by Yu Hua
By the time she arrived at the government building, the brothers had finished eating and were sitting there chatting and laughing, with Baldy Li loudly recounting some story or other. Her face ashen, Lin Hong walked up to them. When Baldy Li spotted her, he scrambled up and warmly called out, "Lin Hong, you've come."
Song Gang, meanwhile, had turned pale, and Lin Hong looked at him coldly, then turned and walked away. Baldy Li had just retrieved a pile of newspapers from the scrap heap and was about to invite Lin Hong to sit down when he noticed that she had already left. He said disappointedly, "You came all the way over here. Why don't you at least sit down and join us for a while?"
Song Gang stood there, not knowing what to do. He watched Lin Hong walk away until finally it occurred to him to run after her. He therefore jumped onto his bicycle and sped after her. Lin Hong was walking forward in a dignified manner, and when she heard Song Gang ride up beside her, suggesting quietly that she sit behind him, she pretended not to have heard him and acted as though no one were there. She walked away with her head held high, staring straight ahead. Song Gang didn't dare say anything else; instead he jumped off his bicycle and followed silently behind her. They acted like two complete strangers, walking silently down the main street of Liu. Many townspeople saw them and stopped to watch curiously, recognizing that something had happened between them. Someone called out Lin Hongs name, but she made no response. Someone else called out to Song Gang, who also didn't answer, though he did nod and smile. His smile, however, was forced, and Poet Zhao, who happened to be on the street and was the kind of person who could always make a mountain out of a molehill, pointed to him and told everyone, "Do you see that? That is a bitter smile."
Song Gang pushed his bicycle as he followed Lin Hong all the way to the entrance of the knitting factory. She didn't glance back at him the entire way, and even when she walked into the factory, she didn't turn to look at him. Sensing that Song Gang was still standing there, she slowed down a little, and suddenly her heart softened. Though she wanted to turn and look at him, she restrained herself and continued forward into the factory workshop.
Song Gang stood rooted outside the gate and remained there as Lin Hong disappeared in the distance. After the bell sounded announcing the end of the lunch break, the gate area emptied out, as did his heart. Song Gang stood there for a long time, then finally turned around and pushed his bike away. He forgot to ride his shiny Eternity bicycle, and instead pushed it all the way back to the metal factory.
Song Gang was in torment all afternoon, spending most of his time in the workshop staring into a corner. He alternated between being at a loss and concentrating intently, but after concentrating his mind would inevitably revert to being a complete blank again. It was not until the bell rang announcing the end of the workday that he finally came to his senses. He ran out of the workshop, jumped on his bike, and shot out of the factory. He pedaled furiously down the street, and when he arrived at the door to the knitting factory, the workers were still filing out. Song Gang stood there holding his bicycle and saw Lin Hong emerge, chatting with a few of her workmates. He cheered up when he saw her but then became somber again, uncertain whether or not she would be willing to ride back with him.
To his surprise, she simply walked up to him as though nothing had happened, waved goodbye to her workmates, and climbed on the back of his bicycle. Song Gang was momentarily stunned but then breathed a sigh of relief. With a flushed face, he mounted the bicycle and, ringing his bell, rode off down the street. Happy again, Song Gang felt reenergized and pedaled furiously, with Lin Hong first holding on to his seat and then, as their speed increased, eventually grabbing on to his clothing.
Song Gangs happiness did not last very long. Once Lin Hong returned home and closed the door, she again became as frigid as she had been that afternoon in the street. She went over to the window and, after pulling the shades, stood silently staring at the window shade as though she were looking at the scenery outside. Song Gang stood in the middle of the room and after a while muttered, "Lin Hong, I was wrong."
Lin Hong merely snorted and continued standing there, eventually turning around and asking, "Wrong about what?"
