Da Ren Wu
(Big Time Celebrity)

Chapter 3 : A Canary and a Gang of Cats

Original novel written by Gu Long

Fan translation by TigerWong (Send an email)

Tian SiSi said: “If I don’t bring these things, which smelly man’s bedding would you have me sleep on, which smelly man’s bowl would you have me eat my rice from?”

Tian Xin giggled: “Even if my Lady doesn’t want to use other people’s things, we can still buy brand new items on the road.”

Tian SiSi: “Even the purchased stuff is dirty.”

Tian Xin: “Weren’t all these things purchased from somewhere?”

Tian SiSi pouted her lips: “I don’t care, I must bring all these things, can’t leave a single item, otherwise......”

Tian Xin sighed and carried them down for her: “Otherwise you’ll bethroth me to Wang DaGuang, right?”

She rolled her eyes and chuckled: “Some people call others Pouty Lips, but actually pouts their lips even more than me.”

When she says she wants something, she has to have it. Even if you give the most sensible reason, she’d still regard you as spewing nonsense.

In the blink of an eye, she can lose her temper. But after another blink, she may have already forgotten the reason for losing her temper and hold your hand. This is Ms. Tian’s temper tantrum.

Therefore our Ms. Tian brought along her washbasin, powder case, mirror, bed cushions, pillows, incense burner, chessboard......and several more items you can’t even begin to imagine, and started out on her journey.

This was her first time leaving the house.

Her destination was ChiangNan.

Because all three of her idols were in ChiangNan.

But what kind of place was ChiangNan? How far was it from her home?

What types of places will they pass on the road? What kind of people will they encounter?

Will they be good people? Or wicked people who will mistreat them.

Will the two of them get caught up in some dangerous situation? Will they even make it to ChiangNan?

Even if they arrived in ChiangNan, will they really be able to find her three big time celebrities?

And how will they react to her?

Ms. Tian didn’t concern herself with any of these matters, as if all she needed to do was sit in the carriage, shut her eyes, and once she opened them again she would have arrived safely in ChiangNan, with the three celebrities all lined up waiting for her.

She thought that ChiangNan would be as safe as the garden behind her house, she thought that the inhabitants of the martial world were just like the ones in her house who catered to her whims.

For a female child like this to step into the martial world, do you think its dangerous or not?

If she can really arrive safely in ChiangNan, that would truly be a strange matter.

The things she encountered on the road were beyond most people’s wildest dreams, if you recounted each event, it’d take you two or three years to tell.

-----
Stars, full moon, the evening breeze was tepid and dry.

ZhongYuan usually has good weather.

The window was open, the trees on the side of the road flew by, the horse carriage was moving quickly.

Tian SiSi was like a canary who just flew out of it’s cage after over a decade of imprisonment, the farther the better, the faster the better.

The wind came in through the window, blowing on her and creating goosebumps all over her body. She stuck her head out the window and saw a full moon, like a spinning icy plate up in the sky, and exclaimed with excitement. As if it was the first time shes ever seen the moonlight, she called out: “Look at that, isn’t this moonlight beautiful?”
Tian Xin said: “It’s beautiful, very beautiful.”

Tian SiSi: “I bet ChiangNan’s moonlight is even more beautiful than the one here, it’s moon is probably rounder too.”

Tian Xin winked her eye: “Isn’t ChiangNan’s moon the same as the one here?”

Tian SiSi sighed and shook her head: “You simply have no poetic sentiment.”

Tian Xin stared out at the night and slowly said: “I don’t want to write poems, I want to write a novel.”

Tian SiSi: “A novel? What kind of novel?”

Tian Xin: “It’ll be like ‘Journey to the West’, I’ve even thought of a name for it.”

Tian SiSi laughed: “Who would have guessed our Little Pouty Mouth was such a talented girl, what kind of name did you come up with, tell me quick.”

Tian Xin said: “’A Lady’s Journey to the South’.”

Tian SiSi: “’A Lady’s Journey to the South’? You......You’re writing about me?”

Tian Xin: “That’s right. The Lady would be you, and Journey to the South will be about all our adventures on the road.”

