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(7) A Painting on the Wall
Tom Te-Wu Ma
Su Ding's classmates and teachers all agreed that Su
was the smartest student in school. That made Su very
conceited. He was ambitious for fame, wealth, and dignity.
He was sure that when the time came, he would easily pass
the series of government examinations, smoothly obtain a
high position in the local government, and quickly be
promoted as a senior official in the court, trusted by the
emperor. One of Su Ding's teachers warned him that being
too conceited would ruin his future, but he ignored the advice.
In the area where Su lived, there was a wealthy man
who had five sons and one daughter. The girl's name was A-
Gu. She was a well-known beauty. Shu hired a matchmaker
to propose marriage to her, but the proposal was turned
down. Soon it became known that A-Gu was going to be
engaged to a young man named La-Er, a classmate of Su.
La-Er was an ordinary young man who was considered
neither smart nor ambitious. Su was upset, but he could do
nothing about it.
After graduation, Su's entire class attended an official
examination held by the local government. To everybody's
surprise, Su failed, but La-Er and a few other average
students passed. This made Su more upset.
One late afternoon, Su took a walk along a lonely road
with no particular destination in mind but with hopes of
dispelling his unhappiness. Finally, he reached a small
Buddhist temple by the end of the road. He had passed by
the temple many times, but never entered.
Since he had nothing to do that afternoon, he entered
the building. There was only one old monk in the temple.
The monk offered Su a cup of tea and asked him to look
around, then, the monk went away.
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Walking around, Su did not find anything interesting. He
decided to leave the temple. Just as he was walking toward
the front door, he was suddenly attracted to a painting
hanging on the wall in a corner of the hallway.
Although the painting was an old one, it made a vivid
impression on him. It showed a splendid living room with
many good-looking maids and some extraordinary nice
furniture, orderly displayed. In the middle of the room was a
large, empty, brown leather chair. By the left side of the chair,
a maid held a delicate tray with a cup of tea on it. Another
maid stood on the other side of the chair holding a pair of
man's slippers in her hands. Behind the chair, one maid held
a white porcelain plate with a clean white towel. Two other
maids stood respectfully by the door, seemingly awaiting the
arrival of their master.
Everything indicated that the host of the house must be
a senior government official or a multimillionaire, exactly the
type of man Su had dreamed of being. He stood in front of
the painting, staring at the empty chair, imagining how
wonderful it would be if he were the host of the house.
Gradually, Su's spirit walked into the painting. He sat on
the chair and was immediately served by the maids.
He picked up the white towel, still warm, from one
maid's hand to freshen his face. The other maid took off his
walking shoes and replaced them with the comfortable
slippers. Then he accepted the tea from another maid and
drank it. It was the best tea he had ever tasted. Afterwards,
he closed his eyes and relaxed in the comfortable chair while
two pretty maids standing behind him gently massaged his
shoulders. He held one of the maids' delicate hands, telling
them he wanted to take a nap.
Shortly after he closed his eyes, a male attendant
walked into the room, humbly reporting to him that the
emperor had summoned him.
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The maids quickly helped him dress up in a formal silk
embroidered uniform. He took a gorgeous carriage pulled by
four white horses and soon reached the royal palace.
The emperor told Su that he had decided to appoint him
the prime minister of the kingdom. Suddenly, Su became the
most dignified and powerful officer in court. From that
moment, he became very busy receiving the exalted visitors
and officials congratulating him on his honorable
appointment and expressing their desire of having positions
in his government.
After his first busy day as a prime minister, he returned
to his splendid home. He felt lonely. He needed a pretty and
capable wife to help him manage the mansion and all its
inhabitants. Then he thought of A-Gu, the great beauty in the
area. He ordered his secretary to summon A-Gu. Early the
next morning, A-Gu's father accompanied his daughter to the
prime minister's mansion. In a quick wedding ceremony, A-
Gu became Prime Minister Su Ding's wife.
After marriage, Su appointed A-Gu's father and all of
his five sons to high position officials in different departments
of his government. The appointments made his wife very
appreciative. She hugged him, showing her deep affection,
and said that she had known from the beginning he would be
dignified. The compliment reminded him of his former rival in
love, classmate La-Er. He ordered the arrest of La-Er and
put him in jail.
With their powerful connections, A-Gu's father and
brothers took advantage of their situation fearlessly taking
bribes and totally disregarding the laws. People hated them.
Other officials envied them. But no one dared to accuse
them or do anything against them.
Finally, a few senior officials secretly reported Prime
Minster Su Ding's nepotism and his in-laws' illegal activities
to the emperor. After an investigation, the furious emperor
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fired Su and sent him to jail, and ordered the execution of all
his in-laws.
In the jail, Su found that the chief jailer happened to be
a close relative of his main political rival. Because of this, he
received cruel treatment. The jailer whipped him every day.
His food portion was cut, too. The pain of whippings and
hunger made him sleepless. He tried to hang himself, but he
was soon discovered and rescued, and received yet more
severe whippings.
Luckily, Su had hidden a gold ring in his pocket. He
used the ring to bribe a lower jailer and had a chance to
escape from the prison.
He sneaked back to his home, the former prime
minister's mansion. He found that the security guard was a
stranger. The guard ordered him to go away. He lied saying
that he was a gardener in the mansion. He was returning
from sick leave, and wanted to go inside to check the plants
in the garden. The new guard believed his words and let him
go inside.
After entering, Su soon heard familiar voices of a man
and a woman from inside of the building. He recognized the
voices as those of his wife, A-Gu, and his former classmate,
La-Er.
While he was peeking and listening, he was discovered
by one of his former maids. The young woman yelled and
two armed security guards came over. They used a wooden
stick to hit his head, and he fell unconscious.
Instantly, Su Ding woke up and to his great surprise, he
found that he was lying on the ground in front of the wall
painting in a corner of the hallway in the small Buddhist
temple. He had just had a dream. He was shaking.
Standing up, he reexamined the painting and found that
the room was still splendid, the huge chair still empty and the
maids still waiting for their master's return. It looked like
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nothing had happened, except that his head was painful,
feeling like he had been hit.
Su was frightened. He found the old monk and told him
what had happened to him minutes ago. The monk smiled
and told Su that all human lives had segments of what he
had just experienced. His experience in the dream was but
an illusion. And sometimes, it was hard to distinguish
between real life and an illusion. Maybe all human lives were
like illusions eventually.
Suddenly, Su seemed to have awakened from another
horrible dream. After returning home, he became a totally
different man. He gave up his plan to take the government
examinations, choosing instead to work as a happy farmer
for the rest of his life.
Author’s Note: This story was taken from my book, Tutor,
published by Helm Publishing, Inc. in Illinois in 2007.
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