Chapter 2

Main Text Chapter Two Rat Friend

This year's Spring Festival many things happened; Hu Guohua made a paper effigy to swindle his uncle out of money, the scheme was finally exposed, his uncle grew angry and fell ill, and within three days he passed away.

Hu's relatives and friends guarded him as if guarding against thieves; not to mention lending him money, they wouldn't even let him scrape a bite of leftover rice. Hu Guohua sold the last pair of sandalwood chests in the house for two silver dollars; this chest was his mother's dowry, which he had wanted to keep as a keepsake but couldn't bear to pawn. However, his opium craving flared up, and he could no longer restrain himself; he used that money to buy a small piece of Blessing and Longevity Ointment, rushed home, and couldn't wait to light the opium pipe and flop onto the bed, taking two fierce puffs, his body feeling light as if floating in the clouds.

At that moment he felt as happy as an immortal; the daily indignities of being looked down upon, insulted, and bullied no longer mattered. After two more puffs, he suddenly noticed a black, blurry thing lying on his rickety bed; looking closer, he saw a large rat curled up in the corner of the bed. This rat must be quite old—its whiskers had turned white, and its size was about that of a cat. It was inhaling the smoke rising from Hu Guohua's opium pipe, as if it also knew the benefits of the Blessing and Longevity Ointment, sniffing greedily and enjoying it.

Hu Guohua found it amusing and said to the big rat, 'You too have an opium habit? Looks like we're kindred spirits.' After saying that, he took a puff himself and blew smoke toward the rat with his mouth. The rat seemed to know he meant no harm and wasn't afraid of him; it raised its head to accept the smoke blowing its way. After a while, as if it had had its fill, it slowly crawled away.

For several days, the big rat came every day to smoke opium together with Hu Guohua. Hu Guohua was despised everywhere and had hardly any friends; he felt a kinship with the rat and grew fond of it. Sometimes when the rat arrived late, Hu Guohua would endure his craving and wait for it.

But good fortune did not last; soon Hu Guohua's house held nothing but a bed and four walls, with no money left to buy opium. Feeling helpless and without recourse, he sighed to the rat: 'Rat, oh rat, today my purse is empty and my grain exhausted; I have no more money to buy Blessing and Longevity Ointment, I fear I can no longer enjoy this habit with you.' Having spoken, he sighed incessantly.

The rat listened to his words, its eyes gleaming brightly as if deep in thought, then turned and left. At night, the rat returned carrying a silver dollar, which it placed beside Hu Guohua's pillow. Hu Guohua was overjoyed; that very night he went into town and bought a piece of Blessing and Longevity Ointment, came back, lit it under the lamp, and puffed away freely, enjoying a hearty smoke together with the rat.

The next day the rat brought back three more silver dollars. Hu Guohua was so delighted he didn't know what to say. Recalling an anecdote he had learned in private school, he said to the rat: 'He who understands Guan Zhong is Bao Shuya; you know my poverty and have generously helped me—you truly are my confidant. If you do not disdain me, let us become sworn brothers.' From then on he and the rat treated each other as brothers, addressing it as 'Rat Brother,' sharing food and drink, smoking opium together, and even making a nest of cotton fluff for it on the bed so the rat could sleep there too.

Man and rat lived in harmony, no less than the closest of friends. The rat went out each day to bring back silver dollars—sometimes one or two, sometimes three or five—so from then on Hu Guohua wanted for nothing in food and clothing. Years later, my grandfather recalled this period and always said it was the happiest time of his life.

After more than half a year passed like this, Hu Guohua gradually became prosperous, but isn't there a saying? 'Wealth brings good friends, misfortune brings petty people.' And it seemed Hu Guohua's fate was to be poor; he caught the eye of a petty person.

In the village there was a good-for-nothing named Wang Ergangzi, who was unlike Hu Guohua—Hu Guohua had at least been prosperous before, and no matter how you say it, he had been called 'Hu Eldest Young Master' for over twenty years.

