Chapter - 410 Embroidered Couple Handkerchiefs (7) (1/2)
The fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar said, ”We beg your explanation.”
Huang Rong raised her pretty eyebrows and laid down her plan. As the four disciples listened to it, they looked at each other and did not say anything for half a day.
It was the tenth hour (5 – 7 pm), the sun slowly sank behind the mountain. The strong mountain breeze swayed the leaves of the palm trees planted in rows outside the meditation courtyard. The withered lotus leaves on the pond also made a rustling noise. The evening sun cast its light from behind the mountain peaks, the mountain ridges looked like a silhouette of a giant reclining on the ground. The fisherman, the woodcutter, the farmer and the scholar sat cross-legged on the ground by the stone bridge. They opened their eyes wide looking to the front. Each heart was heavy with restlessness.
They had waited for a long time. The sky had darkened, the dusk gradually turned into night. The crows crowed while they were flying in the valley below. A thin white mist rose up from the canyon below. But still no one appeared from the turn at the mountain cliff beyond the stone bridge. The fisherman thought, ”If only Concubine Liu has a sudden change of heart and does not blame Shifu, maybe she reined her horse beyond the cliff and decided not to come over …”
The woodcutter thought, ”This Concubine Liu is very crafty; she must have been preparing a really sinister plot.”
The farmer was more anxious and impatient than the others, he thought, ”The sooner she arrives, the sooner we can get it over with; whether it will be disaster or fortune, good or evil, we will find out sooner. She said she would come and she hasn't arrived yet, it really is exasperating.”
The scholar thought, ”The more delayed she is, the more dangerous the threat will be. This matter is really difficult to be solved nicely.” It goes without saying that he was a good schemer and tactician; he had been the prime minister of Dali kingdom for more than a dozen of years. He had seen major battle and faced many difficult situations, yet this time he was nervous. He had given this matter a lot of thoughts, but could not put out the least bit of idea. His eyes scanned the darkened surrounding area; his ears heard the distant cry of an owl. Suddenly he remembered when he was a child he often heard people say, 'The owl [lit. night cat] hides in a secret place and stealthily counts human's eyebrows. Whoever got his eyebrows counted correctly, that person will not live to see the daylight.' It was obviously a myth to deceive little children, but in this situation suddenly hearing the cry of the owl, he involuntarily shuddered. ”Could it be that Shifu won't be able to escape this disaster and die under this woman's hands?” He had just finished his thought when suddenly the woodcutter whispered urgently with a trembling voice, ”She is here!”
The scholar lifted his head and saw a black shadow flew across the stone bridge and light as a feather jumped over the gap, as if floating without exerting any energy at all. The four people were astonished, ”When she started training with Shifu, we have already been under his tutelage for a long time. How can her martial art exceed ours? In this last dozen of years or so, where did she go to learn such a marvelous skill?” they thought. As they saw that dark shadow come near, four people stood up and positioned themselves on either side of the way.
In a blink of an eye that dark shadow has arrived at the end of the stone bridge; she was wearing black clothes, and her facial features could be vaguely recognized as Concubine Liu whom the Emperor Duan loved very much in the years past.
Four people knelt down and kowtowed, ”Xiao Ren [little/lowly people] greets Niang-niang [madam, or in this case can be translated as 'empress'].”
”Humph,” Ying Gu snorted. Her gaze swept the four people's faces and she said, ”What Niang-niang? Concubine Liu had died long ago, I am Ying Gu. Hmm, the Prime Minister, the General, the Admiral, and the Commanding Officer of the 'yu lin jun' [lit. defending woods troops. I am not sure, but I think 'yu lin jun' is the personal bodyguards of the emperor] are all here. I thought the Emperor had forsaken worldliness and became a monk, who would have thought that he is hiding in this remote mountain and lives in peace and security as an emperor.” Her voice carried so much hatred that their hearts trembled.
The scholar said, ”The Emperor does not look like his former self. I am sure Niang-niang will not recognize him anymore.”