Book 9 Chapter 10: Gratitude and Grudges Spanning Two Generations
Book 9 Chapter 10: Gratitude and Grudges Spanning Two Generations
When Xu Ziling was leaving Lu Miaozi’s little house, he almost burst into a song to vent his excitement.
‘Having a conversation with the wise is better than studying for ten years’. This saying probably described this case the best.
Many things that usually stayed as clear as mud even after he bitterly pondered over it, suddenly made sense.
Just like after blazing sun drove away the dark clouds, now he was able to see ten-thousand li of clear skies.
This ‘escaping one’ principle would enable him to achieve real infinite benefits throughout his life, it was more formidable that discovering a breakthrough consummate skill.
When he stepped into the gate leading to the rear courtyard, the alarm suddenly went off in his heart.
The feeling that he usually got when someone was spying on him in the dark.
From the abstruse mysterious realm Xu Ziling immediately returned to reality. Regaining his composure, he quickly restrained his true qi, and continued walking to his room in ordinary people’s heavy steps.
The first watch of the night [between 7-9pm] has already passed; the moon was already high in the sky.
He decided to use ‘no change’ to deal with ‘ten-thousand changes’, deliberately pretending to be completely off-guard as he walked along the corridor surrounding the space between the building and the courtyard, toward the front door of his room.
He deduced that whoever was watching him must have already been lying in ambush somewhere inside the room, while Kou Zhong was strolling outside to look for Li Xiuning.
It would be strange indeed if anybody from the Ranch came looking for them at this time and was not surprised to find the room was empty. With this thought, he felt relieved and simply pushed the door and walked in.
A sword qi assaulted his body.
In that instant, Xu Ziling already determined that the attacker was the outstanding beauty [orig. national grace, divine fragrance] Shang Xiuxun; moreover, although the sword carried ferocious momentum, it still left some leeway, and was not meant to take his life at all.
“Ah!” The edge of the sword already rested on Xu Ziling’s throat.
Shang Xiuxun’s cold-frost-like face was right in front of his. “Where have you been?” she coldly asked.
Xu Ziling used his power to drain the blood from his face; pretending to be scared out of his wits, he replied with trembling voice, “I just went to the small pavilion by the cliff at the back to enjoy the cool air!”
The tip of Shang Xiuxun’s sword emitted powerful qi, penetrating deep into his channels. Fortunately he had learned the skill he stole from Wanwan, and applied it pragmatically to send his vortex of qi to the yong quan acupoint on his left foot a step ahead of Shang Xiuxun, so that the qi in his meridians was only slightly stronger than average person. Unfortunately however, he was unable to maintain this condition for too long, but he really did not have any other alternative.
Sure enough, Shang Xiuxun’s true qi reached his dantian and circulated there for two cycles before she retrieved it away. Returning her sword to its sheathe, she hissed, “Where is that good Xiongdi of yours?”
Xu Ziling breathed a sigh of relief for real; he said, “He had some tummy problem, and went to … hey … Changzhu ought to know?”
Half-believing half-doubting Shang Xiuxun stared hard at him for a moment, “Light the lantern first,” she ordered.
Xu Ziling groaned inwardly; if Kou Zhong did not return soon, even with his silver tongue he would not be able to convince this beauty with above average intelligence.
※ ※ ※
The lantern gradually brightened, bathing the room in its gentle and warm light.
“Sit down!” Shang Xiuxun ordered.
Shang Xiuxun waited until Xu Ziling was sitting properly in the chair by the window before she took the chair by the table in the middle of the room. With her pretty eyes shooting sharp rays, she fixed her gaze on him and said, “You must have known Li Xiuning before, haven’t you?”
It was only then did Xu Ziling understand the reason she was looking for them. Pretending to be stunned, he asked, “Who’s Li Xiuning?”
Shang Xiuxun smiled and said, “You are acting very well. With Li Xiuning’s self-cultivation and well-composed character, it was impossible that she would suddenly make much fuss about nothing. You want to conceal it from me; I wonder if you would confess after being served the house rules? This is called refusing a toast only to be forced to drink a forfeit.”
Xu Ziling mused that probably Kou Zhong would not return tonight, so if he still wanted to cover up the left and conceal the right, he could only cook up some dumb excuses. But if he had a falling out with Shang Xiuxun, he would not be able to come to Lu Miaozi’s place tomorrow night.
With a wry smile, which came from his heart, he said, “If Changzhu don’t believe us, we will leave tomorrow. Even if we really know Li Xiuning, we did not violate any Ranch rules. Ay! I really don’t know what to say.”
A complex expression, which was hard to decipher, appeared in Shang Xiuxun’s eyes; as she was about to speak, footsteps were heard, coming toward their direction. The two people’s eyes immediately fell toward the open door.
Kou Zhong swaggered into the room, “Changzhu!” he blurted out in shock.
Shang Xiuxun looked at him coldly.
Kou Zhong was certainly a genius at practicing fraud; pretending to have a sudden inspiration he said, “Changzhu must be here to admire my treasured saber a bit early!”
