A Prophet - Chapter 26 (Part 4)

Chapter 4 - The Fortunetelling Con Artist Invites a Bloody Calamity

Wan Suxin once again knocked on Zhou Yulang's door.

"Master, you mentioned last time that I should find someone with pure yin birth characters to perform the bad-luck-dispelling ritual for me. To be honest, I do have a few casual lovers, but none of them have pure yin birth characters. What on earth should I do?" Wan Suxin asked with a heavy heart.

Zhou Yulang chuckled: "You, your mind never turns a corner. If those former lovers of yours could help you dispel your bad luck, wouldn't you and your husband have had children long ago?"

Wan Suxin was stunned: "That's true. Hehe, my mind was clouded for a moment."

Zhou Yulang laughed inwardly: You weren't clouded for a moment; you've been clouded the whole time.

"As for this matter, I can't really help you; it all comes down to fate. The New Year is almost here, and once the New Year passes and the spring begins, your next husband is going to appear. You need to hurry up and get this bad-luck-dispelling ritual done," Zhou Yulang said earnestly.

"Sigh, never mind, Master. I'm not going to look anymore. Just thinking about how I'll have to marry a man in his fifties in the future makes my chest tighten with anxiety. Forget it, forget it. I accept my fate; I'm not looking anymore. Living alone is pretty good," Wan Suxin said.

Zhou Yulang pursed his lips, his eyes darting frantically in their sockets. After a long pause, he said, "Actually... there is one more method. I really shouldn't tell you, because speaking of it is lacking in virtue, but this idea is beneficial to you... Sigh, better not say it. Forget it, forget it. Just do as you planned; living alone is indeed quite nice."

"Don't do that, Master. Since you're saving someone, save them all the way; since you're sending the Buddha across the river, deliver him to the western shore. Since there's a way, why not say it?" Wan Suxin asked with a hint of urgency.

"Sigh..." Zhou Yulang let out a long sigh. "Creating karmic sin, creating karmic sin. No matter what I do, it's creating sin. If I don't help you, it's a sin; if I help you, it's also a sin. This profession is truly hard to work in..."

"Oh, Master, please just tell me," Wan Suxin pleaded, saying, "Master! Master!" As she spoke, she reached out and shook Zhou Yulang's arm.

The coquettish plea, the gentle tugging, and the fresh fragrance of her breath made Zhou Yulang's entire body grow burning hot. A surge of energy erupted from his lower dantian and instantly flooded his entire frame.

"Alright, alright. Sit down and listen to me." Zhou Yulang crossed his legs once more, forcefully suppressing his surging desire. "Don't you not want to live with a fifty-year-old man?"

"I'd rather die than want that."

"Then do you want a child?"

"Of course! Who doesn't want a child? I love boys and girls alike; I dream of being pregnant."

Zhou Yulang smiled: "That makes things simple. After you perform the bad-luck-dispelling ritual, if that fifty-year-old man appears and happens to take a fancy to you, you can simply fake marrying him. Once you have a child, won't you just be able to kick him to the curb? The courts generally award infants in the breastfeeding period to the mother. That way, you get your child, and you don't have to spend a lifetime living with him. After the divorce, you can live by yourself, or you can find a lover. Either way, once you have the child, someone will take care of you in your old age, and you'll have money. What are you afraid of?"

"This... this..." Wan Suxin fell into a state of confusion.

"Of course I don't support you doing this! I originally didn't plan to say it, but you forced me to speak. I only thought of this desperate measure because I felt you were so pitiful. Resorting to such a desperate measure damages my own stock of life energy! Of course, when the time comes and you meet that fifty-year-old man, you might actually take a liking to him. In that case, you won't need to resort to this lowest of low measures; you can grow old together, which is the most perfect ending and what I want to see most. Think it over carefully yourself."

Wan Suxin stood in a daze for a long time before finally saying, "If I really do marry a man in his fifties, I will never divorce him. Doing something like that would cost the other person their life—what person past the half-century mark could withstand such a massive blow?"

"Well said! Either don't get married, but once you do, you must support each other until old age! That is the proper way to conduct oneself as a human being!" Zhou Yulang said.

"Mm. But... what you just said actually inspired me. You're a fortuneteller, so some things can't be hidden from you anyway. Me, ever since I was young, I've always had an exceptional number of romantic admirers. To be honest, growing up, no matter where I go, there's always a group of people chasing after me..."

