Eastern Palace - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Really such a weird man, and he even insisted that I knew him; I don’t know such a strange person.

After walking out of the alley, I noticed A’Du sitting on the bridge. She just blankly stared at me. I asked her, “Where did you go? I was worried to death.”

A’Du sat there motionless, even after shaking her, she did not move. At this point, that Gu Jian came over, he softly snapped his fingers at A’Du, I only heard a “chi” sound, and A’Du swiftly jumped up, pulled out her gold inlaid knife with one hand, and pulled me behind her with the other.

Gu Jian leisurely smiled, and said, “We fought three years ago, earlier I only needed to use one finger to seal your meridian points. Don’t you understand, if I really wanted to do something, you alone cannot stop me?”

A’Du did not speak, she just looked at him fiercely, her posture was like a mother hen protecting her chicks. Once when Li Cheng Yin really angered me to the point that I collapsed, A’Du also glared at him like this.

I didn’t expect this Gu Jian would be able seal A’Du’s meridian points, A’Du skills are extremely good, normally, people can’t even get close to her, much less easily restrain her, this Gu Jian’s skill in martial arts is simply unbelievable. I stared at him dumbfounded.

But he just heaved a long sigh, looking at A’Du who had her sword drawn. And the me poking my head out behind A’Du…… then he glanced at me again, and finally turned and left.

I watched him walk away, the alley completely empty, and that strange Gu Jian finally walked out of sight. I asked A’Du, “There’s nothing serious right? Are you hurt?”

A’Du shook her head and made a gesture.

I knew the meaning of this gesture, she was asking me if I was very sad.

Why should I be upset?

I found her baffling, so I just exaggeratedly rolled my eyes at her.

It was getting dark, I took A’Du to Wen Yue Lou (问月楼) to eat dinner.

Whenever we would come out and stroll the streets, we would always come to Wen Yue Lou to eat, because here the roast mandarin duck is delicious.

We sat down and were eating the roast meat, when the Uncle He that sells the drinks and his daughter Fu Jie Er came up the stairs. Uncle He is blind, but he is very good at playing the Huqin [1], every time we come Wen Yue Lou to eat, I always have to trouble Fu Jie Er to sing a tune.

Fu Jie Er has already long been familiar with us, she greeted us and said to me, “Liang Gong Zi [2]“

I politely asked her to sing two songs, and she began singing《Mulberry Harvest.》

Eating roasted mandarin duck, with a warm pot of lotus liquor, and listening to Fu Jie Er sing, is really the most beautiful thing in life.

The meat was still sizzling on the broiler, A’Du used her chopsticks to turn over the meat, and then dipped the ready meat with sauce, before placing it onto my plate. I ate the grilled meat, and drank a cup of lotus liquor, at this point, a group of people arrived upstairs, they made thudding sounds as they walked, loudly chatting and laughing, causing people to cast glances their way.

I started speaking nonsense with A’Du, “You see those people, one look and you can tell they’re not good people.”

A’Du stared at me puzzled.

I said, “Although these people are dressed in ordinary clothes, but every one of them are wearing kuai xue [3], a knife at their waist, and almost all of them are wearing protective wrist guards, they also have Deer skin fastened around their thumbs. These people are both used to wearing kuai xue, and familiar with the horse and bow, and yet they still strut pretentiously around town with a knife…… and with those rakish looks and frivolous behavior, these guys must be Yu Lin Langs [4].”

A’Du also didn’t like Yu Lin Langs, so she nodded.

The minute the Yu Lin Langs sat down, one of them called out, “Hey, the one singing songs! Come and sing 《Climbing Uphill Missing a Youth!》”

Uncle He was trembling and apologized to them, he said, “This young lord here has asked for two songs, we have only just finished singing one. Once we’re done singing this one, then we will come and serve you gentlemen.”

