Chapter 15 – A Dark Night on Lake Hu (1/2)

Chapter 15 – A Dark Night on Lake Hu

Part 1

April 19. Before dawn.

Soft wind blew across still water, the moon and stars sank. Lamplight grew brighter. In the blackness preceding dawn, lamps are the brightest thing in the world.

This is because a lamp sacrifices itself. It burns itself to shine on others.

People are the same.

If a person sacrifices themselves up, no matter how black the surroundings, light will shine forth.

***

Gao Tianjue. So, this person was Gao Tianjue.

“End the heavens, destroy the earth; wipe the whole lot out.”

This mysterious person who only appeared in legends, now sat in front of him.

Xiao Jun was an orphan. By the time he was born, Gao Tianjue was already one of the most feared figures in Jianghu.

The two of them shouldn’t have any relationship whatsoever. But now, for some mystical reason, their fates seemed to be tied together.

Gao Tianjue suddenly asked, “Do you wish to remove my mask to see what type of person I am?”

“At first, I did.”

“And now?”

“As of now, I don’t,” said Xiao Jun, “because I realized something.”

“What’s that?”

“I can’t see your face, but neither can you see mine. On the way here just now, you walked very slowly. The reason is because you can’t see.”

When people use masks, they will leave two holes which will reveal their eyes.

But the silver mask had no eye holes, only a single hole for the mouth.

He could drink tea, but could not see.

Only a blind person would use such a mask. How could the universally famous Gao Tianjue be blind?

Xiao Jun didn’t ask.

He knew the question must touch on something deeply painful to Gao Tianjue.

“You can’t see me, therefore I do not wish to see you.”

“Do you think that’s fair?” asked Gao Tianjue.

“Yes.”

“Then I suppose there’s no harm in telling you something else that’s very fair.”

Xiao Jun didn’t ask about what he referred to.

He’d noticed that this entire time, Gao Tianjue’s kept his left arm concealed in the black cloak.

But then, he suddenly stretched it out.

What he stretched out was not an arm, but a glittering, silver pincer.

“I cut off your arm, and someone else cut off mine.” Gao Tianjue’s voice contained a sneering pain that anyone could hear. “Is that not fair?”

Xiao Jun didn’t answer the question. Instead, he retorted, “Does the person who chopped off your arm resemble me? Is that why you cut off mine?”

Gao Tianjue laughed loudly.

“Laughing” is an innately joyful thing, not only for oneself, but for others.

But the face of Gao Tianjue’s gray-robed subordinate was suddenly covered in fear.

—Could this be because he knew the source of the laughter was not joy, but calamity and misfortune?

Xiao Jun’s palms grew wet with cold sweat.

He felt an indescribable fear in his heart. It was not because he had never heard such fearsome laughter before, but rather, because he had.

In that moment, he suddenly remembered many things. Some seemed real, but others seemed the stuff of nightmares.

Nightmare, not nightmares, he couldn’t tell.

***

Gao Tianjue’s laughter suddenly ceased. The gray-robed subordinate’s face grew rigid, and Xiao Jun awoke from his reverie.

Nothing had changed in the cabin. Around the boat, Daming Lake was as tranquil as ever.

But to them, it seemed as if everything under heaven had changed. They felt some type of enormous pressure in their hearts.

There was no wind in the cabin, nor had Gao Tianjue moved. And yet suddenly, it seemed as if his cloak were billowing.

The cover of the tea bowl flipped up three inches into the air, then shattered into pieces.

Then a clattering sound rang out as the window slammed shut, shredding the window paper and sending pieces fluttering about like hellish butterflies scattered about by a demon in hell.

A thrumming sound arose from a seven-stringed zither which lay on a wooden rack in the corner, and the pearl curtain in the doorway began to rattle.

Then a cracking sound rang out as the zither strings snapped. The curtain’s pearls fell to the ground like tears. All the sounds stopped. The two gray-robed men who had been standing guard outside were nowhere to be seen.

There was nobody at all on the deck. Nobody knew what was happening.

Except Gao Tianjue.

“He’s come,” he said with a deep sigh. One word at a time, he said: “He’s already come.”

Part 2

Big Boss Tang stared at Ingot, her eyes and mouth wide.

