Brothers

by Yu Hua

  Song Gang carefully reassembled the bicycle, oiled the bearings, wiped his hands with a rag, and took a few turns in front of the house. No longer hearing the creaking sound, he hopped off in satisfaction and lowered the seat. Then he pushed the bicycle over to Lin Hong and asked her to climb on and give it a try. She had finished eating but was holding the bowl of food she had prepared for Song Gang. After he took the bowl from her, she accepted the bicycle. He then sat down where Lin Hong had just been sitting and ate his dinner while watching her climb onto his bicycle under the light of the streetlamps. Lin Hong rode three loops while Song Gang watched, and she announced that it felt fine, that this ten-year-old Eternity bicycle felt just like new. Song Gang, however, noticed a problem and set his bowl and chopsticks down on the stool. After she got down from the bicycle, he lowered the seat even more, then asked her to climb on and try again. Seeing that she was now able to rest both of her feet on the ground at the same time, he nodded with satisfaction and urged her, "When you brake, keep both feet on the ground. That way you won't fall."

  CHAPTER 54

  MEANWHILE, Song Gang and Lin Hong s house was torn down, and they moved to the first floor of a new building across the street. Mama Su also had to move her snack shop to the building across from Lin Hongs house. Poet Zhao's house was torn down as well, forcing him to move to the second floor of Song Gang and Lin Hongs building. Poet Zhao deliberately positioned his bed directly over theirs, and in the dead of night he would lie there, hoping to hear sounds of their lovemaking. Unable to hear anything, he placed his ear directly against the concrete floor but still couldn't hear anything and wondered how in the world there could be such a deathly silent matrimonial bed. Song Gang and Lin Hong had been married for many years, but they still hadn't had any children. He felt that the problem surely lay with Song Gang and speculated that he must be impotent. He secretly told Writer Liu his theory, adding, "When they go to bed together at night, they are like two guns equipped with silencers."

  After Song Gang lost his job, he found a new job as a dockworker down at the wharf, carrying parcels from the ships to the warehouse and vice versa. He was paid by the piece, and therefore the more parcels he moved, the more he was paid. He rushed frantically with the large parcels up and down the hundred-yard path from the wharf to the warehouse—and while everyone else would just carry one, he would always carry two at once. Every day the elders who sat chatting on the side of the road would hear him wheezing like an accordion as he ran back and forth. His clothes completely drenched in sweat, he looked as if he had just climbed out of the river. Even his sneakers were soaked with sweat, making swishing sounds as he hauled the parcels back and forth. The elders would shake their heads and say, "That Song Gang values money more than life itself."

  Song Gang's workmates would each make three or four round-trips, then sit on the riverbank steps to rest. There they would drink some water, smoke, and chat for half an hour before finally going back to work. Song Gang, however, would never sit on the steps to rest. Instead, he would make seven or eight trips, until—his face pale and his lips trembling, feeling that he was about to collapse—he would place the last parcel on the ship. Walking down the plank back to shore, he'd see his workmates on the steps waving at him but, feeling he didn't even have the strength to cover the remaining ten yards, he'd fall to the ground as soon as he got off the plank. Therefore, his break would consist of sprawling there, with grass wedged under his collar and river water flowing past his arm, his eyes closed tightly, his chest rising and falling rapidly, and his heart pounding like a fist against his chest cavity.

  By resting on the ground like this, Song Gang could recover his strength faster. Every time he lay down, his workmates sitting on the stone steps would laugh at him, calling him a crazy fool. Song Gang was so exhausted he couldn't hear what they were saying. Feeling that the ground was spinning, he'd clench his eyes until he could discern the sunlight through his closed lids and his breathing slowed back down to normal. At that point, having rested for less than ten minutes, he'd hear his workmates calling out his name. He'd slowly climb back up and see them waving to him, holding their water glasses out to him and offering him a cigarette. He'd smile and wave, then walk over to the water faucet on the dock to fill his belly, whereupon he'd take two more parcels and begin rushing back and forth again.

