Chapter 20 – The Second Star (1/2)
Chapter 20 – The Second Star
Part 1
April 19th. Before sunset.
The light of the setting sun, which shone on the camellia, suddenly became dim and murky. The camellia, which moments ago had seemed so bright and colorful, suddenly looked pale and sallow.
This is because it does not emit its own light. Moments ago, it had appeared so glorious only because of the light of the sun shining down onto its petals.
People are the same.
Some people shine brilliantly for a time, but then at a certain point become old and frail, and despite being alive, are simply waiting to die.
***
Fortunately, some people in the world are not like that.
This is because they are innately luminous, powerful, without any need to rely on others. When alive, none dare look down on them. Even after they die it is the same.
Gao Tianjue was that sort of person. Regardless of the circumstances, no one would be willing to doubt her power.
If she said that the “Thunder and Lightning” couple and Tang Lanfang would never again see Ingot, then sadly, they could only wait until after death to do so.
“You’re a women, as am I,” said Grand Miss Lei, staring at Gao Tianjue. “What women say is generally not very reliable. But, I believe you.”
“Oh?”
“If you dare to say such a thing, then I believe that not only have you already killed Ingot, you are also prepared to attack us. Now that we have seen your face, you will not let us keep on living.” She sighed. “If I were you, I would probably do the same.”
“You don’t want to ask if I’m certain I can take on all three of you at once?”
“I don’t need to ask.”
“Why not?”
“Because if you killed Ingot, then we couldn’t allow you to continued to live.” Grand Miss Lei’s voice suddenly grew very calm. “We would do it even though we might die. So no need to waste breath on any questions.”
“Correct,” said Gao Tianjue. “There is no need for further questions.”
“I could see just now that your acupuncture points had been sealed. And now, I can see that your blood and Qi are flowing properly again.”
“Correct.”
“Even my husband and I could not do that,” said Grand Miss Lei. “Your kung fu really is a lot higher than ours.” She sighed again. “In recent years, we haven’t payed any attention to all the trivial matters in Jianghu. And yet we have more and more of our own trivial matters to attend to. All year, every day, all day, the things we do are of no account. We don’t do anything important at all.”
“Oh?”
“What we do all day is plant flowers and pull weeds, play chess and chat, get jealous and argue, visit scenic spots, catch rabbits and go fishing. Where is there room for important kung-fu related matters?” She sighed. “Although these things are more interesting than important matters, it means that our kung fu hasn’t advanced at all in the past few years. So, of course we can’t match up to you.”
Despite all her sighing, her expression was filled with joy, and contained no trace of regret.
Even though Gao Tianjue didn’t sigh, her eyes seemed to filled with remorse and pain.
“Right now, even if we attack you three against one, young Miss Tang wouldn’t really count as a person. She would be useless in an attack, so you really would only need to deal with the two of us.”
The old man broke in: “Actually, we don’t really count as two people.”
“Why not?”
“Because we two are one person,” he said. “When attacking her, you would defend me with your life, and I would defend you with my life. If I got hurt, you would get flustered, and if you got hurt, I would be flustered. And that is when she would have her chance.” He sighed. “So as I said, the two of us will never measure up to them.” Even though he sighed, his expression was one of happiness, without any sign of regret.
“So,” asked Grand Miss Lei, “you mean that we’ve already lost this battle?”
“Pretty much.”
“And we are basically dead already.”
“No one can evade death, so there’s nothing really amazing about it. In any case, we have lived our lives quite happily. Although, there’s something I need to say to you before I die.”
“What’s that?”
“Do you remember that year we went to the Zhongnan Mountains to make immortality pills? [1] Your younger martial sister came to visit and stayed for about a month?”
“I remember.”
“There was one occasion when you went to the other side of the mountain to pick medicinal herbs, and you were gone for a few days. Well, when you were gone, your younger martial sister and I did something wrong. We regretted it, but by that time, we had already done it, and it was too late.”
Grand Miss Lei stared at him, and then her wizened, rigid face broke out in a smile, a smile a lovely as a lily.
