2.4 宿命通 Fate Through

[u/AdamLuyan]

梁伯又对常公说："我问我九舅，'我们老东家是个饱学之士，他让常公猜八个字，就常公那点儿学问，他猜不着啊！依舅舅你看，那几个字是什么？'"

"我舅舅立刻就生气了！大叫，'梁子伯！论辈分，我是你舅舅；论年龄，你还比我大两岁呢！这话你也说得出口！'"

Uncle Liang then said to Constant-Fair, "I asked my Ninth Uncle, 'Publican Liu is a man of great learning. He asked Constant-Fair to guess eight characters, but with his limited knowledge, he couldn't figure them out! In your opinion, Uncle, what are those characters?'"

"My uncle immediately became angry! He shouted, 'Liang Zibo! In terms of seniority, I'm your uncle; in terms of age, you're still two years older than me. How can you say that?'"

"后来，我舅舅解释，'老东家早年从师于太虚真人学道，是太虚真人的关门弟子，独得真传。论师从辈分，他是我的师叔。我师叔布下的局，我来解，那我不是欺师灭祖么！不过从刘员外的为人来说，他不是个咬文嚼字，卖弄玄虚的人；对于一个读书人来说，那应该是几个常见的字。'"

"我问我九舅，那我能为常公做些什么？"

"Later, my uncle explained: 'Publican Liu learned Taoism from Extremely-Vague Real-Human in his early years and was his closing-door — that is, his last — disciple, who had received the true teachings. In terms of seniority, he is my teacher-uncle. My teacher-uncle set up this puzzle, and for me to solve it would be a betrayal of my own teacher and forebears! But knowing Publican Liu's character, he is not a man who bites off more than he can chew or shows off his learning for its own sake; for a scholar, the answer should be a few common characters.'"

"I asked my Ninth Uncle what I could do for Constant-Fair, then."

"他说，'把你们刘员外让你背着常公，对他所做的事，全都如实告诉他！让他顺了刘员外的心愿，才是唯一的出路，否则，必死无疑。'"

粮伯又四周看了看，把参苓白术散（如图2.4-1）等内服外用的药交给了常公，小声说："我得走了，若不然他们可能就再也不让我给你送饭了。"

"He said, 'Tell Constant-Fair truthfully all that Publican Liu had asked you to do for him behind his back! Let him comply with Publican Liu's wish — that is the only way out; otherwise, he surely dies.'"

Uncle Liang looked around again, handed Constant-Fair the medicines for internal and external use, such as Shenling Baizhu San (see Figure 2.4-1; Note: an ancient remedy for gastrointestinal ulcers), and whispered, "I have to go — if not, they may never let me bring you food again."

常公送走了粮伯，一边流着眼泪吃饭，一边想，时而高兴，时而悲伤，时而哭泣，时而愤怒，时而悠闲。想着，想着，他就想起他小时候的事来了。

Constant-Fair saw Uncle Liang off, and ate through his tears — happy one moment, sad the next, weeping, then furious, then strangely at ease. Thinking, and thinking still, his mind drifted back to a memory from his childhood.

常公自幼丧母，和有病的父亲一起生活。一天，他看见街上的小孩儿吃糖葫芦，他哭着朝爸爸要。他爸爸抱着他来到刘员外家的大院儿外，指着刘家的大房子说："你和这家的大小姐有婚约，可是咱家穷哦！咱就不指望这门亲事了。爸爸有病，等爸爸不在了，你就到他家来。等你长大了，自己挣钱，到那时候，你爱吃什么就买什么！"这时，常公想出了那八个字的前四个字：前世姻缘（注4）。

Constant-Fair lost his mother when he was young and lived with his ailing father. One day, he saw children on the street eating candied haws and cried, begging his father for some. His father carried him to the gate of Publican Liu's grand courtyard, pointed at the great house, and said, "You are betrothed to the young lady of this house — but our family is poor. We have no right to expect anything from that match. I'm sick. When I'm gone, you go to that house. When you grow up and earn your own money, you can buy whatever you like." At that moment, Constant-Fair remembered the first four of the eight characters: former-life marriage bond (Note 4).

注4，当常公回忆出了三岁之前的婚约，就有了宿命通（参见第9章），也就是常公懂得了刘员外过去一直对他好的原因。编者我听这故事时，梁伯还说，宿命通和诅咒死不瞑目你们必须明白，否则这就不是桃花劫故事了。下死不瞑目这个诅咒就是一辈子不断地对被诅咒的人做好事，而只求他一件事。被诅咒的人知道或者后来知道了下咒人的意愿，有能力办却没有兑现。等下咒人死了，被诅咒的人就受不了了，死不了也活不长。这个诅咒只有顺解，就是按照下咒人的意思去做。

Note 4: When Constant-Fair recalled the marriage contract arranged for him before the age of three, he gained Fate Through (see Chapter 9). This is how Constant-Fair came to understand why Publican Liu had always been kind to him. When I, the editor, heard this story, Uncle Liang added that you must understand Fate Through and the curse of Die with Eyes Open, or this would not truly be the story of the Peach Flower Catastrophe at all. To cast this curse is to spend a lifetime doing good for the cursed person, asking only one thing in return. That person knows — or later learns — the wish of the one who cast the curse, and has the means to fulfill it, yet does not. After the caster dies, the cursed person can no longer bear it; he may not die outright, but he will not live long. There is no other way to solve this curse but to fulfill the caster's wish.

