by RWX
Both children were so frightened that they started crying and ran back to their grandmother.
Yan Nanfei was also stunned. He stared at Fu Hongxue in bewilderment.
Fu Hongxue’s sabre was already back in its sheath. His face was expressionless.
Yan Nanfei suddenly laughed coldly. “Now I know. Other than killing, your sabre has one more function.”
Fun Hongxue said, “Oh?”
Yan Nanfei said, “You also use your sabre to frighten children.”
Fu Hongxue replied coldly, “I only scare one type of children.”
Yan Nanfei asked, “Which type?”
Fu Hongxue answered, “The type that kills.”
Yan Nanfei was stunned once more, and turned his back slowly. The old lady was backing away with the two children. The children were no longer crying; their eyes were wide open, and they were glaring at Yan Nanfei.
It was as though their glare was filled with murderous intentions and hatred.
Yan Nanfei lowered his head. His heart beginning to sink. His eyes fell on the cakes on the ground. There were reflective bits inside the cakes.
He picked up one of the halves, and found a mechanised hollow tube filled with [Five-Poison Needles].
He suddenly leaped up like a bird, and landed in front of the old lady. “You are the Ghostly Granny?”
The old lady laughed. The wrinkled and shrivelled face, suddenly became evil and cruel. “You’ve heard of me. Now, that is unexpected.”
Yan Nanfei gazed at her for a long time, and said calmly, “You do know that I have a habit.”
Ghostly Granny said, “What habit is it?”
Yan Nanfei answered, “I never kill women.”
Ghostly Granny laughed. “It’s a good habit to have.”
Yan Nanfei said, “You may be old, but you are still women.”
Ghostly Granny let out a breath, and said, “It’s too bad for you that you’ve never seen me when I was still young, or else….
Yan Nanfei interrupted coldly, “… I would have still killed you.”
Ghostly Granny said, “I seem to recall you just mentioning that you never killed women.”
Yan Nanfei said, “You are an exception.”
Ghostly Granny asked, “Why am I an exception?”
Yan Nanfei said, “Children are pure and innocent. You should not have used them. You’ve wrecked their lives…”
Ghostly Granny smiled again. Her smile was chilling, “Granny loves the children, and the children love to help their Granny with her work. What business is it of yours?”
Yan Nanfei shut his mouth.
He was no longer bear to discuss this matter. His hand was already griping his sword sword.
A bright red sword, red as fresh blood!
Ghostly Granny cackled in laughter. “Other people are afraid of your Wild Rose Sword, but I…”
She didn’t finish her sentence, but threw a bag of sugared pastries heavily on the ground.
There was a suddenly clap of thunderous explosion. There was dust flying high, acrid smoke everywhere and sparks flying about.
Yan Nanfei leaped into the air and somersaulted two feet back.
By the time the smoke dispersed and the dust settled, Ghostly Granny and the two children had vanished. There was however, a large hole left in the ground.
A crowd gathered around to watch, but soon scattered.
Yan Nanfei was still standing there, shell-shocked. After a good while, he turned and faced Fu Hongxue.
Fu Hongxue was as cold as snow.
Yan Nanfei let out a long sigh, and said, “You are right once again.”
Fu Hongxue said, “I’m rarely wrong.”
Yan Nanfei said, “The children are innocent. They must have been kidnapped by Ghostly Granny when they were tiny.”
In the dark of the night, and babies in cloth bundles…
A shrivelled old lady knocking on the door in the middle of the night…
Grieving parents, pitiful children…
Yan Nanfei said sorrowfully, “She must had used all kinds of methods to have taught the children nothing but evil and hatred from a young and tender age.”
Fu Hongxue said, “That’s why you should not have let escape.”
Yan Nanfei said, “I did not suspect that fire seeds from Jiangnan’s Thunderclap Hall could be hidden in that the bag of sugared pastries.”
Fu Hongxue said, “You should have thought of that possibility. If the cakes could contain the [Five-Poison Needles], they could also contain the [Thunderclap Seed].”
