Chapter 6 Encounter a confidant in a foreign land

Ever since Wang Qiyang deposited the money in the bank, he began to sleep soundly.One day, in order to show that he obeyed the advice of his wife and sister, he put on the suit that Mrs. Tan tricked him into buying.As a result, his movements that day were very stiff, which made him feel uncomfortable wearing foreign clothes.The trousers seemed too tight, and the lapels of his jacket made him feel naked and chilly, as though the front of his clothes had been torn in a traffic accident.When he raised his arms, the sleeves seemed to pull them down, and the heavy shoulder pads made him feel awkward, as if someone had put his arms on his own.After that day, he tucked the suit under his suitcase and never intended to wear it again.

Now that he felt safer, he also wandered off the Gran Via from time to time to wander the back streets and alleys.He was surprised to find many sights and sounds that were both strange and familiar to him.The sound of mahjong shuffling inside the closed doors and windows, the sound of opera gongs and drums coming from the building marked "Music Club", the noodle workshop, tailor shop and the children playing around the working mother in the shop, Pawnshops with high counters, barbershops that offer all the traditional services—including ear-cleaning and back-beating, retired people reading Chinese newspapers in small shops with nothing to sell...all of these are very familiar to him, Reminds him of China.But the neon-lit bars with blaring foreign music, the cigarette shop with the blinking machine; It's a little strange to him.One night, when he was walking out of an alley, he heard a woman coughing.He turned around and took a look. A fat, silver woman was standing by a doorway and smiling at him.She threw away the cigarette in her hand and said something he couldn't understand.Then he pointed to him, then pointed to himself, then twisted the middle part of his body, and said into his ear: "Mom makes you happy, happy, happy, understand?" Wang Qiyang immediately turned and walked away, walking quickly Head towards the brightly lit Gran Via.This woman reminded him of the photo in Wang Da's room that Liu Ma had talked about.Both women had silver-white hair.Did Wang Da go out with prostitutes?He must find out.

After going to the remote street and the street at the northern section of Grand Avenue, Wang Qiyang decided to disregard the stench of the northern section of Grand Avenue and make himself familiar with it, because he found a lot of food there since he left China. s things.He kept them in his mind and asked the chef to buy them home, especially taro and lotus root, as well as dried snake meat and salted fish, which were once his favorite foods. As he passed by another store, he found many other foods imported from China that he had been wanting to buy.There are at least a dozen varieties displayed in the shop window, and the name of the product written on red paper is pasted on the pots and jars containing the goods.He went in and selected a dozen species: sea dragons and seahorses—very nutritious traditional Chinese medicines stewed with mutton or pork; Aphrodisiac gecko; Guilin's horseshoe - water chestnuts produced in the capital of Guangxi; tiger bone medicinal wine; neat hair vegetables - wild vegetables that grow in running water like hair, rich in nutrients: tangerine peel - dried red orange peel; First-class bird's nest from the South China Sea; snake gallbladder from Guangdong.He wrote down the titles and ordered them, all for ninety-eight dollars.He paid with an emergency hundred-dollar check that Mrs. Tam had filled out for him.He asked the shopkeeper to deliver the goods to his home, and tipped the deliverer for two dollars, which took exactly one hundred dollars from the check.

After Wang Qiyang made so many exciting discoveries, he went to the northern section of Grand Avenue to explore more times.His cough has not improved for a long time, so he decided to look for some traditional Chinese medicine that can relieve it a little at night.He didn't actually intend to cure the cough completely. It seemed to him that coughing sometimes brought a certain kind of happiness, and it seemed that in his family it could enhance a person's authority.He stopped in front of a Chinese medicine store and looked at an advertisement pasted on the window.It was cut from a Chinese newspaper and written in classical Chinese. The general content is as follows: "Brother (the writer himself) lived in Mexico when he was young. Due to hard work and indulging in sensuality, he felt exhausted in his later years. , perennial sleepiness and weakness, heart palpitations and kidney deficiency, and the function is gradually declining..." The letter went on to describe how the Chinese medicine doctor in this pharmacy rejuvenated him, how he used the miraculous prescription and the first-class Chinese medicine bought in this pharmacy to heal him and saved his life.

