Chapter 60 - husband and wife

Zhou Zishu couldn't fathom what those two were doing in Luoyang. Going at each other's throats, no less. Wen Kexing, however, appeared unperturbed. He stood by, watching the spectacle.

Liu Qianqiao was already injured, and her opponent advanced on her relentlessly. Faltering, the woman was retreating again and again when Huang Daoren surged into the air and swung his saber downward with a great roar. His expression was fierce. Cruel even. It didn't retain a hint of the heroic hauteur he bore when Zhou Zishu had sent him flying with a boot to his booty.

The fellow knew how to adapt to circumstances and "meet the strong with weakness, and the weak with strength"1.

Liu Qianqiao scrambled to block by raising her dagger overhead. Even though her weapon was a few inches longer

than the one Gu Xiang used, the adage "an inch of metal shorter is an inch more of danger"2 still held true. Moreover, she didn't know as many tricks as Gu Xiang did. So, as a result of her risky parry, she felt the edge of Huang Daoren's saber grazes her fingers. The man intended to kill. His blade snapped her dagger at the hilt. Overpowered, Liu Qianqiao crumbled to the ground and rolled away.

Thus, one stalked like a madman, the other running for her dear life, the pair acted out a page from a truly bad romance.

As they spied upon the beast chasing the beauty into the distance, Wen Kexing poked at Zhou Zishu. "The girl in danger. Aren't you going to save her?" he prodded.

Zhou Zishu thought that the guy couldn't be more tiresome if he tried. "Your husband wouldn't want you to be jealous," he shot back without sparing him a glance.

Wen Kexing kept silent for quite a while. "A-Xu," he replied with a gloomy face. "Be serious, won't you? Stop taking advantage of me all the time."

Zhou Zishu couldn't resist throwing the guy a look. Why, he thought, I didn't know the word 'serious' as part of your vocabulary.

Wen Kexing held himself straighter, a crease forming between his brows. "I'm a man to whom holding a grudge comes easily, you know?" he continued, deadpan. "The way you always taunt me is duly noted, and on the day we

observe the ordinance of the Duke of Zhou3... Well, I just may lose control, and you'll be the one who suffers for it."

Zhou Zishu clamped his mouth shut. After a long silence, he managed, "You're overthinking it." Then, without looking back, he followed Liu Qianqiao's tracks.

He reflected that something must have happened in jianghu during the few months the three of them had spent hidden away in Shuzhong. Indeed, already back in Dongting, the atmosphere was one of "turbulent winds heralding the mountain storm", but they had left for the Marionettes' Manor.

From the corner of his eyes, Zhou Zishu took a peek at the man strolling along behind him.

He is the Devil Lord, he thought. As such, he couldn't have missed the state in which things were. Yet, he turned a blind eye to his lackeys running wild and left with Ye Baiyi instead... Isn't he afraid of someone actually getting their hands on the Crystal Armor, the Key, and Rong Xuan's manual, to use against him...?

Moreover, Zhou Zishu could also tell from his observation that there was a history between Liu Qianqiao and the fan-carrying, middle-aged beau by the name of Yu Qiufeng. The kind of history people kept secret. Which only begged more questions. Wasn't Huang Daoren a pal of Yu Qiufeng's? Why would the latter let the former hunt down his woman? How would her death profit him? Or could it be... that the two men had a falling out?

Zhou Zishu's eyes flashed as he thought back to the two Armour fragments stolen from the Gao Estate.

At the time, Shen Shen had just died and Dongting was surrounded by many skilled masters. It would have been difficult for anyone to infiltrate the place. Therefore, an inside job was highly likely — a mole robbing the fragments and blaming it on the Devils.

From there, Zhou Zishu's mind jumped to the man who was murdered outside of the Zhao Estate.

Yu Qiufeng's only son, Yu Tianmu, was killed by the Long-Tongued Devil. The latter had himself died with a fragment of the Armour on his corpse. Which pointed to a rather curious coincidence... Was it possible that both father and son from the Yu Clan shared thieving hands as a hereditary trait?

The more he pondered, the further away Zhou Zishu's mind drifted. An anguished wail jerked him back to the present.

Zhou Zishu looked up to Liu Qianqiao getting her arm chopped off by Huang Daoren.

Blood sprayed out and was about a good few feet in radius. The woman stumbled backward for four, or five steps; until she could no longer hang on. She fell flat on her behind with a thud.

