Brothers (52 page)

"Don't thank me," Baldy Li said. "Thank your forebears."

"Who were my forebears?" Popsicle Wang had no idea what Baldy Li was referring to.

"You don't know about your forebears? You truly are a confused bastard." Baldy Li tapped Popsicle Wang's shoulder with his map. "Your forebears are whoever the people were who invented socks. Just think, if no one had invented socks, there would be no Popsicle Brand socks, I wouldn't be able to accept your money, and consequently there would be none of your oil in my tanker."

"Oh." Popsicle Wang finally understood. Holding his hands together, he intoned, "Many thanks to my forebears."

Once Baldy Li had raised his
7,500
yuan in start-up capital, he began canvassing all the empty buildings in Liu, ultimately selecting a former warehouse to serve as his factory. This was the same warehouse where Song Fanping had been locked up, and where the long-haired middle-school student's father had driven a nail into his own skull. The warehouse had been empty for many years. After renting it, Baldy Li immediately brought in thirty sewing machines. He then proceeded to hire thirty country girls and asked Tailor Zhang to provide them with technical training. Tailor Zhang said that the warehouse was far too big—that it could hold up to two hundred sewing machines. Baldy Li held up three fingers and said, "Within three months I will have brought over so much clothing from Shanghai for finishing that even two hundred sewing machines working twenty-four hours a day won't be able to keep up."

Baldy Li spent a month making all the arrangements. He decided to go to Shanghai; everything was now ready, and all he needed was the actual products. After purchasing the sewing machines, he handed over the remaining start-up capital to Tailor Zhang and told him to use it to pay the rent for the warehouse and the salaries of the thirty country girls. Most important, he asked Zhang to train the country girls in a single week, explaining that within a week the first shipment of clothing would arrive from Shanghai. Baldy Li further explained that he wouldn't return for a while, because he would be running around
Shanghai like a mad dog, his goal being to bring all of Shanghais clothing business back to Liu. He asked Tailor Zhang to watch for telegrams, saying that every time he secured new business, he would notify Zhang by telegram. Finally, he firmly gripped Zhang's hand and said, "I will now hand everything over to you while I go to Shanghai to secure the final ingredient."

Thus, Baldy Li ended up at Mama Sus snack shop waiting for the bus. He had no idea that Tao Qing had already expelled him from the People s Government system. He had his entire savings of four hundred yuan in his shirt pocket, and this would have to suffice for room, board, and other expenses for his trip to Shanghai. Nevertheless, he was confident that before he had a chance to spend the four hundred yuan, all of Liu would be humming with the sound of his sewing machines. The first time Baldy Li had gone to Shanghai on behalf of the Good Works Factory, he had also sat at Mama Sus snack shop while waiting for the bus. That time he was carrying with him the group portrait of the Good Works Factory workers; this time all he had was his world map. While eating his meat bun, he showed Mama Su the map, and now it was her turn to be startled by the dots that had previously sent Blacksmith Tong and the others into such paroxysms of excitement.

Mama Su had heard about Baldy Li's grand ambitions and knew that Blacksmith Tong, Tailor Zhang, Scissors Guan, Yanker Yu, and Popsi-cle Wang had all joined his dreams of world conquest. She initially felt that she would believe it when she saw it, but after hearing Baldy Li bragging extravagantly while eating his meat bun, she became even more excited than Popsicle Wang and couldn't wait to join in as well. Baldy Li shook his head and wouldn't allow her to invest. "There are no brands left," he said. "The jacket is my own Baldy Brand, the pants are Blacksmith Brand, the shirt is Tailor Brand, the undershirt is Scissors Brand, the underwear is Ivories Brand, and I almost forgot about the socks, which have now become Popsicle Brand."

Mama Su said that she didn't want a brand, but Baldy Li insisted that it wouldn't do for her not to have one. The two argued back and forth until finally Baldy Li noticed her ample chest and exclaimed, "How could I forget that you are a woman? There is also a bra."

Baldy Li looked down at his half-eaten bun and added, "Your brand can be called Meat Bun Bra. If you purchase fifteen shares, then,
together with the ten shares I gave Tailor Zhang for his expertise, we will have precisely one hundred shares."

