As promised, First half of Ch. 8
An enduring mystery from Book 1 is finally answered in this part, was it anything close to what you had expected? :)
Chapter 8
Duel After Drinks
Starving for an entire day, tasting nothing but wind, was already a miserable thing. But the only thing more miserable than that is probably, while on the verge of passing out due to starvation, to be laughed at and called a big "idiot egg".
But Lu Xiao Feng laughed.
"I know plenty of people call me 'idiot egg', but there's plenty of people who likes to call me by another name!"
"What name is that?" The girl in red asked.
"Big rooster!"
The girl in red blushed, blushed so much that her face was red like her clothes.
"Actually, he has another, even better name." Ou Yang Qing suddenly interrupted.
"What name is that?" The girl in red immediately asked again, desperate to change the subject.
"Three Eggs Lu."
"Three Eggs Lu?" The girl in red was puzzled. "What does that mean?"
"Very simple really," Ou Yang Qing nonchalantly replied. "Because he's not only a big idiot egg, he's a bastard egg as well as a flat broke poor egg. Add it together, doesn't that equal three eggs?"
"Oh my that is such a great name!" The girl in red was, once again, doubled over in laughter. "I have never heard of a name as good as that in my life!"
"Well, since you are all so hungry, why don't you guys break those three eggs open and fry it for food?" Second Madame joined in the conversation as well with a unassuming smile.
"Because these three eggs aren't that fresh anymore," Ou Yang Qing replied. "They are rotten eggs as well."
"Now I'm only worried about one thing!" Third Madame sighed.
"What's that?" asked Ou Yang Qing.
"I'm worried that he's not a duck egg, but a chicken egg!"
"That is really a very serious problem," Ou Yang Qing nodded and replied with a straight face. "If he is a chicken egg, then a hen must have given birth to him, then isn't he a little hen's son?"
Even though the girl in red's face was even redder, she was completely and hopelessly doubled over with laughter. Lu Xiao Feng did not laugh, but he did realize two things.
-You cannot afford to mess with women, especially women like Ou Yang Qing.
-A man arguing with six women would be like a gentry trying to talk logic with six soldiers, he might as well buy a huge piece of tofu and smash himself to death with it. He had already made one mistake, so he did not want to make a second one. The girl in red was still laughing. Not only was her laughter pleasing to the ear, it somewhat infectious. Whenever anybody hears the sound of her laughter, their heart would inevitably be filled with joy, and it would make them laugh along for a little. But Lu Xiao Feng did not laugh. He suddenly lunged forward and, quick as a flash, grabbed the girl in red's arm and twisted it behind her.
"Watch out!" The Second Madame shouted.
As soon as those two words came out of her mouth, the girl in red threw her other elbow back towards Lu Xiao Feng's ribs, along with three other types of weapons from both sides.
Their actions were fast, especially that green robed, white socksed nun. A quick flash in her palms and a dagger was already flying towards him, its cold and sinister aura was so dense that it was hard for one to keep his eyes open. But too bad that Lu Xiao Feng was even faster, his chest and belly caved in slightly as both of his hands grabbed tightly onto the girl in red's arm. The three weapons were flew out at the same time, and they stopped at the same time as well, their blades were no more than 10 centimeters away from the fatal points just under Lu Xiao Feng's ribs.
But Lu Xiao Feng did not move, in fact, he did not even blink. Because he knew that those moves would never have continued on their ways. If his brother had fell into an enemy's hands, he would not dare to be so imprudent in his actions either. The veins were bulging on the hand that the green clothed nun used to hold her sword. To pull a move like that to a completely stop uses up tremendously more energy than the move itself.
"Let go!" The nun viciously demanded, the tip of her blade trembling ever so slightly.
Lu Xiao Feng did not let go.
"I haven't wronged you, why won't you let go?" The girl in red asked, biting her lip, she could not laugh anymore.
Lu Xiao Feng still did not let go, nor did he reply.
"A big man like yourself picking on a little girl, have you no shame?" Ou Yang Qing coldly laughed, her sword already out of her sleeve.
Lu Xiao Feng was not ashamed of himself. His face did not turn pale nor did it turn red.
That glowing scimitar that Second Madame was holding had also been withdrawn from within her sleeve. It was not much longer than half a meter.
"Between our two swords and one sabre, we could poke dozens of holes in you at any given moment!" She threatened.
"If you don't let go at this moment, we'll make sure you die here!" Ou Yang Qing immediately added.
Lu Xiao Feng suddenly laughed.
"You don't believe what we are saying?" Second Madame questioned him.
"I believe every word that every one of you have said," Lu Xiao Feng answered with a smile, "but I don't believe you will really make a move!"
"Oh really?" Second Madame coldly snickered.
"Because I'm sure you have all noticed, I'm not a gentleman!" Lu Xiao Feng casually observed.
"You are not even a man!" The nun viciously rebuked.
"So therefore, I am capable of quite a lot of things!"
"What are you planning to do to her?" The Second Madame's expression changed noticeably.
"I really want to let her go!"
This reply was totally unexpected.
