Yelü Wenjue smiled slightly, about to speak, when he suddenly felt something amiss above his head. He immediately turned and took three steps back. A figure descended from the treetop like lightning, scooped up Xiaoman, wrapped her in his cloak, and was about to leap away. Yelü Wenjue hurriedly tried to give chase, but three arrows shot out from behind him in an instant. Knowing the power of the Divine Martial Bow and the accuracy of the Tianquan Archery, he immediately raised his cloak and cleaved two of the arrows in two. However, he could no longer dodge the third arrow, which struck his left shoulder.
After successfully striking Lianyi with his arrow, Tianquan immediately released her pressure points and said in a deep voice, "Take him and leave quickly!"
Lianyi didn't know which "he" she was referring to. She looked down and saw Yelü Jing lying at her feet, sleeping soundly. Without further hesitation, she picked him up and ran.
Having already been injured, and seeing that Zexiu and Xiaoman had long since disappeared, Yelü Wenjue had no desire to continue the fight. With a light touch of his toes, he leaped onto a tree and vanished into the darkness in the blink of an eye, chasing after the direction Zexiu had fled.
Tianquan had no choice but to put away the Divine Martial Bow, wake up Gengu, and chase after him from afar.
The Chaotic Scroll, Chapter Seven: If You Like It (Part One)
Updated: 2008-10-04 15:09:28 Word Count: 5125
To celebrate National Day in advance, we're continuing with two updates today! This is the second one~
S: Someone laughed at the title of this book, "B," is it really that bad? (A humble inquiry.)
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Zexiu carried Xiaoman under her arm, not daring to stop for a moment, and ran for four or five miles in one breath before finding a flat place to put Xiaoman down to rest. Xiaoman was already pale as a ghost. As soon as she landed on the ground, she opened her mouth and vomited, almost vomiting up her gallbladder. After vomiting until there was nothing left to vomit, she coughed until her mouth was full of blood. Then she collapsed to the ground, unable to move a single finger.
Zexiu focused on her pulse for a while, then frowned and said, "It was that old thief Yelü Wenjue's Unknown Palm. Fortunately, the injury is not serious."
Xiao Man collapsed to the ground, tears welling up in her eyes. "This is considered not a serious injury... I've vomited blood... I've never vomited blood before... I'm definitely going to die..."
Zexiu whispered, "You won't die, I'm here."
Xiao Man involuntarily gasped for breath, only to be met with another sharp pain in her chest. Tears welled in her eyes, and she gripped Ze Xiu's hand tightly, sobbing, "Listen...listen carefully! In my purse are two thousand taels of silver notes and some loose silver, as well as some pearls and gems. In the cloth bag at my waist is one hundred taels of gold given to me by your second uncle. I can't take the pearls and gold with me; we've been through so much together, and you've taken such good care of me, so I'll give them to you. I want to be buried in a beautiful place, so remember to visit and sweep my grave often. Burn the two thousand taels of silver notes as paper money for me, so I won't be a poor ghost in the underworld..."
Zexiu was both amused and exasperated. He lifted her up and carried her on his back, mocking, "She can still talk so much. Looks like she won't die anytime soon."
Xiaoman cried, "You have no conscience! You never say a kind word to me..."
As Zexiu walked slowly, he smiled and said, "What would you like to hear? I would be more than happy to fulfill the young lady's last wish."
The girl on his back fell silent, like a kitten, clinging tightly to his neck from behind, soft and pitiful. A sudden weight lifted from his heart, softening him like a gentle spring breeze. He took two slow steps and whispered, "You won't die, don't worry. You won't be all alone, aren't I with you?"
She hummed in agreement and said softly, "Zexiu, my chest hurts terribly."
Sigh, she's just using this as an excuse to act cute again.
He changed from carrying her on his back to holding her in his arms, lifting her horizontally in front of him, and asked impatiently, "Does this not hurt anymore?"
She opened her arms and hugged him tightly, burying her face in his chest, trembling like a little dove with rain-soaked feathers. Was she crying? Or was she afraid? Or perhaps both?
