Chronicle of a Blood Merchant

by Yu Hua

  Xu Sanguan walked over toward her, hesitated, turned, and walked back. He stood across the street, grinning as he watched how prettily she pursed her lips as she spit out a melon seed husk. Xu Yulan saw Xu Sanguan too. First she glanced in his direction, and then she turned to watch as two passersby walked down the street. When they had gone, she glanced back at Xu Sanguan and just as quickly wheeled around to glance inside the theater, where a man and a woman were standing and talking about the show. When she twisted her head back around, she saw that Xu Sanguan was still standing in the same place.

  “Aiya!” she finally exclaimed, pointing at Xu Sanguan. “Why are you staring at me like that? And smiling that way too!”

  Xu Sanguan crossed the street and stood in front of the girl bathed in crimson light. “Let me treat you to some steamed dumplings.”

  Xu Yulan said, “I don’t know you.”

  “I’m Xu Sanguan. I work at the silk factory.”

  “I still don’t know you.”

  “I know you,” Xu Sanguan said. “You’re the Fried Dough Queen.”

  Xu Yulan giggled. “So you know about that?”

  “Everybody’s heard of you. Let’s go. I’ll treat you to some steamed dumplings.”

  “I’ve already eaten today.” Xu Yulan smiled. “Why don’t you ask me tomorrow?”

  The next day Xu Sanguan took Xu Yulan to the Victory Restaurant. They sat at a table by the window, at the very same table where he had eaten pork livers and drunk yellow rice wine with Ah Fang and Genlong. And just like Ah Fang and Genlong, he slapped the table for emphasis as he called out to the waiter, “I’ll take the steamed dumplings.”

  He treated Xu Yulan to the steamed dumplings. When she had finished, she told him she could still eat a bowl of wontons.

  Xu Sanguan slapped the table. “Bring a bowl of wontons.”

  That afternoon Xu Yulan happily ate a plate of preserved plums, but after she ate them, she said her mouth was salty, so she ate some candied fruit, but when she was finished with the fruit, she said she was thirsty, so Xu Sanguan bought her half a watermelon. They stood together on the wooden bridge as Xu Yulan happily devoured the watermelon. Then she happily proceeded to hiccup.

  As her body swayed with hiccups, Xu Sanguan counted on his fingers how much money he had spent. “Steamed dumplings twenty-four fen, wontons nine fen, preserved plums ten fen, two bags of candied fruit comes to twenty-three fen, half a watermelon a pound four ounces all together seventeen fen, the grand total comes to eighty-three fen. When are we getting married?”

  “Aiya!” Xu Yulan cried out in surprise. “What makes you think I’m going to marry you?”

  “I spent eighty-three fen,” Xu Sanguan explained.

  “You’re the one who invited me,” Xu Yulan hiccuped. “I thought it was free. You never said I had to marry you if I ate your things.”

  “What’s wrong with getting married anyway?” Xu Sanguan said. “After we get married, I’ll love you and take good care of you, and I’ll buy you this much food almost every day.”

  “Aiya!” Xu Yulan cried out again. “I wouldn’t eat that much even if I were married to you. If we got married, I’d pay for my own food. And if I had known it was going to be like this, I never would have eaten anything at all.”

  “What’s done is done,” Xu Sanguan comforted her. “Everything’ll be fine once we get married.”

  “I can’t marry you. I have a boyfriend. And my dad would never agree. My dad likes He Xiaoyong.”

  And so it was that Xu Sanguan, cradling a bottle of yellow rice wine and a carton of cigarettes in his arms, arrived at Xu Yulan’s door and sat down at the table across from her father. After he slid the wine and the cigarettes across the tabletop, he began a lengthy discourse.

  “Do you know who my dad was? My dad was a famous carpenter. My old man made furniture for all the best families in town. No one else could make a table as fine as his. When you ran your hand across the tabletop, the wood was as smooth and shiny as silk. You know who my mom was? My mom was Golden Flower. You know who she was? She was the most beautiful woman on the west side of town. People used to call her the Westside Beauty. After my dad died, she married a Nationalist company commander, then ran off with him. I’m my dad’s only son. I don’t know if Mom and that company commander ever had any kids or not. I’m called Xu Sanguan. My uncles’ two sons are older than me, so I rank third in the Xu family. I work in the silk factory, and I’m two years older than He Xiaoyong, and I started working three years before he did, so I definitely have a lot more money than he does. If he wanted to marry Xu Yulan, he’d have to save up for a few more years, but I already have enough to get married now. I’m ready now; all I need is your permission.”

