Huaizhuang is a small northern town, inconspicuous.
But there is a famous person in Huaizhuang, he is "Master Wu". He is the fifth one, looks handsome and dignified, but has a heart of stone. After more than ten years of plundering, half of the land in Huaizhuang has been owned by him, and the shops on several commercial streets are basically his. His words are the law of Huaizhuang, and no one dares to disobey him. These are just small matters. It is said that several large businesses in the county and state also belong to him. No one knows how powerful he is. Even the county magistrate calls him big brother. He can be said to be powerful and proud.
But the fifth master had his biggest sorrow, which was that he was nearly fifty years old and had no offspring. He worshipped many Buddhas and invited countless doctors, but it was no use. He looked at the flat belly of the seventh wife every day, and his temper became more irritable. Therefore, the family members were trembling with fear every day and dared not speak loudly. The villagers were all very happy. They secretly discussed that this was retribution in this life, who made him harm the people. Others said: I heard that I saw the fifth master forcing several big businessmen to commit suicide, this is retribution.
Master Wu has been in a bad mood again these days. His coldness and harshness have frightened his family members, and even the concubines who were usually spoiled dared not act coquettishly. Master Wu looked at his gray hair and beard in the mirror and vowed to sleep in the study and never go to other rooms. In order to ease the cold and frozen atmosphere, his original wife came in with a bowl of ginseng soup in her hand. She finally thawed Master Wu with her familiar language, tacit movements, and warm expression. Master Wu looked at his distant cousin, and the tender past scenes of his youth reappeared before his eyes. He felt a little sorry for her. In more than ten years, when had he ever been to her house? A long-lost smile hung on Master Wu's face, and he slowly said: Yumei, I will come to your place tonight.
Yumei couldn't believe her ears. Then her heart was filled with joy. She ran away on her feet because she was going to clean up the house. After urging the maid to clean up several times, she was still not satisfied and decorated the house herself, all in the style that the five adults liked.
That night, after Yumei took a bath, she fumigated the house with spices. She felt a little uneasy: Will he come? If he comes, he hasn't come for more than ten years. I… Thinking of his eagerness after his first marriage, Yumei's cheeks flushed. The Fifth Master did not break his promise. When the lights came on, he came. He saw the complicated expression on Yumei's face and smiled. After undressing, the Fifth Master found the long-lost feeling, like a young man. All this was proved by Yumei's moans. Afterwards, Yumei, who was happy both physically and mentally, shed tears quietly. She didn't know whether she was happy or sad, but it didn't matter anymore. Anyway, the Fifth Master was already asleep…
Strangely enough, after that night, the fifth master fell in love with his first wife, Yumei. For a month, he went to see Yumei almost every night. This made the other ladies so angry that they cursed Yumei's ancestors countless times. But the big thing was still to come. What made them most angry was that Yumei's belly gradually swelled up. This was incredible. This old hen actually got there first! It was so infuriating!
The face of the fifth master was always filled with a charming smile. Except for the concubines, the family was also happy because the fifth master often rewarded them. It was like the sun rising from the west! From then on, the fifth master's heart was always on Yumei. He asked about Yumei's health every day and took good care of her. His greatest pleasure was to stick to Yumei's belly every day to listen to the movement of the child. The child kept moving, and the fifth master shouted loudly: "It's a son, it must be a son! How can a little girl be so strong?" Yumei was almost happy to death, and her wrinkled eyes relaxed.
To prevent any accidents, the fifth master ordered four male servants to take turns to wait at the door of the eldest lady day and night, and the family also added five or six female servants. Those ladies gnashed their teeth in hatred but could do nothing, and they all lamented that there was no share of the family property for us. The fifth master also declined many banquets and concentrated on waiting for his son to be born.
In this way, the days passed as the five adults anxiously waited.
More than eight months later, at five o'clock one day, the Fifth Master had already started on his journey. He was going to attend a banquet at the county magistrate's place. He didn't want to go, but could he refuse? Before leaving, he repeatedly told the housekeeper to take good care of the first lady. He set out alone without taking anyone with him.
