Yu Hua - Brothers

After Baldy Li gave his thanks, he sprinted away. His fourteen loyal minions sat there without moving. The three idiots hadn't understood a word of what he had said, and so after Baldy Li left they remained cheerfully oblivious. The five deaf men had just watched Baldy Li's thick lips move up and down, and upon seeing him stop moving his lips and abruptly leave, their first thought was that he had gone to the rest-room. Therefore, they sat and waited patiently for him to return and resume moving his lips. The two cripples looked at each other, not knowing what was going on. Five years earlier, Baldy Li had held a similar meeting with all of the employees, at which he abruptly dismissed the crippled director and deputy director and appointed himself factory director. This time he was dismissing himself instead and reinstating the two cripples in their former positions. The four blind men stared ahead blankly with their dark eyes. Their minds were much clearer than those of the remaining cripples, idiots, and deaf men, and therefore they were the first to fully realize that Baldy Li would not be returning. One of the blind men laughed, then the other three started laughing as well. The three idiots were jolly to begin with, but upon seeing the four blind men also getting jolly, the idiots, not willing to fall behind, broke out into loud guffaws. The five deaf men couldn't hear, but they could see everyone laughing and thought that Baldy Li must have made a joke as he was rushing off in search of a restroom. Therefore, the five of them also broke into guffaws — the three deaf-mutes simply miming. Finally it had dawned on the two cripples who had just been reinstated as factory director and deputy that Baldy Li had quit, but they couldn't understand why everyone was so tickled. The crippled factory director remarked that Baldy Li had always treated them very generously, and therefore he suggested that perhaps it was a bit unseemly for everyone to be so happy at his resignation. The deputy director nodded repeatedly, saying that the director was exactly right and had expressed exactly his thoughts. The four blind men chuckled and asked whether anyone was curious about why Baldy Li would want to quit when things were going so well. Obviously it was because he had been promoted to the Civil Affairs Bureau. The blind man concluded blindly, "Factory Director Li has gone on to become Bureau Director Li."

"You have a point," the two cripples responded.

Bureau Director Tao Qing and the Civil Affairs Bureau didn't learn about Baldy Li's resignation until a month later, by which point the fourteen cripples, idiots, and blind and deaf men had completed all of the work contracts Baldy Li had obtained for them. The two cripples had moved back into the director's office, dug up their old chessboard, and once again spent the entire day playing chess and cursing each other. The remaining twelve workers sat in the workshop with nothing to do. The three idiots remained jolly and oblivious, and the four blind men and five deaf men engaged in yawning competitions.

Everyone started to miss Director Li, and at the proposal of the four blind men and with the permission of the two cripples, the factory's fourteen loyal minions haphazardly made their way to the courtyard of the Civil Affairs Bureau. Once there they called out, "Bureau Director Li, we have come to see you!"

Tao Qing, who was in the middle of hosting a meeting, leaned out his window and saw the motley band standing in the courtyard, hollering. He was in the process of reading aloud an official directive issued from the Communist Party's central command, and all the commotion outside infuriated him. He threw the document down and said angrily, "This time Baldy Li has gone too far, thinking that he could move his Good Works Factory here to the Civil Affairs Bureau."

Tao Qing then waved at a section chief sitting next to him, telling him to go outside and get rid of them. The section chief became even angrier than the bureau director and furiously upbraided the crowd, "What do you think you're doing? We're in here studying a directive sent down by the Party's central command."

The two cripples — who, having been factory directors, naturally understood the importance of studying Central Party directives — were startled into silence. The four blind men couldn't see a thing, and therefore had never granted much importance to Central Party documents. When they heard the section chief's rebuke, they replied insolently, "Who are you? How dare you speak to us like this? Even Bureau Director Li would never speak to us like this."

When the section chief saw the four blind men leaning rakishly on their canes, he became even angrier, screaming, "Get out! All of you, get out of here!"

"Go in! You go back inside!" the blind men screamed back. "Go in and tell Bureau Director Li that all of the factory employees miss him and have come to see him."

"What do you mean by Bureau Director Li?" the section chief asked, perplexed. "There is no Bureau Director Li here. The bureau director's name is Tao."

"You are lying," the blind man responded.

The section chief didn't know whether to laugh or cry at this, deciding that this was truly a case of blind men speaking blindly. At this point Tao Qing emerged, his face contorted with fury. He didn't catch sight of Baldy Li but roared into the motley crowd anyway, "Baldy Li, get over here."

The four blind men didn't know who it was who had just come out, and therefore continued asking impetuously, "Who are you? How dare you address Bureau Director Li like that?"

"What do you mean, Bureau Director Li?" Tao Qing was also baffled.

"Oh, you don't even know who the bureau director is," the blind men said haughtily. "It is none other than our own former Factory Director Li, who has come to assume directorship of the Civil Affairs Bureau."

Tao Qing looked at the section chief but couldn't understand what the blind men were talking about. The section chief immediately admonished them, saying, "That's ridiculous. If Baldy Li had been appointed bureau director, then what would our Bureau Director Tao do?"

The four blind men were speechless as they suddenly remembered that the Civil Affairs Bureau already had a director. One of the blind men, however, remained unconvinced, and suggested, "Perhaps Bureau Director Tao has been promoted to county governor?"

"That's right," the other blind men happily agreed.

Tao Qing was initially furious, but upon hearing the blind men promote him to county governor, he couldn't help but break into laughter like the three idiots. Only then did it dawn on him that Baldy Li was not in the crowd. Spotting the two cripples hiding behind the five deaf men, he pointed at them and said, "You two, come over here."

The two cripples realized that things were not looking good and that the whole business about Baldy Li having been promoted to bureau director must have been a fanciful fabrication on the part of the blind men. They hesitantly came out from behind the five deaf men, one limping in one direction and the other limping in the other, until they finally found themselves standing in front of Tao Qing.

It was then that Tao Qing finally got to the bottom of things, learning that Baldy Li had abruptly resigned a month earlier and that there had been no news from him since. Baldy Li had not discussed the situation at all with his workers but, rather, had simply announced that everyone accepted his letter of resignation. Upon learning this, Tao Qing turned pale and his lips started trembling with fury. He sputtered, "Baldy Li has no respect for organization, for discipline, for authority, or for the masses." Tao Qing was so worked up that, for the first time in more than a decade, he started cursing, "That son of a bitch turtle spawn!"

Tao Qing ordered the two cripples to take the workers back to the Good Works Factory. Upon returning to the meeting room, Tao no longer had any interest in studying the Central Party document and instead turned the discussion to Baldy Li's serious mistakes. He suggested that Baldy Li be permanently expelled from the People s Government system. The Peoples Ministry unanimously agreed with Bureau Director Taos suggestion, and thereupon printed out an official document to notify the county government of their decision. After affixing his seal, Tao Qing read through it one last time, and said, "In dealing with an obstinately insubordinate person like Baldy Li, we can't allow him to get away with a resignation. He can only be fired."