Brothers (53 page)

A telegram from Baldy Li finally arrived two days later. He didn't send the telegram to Tailor Zhang but, rather, to Mama Su. The telegram consisted of only two sentences, stating that Baldy Li had decided that Mama Sus Meat Bun Brand bras didn't sound very sophisticated, and therefore he wanted to change them to Dim Sum Brand bras.

With Baldy Li's telegram in hand, Mama Su jogged the entire way to Blacksmith Tongs shop. The shop, which had been quiet for a long time, suddenly erupted in excitement. The partners immediately recovered their initial optimism and began excitedly discussing their new prospects. They speculated that it must have taken Baldy Li so long to write them because he had found so much business in Shanghai that he couldn't even find the time to write. They alternated between complimenting and cursing Baldy Li, between saying that he was a complete asshole and insisting that he was intentionally scaring them to death.

Then Popsicle Wang noticed a problem with the telegram, and his flushed face went pale. Waving the telegram around, he said, "This doesn't say anything about business."

"That's true." Little Guan also went pale. "It doesn't mention anything about business."

The other four quickly took the telegram and read through it again, then looked at one another. Tailor Zhang was the first to say something on Baldy Li's behalf: "If he is suggesting that Mama Su
change the name of her brand, he must already have scored a few business deals."

"Tailor Zhang is right." Blacksmith Tong pointed at the bench on which they were sitting. "I know Baldy Li. When he was a little runt, he would come here every day and engage in sexual relations with this long bench. That little asshole is not like other people, and everything he does he wants to do to excess—"

"Blacksmith Tong is right," said Yanker Yu, interrupting him. "This little asshole has a bigger appetite than anyone I know. That time he came to borrow my recliner, he also wanted to borrow my oilcloth umbrella and almost borrowed my table as well. As a result, in a single day he transformed my magnificent dental stall into a naked sparrow."

"Yanker Yu is correct," added Little Guan, recalling incidents involving Baldy Li. "This little bastard could do business from an early age, using Lin Hongs bottom to cheat me out of a bowl of house-special noodles. As he ate happily I was left drooling."

"You are right," Popsicle Wang chimed in. "That little bastards ambitions are sky-high. Other people are content with becoming as rich as an oil well, while he wants to be as rich as a ten-thousand-ton oil tanker."

Seeing the five of them so confident, Mama Su began to worry anew about her fifteen shares, saying, "When Baldy Li brings a whole bunch of business back here, what will I do if he doesn't recognize my shares? You all have to serve as my witnesses!"

"Don't worry." Blacksmith Tong pointed to the telegram in Tailor Zhang's hands. "This telegram is your evidence, and as such is much more compelling than anything the five of us could say."

Mama Su immediately grabbed the telegram from Tailor Zhang and, cradling it to her chest like an infant, said happily, "Fortunately, I went to the temple to burn some incense, whereupon Baldy Li sent this telegram. Now he won't be able to ignore my fifteen shares. Burning incense is truly effective!"

After Baldy Li sent his enigmatic telegram, this document became like the Communist sun rising in the East, instantly liberating his six partners from the shackles of darkness and despair. Their excitement sustained them for another half a month, but there was no more news from Baldy Li. The partners yearned through the day, yearned through the night, yearned every hour, every minute, and, in the end, every second. But still there was no trace of Baldy Li. He had vanished in Shanghai
like a stone in the ocean. From that point on, no more of his telegrams arrived in Liu.

Their hopes dashed once again, the six partners returned to passing their days and nights in extreme anxiety. Two months had now gone by. Tailor Zhang paid the second month s rent for the warehouse and gave the country girls their second months salary. Then, with a trembling voice, he said, "Only two thousand yuan remains of our sweat-and-blood money."

Everyone shuddered, Mama Su with them, until she again remembered that she hadn't contributed any money to the pot, and once again she felt at ease. At this point, the partners experienced a definite crisis of confidence in Baldy Li. It was Yanker Yu who first expressed his dissatisfaction: "Who does this bastard think he is? Are we doing business together? Or are we playing hide-and-seek?"

"You're right," Tailor Zhang agreed. "Even if a pin falls to the ground, it still makes a sound. It's not right for Baldy Li to disappear like this without giving us any notice."

