Nine Lives of Unjust Suffering Chapter 5

Chapter 5: Family Ugly Scenes Over Daily Bread; Stirring Up Trouble Between Relatives

Ling Kwai-hing’s ancestral home was in Mude-lisi, but his father’s wealth had allowed them to build a grand mansion in the provincial capital. Kwai-hing spent most of his time in the city under the guise of “studying,” but after the Feng Shui excursion, he stayed behind at the old house, sending the “Semi-Immortal” back ahead of him.

Zong-kong, who had been in the city waiting for the exam results with Kwai-hing, had not been home for days. Having secured his new “mission” to buy the stone room, he followed Kwai-hing down the mountain and stopped by his own home first.

His wife, Lady Xie, greeted him with a barrage of complaints: “Fine for you! Gone for seven or eight days, not caring if there’s wood or rice in the house! The stove hasn’t seen smoke for two days. The children are wailing, and I’m left here alone while you’re out enjoying yourself!”

“Don’t worry,” Zong-kong replied coolly. “I’m heading back to the city today, and I guarantee I’ll bring back something good.”

“Bah! We’re starving to death, and you’re talking about ‘something good’! For three days, I’ve had to beg the sweet potato vendor for two pounds on credit just to keep us alive.”

Zong-kong thought for a moment. “Any clothes left to pawn?”

“You have the nerve to ask?” Xie cried. “The only things left are the clothes on our backs. Do you want us to go naked?”

“Don’t be so impatient. What about jewelry? Surely there’s a little something?”

Lady Xie spat at him in fury. “You have no shame! Every piece of my dowry was lost to your hands. You’ve left me with nothing but copper earrings and a copper hair-pin. If you want them, take them!” In a fit of rage, she tore off the copper ornaments and hurled them at his face.

Zong-kong picked them up with a smug grin and walked out without a word. Xie wailed behind him, cursing him for leaving her with nothing to wear but “heavy mourning” (metaphorically).

Zong-kong went straight to Kwai-hing’s house. “Nephew, I need instructions. If Tin-loi is willing to part with that stone room, how much are you willing to pay?”

“I heard it cost about a thousand taels to build,” Kwai-hing said. “For the sake of Feng Shui, I’ll pay a premium—three or four thousand is no problem. If he’s willing to sell, great; if not, don’t force it.”

“I’ll head to the city and speak to him at his sugar firm,” Zong-kong said. Then, he intentionally let the copper jewelry dangle from his hand in front of Kwai-hing. “I have to go pawn these first so my family can buy rice.”

Kwai-hing, not wanting his “messenger” to be distracted by poverty, handed him ten taels of silver. Zong-kong played the part of the reluctant, “ashamed” relative, then rushed home. He slammed the silver on the table in front of his wife.

Seeing the silver, Lady Xie’s anger vanished instantly. She tried to flatter him, but Zong-kong, enjoying his moment of power, threw the copper jewelry back at her and ignored her. As soon as he left, however, Xie’s true colors showed: she immediately called her neighbors over to gamble (play Tian Jiu), hoping to win back her previous losses using the new silver.

Zong-kong traveled to the city and arrived at the Tianhe Sugar Firm, owned by Leang Tin-loi. After the business split in Nanxiong, Tin-loi had moved to the capital, where he ran a thriving business with his brother Kwan-loi and son Yeung-fuk.

“I have a business deal for you that could return several times the profit,” Zong-kong told Tin-loi.

Tin-loi laughed. “What business pays like that? Unless it’s antiques, and I don’t know that trade.”

“It’s similar to antiques,” Zong-kong smirked. “If you’re willing to do it, I’ll tell you.”

My nephew, Kwai-hing, sat for the provincial exams this year, but the examiner must have been blind, for he didn’t pass him. Indignant, he invited a highly skilled Feng Shui master named Ma the Semi-Immortal to examine the ancestral graves. According to him, the Feng Shui is excellent—it should produce one Top Scholar and three Palace Graduates…”

Seeing him suddenly shift the conversation to Feng Shui, Tin-loi felt it was quite absurd and secretly laughed. He asked, “That is your family’s auspicious land, but we were just discussing business. Why bring this up?”

“Don’t be impatient, let me finish!” Zong-kong replied. “Later, the master said it was a pity that the stone room in front is blocking the Feng Shui. If the room could be torn down and leveled, success would come immediately. That stone room is your house, so Kwai-hing specifically sent me to negotiate with you, asking if you would yield it to him. I know when your late father built that room, it cost only about a thousand taels. When I asked Kwai-hing for instructions today, he immediately offered three thousand. I think he is so desperate for fame that he’d even pay ten thousand. If you’re willing to sell, I guarantee I can get you ten thousand taels. But one thing must be clear: we split it 70/30. When the deal is done, you get seven thousand and I get three thousand. Nephew, a house worth a thousand sold for seven thousand—isn’t that several times the profit?”

Tin-loi was stunned. “So that’s it! But this stone room was built by my late father’s own hands. He often said that no matter our family’s financial state, this room must never be destroyed or sold; it must be preserved for at least three generations. Beyond that, as things change, he couldn’t say. Those were my father’s words. His bones are not yet cold—how could I sell it now? I never imagined this house would obstruct your family’s Feng Shui. This is truly difficult!”

Zong-kong, seeing Tin-loi hesitate, thought he was simply unhappy with the split. He added, “If you’re willing to yield, the split can be discussed. It doesn’t have to be 70/30; even 80/20 is negotiable.”

“It’s not about that,” Tin-loi said. “I am only constrained by my father’s dying command; that is why I am conflicted.”