  Xu Sanguan added, “Xu Yulan is your only child. If she were to marry He Xiaoyong, your family line would be broken for good, because no matter whether the kids were boys or girls, their last name would still have to be He. And if she married me? My last name is the same as yours, Xu, so no matter if we had boys or girls, they would all be named Xu. Your family line will remain intact, and you’ll always have descendants to burn incense for you at the family shrine. Look at it this way—if I marry Xu Yulan, it would be just the same as if I agreed to take on your family name instead of making Xu Yulan take mine.”

  When Xu Sanguan’s speech reached this juncture, Xu Yulan’s father broke into a wide grin. He looked across the table toward Xu Sanguan and, drumming a tattoo on the tabletop with his knuckles, said, “I’m going to accept this bottle of wine, and the carton of cigarettes. What you say is absolutely right. If my daughter marries He Xiaoyong, my family line will be broken forever. But if she marries you, both of our family’s futures will be assured for generations to come.”

  When Xu Yulan was informed of her father’s decision, she sat on the bed, tears falling from her eyes. Her father and Xu Sanguan stood to one side. Watching as she wiped the tears from her face, Xu Yulan’s father said to Xu Sanguan, “Take a good hard look. This is what women are all about. When they’re truly happy, all they can do is cry.”

  Xu Sanguan said, “I’m not so sure it’s because she’s happy.”

  At this point Xu Yulan interjected, “What am I supposed to say to He Xiaoyong?”

  Her father replied, “Just tell him that you’re getting married. And that the groom’s name is Xu Sanguan, not He Xiaoyong.”

  “How can I tell him something like that? What am I supposed to do if he can’t take the news and he starts bashing his head against the wall?”

  “If he does himself in, then there’s not a whole lot more you could say to him.”

  In her heart Xu Yulan didn’t want to let He Xiaoyong go so easily. He was the man who liked to fold his arms around his elbows as he talked, the smiling man who came to her house almost every day, the man who would bring her dad a bottle of wine almost every other day and sit drinking and chuckling at the table to keep him company. And there had been a couple of occasions when, taking advantage of the fact that her dad had gone around the block to the public toilet, he suddenly pushed her behind the door and pressed her body against the wall with his own. Each time it happened, she had been so scared that her heart leaped wildly in her chest. The first time she didn’t feel anything but the pumping of her heart. The second time she discovered his beard. His beard had slid back and forth across her face like a brush.

  And the third time? This is what Xu Yulan asked herself as she lay in bed in the quiet of night, her heart pounding as she imagined her father standing up to leave, walking out the front door, and turning the corner toward the public toilet. He Xiaoyong had jumped to his feet, toppling the stool on which he had been sitting, and pressed her against the wall for a third time.

  Xu Yulan made a date to meet He Xiaoyong on the old wooden bridge. It was already dark. As soon as Xu Yulan caught sight of He Xiaoyong, she broke into plaintive sobs. She told He Xiaoyong that someone named Xu Sanguan had treated her to steamed dumplings, preserved plums,
candied fruit, and half a watermelon, and how, when it was all over, she had found herself obliged to marry him.

  He Xiaoyong, noticing that someone was crossing the bridge, said in an anxious whisper, “Hey, hey! Don’t cry. Stop crying. If someone sees you crying, what’ll they think? Where would that leave me?”

  Xu Yulan said, “Go and give Xu Sanguan his eighty-three fen back. Then I won’t owe him anything.”

  He Xiaoyong said, “We’re not even married yet, and you want me to pay back your debts?”

  “He Xiaoyong, you have to take my family name when we get married. Otherwise my dad’s going to give me to Xu Sanguan.”

  “What the hell are you talking about? Do you think a man like me would actually agree to take on someone else’s name? And let our sons be named Xu? Impossible.”

  “Then I have to marry Xu Sanguan.”

  Xu Sanguan married Xu Yulan one month later. She wanted a bright red cheongsam to wear at the wedding; Xu Sanguan bought one for her. She wanted two cotton-padded jackets, one bright red, one bright green, to wear during the winter; Xu Sanguan bought her a bolt of red fabric and a bolt of green fabric so that she could sew them for herself in her spare time. She said they should have a clock, a mirror, a bed, a table, and stools, plus a basin and a chamber pot for the house; Xu Sanguan told her he had already taken care of everything.

