Yu Hua - Brothers

Baldy Li by this time was busy peddling the secrets of Lin Hongs bottom, and his face glowed with health from having downed countless bowls of house-special noodles, along with an occasional bowl of plain noodles.

Baldy Li strutted down the street like a celebrity, not minding at all being called Little Buttpeeper. The folks who called him that didn't know a thing. As for those who were in the know — folks like Victory Zhao, Success Liu, Little Scissors Guan, and others, basically everyone who had done business with him over the secrets of Lin Hongs bottom — they all called him King of Butts. By this time Victory Zhao was Poet Zhao and Success Liu was Writer Liu, and it was these two Men of Talent who had come up with Baldy Li's new nickname. He was quite satisfied with King of Butts. Gotta tell it like it is, he thought.

The teenage Baldy Li and the two young men Poet Zhao and Writer Liu were best pals for a few months. What they had in common was the study and discussion of Lin Hong's beautiful backside. Liu Town's two Men of Talent racked their brains to come up with myriad literary phrases — graphic, lyrical, descriptive, metaphorical, clinical, and analytical — and they laid them all at Baldy Li's feet for him to choose the ones that most accurately captured the wonders of what he had seen. But once they had exhausted all possible ways of discussing the matter, their friendship with Baldy Li came to a natural conclusion. Several times in the dark of night, the two Men of Talent went to pilfer books from a room that was filled with tomes confiscated during the Cultural Revolution while Baldy Li served as their lookout. Many of the wondrous and poetic phrases that they came up with to describe Lin Hong's bottom were discovered in these stolen books.

Blacksmith Tong was the only one among those in the know who did not refer to Baldy Li as King of Butts. He had wanted to use a cheap bowl of plain noodles to obtain Baldy Li's secrets, but the boy had not fallen for it. Therefore, Blacksmith Tong, out a bowl of noodles and with nothing to show for it, would curse Baldy Li every time he saw him: "Little Bastard Buttpeeper."

Baldy Li took absolutely no offense, instead reasoning with him, "You might as well call me King of Butts like everyone else."

Sometimes Baldy Li would run into Lin Hong on the street. She was eighteen then, and at the height of her beauty. All the men stared slack-jawed as she walked by, but only Baldy Li had the guts to greet her enthusiastically, as if she were an old flame of his. "Lin Hong, its been a long time! What have you been up to?"

Lin Hong blushed in fury and shame. She couldn't believe that this little fifteen-year-old Peeping Tom of a hoodlum was actually sidling up to her. Completely ignoring the shocked and mocking glances of the passersby, Baldy Li continued warmly, "How is everyone in your family?"

Lin Hong said through gritted teeth, "Just go away!"

Hearing this, Baldy Li looked behind him and waved off the people around them as if she had been speaking to someone else. Then he volunteered his protective services to Lin Hong, who by this point was furious to the point of tears. He asked, "Where are you headed? I'll escort you."

Lin Hong couldn't bear another moment of this and screamed loudly, "Go away! Jerk!"

Baldy Li again looked behind him, whereupon Lin Hong pointed directly at him. "I'm telling you to go away!"

Amid the laughter of the crowds, Baldy Li watched as Lin Hong walked off. Smacking his lips regretfully, he told the onlookers, "She's still mad at me."

Then he shook his head and sighed ruefully. "I shouldn't have taken that wrong turn in life."

Reports of Baldy Li's various misdeeds trickled down to Li Lan's ears, causing her to bow her head even farther. She had borne her first husband's scandal, and now she had to bear her son's notoriety. She, whose face had once been bathed in tears daily, now had no more left to shed. But she didn't say a word to Baldy Li about his doings, because she knew that she had no control over him. Often she would be awakened in the middle of the night by her migraines and would lie there, wondering what was to become of Baldy Li. She spent one sleepless night after another asking in distress, "Dear God, why did I have to give birth to such a demon?"

As Li Lans spirit collapsed, her health also faltered. Her migraines became more and more severe, and then her kidneys started failing. While Baldy Li was enjoying his meals of house-special noodles and fattening himself up, Li Lan was no longer going to work, having taken a long sick leave to rest at home. Her complexion had become waxy and sallow, and when she went for her daily shots at the clinic, the doctors and nurses could smell the sour, foul odor emanating from her even through their surgical masks. They turned their heads away as they spoke with her or gave her shots. Her illness eventually worsened to the point where she tried to check into the hospital. They told her, "Go wash your hair before checking in."

Li Lan hung her head in shame the entire way home and spent the next couple of days holed up in misery. During that time she thought of nothing but Song Fanping, his smile and his words; she felt that washing her hair would be a betrayal of him, the love of her life. Ultimately she concluded that she did not have much longer to live and would soon be going to the netherworld to be reunited with Song Fanping, and perhaps even he might be bothered by the foulness of her hair. So one Sunday afternoon she placed a set of clean clothes in a basket and pulled Baldy Li aside just as he was leaving the house. After hesitating for a moment, she said, "I don't think I will be getting better, so I'd like to clean myself before dying."

This was the first time since his Peeping Tom incident that Li Lan asked Baldy Li to accompany her in public. Though her son had shamed her as much as her first husband had, and though she could never forgive her first husband even after he had lost his life, her son was different. After all, they were of the same flesh.

As Li Lan and Baldy Li walked down the street toward the bathhouse, she suddenly noticed that he was taller than she, which brought a smile to her face and she held his arm a little more tightly. By then, even the act of walking left her exhausted, and every twenty or so yards she had to find a tree to lean against. As they walked Baldy Li waved and greeted all those who knew him, then explained to her who they were. Li Lan was shocked to discover that this fifteen-year-old son of hers seemed to know far more people than she ever had.

It was about a third of a mile from their home to the bathhouse, but it took Li Lan more than an hour to cover the distance. Each time she rested against a tree, Baldy Li would wait patiently to one side, describing to her what was going on in town. All of this was news to Li Lan, and she suddenly regarded Baldy Li with a newfound respect. She briefly felt happy but then thought to herself, If only Baldy Li were as upright a young man as Song Gang, then he really could make a good life for himself. Then she reminded herself, My son is a demon.

After arriving at the front door of the bathhouse, Li Lan leaned against the wall and rested a bit more. She took Baldy Li's hand and asked him not to leave but to wait for her outside. Baldy Li nodded as he watched his mother walk in. She walked as if she were an old lady, but her hair, which had not been washed for seven years, was black and shiny.

Baldy Li stood outside the bathhouse for what seemed like an eternity. First his legs ached, then even his toes. He saw a stream of people exiting the bathhouse, their cheeks ruddy and their hair wet. Some of them remembered to taunt him as Little Buttpeeper, while others addressed him as King of Butts. Baldy Li didn't even deign to look the former in the eye but greeted the latter with warm smiles, since these were noodle clients, and Baldy Li believed that customers always came first.