That Yun Lin Lang used force and smacked the table, “Insolence! The song finished or not! Quickly come and sing for us, or I’ll hack you in half you old blind man.”

Another one looked at me, smiled and said, “As for being handsome, he really is handsome, looks even better than that lady singer. Hey! Rabbit lad [5], come over and accompany us for a drink.”

I sighed, originally I didn’t want to fight with anyone, looks like it was unavoidable now. I put my chopsticks down, and drawled, “Such a nice shop, how come there suddenly arrived a bunch of things that don’t speak human language? How disappointing!”

Hearing that infuriated them, each of them pounding the table in succession, “Who are you insulting?”

I flashed a smile at them, “Oh, pardon me, looks like you aren’t things.”

The person who had retorted first couldn’t hold back, he drew his sword and rushed towards us. A’Du lightly slapped the table, the plates and bowls didn’t move an inch, only the chopsticks container jumped up due to the vibration. She conveniently pulled out a pair of chopsticks, without waiting for the chopsticks tube to fall back onto the table, that man’s obvious swaying sword tip was already thrust in front of me. In a split second, A’Du had pierced the chopsticks down, there was only a blood-curdling screech, followed by the “clang” of a long sword dropping to the ground, and that man’s palm had been pinned to the table by those chopsticks, immediately bleeding profusely. The man screamed while reaching to pull the chopsticks out, but the chopsticks went through his entire palm pinning it to the table, just like a spike, how could he move it in the slightest.

His companions had originally all drawn their swords, wanting to rush forward; A’Du with her hands resting on the chopsticks barrel, she coldly swept them a look. The group of men was intimidated by A’Du’s imposing manner, and did not dare to step forward.

The man who had been nailed to the table was still crying out like a dying pig, I found his shouting much too annoying, so I smoothly picked up a piece of osmanthus cake and stuffed it into his mouth, he choked until his eyes rolled, and finally was unable to utter another sound.

I took the chopsticks that I had just used to pick up the osmanthus cake, and lightly patted my palm, I looked around at everyone, and asked, “Now which of you would still like to drink with me?”

The group was so frightened that they didn’t even dare to breathe heavily. I stood up, took a step forward, they took a step back; I took another step forward, and they took another step back; they retreated until they reached the edge of the staircase, one of them loudly shouted, “Flee!” Frightening them all to swarm forward and flee down the stairs.

No fun at all…… I didn’t even get the chance to tell them, that I definitely wouldn’t be like A’Du and pierce them with chopsticks, I just wanted to scare them a little.

I sat back down at the table to eat the roasted meat, the person with his palm nailed on the table was still bleeding, the reek of blood was really unpleasant, I slightly pursed my brows. A’Du understood my meaning, she pulled the chopsticks out, then gave that man a kick. The man clasped his injured palm, and frantically scrambled towards the stairs to escape, even forgetting to take his sword. A’Du used the tip of her foot to hoist it up, grabbed the sword with her hands, then handed it to me. At our place, we had a custom, whoever loses the fight must leave their swords behind, A’Du has accompanied me to the city for three years, and still has not forgotten our old home town traditions.

I looked at the copper chisel engraved on the handle, and could not help but furrow my brows.

This time A’Du did not understand what my frown meant, I handed the sword back to A’Du, and said, “Give it back to him.” At this time, the man had already crawled to the edge of the stairs, A’Du with a toss of her hand, nailed the sword beside him with a “clang” into the side pillars. That man let out a loud cry, without even daring to turn his head around,and just like a silk ball, he rolled straight down the stairs.

As we came out of Wen Yue Lou, the ground was covered with moonlight, right above the treetops was a crescent moon, with plump white light penetrating through, as if someone had taken a bite of a glutinous rice cake. I had eaten too much, even my stomach was bloated to the point of aching, concernedly holding my stomach, I lazily stepped one at a time following behind A’Du. With my snail-like crawling method, it was very likely that it would already be daylight by the time I crawled back.

