CHAPTER 19

The searchers find the impoverished scholar; the desperate Gao Guoqin returns to familiar scenes

WHEN Ji Gong, accompanied by Su Lu and Feng Xun, arrived outside the South Gate of Yuhang prefecture, he saw an inn on the east side. The monk nodded toward it, saying, “Su Lu and Feng Xun, you two and I will go in, drink a cup of wine, eat, and rest. After that, we will go on.” The two men agreed and went into the restaurant. There, they asked for several different sorts of dishes.

Su Lu said, “Saintly monk, finally we are here with you in Yuhang prefecture, but where is Gao Guoqin now? Can you bring him here? How would it be for the four of us to eat and drink together?”

The monk replied, “First, we will drink a little wine, and after that we will go to look for him.” Having traveled so far, the three men talked a little more as they finished their wine. Then they paid for the food and wine, left the inn, and went into the town through the South Gate. As they came to the first crossroads, they turned east. On the north side of the road they saw the yamen, the official residence of the magistrate, and the offices of the prefecture. The monk quickened his step and started to hurry inside.

Su Lu asked, “Teacher, where are you going?”

The monk answered, “You two men wait here. I am going in to look for someone.”

As the monk came to the great gate, he heard someone who seemed to be a person of authority in the yamen shout, “No one may fail to confess! Gao Guoqin will now have the instruments of torture applied to the right and left legs. Then he will be brought forward for interrogation.” When Ji Gong heard this, he felt a chill of terror in sympathy.

Now, on the day that Gao Guoqin came down from City God Mountain, he had thought to himself that if he were to depart for some other place, he still would not have any relatives to turn to nor any place where he could seek shelter. Then he thought, “Why not go back to Yuhang prefecture?” He took passage on a boat, paying the fare with half of the money given him by his wife. With the remaining one hundred cash he bought something to eat. Therefore, by the time he reached Yuhang prefecture he had used up his two hundred cash.

“This time,” he thought, “I have come once more to my old haunts, and once more I am without resources. First of all, I have no relatives here; secondly, I have no close friends. I can think of nothing to do.” He considered going back to the old house, but wondered what good it would do. “If I had a few relatives, they might cheer me up, or if I had some friends that I knew very well, I could talk things over with them.” His situation really seemed to illustrate the old saying—that truly, whether in busy towns or lonely hills, the best connections are those with relatives and true friends.

Gao Guoqin was a courageous person, but he did not feel that he could live by begging, even from friends and relatives. The more he thought, the closer he came to the idea that the best thing he could do was to end his problems with death.

When he came to the river outside the wall at the South Gate, intending to jump into the river and die, he stood looking out over the water at the many boats coming and going. He was thinking to himself, “Dead! Dead! Once dead and it will be finished. Everything will come to an end. There is a time to be born and a place to die, and this is the place where I will cut short my life.”

Just as he was about to jump down, he heard someone behind him say, “Friend, whatever you do, do not jump! I have come.”

Gao Guoqin turned his head and saw a rather tall, slender man with a narrow waist and broad shoulders. He had a blue kerchief tied around his head and wore matching blue close-fitting pants and jacket with no cuffs at the wrist. Over his shoulders he wore a short crane’s-feather cloak with round purple markings, in the center of which were red dots. His eyebrows arched over lively and kind eyes. His nose was strong, straight, and a little pointed, but not unpleasantly so. The still-youthful features of his rather narrow face were well in proportion to one another. He seemed to be somewhat more than twenty years old.

The man continued, saying, “Sir, you are certainly an educated and intelligent man. Why should you be thinking of ending it all?”

Gao Guoqin replied, “You need not ask me, friend. There is nothing else I can do in the world. I simply must die.”

The man asked, “Sir, what is your difficulty and why should we not talk about it?”

Gao Guoqin could see that the man was sincere, and asked him, “What is your honorable surname and your personal name?”

The man answered, “My name is Wang and my personal name is Chengbi, and I live in this vicinity. Along these riverbanks I am a kind of manager or shipping agent. I employ people to load and unload all of the merchandise that is purchased on account for others. And now, sir, why is it that you are thinking about death?”

