Ball of Suet: Selected Short Stories by Maupassant

Chapter 18 The Woman Who Repairs the Upholstered Chair (2)
When she saved two francs, she immediately ran to meet Su Gai, but this time she could only stand outside Su Gai's drugstore and stare at him; Next to it stood a bottle soaked with a tapeworm specimen, and a red bottle containing a potion.She watched all this obsessively.

The transparent and shiny glass bottles and potions of various colors fascinated her like ecstasy, and the most important and eye-catching one was undoubtedly Su Gai, and her love for Su Gai deepened.

With fond memories in mind, a year has passed.One day, she saw Su Gai playing marbles with her classmates at the back of the school, so she ran forward happily, hugged Su Gai and kissed him fiercely, her reckless behavior made Su Gai keep screaming.So she took out the three francs and twenty centimes she had accumulated and handed them over to Su Gai.For the child, this is undoubtedly a huge sum of money. Su Gai stopped shouting and stared blankly at the money.Same as last time, he acquiesced in the girl's kiss and hug.

In the next four years, the girl tried every means to save money, and every time she met Su Gai, she gave him the money, and he didn't feel guilty, accepting every piece of property that the girl gave, of course He also gave the girl what she wanted, and after receiving the money, he let the girl kiss him non-stop.The amount of money was not fixed, sometimes it was two francs, sometimes thirty sous, and once it was only thirteen sous, which she was ashamed to take out, and her savings were reduced by the lack of business; Once she gave Su Gai five francs, the five franc coins were so beautiful, Su Gai smiled brighter than ever after receiving the money.

All her thoughts are on Su Gai, and she misses him every moment.So how does Su Gai view all this?He also seems to have a crush on the girl. He waits for the girl's next appearance with anticipation, and then he will rush to her. His behavior really makes the girl excited. She thinks that Su Gai loves her too.

After middle school, Su Gai never appeared again.The girl anxiously inquired about his news, and finally found out where her sweetheart was. In order to meet him, the girl tried all kinds of methods for a year, secretly prompting the travel route of Su Gai's family to change, and finally made Su Gai's family change. They passed by where they stopped.Two years is enough for a person to become a stranger. When the girl saw Su Gai again, he had become a tall and handsome handsome man. His straight student uniform and golden buttons made him look even more impressive.But his gaze didn't stay on the girl, instead he looked straight ahead, as if the girl was just a ball of air.

His ruthlessness made the girl cry bitterly, and the tears flowed for two days. Since then, Su Gai has been like a different person, the former enthusiasm has disappeared, and the girl is only accompanied by pain and torture.

She still lives a wandering life, but every year she goes back to the town to visit Su Gai, sometimes from a distance, sometimes passing by, she no longer has the courage to talk to him, and he never intends to recover from her relation.But her love for Su Gai has not diminished because of this, she still loves him deeply.The poor old woman said: "Doctor, he is the only man in my heart. I have never looked at any other man seriously."

Time passed and her parents passed away, leaving her alone in the villages.She raised another dog, and now she has two loyal guards and companions, and no one dares to bully her.

When she returned to the familiar town again, she found that there was a young and beautiful girl accompanying Su Gai. They came out of the pharmacy together. Su Gai got married, and that girl was his wife.

This incident almost destroyed all her will. On the night she saw Su Gai and his wife, she threw herself into the pool of the square in grief, but was fortunately rescued by a drunk man.It was very late at that time, the man carried her to the pharmacy, Su Gai was woken up from his sleep, after seeing her, he still pretended that he had never met her, he took off her wet clothes, and gave her food He ordered some medicine, rubbed her limbs to warm them up, and at the same time scolded her loudly: "You are hopeless! How could you do such a thing?"

She didn't care about his scolding, on the contrary, she was happy for a long time, Su Gai finally stopped avoiding herself!Happiness and joy returned to her side again.

For the medical expenses this time, the two were at loggerheads, one insisted on giving it, and the other refused to accept it.

