Chapter 3

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Just a Straight Road – Part 3

Jiu Xing is the son of a condemn official whose whole family is waiting to be executed as ordered by the late Emperor. When the Emperor died and his son ascended the throne, their family is granted amnesty such that his father will be banished to the border instead, while his son will serve Xu Zhi for 10 years as her a.s.sistant. His father nearly cried when he heard the news and has instructed Jiu Xing to serve Xu Zhi well so as to atone for their sins.

So what does it mean to serve Xu Zhi well? Jiu Xing has done his homework and asked around. As her a.s.sistant, he is expected to look after all aspects of her well-being, from clothing, food, accommodation and transport. But from some sarcastic remarks he overheard, Jiu Xing feared that one of his duties may include … being a bed partner.

Should he be grateful, if that happens, that Xu Zhi is at least female?

He has not known this before joining Xu Zhi, but members of the Xu family are free to marry whomever they wish, without fear of any royal interference. And in the open Xi Xuan society where people generally accept the idea of male “pets”, what if he ends up being one? He has noticed that Jiang Jiu sometimes leaves his room in the middle of the night. Where did he go? Is his destination Xu Zhi’s bed chamber?

Today, Jiu Xing follows Da Gu Niang gingerly to the library and sees her checking some coin banks and their contents. Just like every day, she finds 2 coins with the same engraving and 3 that are different. When she straightens and spots him, she frowns. “Who allowed you to come in?”

“Jiang Jiu has given instructions that Da Gu Niang must be accompanied whenever you come to the library.” He swears that he doesn’t want to be here either, especially after he overheard her saying that this room is haunted. He recognizes the antiques lying around the room – he used to be a rich man’s son afterall – but unlike the antiques he has seen, the things here seem more dusty, dull and …. ancient. He tries to interject some positivity in their interaction by showing his willingness to learn. “Da Gu Niang, what is this?”

From habit, Xu Zhi will answer any question from anyone so long as she knows the answer. “These are coin banks from Little Zhou dynasty and are a few hundred years old. They are very special because there are engravings on them that depict how people live at that time. See, you can tell from this piece that this guy is a hunter and this is how they dressed at that time. This piece has 17 figurines, each with distinct features. Aren’t they amazing?”

Jiu Xing approaches the coin banks carefully and finds that he can indeed see the details she mentioned. However, his interest fades like sunlight at dusk when Xu Zhi starts to talk about “disappearing men from the engravings” and “images that no one else can see”.

He helps move a heavy ladder at her request so that she can retrieve something from a high shelf. She pa.s.ses him a folder so she can climb down the ladder unenc.u.mbered, but it is so heavy, he nearly drops it. When she is a few steps away from the last rung, there is a sudden flutter of wind and billowing sleeves as Xu Zhi falls towards him.

For a moment, Jiu Xing thought that this is it – he is going to get bedded in a library– and says a quick prayer for his chast.i.ty. But when he realizes that Xu Zhi is actually trying to stop falling, he throws the folder aside and tries to help. The contents of the folder flutters in the air as sheets of parchment scatter all around. But he is unsuccessful and she falls anyway. At the last moment, she wraps her arms around her head – she can live with anything else so long as the single-most important organ in her body is protected – and thuds to the ground.

As she lands, the heavy ladder wobbles and crashes down on her. At the most precarious moment, Tong Mo appears from nowhere and squeezes in between Xu Zhi and the ladder, saving Xu Zhi from the worse of the damage.

While all these are happening in the library, a dance performance is happening at another part of the house. Zhou Wen Wu watches the performance with a cynical eys as he tries to come to terms with his current status. The performance is a bland mix of movement and music – not meant to incite any strong reaction from their audience – and he takes it as a hint that he is suppose to live an equally bland existence. As a kept man, he suppose he can watch a show if he is asked to watch, just like he is to go to bed with Xu Zhi if he is asked to.

Mocking at himself, he tells himself over and over that if he can survive living with the people who murdered his mother, what else can he not endure? Besides, he must live on. Live on, and be around to witness the downfall of the wretched Xu Zhi and Zhou Wen Cheng! He figures that Xu Zhi has yet to learn that Zhou Wen Cheng only allow virgins in his bed, and he cannot wait for the day to see her face when finds out she can never be one of his brother’s woman.

From the corner of his eye, he sees a servant whispering something to Jiang Jiu that make the latter turn pale before leaving the room hurriedly. Suspecting that something could have happened to Xu Zhi, Zhou Wen Wu quickly follows him to the library where he finds an injured Xu Zhi sitting on the floor together with Tong Mo. The latter seems to be the more badly injured person among the two but when Bai Hua appears with a bowl of medicine, the medicine turns out to be for Xu Zhi which she drinks as if it is routine occurrence. Suspicious, he asks: “Xu Zhi, what medicine are you drinking? Are you sick?”