Her voice trembled: "That man slapped me and told me to embroider another fan within two months, and to find the five corners of the universe. If I couldn't finish, his slap would shatter my internal organs and kill me. I only have two months to live, two months..."
"How could this be!" Zexiu grabbed her hand and carefully checked her pulse again. Then he went to undress her to check her injuries. Xiaoman grabbed her collar and said anxiously, "Even if I only have two months to live, you don't need to take my clothes off right now, do you?!"
Zexiu glared at her: "I'd rather skin a pig than take off your clothes! You're so skinny you're practically skin and bones, who wants to look at you!"
Without a word, he ripped open her collar and, sure enough, saw a bright red palm print on her right collarbone. He laughed and said, "He's lying to you. No palm strike in the world can last for two months. This is just an ordinary 'Mingzhan' (a type of palm strike). If you don't believe me, you'll see in two months."
Xiao Man hurriedly pulled her clothes up. "It's my life, how can I not care? What if I really die in two months? Who will compensate me? You?"
Zexiu flicked her forehead and said, "Okay, let's make a bet. If you really die in two months, I'll give you my life in return. If you don't die, what will you do?"
Xiao Man was stunned for a moment: "What do you suggest we do? Are we going to give you back the life we just got back?"
Zexiu had originally intended to joke, saying that if she hadn't died, she should also give her life to him, working like a slave without uttering a sound. But seeing her pale face and rapid breathing, clearly indicating that she was seriously injured, he couldn't bring himself to make the joke. He only smiled and said, "If you haven't died, you should also make me an embroidery, an embroidery of a peerless and unique beauty, so I can hang it on the wall to admire."
Little Princess smiled and said, "I'll embroider a unique sow for you, so you'll think about skinning it every day."
After saying that, he started coughing again and couldn't say anything more.
After he said that, she felt like she wasn't so unlucky after all, and she wasn't as miserable as before. Whether it was because what he said made sense, or because it was him speaking, she wasn't sure. All she knew was that although her chest ached terribly, her whole body felt like it was about to split open, and she was more wretched than a stray dog, she felt a sense of peace in her heart.
In such a desolate place, you might not see any signs of human habitation even after walking for two or three days. So, we had to live like wild men again, finding a cave, laying out some dry grass and leaves to use as a bed.
Xiao Man was initially in good spirits, but as evening approached, she developed a high fever and lay on the ground in a daze. In her delirium, she vaguely saw people coming and going at the entrance of the cave. One moment she saw her father's back disappearing into the hustle and bustle, and the next she saw her mother sitting on the edge of the bed, weeping. Finally, she seemed to arrive at a magnificent courtyard. It was a beautiful spring day, and someone had fallen in love at first sight with a beautiful woman picking flowers. Unable to win her heart, he turned to hatred and committed all sorts of twisted and perverse acts, using every possible means of verbal sarcasm.
In the blink of an eye, the man was Yelü Wenjue. Bathed in the desolate moonlight, he smiled faintly and suddenly raised his hand to slap her. Xiaoman let out a soft cry and opened her eyes, only to see the dark cave walls. The tightness in her chest was no longer there, but the pain was excruciating.
A gust of wind, mixed with ice and snow, blew in through the cave entrance, chilling her to the bone. She stirred slightly, and heard someone whisper beside her, "Awake?"
Xiao Man turned her head and saw Ze Xiu sitting cross-legged beside her, wrapped in a cloak, staring intently at her. She said softly, "It's so late, aren't you asleep?"
Zexiu didn't answer, but just smiled and said, "You've slept for two days, are you feeling better?"
She nodded, sat up, and moved her arms: "Much better, my body doesn't hurt anymore, but my chest still hurts a lot, though it's much better than before."
As she was about to get up, Zexiu grabbed her sleeve: "Where are you going?"
Xiao Man blushed and whispered, "I'm going to... relieve myself. Why are you asking so many questions?"
Zexiu let go of her hand and said, "Go and come back quickly. I'll count to fifty, and if you don't come back, I'll go out and look for you."
"Idiot! Who could predict that accurately!" Xiaoman glared at him, her face flushed. She put on her thick fox fur cloak, walked around him, and felt the wind whistling against her skin at the cave entrance, almost making her lose her balance. Strange, was the wind really that strong? Looking back, she saw a thick layer of frost on his back, making him look like a snowman. She immediately realized that he had been shielding her from the wind and snow all along.
