Wei Fengniang sat at the dresser, looking at her reflection in the mirror, and she couldn’t help but be quite pleased with what she saw.
She truly was a beautiful woman. Especially today, she seemed even more radiant and glowingly beautiful.
Because she normally didn’t wear such brightly-colored clothing, and she rarely wore make-up.
She always knew how to restrain herself.
She knew that only a woman who could restrain herself was qualified to be a wife of the Zhao family.
From the first day she laid eyes on Zhao Wuji, she had made up her mind to become a daughter-in-law of the Zhao family.
From that day on, she had set some lifelong goals to strive for.
She studied needlework, cooking, and she learned how to manage household affairs.
Now her cooking rivaled that of any famous restaurant chef.
Her sewing was such that whoever wore her clothes, it alwyas fit comfortably.
Even the pickiest of people could not but admit that she was the ideal wife.
Her hard work had not been in vain.
Now she was practically already entered the Zhao household, was already member of the Zhao family.
This didn’t mean she intended to be an arrogant and willful young mistress.
She was resolved to be even better in the future and make Zhao Wuji not regret marrying her.
× × ×
Zhao Wuji was handsome, healthy, intelligent, and though he had a bit of a bad temper, he was a good young man.
A man like him was naturally liked by many girls.
She knew he had been something of a playboy.
She even knew about his girl named “Xiangxiang”.
But she had made up her mind to forget all that in the days to come, because she believed in the future he would have a change of heart.
She could tell he was an honest man. He would be an honest husband.
To be able to marry a husband like that, what more could a woman ask for?
She was just a little nervous was all.
When she thought about tonight——thought about that big bed in the bridal chamber, her heart skipped and her face flushed.
Right now her heart was hammering——
× × ×
But she was not really worried about all that. Every girl had to go through that, what was there to worry about?
Right now all that worried her was that Zhao Wuji had gone out this morning and still had not returned.
It was already dark.
She was not only worried, she was starting to get anxious. Fortunately, just then she heard Qianqian’s delighted voice:
“Wuji is back.”
Zhao Qianqian was Wuji’s little sister.
She was like her big brother: healthy, intelligent, and beautiful.
She was not only a well-known beauty, she was a famed lady xia within the jianghu.
She began practicing the sword when she was very little, and many Gale Lodge masters had been defeated by her sword. Even her big brother had lost to her sword.
She knew her big brother had let her win, but she was still happy.
She was just seventeen, the prime of her life.
To her, life was like a cup of sweet wine, just waiting for her to drink it up.
But she had her own affairs weighing on her.
What could a seventeen-year-old girl have on her mind?
× × ×
She had always been happy, all until that one day at dusk.
That spring day, she had been sitting in the rear garden admiring the fresh flowers in bloom, watching the clear blue sky and the fragrant expanse of land, watching the setting sun slowly disappear behind the distand mountains.
She suddenly felt very lonely.
The loneliness of a seventeen-year-old girl usually could only be dispelled in one way: by a man who understood her, a man she liked. She could not find a man like that.
Because she had always felt that there were only two real men in the world. One was her father. The other was her big brother.
She looked down on other men.
If she had had a mother she could have poured her heart out to her, but unfortunately, her mother had died years ago.
She began to grow distant from her father. The only one she could talk to was her big brother.
Now that her big brother was getting married, she knew she would be even lonelier in the future.
Lonely.
So terribly lonely.
× × ×
Wuji had gone out in the morning and had yet to return, and the one most worried was her.
Because only she knew what he had gone to do.
They had no secrets between them, brother and sister.
“I’m going to repay my debts. I have to go, but there are some debts I might not be able to repay. If I’m not back by dark, I most likely won’t ever come back.”
She didn’t grab onto him, didn’t plead with him.
Because she understood him. She knew that when a real man made up his mind to do something, no one could hold him back, and pleading would be no use.
In her heart she was always proud that she had a big brother like that.
