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Chapter 17

A Misunderstanding

(1)

       Swally: "Because I saw it with my own eyes."

       Dash: "What did you see?"

       Swally: "I saw him whispering to Skinned Alive, then he pulled out a silver ingot and gave it to him, and then he left with him."

       Dash was shocked, "Why didn't you go after him and find out what was happening?"

       Swally gave a smirk, "Why would I follow after him? I'm not interested in being his errand boy."

       Forest suddenly let out a sigh, "If only it was an errand, and all he had to do was escort him to the city, there would be nothing wrong with that, but there is no way it's that simple."

       Obviously it wasn't that simple.

       If Skinned Alive was looking for a simple errand boy, the street was full of people who would do it for five silvers, so why did he feel the need to ask them?

       "Skinned Alive said it himself, there is a certain reason why, I guarantee you he is up to no good," Forest added.

             

       Swally: "There is only one thing that could make someone like Skinned Alive willingly hand over five hundred pieces of silver."

       Forest: "What?"

       Swally: "Something that could make him five thousand pieces of silver."

       Forest: "That's right, if there wasn't big money to be made, there is no way he would be willing to hand over five hundred silvers."

       Swally: "There is only one thing where huge profits are to be made."

       Forest: "What?"

       Swally: "Something scandalous."

       Forest: "Yeah, I don't think he is going to steal anything, but he must be trying to trick someone. I bet he is scared that when they find out they will try and rough him up, so he came here looking to hire us as bodyguards."

       He took a sigh, "Wouldn't Big G be able to realize that?"

       Swally smiled grimly, "Even you could make that connection, how couldn't he realize it, he isn't that stupid."

       Dash had been watching their facial expressions the whole time, "If you didn't think he should go, why didn't you try and stop him?" he suddenly asked.

       "If someone is set on jumping around in the mud, even if someone wanted to stop them, what would be the point," he replied coldly.

       Dash: "So you just stood there and watched him jump right in."

       Swally was biting his lip, "I... I..."

       He turned around abruptly and ran out, if anyone had been paying attention, they would have noticed that before he ran out he was on the brink of tears. It looked so upset that he was ready to burst into tears.

       Dash had been paying attention.

       He was stunned, he just sat there by himself, he finally let out a long breath and muttered, "With deep love comes great responsibility, seems like this saying is spot on."

       Forest: "What did you say?"

       Dash smiled, "I was saying, I don't believe that Big G would do something like that, what about you?"

       Forest hesitated, "I... I don't really believe it either."

       Dash: "You're at least a little unsure, isn't that right?"

       Forest: "Right."

       Dash: "But Swally is confident that he would do something like this, do you want to know why?"

       Forest thought about it, "I was a little suspicious as well, but it seems that there is something special about Big G and Swally's relationship."

       Dash sighed, "And that is why he reacted the way that he did."

       Forest thought about it some more, "Why? I don't get it?"

       Dash: "When Pearl suddenly disappeared, we all thought that there could have been some other reason, but not Big G. So all he could do was to think the worst, and why was that?"

       Forest: "Because he cared too much about her, so..."

       Dash: "So he couldn't think clearly, correct?"

       Forest: "That's right."

       Love can blind, most people were capable of understanding this.

       Dash: "If you have deep feelings for someone, then it's hard to make accurate judgments about them. Because, normally you can only see the side of them that is good, but as soon as there is a slight change or backlash, you start complaining and feeling sorry yourself. You start worrying about your personal gains and losses, so you can't help but to start thinking the worst."

       Forest started smiling, "I get your point, but I don't think your analogy is very appropriate."

       Dash: "Oh?"

       Forest smiled, "How can you compare this to what happened with Big G and Pearl? How could the feelings between Big and Pearl be comparable to that of him and Swally?"

       Dash laughed.

       He seemed to realize that he had said something wrong, as if he had said too much.

       So he stopped talking.

       But he was still smiling, and a very peculiar smile at that.

       He kept smiling until he noticed that Swally was about to leave, "Are you going out?" he asked.

       Swally's eyes were still a little red, he was forcing himself to smile, "The weather is better today, I want do a little hunting."

