Chapter - 16 (16) (1/2)

Amidst the noise of the heavy rain, from the east wing suddenly came the sound of several women wailing, the voice was very mournful. Hearing this, everybody could not stop the hair on ther bodies from standing up, their countenance changed greatly. A moment later, from the west wing came the sound of a woman weeping in grief.

On the carriage, Wei Xiaobao closed his eyes and took a nap. Towards the evening, he suddenly heard the sound of horse's hoof, a rider was coming fast from behind. When it came close enough, he heard a man's voice shouted, ”Driver, does your passenger happen to be a child?”

Wei Xiaobao recognized the voice as Liu Yizhou's; without waiting for the driver to reply, he poked his head out of the carriage and said with a laugh, ”Liu Dage, are you looking for me?”

Liu Yizhou's brow was beaded with sweat, his face was dusty; as soon as he saw Wei Xiaobao he called out, ”Good, finally I found you!” From behind the carriage he galloped around to the front and shouted, ”Roll out!”

Seeing his ill-expression, Wei Xiaobao was shocked; ”Liu Dage,” he asked, ”How did I offend you? Why are you so angry?”

Liu Yizhou brandished the horsewhip in his hand and lashed it out forcefully on the head of the mule pulling the carriage. The mule neighed in pain and reared on its hind legs, bringing the carriage up that the driver almost fell down. The driver shouted, ”The sky is clear, the sun is shining, are you seeing a ghost? Why are you acting so unreasonably?”

Liu Yizhou shouted, ”Laozi wants to act unreasonably!” Brandishing the whip one more time, he wound it around the driver's whip and pulled it hard, throwing the driver to the ground, and immediately lashed the whip again and again, cursing with every strike, ”Laozi wants to act unreasonably! Laozi wants to act unreasonably!”

The carriage driver struggled, but was unable to crawl back up, he could only curse 'yeye', 'naynay' [(paternal) grandfather and grandmother, respectively] left and right. Liu Yizhou struck heavier and heavier; blood started to splash as the whip went down relentlessly. Wei Xiaobao was greatly taken aback; he mused, ”This carriage driver had neither grudge nor enmity with him, yet he beats him this bad, while he is actually rushing to get to me. Laozi is not his match, after he is done with the carriage driver, he will most likely beat me like that; the turn of events would be far from good.” Drawing the dagger from his boot, he lightly poked the mule's buttocks.

The mule felt pain and was startled, it kicked back and then dashed wildly, pulling the large carriage along the main road. Liu Yizhou left the carriage driver, he slapped his horse's back to give a chase, while calling out, ”Good kid, if you have guts, don't run!”

From the carriage Wei Xiaobao stuck out his head and called back, ”Good kid, if you have guts, don't pursue!”

Liu Yizhou whipped his horse to rush over. Although the mule was running very fast, it was, after all, pulling a large carriage; after running for a while, Liu Yizhou managed to close the distance. Wei Xiaobao was thinking of throwing the dagger toward Liu Yizhou, but he thought that he would most likely miss, and would lose the dagger with which he protect himself instead. He yelled and shouted wildly, urging the mule to run faster. Suddenly there was a sharp wind by his ear, followed by a burning pain on the right side of his face as Liu Yizhou's whip struck him. Hastily he pulled his head back into the carriage, from the slit on the carriage cover he could see the head of Liu Yizhou's horse was already by the carriage's side, only a few more steps, Liu Yizhou would then be able to jump into the carriage. With an inspiration in a moment of desperation, he put his hand into his pocket and got an ingot of silver, which he hurled out as hard as he could, it happened to hit the horse's left eye. Blood spurting out of the horse's left eye as its eyeball disintegrated and blinded instantly. The horse bolted toward the hillside. Liu Yizhou hastily pulled the reins, but the horse was hurt so bad that with a few fierce jumps it threw Liu Yizhou off its back. He rolled on the ground and immediately stood up, but the horse had already entered the forest, neighing repeatedly while galloping away.

Wei Xiaobao laughed aloud and called out, ”Liu Dage, if you can't ride a horse, I advise you to catch a turtle and ride it!”

Liu Yizhou was very angry, he raised his chi and ran after the carriage. Wei Xiaobao jumped in fright and quickly urged the mule to run faster. When he turned his head around, he saw that although Liu Yizhou was about twenty, thirty zhang away from the carriage; he did not stop pursuing in large strides, it would not be easy to throw him off. Wei Xiaobao pulled his dagger and lightly poked the mule's buttocks again. Who would have thought that this time it was not working? The mule jumped up and down several times, suddenly it turned around and ran toward Liu Yizhou.

”Wrong way! Wrong way!” Wei Xiaobao yelled, ”You dirty beast, I feed you but you help my enemy[62]. Now you're really putting laozi in a bad spot!” With all his strength he tried to pull the reins, but the mule was showing its true nature, how could he pull it back? Seeing the situation was far from good, Wei Xiaobao hastily jumped down from the carriage and ran into a forest by the side of the road.

With a big leap Liu Yizhou flew on top of him, while stretching out his left hand to grab the back of Wei Xiaobao's neck. Wei Xiaobao stabbed the dagger in his right hand backward, Liu Yizhou used his right hand to press Wei Xiaobao's arm downward, using the move 'Floating Cloud Running Water' he grabbed Wei Xiaobao's wrist and bent it backward toward his own arm so that the tip of the dagger was pointing toward Wei Xiaobao's throat.

”Little thief!” he shouted, ”You still dare to resist me?” 'Slap! Slap!' with his left hand he slapped Wei Xiaobao's ears.

