by @marcoriccardi
It is said that Mr. Renhe Ren, of Daochu village, in the province of Quan Shijie, in his forty-second year of life, was seized by a great rage because of his long-standing enemy, who was constantly working to hinder and ruin any of his activities and projects. Faced with the umpteenth abuse, Mr. Renhe Ren felt that his harmony and self-control were going to be lost. He was no longer able to feel the noble sentiments worthy of a superior man.
Then he remembered the words of the wise man. "Sit down along the river bank and wait, sooner or later you will see the corpse of your enemy pass". So, he left the village of Daochu and went down to the river. He found a willow with a wide foliage that bent gently over the water, and sat down in his shadow, determined to wait until the wisdom of the ancestors had brought a solution to his problem.
He awaited for days and nights, meditating. Sun, rain, wind and fog alternated tormenting him, but neither the heat, nor the cold, nor the humidity, nor the insects distracted him from his waiting. Time passed, until one day in late autumn, the stream swollen for the rains brought a corpse to its feet, face down. Mr. Renhe Ren shook himself from his meditation and leaned towards the muddy water, his heart finally calm.
Great was his surprise when he saw…
MY ENDING
Renhe walked the trail back to the village. It was a hot day and very dry. He decided to stop at the Wáng Lǐ for his favorite dish, Ma po tofu, and a glass of water before returning home.
After ordering, he sat at a table next to the window. The people looked different to him. What happened here? he asked himself.
"My I sit with you?" a voice from behind him asked.
Renhe turned around and saw an elder, Zhāng Miáo. They rarely spoke and, when they did, it was heated words. Zhāng, a rich man, often hired Mù for jobs around his place. Renhe would warn Zhāng about Mù's misdeeds against him and around the village but was met ridicule.
Today was different. Renhe no longer felt an energetic block between them like before but Zhāng seemed nervous and agitated about something.
Zhāng sat down and poured himself some tea. "I need to get this off my chest."
"After you left," Zhāng said, "Mù ran into deep trouble and came to me. He was like a son to me who was always willing to help out an old man around the house. That's why I never believed the circulating stories.
"How could I resist when he asked, 'Don’t you want to protect me?' If only I would have listened to you then." Trembling fingers made it difficult for him to sip his tea.
Zhāng continued, "It started with an occasional accusation of something he thought I was doing wrong. The floors weren't kept tidy enough, the dishes had spots on them, 'you're wrong for thinking that way.'" He puffs his chest out and heaves, imitating Mù, "'This is the promper way' ... stuff like that. It got worse very fast.
“'Can’t you ever think of anyone but yourself?' he asked when I asked him to find work to help cover the cost of living. Ren, my late wife, bless her heart, was in the hospital. Bills were high. Before that, I bought him anything he needed, but I had to cut back.
"He asked when he caught me hiding away renminbi one night, 'What do you have to say for yourself?'
"I was hiding my own money away from him. I felt so guilty for not giving it to him, but I needed it for my daughters surgery. I couldn't respond without hurting him. I stood frozen like an ice cube.
“'Does it bother you that …?'” Zhāng clutch his fist and held back tears.
"... It was tearing at my heart, but I couldn't let my baby girl go along with my wife," Zhāng said. "I choose my daughter. He didn't like that.
"Ren, I want to apologize for the tremble he caused you. I know how mad it makes a person. Anyways, now that you're back, you don't have to worry about him any longer. He left town a day ago - I made sure of it.
"Please, come over for tea and let's catch up."
Without waiting for a response, Zhāng said, "Now, Ren, if you will excuse me, I've got to go visit my daughter. She is on mend. I'm not sure how much time we'll have left together." He looks at Ren, quickly averting his gaze down.
Ren watches Zhāng leave and ponders what he'll do with the information he received.
