Brothers by Yu Hua

Author:Yu Hua
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780307377982
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2009-11-12T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 39

JUST AS Baldy Li was being fired by Tao Qing, he himself was seated at Mama Sus snack shop next to the bus depot. Holding a ticket to Shanghai in one hand and a meat bun in the other, Baldy Li sat there cheerfully. As he bit into the steaming hot bun, squinting his eyes with pleasure, he proudly boasted to Mama Su that, from this point on, he would make his own fortune. Baldy Li glanced down at the ticket in his hand and saw that in about an hour he would be jumping onto the bus to Shanghai. Keeping time by the clock hanging on the snack shop wall, he solemnly counted down the seconds as if he were a rocket about to launch. He waved at Mama Su and said, "In an hour I will spread my wings like a great roc and soar away!"

Immediately after Baldy Li had sprung his resignation like a guerrilla attack, he had retreated to his home and shut his door. Then he spent half a day and half a night mapping out the trajectory Li the Great Roc would take. On the basis of his success at the Good Works Factory, he felt that his new undertaking must begin from a processing business; after he had accumulated some capital he could begin manufacturing his own products. The question was, what kind of products should he process? At first, Baldy Li wanted to enter the same cardboard box business he had pioneered at the Good Works Factory, since it was something he already knew well. After much consideration, however, he reluctantly decided that he had to give up his old business. There were his fourteen loyal minions at the factory to consider, and Baldy Li felt that he couldn't rob them of their rice bowls. Ultimately, he decided to go into the clothing business, and as long as he could secure some orders from some big Shanghai companies, his business would rise like the morning sun.

And like the morning sun, Baldy Li took a world map and strode into Blacksmith Tongs shop. At that point, Blacksmith Tong was the chairman of Liu Town s Private Entrepreneurs’ Business Association. Baldy Li needed investment capital and knew that he would not be able to secure a single cent from the State, so his thoughts turned to Blacksmith Tong. During Deng Xiaoping's Reform and Opening Up Campaign, private entrepreneurs like Blacksmith Tong had become rich. Baldy Li cheerfully strode into Blacksmith Tongs shop and immediately disarmed him by greeting him as Chairman Tong. Tong set down his hammer, wiped away his sweat, and said, "Director Li, please don't call me Chairman Tong, call me Blacksmith Tong—it sounds much more vigorous."

Baldy Li laughed out loud and replied, "Well, then, don't call me Director Li, call me Baldy Li—it sounds more vigorous, too."

Baldy Li then informed Tong that he was no longer a factory director, since he had quit. He stood next to Blacksmith Tongs furnace and, with spittle flying everywhere, enthusiastically told him about his business plan.

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