A Prophet - Chapter 10 (Part 7)
Chapter 7 - The Fallacy of "Pigs Meeting Apes Will Never Reach the End"
The reason Grandfather did not dare to perform too much analysis with Zhang Jiyao was to continue guarding against Zhang Jiyao himself. At present, the political and social situation was unclear. Grandfather had no idea what kind of medicine was being sold in Meixuanzi's gourd, nor did he know whether Zhang Jiyao was wearing the same pair of trousers as Meixuanzi. The Jiang-Huai region was split into three opposing factions; if they were slightly careless, it was not impossible for two of the factions to jointly orchestrate a scheme to wipe out the third.
Grandfather always anticipated the worst possible scenario, then slowly sorted through the details and prepared various countermeasures.
At the same time, Grandfather also issued a strict, unyielding order to the Second Dam Head and Zhang Zizhan: they must crack the opponent's immortal-gathering scheme as quickly as possible!
The Second Dam Head and Zhang Zizhan were extremely anxious, but the Second Dam Head possessed a broad and carefree mindset, continuing to eat and drink without missing a beat. Zhang Zizhan, however, was in a completely different state; he could neither eat nor sleep. Huang Farong took all of this in, feeling the anxiety deeply in her heart. In truth, ever since Zhang Zizhan returned that day and recounted the opponent's scam-setting scene, Huang Farong had been continuously analyzing how on earth the trick was pulled off.
Zhang Zizhan had followed Grandfather for two years, and this was the first time he had encountered such a major, perplexing problem. Although he was still merely a low-ranking footman under the Second Dam Head at that time, he was an exceptionally outstanding footman. He had always wanted to earn the position of a dam head, and Grandfather had even dropped hints about it. Especially after he and Huang Farong married, Huang Farong went to extraordinary lengths to help her husband orchestrate scams and plots so that he could make a great name for himself and establish his prestige.
At that time, the fourth chair of the branch was held by a man named Qi Chunfu. He was an old subordinate of Zhang Dancheng. Back when several of Zhang Dancheng's dam heads rebelled, Qi Chunfu had stood firmly on Zhang Dancheng's side in his capacity as a senior "scholar-candidate." After the rebellion was suppressed, he was promoted by Zhang Dancheng to the position of Fourth Dam Head of the branch.
After Grandfather ascended to the supreme position, in order to consolidate his own power, he successively removed the First and Second Dam Heads retained from Zhang Dancheng's era, replacing them with his own trusted First and Second Dam Heads. Afterwards, he took in Xue Jiaren and elevated him to the third chair. Up to this point, among the five dam heads left behind before Zhang Dancheng's death, only the fourth, Qi Chunfu, and the fifth, Liang Wenqiu, remained.
Were those old dam heads resentful or dissatisfied with Grandfather? Not necessarily. With every new emperor comes a new court; the old fellows had deep roots and heavy speaking weight, and if they grew unhappy one day and tossed out a few difficult remarks, Grandfather would have found it hard to stomach. Grandfather's method of seizing power was very refined, closely resembling the historical "releasing military power over a cup of wine." Grandfather stated that the elders had labored for the "Muzi Lotus" for the greater part of their lives, and it was time for them to enjoy some peace and blessings, leaving branch matters to be handled by the younger generation.
Quite a few of the old fellows were shrewd enough to take their silver, retreat to the second line, and spend their remaining years in retirement. Others, however, lacked the self-awareness to step down—such as Qi Chunfu and Liang Wenqiu, who felt they were still capable of fighting alongside Grandfather to conquer the world.
What Grandfather wanted was a balance of power. At that time, there were five dam heads in total: three new ones and two old ones. This constituted a system of checks and balances, which was basically sufficient.
The "Jiangxiang Faction" had since ancient times placed immense emphasis on professional evaluation within its promotion mechanism. It did not mean that simply because you were older or had spent a long time in the branch you were qualified to become a dam head, nor did it mean that if the Second Dam Head passed away, the Third Dam Head would automatically inherit the position of Second Dam Head. The "Jiangxiang Faction" looked exclusively at ability and performance. Regardless of who it was, as long as their capability was strong and they could generate greater profits for the branch, they could stand out from the crowd. Before the system reforms, certain individuals could advance step-by-step from footman, passing through scholar-candidate, jinshi, and hanlin ranks within less than a year, going straight to capture the position of tanhua. After Grandfather reformed the system, the promotion channels became even smoother; as long as one's ability was grand enough, a footman could directly become a dam head.
The young couple Zhang Zizhan and Huang Farong were truly racking their brains this time. They meticulously studied every single detail, persisting all the way until dawn broke and the roosters crowed, yet they still found no results.
Right at this critical juncture, the "special merchant" Fourth Master Jia arrived.
Fourth Master Jia smuggled opium and military arms, making him a villain through and through, yet he was a villain who honored codes of loyalty. Generally, anyone who achieved success—whether in the underworld or the righteous society—could never afford to discard the principle of loyalty, or else they would sooner or later be eliminated by others.
According to the etiquette of the Jianghu: courtesy demands reciprocity. Grandfather had helped Fourth Master Jia secretly transport opium through a "corpse-driving" operation. Afterwards, Fourth Master Jia had delivered half of the silver in accordance with their previously agreed-upon terms, but Grandfather only accepted twenty percent because the Second Dam Head had privately decapitated the corpse's head, nearly causing the entire scheme to blow up.
Grandfather handled matters with utmost integrity, and Fourth Master Jia was even more honorable. He said to Grandfather, "Grandfather is righteous; our relationship runs deep and long." This meant he accepted the favor and would certainly make it up in the future.
The profitable job Fourth Master Jia was introducing to Grandfather this time was also an extremely thorny task; otherwise, he would never have invited Grandfather to step out of the shadows. Killing a chicken does not require a butcher's cleaver, but a butcher's cleaver is inevitably used to slaughter an ox.
An owner of an Anhui salt company, whose surname was He, given name Fan, and courtesy name Liaoyi, had lost his daughter two years prior. At the time, his daughter was studying at the Republic Professional Women's School. One day during a heavy downpour, she and several classmates were waiting for a ferry at the crossing when suddenly a flash of lightning split the sky with a thunderous roar. The girl was struck directly by lightning, her entire body smoking with black char, and her surrounding classmates were terrified out of their wits. In the panic, a male student picked her up and rushed her to a nearby missionary hospital, but it was already too late; her back had been completely scorched and burned by the lightning.
Faced with this sudden, devastating catastrophe, the elderly couple nearly wept their eyes blind. Because their daughter had not yet married in life, Master He wished to arrange a posthumous ghost marriage for her afterward.
Arranging a ghost marriage followed the exact same principles as a regular living marriage: both relied on the eight characters of birth, with particular emphasis on the Chinese zodiac animal signs. The ancients left behind a set of marriage-matching maxims commonly used by fortune-tellers. The maxims went:
A white horse has always dreaded the blue ox,
Sheep and rats encountering each other spell an end.
A snake seeing a ferocious tiger is like a blade cutting through,
Pigs meeting apes will never reach the end.
Dragons encountering rabbits vanish into the clouds,
Golden roosters seeing dogs bring flowing tears of grief.
To this day, whenever parents go to have their children's romantic matches evaluated, fortune-tellers will frequently declare that a certain zodiac sign is incompatible with another, clashing and conflicting with it. In truth, all of these beliefs derive from these very maxims. As one can deduce directly from the literal meanings, people born in the Year of the Horse are incompatible with those born in the Year of the Ox, and those born in the Year of the Sheep do not get along with those born in the Year of the Rat.