Brothers (37 page)

Baldy Li held up three fingers. "I will raise three hundred thousand yuan, and if I don't, I will resign."

Tao Qing nodded with satisfaction. Baldy Li rolled up the appointment letter approved by the county government and was about to stick it in his pocket when Tao Qing pointed to the document and said, "What are you doing with that?"

Baldy Li said, "I'm taking it home."

Tao Qing shook his head. "You really don't understand how things are done. This document must be taken to the Organization Bureau for filing; you are now a national cadre."

"I'm a national cadre?" Baldy Li registered a look of pleasurable shock, adding, "Then it is all the more important that I take this home to show Song Gang."

Tao Qing recalled the Song Gang he knew from twenty years earlier—a pitiful but adorable little boy. Tao hesitated a moment, then he agreed to let Baldy Li take the appointment letter home to show Song Gang, but on the condition that he return it the very next afternoon. As Baldy Li was leaving he bowed to Tao Qing and said earnestly, "Thank you, Director Tao, for appointing me factory director."

Tao Qing patted his shoulder and said, "What are you thanking me for? It was you who carried out the execution first and sought a permit for it later."

The expression
to carry out the execution first and seek a permit for it later
gave Baldy Li a good chuckle. After walking out of the courtyard of the Civil Affairs Bureau, he repeated the phrase to himself yet again, but this time he found that it had somehow soured on his lips.

Carrying the appointment letter in his hands, Baldy Li walked home and showed the letter to everyone he met, telling them proudly that he was now Director Li. When he encountered Blacksmith Tong on the bridge, he pulled Tong over to sit next to him on the railing and proudly told him he was now director of the Good Works Factory. He
added that, actually, he had long been running the factory but, extending the letter with trembling hands, he added, "This piece of paper makes it official."

"That's right," Blacksmith Tong agreed. "Its just like a marriage certificate—who waits until the day of their marriage before sleeping together? The marriage certificate simply grants them an official identity. This is called
legitimization."

"Yes,
legitimization
—that's what it's called," Baldy Li exclaimed, adding, "It's as if I knocked a girl up and left her no choice but to marry me. Or, as Director Tao put it, I carried out the execution first and sought a permit for it later."

When Baldy Li returned home, Song Gang had prepared lunch, had set the table, and was sitting there waiting for him. Baldy Li, flushed with success, sat down at the table, glanced disdainfully at the food, and muttered, "The formidable Factory Director Li has to eat this cheap food every day."

Song Gang did not realize that Baldy Li had been officially appointed factory director and thought that he was still bragging about his de facto directorship. He grinned, then picked up his rice bowl and began to eat, whereupon Baldy Li opened up his director's-appointment letter and extended it for Song Gang to read. Song Gang read it while chewing his rice, then excitedly jumped up from his seat and started crying out. Since his mouth was still full of food, however, he was totally incomprehensible. He spat the food into his hand and shouted, "Baldy Li, you really are—"

Baldy Li calmly corrected Song Gang, "I'm Director Li."

"Director Li, you really are Director Li!"

Song Gong excitedly cried out as he jumped around the house, shouting "Director Li" over and over again, pounding Baldy Li in the chest three times with his fist full of food, splattering the food all over Baldy Li's face. Baldy Li wiped Song Gang's chewed-up food from his face and began laughing uncontrollably. But Song Gang was still pounding his chest with his fist, so Baldy Li sprang out of the way. It was like the time when Song Gang returned from the countryside, travel bag in hand: The two of them ran around the room laughing hysterically, with Song Gang chasing Baldy Li and Baldy Li trying to stay out of the way of Song Gang's fist. They upended all the chairs and stools in the room and jostled the table so hard that the bowls of rice and food went flying. Song Gang finally lowered his fist and, realizing
that he was still clutching the food he had spit out of his mouth, wiped his hand with a rag. He tidied up the spilled food on the table and straightened up the chairs that had been knocked over. Then, making a
please
gesture to Baldy Li, who was still laughing hysterically, he bowed and said, "Director Li, please eat."

Baldy Li exhaled and shook his head. "I, Director Li, want to have a bowl of house-special noodles."

Song Gangs eyes lit up, and he waved his hand. "Yes, lets eat house-special noodles. Lets celebrate."

