Eastern Palace Chapter 1

Chapter 1 

As usual, I had another argument with Li Cheng Yin. Every time we quarrel, he always ignores me, and also does not allow others to speak with me.

When I felt exceedingly bored, I would sneak out to play. A’Du would follow me, she has always been at my side, no matter where I go, I just can’t shake her off, just like a shadow. Fortunately, I do not hate this person A’Du, apart from being a little stubborn, she’s good in everything else, she even knows martial arts, which is helpful in fighting off bad guys.

We went to the tea house to listen to stories, Mr. Storyteller is very enthusiastic, when he reached the part about how the Immortal Swordsman from thousands of miles away can save someone’s life, I asked A’Du, “Hey, do you believe there are Sword Immortals in this world?”

A’Du shook her head.

I also feel that it can’t be true.

In this word there are definitely martial arts experts, like A’Du handling the gold inlaid knife, I have seen her in action, as fast as lightning. But from thousands of miles away to save lives, I think that’s purely an exaggeration.

When we walked out of the wine shop, we saw a circle of people on the street. I am someone who innately loves to get in on the action, naturally I squeezed past to see what happened. It turned out to be a girl dressed in white mourning clothes on her knees weeping and sobbing, behind her was a worn out mat, covering a stiff corpse, beneath the straw mat, there only revealed a pair of rigid feet, no shoes even worn. Everyone around sighed and shook their heads while pointing at the five words on her front “selling body to bury father”,  written in black ink on a white cloth.

“Whoa. Selling body to bury father! Dare I ask, how much does this young miss intend to sell herself for?”

Everyone glared at me. I forgot I was still in men’s clothing, so I pulled back, and stuck out my tongue. At this point, A’Du tugged my sleeve, I understood her gesture, A’Du is always worried that I will get into trouble. Really, although I spend much of the day wandering about the streets, but besides stopping a frightened horse one time, fighting some young ruffians twice, sending lost children home three times, chasing thieves four if not occasionally five times, I really do not meddle over other people’s business……I secretly snuck around to the back of the crowd, and carefully studied the carca.s.s beneath the worn out woven mat, then I knelt down, conveniently pulled a strand from the straw mat, and lightly scratched those stiff soles.

Scratch scratch scratch ah…. scratch…… I very patiently continued scratching. The “corpse” below the mat finally found it unbearable and began to tremble, the more it shook, the more severe the shaking, the more violent the shaking…… Those around finally found it strange. A man screamed, pointed at the trembling mat, teeth chattering and speechless; while others shouted “moving corpse” [1]; more people were dumbfounded, just standing there motionless, I relentlessly continued scratching. The “corpse” beneath the mat, finally finding the itching too unbearable, lifted the mat, and loudly cursed: “Which b.a.s.t.a.r.d is scratching my feet soles?”

I shrewdly retorted, “b.a.s.t.a.r.d [2] scolding who?”

As expected, he was indeed fooled, “b.a.s.t.a.r.d scolding you!”

I laughed and clapped, “It really is a b.a.s.t.a.r.d scolding me!”

He scrambled up and prepared to send a kick my way, A’Du, in a flash, stepped in between us. I made a face at him, “You d.a.m.ned swindler, pretending to be a corpse, only worth three copper pennies!”

That girl dressed entirely in white mourning clothes rushed at us with him. A’Du, who is usually reluctant to fight with people on the street, quickly pulled me and ran away.

Sometimes I really don’t like being with A’Du, because often the fun has only just begun, and she’ll pull me away running. But her hands are like iron pincers, no matter what I do, I cannot pull free, left with no other choice but to allow her to drag me along, stumbling all along the way. Just as we ran half way down the street and got mixed within the crowd, I suddenly saw in front of a tea shop, a man looking at me. This person had a handsome appearance, wearing moon-white robes and quietly staring at me with his jet-black eyes.

I don’t know why, my heart suddenly jumped. Only after arriving underneath the memorial arch did A’Du finally let go of my hand, I turned my head to look at that man once more, but he was already gone.

A’Du didn’t ask what I was looking at, this was one of her good points, she never asked questions. I felt a little restless today, perhaps it was because of the quarrel with Li Cheng Yin. Even though he can never beat me in an argument, and I can always render him speechless, but he will always use other ways to fight back, such as letting others ignore me, as if I am an invisible person that no one else can see. That sort of feeling is really hard to cope with, if I don’t sneak out to play, sooner or later I will suffocate to death..

I felt extremely bored, I looked down and kicked a stone, the rock bounced around, just like in Cuju [3]. Li Cheng Yin is an expert at Cuju, the small rubber ball on the tips of his feet, as if it were a living thing, letting him do many tricks with it. I do not know how to play Cuju, nor have I ever learned it, because Li Cheng Yin refuses to teach me, and won’t allow anyone else to teach me, he has always been very petty.