       Forest stood up, "Me too, if we don't go hunting we're all going to starve to death," he said with a smile.

       Dash smiled, "Since little G has money there is no way we will go hungry, why don't you just wait for him to come back?"

       Swally immediately looked downcast, "Why should I wait for him to come back?"

       Dash: "Why don't you do it as a favor for me?"

       Swally hung his head, standing in the middle of the courtyard.

       Although it was sunny, the wind was still cold to the bone.

       Swally didn't look cold, he just stood there thinking, "What if he doesn't come back?" he asked, smiling coldly.

       Dash smiled again, "If he doesn't come back, I will treat you two to a nice meal of dog meat."

       "Where are you going to find dog meat in this weather?" Forest couldn't help but ask.

       Dash: "I don't even have to look, there is one right here."

       Forest: "Where?"

       Dash pointed at his nose, "Right here."

       Forest blinked, "You're a dog?" he was trying not to laugh.

       Dash: "I am not just any dog, this meat is free range."

       Forest finally burst out laughing.

       Dash wasn't laughing, "If you can't even discern what kind of people your friends are, does that make you any better than a dog?" he casually replied.

(2)

       Dash wasn't a dog.

       Big G was back in no time, and he didn't come back empty handed.

       There were little meat buns, big steamed buns, and the smallest buns had peanuts inside.

       Since there was peanuts, there was definitely alcohol as well.

       Even if there wasn't any peanuts, there had to be something good to drink.

       Big G smiled, "I am already starting to miss Old Mr. Barley, since he left, it's almost impossible to find someone who knows how to cook."

       Dash: "There is at least one person."

       Big G: "Who?"

       Dash: "You—if you started a restaurant, you would do well."

       Big G smiled, "That's a good idea, but there is just one problem."

       Dash: "What?"

       Big G: "No matter how good business could be, I would have to close down within three days."

       Dash: "Why?"

       Big G smiled, "Even if I didn't eat myself out of business, you three would be the end of me."

       "Don't worry, I would never eat at your place," Swally suddenly laughed coldly.

       Big G had been laughing too, but after seeing his cold face, he couldn't help but feel stunned, "Are you mad? How did I wrong you this time?"

       Swally: "Ask your conscience."

       Big smiled bitterly, "My conscience?—I don't understand what you're talking about."

       Swally didn't pay any attention to him, he suddenly walked over to Dash: "You might not be a dog, but there is definitely one right here! I can't stand pathetic little lackeys, running around like someone's pet."

       Big G's eyes bulged, "Who are you calling a dog?"

       Swally still didn't pay any attention to him, he just laughed coldly and walked away.

      Big G looked up, thinking about what happened, he finally understood. He rushed over, blocking Swally's exit, "You think I'm running errands for Skinned Alive? Do you think I bought all of this with the money he gave me?"

       "Did all of these things just fall from the sky or grow from the ground?" Swally asked coldly.

       Big G looked at him for a long time, he suddenly let out a long sigh, "Fine, ok... you think I'm an errand dog, well then I'm a dog... if you can't stand me, I will leave."

       He started to walk out slowly, he stopped in front of Dash.

       Dash stood up, as if he was going to try and stop him, but then he sat back down.

       Big G walked out into the courtyard. Snow was blowing down from the trees, he looked up, just standing there, his whole body covered in a thin layer of white.

       He stood there motionless.

       The snow on his face started to melt, dripping down the contours of his face.

       He just stood there, he had wanted to walk further away, but he couldn't.

×      ×      ×

       Swally didn't even look towards the courtyard, perhaps he could no longer see anything clearly.

       His eyes were red again, he suddenly stomped his feet and rushed towards the opposite door.

       Dash stretched out his hand, stopping him, "Take a look at this." 

       There was something in his hand, a colorful piece of paper.

       Obviously Swally knew what it was, he also had a few of these pieces of paper on him  .

       "A receipt from the pawnshop."

       Dash: "Take a good look, what did he pawn?"

       The writing on the receipt looked just like a doctor's prescription, like messy handwriting. It would have been impossible to decipher for anyone seeing it for the first time.

