Chronicle of a Blood Merchant

CHAPTER THREE

Xu Sanguan’s job was to push a trolley heaped with puffy white silkworm cocoons back and forth across a huge workshop, delivering them to the flock of young women who ran the spinning machines. He horsed around with them every day, joking and laughing amid the deafening roar of machinery. Often their hands would reach back and pat his head, or find their way to his chest and playfully shove him back a few steps. If he were to choose one of them to be his woman, to share a quilt with him on a snowy winter’s night, then he would choose Lin Fenfang, the girl with the braids that dangled down to her waist, the girl whose smile revealed a row of straight, white teeth and a pair of dimples, because he figured that he would never tire of looking at her, even for a lifetime. And sometimes Lin Fenfang was among those who would pat him on the head. Once she even surreptitiously squeezed his hand. After that he always gave her the best cocoons, and he could never bear to give her any of the ones that had gone bad.

There was another girl who was very pretty. She worked in a little snack shop in town, standing every morning next to a giant wok full of oil, making fried dough for breakfast. She was constantly breaking out into exclamations: when some hot oil splattered on her hand, or when she discovered a spot on her dress, or when her foot slipped as she walked down the street, or when she noticed that it had begun to rain, or when she heard a thunderclap, he invariably heard her cry out, “Aiya!”

This girl was called Xu Yulan. Her work for the day was finished by breakfast, after which she was free to spend her afternoons strolling back and forth through the streets, chewing contentedly on melon seeds wherever she went. Sometimes she would stop to shout a hello to someone she knew who was standing across the street, bursting into giggles and a series of “aiyas” as she spoke. At these times there was usually a little piece of melon seed husk stuck to her lips, and if the people who walked by just as she opened her mouth were lucky, they would even smell the sweet vegetal fragrance that emerged from between her lips as she spoke.

After she had walked a few blocks, she would usually walk back to her house, reemerging ten minutes later clad in an entirely different outfit. Then she would once again begin to amble through the streets. She changed her outfit three times a day, because the fact was that she only had three outfits into which to change. And every day she changed into four different pairs of shoes, because she only had four pairs of shoes to wear. When there was nothing new left to wear, she would wrap a silk scarf around her neck.

In truth, she had no more clothes than anyone else, but everyone thought of her as the girl with the most extensive and fashionable wardrobe in town. Her strolls through the streets made everyone feel as if her pretty face were as familiar as the stream that flowed across town. And almost everyone in town knew her as the Fried Dough Queen. “Look, there goes the Fried Dough Queen.” “Did you see the Fried Dough Queen go into the fabric shop? She buys some pretty new pattern practically every day.” “No, she just looks, she never buys.” “The Fried Dough Queen’s face smells so sweet.” “The Fried Dough Queen’s hands aren’t very pretty. Too short, and her fingers are stubby.” “So that’s the Fried Dough Queen?”

One day Xu Yulan, the Fried Dough Queen, walked a few blocks with a young man called He Xiaoyong. They talked and laughed, and later they stood by the railing of a wooden bridge until the sun started to set and night had nearly fallen. He Xiaoyong was wearing a clean white shirt, sleeves rolled up to the elbows, and when he talked and laughed, he would cross his arms and wrap his hands around his elbows. Xu Yulan found this gesture enchanting, and when she looked prettily up at He Xiaoyong, her eyes sparkled with light.

Sometime later someone saw He Xiaoyong walk by Xu Yulan’s front door just as Xu Yulan herself had just emerged from inside the door. When she caught sight of him, she called out, “Aiya!” Her face was wreathed in smiles. “Come in and sit for a while.”

When He Xiaoyong walked inside, he saw Xu Yulan’s father sitting at a table drinking some yellow rice wine. Xu Yulan’s father, seeing a young stranger come in through the door with his daughter in tow, slid his chair and issued an invitation. “Have a drink?”

After that He Xiaoyong was often to be seen at Xu Yulan’s house, huddled with her father as they spoke in low tones over a pot of yellow rice wine, punctuated from time to time with what sounded like conspiratorial laughter.

And thus Xu Yulan found herself walking out of her room and standing next to the table, demanding as loudly as she could, “What are you two always talking about? What’s so funny?”

That very same day Xu Sanguan returned home from the country. As he reached town, night had already fallen. In those days there weren’t yet any street lamps installed in the city; red lanterns hung from the eaves of some of the shops, shining in uneven bands across the stone-cobbled street. Xu Sanguan walked home, enclosed one moment in darkness and the next in light. As he passed the theater, he caught sight of Xu Yulan. The Fried Dough Queen was standing sideways by the front entrance of the theater in between two big lanterns, cracking melon seeds, her face glowing luminously red in the lantern light.

Xu Sanguan walked over toward her, hesitated, turned, and walked back. He stood across the street, grinning as he watched how prettily she pursed her lips as she spit out a melon seed husk. Xu Yulan saw Xu Sanguan too. First she glanced in his direction, and then she turned to watch as two passersby walked down the street. When they had gone, she glanced back at Xu Sanguan and just as quickly wheeled around to glance inside the theater, where a man and a woman were standing and talking about the show. When she twisted her head back around, she saw that Xu Sanguan was still standing in the same place.