Her cheeks flushed with excitement: “I bet we’ll meet lots and lots of interesting people on our journey, and encounter lots and lots of interesting matters. If I write everything down, and let others see our adventures, it would be even more interesting.”

Tian SiSi’s interest perked up and she clapped her hands: “Great idea, only you can write this, and write it well, this book will probably become even more famous than ‘Journey to the West’”.

She suddenly became serious: “But we must not use our true names, to avoid angering Daddy when he reads it.”

Tian Xin rolled her eyes: “What names should we use then......’Journey to the West’ was about Tang Seng, I can’t make my Lady out to be a nun.”

Tian SiSi: “If I’m Tang Seng then you’re Sun WuKong, if I’m a female priest then you’re a female ape.”

She giggled and continued: “Monkeys also pout.”

Tian Xin’s lips suddenly got pouty: “Being Monkey Sun is no big deal, but Tang Seng should be a bit more careful.”

Tian SiSi: “Careful about what?”

Tian Xin: “Careful about other people eating your Buddhist flesh.”

Tian SiSi jumped up as if to twist her lips, but then sat back down again and furrowed her brows: “Bad, very bad.”

Tian Xin tensed up: “What’s the matter?”

Tian SiSi’s face reddened, the color spreading out to her ears. She whispered: “I drank too much tea earlier, now I need to go really bad.”

Tian Xin thought it was funny, but didn’t think it would be polite to laugh and bit her lips: “How are we going to handle this? Can’t really do it in the carriage......”

Tian SiSi: “I forgot something really important, we should have brought a bucket along with us.”

Tian Xin couldn’t control herself and bent over in laughter.

Tian SiSi said darkly: “What’s so funny, you never had to pee before?”

Of course Tian Xin has experienced this, she knew how awful it felt.

She abruptly stopped laughing and whispered: “Theres nobody on the road, and it’s dark, why don’t you tell the carriage driver to stop, go into the woods by the road, and......”

“Pak” - Tian SiSi slapped her palm lightly: “Little Devil, what if someone burst in by chance......”

Tian Xin: “That’s not a concern, I’ll stand guard for you.”

Tian SiSi shook her head vigorously: “No way...nooooo way, no matter what you say it won’t do.”

Tian Xin sighed: “If it won’t do then theres no solution, best to just hold it in for a while.”

Tian SiSi had already been holding it in until shes red in the face.

It’s best to not think about it, the more you think the more you have to go.

Tian SiSi suddenly called loudly: “Driver, stop for a moment.”

Tian Xin covered her laugh: “So there are times when our Lady will change her mind.”

Tian SiSi stared at her sternly: “It just so happens that I have some instructions to tell the driver.”

Tian Xin: “What instructions?”

Tian SiSi shook her head and mumbled: “What a child, don’t even have an adult’s common sense.”

Once the carriage stopped, she quickly jumped down and shouted: “Driver, come over, I have something to say.”

The driver lazily stepped down from the carriage and sauntered over slowly, with a simple-minded fruit brained appearance.

Tian SiSi felt very satisfied, her trip this time was very secretive, so of course she hoped the driver would be stupid. Stupid people rarely discover other people’s secrets.

But she didn’t feel relieved yet, she still needed to make sure, because she was a very level-headed and detail-oriented person with good common sense.

Therefore she asked: “Do you recognize us? Do you know who we are?”

The driver shook his head: “I don’t recognize, I don’t know.”

Tian SiSi: “Do you know what place we came from?”

The driver: “I’m not a retard, how could I not know.”

Tian SiSi got a little tense: “You know?”

The driver: “You came out from a door, of course.”

Tian SiSi relaxed: “Do you know which family that door belonged to?”

The driver: “I don’t know.”

Tian SiSi: “Do you know what our destination is?”

The driver: “I don’t know.”

Tian SiSi rolled her eyes and asked again: “Do you think we are male or female?”

The driver smiled, exposing yellow teeth: “If you two are female, then I’m somebody’s mother.”

Tian SiSi also smiled and felt even more satisfied: “We want to walk around the area, you wait here, don’t leave.”

