Yu Hua - Brothers

Baldy Li and Song Gang answered in unison, "They are!"

Long-haired Sun Wei's father watched them, laughing uncontrollably. First he chuckled, then he guffawed, and finally he laughed until he was squatting and clutching his stomach. He eventually stood up, clutching his belly, and said to Song Fanping, "Okay, you should go back in."

Song Fanping walked back to the warehouse, but before entering, he turned and told the boys, "Now go home and practice."

That afternoon Baldy Li and Song Gang completely forgot about the horrible sounds coming from inside the warehouse, as well as Song Fanpings bruised, swollen face. They only remembered Song Fanping instructing them to continue practicing. All the way home they enthusiastically practiced sloping their shoulders and dangling their arms. Once they got home, they lay in bed and draped their arms over the side. They discovered that it was much easier dangling their arms over the side of the bed than walking with a sloped shoulder, the only drawback being that after a while their arms would go to sleep.

BALDY LI and Song Gang continued their parentless existence, and got by quite well. They would go together to the rice store, where they would fit their rice sack over the rubber chute and watch the rice cascade down. Then they would bang the chute opening with loud, crisp slaps until the store clerks yelled at them and a hand reached out from behind the counter to knock them on the head.

With their basket in hand, they went together to buy groceries. While selecting the greens, they would stealthily rip off the outer leaves until only the tenderest inner leaves were left, causing the old lady selling vegetables to tear up with annoyance. She cursed them over and over, calling them turtles’ eggs, little bastards who would come to a bad end; saying that they would choke on a breath and get water stuck in their teeth, and end up without an asshole to crap with or a penis to piss out of.

Baldy Li and Song Gang scrimped and saved and, like monks, ate only vegetables. After a while they began to really crave meat, so they went to the river to catch shrimp. By the time they reached the river, they realized that they had no idea how to cook them. At that point they hadn't caught sight of even a shadow of a shrimp, but already they were licking their lips and discussing how they were going to cook them. Would they panfry them? Stir-fry them? Or boil them? In the end, they made a detour to the warehouse to consult with Song Fan-ping. When they reached the warehouse gate, they slanted their shoulders and let their elbows dangle. Song Fanping came outside to tell them that stir-frying, panfrying, and boiling would all be fine, but just to make sure that the shrimp had turned pink before eating them. Song Fanping explained, "They're done when they're as pink as the tip of your tongue."

Song Fanping told the boys that the shrimp would be swimming in the shallows. He told them to roll their pants legs up to their knees, warning, "Once the water reaches your pants, then you shouldn't go any farther. There are no shrimp in the depths, only snakes."

Baldy Li and Song Gang shuddered. They didn't realize that Song Fanping, worried that they would drown if they ventured into the deep water, was deliberately scaring them. The boys nodded and promised that they would stay in the places where the river water remained below their knees. As they set off, shoulders slanted and elbows dangling, Song Fanping called out to them again, telling them to go home and get a bamboo basket. They asked, "What for?" Song Fanping replied, "What do you net fish with?"

The boys stopped and pondered this. Song Gang replied, "A fishing rod."

"That's for rod fishing," Song Fanping explained. "For netting fish you need a fishnet, and you need a bamboo basket to catch shrimp."

With his left elbow dangling, Song Fanping cocked his right elbow as if he were holding a bamboo basket, and bending down right in front of the warehouse, he started teaching them how to use a basket to net shrimp. He said that while standing in the river they should be as alert as sentries, placing the basket in the water at an angle, and once shrimp swam in of their own accord, the boys should immediately lift the basket. He stood up, concluding, "So this is how you catch shrimp."

Song Fanping asked them whether they got it. Baldy Li and Song Gang glanced at each other and nodded. Song Fanping said that he would teach them one more time, but when he bent down again, they immediately pointed out his error. Baldy Li said, "You haven't rolled up your pants legs."

Song Fanping chuckled. He bent down again and rolled up both pants legs, then once again demonstrated how to catch shrimp. This time both boys answered in unison, "We got it."

Baldy Li and Song Gang arrived at the river, rolled up their pants, and waded in. The water rushed by below their knees. They placed the basket in the water at an angle, just as Song Fanping had done in front of the warehouse, and waited for the shrimp to swim in. They waited in the river under the summer sun for an entire afternoon, until they were covered in sweat. They were startled to discover that the shrimp in the river skipped as they swam, unlike the fish with their tails wagging. The shrimp skipped, hopped, and swam into the boys’ basket, up to five swimming in at once. The boys were so delighted they started yelping but then immediately covered their mouths when they noticed that they had scared away the little river shrimp, making it necessary for them to change location. Only when the boys sat on the grass by the riverbank counting the shrimp under the glow of the setting sun did they realize they had netted sixty-seven of the little guys.

On this particular evening, the boys’ expressions, their intonation, and their gait — all were the spitting image of those red-armbanders parading around Liu Town. Baldy Li and Song Gang strutted through town with their bamboo basket and their sixty-seven shrimp. Someone spotted the shrimp in their basket and couldn't help harrumphing, saying that these two little bastards really had something going. When Baldy Li heard this, he felt smug, this being the first time he liked being called a bastard. He said to Song Gang, "These little bastards have something going."

After they got home, Baldy Li told Song Gang, "Let's boil those sixty-seven little bastard shrimp."

As the water in the pot started to boil, Baldy Li excitedly pointed out to Song Gang, "Hear that? Do you hear those sixty-seven little bastard shrimp bouncing around in there?"

When there were no more sounds coming from the pot, the boys lifted the lid and saw that the shrimp inside had all turned pink. Remembering what Song Fanping had told them about when the shrimp were done, Song Gang stuck out his tongue for Baldy Li and asked if the shrimp were as pink as his tongue. Baldy Li replied, "They're even pinker."

Baldy Li also stuck out his tongue to show Song Gang. Song Gang said, "They're pinker than your tongue, too."

Together they cried, "Let's eat! Let's eat these little bastard shrimp."

This was the first time they had eaten shrimp that they themselves had caught and cooked. They had forgotten to put salt in the pot, and after taking in a few bland bites, they decided that the taste was somewhat off. Song Gang then had a flash of culinary inspiration and proceeded to pour some soy sauce into a bowl, then dipped the shrimp into the soy sauce before eating them. Baldy Li grinned from ear to ear as he ate, proclaiming that the meat on these little bastard shrimp was dozens of times tastier than those little bastard meat buns. At that moment the boys had no awareness of anything other than the shrimp they were eating. After they finished, they sat there savoring the dish, not having fully emerged from their gustatory ecstasy. Only when Song Gang let out a belch, followed by Baldy Li, did they realize that they had finished off all sixty-seven little river shrimp. The boys wiped their mouths and agreed dreamily, "Let's eat shrimp tomorrow."