Wang Qiyang thought, this Chinese medicine doctor might be good.He looked in the window and saw some rare tonics imported from China.These varieties are displayed on a large porcelain plate in Jingdezhen: authentic Northeast antler, authentic Taishan Ganoderma lucidum, selected Changbai Mountain ginseng, Hunchun deer whip, cinnamon bark with remarkable refreshing effect, Wuxi nourishing herbal tea with extremely rich nutrition.He has always been dissatisfied with the ginseng soup he is drinking now: maybe he should look at the ginseng here to compare the prices, and the deer antler here looks quite authentic.He has taken most of these supplements in China and they have been quite effective.

He entered the pharmacy and was greeted by the owner behind the bright counter. "Sir, would you like to buy some authentic Chinese tonic?" asked the owner.Wang Qiyang examined him and felt that he was honest.His nose was straight, his eyes were piercing despite his glasses, and he looked about sixty years old, but he was full of energy, straight and flushed.Wang Qiyang would not trust a tonic businessman who looked sick.He asked for paper and brushes, bought some ginseng and a pair of deer antlers, and wrote on the paper.The shopkeeper packed the tonic he had chosen into a cardboard box, tied it with a red string, and then took out the old black abacus and dialed it.Knowing that the buyer could not understand Cantonese, he wrote the total price on the scrap paper with a brush: $76.

After he paid, he browsed through the hundreds of small red-lacquered wooden drawers covering the entire wall to the roof, read the couplets hanging on the door leading to an inner room, and smelled the smell of Chinese medicine mixed in the room. air.What an awe-inspiring place, he thought, picked up a brush and wrote: "Is the doctor here?" The shopkeeper looked at what he wrote, nodded and smiled.He pointed to the aisle next to the counter and nodded again.Wang Qiyang walked into the inner room through the entrance without a door, and a middle-aged man sitting behind a red lacquered wooden table greeted him.He has a sparse goatee, and although he is thin, his eyes are piercing and energetic, "Please sit down." He pointed to a square stool beside him and invited, "Mr. no?"

Wang Qiyang asked for paper and brush again.He described his discomfort in classical Chinese, secretly showing off his calligraphy.The doctor of medicine pushed his glasses to the top of his head, took the paper and read it aloud under the only light, and then picked up a pen and commented in cursive script as follows: "Coughing for ten years is a chronic disease, and Western medicine has no good cure. Take the method of disembowelling. Thousands of years ago, he tasted all kinds of herbs in order to discover their medicinal value. Shennong, the father of herbal medicine, passed down a good prescription for chronic cough, which can overcome persistent diseases for twenty years." He said The written paper was handed to Wang Qiyang, and he watched his reaction closely.Wang Qiyang looked at the cursive script of Chinese medicine, and thought that although it lacked strength, it was still good.Although his writing has a certain air of brokerage, it is also impeccable.He then thought about it, Chinese medicine is not a poet, this person can have such writing skills, at least he can be sure that he is not a charlatan.Satisfied, he asked him for a diagnosis.The Chinese medicine practitioner put an embroidered cushion in front of him and motioned him to put his wrist on it.After the Chinese medicine doctor took the pulse of both wrists, he looked at his throat and tongue coating.

After looking and cutting, the Chinese doctor opened the middle drawer of his desk, took out a piece of high-quality rice paper with his own Chinese letterhead, carefully spread it on the table, closed his eyes, leaned back on the back of the chair and thought for a while .Suddenly, he opened his eyes, picked up a brush and wrote on the prescription: "All diseases have antecedents. All plants and trees in the world are beneficial to human health. The key is to mix them correctly and apply medicines skillfully. The patient has had a chronic cough for ten years. Looking at the pulse condition and the color of the fur, it is actually wind-cold and dry-fire attacking the heart and lungs. To get rid of the root of the disease, it is advisable to attack it with herbs that dispel wind-cold and relieve dry-fire.” Then, he wrote down the names of the medicines one by one, and indicated the dosage under the medicine names.