Shang Xiuxun’s eyes fell onto the Moon in the Well hanging on his back; she spoke indifferently, “Where have you been? Why do you have to bring a saber?”
Kou Zhong was used to seamless collaboration with Xu Ziling, naturally his gaze flitted toward him first, but without missing a beat his mouth spoke, “Just now Xiao Jing and I …” He noticed Xu Ziling’s toes were pointing at the direction of the back mountain, and his hand was rubbing his belly; being a smart aleck as he was, he continued, “Hey! Xiao Jing and I went to the back mountain to see that old Mister to learn some skills; we also ate something. Ha!”
“What?” Shang Xiuxun blurted out.
Kou Zhong knew something was not right, but he did not know where he had ‘revealed the cloven foot’.
Xu Ziling hastily tried to remedy the situation. “What did you say,” he angrily said, “Have you forgotten Old Mister’s order?”
Kou Zhong realized suddenly; smiling apologetically, he said, “Although Old Mister told us not to tell anybody, Changzhu is our boss. It’s all right for us not to tell anybody else, but we should not conceal it from her. Xiao Jing, you are so muddleheaded; why haven’t you apologized to Changzhu?”
Xu Ziling continued the charade, “I only know that a real man’s word is worth nine sacred tripods; no wonder after eating Old Mister’s stuff you got diarrhea.”
“Shut up! Both of you!” Shang Xiuxun hissed.
Stunned, the two boys looked at her.
Shang Xiuxun stood up and said, “You two, come with me.”
※ ※ ※
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling followed behind Shang Xiuxun’s alluring back, straight toward Lu Miaozi’s small two-story house.
There was still light at the upper floor, but there was no sound.
Shang Xiuxun looked up to the upper floor’s window; her pretty face lengthened as she shouted heavily, “Old Man [orig. lao tou er, usually used in a rude manner]! You break your promise!”
The two boys jumped out of their skin; they had never expected Shang Xiuxun would be so impolite toward the number one master craftsman in the world who designed and built the Inner Castle’s landscape garden.
Lu Miaozi’s voice was heard, “Changzhu has not visited my An Le Wo for three years; why don’t you come upstairs and enjoy a cup of Six-fruit Brew with the Old Man?”
Shang Xiuxun turned frosty; she said coldly, “This Changzhu is not interested. I only know that you broke your promise; so are you going to leave on your own, or do you need me to personally kick you out?”
Listening to this, the two boys were at a loss; they did not understand why Shang Xiuxun adopted a ‘like fire meets water’ attitude toward Lu Miaozi.
Lu Miaozi sighed and said, “When did I break my promise?”
Shang Xiuxun replied heavily, “Three years ago when Niang passed away, you promised in front of Niang that you would not meddle in our Ranch’s affairs, and that you would not leave the back mountain even for half a step, which was why I let you stay. But now you have the audacity to teach my Ranch’s people; if that is not breaking your promise, what is it?”
Lu Miaozi’s head suddenly appeared on the window. He looked down and stared blankly at Shang Xiuxun.
Shang Xiuxun was furious, “I forbid you to look at me!” she shouted.
Lu Miaozi sighed. Shifting his gaze to the night sky above, he yearned, “You look so much like your Niang.”
Regaining her composure, Shang Xiuxun coldly said, “I forbid you to mention Niang. You are basically not worthy to talk about her. Until today I still don’t understand why Niang adamantly wanted to protect you. All right! Are you or are you not going to nicely get out of here on your own?”
Lu Miaozi asked softly, “Are they your Ranch’s people?”
Shang Xiuxun was taken aback, “They are hired by me, personally. If they are not my Ranch’s people, what do you think they are?”
Lu Miaozi’s gaze fell on her face again; he said with a sigh, “It hasn’t been three years, they are still outsiders. Ay!” He was clearly unwilling to argue with Shang Xiuxun, but in this case he was forced to; otherwise, he would have to leave in a big hurry.
Shang Xiuxun was indeed stumped; stomping her feet, she said, “Lu Miaozi, Niang is dead, why are you still reluctant to leave?”
Lu Miaozi sighed and said, “Is it possible to give me ten more days? After that, Changzhu will definitely not see me again.”
Shang Xiuxun took a deep breath and said, “Looking at Niang’s face, this Changzhu agrees to grant you ten days grace period.”
Turning around, she glowered at the two boys and barked, “Get lost and go back to sleep!”
※ ※ ※
Lying on their bed, the two boys were silent for a long time.
Finally Kou Zhong was unable to hold back, “I found some spies,” he blurted out.
Xu Ziling responded indifferently, “Didn’t you go out to look for your Princess Xiuning?”
Kou Zhong sat up and said with a wry smile, “I did want to look for her, but along the way I came across the spies.” Thereupon he narrated his experience.
Xu Ziling frowned and said, “If you ran after that guy, how come you were back so quickly?”
Kou Zhong dejectedly said, “That guy has hooks and ropes and ‘wooden cut’ [tool to collect the thread on the spinning wheel (courtesy of Akolaw)] kind of tools to climb the mountain, he was able to hike precipitous cliff, and I did not dare to follow him up too closely, so in just several twists and turns I lost him, making me nearly die of anger.”
