chapter 66

Murong Yunshu slowly turned back and faced Nie Qing’s inquiring eyes. She smiled at him and told him using the expression in her eyes, ‘long time no see’.

Nie Qing only caught a glimpse of her and skimmed the view of her back. He thought she was the person he had in his mind, so he was overjoyed. At this time, when he looked at her front side, she turned out to be an unfamiliar woman. He ended up feeling extremely disappointed. “Sorry, I mistook you for someone else.” He coldly said, while looking a little dejected.

Murong Yunshu wanted to say, ‘you’re not mistaken’, but she had been muted by Wang Chao. Therefore, she couldn’t say anything.

“Let’s go.” Wang Chao urged once more.

Murong Yunshu originally wanted to use her eyes to convey a message to Nie Qing, but ever since he found out that she was not Murong Yunshu, he didn’t look at her any more. Since he always did things in a strictly businesslike manner[+]Chinese idiom : not let private affairs interfere with public duty, his gaze was already completely focused on giving food.

As she had expected, not many people could recognise her.

When she thought of the person who had managed to recognise her, Murong Yunshu sighed lightly. She no longer thought about how to escape, but Chu Changge’s safety. Although they were in a hurry during this journey, with the horse not yet stopped from galloping[+]Chinese idiom : without stopping to rest, she also heard a lot of rumours about him. She heard that he had suffered a very serious internal injury. She still didn’t know the condition of his injury right now…

*

After Chu Changge found out that Murong Yunshu had been switched, he quickly went after her through Jiang Province. For no other reason than, the person who captured Murong Yunshu would surely take a detour to avoid his pursuit. No matter how much of a detour one wanted to make from West Province to Shu Province, they would have to pass through the hinterland of Jiang Province——Jinling.

As soon as he arrived in Jinling, Chu Changge went straight to Murong Mansion and found the chief steward of the mansion. Without saying anything further, he asked, “Have you heard from Murong Yunshu?”

Chief Qian was flabbergasted and asked with a baffled face, “Who are you?”

Without waiting for Chu Changge to open his mouth again, Lu-er beat him by saying, “Chief Qian, no matter how dim-eyed or confused you are, how can you fail to recognise Guye[+]son-in-law (used by wife’s family).” Since Murong Yunshu’s disappearance, Lu-er had changed from Murong Yunshu’s sidekick to Chu Changge’s sidekick. He originally didn’t want to take her on the road, but she had mistakenly destroyed Fang Hongfei’s cosmic absorbing power technique that day. Fang Hongfei would definitely harbour a grudge against her and would do something to her sooner or later. After all, she was that person’s personal maid. In case something happened and that person came to him, asking him to accompany her maid, that would be troublesome…

“Guye[+]son-in-law (used by wife’s family)?” Chief Qian suddenly slapped the back of his skull and said, “If I have to say, how come he looked so familiar, so it’s actually Gu……” The sound of the word ‘Guye[+]son-in-law (used by wife’s family)’ hadn’t been fully pronounced yet, when Chief Qian suddenly turned pale with a face that looked like he had been frightened by a bear, “Guye[+]son-in-law (used by wife’s family), Guye[+]son-in-law (used by wife’s family)?!” Wasn’t Guye[+]son-in-law (used by wife’s family)…the head of that Mojiao Sect?

“Yes, that’s right, Guye[+]son-in-law (used by wife’s family)!” Lu-er nodded her head hard as she emphasised, “The real deal.”

“Guye[+]son-in-law (used by wife’s family)…how come you are here?” Chief Qian asked while trying to wipe his sweat with his sleeves.

“He comes for Miss!” Lu-er gave him a blank look and asked, “Has Miss ever come back here or not?”

“No.” Chief Qian shook his head. “Isn’t Miss with you?”

“Originally we were together, but later…” Lu-er wanted to tell the story in detail, but when she felt the impatient glance of a certain popular Guye[+]son-in-law (used by wife’s family), she immediately summarised the remaining tens of thousands of words into three words, “We got separated.”

Chief Qian looked baffled, “Okay, so how could you two get separated? This is not the first time Miss has been out…”

“Aiya, when I said we got separated, it means we got separated! Why are you becoming more fussy the older you get?” Lu-er glared at Chief Qian and asked again, “Is there any suspicious person passing through Jinling?”

“No.” Chief Qian shook his head.

Not getting the desired answer, Chu Changge lifted his leg to leave, but was stopped by Lu-er, “Guye[+]son-in-law (used by wife’s family) ah, you see, since we’re already arrived at Miss’ home, why don’t you freshen up first before you hit the road?”