The driver smiled: “You two haven’t paid for the ride yet, even if you kill me I won’t leave.”

Tian SiSi nodded her head: “That’s right, if you leave you don’t get paid, if you don’t leave you will be rewarded.”

The driver took out some tobacco from his belt, sat down on the ground, and started smoking.

Tian SiSi felt completely relieved, as soon as she resolved this, she started thinking about that other business again.

As soon as she started thinking of that, she couldn’t stand it any more, and pulled Tian Xin into the woods.

It wasn’t very dark inside the woods, but there wasn’t a soul in sight.

Tian Xin whispered: “How about right here, without someone watching our carriage we can’t go too far.”

Tian SiSi said: “No, this area won’t do. That driver is a retard, no need to worry about him.”

People think that the more dark and secluded the place, the more peaceful. That is one of humanity’s weaknesses.

Tian SiSi found the darkest area and whispered: “You stand guard here, yell out if anyone approaches.”

Tian Xin just giggled.

Tian SiSi glared at her: “Little devil, what are you laughing at! You never seen anyone take a pee?”

Tian Xin smiled: “I wasn’t laughing at that, I was just thinking that even if nobody came, if by chance there happened to be a snake......”

Tian SiSi jumped up with a frightened expression, and searched for something to stuff her mouth with.

Tian Xin begged for mercy but Tian SiSi would have none of it, both girls screamed and laughed and argued. Nobody heard the sound of the neighing horse outside the woods.

By the time they finished arguing and exited the woods, the driver and the carriage have all disappeared without a trace.

Tian SiSi was still.

Tian Xin was also still.

Both girls looked at each other and was silent for a long time. Tian Xin sighed deeply: “We treated him like he was retarded, who knew he regarded us as the real retards, we were really dumb, and he just pretended to be.”

Tian SiSi clenched her teeth, too angry to even speak.

Tian Xin: “What should we do now?”

Tian SiSi: “No matter what we do, I’m not returning home.”

She suddenly asked: “Did you bring my jewelry?”

Tian Xin nodded her head.

Tian SiSi stamped her foot: “We should have removed the package from the carriage.”

Tian Xin took out a package: “What do we have here?”

Tian SiSi jumped for joy: “I knew you were a wily little devil.”

Tian Xin sighed and muttered: “What a child, no adult common sense at all.”

The road was not dark, the stars and moon were out.
Two people strolled along leisurely, their recent bad mood seemed to be long forgotten.

Tian SiSi smiled: “After losing the stuff, I actually feel less tied down.”

Tian Xin winked: “You’re not afraid of using the same bedding that other smelly men use?”

Tian SiSi: “What’s there to be afraid of, we’ll just buy new ones. The bedding I had before was also purchased somewhere.”

Tian Xin laughed: “Although our Lady has a peculiar temper, she can still be open to reason. But she suffers from a bit of memory loss, with a turn of the head shes forgotten the words she said.”

Tian SiSi glared at her, then suddenly furrowed her brow: “Theres one thing that seemed quite strange to me.”

Tian Xin: “What’s that?”

Tian SiSi: “The driver didn’t collect his fee yet, so why would he just leave?”

With a “pak”, Tian SiSi lightly hit her: “Dummy, of course he knew that the stuff we had on the carriage was very valuable, even after buying an entire carriage you’d still have plenty left over.”

Tian Xin said: “Aiya, Lady is so talented to have figured out such a complex riddle, I really admire you.”

A Lady will envitably be a Lady.

A Lady’s way of thinking sometimes caused people to not know if they should laugh or cry.

-----
The sky was bright.

The roosters were making noise, their stomachs were also making noise.

Tian SiSi mumbled: “Strange, why would a person’s stomach make “gu-gu” noises?”

Tian Xin: “A stomach will make noise when it’s hungry.”

Tian SiSi: “Why would it make noise when it’s hungry?”

Tian Xin didn’t have any way to answer this, the Lady’s questions were always difficult for others to answer.

Tian SiSi sighed: “I never realized it was so uncomfortable being hungry.”

Tian Xin: “You’ve never been hungry?”

