Chapter 7: 7

Chapter 7

Moonlight on the Riverbank

Ironhands sighed inwardly, but when he looked over at Coldblooded, he found Coldblooded taking a quick, furtive glance at Xi Meihong and he just sighed again.

“Miss Xi, forgive me for being blunt, but what really happened with your brother, Headman Xi?”

Xi Meihong’s eyes welled up and pained, she said, “I don’t know. Big Brother was never like this before. After Dad died, he took it in stride, but a year or so later he became depressed… The last week or so he’s done… those things… He was never like this before.” She put particular emphasis on that last sentence.

“Even when Headman Xi was depressed, he wasn’t like this, right?” Ironhands asked again.

“This is just recently.” Xi Meihong said obstinately, “In recent years he’s been reticent, but he absolutely never did anything crazy.”

Ironhands suddenly asked, “There’s one other thing I’d like to ask Miss Xi about.”

Xi Meihong smiled. Her red lips smiling on her white oval face was as moving as a blossoming red flower. “Ho, the Four Great Constables want to ask me something?” She really looked proud of herself. “Go ahead and ask.”

Ironhands didn’t argue with her, he just asked, “We saw your brother locked up in the cellar… He was yelling that his Dream Shattering Sabre had apparently gone missing. Everyone knows that the Dream Shattering Sabre is the treasure of Xi Family Village. What happened there?”

Xi Meihong was taken aback. “Dream Shattering Sabre?”

Ironhands nodded. “The Dream Shattering Sabre that increases the Panic-Stricken Sabreplay’s effectiveness tenfold.”

Xi Meihong pursed her lips like she had been wronged again. “Ever since I came out of my mother’s womb I’ve never seen any Dream Shattering Sabre.” She said, “The Dream Shattering Sabre has been passed down in the Xi family for generations. Only the headman can carry it. Probably before he died, Dad must have entrusted the Dream Shattering Sabre to Big Brother.”

“Then,” Ironhands asked, “the sabre has been lost?”

“Impossible,” Xi Meihong almost yelled, “the Dream Shattering Sabre is the essence of Xi Family Village’s martial arts, how could it be lost!”

“Yes, of course.” Ironhands knew that Third Miss Xi likely didn’t know any more about the sabre than he did. “If Xi Family Village were to lose the Dream Shattering Sabre, that would be a big problem. And if it did, they wouldn’t publicize it.”

Xi Meihong’s eyes were wide, but he didn’t know if she understood.

Actually, in principle it was very simple. Xi Family Village was a hereditary house that had a stately, commanding presence in the martial world on either side of the Yellow River. Although the Panic-Stricken Sabreplay was formidable, it was still not enough to subdue the elites in the region. If the martial world were to learn that Xi Family Village had lost the Dream Shattering Sabre that increased the Panic-Stricken Sabreplay’s efficacy tenfold, then you can imagine would challengers and conflicts would follow.

Xi Meihong after all was a girl and would not be tangled up in these treacherous jianghu affairs. She just said, “Whether the Dream Shattering Sabre has been lost or not I don’t know, Big Brother never mentioned it to me. But the sabre Big Brother always wore on his hip was the one he had trained with since he was little. That sabre is absolutely not the Dream Shattering Sabre—“

Ironhands asked, “What makes you say that?”

Xi Meihong smiled, a proud and somewhat disdainful smile. “That sabre is so so old, and when Big Brother used it he’s nothing special…” Her implication was that if he used an ordinary sabre to exchange blows with her then she could get the upper hand.

Ironhands of course recalled Third Miss’ temper, but inwardly he really did agree with her. He frowned and said, “Oh, I see.”

Then he looked up and said, “Then, what happened with your big brother and the madame and the child?”

“What?” Xi Meihong asked, “Big Brother wounded Sister-in-law and attacked Qiu’er, didn’t Head Steward tell you all?”

Ironhands was taken aback. “Qiu’er… is?”