“You think I didn’t know about that?” she said. “You think you could fool me?”
“You knew?” said the old man, shocked. “When did you find out?”
“I knew all along.”
“Then why didn’t you say anything? Why didn’t you lose your temper? Why didn’t you flip out on me?”
“Because we are married,” she said softly. “Being married is different than being siblings, friends or lovers. If I flipped out on you for a mistake you made, then the person in the wrong would not be you, but me.”
***
Gao Tianjue had been listening quietly, but now she interjected: “I also had a husband. He was surnamed Guo. Guo Mie. He was an extremely intelligent and talented man. I’ve never met another man in my entire life who could compare even to one of his fingers. When we were young, we were also happily married.”
“We know all that already.”
“He’s dead now,” said Gao Tianjue. “Do you know how he died?”
“No,” said Grand Miss Lei. “But we’ve always wanted to.”
“Then I’ll tell you. I killed him. I used the most cruel method possible to kill him.” Her voice was again extremely calm, frighteningly calm. So calm it was almost impossible to take. “Do you know why I killed him? Of course you don’t know.”
“Why?”
“Because of a child.”
“A child?” blurted Grand Miss Lei. “You killed your own husband because of a child?”
“Yes.”
“Whose child was it?”
“My husband and my older sister’s child. My blood sister.”
***
The room was suddenly silent. Even the sound of breathing seemed to have ceased.
Everyone knew that she must have a feeling of deep hatred in her heart to have become like this. But who could have imagined that the people she hated were her blood sister and her husband.
Gao Tianjue suddenly asked Grand Miss Lei: “If you were me, would you have become like this?”
Grand Miss Lei was at a loss for words. After a very long time, she quietly said, “I don’t know. I really don’t know.”
Gao Tianjue sighed. “In any case, we two are different. You have grown old together happily as a couple, because you have patience. I am a vicious and jealous woman, and that is why I have become like this.” She laughed. “So everything you just said is quiet useless.”
“What did we say? What do you mean useless?”
“You said all those things on purpose. You wanted to provoke me, make me feel pain, to create an opening to kill me.”
This was a tactic; don’t attack the person, attack the heart. When experts fight, if the heart is disturbed, it can lead to defeat.
“Unfortunately, this type of tactic is useless on me,” said Gao Tianjue coolly. “Because my heart is already dead. I have always been prepared to die, and that day is today.”
Grand Miss Lei looked surprised. “You prepared to die today?”
“Not only am I prepared to die, I am determined to die. So anything you say is useless. However, you do not wish to die, therefore, you will.” She sighed and continued, “There are many things in the world like this. People who don’t want to die often die more quickly than the ones who do.”
Tang Lanfang suddenly let out a sigh. “The person who least wishes to die is me. And yet I know I will be the first one to go.”
“Yes,” said Gao Tianjue coolly. “You shall be the first to die!”
Part 2
Ingot took the black headband off and removed the silver mask, chuckling as he looked at Xiao Jun.
“Chamber Lord Xiao, long time no see! Hello!”
“You!” Xiao Jun said, looking shocked. “How could it be you?”
“How could it not be me?” chuckled Ingot. “From the day I was born until now, I’ve always been me, not some random Joe. And I’m not Pockmarks Wang’er.” [2] He laughed happily. “But if someone wants to mistake me for Gao Tianjue, well I can’t do anything about it.”
Xiao Jun looked at him in amazement. Staring at his outfit, he said, “Who do these things belong to?”
“To Gao Tianjue, of course,” he said, placing the mask on top of his head. “Other than her, who else would have treasures like this?”
“Why would she give them to you?”
“Who said she gave them to me?” said Ingot. “These are her treasures. She wouldn’t give them away even if you killed her.”
“And yet there they are in your hands.”
“I’m just borrowing them.”
“She agreed to let you to borrow them?”
“She didn’t agree.”
“If she didn’t agree, then how could you have borrowed them?”
Ingot sighed. “To be honest, I didn’t borrow them.”