× × ×
She had been waiting since dusk, standing outside the rear garden by a side door, waiting.
When it was dark she began to get anxious.
Just then, she saw a person on a horse racing like mad down a narrow alley behind their garden.
She could not see clearly who it was, but she knew who it was.
Only Wuji would be so unbridled, only Wuji would ride like that.
She immediately jumped for joy.
“Wuji is back.”
Wuji was changing clothes.
He didn’t even have time to wash, he just began changing into his bridegroom clothes.
He smelled like sweat, and his legs were not only sore and aching, his inner thighs were rubbed raw by the saddle.
The mount he rode was one in a thousand, a fast horse, but it had collapsed.
It was a miracle that he had not collapsed as well.
He now knew that being a groom was truly no easy feat.
Just changing clothes was hard enough.
He never imagined bridegroom attire could be so troublesome, more troublesome than helping a little girl change the clothes on her doll. Luckily, he was able to keep his cool, because he knew that this was the only time in his life he was going to have to do this.
Three people helped him change.
× × ×
It should have been three women, but he insisted it had to be men.
He couldn’t take being helped into his clothes by three women he neither knew nor liked.
Except there was one woman in the room.
Even though this woman, in his eyes, could not be considered a woman, in the eyes of others this woman was the standard of beauty, the perfect woman. Aside from her rotten temper, she was a woman among women.
× × ×
Qianqian sat in the corner and watched him change. She sat on the floor.
Even if there were 800 chairs in the room she would not have sat, because she liked sitting on the floor.
She liked sitting on the floor.
Even if the ground was covered in two inches of mud, if she liked, she would sit all the same.
She didn’t care a bit if her clothes were dirty, and she didn’t care if people said it was not proper for her to sit.
She was not like Wei Fengniang.
She always did what she wanted.
Wuji shook his head. “Look at you sitting on the floor like that. How will you get married in the future!”
Qianqian snorted. “What do you care if I marry or not? In any case I won’t be marrying you!”
Wuji gave a wry smile.
Just forced a smile.
Qianqian was peeved. “All the more so a man like you can get a wife, why couldn’t I marry?”
Wuji couldn’t help but voice his opinion. “But you’re a woman. A woman must have some degree of womanliness about her!”
Qianqian curled her lips. “What should a woman be like? Like your Xiangxiang?”
Wuji was quiet at the mention of Xiangxiang.
Qianqian didn’t let him off. “Is she really fragrant? Just how fragrant is she?”
She seemed to be really interested in this question, so Wuji had could only change the topic, and fast.
“Are there a lot of people here today?”
“Mm!”
“Who’s here?”
“Those who should be here didn’t come, and those who shouldn’t come did.”
Wuji eyed his little sister out of the corner of his eye. “I know Big Chief’s son certainly didn’t come!”
Qianqian just had to ask, “How do you know?”
Wuji intentionally gave her a sinister smile. “Because he should come.”
Qianqian blushed in spite of herself.
“Big Chief” was the most powerful man in Gale Lodge, known by all in the jianghu as Mastermind Sikong Xiaofeng.
His son was Sikong Qu.
Sikong Qu had a crush on Qianqian, and it was a secret to no one.
Wuji was proud of himself.
That little quip had managed to temporarily silence his blabbermouth little sister, but he forgot he also had a secret that wasn’t a secret.
Qianqian rolled her eyes and suddenly let out a sigh. “Pity, truly a pity!”
Wuji had to ask, “What are you pitying?”
Qianqian said, “Pity a certain someone didn’t come.”
Wuji said, “What someone?”
“Someone who really really should come.”
“Who?”
“The pitiful Lianlian.”
Wuji said, “What does she have to do with me? I’ve never even seen her face.”
Qianqian said, “That’s why it’s such a pity, because you haven’t ever seen her face.”
Now it was her turn to eye her big brother out of the corner of her eye. “Haven’t you always wanted to know what she looks like?”