Touched, she quickly went out to relieve herself. When she returned, she was about to thank him when she saw that Zexiu was already asleep on his cloak, with the melted snow behind him soaking the ground.
She had slept for two days, but he must have been up all night watching over her. Xiaoman squatted down beside him and waved her hand in his face twice, but he didn't react at all, which showed that he was exhausted.
She turned around and saw that the wind and snow outside were getting fiercer, and the fire in the cave was useless and would probably be put out soon. The wind specifically blows through caves, and sleeping in here without a fire for a night would definitely kill someone.
Fortunately, both of their belongings were still there. Zexiu didn't have much else, but he had plenty of cloaks. Xiaoman took a rope and tied it to the cave entrance. She then took two more cloaks to use as curtains to cover the entrance. Both cloaks were made of fur and were very heavy, so the wind and snow couldn't blow them away. She added some chopped firewood to the fire to make it burn brighter. A pot hung on the fire, with some leftover soup inside. Xiaoman's stomach was growling with hunger, so she scooped some out to taste—"It's awful." She spat it out immediately. It must have been Zexiu who made it; his cooking was as terrible as his palate.
Fortunately, he had chopped a lot of firewood and caught two snow chickens in the past two days, which he cleaned, skinned, and piled in a corner. When he went over to look for them, he found three or four wild ginseng roots, each as thick as a finger, rolling out from under the snow chickens.
This is something more valuable than gold; I don't know where he got the luck to dig it up. Xiao Man quickly took the wooden bowl outside and scooped up a bowl of snow, melted it into water to wash the wild ginseng, then poured out all the remaining soup in the pot, washed it clean, put the snow water in, stuffed the two wild ginsengs into the snow chicken's belly, and put it on the fire to simmer slowly.
With no wind or snow blowing in and the fire burning brightly, the cave gradually warmed up. Xiaoman spread out the dry grass and leaves, took two large woolen cloaks and laid them on top, then nudged Zexiu: "You should sleep on the floor; you'll get sick if you sleep on the ground."
He groaned in his sleep, rolled over, and actually rolled onto the roof. Xiaoman pulled off his wet cloak, tied it with a rope, and laid the wet clothes on it to dry. Meanwhile, she took clothes from everyone's bundles and carefully mended them.
So when Zexiu woke up the next morning, he saw a neat and clean cave. He wondered if he was still asleep. He rubbed his eyes, looked around, and couldn't believe that this warm and clean cave was the same hole they had used to shelter from the wind and snow.
A fragrant aroma of chicken soup wafted over, and Zexiu turned to see Xiaoman, her hair in a simple bun, wearing a fox fur jacket, ladling soup into a bowl with a wooden spoon. He had a strange feeling, still finding it hard to believe that this petite girl could do such a remarkable thing. In his eyes, anyone who could do housework was a genius.
"Ah, you're awake." Xiaoman, carrying the soup, turned around and her eyes lit up when she saw him. Her complexion had improved a lot, no longer as pale as before. She smiled and said, "You're really lucky to have found a wild ginseng. Do you know how much it costs on the market? You couldn't buy it with gold the same size! Thanks to your wild ginseng, I feel much better."
Zexiu took a breath, feeling a sweet fragrance fill her mouth, and reached out to take the chicken soup, smiling as she said, "Good girl, you will definitely be a virtuous wife and loving mother in the future, whoever marries you will be blessed."
It was rare that he wasn't sarcastic, but Xiaoman would have preferred him to be. For some reason, his words made her very unhappy, extremely unhappy.
She turned around and started looking at the clothes on the rope without saying a word.
Zexiu sipped his soup while watching her busy herself. She was petite, wearing a fitted jacket and a lilac long skirt, which made her slender waist appear even more delicate and endearing. He chuckled, "By the way, I remembered the story behind your name. Bai Juyi of the Tang Dynasty had two concubines, and there's a poem that says: 'Cherry lips of Fan Su, willow waist of Xiao Man.' I wonder how you, Xiao Man, compare to that Xiao Man."
