Yu Hua - Brothers

Blacksmith Tong also emerged from the bathhouse. When he saw Baldy Li standing there, he cursed him, "Little Bastard Buttpeeper." He also pointed at the bathhouse, saying, "Why don't you go peep in there? There are so many butts you wouldn't know where to begin."

Baldy Li sniffed. "What would you know? When there are so many butts, how could you concentrate? You don't even know where to focus."

He held up five fingers and, with an authoritative air, lectured Blacksmith Tong: "You can't look at more than five butts at once, and at a bare minimum you need at least two. This is because with any more than five you would get confused, but with only one you wouldn't have anything to compare it to."

Hearing this, Blacksmith Tong seemed to have an epiphany. With a worshipful tone he said to Baldy Li, "You Little Bastard Buttpeeper— you've really got talent. I'll have to treat you to house-special noodles sometime."

Baldy Li put up his hand modestly and corrected Blacksmith Tong, "Please call me King of Butts."

This time Blacksmith Tong went along with the correction and affirmed, "You really are the King of Butts."

So Liu Town's King of Butts, Baldy Li, waited outside the bathhouse for his mother for more than three hours. He alternated between wild impatience and anxious concern, wondering, Did she pass out in there? After three hours had passed, a woman with a head full of gray hair walked out slowly behind a group of young women. Baldy Li was so busy checking out the wet-haired young women that he didn't even notice the elderly woman coming toward him. The gray-haired woman paused in front of him and said, "Baldy Li."

Baldy Li was stunned and simply couldn't believe that this woman was his mother. When Li Lan went in, her hair was still black, but now she stood before him with it completely gray. In memory of Song Fan-ping, she had not washed her hair for seven years, and with this washing she had washed all the black right out.

For the first time Baldy Li realized that his mother had aged and now looked like a granny. She gripped his arm and laboriously made her way home. When acquaintances along the way caught sight of Li Lan, they would invariably be stunned, examining her up close and gasping, "Li Lan? Are you Li Lan?"

Li Lan nodded. Exhausted, she answered, "Yes, it's me."

UIPON RETURNING HOME, Li Lan examined herself carefully in the mirror. She too was shocked by the suddenness of her aging and was struck by a sense of foreboding, a feeling that, after checking into the hospital, she would never return home. Though she had washed all the foulness from her hair, she didn't immediately go to the hospital but instead stayed home for a few more days. During that time, she would either lie in bed or sit at the table, gazing at Baldy Li with concern and sighing, saying, "What will become of you?"

Li Lan began to deal with her personal effects, but what worried her most was Baldy Li — what would happen to him after she died? She worried that he would not come to a good end. If at fourteen he was already peeping at women's bottoms in the toilet, who knew what horrible things he would be into by the time he turned eighteen? She worried that he would end up in jail one day.

Li Lan decided to arrange everything as best she could for him before entering the hospital. Clutching their family registry to her chest, she had Baldy Li take her to the local Civil Affairs Bureau. As she entered she keenly felt herself marked as both a landlord's wife and a hoodlum's mother. She hung her head in shame as she tiptoed nervously into the office, asking, "Who's in charge of orphans?"

Baldy Li helped Li Lan into a room, where they saw a man in his thirties reading a newspaper at his desk. Baldy Li recognized him right away — this was the man who had helped lug Song Fanping's body back from the bus depot seven years earlier. Baldy Li pointed at him excitedly, exclaiming, "It's you! You're Tao Qing."

Li Lan yanked Baldy Li's sleeve, trying to curb her son's rudeness. She bowed deeply, inquiring obsequiously, "Would you happen to be Comrade Tao?"

Tao Qing nodded and put down his paper. He took a careful look at Baldy Li and seemed to remember him. Li Lan was standing at the door, not daring to step inside, and said with a trembling voice, "Comrade Tao, I have something to inquire."

Tao Qing smiled. "Please come inside."

Li Lan shifted uneasily. "My class background is not good."

Tao Qing continued smiling. "Come inside."

As he spoke he pulled a chair over and invited Li Lan to sit down. Li Lan fearfully stepped in but didn't dare to sit down. Tao Qing gestured at the chair. "Please sit down first."

Hesitantly Li Lan sat down. She respectfully handed Tao Qing her family registry. Pointing to Baldy Li, she explained, "This is my son. His name is in the registry."

Tao Qing flipped through the booklet. "I see that. How can I help you?"

Li Lan smiled bitterly and proceeded. "I have uremia, and my days are numbered. When I'm gone, my son will be left orphaned. Will he be able to receive any aid?"

Tao Qing stared at Li Lan in astonishment. He looked at Baldy Li and nodded. "Yes, he would. He'd qualify for eight yuan a month, plus twenty jin's worth of grain, oil, and cloth ration coupons every season. And he'd receive aid until he starts work."

Li Lan explained uneasily, "My class background is bad. I'm a landlord's wife…"

Tao Qing smiled and handed the registry back to Li Lan. "I understand your situation. Don't worry, just leave things to me. Your son can come look me up."

Li Lan finally let out a sigh of relief. Her happiness brought a bit of color to her cheeks. Tao Qing chuckled as he continued to look at Baldy Li, saying, "So you're Baldy Li. You're quite famous. What's the other one's name?"

Baldy Li knew that he was asking about Song Gang and was just about to answer when Li Lan stood up uneasily. She knew that when Tao Qing said Baldy Li was famous, he was referring to the Peeping Tom incident in the toilet, so she uttered a few quick words of thanks and immediately asked Baldy Li to help her out. Only after they had left the room and the Civil Affairs building did Li Lan feel she could pause and rest. Taking labored breaths, she sighed and said, "That Comrade Tao is a good man."

That was when Baldy Li told her that Tao Qing was the man who had brought Song Fanping's body back from the bus depot. When Li Lan heard this she immediately flushed bright red and, no longer needing Baldy Li's assistance, hurried back to Tao Qing's office, saying, "You are our savior. Let me kowtow to you."

Li Lan threw her body to the ground to kowtow, slamming her forehead to the ground and breaking into heartrending sobs. Startled, Tao Qing stood up and only gradually understood through Li Lan s barely coherent words why she was kneeling in front of him. He quickly reached out to raise her up, but Li Lan knelt down again to kowtow twice more. Tao Qing had to cajole her for a long time like a child before she would allow herself to be helped up. He helped her all the way to the front of the Civil Affairs building, and as they parted Tao Qing gave her a thumbs-up sign and said quietly, "Song Fanping— what a man."

Li Lan was so overcome she started trembling all over. After Tao Qing walked off, Li Lan was still wiping her tears and joyfully repeating to Baldy Li, "Did you hear that? Did you hear what Comrade Tao just said?"

After leaving the Civil Affairs Bureau, Li Lan proceeded to the coffin store. Her forehead still bleeding, she had to pause every few steps, and every time she stopped she couldn't help repeating Tao Qing's words, "Song Fanping — what a man."

With great pride she gestured in front of her and told Baldy Li, "Everyone in Liu Town thinks that about him. They just don't dare to say it out loud."