As the saying goes, no system is perfect and has loopholes, and Jia Ran's "beauty scheduling schedule" is no exception. Since her mother-in-law doesn't have to go to the coffee shop, she often goes to the study to flirt with Da Qi, who is writing. Da Qi, on the other hand, does her a favor and immediately "takes her right there and then," and the two of them experience a kind of illicit pleasure because they both violate the schedule.
The mother-in-law was quite pleased with herself, thinking to herself, "What kind of ridiculous schedule is this? I, Wenhua, won't follow it! I can sneak off with my nemesis while you're not home. Hehe, Wen'er, let's see if you can handle your mother."
However, they only stole a few times. One time, Qiwen and Xiaoli caught them in the act. From then on, Qiwen decreed: "Mom, you're not allowed to go to Daqi's study! If you dare go, I'll make you go back to Dad's immediately!" Qiwen specifically discussed countermeasures with Xiaoli and Jiaran, and finally made an extra rule for her mother-in-law—whoever was home could supervise Daqi and her mother-in-law, and if they "committed adultery," her mother-in-law would have to immediately go back to Daqi's father-in-law's. Xiaoli and Jiaran kept trying to persuade Daqi: "Darling, you can't be too lenient with your mother, otherwise the whole family will be in chaos. If you want to be with her, no one will stop you, but you must stick to the schedule." Daqi nodded and said, "Don't worry, I won't do this with Mom again, don't be angry..."
From then on, no matter how much his mother-in-law flattered Daqi, he would at most hug her or kiss her briefly before urging her, "Mom, don't rush, don't rush, it'll be your turn with Wen'er soon." His mother-in-law would always say sweetly, "Oh, my good son-in-law, come on, come on!" Daqi was afraid of offending his other wives, so he dared not have an affair with his mother-in-law anymore. His mother-in-law had no choice but to cherish Daqi's regular "summons."
Daqi and his twenty-five women lived a very happy and joyful life. Xiaoling and Beibei were public figures, the most popular and beautiful female hosts in Rongzhou and even the entire coastal area. Countless high-ranking officials, wealthy businessmen, and other powerful figures wanted to keep them as mistresses. But they would always smile and say, "I have a husband, and my husband and I have a very good relationship. I'm sorry!" Needless to say, their hearts belonged only to Daqi. Many people inquired about Tong Daqi's family background, but after learning that he was the adopted son-in-law of the provincial public security bureau chief and a well-known writer, they all backed down and dared not make any more advances towards his women.
During the 2007 Spring Festival, Daqi was quite happy. He brought his twenty-five women and three children home to celebrate the holiday, making the entire Tong family mansion exceptionally lively. He chose an auspicious day to worship the Tong family ancestors and his mother. Every woman was delighted, and they all enjoyed visiting the old house with Daqi. While enjoying his own life, Tong Daqi had Qiwen donate 500,000 RMB to the local government's education department to cover the tuition and fees for some impoverished students in Changqing County.
The local people also respect the people of the Tong family mansion because they are wealthy and powerful, have done many good deeds, and never bully others by abusing their power.
It was a day in April 2007. It was Daqi's birthday. His first wife, Qiwen, said in front of the whole family, "Honey, today is your birthday. Whatever you ask for, I will grant it!" The whole family was at the Rongjiang Villa.
Daqi laughed heartily and said, "Really?"
Qiwen smiled and nodded. All the women said, "Honey, just tell us what you need, and we'll make sure you're satisfied!"
Overjoyed, Daqi danced with delight and said to his personal maid, Yijing, "Jing'er, take the three children back to their room and let Aunt Zhang and Aunt Li take care of them. Don't let them come out. Aunt Zhang and Aunt Li are not allowed to leave their rooms either!" Yijing immediately carried Xiaoqi, Xiaoxue, and Xiaofeng back to their room and told Aunt Zhang and Aunt Li what Daqi had said. After settling the children in herself, she returned to Daqi's side.
Xiao Li laughed and said, "Hey, what are you doing?"
Daqi smiled mysteriously and said, "You've all agreed to listen to me. Today I'm the birthday boy, and I only have one request."