Mama Su was so pleased that she didn't care that Meat Bun Bra sounded a bit vulgar. She said delightedly, "I just went to the temple a couple of days ago to burn incense, and it was thanks to that that today I had the good fortune of running into Baldy Li."

As soon as she said this Mama Su became very impatient to return home to get her savings. Baldy Li said there wasn't enough time, because he was about to get on the bus, so he would just make a mental note of her fifteen shares. Mama Su, however, was worried that by the time Baldy Li returned triumphant from Shanghai, he would no longer recognize her shares. Therefore, she insisted, "It is not enough to make a mental note. We should record this in writing."

Mama Su immediately walked out the door, asking Baldy Li to wait until she returned with the money. Baldy Li hollered for her to come back, then said, "I could wait for you, but the bus won't wait for me."

Seeing that it was almost time, he picked up his bag, rolled up his map, and walked out of Mama Sus shop. Mama Su followed him all the way to the door of the depot waiting room. Seeing him standing in line to have his ticket checked, she yelled, "Baldy Li, when you return, you can't forget your promise. I watched you grow up."

Baldy Li suddenly remembered his childhood, including how Song Fanping was beaten to death right in front of the station, how he and Song Gang had cried abjectly, how it was Mama Su who lent them her cart, and how it was she who asked for Tao Qing to haul Song Fanping's corpse home. Baldy Li looked at her and said, "I remember all that happened when I was young. Song Gang and I waited here for our mother to return from Shanghai. Nobody even noticed us, but you gave us some stuffed buns to eat and arranged for us to go home."

Baldy Li's eyes grew red. He wiped them as he walked to the ticket counter, then turned around and said, "I won't forget my promise, don't you worry."

CHAPTER 40

B
ALDY LI
spread his wings and soared to Shanghai, and Blacksmith Tong, Tailor Zhang, Scissors Guan, Yanker Yu, and Popsi-cle Wang all craned their necks to watch him go. Each night when the five of them went to bed, all they could see when they shut their eyes was those dots on the world map, shimmering like stars in the night sky. Popsicle Wang also dreamed of that ten-thousand-ton oil tanker riding the ocean waves. For Mama Su, the dots were a compulsory course that she would review in her head before going to bed. However, she still felt somewhat ill at ease, given that her fifteen shares had not been formally recorded in the ledger. After Baldy Li left, she took the buns she had just removed from the steamer and proceeded to visit Tong, Zhang, Guan, Yu, and Wang, telling them each in detail about her fifteen shares. As the saying goes, the best way to win peoples hearts is through their stomachs, and so Tong, Zhang, Guan, Yu, and Wang all nodded complacently to her story as they sat there eating her steamed buns. Mama Su finally felt slightly more at ease, thinking that even if Baldy Li were to go back on his word, these five men who had wiped the juice from her meat buns off their lips could serve as her witnesses.

After Baldy Li left, Blacksmith Tongs shop served as the partners’ regular meeting place, and as soon as night fell Zhang, Guan, Yu, and Wang congregated there. Mama Sus snack shop was way over at the bus depot, so she was always the last to arrive, usually not until the moon was high in the night sky. The six of them would sit together laughing, praising Baldy Li profusely and recounting his successes at the Good Works Factory. The stories became increasingly exaggerated, and the partners’ expectations for their new business also grew exponentially. Blacksmith Tong observed that the business world was currently dominated by Cantonese, and regardless of whether one was Cantonese, it was still necessary to speak the dialect. He added, "I'm sure that by the time Baldy Li returns, he will be speaking with a strong Cantonese accent, like a Hong Kong businessman."

Then they heard Tailor Zhang's work report. In order to train the
thirty country girls, Zhang had temporarily closed his tailor shop. He said that the girls had all brought their own bedding, and fortunately it was now March and the warehouse was quite big, so they could bunk down on the floor. They slept in three rows, like female soldiers. Tailor Zhang said that, of the thirty girls, some were clever and others were slow. The clever ones could master the sewing techniques in only three days, while the slower ones needed from ten days to two weeks. Blacksmith Tong said that ten to fifteen days was much too slow, because Baldy Li would be bringing them a lot of business in less than a week. What would they do if, when the time came, they were not able to handle things?

Tong, Zhang, Guan, Yu, Wang, and Su discussed matters, and meanwhile one week after another passed with no news from Baldy Li. Gradually the partners grew more reserved in their comments and began to reaccess the situation. Popsicle Wang was the first to speculate, "Could Baldy Li have run away?"