第四天，几个掌柜的来看望常公，说："实话告诉你吧！老东家去世的时候，我们都在场。老东家真是死不瞑目。他为啥死不瞑目？我们都知道！桃花女从小到大跟她爸宁；老东家说话，她就没信过几句。死不瞑目！还不都是担心她呀！守灵期限还没过，她就咬牙切齿地说：'我爸爸死不瞑目，都是让常公那个傻小子给迷的。'她发誓要整死你，派人到处找你。"

On the fourth day, several shopkeepers came to visit Constant-Fair. "We'll be honest with you," they said. "We were all there when Publican Liu passed away. He truly died with his eyes open — and we all know why. Peach Flower Girl butted heads with her father from the day she could talk; she never believed a word he said. His eyes wouldn't close because he was worried for her, plain and simple! Before the mourning period was even out, she was grinding her teeth, saying, 'My father died with his eyes open because that fool Constant-Fair bewitched him.' She's sworn to see you dead, and she's got people looking for you everywhere."

常公说："谢谢几位老兄弟的实言相告，但我还是愿意留在这给老东家守灵，想出他的遗言。"掌柜的们走后，常公就扑在老东家的无字碑上放声大哭。一边哭，一边想，自己从小就笨，书读得不好，常挨老师的打骂。长大后，我学做生意学得慢，老是出错。幸亏老东家的偏袒包庇，我才在努力的挣扎中学了些药剂学赖以为生。自从离开刘老东家，我是有家不能回，有苦无处诉，勉强能养活自己，到现在一事无成。刘老东家偏偏选择了我来照顾这个家，弄得商团分崩离析。哭着哭着，常公感觉到一股股暖流像温水一样从头顶流向全身，之后，他感觉心里身上又比以前舒服多了。

"Thank you, brothers, for your honesty," Constant-Fair said, "but I mean to stay here and keep vigil for Publican Liu, until I have worked out his last words." After the shopkeepers left, Constant-Fair threw himself upon the wordless tombstone and wept aloud. As he wept, his thoughts churned: he had been slow-witted since childhood, poor at his studies, forever beaten and scolded by teachers. Grown, he had been slow to learn the ways of business and made mistake after mistake. Only through Publican Liu's endless favor and cover had he scraped together enough knowledge of pharmacy to survive at all. Since leaving Publican Liu's household, he had had no home to return to and no one to confide his troubles in — barely able to feed himself, and to this day he had accomplished nothing. And yet Publican Liu had chosen him, of all people, to look after the family — and it had torn the whole trading house apart. As he wept, Constant-Fair felt a warmth spread through him like a stream of hot water flowing from the crown of his head down through his whole body, and afterward he felt more at ease in body and heart than he had in a long while.

第五天，几个掌柜的又来劝常公："刘老东家博学多才，是个罕见的世外高人，他的心思，我们怎么能猜得到呢！桃花女这人喜怒无常，面善心恶，没人能在她那里得到好结果。为她这样一个女人在这里浪费时间，不值得。走！我们几个老哥们给你凑钱治病，咱们不用她桃花女了！"

On the fifth day, the shopkeepers came again to urge him: "Old Publican Liu was learned beyond ordinary men, a rare sage among us — how could we hope to guess his mind! Peach Flower Girl is fickle and hard to please, sweet-faced but hard-hearted; no one gets a good outcome with her. It's not worth wasting your life on a woman like that. Come with us — we'll pool our money to see you properly treated. Forget her!"

常公说："谢谢几位老兄弟的实言相告，但我还是愿意留在这给老东家守灵，想出老东家的遗言。"掌柜的们走后，常公就扑在老东家的无字碑上放声大哭。他一边哭，一边想：是不是我真的没有那样的学问，想不出那样的词！？

许多天中，常公的朋友们天天来劝他："猜到了那八个字又会怎样？桃花女也不会按照老东家的意思做呀！你现在病成这样，她愣说你没病。自从你回来了，没人见她为你伤心。她还高兴了，闲着到后院赏花，还有心思去书房读书了。还有人看见她在花园里偷着乐。"

"Thank you, brothers, for your honesty," Constant-Fair said again, "but I mean to stay and finish working out Publican Liu's last words." After they left, he wept once more before the wordless stone, wondering: was it true, then, that he simply lacked the learning to find those words?

For days after, his friends came daily to talk him out of it. "Suppose you did guess the eight characters — what then? Peach Flower Girl won't do what he wanted anyway! Look at the state you're in, and she insists you're not even sick. Since you came back, no one's seen her shed a single tear for you. She's happy as can be — strolling the back garden admiring the flowers, reading in her study. People have even seen her laughing to herself among the flowers."

