Baldy Li also lowered his head, feeling terrible. He wanted to say something to Song Gang, but in the end he kept silent, merely telling himself, He is a landlord's son.
After fixing such an extraordinary pot of rice, the next day Song Gang once again prepared a half-cooked one. The moment Baldy Li saw the dull specks of grain in the bowl, he knew it was over, that they had to eat raw rice again. Song Gang had been seated at the table, engaged in a science experiment. He had carefully sprinkled some salt in one bowl of rice, then carefully poured a bit of soy sauce in the other. He had then tasted each bowl, one after the other. By the time Baldy Li got home, Song Gang had obtained his results. He happily announced to Baldy Li that rice sprinkled with salt was much tastier than the raw rice mixed with soy sauce, and that the salt should be sprinkled on after each bite. By the time the salt dissolved into the rice, it would have lost some of its flavor.
Baldy Li shouted furiously at Song Gang, "I want cooked rice, I don't want raw rice."
Song Gang looked up and told him the bad news: "We're out of charcoal. The fire went out halfway through."
Baldy Li's anger faded as he had no choice but to sit down and eat the half-raw rice. No charcoal meant no fire. Baldy Li thought to himself that it would be great if only Song Gang could piss out some coal or fart out some flames. Song Gang instructed Baldy Li to sprinkle some salt on the rice and then immediately gulp it down. Baldy Li tried this, and his eyes lit up. Chewing the salt crystals and the rice kernels together produced a nice, crisp taste, and each time Baldy Li bit down on a salt crystal, a burst of flavor would fill his mouth. Baldy Li understood why Song Gang told him to eat the raw rice before the salt melted; it was like rubbing sticks together to make a fire, as the saltiness burst forth at the instant of crunching. Once the salt dissolved, the savoriness disappeared and only a stale taste of salt remained. For the first time Baldy Li found that half-raw rice wasn't half bad. But then Song Gang told him the other bad news: "Now we're out of rice, too."
Come evening, the two boys were still eating the half-cooked rice sprinkled with salt left over from lunch. The next morning they got up after the sun woke them shining on their bare bottoms. After getting out of bed, they ran to a corner outside and took a piss, then fetched a pail of well water and washed their faces. Only then did they remember that they didn't even have a fart left to eat. Baldy Li sat on the front step for a while. He wanted to see how Song Gang was going to figure out how to get something to eat. Song Gang rummaged first through the toppled armoire and then through the clothes on the floor, but he couldn't come up with a single thing to eat. Song Gang could only swallow his saliva and consider it breakfast.
There wasn't much for Baldy Li to do but to swallow his own saliva and continue roaming the streets and alleyways like a stray dog. At first he still had some spring in his step, but by noon he was like a deflated balloon. Eventually the hungry eight-year-old Baldy Li was transformed into a decrepit eighty-year-old. Even if he ignored his faintness and dizziness or the weakness of his limbs, there were the endless hiccups coming from his completely empty stomach. Baldy Li sat under a wutong tree beside the street for a very long time, tilting his head and watching the people walk past. He saw someone walk by him eating a meat bun, saw the meat juice on that person's lips, and even saw with his own eyes that person licking away the juice with his tongue. Then there was the woman who walked by eating watermelon seeds and spitting the shells right into his hair. But what infuriated Baldy Li the most was a stray dog, since even it was carrying a bone in its mouth.
Baldy Li had no idea how he made it home that evening. He only knew that he was starving. He didn't expect to find any food at home and only wanted to lie down in bed. But when he reached the front door, he suddenly spotted Song Gang sitting at the table, eating. At that moment Baldy Li was ecstatic, and though he was faint with hunger he propelled himself forward.
It was in vain. When he approached, Baldy Li realized that Song Gang had in front of him only a bowl of clear water; putting a bit of salt on his tongue, he let it slowly melt, then chased it with a sip of water, followed by a sip of soy sauce. He puffed his cheeks as if he were savoring this, and only after the taste of soy sauce had fully marinated his tongue did he take another sip of water.
Song Gang used his last bit of energy to eat his salt and soy sauce and drink his water. He was so hungry he had no desire to say anything to Baldy Li, merely pointed at the other bowl of water on the table. Baldy Li knew that this bowl had been prepared for him, and he sat down at the table. Though he was greatly disappointed, he followed Song Gang's lead. A dab of salt and soy sauce and a sip of water was better than nothing at all. Though in truth this lunch consisted of nothing, it made Baldy Li feel that at least he had eaten something. He felt a little better and lay down on the bed, muttering to himself that he wanted to see what there was to eat in his dreams. With a lick of his lips he fell asleep.
Sure enough, the moment he started dreaming he dove headfirst into a giant steamer. Hot steam poured from its sides, and several cooks dressed in white grunted "Hey-ho, hey-ho" as they labored to lift off the giant steamers lid. Baldy Li could see that there were as many steamed meat buns inside as there were people at the struggle sessions in the schoolyard, and each of the buns was oozing meat juices. The cooks put the steamer lid back on, saying that the buns weren't done yet. Baldy Li argued that they were definitely done, the juices were already oozing out of the buns, but the cooks ignored him. He could only stand to one side and wait and wait, until the meat juices were already seeping out of the steamer, whereupon the cooks finally exclaimed, "They're done!" With another series of "Hey-ho, hey-hos" they lifted the lid and said, "Have one!" Baldy Li felt like a diver as he thrust his head into the steamer and scooped up a whole armful of meat buns. And just as he was about to bite into a juice-seeping bun, he woke up.
Song Gang, who had shaken him awake, pushed Baldy Li and cried out hoarsely, "I found it! I found it!"
The meat bun vanished without a trace after Song Gang's poking and prodding, and Baldy Li was so upset he started wailing. Wiping his tears, he kicked Song Gang while yelling, "Buns, buns, buns!" But Baldy Li immediately broke into a smile when he saw that Song Gang was waving grain ration tickets and money, of which Baldy Li could make out two five-yuan bills.
Song Gang chattered excitedly about how he came to find the money and ration tickets that Song Fanping had left them. Baldy Li couldn't understand a single word, his head being already stuffed to the brim with the thought of succulent meat buns. Suddenly getting a second wind, Baldy Li leapt off the bed and said to Song Gang, "Let's go! Let's go buy some buns!"
Song Gang shook his head. "I should first go ask Papa. If he says yes, then we can go buy them."
Baldy Li replied, "By the time we find your father, we'll have starved to death!"
Song Gang shook his head again and said, "We won't starve to death. We'll find him real soon."
They had money and grain rations, and they almost had buns — but now this idiot Song Gang wanted to go ask his goddamn father's permission! Baldy Li was so impatient he started stomping his feet. He eyed the money and tickets in Song Gang's hand and was about to make a leap for them when Song Gang, realizing that Baldy Li was about to snatch them, quickly stuffed everything into his pocket. The two ended up in a tangle and fell to the ground. Song Gang tightly covered his pockets with both hands, and Baldy Li tried to unlock his fingers to get to the pocket. Neither child had eaten anything all day, and both were weak with hunger. They fought for a while and then stopped to catch their breath, their mouths open as they huffed and panted. Then they resumed their grappling and panting. Finally, Song Gang got up off the floor and was about to dash out, but Baldy Li crawled up and blocked the door. Both boys were so tired they couldn't even stand straight. With Baldy Li at the door, they faced each other and panted, taking the opportunity to rest for a while. Then Song Gang turned to go into the kitchen, and Baldy Li heard him gulping down a ladleful of water from the cistern. A sated Song Gang walked up to Baldy Li, hoarsely yelling at him, "I'm all set to go again!"