Tian SiSi: “There were several times when I didn’t want to eat lunch, and by the time late afternoon rolled around I felt like I was going crazy from hunger. Now I realize that those times cannot be considered hunger.”

Tian Xin: “Didn’t you say that a person living in this world should experience all kinds of things?” Tian SiSi said: “But I’ve already tasted enough of this hunger, right now I just want to eat a piece of slow-roasted, tender, red meat.”

Tian Xin: “Then you’d better return home to eat some.”

Tian SiSi: “They don’t even sell red-roasted meat out here?”

Tian Xin: “At the very least, not right now. The restaurants aren’t even open yet.”

She thought about it some more: “I’ve heard of a teahouse that opened in the morning, and sold things to eat. Many of these teahouses are usually near the food market.”

Tian SiSi clapped and laughed: “That’s great news, I had already planned on checking out the food market. And there are teahouses too. I heard that a lot of things happened in teahouses in the martial world.”

Tian Xin: “Sure, there are all kinds of people at these places, especially swindlers.”

Tian SiSi laughed: “As long as we’re careful, who can swindle us? They should be grateful we don’t cheat them.”

Naturally, there was a food market in the city. Naturally, there were teahouses near the food market. Naturally, there were all kinds of people inside with no shortage of drifters and swindlers.

The beef noodles came in a large bowl, with inch wide noodles that were razor thin, and thick oil in the soup.

Each piece of meat was five or six ounces.

Eating in a place like this, the emphasis was on being economical. Nobody is really concerned about whether it tastes any good.

In the past, the Lady wouldn’t even touch the chopsticks here, but today she finished half the bowl in one breath of time and even cleaned up the pieces of meat.

Tian Xin watched her and suddenly smiled: “This bowl and chopsticks were used by smelly men, how dare you use it?”

Tian SiSi paused and chuckled: “I forgot about that, when a person’s stomach is hungry one can forget about everything.”

Tian SiSi brushed her face and anxiously whispered: “Is my face really dirty?”

Tian Xin: “Not at all.”

Tian SiSi: “Then why are these people all staring at me?”

Tian Xin laughed: “Maybe they’re looking for a husband for their daughters.”

Her hands were gripping the package tightly, not even releasing it while she was eating.

Tian SiSi suddenly said: “Let go of the package and place it on the table.”

Tian Xin: “Why?”

Tian SiSi: “When out in the world you must not forget ‘never reveal your valuables’. The way you’re holding onto that package, one look and others will know that there are valuable things inside, it won’t be long before someone comes to start trouble. If you act nonchalant, others won’t notice.”

Tian Xin giggled: “I didn’t think my Lady was such a worldly person.”

Tian SiSi stared at her: “Who is your Lady?”

Tian Xin: “I meant Master.”

As she placed the package on the table, she noticed a man approaching. He saluted them and said: “Good morning to you two.”

This person didn’t appear very classy, and even looked a bit shady, one look and you can tell that he wasn’t a good person.

At first Tian SiSi didn’t want to acknowledge him, but in order to give off the appearance of an experienced person from the martial world, she stood up and saluted: “Good morning.”

This person seated himself and smiled: “It looks like this is your first time here.”

Tian SiSi: “We’ve been here several times already, I’m pretty familiar with all the places in this city.”

The person said: “Since you have been running around out in the city, you should recognize this city’s Big Boss Zhao.

Listening to this man’s tone, it seemed like this Big Boss Zhao was an important person in the city, if one didn’t recognize him then one wasn’t an experienced person in the martial world.

Tian SiSi: “We’re not that close, just had dinner together a few times.”

The person laughed: “From what you just said, it appears that we’re all one big family. I’m Tie GeBo, one of Big Boss Zhao’s fellow brethren.”

He suddenly lowered his voice: “Since we’re of one family, theres something I must tell you.”

Tian SiSi: “Go ahead.”

Tie GeBo: “This place is pretty sketchy, with all kinds of bad people, if you have valuables in your package, then it’s best to be careful.”

Tian Xin wanted to reach out and grab the package, but Tian SiSi gave her a look and casually said: “This package only contains a few change of clothes, no need to be careful.”

