Chapter 17: Things You Mustn’t Do [有所不为]
Dinner was fried hot pepper with dried fish, only one dish. The other bowl was a soup boiled with meat and bone for the patient. The patient had already woken up, and just lying on the bed without moving and kept on staring at the ceiling.
Ma Rulong was also stupidly sitting next to the bed on the worn out cane chair. He was suddenly thinking about a lot of things; thought about all the things that he was once very proud of.
— Should he have really done all those things? Were they really that impressive?
— Between men, why are there always such a huge gap? Why is some men’s life so lowly? Why are some so arrogant?
He suddenly realized, if he could close this gap between men then this would be worth being proud of. If he had still live the life before, he would definitely not thought of this.
— If a person could experience unexpected setback and suffering, would it benefit him?
— Dawan's way to handle Xie Yulun, was it because of this?
Thinking of this, his heart already felt better than before. He believed Xie Yulun used to be a very prideful person, and thought she deserved to be so prideful.
Didn’t know starting from when, Xie Yulun was staring at him. She stared for a long time and suddenly said, “Say it again.”
“Say what?”
“Say who you are and who I am.”
“I am Zhang Rongfa. You are Wang Guizhi.”
“We are a married couple?”
“A married couple of eighteen years. We always lived here and opened a general store. Everybody around here knows us.”
Ma Rulong let out a sigh and said, “Probably because our lives are so dreadful and poor, you don’t want to live such a live so you are trying to forget everything in the past.” He comforted her, “Actually, this type of life isn’t that bad. At least we can live in peace.”
Xie Yulun glared at him for a long time. “You listen to me.” While speaking each word clearly, “I do not know who you are or what is going on. However, I know that all of this must have someone behind the scene paying you to cause me trouble.”
“Who would cause you trouble?! Why would they want to cause you trouble?”
“You truly do not know who I really am?”
Mu Rulong truly didn’t know who she was so he couldn’t help asking, “Who exactly do you think you are?”
Xie Yulun coldly smiled, “If you know who I really am, you might be startled to death.” Her voice was full of pride, “I am god’s daughter. In the world no woman can be compared to me. I can make you rich anytime, and can kill you anytime. So you better bring me back or else one of these days I will cut you up one piece at a time and feed you to the dogs.”
She was indeed a very, very arrogant woman. Not only does she not put other people in her own eye, she also viewed other people’s lives so lightly. In her mind, other than her, no one in this world was worth anything. A bit of hardship and suffering for someone like her would be the best.
Ma Rulong sighed again, “Your sickness is getting to you. It’s better to sleep early.”
Right after he said this out, he realized one problem. This room had only one bed, where would he sleep?
Xie Yulun, without a doubt, was also thinking of this and sharply said, “If you dare to sleep here and if you dare to touch me, I would...I would...”
She did not continue. She couldn’t really do anything to him. She couldn’t even stand up. If he wanted to do anything to her, she couldn’t really resist. Ma Rulong did not really do anything to her.
Ma Rulong was a man, a healthy young man. Not only that, Ma Rulong already knew what she originally looked like and knew she was a very beautiful woman. In that dim room, under that snow-white bed sheet...behind that…he did not forget nor could he forget. However he did not do anything to her. Although his view of things had changed and was not as prideful as before, there were certain things he would never do even if you were to kill him. Perhaps, this was something he should be proud of.
* * *
Every day passed like this and Xie Yulun actually slowly calmed down. When people encountered something in which they are completely helpless, there isn’t much they could do. No matter who, it is better to show restraint and acceptance. Even if you don’t, going crazy, creating a scene, or hitting your head till death is pointless.
How about Ma Rulong? The type of life was not just different from the way he lived before; it was drastically different. Before, he didn’t look highly on plain, common, and poor people; but now he realized they have a kind-hearted and interesting side to them. At times he felt really irritated and wanted to go find out news from Jianghu and find Dawan and Yu Wu.
Even so sometimes he wanted to give up everything and live such a simple life. Unfortunately even if he felt this way, this was not how others saw things. In reality he was not Zhang Rongfa; he was Ma Rulong.
* * *
In recent day, a strange customer started appearing in the general store. Every day after nightfall, he would come in buy two chicken eggs, two cuts of toilet papers, two catties93 of raw salt, and one catty of rice wine. A family that used twenty eggs and two cut of toilet papers every time was already suspicious. Every day using two catties of raw salt, who would have ever heard of such thing.
Although this was strange but the things he bought wasn’t strange. Chicken eggs, toilet paper, salt, and wine were very common items. The person that bought these looked very plain, tall, and skinny that looked like any other man here. However, he conspicuously looked worried and tired.
Not until that one day that pregnant young housewife saw him, did Ma Rulong started to notice. Because the housewife unexpectedly said, “Who is this person? How come I have never seen him before?”
