“What’s wrong with you, old man? Haven’t I already given you wine? Why did you pour it all away?”
The shopkeeper glared at the old man, his voice stiffening in helplessness. Who knew where this old man had come from, having suddenly appeared and plopped himself right at the front of his shop’s entrance. He had even refused to go away, threatening he was not going to leave til he was given wine. It really infuriated him now that he was given the wine, the old man had simply poured it all onto the floor instead!
Old Patriarch Feng pouted and with a look of unmasked contempt, he said: “Who told you to not give this old man the good stuff? The wine you gave me was so diluted it was like plain water, even if you can drink it, there’s no way that’s going to go down my throat!”
The shopkeeper was so furious he shouted out loudly as he pointed a shaking finger at the old man: “You….. You darned old man! Which family are you from! How can you be so unreasonable! ? You’re not paying a single cent yet you want superior wine! ? You should be thankful that I’ve even given you any wine and not be so ungrateful! I’m warning you, if you still refuse to leave, I won’t be playing nice anymore!”
Feng Old Man flung the wine gourd he held in his hand and it rapped the shopkeeper upon the head as the old man said in a berating voice: “Hmph! No respect for elders at all! Didn’t you father and mother teach you that you should not point your fingers at your elders? How atrocious! Simply too atrocious!”
When the surrounding crowd who had been drawn there by the ruckus heard those words, they couldn’t hold themselves back and went “pfft”, breaking out in stifled laughter.
The shopkeeper’s face had gone completely red, to the extent he even felt like crying as he said: “Dear Old Master, take it that I’m begging you alright? Please be kind to me and leave will you! ? Go home quickly and don’t stand in my way here and let me do some business. Mine’s only a small little business, how can I do any business with you sitting here in the middle of my front door?”
“Go home?” The old man hugging the wine gourd tilted his head sideways as his face creased into a frown as he thought deeply and said: “Which family am this old man from? I seem to have forgotten it again.”
When he heard this, the shopkeeper knelt down in resignation.
He fell forward to hug the old man’s legs and pleaded in tears: “Old Master, I am begging you, you cannot just plant yourself at this spot here. I’ll apologise to you, I shouldn’t have shouted at you in a loud voice, I shouldn’t have been disrespectful to you, your esteemed self wouldn’t take offence with trivial people like me, so please go home quickly….”
Old Patriarch Feng’s face was dark as he said to the shopkeeper in disdain: “What a good for nothing! Kneeling over such a small matter! And you’re even crying? Don’t you know that men shed blood and not tears? Look at what you look like right now! You’re just an ugly sight! This old man is really too ashamed to even look at you.”
Upon saying that, the old man immediately turned his face away firmly, refusing to even look at the shopkeeper and just shoved the wine gourd into the shopkeeper’s arms and said: “Go. Get this old man half a gourd of good wine. I want the superior stuff. This old man will not accept inferior wine.”
The surrounding crowd looked on sympathetically at the shopkeeper, with one of them even shouting out: “I’ll say, why don’t you just give the elderly one a mouthful of good wine eh? Judging from the old man’s dress, he is definitely not an elder from any common family, which surely wouldn’t shortchange you for that little bit of money for your wine right?”
“That’s right, that’s right. Won’t owe you wine money.” Old Patriarch Feng’s face was a wide grin as he nodded and urged: “Quick! This old man’s craving for wine is acting up again.”
The shopkeeper still hesitated for a moment before he went inside with the wine gourd to draw some wine. As he was afraid that the old man would pour the wine away once again, he really took out the superior grade wine this time, his heart wincing in pain as he filled the gourd, apprehensive whether the Old Master really have the money to pay for it? And just which family he belonged to?
After filling the wine, the shopkeeper came back out and handed the wine gourd to the old man and asked: “Old Master, which family are you really from?”
Old Patriarch Feng grabbed the wine gourd from him and still glared at the shopkeeper and said: “Hadn’t this old man said it already before? This old man has again forgotten which family I’m from. But rest assured that this old man will not owe you the money for the wine.”
As he spoke, he stood up while taking off his clothes up and said, “This old man’s clothes are worth some money, take it as compensation for the wine.”
The shopkeeper’s face was mournful almost in tears. “I have no use for them by taking your clothes!”
“I’ll pay the money for his wine.”