2003年夏，我在Mavis Rd and Steels Rd工地工作。这是一个很大的工程，开发区里在开发学校，商场和七八百栋房子。工程前期施工承包商是TACC，是加拿大一个很大的私人施工企业。

In the summer of 2003, I worked at the Mavis Rd and Steels Rd site. It was a very large project, with a school, shopping mall and 700 to 800 houses being developed in the development. The pre-construction contractor was TACC, a large private construction company in Canada.

一天下午，快要下班的时间，几个50左右岁，自称是工会的，有白头发的意大利人来到工地，还故意露出他们的手枪，说：“你们这个工地的人有种族歧视，对卢岩没礼貌。下班后，除了卢岩，别人谁也不准离开。” 当晚，那几个意大利人就跟工地上所有其他人一个一个地谈话，了解情况。

One afternoon, near the end of the shift, several Italians in their 50s, claiming to be from the union, with gray hair, came to the site and deliberately showed their pistols, saying, "You people at this site are racist and rude to Yan Lu. After work, no one else is allowed to leave except Yan Lu." That evening, those Italians talked to all the other people on the construction site one by one to find out what was going on.

第二天，工地的人们问我：“怎么回事啊？你有什么意见不能直接说？你找那帮人！他们就是电影电视里拿机关枪的那帮人。这可不是在开玩笑，会出人命的。” 当然，我是真不知道发生了什么事。

The next day, people at the site asked me, "What's going on? What's your opinion? You can say it directly, shouldn’t look for those guys. They're the ones with the machine guns in the movies and TV. It's not a joke, people can get killed." Of course, I really didn't know what was going on.

两个星期后，那群带着枪的意大利人又来了，说：我们警告过你们，你们对卢岩没礼貌，你们不听。” 他们和一个工人吵起来了，推倒了那个工人，用枪把打了几下，还说：“把他送医院去，住院三天。” 事后，工地经理Bob和一些人找到我，问是怎么回事，让我好好想想是不是跟谁抱怨过他们的不是。我真的从来没抱怨过。Bob说：“你再好好想想，什么时候想起了什么，就告诉我。这次那帮人是给我们个警告，没真打人。那个工人伤得不重，但是我们已经跟医院的人说好了，让他住院一个星期。那帮人是靠面子吃饭的，若是他们的面子在咱这儿丢了，咱们可赔不起！”

Two weeks later, the group of Italians with guns came back and said, "We warned you that you were rude to Luyan, and you didn't listen." They got into a fight with one of the workers, pushed the worker down, hit him a few times with the gun handle, and said, "Take him to the hospital and hospitalize him for three days." Afterward, Bob, the site manager, and some of the guys approached me and asked what was going on and asked me to think about whether I had complained to anyone about what they weren't doing. I never complained, and Bob said, "Think about it again, and let me know when you remember anything. They gave us a warning this time, they didn't really hit anyone. The worker wasn't badly hurt, but we've talked to the hospital people to keep him in for a week. Those guys eat by face, if they lose face here, we can't afford to pay for it!"

(2)

工地中有很多不同的工种，人员的流动很大，许多人我都分不清谁是干什么的，谁是新来的。有人在谈这件奇怪的事，我就去听了。

There were a lot of different types of work on the site, and there was a lot of turnovers of people, many of whom I couldn't tell who was doing what and who was new. Someone was talking about this strange thing, and I went to listen.

他们问我：“是你老板干的？”

我回答：“不可能！我们公司的实力不如你们公司的百分之一。你们老板还有许多亲戚有自己的大企业；谁敢惹你们公司！”

They asked me, "Did your boss do it?"

I replied, "No way! Our company is not as strong as one percent of your company. Your boss has many other relatives with big businesses of their own, who would dare mess with your company!"