"Oh, why are you telling me all this? These are all your own private personal matters..."

"No, no! Listen to me, youth only lasts for these dozen or so years. You say... you say... supposing I get married in the future and have an affair, my husband won't find out, right? It won't turn out badly for me, will it?"

Zhou Yulang smiled inwardly: She wants to cuckold her future husband already. But outwardly, he adopted a stern and righteous tone: "I advise you to stay away from such things! I do happen to possess talisman incantations for averting disasters, but I cannot do this. If I helped you, I would forfeit my own life energy."

"Hehe, I was just speaking casually. I'm not that kind of person. If I truly grow fond of my future husband, I will definitely remain faithful to him for a lifetime."

"That would be best."

Once Wan Suxin had figured all this out in her mind, she grew anxious once more: "Master, where on earth can I find someone with pure yin birth characters?"

"That really depends entirely on fate. I truly cannot help you."

"Think of another way, please. You must have a way. Aren't there any talismans or anything?"

"There really aren't any. I have to wait for fate; I can't very well go around inquiring about other people's birth dates and characters for you, can I?"

Wan Suxin fell into a brief spell of disappointment before suddenly asking, "Is the bad-luck-dispelling ritual really that important? Is it an absolute must? If I don't do it, is it truly impossible for me to ever get pregnant?"

Zhou Yulang frowned and said, "Anyway, that's how my master taught me, and that's how it's written in the books of divination. Believe it or not, the choice is yours."

"I... I don't disbelieve you. I just feel this whole matter is too bizarre."

"Bizarre? What in this world isn't bizarre? Could you ever have imagined that your ex-husband would go and have a child with someone else?"

"I understand! I'll keep looking."

Zhou Yulang said, "There's one more thing I must remind you of: you are afflicted by a disaster star this month."

"What disaster star?"

"The wealth-loss star."

"Ah? I'm going to suffer a financial loss? How much?"

"Not much. But you're bound to lose something."

"How can I avoid it?"

"I can only give you a talisman. Do your best to avoid it."

"Thank you, Master."

At noon a few days later, Wan Suxin rushed back: "Master, it came true! It really came true!"

Zhou Yulang asked, "What came true?"

"I lost money!"

"How much?"

"Three hundred."

"Tell me about it."

"Yesterday afternoon, I went to play mahjong at a friend's place and won two hundred yuan. On my way back last night, I was tailed. In a narrow alley, a guy pressed a knife against my back and demanded money. I was terrified out of my wits and handed over every single cent in my pockets, and he grabbed the money and ran. I've already reported it to the police, and public security is investigating. Your prediction was spot on."

Zhou Yulang sighed: "With the 'Strike Hard' anti-crime campaign being so intense, there are still people audacious enough to commit crimes right in the teeth of the wind. Utterly lawless!"

"Indeed, the crackdown still isn't harsh enough. It would be best to execute every single one of these hooligans!"

"You had better hurry up and find someone with pure yin birth characters to dispel your bad luck. Until the tomb of fate is broken open, fortune won't flow; until fate brings someone, they won't arrive. Otherwise, one bout of bad luck will just keep following another."

Wan Suxin wore an expression of utter distress: "Where on earth am I supposed to find someone like that?"

"There is actually one person, but it's completely out of the question."

"Who?"

Zhou Yulang shook his head helplessly: "Definitely out of the question."

Wan Suxin grew intensely anxious: "Just spit it out, won't you?"

"Me."

"Ah?"

Zhou Yulang nodded: "I was born in the year of Xinhai, the month of Guisi, the day of Dingyou, and the hour of Guimao. My birth characters are pure yin. But I cannot do this; my late master instructed back then that a man of the Dao must never engage in carnal relations with a woman."

Wan Suxin looked at Zhou Yulang, who was several years younger than her. That day, Zhou Yulang was wearing a red crew-neck sweater, his hair neatly combed, giving off a cultured yet extraordinary and refined air. Wan Suxin's heart suddenly skipped a beat: Having knocked around the business world for so many years, I've encountered pot-bellied corrupt officials, hypocritical and cunning parvenus, and state-enterprise employees who had just jumped into the economic sea, but I've never once touched a fortuneteller isolated from the mortal world like this. A fortuneteller hiding away in the countryside like this lacked the vulgar stench of copper money and instead possessed more of the ethereal air of an immortal untouched by mortal food—pure in thought, high in spiritual realm, and bodily untainted, carrying a distinctive charm all its own.

