Book 1 - Chapter 3 – Far and away frozhou (1/2)
Book 1 Chapter 3 – Far and away fro stripped stark naked First, they washed their clothes clean by the creek, then they spread out the clothes on the thickets next to the bank to let it dry in the afternoon sun They put ‘The Secret to Long Life’ on a rock Finally they shouted gleefully as they dive into the strea inside the dark culvert
They were still kids, after all After running for their lives to this forest on a hill, about seven or eight li [1 li is approx 1/2kzhou city wall, they were so exhausted that they did not feel likethat they were already far away froer, theirand singing happily in the water, suddenly they hear tender snort co from the creek’s bank At first they were startled and scared, and quickly looked at the direction of the noise But then they sao snohite clothes, with a baracefully on the shore With her pair of cold eyes that was hidden behind a white gauze veil, she looked at the them up, without any care whatsoever that they were stark naked
The two boys squealed in terror and quickly ducked inside the water, instinctively their hands went down to cover their lower parts With a squeaky voice Xu Ziling cried out, “It’s i sister] please avert your noble eyes; spare us!”
Kou Zhong also cried out, “Looking once you have to pay one wen [1/10 of a tael, approx 05gram (of silver)] Miss already looked at least a hundred times; even with fifty or perhaps sixty percent rate, you need to pay us about a hundred copper coins and then you o”
An ice-cold smile appeared on the corner of the wo for it,” she said lightly
Stretching out her lily-white hand, which was as slender as a spring scallion, she casually flicked her two fingers ‘Pop, pop!’ The two boys screamed in pain and fell down to the water
It was quite a while before they finally eed from the water, still in a lot of pain
The woman-in-white spoke matter-of-factly, “When Miss asks you a question, you ansith an honest answer; otherwise, you, these two little de and Xu Ziling have already withdrawn to the other side of the creek But since they were still naked, they did not dare to crawl out of the water Unable to neither advance nor retreat, they were co has always been able ‘to see the wind and set his sails’; therefore, he forced a laugh and said, “Lowly ones know that we cannot not speak, and speak cannot not be honest [I know it sounds aard in English, but Chinese loves to use double negative] Miss, please go ahead and ask”
Seeing he was trying to talk bookish talk, yet his appearance was nondescript, the woman-in-white let out a cold snort and said, “I ask you, what kind of guts you, the little de o brothers, have never kno to tell stories Miss, you ”
The woman-in-white still maintained her wooden expression With a voice as calm as the water she asked, “Do you live near here?”
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling looked at each other And then one nodded, the other shook his head Another flick of her fingers, their knees eak and they tuain As before, it was quite a while before they were able to struggle up, battered and exhausted
As if nothing had happened, the woman-in-white calmly said, “If I hear one more lie, don’t even think that you will be able to crawl up again”
The two boys were very scared of the woman-in-white’s ruthlessness, but they have already developed resilience froh Kou Zhong said, “Dashi+ [lit great scholar/bachelor/member of senior ministerial class; I don’t kno to translate this properly], you misunderstood I nodded because I certainly live in e nearby And he shook his head, because he lives in the city Today this brother of mine especially went out of the city to have fun with me So now Dashi+ can see that we are indeed innocent”
Hearing the s hastily covered his ht provoke this evil Luocha [demon in Buddhism, as in Yu Luocha, White Haired Demoness]
But the woman-in-white ree your tongue out of yourwas afraid Kou Zhonglong white robe like Guanyin Dashi+ [Goddess of Mercy], he is honoring Big Sister as Dashi+ It is just a show of respect, there is no other ”
At this point, this scene was really weird An enig with two stark naked boys, e in the water If an outsider was to witness this scene, even if he rack his brain until burst, he would not be able to guess the relationshi+p between them
The wo on the rock by the shore “What is that?” she asked
Notreverently and respectfully replied, “That is the book of the sages that Bai Lao Fuzi’s [see Chapter 1] wanted us to study Would Dashi+ like to read it?”
Evidently the woman-in-white did not know that it was a very important book, because the fact was that from the outside, this book was not much different frolances, and then her eyes were back to the two boys “Do you know this ?” she asked in a heavy voice
Seeing she no longer care about their ‘secret manual’, the two boys inwardly wiped the sweats fro to answer at the same time, “Of course we do!”
“Tell me then,” the woman-in-white said, “Why are his house and institution teeates are all closed?”
Kou Zhong pretended to be surprised, “Is there such thing?” he said, “We have been here since early in the o back to the city?”
Although Xu Ziling kneas lying, looking at his seriousa pained expression on his face, he exclai to kill ed hi his intention, he said, “That won’t do! I must return to the city immediately Hey! Dashi+, would you turn your back o up and put our clothes on?”
The wo her back to the how she moved, she was already deep inside the forest
The two boys slumped down into the water, and then they floated back up Kou Zhong sighed and said, “This stinking b1tch is really formidable Someday after we master unrivalled martial art skill, I must strip her naked and look at herwas really afraid shea little push, they crawled up to the shore “She ly,” he said with a wry sh”
After they were fully dressed, Kou Zhong hid the treasured book well, and then with a deep frown said, “What cri commit anyway? Not only hisraided”
Xu Ziling said with a sigh, “It see martial art is useless Let’s roll! Every ti Yan Laoda, ‘ht’”
Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, “How canon dry land’ technique Ow!” He only took two steps when he tripped on a stone and fumbled down that he had to crawl on all four
Xu Ziling doubled up in laughter, and momentarily was not able to stand up
The two boys crouched inside a thicket on a knoll overlooking the lower reaches of Yangtze River They were du warshi+ps and hundreds of speedboats close to the city, inspecting all departing boats
Kou Zhong sucked in a breath of cold air, “My grandpa!” he gasped, “That book of ourswhispered in Kou Zhong’s ear, “Would Zhong Shaoye lower your voice a bit so on’t alar the”
Kou Zhong rubbed his empty tummy Suddenly he was hit by realization, “If the river route is like that, I a closed as well; we’d better find a place to hide Oh, ?”
The two of theed drastically It was obvious that the dog bark came from the direction of the creek Now they could also hear the sound of hoof beats They thought that if the dogs’ sensitive nose had already picked up their scent froround, would thattrouble?
They both shuddered And then with a scream they ran for their lives into the depth of the forest in the mountain
They ran over a s tripped He groaned and rolled downhill Kou Zhong ran over and pulled hi said sadly, “I can’t walk anyo quickly! In the future when you have e s and horses’ legs anyway Right now I can try to divert the enemy; it’s your only hope to escape with your life”
Kou Zhong did not even want to think about it He lugged Xu Ziling toward the sparse wooded area ahead as he cried out, “If we die, we die together; otherwise, how can we be considered brothers?”
Suddenly he had a brainwave Changing direction, he ran toward the Big River [ie Yangtze] By this tis and the hoof beats
Xu Ziling cried out in horror, “Are we going to throw ourselves into the river?”
Gasping for breath, Kou Zhong replied, “This is the only way As soon as we are in the water, you have to hold on tight to me no zhou, it would be like sending the la recalled the evil bunch who beat up Yan Laoda, he thought that drowning in the river sure beats being beaten to death Without saying anything, he suth, which was nottoward the cliff by the riverbank
Kou Zhong roared wildly With both hands he grasped Xu Ziling’s hands and shouted, “Don’t look; just stake everything you have and juet it over with”
[1] Serious er, anxiety, thought, grief, fear, fright
Chapter 3, Part 2