Tailor Zhang, Little Scissors Guan, and Yanker Yu nodded enthusiastically and happily cursed him, "That little bastard, that little bastard, that little bastard…"
Blacksmith Tong asked Mama Su with a smile, "Does that little bastard now speak with a strong Cantonese accent, like a Hong Kong businessman?"
Mama Su thought carefully, then shook her head. "He still speaks with a distinct Liu Town accent."
Blacksmith Tong was skeptical. He prompted, "At the very least he must speak a few words of Shanghainese?"
"No Shanghainese either," Mama Su said.
"That little bastard certainly doesn't forget his roots," praised Blacksmith Tong.
Mama Su nodded and said, "His hair is very long now, like a rock star."
"I get it," Blacksmith Tong exclaimed, rather pleased with his powers of deduction. "That little bastard certainly has high aspirations. He has no interest in being merely a Hong Kong businessman but, rather, is modeling himself on a foreign businessman. Just think, Marx and Engels were both foreigners, and they both had long hair and full beards."
"That's right," Mama Su agreed. "He does have a full beard now."
Mama Su had shifted into high gear by this point. She wiped the sweat from her brow and said that she had to go notify Popsicle Wang. Little Scissors Guan said that he had just seen Wang walk out of the western alley carrying a soy sauce bottle. Mama Su immediately set off toward the western alley, in the direction of the town's soy sauce store.
Blacksmith Tong, Tailor Zhang, Little Guan, and Yanker Yu, their faces flushed bright red, sat down in the blacksmith shop and started laughing hysterically like four lunatics. They danced around crazily bumping into walls. Blacksmith Tong was the first to calm down, then he gestured for Zhang, Guan, and Yu to sit on the bench. He told them that Baldy Li didn't yet know that they had stopped paying rent on the warehouse, that they had divided up the thirty sewing machines, or that they had sent the thirty country girls home. He said that when Baldy Li learned this, he might very well explode and curse them. "When Baldy Li curses people, his mouth is like a machine gun. Whatever you do, be sure to remain calm and don't lose your temper. Let him curse and then wait for his anger to subside. Then we'll explain our predicament to him."
"Blacksmith Tong is right." Tailor Zhang said to Little Scissors Guan and Yanker Yu, "You two be sure to remain calm."
"Don't worry," Little Guan said. "Even if he curses the shit out of my father, I still won't get angry."
"Yes," Yanker Yu agreed. "As long as Baldy Li brings us a lot of business, I won't object if he curses my family back eighteen generations."
Blacksmith Tong was reassured by their promises. He looked around his shop and remarked on how he didn't have a proper chair in the entire place. With Baldy Li returning victorious, they should at least find him a good chair to sit in. Yanker Yu immediately got up and brought over his rattan recliner. Tailor Zhang and Little Guan shook their heads at this tattered thing and declared that it was simply too shabby for words. Blacksmith Tong shook his head as well. Yanker Yu was irked by their reaction and defended his precious chair: "It may look shabby, but it is actually very comfortable."
At that moment Mama Su and Popsicle Wang hurried in, and Mama Su reported that she had seen Baldy Li strutting over in this direction. Blacksmith Tong quickly lay down on Yanker Yu's recliner to see how it felt and agreed with Yu: "It'll do."
When Baldy Li, now long-haired and bearded like a foreign businessman, sauntered into the blacksmith shop and saw his six partners standing there respectfully with pleased expressions, he laughed out loud. "Long time no see!"
When Blacksmith Tong saw the dust-covered Baldy Li, he invited him to sit in the recliner, saying, "You have finally returned. You must be very tired."
The others echoed, "You must be very tired."
"Not at all," Baldy Li said with a wave. "You can't complain when you're doing business."
Blacksmith Tong and the others chuckled and nodded enthusiastically. Baldy Li didn't take the chair but, rather, parked himself on the long bench, then placed his bag and the map on the bench beside him. Tong and the others insisted that Baldy Li sit on Yanker Yu's recliner, but Baldy Li shook his head. He winked at Blacksmith Tong and said, "I'll sit right here. It's a long story, but this bench and I go way back."
Blacksmith Tong laughed and said to the others, "As I was saying, Baldy Li is not one to forget his roots."
Seeing that his six partners were still standing, Baldy Li gestured for them to sit down. They all shook their heads, insisting that they were perfectly happy as they were. Baldy Li nodded and allowed them to continue standing. He crossed his legs, leaned against the wall, and, looking as if he were settling in to receive a work report, said, "I've been gone for more than three months. What kind of progress have you made over here while I was away?"
The six partners stared at each other, speechless, then everyone turned to Blacksmith Tong. Tong hesitated a moment, then stepped forward as if he were about to scale a mountain of swords. He coughed a couple of times, cleared his throat, and slowly began to speak. He described in detail everything that had transpired since Baldy Li left and concluded by saying, "There really was nothing else we could have done. We hope you'll understand."
After he finished listening to Tongs account, Baldy Li lowered his head. The partners watched him nervously, quite certain that as soon as he raised his head again he would begin cursing them. When he did finally look up, however, he surprised them all by saying graciously, "While there is life, there is hope."
The six partners let out six deep sighs of relief, after which they started to laugh. Blacksmith Tong promised Baldy Li, "It would only take us a day to rent the warehouse again and move the sewing machines back in. In two more days, we could call the thirty country girls back."
Baldy Li nodded and then said, "No hurry."
What did he mean by "No hurry"? The partners stared at him dumbfounded as Baldy Li sat there comfortably on the bench with his legs crossed. At this crucial moment, Zhang, Guan, Yu, Wang, and Su once again looked, out of habit, at Blacksmith Tong, waiting for him to speak. Tong again stepped forward and inquired delicately, "You have been gone for more than three months. So what kind of progress did you make over in Shanghai?"
"Shanghai is a big place." Baldy Li immediately became very excited upon hearing the word Shanghai. "Opportunities to earn money are as plentiful as the hairs on a pig, and even saliva can be exchanged for gold."
Tailor Zhang cautiously corrected him, suggesting, "Don't you mean as plentiful as the hairs on a cow?"
"Somewhat less than the hairs on a cow," Baldy Li replied, trying to be as precise as possible. "But a pig has about the right number of hairs."
Seeing Baldy Li suddenly so animated, the six partners glanced at one another and flashed reassured grins. Baldy Li continued passionately, "Shanghai is a huge place, and if you walk a few steps in any direction, you will find a bank with a long line of customers depositing or withdrawing money, the ATM whirring away. The department stores are all several stories high, and climbing up and down in them is like scaling a mountain. Inside, everyone is packed in like at a movie theater, and we won't even mention how crowded the streets are. All day long, they are so crowded that people don't seem like people anymore, more like damn ants moving in anthills."
Baldy Li went on and on about what a big place Shanghai was, his spittle flying everywhere, including all over Blacksmith Tongs face. Tong wiped his face and noticed that the other partners were laughing along, not realizing that Baldy Li had completely digressed from the question at hand. Tong had no choice but to interrupt and carefully remind him, "You were going to tell us how your discussions with Shanghai's clothing companies went—"