the shadows of the gulls.

As the autumn wind blew up the leaves Song Gang walked out of Liu Towns bus depot, pulling his suitcase. This mask-wearing man returned in the evening. Treading on the fallen leaves, he walked home with a swishing sound accompanying every step. The sound of his breath behind the face mask also made a swishing sound every time he inhaled. Excited at the thought of finally seeing Lin Hong again, he began coughing fiercely. This time, however, the wound under his armpits did not hurt. He quickly walked down the main street of Liu, and the neon lights and raucous music faded away like mist. When he finally glimpsed his house from far away, his eyes grew moist. He removed his glasses as he proceeded forward, pulling his suitcase with one hand and wiping the lenses of his glasses with the other.

Song Gang walked up to his front door. While still on the bus, he had taken out his key and held it in his hand, and now it was in the hand with which he was pulling his suitcase. As he put the suitcase down and inserted the sweaty key into the keyhole he hesitated a moment and then decided to knock instead. He knocked three times, and three more times, then stood there eagerly waiting for Lin Hong to open the door. But inside there was no hint of movement, and finally Song Gang had no choice but to use his key. As he opened the door and went in he called out with a trembling voice, "Lin Hong."

Hearing no response, he put down his suitcase and walked into the bedroom, then into the bathroom, but both were empty. He stood for a while in the living room at a complete loss, and then it occurred to him that Lin Hong might still be on her way home from the factory. He went to stand in the doorway, looking down the road, bathed in the light of the setting sun. As people and cars bustled back and forth Song Gang stood excitedly in the doorway until the light had completely died away, but still there was no sign of Lin Hong. Instead, a few passersby stopped when they saw Song Gang and remarked in surprise, "Song Gang? You've returned?"

Song Gang nodded blankly. Even as he saw these familiar faces his thoughts remained absorbed with Lin Hong, to the point that he couldn't remember these people's names. After he had stood in front of his house for more than an hour, he happened to glance at the snack shop across the street and noted in surprise that the neon sign above the store had changed. It no longer read SU FAMILY SNACK SHOP but, rather, had been changed to WANDERLESS ZHOU'S SNACK SHOP. Then Song Gang saw Wandering Zhou's bobbing face in the window. Song Gang crossed the street and entered the shop.