  Working on the docks, Song Gang earned twice as much as his fellow workers and four times as much as he had made under the metal factory's iron-rice-bowl system. The first time he gave Lin Hong his salary, she jumped with surprise, astounded that he could have earned so much as a dockworker. Counting it, she said, "You are earning more in a month than you used to earn in four months at the factory."

  Song Gang grinned and said, "Actually, losing one's job isn't so bad after all."

  Lin Hong realized that he was literally trading his blood and sweat for these earnings and urged him not to work so hard, saying, "We can survive regardless of how much money we have."

  Every evening when Song Gang returned home, he'd be so tired he could hardly hold his head up and would fall asleep immediately after dinner. Before, he used to sleep very peacefully, but now he'd sigh and snore up a storm. He'd frequently wake up Lin Hong, who would find herself unable to fall back to sleep. Listening to his irregular snoring and occasional cries, she felt extremely anxious, concerned that he remained exhausted even in his sleep.

  By morning, he'd be full of life again, and Lin Hong would feel reassured. He would eat his breakfast with a broad smile on his face and, carrying his lunch box, would march off in the direction of the rising sun. Lin Hong walked by his side, pushing her antiquated Eternity bicycle. The two of them would walk together for about fifty yards, then stop at the corner, where Song Gang would watch as Lin Hong mounted her bicycle, urging her to be careful. She would nod and ride off to the west, while Song Gang headed east toward the wharf.

  In the end, Song Gang worked the docks for only two months, because in the third month he sprained his back. He was carrying two large parcels and had just stepped off the plank when someone on the boat called out to him. He turned around too quickly and heard his body make a horrible cracking sound. Realizing that he was injured, Song Gang immediately dropped the parcels, but when he tried to move, he felt an excruciating pain in his back. Holding his lower back with both hands, he smiled painfully as he looked over at his two workmates, who asked in alarm what had happened. Song Gang grimaced. "I think I broke something."

  The two workmates immediately threw down their own parcels and helped carry him to the stone steps beside the river, asking him what he had broken. Song Gang pointed to his lower back, explaining that he had heard a cracking sound when he turned around. One of the workmates asked him to lift his hands, and the other asked him to shake his head. Reassured to see that he could do so, they explained that the only bones in his lower back were his vertebrae, and if they were broken, his upper body would have been paralyzed. Song Gang lifted his arms and shook his head again, and then he too felt reassured. Holding his lower back with his right hand, he said, "When I heard the cracking sound, I assumed that it was a bone breaking."

  "You merely sprained your back," they told him. "When you sprain something, it sometimes also makes that kind of sound."

  Song Gang chuckled, and his workmates urged him to go home. He shook his head and said he would just rest on the steps for a while. In the two months he had been working the docks, this was the first time he had ever sat on the steps where the other workers rested. The steps were covered with cigarette butts, and a dozen or so white porcelain cups were arranged in a row. Each worker had written his name on his cup in red marker. Song Gang laughed, deciding that the next day he would bring his own cup, and it too would be porcelain. In the ware-house there was a bucket of red paint, and all he would need to do would be to insert a stick into the paint; he too could write his name on his cup.

  Song Gang sat for more than an hour next to the rushing river, watching
his workmates huffing and puffing as they hauled parcels back and forth. Finally he couldn't resist standing up, experimentally moving his waist a little, and finding that it was not as painful as before. Feeling that he was okay, he stepped onto the plank and walked into the ships hold. Remembering how he had injured himself, Song Gang hesitated a moment and then decided to pick up only one parcel rather than two. He had just brought the parcel up to his shoulder and energetically straightened his waist when suddenly he let out a cry of pain and immediately collapsed in such a way that the large bundle pinned down his head and shoulders.

  Several of Song Gangs workmates removed the bundle and helped pull him up. A searing pain made him cry out in agony, and his body doubled up into a fetal position. Two workmates carefully helped lift him onto the back of a third worker, who then carried him down off the plank as Song Gang continued crying out in pain. Realizing that his injury was very serious indeed, the workers pulled up a cart, and when they placed him on it, he screamed in agony like a pig being slaughtered. As they pulled the cart along the cobblestone streets of Liu, he continued writhing in agony, and every time the cart hit a bump he would moan in anguish. Song Gang knew that his workmates were taking him to the hospital, but when they entered the main road, he cried, "I don't want to go to the hospital. I want to go home."

