Afraid of the Lion’s Roar

Song Yuming stoof at the bow with his hands behind his back, watching the two women recede in the distance, his manly jaw split in a smile.

Old Zhang muttered, "I'd say they're gone…"

Song Yuming gave a weary smile. "No, can't we show a bit more backbone next time?"

Old Zhang shook his head. "You don't understand. Your wife's little squeak is nothing compared to a shrew's lion-like roar."

"Oh?" Song Yuming said. He gazed at the desolate mountain woods beyond and chuckled. "Turns out you, one of the Twelve Wulin Masters, are yet afraid of the lion's roar?"

The old man stood with him, hands behind his back, eyes narrowed, silent. The feeble winter sun lit on the boundless surface of the water. It was looking more chilly and bleak by the second.

At their feet was their unfinished game of weiqi. On the board there were portents of ill-fate.

As for Xue Dongting, she was pulled into Xu Ying's little tiled-roof house at the east entrance of Clearcreek Village where she lived with Old Zhang. They sat cross-legged opposite each other on the heated brick bed. Xu Ying continued on her half-finished needlework while she made chatted with Xue Dongting. The latter titled her head and admired the skilled threading. "Sister, you're so good at that!"

Xu Ying laughed. "Heh, what's the big deal? It's just ordinary needlework, how can it compare to your book learning? Little Sis, teach me some words when you have time, that way Old Zhang won't be able to alway pull the wool over my eyes."

Xue Dongting laughed. "Old Zhang wouldn't dare."

Xu Ying laughed. "I see you're a clever one, can you not see through my old man's tricks?"

Xue Dongting laughed, but said nothing. She was perceptive, though. Though the woman called it "my old man's tricks", she knew she enjoyed it.

Xu Ying sighed. "Speaking of my old man, he's like your Song Yuming, he's also not from Clearcreek Village…" She paused, as if hesitating.

Xue Dongting saw she was about to broach a delicate topic. The woman smiled. "I don't mind telling you that I am a widow remarried. My late husband died young and left me with a three-year-old boy. I struggled for seven years, it was really hard going. At the mouth of river I met my old man… He was a bit older, but he's really a good, honest man…"

Xue Dongting was surprised. She couldn't tell that this self-assured woman had been so down on her luck. She took Xu Ying's hand. "You said earlier your son is sitting for the imperial examinations. I'm sure he'll pass… Sister, your days of hardship will soon be over."

Xu Ying smiled, tears welling in the corner of her eye. "If it wasn't for my old man, my son and I would have starved to death. We were down and out with no money and no one to go to for help. I brought my son and married Old Zhang and his family cursed me as shameless… You tell me, what kind of talk is that?"

Xue Dongting said nothing. The unfeeling fickle nature of man was present everywhere, whether at the imperial palace in the capital or out in some backwater, it was all the same.

"I didn't care who my old man had been before. Even if he had been a mounted bandit of the Greenwood I would still have married him. Village women like to gossip, but I paid no attention. He treated me well… That was enough." Xu Ying was going on and on, but as Xue Dongting listened it was like a clap of thunder in her ears.

She thought of her previous life, of the capital, of Cloudgem Lodge… Finally she thought of the little thatched hut. She laughed for no reason, laughing, tears running down her face.