But then he turned cheerful and said, “This is called blessing in disguise, because if I did not come back in time, Beautiful Changzhu would discover our true identity.”
Xu Ziling also sat up and said, “You said that rubbing tummy means you have to go to the bathroom, how come you said you were eating something?”
Kou Zhong blurted out laughing and said, “You did not show your ‘going to the bathroom’ expression, how could I tell?”
Xu Ziling was also amused; thinking deeply, he said, “This time you clearly made a mistake; if the one you were following was that s1ut, you would know by now the spy who is colluding with the enemy.”
Kou Zhong sneered and said, “With so many clues, are you afraid she might escape out of the hollow of our palm?”
After a short pause, he continued confidently, “First of all, this s1ut must be somebody’s concubine, plus she has not been someone’s concubine for too long. Secondly, the sucker she cheated must be one of the Ranch people attending the banquet last night, and since they referred to him as the old guy, only Shang Zhen and Liang Zhi are eligible to be in the list. So easy to investigate, what are you afraid of?”
Recalling the two gorgeous women massaging Shang Zhen when they first met, Xu Ziling nodded and said, “Shang Zhen holds the highest possibility; but this kind of case is not easy to investigate. Besides, even if we knew who she is, unless we reveal our own identity, we still can’t do anything to her.”
“We can start from her lover,” Kou Zhong said, “He will come back here, sooner or later.”
Xu Ziling said, “We’ll find a way to examine that building tomorrow, there bound to be some ‘spider’s thread and horse track’ to be found.”
Kou Zhong giggled and said, “Xu Shaoye seems to be very concerned about Beautiful Changzhu, ha! I think she was just using all kinds of excuses to be close to you.”
Xu Ziling said irately, “You seem to forget about Li Xiuning already; otherwise, how can you still laugh?”
Kou Zhong was stunned, “Because of that adulterous couple plus Beautiful Changzhu, I really forgot about her. Therefore, I can safely say that I am able to get her out of my mind. Right! I forgot to ask you what skill you learned from Lu Miaozi? Is it something fun?”
Thereupon Xu Ziling had Lu Miaozi’s abstruse theory completely out in the open.
Emotionally moved, Kou Zhong said, “This theory is more profound than the Yijian Technique; we must explore it to the end. What else?”
Xu Ziling explained the nine important aspects of landscape design; who would have thought that he was only on the third item of the list when Kou Zhong already yawned and interrupted him, “There is one thing that I feel very strange; didn’t Shang Xiuxun say that three years ago Lu Miaozi promised not to leave the back mountain even for half a step? Yet he obviously slipped out from time to time. There must be a secret tunnel somewhere; otherwise, how could nobody ever detect his coming and going?”
Knowing that Kou Zhong had no interest in landscape design, Xu Ziling lay down and said, “Sleep!”
※ ※ ※
‘Bang! Bang! Bang!’
The two boys were absolutely unwilling to get out of their bed.
Lan Gu’s harsh voice screamed from outside the door, “Have you become thieves last night? Do you know what time it is? In the entire Ranch, only the two of you are still asleep. Will you believe me if I say I am going to get in and tear your bed down?”
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling looked at each other with wry smile on their faces. The former jumped out of bed to open the door and said, “The two of us went to the back mountain to accompany Changzhu admiring the moon, and we talked all night long. Can’t we just sleep a bit longer?”
Lan Gu was immediately scared by him and stopped talking. “Changzhu?” she blurted out.
Kou Zhong continued boldly, “If you don’t believe me just ask Changzhu, see if we really went with her to the back mountain or not.”
Noticing the bright sunlight outside, Xu Ziling realized that the sun was already three-pole high. Only because the two boys were accustomed to using their sleep time to train, plus they did not have enough sleep the last two nights, they felt that it was not enough. “Don’t make a fuss!” he cried out, “We are awake!”
Lan Gu’s horse face alternated between red and white, but the tone of her voice was a bit more polite, “Changzhu is taking Princess Ning on a tour around the Ranch,” she said, “When they are back, Princess Ning is going to visit the kitchen to see how you prepare the smoked fish. This is Changzhu’s order. You haven’t prepared anything yet?”
As Lan Gu was about to leave, Kou Zhong called her, “There are a few things that we, two brothers, really don’t understand; every time Lan Gu came to us, you always want us to work like an ox, to work like a horse. But nobody ever told us where the public bath is, where the latrine is. Not to mention how to solve the problem of getting three square meals every day. Last night Changzhu even wondered why we, two able-bodied men, have to crowd into one bed. Who’s in charge of these things anyway?”
Appearing behind Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling laughed and said, “Therefore, we decided to slacken off in our work today, unless there is great improvement in our living arrangement.”
At first Lan Gu put her hands on her water-snake-like waist, but then she let her hands dropped limply by her side. “It’s just that these past two days we are extremely busy that we have no time to pay attention to you,” she said weakly, “Go freshen up and change your clothes first, we’ll talk later.”
The two boys smiled victoriously.