  Xu Yulan began to think that Xu Sanguan wasn’t necessarily any worse than He Xiaoyong. Xu Sanguan was even a little bit more handsome than He Xiaoyong. He certainly had a lot more money in his pockets. And from the looks of things, he was a lot stronger too. So now when she saw Xu Sanguan, she would break into a smile. “I’m very capable, you know. I can sew, and I’m a good cook. You’re really pretty lucky, getting a wife like me.”

  Xu Sanguan sat on a stool, nodding and smiling.

  “I’m pretty and I can work hard. In the future, I’ll personally tailor all the clothes you wear, and I’ll take care of all the housework too. Except for the heavy chores—like buying the rice and buying coal—you have to do those. But I won’t let you do anything else, I’ll take very good care of you. You’re really very lucky to have me, don’t you think? What’s wrong? Why aren’t you nodding?”

  “I am. I’ve been nodding all along.”

  “Oh, and another thing,” Xu Yulan remembered. “Listen carefully. When I’m on vacation, I can’t do a thing, not even soak the rice or wash the vegetables. I’ll need to rest for those few days, so you’ll have to take care of all the housework. Understand? What’s wrong now? Why aren’t you nodding?”

  Xu Sanguan duly nodded. “What kind of vacation do you mean? How long does it take?”

  “Aiya!” Xu Yulan exclaimed. “You don’t even know what kind of vacation I mean?”

  Xu Sanguan shook his head. “I don’t know.”

  “My period.”

  “Period?”

  “Women get a period every month. Don’t you know that?”

  “I think I’ve heard something like that.”

  “What I’m saying is when I get my period, I can’t do any work, I can’t let myself get tired out, I can’t touch any cold water, because as soon as I touch cold water or I get tired out, my stomach hurts and I get a fever.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The obstetrician said, “You’re already bawling like a baby, and the hard part is still to come.”

  Xu Yulan lay supine on the delivery table, legs splayed in the air, arms fastened to each side of the bed as the doctor stood to one side urging her to “push harder!” Furious with pain, she cursed with each contraction. “Xu Sanguan! You son of a bitch . . . Where are you hiding? . . . You turtle’s egg! . . . You ought to be shot! . . . Oh, you’re happy all right! . . . The pain is killing me, and you’re ecstatic! . . . Xu Sanguan, where are you? . . . Come help me push! . . . I can’t do it anymore . . . Get in here, Xu Sanguan! . . . Doctor, has the baby come out yet?”

  “Push harder,” the doctor said. “You have a long way to go.”

  “Oh mother! . . . Xu Sanguan . . . it’s all your fault . . . Men are all animals! . . . Only out for themselves . . . They have their fun and leave us with the dirty work . . . A woman’s fate is cruel . . . It hurts! . . . It’s killing me! . . . I’ve carried this thing around for nine months already . . . It hurts! . . . Where are you? . . . Xu Sanguan! . . . Doctor, has the baby come out yet?”

  “Push harder,” the doctor said. “The head’s out.”

  “The head is out . . . I’m pushing, I’m pushing . . . I can’t do it anymore . . . Xu Sanguan, help me! . . . Xu Sanguan, I’m going to die . . . I’m dying . . .”

  THE OBSTETRICIAN SAID, “You’re screaming and carrying on like it was the first time.”

  Xu Yulan was covered with sweat, gasping for air, shouting between each moan. “Aiya, aiya . . . It hurts . . . hurts! . . . Xu Sanguan . . . You’ve done it to me again . . . Aiya, aiya . . . I hate you! . . . It hurts . . . hurts! . . . If I make it through this . . . aiya . . . I’ll never let you sleep with me again . . . even if it kills me! . . . Ouch . . . You think that’s funny? . . . Even if you get down on your hands and knees and beg me! . . . I still won’t let you do it . . . I won’t even let you sleep . . . aiya . . . in the same bed! . . . aiya, aiya . . . It hurts . . . I’m pushing . . . harder.”

  THE OBSTETRICIAN SAID, “Harder, push harder.”

