Edited by renderedreversed
A roar sounded in the air. I looked up and saw gold lights, falling down like snowflakes. The bloodthirsty spell had been broken.
I saw Chu Kon’s figure standing atop the snowy mountain, his long hair fluttering in the wind with his his robes. I couldn’t see his face, but it was unneeded. His silhouette alone was enough to leave me thunderstruck. I could feel how hard my heart was thumping inside my chest.
That thing…why was he posing in such a beautiful manner…
Suddenly, Chu Kong moved and turned in my direction.
Zihui, who was beside me, smiled, waved at him, and shouted, “Shifu, long time no see.”
I couldn’t see Chu Kong’s expression, but the ground beneath my feet trembled. Zihui quietly put away the hand that was still on my waist and, with a face full of smiles, said, “Oops, I didn’t realize that Shifu is a god now. Looks like I can’t afford to mess with him.”
I narrowed my eyes and looked at Zihui. So this was how it was; everyone was an animal that bullied the weak but was afraid of the strong.
“Whoever’s destroying the spell needs to die!”
The demon hadn’t left yet. He stood there shouting up at the sky.
I pointed at the long haired demon and asked Zihui, “What does that mean? The spell has already been broken. Does he think that if he shouts loud enough, we’ll be so scared that we’d lose all our nerves and drop dead?”
Zihui smiled with squinted eyes. “A Xiang lady is still just as funny and lovely as I remember.”
“So noisy!”
Chu Kong’s shout came from far away. His body shifted, and the next time it appeared again was above the head of the long haired demon.
The long haired demon immediately jumped to get to Chu Kong.
Chu Kong only stood still. He didn’t hide or try to dodge. An immortal seal appeared in his hand, and he put this above the long haired demon. It stiffened and immediately stopped.
Zihui nodded in approval. “En, Shifu really has some tactical skills.”
I was excited and ran to Chu Kong.
“Well done, Chu Kong! Let’s just kill and eat him! I’ll dismember him. You go make fire to barbecue him!”
“A Xiang…lady…”
I left Zihui’s voice far behind and ran to the long haired demon, stroking his smooth fur.
“This fur will be able to get a high price. I’ll ponder about where to knife him, but it can’t be here.”
The light in my eyes was really quite brilliant. Chu Kong suddenly came over and grabbed my hand, pulling it away from the fur.
“I was the one who caught him. You’re not allowed to eat him.”
“Why?!”
I was very angry. Chu Kong took one glance at me before looking at Zihui, who had just arrived. Then, he spat, “Don’t you have someone who’s willing to help you? You can let him catch one for you. This is what I’ve caught. I won’t let you eat it.”
Zihui coughed twice. It seemed that he was quite embarrassed to have been caught in this quarrel.
Chu Kong glared at Zihui. At this point, I couldn’t be bothered with him and only glared at Chu Kong. I freely expressed my dissatisfaction about such childlike behavior.
“Between us, is there still a “you” and “me”? I scalp his fur, and the money that I get for it will be spent by us. I cut his meat and roast it; won’t that be eaten by us? Do you think it’s a fun joke to act up like this?!”
Chu Kong thought for a while and then he half turned to look at me. “Us?”
I was dazed and surprised. “Who else would it be?”
Hearing that answer, Chu Kong finally fully turned and looked at me. His mouth curved up, but he quickly suppressed it and, with a straight face, said, “Humph, alright, I’ll reluctantly let you cut it. Xiaoye wants the meat of the spine. You must not cut that part badly.”
This guy…
I didn’t even bother to scold someone who got angry every three days. Instead, I turned my attention to the long haired demon and circled around his body. I felt that I should cut him from his belly. I told Chu Kong, “Turn him over.”
Chu Kong was about to do it, when Zihui suddenly said, “I think…”
“There’s no part for you,” Chu Kong interrupted him and looked at him coldly. “Xiaoye is generous. I won’t bother with the past debt. Now, you must go and hide someplace far away. Don’t let xiaoye see you again.”
Zihui sighed. “What I want to say is that this is a demon. You eating it, isn’t that a bit…”
I gave him a strange look. “Otherwise, what do we do with it?”
Chu Kong also looked at Zihui strangely. “Otherwise, what do we do with it? This is a demon, not an animal. He guards this bloodthirsty spell; who knows how many people’s lives he has harmed. Eating it won’t be a loss.”
Chu Kong said it like it was the right thing to do. Staying in my company for so long had clearly done him some good; his level had greatly improved!
Chu Kong pulled up his sleeves. With a little strength, he turned the long haired demon over, letting the legs face the sky. I jumped on the long haired demon’s belly. Then, I stuck my hand out and said, “Knife.”
Chu Kong stretched his hand out at Zihui and said, “Knife.”
Zihui sighed. “I meant, eating something you don’t know isn’t a good habit.”
