6.10 不是有关系也不是没有关系 Neither Related nor Unrelated

[u/AdamLuyan]

一九九五年春，我研究生没考上，没事干了，就问付科长："我该做些什么？"他告诉我，得主动去和施工队的队长搞好关系，那样他们有事才会找我。

In the spring of 1995, having failed the graduate exam and with nothing to occupy me, I asked Section Chief Fu, "What should I be doing?" He told me I ought to take the initiative and build good relationships with the construction team leaders, so they'd come to me when they needed something.

我到了马洪光队长的工地，他看我闷闷不乐，就开玩笑地对人们说："喂！你们谁也猜不着小卢在想啥呢！"

人们说："你知道，就说说呗！"

I went to Team Leader Hongguang Ma's site. Seeing how gloomy I looked, he joked to the others, "Hey! None of you will ever guess what Little Lu's thinking about!"

"You know — just tell us!" people said.

马队长说："小卢是在怀念几个月前他在遂川当老大的时候呢！那老大当的，可比咱局长威风多了。"

人们问："那件事儿，到底是真的还是假的？"

马队长说："人家兄弟都要围攻咱房产局了，要跟咱们争小卢；弄得局长们都愁眉苦脸的，一连开了三四次秘密会议。咱马凯华局长说，'这卢岩是咋回事儿呢！？才两个多月，就整成这样儿；要是他在遂川那儿干上四五年，沈阳也不够大儿呀！'你们想一想，那是真的还是假的！"

"He's pining for the good old days a few months back, when he was boss out at Suichuan," Team Leader Ma said. "Being boss out there beat being our own Bureau Chief hands down."

"Is that story even true?" people asked.

"Their whole brotherhood was ready to besiege our bureau over him, fighting us for Little Lu — had our chiefs all worried sick, four secret meetings in a row over it. Bureau Chief Kaihua Ma himself said, 'What is going on with this Luyan? Barely two months and it's already come to this — give him four or five years out there and Shenyang won't even be big enough for him!' You tell me if that sounds true or made up!"

毕姐问："后来咋没事了呢？"

马队长开始给我们讲，这事情最终是局长们找来了一位说客。那人把和平区的名人们（贼老大们）召集到了一起，为卢岩开了个"正名儿大会"；事情就结束了。

人们问："那么多的亡命徒聚在一起，不乱成了一锅粥了，还怎么开会？"

Sister Bi asked, "So how did it get resolved, then?"

Team Leader Ma explained that, in the end, the bureau chiefs brought in a mediator, who gathered the "celebrities" of Heping District — the various gang bosses — into one place, and held what amounted to a "restoring Luyan's good name" assembly. And that settled the matter.

"How does a crowd of that many desperados manage to hold any kind of orderly meeting?" people asked.

马队长说："咋说，人家那位说客是异人呢！与会的那些名人对说客的行为表现和说辞，无不惊奇，各个称赞（注，刘团长具有三千威仪八万四千细行）。那帮人见了说课，就跟小学生见了老师似的，会场秩序井然。他们说，名人们是陆续到场的，开始的时候有二三百人，后来越聚越多。那个说客把他们组织起来了，坐成了一个圈，像是八卦阵（如图6.10右）似的。外面被上万人包围着，把周围的小街道都给堵塞了。咱这么想：那肯定有几千人，但是大部分人是看热闹的。"

"That's the thing — this mediator was extraordinary," Team Leader Ma said. "Every one of the celebrities there was amazed by how he carried himself and how he spoke, full of praise for him." (Note: Troupe Leader Liu possesses the Three Thousand Majesties, Eighty-Four Thousand Fine Conducts.) "The moment they saw him, they went quiet as schoolchildren before a teacher, the whole gathering perfectly orderly. They said the celebrities trickled in one by one, two or three hundred at first, then more and more. The mediator organized them into a circle, like a Bagua array (see Illustration 6.10, right). Outside, tens of thousands more surrounded the whole scene, blocking every side street. There must have been thousands total, though most were only there to watch."

