評論
打印
The first visit...
Let's back track a bit to Truc's story after he left his friends. The day after Truc quitted school he inherited a large amount of land from his grandparents on his mother's side. Through hard work and knowing how to turn the land around, Truc was able to make the land rich in ten years and became well off.
Even though he was rich, he did not want to lose a dollar, a quarter, or even a penny to anyone. Because of this, Truc had forgotten the words of promise between the three friends in the past."AW Heck! Why waste your time searching? The other people did not bother to find you or I."
With that thought, Truc felt very secure with all his actions and words. When Tung first saw how rich his friend was, he wanted to test how true the feelings were so he did not say anything about his current life. The only thing that Tung told Truc was that he missed his friend so he wanted to find and visit him.
Judging from Tung's appearance, Truc guessed he only had enough to eat and only came to rekindle the friendship to ask for money. The thought floated with Truc as he pretended his life was still in difficulty and went on to tell Tung.
"To tell you the truth, if it were not because of past recent business trips then I would not be losing to anyone. Earlier I was considering finding you in the North but after so many bad droughts continuously and then there was a famine, I had to mortgage some of my acres and it was not until recently that I finished paying it off."
Truc went on and on about his so-called hardships in order to zip Tung's mouth if he had any thoughts about asking for money. To continue with the charade of his life of poverty, Truc gave his friend a small, simple dinner. The next morning before everyone woke up,
Truc went to the cook and asked him to make a fish net and worms for his next plan. While Truc showed Tung around the property, they came upon the cook. Truc yelled at the cook, "Hey!'Dan bat kha ha tri' (at 3 do not let the net down). Don't you remember the old saying?! Why do you want to fish at this hour? Do you want me to go bankrupt?"
The servant caught the owner's meaning and quietly left the scene. That afternoon when the chickens returned to their coop, Truc's wife told the house servant to pick the plumpest chicken to kill. Before the chicken could be killed, Truc ran into the kitchen screaming,
"Ey! At 4 you should not kill birds! Even if your friend should visit, you should still not kill. It is highly forbidden."
Tung was done witnessing how Truc's life was and continued onto Mai's house, the second friend who lived through hardships with Tung during his school years. Still in his commoner's clothes, Tung arrived at Mai's house and just as before at Truc's, he did not mentioned anything about his life.
初訪
讓我們把時間往回拉。話說特呂克與好友別離后，他繼承了外祖父的大規模的土地。他知道怎樣去經營這塊土地，通過艱苦的工作，他在十年間迅速致富。
雖然有錢，他不想失去一分一厘。所以，他忘記了當初的承諾，過去的誓言。“神啊！何必花時間去找呢？誰知道他們會不會花時間找我呢？”
這樣一想，特呂克就心安理得了。
當東看到他的第一眼，他就看出他的朋友有多富有了。他想考驗一下他，看看他內心的最真實的情感。所以，他隱瞞了自己生活。僅僅告訴特呂克他是如此地想他，多么迫切地要造訪他而已。
打量了一下東的外表，特呂克猜想東的收入只能勉強維持生計，如今來找他只是為了特呂克通過敘舊從他身上榨點錢。心存這個想法，他就假裝他仍然生活艱難，并重復告訴東這點。
“說實話，如果不是最近出差，我絕不輸給任何人。前階段，我還想去北方找找你，但最近旱災不斷，饑荒太嚴重了，而且我的按揭最近才付清。”
為了讓東不開口問他借錢，特呂克喋喋不休的訴說著所謂的困境。同時，為了使東相信自己生活貧困，特呂克只提供了簡單的晚餐。次日一起床，特呂克就跑去找廚師，要他做個漁網，并找些蚯蚓——他已想出了下一個鬼主意，并在努力的付諸實踐。
當特呂克帶著東參觀他的產業時，他們遇上了廚師。特呂克對廚子嚷道：“你忘了'Dan bat kha ha tri'（意為3點不撒網。）這句老話了嗎？為何要在這個時候捕魚呢？你想要我破產啊？“
仆人知道了主人的意圖，悄悄地離開了。日暮西山，小雞回舍，特呂克的妻子讓仆人宰掉最肥的那只雞，特呂克跑進廚房尖叫道：“嘿!4點不能殺雞，即使你朋友到訪也不行。這是強烈禁止的事。”
東目睹了特呂克的生活，打算去拜訪麥了。即使在臨行前，東也沒對特呂克說起自己的生活。