The chilly wind seemed to ignore the arrival of spring. The fifth master wrapped himself up tightly, after all, he was getting old. The clattering of the horse's hooves could not drive away the worry in the fifth master's heart. When he imagined the scene of his son's birth, he couldn't help laughing. My son, when will Dad see you…
It was time to cross the river. It was a small river that was just past the horse's hoof. It had not been thawed for long. Looking at the slowly flowing water, a chill surged in the heart of the fifth master. At this moment, a man in a black long coat ran over from the opposite side. He was in a hurry and waded through the river. The fifth master reined in his horse and waited. In a blink of an eye, the man was in front of the fifth master. He raised his head and looked at the fifth master. Although the man was in front of him, the fifth master could not see what kind of face he had. The fifth master secretly cursed himself for being old and dim. But the fifth master himself was like this. He wrapped his face tightly, leaving only his two eyes exposed.
"Brother, what are you in such a hurry for?" The cold wind made the fifth man's voice hoarse.
"Oh, I don't know how to tell you. I'm here to collect a debt." The man seemed full of sorrow.
"Who are you looking for?"
"The fifth master of Huaizhuang." The man was about to leave.
"Ah?" The fifth man cried out in his heart, but soon calmed down.
The man didn't even raise his head, but was about to lift his feet.
"Brother, what money did the rich and ruthless Fifth Master owe you? Why are you in such a hurry?" Fifth Master remained calm.
The man was stopped by this sentence. He nodded and said, "Yes, that Fifth Master deserves to die the most. I am Li San, the shopkeeper of Pingcheng. He cheated all my property and I am going to collect the debt from him." After saying that, he looked at Fifth Master.
The Fifth Master shuddered, and he immediately felt the cold air around him, and the muscles on his face couldn't help but tremble several times. Fortunately, his face was wrapped tightly and it didn't show. He couldn't help but pull the cotton cloth on his face, but he felt his heart was about to jump out of his chest. He raised his head and saw that the man was looking at him coldly, and a chilling chill emanated from that man's eyes. After all, the Fifth Master had seen the world, and he straightened his body and said loudly: "Yes, yes, go and ask for it!"
The man took one last look at him and disappeared like the wind.
The fifth master kept watching his back until he disappeared. He whipped the horse hard, and the horse neighed and galloped away. All he could hear along the way was the whistling wind.
He didn't stop until he reached the entrance of a village in the suburbs of the county. By then, the sky was already bright, the rising sun was emitting thousands of golden rays, and the early risers were already busy.
He got off the horse and led it to a small forest. When he had just tied the horse to the tree, he collapsed completely. He was shaking and terrified. Normally, the Fifth Master was strong, skilled in martial arts, energetic, and fearless, but why was he so scared today? It turned out that the shopkeeper Li San just now scared him. Was the shopkeeper Li San telling the truth? Yes. Five years ago, the Fifth Master cheated and forced the shopkeeper Li San to lose all his money. In the end, the desperate Li San hanged himself. This incident was a sensation in Pingcheng. Li San's wife cried and cried during the funeral, causing a sensation in the city. From then on, the big business became the private property of the Fifth Master, and he was often proud of this incident.
The fifth master was sure that he was dead, but today he saw the shopkeeper Li San. At first, the fifth master thought that someone was playing tricks, but when he saw the familiar, hateful, and desperate eyes, he was completely convinced that this was Li San. He was still wearing the black long clothes he wore when he was buried. The fifth master could not forget it. He secretly thanked himself for being afraid of the cold and covering himself tightly. He also caught a cold and his voice changed a little. Otherwise, it would be questionable whether he could survive today. He just ran so far with one breath, and now he is completely broken. He was a little suspicious that Li San recognized him. Those cold eyes were very scary. Then he thought, if he recognized me, why didn't he take my life? But what on earth was he going to do? Was he going to look for my family? When he thought of Yumei who was about to give birth, his heart was hanging again. Thinking of this, he could no longer worry, so he got up quickly and rode to the post station in front. When he put the letter of apology to the county magistrate in the postman's hand, he hurriedly rode back and galloped all the way.