Wang Ergangzi didn't have such good fortune; from his ancestors eight generations back to his own, they had never worn a pair of pants that didn't expose their backsides. Seeing Hu Guohua's fortunes decline, he took pleasure in his misfortune, and whenever he had the chance he would insult and bully Hu Guohua, picking on the former 'Hu Eldest Young Master' to give himself a sense of balance.

Lately he found it strange: this poor fellow Hu Guohua wasn't doing any business, and everything at home that could be pawned had been pawned, his relatives were mostly dead, yet he smoked opium at home every day. Where did he get the money to buy opium? Perhaps this kid was a thief; I'd better secretly watch him, catch him when he steals something, and turn him over to the authorities for a reward of a few silver dollars.

But after watching him for a while, he discovered that aside from occasionally going into town to buy some food and opium, Hu Guohua basically never left his house and had no contact with anyone. The less he knew where Hu Guohua's money came from, the more Wang Ergangzi's curiosity itched.

One day Hu Guohua went out to buy something to eat, and Wang Ergangzi took the opportunity to climb over the wall into his house, rummaging through chests and cabinets trying to discover Hu Guohua's secret. Suddenly he saw a large rat sleeping on the bed; he grabbed the rat, tossed it into the pot of boiling water on the stove, and put the lid on, thinking that when Hu Guohua came home to drink water he could watch from the side for amusement.

Before Wang Ergangzi could even leave, Hu Guohua returned and cornered him inside the house. Seeing the large rat in the pot already boiled to death, Hu Guohua's eyes flared red; he snatched a kitchen knife and began hacking. Wang Ergangzi suffered over a dozen cuts, but because Hu Guohua was an opium addict with weak strength, none of the wounds were fatal. Bleeding all over, Wang Ergangzi fled to the security squad for help; the squad captain was a relative of a local warlord, who at that moment was entertaining the warlord with drink. The captain exclaimed, 'This is intolerable! In broad daylight he's committing murder with a knife—has the law been abolished?' He quickly ordered his men to seize Hu Guohua and bind him tightly.

Hu Guohua was brought before the magistrate, and the captain of the security squad shouted, 'Why did you commit murder with a knife and try to kill Wang Ergangzi?'

Hu Guohua wept tearfully, recounting the whole story in sobs, and finally lamented: 'I once suffered so greatly I wished to die; without that rat I would not be alive today. I never expected that my momentary carelessness would cause the death of my Rat Brother—though I did not kill him, he died because of me. In the netherworld I fail this good friend; how can I bear this emotion? I alone am responsible for my deeds; since I have wounded Wang Ergangzi, let punishment be meted out as the authorities see fit. I only beg the official to allow me to return home to bury my Rat Brother—then even in death I could rest in peace.'

Before the squad captain could speak, the warlord beside him sighed deeply and said to Hu Guohua: 'He ***, forgetting kindness is benevolence, betraying trust is righteousness; if he treats a rat this way, how much more would he treat people? I admire your virtue and see that you have no dependents*, so from now on follow me into the army and become my adjutant.'

Power comes from the barrel of a gun; in troubled times, the words of those who command troops are law. The warlord chief ordered his subordinates to give Wang Ergangzi a sound thrashing with a whip to let Hu Guohua vent his anger, then released Hu Guohua to go home and bury the rat. Hu Guohua placed the rat's corpse in a wooden coffin, dug a grave, buried it, wept for half a day, and then went to join that warlord chief.

As the saying goes: when hungry, chaff tastes sweet as honey; when full, even honey is not sweet. When a person falls into poverty and destitution, even if others merely give him a bowl of porridge and a piece of cake, he will feel grateful; how much more so when mice bestow upon Hu Guohua so much money and treasure—of course the mice's money is all stolen. The sages say that one would rather die of thirst than drink from a robber's spring, but that is the moral standard of the most sagely and virtuous people; even the ancients found it hard to achieve, let alone Hu Guohua, such an ordinary person. It has been heard that if one smokes in a room for a long time, the flies and mice inside will also become addicted; this is not false.