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Hey, hey, hey, are you two doing well?
My son Jie Sanhai, and my beloved grandson Xie Du, by the time you read this letter, I will have passed away. Surprised, aren't you?
I had entrusted a friend to deliver this message to you through the Taiping Trading House in Beiliang as soon as the news of my death reached home.
Shocked? Sad? Relieved? Or have you already bought fireworks and foreign liquor, setting off the former while drowning yourselves in the latter?
No matter, you can now curse me to your heart's content, as I can no longer hear you.
I know I have never been a good father, nor a good grandfather, after all, no decent man frequents a brothel for half a month at a time. And let's not pretend either of us is better, one addicted to Wushi Powder, the other to gambling; our family really has all five vices.