Song Gang bowed his head and told her truthfully about how he had been sharing his lunch with Baldy Li for the past month. Lin Hong shook her head and wept as she listened, distressed at the thought that Song Gang would starve himself in order to feed that bastard Baldy Li. When Song Gang saw that she was crying from anger, he shut his mouth and stood uncertainly to one side. After a while she wiped away her tears. Then Song Gang finally took out the foreign watch and, stammering, told her that he had broken off relations with Baldy Li, but that day when he rode by in front of the government building, Baldy Li called out to him and gave him this watch, reminding him of their former brotherly love. As Song Gang stammered out this explanation Lin Hong looked carefully at the watch and suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "But it doesn't have any hands—you call this a watch?"
With this, she finally exploded and tearfully cursed Baldy Li. Starting with his having peeked at her bottom in the public toilet, she cursed him for all of the embarrassment he had caused her, right up to his having brought his Good Works Factory workers to the knitting factory to harass her in front of everyone. Lin Hong listed all of Baldy Li's transgressions, and in the end she became so depressed, she simply wept. Even after she had tried to commit suicide by jumping in the river, Baldy Li still wouldn't let her be and forced Song Gang to come and tell her, "It is time you gave up hope," pushing Song Gang to the point that he himself almost committed suicide.
Lin Hong wept until she could barely speak. After she finished cursing Baldy Li, she started in on Song Gang. She said that she had been scrimping and saving ever since they married so that she could buy him a Diamond brand watch, and she simply couldn't believe that Baldy Li won him over so easily with a broken watch someone had thrown away. She then abruptly stopped crying, wiped away her tears, and muttered sadly, as if to herself, "Well, he didn't have to win you over—you and he are family. I'm the one who inserted myself and split the two of you up."
Finished with her crying and cursing, Lin Hong wiped her tears and fell into a long silence. Then she let out a long sigh, looked at Song Gang sorrowfully, and with a measured voice said, "Song Gang, I've reached a decision. You should go back to living with Baldy Li, and we should get divorced."
Terrified, Song Gang shook his head. He opened his mouth several times, but no words came out. Lin Hong watched his reaction and couldn't help feeling sorry for him. She once again started crying and shook her head, saying, "Song Gang, you know I love you, but I can't continue living like this."
Lin Hong walked to the cabinet, took out several pieces of clothing, and put them in a travel bag. She proceeded to the door, then turned around to look at Song Gang, who was standing there trembling with terror. She hesitated a second but still opened the front door. Song Gang suddenly knelt down and begged her tearfully, "Lin Hong, please don't go."
Her first impulse was to rush over and hug him, but she restrained herself and said in a gentle voice, "I'm going back to my parents’ house for a few days. You should stay here and think things over and decide whether you want to be with me or with Baldy Li."
"I don't need to think about it," Song Gang replied with tears running down his face. "I want to be with you."
Lin Hong held her face and cried, asking, "And what about Baldy Li?"
Song Gang stood up and said resolutely, "I will go tell him that I want to sever our relationship. I'll go right now."
Lin Hong couldn't resist running over to him. The two embraced tightly in the doorway, then Lin Hong leaned close to him and asked quietly, "Do you want me to go with you?"
Song Gang nodded emphatically. "Let's go together."
With rekindled love, they wiped each other's tears, then left the house together. Out of habit, Lin Hong walked over to their bicycle, but Song Gang shook his head and said he didn't want
to ride, because he wanted to think carefully as he walked about what he would tell Baldy Li. Lin Hong looked at him in surprise, but he merely held up his hand and walked on. She obediently followed, and the two of them proceeded out the alley and toward the main road. Lin Hong walked arm in arm with Song Gang, repeatedly looking up at him and seeing an unprecedented look of determination on his face. She suddenly felt that her husband was immensely strong, and this was the first time since their marriage that she'd had this feeling. In the past Song Gang had always acceded to her wishes, but she felt that from now on she would always listen to him.
Under the final rays of the setting sun, they arrived at the gate to the government building, where they saw Baldy Li rummaging through his scrap. Lin Hong tugged Song Gangs arm and asked, "Have you decided what you are going to say to him?"