Huang Daoren closed in on her in slow steps, his saber raised and a macabre smirk etched on his face.

"So?" he droned. "Are you still not going to hand the thing over?"

The thing? What thing? Zhou Zishu frowned.

Did words of the affair between Liu Qianqiao and Yu Qiufeng get out? Could it be that Huang Daoren fancied the Armour stolen by the adulterer was now in the hands of the adulteress?

Ducking into a shadowed corner to better spy on Huang Daoren, Zhou Zishu reflected that the fellow whose face was reminiscent of a potato was about as clever. Indeed, even if Yu Qiufeng' had been exposed to his last dirty secret, how could anyone think he'd entrust something so important to that woman?

No. If all of Zhou Zishu's previous conjectures proved accurate, the case of the matter was clear: upon seeing things go skew-whiff, Yu Qiufeng, the sly bastard, had thrown the dumb girl to the wolves as a scapegoat. And Liu Qianqiao just had to be so besotted, she was remaining mum to the end.

At that moment, Wen Kexing poked at him again.

His train of thoughts interrupted once more, Zhou Zishu glared at the guy impatiently.

"What is it this time?"

With an obnoxious grin on his face, Wen Kexing pointed at the gory drama in progress near them. "If you're that curious about it, why don't you rescue her? That way, you could ask her for yourself." Zhou Zishu was gripped by a bad feeling about the guy's motives.

"Why don't you rescue her?" he replied.

"I couldn't," Wen Kexing answered. "With my being as exquisitely handsome, charismatic, and suave as I am, I absolutely cannot get involved with rescuing a woman; lest she takes a fancy to me. Since I can't reciprocate because I don't like girls, wouldn't I have to betray her hopes then? And that, you see, is the sort of business which gives you bad karma; so one should never..."

Zhou Zishu reflected that the guy could work up a case of the nuts under any circumstances. Just looking at the saucy expression on his face offended the eyes. He reached over and nicked a button off his collar. Pinching the tiny knob between his fingers, he was about to flick it out when something caught his eye.

He grabbed Wen Kexing and ducked to the side — someone was coming!

The two of them had barely gotten out of the way when a snort echoed from the wooded area nearby.

Zhou Zishu's ears twitched at the noise. Wen Kexing spotted it and couldn't resist reaching out to nudge him. Zhou Zishu caught his wrist mid-route and gave him a stern look for good measure.

Thereupon, two silhouettes that glittered even in the dim of the night approached: it was the Pink Matron and the Verdant Gent.

The Pink Matron was the one who had snorted. Her face was harsh, and she glared at Huang Daoren. "Huang, you aren't trying to swallow everything by yourself, are you?"

As conclusive evidence that he'd been associating with Wen Kexing for far too long, the line got Zhou Zishu thinking of something that was decidedly from the gutter. Still, he couldn't help casting the guy a glance.

Wen Kexing was moving his lips mutely, a mischievous expression on his face.

"Why... A dalliance by the dark moon and windy night, with so many people involved, and such peculiar proclivities..." Wen Kexing's voice sighed wistfully in Zhou Zishu's ear (he was using the sound transferring technique). "Really makes one ashamed of one's own limited accomplishments..."

Zhou Zishu pinched the guy on the wrist and Wen Kexing clammed up. The both of them returned their attention to the unfolding scene.

Huang Daoren smiled mirthlessly at the old couple. Raising his voice, he replied, "And how would I have dared

to trouble your esteemed persons? No, no, I simply deemed that, to deal with a thief's wife4 like her, my meager competencies were quite sufficient..."

"Don't you try to trick us," the Verdant Gent cut in, eyeing him icily.

Huang Daoren didn't respond. He took half a step to the side to show goodwill, yet didn't return his saber to its scabbard. On the contrary, he let it hang threateningly by his side as if he were trying to illustrate the phrase "friend in appearance only".

The Pink Matron gave the fellow a wary look before she turned to Liu Qianqiao.

"Little girl," she said, eyeballing the wounded woman like a snake. "Granny's got questions for you, and you'd better answer them. It'd save me trouble and save you pain."

Though a springtime chill still hung in the air, Liu Qianqiao was covered in a cold sweat and looked freshly hauled out from the water. She hadn't stopped the bleeding from her wounds in time and her face was ashen, the pain making her shake from head to toe like a leaf in the wind. Yet, she stubbornly glared at the three circlings her, gritting her teeth to control the trembling in her voice.

"If... If you want to kill me, what are you wasting your breath for?!"

