Yu Hua - Brothers

After the brothers finished their plain noodles, they left the People s Restaurant while wiping the sweat from their foreheads and proceeded to the Red Flag fabric shop to pick out some dark blue khaki cloth. This time it was a young woman who was working at the counter, and she watched in horror as Song Gang once again undid his pants and started fumbling around inside. The young woman blushed crimson as Baldy Li leered at her, and she abruptly turned away to speak to one of her workmates. Song Gang fumbled around in his pants for a long time, all the while counting out loud. When he finally pulled out the money, it was precisely the amount he needed to pay for the fabric. As the red-faced young woman accepted the money, Baldy Li asked Song Gang in surprise, "Where did you learn that trick?"

Song Gang squinted at the red-faced clerk, but his nearsightedness rendered him oblivious to her embarrassment. Smiling, he fastened his pants and explained to Baldy Li, "Since I fold the bills in order from the smallest to the largest, I always know which bills are in front."

With their bundles of khaki fabric in hand, they proceeded to Tailor Zhang's shop and asked him to make each of them a Mao suit. For the third time Song Gang stuck his hand down his pants and started fishing inside. Tailor Zhang draped his tape measure around his neck and, seeing Song Gang with his hand inside his pants, laughed and said, "What a great place to hide your money."

Song Gang pulled out the money and handed it to Tailor Zhang, who then held it up to his nose and sniffed, saying, "It smells of dick."

Though he couldn't see clearly, Song Gang gathered that Tailor Zhang had sniffed his cash. As they left the shop Song Gang, squinting, asked Baldy Li for confirmation: "Was he sniffing our bills?"

Realizing then that Song Gang was extremely nearsighted, Baldy Li insisted that they go to the optician to buy him a pair of glasses. Song Gang shook his head, saying that they should wait until they were living more comfortably. Baldy Li had compromised earlier in not ordering the house-special noodles, but now he held his ground. He stopped in the middle of the street and shouted at Song Gang, "By the time things are more comfortable, you may very well have already gone blind!"

Song Gang was flabbergasted by Baldy Li's outburst, and through his squinting he could see that a good number of people had stopped to watch them. He asked Baldy Li to lower his voice, but Baldy Li spat back that if Song Gang didn't go get glasses today, they might as well split up. In a ringing voice he commanded, "Let's go! Let's go get you some glasses."

As Baldy Li said this he began to strut toward the optician's shop, with a reluctant Song Gang following behind. They were no longer striding side by side, as they had been a moment earlier, but instead walked in single file. The two looked as though they had just been in a fight, with Baldy Li parading ahead as the victor and Song Gang trailing dispiritedly behind.

By the following month the brothers had their dark blue Mao suits and Song Gang was wearing a pair of black-rimmed glasses. Baldy Li had insisted on the most expensive frames in the shop, thereby reducing Song Gang to tears. On the one hand, Song Gang begrudged spending so much money; on the other hand, he was moved by his brother's generosity, deciding that Baldy Li was really quite all right after all. After putting on his new glasses and walking out of the optician's shop, Song Gang gestured excitedly to Baldy Li and exclaimed, "Everything is so clear now!"

He told Baldy Li that, with the new glasses, the world became as clear as if it had just been freshly scrubbed. Baldy Li laughed and said that now that Song Gang had an extra pair of eyes, he should alert Baldy Li when he spotted a pretty woman. Song Gang nodded and laughed as well and started scanning the street for a pretty woman for Baldy Li. Wearing brand-new khaki Mao suits, the two brothers walked down the main street of Liu. A few elders playing chess by the side of the road looked up in surprise and remarked that, the night before, these two had been dressed like beggars but today they looked like county cadres. Sighing, the elders said, "Its certainly true that clothes make the man."

Song Gang was tall and slim, had a handsome face, and now looked quite scholarly with his dark-rimmed glasses. Baldy Li, on the other hand, was short and squat and, even in his Mao suit, still looked like a bandit. The brothers were inseparable as they strolled down the streets of Liu. The town elders gestured to them, saying that one looked like a civil official and the other a military official. The young women of Liu, meanwhile, were not so polite, instead comparing them to the Buddhist monk Tripitaka in the folktale Journey to the West and his companion Pigsy.

SONG GANG had secretly fallen in love with literature and was very respectful of the metal factory's section chief for supplies and marketing, Writer Liu. There was a tall pile of literary journals on Writer Liu's desk, and every time he opened his mouth he uttered a string of fanciful ruminations. Writer Liu loved to expound on literature, and when he buttonholed someone at the factory, he could go on for hours. Unfortunately, the workers at the metal factory couldn't understand a word he said. They would stare at him blankly with stupid grins on their faces, secretly asking each other whether Liu was even speaking Chinese or perhaps another language altogether. Why couldn't they understand a single word he said? These remarks reached Writer Liu, and he thought to himself, These vulgar masses!

With the arrival of the literature aficionado Song Gang, Writer Liu felt as if he had received a precious treasure. Song Gang not only understood Liu's literary ruminations but seemed completely devoted, nodding and laughing at the appropriate moments. Writer Liu was delighted, feeling that having such a friend was invaluable, and every time he encountered Song Gang he would ramble on endlessly. Once they were in the restroom together, and, after peeing, Writer Liu grabbed Song Gang and spoke to him for more than two hours right there next to the urinal — paying no heed to the stench or to the people squatting and grunting as they shat. After Writer Liu acquired this new student, he felt that he had become a literary advisor. The vulgar masses didn't make him feel this way; even after he had talked his lips raw, they would still just stare at him with stupid grins on their faces. Writer Liu began lending Song Gang some of the literary journals in his office. One day he took a copy of Harvest, carefully wiped the dust off the cover with his sleeve, and proceeded to inspect it page by page in front of Song Gang, demonstrating that it was pristine and not dirty or damaged in any way. He told Song Gang that when he returned the magazine, Writer Liu would again inspect it page by page. "If it is damaged in the least, you will have to pay a fine."

Song Gang took Writer Liu's literary journal home with him and began reading ravenously, then found himself inspired to start secretly writing a story. He worked on his story for half a year, writing on scrap paper for the first three months and correcting it for another three months. Then he carefully copied the manuscript onto lined paper. Song Gangs first reader was, of course, Baldy Li, who cried out in surprise when he received the work, "Its so thick!"

Baldy Li counted the pages and discovered that the story was thirteen pages long. Baldy Li looked at Song Gang with newfound respect and said, "You are really amazing, writing thirteen whole pages."

When Baldy Li started reading it, he cried out again in surprise, "This is actually really well written!" He diligently finished the story and didn't cry out again but, rather, became contemplative. Song Gang watched him nervously, not knowing whether his first story had been successful. Nervously he asked Baldy Li, "Is it any good?"