Wei Xiaobao's wrist was in so much pain; he felt a cool breeze on his throat and knew that his dagger could cut iron like mud, it would shear his throat like cutting a tofu. ”Liu Dage,” he said, smiling and giggling, ”If you want to say something, just say it; we are on the same side, why play rough?”

Liu Yizhou spat on his face. ”Pei! Who's on the same side with you? You ... you ... you, little thief, you dare to sweet talk and deceive my Fang Shimei in the Imperial Palace, and ... and slept with her on the same bed. This ... this ... I ... I ... I must kill you ...” The blue veins on his forehead were bulging, his eyes looked like they were about to spout fire, his left hand curled into a fist, which he held in front of Wei Xiaobao's face.

It was only then did Wei Xiaobao realize why Liu Yizhou was that angry, turned out it was because of Fang Yi; but how did he find out? Right now he was facing a 'thousand pounds hanging by a thread' situation, if he let his anger flared up and he increased the strength of his hand by 5%, a hole would immediately appear on his own throat. Thereupon he said with laugh, ”Miss Fang is your sweetheart, how could I dare to be rude to her? In Miss Fang's heart there is only one man, you. From dawn to dusk, she is only thinking about you.”

Liu Yizhou's anger immediately abated. ”How do you know?” he asked. The dagger was pulled back several cun.

Wei Xiaobao said, ”It was only because she asked me to save you that I took you out of the Palace. As soon as she learned that you were out of danger, her joy was indescribable.”

Suddenly Liu Yizhou's anger flared up again; with a clenched teeth he said, ”You, little son-of-a-b1tch, laozi does not want to receive your pity! I don't care if you saved me or not, but why did you deceive my Fang Shimei into agreeing to marry ... to become your wife?” The dagger advanced several cun.

”Uh,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”How can there be such thing? Who told you that? Miss Fang is a 'bashful flower obstructing the moon' type of beautiful woman, only a handsome and established hero like you is fit to marry her!”

Liu Yizhou's anger diminished thirty more percent, the dagger withdrew several cun back; he said, ”You still want to deny? Fang Shimei has agreed to marry you and be your wife, right?” Wei Xiaobao laughed aloud. ”What's so funny?” Liu Yizhou asked.

”Liu Dage,” Wei Xiaobao said with a laugh, ”Let me ask you: can a eunuch take a wife?”

Because of his anger, Liu Yizhou had rushed to pursue Wei Xiaobao, without remembering that Wei Xiaobao was a eunuch, and that eunuchs do not marry. Reminded by Wei Xiaobao's words, his heart was in full bloom, he could not help but burst out in laughter, but he did not release Wei Xiaobao's wrist. ”Then why did you swindle my Fang Shimei into agreeing to marry you?” he asked.

”Where did you hear that from?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

”I heard it with my own ears, Fang Shimei was talking to Xiao Junzhu,” Liu Yizhou said, ”Are you saying they are lying?”

”Were they talking to each other, or did they tell you?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

Liu Yizhou hesitated before replying, ”They were talking to each other.”

What happened was that as Xu Tianchuan, Fang Yi and Mu Jianping set off toward Shijiazhuang, they had not travelled far when they came across Wu Lishen, Ao Biao and Liu Yizhou, three people. In the Qing Palace, Wu Lishen, three people were tortured; although their muscles and bones were not seriously injured, their bodies were beaten that their skin was broken and their flesh burst open. They were also on their way to Shijiazhuang, riding on a carriage, to recuperate from their wounds. Meeting each other by chance, they were very delighted. But Fang Yi's expression when she met Liu Yizhou was entirely different from in the past, other than greeted him with a ”Liu Shige” when they met, she was totally indifferent, she did not even pay him any attention.

Twice, then three times, Liu Yizhou tried to pull her aside so that they could have a heart-to-heart talk, but Fang Yi was unwilling to leave Mu Jianping's side. Liu Yizhou was both anxious and angry, he pressed on tighter. Fang Yi said, ”Liu Shige, from now on the two of us only share the Shixiong, Shimei sentiment, apart from this, don't mention anything, don't think anything.”

Liu Yizhou was startled. ”Wh ... why?” he asked.

”Nothing,” Fang Yi coldly replied.

Liu Yizhou pulled her hand and anxiously said, ”Shimei, you ...”

Fang Yi struggled hard to free herself and shouted, ”Please show some respect!”

Suffering a major embarrassment, at the inn that night Liu Yizhou was tossing and turning without able to put his head down to rest. His mood surged, he crawled out quietly toward the window of Fang Yi and Mu Jianping's room. As expected, he heard the two of them were talking to each other in low voice.

Mu Jianping said, ”You treated Liu Shige like that, wouldn't you make him broken-hearted?”

”What can I do?” Fang Yi replied, ”The sooner he is broken-hearted, the sooner he will forget me, the sooner he won't be broken-hearted anymore.”

Mu Jianping said, ”Are you really going to marry ... marry that little child Wei Xiaobao? He is so young, can you be his wife?”

Fang Yi said, ”It is you who want to marry this little monkey, therefore, you urge me to treat Shige well, am I right?”

”No, no, it's not that!” Mu Jianping hurriedly said, ”In that case, you'd better marry Wei Dage sooner.”

Fang Yi sighed and said, ”I have made an oath, putting curse on myself; have you already forgotten? That day I said, 'By the Emperor of Heaven above and the Queen of Earth below, if Gui Gong-gong can rescue Liu Yizhou and bring him to safety, the lowly woman Fang Yi will be willing to be Gui Gong-gong's wife, and will be loyal and dependable to my husband with singleness of heart for the rest of my life, even if Gui Gong-gong cannot take me as wife for real, I am dead set on taking care of him for a lifetime. If I am double-minded, let me be cut into ten thousand pieces and will not be reincarnated.' I also said, 'Xiao Junzhu is my witness.' I can't forget this, you must not forget it either.”