"Yes." Song Gang nodded. "I want to return that comment to him."
Lin Hong didn't understand. "Which comment?"
Song Gang didn't answer but, rather, brushed off Lin Hong's hand and walked straight toward Baldy Li. Lin Hong paused and watched his tall and impressive figure as he approached the short and squat Baldy Li, then heard Song Gang say with a deep voice, "Baldy Li, I have something to say to you."
From Song Gang's tone, Baldy Li sensed that something was wrong, combined with the fact that Lin Hong was standing behind him. He looked suspiciously at Song Gang and then at Lin Hong. Song Gang took the handless watch out of his pocket and handed it back to Baldy Li. Realizing that Song Gang's intentions were not good, Baldy Li accepted the watch, wiped it carefully, and put it on his own wrist, then asked, "What do you want to say to me?"
Song Gang softened his tone and earnestly told his brother, "Baldy Li, now that my father and your mother are gone, we are no longer brothers—"
Baldy Li nodded and interrupted him. "You are right. Because your father was not my birth father and my mother was not your birth mother, we therefore are not biological brothers—"
"Therefore," Song Gang interrupted Baldy Li in turn, "I won't come asking you for anything, and I ask that you not come asking me for anything. From now on, we will go our separate ways—"
"What you are saying," Baldy Li interrupted again, "is that we should completely sever our relationship?"
"That's right." Song Gang nodded emphatically, then threw down his trump card: "It is time that you gave up all hope."
Lin Hong opened both arms to embrace Song Gang as he walked back to her. He also hugged her, and the two of them walked away arm in arm. Baldy Li scratched his head as he watched them depart, not understanding what Song Gang meant by "It is time that you gave up all hope." He muttered to himself, "I should fucking give up hope of what?"
Song Gang and Lin Hong remained arm in arm as they walked down the street and into their little alley. When they got home, Song Gang suddenly grew silent and sat without saying a word. Lin Hong saw his somber expression and knew that he was feeling anguished. Given the amount of history he and Baldy Li shared, it was inevitable that they would remain in each others thoughts. She therefore didn't scold him, thinking to herself that he would be better in a few days. Lin Hong was confident that the longer she and Song Gang lived together, the more his and Baldy Li's shared history would recede into the distance.
After he went to bed that night, Song Gang remained depressed and kept sighing. Lin Hong gently patted him and lifted her head slightly, whereupon Song Gang, out of habit, reached around and hugged her. She snuggled up to him, telling him not to worry and to go to sleep. Lin Hong herself then drifted off, though Song Gang remained awake for a long time. That night he dreamed he was crying, and his tears rolled down onto Lin Hong's face. She woke in surprise and turned on the light, waking Song Gang as well. Lin Hong saw that his face was covered in tears and speculated that perhaps he had dreamed of his stepmother. She then turned off the light and patted him comfortingly, asking, "Were you dreaming about your mother again?" This time she deliberately didn't say stepmother.
Song Gang shook his head in the dark and carefully recalled his dream. Then he wiped the tears from his face and said, "I dreamed that we got divorced."
CHAPTER 47
BALDY LI continued his sit-in in front of the county government building, but as his scrap accumulated into a small mountain he no longer had time for sitting. Instead he spent all his time scurrying back and forth, sorting his scraps into different categories, then using a variety of market channels to sell them throughout the country. He did spend two hours sitting cross-legged on the ground, working on the foreign watch, painstakingly adding three pieces of wire of different lengths, then proudly putting it on his left wrist. Before, he would always use his right hand to point and gesture, but now that he had his new foreign watch he began using his left hand instead. Whenever anyone walked by, his left hand would start waving warmly of its own accord. Soon many of the townspeople had seen his watch, and several of them crowded around to inspect it, asking curiously, "Why do the hands look like wires?"
Baldy Li replied irritably, "All watch hands look like wires."
The townspeople then spotted another flaw. "The watch has the wrong time."
