Five

Dong Mei who was still on a rampage calmed down a little. Because more than anything, she wanted to find out if anything she had done had changed the course of her current lifetime for the better.

"Speak then," Cang Mang said.

"Seeking jade, being jade," the monk said, "jade is dangled in front of you and shattered, it's up to you to interpret it the way you like."

"What!" Dong Mei was on the verge of an outburst.

Cang Mang asked cheekily, "what about my fate? I must be a very rich man in the future."

The monk looked down at the shattered jade and asked, "how is it different?"

Cang Mang looked down at the shattered jade and his eyes flashed with cold light. He looked back up at the monk to find him looking back at him gravely.

Cang Mang snapped into a bright smile, "old monk, why look at me so?"

"What answer do you seek?" the monk asked as though the answer was obvious.

"WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHAT YOU SAID AND WHAT YOU DID, YOU OLD SCUM!!!!ARE YOU PLAYING ME FOR A FOOL?" Dong Mei finally burst out.

"Who's to say whether or not you're the fool! I am undecided," the monk said, seeming to have given it deep thought.

"YOU!" Dong Mei raised her hand to beat the living day lights out of the old monk.

In a quick movement, Cang Mang embraced her waist and threw her over his shoulder.

"You've caused enough trouble for today," he said to her.

"PUT ME DOWN YOU IMBECILE!" Dong Mei struggled, throwing a massive tantrum.

Cang Mang only comfortably held her over his shoulder with one arm.

He thanked the monk and walked out of the temple, promising to never let Dong Mei set foot in it again.

Dong Mei, on the other hand, was frustrated. The key events of the story came to pass one after the other. Because she had worked hard to change fate, she wasn't sure where exactly the story had strayed to. And that stupid fortune, how did it help her? How?

She opened her mouth to scream out her frustration but got a sudden hit to the back of her neck that caused her to go unconscious.

It was the days of spring that passed quickly and finally went down into summer. For that time, Dong Mei had been locked up at home to revise her behavior.

Of course that result was the fruits of Cang Mang's well executed tattle tale.

The evening sun was more evidently yellowing, shying behind the horizon and the cool breeze associated with the night was picking up.

A man and a woman stood a small distance apart, in front of their home. They were dressed in humble robes.

They didn't say anything to each other but seemed to be having some form of silent conversation. They squinted into the evening sun and then shielded their eyes for a more clear view.

The first thing they recognized was the blue silk robes their daughter had walked out of the house with that morning. They had both been pained to see her simply walk out with them when their wasn't a special occasion. What if the clothes got old quickly?

Although it was one of the low quality silks, even for them, it was a bit much to dig out from their pockets.

Instead of being bitter about the silk robes, father Dong huffed up his chest in anger and questioned.

"Bold fellow, you dare to slight my daughter?" he said so because he could see the silhouette of a man who was carrying his daughter.

Not only would he ruin her reputation, the position of carrying was as if carrying something heavy and unwanted.

Although Dong Mei's reputation wasn't the best, Father Dong wouldn't sit still and watch his daughter being slandered. Mother Dong was also starting to ruffle up her feathers when a voice called to them.

"Village Chief, you can't recognize this fellow anymore?" Cang Mang spoke.

Their attitude changed immediately.

"Young Mang, did you bring back Xiao Dong?" Mother Dong's worry was clear in her voice.

Cang Mang walked close enough to them so that he was obscured by the sun's rays.

"Village Chief, the husband and wife don't need to wait here anymore. This one brought the daughter back," Cang mang said respectfully.

Mother Dong stepped forward immediately and started to check on Dong Mei's condition.

"What's wrong with my little girl?" Mother Dong asked.

"Why are you carrying her like that?"the village chief asked, still not so pleased.

"This one will ask to put the little girl down. Then the rest can be sorted out,"Cang Mang's calm attitude didn't change despite the stern tone of the chief.

Had it been anyone else, giving them instructions as if an equal, Father Dong would have directly kicked him. But ever since Cang Mang became brothers with Bai Yangwei, he became fearless in front of authority.

Unlike everyone else that tried to flutter them with gifts if food, Cang Mang had been reporting their daughter's bad behavior every time she did anything. Even when they did nothing about it or gave him signals to stop, he went back as soon as she did something.

He would pull on their sleeves when he was still shorter, and bubble about everything Dong Mei had done. If they were in public, he would make sure everyone around knew.

As he grew, he became stronger and got into the habit of pulling, dragging, carrying and throwing Dong Mei back into her family courtyard.

Father and mother Dong had been so scared of him ruining their daughter's reputation that they agreed that he should only tell them and they would handle it.

And so, a few minutes later, they sat in the open space of the courtyard sipping some tea.

It was a small yard and a humble house was seated in the middle. The kitchen and the store room were away from the house to prevent spread of any fires.