Under the blazing sun, Xuzhu, hurrying along the road, wiped the sweat from his face and called to Qin Zheng ahead of him, "Benefactor Qin, where are we going? The weather is scorching. Why don't we rest a while first?"
Qin Zheng walked slowly on in front of him, pointed ahead at a stretch of bamboo, and said, "We've already reached Xinyang. Little Mirror Lake is just ahead, and it's cool there. Bear it a little longer."
Xuzhu raised his eyes. The bamboo ahead grew thick and lush, and the faint sound of flowing water came from within. His heart leapt with joy, and he hurried to match Qin Zheng's pace.
Once they entered the bamboo, the air around them cooled. Xuzhu let out a long breath and followed Qin Zheng through the grove, stopping at an open patch beside a stream.
Looking ahead, he saw a woman in an apron standing by the river, frying something in a pot of oil.
Xuzhu could not help sniffing, and he exclaimed, "That smells wonderful!"
Qin Zheng turned his head, glanced at him, and said, "She's frying chicken feet in soybean oil."
"Ah!"
Xuzhu hurriedly covered his mouth and nose, his face full of chagrin. "A sin, a sin! This humble monk should not have smelled that. Amitabha!"
A smile touched Qin Zheng's face. He looked toward the woman by the river. "This woman is named Ruan Xingzhu. The tiger-skin chicken feet she's making were taught to her by me.
Five years ago, I came to the capital to receive a reward from the court. Afterward I was sightseeing in Xinyang and lost my way. For the fun of it, this woman deliberately pointed me in the opposite direction. And now she has ended up like this..."
Xuzhu frowned, puzzlement all over his face, and looked carefully toward the river. Only then did he notice that Ruan Xingzhu was wearing gray overalls and a black top, with her hair parted down the middle. She looked uncannily strange.
While Xuzhu was still startled, a girl suddenly came toward Ruan Xingzhu carrying a basin of chicken feet. Qin Zheng lifted his eyes and saw that the girl was none other than A'Zhu.
After Qin Zheng told A'Zhu that she was Ruan Xingzhu's daughter, she had come here. Concealing who she was, she claimed to be a maid driven out by the jealous wife of a wealthy household, and worked her way to Ruan Xingzhu's side, hoping to learn why she had been abandoned.
After many days together, she had grown familiar with Ruan Xingzhu and come to understand her temperament. Only one last step remained before she could draw out the truth.
A'Zhu carried the basin of chicken feet up beside Ruan Xingzhu and said with a face full of sympathy, "Madam, you toil every day making chicken feet without a moment's rest. When will there ever be an end to it?"
Ruan Xingzhu sighed helplessly. "Ai. I have only myself to blame. Of all the people I could have offended, it had to be Bandit King Qin Zheng. Now I work for him. If in any month I fail to sell enough to meet the sum he set, he'll drag me to the mountain stronghold to play that blasted basketball..."
A'Zhu was just about to offer a few words of comfort when she suddenly saw Qin Zheng appear. Her body gave a tremor, and the chicken feet in the basin nearly spilled. She cried out, "Qin Zheng!"
Ruan Xingzhu jolted, turned her head, and saw Qin Zheng walking slowly over. She cried out in panic, "I already paid last month's tax. Why have you come looking for me again?"
Qin Zheng smiled faintly. "Nothing much. I just felt like eating chicken feet. Go stir-fry a few vegetarian dishes to entertain this master beside me."
Xuzhu bowed in excitement. "Thank you, Bodhisattva! So long as it is vegetarian, this humble monk can eat any of it!"
Ruan Xingzhu wore a look of utter despair. Stiffly, she said, "I understand. I'll go make them at once."
All smiles, Xuzhu followed Qin Zheng into the bamboo hut and sat down. Drinking cool tea, he settled in to wait at his leisure for the midday meal.
