Ping'er ran swiftly toward the Waterside Cottage, her thoughts in a tangle along the way, unsure whether she should tell her elder sister that the master wanted to take her.
But what if her sister refused? Scenes from plays of mandarin ducks beaten apart with a cudgel surfaced in her mind, leaving her heart tangled like hemp.
Inside the Waterside Cottage, Li Qingluo was washing and dressing with Rui'er's help. Looking at her red, swollen eyes in the bronze mirror, she ground her teeth audibly.
After going over everything throughout the night, she had figured it out. Her guilty conscience had been her undoing. If she had stubbornly denied it to the bitter end, what could he have done? He had no evidence, and he could not beat her in a fight either!
But that bastard was a schemer too. First he had unsettled her with that evil mind-reading art, and then Duan Zhengchun's arrival had made her lose her composure out of guilt, until he had led her around by the nose and she had nearly killed herself!
Fortunately, she had written Father a letter. Once Father arrived, she would see what use those tricks of his would be. She would make him kneel and apologize to her then! And you said I wasn't worthy of you! Hmph!
"Has the letter been sent?"
"Aunt Yan went herself. She left first thing this morning!" Rui'er arranged Li Qingluo's hair into a bun, then hesitated for a long while before saying, "What if Father gets angry after reading the letter and kills someone in a fit of rage?"
"Father isn't stupid. He won't kill Wang Gang lightly. He'll probably punish him, make him kowtow and apologize, and that should be about it!" Li Qingluo said dismissively.
"I mean the other people in the manor," Rui'er explained. "Yesterday, I saw that the young master treated everyone in the manor very well. If someone gets killed, he'll certainly be angry."
"Let him be angry! I'm angry too!" Li Qingluo turned her head indignantly, only to see Ping'er standing outside the door with a conflicted expression.
"What are you standing there gawking for?"
Li Qingluo's sharp rebuke startled Ping'er out of her tangled thoughts of love and hate.
"Ah! Sister, the mas... the young master said he wanted to have a look inside the Emerald Bamboo Pavilion."
"What Emerald Bamboo Pavilion?" Li Qingluo asked in confusion.
"The room where we keep the books from Langhuan Jade Cave," Rui'er explained beside her. "Those maids in the manor must have put him up to it. A few wanted to go in yesterday, but I drove them away!"
"No. He's not allowed in. No one in their entire Wang family is allowed in!"
"Yes, Sister. I'll go tell the young master!"
"Wait!" Ping'er had just been about to leave when she was suddenly stopped. Rui'er looked at her suspiciously. "With you here, who's guarding the Emerald Bamboo Pavilion?"
"The young master!"
"This is bad!"
Both women cried out at once, then hurriedly began dressing. They stuck a few hairpins haphazardly into their hair and rushed toward the Emerald Bamboo Pavilion.
"You! You're hopelessly stupid!" Rui'er seethed at Ping'er's bewildered expression.
"Forget it. It's not as though she only became like this today!"
Li Qingluo, on the contrary, was not angry. If he read the martial arts manuals, so be it. They were not going anywhere. She was thinking about catching Wang Gang red-handed and giving him a good mocking! If he provoked her again in the future, she would call him "little thief."
The mistress and her two maids hurried along. When they reached the Emerald Bamboo Pavilion, there was indeed no one outside.
Li Qingluo gave a cold laugh and kicked open the door, only to discover that there was no one inside either.
"Where is he?"
They looked at one another.
"Could he have taken the books back to read?"
"The young master must have had something urgent to attend to!"
They then checked the shelves and found no signs of anything having been touched. Li Qingluo opened several bookcases as well, but found nothing.
"Oh! I understand now. You were afraid the young master would steal what he was guarding!" As though she had only just understood why they were acting this way, Ping'er said earnestly, "He wouldn't. The young master is an upright gentleman!"
At that moment, the upright gentleman Wang Yukun was standing at the bow of a boat, facing the autumn wind alone, his robes fluttering.
The little boat sped along. Before long, a cluster of buildings appeared ahead, and a short while later, they were right before him.
Several servants caught hold of the boat and greeted him with smiles:
"The young uncle is here!"