Xiao Jun usually was not the type of person who wanted to examine a matter down to the last detail. But he could not hold back from asking more questions.
“You didn’t borrow them?”
“No.”
“Then where did they come from?”
“I took them,” said Ingot. “Because she didn’t agree to lend them to me, I had to take them.”
“How did you do it?”
“I only have two hands, so of course I used two hands. First I took the headband and the mask, and then the clothes and boots.”
“Where did you take them from?”
Ingot looked at him as if he were a simpleton. “Do you really have to ask me such an obvious question?”
“I already did.”
Ingot shook his head and sighed. “Well, I guess I just have to tell you, then.” He spoke it like a list: “The headband, I untied off her head. The mask, I took off her face. The cloak, I stripped off her body.” He paused for a moment before continuing on slowly: “The boots were a bit more difficult, because they were on tight. It took a lot of effort, but I finally took them, off of her feet.”
Xiao Jun stared in shock. After a long time passed, he said, “You took these things off of her body?”
“Every one of them.”
“And what of her?” asked Xiao Jun. “Where was she?”
Ingot looked like he wanted to jump up. “Did you really just say that? Did your really ask such a nonsensical question? She’s there. Her head was inside the headband, her face was behind the mask, her body was inside the cloak, and her feet were inside the boots. Such a simple matter, don’t tell me you couldn’t figure that out?”
“Is she dead?”
“No,” said Ingot. “How could a person like her be dead?”
“If she’s alive, but you have her things, does that mean she made you take them?”
“Even if she refused, I would still take them.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m Ingot,” he said, pointing at his nose. “I’m a big, round, shiny, lively, charming and handsome giant ingot.”
***
Xiao Jun didn’t say anything. There was nothing he could say.
He didn’t believe it, not any of it. If this little scoundrel wasn’t insane, then he was ten times as thick-skinned as before to dare to boast and tell such lies.
The best method to deal with people like this is to ignore them.
Yet in the world there are some people who are impossible to get rid of, and ignoring them doesn’t work.
“You’ve asked me all these questions for such a long time,” said Ingot, “I think it’s now my turn to ask you some questions. “Do you have such an expression on your face because you just killed someone?”
Xiao Jun ignored him.
“Killing isn’t good. If I killed someone, I would feel regret, and then sorrow. But you’re different. The person you killed was the person everyone said you wanted to kill. Why are you sad?”
Xiao Jun couldn’t continue to ignore him.
“How do you know I killed someone,” he asked. “Do you know who I killed?”
“Of course I know.”
A murderous look appeared on Xiao Jun’s pale white face, an expression that made it seem like he could kill someone at any moment.
Ingot didn’t seem to notice, and in fact seemed happy. He said, “You killed Three Frightening Laughs General Li. He’s someone that everyone wanted to kill. It doesn’t matter who killed him, it would cause a huge sensation. Lately there have been more people around here trying to kill him than you could find rats in a rice granary. Only you succeeded. You should be happy to death, and yet you look like you’re so sad you want to die.”
Ingot shook his head: “I really don’t understand what’s going on with you.”
Xiao Jun stared at him. After a long time passed, he said, one word at a time: “You really don’t understand?”
“At first I didn’t. Even if you smashed my head open I wouldn’t be able to figure it out.”
“And now?”
“Now?” Ingot rolled his eyes. “Right now, the sky is turning dark and it’s about time for dinner. If you cooked up a pot of mushrooms, ham and pigs’ feet, maybe with some chicken, then added some fragrant sticky rice and boiled it for a while, I think I could finish the whole thing without your help.”
Xiao Jun stared at him lividly.
“And now?” he asked again, his face looking as taught as a bowstring. “Do you understand now?”
“Yes,” admitted Ingot with a sigh. “Even if I wanted to not know, I would still know.”
Xiao Jun suddenly stood, gathering his Qi and assuming a stance. The five fingers on his right hand became hooks. It looked as if he were about to snatch a viper.
This was a unique technique of Beggar Sect disciples. Neither vipers nor people could easily escape its grip.
It could stab the vital point on a vipers and kill people alike.
***