Gao Guoqin said, “I am also a native of this place, Brother Wang. I lived within the South Gate. My name is Gao Guoqin. I took my wife to the city of Linan to seek help from her relative. We lived in a nunnery there. I thought of myself as a man who was in the world, and yet neither able to serve his prince and benefit the people, nor to protect his wife and rear children. It seemed an empty life on earth. Because of this, I thought that death was better than life.”

“Brother,” said Wang Chengbi, “your brilliant mind has deceived itself. How can you value your life so lightly? First, come into a restaurant with me and have a little wine. After that I will think of something for you. You need not have such foolish ideas. When people die, they do not come back to life.”

Gao Guoqin then went with Wang Chengbi into a wine shop. Wang asked for wine and several dishes. After they had finished drinking and eating together, Wang Chengbi said, “Just now I have no money and no immediate way to get any, but if we wait until late in the afternoon, then some money will come into my hands. Today you can go and help to pull the tow rope of a barge.”

Gao Guoqin said, “My hands do not have that kind of strength. How can I pull the tow rope of a barge?”

“Sir, you don’t want to talk like that,” said Wang Chengbi. “People can do what they try to do. You must remember two sentences of the ancients: ‘The perfect man can be great, or he can be small;’ and ‘The hero may retreat in order to advance.’ Go and pull the barge today. Wait until I have the money in my hands. Then I will give you a few ounces of silver to send to your home. Afterward, I will ask some friend to help you start a school. How does that appeal to you?”

Gao Guoqin first thought, “Since this man whom I have just met offers to help me, and since he urges me to do this work, I cannot be too obstinate and unreasonable.” Having thought thus, he said, “Friend, since you show so much concern for me, I will listen like a younger brother and go to pull the barge.”

“Good!’ said Wang Chengbi. And standing up, he led Gao Guoqin to the riverbank. There, he saw a barge that had just been loaded with cargo and was about to depart. Wang Chengbi called out, “Barge master! I have a friend here. I want him to help pull the tow rope. Take good care of him, barge master, and when you reach your destination, make sure you bring him back. Otherwise, though, do not bother about him.”

The barge master replied, “Yes, indeed. Since this concerns young Master Wang, we will certainly not treat your friend badly.”

Gao Guoqin stood waiting with the rest of the tow rope gang. As the barge was pushed off at the barge master’s order, everyone picked up the tow rope. Gao Guoqin understood nothing about such things, but the rest were all used to pulling. One of the men showed him how to grasp the rope, and they all moved off. As the other people were shouting out in unison to keep time, Gao Guoqin thought of the classic doctrine of moderation. To mark his own steps, he recited the lines concerning the adaptability of the superior man to each situation in which he finds himself. All the rest began laughing loudly to hear someone reciting the classics while pulling the tow rope of a barge.

When they reached the wealthy man’s wharf, which was their destination, the barge was unloaded. Afterward, Gao Guoqin was so exhausted that he could not leave the barge with the rest of the men and so slept on the deck. The next day, the barge was loaded with other goods and began the return journey. Again Gao Guoqin pulled with the rest. When they reached Yuhang prefecture and arrived at the pier, Gao Guoqin saw Wang Chengbi standing there and quickly went to him.

“Sir, this time we are indeed fortunate!” said Wang Chengbi, “I have been waiting for you here. We brothers must have been fated to meet from our previous lives. Today I signed an agreement for thirty-five loads. First, come with me and have some tea and meat pastries. Afterward, you can go into town and change some notes for me. Tomorrow you will go to take some silver home—but, today, buy some wine and meat. We will feast and enjoy ourselves together.”

Gao Guoqin said, “Good! Good! Brother Wang, I thank you from the bottom of my heart for treating me so kindly so soon after our having met.”

Wang Chengbi said, “You and I are simply brothers now. You don’t need to be polite. At first sight it was as if we had always known each other.”

Gao Guoqin thought to himself, “This friend is no doubt truly sincere.” By the time he had finished drinking tea and eating several meat pastries with Wang Chengbi, it was growing late. Wang Chengbi gave the notes that were to be exchanged to Gao Guoqin. He was to go into the walled town and exchange them for silver. Wang also gave him a bottle to be filled with wine when he bought the wine and the meat.

Gao Guoqin went into the town with the notes that he exchanged for fifty ounces of silver. He then bought the wine and the meat and immediately started to return to Wang Chengbi, since the town gates were about to close. Guoqin was just hurrying through the gates when he saw a man coming from the opposite direction. He was running so hard that he seemed to be flying on the most pressing business. In fact, he ran straight into Gao Guoqin, and quickly said, “Do not be angry, sir. I was in too great a hurry because I have important business to take care of. It was my fault entirely.” All this the man said with folded hands and many bows. Then he quickly hurried on in through the gates.

