***** Vol.2 Chap.18 Dealing with another landlord *****

Since everyone was now awake, it was time to get up and start moving. They finished the leftovers from the night before. Then they hurriedly gathered all the trash and put them on one pile. With their belongings bundled together, May-Ling had a small bundle containing her clothes and her father’s journal. Grandpa Chen had a slightly larger bundle. They really did not have that much to carry. So, with the bundles on their shoulders, they left the house for good and headed towards the clinic.

Grandpa Chen did not know how to come up with the rest of the money to pay Mrs. Lu in an hour. He appeared to be unusually quiet that morning as they were walking. May-Ling thought that there must be something else that was bothering him.

When they arrived at the clinic, there was a small crowd gathered already at the door. For once, they were there not because they were sick or needed Lon-Lai’s help but because they were helped by Lon-Lai sometime back and just wanted to pay their last respect to Lon-Lai and give gratitude to Grandpa Chen. They brought food and fruit baskets. Some also brought some money. May-Ling recognized one of them. He was the one that had paid nothing to Lon-Lai before.

Grandpa Chen stood at the door and shook the hands of each person who came by. May-Ling did not know what to do. So, she just stood beside him, but was deeply touched by the gratitude of the people. He was sobbing; she was crying, and the people were shedding tears as well. The crowd were all once sick but were helped by Lon-Lai.

May-Ling caught at the corner of her eye that there was an old man sitting in the waiting room all by himself, reading the newspaper. She recognized him. He had come a few times before. She thought he was just one of the former patients. He waited for the crowd to leave. Then he waved to Grandpa Chen to come over and sit down.

“I am the owner of this building.” He then explained to him that for the last twelve years, he had rented the building to Lon-Lai for 200 rmb a month. He then opened the ledger book.

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“There was not a single month,” He continued, “that Lon-Lai had paid me the rent in full.”

Grandpa was horrified and stupefied. His face turned stone white. May-Ling could sense him shaking uncontrollably.

The man continued, “Counting everything that Lon-Lai had owed me for the past twelve years, and frankly, he had not paid me for the last three months. Even without interest, Lon-Lai owed me 5000 rmb.”

She could sense that her grandpa’s fist tightened involuntarily. He held his hands together so tight that all his knuckles were white.

“Hi, May-Ling. How are you?” The old man turned to her and smiled.

Instinctively, she moved to hide behind her grandpa, who involuntarily tightened his grip on May-Ling.

“No! You cannot have my granddaughter.”

The man ignored him.

“May-Ling, would you like to have a candy?” He pulled out a nice coconut candy and held it in his open palm.

She did not know what to do. She knew she should not receive things from strangers, so she continued to hide behind her Grandpapa and peeked out at the man now and then.

“That is OK, May-Ling. This is for you.” The man offered the candy to her again.

“Thank you, but my granddaughter doesn’t want your candy,” Grandpa Chen said cautiously.

The man smiled mysteriously.

“Mr. Chen, I don’t want your money and I don’t want your granddaughter.”

Whew. In surprise, both Grandpa Chen and May-Ling let out a long sigh.

“Mr. Chen, I am not a heartless person. If I am after money, I would never let Lon-Lai be delinquent for so long. If I care for the money, he would not last for over two months in this building. Honestly, I appreciated all that he did. I was helped by him countless times as well. My friends had also been helped by him. I knew some of my friends never paid him either. How can I turn around and ask him for money?”

Upon hearing this, Grandpa Chen’s eyes were wet and tears streamed down his cheeks.

“The reason I stay behind is that I want to meet you. On behalf of all my friends and to thank you for what Lon-Lai has done for this community.”

More tears streamed down Grandpa Chen’s eyes.

“Anyway, goodbye and good luck to you.”

The mysterious man stood up to leave. When he was just about to walk past the door, he turned. “Oh, I almost forgot. Here is a little something for May-Ling.”

He took out a red envelope and gave it to May-Ling. She accepted it hesitantly. Then he was gone. She handed the envelope to her Grandpapa. But he stopped her and told her that this was for her and she should keep it.