The Affairs of the Martial World - Vol 4: Chapter 2

The next morning, Zhu Que woke up first, suffering from a terrible headache after drinking the night before and feeling extremely thirsty. Zhu Que staggered to his feet to find some water, but all the vessels were empty. He knew where the well was at the manor, so he went alone to fetch some water.

At that time, the sky had not yet fully brightened; a dim blue morning light enveloped the fields, and thin mist floated nearby and far away.

Zhu Que arrived at the well. Without using a roller, he directly tossed the iron bucket tied with a rope into it. Shaking the rope left and right, it quickly filled a bucket with water. He pulled it up and drank nearly half a bucket in one go. Just then, he heard a soft sigh from a woman not far behind.

He immediately put down the water bucket, turned around, and asked, “Who is it?”

The sigh abruptly ceased with his question.

Because of the fog, the distant objects were hazy and unclear; there was a figure that seemed to be standing at the corner of the house but then suddenly left.

Zhu Que moved with lightness, following the sound, and his swift movements stirred the mist around him into fantastical shapes. However, as he turned the corner of the house, no one was in sight.

Faintly, he heard footsteps quickly fading away; the other party’s lightness of foot seemed exceptionally skilled. In a moment of competitive spirit, Zhu Que chased after the sound.

The agility of Zhu Que was fully unleashed, and there were few in the world that he could not catch up to.

However, he had been chasing the figure ahead for nearly an hour, and he and the other person still maintained a distance of over twenty yards. Fortunately, as dawn broke, the thin mist gradually dissipated, and the outline of the figure ahead became clearer, faintly resembling a woman, her garments fluttering as if she were a fairy gliding through the wind.

Suddenly, a river appeared ahead, its width spanning several yards. No matter how high the opponent’s lightness skill, they could not cross the river. Zhu Que couldn’t help but relax his vigilance, his steps gradually slowing down.

He slowed down, but the other party showed no intention of slowing down at all. Zhu Que couldn’t figure it out for a moment; could it be that this woman intended to jump into the river?

Suddenly, behind a drooping willow by the river, a small flat-bottomed boat appeared. The woman did not pause her steps and directly jumped onto the boat. The person rowing immediately began to paddle, heading across the river.

Zhu Que hurriedly quickened his pace, but it was already too late. By the time he reached the riverbank, the small boat had already crossed the river’s midpoint, and he could no longer catch up.

Zhu Que saw a piece of dead wood by the riverbank and prepared to throw it into the river, planning to use it as a stepping stone to leap onto the small boat without any issue. At that moment, the woman on the boat turned around, and as soon as Zhu Que saw her face, it was as if he had been struck by lightning, instantly forgetting to pursue.

The woman was none other than Tang Yingying.

Zhu Que watched the small boat depart, feeling a mix of surprise and uncertainty. It turned out that Yingying was not dead and was, in fact, highly skilled, which was beyond what he had expected. Memories of the first meeting between Zhuang Yuxie and Tang Yingying surfaced in his mind.

One day, Zhu Que and Zhuang Yuxie left the city for an appointment. As they passed through a forest, they heard cries for help. The scene before them ignited their fury.

A cart lay tipped over by the roadside, the horse’s head severed. Beside it were several corpses, and four ugly men surrounded a young girl, preparing to commit a beastly act. This girl was none other than Tang Yingying, who had been visiting relatives with her family when they encountered the bandits, and her family was all killed.

These four thieves are known as the Four Owls of Meilin (1), and the two of them have crossed paths with them several times. They were figures of the green forest and had done things like robbing the rich to help the poor. If it weren’t for the events of that day, Zhu Que would have had a pretty good impression of them.

The four people saw Zhu Que and Zhuang Yuxie and immediately stopped their wrongdoing; their expressions were awkward, as if they were trying to explain something.

The thing that Zhu Que despised the most was killing and robbing for lust. Killing was one thing; in the martial world, who didn’t have a bit of blood on their hands? Moreover, the four of them originally made a living through plunder. However, robbing for lust was something Zhu Que could not tolerate at all. Fortunately, the four had not yet begun their beastly acts, and their crimes were not worthy of death. Just as Zhu Que was about to tell them to get lost, Zhuang Yuxie suddenly went mad, drew his sword, and killed the four one by one.

For Zhuang Yuxie, Zhu Que could neither stop him nor intervene, so he just watched coldly from the side. At that moment, Tang Yingying was also frightened by his seemingly mad appearance, and she fainted from the shock and sorrow.

At that time, Zhu Que did not know why Zhuang Yuxie acting up, but later, he naturally understood the reason. Zhuang Yuxie told him that he had fallen in love with Tang Yingying at first sight, which naturally led to his sympathy and righteous indignation towards her plight. In the end, Tang Yingying also married into the Zhuang family, and it was likely that besides affection, there was also gratitude and even fear.

But for whatever reason, the two ultimately came together in harmony. Under Tang Yingying’s influence, Zhuang Yuxie also gave up his wandering life and returned home.

