Zhan Zhao Adventures - Chapter Four (Part II)

Chapter Four: Partridge Sky (Part II)

The night was already deep.

 

The wind and rain gradually ceased.

 

Within a small temple several li away, a small campfire had already been lit.

 

The firelight was very dark and small. Dry items available for burning within the dilapidated temple hall were originally not many.

 

In the woods outside the temple, there seemed to be night birds awakened by the night rain, letting out a "gu-gu" call every now and then.

 

That mysterious drumbeat from just now could no longer be heard.

 

Zhan Rifei lightly covered that child with the outer garment that had already been roasted dry, gazing intently at his sleeping countenance.

 

The fine flames that flared now bright and now dark reflected that child's small, lean face. Even within his sleep, his face was filled with wariness and fear, as if he were also suffering torment within his dreams.

 

This child was lean and small, and furthermore carried a physical disability, possessing no martial arts. Young Master Huo saved him several times, so why did he still harbor wariness? Could it be that at his young age, he had already suffered every kind of bullying, and no longer believed in anyone?

 

──What exactly did he have that was different from others?

 

──Their bringing him out, was it ultimately a blessing or a curse?

 

Young Master Huo also let out a sigh. He discovered that the number of times he frowned and sighed recently grew more and more.

 

"Before entering the martial world, the martial world is as vast as the sea and sky. Having entered the martial world, only then does one know the martial world is an endless dispute."

 

──The troubles he had provoked recently, and the grievances he had suffered, were truly too many. For no reason at all, he first ran into the dispute between Xingyun Villa and the Tang Clan, and right now had no choice but to lodge in the same temple with this somewhat mysterious person in black. Left with Linglong Villa unable to be returned to, he even lost San'er who had accompanied him for many years. Now even this child had entangled him.

 

People all say that when blessings come they cannot be stopped. It seemed that when troubles come, they also could not be stopped even using a door bolt.

 

"This child is so pitiful! At such a young age, for some unknown reason, he was wounded by so many blade cuts by people, and furthermore because of the secrets of the Tang Clan and Xingyun Villa, he was chased and hunted so he has no place to hide his body, and everyone wishes to obtain him."

 

From this child's body, he first self-pityingly thought of his own grievances for a moment, and then his gaze looked toward the distance, as if remembering something.

 

Zhan Rifei said: "Do you not also wish to know his secret?"

 

Young Master Huo stared, as if showing spite against him: "Do the people of Linglong Villa rare his secret?"

 

Zhan Rifei said with a smile: "Although Brother Huo does not care, yet you must not forget, you are already no longer a person of Linglong Villa. Furthermore, things that even the Tang Clan wishes to know, how can Brother Huo not wish to know?"

 

──Perhaps, this was the inherent nature of martial world people? A person's curiosity just had to be baited like this──sometimes, with certain things, the more you do not let him know, the more he wishes to know. But once he knows, he will regret why he had to know in the first place.

 

──Young Master Huo came from Linglong Villa, born as a disciple of a great family who loved to win and refused to yield, so how could he allow Xingyun Villa and the Tang Clan to press a head above him? Matters that both Xingyun Villa and the Tang Clan knew, how could he not want to know?

 

Young Master Huo still could not help but argue: "I saw that he was a lone person wandering outside all by himself, only then did I draw my blade to help. Such a small child has suffered so much hardship; do you not feel it is truly a case of 'each person has their own fate, and creation mocks people'?"

 

Looking at him being so young in years, yet suddenly revealing a scholar-like air of vicissitudes, Zhan Rifei suddenly wanted to laugh.

 

But Young Master Huo was completely oblivious to it. His gaze looked toward the dilapidated roof, clearly having remembered some matter on his mind.

 

──A matter on his mind already deeply buried at the bottom of his heart.

 

He let out a sigh, murmuring: "Both being homeless children, his life, however, is unknown how much more bitter than Zhao Zhi'er's."

 

"Perhaps we really should send him into the capital city. If Zhao Zhi'er saw him, who knows how much he would like it."

 

Zhan Rifei was originally leaning by the fire pile; hearing these words of his, his eyebrows raised: "Is the Zhao Zhi'er you speak of the one in the Prince Little Zhao's mansion in the Eastern Capital city?"

 

The moment he was mentioned, Young Master Huo's face could not help but emit light.

 

"How is it not him! Little Zhao's conduct and temper are known to everyone in the Eastern Capital city. His page-boy, naturally, is also generally as eccentric, clever, and sharp. I heard he has a nickname called 'Gods see and gods fear'──do you not know, among the pair of monkeys famous in the Eastern Capital city, of whom even the Emperor has heard something, one is precisely him! The other I have not met, only heard he is called something like Ming Zhu'er, belonging to that Imperial Guard Zhan's mansion by the Emperor's side, with a nickname called 'Ghosts see and ghosts grieve.' Speaking of which, these two people are truly Ding Three matching Ding Four, an absolute pair."

 

As if having thought of something, Zhan Rifei also could not help but begin to smile.

 

"You have met Imperial Guard Zhan?"

 

Young Master Huo shook his head and said: "Only often heard Little Zhao mention him, that's all. Don't look at how Little Zhao doesn't say it with his mouth, I know within his heart he admires him very much. Everyone in the martial world says that that Zhan Zhao, a generation's Southern Hero, is indeed a dragon and phoenix among men, and his sword technique is already number one under heaven; one day, I must eventually meet him, to see whether my 'Yin-Yang Wild Dog' can settle his 'Juque' sword."

 

Zhan Rifei gave a faint smile: "In truth, speaking of it, he is also nothing remarkable. How can his sword technique be called number one under heaven?"