  His workmates looked at each other, then proceeded to pull the cart up to his door. That afternoon, Song Gang, lying in excruciating pain on the pullcart, ran into Baldy Li, riding in his red sedan. Song Gang spotted his younger brother, but Baldy Li didn't notice him. Baldy Li sat with his arm around a seductive, out-of-town woman, laughing happily. When the sedan drove in front of the pullcart, Song Gang opened his mouth, but no sound came out. In the end, he merely called out silently, "Baldy Li."

  CHAPTER 55

  LIN HONG was just about to get off work when she heard about Song Gangs injury and immediately rushed home on her bike, pale with anxiety. After frantically opening the front door, she saw Song Gang curled up on the bed in the dark, staring at her silently. She closed the door, walked over and sat on the bed, and tenderly stroked his face. He looked at her and said with embarrassment, "I sprained my back."

  Lin Hong began to cry as she hugged him, asking softly, "What did the doctor say?"

  When Lin Hong moved Song Gangs body, he squeezed his eyes in agony. This time he didn't cry out but, rather, waited for the pain to subside. Then he opened his eyes and said, "I didn't go to the hospital."

  "Why not?" Lin Hong asked anxiously.

  "I just sprained my back," Song Gang said. "I'll rest for a few days, and then I'll be fine."

  Lin Hong shook her head and said, "That won't do. You must go to the hospital."

  Song Gang smiled sadly. "I can't move now. I'll go in a few days."

  Song Gang lay in bed for half a month before he was finally able to get up and walk around, though he still wasn't able to straighten his back. Hunched over at the waist and with Lin Hong's help, he hobbled to the hospital, where they applied four hot cups and five medicated plasters to his back, costing him more than ten yuan. It occurred to him that, at this rate, the money he had earned through two months of backbreaking labor at the docks wouldn't be enough to cover his medical fees. Therefore, he didn't return to the hospital, telling himself that a sprain is like a cold, and it will cure it itself even if you don't treat it.

  After resting at home for two months, Song Gang was finally able to straighten his back, and again he went to look for work. Those days, he would support his waist with his hand all day, hobbling along through the streets and alleys of Liu, looking everywhere for work, but who would want to hire someone with a bad back? He would leave home every morning full of hope but return each evening with a sad smile, and Lin Hong would know from his expression that he had not had any success. She struggled to cheer herself up and reassured him that if they economized a bit, they could both live comfortably on her salary. At night when they climbed under the covers, Lin Hong gently caressed his waist, saying that as long as she was around, he didn't need to worry about the future. Song Gang exclaimed, "I've let you down."

  At that point, Lin Hong was forcing herself to be optimistic. Actually, business at the knitting factory had not been very good for several years, and now they were starting to lay people off. That chain-smoking Director Liu had always had designs on her and had called her into his office several times. Closing the door, he would tell her quietly that her name had twice appeared on the list of workers to be laid off, but each time he had removed it. After telling her this, he would stare expectantly at her ample breasts. Director Liu, in his fifties, had been a chain-smoker for the past forty years, and as a result his teeth were completely stained black, as were his lips. When he leered at Lin Hong with his lecherous expression, his two drooping eye bags looked like two tumors.

  Lin Hong sat facing him on pins and needles. She understood perfectly well what he was suggesting. He repulsed her, and even from across the table his entire body reeked of cigarette smoke. But she remembered that Song Gang was injured and had already lost his job, meaning that she couldn't afford to lose hers as well. Therefore she had no alternative but to sit there with a smile on her face, hoping fervently that someone would walk through the door and permit her to escape.

  Director Liu waved a pen at her, saying this was the pen with which he had scratched her name from the list. Seeing her smile without answering, he leaned forward and whispered, "Won't you even say ‘thank you'?"

