Chapter - 19 (19) (1/2)

Wei Xiaobao looked at the painting and calligraphy on the wall, but he did not recognize a single character. Shaking his head he said, ”This calligraphy is not too good.” Mr. Lu felt a deep veneration as he asked for directions on the faulty stroke and weak points of the calligraphy. ”There are too many faulty strokes, there are too little superb strokes!” Wei Xiaobao said.

The eighteen Shaolin monks, along with Wei Xiaobao and Shuang'er, went down the Jin Xiu Peak. Cheng Xin returned the sutra to Wei Xiaobao; he asked, ”Will Benefactor return to Beijing immediately?”

”Yes,” Wei Xiaobao replied.

Cheng Xin said, ”I received Yulin Dashi's request to escort Benefactor until you arrive safely to the Capital.”

Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted, ”That's wonderful,” he said, ”I was worrying that that bamboo-pole toutuo is not willing to give up and thus will come again to give me trouble. But if you all come with me, will someone protect Xing Chi Dashi?”

”Benefactor may set your heart at ease,” Cheng Xin said, ”Yulin Dashi has other arrangement.”

Now Wei Xiaobao was in complete admiration toward the old monk Yulin. He was always sitting in meditation with his eyes closed, so much so that he would not even care if the sky collapsed, but without a word or movement, he had made appropriate arrangement for everything in secret. With the Shaolin's Eighteen Lohan escorting him, there was no danger whatsoever along the way. Not only the tall and thin Fat Toutuo did not appear, they did not even meet a single Wulin character along the way.

One day they arrived outside Beijing. The eighteen Shaolin monks bade their farewell to Wei Xiaobao. Cheng Xin said, ”Benefactor has arrived at the Capital, the old monk and my brothers say our goodbye to return to our temple.”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”All the great monks have bore suffering to escort me to this place, I … I really can't thank you enough, please accept my deepest respect.” While saying that, he kneeled down to kowtow.

Cheng Xin busily helped him up, saying, ”Along the way, Benefactor has treated us very well. From Shanxi to Beijing we were roaming the mountain playing on the water [i.e. going on a scenic tour], where is the suffering?”

What happened was that as soon as they left Mount Wutai, Wei Xiaobao immediately hired nineteen large carriages. He and Shuang'er rode on one, each one of the eighteen Shaolin monks rode on one carriage. He ordered Yu Ba, on a fast horse, to go ahead of them, a day in advance, to arrange the lodging along the way, preparing tea, delicacies, vegetarian dishes, etc. Everything was top-notch. On each place they stopped, Wei Xiaobao always splurged on tips, so that the shopkeeper and the attendants treated the eighteen Shaolin monks as if they were deities Bodhisattva. Shaolin monks exercise self-control and lead ascetics life, they do not seek after these food and drink, but seeing Wei Xiaobao treated them with respect and looked very sincere, inevitably they were quite happy. Although Wei Xiaobao was glib-tongued, his natural disposition was friendly, easy to make friends, and contrary to what one might expect, he was sincere towards his friends. Along the way he chatted with the monks and got along very well with them. Now that suddenly they have to say good-bye, his heart ached and he could not stop the tears from flowing down.

”Shanzai, shanzai! [good, peace]” Cheng Xin said, ”Why is young benefactor grieving? If there's karma, another day you can visit us at Shaolin Temple and we can chat.”

With a sob Wei Xiaobao said, ”Indeed I must come.”

By the time Cheng Xin and the other monks had left and they entered the city, it was already late in the evening, hence it was inappropriate to enter the Palace. Wei Xiaobao went to a large inn at the Xizhimen[99] district, the 'Ru Gui[100] Inn'. He asked for the best room, planning to spend the night there, and see Kangxi the next day, to report everything. He thought, ”That thin and annoying Fat Toutuo is desperate to get his hand on my sutra, maybe he is still following me in secret. The eighteen Shaolin monks have already left, if he came back to get it by force, Shuang'er and I would not be able to stop him. I had better work a little bit to hide the sutra first. Tomorrow when I get to the Palace, I can take a large group of Imperial Bodyguards here to get it, then present it to the young emperor. This is called 'not one in ten thousand failures' [wan shi wu yi]!”