Gao Guoqin was a refined and scholarly person, and, even though the running man had struck him, he thought to himself, “He is not a man without heart. What harm was there in his actions?” Just as Guoqin was continuing on his way, he felt with his hand in his pocket to make sure he hadn’t dropped any of the silver. But not a trace of it was there. He thought, “Surely I could not have dropped all the silver when I was struck!” Shocked, he stood with staring eyes and mouth stupidly dropped open. The man who had seemed to be in such a hurry was actually a daylight robber. Earlier, he had seen Gao Guoqin change the notes. With a thief’s true cunning, he had intentionally run into Gao Guoqin, taking the silver and making off with it.

The more Gao Guoqin thought about this matter, the worse it seemed. “What can I say when I see Wang Chengbi? It is worse than if I had died. Yesterday I was about to die and did not—and in these two days my troubles have grown worse. Now it is as if the King of Hell has condemned me to the third hell. What horrors may await one who dares to go down to the fifth hell?”

Thinking thus to himself, he again came to the river that flowed past the town. And again he intended to drown himself. Then he called out to himself: “Gao Guoqin! Gao Guoqin! There is no way by which you can ever arrive at a decent life. I did not think that I had come here to die!”

Just as he was speaking aloud to himself in his sorrow, he heard someone ask, “Is that my dear brother, Gao Guoqin, who is speaking? I have looked everywhere for you but did not find you. I did not expect to meet you here today.” As he spoke, the man approached and craned his neck to get a better view. Looking at the man, Gao Guoqin did not recognize him. He seemed a little familiar, but Gao Guoqin could not remember him, and therefore asked, “Are you not mistaken, sir?”

The man replied, “Elder Brother, do you not even remember the one who was the same as your little brother? I am Li Seming.”

When Gao Guoqin heard this, he said, “Ai yah! So it is you!” When younger, Li Seming was part of a poor family. He and his widowed mother had lived in a house near the Gao household. Gao Guoqin’s family had all been generous and had often helped the Lis when they were in need. Later, Li Seming had studied in the Gao home. When his mother died, the Gao family paid for her burial.

Gao Guoqin had then asked Li Seming whether he wanted to study for a government post or whether he wanted to become a merchant. Li Seming said, “If I had personal resources, I might like to study for a government career. Since I have no money, how can I hope to pursue such studies? Therefore, I would like to work in a shop.”

Gao Guoqin said, “That also may be good.” He then arranged with a grain shop in town to take Li Seming as an apprentice to learn the grain trade. Guoqin also provided him with a set of clothing, since it was the custom for an apprentice to bring with him a working wardrobe of his own.

Li Seming was diligent in his work, did not make any really careless mistakes, and took to the trade. After the three full years of his apprenticeship were completed, the proprietor evaluated Seming’s work. The proprietor, having grown very fond of the young man and realizing that he was an excellent worker, made him a member of his family and opened a separate branch shop for him in Chengjiang. This venture became very profitable. The proprietor had no son and only one daughter, whom he gave to Li Seming in marriage. The proprietor then retired, giving the young people the entire property. Afterward, the old man and his wife died, and Li Seming managed the whole business.

He had often thought to himself, “If it had not been for the kindness shown to me that year by Gao Guoqin, where would I be today?” And so he took his family and some of their personal belongings and returned to the home of his late father-in-law. He intended to find Gao Guoqin and express his gratitude. However, when he reached Yuhang prefecture, there was no one who could tell him where the Gao family had gone. All said simply that the Gaos had become impoverished and gone away. Li Seming felt very bad. He bought a house outside the West Gate and opened still another grain shop outside the South Gate. On this day he was returning home when he happened to meet Gao Guoqin.

Both men were overjoyed at their meeting and sad to think of their long separation. Each explained what had happened to him since they had last seen each other. Gao Guoqin said, “Dear brother, if I had not lost that money, we two would not have met.”

Li Seming said, “First of all, come home with me. We still have much to tell each other.” The two started off together, but before they had gone very far Gao Guoqin struck something with his foot. Bending down, he picked up the object.