When he heard about Poet Zhao's inspiration, Baldy Li waved him away. The crowds were disappointed and complained to Baldy Li, "How could you let him go?"
Baldy Li watched Poet Zhao walk away, then remarked calmly to the onlookers, "Poet Zhao has it hard, as it is even more difficult for his brain to conceive an idea than it would be for his belly to conceive a child."
As he said this Baldy Li walked away with a magnanimous expression. When he passed the fabric store, Lin Hong was inside, happily chatting with the clerk while picking out fabric to make clothes for herself and Song Gang. But Baldy Li didn't notice her, nor did he realize that she and Song Gang were preparing for their wedding.
CHAPTER 37
FOR THEIR wedding day, Lin Hong reserved seven tables at the People s Restaurant and planned to invite friends and relatives from both the bride s and the grooms sides to join them for their wedding banquet. She wrote her guests’ names down on a sheet of paper and gave Song Gang another sheet and asked him to do the same. He raised the pen as if he were lifting a heavy weight, and after what seemed like an eternity he had still not managed to write down a single name. Finally he stammered that he only had one relative in the world, and that was Baldy Li. When Lin Hong heard this, she was very displeased. "Aren't I your relative?"
Song Gang shook his head, saying that was not what he meant. He lovingly reassured her, "You are my closest relative."
Lin Hong laughed happily and said, "And you are mine."
He took up his pen again but found himself still unable to set down a single name. He carefully asked Lin Hong if he could invite Baldy Li to attend the wedding banquet, explaining that although they hadn't seen each other recently, they were still brothers. He repeatedly insisted that if she didn't agree, he would definitely not invite Baldy Li. In the end, Lin Hong finally said, "Go ahead and invite him."
Lin Hong saw the look of delight on Song Gang's face and laughed. "Write it down."
After Song Gang wrote Baldy Li's name down on the blank sheet of paper, he quickly added the names of all his fellow factory workers. After a moment's hesitation, he also wrote down Writer Liu's name. Afterward, Song Gang filled out the red invitation cards based on the names they had agreed upon. Lin Hong leaned her head on his shoulder, watching the beautifully written characters flow from the tip of his pen, and sighed. "Beautiful. Your handwriting is just beautiful."
That afternoon Song Gang took the invitations, rode his shiny Eternity bicycle to the fork in the road, and waited there for Baldy Li to get off work. Song Gang sat on his bike and rested one leg on a wutong tree to maintain his balance. When Baldy Li approached, Song Gang did not try to ride away as usual but instead began calling out enthusiastically. Song Gangs warmth confused his brother, who turned around and looked behind him, thinking that Song Gang was speaking to someone else. When Baldy Li approached, he heard Song Gang calling out his name. "Baldy Li!"
Baldy Li pointed to himself and asked, "Are you talking to me?"
Song Gang nodded. Baldy Li looked up at the sky and feigned puzzlement, remarking sarcastically, "But pigs aren't flying yet."
Song Gang laughed in embarrassment. Baldy Li watched him as he sat on his Eternity bicycle, his right foot resting against the wutong tree, looking very cocky. Baldy Li became more and more envious, saying, "Fuck, you look just like a celestial immortal."
Song Gang jumped off the bike, held the handlebars, and invited Baldy Li to climb on and be a celestial immortal for a while. Baldy Li had never ridden a bicycle before, and had never even sat on the back of someone else's. Nevertheless, he looked like an old hand as he threw his leg over the crossbar, though after he sat down he didn't know what to do next. His body first leaned to the right and then to the left. His hands, as stiff as two sticks, grasped the handles as if they were a rope that had been thrown to rescue him. Song Gang grasped the bicycle's back wheel between his legs and urged Baldy Li to relax and hold the handlebar straight. Then he began pushing from behind. At first Baldy Li's body rocked back and forth, and Song Gang had to reach out to steady him and keep him from falling over. Gradually Baldy Li started to get a feel for the bike and was able to maintain his balance. With Song Gang pushing faster and faster, Baldy Li didn't even have to pedal. Song Gang began to run, making Baldy Li feel as though he were flying over the streets of Liu. Baldy Li cried out excitedly, "What a strong wind! What a strong wind!"