”You did say those words,” Mu Jianping said, ”But I thought ... I thought that he was only joking, you don't need to take him seriously.”

Fang Yi said, ”I don't care if he was serious or was only joking, but as women, if we have personally agree to give ourselves to him in marriage, we must never go back on our promise, we must be faithful unto death[63]. Much less ... much less ...”

”Much less what?” Mu Jianping asked.

Fang Yi said, ”I have thought carefully, even if I can deny the words I said, but he ... he had shared the same bed with the two of us, slept under the same quilt ...”

Listening from outside the window, Liu Yizhou felt as if his five internal organs were burning, as if the sky was spinning and the earth was turning, his knees went weak. He heard Fang Yi continued, ”Actually, although he is young, he can talk smooth, and his treatment to the two of us is not bad at all. This time we part, I wonder when we will see him again.”

Mu Jianping stifled another laugh, with a low voice she said, ”Shijie, you miss him!”

”If I miss him then I miss him, so what?” Fang Yi said.

”That's right,” Mu Jianping said, ”I miss him too. Several times I tried to invite him to come with us to Shijiazhuang, but he always said that he has an important business to attend. Shijie, do you think he was telling the truth, or was he lying to us?”

Fang Yi said, ”When we stopped by for a snack earlier, I overheard him chatting with the carriage driver, he was asking the way to Shanxi. Apparently he is going to Shanxi.”

Mu Jianping said, ”He is so young, yet traveling alone to Shanxi; what would happen if he came across bad people along the way?”

Fang Yi sighed and said, ”I was thinking of asking Xu Laoyezi not to escort us, but to escort him instead, but I know Xu Laoyezi would not agree.”

”Shijie,” Mu Jianping said, ”I ... I think ...”

”What is it?” Fang Yi asked.

Mu Jianping sighed. ”Never mind,” she said.

Fang Yi said, ”Too bad both of us are injured, otherwise, we can accompany him going to Shanxi. Now that we met Wu Shishu, Liu Shige, we cannot go looking for him.”

Listening to this part, Liu Yizhou's head was dizzy. 'Bang!' his forehead bumped onto the window frame. ”What's that?” Fang Yi and Mu Jianping asked together.

Liu Yizhou's heart was burning with jealousy, it was as if he turned mad; his only thought was, ”I must kill that boy, I must kill that boy!” Rushing toward the front courtyard, he pulled a horse, pushed open the inn's gate, mounted the horse and rushed off. He thought that since Wei Xiaobao was going to Shanxi, he headed to the west.

Galloping until daybreak, he asked the way to Shanxi, then rushed along the main road in pursuit. Each time he came across a large carriage, he would ask, ”Does the one sitting on the carriage happen to be a child?”

Listening to Liu Yizhou, Wei Xiaobao knew that Liu Yizhou's knowledge came from listening to Xiao Junzhu and Fang Yi's conversation, presumably he was eavesdropping; therefore, what he knew must be limited. Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, ”Liu Shige, you have fallen into your Shimei's trick.”

”What trick?” Liu Yizhou asked.

Wei Xiaobao said, ”Miss Fang told me that she wanted to make you mad, because she put her heart and soul to save you, but you did not have her in your heart at all.”

”How ... how can that be?” Liu Yizhou asked anxiously, ”How could she say that I do not have her in my heart at all?”

”You gave her a silver hairpin, didn't you?” Wei Xiaobao asked, ”There was a plum blossom on the head of the hairpin.”

”Yes, yes!” Liu Yizhou replied, ”How do you know?”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”During the tangled battle in the Palace, she dropped the hairpin, and she seemed very anxious about it. She said that it was given by her sweetheart, so whatever happens she must not lose it, even if she has to stake her life, she must find it.”

Liu Yizhou was taken aback. ”She ... she is that good to me?” he muttered to himself.

”Of course,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”How can it be false?”

”And then what happened?” Liu Yizhou asked.

”You twist my hand like this, I am in great pain,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”How can I talk?”

”Alright!” Liu Yizhou said. Hearing Fang Yi's deep affection toward him, his rage had dissipated for the most part; also, he thought that this child could not escape from his palm anyway, thereupon he released his grip and asked, ”And then what happened?”

Being grasped by him, Wei Xiaobao's arm went numb and was hurting bad; he slowly put the dagger back into his boot, and saw that there were some red and swollen finger prints on his wrist. ”Mu Palace people love to grab other people's wrist. You are like this, Bai Hanfeng was also like this. The 'Turtle Grasping Technique' of the Mu Family Fist Technique is very well-developed.”

When saying the 'Turtle Grabbing Technique', the word 'turtle' was spoken very obscurely that Liu Yizhou did not hear it clearly, but he did not take any notice anyway; Liu Yizhou asked, ”Fang Shimei lost the silver hairpin I gave her, and then what happened?”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”You have gripped me with your 'Turtle Claw' that I am unable to breathe easily, I must take a rest before I can tell you anything. In short, whether you can or cannot take Miss Fang as your wife, it involves a great responsibility.”

This time Liu Yizhou could hear the words 'Turtle Claw' clearly, but his rage stemmed from the fact that Wei Xiaobao has swindled Fang Yi into agreeing to marry him; he really did not care if Wei Xiaobao took advantage of him orally. Also, hearing Wei Xiaobao said, 'Whether you can or cannot take Miss Fang as your wife, it involves a great responsibility', he was quite concerned; therefore, he said urgently, ”Tell me quickly, don't dawdle.”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”I must sit down first and slowly rest before I'll have the energy to talk.” Liu Yizhou was helpless; he had no choice but to follow Wei Xiaobao to a big tree by the forest. Seeing Wei Xiaobao sat on the tree roots, he also sat down by his side.

