Chapter 12 - Blame it on fate… (2/2)

Master Bai Jiu taught Moxi words, art, martial arts, and even an elegant melody or two occasionally.

He taught a lot and Moxi also learned quickly, as if after depriving him of his ability to speak, Heaven had compensated him with other talents.

He was most gifted in music. It didn’t take long before he was able to strum a song.

I loved lying beside his zither stand, propping my head to watch his miniature adult appearance. His young and tender fingertips would glide across the strings. There were a few notes he hadn’t mastered accurately, but he was so darling in his confidence that one couldn’t help adoring him.

I often took advantage of Bai Jiu’s absence to quietly have my ways with Moxi.

One time, I gave Moxi a hug and a kiss.

He flushed from my kiss and was caught by his master. From that day on, just like his master, he became cautious around me as if I were some children-eating witch from the Black Mountain.

9 yellow wine and realgar wine respectively

It became difficult for me to have my ways with Moxi. I resented Bai Jiu so much my blood could’ve dyed several beaches. Just as I was wondering when to chop this deadwood up and toss him back to the woods, he suddenly became busy and often disappeared for a long time.

I relaxed in jubilation. Rain or shine, I came and stuck by Moxi’s side. I didn’t know what Bai Jiu had said to Moxi, but his affection for me had turned timid and shy.

I didn’t want to force Moxi, but my grudges against Bai Jiu grew even deeper.

Moxi took his studies very seriously. Even if Bai Jiu weren’t pushing him, he would exceed the daily tasks Bai Jiu gave him. He was still so young, nonetheless. Over time, he wouldn’t be able to keep this up.

I sewed a new coat for him on the first snow of the year. He held and admired it over and over, both hesitant to put it on but also reluctant to put it down. Blushing, he watched me with apprehension. At the thought of his bashfulness previously, I silently forbore the impulse to kiss him. “Tidy things up yourself. I’m going to make dinner.”

By the time I brought food back, Moxi was hugging the coat, asleep on the table.

I carried him to bed, tucked him in, and then painfully watched the small face that had grown so thin. With my power, it wasn’t impossible to protect and help him through his trial so that he may have a safe life. But it was after all his life. He should be the one deciding it. I touched his face, thinking: After this life is over, will we cross paths again? The Black and White Guards of Impermanence said you made a good tantrum in the underworld… What’s wrong with you? I helped you pass your trial, but instead of thanking me, you’re always mean to me. You’re being ungrateful! I was nice for nothing!

And yet, no matter how poorly Moxi treated me, I couldn’t treat him the same way.

Who told him to be my love trial?!

I softly sighed. Watching him fast asleep, I couldn’t but get sleepy myself. Not caring about the food that was slowly growing cold on the table, I lay bedside, admired his face, and slowly dozed off.

It was a ticklish feeling on my cheek that woke me up.

I opened my eyes to see that Moxi was watching me with a huge grin on his face.

He was holding my hair in his hand, sweeping it across my cheek and tickling me again.

I didn’t like having other people touch my precious hair, but it never mattered with

Moxi. Even if it did, I could never get mad at that beaming face. I blinked a few times and said to him: “Moxi, are you having your ways with me?”

He copied my blinking and looked at me in puzzlement, not understanding what ‘having his way’ meant. I gave him a sly smile and playfully nibbled his ear. “This is called ‘having your ways’.”

He froze, clutched his ear, and turned crimson red.

As I was sighing why this child was so easily embarrassed in this lifetime, he surprisingly puckered up and gave my cheek a sounding peck.

This time, it was my turn to freeze.

He grasped my hand and wrote onto my palm with his index finger: “I love Sansheng the most.”

All I knew was that my heart was melting into a pool of bubbly warm liquid that was rippling all the way to my limbs.

By the time I recovered, I planted an equally blunt kiss onto his face. I kicked away my shoes, lifted the quilt and climbed into bed, cuddling him in my arms. “Let’s not do anything today. We’ll just lie here and have a good rest.”

But how could there be such a good thing? Not long after we lay down, the quilt was snatched away.

Blue veins popped on Bai Jiu’s forehead. He looked at Moxi, then glared at me, and at last closed his eyes to restrain himself before asking in a stabilized voice: “Why aren’t you doing your homework today?”

Moxi instantly jumped away from my hug to hurry out of bed and put on his shoes.

Furious that we got bothered at such an intimate moment, I grasped Moxi’s hand while looking at Bai Jiu saying: “What are you running for? We aren’t adulterers caught in bed.”

Moxi obviously didn’t know what I meant, but Bai Jiu was livid with anger. He pointed at me: “You, you, you…” He stood rigid for half a day and couldn’t manage anything more to say. He reached for Moxi, wanting to pull him away from me. I imperturbably held onto Moxi, blocking him with one hand.

His expression worsened when he failed to grab Moxi.

I smiled smugly. “Hmph! Moxi is mine!”

“How can you subject such atrocity on a child?”

I didn’t bother with him. I turned around and petted Moxi’s head, asking: “Must you follow and learn from such a useless fogy?” In point of fact, Bai Jiu should only be in his twenties or thirties; he was a far cry from a ‘useless fogy’. But in my eyes at this moment, his ideas were so old-fashioned that he was no different from the useless fogies at school.

As soon as I said this, Bai Jiu’s face turned the color of pork liver. He looked as though he could spray dog blood in my face and then give me a good beating.

Moxi hastily covered my mouth in disapproval. I pulled his hand away and asked him, “You still want to learn from him?”

Moxi looked at Bai Jiu and nodded. I caught a glimpse of Bai Jiu as he smiled a strange smile like that of a child who had just cheated while at the same time like that of a beaming villain.

For the time being, I could not tell what I was feeling. I only lightly said, “Very well.

Continue learning from him, then.” Without even putting on my shoes, I went straight out the door to the tavern and spent the night there.

This was the first time I stayed out overnight. It was also the first time I got mad at Moxi, or rather it was jealousy I was feeling. He was clearly just a stranger I had saved. He hadn’t even been with us for long but the stupid child was already taking his side! For crying out loud…

Dammit!

That night at the pub, I sent Accountant Liu along with everyone else home. Then, I poured all the white liquor in the store down the toilet.

8 homonymic with ‘white wine’