  Lin Hong smiled and said, "Thank you."

  Director Liu then went further and said, "How are you going to thank me?"

  Lin Hong continued smiling and said, "Thank you."

  Director Liu tapped the table with his pen, listing the names of several other factory workers and describing how, in order to avoid being laid off, they had each voluntarily slept with him. Lin Hong still smiled. Director Liu looked at her lecherously and asked again, "How do you plan to thank me?"

  "Thank you."

  "How about this." He put down the fountain pen, stood up, and walked around the table. "Let me hug you as I would a sister."

  Seeing him come around the table, Lin Hong immediately headed for the door. On her way out she smiled and said, "I'm not your sister."

  As she was leaving his office she heard Director Liu cursing. Still smiling, she returned to her workshop. However, when she got out of work and rode her Eternity bicycle home, she remembered the lecherous way in which the director had stared at her and his broad hints, and she felt a wave of humiliation sweep over her.

  Several times Lin Hong considered telling Song Gang about what had happened, but each time she saw his exhausted appearance and his forlorn smile, she found that she couldn't bring herself to mention it. It seemed to her that telling him about her humiliation now would merely add salt to his wounds. One day followed another, however, and Song Gang still hadn't managed to find work. Lin Hong suddenly remembered Baldy Li, who was becoming wealthier than ever and now employed more than a thousand workers. One night, after a brief hesitation, she suggested, "Why don't you go see Baldy Li?"

  Song Gang bowed his head and didn't respond. He remembered how he had resolved to completely sever relations with Baldy Li, and therefore he simply couldn't go back and ask for his help now that Baldy Li was rich and successful. Seeing that Song Gang wasn't responding, Lin Hong added, "Surely he wouldn't ignore you…"

  Song Gang lifted his head and said stubbornly, "I have already severed my relationship with him."

  At that point Lin Hong almost told him about the humiliation she had suffered in Director Liu's office, but she bit her tongue. Instead, she merely shook her head and didn't say anything more.

  Song Gang knew that he was no longer able to perform heavy labor, so he instead started looking for another line of work. He told Lin Hong that as he was walking around he would often see young girls from the countryside selling white magnolia flowers strung together with wire thread. The young women of L
iu wore the flowers on their chest or tied to their braids. Song Gang said shyly that the flowers were very becoming. He had learned that these flowers were purchased from the nursery, costing an average of just five cents per bundle. Lin Hong looked at Song Gang in surprise, unable to imagine a grown man like him carrying a basket selling magnolia flowers. He entreated her, "Let me give it a try."

  Lin Hong agreed, and Song Gang went out bright and early the next day with a little basket, a roll of wire, and a pair of scissors, and walked for more than an hour to the nursery. There he bought the flowers, sat down in the grass, and proceeded to string them together with the needle and wire. Then he placed them in the basket and walked back toward town.

  Song Gang squinted his eyes in the sun and headed toward the horizon. After about ten minutes he started to sweat and began to worry that the sun would wilt his flowers. Therefore, he walked into a field beside the road and picked several melon leaves, laying them carefully over the flowers. Still anxious, he went to a nearby pond and sprinkled some water on the flowers. Reassured, he continued forward, periodically looking down at his little flowers hiding under the melon leaves, as though he were peering down at a swaddled baby. He felt that he hadn't been this happy in a long time. Walking along the narrow path through the vast fields, he would give his flowers a little more water every time he passed a pond.

  By the time Song Gang returned to Liu Town it was already noon. Not taking time for lunch, he stood in the middle of the street and started hawking his magnolia blossoms. He carefully arranged the melon leaves around the edges of the basket so that green leaves would surround the white flowers. He stood under a wutong tree holding his basket, smiling at everyone who walked past. Some people noticed the flowers he was holding but would only glance down and continue on their way. A couple of young women looked at his flowers and exclaimed appreciatively how charming these magnolia blossoms surrounded by green leaves were, but Song Gang merely smiled at them. As they walked away he felt a pang of regret, realizing that he should have cried out "For sale," since they apparently hadn't realized he was selling the flowers.