 

Young Master Huo stared and said: "A person whom Little Zhao admires, how can you say he is nothing remarkable? When has Little Zhao's eyes ever misjudged a person? If that Imperial Guard Zhan were an ordinary person, how would Little Zhao have no shallow friendship with him? Look, even the two of their page-boys are of the same foul odor."

 

Zhan Rifei smiled bitterly: "I never expected you are actually Prince Little Zhao's bosom friend. ──I originally said why you are so like him, also liking to let other people owe you favors."

 

Young Master Huo's face actually turned red again. This time, he actually did not argue.

 

Zhan Rifei said with a smile: "It seems the person you went to the Eastern Capital to find was precisely him. So that's how it is, so that's how it is."

 

Within his gaze there was also a smile, as if he had already pierced through everything.

 

Young Master Huo's face had already turned as red as a piece of red cloth, only beneath the dim firelight, other people could not see it, that's all.

 

"I, I──, what, what 'so that's how it is'?"

 

Zhan Rifei said: "So the 'backer' Brother Huo mentioned yesterday is precisely the Southern Clear Palace; no wonder even Ma Chaoxian who manages the Four Duty Warehouses, as well as the Prince of Xiangyang's mansion, Brother Huo does not place them in his mind."

 

──"Only I cannot understand, since you know Zhao Zhi'er of the Southern Clear Palace, how could you not know Ming Zhu'er of Imperial Guard Zhan's mansion? The two of them are as inseparable as Jiao and Meng."

 

Young Master Huo's face finally recovered its usual state. He shook his head greatly and said: "A single Zhao Zhi'er has already given me a headache, how could I still deal with another 'Ghosts see and ghosts grieve.' I heard the most sensational thing the two of them did was turning their backs on their masters, hoodwinking the old miser Chen of the Accumulating Virtue Hall in the south of the city, and within one day, sending fifteen nanmu coffins to Grand Tutor Pang's mansion!"

 

Speaking up to here, a trace of a smile had already unconsciously floated onto the corners of Young Master Huo's mouth.

 

He held his knees, and even within his eyes it was filled with a smile.

 

"The first time I met Zhao Zhi'er, it was because of this matter that he was tied up by Little Zhao, heavily beaten with wooden boards, crying so hard he was losing consciousness. Grand Tutor Pang came to demand accountability, sitting to the side, his face still iron-green. It is said that ever since that tactless slave of old miser Chen blocked his grand sedan to demand the coffin money, his countenance for that whole day had never been pleasant again."

 

Slowly recounting these unforgettable past events, within his heart, another person's silhouette had already floated up. Hesitating, that sentence, after all, was still not spoken out──that day, was also the first time he met Little Zhao.

 

"So that time I saw Zhao Zhi'er, yet did not see Ming Zhu'er. But later I heard Little Zhao say, Ming Zhu'er was also confined by Imperial Guard Zhan within the mansion, not allowed to step out of the door for more than thirty days. Truly don't know whether Grand Tutor Pang in the end went to find trouble for Imperial Guard Zhan."

 

Zhan Rifei said with a smile: "If he did not first pin down the big head on Prince Little Zhao's side, how would he go to seek bad luck on Imperial Guard Zhan's end. I am only afraid that in the end Grand Tutor Pang was still fooled by that little imp Zhao Zhi'er."

 

Young Master Huo said: "How is this to be said?"

 

Zhan Rifei said: "That Zhao Zhi'er is known as 'Gods see and gods fear,' and furthermore was personally trained by Prince Little Zhao; nine times out of ten, this matter was a play acted by the two of them, master and servant, for Grand Tutor Pang to see. You hear him crying to heaven and earth, that was because he had rubbed pepper powder beneath his eyelids, so the tears came the moment they were said to come."

 

Young Master Huo felt it even more amusing, laughing and cursing: "This monkey, even I was deceived by him. It seems that Imperial Guard Zhan thus owed Little Zhao a favor then?"

 

Zhan Rifei shook his head: "The favors that Imperial Guard Zhan owes him are already truly too many."

 

Young Master Huo could not help but tilt his head to look at him, "Can't tell, but you should be very familiar with Little Zhao, otherwise how would you know this small trick of Zhao Zhi'er? ──How have I never heard Little Zhao speak of you?"

 

Zhan Rifei smiled bitterly: "Only because regarding Ming Zhu'er, I know much more than about Zhao Zhi'er. Tricks that this Ming Zhu'er invented, how would Zhao Zhi'er not know."

 

Young Master Huo curiously probed his head, as if Lord Bao of Kaifeng Prefecture was interrogating a case. Taking pleasure in his misfortune yet as if retaining a thread of hope, he asked: "Then how did you know Ming Zhu'er?"

 

──"Could it be that the two of them also once made fun of you?"

 

──"How could they make fun of you?"

 

Zhan Rifei said with a smile: "The two of them did not make fun of me, but troubles were indeed provoked not a few. The small children in the Eastern Capital city have woven all kinds of deeds of the two of them into children's songs to sing; this matter of deceiving people to send coffins is not yet counted as their most famous."

 

Upon Young Master Huo's face, a trace of pride flashed across, as if hearing people praise these matters already brought him satisfaction. Vaguely, he was heard to say: "Even the page-boy under his hand has already become this formidable." He looked again at the sleeping boy, saying to himself, "If you are sent to the Southern Clear Palace, won't you be bullied to death by him?"

 

Yet it was unknown whether this "him" referred to Prince Little Zhao, or that 'Gods see and gods fear' Zhao Zhi'er.

The corners of Zhan Rifei's mouth seemed to float up with a trace of a smile, yet also as if he did not notice his thoughts. Meditating, he diverged from the topic, saying: "Brother Huo, think about it, what exactly is this child's origin?"