"Don't even mention a pin," Little Guan added angrily. "Even a fart will make a sound."

Popsicle Wang added, "That little bastard is not worth a fart."

Blacksmith Tong was pale with fury but still didn't say anything. Everyone else looked at him reproachfully. Tong understood what they were thinking as if they had said it aloud:
If he hadn't invested those first four thousand yuan, our own money would have stayed in our pockets.
Blacksmith Tong, however, was stewing indignantly:
They say that the power of example is infinite, but being the one to set an example just makes you the scapegoat.

The six partners fell silent, then Tailor Zhang continued in a quavering voice, "In another month, there won't be enough money to pay the rental fees and salaries." His voice was cold and flat, and after he finished speaking, he gazed at Tong in a cold and flat manner. Blacksmith Tong felt that the others were also staring him in the eye— except Yanker Yu, who was staring straight at his mouth, as if counting the good teeth.

Blacksmith Tong sighed deeply and said, "How about this: Let's first let the thirty country girls go. When we need them, we can always call them back."

The other partners didn't answer but, rather, continued staring coldly at Blacksmith Tong. He knew that they were thinking about the
rental fees for the warehouse, and that none of them was willing to continue throwing his remaining money into it. Blacksmith Tong shook his head, then nodded and said, "How about this: Lets first cancel the rental on the warehouse, and if Baldy Li does return with new business, we can always rent it again."

Some of the partners began nodding, and Tailor Zhang raised a question: "What about the thirty sewing machines?"

Blacksmith Tong pondered for a moment, then suggested, "Lets divide the sewing machines based on how much each of us contributed and take them home."

Tailor Zhang personally sent the thirty country girls home, personally canceled the warehouse rental, and personally divided up the thirty sewing machines based on the amount each partner had invested. Mama Su hadn't contributed any money, so she of course didn't receive a sewing machine. With all of these funereal affairs now taken care of, the partners continued meeting every evening in Blacksmith Tongs shop, only now they sat as mute as six ghosts, and by nightfall the shop was as silent as a grave.

Another month went by, and still there was no news from Baldy Li. Mama Su was the first to stop attending the nightly meetings, and Tailor Zhang, Little Guan, and Yanker Yu soon followed her. In the end it was only Popsicle Wang, who had invested the least amount of money, who still duly reported at the blacksmith's shop every evening. He would sit there in front of the downcast Blacksmith Tong, sighing, wiping away his tears, and pathetically asking, "Has our sweat-and-blood money been lost like this?"

"There's nothing we can do," Blacksmith Tong replied with a hollow look in his eyes. "When it comes time to sever one's flesh, one has no alternative but to slice it off."

CHAPTER 41

J
UST WHEN
the partners had all but lost hope, Baldy Li reappeared, completely covered in dust from his travels. By this point, he had been gone from Liu Town for three months and eleven days. He walked into Liu Towns bus depot one evening, still wearing the same clothes and still carrying his bag in one hand and the world map in the other. He walked right into Mama Sus snack shop and sat down. She initially didn't recognize him, because when he left he had a shiny bald head but now he had long hair and a full beard. He pounded the table and shouted, "Mama Su, I'm back!"

Mama Su jumped in surprise. Pointing at Baldy Li's long hair, she asked, "What in the world is this?"

"I've been unbelievably busy," Baldy Li replied, shaking his head. "I was so busy in Shanghai that I didn't even have time to shave my head."

Mama Su clasped both hands to her chest and looked over at her daughter, who was standing there with an astonished look. Carefully, she inquired, "And how did that go?"

"I'm starving," Baldy Li barked at Mama Su. "Quick, fix me five steamed meat buns."

Mama Su quickly told her daughter to bring Baldy Li some buns. He grabbed one and stuffed it into his mouth, saying, "Go tell Blacksmith Tong and the others to meet at the warehouse. I'll be there as soon as I finish my buns."

Baldy Li's demeanor convinced Mama Su that he had secured a lot of business. Therefore, she nodded, and left. After she had walked twenty yards or so, she suddenly remembered that that they had canceled the rental of the warehouse, so she hurried back and, standing in the doorway, said uncertainly, "Do you mean hold a meeting at Blacksmith Tongs place?"