Thereupon he ordered Yu Ba to make preparation and sent Shuang'er out of the room, bolted the door and closed the window, before making sure that Fat Toutuo was not peeking outside. And then he wrapped the sutra in oilcloth, pulled the table, took out his dagger, and cut a hole on the brick floor underneath the table. The dagger was able to cut iron like mud, naturally it could cut mud effortlessly. After putting the sutra inside the hole, he put the brick back and mixing ash and water, he spread the paste over the brick slit. When the paste was dry, no one would ever find it unless one was deliberately looking for it.

Early in the morning the next day, he ordered Yu Ba to hire a carriage, he wanted to take Shuang'er for a sumptuous light breakfast first. He wanted to spend a lot of money to let this little servant girl broaden her outlook. Afterwards, he needed to buy a set of eunuch clothes and hat before entering the Palace. But buying eunuch clothes and hat in the marketplace was not really easy. If he could not buy one, he thought he would wear Imperial Bodyguard uniform and a yellow Magua on top of it, then he would look very impressive as he swaggered into the Palace. Wouldn't it be interesting to see the Imperial Bodyguards and the eunuchs' dumbstruck expression when they see him? After all, his Deputy Chief of Imperial Bodyguards was bestowed personally by His Majesty, was it not? He said in his heart, ”With this idea, why would I toil myself to become an eunuch? That's it, Laozi will enter the Palace wearing the yellow Magua.”

With Shuang'er he climbed into the carriage, bent his tongue, and spoke in Beijing accent, ”We'll go to the ol' Kuixing [the great bear constellation] Shop in Xidan[101] first. Their deep-fried sheep tail and mutton dumpling are not bad at all.”

”Yes!” the carriage driver respectfully said.

With a straight back Yu Ba sat by the carriage driver. ”Hey,” he said, ”In the Capital, even the mule is standing out from the masses, not even one of such a pitch-black mule with large eyes can be found within our Shanxi province.”

As he returned to the Capital, Wei Xiaobao's heart had a different feeling of self-satisfaction.

After traveling for a while, the carriage suddenly went out of Xizhimen. Wei Xiaobao said, ”Hey, we are going to Xidan, why are we going out of town?”

”Yes,” the cart driver said, ”I am sorry Daye [big master]! Xiaoren's mule is stubborn, when we reach the city gate, he always wants to slip out of town.”

Wei Xiaobao and Shuang'er laughed. Yu Ba said, ”Hey, in the Capital, even the mules are putting on official airs.”

As the large carriage left the city gate, it travelled straight to the north. After about a li, it still had not turned back. Wei Xiaobao knew something was amiss; he said sternly, ”Driver, what trick are you playing? Quickly go back!”

The driver repeatedly said yes, he shouted, ”Go back, mule, hu, hu, mule, go back!” The cart driver lashed his whip randomly, but the mule forcefully ran to the north, it bolted faster and faster. The cart driver cursed, ”Damn it stinky mule, I told you to go back! Mule, stop, stop! Your granny's bastard mule!” His shout became more and more urgent, but how could the mule be willing to stop?

Right this moment, there was sound of horse's hoof, two riders from the side rushed over and rode close to the mule carriage. The riders were two tall and sturdy men. In a low voice Wei Xiaobao said, ”Make your move!”

Shuang'er leaned forward and stretched out her finger to poke the middle of the cart driver's back. His body swayed, he fell down from the carriage with a loud cry, and was trampled by the rider head on. The rider flew up and landed on the carriage driver's seat. Shuang'er stretched out her finger again. The man turned his hand around to catch her wrist. Shuang'er flipped her palm and slapped his face. The man parried with his left palm, while trying to grab her shoulder with his right hand.

The two of them exchanged eight, nine moves, while the mule was still running fast. The rider on the left called out, ”What happened? Why are you still playing?”

'Bang!' the man on the carriage got hit by Shuang'er right palm on the pit of his stomach, he fell down. The other man raised his whip to strike. Shuang'er reached out and caught the whip and in one fluid motion wound it around the carriage. The mule carriage was rushing forward, the whip was pulled, the man was immediately thrown down from the horse that he hastily let go of the whip and let out a loud 'wah wah' cry.