Wang Qiyang paid three dollars for the diagnosis.Before leaving, he exchanged a few words about calligraphy with Chinese medicine practitioners, and they bowed politely to say goodbye when they parted.He fully agrees with the diagnosis of Chinese medicine, and his trust in him has greatly increased. After leaving the Chinese medicine clinic, he walked towards the owner of the pharmacy.The shopkeeper took the prescription and began to dispense the medicine, carefully weighing each medicine on the prescription with a small hand scale.He packed the herbs into many small bags, and then packed the many small bags into one big bag, and tied it with a red string.

Wang Qiyang took the herbal medicine home and handed it to Mama Liu. She has been cooking traditional Chinese medicine for the Wang family for more than 20 years. She has become an expert in making medicine, and she is accurate in every step.Sometimes, she can tell what ailments a patient is suffering from by examining herbal remedies.When she was about to use an old medicine pot to boil the medicine, as soon as she opened the medicine bag, she knew that the master was going to cure her cough, because she found some mint leaves and a few cicada sloughs in the herbal medicine. The former is used to clear the virtual fire in the human body , the latter is used to expel wind-cold from the human body. Once the traditional Chinese medicine was ready, Mama Liu sent it to Wang Qiyang's room, and poured the black medicinal soup into a large bowl in front of him.Master Wang frowned slightly. After drinking the bitter medicine soup, he ate a slice of candied winter melon to get rid of the bitter taste on his tongue. "I bought some ginseng from Changbai Mountain and a pair of deer antlers." Mr. Wang said to Liu Ma after he had babbled about trivial household chores, "I want you to put them in a safe place. Make ginseng soup for me on the 11th, 15th, 28th and the second day of October in the lunar calendar. I want to eat velvet antler on the 21st of October in the lunar calendar. I have read the almanac, and the almanac says these days are suitable for tonic.” After remembering these days, Mama Liu took away the precious tonic, and was very happy that Master Wang still trusted her more than anyone else in the palace.For a long time, she has been worried that the cook is getting more and more appreciated than her in the palace.Since the chef gave up his restaurant job and returned to the palace, he has to work harder to please Mr. Wang with his cooking skills.Judging from Master Wang's slightly improved appetite, it was obvious that the cook had been doing a good job.That made Mama Liu quite anxious.Sometimes she really hoped that the cook would make a big mistake and offend Master Wang. Recently, she even wanted to put a big spoonful of salt in the dishes the master liked, and then the master would blame the cook.Feeling a little better now that she had reassured her master of mistrust, she decided to put off that little ruse. Although Wang Qiyang's cough seemed to improve a lot, he went to see a Chinese doctor several times.He found it very pleasant to go to a Chinese medicine doctor and talk to him about calligraphy.They both love calligraphy and admire the same poets.One afternoon, Wang Qiyang went to see a Chinese doctor, but the doctor had already been called home by a female patient.Wang Qiyang didn't want to wait for him either.He walked out of the drugstore and walked north on Gran Via.He was in a good mood at the moment, and decided to go a little farther north, to explore the foreign residential area known as North Beach.It was one of the few times he had had the rare experience of stepping outside the borders of Chinatown.He wandered along the sidewalk, watching as he went, glancing into the dark bar without turning his head to peek.In his eyes, there is nothing else on the whole street, and there are bars everywhere.Sometimes, the faint smell of alcohol would make him frown and step forward a few steps. As he waited for a traffic signal at the intersection of Columbus Avenue and Pacific Avenue, a heavily made-up woman winked at him and spoke a language he didn't understand.He ignored her, and the woman sneered at him.Then without waiting too long, I crossed the road with my butt twisted.Wang Qiyang suddenly felt that he was doing something wrong. She might be a good woman asking for directions, but she behaved rudely, which put a black spot on the