At noon, he rushed back home. As soon as he entered the door, the servants' chaotic voices announcing good news and the loud cries of babies mixed together, "It's the young master!" The old housekeeper smiled like a flower, and the stone in his heart fell to the ground completely. When the white and plump child was held in his arms, he and Yumei shed tears of joy. This is the greatest happiness for my fifth child! That night, when he was kneeling at the ancestral tablet, his grandfather's spirit tablet hit him on the head. He was a little surprised: Grandpa, you have a successor, you can't hit me happily! When he looked up, he saw his grandfather's portrait frowning for a moment, which scared him. It must be an illusion, so he got up and left. But at this time, two lines of turbid tears flowed from his grandfather's portrait…
"Let's give it a name." Yumei stroked the child and said to the five adults.
"Okay, I'll ask Wang Kongming to look at my horoscope tomorrow."
Wang Kongming is a famous fortune teller in the area of 100 miles. He has always been very accurate in his predictions. When the fifth master told him the child's birth date, he looked solemn and did not speak for a long time. The fifth master was anxious: "What's the matter?" Wang Kongming said hesitantly: This child lacks wood in the five elements, so the name should have the word wood. The fifth master asked again, what is his fortune like. Wang Kongming said: I have seen it, and I think he will spend a lot of money in the future, so you should pay attention to it. The fifth master laughed: I am afraid that he will spend money? Then he left. Wang Kongming looked at his gradually disappearing figure, shook his head, and sighed…
The child was named Zimu, which was quite poetic. In fact, Zi means the ranking and Mu means lack of wood, which is the scientific name. His nickname was Saner, because two children had died before him. The fifth master called him Saner to raise him. The fifth master always liked to look at Saner's eyes. Look, those eyes, although not full-mooned, flashed with cunning light. For this reason, the fifth master often said: Look, it's more like me. But Yumei said: It's not the same as you. The fifth master said: If it's not the same as me, who else can it be like! But when he looked at Saner's eyes again, he always felt that there was a mysterious power that could penetrate him. He secretly said: This guy can capture souls!
San'er had been ill for three days, and he was seriously ill. He invited many doctors but they were helpless. The fifth master was panicked. In desperation, he rushed to Pingcheng and found a hospital run by an American missionary. The bearded doctor said that he had to be admitted to the hospital for observation, so the fifth master had no choice but to do so. For two months, San'er's condition had been getting better and worse, and he had never dared to leave the hospital. A lot of money had been spent. On the day of his discharge, the shrewd fifth master calculated that he had spent a full 20,000 taels. At this time, he remembered Wang Kongming's words and couldn't help but admire him secretly. He suddenly had an idea. Wang Kongming said that he could spend a lot of money, so he quietly started to write it down to see how much money he could spend. At the same time, he scolded himself. What's wrong with his son spending his own money? But curiosity drove him to decide to do it.
"The jewel in the palm" San'er grew up slowly under the care of his parents. But as Wang Kongming said, San'er's growth path was paved with money. He would get sick every now and then, and once he got sick, he had to go to Pingcheng for treatment, which would cost a lot of money. When he was three years old, San'er's quirks showed up. He liked to hit porcelain and tear up calligraphy and paintings. The porcelain here was different from ordinary porcelain, and the calligraphy and paintings were not mediocre. Those porcelains of various shapes on the shelves were almost all works of the five famous kilns in the Song Dynasty. Each one was worth a lot of money, but they were all smashed to pieces by San'er; those celebrity calligraphy and paintings treasured in the study were torn to pieces by San'er. With Wu Daren's temper, he would have been furious, but Wu Daren let it go. It's not that he didn't care, but that he couldn't care. Once he cared about him, he would faint with anger and couldn't wake up for a long time, and he had to go to Pingcheng for treatment. Seeing his pale face after the shock, Wu Daren's tears came down. In this case, let him go. In this way, 3 million silver coins were recorded in the account book of the fifth master. When he saw these figures, he felt a pain in his heart. He thought of Wang Kongming's words again, when will this end?
San'er was five years old. The guys were talking about this in private, saying that this must not be the master's flesh and blood, how could a child not look like his father at all? There were so many discussions that the Fifth Master happened to hear them. He was about to get angry, but he held it back. He decided to take a good look to see if he looked like himself. So he went to the study to see San'er reading. San'er was tearing up the ancient books in his collection and laughing triumphantly. The Fifth Master frowned and coughed. San'er was startled. He turned around and looked at his father coldly. This look was so familiar. Who was it? The Fifth Master paced and suddenly shuddered. He thought of someone. It was him! San'er looked too much like that person. Whether it was his face, his walk, his expression, or his speech, they were all alike, as if they were made from the same mold. His heart was completely cold, and he couldn't even lift his feet to walk. From then on, the Fifth Master seemed to have become a different person. He was depressed and thoughtful. To put it bluntly, he was a walking corpse. The huge family returned to the atmosphere of five or six years ago, with only San'er occasionally laughing. Everyone looked at each other, and secretly wondered, what happened?