Xi Meihong knit her brows as if rebuking Ironhands for being so stupid that he couldn’t even put that together. “Qiu’er is Big Brother’s child.”

Ironhands quickly said, “Head Steward told us… However, I’m asking you how your big brother got along with Sister-in-law?”

Xi Meihong looked a bit upset. “Nothing special, Big Brother and Sister-in-law don’t really count… You know, the current Sister-in-law is not Qiu’er’s biological mother…”

“That I didn’t know.” Ironhands’ eyes flashed. “You said ‘current Sister-in-law’. So then there was a ‘former Sister-in-law’? So then the ‘former Sister-in-law’ is Xi Qiu’s biological mother? Where… is she now?”

Xi Meihong nodded, eyes welling up again. “…She, died two years ago.”

Ironhands pondered this for a moment but said nothing.

Coldblooded worried that Xi Meihong was upset, so he was in a hurry to tell her some good news. “Miss Xi, your second brother is not dead. He’s with us…”

Xi Meihong was easy to please and easy to anger. When she heard what Coldblooded said she said naughtily, “What? The mute can talk?”

Indeed she had been paying attention all along to Coldblooded’s silence.

Coldblooded’s earlobes flushed and for a time he didn’t know how to respond. Ironhands smiled. “Since Guo Qiufeng told Third Miss Xi about us, of course he wouldn’t conceal from her the news that Second Headman was alive.”

How could a man wanting to get in th good graces of the woman he’s pursuing not tell her such joyful news? Xi Meihong had a smug look on her face. “I knew already. So I wanted to go with you to go see my second brother, as well as my delicate and charming future Second Sister-in-law Little Pearl. What? Is that not alright?”

Who would dare tell Third Miss it wasn’t alright?

Even if it wasn’t alright it would have to be alright.

Guo Qiufeng was a famous Sixleafer in this area.

But his family was not at all an eminent family.

Government workers, no matter how famous, were not like literati or merchants, whose families fit their background.

Men who worked for the government were like vagabonds of the jianghu. A family home was just a temporary lodging place to shelter from the wind and rain of a long night, a place to hurriedly pass the night, and then the next day they would be off again to face new and unknown challenges.

So the homes of these martial world people who didn’t know if they would live or die tomorrow was the boundless jianghu, sometimes running into an old friend and drinking with them on horseback or in an old inn in the middle of nowhere, sometimes or sharing strips of roasted water deer cut from a strange wanderer’s blade you met in a dilapidated temple. It was enough to be able to make a few friends to play finger guessing drinking games with, drink until you pass out, then get up and go your separate ways.

Coldblooded and Ironhands of course knew that life well.

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So they regarded that “home” warmly, cordially.

Xi Meihong did not.

She never had to pick things up or clean up at home, there were always people there to do that for her. But when she saw Guo Qiufeng’s house she couldn’t help but think of it as a “pigsty”.

But right now this “pigsty” was actually clean.

It wasn’t just clean, it was spotless, every item and utensil in its proper place, and because everything was so tidy, even the most nitpicky person couldn’t find anything that needed to be moved.

Guo Qiufeng of course was not capable of tidying things up to this extent.

As Xi Meihong walked toward the thatched cottage, she said in a loud voice, “Second Brother, poor Second Sister-in-law, Guo Qiufeng, we’re here, we’re here.” She kind of sounded like a county magistrate making his rounds, shouting lest people not know he was there.

However, there weren’t as many people inside as she expected.

There was just one person, a small girl.

Because she was so fairskinned and genteel, in the twilight her eyebrows were still clearly visible, so thick and gentle.

A girl like this was just as gentle and yielding if no matter where she was, whether standing in a luxurious mansion or in a humble hut, as if the place belonged to her, like a carved jade Guanyin statue had been placed there, making the place look bright and clean.

Xi Meihong became more gentle as well just at the sight of the girl. She went over and held the girl’s slender white hands and said softly, “My poor Second Sister-in-law, I really admire you, fixing this pigsty up so nicely.”