Shuang'er picked up the reins. She did not know how to drive a cart, so she handed it over to Yu Ba and said, ”You drive the cart.”

”I … this I can't,” Yu Ba said.

Wei Xiaobao jumped onto the driver seat, and took over the taut rope; he did not know how to drive cart either, but he imitated the cart driver's 'mule, mule' calls, left hand loosened the reins, right hand tightened it, just like riding a horse. As expected, the mule turned around; where had the stubbornness gone?

They heard another sound of horse's hoof, a dozen or more riders rushed over. Wei Xiaobao was greatly alarmed, he pulled the mule that the cart swerved in an oblique angle. The riders also turned their horse to pursue from behind. The horses were fast, the carriage was slow, not too long afterwards, those dozen or so riders had surrounded the mule cart.

Seeing each one of the horse riders was holding a weapon, Wei Xiaobao called out, ”Under the bright sunny sky, near the throne of the Son of Heaven, you want to cut our way and rob us?”

A man said with a laugh, ”We are envoys to invite you to dinner, not to rob you. Wei Gongzi, our master is inviting you to drink several cups of wine!”

Wei Xiaobao was startled. ”Who is your master?” he asked.

The man replied, ”As soon as Gongzi see him, you will naturally recognize him. If our master is not Gongzi's friend, why would he invite you to drink wine?”

Seeing these men acted strange, Wei Xiaobao knew that most likely they were harboring ill intentions. ”How can there be such invitation?” he called out, ”Excuse me, let me pass!”

Another man laughed and said, ”Let you pass? We'll let you pass, then!” Raising the saber in his hand, he chopped the mule's head; the mule's body swayed sideways and fell to the ground, pulling the carriage along with it. Wei Xiaobao and Shuang'er hurriedly leaped down. Shuang'er moved like the wind, it's just that the enemies were on horsebacks, while she was short, so she could not reach the enemies. One by one she jabbed with her finger, if not the horse' eyes, then the acupoints on those men's legs. Instantly there was a clamor of horses neighing in confusion. Several men jumped down from their horses, they charged forward with brandished sabers. Shuang'er was extremely agile and nimble, poking to the east striking to the west, she knocked down seven, eight men. The remaining four or five men looked at each other in dismay, at a loss of what to do.

On the main road a small carriage galloped over, a woman's voice from the carriage called out, ”We are on the same side, don't fight!”

As soon as Wei Xiaobao heard the voice, his heart blossomed and his anger subsided. ”Aha!” he called out, ”My wife is here!”

Shuang'er and the men immediately stopped fighting. Shuang'er was greatly puzzled, she did not expect this xianggong had already had young mistress. But at that time, marrying too early was prevalent, it was not uncommon for a fourteen, fifteen years old man to get married, it's just that Wei Xiaobao had never told her that he had a wife.

The small carriage arrived, from inside jumped a person, it was none other than Fang Yi. Wei Xiaobao was grinning from ear to ear, he stepped forward and pulled her hand, saying, ”Good Jiejie, I miss you very much, where have you been?”

Fang Yi smiled and said, ”We'll talk about it later. Why did you fight each other?” She saw a lot of men were lying on the ground, the mule's blood splattered everywhere; she was quite stunned.

A man bowed and said, ”Miss Fang, we are here to invite Wei Gongzi for a drink, I suppose our manner was not satisfactory and we have offended Gongzi. If Miss Fang could invite him personally, it would be best.”

Fang Yi was amazed, ”Did you knock these people down?” she asked, ”Your martial art skill must have been increased a hundred-fold.”

”Even if I made progress, it wouldn't be this quick,” Wei Xiaobao replied, ”It was Miss Shuang'er who protected me. She is young, but her skill is prominent.”

Fang Yi turned toward Shuang'er. Noticing Shuang'er was about thirteen, fourteen years of age, with gentle and shy appearance, she did not believe her martial art skill to be this superior. ”Meimei, what's your surname?” she asked. When she was at the Zhuang's house, she did not see Shuang'er at all, therefore, the two of them did not know each other.