Song Gang looked disdainfully at the food on the table, patted Baldy Li on the shoulder, then walked out of the room with him and locked the door. He proceeded a few steps, paused, and asked Baldy Li how much a bowl of house-special noodles cost. Baldy Li replied thirty-five cents a bowl. Song Gang nodded and walked back to the door, then leaned against it as he unfastened his pants and reached into his underwear. After fumbling about for a while, he pulled out seventy cents and placed it in his pocket, then spiritedly continued forward. As they walked Song Gang explained to Baldy Li, "You are now a factory director, making me a factory directors brother. I can't continue reaching into my pants for money in public, making you lose face."

The two brothers paraded like heroes down the main street in Liu Town. Baldy Li continued to grasp the promotion letter in his hand, and Song Gang stopped twice and asked to see the letter again. Song Gang stood in the middle of the street reading the letter aloud as if he were reciting poetry, and when he finished he turned to Baldy Li and said sincerely, "I am truly happy."

The two brothers walked into the Peoples Restaurant, and as soon as Song Gang stepped in the door, he shouted to the woman at the counter, "Two bowls of house-special noodles!"

Song Gang then walked up to the cashier and pulled exactly seventy cents out of his pocket. Slapping the money down on the counter, he startled the female cashier, who muttered, "Only seventy cents—you'd think it was ten yuan, with all that ruckus."

The two brothers finished their house-special noodles and returned home with their faces covered in sweat. On the way home, Baldy Li opened up his appointment letter three more times to read it to various acquaintances, and Song Gong stopped twice more to recite it. Once they returned home, Song Gang offered to keep the letter, afraid that Baldy Li would lose it. Upon hearing Song Gang's suggestion, Baldy Li
mimicked Bureau Director Tao, explaining, "You really don't understand how things are done. This appointment letter must be taken to the Organization Bureau to be put on file, because now I am a national cadre."

Baldy Li's comment made Song Gang even more elated, and he felt that this little brother of his was truly extraordinary. Song Gang then grasped the appointment letter in his hand and read it one more time, as if he were trying to devour every word. It occurred to him that he would never see this appointment letter again, and the thought filled him with regret. But then he had an inspiration. He immediately fetched a sheet of paper and used black ink to neatly copy the letter, then used red ink to carefully draw the seal mark that appeared on top. Baldy Li expressed his approval, saying that Song Gang's seal was even more realistic than the original. After drawing it, Song Gang laughed, as if a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders, and handed the letter back to Baldy Li. Taking up his own copy, he said proudly, "In the future, we can look at this one."

Song Gang kept track of both of their salaries, and every time he wanted to spend money, he made a point of consulting with Baldy Li and securing his permission. After Baldy Li formally assumed his position as factory director, Song Gang offered to go buy him a pair of black leather shoes, arguing that as factory director he couldn't keep wearing his tattered old sneakers. Baldy Li was very pleased to see his new shoes, and counting on his fingers all the important people in the county—from the county's party secretary, governor, and bureau chief on down to the various factory directors—he concluded that all of them wore black leather shoes. He added, "Now I'm an important person, too."

Baldy Li's sweater was also in tatters. Furthermore, it had been knitted from various different colored spools of yarn, patched together long ago by Li Lan from the remains of several other sweaters. Song Gang bought a pound and a half of beige yarn, and after work he started knitting Baldy Li a new sweater, periodically holding it up to Baldy Li's body to size it. A month later the sweater was finished, and it fit perfectly. On Baldy Li's chest there was the embroidered outline of a wave, on top of which was a boat, its sails unfurled. Song Gang explained that the sailboat symbolized Baldy Li's bright future. Baldy Li happily exclaimed, "Song Gang, you are truly extraordinary. You can even do women's work."

Since he had begun wearing the black leather shoes, Baldy Li had only left the house wearing his dark blue Mao suit, buttoned all the way up. But once he started wearing the beige sweater Song Gang knitted for him, Baldy Li let his Mao tunic hang open as he walked around in order to give people a clear view of the waves and the sailboat on his chest. With his hands in his pockets, the flaps of his tunic tucked behind his elbows, he stuck out his chest as he walked, grinning to everyone he encountered.

