Yu Hua - Brothers

Song Gang replied unhappily, "Why can't I like Lin Hong?"

"Fuck!" Baldy Li suddenly cried out, his eyes growing wide, then shouted at Song Gang, "Lin Hong is mine. How can you like her? You are my brother, and while others can compete with me for her, you can't."

Song Gang didn't know what to say and stared at Baldy Li in confusion. Suddenly Baldy Li said warmly, "Song Gang, we are brothers who have always depended on each other. You know that I like Lin Hong, so why do you want to like her as well? That would be incest!"

Song Gang lowered his head and didn't say anything else. Baldy Li felt that Song Gang was ashamed, so he patted Song Gang's shoulder reassuringly and said, "Song Gang, I trust you and know that you wouldn't do anything to betray me."

Baldy Li, still convinced that Lin Hong was secretly infatuated with him, looked at Song Gang and reasoned out loud, "Why didn't Lin Hong say that to someone else? Why did she have to say it to you, of all people? Perhaps she is using you as a way of communicating with me?"

That night Song Gang couldn't sleep and kept tossing and turning, distracted by Baldy Li's contented snores and soft giggles. Lin Hong's beautiful figure and expression would flicker in and out of view in the darkness, making Song Gang long for her even more. At one point he forgot Baldy Li and, as a result, was able to enjoy a modicum of happiness. Song Gang's imagination soared in the darkness, and he pictured himself and Lin Hong strolling hand in hand through the streets of Liu, then owning a home together and loving each other like a married couple. However, this imaginary contentment immediately evaporated. Song Gang remembered Song Fanping's death in front of the bus depot, his and Baldy Li's tears, and his grandfather dragging the coffin home in a pullcart. He remembered the entire family walking down the muddy country road sobbing, and how frightened he had been when the sparrows by the road had abruptly flown away. He remembered how he and Baldy Li had dragged Li Lan's body back to the village like two sworn brothers. Finally, Song Gang remembered Li Lan grasping his hand before her death, making him promise to look after Baldy Li. By this point, Song Gang's tears were pouring down his face and soaking his pillow. Heartbroken, he realized he would never be able to betray Baldy Li. Eventually the sun came out and Song Gang finally fell asleep.

Around noon he left the metal factory early and walked briskly to the main gate of the knitting factory. There he waited for Lin Hong to get off work and come out. He wanted to tell her that he wouldn't be able to meet her in the grove behind the theater, and he felt that that single phrase would communicate his resolve.

Song Gang waited under the same wutong tree where Baldy Li's five emissaries of love had stood and shouted "intercourse." When the bell rang announcing the end of the workday, he suddenly felt an unprecedented sense of anguish, as if he were on the verge of death. He needed to say the one thing that he least wanted to say in his life; but he knew if he managed to get it out, he would no longer have to struggle with himself over Baldy Li.

Lin Hong walked out of the factory as usual, accompanied by the usual crowd of workmates. She noticed Song Gang standing surreptitiously under the tree and called him an idiot under her breath. She had expected to see him that night at eight o'clock, not here at noon. When her workmates saw Song Gang, they started tittering, because they knew that he was Baldy Li's brother. They covered their mouths and whispered to each other that they couldn't imagine what bizarre stratagem Baldy Li had dreamed up this time. Because Lin Hong was with her workmates, she didn't give Song Gang a second look as she passed, instead just glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. It seemed to her that he didn't move at all, rooted to the spot like a small tree next to a larger one. Again she tenderly cursed him under her breath, "You idiot."

Song Gang really did look like an idiot standing there, and when Lin Hong walked by him, his mouth moved a bit but he didn't utter a sound. It was only after she and her workmates had walked away that he realized she hadn't even glanced at him. He suddenly felt that Baldy Li had been right in saying Lin Hong couldn't possibly like him. The cold expression with which she had passed him certainly proved that point. This realization immediately made him feel that he had been relieved of a heavy burden, and he headed home feeling as light as a sparrow. He smiled a crooked smile, as though he were waking up from a dream and recalling its various lovely moments. The fantasy was better than the reality, he felt, since the dream version was so much less anxiety-producing.

That night Song Gang was still relaxed and happy, humming a tune as he cooked Baldy Li's dinner, and he continued humming as they ate. Baldy Li watched Song Gang suspiciously and noticed that although it was almost eight o'clock, Song Gang didn't seem to have the slightest inclination to leave. Baldy Li, meanwhile, was himself thinking about that little grove behind the theater. He sat at the table, looking out the window at the moon, and tapping the table with his finger. Then, with a peculiar expression, he asked, "Why don't you go out?"

Song Gang knew what he was referring to and shook his head in embarrassment, saying, "You were right, Lin Hong can't possibly like me."

Baldy Li didn't understand why Song Gang was saying this, so Song Gang told him about his attempt to meet Lin Hong at the knitting factory, explaining that when she saw him she acted as if she didn't even recognize him. When Baldy Li heard this, he nodded knowingly and then pounded the table and shouted, "That's how it should be!"

Song Gang jumped in surprise, and Baldy Li stood up and said, "Everything Lin Hong said must have been directed to me."

Baldy Li confidently walked out the door and rushed toward the grove behind the theater. While running past the theater, he suddenly remembered that he was now a factory director and therefore couldn't rush around like a young hothead. He switched to a more leisurely pace, but by the time he reached the grove, he once again looked like someone arriving for a date.

Lin Hong was waiting there. She had intentionally arrived fifteen minutes late, thinking that Song Gang would be waiting for her. Not finding him there, she was about to get annoyed when she heard soft footsteps behind her, footsteps that sounded like someone arriving for a secret rendezvous. Lin Hong couldn't help but smile, surprised that the usually upright Song Gang should be capable of such stealth. But then she heard Baldy Li's coarse laughter.

She jumped in surprise, then turned and saw that it wasn't Song Gang at all, but instead Baldy Li was standing there laughing in the moonlight, boasting, "I knew that you were waiting here for me, and knew that what you said to Song Gang was actually meant for me."

Lin Hong stared at him in shock, at a loss as to how to respond. Baldy Li tenderly complained, "Lin Hong, I know that you like me. Why don't you just come out and say it?"

As Baldy Li said this he attempted to grasp her hand, causing Lin Hong to call out in alarm, "Get away, get away from me!"

Lin Hong screamed and ran out of the grove, with Baldy Li hot on her heels, repeatedly calling out her name. Then she suddenly stopped, turned around, and, pointing at him, said, "Stop right there."

Baldy Li stopped and asked unhappily, "Lin Hong, what are you doing? What kind of flirting is this?"

"Who is flirting with you?" Lin Hong was so angry that her entire body started shaking. "You ugly toad."

As she was saying this she quickly walked away. Baldy Li, having been called an ugly toad, stood there staring resentfully at Lin Hong as she disappeared. He began to walk away himself but then remembered how her parents had also called him an ugly toad and a pile of cow dung, and he cursed, "Your dad is an ugly toad, and your mom is a pile of cow dung. Fuck!"