Jia Ran smiled and said, "What are your requirements? Just tell me."
Chunlan also said, "That's right, tell me quickly, and I will definitely do as you say."
Ye Huan: "Master, tell me quickly!"
Qiwen laughed and said, "It can't be anything good!"
Policewoman Tingfang said, "It shouldn't be a bad thing!"
Beibei laughed and asked, "Master, what exactly do you want us sisters to do?"
Mother-in-law: "Hehe, right on time! My nemesis never treats us unfairly."
Mu Ping: "I guess what it is."
Everyone asked Mu Ping, "What's wrong?"
Mu Ping smiled without saying a word, then zipped up the dragon and phoenix cheongsam she was wearing and said, "Husband, isn't it right?"
Daqi laughed loudly and said, "You've all seen it, haven't you? Take it off, all of you!"
Little Mangege laughed and said, "Long live the king! I love it when my whole family is naked! I love it when my whole family is naked!"
At Daqi's command, all twenty-five of his women smiled and began to undress. Soon, twenty-four naked beauties stood before him. Everyone smiled, and Qiwen shook her head while laughing, saying to Daqi, "I really regret it. I won't let you do this even on your birthday." Pingjia said, "Sister Wen, it's okay. He's the birthday boy today, so let him be!"
You might be wondering, why isn't there another woman naked? Who is she? Haha, of course, it's the beautiful uniformed policewoman Ma Tingfang.
The stunningly beautiful Tingfang was the only woman who, under Daqi's instructions, hadn't undressed. She was still wearing her police uniform jacket and tie. However, all other clothing, including her bra and underwear, was gone.
Daqi had his first wife, Fairy Qiwen, and his "closed-door wife," Tingfang, dressed in a police uniform and tie, kneel on either side of him. The two wives naturally brought their heads close to his crotch, each gently parting their lips to please him… Xiaoli and Muping then came to his sides, gently embracing him and kissing his cheeks. Just as the other women were about to come over, Daqi laughed, "Take your time, everyone gets a share. You wait a bit!" Hanmeng and Xiaoying smiled slightly and said, "Okay, okay, okay. We'll wait, but you have to hurry!" Daqi smiled slightly at them and all the other wives…
What a harmonious and joyful family! From then on, Tong Daqi and his twenty-five beautiful wives lived a happy and fulfilling life. His story with these twenty-five beautiful women could thus come to a perfectly satisfying end!
Postscript to "Urban Flower Dream"
Time flies like an arrow. Life is so beautiful, and sixty years have passed in the blink of an eye. These sixty years were sixty years of Tong Daqi and his twenty-five wives happily enjoying life. These sixty years were also a process of him bidding farewell to each of his twenty-five beloved women; indeed, all twenty-five of his women left him one after another. This is the natural law of the universe, and no one can escape it. From the moment a person is born, it means that the day of death will eventually come.
In 2027, Jia Ran passed away from brain cancer, but she left with a smile. Before she died, she said to Da Qi, "My dear, I was really happy with you! Live well, don't be sad for me, and take good care of my daughter Xiao Man..." Da Qi kept nodding to Jia Ran... The whole family cried their hearts out and gave Jia Ran a grand funeral.
Starting in 2047, the women around Daqi died one by one from illness. He gave each deceased wife a grand funeral. He grieved each time a wife passed away, especially in 2057.
In 2057, the fairy Qiwen and her mother-in-law unexpectedly passed away on the same day. This was the most devastating blow to Tong Daqi in his later years. Qiwen departed an hour earlier than her mother. Daqi held her tightly, while his remaining dozen or so wives wept uncontrollably. Daqi cried out, "Wen'er, Wen'er... I'll go with you, I'll go with you..." Unexpectedly, an hour later, his long-ailing mother-in-law also passed away. Unlike Qiwen's death, when his mother-in-law died, everyone was so grief-stricken that they forgot about their long-term mother-in-law. Fortunately, Tong Daqi's son, Tong Xiaoqi, was by his mother-in-law Wenhua's side to see her off. Xiaoqi cried out, "Grandma, Grandma, why are you leaving too?..."