I used slightly more force, and kicked the stone into a gutter, only after the “plop” sound did I realize that unexpectedly, I had already unconsciously walked into an alley. On either side were the high walls of households, the houses here always build them very high, and the odd switch sitting on the fence, I suddenly felt a little creeped out…… the kind of feeling that makes one’s hair ends stand vertically up.

I looked back, and surprisingly I didn’t see A’Du, I shouted loudly, “A’Du!”

The alley, completely desolate and empty, resounded with the sound of my voice. An unprecedented feeling of panic came over me. For the past few years, A’Du and I have been inseparable, even when I went to the toilet, she would dash to my side. When I woke up, she would accompany me, when I went to sleep, she would sleep at the front of my bed, she has never left me farther than ten feet away without a word, but now A’Du was suddenly gone.

I saw that man, that man in moon-white robes, he stood at the other end of the alley, watching me from a distance.

My mind was in a huge state of confusion, I turned around and shouted, “A’Du!”

This person, I do not recognize at all, but the way he looked at me on the street earlier was very strange. I feel the way he is looking at me right now, is also very strange.

I asked him, “Hey! Have you seen A’Du?”

He did not answer, but instead slowly walked towards me. The sun shone on our faces, he was very good-looking, even better looking than Li Cheng Yin. His eyebrows were like two swords, eyes black as gems, tall nose bridge, thin lips, but the shape was very nice, in short, he was a good-looking man. He kept walking until he was in front of me, suddenly he smiled, “Miss, may I ask which A’Du you are looking for?”

Was there more than one A’Du in this world? I said, “Of course my A’Du, have you seen her? She is wearing a yellow garment, just like a small yellow Oriole.”

He said exasperatingly slowly, “Wearing a yellow garment, like a small yellow Oriole——I’ve seen such a person.”

“Where is she?”

“Right in front of me.” He was much too close, so close I could see the mysterious radiance s.h.i.+ning from his eyes, “Unless it’s not you?”

I looked down at my clothes, I was wearing a pale yellow male garment, the same as A’Du, this person was really strange.

He said, “Xiao Feng, we haven’t met for several years, you’re still like this, you haven’t changed at all.”

I couldn’t help but be greatly shocked, Xiao Feng is my pet name, ever since coming to Shang Jing [4], no one’s addressed me that way anymore. I blinked, and perplexedly looked at him, “Who are you?”

He smiled faintly, and said, “That’s right, you don’t know who I am.”

“Did my daddy send you?” I blinked, staring at him. Before departing, my father had promised me that he would send someone to see me and give me a lot of delicious food.

He didn’t answer me, he only asked, “Do you want to go home?”

Of course I want to go home, even in my dreams I want to go home.

I asked him, “Were you sent by Brother?”

He smiled at me, and asked, “You also have a brother?”

Of course I have a brother, in fact I have five, fifth brother especially loved me. When I went away, he cried a lot, using the whip, he thrashed all the soil on the floor everywhere. I know it was because he hated to part with me, could not bear me being so far away.

This person didn’t even know that I have a brother, it seems that this person was not actually someone sent from home, I was slightly disappointed. I asked him, “How do you know my name?”

He said, “You once told me.”

I told him? Did I actually know him?

Why do I have no impression of it.

I don’t know why, but I don’t think this man is a liar. Probably because there wouldn’t be such a weird liar. In this world, swindlers will strive to make themselves appear like normal people, so that they would not be strange, because it is easy to reveal their weakness that way, and also be exposed by someone.

I t.i.tled my head, sized him up and asked, “Who exactly are you?”

He said, “I am Gu Jian.”

He didn’t say anything else, as if these four words already represented everything.

I had never heard of this name, I said, “I’m going to look for A’Du.”

He said to me, “I’ve been looking for three years and I’ve finally met you, are you so unwilling to speak with me for just a little longer?”

I felt very strange, “Why were you looking for me? Why have you been looking for me for three years? Three years ago, did I know you?”

He smiled lightly and said, “Three years ago I made you angry and you ran away, I could only keep looking until today. But you already no longer recognize me.”

I felt like he was lying, forget three years ago, even matters from thirteen years ago I still remember very clearly. My memory is extremely good, when I was two or three years old, though I had only just started keeping record of things, I already remembered many things. For example, Mother once gave me a type of fruit pulp that was very sour, I really didn’t like it; or Mother holding me, seeing father return on his horse, the first golden rays of the morning sun plating my father’s body, as if he was wearing golden armor, awe-inspiring and majestic.

I was determined to stop speaking to him. I turned and left, where could A’Du have gone? As I was thinking, I turned around to look, that GuJian was still standing there watching me, his eyes staring moment after moment not blinking, seeing me look back at him, he smiled at me again. He had smiled at me several times already, I suddenly felt that his smile was like a layer of broken ice fragments floating on the water’s surface, as if smiling at me was actually something immensely painful for him.