"Young uncle, congratulations on your wedding. May you enjoy a hundred years of harmony."
"May you soon be blessed with a son, young uncle."
"May your name appear on the golden list, young uncle."
A string of auspicious wishes came pouring toward him as though they cost nothing. Wang Gang was not stingy either. He pulled the money pouch from his waist and tossed it over. "Take it and buy yourselves some wine."
"Thank you for your generosity, young uncle!"
They thanked him in unison, then clustered around Wang Gang as they headed farther in. They passed the Listening Fragrance Water Pavilion, where outside guests were received. A monk was sitting there at the moment, with no one attending him, yet he seemed perfectly at ease.
Noticing Wang Gang's gaze, a servant explained, "That monk really doesn't know when he's unwelcome. He came looking for the master. We told him the master wasn't here, but he shamelessly refuses to leave!"
Wang Gang nodded. The monk was probably from Shaolin Temple. He could only have come looking for Murong Bo to investigate what had happened at Yanmen Pass more than a decade ago.
They passed through corridors and courtyards until they reached Canhe Manor. The servants stopped, as this was not a place they could enter. Maids came forward to greet him instead. Wang Gang rewarded them with some jeweled hairpins and jewelry, then teased them a little, making the girls giggle.
Hearing the commotion, Madam Wang came out and chided him, "You little rascal! You've only just married. Why aren't you home keeping your wife company? What are you doing here?"
"My sister is prettier than my wife!" Madam Wang was more than a dozen years older than Wang Gang, as much a mother to him as a sister.
"What nonsense!" Madam Wang laughed and gave Wang Gang a smack on the back. "You! You've known how to sweet-talk me since you were little!"
"I really did miss you!" As Wang Gang spoke, he reached out and pinched the cheek of the little maid beside Madam Wang. "Did Little Qingqing miss me?"
The little maid glared fiercely at Wang Gang, then turned and ran back inside.
"How old are you now? Still teasing every cat and dog all day!" Madam Wang lightly slapped his arm again. "Come on, let's go inside."
As soon as they entered, a child darted out. "Uncle, can you stop bullying Sister A Qing? You've made her angry!"
Wang Gang looked at Murong Fu, who acted like a little adult, and teased, "What's this? Feeling sorry for her? So young, and already up to no good, cherishing flowers and pitying jade! Shall I ask your mother to promise A Qing to you as your wife?"
"I didn't... I'm not..." Murong Fu was both embarrassed and anxious, his little face flushing crimson.
"Enough. You're married now, yet you still can't behave!" Madam Wang smacked him again, still unable to bring herself to use any force.
After sitting down, Wang Gang asked, "Where's Brother-in-law?"
"He left yesterday after drinking at your wedding feast. I don't know where he went!"
"What's the story with the monk in the Listening Fragrance Water Pavilion?"
"Alas, it's all old grievances and sins."
Seeing that his sister was unwilling to elaborate, Wang Gang did not press her.
But with Murong Bo away, what would he do when Ding Chunqiu arrived? What about his martial arts?
This monk had come at the wrong time!
After thinking it over, he said, "With the man of the house away, how can we have a monk staying here? I'll go send him away!"
"Alas, your brother-in-law isn't here, and Fu'er is still young. It really is inconvenient." Madam Wang nodded, then cautioned him, "Don't be rude! He's an eminent monk from Shaolin Temple!"
"All right, don't worry!" Wang Gang stood up to leave.
"Uncle, I want to go with you!" Murong Fu stood in his way.
Wang Gang rubbed his head a few times. "Go back and practice your martial arts properly!"
"I've been practicing properly all along. I just finished! Test me if you don't believe me!" Murong Fu insisted.
"Then tell me, what is the lung meridian, and what is the heart meridian?" Helpless, Wang Gang could only toss out a perfunctory question. He knew nothing whatsoever about martial arts; these were merely terms he had borrowed from the Lesser Formless Skill.
"Both belong to the three yin meridians of the hand among the twelve primary meridians..."
To his surprise, Murong Fu really did know, and even began pointing them out on his body as he spoke.
"My good nephew!" Wang Gang's eyes lit up. Now there was hope of mastering the Lesser Formless Skill!