  Xu Yulan pushed as hard as she could, until her back arched up off the table, and she shouted, “Xu Sanguan! You con artist! You turtle’s egg! You ought to be shot! . . . Xu Sanguan . . . black-hearted son of a bitch . . . I hope you get pockmarks all over your head!”

  “Why are you screaming?” the nurse said. “It’s all over.”

  “The baby’s come out?” Xu Yulan propped herself up. “So soon?”

  IN FIVE YEARS’ TIME Xu Yulan gave birth to three sons. Xu Sanguan called his sons Yile (First Joy), Erle (Second Joy), and Sanle (Third Joy).

  One day when Sanle was one year and three months old, Xu Yulan grabbed hold of Xu Sanguan’s ear and asked, “When I was giving birth, you were standing outside and enjoying a good laugh, right?”

  “I didn’t laugh,” Xu Sanguan said. “I was just chuckling, that’s all. I never laughed aloud.”

  “Aiya!” Xu Yulan called out. “That’s why you called the kids Yile, Erle, and Sanle. Because each of the three times I went through all that pain, you were outside enjoying yourself.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  People in town who knew Xu Sanguan noticed that Erle had Xu Sanguan’s nose, and Sanle had Xu Sanguan’s eyes, but Yile’s face didn’t look like Xu Sanguan’s at all. They began to discuss their suspicions in private, saying among themselves that Yile didn’t look like Xu Sanguan at all, that Yile’s mouth looked a lot like Xu Yulan’s mouth, but the rest of his face didn’t look like hers either. They said to themselves, it seems that Xu Yulan is the child’s mother, but is Xu Sanguan really his father? Who planted the seed? Could it have been He Xiaoyong? The shape of Yile’s eyes, his nose, even those big ears of his made him look more and more like He Xiaoyong every day.

  When these rumors reached Xu Sanguan’s ears, he called Yile before him and began to carefully inspect his face. Yile was only nine years old at the time. After Xu Sanguan looked him over for several minutes, he was still unable to make up his mind, so he went to fetch the family mirror.

  It was the mirror he had bought when they got married. Xu Yulan had always kept it on the windowsill, and when she awoke in the morning, she would stand by the window, glance at the trees outside, and then gaze at herself in the mirror as she combed her hair and rubbed a layer of intensely fragrant Snowflower cream over her face. Later Yile had gotten taller, tall enough that he could reach up and grab the mirror on the sill. The mirror was still sitting on the sill when Sanle grew tall enough to reach up and knock it over. The biggest fragment was a triangle the size of an egg. Xu Yulan had picked this triangular piece off the floor and propped it right back on the windowsill.

&nb
sp; Xu Sanguan held the triangular shard of mirror in his hand. He held it in front of his eyes and looked at himself. Then he looked at Yile’s eyes. They didn’t seem too different from his own. He held the mirror up to his own nose. Then he looked at Yile’s nose. They didn’t seem all that different either. Xu Sanguan thought to himself, They say he doesn’t look like me, but I think he looks a little like me.

  Yile watched his father staring woodenly toward him. “Dad, you keep looking at yourself and then looking at me. What are you looking at?”

  Xu Sanguan said, “I’m trying to see if you look like me or not.”

  “I heard some people saying,” Yile reported, “that I look like someone named He Xiaoyong who works at the machine tools factory.”

  Xu Sanguan said, “Yile, go get Erle and Sanle for me.”

  Xu Sanguan’s three sons came inside. He asked them to sit in a row on the bed, then sat down on a stool opposite them. He scrutinized Yile’s, Erle’s, and Sanle’s features in turn. This first inspection being inconclusive, he went back down the line, inspecting Sanle, Erle, and finally Yile.

  The three brothers giggled, and when Xu Sanguan saw them laughing, he realized that they looked more alike that way. “Keep laughing,” he said as his own body started to sway, “laugh as hard as you can.”

  When his sons saw the funny way he was rocking back and forth on the stool, they burst into loud guffaws. Xu Sanguan began to laugh along with them. “The more you kids laugh, the more you look alike.”

  Xu Sanguan said to himself, They say Yile doesn’t look like me, but Yile looks just like Erle and Sanle. If he can’t look like me, at least he looks like his brothers. No one ever said Erle and Sanle don’t look like my sons. Doesn’t matter if Yile doesn’t look like me, as long as he looks like his little brothers.