The story of Mr. Renhe Ren

by @marcoriccardi

It is said that Mr. Renhe Ren, of Daochu village, in the province of Quan Shijie, in his forty-second year of life, was seized by a great rage because of his long-standing enemy, who was constantly working to hinder and ruin any of his activities and projects. Faced with the umpteenth abuse, Mr. Renhe Ren felt that his harmony and self-control were going to be lost. He was no longer able to feel the noble sentiments worthy of a superior man.
Then he remembered the words of the wise man. "Sit down along the river bank and wait, sooner or later you will see the corpse of your enemy pass". So, he left the village of Daochu and went down to the river. He found a willow with a wide foliage that bent gently over the water, and sat down in his shadow, determined to wait until the wisdom of the ancestors had brought a solution to his problem.

He awaited for days and nights, meditating. Sun, rain, wind and fog alternated tormenting him, but neither the heat, nor the cold, nor the humidity, nor the insects distracted him from his waiting. Time passed, until one day in late autumn, the stream swollen for the rains brought a corpse to its feet, face down. Mr. Renhe Ren shook himself from his meditation and leaned towards the muddy water, his heart finally calm.

Great was his surprise when he saw…

My Ending

His best friend. Mr. Renhe Ren had forgotten that this man who had become his enemy had started as his best friend. It had made the betrayals cut deeper than if a stranger had done them. Yet with all that time to sit and think the hate for the man in front of him had faded. That face didn’t bring to mind the fights. The jealousy over girls and who got promotions first. His mind tried to remember what had driven him to need to walk away from this life.

Mr. Renhe Ren sat and as his mind could not find those reasons for hatred his heart filled with sadness. His friend had a wife and a child. Had his actions truly lead to his death? He had believed the saying of the old man so strongly. He had been able to ignore hunger and survive all this time just meditating. He pulled the body of his old friend onto the shore and went to find a phone to call the police. He went back and as he waited for help his eyes filled with tears.

The police had bought them both back to the city. Mr. Renhe Ren returned to his home and found it that someone had been inside. The map of the rivers he had looked at before leaving had been moved from where he left it. He found that one of his back windows had been broken and his backdoor was unlocked. He was so tired so he locked it up ate and went to sleep.

The wake was held just a few days later. As Mr. Renhe Ren walked around he saw eyes staring at him. They had a look of disapproval even disgust. How did they know? He couldn’t help but head for the door when a small arm pulled at him.

It was his friend's son. Older than he remembered and with eyes he could tell had been crying.

“Did he save you?”

“What, why would you ask?”

“He told us that he had to find you to make sure you were okay. So I wonder if he saved you.”

Mr. Renhe Ren fell to his knees and sobbed. It had been his friend in his home. He had found the maps he had gone to the river to save him. He fell in and was lost. He tried to gather himself enough to get it out.

“Yes he did”

Mr. Renhe Ren spent the rest of his life working to pay back a debt that was unplayable. He made sure that his friends family had everything they needed. He rose higher than he had ever been able to before. Then when the boy was done with college and didn’t need his support he wrote his will and went back to the river. His only purpose was to fill in for his friend and he was done. He walked off into the water and let the current take him.

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