“No need.” He was currently so impatient as if his heart was on fire[+]Chinese idiom : extremely anxious. Where would he have the mind to ‘dress himself up’.

“My Miss has an obsession with cleanliness, and she dislikes people who are dirty and smelly,” explained Lu-er.

Chu Changge stopped when he heard these words. Did he really look dirty and smelly?

“If you don’t believe me, then you can ask Chief Qian.” Lu-er really adhered to the ‘code of brotherhood’ as she pulled Chief Qian into the water[+]get sb. involved in one’s scheme. When there was a problem, it should be shared with others!

Chief Qian said with great reservation, “Miss does have an obsession with cleanliness, and this has been known throughout the Murong Mansion.” As for disliking dirty and smelly people, he hadn’t heard of them…

Chu Changge pondered for a while, before saying, “I’ll stay here for tonight.”

Lu-er responded, “I’ll clean up the guest room.”

Chu Changge declined, “No need. Just take me to her room.”

Lu-er was stupefied, then realised what he meant and looked embarrassed, “Miss’ boudoir, unconcerned persons are not allowed to go in.”

“Am I an unconcerned person?” Chu Changge raised an eyebrow and asked.

Lu-er immediately became silent as she shook her head. No no, I’ll take you there.

After taking Chu Changge to Murong Yunshu’s boudoir, Lu-er hurriedly went to the kitchen to prepare food and drink, but she was ‘intercepted’ while she was on her way.

“Chief Qian, what are you doing? You know that men and women should not touch hands when they give or receive things[+]citation, from Mencius?” Lu-er was very dissatisfied with Chief Qian’s sudden and scary behaviour.

Chief Qian’s gray sparse beard shook violently as he said angrily, “My daughter can be your mother, and you still treat me like a man?” Still saying about men and women should not touch hands when they give or receive things[+]citation, from Mencius! He really couldn’t stand young girls nowadays…

Lu-er was rather a bit muddled, “Even if you have a daughter, and even if your daughter can be my mother, it won’t change the fact that you are still a man! Don’t tell me…you have special hobbies?!” When she uttered the last sentence, she suddenly stared at him with her eyes wide open, and an inconceivable look on her face.

The few remaining beards of Chief Qian began to get messed up because of her manner, as they had the tendency to lose a few more after talking to her. Chief Qian stared angrily with a hint of ridiculousness at Lu-er. He secretly muttered to himself, “Fortunately, there are still a few left. otherwise, I won’t be able to wash it after jumping into the Yellow River[+]Chinese saying : there’s nothing one can do to remove the stigma off one’s name.” When he thought of this, he quickly protected his beard, looking very much like they were his precious things.

“Huh? How did you know that I wanted to pull at your beard?” Lu-er wondered.

“Without any rhyme or reason, what are you going to do with my beard!” Chief Qian felt that this girl Lu-er had become much bolder after she had gone on a trip with Miss.

“Let’s see if they have been glued up!” Lu-er spoke as it should be by rights[+]Chinese idiom : proper and to be expected as a matter of course.

Chief Qian flared up when he heard her words. He spoke without careful diction[+]Chinese idiom : ramble, “Yours are the one that have been glued up!”

“I don’t have any beard though.”

“No beard…no beard, then, you still have your hair. Your hair is the one that has been glued up!” Chief Qian was being savage and unreasonable just like a child.

Lu-er didn’t know whether to laugh or cry[+]Chinese idiom : baffled, “Chief Qian, have you been counting too much money till you lost your mind?”

“You’re the one who have lost your mind!”

In response, Lu-er laughed out loud till she double up with laughter. Only after a long interval did she finally stop laughing and asked, “What do you want for stopping me halfway?”

“Oops!” Chief Qian slapped the back of his skull and said, “Look at me, I’m so angry with you girl that I’ve even forgotten about the main business.” In the end, he looked around vigilantly. When he saw no one was around, he lowered his voice and asked, “What exactly is that big devil doing here?”

“Which big devil?” Lu-er asked back.

“Shh——keep it down!”

“Chief Qian, when did you become so timid?” Lu-er smiled mischievously. “Calm down. Guye[+]son-in-law (used by wife’s family) is here to look for Miss.”

“Really?”

“Really.” Lu-er nodded her head hard.