Wuji had no way to deny it.
He really had always wanted to see this “pitiful Lianlian”, see what she looked like. This was no secret!
× × ×
This “pitiful Lianlian” was their Third Uncle Shangguan Ren’s only daughter!
Her name was Lianlian.1
Shangguan Lianlian.
Everyone knew she was a talented girl, and a beautiful girl.
But no one had ever seen her.
Because when she was little she had been sent away to Mt. Huang by her father. Some said it was to learn martial arts.
Abbess Mystic Rain of “Mystic Rain Temple” on Mt. Huang was most suitable for a girl.
Others said she went to convalesce.
She had been born with a strange illness, just like her mother. If she didn’t recuperate in peace she might not live to see twenty.
So why was she sent away?”
No one knew, and no one ever asked Shangguan Ren.
Shangguan Ren was never an easy person to get close to, and he would really not like someone to bring up that question.
His wife’s death and his daughter were two subjects he never spoke of.
If Shangguan Ren didn’t want to mention something, and you mentioned it, then you were inviting a snub.
No matter who you were.
Even the master of Gale Lodge, Yun Feiyang, knew how touchy he was about it.
× × ×
Wuji again had to change the subject quickly at the mention of Lianlian. “Did Old Fogy take his medicine today?”
This topic was always the one they were most concerned with.
Because Old Fogy was their father.
“Old Fogy” was by no means a disrespectful term of address for them. It just showed the closeness and intimacy between children and father that no one else would ever be able to understand.
To others, their father was perhaps a frightening person. When most people in the jianghu mentioned the five words “Gold Dragon Sword Zhao Jian”, they did so with a reverence approaching fear.
But to them, he was not only their stern father, he was also their loving mother.
Madame Zhao had passed away years ago, and he had raised the two kids by himself.
On freezing cold winter nights it was he who would get up and tuck them into bed.
On warm, sunny spring days, it was he who flew kites with them in the flower garden.
For the sake of raising his two kids, this hearty man of the wulin who had helped his close friend, Yun Feiyang, found Gale Lodge, who had in former years ran roughshod with his sword throughout the jianghu, had to gradually change his temperament.
Although his temper had gotten better in recent years, his health was diminishing, and he had become easily fatigued.
After handling some strenuous matter at Gale Lodge, he would often sit by himself in his study, so tired he could not even speak. At times he would be in so much pain his whole body would spasm.
His kids by degrees came to realize his suffering and concluded that he must be hiding the pain from some ailment.
Brother and sister could force him to see a doctor, but the stubborn old man often refused to take his medicine.
He often said, “Only woman take medicine all day long. Do you two take me for a woman?”
This was not the proper view, but as long as he thought it was right, no one would ever be able to change his mind.
Qianqian sighed faintly. “Today he secretly poured his bowl of medicine in the sewer!”
Wuji smiled wryly. “I really don’t get it, why is he always like a child afraid to take his medicine?”
Qianqian said, “I heard when a person gets old they often revert to a childlike state.”
Wuji said, “I heard that Uncle Lu was making a special trip in from Mt. Hua. Others can’t diagnose his illness, but with Uncle Lu, what illness is there that he can’t cure?”
Uncle Lu was the “Retired Doctor of Mt. Hua” Lu Tong, not only a famous person from the Mt. Hua Sword Sect, but also a famed, highy skilled doctor of the jianghu.
Qianqian said, “Today after lunch, Uncle Lu took Old Fogy’s pulse.”
She thought for a moment. “Then they went to the study and talked for a long time.”
Wuji said, “What did he say when they came out?”
“When they came out, Old Fogy seemed happy. He specially laid out a table and invited Third Uncle to the rear garden to drink to their heart’s content.”
Third Uncle: one of the three big chiefs of Gale Lodge, the one who could go all day without uttering a word, “Iron Sword Buddha” Shangguan Ren.