Song Gang was sprinting and soon was covered in sweat and struggling to catch his breath. He ran so hard his eyes glazed over and he began frothing at the mouth. The wind blew past Baldy Li's ears, through his clothes, and flowed smoothly over his bald head. He gestured to Song Gang, saying, "Faster, faster. Run faster!"
Song Gang pushed the bike down the street until he felt he couldn't run another step. He gradually slowed to a stop and once again grasped the back tire between his legs, supporting Baldy Li as he climbed down. Then Song Gang squatted down and panted for about half an hour. Baldy Li, however, was eager for more. He caressed Song Gang's Eternity bicycle with both hands and recalled the sweet feeling of wind rushing past him. He then looked down at Song Gang, panting helplessly, and it was only then that he realized that Song Gang had been pushing him the entire way. He squatted down as if he were trying to help Song Gang catch his breath and gently patted his back. Baldy Li said to him, "Song Gang, you are extraordinary. You are truly an ignition engine incarnate." Then Baldy Li added regretfully, "Its too bad that you are not a real engine. If you were, then I could bike all the way to Shanghai."
Song Gang smiled as he panted. Holding his belly, he stood up and said, "Baldy Li, in the future you too will have a bicycle of your own, and at that point we can bike to Shanghai together."
Baldy Li's eyes were as bright and shiny as Song Gangs Eternity bicycle. He patted his bald head and said, "That's right, I will eventually have a bicycle of my own, and then we can bike to Shanghai together."
After a brief hesitation, Song Gang announced uncertainly, "Baldy Li, Lin Hong and I are getting married."
As he was saying this Song Gang handed Baldy Li the invitation and asked him to come to their wedding banquet. Baldy Li's exultant expression immediately turned dark. Refusing the invitation, he slowly turned and walked away. As he left he said sadly, "The rice is already cooked. What is there to celebrate?"
Song Gang stared after him as Baldy Li walked away, and the fraternal affection that they had momentarily regained dissipated like a wisp of smoke. Song Gang pushed his bicycle down the street with a heavy heart, forgetting even to ride it. He returned to Lin Hong's home, took out the invitation, and placed it on the table. When Lin Hong saw that he had brought Baldy Li's invitation back with him, she remarked, "So Baldy Li won't be coming?"
Song Gang nodded and said uneasily, "It seems as if he still hasn't given up hope."
Lin Hong snorted. "The rice is already cooked. What kind of hope is he holding on to?"
Song Gang heard this with surprise, wondering how it was that she and Baldy Li had used the same expression.
Of the seven banquet tables Lin Hong and Song Gang reserved at the People's Restaurant, Lin Hong's guests occupied six and Song Gang's just one. Baldy Li didn't attend. Neither did Writer Liu. While Liu suggested that he was disdainful of attending Song Gang's wedding banquet, the real reason was that he was simply too cheap — if he had come, he would have had to give the newlyweds a red envelope full of money. Liu stuck out his pinkie and said that Song Gang was an inconsequential person and he made it a practice never to impose on the hospitality of inconsequential people. However, he suggested he would condescend to visit Song Gangs new matrimonial quarters and take a look around, and he would offer his congratulations during the traditional festivities to be held there. All of Song Gangs workmates from the factory attended, and they happened to fill up precisely one table. The wedding banquet began at six that evening. Every table had ten dishes, including chicken, duck, fish, and pork. The guests drank fourteen bottles of baijiu liquor and twenty-eight bottles of rice wine. Eleven of the guests got slightly tipsy, seven of them got half drunk, and three got completely wasted. The three who got wasted each crawled under a separate table and started vomiting, inducing the seven guests who were only half drunk to start vomiting as well. The eleven tipsy guests also got into the mood, opening their mouths and letting out eleven different flavors of belches. As a result, Liu Towns most distinguished banquet hall in the People s Restaurant was left in complete disarray, smelling like a fertilizer factory. In the end, the air was so full of foul odors that it became impossible to catch a trace of the fragrant banquet dishes themselves.