Yan Nanfei asked, “You expected something like this would occur?”
Fu Hongxue did not deny it.
Yan Nanfei asked, “Since you are of the opinion that that I should not have let her go, why didn’t you strike her down?”
Fu Hongxue answered coldly, “That is because her target was you, not me. Besides, I never expect you to be so dumb.”
Yan Nanfei looked intently at him, and laughed bitterly. “Perhaps it is not that I’m too dumb, but it is that you are too sharp.”
Fu Hongxue, “Oh?”
Yan Nanfei said, “Right to this very moment, I still find it hard to understand how you detect the toxic mist amidst the smoke and the poisonous snakes in the saddle?”
Fu Hongxue was silent for a long time. He calmly said, “There are many ways to kill a person. Assassination is but one of them, and yet this way of killing is the most fearsome of them all.
Yan Nanfei answered, “I know that.”
Fu Hongxue continued, “Then do you know how many assassination methods are there?”
Yan Nanfei answered, “I don’t know.”
Fu Hongxue asked again, “Do you know how many people in the last three centuries have died undeserved deaths because of successful assassinations?”
Yan Nanfei answered, “I don’t know.”
Fu Hongxue said, “At least 538 people.”
Yan Nanfei asked, “You counted?”
Fu Hongxue replied, “I counted. It took me seven years of time and effort to get this exact number.”
Yan Nanfei could not stop himself from asking the obvious question, “Why did you waste so much time to find the exact answer to this trivial question?”
Fu Hongxue replied, “If I had not taken the trouble to do so, I would have already died at least ten times , and you three times.”
Yan Nanfei let out a small breath. He was going to say something, but stopped himself.
Fu Hongxue continued “These 538 people that I mentioned, they were all highly skilled members of the pugilistic fraternity. They were all killed by people who were normally not their match in martial arts.”
Yan Nanfei said, “They only succeed because the assassination methods were so lowly and ingenious.”
Fu Hongxue nodded. “There may have been 538 deaths, but there were only 483 assassins.”
Yan Nanfei said, “Some were victims of the same assassin.”
Fu Hongxue nodded again. “Also, different assassins might shared the similar methods.”
Yan Nanfei said, “I would have imagine so.”
Fu Hongxue said, “In all, the assassins had used 227 different methods.”
Yan Nanfei said, “It goes without saying that these 227 methods must be the most malicious and ingenious.”
Fu Hongxue replied, “Obviously so.”
Yan Nanfei asked, “Of these, how many of them do you know?”
Fu Hongxue answered, “227.”
Yan Nanfei let out another breath, and said, “Originally, I know none of these methods.”
Fu Hongxue said, “At the very least, you now know three of them.”
Yan Nanfei answered, “More than three methods!”
Fu Hongxue, “More than three methods?”
Yan Nanfei smiled, “Do you know the number of assassination attempts I had survived in the last six months?”
Fu Hongxue shook his head.
Yan Nanfei said, “39 attempts, no
t counting the three that you witnessed.”
Fu Hongxue asked, “Their methods were all different?”
Yan Nanfei replied, “Not only were they totally different, they all came unexpected. But I’m still alive today.”
It was now Fu Hongxue’s turn to be speechless.
Yan Nanfei laughed and walked into a small road that was intersecting the major street that they were on. There was a high mansion. There were floral scents emitting from the upper floors.
What floral scent was it?
Could it be that of wild roses?
There was a high mansion.
There were windows in the mansion.
There was moon outside the window.
There were flowers beneath the moon.
Flowers were wild roses.
The moon was bright moon.
There was no lamp. The moonlight came in from the window, and shone at the wild roses that were beside Yan Nanfei.
He had more than wild roses by his side, he also have a person pricked by wild roses.
Tonight, of all nights..
The moon is like a liquid, two people leaning on each other.
There were countless burdens to be shared.
There were never-ending words of love to be said.
The night was deep, and men were getting intoxicated.