Who would have thought that just a few years into a happy and harmonious ordinary life, Tang Yingying would encounter trouble?

Just last night, Zhu Que was lamenting the fleeting fate of beautiful women, pitying Tang Yingying for her unfortunate life, which ultimately led to her being reduced to nothing but bones, truly a case of heaven being jealous of beauty. Little did he know that this morning, things took a turn; he actually saw Tang Yingying appear in the back courtyard of the Zhuang manor. What was even more surprising was that Yingying not only was alive but also possessed such high martial skills. This was simply impossible because if Yingying truly had such high martial skills, her family could not have been killed by the Four Owls of Meilin.

Even if she truly possessed exceptional martial skills, as Zhuang Yuxie mentioned, she was pregnant; how could she still perform such swift lightness skills?

With a belly full of questions, Zhu Que returned to the Zhuang manor. The door was not closed, and Zhu Que walked straight in. Zhuang Yuxie was sitting in front of the shimmering tablet, weeping, occasionally tossing a piece of paper money into the fire pit. Upon hearing Zhu Que’s return, he slightly raised his head and said, “I thought you had left.”

Zhu Que pulled him up and said, “No need to burn money anymore. I just saw Yingying.”

Zhuang Yuxie suddenly looked up, staring at him for a long time before realizing it, and said tremblingly, “What did you say?”

Zhu Que then told him about what had happened earlier. Zhuang Yuxie asked with a slant, “Are you sure you didn’t see it wrong? Was it really her?” His voice was choked yet filled with uncontrollable excitement.

Zhu Que said, “Could I possibly mistake someone? On the way back, I kept thinking that she might have mistaken me for you when I was drawing water by the well, which is why she sighed. I asked who it was, and when she recognized it wasn’t your voice, she got scared and ran away immediately.”

Zhuang Yuxie said blankly, “Then why hasn’t she come to meet me all this time? Why? Why?”

After talking to himself for a long time, he finally became a bit more clear-headed and suddenly asked, “Are you saying that even with all your effort in using your lightness skills, you still can’t catch up to her?”

Zhu Que nodded.

Zhuang Yuxie confidently said, “That can’t be Yingying; she doesn’t know any martial arts, and besides, she’s pregnant.”

Zhu Que remained silent; he also believed that Tang Yingying did not possess martial arts skills. To say that she had an extraordinary encounter during her one-and-a-half months of disappearance and then mastered advanced martial arts would be even more absurd. Such high-level lightness skills must be developed from a young age to reach this level.

But on the small boat, he was absolutely sure that beautiful face was Tang Yingying.

Zhu Que said, “There must be reasons here that we don’t know about. Did Yingying tell you everything about her past?”

Zhuang Yuxie nodded slightly and said, “Even if she doesn’t say anything, after a few years of being together, I can feel that her background is not that simple. Every time I can’t help but ask, she always says the same things. Over time, I stopped thinking too much about it. Today, when you brought it up, I realized she has never talked to me about anything outside of her family—her other relatives, her friends, her siblings; I know nothing about them.”

Zhu Que asked, “Have you noticed any signs of her martial arts skills in daily life?”

Zhuang Yuxie shook his head slightly.

Regarding Tang Yingying, he knew no more than Zhu Que. According to Tang Yingying, her father, Tang Bingzhong, resigned from his official position due to illness and returned home with his family, only to encounter bandits on the way. The entire family was killed, leaving her as the sole survivor, likely because the bandits coveted her beauty. If it hadn’t been for Zhuang and Zhu arriving just in time, she would have fallen victim to the thieves. Even if the Four Owls of Meilin did not kill her afterward, she would also be unable to live on.

After killing the thieves, Zhuang Yuxie wanted to send her home, but Tang Yingying said she had no relatives or support and honestly didn’t know where to go. Zhuang Yuxie, feeling both pity and concern that she might encounter more criminals, took her back to his house.

The lonely and helpless Tang Yingying took Zhuang Yuxie as her support. Lovers eventually became a couple, and soon, they arranged their wedding, with Zhu Que also lending a hand.

On that day, the two got Zhu Que completely drunk at their wedding feast.

Thinking of this, Zhu Que felt confused at this moment. Could it be that he really mistook someone due to his blurred vision? Absolutely not. A thought crossed his mind, and he asked, “Could it be that there are truly people in the world who look exactly alike? And they just happen to come to your house in the early morning?”

Zhuang Yuxie said, “I don’t know, I don’t know……”

Zhuang thought he understood Tang Yingying well enough, but now it seems he doesn’t understand her at all.

Zhu Que said, “I’m going to the temple outside the city to take a look. Do you want to come with me?”

Zhuang Yuxie said, “No, I want to wait for her here. Perhaps, out of pity, Yingying will come to find me again.”

Zhu Que shook his head, feeling that this matter was quite uncertain. After asking Zhuang Yuxie for directions, he set off alone.

(1) Four Owls of Meilin — 梅林四枭, the character ‘枭 owl’ also means trafficker