Chronicle of a Blood Merchant Read Online Free PDF Page A

and a carton of cigarettes in his arms, arrived at Xu Yulan’s door and sat down at the table across from her father. After he slid the wine and the cigarettes across the tabletop, he began a lengthy discourse.
    “Do you know who my dad was? My dad was a famous carpenter. My old man made furniture for all the best families in town. No one else could make a table as fine as his. When you ran your hand across the tabletop, the wood was as smooth and shiny as silk. You know who my mom was? My mom was Golden Flower. You know who she was? She was the most beautiful woman on the west side of town. People used to call her the Westside Beauty. After my dad died, she married a Nationalist company commander, then ran off with him. I’m my dad’s only son. I don’t know if Mom and that company commander ever had any kids or not. I’m called Xu Sanguan. My uncles’ two sons are older than me, so I rank third in the Xu family. I work in the silk factory, and I’m two years older than He Xiaoyong, and I started working three years before he did, so I definitely have a lot more money than he does. If he wanted to marry Xu Yulan, he’d have to save up for a few more years, but I already have enough to get married now. I’m ready now; all I need is your permission.”
    Xu Sanguan added, “Xu Yulan is your only child. If she were to marry He Xiaoyong, your family line would be broken for good, because no matter whether the kids were boys or girls, their last name would still have to be He. And if she married me? My last name is the same as yours, Xu, so no matter if we had boys or girls, they would all be named Xu. Your family line will remain intact, and you’ll always have descendants to burn incense for you at the family shrine. Look at it this way—if I marry Xu Yulan, it would be just the same as if I agreed to take on your family name instead of making Xu Yulan take mine.”
    When Xu Sanguan’s speech reached this juncture, Xu Yulan’s father broke into a wide grin. He looked across the table toward Xu Sanguan and, drumming a tattoo on the tabletop with his knuckles, said, “I’m going to accept this bottle of wine, and the carton of cigarettes. What you say is absolutely right. If my daughter marries He Xiaoyong, my family line will be broken forever. But if she marries you, both of our family’s futures will be assured for generations to come.”
    When Xu Yulan was informed of her father’s decision, she sat on the bed, tears falling from her eyes. Her father and Xu Sanguan stood to one side. Watching as she wiped the tears from her face, Xu Yulan’s father said to Xu Sanguan, “Take a good hard look. This is what women are all about. When they’re truly happy, all they can do is cry.”
    Xu Sanguan said, “I’m not so sure it’s because she’s happy.”
    At this point Xu Yulan interjected, “What am I supposed to say to He Xiaoyong?”
    Her father replied, “Just tell him that you’re getting married. And that the groom’s name is Xu Sanguan, not He Xiaoyong.”
    “How can I tell him something like that? What am I supposed to do if he can’t take the news and he starts bashing his head against the wall?”
    “If he does himself in, then there’s not a whole lot more you could say to him.”
    In her heart Xu Yulan didn’t want to let He Xiaoyong go so easily. He was the man who liked to fold his arms around his elbows as he talked, the smiling man who came to her house almost every day, the man who would bring her dad a bottle of wine almost every other day and sit drinking and chuckling at the table to keep him company. And there had been a couple of occasions when, taking advantage of the fact that her dad had gone around the block to the public toilet, he suddenly pushed her behind the door and pressed her body against the wall with his own. Each time it happened, she had been so scared that her heart leaped wildly in her chest. The first time she didn’t feel anything but the pumping of her heart.