She knew everyone that live here and could recognize everyone. She sounded so sure. “This man does not live here and I’m positive he had never came here before.”
Therefore, Ma Rulong was starting to take notice of this man. He was not very good at observing other people. Young masters of rich families were usually not very good at being observant of other people. But, even he noticed a few peculiar signs.
Although this man was fairly skinny, his legs and arms were especially thick. Every time he reached his hand out to pay or take his items, it seemed like he was trying to hide something. Not only that, he hands moved quickly, as if he didn’t want people to see his hands. Besides he always came after nightfall, a time when everyone was home eating dinner and when it had the fewest people in the alley. Although his body was tall and his leg was big, his step were particularly light and you almost couldn’t hear his footsteps. Sometime when it was raining, the muds on his foot were less than other people.
Although it was after the new year and was already springtime, the weather was still very cold. His clothes were particularly light but he didn’t seem to be afraid of the cold. Although Ma Rulong was not a seasoned veteran in Jianghu, he could tell this man was trained in martial arts and he was trained very well. His hand probably had the strength of someone trained in Iron Palm94.
Why would such a good fighter in Wulin come here everyday to buy chicken eggs and toilet papers? If he came here to hide from his enemies, there was no need to buy these things everyday. If he were sent by Yu Wu to protect Ma Rulong, why would he be doing these things that’ll catch other people’s attention.
Could it be that Qiu Fengcheng, Jue dashi and them already discovered that this general store was suspicious so they sent someone to investigate? If this were the case, why would he buy twenty chicken eggs and two catties worth of salt everyday. Ma Rulong was really scratching his head regarding this matter.
He shouldn’t waste time thinking about something he didn’t understand. However, Ma Rulong was getting more and more curious. Everyone could not avoid curiosity, and Ma Rulong was not an exception and neither was Xie Yulun. She also knew about this person coming here. One day she couldn’t hold it and asked, “This person you people are talking about, is it really a man?”
“Of course it is a man.”
“Is it possible that it’s a woman disguised as a man?”
“Absolutely not.”
Ma Rulong was already familiar with the magic of “Art of Disguise”. However, he believed this man could not possibly be a woman. Xie Yulun was evidently disappointed.
Ma Rulong already thought her question was strange, so he couldn’t help but asked, “Why did you ask such a question? Could it be that you hope he is a woman?”
Xie Yulun was pondering for a while, then sighed and said, “If ‘he’ is a woman, then it’s possible she came here to save me.”
— Why only a woman would save her? Ma Rulong did not ask, only said, “You married me for eighteen year. I always treated you well. Why do you need someone else to save you?”
Xie Yulun hatefully glared at him. Just by mentioning this matter, her eyes were already showing the pain and hatred she had. Once she became like this, Ma Rulong immediately left the room. He really didn’t dare or wish to see these eyes.
* * *
One night, not long after the mysterious man bought the items and went back, the young housewife, with surname Yu, suddenly lifted her huge stomach and came here. Her face seemed both nervous and excited. “I know, I know.” She was catching her breath and said, “I know where that man lives.”
Zhang Laoshi, which never really meddle or talkative, unexpectedly and couldn’t help asked, “Where does he live?”
“He lives in Tao Baoyi’s place.” Young housewife said, “I saw him went in with my own eyes.”
Tao Baoyi was the town crier. It was said that he had practiced martial art but he never mentioned it himself and no one had seen him training. The place he lives was the neighborhood’s biggest house, built with red bricks. Town crier usually had a lot of connections; a friend living at his place wouldn’t be strange.
However, his family was only him and his wife. With a friend, even if they managed to eat all twenty eggs, eating two catties worth of salt everyday would kill them.
Young housewife said, “I deliberately drop into Mrs. Baoyi’s home. I did not see that person anywhere but I clearly saw him went in. I secretly asked Mrs. Baoyi why did that person buy two catties of salt everyday? Baoyi deliberately started an argument with the Mis'ess. At that point, all I could do was leave.”
Zhang Laoshi had been listening and suddenly asked, “Today are you buying brown sugar?”
“Not buying it today.”
“Are you buying pickled vegetable?”
“Also not buying.”
Zhang Laoshi suddenly became serious, “Then why haven’t you gone back home to sleep?”
Young housewife blinked and looked at him for a while and could only leave. Zhang Laoshi was already preparing to close the store and then muttered, “Poking into other people’s business is bad. People that are nosy always annoy me.”
Ma Rulong looked at him and suddenly realized this old man was also a bit strange. This was the first time he thought this Zhang Laoshi was strange.
[End of Chapter 17]
_[Footnote]__________________________________________________
93. Catty is roughly 1.3 pounds or 600 grams.
94. Tieshazhang (铁砂掌), lit “iron sand palm” or more commonly known as “Iron Palm”.