The Buddha still spoke, but if you wanted him to speak it was harder than getting the Buddha to talk.
Qianqian said, “He drank a lot with Old Fogy today. Only today did I find out his tolerance very well may be better than yours.”
Wuji put on a happy face. “From the way you’re talking, Old Fogy’s illness must be taking a turn for the better.”
Qianqian said, “But Uncle Lu seemed to have a lot weighing on his mind. He didn’t touch any wine.”
Wuji frowned.
Just then came the sound of heavy, hurried footsteps from outside the window. Someone outside asked, “Is Young Master in there?”
Wuji and Qianqian could tell it was Old Jiang’s voice.
× × ×
Lao Jiang had served in the Zhao manor for decades. He’d went from Zhao Jian’s pageboy to the steward of Gentle Breeze Villa. His legs, which used to kick the shuttlecock better than anyone, in recent years had been worn down with arthritis, making it difficult for him to walk.
But Zhao Jian, in his mind, was forever the Young Master of former years.
He never even changed the way he addressed him.
× × ×
Qianqian leapt up from the floor and pushed open the window and saw Old Jiang, who was always the most calm, now looked really anxious. He had stopped, but he was still panting.
She couldn’t help but ask, “What alarming thing has happened to get you so worked up?”
Old Jiang, panting, said, “Master Sikong is here all the way from Baoding prefecture. He’s in the parlor waiting to see Young Master, but I don’t know where Young Master went.”
Qianqian said, “Have you looked for him?”
“I’ve looked everywhere. Not only can I not find Young Master, Third Master Shangguan is nowhere to be found either.”
Qianqian was beginning to worry too.
Old Jiang had been with her father for forty years, he knew every blade of grass at Gentle Breeze Villa like the back of his hand.
If even he could not find him, then who could?
Wuji suddenly said, “I can find him.”
Old Jiang said, “You know where he is?”
Wuji laughed. “It’s a place only I know about. I’ll go look for you.”
He ignored the fact that he had already changed into his bridegroom clothes, and he sprang up and rushed out.
Old Jiang watched him. He shook his head with a sigh. “Little Young Master’s temper is really the same as when Young Master was young.
Even though he sighed, his eyes were beaming.
His Young Master had never in his life done anything to be ashamed of, and now he was finally being rewarded for it.
He himself could live without regret, being able to watch this Little Young Master grow up and become a man and take a wife and have kids.
He only hoped Little Young Master could hurry and find his Young Master; hurry and do the wedding ceremony, go into the bridal chamber, so that he could breathe a sigh of relief and go find his own companion and drink a couple cups to his heart’s content.
Qianqian was a bit put out and couldn’t keep from saying, “I don’t believe there’s a place here that not even we know about.”
Old Jiang said, “Some places are not for us to know about.”
“Why?”
“Because it has to be a place where Young Master handles top secret official business. Young Master has always been scrupulous about separating work affairs from private affairs, of course he wouldn’t let us know.”
Qianqian said, “Then how come Wuji knows?”
Old Jiang said, “Little Young Master is Young Master’s heir. In the future, once Young Master retires, Little Young Master will be the one who takes over for him, so he naturally ought to let Little Young Master know about those things.”
Qianqian was even more put out. “What is there that only he should know about? Am I not my father’s offspring too?”
Old Jiang said, “You? You, after all, are a girl.”
“What does that got to do with it?”
“A girl sooner or later is going to get married. Once you get married you will belong to another family.”
What he said was the truth, he always spoke the truth.
Qianqian had no way to refute him if she wanted to, she could only stare daggers at him. “I just won’t marry then, what do you say to that?”
Old Jiang laughed. “What do I say to that? What can I say?”
His eyes narrowed as he smiled. “I just wonder, when the time comes and someone doesn’t want you to marry, will it be alright then?”
Lianlian is 憐憐, which literally means “pity pity”, thus the wordplay with “pitiful”.