Shuang'er stepped forward, kneeled down and kowtowed, saying, ”Your maid servant Shuang'er is paying her respect to the Young Mistress.” Wei Xiaobao burst out in laughter.

Fang Yi was so embarrassed that her entire face turned red; hastily she dodged and said, ”You ... what did you call me? I ... I'm ... not.”

Shuang'er stood up and said, ”Xianggong said that you are his wife, your maid servant is serving Xianggong, naturally I am calling you Young Mistress.”

Fang Yi cast a vicious glance toward Wei Xiaobao; she said, ”This man's mouth always talks nonsense, don't believe him. How long have you been serving him? Don't tell me you do not know his character by now. I am Miss Fang.”

Shuang'er showed a faint smile and said, ”In that case I won't call you that for now, but someday I will.”

”Someday you will call me wh ...” Fang Yi started, but then she blushed again, and swallowed the last word 'what'.

Shuang'er looked at Wei Xiaobao, he was having an immensely proud of himself expression on his face, suddenly Shuang'er also blushed. She remembered how at Mount Wutai he had also told Fat Toutuo that she was his wife. Turned out he had this habit of calling young ladies his wives. So that when she heard him laughing and then asking, ”How's my young wife?” Shuang'er did not think differently.

Fang Yi cast him another malicious look; she said, ”We have not seen each other for such a long time, as soon as we meet, you did not speak decent words, but act garrulously instead.” Immediately she ordered the men to tidy up to continue on their journey. These men's acupoints were sealed by Shuang'er, they were unable to move a single step, hence Shuang'er had to release them one by one.

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, ”If I had known that you are inviting me for a drink, I would have wished I could grow wings and fly to you.”

Fang Yi cast him another malicious look; she said, ”You have already forgotten me, naturally you would not have thought that I am inviting you.”

Wei Xiaobao felt sweetness in his heart; he said, ”How can I forget you? If I had known you are looking for me, forget about drinking wine, even if you want me to drink horse's pee or poison, I would willingly come, without the slightest delay.”

Fang Yi's pair of beautiful eyes gazed at him; she said, ”Don't just say things that are good to hear, what if I really want you to go to the ends of the earth and drink poison?”

Wei Xiaobao saw that when she said those words, her expression was like smiling, yet she was not smiling, under the morning sun she looked unspeakably gorgeous; he felt his whole body was comfortably warm. He said, ”Let's not mention the ends of the earth, even go up the mountain of blades or go down a deep fryer, I would still go.”

”Alright,” Fang Yi said, ”A real man gave his words, some horses cannot chase it.”

Wei Xiaobao slapped his own chest and loudly exclaimed, ”A real man gave his words, some horses cannot chase it.” The two of them burst out in laughter.

Fang Yi ordered a man to get a horse for Wei Xiaobao to ride, she let Shuang'er sit on her own little carriage, while she rode another horse and travelled side-by-side with Wei Xiaobao. Facing the morning sun, they let their horses gallop leisurely. The men followed behind them.

Fang Yi said, ”Your talent is really good, you managed to pick such a powerful flower, obtaining a servant girl with such superior martial art skill.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, ”What do you mean picking such a powerful flower? It was her who is most willing to follow me.” Wei Xiaobao then asked about Mu Jianping, Xu Tianchuan and the others' whereabouts. ”In that haunted house,” he said, ”You were captured by those Shen Long Jiao fellows. Afterwards, how did you escape? Was it the Third Mistress of the Zhuang Family who sent people to help you?”

”Who's the Third Mistress of the Zhuang Family?” Fang Yi asked.

”She is the master of the Zhuang house,” Wei Xiaobao replied.

Fang Yi shook her head, ”Master of the Zhuang house?” she asked, ”All along we did not meet anybody. Shen Long Jiao only want you, but they did not have any ill-intention toward you. When that Zhang Laosan failed to find you, he let us go. Xiao Junzhu and the others are ahead of us, very soon you will be able to see them.” Turning her head toward him, there was a sullen look on her face as she said, ”In your heart you only have Xiao Junzhu; we have only met for a short time, yet you have already asked about her seven, eight times.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed, ”When did I ask you seven or eight times?” he said, ”I have really suffered injustice. If I saw her but did not see you, by this time I would have asked her seventy, eighty times.”

