Chronicle of a Blood Merchant (23 page)

As they spoke, they came to the spot by the riverside where the barge was moored. Laishun jumped on deck, and Laixi, after untying the rope from a wooden post, also hopped aboard.

Laixi, standing on the deck, said to Xu Sanguan, “We have to deliver the cocoons to the factory now, so we can’t take you any farther down river. We live in the Eighth Production Team just outside of Tongyuan. If you’re ever in Tongyuan, come stay with us. We’re friends now.”

As Xu Sanguan stood on the bank watching them push off into the current, he said, “Laishun, take good care of Laixi. Don’t you believe him when he says he’s just fine. He’s running on empty. Don’t let him exhaust himself. Tire yourself out a little instead. Don’t let him push the barge. And if you get tired and can’t row anymore, just stop and rest by the side of the river. Don’t let him switch places with you.”

“I hear you,” Laishun said.

The barge had already moved out toward the middle of the river when Xu Sanguan addressed Laixi. “Laixi, if you really refuse to eat some pork livers, then make sure you get a good night’s sleep. You know the saying: if you can’t get enough to eat, there’s nothing to do but sleep. Sleep helps you recover your strength.”

The brothers rowed away, waving toward him as they moved farther and farther into the distance. Xu Sanguan waved until he could no longer see the boat, then turned to climb the steep stone steps of the embankment back to the street.

That same afternoon Xu Sanguan left Seven-Mile Fort on a ferry to Changning, where he sold four hundred milliliters of blood. He did not ride the boat after Changning because there was a bus from Changning to Shanghai, and although it was much more expensive than the ferry, he wanted to reach Yile as quickly as possible and to see Xu Yulan. He counted the time on his fingers. Fifteen days had gone by since Xu Yulan had departed with Yile for Shanghai, yet he had no way of knowing whether Yile’s illness had taken a turn for the better or worse. He boarded a bus, and as soon as it began to move, his heart began to pound wildly in his chest.

Xu Sanguan left Changning in the morning and arrived in Shanghai the same afternoon. By the time he found the hospital where Yile was being treated, it was already dusk. He walked into the room where Yile had been staying and saw that there were six hospital beds, five of which were occupied by other patients. One of the beds was empty.

He asked, “Where can I find Xu Yile?”

They pointed toward the empty bed and said, “Right there.”

A huge roaring sound filled his head. Suddenly, he remembered Genlong. The morning Genlong had died, he had sprinted back to the hospital, but Genlong’s bed had been empty, and they had told him that Genlong was dead.
Maybe
Yile is dead too,
he thought to himself. He stood transfixed, then began to sob. His sobs were as loud as screams, and his hands repeatedly swept streams of tears away from his face and onto the hospital bed.

A shout rang out behind him. “Xu Sanguan, you’re finally here!”

Xu Sanguan stopped crying and turned to see Xu Yulan helping Yile back into the hospital room. His tears gave way to laughter, and he said to himself,
Yile isn’t dead. I thought Yile was
dead.

Xu Yulan said, “What the hell are you crying about? Yile’s feeling much better now.”

Yile really did look much better. He could even walk by himself now. When he had settled back into his bed, he looked up at Xu Sanguan, smiled, and called his name: “Dad.”

Xu Sanguan rubbed Yile’s shoulders. “Yile, you’re so much better now. Your color is much better. You don’t look so pale and gray anymore, and your voice is louder, and you seem to be in good spirits, but your shoulders are still much too skinny. Yile, just now I came in and saw your bed was empty, and I thought you were dead.” As he spoke, tears once more streamed from his eyes.

Xu Yulan gave him a little push. “What are you crying about this time, Xu Sanguan?”

Xu Sanguan wiped his tears away. “Just now I was crying because I thought Yile was dead. Now I’m crying because I know he’s alive.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Xu Sanguan walked down the street. His hair was white, and he had lost seven teeth, but his eyes were still good and he could see things just as clearly as he always had. And he knew his ears were still good because he could hear things that were happening very far away.