Wei Fengniang sat at the dresser, looking at her reflection in the mirror, and she couldn’t help but be quite pleased with what she saw.
She truly was a beautiful woman. Especially today, she seemed even more radiant and glowingly beautiful.
Because she normally didn’t wear such brightly-colored clothing, and she rarely wore make-up.
She always knew how to restrain herself.
She knew that only a woman who could restrain herself was qualified to be a wife of the Zhao family.
From the first day she laid eyes on Zhao Wuji, she had made up her mind to become a daughter-in-law of the Zhao family.
From that day on, she had set some lifelong goals to strive for.
She studied needlework, cooking, and she learned how to manage household affairs.
Now her cooking rivaled that of any famous restaurant chef.
Her sewing was such that whoever wore her clothes, it alwyas fit comfortably.
Even the pickiest of people could not but admit that she was the ideal wife.
Her hard work had not been in vain.
Now she was practically already entered the Zhao household, was already member of the Zhao family.
This didn’t mean she intended to be an arrogant and willful young mistress.
She was resolved to be even better in the future and make Zhao Wuji not regret marrying her.
× × ×
Zhao Wuji was handsome, healthy, intelligent, and though he had a bit of a bad temper, he was a good young man.
A man like him was naturally liked by many girls.
She knew he had been something of a playboy.
She even knew about his girl named “Xiangxiang”.
But she had made up her mind to forget all that in the days to come, because she believed in the future he would have a change of heart.
She could tell he was an honest man. He would be an honest husband.
To be able to marry a husband like that, what more could a woman ask for?
She was just a little nervous was all.
When she thought about tonight——thought about that big bed in the bridal chamber, her heart skipped and her face flushed.
Right now her heart was hammering——
× × ×
But she was not really worried about all that. Every girl had to go through that, what was there to worry about?
Right now all that worried her was that Zhao Wuji had gone out this morning and still had not returned.
It was already dark.
She was not only worried, she was starting to get anxious. Fortunately, just then she heard Qianqian’s delighted voice:
“Wuji is back.”
Zhao Qianqian was Wuji’s little sister.
She was like her big brother: healthy, intelligent, and beautiful.
She was not only a well-known beauty, she was a famed lady xia within the jianghu.
She began practicing the sword when she was very little, and many Gale Lodge masters had been defeated by her sword. Even her big brother had lost to her sword.
She knew her big brother had let her win, but she was still happy.
She was just seventeen, the prime of her life.
To her, life was like a cup of sweet wine, just waiting for her to drink it up.
But she had her own affairs weighing on her.
What could a seventeen-year-old girl have on her mind?
× × ×
She had always been happy, all until that one day at dusk.
That spring day, she had been sitting in the rear garden admiring the fresh flowers in bloom, watching the clear blue sky and the fragrant expanse of land, watching the setting sun slowly disappear behind the distand mountains.
She suddenly felt very lonely.
The loneliness of a seventeen-year-old girl usually could only be dispelled in one way: by a man who understood her, a man she liked. She could not find a man like that.
Because she had always felt that there were only two real men in the world. One was her father. The other was her big brother.
She looked down on other men.
If she had had a mother she could have poured her heart out to her, but unfortunately, her mother had died years ago.
She began to grow distant from her father. The only one she could talk to was her big brother.
Now that her big brother was getting married, she knew she would be even lonelier in the future.
Lonely.
So terribly lonely.
× × ×
Wuji had gone out in the morning and had yet to return, and the one most worried was her.
Because only she knew what he had gone to do.
They had no secrets between them, brother and sister.
“I’m going to repay my debts. I have to go, but there are some debts I might not be able to repay. If I’m not back by dark, I most likely won’t ever come back.”
She didn’t grab onto him, didn’t plead with him.
Because she understood him. She knew that when a real man made up his mind to do something, no one could hold him back, and pleading would be no use.
In her heart she was always proud that she had a big brother like that.