Wan Suxin's imagination began running wild. For a woman with abundant food and clothing, novelty is forever her primary pursuit.

A man chasing a woman is like scaling a wall; a woman chasing a man is like piercing a sheet of paper. Not to mention that all of this was a trap laid by Zhou Yulang himself. One evening a few days later, under the banner of the solemn vow, "If I do not enter hell, who will?" Zhou Yulang mercifully helped Wan Suxin "dispel her bad luck."

Wan Suxin found it hard to imagine how a young blind man who had maintained his virginity could be so utterly self-taught in carnal arts. As the waves of passion crashed and the intimacy rose, the two of them floated into a state of transcendent bliss, breathless and delirious.

Right as the two of them were deep in the throes of passion, a sudden, loud clatter rang out from outside the house, as if someone had vaulted over the courtyard wall.

Zhou Yulang and Wan Suxin froze, holding their breath to listen.

With a booming crash, the door was kicked wide open, and Wan Suxin's husband, Jiang Zhigao, rushed in brandishing a kitchen cleaver.

"Ah!" Zhou Yulang and Wan Suxin shrieked in terror.

"You bastards! I'll slaughter the pair of you!" Jiang Zhigao roared, raising his cleaver to hack down.

Zhou Yulang sprang up from the bed in a flash, his figure darting sideways to dodge the blow. He snatched up a flashlight from the bed and hurled it blindly at Jiang Zhigao.

In his blind rage, Jiang Zhigao didn't dodge at all, charging straight forward. Stripped completely naked, Zhou Yulang scrambled onto the windowsill, flung the window open, and tumbled out in a panic.

Wan Suxin felt a wave of bewilderment: He isn't blind at all...

"You're the blind one!" Jiang Zhigao swung his cleaver down toward Wan Suxin's neck. Wan Suxin instinctively raised her hand to block, and four of her fingers were cleanly sheared off.

Screaming in agony, Wan Suxin wailed, "Husband, don't kill me! Don't kill me! Don't kill me!"

That single word "husband" softened Jiang Zhigao's heart. He glanced down at Wan Suxin, then grabbed his cleaver and gave chase.

Outside, Zhou Yulang fumbled in panic to pull open the door latch, shoved the door open, and bolted out.

Under the cover of night, a thrilling and astonishing scene unfolded. In the bright moonlight, a fortuneteller with wide-open eyes sprinted completely naked, while right behind him, a man holding a kitchen cleaver chased him with unrelenting fury.

"Help! Help!"

"I'll hack you to pieces! I'll hack you to pieces!"

Along the main street, a few small shops still had their lights on, and the people inside peered out at the commotion. Good grief, isn't that Blind Zhou? What happened to him?

"He's not wearing any clothes!"

"There's someone chasing him with a knife!"

"Holy crap, someone's killing people! Call the police!"

The two of them ran one after the other, shouting and gasping for breath down a three-kilometer stretch of street, drawing more and more onlookers out of their homes.

"Look over there, it's Blind Zhou! He's running completely bare-assed!"

"He's not blind at all! Look how fast and agile he's running, and he keeps looking left and right, glancing back over his shoulder!"

"Look at the guy behind him—he's holding a knife! Call the cops quickly!"

Zhou Yulang was running out of steam. Jiang Zhigao's curses were already ringing right in his ears; he could even hear Jiang Zhigao's ragged breathing. In a desperate panic, Zhou Yulang suddenly dropped into a squat, clutched his head with both hands, and curled into a ball. Jiang Zhigao was moving too fast to react in time, and actually tripped over Zhou Yulang, stumbling forward in a violent lurch as he flew right over the top of Zhou Yulang's head.

After tumbling a few times, Jiang Zhigao landed flat on his back, and the cleaver went flying far into the distance. Zhou Yulang immediately pounced forward, snatched up the cleaver, spun around to face Jiang Zhigao, and snapped, "Don't you come any closer! Your wife was the one who seduced me! If you dare take another step, I'll kill you!"