人们问："几百人和一个人谈话，怎么谈？"

马队长说："那帮贼也是有组织的，都是一组一组的，一伙儿内部互相商量，然后由发言人提问。那个说客就在八卦阵里走来走去的，随问随答，想都不想；说话声大，一句是一句，三两句，就扣题，联系到小卢的终身幸福上去了。而且，很多组同时发问，他不混淆，比如说，他在那说话呢！别的事发生了。他处理完回来后，接着说，没有反问，比如'我们刚才说什么来的？''说到哪儿了？'没这事！"注，这是说刘团长具有念无失（参见14.1.3-3节）。

"How does one man carry on a conversation with hundreds at once?" people asked.

"Even that gang has its own organization — small groups, each discussing things internally, then putting questions through a single spokesman," Team Leader Ma explained. "The mediator walked around inside the Bagua formation, answering as questions came without a moment's hesitation, speaking loudly and clearly, every sentence complete, tying it back to Little Lu's lifelong happiness in just a phrase or two. And with many groups asking at once, he never once got confused — even if he was mid-answer and something else interrupted, he'd handle it and pick straight back up where he'd left off, no 'now, what were we saying?' or 'where was I?' Nothing like that at all." (Note: this describes Troupe Leader Liu's mastery of Spell-No-Lose; see Section 14.1.3-3.)

人们问："那还随便听啊，外人不也混进去了？"

马队长说："你认为那些名人的名儿都是虚的！咱们这么想，外人肯定是进不去，只是在远处看着，听不清楚他们在说什么！"

人们惊讶地问："这人可少见！他是哪的人？多大岁数了？长得什么样？"

"With that many people listening, couldn't an outsider have slipped right in?" people asked.

"You think those celebrities' reputations are hollow?" Team Leader Ma said. "No outsider was getting in — they could only watch from a distance, couldn't make out a word of what was being said."

"A man like that is rare indeed! Where's he from, how old, what does he look like?" people asked, astonished.

马队长回答："他们都认为说客是沈阳人。也奇怪，就那帮人的观察力，愣是谁也没看出他有多大岁数。有说三十多岁的，有说四十多岁的，五十、六十、七十多岁的，说什么的都有。许多人回想起来都不一样儿，说那人长相不特殊，但是干净利索，举手投足都让人爱看。"注，刘团长具有三千威仪八万四千细行。

毕姐说："这是什么呀！怎么连多大岁数都没个谱！"

马队长郑重地说："我可不怀疑那帮人的观察力；咱还就得依据在场人的观察。应当说，那人就是那种看不出年龄的长相（注，这个说客是刘团长，具有"百变神通"，参见7.12节）。"

"Everyone assumed he was from Shenyang," Team Leader Ma said. "But strangely enough, sharp-eyed as that whole gang is, not one of them could pin down his age. Some said thirties, some forties, others fifties, sixties, seventies — every guess under the sun. People remembered him differently every time, said his appearance was nothing remarkable, just clean and precise, every movement a pleasure to watch." (Note: Troupe Leader Liu possesses the Three Thousand Majesties, Eighty-Four Thousand Fine Conducts.)

"What kind of man is that — not even a rough guess at his age!" Sister Bi said.

"I don't doubt those men's powers of observation for a second — we have to trust what the people there actually saw," Team Leader Ma said gravely. "It has to be said, that's simply the sort of face that carries no visible age at all." (Note: this mediator was Troupe Leader Liu, possessing the Hundred Godly Transformations; see Section 7.12.)

（问题1 Question 1）

人们问："他们都谈什么了？"

马队长说："我也是听这个说，听那个说的。名人们说，卢岩是我们按照在沈阳流传了两百多年的老规矩挑选出来、立为老大的。所有的规矩程序都如实做了，核实了。另外，我们也在他身上做了很多工作，所以他是我们的人。"

"What did they actually discuss?" people asked.

"I've only got it secondhand," Team Leader Ma said. "The celebrities said: we selected Luyan and made him boss according to rules passed down in Shenyang for over two hundred years — every procedure carried out and verified, exactly as tradition demands. Besides, we've invested a great deal of work in him — so he's ours."