"Why aren't you letting her go?" Second Madame immediately inquired.
"As soon as you promise me two things, I'll let her go!"
Second Madame pondered for a bit.
"As long as you let her go, forget about two things, even if...."
The next portion of what she wanted to say was: "... even if it was two hundred things, I'll comply!"
But Second Madame did not finish her sentence.
"Even if it was half a promise, we will never comply!" Third Madame, who had been quietly sitting in her seat this entire time, suddenly shouted.
Her voice was still that slow, that gentle, that tender. But by the time the final word came out of her mouth, she struck! Her strike was neither slow nor tender. Her weapon of choice was a whip, a glowing, ebony black, snake-like whip. While she was quietly and peacefully sitting there, she had secretly unwounded her whip under the table. When she struck with her whip, it flew in even faster than a snake, and even deadlier than the deadliest of snakes.
"Watch out for Seventh Sister!" Second Madame uttered in surprise.
But Third Madame did not seem to care. The tip of the whip curled like the head of a poisonous snake as it headed toward the fatal artery just below and behind Lu Xiao Feng's ear. But Lu Xiao Feng had already slid out of the way, taking along with him the girl in red, they slid out about 3 meters. The Third Madame suddenly lept up in the air and sent her whip crashing down from above. She seemed to have completely forgotten that her Sister was completely at the mercy of her foe as her moves left no course of retraction. Lu Xiao Feng sighed to himself. He did not believe that such a quiet and proper lady as this Third Madame would be such an aggressive woman. He did not believe that she would actually attack.
Now that she had attacked, what could he possibly do to the girl in red? If he harmed her, then her sisters would surely fight him to the death. If he let her go, then her sisters would still fight him to the death. So the only thing left for him to do was to fight back! Other than that, he did not seem to have any other options. The whip from Third Madame just simply did not allow him to have another road to take.
Second Madame suddenly stomped her foot.
"Alright, let's get rid of him first!"
"What about our Sister?" Ou Yang Qing asked.
"If he dares to touch one hair on our sister, I'll cut off every piece of meat from his body off his bones piece by piece!"
During this simple exchange, Third Madame's snapped her whip 20 times more. Lu Xiao Feng sighed again. He did not like seeing people bleed and especially detests seeing women bleed. But he was not able to keep dodging any longer, that whip was truly too fast, too fierce. He had to retaliate. Like a shooting rainbow, Second Madame's scimitar came piercing in as well. Her moves were strange, but they were even more vicious than they were unorthodoxed.
Now that she had made a move, it was impossibly for Ou Yang Qing to not participate either. But it was at this precise moment, a "bang" could be heard as a wine cup hit her scimitar. A pair of chopsticks suddenly came in from the side and grabbed a hold of that snake-like whip. Ah-Tu!
That pair of chopsticks was, incredibly, in Ah-Tu's hand!
The Third Madame's complexion was a steely green as she glared at him.
"I don't like to be forced by others!" She slowly said.
"I know," replied Ah-Tu.
"If I fell into his hands, none of you needs worry about me and hold anything back either!"
"I know."
"Then why aren't you letting me attack?"
"Because even though he might not be a gentleman, he's still a human being after all!"
"Huh?"
"At least he hasn't used our Sister as a shield against your whip!"
Third Madame thought about it for a moment before slowly returning to her seat. Once again, she was properly and quietly sitting in her seat, not moving one bit. Second Madame sat down as well, holding her wrist in one hand. Even though she had held on to her scimitar, her wrist was numb with pain due to the wine cup. But there was nary a trace of indignation on her face. She seemed completely submissive towards this scab covered beggar. Lu Xiao Feng eyes were glowing.
"You were saying earlier about two promises that you wanted us to make?" Ah-Tu suddenly asked.
Lu Xiao Feng nodded.
"Why don't you tell us the first one!"
"I was going to ask you to take me to First Madame Gong Sun!"
"And now?"
"Now that is needless!"
"Why?"
Lu Xiao Feng looked at him straight in the face.
"Because now I am already watching First Madame Gong Sun!"
Ah-Tu smiled. His smile looked very odd, it looked liked the smile of a mannequin.
"In all honesty, I should have figured out you were First Madame Gong Sun a long time ago," Lu Xiao Feng sighed despite of himself. "Not only did I follow you for a day, I had seen you once before!"
"Actually, more than once!" Ah-Tu laughed.
"More than once?" Lu Xiao Feng was quite surprised by this revelation.
"That night in the West Garden was not the first meeting between us!"
"Then where was our first meeting?" Lu Xiao Feng was even more puzzled.
Ah-Tu did not answer his question directly, but instead asked a question in return.
"Do you remember Huo Xiu?"
Of course Lu Xiao Feng remembers Huo Xiu.
"That day when you walked out from Huo Xiu's little pavilion and was waiting at the foot of the hill for Hua Man Lou, did an old woman carrying a hand basket full of a freshly picked herbs walk by you?"
"That woman was you?" Lu Xiao Feng almost shouted.
Ah-Tu nodded.
"You were also there on that day?"