Tie GeBo laughed and slowly stood up: “I only wanted to express some good intentions, you two......”

He quickly grabbed the package, turned around, and ran.

Tian SiSi laughed coldly. Seeing this person’s legwork, even if she allowed him a fifty foot head start, she could still bring him back as soon as she set into motion.

The Lady wasn’t the delicate type of female, during one time at a village square, she only had to use three or five moves to defeat a well-known martial arts exhibitionist.

According to that street performer, Ms. Tian’s martial arts could be considered first-class in the martial world. Even ChiangNan’s most famous female heroine, “Jade Orchid”, might not be her match.

This time unfortunately, before the Lady had a chance to reach out her hand, and before Tie GeBo could run out the door, he was blocked by a powerful, cold-looking man with a knife scar across his face who reached out his hand and boxed him across the ears.

He said sharply: “Wretch, return the package to them.”

Not only did Tie GeBo not dare to fight back, he didn’t even dare to make noise. Massaging his face with his palm, he politely brought the package back.

That large man also walked over, and gripped his fist in salute: “I’m surnamed Zhao, this is one of my little brothers, these past few days we’ve been poor to the point of insanity, that’s how come he could do such a despicable act, feel free to hit or punish.

Not only did Tian SiSi feel that this person displayed an air of righteousness, his style wasn’t too bad either. She broke out in a grin: “Thanks for the friend’s aid. Since the package was not lost, just let it be. No need to bring it up anymore.”

The large man glared at Tie GeBo: “Since this is the case, why don’t you quickly thank this young gentleman’s graciousness.”

Tian SiSi suddenly said: “If brother is surnamed Zhao, are you this city’s Big Boss Zhao?”

The large man said: “I’m humbled.”

Tian SiSi: “I’ve admired your reputation, please sit down.”

Big Boss Zhao waved his hand: “Let me take care of this table’s account.”

Tian SiSi: “How can that be, this time I must be the host.”

She grabbed the package as if to take some money out, but only took out a gem-encrusted butterfly. The package did not contain any money.

Big Boss Zhao’s pupils widened and he suddenly lowered his voice: “These types of things can’t be used to pay the bill, if Brother is short on cash, I can bring you somewhere to exchange that for money, I guarantee the exchange rate will be fair.”

He patted his chest and continued: “I’m not bragging, nobody in this city would dare cheat a friend of Big Boss Zhao’s”.

Tian SiSi hesitated and was just about to say “yes” when she suddenly saw a long-robed, sword carrying, middle-aged man come over and address Big Boss Zhao: “Knife Scar Six, are you still using my name to cheat others?”

This Big Boss Zhao immediately stood up, bowing and grinning: “I wouldn’t dare, Big Boss Zhao you are well......” Before he finished his sentence, he ran away like dissipating smoke, disappearing without a trace.

Tian SiSi watched with wide eyes and before she could figure out what just happened here, the long-robed, sword carrying, middle-aged man greeted them: “I am surnamed Zhao, this city’s friends call me Big Boss, but I cannot live up to such a name.”

Tian SiSi then understood, this person was the real Big Boss Zhao, the one earlier was just pretending.

Big Boss Zhao said: “Knife Scar Six is a famous swindler in this city, who oftentimes uses my identity to trick others, I’m afraid the two of you almost fell for his scam just now.”

Tian SiSi’s face reddened: “But when my package got stolen, it was actually him who got it back.”

Big Boss Zhao laughed: “That Tie GeBo actually planned ahead of time with him to cunningly act out this play, in order to win your trust and then really swindle you.”

He laughed again and continued: “Anyone could tell that with such a shine in your eyes, your skills could not be weak, depending on Tie GeBo’s talent, how could he escape your grasp?”

Tian SiSi secretly let out a sigh, this was called: One cannot gain knowledge without going through an experience.

But her heart was suddenly happy and she said: “You could really tell that we knew martial arts?”

Big Boss Zhao smiled: “Not only know martial arts, but surely a master as well, therefore I would really like to make friends with two such as yourselves, otherwise I might not have bothered to stick my nose in this matter.”