friendship between Chinatown and the foreigner's residential area.He follows the woman, hoping he can catch up with her to apologize to her, and the woman disappears after entering the International Village.After Wang Qiyang entered the International Village, he was amazed by the unfamiliar atmosphere on the street. The streets were full of bars and nightclubs, and there were many pictures of foreign naked women hanging outside the doors, just like Chinese shops posted on the streets during the Spring Festival. Like the couplet at the door. As he looks at some pictures with some embarrassment, a man with a fake red nose and a black hat forces him into a nightclub.In a nightclub, a blond girl dressed up in a coquettish manner is writhing around on a small stage.A small band of three men was playing music as strange as the noise of a steamship engine.A slender woman came up to him and led him to sit at the table closest to the stage.The blond, who was writhing on stage, smiled coquettishly at him as she began to slip down her seductive gown. "What would you like?" the slender girl asked him with a smile. Dominated by the idea of ​​trying to contribute to the friendship between Chinatown and North Beach, Wang Qiyang smiled at her in return, took out a five-dollar bill and handed it to her. After taking the bill, she asked again: "What would you like, sir?" Wang Qiyang shook his head, indicating that she could not understand her foreign language.The girl smiled and left.Presently she brought a goblet of yellow drink and a black plate with old three-dollar bills and some change on it.He pointed at the money and waved his hand, the girl was puzzled.He pointed to the money, then to the girl, and then waved again.The girl blushed, picked up the money, and thanked him warmly.Smiling happily, Wang Qiyang was satisfied.He was very friendly to the girl and at the same time gave up the old dollar bills he didn't want. By this time, the blonde had taken off her gown and began to dance on the small stage again, eagerly twisting the middle of her body to the strong rhythm of the music, her hands fluttering to touch her breasts and thighs, Or flicking her long, flaming, wavy blonde hair.From time to time she smiled and rounded her lips, as if she was blowing on something.Wang Qiyang has never seen such an action in his life. In fact, he has never seen a woman wearing such a thing in his life.He stared at the squirming white body, and suddenly felt very embarrassed.He wanted to walk away, but was afraid of appearing rude.He picked up his glass and took a sip of the yellow drink.It was so cold he almost threw up.He had never in his life drunk wine mixed with ice water.After he swallowed his drink, he shivered.It is simply worse than the most bitter Chinese herbal soup.He wondered if it was impolite not to drink foreign beverages. Now, the girl on the stage is even more presumptuous, taking off the little cloth covering her breasts, revealing her huge breasts, leaving only the nipples covered with a small piece of gold paper the size of a half dollar .That didn't make Wang Qiyang feel so embarrassed, because he had seen many women's breasts in China, breastfeeding their children naked.But when the girl started to take off the small piece of cloth covered with tassels in the middle of her body, Wang Qiyang almost jumped up.He stared wide-eyed, watching her throw the piece of cloth behind the black curtain, jumping joyfully thump, thump, thump, thump towards the front desk, and then twisting her almost naked body to the crescendo beat, she His body happened to be on top of Wang Qiyang's head. Wang Qiyang jumped up suddenly, overturned the small table, and hurriedly escaped from the nightclub.His face was flushed with anger, he frantically wiped his forehead with a silk handkerchief, and walked out of the International Village quickly.Thinking about making the woman's lower body twist like that on his head, he really felt unlucky.He had to go home quickly, wash off the bad luck all over his body, and diffuse his head with aromatherapy.He walked quickly across the street and returned the way he had come.When passing by a bar next to an alley, he saw his son Wang Dazheng and a woman sitting at a table chatting affectionately through the glass window.He stopped and turned slightly to look at her.She was dressed in a fine gray western dress, and her black hair was tied in a Taoist-style knot on top of her head.Not only does she look