Chapter 6 The dispute among the imperial guards on the mountain road

After observing those people from their clothing and speech to deportment, they weren’t so much officials as imperial guards…

He Danggui broke out in a cold sweat. Fortunately, they hadn’t talked about that injured man after leaving him. After thinking for a while, He Danggui shook her head and replied, “Your honor, we haven’t seen any injured man in the forest before. I didn’t know your identities just now. If I said something inappropriate, please excuse me and don’t take it to heart.” Zhen Jing nodded in agreement.

“Well…” The man in scarlet robe smiled, then asked, “I wonder which Taoist Temple you two girls cultivate yourselves in. Can you lead us to have a look?”

Hearing his request, He Danggui suddenly bowed her head, feeling scared, “Your honor, I accidentally sprained my foot, so I cannot walk fast like an average people. I’m afraid I may delay your journey. The Taoist Temple you are looking for is called Shui Shang Temple, locating at the end of the mountain road. I’m sorry I cannot lead you there in person.”

He Danggui was graceful and gentle, and she had a pleasant voice, making the man in scarlet robe feel friendly. The man asked, “Most ordinary women are embarrassed and bashful when they see the officials. Why aren’t you afraid to see us at such a young age?”

He Danggui smiled and bowed her head slightly, “I’m flattered, your honor. In fact, I also respect and fear you. It took all my courage to keep talking until now.”

“Ha-ha, it’s the first time I’ve seen a funny girl like you.” The man in scarlet robe smiled, “You said you’ve sprained your foot, so it must be very hard to walk for you. Since you share the same destination with us, how about I carry you…” “Ahem.” The man in black suddenly coughed loudly, interrupting him unhesitatingly.

He Danggui glanced at them calmly and rescued him from the topic, “The weather in the mountains is changeable, and the rainstorm would come at any time. Searching people will be more difficult by then. Why don’t you quick your pace as soon as possible?”

The man in black said gruffly, “She’s right! Duan, even a little girl understands that. Why don’t you see that?” He Danggui found that other imperial guards all left. Then the man in scarlet robe waved to say goodbye, chasing his accompanies hurriedly.

They disappeared into the distance, and Zhen Jing was a little relieved. When she wanted to say something, He Danggui motioned for her to be quiet. So, she covered her mouth and her eyes widened.

Duan Xiaolou caught up with the others in front of him a few steps, and said angrily to the man in black robe, “Hey! Gao Jue, don’t make me embarrassed in front of girls!”

Gao Jue pulled a face at him and kept silent. Seeing this, Lu Jiangbei mediated the dispute and smiled, “All right, all right. We’ve been tired after a day’s journey. Don’t get mad at each other!” Then, Lu Jiangbei stepped forward and stood between them.

Liao Zhiyuan sneered, “I think Xiaolou is doing that again! I really cannot imagine why he cares about not only teenage girls, but also women over 40 years old. He is more philanthropic than the Mandkesvara…”

“Come on, Dude! Stop saying that!” Duan Xiaolou shoved him and said, “The girl is a pure Taoist nun. Why do you gossip her since she has never offended you?”

Liao Zhiyuan smiled, “Major General Duan, have I mentioned her just now? I was talking about Miss Lian and her mother! However, seeing the little nun’s beautiful appearance, you must have had some inordinate ambitions. Why take it out on me?”

The more Duan Xiaolou listened, the angrier he became. He kicked Liao Zhiyuan hard.

Liao Zhiyuan jumped to hide behind Gao Jue, and laughed, “Unfortunately, the nun is too young to be your wife. You can only consider her as your sister if you take her home. But how many sisters have you found in Yangzhou City this time? Could your carriage carry them all?”

Duan Xiaolou flushed with anger, and he excused himself as he took it seriously to the tussle, “I’ve said many times. Miss Xue had suffered a lot. Her husband sent her to Zui Xiang Yard (a brothel) because of gambling. However, Miss Xue was reluctant to sell her body. Then she was beaten black and blue by some bastards. She was determined to jump into the river to commit suicide. I couldn’t stand by and watch her die, so I saved her. As for Miss Lian, she was even more pitiful. Her uncle occupied her family property after her father died. Since then, she and her mother could only earn a living by digging coal from a coal pit. Her uncle intended to sell her to an old man to be his concubine. I couldn’t stand it…”

“So, Childe Duan took both her and her mother home!” Liao Zhiyuan continued to say and pulled Gao Jue in front of him as a shield at the same time. Fortunately, he dodged Duan Xiaolou’s two moves of martial arts, one called “You Feng Lai Yi” and the other called “Wu Long Bai Wei.”

