Bro | Chapter 16

Wei Qian got home at five in the morning, and on the way, he bought breakfast for the family.

His hair had been dampened by a layer of dew, and the expression on his face looked like that of a killer demon about to slaughter a city.

The moment Grandma Song woke up in a strange city and saw a face like that, a textbook devil’s face, she was almost scared into a heart attack and did not dare breathe too loudly.

Wei Qian had bought soy milk and youtiao, of course from somebody else’s stall. His mind was full of thoughts, all jumbled up and turning over, and he had no clue where to start.

Irritably, Wei Qian thought that if it was finally proven that Ma Zi had not gone anywhere at all and had just stayed at the hospital with his mother, then he was definitely going to beat that son of a bitch into a pack of pig head meat, cooked.

But he was afraid he would not get that chance.

San Pang failed to find Ma Zi at the hospital. The two of them tried every method they could think of, and still could not find him. It was only a few days later that a vague, half-swallowed piece of news finally got out, they said Ma Zi was dead.

But exactly how he died, and what he died for, no one could explain clearly. Too many people were talking, too many mouths, too much chaos, and everyone was just shouting nonsense. No one could say for sure.

It seemed that someone was treating this matter as taboo. Everyone who knew anything had been silenced.

Out of three thousand rumors, not one was useful. That torment of not seeing the man alive and not seeing the corpse dead was like being held over a fire and roasted. But in Wei Qian and San Pang’s hearts, they always felt that Ma Zi could not possibly have died just like that, soundlessly and without a trace. They kept searching, but by unspoken agreement, neither of them brought up Le-ge. Wei Qian in particular had developed a deep sense of estrangement and wariness toward him.

Ma Zi’s mother asked about Ma Zi more than once. Wei Qian and San Pang had to adapt on the spot and make up all kinds of lies. Sometimes they had not agreed on the same story beforehand, and if one of them let something slip, they had to rack their brains to patch it back up.

Wei Qian was only human, and his energy was limited. Inevitably, he neglected his own home.

For Grandma Song, this was simply a heaven-sent opportunity. Grandma Song began setting about her great undertaking of setting fire to Wei Qian’s backyard. Every day she changed up her methods to get close to Xiao Bao. This was easy. For a child, the emotional bond with an adult female elder during the process of growing up was something irreplaceable. That kind of feeling could be found in a mother, a grandmother, or a maternal grandmother, but even the closest father or brother could not take its place.

What was more, although Wei Qian doted on Xiao Bao, it was not the kind of doting you saw in ordinary families. He kept it in his heart and rarely put it on his lips. Sometimes, when he got impatient and his temper rose, he would even snap at the little girl a few times. In Song Xiaobao’s short life, she had never once received the delicate affection and comfort of an elder woman. Her switching sides was practically only a matter of time.

Which was better, a grandmother full of sweet talk who changed up her methods every day to make all kinds of delicious food for you, or an older brother who wore the face of a creditor every single day and could not even taste the difference between rice that was half-cooked and rice that was done?

Ever since Grandma Song arrived, the two children’s lives had become so comfortable they could almost be said to have some quality to them.

Even so, Grandma Song still could not buy over Wei Zhiyuan.

Wei Zhiyuan was like an underfed little white-eyed wolf that could not be raised to loyalty. Toward Grandma Song, this “outsider” who had suddenly barged into their home, no matter how much he wanted to act more sensible, he still could not help showing bursts of hostility.

Grandma Song had originally wanted to draw him over as an ally, but unexpectedly, though this gentleman was still so young, his “butt-strength” was astonishingly solid. No matter how she catered to his tastes, his butt remained firmly planted on the same bench as that hooligan older brother of his.

As time went on, Grandma Song could not help giving up on that front in the end. She saw through him. This little brat talked little and had too many thoughts, like a dog by nature, eat and run.

So Grandma Song began focusing her attacks on Song Xiaobao.

She would often ask Xiao Bao in a joking, teasing-children sort of tone, “Who do you like best? Is Grandma better, or is your brother better?”

This was how she tested the progress of her grand peaceful evolution plan.

Unlike foolish little Song Xiaobao, Wei Zhiyuan understood the sinister intention of this old woman the very first time she asked that question. He immediately adopted a policy of nonviolent noncooperation, he stopped eating at the same table as the grandmother and granddaughter. He would rather stay hungry until midnight and wait for big brother to come back, then casually eat a few bites of leftovers together.

At first, Song Xiaobao would imitate him and wait with him. But after only a couple of days, this little traitor with no firm convictions surrendered and laid down her arms before the lure of delicious food.

Wei Zhiyuan had long expected this day would come. Her love of good food and laziness was not something new from one or two days ago. On this front, the enemy forces were simply too strong. He was no match for them.

And deep down in Wei Zhiyuan’s heart, he was not actually too unhappy about Song Xiaobao’s betrayal. On the contrary, he felt a faint, hidden delight.

