When Song Gang woke up the next morning, he saw that Lin Hong had already gotten up and was in the bathroom brushing her teeth and washing her face. He quickly got out of bed, got dressed, and walked toward the bathroom. Lin Hong looked at him silently, her mouth full of toothpaste, and Song Gang announced, "I'm not going to sell flowers anymore."
He hesitated a moment, then headed to the door. Lin Hong came out of the bathroom and called out to him, asking him where he was going. He turned and said, "I'm going to go look for work."
Holding a towel in her hand, Lin Hong asked, "Have you eaten breakfast?"
"I'm not hungry." Song Gang shook his head and opened the door.
"Don't leave."
Lin Hong then stuffed some money into his pocket, telling him to go buy himself something to eat. Looking up and seeing Song Gang's smile, she felt a stab of sadness and bowed her head. Song Gang smiled as he patted her back, then turned around and walked out. Lin Hong walked him to the door, as if he were about to embark on a long journey. She quietly told him, "Take good care of yourself."
Song Gang nodded, then continued on. She called out to him, "Go see Baldy Li."
Song Gang paused, then shook his head firmly, saying, "I won't go see him."
Lin Hong sighed, watching her stubborn husband walk down the street under the morning sun. Song Gang began the slow process of looking for a new job, and for the next year he would head out early every morning and return late each night, searching determinedly for a way to earn money. His face quickly grew pallid, and after dragging his exhausted body home every evening, he would merely sit silently at the dinner table. Lin Hong couldn't bring herself to look him in the eye, knowing that he was once again returning empty-handed. With a shamed expression, he would silently eat his dinner and go to bed, and when the sun woke him the following morning, he would optimistically set forth again. Over the course of that year, he did succeed in finding some part-time jobs, such as occasionally filling in for the gatekeeper at the warehouse. Similarly, when the clerks at the market, movie theater and bus and ferry terminals had to take time off, Song Gang would fill in for them as well. He became Liu Town's chief sub, with up to twenty-four different jobs waiting for him to come and step in at a moments notice. Despite that, the total number of days he worked over the course of the year added up to less than two full months.
Lin Hong grew increasingly worried, frequently sighing and sometimes even cursing. Though her sighs and curses actually weren't directed toward Song Gang — rather, they were because she was reminded of the disgusting Director Liu — Song Gang assumed that they were because of him. Therefore, every day when he returned home, he bowed his head and became increasingly silent. Even though he earned very little money, he nevertheless gave it all to Lin Hong. What made him feel worse was that when he handed her the tiny sum of money that represented the culmination of his efforts, she would always shake her head, turn away in disappointment, and say quietly, "Why don't you just keep it?" This comment pierced Song Gang's heart like a dagger.
Two years after he twisted his back, Song Gang was finally able to find a permanent job, at the concrete factory. He would be able to work year-round, and if he wanted, he could even work overtime on weekends. With this, a smile returned to his face, and he regained the confidence he used to have while riding his Eternity bicycle. After finding his new job, Song Gang didn't return home but went directly to the gate of the knitting factory, waiting there for Lin Hong to get out. As the other women rushed out on their new bicycles, motorized bicycles, and mopeds, Lin Hong fell behind, pushing the antiquated Eternity bicycle out the front gate. When she emerged, a flushed Song Gang greeted her, announcing, "I have a job!"
Seeing Song Gang's excited appearance, Lin Hong felt a twinge of sadness. She let him ride the bicycle while she sat behind him as she used to, hugging his waist with both arms and pressing her cheek into his back. That night she noticed that Song Gang had aged a lot: His forehead and eyes were now full of wrinkles, and his thick hair was now sparse. She felt bad for him, and while lying in bed, she massaged his back for a long time. That night they hugged each other tight as though it were their wedding night.
Those days Song Gang worked especially hard, afraid that he would be fired again. His job at the factory was one that no one was willing to do: pouring the cement powder into bags. Even with a face mask, he would still inhale tremendous amounts of cement dust, and within two years his lungs were completely ruined. Lin Hong wept many bitter tears over this. Once again Song Gang lost his job, but he didn't go to the hospital for treatment because he couldn't bring himself to spend the money.
Song Gang again assumed the position of Liu Towns chief sub. After his lungs were ruined, he wouldn't sleep in the matrimonial bed anymore, afraid that Lin Hong would catch his illness. He asked to sleep on the couch, but Lin Hong refused, saying that if Song Gang wasn't willing to sleep in the bed with her, then she would be the one who would sleep on the couch. As a result, Song Gang had no choice but to sleep at Lin Hong's feet. On the days that he had a job, he would leave wearing a face mask in order not to pass his lung disease on to others. Song Gang was the only person in Liu who wore a face mask all year long, even during the hot summer, and even the town's youngest children recognized him instantly when they saw him slowly walking down the street, hailing him: "The chief sub has arrived."
CHAPTER 56
BALDY LI had put Song Gang out of his mind. He held up two fingers, saying that during the day he raked in the money while at night he raked in the women. He said that he was insanely busy and apart from money and women he didn't know anything about anything. Baldy Li never did get married, and slept with so many women that even he couldn't keep count. When someone asked him exactly how many women he had slept with, Baldy Li pondered for a while, calculated, and finally responded, not without regret, "Not as many as I have workers."
Baldy Li not only slept with the local women; he also slept with women from all over the country, from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and other overseas Chinese communities, including more than a dozen foreign women. He slept with all sorts of women — tall and short ones, fat and thin ones, beautiful and ugly ones, young and old ones. Everyone said that Baldy Li was very broad-minded: that as long someone was female he wouldn't reject her, and if a sow was led to his bed, he would probably sleep with it as well. Some of the women slept with him on the sly and also accepted money from him on the sly, while others would sleep with him and then take his money and brag openly. They bragged not about the fact that they had slept with him but, rather, about how fabulous and amazing he was in bed. They said that he was an animal in the sack, like a machine gun firing endless rounds, and that he would screw you until your legs went into spasms and you could barely walk the next day, leaving you amazed that you made it off the bed alive.
The salacious rumors concerning Baldy Li were more numerous than explosions on a battlefield. Some of the women he slept with had their eyes on his wealth. The first to make a move was a young woman in her twenties who had come from the countryside to find work in Liu Town. She brought her newborn baby to Baldy Li's office and asked him happily what they should name it. Baldy Li stared at her blankly but couldn't place her. He asked skeptically, "What the fuck does this have to do with me?"
The young woman started bawling, asking how a father could fail to recognize his own son. Baldy Li looked at her and pondered for a moment, but for the life of him he couldn't remember ever having been with her. He asked, "Did you really sleep with me?"