Man from the Wild South

Chapter 7

Chapter 7 (Part 1)

Feng Jin examines his reflection in the mirror. He has added a dressing table and mirror in the bedroom for Shang Guan Jing but the latter is too used to dressing simply and seldom uses either items. Earlier today, she has said that she is “unused” to his looks, which is why he is now examining himself in the mirror from left to right, top to bottom.

Isn’t there a saying that women like pretty things? If this is true, why is he shunned when he is good-looking now? He has not asked to be born this way either, why fault him for something that is beyond his control?

Sigh.

Shang Guan Jing walks into this scene of “beauty sighing to the mirror” and also sighs. Earlier in the morning, she has blurted out without thinking that she is not used to his new looks, but it is not her intention to hurt him. Afterall, she has grown used to the patches on his face and when they are gone all of a sudden, of course she needs time to adapt!

Besides, now that there are no distractions to his fine features, her heart will start fluttering if she looks at him for too long which is another reason why she finds it hard to look at him for long.

She places a food tray on the table and asks him to join her. “An old granny has given me some rice cakes today and Zhu Yu has made a pot of tea. Would you like to join me for supper?”

When he only continues to look in the mirror, she walks over and meets his eyes in the mirror. He turns his face away quickly as if worried that she might get “unused” to him again and she sighs to herself again. Taking his hand, she leads him to the table and tells him about her day. “The villagers are trying to form a martial arts class and I am thinking of imparting some of my skills to them. What do you think?”

“I have no objections on what you want to do so long as you don’t find it tiring.” Feng Jin thinks that she must relate to people really well for the villagers to accept her into their midst when they all must know by now that she is related to him. When he sees the rice cakes on the table, his eyes light up with interest.

Shang Guan Jin notices his line of sight and offers some rice cakes to him happily. “Try these rice cakes! They are very nice. You ate very little at dinner just now and you should be feeling hungry by now. An old granny gave them to me today when I helped to her bring home her groceries and they will make a good snack. She told me a lot of things along the way as well.”

“Hmm…” Feng Jin bites into his first rice cake. “So you went to her house. Who did you see?”

“She told me that she has a big family but I did not see anyone when I reached her house! But she did tell me stories about the Diao family.”

“Really?” Feng Jin picks up a teacup. “What did she tell you?”

“The granny told me that a long, long time ago, Nan Man is guarded by a fire phoenix. One day, the phoenix changed his form into a man and married a local girl. Their decedents became the Diao family and in each generation, a person will be born into the family with supernatural powers. The person will become the Feng Zhu, or leader of the Diao family, and becomes the next guardian for Nan Man. Have you heard this story before?”

“Oh…” Feng Jin blows on his tea to make it less scalding. “If you do not tell me, who else would talk to me about all these?”

Shang Guan Jing feels sorry for him and bows her head sadly. “I’m sorry.”

Feng Jin does not know why she should apologize but her attitude is amusing while her concern warm his heart. He reaches for her hand and laces their fingers together. “So long as you are the story-teller, I would love to hear any story you have to tell me. So tell me, what else did that knowledgable granny tell you? Did you see your leader’s token?”