Zong-kong argued, “You are mistaken. A father’s command is heavy, but he is long dead. Instead of clinging to a dead man’s wish with no benefit, why not honor a living relative’s request and make a fortune?”

Kwan-loi, losing his patience, cut in, “Uncle! What kind of talk is this? Usually, when the younger generation fails to improve and ruins the ancestral estate, the elders step in to stop them. If they don’t listen, the elders scold them. How can you, as an elder, say such things and encourage us to walk the path of the unfilial? No matter what happens, my brother and I will not sell this house. Besides, we have a small business and can still put food on the table. I think you should save your breath!”

Tin-loi’s son, Yeung-fuk, chimed in, “It’s a joke! A perfectly good house suddenly ‘obstructs the Feng Shui’! If you don’t pass the exams, don’t blame your own blocked mind—blame the examiner for being blind! If you want to be a graduate, why not read more essays and practice more calligraphy instead of trying to buy someone’s house? You should know that no graduate is ever born from beneath this house! In fact, we were planning to build a garden and need a foundation; Cousin Ling’s house is just right—I wonder if he’d sell it to me?”

Tin-loi barked at his son to be quiet, then said to Zong-kong, “Children’s words have no weight, please don’t take offense. I dare not disobey my father’s command. Please go back and give my regards to Kwai-hing, and forgive me for declining! Truly, Feng Shui is a vague and ethereal thing; it is not worth trusting. Why let it trouble the heart?”

Zong-kong, having been snubbed and mocked by Kwan-loi and Yeung-fuk, found himself with no way to save face. Now that Tin-loi had given him an opening to leave, he didn’t say another word and awkwardly took his departure. Tin-loi did not try to make him stay; he simply escorted him to the main gate and bid him farewell.

Turning back, Tin-loi scolded Kwan-loi and Yeung-fuk: “Even if we won’t sell to him, we should have sent him away with polite words. You two should not have spoken so sharply as to provoke him. Do you not know the folk rhyme they sing around Tam Village? It goes: ‘Fear not the Thunder God, but fear Zong-kong; fear not the Buddha, but fear Kwai-hing.’ One can imagine their character from that alone. Zong-kong even has the nickname ‘The Ground-Crawling Centipede.’ You two insisted on poking the centipede’s head; you must be careful not to stir up trouble, for I will not stand for it!” His lecture left Kwan-loi and Yeung-fuk silent.

Meanwhile, Zong-kong, fuming from the mockery he had received, left in a foul mood. He hailed a boat and had it rowed directly to Mude-lisi. Stepping ashore, he rushed into Kwai-hing’s house and recounted everything Tin-loi, Kwan-loi, and Yeung-fuk had said—without omitting a single word. As he spoke, he secretly watched Kwai-hing’s expression.

Kwai-hing sighed. “Cousin Tin-loi can strictly observe my late uncle’s dying command; among the common merchants, such a man is hard to find!”

Zong-kong had expected Kwai-hing to be furious. Seeing that he wasn’t angry at all, but was actually praising Tin-loi, Zong-kong was stunned. He added, “Tin-loi might be excusable, but what Kwan-loi said was utterly outrageous!”

“What he said was essentially the truth,” Kwai-hing replied.

Zong-kong grew anxious. “But that brat Yeung-fuk—his words were completely out of line!”

“He’s just a child, what does he know?” Kwai-hing said. “Why stoop to his level?”

“A child?” Zong-kong argued. “He’s not that small—he’s over twenty and already married! Is that a child? And Tin-loi was just as bad. Hearing his son’s words, he immediately changed his tune and said his son was right! He said—now Nephew, don’t get angry, I’m only repeating what Leang Tin-loi said—he said: ‘Back in the day, Ling Kwai-hing’s father was nothing but a penniless beggar. It was only thanks to my father’s help that he rose up. Now that he has a few stinking copper coins, he’s acting so insolently that he even wants to buy my house? Ask him if he has any shame left!’“

Upon hearing this, Kwai-hing exploded in a towering rage.

What will this rage lead to? Listen to the explanation in the next chapter.

Translator’s Note:

The Daily Bread (柴米 – Cháimǐ): Literally “firewood and rice.” In traditional Chinese culture, the “seven necessities” of life begin with these. The fact that Zong-kong’s stove hadn’t seen smoke means the family was at the point of starvation.

Tian Jiu (天九): A traditional Chinese gambling game played with dominoes. Lady Xie’s immediate move to gamble the rice money away shows the cycle of poverty and vice that gripped many households during this period.

Sugar Firms (糖行): In the Qing Dynasty, Guangdong was a major center for sugar production and export. Tin-loi’s success in this industry shows he is a hardworking, practical merchant—a direct contrast to the superstitious, idle Kwai-hing.

Dying Command (遺命 – Yímìng): In Confucian society, the final instructions of a father were sacred. Disobeying them was considered a “Great Unfilial” act, which was socially and legally ruinous. This is Tin-loi’s strongest shield against the request.

The Ground-Crawling Centipede (落地蜈蚣 – Luòdì Wúgōng): In Cantonese culture, a “ground centipede” is a metaphor for a local ruffian or a “snake in the grass”—someone who is low-to-the-ground, hard to catch, and carries a deadly bite. It suggests Zong-kong is a dangerous, petty person who thrives on malice.

The Folk Rhyme: The rhyme comparing Zong-kong to the Thunder God (a symbol of violent justice) and Kwai-hing to the Buddha (a symbol of absolute power) shows that the community viewed them as more powerful and more terrifying than the gods themselves.