× × ×
She had been waiting since dusk, standing outside the rear garden by a side door, waiting.
When it was dark she began to get anxious.
Just then, she saw a person on a horse racing like mad down a narrow alley behind their garden.
She could not see clearly who it was, but she knew who it was.
Only Wuji would be so unbridled, only Wuji would ride like that.
She immediately jumped for joy.
“Wuji is back.”
Wuji was changing clothes.
He didn’t even have time to wash, he just began changing into his bridegroom clothes.
He smelled like sweat, and his legs were not only sore and aching, his inner thighs were rubbed raw by the saddle.
The mount he rode was one in a thousand, a fast horse, but it had collapsed.
It was a miracle that he had not collapsed as well.
He now knew that being a groom was truly no easy feat.
Just changing clothes was hard enough.
He never imagined bridegroom attire could be so troublesome, more troublesome than helping a little girl change the clothes on her doll. Luckily, he was able to keep his cool, because he knew that this was the only time in his life he was going to have to do this.
Three people helped him change.
× × ×
It should have been three women, but he insisted it had to be men.
He couldn’t take being helped into his clothes by three women he neither knew nor liked.
Except there was one woman in the room.
Even though this woman, in his eyes, could not be considered a woman, in the eyes of others this woman was the standard of beauty, the perfect woman. Aside from her rotten temper, she was a woman among women.
× × ×
Qianqian sat in the corner and watched him change. She sat on the floor.
Even if there were 800 chairs in the room she would not have sat, because she liked sitting on the floor.
She liked sitting on the floor.
Even if the ground was covered in two inches of mud, if she liked, she would sit all the same.
She didn’t care a bit if her clothes were dirty, and she didn’t care if people said it was not proper for her to sit.
She was not like Wei Fengniang.
She always did what she wanted.
Wuji shook his head. “Look at you sitting on the floor like that. How will you get married in the future!”
Qianqian snorted. “What do you care if I marry or not? In any case I won’t be marrying you!”
Wuji gave a wry smile.
Just forced a smile.
Qianqian was peeved. “All the more so a man like you can get a wife, why couldn’t I marry?”
Wuji couldn’t help but voice his opinion. “But you’re a woman. A woman must have some degree of womanliness about her!”
Qianqian curled her lips. “What should a woman be like? Like your Xiangxiang?”
Wuji was quiet at the mention of Xiangxiang.
Qianqian didn’t let him off. “Is she really fragrant? Just how fragrant is she?”
She seemed to be really interested in this question, so Wuji had could only change the topic, and fast.
“Are there a lot of people here today?”
“Mm!”
“Who’s here?”
“Those who should be here didn’t come, and those who shouldn’t come did.”
Wuji eyed his little sister out of the corner of his eye. “I know Big Chief’s son certainly didn’t come!”
Qianqian just had to ask, “How do you know?”
Wuji intentionally gave her a sinister smile. “Because he should come.”
Qianqian blushed in spite of herself.
“Big Chief” was the most powerful man in Gale Lodge, known by all in the jianghu as Mastermind Sikong Xiaofeng.
His son was Sikong Qu.
Sikong Qu had a crush on Qianqian, and it was a secret to no one.
Wuji was proud of himself.
That little quip had managed to temporarily silence his blabbermouth little sister, but he forgot he also had a secret that wasn’t a secret.
Qianqian rolled her eyes and suddenly let out a sigh. “Pity, truly a pity!”
Wuji had to ask, “What are you pitying?”
Qianqian said, “Pity a certain someone didn’t come.”
Wuji said, “What someone?”
“Someone who really really should come.”
“Who?”
“The pitiful Lianlian.”
Wuji said, “What does she have to do with me? I’ve never even seen her face.”
Qianqian said, “That’s why it’s such a pity, because you haven’t ever seen her face.”
Now it was her turn to eye her big brother out of the corner of her eye. “Haven’t you always wanted to know what she looks like?”