Again, Ah-Tu laughed a little.
"If I wasn't there, then how is it that Huo Xiu is now trapped in that cage?"
Lu Xiao Feng was speechless. Only now, at this very moment, did he finally understand why Huo Xiu's machine beneath the stone platform malfunction. It was not because a mouse had randomly found its way in and locked the machine up. There is nothing in the world that coincidental, and there is no such thing as miracles either. After all, miracles are nothing but creations of human beings!
"I knew that Huo Xiu was an old fox, but I wouldn't have cared even if he had cut you up and sold you to the butcher," Ah-Tu continued. "But he shouldn't have sold Shang Guan Fei Yan as well."
Of course, Shang Guan Fei Yan was one of her people as well. Lu Xiao Feng suddenly remembered that pair of red shoes with a flying swallow embroidered on them.
"He killed my sister, then he must die," Ah-Tu nonchalantly concluded. "Even though he's still alive at this moment, I think he would much rather be dead!"
"Did Xue-Er see you that day?" Lu Xiao Feng suddenly asked.
"That kid is truly a clever little devil," Ah-Tu smiled. "After you two left, she immediately found her way to where the machinery under the stone platform was. She knew that there must be something down there!"
"She saw you?"
"No, she didn't see him, but she did see the pair of red shoes that I left there!"
"And that's why she thought that her sister wasn't actually dead!" Lu Xiao Feng smiled sadly.
"In the end, she is still just a kid, she's still too wishful in her thinking," Ah-Tu sighed. "Those who died in Huo Xiu's hands could never come back!"
"And that's why you left Huo Xiu alive, you are leaving him to her!"
"Correct, I want her to get her revenge herself."
"But I don't get it, why would you leave all of Huo Xiu's treasures to her? You look like you need that treasure very much as well!"
Ah-Tu's eyes suddenly displayed a very odd expression.
"Pity that the amount that she could get from Huo Xiu is not much anymore."
"Oh?"
"That treasure had long fallen into another's hands, nobody could possibly hope to get a single tael of silver from this person's hands!"
"Who is this person?" Lu Xiao Feng frowned. "And how did this huge treasure fall into this person's hands?"
Ah-Tu stared off into the distance, her eyes filled with an indescribable color of terror.
"You had said you wanted us to promise you two things," she suddenly changed the subject and coldly asked. "You have told us one, what is the other thing?"
"I want you to leave with me!"
"You want me to go with you?" Ah-Tu laughed again. "Have you fallen for me?"
"Indeed I have!"
"Have you fallen for that sugar roasted chestnut selling granny?" Ah-Tu asked, stilling chuckling. "Or this scab covered beggar?"
"I have fallen for another you!"
"You are talking about - the Embroidery Bandit?" Ah-Tu's eyes flickered.
Lu Xiao Feng nodded.
"You think I'm the Embroider Bandit?"
"Do you deny it?"
"Looks like even if I deny it now, it would be of no use!" Ah-Tu sighed.
The facts were there, the evidences fit, what use could her denial have?
"Well, at least you had rescued me once," Lu Xiao Feng sighed. "I'm not a person who forgets such things!"
"I know," Ah-Tu plainly replied, "you are just an idiot egg!"
All Lu Xiao Feng could do was pretend he did not hear that.
"Are you planning to take me to Jin Jiu Ling for the punishment?"
"I guarantee that you will receive a fair and impartial trial and judgement!"
Suddenly, there was a "dong!" Second Madame's scimitar had been spiked into the table. The green clothed known was holding the blade of her sword in her other hand. Ou Yang Qing's expression was one of a cold snicker, and Jiang Qing Xia's lips were pale.
"You want my big sister to go with you? Are you dreaming?" The girl in red suddenly began to laugh, her laughter now was no longer that joyous to listen to.
"He's not dreaming," Ah-Tu plainly declared after she had finished laughing. "I could very well leave with him!"
The girl in red was speechless, everyone was speechless. Even Lu Xiao Feng was caught off guard by what she just said.
"I like men who could get things done, men with abilities," Ah-Tu slowly continued. "If a man with some real abilities show up, I would be willing to go anywhere with him."
Someone was laughing.
This time it was Ou Yang Qing.
She was the first one to understand Ah-Tu's meaning: "So if you want our big sister to leave with you, first you have to show us if you truly got what it takes!"
"I have quite a number of abilities," Lu Xiao Feng smiled, "it's just that I don't know which particular ones are you looking for?"
"I only want to see three kinds!"
"Three kind?"
Ah-Tu stared at him, her pupils seemingly dilating.
"We will have three rounds, if you can beat me twice out of the three rounds, then I'll go with you!"
"Best of three? This sounds quite interesting!"
"I guarantee it will be more interesting than you can hope for!"
Lu Xiao Feng's eyes flickered.
"So what are we going to compete in the first round? Drinking?" He joked. He knew that she was not going to compete drinking with him. Only the dumbest of women would compete drinking with a man like him.
But Ah-Tu replied with a sentence that he could not have expected even in his wildest of dreams: "Ok! Drinking it is!"