Jiang Zhigao stood up, brushed the dirt off his clothes, and shouted at the top of his lungs, "Neighbors and townsfolk, come look! This man isn't blind at all—he's been faking blindness to seduce my wife! The two of them were just caught by me red-handed on the bed!"

"Hooligan! Scoundrel!" The surrounding crowd pointed at Zhou Yulang and shouted abuse. The "hooligan crime" was an offense under the old Criminal Law. During the "Strike Hard" anti-crime campaign of the 1980s, many people engaging in illicit sexual relations were slapped with this charge. Even pulling out your penis to take a piss on the street could get you booked for the hooligan crime if a woman happened to see you. The crime was eventually removed in the revised 1997 Criminal Law.

Jiang Zhigao thumped his chest: "Come on! Hack right here!" With that, he stepped closer and closer to Zhou Yulang.

Lacking all composure, Zhou Yulang retreated step by step: "Don't come over."

Suddenly, Zhou Yulang's heel caught on the edge of the roadside curb, throwing him completely off balance. Seizing the opportunity, Jiang Zhigao rushed forward and delivered a ferocious punch straight to Zhou Yulang's nose, sending him crashing backward onto the ground.

Jiang Zhigao snatched back the kitchen cleaver and raised it high.

"Don't! Don't kill me! Murder is illegal!" Zhou Yulang pleaded.

"Right! Killing you like this would be letting you off way too easy!" Jiang Zhigao muttered to himself, discarding the cleaver and casually picking up a paving brick from the roadside.

"What are you doing?" Zhou Yulang asked in terror.

"I'm going to smash you to death!" Jiang Zhigao raised the brick and slammed it down toward Zhou Yulang's face. Smack! Smack! ... One, two, three blows. "I'll teach you to fake blindness! I'll teach you to seduce my wife!"

Following the successive blows of the brick, Zhou Yulang's nose was smashed flat, his brow ridges were shattered, and finally, even his eyeballs were popped out by the sheer force of the impact, oozing milky fluids. Blind Zhou had truly become a blind man.

"The police are here!" someone shouted in the crowd as several police cars came screaming toward the scene.

A few months later, a massive public sentencing rally was held in our city.

Jiang Zhigao was sentenced to life imprisonment for intentional assault resulting in grievous bodily harm;

Zhou Yulang was sentenced to life imprisonment for fraud and hooliganism;

Sun Daqiang was sentenced to twelve years' imprisonment for fraud and robbery;

Wan Suxin was sentenced to three years' imprisonment for hooliganism.

In the process of solving this major case, the public security organs also tracked down several old fellows of our "River and Lake Syndicate" to gather evidence.

Fourth Bahtou, Seventh Bahtou, and I were all summoned to report to the public security bureau at the same time. At the time, we had no idea what was going on; anyway, over the years, whenever any major case occurred, all of us individuals with criminal records were routinely screened. We were already used to it.

"Were all three of you senior gentlemen once members of the 'River and Lake Syndicate'?" a young police officer asked us.

"Yes, yes. But ever since 1952, we haven't done a single bad thing."

"Hehe. Don't be alarmed, nobody said you did anything bad. Today we just invited you here to help out."

"Help out?"

The policeman glanced around and lowered his voice: "My name is Zhao Yilong."

"Oh." The three of us looked at each other, completely baffled.

"My father is Zhao Dinghai."

The moment those words were spoken, our hearts skipped a beat: Zhao Dinghai?

Zhao Dinghai was the final Number Six Bahtou of the "River and Lake Syndicate." Back in the day, Zhao Dinghai and Fan Yifei were both foot-soldiers under the banner of "Muzi Lian." After Little Six was killed by Qian Yueling using the lethal-food secret recipe, Grandfather played along with their ruse and seized the opportunity to unmask Fan Yifei, who had been colluding with the Number Three Bahtou. Later, Grandfather executed Fan Yifei and, around 1951, appointed the formidable martial artist Zhao Dinghai as the final Number Six Bahtou.

Following the government's campaign to suppress the reactionary Taoist sects, Zhao Dinghai served a few years of reform-through-labor before returning to his rural hometown. We had lost touch ever since.

Decades had passed, and the long-lost Zhao Dinghai actually had a son who was a police officer, standing right before our eyes.

Zhao Yilong smiled and said, "If we go by the seniority ranks of your syndicate back then, I ought to call you all uncles."