Wei Xiaobao sighed. ”What a pity, what a pity,” he said.

Liu Yizhou immediately felt uneasy, ”What do you mean 'what a pity'?” he anxiously asked.

”What a pity your Shimei is not here,” Wei Xiaobao replied, ”Otherwise, if she could sit side by side with you like this, discussing passion and talking of love with you, she would be very happy.”

Liu Yizhou was greatly delighted, he could not refrain from laughing as he asked, ”How do you know?”

”I heard her personally saying it,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”That day when she dropped the silver hairpin, she staked her life and braved enormous danger to rush through three palace gates heavily guarded by the Imperial Bodyguards. Although heavily injured, she managed to kill three Qing Palace's Imperial Bodyguards, until she was finally able to retrieve that silver hairpin back. I said, 'Miss Fang, you were very stupid, it's just a silver hairpin, how many qian does it worth? I'll give you a thousand taels of silver; in one breath we can easily find three, four thousand silver hairpins just like it. Even if you wear ten pins every day, different pins each day, in one year, three hundred and sixty days, you will wear new hairpins daily.' Miss Fang said, 'You are just a kid, what do you know? This is a gift from my dear one, Liu Shige. Even if you give me a thousand pins, ten thousand pins, gold hairpins or pearl hairpins, how can it beat this silver hairpin, or a copper hairpin, or an iron hairpin, which my dear one Liu Shige gave me?' Liu Dage, tell me, don't you agree that Miss Fang is muddleheaded?”

Listening to this, Liu Yizhou was beaming from ear to ear that he could not close his mouth. ”Then … then why did she say different things when she was talking to Xiao Junzhu in the middle of the night?” he asked.

”You were eavesdropping outside their window in the middle of the night, weren't you?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

Liu Yizhou blushed slightly, he said, ”I wasn't eavesdropping, I wanted to go pee in the middle of the night, and happened to hear them.”

”Liu Dage,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”You are at fault here. Why didn't you pee anywhere else, but peed outside Miss Fang's window? Won't it stink to high heaven and the stench overwhelm the two 'bashful flower obstructing the moon' ladies?”

”Yes, yes!” Liu Yizhou said, ”And then what did my Fang Shimei say?”

”My tummy is very hungry,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”I don't have the energy to talk. Quickly go and buy something for me to eat. Only after I am full that I will tell you those corny, sickening words your Fang Shimei said.” He was hoping to swindle Liu Yizhou into agreeing to take him into a small town, so that he could slip away in the crowd.

”What corny, sickening words?” Liu Yizhou asked, ”Fang Shimei has always been very proper, she has never said any corny, sickening words.”

”Fine, she is very proper, she has never said any corny, sickening words,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”She said 'my dear one Liu Shige'! She also said, 'my considerate and handsome Liu Shige'. Damn it, you may not find it corny and sickening, but I was embarrassed just listening to it. Humph, she was not ashamed to speak those kinds of words.”

Liu Yizhou's heart was in full bloom, but he said, ”It's impossible, how can Fang Shimei speak those kinds of words?”

”Fine, fine!” Wei Xiaobao said, ”Just consider me speaking incorrectly. Liu Dage, I want to find something to eat, excuse me, I must leave.” While speaking, he stood up.

Listening to his story, Liu Yizhou's heart was unbearably itchy; how could he let Wei Xiaobao leave? Hastily he gently pushed down Wei Xiaobao's shoulder and said, ”Wei Xiongdi, don't leave too quickly! I have brought some flat cake with me as my dry rations. Why don't you eat it first? After you are done talking, when we get to the town ahead, I will invite you to drink wine and eat some noodles to apologize to you.” While saying that, he opened the bundle he carried on his back and took several flat cakes.

Wei Xiaobao took a cake; he tore a piece and chewed it several times before saying, ”This flat cake is neither salty nor sour, what kind of goodies is this? Here, try this for me.” And he handed the torn piece of flat cake back to Liu Yizhou.

Liu Yizhou said, ”This cake has hardened, naturally the flavor is not too good. We'll just have to deal with it to allay our hunger, we'll talk about it later.” While saying that, he tore a piece and ate it.

Wei Xiaobao said, ”I wonder how these cakes would taste?” He rummaged through the flat cakes to select one. After flipping around several times, he said, ”Damn it, I want to go pee; I will eat later.” He went to a big tree nearby, turned his body around, pulled his pants and peed. Liu Yizhou fixed his gaze on him, he was afraid Wei Xiaobao would suddenly run away. After urinating, Wei Xiaobao returned to Liu Yizhou's side, flipped around the flat cakes again, before finally he picked one, tore a piece, and ate it.

After pursuing Wei Xiaobao for half a day, Liu Yizhou was very hungry. He also took a piece of flat cake and ate it. While chewing, he said, ”Could it be that Fang Shimei and Xiao Junzhu said those things to deliberately annoy me?”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”I am not the roundworm inside your Fang Shimei's belly, how would I know her real intention? You are her dearly beloved Shige, how come you do not know and ask me instead?”

”Alright! Alright!” Liu Yizhou said, ”I was hot-headed just now and have offended you. Just tell me, don't keep me in suspense!”

”Since that's the case, I will tell you the truth,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”Your Fang Shimei is very good-looking. If I were not an eunuch, I would love to take her as my wife. It's just that even if I did not take her as my wife, I am afraid it's not for you to marry her either.”

”Why? Why?” Liu Yizhou anxiously asked.

”Don't be impatient,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”Eat some more flat cake, I will slowly tell you.”

”Damn it,” Liu Yizhou cursed, ”You are always humming and hawing, keeping me in suspense ...” Speaking to this point, suddenly his body swayed.