Wei Zhiyuan knew he should not think like this, but he just could not stop himself.

The thought that “without Song Xiaobao, Ge will belong to me alone from now on” tempted him at every moment, like a seed putting down roots and sprouting in his heart. Even fire could not burn it clean away. Once the spring wind blew, it would sprout and grow all over again.

At first, whenever Grandma Song asked that childish question, Song Xiaobao would only smile and say nothing, or dodge the point by talking about something else. Grandma Song understood that her real answer was actually “I like Ge.” Little by little, she began to loosen up, and changed to answering, “I like both.” Grandma Song was extremely pleased with herself and felt that she was only one last step away. Finally, one day, Song Xiaobao’s answer became, “Whoever treats me well, I like that person best.”

Grandma Song knew then that the time had come.

Half a year passed. Winter came, and a thin layer of ice formed over the lotus pond. Wei Qian and the others finally confirmed that Ma Zi was dead. This time, it was an official statement issued by the local police. They said that recently they had struck a drug trafficking and smuggling case, arrested three suspects at the scene, and during the arrest, they encountered stubborn resistance from the criminals, one of whom was shot dead.

The person who was shot dead was Ma Zi.

Before that Mid-Autumn night, when the lingering summer heat still bit fiercely, someone had given Ma Zi a large sum of money, a handgun, a cell phone, and one kilogram of heroin.

At the time, Ma Zi had vaguely sensed something. His brain was not all that good, but that did not mean he was truly stupid enough to lose all sense of direction. He and his brothers did not really count as part of the underworld, nor did they count as walking the straight path. They were only fish and shrimp barely surviving in the cracks. Fish and shrimp do not survive easily, and because of that, they all knew how to sense the rise and fall of the tide and the coming of the trade winds. In this dog-eat-dog circle, for those at the bottom, the more easily money came, the more dangerous it was.

But those people had already investigated his family situation clearly, and they knew that no matter what, he could not refuse.

Ma Zi did not want to drag down his San-ge and Qian’er. None of them had it easy. All the money they gave him and his mother had been scraped out from between their teeth. Spending that money, he often lay awake in the middle of the night unable to sleep.

Maybe if he could have been a little more shameless and thick-skinned, he would not have ended up going down a dead road.

On Mid-Autumn night, after he finished eating the most expensive mooncake he had ever eaten in his life at the hospital, he turned around and split the money into three parts. He returned two parts to Wei Qian and San Pang, and wrapped up the third part and buried it under the locust tree at the door of the little one-story house where his family lived, counting it as money to leave behind for his mother’s old age and funeral.

Then in a daze, carrying the gun and the drugs, he followed the instructions on the phone and went…

Before he closed his eyes, he did not even know for whom he had become a scapegoat, and he did not even know where it was that he died.

He was born lowly, and died confused.

That day, Wei Qian drank himself dead drunk in a stinking little tavern. Even as hired muscle, he had always done his work conscientiously. This was the first time he had ever skipped a shift.

Ma Zi may have died in confusion, but in Wei Qian’s heart, things were as clear as a mirror.

The nightclub was Le-ge’s business. That man’s desire for control was practically pathological. Without his hand in it, Wei Qian did not believe anyone could deal drugs on his turf. And with this matter having blown up so badly, with the political atmosphere tight from the center all the way down to the local level, filling the front pages of all the major newspapers, Le-ge, Le Xiaofeng, still remained alone and untouched, standing firm as a mountain. Was it because he truly had no flaws for anyone to seize on, or because someone else had already taken the road to the Yellow Springs in his place?

The person he had worshipped in his heart in his youth like a spirit tablet came crashing down with a bang and took the life of his foolish brother with him.

Wei Qian also did not want to go home. Faced with that whole crowd of old and young, even if he had grievances as enormous as heaven, he could only keep them pent up inside. He was so pent up that he was almost at his limit.

By the time San Pang found him, he had already soaked himself into a fermented lump of wine lees.

“San-ge…” The young man’s gaze could barely focus. He stared blankly at the yellowed, soot-darkened corner of the little restaurant wall, his voice so weak it was as if something were lodged in his throat.

San Pang snatched away his bottle. “One gone isn’t enough, now you want to drink another one to death too?”

Pulled by him like that, Wei Qian collapsed limply onto the table. He lay there on the tabletop, his head tilted to one side, and said softly, “San-ge, say, he was a stutterer. Once he gets down to the other side, what if he can’t even explain his own grievance clearly?”

As he spoke, tears slid silently from the inner corners of his eyes, ran across the bridge of his straight nose, and slipped into his mouth.

Wei Qian lay sprawled on the table like mud, raised an elbow, and covered his face.

Then he swallowed the tears and laughed hoarsely.

In this life, we were brothers. There is no next life. If there is regret, then I will miss you again.

That day was Laba. It snowed on Laba, and the whole street was full of mud and ice chips after the snow melted.