“Aiya!” she finally exclaimed, pointing at Xu Sanguan. “Why are you staring at me like that? And smiling that way too!”

Xu Sanguan crossed the street and stood in front of the girl bathed in crimson light. “Let me treat you to some steamed dumplings.”

Xu Yulan said, “I don’t know you.”

“I’m Xu Sanguan. I work at the silk factory.”

“I still don’t know you.”

“I know you,” Xu Sanguan said. “You’re the Fried Dough Queen.”

Xu Yulan giggled. “So you know about that?”

“Everybody’s heard of you. Let’s go. I’ll treat you to some steamed dumplings.”

“I’ve already eaten today.” Xu Yulan smiled. “Why don’t you ask me tomorrow?”

The next day Xu Sanguan took Xu Yulan to the Victory Restaurant. They sat at a table by the window, at the very same table where he had eaten pork livers and drunk yellow rice wine with Ah Fang and Genlong. And just like Ah Fang and Genlong, he slapped the table for emphasis as he called out to the waiter, “I’ll take the steamed dumplings.”

He treated Xu Yulan to the steamed dumplings. When she had finished, she told him she could still eat a bowl of wontons.

Xu Sanguan slapped the table. “Bring a bowl of wontons.”

That afternoon Xu Yulan happily ate a plate of preserved plums, but after she ate them, she said her mouth was salty, so she ate some candied fruit, but when she was finished with the fruit, she said she was thirsty, so Xu Sanguan bought her half a watermelon. They stood together on the wooden bridge as Xu Yulan happily devoured the watermelon. Then she happily proceeded to hiccup.

As her body swayed with hiccups, Xu Sanguan counted on his fingers how much money he had spent. “Steamed dumplings twenty-four fen, wontons nine fen, preserved plums ten fen, two bags of candied fruit comes to twenty-three fen, half a watermelon a pound four ounces all together seventeen fen, the grand total comes to eighty-three fen. When are we getting married?”

“Aiya!” Xu Yulan cried out in surprise. “What makes you think I’m going to marry you?”

“I spent eighty-three fen,” Xu Sanguan explained.

“You’re the one who invited me,” Xu Yulan hiccuped. “I thought it was free. You never said I had to marry you if I ate your things.”

“What’s wrong with getting married anyway?” Xu Sanguan said. “After we get married, I’ll love you and take good care of you, and I’ll buy you this much food almost every day.”

“Aiya!” Xu Yulan cried out again. “I wouldn’t eat that much even if I were married to you. If we got married, I’d pay for my own food. And if I had known it was going to be like this, I never would have eaten anything at all.”

“What’s done is done,” Xu Sanguan comforted her. “Everything’ll be fine once we get married.”

“I can’t marry you. I have a boyfriend. And my dad would never agree. My dad likes He Xiaoyong.”

And so it was that Xu Sanguan, cradling a bottle of yellow rice wine and a carton of cigarettes in his arms, arrived at Xu Yulan’s door and sat down at the table across from her father. After he slid the wine and the cigarettes across the tabletop, he began a lengthy discourse.

“Do you know who my dad was? My dad was a famous carpenter. My old man made furniture for all the best families in town. No one else could make a table as fine as his. When you ran your hand across the tabletop, the wood was as smooth and shiny as silk. You know who my mom was? My mom was Golden Flower. You know who she was? She was the most beautiful woman on the west side of town. People used to call her the Westside Beauty. After my dad died, she married a Nationalist company commander, then ran off with him. I’m my dad’s only son. I don’t know if Mom and that company commander ever had any kids or not. I’m called Xu Sanguan. My uncles’ two sons are older than me, so I rank third in the Xu family. I work in the silk factory, and I’m two years older than He Xiaoyong, and I started working three years before he did, so I definitely have a lot more money than he does. If he wanted to marry Xu Yulan, he’d have to save up for a few more years, but I already have enough to get married now. I’m ready now; all I need is your permission.”

Xu Sanguan added, “Xu Yulan is your only child. If she were to marry He Xiaoyong, your family line would be broken for good, because no matter whether the kids were boys or girls, their last name would still have to be He. And if she married me? My last name is the same as yours, Xu, so no matter if we had boys or girls, they would all be named Xu. Your family line will remain intact, and you’ll always have descendants to burn incense for you at the family shrine. Look at it this way — if I marry Xu Yulan, it would be just the same as if I agreed to take on your family name instead of making Xu Yulan take mine.”

When Xu Sanguan’s speech reached this juncture, Xu Yulan’s father broke into a wide grin. He looked across the table toward Xu Sanguan and, drumming a tattoo on the tabletop with his knuckles, said, “I’m going to accept this bottle of wine, and the carton of cigarettes. What you say is absolutely right. If my daughter marries He Xiaoyong, my family line will be broken forever. But if she marries you, both of our family’s futures will be assured for generations to come.”