Chief Qian breathed a sigh of relief, shrugged off his sleeves, and strode away, while muttering loudly as he walked, “It’s good that he didn’t come here to rob some money…”

Lu-er’s face was full of black lines. Did Guye[+]son-in-law (used by wife’s family) look like a robber? Although she did hear about Guye[+]son-in-law (used by wife’s family) had done a lot of killing people for their property[+]Chinese idiom : rob and kill, but, he was already one of them. What with this sudden talk about him robbing them…

*

At the same time, in the most prosperous flower streets and willow lanes[+]Chinese idiom : red-light district of Jinling City, inside a not too small scale brothel, Murong Yunshu was enjoying herself infinitely with black piece on her left hand and white piece on her right. While Wang Chao and Zhang Yu were sitting on one side, looking at each other helplessly.

At the end of the first game, Murong Yunshu put the black and white pieces into their respective qi bowls, and asked: “Do you want to play a game?” She had asked this question for a total of eighty times already, ten times each day. She knew that in order to prevent her from ‘playing tricks’, they basically didn’t engage with her except to release her mute acupoint every day. But habitually, she still asked once after the end of each game, just because of——her itching mouth. The time for her to speak every day was inherently limited, and yet those two still regard her as if she was air. If she didn’t persevere unremittingly in playing qin to a cow[+]Chinese idiom : offering a treat to an unappreciative audience, it would be a great waste for this rare speaking time.

Murong Yunshu guessed that Wang Chao must have felt bored when no one was talking. So he would unlock her mute acupoint when there was no one around, in order to console the silent. He was worried that he would follow in the tracks of an overturned cart[+]Chinese idiom : follow a path that led to failure in the past by her again, so he only dared to listen to her talk but did not dare to speak back at her.

People ah, why are you being so hard on yourself? Murong Yunshu smiled slightly and asked, “How long are you planning to stay at the brothel?”

“Until Chu Changge leaves.” Wang Chao answered.

Murong Yunshu’s mouth twitched slightly, while her left hand, which was holding a black piece in, placed the piece on the qipan[+]chessboard. Then, followed by a white piece in her right hand, which she also gently put it down as she felt extremely good. Not long after arriving in Jinling that day, there was a rumour that Chu Changge had also come to Jinling. Wang Chao was afraid that Chu Changge would kill him, so he had thought of a way by living in the brothel. Everyone in jianghu[+]lit. rivers and lakes—people wandering from place to place and living by their wits, e.g. fortune-tellers, quack doctors, itinerant entertainers, etc., considered as a social group knew that Chu Changge was not close with women, and he would never come to this lovely spring scene[+]prostitution kind of place.

The board where weiqi is played on is called qipan[+]chessboard. If anyone interested to learn weiqi, here’s the video.

As a result, they had lived there for eight days, and news of Chu Changge’s departure had not yet been heard…

When they saw Murong Yunshu was always at ease, it seemed as if they were the ones that were being guarded and not her, who looked so leisure and comfortable. Wang Chao couldn’t help but asked, “Tell me honestly, is this another one of your tricks?”

Murong Yunshu pressed another black piece in her hand lightly on the qipan, which let out a ‘pop’ sound. Her featherlight eyelash slightly raised, as she answered back like she had moved a thousand pounds with four taels of weight[+]Chinese idiom : achieve much with little effort, “I’ve been moving around under your noses. Whether or not I’m up to something, shouldn’t you be more clearer about it?”

Wang Chao let out a long sigh, “I’m convinced it’s your trick. Just tell me, how did you do it?” He had thought for eight days and eight nights, but he never understood why the rumours of Chu Changge entering Jinling City would be everywhere as soon as they arrived in Jinling. When they saw through the rumours and decided to leave, another wave of rumours would rise from the ground again…

Murong Yunshu’s lips twitched slightly, as she continued to smile without saying anything, and continued to play two people weiqi with her left and right hands in a calm and relaxed manner.

Wang Chao held his forehead and kneaded his temples hard, while genuinely admitting his mistake to Zhang Yu, “I’m the one who got you into this.”

Zhang Yu was surprised, but it was fleeting. He glanced at Wang Chao lightly and said, “It’s okay.”

Wang Chao was touched when he heard what he said. His brother was still the one who treated him good! While he was sighing with emotion, he heard Zhang Yu added, “I’m already used to it.”

Wang Chao instantly petrified. Did he often bring trouble to him? How often?

Hey!

They had been frightened till they had to hid in the brothel for eight days. Hence, Wang Chao didn’t have the strength to be angry anymore. With a bitter expression on his face, he sighed secretly in his heart, ‘His Highness, His Highness, there are so many women in the world, how can you be so dead set in choosing this smartest one…’