”What is it?” Wei Xiaobao said, ”You don't feel well? I am afraid this flat cake is not too clean.”

”What?” Liu Yizhou asked. He stood up, staggered a circle, and suddenly fell down to the ground.

Wei Xiaobao laughed aloud; he kicked Liu Yizhou's buttocks once and said, ”Hey! It's your own flat cake, how come there is knockout drug inside? It's very strange.” Liu Yizhou made an ”Oh” noise, and then lost his consciousness.

Wei Xiaobao kicked him a couple more times; seeing he was completely motionless, Wei Xiaobao pulled Liu Yizhou's belt and tied his legs firmly, and then he also tied Liu Yizhou's hands behind his back. Seeing a large boulder by the big tree, he huffed and puffed to push the boulder away, revealing a hole underneath, with a pile of loose rocks inside. Moving the loose rocks out one by one, he made a hole in the ground about four chi deep. ”Laozi will bury you alive today,” he said with a laugh.

Dragging Liu Yizhou to the hole, he stood him up vertically, and then he pushed the dirt and rocks back into the hole. After working steadfastly, he managed to bury Liu Yizhou up to his arm with the dirt, so that only his shoulder and head were exposed. Wei Xiaobao was very proud of himself. He went to a nearby creek, took off his long gown and soaked it in the water, then returning to Liu Yizhou, he wrung the long gown and let the creek water drenched Liu Yizhou's head.

Aroused by the cold water, Liu Yizhou slowly regained his consciousness. Temporarily he was still at a loss; he wanted to struggle, but he could not move at all. He saw Wei Xiaobao was sitting in front of him, hugging his knees and chuckling while looking at him. A moment later he finally came to his senses and realized what had happened. He struggled again, but still was not able to move the least bit. He said, ”Good Xiongdi, don't play a joke on me!”

Wei Xiaobao cursed, ”F*ck your mother, Laozi has many important things to do, why would I want to play a joke with a stinky thief like you?” Heavily he kicked again, Liu Yizhou's right cheek was immediately drenched with blood. Wei Xiaobao cursed again, ”Miss Fang is my wife, you are not fit to even think of her. Stinky thief, you twisted Laozi's hand and hurt me real bad, you slapped my face, and used whip to strike me. Laozi will cut your ears first, and then shear your nose; I will deal with you slice by slice.” While saying that, he drew out his dagger, stooped down and run the tip of the blade on Liu Yizhou's face, twice.

Liu Yizhou was scared out of his wits; he called out, ”Good Xiong ... Wei ... Wei Xiongdi, Wei Xiangzhu, please consider your good relation with the Mu Palace, please raise ... please raise your hand.”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”From the Palace I saved you and took you out, but you actually repay my kindness with enmity, unexpectedly you wanted to kill me. Humph, humph, based on your meager ability, you want to move the dust from Taisui's[64] head? You told me to consider my good relation with the Mu Palace; when you grasped my hand just now, how come you did not consider your good relation with Tian Di Hui?”

Liu Yizhou said, ”Indeed I was mistaken, Zaixia was wrong! Please ... please ... please forgive me.”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”I want to cut three hundred and sixty your mother's cuts on your head, to vent off the hatred in my heart!” Lifting up Liu Yizhou's braid, he cut it with his blade. The dagger was extremely sharp, with a 'swish!' the braid fell down, and then he ran the blade back and forth on Liu Yizhou's head. In a short period of time, all the hair on Liu Yizhou's head fell off that he turned into a bald man.

”Dead bald thief,” Wei Xiaobao cursed, ”As soon as I see a monk, laozi is angry, I must kill you!”

Liu Yizhou forced a smile as he said, ”Wei Xiangzhu, Zaixia is not a monk.”

”So you are not a damn monk,” Wei Xiaobao cursed, ”Then why did you shave your head clean? Want to deceive Laoye?” [lord or master, referring to self]Liu Yizhou said in his heart, ”Clearly it was you who shaved my head? Why do you blame me?” But since his life was in Wei Xiaobao's hands, he did not dare to argue; he had no choice but to say with a laugh, ”A thousand mistakes, ten thousand mistakes, it's Xiaoren in the wrong. Wei Xiangzhu Daren is magnanimous, please do not hold it against me.”

”Alright,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”Let me ask you then: Fang Yi, Miss Fang, whose wife is she?”

”This ... this ...” Liu Yizhou stammered.

”What this or that?” Wei Xiaobao shouted loudly, ”Answer it, now!” Raising his dagger, he waved it in front of Liu Yizhou's face.

Liu Yizhou thought that a real man should not suffer disadvantage from the outset; this little demon was an eunuch anyway, just let him had small verbal advantages. Otherwise, he might brandish his dagger and then Liu Yizhou would lose a nose or an ear, then it would be bad indeed. Thereupon he busily said, ”She ... naturally she is Wei Xiangzhu's ... she is Wei Xiangzhu's wife.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed aloud and said, ”She? She who? Speak up! Laozi cannot understand monks' mumbling speech.”

Liu Yizhou said, ”Fang Yi, Fang Shimei, she is Wei Xiangzhu's wife.”

”Let me be clear on this,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”Are you or are you not my friend?”

Hearing the tone of Wei Xiaobao's voice was slacking, Liu Yizhou was delighted; he hurriedly said, ”Xiaoren actually does not dare to pull myself up high. If Wei Xiangzhu is willing to treat Zaixia as a friend, Zaixia ... naturally it is what Zaixia always seek but fail to obtain.”

”I regard you as a friend,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”In Jianghu, friends always uphold yi qi, right?”

”Yes, yes,” Liu Yizhou busily said, ”Good friends should uphold yi qi.”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”A friend's wife, you must not touch. If in the future you act like a thief toward my wife, speaking nonsense, then what will happen? I want you make an oath!”