But A’Du had been very patient, always stepping forward one step, then halting, waiting for me to catch up. We had just reached the street corner when suddenly from the darkness rushed forth a bunch of people, the several men in front were all holding gleaming swords, and someone shouted, “It was those two!”

Taking a closer look, it turned out to be that group of Yu Lin Langs, this time coming with many reinforcements.

Why is it that every time out we come out to play, we always end up fighting? I simply don’t think I am someone who likes to cause trouble ah!

Looking at the dense mass of heads, inevitably there would be all kinds of appearances, I sighed.

A’Du pressed against the gold inlaid knife at her waist, and looked inquiringly at me.

I didn’t tell A’Du, that the words engraved on that sword handle already made me lose my mood for fighting. Since we’re not fighting, then we’d better make ourselves scarce ——and run!

A’Du and I ran wildly all the way; in fighting, both of us would never dare to declare ourselves the world’s number one, but as for escaping, if we were to yield second in the capital, then I reckon no one would dare name themselves first.

In these past three years we escaped on the streets every day, the experiences of being chased and ousted were indeed too plentiful, once we were in a full run, we would focus on picking obscure alleys, leading them in all directions, after only a little bit we should be able to throw them off our tails.

But this time, the group of Yu Lin Lang that we encountered were also seriously chasing behind us, and were surprisingly following right behind us in hot pursuit unwilling to let go, chasing us to the point that even after A’Du and I ran in a big circle, we still could not get rid of them …… I ate too much,and after being chased by those bastards, I almost vomited. A’Du pulled me from a small alleyway and onto the street, in front of me clearly was a group of men riding horses towards us, these men from afar also looked like Yu Lin Lang.

It couldn’t be an ambush laid earlier by that group of bastards, right? I supported myself on my knees panting, this time, we could only resort to fighting.

The clamor behind us grew nearer, that group of scoundrels caught up. At this point, the torch that this troop of horsemen were holding had also already closed in, the person leading the troop rode atop a tall white horse, I suddenly realized that I actually know this person, and couldn’t help but be overjoyed, “Pei Zhao! Pei Zhao!”

Pei Zhao on his horse did not see me clearly, he only looked at me with suspicion. I once again jumped up and shouted out his name, the person next to him lifted the lantern and stepped forward, clearly illuminating my face.

I saw Pei Zhao jump down from his horse in a flash, and directly, salute me, “Crown……”

Without waiting for him to say the second word, I urgently interrupted him, “Crown what crown? Behind me is a bunch of bastards chasing after me, quickly help me stop them!”

Pei Zhao said, “Yes!” He stood up and pulled out the long sword from his waist, and in a deep voice ordered, “Face the enemy!”

Behind him, resounded the sound of his men pulling out their swords, at this point, the gang of ass-holes had also already arrived, seeing this area brightly lit by the torch lantern, Pei Zhao stands in front with his sword, they couldn’t help slowing their pace. The several people who took the lead even difficultly squeezed out a smile, except their teeth chattered lightly, “Pei…… Pei…… General Pei……”

Pei Zhao sees the Yu Lin Lang, couldn’t help but suddenly change his expression, he asked, “What do you think you’re doing?”

Pei Zhao is the chief general, responsible for the Yu Lin Lang. This time those men will definitely suffer some hardships, I pulled A’Du along, took advantage of the distraction, and happily slipped away.

A’Du and I jump over the wall to return, A’Du’s qing gong [6] is very good, completely soundless, an even taller wall, she just lightly carried me, and both of us had already gotten up. Deep in the night, it was frighteningly quiet all around. This place is empty and big, always so quiet.

We’re like two little mice, quietly sneaking in. It was pitch-black everywhere, there were only a few swaying lights in the distance. The carpet was very thick, soft and silent as I stepped on, I felt my bed, my comfortable bed ah…… as I thought about it, I couldn’t help yawning, “So sleepy……”