"That's crazy," Tailor Zhang immediately retorted. "When he departed, he left me all of his money. What would he run away with?"

Blacksmith Tong nodded and said, "In business, some things proceed quickly and others take more time."

"That's right," Yanker Yu added. "Sometimes I can extract ten teeth in a single day, while other times I might go several days without extracting a single tooth."

"Sharpening scissors is the same way," Little Scissors Guan said. "Sometimes I am unbelievably busy, and other times I have so much time on my hands I could die of boredom."

Two more weeks went by, yet there still wasn't any news from Baldy Li. The six partners continued meeting every evening in the blacksmith's shop, though now the last one to arrive was no longer Mama Su but Tailor Zhang. Every afternoon he would go to the post office, full of hope, and ask if Baldy Li had sent any telegrams from Shanghai. The clerk in charge of receiving telegrams would always see Tailor Zhang poking his head in with an ingratiating smile on his face half an hour before he was scheduled to get off work. The clerk would wave, and before he even had a chance to say a word, Tailor Zhang's face would immediately grow dark as he realized that there was no telegram. By the time the clerk had opened his mouth, Zhang would already be halfway out the door. A depressed Tailor Zhang would still linger outside the post office as one by one the workers got off work, and would
ask the person locking up to please send any telegram arriving that night from Baldy Li to Blacksmith Tongs shop. Zhang would then hurry home, catatonically eat his dinner, and gloomily proceed to Tongs shop.

The six partners would then sit gazing at the stars and waiting for Baldy Li's telegram to arrive. They continued waiting like this for a month and five days. The partners had been left like a pitch-black night sky, without a single star or a glimmer of moonlight—completely in the dark and with no idea of what to do next. They sat in the blacksmith shop watching each other. At first they were very talkative, but eventually they simply sat there silently, each thinking about his own affairs. Little Guan couldn't help but complain. "Shanghai seems to have swallowed Baldy Li up like a dog swallowing a meat bun, eh?"

At their last gathering, when Popsicle Wang had wondered out loud whether Baldy Li had run off, his speculation had roused the ire of the others. But this time everyone seemed to be in accord with Little Guan's complaints. Yanker Yu was the first to agree with Little Guan: "That's right. After I extract a tooth, regardless of whether it is good or bad, it always bleeds. Baldy Li went to Shanghai, and regardless of whether he found any business there or not, at the very least we should have had some news by now."

"As I said from the very beginning," Popsicle Wang added, "is it not possible that Baldy Li simply ran away?"

"It just doesn't make sense for him to have run away," Tailor Zhang said, sighing. "But I really can't explain how it is that there has been absolutely no news from him."

Mama Su suddenly thought of another possibility and speculated nervously, "What if he had an accident?"

"What sort of accident?" Little Guan asked.

Mama Su looked at her five partners, hesitated a moment, and said, "I don't know whether I should say it out loud or not."

"Say it!" Yanker Yu said anxiously. "What is it that you shouldn't say?"

Mama Su stammered, "Shanghai is a big place, packed with cars. Perhaps Baldy Li was run over? Maybe he is stuck in the hospital?"

The other partners abruptly fell silent and became quite concerned by Mama Sus scenario, realizing that they couldn't rule out the possibility that Baldy Li might have been run over by a car. They all prayed for him to be protected by the gods and not be run over; or, even if he were hit by a car, that it be just a scrape, and please not to let him be
severely injured, and especially not to let him be hit so hard that he'd become permanently crippled, idiotic, blind, or deaf.

Finally Tailor Zhang spoke up. He reported that this months rent had been paid, and the thirty country girls had been given their wages. Combined with the money spent on the thirty sewing machines, there was only four thousand yuan left over. Tailor Zhang summed up anxiously, "This money represents our own sweat and blood."

Zhang's comment made everyone's heart tremble. Mama Su also became very nervous, but when she remembered that she had not yet added her money to the pot, she felt a little better. Everyone then looked to Blacksmith Tong—the chairman of the Private Entrepreneurs’ Business Association, and also the largest investor in their venture—and waited for him to suggest what their next step should be. Tong hadn't said a word all evening, but with everyone looking to him, he had no choice. He sighed and said, "Let's wait a few more days."