Xu Sanguan was over sixty years old. His son Yile had been allowed to return to town eight years earlier. Erle had followed him back home two years later. Now Yile worked at the food-processing plant, and Erle was a buyer at the department store next to the rice shop. Within a few years Yile, Erle, and Sanle had all gotten married, had children, and moved to their own houses. And these days their three sons brought their wives and kids back to the family home to see them only on Saturdays.

Now that Xu Sanguan was no longer responsible for the children, and the money that he and Xu Yulan earned was for their use alone, they rarely lacked for cash. There were no longer any patches on their clothes. Their life was like Xu Sanguan’s health, which, as he often told people he happened to run into on the street, “is very good.”

Which is why when he walked down the street, Xu Sanguan’s face was awash in smiles and the wrinkles that covered his face rippled like river water. The sun shone on his face, etching the ripples in light and shadow. That was how he looked as he walked with a smile out of the house and strolled past the snack shop where Xu Yulan made fried dough for breakfast every morning, past the department store where Erle worked, past the movie house that had once been a theater, past the elementary school, past the hospital, past Five Star Bridge, past the clock shop, past the butcher’s shop, past Heavenrest Temple, past a newly opened boutique, past two trucks parked next to each other, and past the Victory Restaurant.

But just as he passed the Victory Restaurant, he smelled the aroma of fried pork livers escaping from the open window above the kitchen along with a gust of oily cooking smoke. He had walked past the restaurant, yet the smell stopped him in his tracks, and he stood stock-still, nostrils flaring and mouth widened in an effort to better savor the aroma.

And so it was that Xu Sanguan began to crave a plate of fried pork livers accompanied by a couple of shots of yellow rice wine. His craving grew more and more intense, and he began to feel another craving. He began to feel like selling some blood. He remembered when he had sat at the table by the window with Ah Fang and Genlong, remembered when he had sat in a restaurant with Laixi and Laishun in Huang’s Inn, fingers drumming on the tabletop, calling loudly to the waiters: a plate of fried pork livers, two shots of yellow rice wine, and warm that wine up for me.

Xu Sanguan stood by the door of the Victory Restaurant for nearly five minutes before making up his mind to go to the hospital to sell blood. He turned to leave. It had been fifteen years since he sold blood. Today he would sell blood once again, but this time he was going to sell blood just for himself. This would be the very first time he had sold blood for himself. He thought that in the past he had always eaten fried pork livers and drunk yellow rice wine because he had sold blood. Today it would be the other way around. Today he would sell blood so that he could eat fried pork livers and drink yellow rice wine. He walked past the two trucks, walked past the new boutique, walked past the Heavenrest Temple, past the butcher’s shop, past the clock shop, past Five Star Bridge, and finally came to the hospital.

The man who sat behind the desk in the blood donation room was no longer Blood Chief Li, but a young man who looked as if he were not yet thirty years old. When the young blood chief looked up he saw that the man who walked into the office had white hair and was missing three of his four front teeth.

When he heard that this same old man had come to sell blood, he waved his hand dismissively. “You want to sell blood? An old man like you? Who needs your blood?”

Xu Sanguan said, “I may be old, but my health is very good. So what if my hair is gray and I’ve lost a few teeth? My eyes are fine, I have a lucky mole on my forehead, and my ears are as good as they ever were. I can even hear what people whisper to each other in the street from inside my house.”

The young blood chief said, “I don’t care about your eyes, ears, or anything else, for that matter. Do me a favor. Turn around and march yourself right out of here.”

Xu Sanguan said, “Old Blood Chief Li never said things like that.”

The young blood chief said, “My name isn’t Li. My name is Shen. And Blood Chief Shen can say whatever he pleases.”

Xu Sanguan said, “When Blood Chief Li was still here, I came here all the time to sell blood.”

The young blood chief said, “But Blood Chief Li is dead now.”

Xu Sanguan said, “I know he’s dead. He died three years ago. I stood by the gates of Heavenrest Temple and watched them carry his body to the crematorium.”

