Chapter 2 - Rat Friend (1/2)
Chapter 2 - Rat Friend
That Spring, many events happened. The fact that Hu Guo Hua had used a paper doll to trick his uncle into lending him money had finally been exposed. Furious and disappointed, the uncle fell ill. Within three days, his soul had departed his body.
All of the members of the Hu Family avoided him like the plague. They wouldn’t even give him a bite to eat, much less lend him money. Hu Guo Hua sold the last sandalwood box in his house for two silvers. The box had once held his mother’s dowry in it. No matter what, he had wanted to keep it, and wasn’t willing to p.a.w.n it off. However, his withdrawal reemerged and he couldn’t care less about the promise any longer. He used the two silvers to buy a small gram of opium. He rushed home to smoke it on his bed. After taking two long draws, he felt as though he was lying amongst the clouds.
At that moment, he was living with the G.o.ds. The fact that people would look down on him and and bully him every day was no longer important. After taking two more draws, he suddenly felt that a dark thing was laying beside him on his tattered bed. When he opened up his eyes to look around, he saw a big rat beside him. The rat must have been pretty old. Even the wisps of fur on his chin had even turned white. It was about as big as a cat. He appeared out of the smoke that came from his pipe, as though it was also relis.h.i.+ng in the feeling of smoking. It sniffed its snout a few times to get a little more.
Hu Guo Hua’s interest was peaked and he said to the rat, “You smoke opium too? Looks like you’re quite the expert too.” After he said that, he took another draw and blew the smoke at the rat. The rat knew that he meant no harm and wasn’t afraid of him. It looked up and took a deep breath in the smoke. After half a second, as though satisfied, it slowly crawled away.
The next few days pa.s.sed the same way. That old rat came by every day to get a whiff of opium with Hu Guo Hua. Hu Guo Hua was treated like trash everywhere and didn’t have a single friend. The only thing he felt a slight favorable impression of was this rat. Sometimes, the rat would come a little later, and Hu Guo Hua would bear with the desire to wait a little for it.
However, the good days did not last and all that was left in Hu Guo Hua’s house was a bed and its four walls. There was nothing else that he could sell to buy more of the drug. Frustrated from his lack of a plan, he sighed to the rat, “Rat, oh rat, I have nothing left. There’s no more money left to experience that pleasure any more. I’m afraid, I won’t be able to share these simple pleasures with you any longer.” His voice trembled at the end from the sorrow in his throat.
When the rat heard this, its eyes flashed, as though it had an idea. It turned around and left. When evening fell, the rat brought a silver dollar to Hu Guo Hua’s pillow. Hu Guo Hua was overjoyed and he bought a big chunk of the drug that same night. He then went directly home and began to smoke it some more, and shared it with the rat.
TL Note: The silver dollar is a higher currency than the silvers
The next day, the rat brought back another three silver dollars. Hu Guo Hua was so happy that he didn’t know what to say. He then thought of an old folktale he had learned in school once upon a time and said to the rat, “The one who knew Guan Zhong* the most, was none other than Bao Shu Ya. When I was in my poorest state, you came to my a.s.sistance. If you don’t mind, why don’t we become brothers.” and from then on, he called the rat his brother and shared his food and drink and smoke. He even created a small burrow for the rat next to his bed so that the rat could sleep there.
The relations.h.i.+p between man and rat grew closer and was not inferior to that of blood related brothers. The rat always went out to steal silver dollars. Some days, he came back with one or two, but others, he would bring back three or five. From them on, Hu Guo Hua needed not worry about food or clothing. Many years later, my grandfather would always remember that time as the happiest days of his life.
And like that, half a year pa.s.sed by. Hu Guo Hua slowly began to become richer. But, isn’t there that one saying? When you strike gold, you have great friends. When you run out of luck, you meet crooks. Hu Guo Hua was fated to live a poor life, and because of that, he caught the attention of some crooks.
There was a hoodlum in the village that went by the name w.a.n.g Er Kang Zi. He was different from Hu Guo Hua. Hu Guo Hua had at least once been rich before and was called “Young Master Hu” for twenty years of his life.