Tian SiSi was very delighted, she didn’t imagine that she’d encounter this type of valiant person right after leaving home. She saluted and said: “Please sit down, please sit down and talk.”

Big Boss Zhao said: “This place is too chaotic, not a good place to talk. If the two of you don’t mind, how about carrying on this conversation at my place?”

Big Boss Zhao’s dwelling was not particularly large, it only consisted of two small buildings within a huge courtyard, the arrangements inside the buildings were plain and didn’t quite match his clothing.
Not only did Tian SiSi not find this peculiar, she even considered it quite logical.

For a member of the martial world like Big Boss Zhao, even if he was wealthy he’d go out and spend it with friends, rather than using it for private enjoyment. For someone like him, he’d obviously not take too much interest in his house.

Big Boss Zhao said: “If the two of you have no pressing matters to attend to, please stay here for a few days and allow me to invite my friends in the city to come meet you.”

Tian SiSi said happily: “Great idea, the reason I came out this time was to meet new friends.”

Tian Xin suddenly interrupted: “But wouldn’t this be a great inconvenience for Master Zhao?”

Tian SiSi gave her a look: “For someone like Big Brother Zhao, if we act too polite about these things, it would only mean that we don’t consider him enough of a friend.”

Big Boss Zhao patted his hand and laughed: “Precisely, this Brother is a no-nonsense man, by accepting my offer you only demonstrate that we’re good brothers.”

“No-nonsense man”, “Good brothers”, these two phrases made Tian SiSi very happy. If even someone like Big Boss Zhao couldn’t see that they were girls disguised as men, then who can? She couldn’t help but secretly admire herself, it’s as if she had a natural talent for adventuring in the martial world, first time disguising herself as a man and it was already so convincing.

Big Boss Zhao continued: “Brother, if you need anything just let Big Brother know. Okay, I’ll go grab some money and give it to you guys to carry along so you can comfortably get what you need.”

Tian SiSi: “That’s not necessary, I still have some jewelry here......”

Her face reddened, and hurriedly said: “It’s my little sister’s jewelry, it can still be exchanged for some money.”

Big Boss Zhao said earnestly: “Brother, that wouldn’t be right. You just said let’s not be too polite, and now you’re suddenly being polite. I’m going to go get some money now, and buy some wine, when I return we’ll all have a good drink.”

He started to walk out without waiting for Tian SiSi’s reply, but turned around and took out a key to open a cabinet by the bed: “It’s not convenient to carry along such valuables, let’s just lock it in here. Although we shouldn’t need to worry about it, it never hurts to be a little more careful.”

He thought about everything so thoroughly. After locking the package inside the cabinet, he gave the key to Tian Xin and smiled: “This young steward seems to be quite meticulous about doing things, he can guard the key then.”

Tian SiSi felt a bit embarrassed about it all, but Tian Xin quickly grabbed the key.

After waiting for Big Boss Zhao to leave, Tian Xin suddenly whispered: “It seems to me that this Big Boss Zhao is not a good thing, I wonder what scheme he’s cooking up?”

Tian SiSi laughed: “Little Devil, your suspicious heart is really acting up. He offered us his home, and went to get money for us, where does one find this kind of decent person?”

Tian Xin said: “But our package......”

Tian SiSi: “The package is locked within this cabinet, the key is on your person, and you’re still not relieved?”

Tian Xin pouted and didn’t say a word.

Tian SiSi didn’t pay any more attention to her, clasped her hands and walked outside. She discovered that there were ten households within this courtyard, several varieties of clothing were hung up to dry on a bamboo pole, not a single one was new, the living conditions must not be very good for the people who resided here.

It was not yet noon. A few people in the courtyard were exercising with stone shackles and flipping somersaults, there were also two girls who were combing their braids. Tian SiSi knew that these must be the types of people who wandered the martial world, practicing for their performances.

Over on the side was a blind old man playing the lute, a woman with her head lowered stood nearby, slowly playing with a few sweetheart beans in her hand. The old man was obviously a street performer. The woman who was playing with the beans, could it be that she was falling in love? Did her sweetheart secretly give those to her? Tian SiSi couldn’t help but giggle.