"Of course the time is wrong," Baldy Li replied proudly. "This watch keeps Greenwich Mean Time, while you keep Beijing time. That is the difference."
Baldy Li happily wore his Greenwich Mean Time foreign watch for about half a year, whereupon one day he suddenly switched to a new, domestic Diamond brand watch. When everyone saw this, they exclaimed, "You've switched watches?"
"Yes, I switched back to Beijing time." Baldy Li shook his shiny new watch as he added, "Greenwich Mean Time has its advantages, but in the end it is not appropriate for Chinese sensibilities, and therefore I switched back to Beijing time."
Everyone asked enviously where he had salvaged this shiny new Diamond watch. Baldy Li grew angry and pulled a receipt from his pocket and showed them. "I bought it myself."
The townspeople were astounded. How was it possible for a mere scrap collector to buy himself a Diamond watch? Baldy Li opened his tattered coat in front of everyone and pulled out the wallet tied to his waist. He then unzipped it, revealing a thick wad of bills, and said, "Look at this, look at this neat pile of bills."
Everyone stared slack-jawed with astonishment. After a while, someone remembered Baldy Li's foreign watch and asked ingratiatingly, "What did you do with that Greenwich Mean Time foreign watch?"
"I gave it away," Baldy Li said. "I gave it to the infatuated idiot who used to work for me."
Wearing his new Beijing-time watch, Baldy Li continued to exert himself. He obtained some bamboo poles and reeds and began erecting a thatched shed right there in front of the government building. Thirteen of his former Good Works Factory workers (the exception being the infatuated idiot) came over to help. The four blind men stood in a row and passed the reeds to one another. The two idiots were responsible for supporting the bamboo poles, while the two cripples, who both had strong hands, were responsible for binding the bamboo together. The five deaf men, meanwhile, provided the hard manual labor; three of them stayed on the ground and used some of the reeds to construct a wall, and the two others climbed up and used the rest of the reeds for the roof. All the while Baldy Li barked directions, as if he were overseeing a construction site. Shouting and hollering and bathed in sweat, they all worked tirelessly for three straight days, until finally the thatched shed was complete. Only then did Baldy Li remember the infatuated idiot and ask the crippled factory director about him. The cripple replied that the idiot had never been late going to or from work but that ever since he started wearing the foreign watch, he hadn't been seen again at the factory. He then asked Baldy Li, "Do you think he's become confused by the Greenwich Mean Time?"
"Definitely." Baldy Li laughed. "That's what they call jet lag."
The lot of them brought over the table and chairs from Baldy Li's house, as well sheets, clothes, toiletries, coal, oil, a stove, dishes, chopsticks, glasses, and many other th
ings. Baldy Li proudly moved into his shed and pitched camp right there outside the government building gate. Not long afterward, the people of Liu noticed that workers from the Ministry of Post and Telecommunications had connected a telephone line to the shed—the first private telephone in Liu Town. The crowds discussed this tirelessly, exclaiming, "Who could have imagined this day!" Baldy Li's phone rang continuously from dawn to dusk and late into the night. The county government workers remarked that Baldy Li's phone rang more often than that of the county governor.
In the process of setting up his scrap business, Baldy Li stopped simply collecting everyone's unwanted scraps and instead started purchasing them. The pile of scrap outside the government building grew into a huge mountain, and his shed was also full of it. According to Baldy Li, the scraps inside the hut were of the highest quality. People walking by would often see him sitting happily in the middle of these high-quality scraps, looking as if he were sitting amid a pile of jewels. They also saw trucks come by every week to cart away the sorted scrap. Baldy Li stood in front of his shed and watched the trucks drive away, licking his fingers as he counted his wad of bills.
Baldy Li was still shabbily dressed, but he had now switched to a bigger wallet; even so the amount of cash inside made it bulge out as if it were pumped full of air. In his breast pocket he carried a little notebook; in the front he recorded his scrap-business transactions, while in the back he recorded the debts he had incurred in the attempt to set up his clothing business.