Fang Yi smiled and said, ”Even if you grew ten mouths, you would not be able to ask seventy, eighty times in such a short time. But knowing you, one mouth is more formidable than ten mouths.”

The two of them chatting and joking, in a short while they already travelled more than ten li, winding around Beijing's city wall, and went straight to the east. ”Are we almost there?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

Fang Yi looked hurt, ”It's still far away,” she said, ”Even if you are anxious to see Xiao Junzhu, you don't have to be this impatient. If I had known it, it would have been much better to let her to come and pick you up, so that you wouldn't be deeply worried.”

Wei Xiaobao stuck out his tongue and said, ”Henceforth I won't ask another word.”

Fang Yi said, ”Your mouth won't ask, but your heart is anxious; you will make me angry even more.”

It appeared that her vinegar [jealousy] was getting thicker; the more Wei Xiaobao listened, the happier he was. He laughed and said, ”If I have just half a part of anxiety in my heart, I am not your husband, but your son.”

”Pfft!” Fang Yi stifled her laughter; she said, ”Good ...” her face turned red, she could not push the following word 'son' out of her mouth.

They travelled until noon, when they arrived at a small town to take a rest before continuing their journey to the east. Wei Xiaobao did not dare to ask where they were going anymore, he realized they had left Beijing far behind, and that he would not have time to hurry back to the Palace to see Kangxi that day, but he thought, ”Xiao Xuanzi did not tell me when I should be back anyway, I could be delayed on Mount Wutai, or was captured and detained by that Fat Toutuo. What's the harm in returning to the Palace several days late?”

Along the way Fang Yi kept him company by having idle talks with him. When they were together in the Imperial Palace, although the two of them were in the same room, a third person, Mu Jianping, was also present, so that Fang Yi was quite reserved. This time they were riding slowly side-by-side, she was talking and laughing eagerly and attentively. The rest of their party were being tactful, they lagged quite far behind.

Wei Xiaobao was at the stage of 'first awakening of love'. When he called her 'his wife' at the Palace, he was 60% joking, 30% being frivolous and taking advantage of her precarious situation, only 10% was being driven by faint attraction between opposite sexes. Today they met again after separation, seeing sometimes Fang Yi was annoyed and angry, sometimes she was talking and laughing tenderly, Wei Xiaobao could not help but was aroused by passion. He saw after riding for most of the day, her cheeks were flushed, tiny beads of sweat appeared on her face, she looked unspeakably dainty and cute. He could not help but staring at her with a blank expression on his face.

Fang Yi laughed and said, ”Why are you staring with blank expression like that?”

”Good Jiejie,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”You ... you look really pretty. I think ... I think ...”

”What are you thinking?” Fang Yi asked.

Wei Xiaobao said, ”If I tell you, you must not get angry.”

”If you are speaking properly, I won't get angry,” Fang Yi said, ”But if you are being indecent, naturally I will get angry. What are you thinking?”

”I think, if you really become my wife, I don't know how much happier I will be,” Wei Xiaobao said.

Fang Yi cast him a sidelong glance with a wooden face, and then turned her head away. Wei Xiaobao anxiously said, ”Good Jiejie, are you angry?”

”Naturally I am angry,” Fang Yi said, ”I am a hundred and twenty percent angry.”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”But nothing could be more proper than this, I ... I spoke very sincerely.”

Fang Yi said, ”In the Palace, I have already made an oath; I will follow you for the rest of my life, I will serve you. Do you think that was real, or fake? By saying that, aren't you thinking to cease being faithful?”

Wei Xiaobao was ecstatic; if not for the fact that both of them were on horsebacks, he would embrace her immediately and kiss her tender and beautiful, desirable face. Immediately he stretched out his right hand to pull her left hand, saying, ”How can I cease being faithful? A thousand years, ten thousand years, I will never cease to be faithful.”

