Chapter Twenty-Five: Fragile Literary Talent

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Ma Wencai glanced at her without reaching out to take it. He rose and walked outside the pavilion, then sat down beside the fire and began tossing logs into it with loud, crackling thuds.

“Looks like someone is determined to make an enemy of his own stomach.” The older man shrugged.

Zhu Yingtai chimed in, “Ma Wencai, stop throwing a tantrum and come eat.”

So Young Master Ma was throwing another fit. I sat on the stone bench, picking the meat from the fish. I had to finish preparing it first.

Ma Wencai continued throwing logs onto the fire. After a long while, he finally said coldly, “A gentleman does not eat food offered in contempt.”

Actually, Ma Wencai was right. But I really was hungry; otherwise, I would not have eaten the fish. Besides, I was no gentleman. I was merely a young woman, so it hardly mattered.

The old man clasped his hands behind his back. “Young Master Ma, are you from an official family?”

At that, Ma Wencai turned around and looked at him with an air of haughty pride.

The old man chuckled appreciatively. “Heh, look at that bearing—so imposing and commanding. Your family must have squeezed quite a lot of wealth from the common people, then?”

Ma Wencai’s face changed dramatically. He snapped the branch in his hand in two and hurled it heavily to the ground, glaring fiercely at the old man.

The old man pretended to be startled and patted his chest. “Good heavens, what strength.” His gaze shifted to Zhu Yingtai, and he sighed helplessly. “A horse can carry a thousand pounds, while a man can carry only a hundred. Why is that so difficult to understand? Is the horse riding the man, or the man riding the horse?”

“You…” Ma Wencai was so furious that he could not get the words out.

Zhu Yingtai, however, laughed. “Uncle, what an interesting comparison.”

The more I listened from inside the pavilion, the more irritated I became. I immediately stepped forward to argue. “Zhu Yingtai, what are you doing? Have you forgotten who you are? You are letting your elbow turn outward.”

Ma Wencai looked just as bewildered by my words.

I turned toward the old man. I knew that he had once refused to bow for the sake of a mere five pecks of rice and had abandoned an official post because he considered himself above worldly compromise. Otherwise, he would not have been making a living selling chrysanthemum tea.

“Old man, mind your manners. I come from an official family too. Who says that every official must exploit the common people? Being wealthy is not a crime. Why make it sound so ugly?”

I picked up a branch from the ground and snapped it with a sharp crack.

“It is only a branch. Do you think it weighs a hundred pounds or a thousand?”

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The old man put his hands behind his back and looked at Zhu Yingtai. After a light cough, he said, “Ah, when people follow different paths, they cannot make plans together. Young brother, traveling alongside people whose temperaments differ so greatly from your own…” He turned to glance at Ma Wencai, then looked at me and shrugged. “Aren’t you tired?”

“Are you saying that I am unworthy of being their friend?” Ma Wencai’s face filled with disbelief.

He looked at Zhu Yingtai. She lowered her head. Then he looked at me, but I offered no opinion. His eyes flickered, and he turned and ran off without warning.

Could his pride have been wounded? Brother Wencai, you cannot possibly be that fragile, can you?

Zhu Yingtai and I did not go after him. I turned to the old man. If he really was Tao Yuanming, then his image in my mind had fallen considerably. I would definitely write about this in my diary.

“Do people with different temperaments include me? Let me tell you, there are very few people in this world who can refuse to bow for the sake of five pecks of rice the way certain people do. By that ratio, it is still unclear who truly has the different temperament.”

The old man was startled by my words. He seemed to have understood their meaning. Seeing his reaction, I became even more certain that he was Tao Yuanming.

Hmph, Tao Yuanming. Just wait until I return to the modern world and see how I write about you. Crossing me is no laughing matter.

I flung my sleeve and left for the upper floor. I admit that I have a bad temper and very little backbone. Though I had cursed the old man, I still had to spend the night under his roof. At least the silver coin I had given him would not go to waste.

Not long afterward, Zhu Yingtai came upstairs as well. I could not be bothered to acknowledge her. What a traitor, siding with outsiders!

I tossed and turned on the floor. The boards were terribly hard; every inch of me ached. Then I heard Zhu Yingtai let out a silly little laugh. Thinking she was mocking me, I immediately sat up.

“What are you laughing at?”

Zhu Yingtai froze for a moment, then shook the money pouch in her hand. “Shanbo was afraid I would not be able to sleep, so he specially left me some Fragrant Bud Drink. I am going downstairs to brew a cup.”

Damn her. What was there to feel so smug about?

Zhu Yingtai hurried downstairs, and shortly afterward I followed in a fury. Since I could not sleep anyway, I might as well go look at the moon. They said today was the fifteenth day of the eighth lunar month—the Mid-Autumn Festival. To end up in such a miserable state on a festival night was truly the height of misfortune.

I had not even reached the kitchen when I heard Zhu Yingtai shout, “Who is it? Who is in there?”

The moment I heard her voice, I ran into the kitchen.

“Zhu Yingtai, what happened?”

She took a step back and pointed at the bamboo cabinet. “There is something inside.”

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What could it be? Surely not a rat.

I approached the cabinet trembling with fear. There really was a noise coming from inside.

No ghosts, no ghosts, I repeated silently to myself.

Then I yanked open the cabinet door.

It was Ma Wencai.

He was curled up inside, his whole body trembling. His eyes were red and swollen, and his breathing was ragged. He stared at me in terror, like a child who had been bullied.

For a moment, I stood there dumbfounded, not knowing how to react.

Zhu Yingtai came over beside me. The instant she saw Ma Wencai hiding inside the cabinet, she was just as astonished.

“Ma Wencai, since when did you learn to play at being a ghost? Come out at once.”

Ma Wencai continued to tremble. He quickly slammed the cabinet door shut.

Zhu Yingtai immediately pulled it open again and reached in to drag him out.

“Come out! What kind of madness has gotten into you?”

I pulled Zhu Yingtai aside and glanced at Ma Wencai. He was clearly not in his right mind.

“How did he become like this?”

“How should I know?” Zhu Yingtai looked completely innocent.

“How should you know? Aren’t the two of you close?”

I had barely finished questioning her when Ma Wencai rose and ran away.

“Wait, Ma Wencai! Ma Wencai…”

Zhu Yingtai and I chased after him. At the end of the corridor, we discovered that the stone table and benches had all been knocked over. Ma Wencai was slumped on the stone steps.

Zhu Yingtai flew into a rage.

“Ma Wencai, what on earth is wrong with you? Why did you ruin Uncle’s things? We are staying under someone else’s roof—can you not restrain your temper even a little? What are you doing now? Even you, Ma Wencai, have times when you cry? Who are you putting on this act for?”

Ma Wencai sprang to his feet. The bloodlust in his eyes frightened me into silence. He seized Zhu Yingtai by the throat and drove her against the wall.

“Shut up! Shut up!”

I hurried forward and grabbed his arm. Only then did I realize that both his hands were trembling, and that he was barely exerting any strength against Zhu Yingtai’s throat.

“Brother Wencai, let us talk this through. Please let go first.”

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