Nightfall

Four people paddled two boats in the lake. It should have been a wonderful activity. Unfortunately, while Tang Xiaotang and Sangsang were in the same boat, all Chen Pipi could do was to share the other with Ning Que.

As the boat darted through the lotus field, Tang Xiaotang and Sangsang were chatting merrily about something in their hands. Looking straight ahead, Chen Pipi felt so sorry for the fact that he could not get closer to Xiaotang though he finally saved her from the clutches of his Third Senior Sister.

“What are they talking about?” asked Chen Pipi.

“I made several toys and objects out of the willow branches the other day.” Ning Que said, “I had not done it for years, but she was still fond of such things. She would certainly want to brag about it since she’s with a friend.”

Chen Pipi was slightly taken aback. Then he turned around, looking at Ning Que beside the oar, and said, “It doesn’t look like it, but you are actually so good at pleasing girls.”

“Do you think everyone is such a bastard as you are?” Ning Que said in a sarcastic tone, “It has been so many days. Haven’t you got the girl yet?”

Chen Pipi lowered his head out of a bit of shame, with his hands rubbing nervously. “Don’t talk nonsense,” he said.

Ning Que shook his head and sighed, “One can never know how thin-skinned you are from your big fat face.”

“It is the girl that is so thin-skinned.” Chen Pipi argued, his voice trailing off.

The boats sailed into the depths of the lotus field one after another. The traces left by the lightning storm and iron cans earlier had disappeared long ago. The green branches and round leaves extended far to the horizon, forming a scene that was quiet and beautiful.

There was no way to know where Sangsang and Tang Xiaotang’s boat was.

After laying down the wooden paddle, Ning Que walked into the canopy and handed a pot of wine to Chen Pipi. “Have you figured it out?” he whispered.

Chen Pipi took the wine pot. He took a careful sip of the wine and could not help frowning due to its spicy taste. After a long silence, he said, “How could such thing be figured out?”

“But you should know who you are.”

“Though you are always reluctant to speak frankly,” Ning Que said calmly, “and it’s still unknown to me whether you are the son of the Hierarch Lord or the abbey dean, you are, all in all, the pride and future of Haotian Taoism. Our teacher has raised you for so many years, but you will eventually have to go back.”

“Probably,” Chen Pipi said in disconsolation while looking at the 100-acre lotus field outside the boat.

“Tang Xiaotang belongs to the Devil’s Doctrine,” said Ning Que.

“What do you say about this?” Chen Pipi asked in low tones.

“Think of and do your own things.”

“I just want to remind you,” Ning Que said, “That if you are determined to return to Taoism, whether it is the West-Hill Divine Palace or the Divine Hall, it will be impossible for you to marry Tang Xiaotang.”

Chen Pipi looked up at him and asked, “Why did you choose Sangsang, but not the Calligraphy Addict?”

“This is a completely different pain from the one you’re experiencing now.”

Ning Que said frankly,”No matter who I choose, the worst that could happen me is just being laughed at and disdained, or to hurt another girl. But if you fail to make the right choice, or to set your mind, what is in store for you will be more than that. What is more, it will end even more badly for Tang Xiaotang.”

Chen Pipi frowned again. His round face, which was often sloppy and joyous, showed the unusual solemn look which finally turned to endless grief.

“It is going to rain.”

With knitted brows, he swallowed the wine in one gulp like drinking a pot of poison. “I will take her back to the Academy first,” he spoke with a little lisp.

As Ning Que poked his head out of the canopy, all he could see was the cloudless blue skies above the lotus field, without any sign of rain.

Chen Pipi patted his chest lightly and said sadly, “It is raining here… it is all your fault. We seldom hang out together, but you still mention such unpleasant things.”

…

…

The sky was clear, but there was a cold rain in Chen Pipi’s heart, who was always optimistic, making every corner of his heart moldy.

Ning Que felt pity for his Senior Brother. After sending away Tang Xiaotang and him, Ning Que sat by the window of the study and could not help feeling sad when recalling what Chen Pipi had said on the boat.

At this time, the wind from the south bank of the Yanming Lake, rustling the lotus leaves in the lake and dishevelling the willows on the bank, went around the thick trunk of the old trees and poured into the study.

Sangsang sat in a chair, holding a cup of herbal tea in her hand. Her eyes squinted as the wind off the lake blew into the window. “It really looks like rain,” she said.

As the little handmaiden finished her words, the rain began pitter-pattering.

The falling rain drops washed away the summer heat of the trees in the courtyard, which soon became wet.

“I didn’t expect that it was really going to rain.”

Ning Que took the cup from her hand and drank the remaining tea to moisten his dry throat caused by worrying about his friend.

Staring at the empty cup, Ning Que asked, “What did Tang Xiaotang say?”

With arms holding her thin legs and her chin putting on the knees, she indulged in the reminiscences of the conversation on the boat in the lotus field. “Tangtang said she does not know,” she said.