Ruan Xingzhu had gone into the kitchen and was gnashing her teeth, furiously heaping salt into the stir-fry, when a voice full of tender feeling suddenly rose outside the house. "A'Xing, A'Xing, are you home? I've come to see you~"
Ruan Xingzhu froze. Then she flung down the spatula in her hand and dashed outside, calling as she ran, "Brother Chun, I'm here~"
The two soon caught sight of each other. They gazed with deep feeling, and their locked eyes nearly drew threads between them. Then they sprinted toward one another and caught each other in a tight embrace.
"A'Xing, do you know how much I've missed you? Have you been well these years?"
"Wuwu... I haven't been well at all! All these years a great villain has forced me to work every single day. Brother Chun, you must teach him a proper lesson for me!"
Duan Zhengchun's gaze turned stern. He shoved away Ruan Xingzhu, who was clinging to him, and said with a solemn face, "To think there is someone so detestable under heaven, without the slightest understanding of how to cherish a woman! Tell me who he is. I, Brother Chun, will certainly get justice for you!"
Qin Zheng stepped slowly out of the bamboo hut and said with perfect calm, "I am Qin Zheng. What instruction do you have for me?"
Duan Zhengchun instantly broke into a cold sweat. He whipped his head toward Ruan Xingzhu and said, his face grave, "A'Xing, what willful thing did you do? How could you have offended Hero Qin?"
Ruan Xingzhu looked at him with a forehead full of question marks. Hm? Weren't you going to get justice for me? Why are you blaming me instead?
Meeting her questioning gaze, Duan Zhengchun could not help a bitter smile.
I didn't know the one making things hard for you was Qin Zheng. Leaving aside that Qin Zheng saved Yu'er and has a claim on my gratitude, if we really came to blows, it would count as great mercy on his part if the two of us had so much as one bone left today!
A few days earlier, Emperor Baoding had sent Duan Zhengchun out from Dali to scout for news at Shaolin Temple. But before he even reached Shaolin, he learned that the matter had already ended.
Feeling he could not have made the trip for nothing, he had come to Little Mirror Lake to seek out Ruan Xingzhu, hoping to share a spell of tender intimacy with her.
Never had Duan Zhengchun imagined he would run into Qin Zheng even here.
Filled with dread, he glanced at Ruan Xingzhu, then at Falling Bird in Qin Zheng's hand, and in an instant his whole body prickled. "Wait—Hero Qin, what do you mean to do with that knife for making eunuchs?"
Qin Zheng spun Falling Bird on his fingertips as he said, "Nothing. I'm only handling the knife to work up its patina. Prince Duan, you're far too sensitive."
Duan Zhengchun wiped the cold sweat from his brow and cupped his hands in salute. "Thank you, Hero Qin, for the grace of saving Yu'er's life. Isn't Yu'er always at Hero Qin's side? Why isn't he here?"
Qin Zheng explained, "Oh, Duan Yu seems to have taken a bit of interest in Li Qingluo's daughter. He wants to look into whether being a eunuch can be inherited, and he's followed her off to who knows where."
Duan Zhengchun: "..."
What kind of nonsense is that? And whether Li Qingluo is a eunuch? Other people might not know, but how could I not know?!
After a spell of inner chaos, he had no idea how to explain, and he hurriedly changed the subject, looking to Xuzhu at Qin Zheng's side. "May I ask at which temple this master left home to take vows?"
Before Xuzhu could speak, Qin Zheng got there first. "Oh, this master's Dharma name is Xuzhu. He grew up in Shaolin Temple from childhood.
Speaking of Xuzhu's origins, they are rather winding and strange. As I know it, his mother conceived before she was married, and his father was a martial-world expert of exalted station who believed in the Buddha.
After he was born, his mother branded nine precept-incense scars onto his back, to remember his father.
Ai. A pitiful child, made to suffer like that the moment he was born. Who knows whether his mother missed his father so sorely that she fell into a demonic fixation."
At these words, Duan Zhengchun's heart gave a jolt. Deeply moved, he looked at Xuzhu.
A mother who conceived before marriage, and who was lovesick to the point of folly; a father of exalted station, and a martial-world expert who believed in the Buddha...
These details of Xuzhu's origins—why does every single one of them seem to match me?!
Chapter 34