Still, while he spoke, he took out a dagger from his sleeve. He wanted to hand it to Chu Kong, but retracted his hand at the last second. Then, he said, “If you use my dagger, it should add at least a few safety measures to your cooking process…”
Chu Kong’s expression turned cold. I hurriedly went in front of Zihui and said, “En,en, good. Later, I’ll cut the front legs for you.”
Zihui willingly handed the dagger over.
The first cut would be in the middle of the demon’s collarbone. I raised my hand and was about to stab when the demon managed to say, “Broke…the bloodthirsty spell, the lord…will not…let you off.”
I turned and exchanged a look with Chu Kong. Then I poked the demon’s neck with the tip of the dagger. “Come on, tell me honestly. Who is your lord? Where does he live?”
The demon no longer said anything. I exchanged a look again with Chu Kong. Chu Kong stroked his chin and said, “If he’s acting like this, someone must’ve put him under a spell. We won’t get anything from him. Just kill and eat it.”
“Wait,” Zihui shouted. “You…really want to eat it? I thought you were just simply threatening it…”
I glanced at Zihui. “Do I look like I’m pretending?”
I blinked once and brought the dagger down with a “shua” sound. Blood spattered.
With a small spell, a flame began to spin and casted the shadows of three people onto the snow. The demon’s meat was fresh and plump. Chu Kong and I lied on the snow with round stomachs. Only Zihui, holding the legs that I promised him, didn’t move. Zihui sighed. “You really ate it…”
Dissatisfied, Chu Kong said, “Do you have any comments?”
He paused and seemed to grow angrier. “You’ve been standing there for so long... What do you mean by that? Who told you to come? Who let you stay here? Go away!”
A snowball directly hit my forehead. I was stunned and glared at Chu Kong. His glance toward me was cold, and he humphed before he said, “I think the you of now is no different from that silly Xiang.”
I also humphed coldly. “The you of now is just the same as that lifetime! Proud, arrogant, and likes to bully people!”
Chu Kong turned and glared at me. He frowned tightly. I didn’t want to be outdone by him and also glared at him. As we were confronting each other, Zihui suddenly laughed and said, “As long as you two are acting like this…other people can easily come between you.”
Chu Kong didn’t say anything, grabbed some snow, and threw it at Zihui. Zihui calmly dodged it.
“Most women like mature and calm men. Shifu acting like this isn’t good. A Xiang lady, isn’t it right?”
Faced with this question, I went silent for a while. Then, I straightforwardly said, “It’s true that I used to think like this in the past.”
I looked at Chu Kong’s angry face, then I turned and looked at the sky. “But now, I think that everyone has their own personality. Someone’s personality is also not bad.”
My cheeks felt warm. I paused and then continued. “And it’s quite unique.”
It was silent for a while. Then, Zihui laughed. “A Xiang lady really knows how to praise someone.”
“Who allowed you to speak?!”
I heard Chu Kong shout through gritted teeth.
“Hmph, you’re a real sly demon, aren’t you? Acting all mature and calm. Letting people like you. Letting people lose their soul as they still think about you.”
Zihui was stunned and asked, “What does Shifu mean with those words?”
Chu Kong sneered. “I don’t have a player for a disciple.”
While Chu Kong was talking, I remembered the soul from the cave. I said, “Oh, I almost forgot. Zihui, do you have a deceased wife? Her soul asked us to come find you and tell you to look for her. Go quickly; if you’re late, her soul will already have been scattered.”
Zihui let the already cooked leg cook again on the fire. He smiled and said, “A Xiang lady has got the wrong guy.”
I hesitated and looked at Chu Kong. Chu Kong narrowed his eyes and looked at Zihui. I said, “That woman asked me to pass on some words: ‘A Luo has always been waiting for you.’ Do you know her?”
The air was full of the smell of the meat. Zihui didn’t move and quietly replied, “Don’t know.”
I pouted and didn’t say anything anymore. Chu Kong stroked his hand. The flame melted the meat. The meat fell on the snow and rolled away.
“This smell is making xiaoye upset.”
Zihui smiled. “I’m sorry.”
He paused and then continued. “Where are you two planning to go next?”
Chu Kong was immediately alarmed. “What do you want?”
“I have nothing to do now. If you two need help, I’ll use all my strength to help you in order to pay back Chu Kong’s grace for saving me.”
“Don’t need it.”
“Good,” I shouted.
Chu Kong frowned. I wondered, “A person is taking the initiative to repay you, so why don’t you want it? Having someone around to run errands and do odd jobs is really good.”
This is what I wished for in the lifetime when I was stupid. That lifetime, I failed to accomplish it. Now, it would be good if I could have that wish come true.
Chu Kong put on a stinky face. “No, xiaoye is happy to have him owe me.”