like a Taoist priest, but she also has a face full of pockmarks.A female Taoist priest with pimples all over her face is dressed in a Western-style attire... If she is not a female devil, what else can she be?Wang Qiyang was very shocked and hurriedly turned around and left.He didn't know what happened to his two sons these days.One came home very late, and not only dated foreign women, but also went to bars with such female devils; the other spoke foreign languages, ate without chopsticks, read inexplicable comic books, and threw an ugly ball around all day long.He has to do something before they become too brutal and westernized.He had to tell his wife and sister what happened to Wang Da, and ask her to help discipline him.As for Wang Shan, maybe I can deal with him alone.He first ordered Wang Shan to learn the ways of Confucius and Mencius, and then taught him the basic ethics of the Chinese people... He hurried on, anxiously trying to figure out what to do, not sure exactly where to go.At the intersection of Broadway and Columbus Avenue, he was completely lost.Six avenues intersected here, and he couldn't read the street names on the signposts, so he looked around in panic.The lights flickered on the street and the traffic was rolling.He did not find his way back to Gran Via until he recognized the top of a tall religious building.He exhaled a long breath and merged into the crowd of people.Once back in Chinatown, he vowed that he would never venture into a foreigner's neighborhood again without first checking to see if the almanac was a good time to travel.Today is really a bad day, I have been haunted by the devil, and everything is not good.He had to go home quickly and smoke it with incense. When he got home, he made all his servants busy.He asked Mother Liu to prepare bath water, lighted some incense sticks, sent Liu Long to invite Mrs. Tan to hold an emergency meeting, and told the chef to eat vegetarian food at night because he had to prepare for Buddha worship. Master Wang had just finished taking a bath and was thoroughly incensed when Mrs. Tan came.He met her in the living room and told her about today's adventure outside Chinatown, omitting the part about the naked girls dancing.Mrs. Tan listened to him with pursed lips, shaking her head disapprovingly. "You shouldn't go to North Beach." She complained to Wang Qiyang after he finished speaking, "That's a place where people look for pornographic songs, women and good wine. It's a shame for a person of your age to settle there. You are here I'm glad you didn't get mugged or seduced by bad women there. I heard there's a porn show in International Village. You're lucky you're not obsessed with that..." Wang Qiyang coughed a few times, and quickly changed the subject, "Sister-in-law, do you see Wang Da often?" "It's not common. I can only see him when he comes to my house to borrow money. Brother-in-law, you are a generous person, but I think you are very stingy with your sons..." "Did he say that?" Wang Qiyang interrupted her angrily. "Of course not." Mrs. Tan said, "Wang Da has always respected you. But there is something wrong with the way you treat him. How much pocket money do you give him every month?" "Fifty dollars a month. He never asked for more." "Only fifty dollars a month? Don't you know that everything doubles in price? No wonder he's always out of money. He's been borrowing money from me for the past few months. Because he's going to inherit my property, so I didn't tell you, and I didn't keep accounts..." "You are spoiling him, wife and sister." Wang Qiyang interrupted her, "Do you know what he has been doing? He has been inviting women to foreign bars!" Mrs Tan looked a little shaken, but soon she nodded and defended her nephew, "Young men should have fun, brother-in-law. They live in the modern world. Invite a girlfriend, I think, There's no harm in offering her a drink or two." "He took a pockmarked woman to a foreign bar this afternoon." Wang Qiyang said, "And in fact they were drinking and chatting on the street, and every passer-by looked at them like wild animals in a cage. You Do you know that woman, sister-in-law? She wears western clothes and her hair is done like a Taoist priest's. She looks like a female devil to me." Mrs. Tan replied: "I know her. She is a tailor in a garment factory and is studying fashion design. Wang Da told me about her. They like to socialize like a sister and a brother." "Can't he invite other