Her eyes were not small to begin with. As of now, though, they were twice as large as normal. Her mouth was not small either, but currently it seemed large enough to be able to swallow two whole eggs.

She was thirty-four years old, and had seen many things in her life, yet at the moment, she looked like a little girl who had been frightened half to death. Right now, it seemed as if she were not more than seven or eight years old.

What Ingot just said really had startled her.

“What did you just say?” She shook her head. “You didn’t say it. I must have misheard. You didn’t say anything.”

“Actually, I did say it,” replied Ingot, his face completely straight. “I said it very clearly, every single word.”

“But I didn’t hear.”

“You did hear.”

“I didn’t.”

“You absolutely did.”

“I absolutely didn’t,” said Big Boss Tang.

Ingot stared at her, then, shouting in a voice like that of a drowning person crying for help, repeated himself.

“I want you to marry me.”

Big Boss Tang was yet again shocked. This little devil shocked her so badly she felt as if her soul had departed.

“My god,” she said hoarsely. “My god.”

“Did you hear me this time?” asked Ingot. “Or should I say it again?”

“I beg you, please, listen to me.” Big Boss Tang didn’t seem anything like a Big Boss now. “If you say it again, I’ll go jump into a river and drown myself.”

“Why would you drown yourself?”

“Even a deaf person five streets away could hear what you said just now.”

“What’s wrong with that?” said Ingot, staring at her. “I’m never afraid of people hearing anything I say.”

“You might not be afraid, but I am.”

“What are you afraid of?” he said, slapping his chest. “With me here, what do you have to fear?”

Big Boss Tang moaned, and it looked as if she might pass out onto the table at any moment.

“Do you know how old I am?” she said. “I’m just about old enough to be your grandmother.”

Ingot nodded.

“Right, right, right. You’re almost old enough to be my grandmother. My grandmother is only one hundred and one years old.” Then he deliberately asked, “How old are you, by the way?”

“Well I’m not that old, but I am over thirty. At the very least I’m old enough to be your mother.”

“My mother? Hahaha!”

“What does hahaha mean?”

“Hahaha means that you’re just about to really piss me off. My fourth sister is just over thirty, and you say you’re old enough to be my mother? Are you trying to get me angry?”

“No, I’m not.”

“Then let me tell you something. My oldest sister is old enough to be your mother,” he said in all earnestness. “If you want to come home with me, the only way you can do it is by being my wife. And you have no other choice but to be my wife.”

Big Boss Tang covered her ears with her hands.

“I didn’t hear anything,” she said. “You didn’t say anything and I didn’t hear anything.”

“Okay, then I’ll say it again.”

And he did, in a voice even louder than the last time. “I want you…”

This time, he only got half of the sentence out, because Big Boss Tang lurched forward and used her hands to cover his mouth.

Her hands were warm and soft.

Her body was also soft.

Ingot knew, because as she lurched forward, he seized the opportunity to embrace her. She wanted to push him away, but couldn’t.

“You little devil, you’re really a good-for-nothing.”

“I’m not good-for-nothing, I’m a person. A man.”

“You’re a bullshitter,” she said. “At the very least, I’m ten years older than you.”

“My third and fifth brothers-in-law are both over ten years older than my sisters,” argued Ingot courageously. “If a thirty-year-old man can marry a girl in her teens, why can’t a thirty-year-old woman marry a boy in his teens?”

“You’re drunk.”

“I’m not.”

“You’re obviously drunk.”

“I’m not, I’m not…”

Part 3

Who was “he?” Who had come?

The glass-like waters of Daming Lake were suddenly split by a white wave.

A small boat sliced through the waters like a sharp knife cutting through silk. It sped forward like an arrow.

A tall man in a black robe stood at the front of the boat, his arms clasped behind his back. His long robe rippled in the breeze.

The stars had disappeared, as had the moon. This was the darkest period of night, and though his features could not be distinguished, anyone could sense his mighty dignity.

There was no one else on the small boat, no sail, no punt-pole, no one pulling the oars, no one at the helm.

But the boat had already arrived, faster than anyone could have imagined.

Lowering his voice, Gao Tianjue asked, “Do you know who it is?”

“Li Xiao?”