The women in Liu Town had never seen a sweater with a sailboat embroidered on the front, and therefore when they saw Baldy Li's they immediately crowded around him to examine how it had been made. They crowed their approval, exclaiming, "There is even a sail on top!"

Baldy Li lifted his head and allowed them to appreciate his sweater, listening as they complimented the sailboat. They asked him whose extraordinary skill had produced it. Baldy Li responded proudly, "Song Gang. Aside from bearing children, Song Gang can do anything."

After the women of Liu finished admiring the handiwork on the boat and the sail, they turned their attention to what kind of boat it was. They asked Baldy Li, "Is this a fishing boat?"

"A fishing boat?" Baldy Li replied. "This is called a Great Prospects Ship."

Their rude and ignorant questions infuriated Baldy Li. He pushed away their hands, feeling that allowing them to admire his tall mast sailing into the future was like serenading cows with violins. As he stalked off he turned and angrily spat out his parting words: "What are you women good for besides having children?"

CHAPTER 30

A
FTER BALDY LI
was appointed factory director, he would often attend meetings with the county's other factory directors, all of whom similarly wore Mao suits and black leather shoes. Baldy Li would smile and shake their hands, and within a few months he was accepted as one of their "brothers." From that point on, Baldy Li became a bona fide member of Liu Town s high society, whereupon he assumed a haughty demeanor, always holding his head high when speaking.

One day he unexpectedly ran into Lin Hong on the bridge and was immediately struck dumb. While the Lin Hong that Baldy Li had peeped at was a very pretty seventeen-year-old, she was now twenty-three and the embodiment of womanly charm. Lin Hong walked across the bridge staring straight ahead, but when she passed Baldy Li someone happened to call out her name. She spun around, and her long braid barely missed hitting him in the face. Baldy Li watched her in a state of infatuation, repeating dreamily, "Beautiful, so beautiful …"

Baldy Li hadn't seen Lin Hong in a long time, not since being appointed factory director, and he had almost forgotten all about Liu Town's resident beauty. Upon encountering her on the bridge that day, however, he became so excited he developed a nosebleed, with two streams of blood gushing from his nose into his mouth. As a result, Baldy Li enjoyed another brief moment of fame, almost as great as that time several years earlier when he was caught being a Peeping Tom. Everyone in Liu Town laughed heartily over this incident, remarking that nothing since Baldy Li was caught spying on women's bottoms had provided them with comparable entertainment. Liu Town, they said, was becoming duller by the year, its residents increasingly dispirited, and therefore it was a good thing that Baldy Li had decided to make a public spectacle of himself again, and wouldn't you know it, it was once again all about Lin Hong.

Baldy Li ignored their laughter, saying that the blood was merely an "offering" and asking, "Who else in the world could claim to have
offered up his lifeblood for love?" Patting his chest, he declared, "The glory belongs solely to me."

The elders of Liu were more tactful and remarked, "It is true that famous people do famous things."

When this reached Baldy Li's ears, he nodded with satisfaction. "Well, the rich and famous always live larger than ordinary folks."

Baldy Li, who had previously beaten Writer Liu to the point that he developed a case of delusional memory, seemed to have contracted a similar delusional syndrome. He racked his brain trying to explain why Lin Hong had leaned so close to him when she passed, so close that her long braid almost caressed his nose. Combining illusions of love with delusions of grandeur, he concluded that she must be in love with him; and even if she hadn't fallen in love with him yet, there was no question that she was about to. Baldy Li decided that there had been altogether too many people on the bridge and in the street, and if their encounter had taken place in the middle of the night with no one around, Lin Hong would certainly have stopped to gaze longingly at him, committing to memory every wrinkle and blood vessel in his face. Upon reaching that conclusion, he grinned stupidly as he informed Song Gang, "Lin Hong fancies me."

Song Gang knew about Lin Hong and knew that this Liu Town beauty was the object of all the townsmen's fantasies. Song Gang himself felt that she was as unattainable as the moon and the stars, and therefore Baldy Li's assertion that she was interested in him left Song Gang speechless. Was it possible that Lin Hong would fancy the same Baldy Li who had peeped at her in the public toilet more than six years earlier? Song Gang wasn't so sure. He asked Baldy Li, "And why do you think Lin Hong fancies you?"