Wuji had no way to deny it.
He really had always wanted to see this “pitiful Lianlian”, see what she looked like. This was no secret!
× × ×
This “pitiful Lianlian” was their Third Uncle Shangguan Ren’s only daughter!
Her name was Lianlian.1
Shangguan Lianlian.
Everyone knew she was a talented girl, and a beautiful girl.
But no one had ever seen her.
Because when she was little she had been sent away to Mt. Huang by her father. Some said it was to learn martial arts.
Abbess Mystic Rain of “Mystic Rain Temple” on Mt. Huang was most suitable for a girl.
Others said she went to convalesce.
She had been born with a strange illness, just like her mother. If she didn’t recuperate in peace she might not live to see twenty.
So why was she sent away?”
No one knew, and no one ever asked Shangguan Ren.
Shangguan Ren was never an easy person to get close to, and he would really not like someone to bring up that question.
His wife’s death and his daughter were two subjects he never spoke of.
If Shangguan Ren didn’t want to mention something, and you mentioned it, then you were inviting a snub.
No matter who you were.
Even the master of Gale Lodge, Yun Feiyang, knew how touchy he was about it.
× × ×
Wuji again had to change the subject quickly at the mention of Lianlian. “Did Old Fogy take his medicine today?”
This topic was always the one they were most concerned with.
Because Old Fogy was their father.
“Old Fogy” was by no means a disrespectful term of address for them. It just showed the closeness and intimacy between children and father that no one else would ever be able to understand.
To others, their father was perhaps a frightening person. When most people in the jianghu mentioned the five words “Gold Dragon Sword Zhao Jian”, they did so with a reverence approaching fear.
But to them, he was not only their stern father, he was also their loving mother.
Madame Zhao had passed away years ago, and he had raised the two kids by himself.
On freezing cold winter nights it was he who would get up and tuck them into bed.
On warm, sunny spring days, it was he who flew kites with them in the flower garden.
For the sake of raising his two kids, this hearty man of the wulin who had helped his close friend, Yun Feiyang, found Gale Lodge, who had in former years ran roughshod with his sword throughout the jianghu, had to gradually change his temperament.
Although his temper had gotten better in recent years, his health was diminishing, and he had become easily fatigued.
After handling some strenuous matter at Gale Lodge, he would often sit by himself in his study, so tired he could not even speak. At times he would be in so much pain his whole body would spasm.
His kids by degrees came to realize his suffering and concluded that he must be hiding the pain from some ailment.
Brother and sister could force him to see a doctor, but the stubborn old man often refused to take his medicine.
He often said, “Only woman take medicine all day long. Do you two take me for a woman?”
This was not the proper view, but as long as he thought it was right, no one would ever be able to change his mind.
Qianqian sighed faintly. “Today he secretly poured his bowl of medicine in the sewer!”
Wuji smiled wryly. “I really don’t get it, why is he always like a child afraid to take his medicine?”
Qianqian said, “I heard when a person gets old they often revert to a childlike state.”
Wuji said, “I heard that Uncle Lu was making a special trip in from Mt. Hua. Others can’t diagnose his illness, but with Uncle Lu, what illness is there that he can’t cure?”
Uncle Lu was the “Retired Doctor of Mt. Hua” Lu Tong, not only a famous person from the Mt. Hua Sword Sect, but also a famed, highy skilled doctor of the jianghu.
Qianqian said, “Today after lunch, Uncle Lu took Old Fogy’s pulse.”
She thought for a moment. “Then they went to the study and talked for a long time.”
Wuji said, “What did he say when they came out?”
“When they came out, Old Fogy seemed happy. He specially laid out a table and invited Third Uncle to the rear garden to drink to their heart’s content.”
Third Uncle: one of the three big chiefs of Gale Lodge, the one who could go all day without uttering a word, “Iron Sword Buddha” Shangguan Ren.