I was silent and hadn’t yet had the time to speak again when Zihui said, “As the saying goes, as long as the hoe plays well, there’s no wall that he can’t dig down. Is Chu Kong afraid of me?”
Upon hearing that, I winked and looked at Chu Kong.
Chu Kong saw our actions. Slowly, his ears began to turn red. “Afraid your uncle!” he shouted, and turned away.
“If you want to follow us, then follow. Wait and see how xiaoye will handle you! This is what you asked yourself; don’t blame me for not warning you! Hmph!”
So, the road that Chu Kong and I had to walk to go get the stones now had an additional person, or better said…an additional stone.
“Use him to fill the hole.”
Zihui bought a fur coat for me at a small tent. I wore it and felt warm. I looked at Zihui and smiled.
Sitting on the chair inside the inn, Zihui went to get something to eat. Chu Kong immediately gave me a cold look. “He’s just a stone demon, so we can just use him to fill the hole. That will let him pay us back for saving him, and also solve our matter. Kill two birds with one stone.”
My mouth twitched. “Don’t you feel despicable and treacherous, speaking about these things behind a person’s back?”
Chu Kong hmphed coldly. “I didn’t say it behind his back.”
“Why is Chu Kong so disgusted with me?”
Zihui put a bowl of buns in front of me.
“A Xiang lady, eat while it’s hot.”
He laughed and looked at Chu Kong. “I’m dedicatedly working to show my gratitude, but in exchange, I got such words from Chu Kong. It really makes me sad. Moreover, what a Xiang lady told me is that the hole is leaking evil energy. Using pure and clean stones can block the evil energy from leaking. If you use me, a stone demon, I’m afraid the more you use, the more it’ll leak.”
Chu Kong’s hand reached for my face that was full of buns and squeezed it, letting the oil from my mouth fall onto his hands. He didn’t let go. “You told him everything, ah!”
“Isnhn’t he geoing to gelp us…”
Zihui helped me translate. “She said, isn’t he going to help us?”
Chu Kong angrily interrupted him. “I understand what she said!”
Chu Kong pushed my face away and wiped his hand with disgust.
“You, cheap thing. Someone gives you a little benefit and you’re bought. Thing without a backbone.”
I swallowed the buns in my mouth and looked at him. “You have backbone. Don’t eat my buns. Don’t stay at the inn that Zihui found.”
“Xiaoye just won’t stay!”
Chu Kong kicked the chair and stood up. “Today ye will go stay at the Red House1. You two can stay here!”
I blinked and watched Chu Kong’s leaving figure, forgetting all about the buns.
“Where did…did he say he was going to stay?”
“He was talking about the Red House.”
I nodded. “Is he going to look for a flower girl, ah?”
Zihui drank a mouthful tea. “Is a Xiang lady jealous?”
I buried my face in the buns. “Hmph, who has the spare time to be jealous?! Let him get ten girls tonight. Let him contract flower transmitted diseases.”
Zihui coughed twice and joked, “Since you two like each other so much, why don’t you be a little more honest? These two days we were walking together, Chu Kong was really angry.”
“That I like him…is it really that obvious?”
“Really obvious.”
I was silent and didn’t know what more to say. That’s right, ah. I’ve already been so obvious…
Chu Kong, you stupid thing, confess to me, let me stay at ease with you and see what’s like!
I angrily stuffed another bun in my mouth. Zihui said, “Just tell him directly. With Chu Kong’s temper, it’ll be a difficult task to get him to open his mouth.”
“It isn’t that I haven’t given him any hints! He just never says it clearly to me. It must be because there’s still a little small white flower waiting for him in Heaven! They’ll also go look at the stars…”
I startled even myself by blurting out those words.
So…deep in my heart, I had been skeptical about Chu Kong. Giving him hints again and again, being thick-skinned and telling him that he likes me... But every time we got to that point, my heart wanted him to get the courage to tell me directly, to give me a definite answer. But every time…he didn’t give me a direct answer. His performance, his behavior wasn’t as good and real as that one solid sentence: “that’s right, I like you.”
The small white flower named Ying Shi that I saw in the Netherworld was always a shadow in my heart, reminding me that Chu Kong could be gentle to another woman. Alone, I looked forward to him.
I used my chopsticks to pick at the steamed bun. After a long time, I picked some meat out. “Nobody has ever asked me to go watch the stars.”
“If that’s so, then a Xiang lady, let’s go watch the stars today. You and me.”
I looked up at him. Zihui smiled. “We’ll go to the Red House to watch stars.”
My eyebrow raised. I was instantly suspicious. “What do you want to do?”
Zihui smiled mysteriously. “Let Celestial Star Chu Kong say what’s in his heart. Doesn’t a Xiang lady want to hear?”
“Don’t want…”
All the meat in the buns have been poked out by me.
“…It will be a lie.”
________
Comments:
Red house is a place where courtesans and prostitutes work aka a brothel