       But Swally had seen it many times before, he had numerous receipts from Skinned Alive.

       "One worn-out gold necklace, one worn-out golden heart, worth fifty pieces of silver."

×      ×      ×

       It was clearly as good as new, but the pawnshop just had to write "worn-out."

       Pawnshops everywhere did this, nobody would think anything of it, but to say that a gold necklace was "worn-out," that was a little hard to explain.

       Swally wanted to laugh, but he couldn't.

       He stood there stunned, as if he had just been slapped.

       "I took this off of Big G just now, I told you all before, if I was a thief I would be filthy rich by now," he smiled casually.

       He sighed, "Too bad I am too lazy to move," he mumbled.

       Swally wasn't moving either, but tears were already running down his face...

×      ×      ×

       Even best friends occasionally misunderstand each other. So if you ever have some kind of misunderstanding, you should always give your friends a chance to explain themselves.

       "There is always more than one side to the story. You are merely causing yourself unnecessary suffering if you don't know how to see the good in every situation."

       So you need to learn how to see the bright side of things, even if you are facing a real setback.

       Nobody has the right to abuse others, so you shouldn't do it to yourself either.

       This was Dash's conclusion.

       Dash normally always arrived at the right conclusion.

       People would do well to remember these things, to keep them close to their hearts.

(3)

       Nothing in the world is entirely black or white.

       Failure isn't necessarily good, but it is the "mother of success."

       Success is good, but it often causes people to become arrogant, and conceited, and then failure is just around the corner.

       When making a friend, you should always hope that you become close friends.

       Becoming close is obviously a good thing, but when you become too close it is easy to underestimate them, which leads to misunderstandings.

       Misunderstandings are clearly bad, but if explaining things clearly leads to a better understanding of each other, a deeper bond will be created.

(4)

       No matter what, being wrongfully accused never feels good.

       If there is anything in this world more painful than being accused wrongly, than it would have to be a wrongful accusation twice in a row.

       Swally knew how it felt to be wrongfully accused, he understood what Big G was going through.

       He felt even worse than Big G.

       He felt horrible, it was impossible to describe. Other than himself, nobody could understand such feelings, all he could think about was finding a good place to cry.

       It had been a long time since he had a good cry. Because strong men aren't supposed to cry.

       Being a real man is truly hard at times.

       He obviously knew that he should find Big G, but what should he say?

       There were certain things that he wasn't willing to say, some things he couldn't say, and some things he didn't dare bring up.

       He was all confused emotionally, not knowing what to do, when suddenly a hand reached out, holding a cup of beer.

       He heard someone saying, "Drink this and we will call it even, what do you say?"  

       His heart was thumping, he looked up and saw Big G.

       There were no signs of anger on his face, he looked fine, just like he normally did, he was watching him with that stupid grin on his face.

        Most days Swally couldn't stand that silly little grin.

       He felt that people should be a little more serious, and follow certain guidelines.

       But for some reason he suddenly didn't mind, he even thought it was exceptionally cute.

       Now he hoped that Big G would look like that forever, he never wanted to see him make a serious face again.

       Because he suddenly realized that this was the Big G he had come to know, forever carefree and happy; even if someone wronged him, he wouldn't care.

       Big G smiled, "You want to call it a truce?"

       Swally hung his head, "You... you're not mad?"

       Big G: "I was pretty upset, but after giving it some thought, I was actually really happy."

       Swally: "Happy?"

       Big G: "If you didn't care about me, even if I was a rotten bastard and you didn't know anything about me, there would be no reason for you to get angry. It's only because we're friends that you would get so upset about something like that."

       Swally: "But... I shouldn't have accused you, I should have believed in you."

       Big G laughed, "It doesn't matter that you wrongly accused me, even if I roughed you up a bit, as long as we're still friends, that is all that matters."

       Swally smiled.

       His nose scrunched up when he smiled, but you could always see his smile coming in the way his eyes brightened up.

       He had been crying, and now there were streaks on his black, dirty face, like rays of sunshine shining through dark clouds.

       Big G was watching him, as if he was in a daze.

       Swally looked down, "What are you staring at me for?"