The woman glanced over, gave her a meaningful look, then lowered her head again and held the sweetheart beans against her chest.

“Is this woman attracted to me? She doesn’t want me to know that she has a boyfriend, so is that why she hid her sweetheart beans?” Tian SiSi suddenly didn’t dare look over there anymore.

Even though she thought it was interesting, she didn’t want to attract this kind of trouble. In the courtyard were several children with runny noses building castle walls out of mud.

A pregnant woman was lighting a fire, her eyes were getting red from the smoke, tears coming out non-stop. Looking at her belly, it would appear that she was at least eight or nine months pregnant, her baby could come out at any time.

Yet her mother-in-law was nagging by her side, calling her lazy, but still wiping her face for her with a handkerchief.

Tian SiSi experienced a feeling of warmth. She felt that this was what living life was all about.

She had never been this close to real living. She suddenly felt very envious of the pregnant woman -- although she had no riches, no jewelry, none of the makeup from the city, not five pieces of silver or an inch of a satin skirt: but she had her own lifestyle, she had love, her life was already very vibrant.

“If a person were to be confined in a garden, watching the clouds come and go, flowers bloom and die, although she can obtain the best comforts of life, how would that be any different than a canary being raised in a cage?” Tian SiSi sighed, and only hated herself for not having the courage to escape her cage sooner.

She resolved to take advantage of this opportunity, and enjoy life to the fullest.

The fire was burning, the food was already cooking on the stove.

The sound of the lute stopped, the old man pulled out his tobacco. The woman lightly pounded his back for him.

Tian Xin suddenly ran out and anxiously said: “Why hasn’t Big Boss Zhao come back by now?”

Tian SiSi: “Maybe he isn’t ready to yet, and needed to walk farther to get more money.”

Tian Xin: “I’m just afraid he might have slipped away.”

Tian SiSi stared: “He didn’t even swindle a bit of our money, why would he want to slip away?”

Tian Xin pouted her lips again, turned her head, and ran back into the building.

The food in the pot gradually cooked, the smell of the rice attracted a young, tanned fellow.

His body was covered with perspiration, obviously the result of a hard morning’s work.

That pregnant woman immediately welcomed him, helping him wipe his sweat. The young fellow softly patted her belly, and whispered a few words in her ears. The young wife gave him a meaningful look, and laughed a little.

Two dogs in the courtyard were stealing some scraps.

The little kids who played until their entire bodies were covered with mud, got yelled at and spanked by their mother.

Big Boss Zhao still hasn’t returned.

Tian SiSi was also growing a little impatient.

Tian Xin suddenly rushed out from the house.

Looking at her expression, it was as if her tail was on fire, she was stamping her feet non-stop: “Oh no, oh no......”

Tian SiSi wrinkled her brow: “What are you getting so worked up about, do you need to pee too? Theres a bathroom here.”

Tian Xin: “No......no......our belongings......”

Tian SiSi: “Isn’t our package locked inside that cabinet?”

Tian Xin shook her head vigorously: “It’s not, the cabinet is empty, theres nothing there.”

Tian SiSi: “That’s silly talk, I personally placed the package inside.”

Tian Xin: “But it has disappeared. Just now I was not feeling comfortable and opened up the cabinet to look, only to find out......”

Tian SiSi also became anxious and ran inside, the cabinet truly was empty.

Where did the package go? Did it sprout wings and fly out of a locked cabinet?

Tian Xin gasped: “The cabinet has three sides, but theres a hole in the wall, Big Boss Zhao must have reached in from the outside and stolen the package. I knew he wasn’t a good person.”

Tian SiSi stamped her feet and hurried outside.

Everyone else had returned home to eat their meal, only the few people who were training were still outside in the darkening courtyard, drawing water to wash their faces.

Tian SiSi rushed over and said: “Big Boss Zhao? Do you guys know where he is?”

The young men all looked at each other, then said: “Who is Big Boss Zhao? We don’t recognize him.”

Tian SiSi said: “The one living in that building, who is also your neighbor. How could you not recognize him?”

Chapter 4

Go back to Gu Long Index