When Xu Yulan was informed of her father’s decision, she sat on the bed, tears falling from her eyes. Her father and Xu Sanguan stood to one side. Watching as she wiped the tears from her face, Xu Yulan’s father said to Xu Sanguan, “Take a good hard look. This is what women are all about. When they’re truly happy, all they can do is cry.”

Xu Sanguan said, “I’m not so sure it’s because she’s happy.”

At this point Xu Yulan interjected, “What am I supposed to say to He Xiaoyong?”

Her father replied, “Just tell him that you’re getting married. And that the groom’s name is Xu Sanguan, not He Xiaoyong.”

“How can I tell him something like that? What am I supposed to do if he can’t take the news and he starts bashing his head against the wall?”

“If he does himself in, then there’s not a whole lot more you could say to him.”

In her heart Xu Yulan didn’t want to let He Xiaoyong go so easily. He was the man who liked to fold his arms around his elbows as he talked, the smiling man who came to her house almost every day, the man who would bring her dad a bottle of wine almost every other day and sit drinking and chuckling at the table to keep him company. And there had been a couple of occasions when, taking advantage of the fact that her dad had gone around the block to the public toilet, he suddenly pushed her behind the door and pressed her body against the wall with his own. Each time it happened, she had been so scared that her heart leaped wildly in her chest. The first time she didn’t feel anything but the pumping of her heart. The second time she discovered his beard. His beard had slid back and forth across her face like a brush.

And the third time? This is what Xu Yulan asked herself as she lay in bed in the quiet of night, her heart pounding as she imagined her father standing up to leave, walking out the front door, and turning the corner toward the public toilet. He Xiaoyong had jumped to his feet, toppling the stool on which he had been sitting, and pressed her against the wall for a third time.

Xu Yulan made a date to meet He Xiaoyong on the old wooden bridge. It was already dark. As soon as Xu Yulan caught sight of He Xiaoyong, she broke into plaintive sobs. She told He Xiaoyong that someone named Xu Sanguan had treated her to steamed dumplings, preserved plums, candied fruit, and half a watermelon, and how, when it was all over, she had found herself obliged to marry him.

He Xiaoyong, noticing that someone was crossing the bridge, said in an anxious whisper, “Hey, hey! Don’t cry. Stop crying. If someone sees you crying, what’ll they think? Where would that leave me?”

Xu Yulan said, “Go and give Xu Sanguan his eighty-three fen back. Then I won’t owe him anything.”

He Xiaoyong said, “We’re not even married yet, and you want me to pay back your debts?”

“He Xiaoyong, you have to take my family name when we get married. Otherwise my dad’s going to give me to Xu Sanguan.”

“What the hell are you talking about? Do you think a man like me would actually agree to take on someone else’s name? And let our sons be named Xu? Impossible.”

“Then I have to marry Xu Sanguan.”

Xu Sanguan married Xu Yulan one month later. She wanted a bright red cheongsam to wear at the wedding; Xu Sanguan bought one for her. She wanted two cotton-padded jackets, one bright red, one bright green, to wear during the winter; Xu Sanguan bought her a bolt of red fabric and a bolt of green fabric so that she could sew them for herself in her spare time. She said they should have a clock, a mirror, a bed, a table, and stools, plus a basin and a chamber pot for the house; Xu Sanguan told her he had already taken care of everything.

Xu Yulan began to think that Xu Sanguan wasn’t necessarily any worse than He Xiaoyong. Xu Sanguan was even a little bit more handsome than He Xiaoyong. He certainly had a lot more money in his pockets. And from the looks of things, he was a lot stronger too. So now when she saw Xu Sanguan, she would break into a smile. “I’m very capable, you know. I can sew, and I’m a good cook. You’re really pretty lucky, getting a wife like me.”

Xu Sanguan sat on a stool, nodding and smiling.

“I’m pretty and I can work hard. In the future, I’ll personally tailor all the clothes you wear, and I’ll take care of all the housework too. Except for the heavy chores — like buying the rice and buying coal — you have to do those. But I won’t let you do anything else, I’ll take very good care of you. You’re really very lucky to have me, don’t you think? What’s wrong? Why aren’t you nodding?”

“I am. I’ve been nodding all along.”

“Oh, and another thing,” Xu Yulan remembered. “Listen carefully. When I’m on vacation, I can’t do a thing, not even soak the rice or wash the vegetables. I’ll need to rest for those few days, so you’ll have to take care of all the housework. Understand? What’s wrong now? Why aren’t you nodding?”

Xu Sanguan duly nodded. “What kind of vacation do you mean? How long does it take?”

“Aiya!” Xu Yulan exclaimed. “You don’t even know what kind of vacation I mean?”

Xu Sanguan shook his head. “I don’t know.”

“My period.”

“Period?”

“Women get a period every month. Don’t you know that?”

“I think I’ve heard something like that.”

“What I’m saying is when I get my period, I can’t do any work, I can’t let myself get tired out, I can’t touch any cold water, because as soon as I touch cold water or I get tired out, my stomach hurts and I get a fever.”