Chapter 77 — Entering the Manor (Bonus Update for 600 Pink Votes)

The moment she heard that voice, Bie Sulan snatched up the cleaver from the cutting board and charged out.

"Shimei, shimei!" the man in the brown robe called to her in alarm, yet he moved light as a swallow, and no matter how she chopped, she could not so much as graze the hem of his robe.

Bie Suxin came out and called her sister to order in a low voice: "Stop that at once."

Bie Sulan lowered the cleaver and stood sulkily at her sister's side, pouting. "It's all his fault!" she muttered. "If not for him, why would Father have been thrown in jail..." Her eyes reddened, and she wiped at them with her sleeve.

The man in brown was ashamed and mortified. "Shimei, I've wronged you both. I know nothing I say will help. I—I only came to look in on the old master and bring you a few things." With that, he set two strips of cured pork on a nearby stone bench, drew a bulging coin purse of coarse blue cloth from his breast, laid it beside the meat, and turned to go.

"Chen Shixiong, wait." Bie Suxin stepped forward and picked up the purse. "We appreciate your kindness, but Father bears you no grudge. We'll keep the meat; take the money back. Your own family is none too well off—you still have your mother and young sister to support. How could we take your silver?" And she tossed the purse back to him.

Chen Shixiong fumbled to catch it, then without a word set it on the ground and turned to leave.

Bie Suxin picked it up and caught him in a few strides, urging him to take the money with him. Chen Shixiong stubbornly refused. She tried to stuff the purse into his sleeve; he blocked her with his elbow. Back and forth they went, until it came to blows.

Chen Shixiong was quick and powerful, yet his movements were as natural and fluid as flowing water; Bie Sulan was light and airy, like drifting petals and falling leaves. As the two wheeled and leaped, the sight was a pleasure to behold.

The others indoors had followed Bie Suxin out the moment she pushed the door open. Now they stood beneath the eaves watching, and could only gape. Dou Yan in particular: "I never knew Suxin had martial skill," she murmured. "She looks so pale and delicate, while Sulan is sturdy and strong—I assumed only Sulan had trained under Curator Bie..."

Chen Yanzhou smiled. "Both sisters trained under Curator Bie. He used to say that a girl who learns a trick or two of martial arts can hold her own even in a quarrel with her husband—she won't come off the worse. Otherwise, why would that Shan Jie have needed the power of the authorities to force Curator Bie to bow his head?" At this he thought of the Bie family's plight and heaved a long sigh.

Learn letters and martial arts alike, and sell them to the emperor's house.

Dou Yi sighed as well.

Chen Yanzhou stepped forward and shouted, "Enough!"

The two broke apart at once.

Only then did Dou Ci notice that this Chen Shixiong was full of spirited vigor and handsome of face.

He came forward a few steps, bowed to Chen Yanzhou, and respectfully addressed him as "Uncle Chen"—clearly well acquainted with him.

Chen Yanzhou glanced at the tassel of the purse dangling from his sleeve and smiled. "In the matter of Curator Bie, you are guilty of poor judgment, but do not blame yourself too much. In the end it was Shan Jie who was too base and shameless. If your heart is uneasy, come by when you have leisure and help the sisters with rough work—there's no need to bring money. Your family is not well off either."

Chen Shixiong's face flushed to the ears. "I've already quit the Shan household. After the New Year I'll be running armed escort with Cripple Chen. I'm afraid I won't be home for the next few years..."

Bie Suxin's expression shifted. "You're going beyond the pass on escort with Cripple Chen? Do you know what kind of escorts Cripple Chen runs? Few who go with him come back alive—and you're your family's only son!" Quick as lightning, she plucked the purse from his sleeve. "No wonder you suddenly had money..." She loosened the drawstring, revealing four gleaming silver ingots.

"It's not with Cripple Chen," Chen Shixiong protested in embarrassment. "It's with some other men..."

But Bie Suxin would not let him gloss over it. Her face grew stern. "If not with Cripple Chen, where would you get so much money? How many years of a life-and-death contract did you sign with him?" Her manner turned grave. "Chen Shixiong, if we knew the money you gave us was your life's blood, do you think we could take it in peace?"

Chen Shixiong lowered his head and murmured, "I know... I've no other skills... The master said never to use martial arts against others. Apart from a bit of boxing and kicking, I know nothing else..."

Bie Suxin simply told him: "Father has already entrusted me and my sister to the Dou family's Fourth Miss. Shixiong need not worry about us."

"Entrusted to the Dou family's Fourth Miss?" Chen Shixiong froze, then cried out, "Entrusted? In what way entrusted?"

Bie Suxin put it tactfully: "We are to attach ourselves to the Fourth Miss."

"How can that be, how can that be!" Chen Shixiong was frantic with agitation, his face red. "How could the master let you go be someone's bondservants!"

Fearing Dou Yan might take offense, Bie Suxin hurriedly glanced at her, and seeing Dou Yan smile at her in understanding, she was reassured.

By then Chen Shixiong was already shouting, "Shimei, you can't go! You—you... why not just marry me? My mother would care for you and our young shimei properly, and I would protect you both and never let anyone covet you again..."

Everyone in the courtyard was struck dumb.

Dou Yan could not help grumbling inwardly.

This Chen Shixiong looked to be twenty-two or twenty-three—how could he be so naive as to think that once a woman married, no one would cast a covetous eye on her! Perhaps when Shan Jie saw that Bie Suxin had married a commoner with neither power nor influence, he would plague her all the more. Why else would some of the noble young lords of the capital take pride in carrying on with married women?

Bie Suxin was mortified beyond words, and Bie Sulan fairly jumped up. "Chen Lanxu, have you lost your mind? My sister would never marry you! You can't even beat my sister..."

So this was Chen Lanxu!

Dou Yan watched with interest as his face turned red as a bolt of cloth. "I, I..." he stammered for a long while without managing a word, until Chen Yanzhou came to his rescue: "Marriage is a matter for life. How can it be treated as child's play? Since you're here, come in and have a cup of tea!"

Chen Lanxu did not dare look at the Bie sisters. Head down, he followed Chen Yanzhou into the firewood shed.

Bie Gangyi lay motionless on the bed; but for the faint rise and fall of his chest, he might have been dead.

Chen Lanxu kowtowed to Bie Gangyi.

Bie Suxin was plainly worried that Chen Lanxu's one-sided ardor would leave her in an awkward position. After he had kowtowed to her father, she solemnly introduced Dou Yan to him: "This is the Dou family's Fourth Miss. Father was able to leave prison entirely because the Fourth Miss spoke for him before the elders of her house, and so he escaped danger. Father feared Shan Jie would not give up and would keep pestering us, so he entrusted us sisters to the Fourth Miss. The Fourth Miss is kind and generous, and wished to keep us sisters safe—that is why she took us in."

Chen Lanxu had noticed Dou Yan earlier. He had thought only that this young girl, plainly dressed yet uncommon in bearing, commanded respect, and wondered who she was in the Bie household; since Bie Suxin and Chen Yanzhou had not introduced her, he had not dared look too long. Now he could not help gazing at her.