Perhaps it was the sudden loss of two people that plunged the entire Tong family mansion into profound grief. The departure of Fairy Qiwen was especially devastating for Daqi and all his wives. Everyone respected Qiwen; in fact, she was the true head of the Tong family. Although Daqi outwardly appeared to be the patriarch, everyone in the Tong family knew that Qiwen was the true matriarch. She spearheaded and oversaw all major decisions. She had managed the Tong family for nearly sixty years, and everyone had benefited from her leadership, praising her as the undisputed first wife—the head of the household!
On the day of Qiwen and her daughter's funeral, her two closest "comrades-in-arms" and sisters—Xiao Li and Mu Ping—also passed away from excessive grief. When the devastating news reached Tong Daqi, he was so busy with the funeral arrangements for Qiwen and her daughter that he was nearly stunned into unconsciousness…
Since Qiwen's death, Daqi was utterly despondent and devoid of passion. Despite his advanced age, he remained healthy and vigorous, beginning an extremely uneventful life as a traveler. He never brought a woman with him, nor did he touch any other woman. He steadfastly upheld his vow to Qiwen—to spend his life with only twenty-five women of his own, and never touch any other! Even though the fairy Qiwen had passed away, he still kept his vow to her.
The elderly Tong Daqi has traveled extensively throughout China, from the Yangtze River to the Great Wall. On Changbai Mountain on the Sino-North Korean border, he looked down upon Tianchi Lake, a sacred site for North Koreans, its calm, azure waters as bright and distant as the eyes of a god. At the foot of the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang, he watched beautiful Uyghur girls dance, appreciating the charm of a foreign culture. On Mount Putuo in Zhoushan, Zhejiang, he brewed tea and discussed Zen with the abbot, sharing his understanding of Buddhism and the myriad aspects of human existence…
In the Potala Palace in Lhasa, when Daqi casually mentioned the Dalai Lama to the lamas, they solemnly told him not to say "Mr. Dalai Lama," and even less "Dalai," but rather "Dalai Lama." When he sincerely asked them for clarification, they explained that in Mongolian, "Dalai" means "ocean," and "Lama" means "guru," helping him understand that these obscure Chinese words contained so many meanings.
Daqi said softly, “Whether it’s the Dalai Lama or any other lama, more than 100 years have passed. No Tibetan can erase the earth-shaking changes that the ruling party has brought to Tibet. Take my hometown for example, every year countless young cadres come to support the development of Tibet…”
In Norbulingka, when Daqi was talking to an elderly Tibetan man, the man said something that would make many Han Chinese feel ashamed. Sipping his butter tea, he said, “Compared to the Han Chinese, we Tibetans are indeed very backward, especially before the Qinghai-Tibet Railway opened. But there’s one thing I’m proud of: we Tibetans have faith, while you Han Chinese don’t. You are a soulless people. A Tibetan might spend his whole life saving every penny, living an extremely difficult and impoverished life, yet he would offer every single copper coin he saved, prostrating himself at every step, to the Potala Palace or Tashilhunpo Monastery, respectfully offering it to the Bodhisattva. This may seem like a foolish and backward act, but it is a devout and noble faith. You Han Chinese, on the other hand, only worship dirty money.” Daqi laughed heartily and said, “Old man, I can tell you that I and my descendants in the Tong family love money, but we certainly don’t worship it. We’ve used money to do countless good deeds, almost anonymously. Money isn’t dirty; it depends on who uses it. At least all the money I, Tong, have earned in my life has come from clean and honest sources. I admit that many Han Chinese are dirty, but not all of them are like that…”
Such were the days of his travels. Tong Daqi made many friends and visited countless teachers. He truly understood the feeling that there are always people better than him and that there is always something beyond his reach. He just kept walking, just kept looking, just kept listening, never looking back, letting his body wander on the journey, letting his soul wander on the path…
In 2067, the elderly Tong Daqi returned to the Tong family mansion, only to find that his son, Tong Xiaoqi, had predeceased him. Fortunately, his grandchildren still recognized him as their patriarch. Only three old women remained by his side: Ye Huan, his former mixed-race beauty and slave; Yi Jing, his personal maid; and Ma Tingfang, a retired policewoman. In the past decade, several of his wives had passed away, leaving only three.