The girl smiled. Her slight smile was so genteel, but there was some pride in it as well. She smiled, but she didn’t look at Ironhands.

She had never really looked at Ironhands, except for when he turned around and strode out with his big, tall frame,

This girl, of course, was Little Pearl.

She had grown up in the blue quarters and aside from diligently practicing her music, singing, and dancing, she also read a lot of the classics, but growing up in that kind of environment had more or less fixed her fate, an cultivated in her a resigned attitude. No matter how she tried to get out of the mire and not be polluted by it, her future was still in someone else’s hands.

Up until she met Second Headman Xi Qiuya of Xi Family Village.

Xi Qiuya to her was like a long vine hanging off a steep cliff, she had no choice but to cling to it tightly.

Fortunately, Xi Qiuya was the second young master of Xi Family Village. Just one word from him to the procuress and the latter wouldn’t dare coerce her, and Xi Qiuya was also a gentle man versed in both the intellectual as well as the physical spheres.

Compared to the sisters she had grown up with, Little Pearl naturally felt that she was really much more fortunate than them, but despite rejoicing at this good outcome, inwardly she couldn’t help but feel an indescribable mild sorrow.

—Why was that?

—Was it because she had no choice?

Little Pearl didn’t know, she just knew that with her status she could not wish for much. What she really ought to do is feel how blessed she was, and her blessings were tied to Xi Qiuya.

That was how she could comfort herself and be content and happy.

But this feeling was shattered three days ago, like the bright moon on the river, in one fell swoop broken up and scattered.

—The headman of Xi Family Village, the big brother whom Xi Qiuya revered, had actually stripped hers and Xi Qiuya’s clothes off…

Little Pearl couldn’t think about it.

She had been stripped naked by several men. The shame and resentment she felt in that moment made her prefer to just die and never again have to suffer disgrace in this mortal world.

Even now she still felt it strange. She had grown up in the blue quarters, such a thing was a common sight, how was it that as soon as it happened to her she felt so much suffering, such terrible shame and resentment!

So shamed and resentful that she was anxious to die on the spot—so she didn’t even need anyone to throw her off, she jumped into the river on her own.

—So many people seeing her naked body… including Xi Qiuya!

Even though he was forced to by Xi Xiaofeng, still Little Pearl made a vow to herself in the depths of her heart: she would never look at another Xi Family Village person again, would never step foot into Xi Family Village again!—Because in the eyes of Xi Family Village she was just an insignificant victim, a burial object that could be used and discarded!

When she dropped into the water and gulped a few mouthfuls of water, she felt her entire being was floating just like the moonlight. She never imagined a pair of strong and powerful arms would wrap around her and pull her out and make her once again truly feel things again, and the warm current transferred from those gentle hands made her throw up the water that had swelled her belly.

Made her throw up on that person.

After that she saw the person.

A gentle, understanding young man with a look of concern on his face.

Little Pearl wanted to cry then, she cried up a storm in his strong embrace, cried out all the grief she had accumulated over the past sixteen years. She cried so much her tears nearly soaked through the person’s sleeves. Right after that another young man rescued Xi Qiuya.

From that moment on, Little Pearl had never got a goof look at that person’s face again, that gentle, kind face.

Nevertheless, she knew that person was called Ironhands.

And she knew his hands weren’t made of iron because iron hands wouldn’t be that warm.

When Ironhands jumped into the river and rescued her, the moon on the river shattered. When Ironhands rescued her he did his best not to look at her body, but he would never forget that body, as bright and clear as a crescent moon… He thought of everything he could to make this girl survive not hesitating to expend his internal force, even itching to take her place and be the one that had gulped so much water…

Afterwards, he heard the man who Coldblooded had rescued, in a stupor, still calling the girl’s name.

Little Pearl.

Ironhands immediately did all he could to restrain his state of mind. After he rescued her, he rarely spoke to her, always very little.

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