When San'er was ten years old, he developed a new hobby: he liked to pull silk, and he liked to listen to the sound of silk being torn. If he was not allowed to pull it, he would cry and faint. The Fifth Master ignored him, and Yumei had no choice but to buy silk for him to pull, and a lot of money went down the drain. The Fifth Master had fewer and fewer servants, and less and less real estate and land. Yumei cried and asked the Fifth Master to take care of the child, but the Fifth Master remained silent. Yumei cried all day long: How can I live?
When San'er was fifteen, he developed four new habits: eating, drinking, whoring and gambling. He was often followed by some bad friends, which harmed the village. Wu Daren's money was getting less and less. He only had one property and very few lands. His mother Yumei cried all day long, and his father Wu Daren was still the same, not saying a word. Everyone remembered that he had not spoken for ten years.
One day, San'er's best friend finally stopped following him because he had no money. San'er cursed and lost his temper at home all day. He was used to eating delicious food, but now he could only eat simple meals; he was used to spending a lot of money in the casino, but now he had nothing; he was used to visiting teahouses and wine shops, and was used to spending a lot of money to buy smiles and riding horses in Zhangtai, but now he could only stay at home. How could he not be angry? One afternoon, he was drunk and lying in the yard. His stepmothers walked around quietly, not daring to disturb him. Suddenly he woke up, and he saw that a stepmother was so weak and beautiful, he got up suddenly and followed her. After a while, obscene sounds came from the stepmother's house, and then San'er came out contentedly. A few days later, the six stepmothers all had ambiguous relationships with San'er. Those stepmothers had been complaining for a long time, and secondly, they had no blood relationship with San'er, so they were happy to be free. San'er's mother Yumei found out. She cried and asked San'er and the women to stop, but the obscene sounds continued. Yumei's heart was bleeding. She ran to the fifth master and begged him to take care of it. The fifth master stared at her and left silently. Yumei shouted to the sky: "What a sin, what a sin…"
The bad things were to come. San'er had fewer and fewer stepmothers, and in the end, there was none left. What happened? It turned out that San'er sold them all and exchanged the money for eating, drinking, whoring and gambling. The five adults looked at San'er silently without saying a word.
The last big house was also sold by San'er. There was no land left. The family of three squeezed into a broken thatched house and barely made ends meet. One day, after San'er finished his last glass of wine, he slammed his fist on the table and cursed: "Old man, where is the money?" Yumei cried silently. At this time, Wu Daren raised his head, looked at him with burning eyes, and suddenly spoke. He had not spoken for fifteen years. He shouted: "Li San, do you want the money for your last coffin?"
As soon as he finished speaking, San'er fell to the ground and died. Yumei crawled over and touched San'er's chest. Her face suddenly turned pale. She pointed at the fifth master but could not say a word. She twitched and fell to the ground and died.
The fifth elder crawled over, held San'er's head and said, "San'er, you are not my son. You are here to collect a debt."
It turned out that when San'er was five years old, the fifth master found that he looked very much like someone, and that person was the shopkeeper Li San. His academic name, Zimu, is the character Li, and when combined with San'er, it is Li San. It is a miraculous coincidence. He told himself by the creek that he was going to the fifth master's house to collect debts. He didn't think much of it at first, but since he found out that he looked like Li San, the fifth master felt that all his actions were to ruin the family. For example, he tore up calligraphy and paintings, hit porcelain, and tore silk, and later he ate, drank, gambled, and raped his stepmother. The fifth master felt that he had committed an unforgivable crime. Now that Li San came to report, he should be defeated, and it would be best if he lost everything. He could only pretend to be deaf and dumb and let him toss. This might be fate!
The fifth man gradually loosened his grip on San'er and said in a low voice, "Li San, I don't owe you anything anymore." His head tilted and he fell to the ground.