Yan Nanfei was however very much alert, his eyes were still clear as the bright moon. But the expression on his face seemed as though he had been pricked by the thorns of wild roses.
Wild roses had thorns, but what about the bright moon? The bright moon did have a heart, that was why the moon would lend its rays to illuminate manknd. The name of this lady was *Mingyue Xin.
[*Mingyue Xin literally translates as “Heart of the Bright Moon”. She is a recurring character, and the moon is often used as a pun/metaphor for her. Keep this in mind henceforth when the “bright moon” or “the heart of the bright moon” comes up. The author may be just be literally describing about the bright moon hanging in the sky. Then again, the author may actually be referring to Mingyue Xin.]
The deeper the night,
The clearer the moon,
The more beautiful she is,
However, the expression on his face was even more hurt.
She gazed intently at him for a long time. Finally she had to break the silence. She whispered, “What is in your mind?”
Yan Nanfei remained quiet for a long time, before he answered softly, “I’m thinking of people. Two people in particular.”
Mingyue Xin’s voice was even gentler now, “Am I one of the two?
Yan Nanfei answered, “No.”
His voice became ice-cold, “You are not either of the two people I’m thinking of.”
The beauty was pricked once again, but she did not withdraw. She asked, “Who are they then?”
Yan Nanfei answered, “One of them is Fu Hongxue.”
Mingyue Xin asked, “Fu Hongxue? The person who was waiting for you at Phoenix Settlement?”
Yan Nanfei nodded.
Mingyue Xin asked, “He is your enemy, isn’t he?”
Yan Nanfei answered, “No.”
Mingyue Xin asked, “Is he your friend then?”
Yan Nanfei said, “No, he’s not my friend either.”
He suddenly laughed, and said, “You’d never guess in a million years why he was waiting for me at Phoenix Settlement.”
Mingyue Xin asked, “Why was he waiting for you?
Yan Nanfei said, “He was waiting to kill me.”
Mingyue Xin let out a small breath, and said, “But he didn’t kill you.”
Yan Nanfei was still smiling, but his expression was mocking, “Not only did he not kill me, he even saved me three times.”
Mingyue Xin sighed once more, and said, “We women will never understand these kind of men.”
Yan Nanfei said, “Woman don’t understand man in the first place.”
Mingyue Xin turned her head towards the window and stared at the moon hanging outside the window. She asked, “Who else were you thinking of?”
Yan Nanfei’s expression turned from gibe back to pain, and said slowly, “A man I want to kill, but I know I would never be able to kill him.”
Seeing his pain, her eyes dimmed; even the moon outside also dimmed.
A dark cloud floated quietly across the sky, and covered the moon.
She got up silently, and whispered, “I’m leaving now, you should be sleeping soon.”
Yan Nanfei did not raise his head. “You are leaving?”
Mingyue Xin said, “I know that I should be with you when you are feeling down, but…”
“But you had to leave anyway, even though this room is amongst the *wind and dust, you had never allowed guests to stay overnight. You are giving me face by letting me remain here,” Yan Nanfei interrupted.
[*“Wind and Dust” is a euphemistic term referring to prostitution. Yan Nanfei’s present location can be left to the reader’s imagination.]
Mingyue Xin looked at him, and her eyes also began to show the pain. She suddenly turned around, and said, “Perhaps I never should have asked you to stay. Perhaps you never should have come.” Her voice was calm, yet not without a hint of resentment.
Man in an empty room. The empty room thicked with loneliness. Outside the window, raindrops was like the chord of a qin. It was slowly nearing, louder and denser.
The rain was heavy and came very fast. The wild roses on the balcony were ravaged by the torrent of raindrops.
Across the street, at the corner, there stood a man who could not be ravaged. Nothing could devastate him; not his person, not his determination.
When Yan Nanfei pushed open the windows, he saw this man.
“He’s still here,” Yan Nanfei mumbled to himself. The storm was worsening, but this man stood there, motionless. Even if the raindrops were like hundreds and thousands of little daggers raining down on him, he would not retreat. Other than smiling bitterly to himself, Yan Nanfei had no other appropriate response to this sight. “Fu Hongxue, Fu Hongxue, what kind of a human are you?”