”You are clearly lying,” Fang Yi said, ”How can a man live for a thousand years, ten thousand years? Unless you are a turtle ...” When speaking the word 'turtle', she broke into laughter, and turned her head away, but she still let him holding her hand.

Holding her soft, warm and tender palm, Wei Xiaobao's heart was bursting with joy. He laughed and said, ”With you treating me this well, I will never be a turtle.” When one's wife is having an affair with another man, then the husband becomes a 'turtle'; Fang Yi also understood this sense of pride.

With a sweet face she said, ”Not three sentences of good words, a dog's mouth will never grow ivory.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed, ”If you marry a chicken follow the chicken, if you marry a dog follow the dog,” he said, ”If you wish to see your husband grow ivory in this lifetime, it will be very hard to come by.” Fang Yi bent over the saddle in laughter, her left hand tightly gripped his palm.

The two of them chatting and laughing all the way until evening, when they lodged for the night in a large inn in a rather large town. The next morning Wei Xiaobao ordered Yu Ba to hire a large carriage, so that he could ride with Fang Yi inside. The conversation between them was thick with passion. Wei Xiaobao embraced her waist and kissed her face. Fang Yi did not resist, but she categorically forbade him to overstep the boundary. In the matter between male and female, actually Wei Xiaobao seemed to understand, but not really understood, so far he was quite happy. His only wish was that the large carriage would never stop moving, so that he could sit embracing a beautiful woman [orig. jade person], traveling to the ends of the earth, and then turn around, and travel to the other ends of the earth, that the road under the heavens would continue forever; or even if it ends, what's the harm of going anywhere on foot?

Toward the evening one day, the carriage and the horses finally arrived on the ocean's shore. Taking his hand along, Fang Yi walked to the seaside and softly whispered in his ear, ”Good Didi [younger brother], what do you say you and I board a ship, roaming the four seas, passing the days just like deities?” While saying that, she held his hand and rested her head on his shoulder.

Her body was so soft that it felt like she did not have any strength. Wei Xiaobao stretched out his left arm around her waist, to guard against her falling down. He felt her silky hair brushing against his cheek, her waist was so soft and tender, shivering slightly. Although the thought of boarding a ship and sailing to the sea was a bit too overwhelming, plus he had a faint feeling that something was not right, but at this time and this place, how could he bear to say this one word 'no'?

A large ship was anchored by the seaside. Seeing Fang Yi's subordinates waving dark green cloth, the sailors on the ship lowered a small boat to meet them at the shore. First they took Wei Xiaobao and Fang Yi on board, and then successively brought the rest of the people on board. Seeing they were about to embark on a voyage, Yu Ba said that he was seasick and would not want to go to the sea no matter what. Wei Xiaobao did not force him, he gave him a hundred taels of silver. With a thousand gratitude and ten thousand thanks, Yu Ba returned to Shanxi.

As Wei Xiaobao entered the cabin, he noticed that it was luxuriously furnished; the floor was covered in thick carpet, there were tea, fruits and delicacies on the table, just like the parlor in the homes of princes, dukes, or high ranking officials. He mused, ”Good Jiejie is treating me like this, inevitably there will be an intention to harm me.”

Two servants on the ship offered steamed towel for the two of them to wipe their faces with, followed by the serving of two bowls of noodles. The noodles were covered with shredded chicken; it was very delicious, the taste was different from ordinary noodles. And then he felt the hull swayed, obviously they set sail and went out to sea.

As the boat left the shore, another world was before their eyes. Fang Yi accompanied him drinking wine and playing finger-guessing game, they never stopped talking and laughing until very late at night. She took care of him first and tucked him into bed before retreating to separate room to rest for the night. The next day, she came back to help him dress and combed his hair. Wei Xiaobao thought, ”Until now she does not know that I am not a eunuch; she only knew that our being husband and wife is a fake. When should I tell her the truth?”