Gao Jue was walking as he bowed his head. Suddenly, his nose was almost beat by Duan Xiaolou’s fist accidently. He got mad for being involved. Therefore, he punched him at Liao Zhiyuan’s chin with his left hand and kicked Duan Xiaolou’s head with his right foot. In the meantime, Duan Xiaolou kept calm and was fearless. He avoided his attack as he began to kick and punch Liao Zhiyuan.

Therefore, Liao Zhiyuan suffered the attack from both sides. He yelled that it was unfair, turning his head to ask other companions for help. Those who met his gaze laughed and hid aside, refusing to help without compassion.

“Hey, Jiang Pi, I just saved you once last month! Shouldn’t you repay my kindness to you?” Liao Zhiyuan had the nerve to ask for his favor, “Boy, now it’s time for you to return the favor, come here and save me!”

Unexpectedly, Jiang Pi picked his nose leisurely and asked shamelessly, “Don’t you know that you shouldn’t expect rewards when you help others?”

Liao Zhiyuan was furious. He was almost beaten by Gao Jue’s powerful fist since he was distracted by the conversation. He turned aside quickly, avoiding his iron fist narrowly. After dozens of rounds like this, Duan Xiaolou finally punched Liao Zhiyuan’s lower abdomen, and Gao Jue kicked him at the same time. Finally, the battle ended in the victory of Gao Jue.

Duan Xiaolou was kicked into a big poplar tree, and he fell to the ground heavily. But he focused his eyes on Liao Zhiyuan indignantly, “Do not mention about this anymore! I just want to save people. Nothing about romance is involved. It’s absolutely not what you think it is!”

However, Liao Zhiyuan covered his lower abdomen, wrinkled his face and said, “Holy cow! I just pulled your leg! Take it easy, okay? Besides, although you don’t want to marry any of them, the girls may think differently. Don’t you know how Miss Lian feels about you? Even the blind could feel her feelings for you. If it goes on like this, I’m afraid you’ll never get married…Look, you pull a face at me again every time we talk about this. Ouch, it hurts! Forget it! I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

Although Duan Xiaolou had born into a wealthy family, his mother found it quite difficult to settle an arranged marriage for him. Neither the daughters of concubines nor the daughters of wealthy and influential families would like to marry Duan Xiaolou.

However, a girl born into a normal family couldn’t match Duan Xiaolou very well. After all, Duan Xiaolou was the only legitimate son in the family, and his wife must be able to support her husband and be in charge of the household affairs. The girls from normal family were inexperienced, uneducated and insufficient to deal with complicated situations. Therefore, Duan Xiaolou was still single at the age of 23, which became a serious worry for Mrs. Duan.

The tricky part was that Duan Xiaolou always had special feelings for girls. Whenever he saw the girls’ distress, he could not help rescuing them. Now, he had rescued nearly 100 women, and they all were taken into Duan’s Mansion. Some of them worked for Duan’s family in different yards and those who could not be arranged to work at home were sent to the manor of silk fabrics, money shops or restaurants to earn a living.

Although Duan Xiaolou just felt infinite sympathetic towards these women, many of them sent him embroidered handkerchiefs, insoles, sachets and even waistbands from time to time. What was more exaggerated? A girl fainted “unexpectedly” next to him, and another pretended to fall into the lotus pond “accidently” and yelled for help in panic…

His mother felt powerless to stop such repeated cases. So, rumors began to circulate about Duan Xiaolou’s romantic stories through all the wealthy and influential families.

Since Duan Xiaolou got a bad reputation for this, no one would marry him. After all, women were afraid of dealing with so many rivals in love. Therefore, many girls would rather marry an old man as a Second Wife than Duan Xiaolou.

However, not only had Childe Duan fixed his image, but also he added more rivals in love for his wife in the future at an average rate of four or even five people a month, which also made it awkward for his mother to settle his marriage.

In fact, there was no need to blame those women for expressing their love to Duan Xiaolou, the one like a hero who saved them from sufferings. Moreover, the man was young, handsome and promising. Who wouldn’t love such a man? They all believed that as long as they were honest and sincere, any difficult problem could be solved. So, they persevere with all kinds of gentleness, trying to melt and get his love.

“Stop! Stop quarreling. It’s getting dark. We’re here to investigate, not to travel.” Gao Jue responded coldly, “Duan Xiaolou, if you put more energy on the case, how can you lose the most important clue of the case?”