Ning Que was slightly surprised. He asked, “Is that all?”

“She said that she’s got to ask what her brother thought of it first.”

When he thought of the terrifying powerhouse in the Devil’s Doctrine who wore a fur coat and was like a rock, Ning Que suddenly sensed that the lake wind from outside the window was a bit cold and thus felt more pity for Chen Pipi.

As it rained more and more heavily, the summer heat was quickly washed away and the water collected on the lawn was increasing, which formed several narrow brooks running towards the Yanming Lake.

“Ten thousand rivers flow into the sea. It is the law of nature.”

Ning Que sighed with emotion.

Upon hearing this, Sangsang raised her head and looked at him with a face of bewilderment, not knowing what he meant.

“I mean, as to some things, all we can do is to worry passively, with no way to change them. We can only silently let them develop and give some blessings at most.”

Looking at the showers outside the window, he added, “Just like it is going to rain, or the little lady is going to marry.”

Sangsang became thoughtful, holding her legs tighter.

Silence reigned in the courtyard. There was no more talking, only the pitter-patter.

At the moment, there suddenly came a loud rat-a-tat on the front door of the house.

“Rain, rain, rain. Good! Now it really rains.”

“Do you not have an umbrella?”

“This is the will of Haotian. You two just stay here overnight, but don’t expect me to lend you an umbrella.”

“Sangsang and I have set the rule since childhood that anything even our lives can be borrowed except two objects.”

“Money and umbrella.”

The knock in the front yard was getting louder and quicker. Obviously, the visitor was getting increasingly annoyed by the heavy rain, trying to express his or her strong dissatisfaction through the knocks.

Ning Que, however, did not care. Like his Eldest Brother, he strolled idly toward the door and kept teasing the visitor.

“Why can’t we lend the umbrella? Hey, it is a long story, so I wonder if you are interested in it. But you should not leave just now… Oh my God! Why are you here?”

…

…

As he opened the door, Ning Que stopped nagging abruptly. He looked out of the door, with his mouth opened and his hands holding on the heavy door, so stunned as if being struck by lightning.

At the moment, he felt that he was really struck by lightning.

Outside the door were not Chen Pipi and Tang Xiaotang.

Instead, it was a maiden Taoist priest in a blue Taoist robe.

She was soaked, with the large blue robe clinging to her skin and her messy, wet hair clung to her forehead, making her look rather pathetic.

In her hand was a Taoist whisk, the end of which in her left arm was dripping constantly.

Anyway, it was quite pathetic to look like a drowned rat. Therefore, her eyes were filled with a bit of anger and shame, rather than the previous indifference and pride.

However, in fact, she was not embarrased at all. She was still so beautiful despite her pale face running with water and her eyes full of anger.

Because she was one of the three most beautiful maidens recognized by the world.

As the door was opened, a bedraggled pretty maiden in the heavy shower came into view. Her cheeks were pale and hair was a little messy, making her look weak and pitiful. Ning Que suddenly recalled many beautiful stories of Liao Zhai and a song about how beautiful she was played in his head on repeat.

Ning Que believed that the pretty maiden outside the door was definitely more powerful and beautiful than those fox demons in Liao Zhai.

But he was not tempted by her.

Because he did not want to die.

He did not even want to see her.

Though he was much more powerful now, he did not want to see her.

So his first response was to shut the door.

However, when he was trying as hard as he could to close the two heavy doors at an unprecedented speed, he found the doors were many times heavier than before.

Because the maiden priest in the rain put her hand on the door.

Ning Que could not imagine how much blood he would bleed under her Taoist Sword if he had really pinched her hand in the doors and caused her to bleed, but he did not stop closing the door.

When the two heavy doors were going to pinch the maiden’s hand,

A light ray suddenly emerged from the wet thin hand.

A gust of wind started at the gate of the courtyard, suddenly halting the shower pouring into the courtyard.

The light, yet powerful aura spurted out from her palm instantly evaporated the rain on the palm surface and a tiny green leaf, and then shattered everything it touched.

A loud clunking noise came from the gate of the courtyard.

The people in the distant city of Chang’an, while sheltering from the rain under the eaves, looked to the Yanming Lake where the sound came from, wondering if anyone was struck by such a deafening thunder.

…

…

No one died.

Only two doors were destroyed.

Looking at the big breach on the door, Ning Que felt like weeping but had no tears.

The sawdust splattered from the courtyard door spilled all over him, including his face. There were still lots of sawdust left on him despite the washing of the rain, making him look extremely pathetic.

As he was watching the fresh smelling sawdust gradually turning from white to gray in the rain and thinking about the money he had spent for the two doors, the look on his face became extremely painful.

He looked up at the pretty maiden priest soaked in the rain, his body trembling with pain, and shouted with anger, “Ye Hongyu, you’ll pay me the door!”

…