For someone like Liu Qianqiao to say that meant it was more than likely she didn't know a thing. Indeed, when all was said and done, she wasn't the type to value a mere object over her own life.

Unfortunately for her, the three crooks failed to understand that simple logic.

"Why, another one who'd rather turn down the carrot for the stick,"5 the Pink Matron sneered as her hand shot out. A split-second later, Liu Qianqiao emitted a sharp cry — the Pink Matron had hacked off her other arm.

Body spasming and unable to brace herself, Liu Qianqiao pitched to the ground. Fallen, she kept jerking her chest upward as she gasped for air like a dying fish, squirming non-stop while she tried to flip over and sit up.

But even then, and although her eyes were haggard, she persisted in muttering, "If you want to kill me... just do it..."

Huang Daoren chuckled. "Matron, it won't be of any use if she dies just like that," he said in a drawl. "She was already hit by my palm strike, so you may consider being lighter-handed with your blade... Besides, aren't there plenty of ways to make a woman talk?"

The fellow already looked like a sleazeball. When he smirked, he appeared downright creepy.

Wen Kexing gave a mournful sigh. "One generation really is better than the next, isn't it? This one looks much

more like jianghu 's worst villain than I do."

The button in Zhou Zishu's grasp left it at last. And he didn't hold back. Huang Daoren was taken entirely off-guard as the small projectile hit him in the arm, going through flesh and bone and leaving a hole behind. The fellow squealed like a pig being slaughtered.

Zhou Zishu hadn't wanted to intervene: Liu Qianqiao was a scumbag in her own right and he had let her go last time only because her way with disguises seemed connected to the Four Seasons Estate. This time around, however, he felt that, for a woman who had spent her whole life waiting after a scoundrel, a clean death was quite enough. She needn't suffer from trash the likes of Huang Daoren.

Nobody in Huang Daoren's little gang had seen Zhou Zishu's real face prior, which explained why, as he suddenly revealed himself, all three stared at him blankly.

"And who are you ?" the Verdant Gent asked.

Zhou Zishu's lips curled in a smirk but he didn't reply. Instead, he used qing-gong to surge forward like a blast of

wind, snatching up Liu Qianqiao's blade in passing.

In a blink, Zhou Zishu was standing in front of Huang Daoren.

Huang Daoren jumped backward but felt something cold at his neck; he looked down in utter disbelief — a cross-shaped cut had appeared on his throat!

My neck has a slit in it, was Huang Daoren's last thought before blood sprayed out of his neck several inches high. He convulsed once, and collapsed to the ground, dead.

Zhou Zishu nudged the corpse with the point of his shoe before twisting around. Blood dripped from his blade. A few strands of hair that had fallen from his loose topknot tied with a strip of plain fabric hung by his cheekbones. In the first glimmer of dawn, his face was deathly pale yet alluring. A hint of a smile seemed to float upon it as he surveyed the Pink Matron and the Verdant Gent.

Both the old woman and her companion shuffled a step back.

Zhou Zishu's feet didn't seem to touch the ground while he glided toward them. The blood on the dagger trickled to his hand, before running through the cracks between his fingers, and drip-dropping to the ground.

In that instant, the aura of danger that emanated from the man was so strong, the old couple could barely breathe.

The Pink Matron reacted first. She roared, raised her walking staff, and smashed it at Zhou Zishu's head. But Zhou Zishu had already disappeared from the spot where he'd been standing. Sensing danger, the Pink Matron marshaled her qi and dodged by rolling forward, just as she felt a chill in her back from a blast of energy rushing at her.

Everything went dark before the Pink Matron's eyes. She spat out a mouthful of blood as if her six viscera had been shattered to pieces.

The Verdant Gent opened his eyes wide. He took one look at the Pink Matron who had been sent flying (status of survival unknown); he took another at the young man who was turning toward him, and he stopped hesitating.

Leaving his old wife behind, he vamoosed.

Zhou Zishu didn't bother giving chase. Gazing down, he discarded the dagger, knelt beside Liu Qianqiao, and made to seal the acupoints near the woman's still-bleeding wounds.

Liu Qianqiao, however, looked up at him and gave a small shake of the head — she was about to die and she knew it.

Wen Kexing too walked out of his hiding spot. He came to stand behind Zhou Zishu. Zhou Zishu addressed Liu Qianqiao in a gentle voice.

"The Armour is with Yu Qiufeng and he has escaped with it. Though, he asked you to create a distraction and draw them away, didn't he?"

