Chronicle of a Blood Merchant by Yu Hua, Andrew F. Jones

selling your blood is like selling your ancestors. Xu Sanguan, you’ve sold your ancestors!”
    Xu Sanguan said, “Keep quiet. What are you trying to say anyway?”
    A tear rolled down Xu Yulan’s face. “I would never have imagined you’d sell your blood. You can sell anything you like, as long as it isn’t blood. Sell the bed, sell the house, sell whatever you like. But why did you have to go and sell your blood?”
    Xu Sanguan said, “Keep quiet. Why did I sell my blood? I sold my blood so I could keep on playing the cuckold.”
    Xu Yulan sobbed. “I heard what you just said. I know what you mean. I know you’re mocking me. I know deep down you really hate me. Why else would you say something like that?” She weepingly made her way to the door.
    Xu Sanguan growled from behind her, “Come back here, you bitch. You’re going to the doorstep again. You’re gonna start screaming and yelling and making a scene again.”
    But instead of sitting down on the doorstep, Xu Yulan walked right past the threshold, turned, and made her way down the lane and onto the street. She walked all the way down to the end of the street, veered down another lane, and arrived at He Xiaoyong’s doorstep.
    Standing in front of He Xiaoyong’s open front door, she patted down her clothes, combed out her hair with her fingers, and raised her voice loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear.
    “You’re all neighbors of He Xiaoyong. All of you know He Xiaoyong. You all know that he’s a rotten, black-hearted son of a bitch. You all know that he won’t take in his only son. You all know that because I sinned in my past life, He Xiaoyong screwed me over in this one. You’ve heard the story already, so I don’t have to tell it to you again today. I came today to tell you about something else. What you don’t know and what I just found out today is that I must have burned a lot of incense in my past life too. That’s why I got to marry Xu Sanguan. What you don’t know is just how good a man Xu Sanguan really is. I could talk for days on end about how good Xu Sanguan is, but I won’t. What I will tell you is that Xu Sanguan sold his own blood. He did it for Yile, for our family. He went to the hospital today to sell his own blood. Think about it. You can die from selling blood. And even if you don’t die, you’ll still get dizzy, your vision will blur, and you’ll feel weak from head to toe. But Xu Sanguan didn’t care about all of that. He risked his life for me, for Yile, for our whole family.”
    He Xiaoyong’s skinny wife appeared at the door and sneered, “If Xu Sanguan’s so great, how come you want to steal my man?”
    When Xu Yulan saw He Xiaoyong’s woman, she sneered, “Now here’s a woman who must have done a lot of bad things in her last life. She’s being paid back for it in this life, let me tell you, and the punishment is that she can’t bear any sons, only daughters. Once her daughters are grown up, they’ll belong to other people’s families, and her own family line will be broken.”
    He Xiaoyong’s woman strode out from the door and slapped her thighs for emphasis as she railed at her nemesis, “And here’s a woman who’s so shameless that she’ll even boast about stealing someone else’s seed!”
    Xu Yulan countered, “Of course I do! Any woman who’s had three sons in a row has a right to brag!”
    He Xiaoyong’s woman shouted, “Three sons by two different dads! Do you want to brag about that too?”
    “Whether your daughters really have the same dad remains to be seen.”
    “Only someone like you! Only a slut like you could have had so many men.”
    “So you’re not a slut? You know what’s inside your pants? A department store, that’s what! Anybody can go inside!”
    “If I’ve got a department store in my pants, you have a public toilet!”
    SOMEONE CAME to Xu Sanguan and said, “Xu Sanguan, quick! Go bring your woman home. She’s arguing with He Xiaoyong’s woman, and the