Qiu Qianchi said, âDonât you know?â Her tone became stern with a hint of scolding.
Lu E thought, âHow would I know?â She replied, âNo, no oneâs ever told me before.â
Qiu Qianchi sighed and said, âYou⊠you really donât know anything. Pitiful⊠pitiful!â After a while she continued, âYour uncles are twins, your older uncle is called Qiu Qianzhang, your second uncle is Qiu Qianren. Their voices, figure and faces were the same, but the twoâs characters and fate were very different. Second brotherâs martial arts are extremely high but first brotherâs martial arts were very ordinary. Second brother taught me martial arts but first brother and I were a lot closer to each other. Second brother was the chief of the Iron Palm Clan; he had many clan matters to deal with and was busy with his own martial arts, so we saw very little of each other. When he taught me martial arts, he was strict and didnât say much to me. But first brother was very close to me; he would say, sister this and sister that. Later on when the two argued, I sided with first brother.â
Lu E said, âMother, what did the two uncles argued about?â
Qiu Qianchiâs face suddenly showed a hint of a smile and said, âThis matter is not serious but not too insignificant either; itâs just that my second brother was too obstinate. When second brother became the chief of the Iron Palm Clan, his name âIron Palm Water Floater Qiu Qianrenâ was famous throughout the world of the Wulin. Very few knew my elder brotherâs name. Whenever my elder brother went out, he would sometimes borrow my second brotherâs name for convenience. The two of them looked the same and were real brothers, so whatâs so bad about borrowing his name? But second brother didnât see it this way; he would argue about this all the time, saying elder brother was a swindler and trickster. My elder brother had a good temper; whenever second brother scolded him he would just laugh and apologize. One time, second brother went too far. I couldnât do anything and so added a few words to help first brother. This brought trouble onto me and we argued. I left the Iron Palm Peak in anger and never returned.â
âI roamed Jianghu by myself. One time, I was pursuing a scoundrel and came to the Passionless Valley by accident. This was punishment for the bad deeds in my last life and I met Gongsun Zhi⊠this evil⊠this evil scoundrel. We eventually got married. I was older than him by a few years and my martial arts were a lot stronger than his. After we got married not only did I teach him martial arts, I looked after his everyday needs; he didnât have to do anything in the valley. His familyâs martial arts have its ingenious aspects but there were too many holes in them. It was me who thought about it carefully and helped him improve it. One time, a strong enemy attacked; if it wasnât for me driving them away, this Passionless Valley would have been flattened long ago. Who could have predicted that this scoundrel would repay these deeds with ingratitude? After he grew his wings he forgot about where all his martial arts came from, and who saved him in his time of danger.â She then spurted out a load of insults and curses with the insults becoming eviler as it went on.
Lu E blushed when she heard this; she felt that insulting her husband like this in front of Yang Guo was a bit embarrassing. She kept on calling out, âMother, mother!â But how could she stop her? Yang Guo loved it; he hated Gongsun Zhi too and enjoyed these insults immensely. He couldnât stop himself from adding a few words to stir Qiu Qianchiâs mood further. If it wasnât for Lu E, he too would have opened his mouth and insulted him as well.
Qiu Qianchi exhausted her insults until nothing new could be added; she had repeated everything she said and had to stop. She continued, âThat year I was pregnant with you and it was unavoidable that my character would become a bit more anxious and worried. Who knew that while it seemed like he treated me the same on the outside, he was having an affair with a maid behind my back. After you were born, he still carried on with this maid. I didnât know anything; I thought that after we had this beautiful daughter, he would treat me better. I was deceived by them for a few years. One day I accidentally stumbled across them and heard them discussing about leaving the valley together and never returning.â
âI was hiding behind a tree and heard that scoundrel say that he was worried about how high my martial arts were and the further they went the better; how I was too controlling and didnât give him any freedom. He said he only felt alive when he was with that bitch maid. I had always thought his feelings for me were real, but when I heard this I was so angry that I almost fainted. I wanted to dash forward and kill the two right there and then. Although he was heartless, I still looked back fondly upon the many years of us being a husband and wife. He was originally a good person, this must be the fault of that seducing bitch using her charms on him. I held my anger and stood behind the tree, listening carefully.â
âI heard them say that two days later Iâll be meditating for seven days and nights without leaving the room. They would take this chance to leave the valley, and by the time Iâve found out seven days later, theyâll be long gone. I shivered when I heard this; heaven must have pitied me to give me this chance to see through their plans. Otherwise, where on earth would I be able to find them seven days later?â By this point, her teeth were chattering with fury.
Lu E asked, âWhat was the young maid called? Was she beautiful?â
Qiu Qianchi said, âCrap! Beautiful my arse! This maid seduced him through her words; whatever the bastard said she agreed with and she would sweet talk him saying that he was the greatest man on this earth, that he was a great hero. Huh, that bitch was called Rouâer. That Gongsun Zhi with his sinful ancestors, what stance or form of his that I donât know? Heâs a great hero? Heâs not even worthy to be a follower of my big brother; if he tried to pour wine for my second brother he would be kicked out on his butt.â
By this point, Yang Guo was beginning to feel a little sympathy for Gongsun Zhi, he thought, âIt must be because you were too controlling and that your looking down on him was what forced him to finally fight back.â
Lu E was afraid that her mother would break out in another bout of non stop cursing, so she asked quickly, âMother, what happened then?â
Qiu Qianchi said, âThe two animals had decided that in the morning on the third day, theyâll meet there again and leave together. They said that in the two upcoming days theyâll need to be extremely careful and not leave any clues as to what they were doing in case I found out. The two then continued on with talking rubbish. The bitch looked at the bastard captivated, as if she were looking at someone more important than the Emperor; revering him more than gods and goddesses. That bastard felt proud of himself; he kept on praising himself and then hugged and touched that slut. Their shameless actions almost angered me to death right there and then. Early on the third day, I pretended to meditate in the meditation chamber while Gongsun Zhi came over and peeked in a few times through the window. I waited for him to leave and then utilized my lightness kung fu and rushed to their meeting place. That bitch had arrived there before him. Without saying a word I grabbed her and tossed her into a Passion Flower thicketâŠ.â Yang Guo and Lu E both gasped.