Liu Yizhou groaned inwardly, he realized he had fallen into Wei Xiaobao's trick. Wei Xiaobao said, ”It's alright if you don't want to make an oath. I knew it all along that you are sneaky, always harbor malicious intentions, and with heart and soul you want to take liberties with women, you want to fool around with my wife.”

Wei Xiaobao waved his dagger again, Liu Yizhou saw flickering white light in front of his eyes. ”No, no,” he hastily said, ”Toward Wei Xiangzhu's wife, Zaixia definitely does not dare to harbor any evil intentions.”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”If you ever cast one more glance to Miss Fang in the future, speak one more word to her, then what will happen?”

Liu Yizhou said, ”Then ... then let the Heaven punish me, the Earth extinguish me.”

”Then you are a turtle !” Wei Xiaobao said.

With a bitter smile Liu Yizhou said, ”Right, right!”

”Right what?” Wei Xiaobao said, ”Your fart is right?” He put the tip of his dagger onto Liu Yizhou's right eyelid.

Liu Yizhou said, ”If in the future I cast one more glance to Fang Shimei, speak one more word to her, then I am a turtle !”

Wei Xiaobao laughed aloud. ”Since that's the case,” he said, ”I'll spare you. I'll drench your head with my pee first, then I'll let you go.” Finished speaking, he put the dagger back into his boot, and untied his belt with both hands.

Suddenly from the forest came a female voice, ”You ... you are bullying people too far!”

Wei Xiaobao recognized it as Fang Yi's voice; he was pleasantly surprised. Turning his head around, he saw three people come out of the forest; the first to appear was indeed Fang Yi, with Mu Jianping and Xu Tianchuan behind her. A moment later, two more people came out, they were none other than Wu Lishen and Ao Biao.

These five people had been hiding in the forest for quite a long time; they heard everything Wei and Liu, two people's conversation. Seeing Wei Xiaobao was about to pee on Liu Yizhou's head, which would result in deep, unsolvable resentment, Fang Yi could not bear not to shout to stop him.

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, ”Turns out you are already here. Looking at Wu Laoyezi's face, you are exempt from being soaked with urine.”

Xu Tianchuan hurriedly came over and with both hands pushed aside the rocks and dirt surrounding Liu Yizhou's body. He wrapped his arms around Liu Yizhou and lifted him up, then he untied the belt binding Liu Yizhou's hands and feet. Liu Yizhou was unbearably ashamed; he lowered his head and did not dare to meet anybody's eyes.

Wu Lishen's face turned ashen as he said, ”Liu Xianzhi [worthy nephew], our lives were saved by Wei Xiangzhu, how can you repay kindness with enmity, relying on power to bully the weak? You beat him, your cursed him, and you twisted his arm. If your Shifu find out, how would you explain to him?” He was speaking and shaking his head at the same time, the tone of his voice showed that he was very upset. He continued, ”Living in Jianghu, we pay most particular attention to these two characters 'yi qi'; how can you use force toward a good friend, to fight over a woman's affection? Forgetting favor and violating justice, that was an action even lower than a pig or a dog!” While saying that, 'Pei!' he spat on the ground. The more he spoke, the angrier he got; he said, ”Last night, in the middle of the night, like an explosion of thunder you rushed out, everybody knew something was wrong, thus we went looking for you all the way. You slapped Wei Xiangzhu's cheek red and swollen, you twisted his arm, you threatened his throat with the tip of a dagger; if you slipped and unexpectedly harmed his life, how would you answer to that?”

Liu Yizhou indignantly said, ”A life for a life, I'll simply pay for his life with mine.”

Wu Lishen angrily said, ”Hey, is it that easy? What kind of hero or warrior are you? Do you think you can pay for one of Tian Di Hui's ten Xiangzhu, Wei Xiangzhu's life with yours? Besides, where did you get your life from? Wasn't it because of Wei Xiangzhu's help? You are not grateful and seeking to repay the kindness, other people are already looking down on you; unexpectedly you dare to fight Wei Xiangzhu?”

When he was forced by Wei Xiaobao to make an oath, Liu Yizhou's life was hanging on Wei Xiaobao's hand; hence he did not any choice but to comply. But now that he was free, he realized that all these speeches were heard by Fang Yi; the shame and resentment he felt in his heart was indeed difficult to bear. Although Wu Lishen was his martial uncle, listening to his endless prattle in lecturing him, he could not stop his shame from turning into anger. Hardening his heart, he said harshly, ”Wu Shishu, what's done is done. Not even one hair of the one surnamed Wei is injured. You, Senior, can do whatever you want to do to me!”

Wu Lishen jumped up in anger, pointing his finger to Liu Yizhou's face he roared, ”Liu Yizhou, you are this disrespectful toward your own Shishu. You want to fight me, don't you?”

”I did not say that,” Liu Yizhou replied, ”I am not your match anyway.”

Wu Lishen was even more angry; with a stern voice he said, ”If your martial art skill surpasses mine, you are definitely going to fight me, aren't you? In the Qing Palace you were greedy for life, afraid of death. As soon as you heard we were going to be beheaded, you busily begged for mercy in loud voice, hurriedly announced your real name and surname. Considering Liu Shige's face, I sealed my lips and did not say anything about this matter. Humph, humph! Just consider yourself lucky you are not my disciple.” It was obvious he was saying that if you were my disciple, I would have killed you with a blade.

Hearing his shameful act as he cowardly begged for mercy in the Qing Palace was exposed, Liu Yizhou hung his head low, his face paled, he did not dare to say anything.