他们当中有人说：“是这么回事！那帮人是谁给他们钱就给谁干活。这事肯定是人干的，而且那个人肯定和你有关系，是你爸爸？”

我回答：“我连个房子都买不起。我爸爸哪里有钱，干这种事。”

One of them said, "That's how it is! Those guys work for whoever pays them. Someone must have done this, and that someone must be related to you, is it your father?"

I replied, "I can't even afford a house. Where would my father get the money to do such a thing."

他们当中有人说：“有人认为人生幸福不幸福不在于有多少钱，而在于性格。有钱人跟咱穷人想的不一样，就有人认为找人帮着打架对改善性格有帮助（注2）。你再想想，是不是你的哪个亲戚干的？现在咱这里还没出什么事，没什么关系。”

他们帮我回忆了所有亲戚，我都回答：“他们既没钱，又没这知识，也没这能力。”

One of them said, "Some people think that happiness in life does not depend on how much money you have, but on your personality. Rich people don't think the same way as we poor people do, so there are people who think that getting help in a fight will help improve personality (Annotation 2). Think again. Is it one of your relatives who did it? Nothing has happened to us here yet; it doesn’t matter yet!"

They helped me recall all my relatives, and I replied, "They have neither the money, nor the knowledge, nor the ability."

注9.3-2，这说法，前文5.2节《在集市打架》中的那个前女友她爸爸说过。

Annotation 9.3-2, this same statement was made by her father, the ex-girlfriend in the previous section 5.2, "Fighting at the Fair".

（第3部分 Part 3）

过了几天，工地经理Bob找我谈话。他说，前些日子他从外面找来两伙儿明白人，对前些天发生的奇怪事进行了调查，都跟我卢岩谈过几次。前天下雨的时候，我卢岩不在工地，他们全体员工和外来的两伙儿明白人一起开了个会。会议中，全体员工一起对那件奇怪的事举手表决，全数通过决议。我卢岩也是工地的一员，应该服从决议，合作：

After a few days, Bob, the site manager, approached me to talk. He said that some days ago he got two groups of wise people from outside to investigate the strange things that happened some days ago, and all of them talked to me, Luyan, several times. When it was raining the day before yesterday, I, Luyan, was not at the construction site, and all their employees and the two groups of wise people from outside had a meeting together. In the meeting, all the employees together on that strange thing by a show of hands, all through the resolution. I, Luyan, am also a member of the construction site and should obey the resolution and cooperate:

（1） 他们决定不报警，自己处理。原因是，如果报警，这个工地肯定就被关闭，调查耗时至少两个月，结果什么也查不出来。这两个月所有工人就没活干，待在家里。但是，黑社会那帮人的事儿没办成，还把面子丢了，那我们这里就有可能有人被打死。

(1) They decided not to call the police and deal with it themselves. The reason was that if the police were called, the site would surely be closed, the investigation would take at least two months, and nothing would be found out as a result. During these two months, all the workers would have no work to do and would stay at home. However, if the Italian mafia fails to get anything done and loses face, then there is a possibility that some of us may be killed.

（2） 黑社会那帮人想办什么事呢？你们新移民的境况，我们都很清楚，以前在自己国家都混得不错，结果来这里干这些没人愿意干，辛苦还不挣多少钱的工作。你们生活得不开心，满腹牢骚。就有一个你的有钱亲戚知道了你的情况，难受了，所以咱们的工地就出现这件怪事了。前几天，那两伙明白人在调查你的时候，跟你说过：有人认为，人生的前途和幸福取决于性格，而找黑社会帮着打架能改善性格。虽然这作法也有很多不好的影响，但就有人认为利大于弊，就有人迷信这事。这种说法虽然是我们意大利人的，而你那个有钱的亲戚是中国人，在会上，我们全体100多人一致认同：你们中国人也应该是这么认为的，全世界的人都一样。

(2) What did those Italian mafia want to accomplish? We know very well the situation of you new immigrants. You used to be doing well in your own country, but now you come here to do these jobs that no one wants to do, and you work hard and don't earn much money. You are unhappy and full of complaints. Just one of your rich relatives knows about your situation and has a hard time with it, so we have this weird thing going on at our construction site. A few days ago, when those two groups of wise people who were investigating you, they told you that some people believe that the future and happiness of life depends on personality, and that finding triads to help fight can improve personality. Although this practice has many bad effects, there are those who believe that the advantages outweigh the disadvantages, and there are those who are superstitious about it. Although we Italians have this belief, and your rich relative is a Chinese, at the meeting, all of us agreed: you Chinese should think the same way, and so should the rest of the world.

