Song Gang shoved Baldy Li aside and ran out the door, going to look for their landlord father. Baldy Li lay on the floor like a dead pig, then crawled and sat at the entrance like a sick dog. His hunger made him let out a few wails, but crying made him feel even hungrier, so he immediately stopped. Baldy Li could hear the sound of the wind blowing through the tree branches and could see the sunlight shining on his toes. He thought to himself, If I could munch the rays of sunlight like stir-fried pork and drink the wind like a bowl of meat broth, then I'd be set. Baldy Li sat leaning against the door frame for a while, then he got up to go to the kitchen and gulped his fill of water from the cistern. He now felt he had a bit of strength back, so he shut the door and walked into the street.
That afternoon Baldy Li paced the streets with his last remaining shreds of energy. He didn't find anything to eat, but he did run into the three middle-school students. Baldy Li was leaning against a wutong tree when he heard a few titters and someone calling out to him, "Hey, kid."
By the time Baldy Li lifted his head, they had already surrounded him. One look at their gleeful faces and Baldy Li knew that they were planning to practice their sweeping kicks again. This time he was simply unable to run away and told them, "I haven't eaten all day."
Long-haired Sun Wei said, "Let's feed you a few kicks, then."
Baldy Li pleaded with them, "No more sweeping kicks today. I'll eat them tomorrow."
"Nope," all three replied. "You have to eat them today and tomorrow."
Baldy Li pointed at the electrical pole not far off in the distance and continued to beg. "Don't feed me any more kicks. Why don't you let me go have sexual relations with that pole?"
The three middle-schoolers burst out laughing, and Sun Wei replied, "First you have some kicks, and when you've gotten your fill, go have relations with that pole."
Baldy Li wiped his tears. The three middle-schoolers politely deferred to one another, generously wanting to offer up the opportunity to make the first kick.
At this point Song Gang appeared. He ran from the opposite side of the street, buns in his hands, and plopped himself down right beside Baldy Li, dragging him to the ground. When both kids were seated on the ground, Song Gang, his head covered in sweat, handed Baldy Li a steaming hot meat bun. Baldy Li took it and stuffed it into his mouth. With his first bite the meat juices oozed out of the corner of his lips. Baldy Li choked before he could even finish the first bite, and he sat there motionless, his neck extended. Song Gang patted him on the back while smugly saying to the three middle-schoolers, "We're already sitting on the ground. How are you going to sweep us down?"
"Fuck." The middle-schoolers looked at one another, then repeated, "Fuck."
The three had no idea how to sweep-kick Baldy Li and Song Gang when they were already on the ground. They discussed dragging the two kids to their feet, but Song Gang warned them, "We'll scream for help. People from the street will all come over."
"Fuck that." Long-haired Sun Wei said, "If you had guts, you'd stand up."
Song Gang replied, "If you had guts, you'd sweep-kick us up."
The students eyed Baldy Li and Song Gang helplessly. Cursing, they looked at one another and watched Baldy Li eat his meat bun. After wolfing down the bun, Baldy Li regained some of his energy, and he seconded Song Gang, adding, "We're very comfortable sitting down here, even more comfortable than we would be in our own beds."
The three middle-schoolers each muttered "Motherfucker," and then Sun Wei changed his tactics. He grinned at them warmly and said to Baldy Li, "Hey, kid, why don't you get up? We promise not to sweep-kick you. Go ahead and have sexual relations with that electrical pole."
Baldy Li giggled and licked the remaining meat juice from his lips. He licked until he was lolling his head about and replied, "I no longer have sexual relations with electrical poles. You want to do it, go ahead. I'm impotent now, don't you know?"
The three middle-schoolers didn't know what impotent meant. They looked at one another curiously. Victory Zhao couldn't help but ask Baldy Li, "What's impotent?"
Baldy Li smugly explained, "Just unfasten your trousers and look at your …"
Victory Zhao touched his crotch and looked at Baldy Li with alarm. Baldy Li asked, "So take a look. Is your dick hard like a little metal cannon? Or is it soft and mushy like dough?"
Victory Zhao felt his dick through his pants. He retorted, "Do I need to look? Of course it's soft and mushy like dough right now."
Upon hearing that, Baldy Li exclaimed with delight, "So you're impotent, too!"
The three middle-schoolers now understood what impotent meant. Sun Wei and Success Liu broke out in guffaws, and Sun Wei said to Victory Zhao, "You're such an idiot. You didn't even know what impotent meant."
Victory Zhao felt that he had lost face, so he kicked Baldy Li. "You little bastard, you're the one who's impotent. When I get up in the morning I'm harder than an iron cannon."
Baldy Li eagerly provided Victory Zhao with guidance: "So you're not impotent in the morning, just in the afternoon."
"Bullshit," Victory Zhao replied. "All year around, twenty-four hours a day — I'm never impotent."
"Bullshit." Baldy Li pointed at the nearby wooden pole. "Go prove it with that electrical pole over there."
"Electrical pole?" Victory Zhao snorted. He said, "Only a little bastard like you would hump a wooden pole. If I'm going to have sexual relations, I'll do it with your mother."
Baldy Li dismissed him. "My mother wouldn't let you guys get near her."
Then he pointed to Song Gang standing next to him and boasted, "My mom only does it with his dad."
Sun Wei and Success Liu doubled over with laughter. Victory Zhao let out a string of curses, but the three middle-schoolers knew that the two little bastards wouldn't stand up until hell froze over. The three discussed how they were going to teach the little bastards a lesson and how maybe they should first lift them up, then sweep them back down. Baldy Li remembered how Blacksmith Tong had saved them last time, so he smilingly announced, "Blacksmith Tong is here."
The middle-schoolers turned to look down the street but saw no sign of Blacksmith Tong. So the three of them kicked Baldy Li and Song Gang each three times, making them cry out in pain, and then walked off, feeling they had finally got the advantage of things.
Baldy Li had managed to escape being sweep-kicked and even had had a meat bun. The sad thing was that he couldn't recall the taste of the bun at all. He remembered only that he had choked four times and that Song Gang had slapped him on the back. Song Gang said later that when Baldy Li was choking, his neck was stretched as long as a goose s.
Baldy Li and Song Gang were pals again. The brothers faced each other and grinned and laughed for about a minute, then they walked hand in hand down the main street. Song Gang said he had found his father, who was living in a warehouse. A bunch of people were locked up in that warehouse, some crying and others shouting. Baldy Li asked why they were crying and shouting. Song Gang replied that it seemed like people were fighting inside.