Knowing that he had gained the upper hand, Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, ”Alright, alright. Wu Laoyezi, Liu Dage was only fooling around with me, please don't take it seriously. I want to ask a favor from you: about the past matter, please don't tell Liu Laoyezi.”

Wu Lishen said, ”Since Wei Xiangzhu has instructed such, I will do as told.” Turning his head toward Liu Yizhou, he said, ”Did you see that? Wei Xiangzhu is putting important matter first, showing his great magnanimity.”

Wei Xiaobao turned toward Fang Yi and Mu Jianping, he laughed and said, ”How did you come here?”

”Come here,” Fang Yi said, ”I have something I want to tell you.”

With a giggle Wei Xiaobao came over. Seeing Fang Yi showing that kind of affection toward Wei Xiaobao in front of everybody else, Liu Yizhou's hand grabbed the handle of his saber; he almost could not restrain himself from pulling the saber, charging forward and fighting Wei Xiaobao to the death. Suddenly he heard a slap, Wei Xiaobao was slapped on the face, a hard and burning slap.

Wei Xiaobao was startled, he jumped back several steps, his hand rubbed his cheek. ”You … why did you hit me?” he angrily asked.

Fang Yi raised her willow-shaped eyebrows, her face flushed of anger. ”What do you take me for?” she angrily said, ”What did you tell Liu Shige? You insulted me as frivolous and lowly behind my back?”

”I did not say any … any bad words,” Wei Xiaobao said.

”You still deny it?” Fang Yi said, ”I heard everything. You … both of you are not good men.” In her anger and anxiety, she burst into tears.

Xu Tianchuan thought that this was young people's problem, not an important matter at all, but the friendship between Tian Di Hui and Mu Palace must not be harmed; thereupon he laughed aloud and said, ”Wei Xiangzhu and Liu Shixiong were just having misunderstanding, which has been straightened up. Old man Xu is starving, let us quickly find a restaurant, let's eat, drink, and be merry.”

Suddenly a northeasterly wind blew, carrying with it raindrops as big as soybeans. Xu Tianchuan looked up to the sky and said, ”For no rhyme or reason the tenth month weather has sent us this rain; it's really unseemly.” Seeing the black clouds rolled in from the northeast, he said, ”I am afraid this rain will not be light, we'd better look for a place to take shelter.”

The seven of them continued their journey along the main road heading west. Fang Yi and Mu Jianping had not fully recovered yet, they had to walk slowly. The rain was getting heavier and heavier, while along the way there was not even a farmhouse or a pavilion. Not too long afterwards, all seven of them were completely soaked. Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, ”Let us walk slowly. Walking fast, we will look like chicken falling in the soup, walking slow, we will look like duck falling in the soup; there is no difference anyway.”

After walking for quite a while, the seven of them heard the sound of water, they had reached the river bank. They saw about half a li upstream there was a small hut. The seven people were delighted, they hastened toward the hut. When they were near, they saw that the hut was actually a broken-down temple with its wall askew to the east and fell to the west. But although it was broken-down, to take shelter from the rain, this temple was actually better than nothing. The temple gate had already been rotten a long time ago. As soon as they entered, a moldy smell assaulted their nostrils.

After walking for a while, the wound on Fang Yi's chest was really hurting; she could not help but knitting her brows and clench her teeth. Xu Tianchuan tore apart several broken-down table and chairs and built fire, so that everybody could dry their clothes. They saw the black clouds in the sky gathered thicker and thicker, the rain was getting heavier and heavier. From his bundle Xu Tianchuan produced several dry flatbreads and handed them around. Liu Yizhou stuffed the stub of what's left of his pigtail into his hat, it was barely enough to make a braid. With a chuckle Wei Xiaobao looked to the left and to the right.

With a laugh Mu Jianping asked Wei Xiaobao, ”Just now, what trick did you play onto Liu Shige's flat cakes?”

Wei Xiaobao stared at her, ”I did not!” he said, ”What trick can I play?”

”Humph, still don't want to admit it?” Mu Jianping said, ”How could Liu Shige be hit by knockout drug and lose his consciousness?”

”He was hit by knockout drug?” Wei Xiaobao said, ”When? How come I did not know? It can't be, isn't he sitting nicely by the fire to warm himself?”

”Pei!” Mu Jianping spat; feigning anger, she said, ”You play dumb, I won't talk to you.”

Sitting on the side, Fang Yi was also filled with doubts. When Liu Yizhou grabbed Wei Xiaobao and so on earlier, they were still quite far away, nobody saw it clearly. Afterwards they saw Liu and Wei, two men, were sitting side by side, talking under the tree, hence they quietly walked on tiptoe to hide in the forest. They saw all the flat cakes were taken out by Liu Yizhou from his own bundle, plus Liu Yizhou's eyes had never left Wei Xiaobao at all, tu guard against him running away. How could it be that in the blink of an eye Liu Yizhou suddenly lose his consciousness and fell down?

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, ”Perhaps Liu Shixiong suffers from epilepsy, suddenly it flared-up and he fainted.”

Liu Yizhou was furious, he suddenly sprang up; pointing his finger to Wei Xiaobao he shouted, ”You … you little …”

Fang Yi cast Wei Xiaobao a glance. ”Come here,” she said.

”You are going to hit me, I don't want to come,” Wei Xiaobao said.

”You must not say anything bad about Liu Shige,” Fang Yi said, ”Even young children must cultivate propriety of speech.” Wei Xiaobao stuck out his tongue and no longer say anything.

Seeing twice had Fang Yi stood up for him, Liu Yizhou was very relieved inwardly; he mused, ”This little demon is crafty and spoiled, Fang Shimei is actually still very good to me.”

