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Qianmen The Door - Volume 1 - Chapter 2

Published at 24th of October 2018 08:56:45 PM


Chapter 2

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Chapter 2 A Disaster of Snakes (Part 1)

 

“Humans are innocent at birth. Nature is similar, but nurture makes different. Lack of teaching leads to ruin. Education is the only way . . .” With the kids’ chanting, Luo Wenjia began his day.

Wenjia lived in a small village outside Yangzhou City. Surrounded by streams and bridges and backed by mountains, the village was scenic and well known to many. Most of the villagers had the surname of Luo, so the village was also known as the Luo Village. Wenjia was the only intellectual in the village. His ancestors were bureaucrats who retired from the city, but when it came to Wenjia’s father, the man’s gambling had ruined the family fortune and he’d hanged himself after creditors came calling. The Luo family had been in decline ever since. Fortunately, Wenjia’s mom was a wise, educated, and hardworking woman who never gave up on teaching her son. Not only did she raise him to adulthood by herself, Wenjia also went to a private academy in a neighboring village, and became the only intellectual in the village. With his mom’s strict parenting, Wenjia had vowed to become successful by doing well at the official government exam, eventually becoming a bureaucrat, and reviving their family. In his free time from studying for the official exam, Wenjia also opened a small school inside the village’s temple, not only helping poor village kids who couldn’t afford school, but also contributing to paying off the family’s expenses. 

The sound of horses trotting outside attracted the students’ attention as they started to read in quieter voices. Wenjia looked at the commotion and saw two well-dressed young men, accompanied by attendants, were passing by on horseback. The two seemed deep in conversation. One of them, an elegant man wearing white and riding a white horse, also pointed this way and that with his riding crop, looking very much at ease. 

Wenjia recognized the man in white as Nangong Fang, who was the third son of the wealthy Nangong family in Yangzhou City, to whom his father had once lost all of the family money. Most of the Luo Village land belonged to the Nangong family, leaving only a few ancestral burial plots to the family elder. It was rumored that the Nangong family planned to take back all the land in the Luo Village so as to build a resort and racetrack. The news had unsettled everyone, who all hoped the family elder, Luo Zonghan, could stop it from going ahead.


“Focus! Keep reading!” Wenjia pounded the desk to warn the kids. He was not interested in these rich playboys; his only goal was to study hard and to make it someday.

It was not until dusk that Wenjia put away his teaching materials and dismissed the students. The kids playfully jostled each other as they left the classroom, each rushing back to their home. The temple became quiet all of a sudden. Once Wenjia finished organizing his classroom, he was also ready to leave. As soon as he did, he saw a young woman in blue waiting by the door. She carried a basket and looked shy when she saw Wenjia, but still walked over to greet him.

“Xinyi!” Wenjia’s eyes had an excited glow; he made a bow with his hands.

“Wenjia!” The young woman approached him and handed him the basket. “This is fruit I just picked from our garden; please make sure you and your mom try it.”

Wenjia took the basket, wanting to say some word of thanks but unsure how. He only stared. The woman saw the awkward way he stood and smiled; she waved at him. “You better hurry back—don’t want your mom to worry.”

“Right!” Wenjia nodded. 
The young woman waited a bit more, and finally said, “I’m going now.”

“Goodbye!” Wenjia said and watched her walk away. As she walked about ten feet away, she turned to wave at him, shyness written on her face. Wenjia was mesmerized; it wasn’t until she was gone from his sight that he looked at the basket. He picked up a red apple, sniffed it, wanting to savor it.

“Yi’er!” Wenjia called out her nickname, feeling a sense of tenderness. The young woman was the daughter of the well-to-do Zhao family in the village. Her father was Zhao Fugui, who initially promised his daughter to Wenjia’s family, but after the Luo family lost their money, he’d wanted to renege on his offer. It was only because the two kids grew up together that the offer was hard to break, but the elder Zhao almost went to war with the Luo family. After seeing how industrious Wenjia was and indeed different from his father, and when he earned the title of intellectual at a young age, and seemed to have a limitless future, it was only then that Zhao allowed the engagement to remain in place.

According to tradition, an engaged couple couldn’t see each other before marriage. In a rural village, however, rules tended to slide, so Wenjia and Xinyi often got to see each other. As they grew older, however, knowing they had an engagement from seventeen years ago, the two of them became less natural and carefree with each other.

Wenjia obsessively watched the direction Xinyi left in; when he finally drew back his gaze, he walked back home, smelling the apple in his hand.

Xinyi didn’t walk far after passing an intersection; instead, she hid behind a tree to peek. When she saw Wenjia walking back in a trance while holding the basket, she smiled and playfully said, “Silly boy,” then started walking away.

When she turned, she was startled by the sudden whinny and snort of a horse. A pure white horse was standing up on its rear legs, almost throwing off its rider. The man looked angry and was about to yell at her, but when he saw Xinyi’s face, he was stunned.

It took Xinyi a moment to gather herself. She was so focused on watching Wenjia that she missed the horse moving behind her, almost colliding with the animal. She wanted to apologize but realized the horse rider was staring at her. A lot of young men in the village liked to watch her, but it was the first time someone stared at her so brazenly, so she was scared. 

She rushed to leave, not apologizing for scaring the horse. In her haste, she didn't see the man's face very well, only noticing he was a young man in white. He didn't seem to be bad looking, but his gaze was scary. In any case, people like that were from a different world and had nothing to do with her. By the time she got home, she'd forgotten all about the encounter. 

“What a beauty!” the rider mumbled to himself as he watched her leave. “Who’d think a rural village like this would have stunning girls.”

“Third Lord, your taste is impeccable!” his friend, a man in well-made clothes, agreed. “Yangzhou is a nice city with plenty of pretty women, but we don’t have too many of these untouched beauties!”

The man called Third Lord didn’t answer; instead, he kept staring in the direction Xinyi had disappeared, reciting a poem aloud:

“Village beauty, only sixteen-years-old;
Brows like distant hills, skin like crystal snow;
Cheeks like a peach, eyes with a spring glow;
Rosebud lips, lotus flower walk;
Horse stunned, unable to move;
One look is but heaven-sent!”

“Third Lord, you’re a genius!” his friend complimented, clapping. “You can write a poem in an instant; even the historical geniuses would be no match for you.”

“Tang, you’re being too kind.” The man in white waved his hands. “It was just a random poem; it could hardly do justice to that girl’s beauty. Too bad we don’t even know her name.”

Tang chuckled. “You could chase her down and ask her. With your legendary reputation, she’d be an easy catch.”

“Well, we have some things to take care of first.” The third son of the Nangong family, Nangong Fang, shook his head in regret. “Now, we only have the Luo Village left to deal with in this area; if we don’t get it done fast, we’ll seem pathetic.”

Tang pursed his lips dismissively. “We paid a high price this time; plus, you’re here personally to show both force and mercy. I really doubt that old rascal, Luo Zonghan, would act stupid.”

Fang shook his head. “Zonghan is a stubborn one. He might not give up easily.”

“Stubborn?” Tang laughed coldly. “Is he gonna be more stubborn than your Invisible Soul-Snatch Hand or my secret weapon, Tang Xiao?”

A smile flitted across Fang’s face, but his words were less tough. “Our Nangong family is renowned in Yangzhou, so we can’t bully them too publicly. If we do have to use force, we can’t do it ourselves.”

Tang huffed. “It shouldn’t be this much work. If this happened on my family’s turf, anyone saying no to the Tang family would be dead in three days.”

Fang snorted and said nothing else before halting his horse in front of a courtyard house with red walls and a green roof. He pointed with his riding whip. “We’re here!” 





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