The young blood chief said, “Get out of here! I’m not going to buy your blood. You’re just too old. There’s more dead blood than living in your veins. No one could possibly want any of your blood. The only person who might be able to use your blood is the lacquer man.” The young blood chief chuckled. “You want to know why the lacquer man could use your blood? Because just before they lacquer a piece of furniture, they prime the wood with a coat of pig’s blood.” The young blood chief burst into laughter. “Understand now? The only thing your blood is good for is furniture. So turn left on your way out of the hospital, and it won’t be long before you come to the lacquer shop under the Five Star Bridge. The boss is named Wang. He’s famous for his lacquer. Why don’t you try selling some of your blood to him? He just might be buying.”

Xu Sanguan listened in silence, then shook his head. “I’ll forget what you’ve just said to me and let it go at that. But you should know that if my three sons had been here to hear all of that, they would have broken your jaw.”

With these words, he turned to leave. He walked out of the hospital and into the street. It was noon and the streets were full of people who had just left work for lunch. Wave after wave of young workers rolled by on their bicycles, while flocks of children with book bags slung over their shoulders flew down the sidewalk. Xu Sanguan also moved down the sidewalk, but his heart was brimming with grief and resentment. Stung to the core by what the young blood chief had said, he moved down the sidewalk, lost in thought. He was an old man now, his blood was more dead than alive, no one would want his blood anymore, and it was good only for lacquer. This was the first time in forty years he had not been allowed to sell his blood. And in those forty years, he had overcome every family calamity by selling his blood. Now that no one wanted his blood, what would he do if some calamity were once again to befall his family?

Xu Sanguan began to cry. He walked with his shirt open, letting the wind blow onto his chest and across his face, allowing the big, cloudy tears to fall from his eyes, roll slowly down his cheeks, run into his neck, and slide onto his chest. He lifted his hand to wipe his face, and the tears rolled onto his hand, across his palm, and slid down the back of his hand. His tears kept sliding down as his feet moved across the sidewalk. He held his head high, straightened his back, and his legs stepped forward with energy and spirit. His arms swung back and forth without the slightest hesitation. But his face was suffused with sadness. Rivulets of tears crisscrossed like rain streaming across a windowpane, or the hairline cracks crawling up the sides of a fragile antique bowl, or the dense profusion of branches reaching out from an old tree, irrigation canals spreading across the fields, a network of streets extending across a town. Tears wove a net across his face.

He wept in silence as he walked down the street, moving past the elementary school, past the movie theater, past the department store, past the shop where Xu Yulan fried breakfast crullers, past his own front door. He kept right on walking, walking past one street and then another, until he passed by the Victory Restaurant. And he kept on walking even then, past the clothing store, past Heavenrest Temple, past the butcher’s shop, past Five Star Bridge, until he came to the entrance to the hospital. Still he continued to walk, past the elementary school, past the movie theater, until he had circled the streets of the town once, then twice, and people on the streets began to stop and take notice of this man weeping silently as he walked through the streets of the town.

People who knew him called out as he walked past, “Xu Sanguan, Xu Sanguan, Xu Sanguan, Xu Sanguan, Xu Sanguan, why are you crying? Why won’t you say anything? Why won’t you listen to us? Why are you walking in circles? What’s the matter with you?”

Someone said to Yile, “Xu Yile, quick! Look! Your dad’s crying and walking through the streets.”

Someone said to Erle, “Xu Erle, there’s an old man crying in the street. Lots of people are gathering around to watch. You’d better have a look. Isn’t that your dad?”

Someone said to Sanle, “Xu Sanle, your dad’s crying on the street. He’s crying so hard it looks like someone must have died.”

Someone went and told Xu Yulan, “Xu Yulan, what are you doing? Still cooking? Drop everything! Come right away. Your old man Xu Sanguan’s crying in the streets. We tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t even look at us, and we asked him what was the matter, but he wouldn’t tell us anything. We don’t know what’s going on. Come quick!”

Yile, Erle, and Sanle ran out into the street and stood in their father’s way just as he was about to cross Five Star Bridge.

“Dad, what are you crying for? Who’s been upsetting you? Tell us what’s going on.”

Xu Sanguan leaned back against the railing of the bridge and sobbed, “I’m old. No one wants my blood anymore. The only one who might be able to use it is the lacquer man.”