Xiao Man smiled and said calmly, "Yes, I can only compare myself to concubines. Even my name isn't noble."
Zexiu was stunned; she had already angrily thrown off her cloak and left the cave.
He came in again a little while later. It turned out he had scooped up a bowl of snow, waited for it to melt, and then flicked it onto his clothes to smooth out the wrinkles.
Zexiu finished the soup in no time, got up and ladled out another bowl, saying, "Your cooking skills are pretty good too. I never would have guessed you were such a treasure. You know nothing about the secrets of Cangya City, but you manage the household chores very well."
Xiao Man's heart skipped a beat, she gave a cold laugh, but still didn't say anything.
She wasn't the young mistress of Cangya City. He would discover this absurd mistake one day, and he would feel deeply ashamed for having expended so much energy on a complete stranger. Then he might scold her, even beat her, and finally leave carrying this shame.
She didn't want this to happen.
She feared the pain of being poor more than the embarrassment of being poor.
After taking pictures of the clothes, she was about to wash the dishes when Zexiu grabbed her sleeve, pulling her so hard she stumbled. "Alright, alright, no need to be so busy. Your injury hasn't healed yet, you're still all over the place. Go sit quietly for a while."
Xiaoman shook off his hand: "Pulling and pulling like that, what kind of behavior is this?"
Zexiu, displeased, coldly removed the pot from the fire and went to wash the dishes. When he returned, he saw her sitting blankly on the straw mat, knees drawn up to her chest, a round fan in front of her—Yelü Wenjue's very fan. Her solitary figure evoked a sense of desolation. Zexiu's anger had long since dissipated. He went over and sat beside her, picked up the fan and examined it closely, smiling, "This is it. Doesn't the woman on it look somewhat like you?"
Xiao Man didn't speak, staring blankly for a long time. Then she took out a piece of ice silk from her bundle. It was leftover from when she was drawing patterns on the round fan, and she could make another round fan. She took out her paintbrush, placed the silk and the fan in front of her, and knelt down to carefully draw the patterns.
Having done it once before, she was much more skilled this time. She first outlined the lady's eyebrows and eyes, then slightly turned her wrist to draw them vividly.
Hearing Zexiu's breathing beside her, her heart skipped a beat. Half of her body leaning against him grew hot, and her ears turned red. He whispered, "Why did you stop drawing? I'm watching."
She felt as if she had been punched in the heart, and could no longer hold back. She turned to look at him, and was met with his amorous and enchanting peach blossom eyes.
I seem to have forgotten what I wanted to say.
The question she wanted to ask him, which she had kept in her heart, she couldn't remember at the moment.
Zexiu stared at her for a long time, then suddenly smiled slightly, pinched her reddened ear, and said, "Your ears are so red, have they been boiled?"
Xiao Man took a breath and whispered, "Are you looking at the person or the painting?"
She could clearly hear her own trembling voice, as if she was both terrified and incredibly expectant.
"Of course it depends on the person."
His answer made her heart stop; she didn't know whether to be surprised or delighted.
But the next sentence immediately brought her to her senses: "What's so interesting about flowers? People are what's beautiful."
He had misheard. A painting, a flower—what a coincidence! Xiao Man stood there dumbfounded for a moment, then suddenly burst out laughing, threw down her pen, and rolled on the ground laughing.
How foolish she was! Luckily he misheard; only God knows how much she regretted asking the question.
Fortunately, he misheard.
Xiao Man lay there, covering her eyes with the back of her hand, laughing so hard she was cramping, her eyes burning with rage.
She suddenly stood up, grabbed her brush, and continued drawing, saying with a smile, "I won't draw people, I'll just draw apricot blossoms for you to see."
Zexiu patted her on the head. He didn't laugh, but simply said softly, "Silly child."
So she just kept laughing, laughing and laughing.
She used to be dirt poor, and she longed to be rich every day. It was the only thing she wanted most, and she lived such an easy and happy life.
Now she has a lot of money. Money is a good thing; it can buy a lot of pleasant things.
But it just can't get what I really want in return.
She really is a greedy person.