Tong Daqi, nearly 90 years old and once known as "Grandpa Tong" by the people of Changqing County, was once blessed with many romantic encounters. After returning home from his travels, he would often sit on a bamboo chair in the center of the main hall of his family mansion. This bamboo chair was specially made by his grandsons because Grandpa Tong preferred bamboo chairs to leather sofas. The frail and elderly Tong Daqi often sat alone in the bamboo chair, lost in thought, always holding a family portrait and a Buddhist scripture in his hand. This portrait, taken during the Spring Festival of a certain year, featured him with his twenty-five women and a dozen children and grandchildren. Clearly, he was missing his deceased wife.
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Section Reading 284
He and his son, Tong Xiaoqi. This caused him immense pain, but of course, he had his ways of coping—reciting and copying Buddhist scriptures. He often recited scriptures with Ye Huan, Yi Jing, and Ting Fang. Reciting scriptures allowed him to forget all his pain and joy, making him silent, calm, and at peace… Besides reciting scriptures, he also copied them with a brush; Daqi had been skilled in calligraphy since childhood. Reciting and copying scriptures were both for memorizing them.
That day, Daqi was chanting scriptures with his three wives as usual when suddenly an old nun with crane-like eyebrows and a youthful face walked through the gate of the Tong family mansion. She asked directly, "Qi'er, Qi'er, are you there?"
Tong Daqi, whose hair and beard were as white as snowflakes, replied, "I am... you are... Master Miaoqing, Grandmother... your grandson greets you..." After he finished speaking, he immediately knelt down before the old nun. He, who was usually frail and old, performed the kneeling ceremony with unusual agility today.
The nun clasped her hands together and said humbly, "Qi'er, you've grown old, you've grown old! It's time to come with me, let's go... What are you holding in your hand? Let this old nun see." Daqi handed the "family photo" to Miaoqing. She looked at it, nodded, and said, "Ah, what a wonderful 'a myriad of joys and sorrows, all vanish upon waking from a spring dream'! Qi'er, let's go."
Daqi paused for a moment, then chuckled and said, "Grandmother, you truly come from a scholarly family. Alright, I'll add my own 'tail' this time." He then continued Miaoqing's words, saying, "'The beauty of a riot of flowers is but a fleeting dream, a subject for laughter and conversation.' Grandmother, let's go! Wait, Grandmother, let me write down these four lines of poetry. Because the two lines you mentioned were recited to me by an old monk in a dream."
Miao Qing smiled slightly and said, "He is my master, and also your great-grandfather."
Daqi nodded and said, "I see. So, it was he who sent you to find me?" As he spoke, he wrote these four lines of poetry on the table with a brush.
After Daqi finished writing those four lines of poetry, Miaoqing said, "It is, and it is not."
Daqi: "My grandson doesn't understand."
Miaoqing: "He was only sent to find you by the Buddhist decree of my Buddha. Let's go!"
Tong Daqi nodded and followed Miaoqing out of the Tong family mansion...
"Grandpa, Grandpa, Grandpa..."
"Old man, old man, old man... What are you doing writing these words instead of chanting scriptures? Why are you asleep again... Get up, get up..."
Grandpa Tong's three grandsons, two great-grandsons, and three wives were shaking his body incessantly, for he had fallen asleep, face down on the table, a calligraphy brush in his hand... He was asleep forever, a faint smile on his lips, while the ink on the brush continued to drip, drip, and drip...
Tong Daqi's eldest grandson brought his hand close to his nostrils and whispered, "Grandpa has passed away..."
...
His three wives, three grandsons, and two great-grandsons all knelt before him, weeping… His youngest great-grandson, while crying, recited the four lines of poetry on the table, the four lines of poetry that Tong Daqi had handwritten on the table before his death:
"A myriad of emotions, joys, sorrows, and happiness, all vanish upon waking from a spring dream."
The riotous bloom of flowers is but a fleeting moment; let it be a subject of laughter and conversation.
Seven days later, the Tong family mansion held a grand funeral for Old Master Tong!
(The End)
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