Yu Hua - Brothers

Baldy Li held up three fingers. "I will raise three hundred thousand yuan, and if I don't, I will resign."

Tao Qing nodded with satisfaction. Baldy Li rolled up the appointment letter approved by the county government and was about to stick it in his pocket when Tao Qing pointed to the document and said, "What are you doing with that?"

Baldy Li said, "I'm taking it home."

Tao Qing shook his head. "You really don't understand how things are done. This document must be taken to the Organization Bureau for filing; you are now a national cadre."

"I'm a national cadre?" Baldy Li registered a look of pleasurable shock, adding, "Then it is all the more important that I take this home to show Song Gang."

Tao Qing recalled the Song Gang he knew from twenty years earlier — a pitiful but adorable little boy. Tao hesitated a moment, then he agreed to let Baldy Li take the appointment letter home to show Song Gang, but on the condition that he return it the very next afternoon. As Baldy Li was leaving he bowed to Tao Qing and said earnestly, "Thank you, Director Tao, for appointing me factory director."

Tao Qing patted his shoulder and said, "What are you thanking me for? It was you who carried out the execution first and sought a permit for it later."

The expression to carry out the execution first and seek a permit for it later gave Baldy Li a good chuckle. After walking out of the courtyard of the Civil Affairs Bureau, he repeated the phrase to himself yet again, but this time he found that it had somehow soured on his lips.

Carrying the appointment letter in his hands, Baldy Li walked home and showed the letter to everyone he met, telling them proudly that he was now Director Li. When he encountered Blacksmith Tong on the bridge, he pulled Tong over to sit next to him on the railing and proudly told him he was now director of the Good Works Factory. He added that, actually, he had long been running the factory but, extending the letter with trembling hands, he added, "This piece of paper makes it official."

"That's right," Blacksmith Tong agreed. "Its just like a marriage certificate — who waits until the day of their marriage before sleeping together? The marriage certificate simply grants them an official identity. This is called legitimization."

"Yes, legitimization —that's what it's called," Baldy Li exclaimed, adding, "It's as if I knocked a girl up and left her no choice but to marry me. Or, as Director Tao put it, I carried out the execution first and sought a permit for it later."

When Baldy Li returned home, Song Gang had prepared lunch, had set the table, and was sitting there waiting for him. Baldy Li, flushed with success, sat down at the table, glanced disdainfully at the food, and muttered, "The formidable Factory Director Li has to eat this cheap food every day."

Song Gang did not realize that Baldy Li had been officially appointed factory director and thought that he was still bragging about his de facto directorship. He grinned, then picked up his rice bowl and began to eat, whereupon Baldy Li opened up his director's-appointment letter and extended it for Song Gang to read. Song Gang read it while chewing his rice, then excitedly jumped up from his seat and started crying out. Since his mouth was still full of food, however, he was totally incomprehensible. He spat the food into his hand and shouted, "Baldy Li, you really are—"

Baldy Li calmly corrected Song Gang, "I'm Director Li."

"Director Li, you really are Director Li!"

Song Gong excitedly cried out as he jumped around the house, shouting "Director Li" over and over again, pounding Baldy Li in the chest three times with his fist full of food, splattering the food all over Baldy Li's face. Baldy Li wiped Song Gang's chewed-up food from his face and began laughing uncontrollably. But Song Gang was still pounding his chest with his fist, so Baldy Li sprang out of the way. It was like the time when Song Gang returned from the countryside, travel bag in hand: The two of them ran around the room laughing hysterically, with Song Gang chasing Baldy Li and Baldy Li trying to stay out of the way of Song Gang's fist. They upended all the chairs and stools in the room and jostled the table so hard that the bowls of rice and food went flying. Song Gang finally lowered his fist and, realizing that he was still clutching the food he had spit out of his mouth, wiped his hand with a rag. He tidied up the spilled food on the table and straightened up the chairs that had been knocked over. Then, making a please gesture to Baldy Li, who was still laughing hysterically, he bowed and said, "Director Li, please eat."

Baldy Li exhaled and shook his head. "I, Director Li, want to have a bowl of house-special noodles."

Song Gangs eyes lit up, and he waved his hand. "Yes, lets eat house-special noodles. Lets celebrate."

Song Gang looked disdainfully at the food on the table, patted Baldy Li on the shoulder, then walked out of the room with him and locked the door. He proceeded a few steps, paused, and asked Baldy Li how much a bowl of house-special noodles cost. Baldy Li replied thirty-five cents a bowl. Song Gang nodded and walked back to the door, then leaned against it as he unfastened his pants and reached into his underwear. After fumbling about for a while, he pulled out seventy cents and placed it in his pocket, then spiritedly continued forward. As they walked Song Gang explained to Baldy Li, "You are now a factory director, making me a factory directors brother. I can't continue reaching into my pants for money in public, making you lose face."

The two brothers paraded like heroes down the main street in Liu Town. Baldy Li continued to grasp the promotion letter in his hand, and Song Gang stopped twice and asked to see the letter again. Song Gang stood in the middle of the street reading the letter aloud as if he were reciting poetry, and when he finished he turned to Baldy Li and said sincerely, "I am truly happy."

The two brothers walked into the Peoples Restaurant, and as soon as Song Gang stepped in the door, he shouted to the woman at the counter, "Two bowls of house-special noodles!"

Song Gang then walked up to the cashier and pulled exactly seventy cents out of his pocket. Slapping the money down on the counter, he startled the female cashier, who muttered, "Only seventy cents — you'd think it was ten yuan, with all that ruckus."

The two brothers finished their house-special noodles and returned home with their faces covered in sweat. On the way home, Baldy Li opened up his appointment letter three more times to read it to various acquaintances, and Song Gong stopped twice more to recite it. Once they returned home, Song Gang offered to keep the letter, afraid that Baldy Li would lose it. Upon hearing Song Gang's suggestion, Baldy Li mimicked Bureau Director Tao, explaining, "You really don't understand how things are done. This appointment letter must be taken to the Organization Bureau to be put on file, because now I am a national cadre."

Baldy Li's comment made Song Gang even more elated, and he felt that this little brother of his was truly extraordinary. Song Gang then grasped the appointment letter in his hand and read it one more time, as if he were trying to devour every word. It occurred to him that he would never see this appointment letter again, and the thought filled him with regret. But then he had an inspiration. He immediately fetched a sheet of paper and used black ink to neatly copy the letter, then used red ink to carefully draw the seal mark that appeared on top. Baldy Li expressed his approval, saying that Song Gang's seal was even more realistic than the original. After drawing it, Song Gang laughed, as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders, and handed the letter back to Baldy Li. Taking up his own copy, he said proudly, "In the future, we can look at this one."