It can be said that she devoted her whole life to Su Gai. When she was working, she thought about Su Gai, and when she was not working, she missed Su Gai even more.Now she can go to the pharmacy to buy some daily medicines from time to time, not only can she talk to Su Gai, but she can also give him the money she saved.Of course, she often stood outside the shop, staring at his figure through the glass window.

I said at the beginning of the story that she is no longer alive.After she finished telling her story to me and the priest, she entrusted me with all the money and asked me to send it to the man she loved so much.She told us that she worked hard all her life for Su Gai. She tried every means to save money, regardless of her own life and health, and only hoped that Su Gai would think of her when she saw the money.

Two thousand three hundred and twenty seven francs, all her property.I paid the priest twenty-seven francs for a decent funeral for the poor lady, and the rest I intended to give to Suguet the next day.

When I came to Su Gai's house, he and his wife were sitting opposite each other, just after lunch. They looked very comfortable and behaved elegantly. A smell of medicine.

I sat down, took the wine glass, which contained cherry wine, and then I told them all the old woman's will and her story, thinking that they would be as sad and moved as I was, but I didn't expect things to be unexpected .

As soon as I mentioned the chair repairer, that poor, sloppy woman, and said that she had loved Su Gai deeply, he was stung by a scorpion, and immediately jumped up and started cursing, as if comparing himself with that woman would hurt him What an excellent and decent gentleman he is, he regards his reputation as his life, how can he let a woman of low status destroy it at will?

His wife also showed full anger, and she kept cursing: "Shameless woman! Shameless woman!..." She seemed so angry that she couldn't say anything else.

Sugai was furious, and he paced back and forth around the table petulantly, so violently that his nightcap slipped off his head and hung over one ear.He kept talking to me angrily: "Doctor, how could this kind of thing happen to me! It's really unexpected! I was too careless, I should have discovered her bad intentions earlier, this kind of person should be in prison Live your life! I assure you, doctor, that would have been the end of her if I had known in advance."

To be honest, I didn't know what to say in the face of their violent reaction, and I almost forgot that there was still the most important thing I hadn't done.Their attitude chilled me, but I still finished what she entrusted.I said to the Sugai couple: "She left all her property to you before she died, a total of [-] francs. But you reject her so much, I think the money should be distributed to the poor people."

They obviously didn't expect things to happen like this, and they were all stunned.

I took [-] francs out of my pocket and spread them out on the table. The money was in whole or in odds, foreign or domestic. I counted it again, and after confirming that the amount was correct, I asked, "How is it? What are you going to do?"

The wife took the lead and said, "This...you said it was her will, so we have to accept it."

Su Gai seemed a little uneasy. He echoed his wife and said, "That's right, we can't let her down. This money...the children need a sum of money to improve their lives."

I looked at them indifferently and said, "That's it."

Su Gai went on to say: "That's it, we have accepted the money. In order to respect her last wish, we will invest part of the money in charity."

Then I left.

The next day, Su Gai came to my house suddenly, without saying hello, first asked: "That carriage... is the dead woman, is her carriage kept by you? Do you need it?"

"I don't need it. If you need it, I will give it to you."

"Exactly, then I took it away. I want to build a shack in the vegetable field, and the carriage will come in handy."

Before leaving, I asked him again:

"Her horse and two dogs, do you want them?"

He froze for a moment, then reacted, and said to me:

"No, I don't need it, it's up to you."

After he finished speaking, he shook hands with me with a smile, and I reluctantly shook hands. After all, I live in the same place with him, and we should not make the relationship too rigid when we meet. Besides, I am a doctor and he is a pharmacist. Maybe I still have the possibility to cooperate with him.

Her horse was taken away by the priest, whose spacious yard is very suitable for raising horses.I took the two dogs.Her carriage had been turned into a shack in Sugai's vegetable garden, and the money was exchanged by Sugai for five railway bonds.

This selfless dedication, life-consuming true love, so far I have only encountered this once.

After the story was finished, the doctor remained silent for a long time.

Tears welled up in the Marquise's eyes, and she said excitedly and moved:

"I have to admit that she has revealed the true meaning of love."

(End of this chapter)