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ǝɹǝɥ sɐʍ ɹoʇɐɹnƆ pɐW ǝɥ┴
You are truly MAD! LOL
lol
Terrific take from the prompt! Ren's waiting in silence brings about the corpse of his enemy, whose misdeeds have caught up to him. He's given a measure of vindication for all of his warnings, previously snubbed, from those who finally were able to see the guy for who he was. I liked how you wrote Ren contemplating what he's been told in the end.
Congratulations on receiving a well deserved Curie vote, Tristan!!
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Muy interesante historia
Interesting take on this story... I like that one did everything to save his daughter while the daughter of the other is dying as well.. I wonder what he would do next..
If you saw two daughters in there, I made a mistake in my editing. However, it is a very interesting take. If I were to re-edit this, I'm keeping this thought in mind.
That is a lot to be told. I question what I would do in that situation.
My bad! For some reason I thought that Zhāng's daughter was healed and it was Ren talking in the end. I must have misread or didn't see that it was Zhāng telling Ren that he goes to see his daughter..
lol.
Another great finish to a story. A bit different than many that I have read for this week.
I'm glad I hit on a different cord.
Thanks for stopping by.
So your finish is what Mr Renhe Ren saw... or hoped for that would happen? He hoped he would be right and Zhāng his wife would die, his daughter soon too and he would be the one to send his enemy away/out of the village?
How I intended it to come across is Ren returns home. There he's met by an elder of whom he'd had problems with in the past. The elder had the wife and daughter. The person screwing with Ren was close with the elder. The elder took in troubled person, ignoring what he'd heard about him. When that person's true colors emerged, the elder sent him down the river. He tells Ren without telling him or know that Ren had seen his old enemy face down in the river. My goal here was to say it without saying it because we know from the first half what Ren saw.
This is also a take on a situation in my personal life. There was this con-artist coming to the Y. - I'd been conned by him and known other who suffered the same fate. - I warned the Y about this person when I noticed he was sneaking in. The Y let him get a membership. Do you know how difficult to be around a person who you know beyond a shadow of a doubt is a psychopath and not flip out because other people who see the psychopath as "well put together" will look at you like you're a nut case? I kept my mouth shut when around him and I gently warned others not to close to him of his behavior. Eventually, he was suspended from the Y. I didn't have to do anything. He did it to himself by sleeping in the Y, stealing locker space, and other things I've yet to hear about.
My hat's off to you Tristan! It's hard as hell to stand by quietly when you know the true character of a person. While there's always the chance that they've changed, it doesn't happen all that often to someone who's been able to get away with their lies and/or selfish behavior. There's a 'man' (using the term loosely here for he's anything but) who abused a daughter (she was 6 at the time) of my friend (BADLY) but because he was underage at the time (15 then, he's now 26 or 27), was given house arrest and counseling to rehabilitate him. According to the law, he's paid his dues but, I can't help but wonder if he's truly sorry for what he did and has changed. Though I don't see him often, maybe once or twice a year, it makes me sick to see him happy and laughing it up with the deli clerk or the supermarket teller when I do. To anyone's knowledge, he's not done anything physical like that since but according to his mother (a relative of my friend) he is an asshole to his current wife.
Hi tristancarax,
Visit curiesteem.com or join the Curie Discord community to learn more.
lunch lolHAHA! Great! I'm back on the tail of the ravenous, light-saber wielding squirrel, @brisby. Stay where you are squirrel.
Congratulations, Tristan! I'm so happy for you! Though, I have no intentions of staying put. This squirrel is feeling hungry. 😉
Nice work
Thanks
what an article!!!
Thanks
Hi im just new here and i find your work very interesting and very good, your works are one reason that inspired me to make my own first novel here
Wow. This is a very nice thing to say.
What is your novel about and what about my writing inspired you?
You took this is such a completely different direction. It never fails that you are original. I think it is your destiny. What a lovely destiny.
Sometimes I'm too different, scaring people away. LOL
I don't see anyone running :))
Muy buena historia, excelente!
Like how he gets something to eat. Unexpected.
Your post was mentioned in the Steem Hit Parade in the following category:Congratulations @tristancarax!