women out? Can't he invite a prettier one?" "Actually, he is lucky to invite anyone out," said Mrs. Tam. "There is a shortage of Chinese girls in America. Even at my age, I am often invited to the movies. Brother-in-law, Wang Da is a Good boy, I hope you will not interfere with his social life, and you should take his word for it, there is nothing between him and Miss Zhao." "I must be careful not to let anything happen between them." Wang Qiyang said, "I don't want to marry a pockmarked daughter-in-law. Her pockmarked face will bring bad luck to the family. Wife and sister, I call you here Here, I just want you to look at Wang Da a little bit. I rarely see him, because he usually eats outside after breakfast. And it seems that he is afraid of me. This is a good thing; but he is afraid of me. It's not a good thing to hide from me. In any case, I will do my best to keep him from going astray. Since he is closer to you than me, I want to entrust his private life to your supervision. But I must warn you, wife and sister, that giving him too much pocket money is not a good form of supervision." "I don't worry about that," said Mrs. Tam. "He's a very independent kid, and he's promised to return every dollar he borrows from me. That's enough to show he doesn't spend money like that. That's my sister." Inherited virtues from him." She squinted her eyes at Wang Qiyang and asked, "By the way, what's wrong with your suit? I haven't seen you wearing it for a long time." Wang Qiyang coughed a few times, "Oh, oh, I accidentally burned a hole when I was smoking a hookah." After he finished speaking, he tried to change the subject, "About Wang Da, I hope..." "Let's not talk about Wang Da now." Mrs. Tan interrupted him, "There is nothing wrong with the child. Please take out your suit and let me see the hole. Miss Zhao is a good tailor, I will take it to her Help you make up." "I can't make it up anymore. When I find a good day in the almanac, I'll buy another one." "You can't just throw away a suit that's that expensive. It cost you a hundred and twenty dollars. Get it out. I'm a woman and I can say if it's still repairable." In order to avoid quarrels, Wang Qiyang went back to his room, but he had made up his mind that he would never wear that suit again.He opened the iron cabinet and took out the suit from the bottom.Then I burned a hole in it with a lit paper twist.He burned a hole the size of a fifty-cent piece first in the right pocket, and then burned a much larger hole on the other side so that it could not be repaired.He rubbed the openings with his palms to make them look old.After the hole was burned, he sprayed some water from the hookah on the suit to suppress the smell of the new fire.He felt a little deceitful and criminal in his heart. He took the clothes and walked into the living room, his heart beat faster, and his face was extremely unnatural.Mrs. Tan frowned as she examined the burnt clothes. "Oh, what happened?" She stared at him suspiciously and asked, "Did you fall asleep while smoking the hookah?" "The clothing is made of wool, which is easy to catch fire." Wang Qiyang said. "After burning for so long, a meal should be cooked. Thankfully, the house didn't catch fire. Well, I'll take it to Miss Zhao and see if she can do anything. She is an excellent tailor and makes Very dexterous with needle and thread." After Mrs. Tan left, Wang Qiyang returned to his room with a gloomy face.He had had enough bad luck that day, and the worst thing was that he burned out the new suit that cost him one hundred and twenty dollars.If the pockmarked woman had been lucky enough to mend the hole in his suit, he might have to wear it again, and it would be a waste to burn it out.He couldn't figure out why he let his sister-in-law interfere in his life.Maybe he was too dependent on her. If he was in China, he would have let her go to hell. The next day, his cough seemed to get worse.He decided to disrupt his schedule and visit a Chinese medicine doctor in the morning.He felt that only the Chinese medicine practitioner in Chinatown had a common language with him.He would rather visit him as a friend than as a patient. The Chinese medicine doctor gave him a warm welcome and poured him a cup of herbal tea.They asked each other about the livelihood of the other in their respective dialects. Although they didn't fully understand each other, they knew each other were meaningless polite words, so they didn't ask in detail.Then he