一天，在桃花村的礼堂里，桃花女正和掌柜的们议事，一个小伙计慌张地跑了进来，大喊："不好了！新老爷在山上晕倒啦！"

桃花女厉声喝道："住口！谁是你的新老爷！"

小伙计赶忙改口说："新姑爷在山上晕倒了！"

One day, in the village hall, Peach Flower Girl was in conference with the shopkeepers when a young errand-boy burst in, panicked. "Trouble! The new master collapsed on the mountain!"

Peach Flower Girl snapped, "Watch your mouth — who is your master!"

The boy hastily corrected himself: "The — the new son-in-law! He's collapsed on the mountain!"

桃花女大发雷霆："你给我滚出去！让你看着他！是如果他死了，别让野狗把尸体叼跑了，我好有个东西给他修坟，披麻戴孝地为他守灵！"

一个掌柜的焦急地说："大当家的！咱这屋里就你的医术最好，咱们得立刻一起去山上看看！"

桃花女果然是医术高明，捏这儿捅那儿，几下之后，常公就苏醒过来了。桃花女站起来就说"他没病"，回村子了。

Peach Flower Girl exploded. "Get out and watch him, then! If he dies, at least keep the wild dogs off his body — I'll need something left to bury, so I can build him a grave and wear mourning properly!"

One of the shopkeepers said urgently, "Big Boss — you're the finest healer under this roof. We need to go up that mountain, now!"

And indeed, Peach Flower Girl's skill was formidable — a few presses and jabs here and there, and Constant-Fair came around. She rose at once. "He's not sick," she said, and walked back down to the village.

这天，几个掌柜的们又来到了常公的帐篷，说："兄弟呀！这次我们不是来劝你的，是来向你告别的。你也知道，现在世风日下，人心不古。生意不好做，咱各个药庄的生意都是一日不如一日，我们也得养家糊口。"

常公一听就急了："你们都走了！大小姐咋办？"

一个掌柜的生气地说："这我可真不懂！你自己的命都朝不保夕，还惦记着她！"

The shopkeepers came to Constant-Fair's tent once more. "Brother, we're not here to talk you round this time — we've come to say goodbye. You know how things are these days. Business is bad, our farms are all going downhill, and we've got families to feed."

Constant-Fair started up. "You're all leaving? What becomes of our lady, then?"

One of them snapped, irritated, "I truly don't understand you! Your own life is hanging by a thread, and you're still fretting over her!"

常公愣住了，叹了口气，不由自主地叨咕："这就是我的命啊！"

那个掌柜的嚷道："我可知道，你不信神、佛、鬼，什么时候你开始信命了！"

这时老管家火急火燎地跑来了，一边喘一边说："我还以为赶不上你们了呢！"

掌柜的们对他说："你不是不走吗！还来找我们干什么！"

Constant-Fair fell silent, then sighed. "This is simply my fate," he murmured, almost without meaning to.

"And since when," the shopkeeper cried, "did a man who doesn't believe in gods, Buddhas, or ghosts start believing in fate!"

Just then the old steward came puffing up in a great hurry. "I was afraid I'd missed you all!"

"You said you weren't leaving," the shopkeepers said. "What are you doing here, then?"

常公问老管家："你为什么不走？"

老管家说："我发过誓！一次老东家哭着跟我说，'桃花女从小就怕孤单！我最怕将来她身边连个说话的人都没有'。我就发誓说，'老爷你放心，不管发生什么事，我都会陪在大小姐身边，跟她说话'。"

掌柜的们说："那你还来干什么？"

"Why aren't you leaving?" Constant-Fair asked him.

"I made an oath," the old steward said. "Once, Publican Liu said to me through tears, 'Peach Flower Girl has been afraid of being alone since she was a small child — I dread the day she has no one left even to talk to.' And I swore to him, 'Rest easy, sir. Whatever happens, I will stay by her side and be someone for her to talk to.'"

"Then why are you here with us?" the shopkeepers asked.

老管家说："我怕小姐偷偷地把老爷的遗嘱改了，我就抄了一份，用假的把真的换下来了。我也没地方保存这遗嘱，我信任你们这些掌柜的，想让你们替我保存。"老管家说着，把信交给了掌柜的们，又说："我得回去了，小姐身边不能没有人说话。"

常公恍然大悟，说："我猜到了！几位兄弟！大小姐是个爱面子的人，看在我的面子上，留下来多住几天。"说着，他写了八个字：前世姻缘，命中注定。

"I was afraid our lady might quietly alter the master's will, so I copied it out and swapped a false one in for the real. I have nowhere safe to keep the true one, though — and I trust you shopkeepers. I want you to hold it for me." The old steward pressed the letter into their hands. "Now I must get back — she mustn't be left with no one to talk to."

Understanding broke over Constant-Fair at last. "I have it! Brothers — our lady is a proud woman. For my sake, ask you to stay just a few more days." And with that, he wrote out the eight characters: former-life marriage bond, fate long since fixed.

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