Guess WHAT it was, that’s, turned this pair of best friends into ENEMIES??? You guessed it, it’s, MONEY! From the Front Page Sections, translated…
It’s really trying, how much, to put into the red envelopes for weddings and the white envelopes for the funerals, and, there were many cases of the friends and relatives, not putting enough money, that’s caused them to be uneasy with one another, not only were the people no longer close, they’d even gotten into the courts to settle the matters, neither party won.
A man, Chang, from Taoyuan went to his neighbor, Liu’s father’s funeral, he’d packed $1,100 N.T. for the white envelopes, later, Liu told him it wasn’t enough, believed, that when the Chang’s child married, he’d, given $2,000N.T. to the newlywed, that this time, Chang should “repay” the same amount, that, would be, fair. Liu had multiple times, talked about it openly in front of Chang and his neighbors, and, had talked trash on it behind Chang’s back too; after Chang learned of this, he’d gone to confront Liu, they’d, gotten on each other’s bad side ever since, they got into the courts to have the matter settled, and, although later, the cases were dropped, but, their connections from before, were, destroyed.
Lee’s son married, the banquets cost $20,000N.T. per table, he’d blamed that his friend of thirty years, Liao who’d taken his own daughter to the banquet only gave $2,600N.T. for the occasion, unlike how the rest of his best friends gave at least $3,600N.T.; Lee believed, that Liao was too cheap in what he’d given, that he’d not known the trends, and started making sarcastic remarks about it on the LINE groups, “can’t even know how to act properly for the occasions”, “He was into taken advantage of the situation”, it’d angered Liao that he’d SUED his former friend for defamation, the two good friends turned into enemies.
As the D.A. cross-examined, Liao refused to forgive his long-term friend, said that he was already retired, didn’t have any income, and needed to save up all the money he possibly can, and that the amount he packed for the red envelope, it was the best he can do, that it wasn’t that far off; and, as they were best friends, Lee shouldn’t have been so calculating, he’d insisted on not dropping the charges. As the D.A. still, worked hard, trying to mediate between them, hoped, that these best friends don’t have a complete fall out due to a red envelope.
The mediation committee member of the Taoyuan District Courts, Cheng pointed out, there’s NO standards on how much money should be given for red envelopes or white envelopes, and, the people mostly went by “how well we know one another”, and, those who are better connected would give more; but, it depends on the people too, for some, who are better economically speaking, who cared a lot about face, giving $10,000N.T. wouldn’t considered too much. Even the former classmates have the differences in the level of connections, he said, that the economics are different, if the individual is unemployed, then, $2,000N.T.s would be impossible for her/him to give.
Cheng believed, that this matter should be kept, private, how much is given, should be, weighed, inside one’s own mind, the heart that goes into giving the money, and the thought behind is, is what’s most important.
So, this pair of best pals had a fallen out, because one didn’t give as much, perhaps, because he wasn’t as economically capable to do so, and, the man felt, that his friend was taking advantage of his own son’s wedding banquet, and this still just showed, how when money gets into the “discussions”, how things tend to get, blown out of proportion!
Life, the Obstacle Course 