“Are you happy if I say I am?” Xu Zhi reply is languid but when she looks up and sees that Zhou Wen Wu is wearing the mask, she pushes Bai Hua aside and walks over to examine the mask more closely.

A slew of questions explode in her head. The mask does not look scary on him. Is there are mask like this for woman? If so, why has it not been pa.s.sed down? Why are there no records of such a giant bird? Why…? “Ah Wu, you actually look quite good in the mask.”

Zhou Wen Zhou thinks that she is mocking him and tells her off, since she should know better than anyone why he is hiding his face. When she lifts a hand to touch the mask, he mistakes that she is trying to touch him and backs away. He notices that she is holding a bit of parchment in her hand and s.n.a.t.c.hes it from her. “What is this? A drawing of spring planting?”

She leans over to look at the drawing “Yes.”

When she tries to take it back , he did not let go and tears it to pieces instead. He has no intention of making her life easy when she is bent on making life h.e.l.l for him.“Xu Zhi, the more you want it, the more I’m not giving it to you.”

When he feels her hands gently wrapping around his fists, he is stunned into relaxing his grip. Taking the shreds from his hands, she squats on the floor and starts a.s.sembling the pieces together while calls out for ink.

When she is finished, Zhou Wen Wu experiences a wave of inferiority at her speed in to piecing back a pciture within seconds when she has only taken a cursory look at the original picture. But as she stares at the drawing and starts muttering about disappearing people and other stuff, he wonders instead if she has gone crazy and shoots Jiang Jiu a look as if asking if askiing for his confirmation

Jiang Jiu pretends that he did not see him and spreads some paper on the table. Bai Hua reappears with some ink and Xu Zhi walks over to the table and draws on the paper in earnest. Under her sure strokes, small figurines quickly appear on the paper as they plant crops in a field beneath a hill. When she has replicated the drawing, she muses to herself. “It does not matter if he can remove images from the coins. Too bad he does not know that once I have seen something, no one will be able remove the image from my head.”

Zhou Wen Wu thinks back to her earlier conversation with Jiang Jiu “Are you referring to the thief?”

“If you say he is a thief, so be it.”

Unconvinced, Zhou Wen Wu scans the library. The floor is littered with paper and some of them appear to be shredded. Based on the clean cuts, he is sure the paper are cut or sliced by a sharp object, which is queer because these are paper that should have been scattered from the folder when it was dropped. When and how did the paper get cut? Knowing how important Xu Zhi is to the royal family, he turns to her. “Does the Emperor know about this?”

“Why should he know?”

Xu Zhi turns to leave and is stopped at the door by a performer from the music/dance troop. The performer has been trying to catch her eye and has followed Jiang Jiu to the library. He asks Xu Zhi if they should continue their music and dance but Xu Zhi does not reply as she studies the embroidery on his costume. She is trying to pinpoint if the motif is from Nan Ling or Xi Xuan, but it is difficult to tell as most of the embroidery is obscured by a thin layer of chiffon. Her eyes trail down to follow the embroidery as it extends below his waist and she is about to kneel down to take a closer look when Zhou Wen Wu grabs her by the elbow. “Xu Zhi! What are you kneeling for?!”

Unlike his bellow, Jiu Xing words are a stammer. “Da Gu Niang, this is the library afterall. It is unseemly to paw and totally beneath your n.o.ble upbringing…”

A funny expression crosses Jiang Jiu’s face while Bai Hua is so indignant at his words, that her whole face is flushed. “What are you two talking about?! Da Gu Niang is only trying to look… to look…”

Jiang Jiu comes to the rescue. “Da Gu Niang, are you trying to see the embroidery on his costume?”

Ignoring all the looks around her, Xu Zhi straightens. She starts to question the performer on the origin of their performance, their costume, and when she learns that it is inspired by a Nan Ling performing group who is currently performing in the capital at Bao Yuan Lou, something crossed her mind and she turns to Jiang Jiu. “Go find Scholar Yan and says that I am inviting him to Bao Yuan Lou for a short meet.”

Although it is not uncommon for Xu Zhi to hang out with scholars, Jiang Jiu mulls over her invitation to meet a man at an entertainment venue. “Da Gu Niang, I think I willl issue the invitation under my name instead.”

“See as you deem fit.” Xu Zhi starts to leave but someone is still holding on to her elbow. Following the hand on her elbow, she sees a man with a mask behind her. Eyes gleaming, all sorts of possibilities crossed her mind. “Ah Wu, do join us at Bao Yuan Lou too .”

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