The boat sailed for several days. One particular day the two of them were leaning on the window, enjoying the sunset on the sea. They saw the reflection of the sun like tens of thousands golden snake slithering on the surface of the sea, it was indescribably weird and wonderful. Fang Yi sighed and said, ”When I go to assassinate the Tatar Emperor that day, I was so sure that I would lose my life in the Palace. Who would have known that Laotianye still protected me, unexpectedly I met you and today we enjoy this good fortune together. Good Didi, I am not clear of your lot in life. When did you enter the Palace? How did you learn martial art?”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, ”I was just going to tell you, but I was afraid you might jump in fright, or perhaps you are so happy that you pass out.”

Fang Yi leaned closer to him; with a low voice she said, ”If I like what I hear, that will be best. But even if I don't like what I hear, I only want you to tell me the truth, then ... then I won't care.”

”Good Jiejie,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”I will be honest with you, I was born in Yangzhou, Mama is from a brothel.”

Fang Yi was shocked; with a trembling voice she asked, ”What is your mama doing in the brothel? Is she doing laundry, cook rice, or ... or sweep the floor and pour tea?”

Wei Xiaobao saw her countenance underwent great change, her eyes showed a frightened look, instantly his heart turned ice-cold, knowing that she extremely despised the 'brothel'. If he said honestly that his own mother was a prostitute, perhaps for the rest of his life she would never have even half a part of respect and affection. Immediately he laughed aloud and said, ”When my Mama entered the brothel, she was only six or seven years old, how could she did laundry or cook rice for the people?”

Fang Yi's countenance softened somewhat; ”She was only six or seven years old?” she asked.

Wei Xiaobao said whatever came into his mind, ”After the Tatars entered the Pass, they killed not a few people in Yangzhou; do you know this?” While saying that, his mind was trying to find a way to raise his mother's dignity somewhat.

”That's right,” Fang Yi said.

”My (maternal) grandfather was a high ranking official of the Ming Dynasty,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”He took office in Yangzhou. When the Tatars broke through Yangzhou, my grandfather died in the resistance against the enemy. That time my Mama was only a little girl, wandering destitute on the street. There was a heroic, rich brothel's patron who took pity on her, so he took her to become his servant girl. Upon further inquiry, he had a deep respect toward grandfather, so he took my Mama as his foster daughter [orig. yi nu – righteous female/daughter] and brought her home. My Mama became a 'thousand gold' young lady, later she married my Papa, who was a gongzi [young master/son of nobility] of Yangzhou's famous and rich family.”

Fang Yi was half-believing, half-doubting. ”So that's how it is,” she said, ”You did indeed scare me that I jumped in fright, thinking that your Mama was destitute in the brothel, being female maid of the people, serving those people who knew no shame, an extremely … bad woman.”

Growing up in the brothel, Wei Xiaobao had never thought that his own Mama was a 'bad woman who knew no shame', hearing Fang Yi said such things, he could not help but was secretly angry. He said in his heart, ”Do you think your Mu Palace women are so great? Damn it, in my opinion they are also people who knew no shame, extremely whatever.”

Originally he was thinking of telling her his real life story in a calm, undisturbed manner, and would not hide anything from her; but now he simply boasted unguardedly, telling her how extravagant was his family in Yangzhou, giving her an exaggerated account of everything. But when he told about the halls and the rooms of his residence, the setup of the furniture, inevitably he was talking about the layout of the Lovely Spring Courtyard.

But Fang Yi did not pay any attention to his story; she said, ”Is this the thing you meant when you said that you wanted to tell me something that will make me happy that I might pass out?”

Wei Xiaobao felt as if she was splashing a bucket of cold water on his head. Also, noticing how indifferent she was toward his bragging, he could not restrain his excitement from dying out; he was disinclined to tell her that he was not an eunuch. ”That was it,” he said casually, ”Turns out you are not happy at all.”

Fang Yi said unenthusiastically, ”I am happy.” It was clear that she did not mean it.

The two of them were silent for a moment. Suddenly a stretch of land appeared on the northeastern direction. This ship was heading exactly on that direction. Fang Yi said in amazement, ”Uh, what kind of place is that?”

Less than two hours later, they were getting closer to the land, and saw the verdant trees on the shore, which stretched out in both direction as far as eyes could see, the beach was covered in snow white fine sands. Fang Yi said, ”We have been sailing for a few days, our heads are muddled, what do you say we go up and look around?”