moved on to other topics in a serious and written way. "Is your cough better?" the Chinese medicine practitioner wrote in cursive script, deliberately making the words illegible to show that he had improved in calligraphy.Without any hesitation, Wang Qiyang took the writing brush and replied: "My cough is willing to bow down to the power of your medicine, but there are unforeseen circumstances. Due to my own carelessness yesterday, evil spirits came to the humble house, and the disease took advantage of the gap. This morning it seems more violent." The Chinese doctor pulled down his presbyopic glasses, looked at these words, nodded, and took out the embroidered mat from the drawer.He closed his eyes, and put his middle three fingers on the patient's wrist to feel his pulse.His raised little finger was like a blooming orchid, he pressed and loosened those three fingers alternately, as if he was trying to detect the weakest disordered pulse in Wang Qiyang's pulse.After feeling the pulse of Wang Qiyang's wrists, he muttered a few words, took out a special prescription pad with a letterhead, spread it in front of him, and then leaned on the chair and thought for a moment expressionlessly. "The yin and yang of the human body must be in harmony," he wrote. "Any imbalance in bodily functions is caused by the imbalance of yin and yang. The patient's pulse is sometimes weak, which is the pulse of yin and yang imbalance. Therefore, balancing the yin and yang in the patient's body is the first choice..." He writes the complex prescription into a long and detailed presentation.Wang Qiyang read it, and thought that the writing was more fluent than last time, and the calligraphy was also more fluent than last time. Many strokes contained the indispensable quality of fine calligraphy-real strength.After gaining more confidence from Chinese medicine practitioners, he doubled the consultation fee, and the Chinese medicine practitioners finally accepted after arguing and declining. "I don't want my cough to be completely cured." Wang Qiyang wrote, "As long as a slight cough does not affect health and shorten life, a little cough is a little fun for me." "It is not easy to cure a chronic cough that lasted more than ten years." Chinese medicine practitioners wrote, "but your cough will not affect your longevity. Worry about evil spirits attacking you in your old age, because your beard grows well and can block the invasion of evil spirits, so longevity is no problem.” "Can you approve horoscopes?" "Yes, that's part of my career. But you don't need to criticize your horoscope, because your face is as obvious as a heavenly book." "The dog has reached the age of marriage." Wang Qiyang wrote, "I want to review his horoscope to see what kind of wife he should marry in the future." Chinese medicine practitioners studied Wang Da’s birthday, pinched their fingers to count the years, and murmured, “He is the fate of water and fire. He is now entangled with many women, and there are frequent disturbances, but these women are destined not to marry him. In my opinion, his destined marriage is in the East. If he finds a woman who is not from the East, his married life will not be happy, because he was born in the year of the sheep, so he must not marry a woman born in the year of the tiger." "Can he marry a disfigured woman, say a pockmarked woman?" "It's absolutely impossible," the Chinese medicine practitioner wrote, "but your son was born in the Year of the Goat and has a docile nature. If you don't reconcile and get married as soon as possible, a marriage with contradictory fate may fully develop into reality. Since his lucky star In the East, why not find a blind date bride from Hong Kong? That will wash away all the evil spirits that may invade his life." Wang Qiyang considered this suggestion for a while, nodded, grunted a few words, and then wrote: "Since my brother-in-law, Mr. Tan, passed away two years ago, I have no relatives in Hong Kong, and there is no trustworthy person to entrust this matter to you." .” "Perhaps I can work," wrote the Chinese medicine practitioner. "I know a matchmaker who has a good reputation for being well connected and honest. Perhaps he can find a suitable match for your son. And in order to ensure a reliable marriage, wait for my careful approval. After finishing your son's horoscope, send your son's birthday horoscope to him." Wang Qiyang's eyes lit up, and he immediately picked up a pen and wrote: "Thank you very much for your kind help. Please start to arrange and reassure the matchmaker. If the spouse is selected, there will be rewards. Although the dog is not an extraordinary genius, it is also knowledgeable. He is honest, knowledgeable, filial..." He stopped writing, not wanting to write more virtues of his son, and he suddenly became less confident.He believes that in this kind of matter, the two sides treat each other with sincerity is of the most basic importance. The Chinese doctor nodded and smiled. "I have no doubts about the virtues of your son," he wrote. "In order to kill two birds with one stone, perhaps you may also consider finding a house for yourself? If your noble lady is still alive, only if this proposal is Nonsense, because concubinage is not allowed in this land." "Jiannei has passed away for several years." Wang Qiyang wrote, "And I am too old to get married." "No one is too old to marry again," writes the Chinese medicine practitioner. "This pharmacy sells authentic fur seal whips that I highly recommend. They are integrity devices taken from male fur seals in their prime, guaranteed to make a six-year-old fur seal A ten-year-old man feels like he is forty, and it is possible for an elderly person who takes supplements regularly to have three or four children." "Having more children is indeed a blessing," Wang Qiyang wrote, "but children born in foreign countries are always unfilial. It would be better without them." "Perhaps you are right," wrote the Chinese medicine practitioner, "but there is no harm in marrying a young lady, even if it is only for the warmth and coldness of the bed." Wang Qiyang wrote: "The foreign house I live in is equipped with many foreign equipment and boilers, which provide heating day and night, and the heat is sufficient." The two laughed, nodded and said "yes, yes".Wang Qiyang paid five dollars for the face-to-face meeting, but the Chinese medicine practitioner refused three times in a row, but finally accepted.They parted happily. When Wang Qiyang returned home, he felt that a warm friendship was developing between them. This morning's harvest was not small. When Master Wang walked into the house, he heard the kind of noise that could only be heard in the residence of servants.He hurried into the living room, and unexpectedly found that Mama Liu and the chef were arguing fiercely, while Liu Long was busy applying cooling oil to the swollen bump on Wang Shan's head. Wang Shan was sitting on a chair with cotton stuffed in his nostrils. group. "What's going on?" Wang Qiyang asked. Both Mama Liu and the chef stopped making noise, but Wang Shan was a little uneasy. At this time, Mama Liu, who was the most eloquent in Wang's house, told the whole story in one breath. The child was beaten, of course it was an insult to Wang Zhai, so she asked the cook to go there and beat up the little rascal, but this ungrateful and cowardly bastard refused to do what she wanted, and said what his Work is cooking... Master Wang interrupted her monologue angrily, "Wang Shan, come to my room." After speaking, he walked to the kang, took out a four-foot-long bamboo stick from the back of the kang, and entered his bedroom , with a purplish red face.In the room, he found the "Four Books" from the cabinet in the inner room, sat back on his chair, put the "Four Books" next to the bamboo stick, and waited for Wang Shan.The thing he hates most is his son fighting in the street.It's like telling the whole of Chinatown that your family lacks upbringing and that your father can't control your wild child, which is really disgraceful.He had to punish Wang Shan and begin to instill in him the basic morals of Confucius. "Wang Shan!" He couldn't help but roared after waiting for a few minutes when Wang Shan didn't enter the room. Wang Shan was standing outside the door, trying to muster up the courage to step in.When he heard his name called, he stumbled into the door. “站近一点。”王老爷命令道，竹棍子已握在手中，“大胆！你竟敢自贬身份去和街上的野孩子打架？” 王山两条腿移来移去，用带有英语口音和语法的中文回答：“如果有人打我，我必须还击，我们老师说过。我不愿意有任何人叫我胆小鬼。” 当王戚扬终于领悟王山的意思时，真有点为这种奇怪的教育所震惊。他当即决定，等王山在美国人办的小学毕业后，就把他送进唐人街的华人中学读书，另外，每隔一天的晚上，在家中给他补一小时孔夫子的课程。这或许会使这个孩子的言谈举止更像一个中国人。他看着王山流血的鼻子和前额上越来越肿的大包，突然生出同情心来。这孩子今天挨揍已经够多了，或许这次对他的体罚应该省略掉。“王山，”他的声音此时柔和了些，“我们的圣人讲过，识时务者为俊杰。真正的英雄面对强敌的时候，总是回避冲突。为了让你在这个野蛮社会中得到保护，我决定把你送到华人学校读书，然后再单独教你读的《四书》。” 王山看到父亲的手从竹棍子上移动到中文书籍上，脸色立即晴转多云。他刚刚想要申辩，只见父亲已经打开《四书》中的一本，开始教授第一课。“《中庸》，”王老爷清了清嗓子，虔敬地大声读起来，“第一章，子曰……是故君子戒慎乎其所不睹，恐惧乎其所不闻。莫见乎隐，莫显乎微，故君子慎其独也……”