Before Duan Xiaolou spoke, Lu Jiangbei comforted quickly as a peacemaker, “It’s okay. It’s not Xiaolou’s fault. The man ran away so fast and none of us could chase him. Everyone is tired of walking, so, we might as well speak less and walk more. Now, the way down the mountain had been blocked by our officials. I say we could stay in the Taoist Temple tonight and search the mountain thoroughly tomorrow.” Then he looked at the man in blue robe, “Master Geng, what do you say?”

Master Geng thought for a moment and said quietly, “No. We’ll stay in the Taoist Temple until we leave Yangzhou City.”

“What? Why?” Everyone wondered, asking in unison.

Master Geng stood with his hands clasped behind his back, overlooking a cloud in the sky, “Catching the fugitive is not our main task for this trip. In fact, we have another mission in Yangzhou. For now, the less you know, the better. I’ll let you know in the right time.”

Lu Jiangbei and Gao Jue looked at each other questioningly. To be honest, they still couldn’t fathom the temper of this newly appointed imperial guard. Although sometimes he was difficult to get along with, he was accommodating and not strict with subordinates. Actually, he was not aloof in reality because his subordinates all felt easy and free.

Judging from this quarrel between Duan Xiaolou and Liao Zhiyuan, Master Geng didn’t criticize them, and he didn’t even show them an unhappy look. Actually, he neither restrained them as an officer, nor joined them in the fun, as if he didn’t exist. Anyhow, despite their experience in the officialdom, palace, and among the people, those who had seen countless people couldn’t fathom Master Geng’s temper.

Thinking of this, Lu Jiangbei felt chill and scared suddenly in his heart. Then he shifted the topic quickly, “By the way, the two little nuns walk so slowly.” They all looked at the mountain road and said, “We’ve been delayed here for a long time, but they haven’t caught up yet, and there is no trace at all. What a strange thing it is!”

Duan Xiaolou didn’t think it was normal, either. He listened for a while carefully, and frowned, “Indeed, not even their footsteps could be heard. Is it possible that something bad happened to them? Why don’t we go and find them?”

Gao Jue pulled a face and urged, “Let’s get to the temple. I’m hungry.”

Lu Jiangbei patted on Duan Xiaolou’s shoulder and smirked, “Why do you worry about it? Maybe they don’t want to go with us, so they deliberately lagged behind. Have you forgotten that? We followed them and listened to their whisper without permission. Moreover, you laughed at her, so she must be annoyed. Let’s leave quickly. Since they both live in that Taoist Temple, you’ll see them again.”

So, Duan Xiaolou shut up quietly and they kept going.

After a while, Liao Zhiyuan was restless again. He stabbed at Duan Xiaolou with his elbow and squinted his eyes, “Childe Duan, are you really just curious about that little, beautiful and talkative nun? I mean, nothing romantic involved?”

Duan Xiaolou’s ears were hot with embarrassment. He snorted, “Why do you mention her again?”

“Oh! Oh! Oh!” Liao Zhiyuan screamed, “Childe Duan, your ears are red! You like her, do you?”

“Nonsense! If you dare to talk nonsense again, I’ll punch you!”

“Dude, I think this little girl is really nice. Hey, turn your head around and don’t ignore me! I think she’s better than those girls you brought home before. Take her to your home, and your mother will like her. In a few years, when she grows up, you can marry her. She would be good enough to be a concubine. If you get her out of the austere Taoist Temple, that would be a release for her. Maybe she would be grateful and might agree to marry you…”

“Piss off! It’s ridiculous! I never had other thoughts about her. I just think she’s smart and polite. Why don’t you take her back to see your mother?”

“Ha-ha. Listen, Childe Duan finally admitted it! Someone impressed him in his heart!”

“Boy, do you want to fight against me?”

※※※

“Xiaoyi, why are we going back again? Didn’t you say that we can’t go and find the injured person? Those men we met just now are officials. Aren’t the injured person in the woods the bad guy they’re looking for?”

“Don’t ask so many questions. Look, help me find this kind of grass in this shape nearby.” He Danggui showed the grass in her hand.

“Okay.” Zhen Jing obediently bent from the waist to help her find it.

After a while, they picked five or six grasses. “Okay, that’s enough.” He Danggui said quietly with a smile and pulled Zhen Jing, “Let’s go, we can save him now.”

“Saving him? That’s great! But is that okay to save a bad guy’s life?” Zhen Jing blinked.

He Danggui clenched her fists to squeeze the fluid from the grasses. She looked calm and said quietly, “Zhen Jing, not everything in the world can be divided into good and evil. They can be shifted within one second.”