       Big G smiled, "I was just thinking, Sour Plum doesn't have such bad taste after all, if you would only wash your face, you would be a handsome fellow, maybe even better looking than me," he said with a sigh.

       Swally tried to keep a straight face, but he burst out laughing, and took the cup from Big G.

       Dash was looking at Forest, Forest was looking at Dash, they starting laughing as well.

       "I don't normally like to drink so early in the day, but today I want to get drunk," Forest said with a smile.

       Rare are the days when you can get drunk on life.

       But when it came to these kind of things, what better excuse was there to get drunk?

       Big G suddenly let out a big sigh, "Too bad I can't get drunk with you today."

       Forest: "Why?"

       Big G: "Because I have some business to attend to and will be heading down the mountain."

       This guy just couldn't stay inside once he had a little money in his pockets.

       Swally was biting his lip, "What are you going down the mountain for?"

       Big G blinked, "I have a date."

       Swally's facial expression seemed to suddenly change, but he was trying to keep a straight face, "Who do you have a date with?"

       Big G: "Skinned Alive."

       Swally's eyes brightened up all of a sudden, but he intentionally put on a straight face, "You made an appointment with him?"

       Big G: "Not really, but I am going to go look for him."

       Swally: "Why?"

       Big G: "He was willing to give us five hundred pieces of silver, he is definitely up to something sketchy. So I want to have a look and see who he is trying to skin this time."

(5)

       The mountainous roads were always muddy when the snow started to melt.

       But Swally didn't care, he strolled through the mud as if he was walking on clouds.

       Because Big G was walking beside him, he was close enough to even hear him breathing.

       Big G suddenly laughed, "I realized something else today."

       Swally: "Oh?"

       Big G: "Old Mr. King really understands me, it would be hard to find anyone else in this world that understands me as well as Dash."

       Swally nodded, "He does have a certain way with people, it's not just you, he seems to understand everyone," he said quietly.

       Big G: "But Forest showed me the most empathy, I can tell."

       Swally hesitated, but he had to ask, "And me?"

       Big G: "You don't understand me and you showed me zero empathy; you not only are harsh with me, you're always looking for an excuse to talk back to me, and find something to fight about..."

       Swally hung his head.

       Big G laughed all of a sudden, "But I don't know why, it seems that you are the one who cares about me the most," he added.

       Swally smiled sweetly, his faced seemed to have turned a little red, after a long while, he finally asked, "What are you thinking?"

       Big G: "Sometimes you really piss me off. Like today, if Dash had treated me like that, I probably wouldn't have gotten so mad, I would probably just explain it to him, but with you..."

       Swally: "You only get mad with me?"

       Big G sighed, "That's only because I treat you so good."

       Swally blinked, "How good?" he suddenly asked with a big smile.

       "I don't even know," he muttered to himself.

       Swally: "If you don't know than it's not real."

       Big G: "But I can think of a good analogy."

       Swally: "What?"

       Big G: "I would be more than willing to pawn all of my clothes for Old Mr. King, and come back in just my underwear." He smiled and kept going, "But for you, I would even pawn my underwear."

       Swally gave a faint smile, "Who would want your old underwear?"

       He started blushing a little, "How would he have any idea if Big G's underwear was worn-out or not?"

       Fortunately his face was so dark from all of the dirt, it was impossible to tell when he was blushing.

       But with that facial expression, such a gentle, sweet smile, there was even a hint of bashful delicateness, if someone couldn't tell what that meant, they would have to be worse than stupid, they would have to be stupid and blind.

       Big G was watching his eyes, "I have another analogy," he suddenly smiled.

       Swally: "What."

       Big G smiled, "Although I already made a vow not to get married, if you were a women, I would definitely take you as my wife."

       Swally: "I can't think of a more unfortunate disaster for someone than having to be your wife."

       There was something a little strange in the way he said it, but he suddenly started walking faster to get in front of Big G.

       Big G didn't speed up, he just watched Swally from behind, as if he was spellbound.

       The skies suddenly brightened, golden rays of sun broke through the clouds. The sun was shining on the earth, shining on Swally and Big G.

       It was as if the rays of sun had broken through the clouds just for them.

 

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