"Hehe." We chuckled. "Who would have thought it—after all these years, how is your father doing?"

"He's doing great. Everything he eats tastes amazing, and his health is top-notch. After my dad reformed himself back then, he went back to his hometown to farm honestly. Later on, he married my mother, and I'm the fifth child, with two older sisters and two older brothers above me. My dad taught us martial arts since we were kids. Later, when the college entrance exams were restored, I tested into police academy. After I graduated, my dad helped me reach out to Uncle Zeng Jingwu, who had retired from the Provincial Public Security Department, and that's how I got placed into our city's police bureau," Zhao Yilong said.

Hearing his words, we sighed with deep emotion. Instructor Zeng had truly been exceptionally kind to the brothers of our "River and Lake Syndicate." Not to mention how he and Grandfather stood shoulder to shoulder and worked together when Grandfather was alive, even after Grandfather passed away, he continued to look after the brothers with great care.

Back during the Cultural Revolution, even when he could barely protect himself, he still spoke up on our behalf: "These people are not bad people. They made mistakes in the past, but after government re-education, they are all good citizens now. You cannot negate their status as poor and lower-middle peasants simply because of past mistakes; they were also victims of the old society."

Through all these years, Zeng Jingwu had consistently cared about the fate of the descendants of the "River and Lake Syndicate," making sure we didn't stray onto evil paths again or commit new mistakes. He was someone who had witnessed the entire rise and fall of the "River and Lake Syndicate," and he fully understood the profound and painstaking good intentions behind Grandfather's choice to pay for his crimes with his death. Just a short while ago, I had even received a letter from him in which he inquired in detail about my life, my family, and my children.

"Three uncles, which of you is Uncle Wang Jiaxian?" Zhao Yilong asked.

Old Seven looked at me and said, "I am."

"Uncle Wang, back during your syndicate's internal strife, was there someone named Zhou Tianlei?"

"Yes, yes, he was from the Northern faction, a disciple of the Northern master, Big Bahtou Qian Yueling."

"Mhm. This fortunetelling Blind Zhou is Zhou Tianlei's son."

"What?" Fourth Bahtou and I leaped to our feet in shock.

Zhao Yilong looked at us: "Uncles, don't get excited. Back during your syndicate's internal strife, it is said that Uncle Wang leaked information from the inside, which allowed your leader, Grandfather, to discover that the Northern and Western factions were plotting an uprising, leading to Qian Yueling and his subordinates being killed by Grandfather. Is that how it happened?"

I thought for a moment and said, "Not entirely. Back then, Grandfather had already noticed things himself. Of course, your Uncle Wang's righteous act further confirmed Grandfather's deductions."

Zhao Yilong said, "That's precisely where the problem lies. Uncle Wang had sworn an oath of brotherhood with Qian Yueling and the others back then, but later turned traitor. While that move was a blessing for Grandfather, it cost Qian Yueling and his disciples their lives. This Zhou Yulang is said to be Zhou Tianlei's orphaned son from Baoding, and his trip down south to our city this time was purely to exact revenge."

I felt a wave of dizziness: "They always say a gentleman's revenge takes ten years, but this is taking way too long—it's been over thirty years! Besides, if we calculate from the time of Zhou Tianlei's death, this son of his, Zhou Yulang, should be at least nearly forty years old. Yet this Blind Zhou is only in his twenties."

Zhao Yilong smiled: "He is indeed nearly forty. His ID card was forged. But he looks young; without the investigative files from the public security organs to prove it, no one would ever guess he is approaching forty. This man has been engaging in superstitious fraud activities for years. His other accomplice—the robber who cooperated with him to rob Wan Suxin, a robber named Sun Daqiang—is also a con artist, and the two of them have been partnering up in scams for years."

"Oh, so that's how it was." We suddenly understood. "No wonder we always had the feeling Blind Zhou wasn't an ordinary person. He possessed quite a strong legacy of the old River and Lake Syndicate style."