Reeking of alcohol, Wei Qian pushed the door open and entered the house. Inside, Wei Zhiyuan was doing homework at the little table in the corner, and Grandma Song was teaching Xiao Bao how to make Laba garlic. The old one and the young one had been talking and laughing, but the instant he came in, the two of them fell silent together as if by miracle.

Wei Qian had not originally been a sensitive person, but the change in atmosphere was too obvious. For one instant, he felt like a thug who had barged into someone else’s home. An indescribable feeling rose up with the alcohol, wave after wave, until it made him sick.

Fortunately, at that moment Wei Zhiyuan looked up and called him, just as usual, “Ge.”

Wei Qian’s expression must have looked awful. Wei Zhiyuan took one glance at him and immediately jumped down from the chair and ran over to his side. “Ge, what’s wrong?”

Wei Qian did not say a word. He only waved a hand, turned, and walked into the toilet, where he vomited so hard it was like his liver and intestines were coming apart.

He felt that these suddenly surging emotions had come out of nowhere. He also wanted to force himself to believe that the unspeakable humiliation he felt in that instant after pushing the door open was just making a fuss over nothing.

He already had more than enough on his plate. Wei Qian did not want to stir up trouble where there was none. He desperately tried to comfort himself and tell himself that he was overthinking, but it was useless. His heart just hurt.

Wei Zhiyuan immediately poured him a cup of water and brought it over, wrapping an arm around his waist like a little grown-up and patting his back. Only after Wei Qian had practically vomited all the sour water out of himself did he finally manage to straighten up and take the cup to rinse his mouth.

His head was splitting, and his heart was broken with grief. Yet in front of Wei Zhiyuan, he only asked in an offhand tone, “Finished all your homework?”

Wei Zhiyuan nodded and reached out, wanting to support him, but Wei Qian swayed and refused.

Under Wei Qian’s deathly pale, calm face, the heart inside him had already turned heaven and earth upside down, churning his insides into a volcano that might erupt at any moment.

And when he heard what Grandma Song was saying to his younger sister, that dangerous point of balance finally shattered.

He heard that damned old woman using one thing to curse another as she said to Song Xiaobao, “Our Lili, from now on you must study hard, get into university, become a scientist. You absolutely mustn’t learn bad things from indecent people, do you hear me?”

And saying it was not enough for her. She even had to turn back and deliberately glance at Wei Qian, who was standing there dark-faced, as if she were not the least bit afraid of him hearing it. After feeling him out and making inquiries for so long, the old woman had long since figured out that the boy surnamed Wei now fancied himself a “man who mixed on the streets.” He cared desperately about face. He would absolutely not do anything to a little old woman like her. At most, he would only put on a fierce front and pretend to be vicious to scare her.

Even Wei Zhiyuan could hear the meaning under her words. He looked up at his little sister, then at his big brother, and finally fixed Grandma Song with a look full of hatred.

Grandma Song refused to let it go and went on, “If you don’t study properly, then you’ll turn into scum in society, understand? Those loafers out there are all bad people. Grandma told you before, what are they called?”

This silly little halfwit, Song Xiaobao, empty-hearted and thoughtless, said, “Hooligans!”

The old lady put on a stern expression and scraped a finger across her cheek. “Exactly. Stinking hooligans. We’re girls. We can’t always stay around stinking hooligans, otherwise later on who would still dare want you? Your reputation would be ruined.”

Wei Zhiyuan’s face sank. Enunciating every word, he said, “My da-ge is not a hooligan!”

Song Xiaobao froze, then looked at him in confusion, looked at big brother, and then looked at Grandma. Only then did she finally understand that this was a serious upheaval in the family.

Wei Zhiyuan panicked. He threw the cup aside, strode forward, and pointed at the old lady’s nose. “My da-ge is not a hooligan!”

“Enough. Shut up and go inside to do your homework.” Wei Qian suppressed him with one slap, then grabbed one child in each hand and tossed Wei Zhiyuan and Song Xiaobao into the bedroom.

Wei Qian was somewhat rough and careless in the way he lived his life. As for what the people at home did, sometimes it made him feel vaguely uncomfortable for a moment, but after turning his head he usually did not take it seriously. But now that Grandma Song’s words had reached this point, openly and in secret, how could he still fail to understand what she was thinking?

Wei Qian sat down in front of Grandma Song in a broad, overbearing posture, his expression unfriendly as he looked her up and down, and said without the slightest politeness, “Old thing, what exactly do you want?”

Grandma Song finally straightened her back. Her whole person looked like a mortar set and ready to fire.

Then she declared war on Wei Qian.

“I’m taking Lili away.”

Author’s Note:

Now that things have basically hit rock bottom, the plot should start moving upward from here.

“In this life, we were brothers. There is no next life. If there is regret, then I will miss you again.”, “Brothers” by Richie Jen