（3） 那因为这事，我们可不能跟你打架呀！这事说大就大，早就已经触犯刑法了，还可能出人命；说是小事，就是小事，人家还真没让我们做多为难的事。我们决定就按他们的意思做，那两伙儿明白人都告诉我们怎么做了。我跟你商量，要求你配合我们。从现在起，你就是这个工地的老大 ，你走路时要挺直身体，说话办事要硬，要横，说一不二。我们所有人都已经安排好了，都配合你。

(3) We can't fight with you because of this! This is a big matter, it has already violated the criminal law, and people may be killed; but saying it is a small matter, then it is a small matter, and they have not really asked us to do anything difficult. We decided to do what they wanted; the two groups of wise people have told us how to do. I'm talking to you and asking you to cooperate with us. From now on, you are the boss of this construction site, you must walk with a straight body, talk, and act hard, be cross, and say one thing but not another. All of us have decided to cooperate with you.

和Bob谈话后，工地里的人们都开始训练我。早上见面一定要站直了，相互打招呼，而且声音要大，要霸气，等。有时候，我没注意，就可能被对方提醒说，“站直了，大点儿声，有人在看，你别看（他们）！” 开始时，我还向工地外看，说，“那不是个中东人么！” “哎呀，还中东人！我们在这里土生土长几十年了，都分别不出谁是干什么的；你来加拿大两年半，就能看出谁是黑社会的！在多伦多谁都不知道谁是干什么的。人家要是发现我们在演戏，那再教训教训我们，会死人的！”

After talking to Bob, people in the construction site started to train me. When we meet in the morning, we must stand up straight, greet each other, and be loud, bossy, etc. Sometimes, when I wasn't paying attention, I could be reminded by the other person, "Stand up straight, speak up, someone's watching, don't look at (them)!" At first, I would look out at the construction site and say, "Isn't that a Middle Eastern guy!" "Oh, a Middle Easterner! We've been here for decades, and we can't tell who's doing what; you come to Canada for two and a half years and you can tell who's in the triads! In Toronto nobody knows who does what. If they find out we're acting, then teach us another lesson, it'll kill us!"

工地的人都很认真，很害怕，我也随着害怕了，变得认真起来了。

The people at the construction site were serious and scared, and I became serious with the fear.

（4）

几天之后，我想出来了，这事是刘健君她爸刘团长干的，很感动，心想，“老头子老了，终于后悔他对我做过的事了，要弥补。可是你要帮我，就帮我买座房子呗！整点儿钱都捐给黑社会了！”

这件黑手党帮我打架的事持续了一个多月。

A few days later, I figured out that this is done by Eve Liu’s father, Troup Leader Liu, very moved, thinking, "The old man is old, finally regret what he did to me to make amends. But if you want to help me, just buy me a house! The whole bit of money goes to the mafia!"

This mafia helped me fight for over a month.

注9.4, 这两伙儿明白人给出的对策正确吗？答：正确！刘团长就喜欢这个；这行为代表着最胜真如，参见16.2节《离垢地》和5.3节《威仪路》。

Annotation 9.4, Is the response given by the two group of wise people, correct? Answer: Correct! Troupe Leader Liu likes this; this behavior represents the Most Victorious True suchness, see Section 16.2 “Heartland of Leave Filth”, and Section 5.3 “Majesty Path”.

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