Liu Qianqiao glanced at him but didn't speak.

Zhou Zishu sighed. "I have no interest in the Crystal Armour, and you are at death's door. Why should it be so hard to give a simple nod, I wonder?"

Wen Kexing snorted. "Miss Liu, didn't I tell you Yu Qiufeng wasn't to be trusted?"

Liu Qianqiao parted her lips. Her voice was the lightest murmur and Zhou Zishu had to bend his ear.

"Still... still lake with willows on water green; flowers and moon from afar con...vene; year after year after year, the same, same scene..."6

The remaining light in her eyes dimmed, and her head lolled to the side as she stopped breathing. The faintest of smiles lingered on her lips, making the sinister scar spanning half her face appear somewhat smoother. Because of that blemished face, she had hidden her true appearance for all her life. But in the end, her destiny was to depart this world as bare as she had come.

Although, she couldn't finish reciting the second half of her quatrain to the "Raw Haw Song".

Zhou Zishu sighed. He was reaching out to close her eyes when hoarse, yet vicious chortles sounded from behind them.

The Pink Matron had been swift to dodge: even after being hit by Zhou Zishu's remote palm strike, she was still alive.

Hacking blood, she pointed at Liu Qianqiao's corpse and cackled again.

"My husband and I... We were lovebirds from the same forest, but as adversity struck, he still flew off by himself7... Yet, she? Ha. That man and she weren't even wed, so what did she expect? Hahaha... Since times of

old, women are sentimental, whereas men are fickle, but she couldn't figure that one out till her dying breath! I tell you, hers is a death well-earned. Well earned indeed!"

Zhou Zishu threw a glance over his shoulder but didn't pay the old woman any more mind. He rose to his feet and left in long strides.

One following the other, Wen Kexing and he had been journeying for some time when the guy piped up.

"Your kung-fu seems more powerful now than when I first met you. By quite a margin too... How's that?" Wen Kexing asked.

Zhou Zishu's footsteps faltered. He turned to the other man and witnessed a rare sobriety on Wen Kexing's features.

A slight curl lifted the corner of Zhou Zishu's lips.

"When we first met," he said, pointing at himself in the chest, "they sealed half my neigong."

"What about now?"

"Now, compared to my peak, I have recovered about eighty percent of my strength."

Somehow, Wen Kexing didn't appear happy at those words. He only gazed fixedly at the other man in silence. Zhou Zishu turned away and resumed walking.

As if indifferent, he said:

"On the day I die, my kung-fu would have returned to what it was."

1. Humorous inversion of "being strong while meeting strength., and being weak when meeting weakness", meaning that someone valourous who reveals talent while meeting a worthy opponent

2. "an inch shorter and an inch of danger". The author is mistaken in her usage here because the idiom is generally taken to mean that shorter blades are dangerous because they can be used sneakily. Contrasted with ("an inch longer, an inch stronger"), meaning that longer weapons are dangerous because they command more strength.

3. euphemism means a married couple having sex, equivalent to people "knowing each other biblically" in English. Originates in the legend that, during the Western Zhou (11th century BC), the Duke codified sexual conduct between men and women into seven steps:

1. The man's family hires a matchmaker to propose to the woman's family.

2. The man's family asks for the woman's name, and date of birth.

3. The man proceeds to perform divination at the ancestral shrine using the woman's name and birthdate.

4. The man's family sends the betrothal gifts to the woman's family.

5. The man's family decides on a date for the ceremony, and informs the woman's family while

sending along a gift.

6. A few days before the ceremony, the woman's family sends the dowry alongside the nuptial bed to the man's home. On the wedding day, the groom in person goes to the woman's house to bring her to his home.

7. The man and woman strengthen their moral ties (a.k.a.) and have sex.

Note that observing the ordinance of the Duke would be the only way to have sex morally. Humoristic in WKX's mouth who continues their hubby/wifey-themed bantering.

4. The term means whore/ slut etc. I've preserved the literal translation because it is pertinent to this chapter's title which sarcastically highlights the behavior of two couples Li Qiufeng and The Green Temptress, and The Pink Matron and Verdant Gent. (+wkx and zzs)

6. The Raw Haw Song is a popular melody for which many lyrics have been composed. LQQ's version is a popular one whose theme is distant, contemplative love through the seasons. It emphasized her being indeed a sentimental gal.

7a colloquial phrase describing unsupportive married couples