There was a slight breeze, and the raindrops hit his face. They were cold, and their chill wormed their way into his heart.
However, there was a sudden rush of hot blood in his heart. Pounding hard with emotion, it rushed through the icy raindrops, over the high wall and falling in front of Fu Hongxue.
Fu Hongxue seemed far away. It was as though he wasn’t experiencing this downpour, and didn’t see Yan Nanfei.
Yan Nanfei was only under the rain for a short while, but his clothes were quickly drenched through. But if Fu Hongxue remained silent, so would he as well.
Fu Hongxue’s gaze fell on him at last. He said coldly, “It’s raining heavily outside.”
Yan Nanfei said, “I know.”
Fu Hongxue continued, “You should not have come out.”
Yan Nanfei laughed, and asked, “If you can be standing under the pouring rain, why cannot I do the same?”
Fu Hongxue only said three words, “You certainly can.”
With that, he turned his gaze away. It was obvious that he was terminating the conversation.
But Yan Nanfei refused to let the dialogue end. He continued speaking, “Of course I can stand under the rain. Anybody has the right to stand under the rain if he so chooses.”
Fu Hongxue was silent. He was again as though he was physically somewhere far far away.
Yan Nanfei yelled, “But I didn’t come out here specially to get drenched.”
His voice was just too loud. It was even louder than the hundreds of thousands of raindrops that were hitting the tiled rooftop.
Fu Hongxue was undoubtedly not deaf. He finally asked nonchalantly, “Then what are you doing outside?”
Yan Nanfei said, “I want to tell you something. A secret.”
Fu Hongxue’s eyes brightened. “You are now prepared to tell me?”
Yan Nanfei nodded. Fu Hongxue asked, “But you were originall
y intending to take that secret to your grave?”
Yan Nanfei nodded in admission, and said, “I had made up my mind not to tell anybody, ever.”
Fu Hongxue asked, “Then why are you telling me now?” Yan Nanfei stared at him, at the raindrops on his face, at his pale face, and answered, “I’m going to tell you now, because I’ve suddenly realized one thing.”
Fu Hongxue said, “And what is that?”
Yan Nanfei laughed. He said, unconcerned, “You are not human. Not human at all.”
Chapter 4 - The Thumb of the Black Hand
What was he then, if not human? Was he a wild animal? Ghost or demon? Block of wood? Or immortal Buddha?
Perhaps, not any of that. It merely was the uncannily ability to perform deeds that were beyond the limits of normal beings and at the same time able to endure far more than any normal being.
Yan Nanfei had a very good explanation, “Even if you are human, you are at the most an inhuman human.”
Fu Hongxue smiled, he actually smiled. Although he did not laugh out loud, his eyes did indeed have the hint of laughter.
This was already something very rare, like a ray of sunshine suddenly appearing in middle of a violent storm.
Yan Nanfei looked at him and suddenly sighed, “What I didn’t expect is that an inhuman human like you could also smile.”
Fu Hongxue quipped, “Not only could smile, but could listen as well.”
Yan Nanfei said, “Then, just follow me.”
Fu Hongxue asked, “Where to?”
Yan Nanfei replied, “To somewhere without rain, to somewhere with wine”
In the small mansion, there was wine and there were bright lights. In such a chilly cold rainy night, it might be even warmer than Fu Hongxue’s smile. But Fu Hongxue only lifted his head and with a single look, the laughter in his eyes immediately froze.
He coldly said, “This place might be for you but it is not for me.”
Yan Nanfei said, “You are not going in?”
“Certainly not”, Fu Hongxue replied.
Yan Nanfei said, “If I can go in, why can’t you do the same?”
Fu Hongxue said, “Because you are not me, and I am not you.”
It was because you are not me, you would never understand my pain and sufferings.
This was left unspoken, neither was there the need. Yan Nanfei had seen his pain, his face was already distorted with this pain.