The Beggar and the Rich Man

By Wang Peijun

A beggar was crouching on the street corner near a hotel,shivering in the chilly winds.

A rich man staggered past him,half-drunk, burping with the stench of alcohol. The beggar stretched out his hand saying: “Brother, please do me a favor.” The rich man looked at the beggar, more than ten years older than himself, and suddenly had the idea of playing a prank on him. Squinting, the rich man said,“What did you call me? You called me brother?” He took out a thousand bucks while talking, “Let’s make a deal: don’t call me brother, call me‘daddy.’ One time, one hundred bucks.”

Without hesitation, the beggar called “daddy” loudly ten times.

The rich man had to give all the money to the beggar but ended up feeling remorseful with little delight.

The beggar, reading the rich man’s mind, said, “You are regretting what you have done, aren’t you?”Then, he said magnanimously: “You can have your money back the same way you gave it to me.”

Surprised, the rich man asked,“Really?”

The beggar said, “Yeah, but since you’re a rich guy, I’m just a beggar,we need to differentiate our social statuses.”

The rich man asked how and the beggar explained: “You’re a distinguished man and it was worth one hundred bucks for me to call you‘daddy.’ I’m penniless and common,so it will just be worth fifty if you are to call me ‘daddy.’” The rich man was rejoiced and said, “That’s it.” He regretted what he said instantly, but after a few minutes’ calculating in mind, he agreed to call the beggar ten times.

Then the rich man called out“daddy” and the beggar echoed proudly. After ten times the beggar told him to stop, gave him 500 bucks and said, “We’re even now.”

The beggar strode off with 500 bucks in his pocket, leaving the rich man shivering in the cold wind.◆

(From The Life of Common People, Hunan People’s Publishing House. Translation: Sam Bowden)

寒风刺骨，乞丐在酒店的拐角处冻得发抖。

大款打着酒嗝，摇摇晃晃地从乞丐面前路过，乞丐伸出手说：“大哥，你行行好吧。”大款看着比自己大十几岁的乞丐，突然有了恶作剧的念头，乜斜着眼说：“你叫我什么？叫我大哥？”边说边掏出1000块钱：“这样吧，你别叫我大哥了，叫我一声爹，我给你100块钱。”

乞丐二话不说，一口气叫了十声爹。

大款把钱给了乞丐，可一点快感也没感觉到，就有些后悔。

乞丐看透了大款的心思，说：“后悔了吧？”接着大度地说：“用同样的方法，你可以把钱再拿回去。”

大款没有想到，忙问：“真的？”

乞丐说：“真的，不过，你是大款，我是乞丐，咱们得分出身份。”

大款问怎么分，乞丐说：“你有钱是贵人，喊你一声值100元；我没钱，是贱人，喊我一声只值50元。”大款听了很高兴，说：“就应该这样分。”话出口，才觉得上了当，继而一想，不就是多喊十声爹吗？认了。

大款就喊，乞丐就应，当喊完第十声时，乞丐喊停，接着递过500块钱说：“咱们扯平了。”

乞丐拿着500块钱走了，留下大款在寒风里发抖。