His sons said, “Dad, what are you talking about?”

Xu Sanguan continued along his earlier train of thought. “What will happen if we run into trouble again? How will we manage?”

“What are you trying to say?”

Xu Yulan arrived just at this moment, grabbed hold of Xu Sanguan’s sleeves, and said, “What’s the matter with you? You were just fine when you went out, and now you’re crying like a baby.”

When Xu Sanguan saw that Xu Yulan had arrived, he lifted his head and wiped away his tears. “Xu Yulan, I’m an old man now. I’ll never be able to sell blood again. No one wants my blood anymore. What’ll happen to us if something goes wrong?”

Xu Yulan said, “Xu Sanguan, you don’t have to sell your blood anymore. We have enough money, and that’s not going to change. What do you need to sell your blood for? And why did you go to sell blood today anyway?”

Xu Sanguan said, “I wanted to eat a plate of fried pork livers. I wanted to drink two shots of yellow rice wine. I thought I could eat pork livers and drink wine if I sold some blood.”

Yile said, “Dad, don’t cry out here in the street. If you want to eat some fried pork livers and drink yellow rice wine, I’ll give you the money. Just don’t cry out here. If you cry in public, people will think we don’t treat you right.”

Erle said, “Dad, are you telling me that you’ve been making a scene all afternoon over some stupid pork livers and wine? And for that you’ve made us lose any face we might once have had?”

Sanle said, “Dad, don’t cry. If you really have to cry, why don’t you cry at home? Don’t cry out here. It just doesn’t look right.”

Xu Yulan wheeled around toward her three sons, and with her finger jabbing the air for emphasis, she shouted:

“What is with you three? Have your consciences been eaten by dogs? How can you talk that way about your dad? It was all for you. Each and every time he sold his blood was for you. Every
fen
he made selling blood he spent on you. You were
raised
on his blood. During the famine, when all we could get to eat was corn flour gruel and you three were nothing but skin and bones, he sold blood just so that you could eat some noodles. You three seem to have forgotten all about that. Then there was the time Erle was sent to work in the countryside. Your dad sold blood not once but twice. And all of that just so he could get on Erle’s brigade chief’s good side. Your dad treated him to lavish meals, bought him all kinds of gifts, just so you could get sent back home a little earlier. But you don’t remember any of that, do you, Erle? And Yile, what you just said hurts the most of all. How could you, of all people, talk to your dad that way? You’ve always been his favorite son. And he’s not even your real dad. Even so, he’s always been so good to you. When you had to go to the hospital in Shanghai, he sold blood everywhere he could along the way, because we didn’t have any money for the hospital bill. You’re supposed to wait at least three months each time you sell blood, but to save
your
life, your dad put his own life in danger. He sold blood after three days, then sold it again five days later. And he almost died in Pine Grove because of it. But you seem to have forgotten about that. What is with you three? I really think your consciences must have been eaten by dogs.”

As Xu Yulan’s voice faded to a whisper, tears slid down her face as well. She took hold of Xu Sanguan’s hand.

“Xu Sanguan, let’s go. Let’s go eat fried pork livers and drink yellow rice wine. We’ve got plenty of money now.” She fumbled in her pocket and extracted a wad of bills. “Look, these two are five-
yuan
bills, and here’s a two-
yuan
note, and here’s another one. And there’s more where that came from. You can eat whatever you want.”

Xu Sanguan said, “All I want is fried pork livers and yellow rice wine.”

Xu Yulan brought him to the Victory Restaurant, sat him down at a table, and ordered a plate of fried pork livers and two shots of yellow rice wine. When she was finished ordering, she picked up the menu and showed it to Xu Sanguan.

“There are a lot of other dishes here too. All of them are really good. Which ones do you want to try? Just tell me.”

“All I want is pork livers and rice wine.”

Xu Yulan ordered a second plate of fried pork livers for him, and then a third, accompanied by a whole bottle of yellow rice wine. When everything had been delivered to their table, she asked him once again what else he would like to eat. This time he shook his head.