”Very good,” Wei Xiaobao happily said, ”It looks like a big island, I wonder if there is some fun things on the island.”

Fang Yi summoned the helmsman to the cabin and asked him the name of the island, as well as its specialty. The helmsman replied, ”In answer to Miss' question, this island is a well-known immortal island of the Eastern Sea. I heard there are immortal fruits on the island, those who ate it will have long life and won't grow old, it's just that only blessed people will be able to obtain it. There is no harm in Miss and Wei Xianggong to go up and try your luck.”

Fang Yi nodded. When the helmsman had left the cabin, she softly said, ”I don't care about long life and won't grow old. These last few days I am happier than being an immortal.”

Wei Xiaobao was ecstatic; he said, ”You and I can live on the island for the rest of our lives. Immortal fruits and what not, it's not a big deal, as long as you are willing for accompany me forever, I feel like an immortal.”

Fang Yi leaned closer to him and said in gentle voice, ”Me too.”

The two of them rode a small boat to go ashore, and treaded on the fine sand of the beach. Their noses caught the whiff of fragrance of flowers floating from the forest. They felt they had indeed arrived at a fairyland. ”I wonder if there are people living on this island?” Fang Yi said.

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, ”I don't think there are people, but there is a fairy whose beauty is matchless, taking her little servant along, who has just arrived on the island.”

With a very sweet smile Fang Yi said, ”Good Didi, you are my little servant, and I am your little maid.”

When Wei Xiaobao heard the word 'maid', Wei Xiaobao suddenly remembered Shuang'er. Turning his head around, he did not see her following to the island. These past few days he had given Shuang'er a cold treatment, in his heart he was quite remorseful, but thinking that if she tagged along, he would not be too comfortable to be affectionate toward Fang Yi; hence it was better that she did not come along.

Hand in hand the two of them entered the forest, the air was very thick with the fragrance of the flowers. Wei Xiaobao said, ”This fragrance of the flowers is exceptionally thick, could the flowers be immortal flowers?” Taking a few steps forward, suddenly he heard rustling noise of the grass, followed by a yellow shadow flashed before his eyes, seven or eight yellow with black stripes vipers fled out. ”Aiyo!” Wei Xiaobao cried out. Pulling Fang Yi's hand, he turned around and ran. But after taking only one step, seven or eight snakes blocked their way, their bodies were blood red, their tongues flicking in and out, hissing noisily. The snakes' heads were all triangular, an obvious sign that they all had acute poison.

Fang Yi stepped in front of Wei Xiaobao's body, pulling her saber and brandishing it she called out, ”Run away quickly, I'll block the vipers!”

But how could Wei Xiaobao be willing to forgo yi qi like this, running for his life alone? Busily he drew his dagger and said, ”We'll go from this side!” Pulling Fang Yi along, he bolted off to the side. But after only two steps, he felt something cold on his neck, a snake dangled down from a tree and coiled itself around his neck, scaring him that his soul flew out to the sky, he cried out loudly.

Fang Yi reached out to pull the snake's body. ”No, you can't do that!” Wei Xiaobao cried out. The snake turned its head around and bit the back of Fang Yi's hand firmly and did not let her go. Wei Xiaobao brandished the dagger and chopped the snake's head clean. By this time, a viper had wrapped itself on each one of their legs. Wei Xiaobao brandished his dagger to chop their heads, but he felt his left leg went numb, a viper had bitten him.

Fang Yi tossed away her single-blade saber and embraced him, crying, ”We, husband and wife, will die in here today.” Relying on the sharpness of his dagger, Wei Xiaobao chopped one snake with every wave of the dagger, but more and more snakes came out of the forest. The two of them desperately trying to get out of the forest, their bodies had been bitten seven eight times each. Wei Xiaobao felt a dizzy spell, he was gradually losing his consciousness. Looking toward the ocean, he saw the little boat was sailing back to the big ship, it was already quite some distance away from the shore. Fang Yi called several times, but how could the sailors on the boat hear her?