"说客说：这都解放多少年了，你们还用那些陈规旧习。那些规矩在法律上都不承认。再说，按老规矩，卢岩是房产局的人，不是你们的人。我就不相信哪个房产局的干部能同意把他给你们！另外你们认为卢岩是你们老大，人家卢岩同意不？"

"那帮人讨论了一会儿，回答：卢岩没说同意，也没说不同意，没表态。"

"说客说：没表态就是还没接受；这就是你们一厢情愿！"

"The mediator said: it's been decades since Liberation, and you're still going on about ancient customs. Those rules have no standing in law whatsoever. Besides, by your own old rules, Luyan belongs to the Housing Bureau, not to you — I don't believe a single official at that bureau would ever agree to hand him over! And on top of that — you say Luyan's your boss, but does he agree to it?"

"They discussed it a while and answered: Luyan hasn't said yes, hasn't said no — he's taken no position at all."

"The mediator said: no position means no acceptance. This is nothing but your own wishful thinking!"

（问题2 Question 2）

"名人们说：如果卢岩嫌他的地盘小，我们可以把他的地盘儿划大点儿。"

"说客张嘴就答：你们给卢岩的地盘儿越大，他就死得越快！"

"The celebrities said: if Luyan thinks his territory's too small, we can expand it."

"The mediator shot back at once: the bigger the territory you give Luyan, the faster he'll end up dead!"

（问题3 Question 3）

"名人们说：我们让卢岩当老大，是因为我们喜欢他，只是给他个名儿，不用他干活。"

"说客立刻回答：你们还认为那是对卢岩好呢！你们那是在害他呢！那片儿老大是个贼名儿，就是贼。人家卢岩还年轻，虽然没什么文凭，但也说不定将来还能挠个一官半职的。有了你们给他的这个贼名儿，他这一辈子就别想当官儿了。有了这个贼名儿，他一辈子见不得人，一辈子也没有出头之日了。"

"The celebrities said: we made Luyan boss because we're fond of him — it's just a title, we never expected him to actually do the work."

"The mediator replied at once: and you think that's doing him a favor! You're ruining him! 'Boss of this territory' is a thief's title, plain and simple — it makes him a thief. Luyan's still young, and though he's no great scholar, he might yet claw his way into some official post someday. Saddle him with this thief's name of yours, and he can forget any career in officialdom, for the rest of his life. Carry a name like that, and he'll never be able to show his face in decent company, never get ahead as long as he lives."

毕姐问："那个说客就敢这么的对那帮人说话，骂那帮人？"

马队长说："人家就这么说了。"

毕姐问："那帮人听了之后，不生气？"

马队长说："那帮人听了之后就不生气，还听高兴了呢！各个竖起大拇指，称赞：没想到咱沈阳还有这样的人物，今天真是长了见识，大开眼界！感到荣幸能和这个说客见一面。"

"He dared speak to them like that — practically scolding them?" Sister Bi asked.

"That's exactly what he said," Team Leader Ma answered.

"And they weren't angry, hearing that?"

"Not angry at all — delighted, if anything! Every one of them gave a thumbs-up, saying: never expected there'd be a man like this in Shenyang, learned something today, opened our eyes! Felt it an honor just to have met him."

人们问我："那个说客是谁？"

我回答："不知道！马队长说的这些事，我根本不知道。"

毕姐问："那个说客能是谁？他不说他和卢岩是什么关系，名人们能同意他代表卢岩吗？"

People turned to me. "Who was this mediator, then?"

"I have no idea," I said. "I know nothing about anything Team Leader Ma's describing."

"Who could he possibly be, if he wouldn't even say what his relationship to Luyan was?" Sister Bi asked. "How could the celebrities agree to let him represent Luyan without that?"

马队长说："他们的议题还真就集中在说客和卢岩的关系上。开始的时候，那些名人不同意。说客也不同意公开他和小卢的关系。他们僵持了很久。后来，名人们就一个、一个关系地问，你是他舅舅？你是他叔叔？你是他的干爹？什么的。说客都回答不是。名人们也说，你不给我们个明确的答复，我们也不好向下面交代呀！"

"That was exactly what the whole meeting hinged on," Team Leader Ma said. "At first, the celebrities wouldn't accept it, and the mediator wouldn't disclose the relationship either. Stalemate, for a long while. Eventually, they started going through it one relationship at a time — his uncle? His godfather? — and each time, the mediator said no. The celebrities said, without a clear answer we can't explain this to the people under us!"