Since Baldy Li's mouth was stuffed at that moment, he had no choice but to nod affirmatively. Mama Su then dashed off toward the town's western alley as if she had received an imperial mandate. When she reached Tailor Zhang's shop entrance, she shouted, "Baldy Li has returned!"

Mama Su called out for Zhang, Guan, and Yu to come over. When Blacksmith Tong heard her, he also came running out. Tong, Zhang, Guan, and Yu then stood in the doorway of the blacksmith s shop, listening as Mama Su breathlessly told them about how Baldy Li had suddenly walked through the door of her snack shop, how he had pounded the table and shouted. When they finished hearing her account, Blacksmith Tong was silent for a moment, then said with a smile, "Mission accomplished."

"Just think," Blacksmith Tong added. "If Baldy Li hadn't been successful, would he be so bold as to have summoned us to a meeting? No, he would have hidden his face."

Tailor Zhang, Little Scissors Guan, and Yanker Yu nodded enthusiastically and happily cursed him, "That little bastard, that little bastard, that little bastard…"

Blacksmith Tong asked Mama Su with a smile, "Does that little bastard now speak with a strong Cantonese accent, like a Hong Kong businessman?"

Mama Su thought carefully, then shook her head. "He still speaks with a distinct Liu Town accent."

Blacksmith Tong was skeptical. He prompted, "At the very least he must speak a few words of Shanghainese?"

"No Shanghainese either," Mama Su said.

"That little bastard certainly doesn't forget his roots," praised Blacksmith Tong.

Mama Su nodded and said, "His hair is very long now, like a rock star."

"I get it," Blacksmith Tong exclaimed, rather pleased with his powers of deduction. "That little bastard certainly has high aspirations. He has no interest in being merely a Hong Kong businessman but, rather, is modeling himself on a foreign businessman. Just think, Marx and Engels were both foreigners, and they both had long hair and full beards."

"That's right," Mama Su agreed. "He does have a full beard now."

Mama Su had shifted into high gear by this point. She wiped the sweat from her brow and said that she had to go notify Popsicle Wang. Little Scissors Guan said that he had just seen Wang walk out of the western alley carrying a soy sauce bottle. Mama Su immediately set off toward the western alley, in the direction of the town's soy sauce store.

Blacksmith Tong, Tailor Zhang, Little Guan, and Yanker Yu, their
faces flushed bright red, sat down in the blacksmith shop and started laughing hysterically like four lunatics. They danced around crazily bumping into walls. Blacksmith Tong was the first to calm down, then he gestured for Zhang, Guan, and Yu to sit on the bench. He told them that Baldy Li didn't yet know that they had stopped paying rent on the warehouse, that they had divided up the thirty sewing machines, or that they had sent the thirty country girls home. He said that when Baldy Li learned this, he might very well explode and curse them. "When Baldy Li curses people, his mouth is like a machine gun. Whatever you do, be sure to remain calm and don't lose your temper. Let him curse and then wait for his anger to subside. Then we'll explain our predicament to him."

"Blacksmith Tong is right." Tailor Zhang said to Little Scissors Guan and Yanker Yu, "You two be sure to remain calm."

"Don't worry," Little Guan said. "Even if he curses the shit out of my father, I still won't get angry."

"Yes," Yanker Yu agreed. "As long as Baldy Li brings us a lot of business, I won't object if he curses my family back eighteen generations."

Blacksmith Tong was reassured by their promises. He looked around his shop and remarked on how he didn't have a proper chair in the entire place. With Baldy Li returning victorious, they should at least find him a good chair to sit in. Yanker Yu immediately got up and brought over his rattan recliner. Tailor Zhang and Little Guan shook their heads at this tattered thing and declared that it was simply too shabby for words. Blacksmith Tong shook his head as well. Yanker Yu was irked by their reaction and defended his precious chair: "It may look shabby, but it is actually very comfortable."

At that moment Mama Su and Popsicle Wang hurried in, and Mama Su reported that she had seen Baldy Li strutting over in this direction. Blacksmith Tong quickly lay down on Yanker Yu's recliner to see how it felt and agreed with Yu: "It'll do."

When Baldy Li, now long-haired and bearded like a foreign businessman, sauntered into the blacksmith shop and saw his six partners standing there respectfully with pleased expressions, he laughed out loud. "Long time no see!"