The Buddha still spoke, but if you wanted him to speak it was harder than getting the Buddha to talk.
Qianqian said, “He drank a lot with Old Fogy today. Only today did I find out his tolerance very well may be better than yours.”
Wuji put on a happy face. “From the way you’re talking, Old Fogy’s illness must be taking a turn for the better.”
Qianqian said, “But Uncle Lu seemed to have a lot weighing on his mind. He didn’t touch any wine.”
Wuji frowned.
Just then came the sound of heavy, hurried footsteps from outside the window. Someone outside asked, “Is Young Master in there?”
Wuji and Qianqian could tell it was Old Jiang’s voice.
× × ×
Lao Jiang had served in the Zhao manor for decades. He’d went from Zhao Jian’s pageboy to the steward of Gentle Breeze Villa. His legs, which used to kick the shuttlecock better than anyone, in recent years had been worn down with arthritis, making it difficult for him to walk.
But Zhao Jian, in his mind, was forever the Young Master of former years.
He never even changed the way he addressed him.
× × ×
Qianqian leapt up from the floor and pushed open the window and saw Old Jiang, who was always the most calm, now looked really anxious. He had stopped, but he was still panting.
She couldn’t help but ask, “What alarming thing has happened to get you so worked up?”
Old Jiang, panting, said, “Master Sikong is here all the way from Baoding prefecture. He’s in the parlor waiting to see Young Master, but I don’t know where Young Master went.”
Qianqian said, “Have you looked for him?”
“I’ve looked everywhere. Not only can I not find Young Master, Third Master Shangguan is nowhere to be found either.”
Qianqian was beginning to worry too.
Old Jiang had been with her father for forty years, he knew every blade of grass at Gentle Breeze Villa like the back of his hand.
If even he could not find him, then who could?
Wuji suddenly said, “I can find him.”
Old Jiang said, “You know where he is?”
Wuji laughed. “It’s a place only I know about. I’ll go look for you.”
He ignored the fact that he had already changed into his bridegroom clothes, and he sprang up and rushed out.
Old Jiang watched him. He shook his head with a sigh. “Little Young Master’s temper is really the same as when Young Master was young.
Even though he sighed, his eyes were beaming.
His Young Master had never in his life done anything to be ashamed of, and now he was finally being rewarded for it.
He himself could live without regret, being able to watch this Little Young Master grow up and become a man and take a wife and have kids.
He only hoped Little Young Master could hurry and find his Young Master; hurry and do the wedding ceremony, go into the bridal chamber, so that he could breathe a sigh of relief and go find his own companion and drink a couple cups to his heart’s content.
Qianqian was a bit put out and couldn’t keep from saying, “I don’t believe there’s a place here that not even we know about.”
Old Jiang said, “Some places are not for us to know about.”
“Why?”
“Because it has to be a place where Young Master handles top secret official business. Young Master has always been scrupulous about separating work affairs from private affairs, of course he wouldn’t let us know.”
Qianqian said, “Then how come Wuji knows?”
Old Jiang said, “Little Young Master is Young Master’s heir. In the future, once Young Master retires, Little Young Master will be the one who takes over for him, so he naturally ought to let Little Young Master know about those things.”
Qianqian was even more put out. “What is there that only he should know about? Am I not my father’s offspring too?”
Old Jiang said, “You? You, after all, are a girl.”
“What does that got to do with it?”
“A girl sooner or later is going to get married. Once you get married you will belong to another family.”
What he said was the truth, he always spoke the truth.
Qianqian had no way to refute him if she wanted to, she could only stare daggers at him. “I just won’t marry then, what do you say to that?”
Old Jiang laughed. “What do I say to that? What can I say?”
His eyes narrowed as he smiled. “I just wonder, when the time comes and someone doesn’t want you to marry, will it be alright then?”
Lianlian is 憐憐, which literally means “pity pity”, thus the wordplay with “pitiful”.