The sky gradually darkened. The seven of them sat around the fire. The broken-down temple was leaking everywhere, very few spots were dry. Suddenly the top of Wei Xiaobao's head was drenched, water was dripping onto his shoulder; he scooted to the left, but the left side was also wet. ”Come here,” Fang Yi said, ”It's not leaking over here.” After a short pause, she added, ”Don't be afraid, I am not going to hit you.” Wei Xiaobao laughed, he moved to her side.

Fang Yi puckered her lips and whispered on Mu Jianping's ear, she spoke few sentences in low voice. Immediately Mu Jianping laughed; she nodded, and then also puckered her lips and whispered on Wei Xiaobao's ear, ”Fang Shijie says, she and you are on the same side; just now she hit you, rebuked you, telling you not to offend Liu Shige, she asked if you understand her meaning?”

Wei Xiaobao also whispered on her ear, ”What do you mean 'on the same side'? I don't understand.”

Mu Jianping passed on his words to Fang Yi. Fang Yi cast a glance to him, then she said to Mu Jianping, ”I have made an oath, calling a curse on myself, I am bound by the oath forever. Tell him not to worry.”

Mu Jianping passed on her words to him. Wei Xiaobao then whispered on Mu Jianping's ear, ”Miss Fang and I are on the same side, but what about you?”

Mu Jianping blushed. ”Pei!” she spat, and raised her hand to hit him. Wei Xiaobao laughed while leaning sideways to evade. He repeatedly nodded to Fang Yi. Fang Yi appeared to be smiling, yet she was not smiling; she appeared to be angry, but she was not angry. Illuminated by the fire, she looked unspeakably sweet and pretty. Smelling the faint fragrance coming from these two ladies' bodies, Wei Xiaobao was very happy.

Liu Yizhou was sitting quite some distance away from these three people, he craned his neck trying to listen; he vaguely heard 'Liu Shige' and 'on the same side', other than those words, he could not hear anything else. Seeing the three of them were laughing and giggling intimately – obviously they were treating him as an outsider, he could not stop jealousy and hatred from appearing together in his heart.

Again Fang Yi said in low voice to Mu Jianping's ear, ”Ask him, how did he actually make Liu Shige lost his consciousness?”

Seeing Fang Yi's face showed that she was really curious, Wei Xiaobao quietly told Mu Jianping, ”When I went peeing, I turned my back against him, my left hand grabbed a handful of knockout drug. When I turned back to check the flat cakes, I applied the drug powder onto the cakes. The cake that I ate, I picked it with my right hand, my left hand did not touch it at all. Do you understand?”

”So that's how you did it,” Mu Jianping said.

After she passed on the message to Fang Yi, Fang Yi asked, ”Where did you get the knockout drug from?”

”The Imperial Bodyguards in the Palace gave it to me,” Wei Xiaobao replied, ”To rescue your Liu Shige, that was the drug that I used.” By this time the rain was really heavy, the sound of water crashing down on the roof was so loud that Wei Xiaobao's lips had to touch Mu Jianping's ear before his voice could be heard.

Liu Yizhou was very restless, suddenly he stood up, his back happened to bump heavily on the pillar. 'Crack! Crash!' suddenly several tiles from the roof above him fell down. This broken-down temple was already decayed; soaked by the heavy rain, blown by the north wind, it was unable to withstand. One after another the beams, tiles, bricks and mortars fell down.

”Not good,” Xu Tianchuan called out, ”This temple is about to collapse; everybody out!” All seven of them rushed out of the temple. Before taking several steps, they heard loud rumbling noise as most of the temple's roof collapsed, followed by almost half of the wall also came down.

Right this moment, they heard the sound of hooves beat, a dozen or so horses galloped from the southeast and in just a short moment arrived at the temple. In the dark of the night they could see the indistinct shadows of the riders. An old-sounding voice said, ”Aiyo, originally there was a small temple in here where we can take shelter from the rain, but unfortunately it has collapsed.”

Another man asked with a loud voice, ”Hey, fellows, what are you doing in here?”

”We were taking shelter from the rain in the temple,” Xu Tianchuan replied, ”Then this temple collapsed, it almost crushes us to our death.”

”Damn it,” another man on horseback cursed, ”It's such a heavy rain, Laotianye [God/Heavens] must be crazy.”

Yet another man said, ”Zhao Laosan [ol' Zhao the third], other than this small temple, is there any other building nearby? Or some caves, maybe?”

The old-sounding voice replied, ”There is … there is some, but it's almost as bad as there is not.”

A big man cursed, ”Your granny, there is or there is not?”

”Northwest of this place,” the old man replied, ”There is a valley with a haunted house in it, there are evil spirits there, nobody dares to enter; isn't it about the same as there is not?”

The men on the horseback loudly laughed and swore, ”Laozi is not afraid of haunted house. Evil spirits are the best, we can catch some for dessert.”

Another man shouted, ”Quickly lead the way! We are not taking a bath, you think it's nice to soak in this heavy rain?”

”Gentlemen,” Zhao Laosan said, ”The old man does not dislike long life, I do not dare to go. I advise you not to go either. Northwest of here, about thirty li away, there is a small town.”

The men on the horseback all said, ”This is such a heavy rain, how can we endure it for thirty more li? Just stop talking nonsense, we have strength in numbers, why do we have to be afraid of some ghosts?”

”Very well,” Zhao Laosan said, ”Just go northwest, after rounding a bend, follow the mountain road entering a valley, and walk along that path; you can't possibly miss …” Without waiting for him to finish, the people urged their horses to gallop toward the northwest. Zhao Laosan was riding a donkey. He hesitated for a moment, and then he pulled the animal's head and turned it back to the southeast.

”Wu Er Ge [second older brother], Wei Xiangzhu,” Xu Tianchuan asked, ”What do we do?”