"Mhm. The reason these two came to our city this time was because they had already thoroughly mapped out the situations of you Bahtous. According to his confession, they started coming to our city to scout locations as early as last year. They already had Uncle Wang's address and family situation memorized down to the smallest detail. He intentionally apprenticed himself to Dragon-Phoenix simply to borrow Dragon-Phoenix's name to rapidly build up his own reputation, which was the only way to draw your attention. Knowing full well that Uncle Wang was desperate for a son, he hatched this sinister plot: he made Uncle Wang divorce, then introduced Wan Suxin to Uncle Wang. Once Uncle Wang and Wan Suxin got together, he would send an anonymous letter to Wan Suxin's husband, Jiang Zhigao, prompting that hot-tempered brute to direct his rage at Uncle Wang. That is what you call killing someone with a borrowed knife."

Hearing this, we broke out in cold sweat: "What a calculating mind. Unlike the old society, nowadays if you go straight at someone with a cleaver during the 'Strike Hard' campaign, you're guaranteed to land yourself inside. Using a borrowed knife—now that's a brilliant move. Truly worthy of an A-Bao's descendant."

Zhao Yilong said, "Fortunately, Jiang Zhigao kept his guard up regarding Wan Suxin's insistence on a divorce; on the surface he divorced her, but behind the scenes he had people tailing her, which resulted in him catching them in the act ahead of time. That's how our city's number one major case of the year came about. According to Zhou Yulang's plan, after he performed the so-called 'bad-luck-dispelling ritual' with Wan Suxin, he was going to introduce her to Uncle Wang next spring. If things had reached that point, Uncle Wang would have been in grave danger."

Wang Jiaxian listened with his heart in his throat: "Terrifyingly vicious. If I had married Wan Suxin, wouldn't I have been wearing a green hat right from the start? Blind Zhou is truly vicious."

"That's not even the most important part. The most crucial thing is that Zhou Yulang knew full well that Jiang Zhigao still harbored lingering feelings for Wan Suxin and would sooner or later come looking for trouble. He might have even framed you with a hooligan charge, leaving your family completely ruined. Under the high-pressure climate of the 'Strike Hard' campaign, affairs of men and women are the easiest things to spark catastrophes," Zhao Yilong said.

Wang Jiaxian broke out in cold sweat, nodding repeatedly.

"There's one more question: do the three uncles happen to know someone named Huang Farong?" Zhao Yilong asked.

The three of us froze, and Fourth Bahtou asked in confusion, "I know her. She was my ex-wife, who died decades ago."

"Dead decades ago?" Zhao Yilong asked back.

"Yes. Back then, she assisted our syndicate's leader in setting up a ruse to fight against the Japanese, and was subsequently killed by the Japanese in 1937," Fourth Bahtou said heavily.

Zhao Yilong shook his head: "That doesn't add up. Zhou Yulang and Sun Daqiang confessed that the person who filled them in on all these 'River and Lake Syndicate' grudges was someone named Huang Farong. Otherwise, Zhou Yulang could never have known so many inside details; when his old man Zhou Tianlei died, he was still too young to understand anything."

"That's right!" I said. "Even if he had been old enough to understand, he couldn't possibly have known so many inside details. When Grandfather wiped out Qian Yueling's faction back then, the news was kept completely airtight. Even if people in the underworld could guess that Qian Yueling and his disciples died at Grandfather's hands, they could never have figured out the details of this affair—let alone knowing about Uncle Wang's secret tip-off. For all these years, all of us old fellows have kept our mouths completely sealed about this matter."

Zhao Yilong nodded: "That is precisely where the problem lies. Zhou Yulang and Sun Daqiang were merely pawns; the person behind them is the true mastermind of the whole thing. It's just a pity we don't have any clues. Zhou Yulang only knows that the person is a woman, around thirty years old, who goes by the name 'Huang Farong,' has elusive whereabouts, and taught Zhou Yulang many of his scamming techniques."

"Impossible, impossible!" Fourth Bahtou said loudly. "Farong was even a year older than me; she must be at least in her seventies by now!"

Zhao Yilong said, "In that case, this 'Huang Farong' cannot be the original Huang Farong."

"Then why is she using Farong's banner?" Fourth Bahtou asked.

"That is also what we are trying to figure out," Zhao Yilong said. "The police departments of the three southern provinces have also sent out an inter-provincial cooperation notice: this person named Huang Farong is linked to a major financial fraud case recently in Guangdong and is the prime suspect."

"Financial fraud?" I exclaimed in shock.

"Yes. The bank lost three million!"

"Three... million?" Back in the 1980s, when a family with ten thousand yuan could lord it over an entire neighborhood, hearing that figure left all our jaws hanging wide open.