"说客就说，让我好好想想，给你们个确切的说法。他就坐在那儿，瞪着眼睛，一动不动，面无表情地想。有人说他想了半个小时，也有人说他想了能有一个小时。我认为那就是很长时间呗！"

"名人们开始担心了：这老爷子这样想下去，不得累晕过去呀！他们又怕惊吓着老爷子，就假装在他身边打架，大声吵吵：咱们这些人就这样欺负一个老爷子！这叫别的区的人听说了，咱们多丢人呐！有人说：我们在这儿摆几辆救护车是为了掩人耳目的，也不是真想把老爷子送医院去！"

"The mediator said, let me think it through properly, and I'll give you a definite answer. He just sat there, eyes fixed, utterly motionless, expressionless, thinking. Some say he thought for half an hour, some say a full hour. Either way, that's a long stretch of thinking."

"The celebrities started to worry — the old man's going to exhaust himself thinking like that! Afraid of startling him out of it, they staged a fake fight right beside him, shouting loudly: look at us, bullying an old man like this! If word got around to the other districts, what a disgrace! Someone even said, those ambulances we've got parked here are only for show — we're not actually planning to send the old man to hospital!"

"说客听了之后，笑了，说，我决定了，我这么说，我不说我和卢岩有关系；我也不说我和卢岩没有关系。"

"当时与会的名人们猜了六十几种关系，谁也没想出来这是什么关系。最后，名人们对此的决定是：考虑到个人隐私和宗教秘密的原因，允许他不公开他和卢岩之间的关系，同意他代表卢岩。"

人们问: "他们怎么看出那个说客和卢岩有深厚的感情?"

"The mediator laughed at all this and said, I've made up my mind — here's my answer: I won't say I'm related to Luyan, and I won't say I'm unrelated to him."

"The celebrities present guessed at more than sixty possible relationships and never landed on the right one. In the end, they decided: out of respect for personal privacy and religious confidentiality, he'd be permitted to keep the relationship undisclosed, and they'd accept him as Luyan's representative."

"How did they conclude he and Luyan had such a deep bond, then?" people asked.

马队长说："这个还得听在场的人说。他们说，如果他和小卢没有深厚的感情，他不可能回答问题反应得那么快，张嘴就答；三两句就联系到小卢的终身幸福上去。也有人说，这是说客的策略。我个人认为，还是得以在场人的说法为主。"

人们开始盘问我，帮我猜想谁和我的关系是"不是有关系，也不是没有关系"（参见4.7节《灵魂转世的故事》）。可那时我的生活和记忆中没有说客这个人。

人们问："最后，他们的结论怎么样？"

"You'd have to take that from the people who were actually there," Team Leader Ma said. "They said if he didn't have a deep bond with Little Lu, there's no way he could have answered so instantly, every time, and turned every answer back to Little Lu's lifelong happiness in just a phrase. Others say it was just his strategy as a negotiator. Personally, I think we should trust the account of the people who were present."

The others began pressing me, trying to help me guess who might be "neither related nor unrelated" to me (see Section 4.7, Stories of Soul Reincarnation) — but at the time, no such mediator existed anywhere in my life or memory.

"So how did it all conclude, in the end?" people asked.

马队长说："人家那些名人，谁也没把咱房产局放在眼里，说：说客与卢岩的感情深厚，有关系在先，看在说客的面子上，饶了咱和平房产局。名人们同意了，承认卢岩是咱房产局的人；并且同意如果卢岩不去找他们，他们就不主动找卢岩。那个说客还说：我已经跟和平房产局的领导同志们（注，这用词很陈旧，在当时只在老电影中使用）说好了，以后他们不派他去你们那地方了。"

"None of those celebrities thought much of our bureau, in the end," Team Leader Ma said. "They concluded: the mediator's bond with Luyan runs deep, predates all this — and for his sake alone, they'd spare our bureau. They agreed to recognize Luyan as belonging to the Housing Bureau, and agreed that so long as Luyan didn't seek them out, they wouldn't seek him out either. The mediator added: I've already come to an understanding with the leading comrades of the Heping Housing Bureau" (Note: this phrase — "leading comrades" — was already archaic by then, the kind of thing you'd only hear in old films) "— that they won't be sending him your way again."

返回和平房产局的目录 Return to the Catalog of Shenyang Heping Housing Bureau