Chu Liuxiang

"I did," Hei Zhenzhu replied.

Chu Liuxiang"s eye socket was about to burst; grasping Hei Zhenzhu"s shoulders forcefully, he hissed, "Unexpectedly you can watch her being killed? You … don"t you have a heart?"

Hei Zhenzhu"s shoulders were nearly crushed by him, but he clenched his teeth and stayed unmovable. Although teardrops were about to fall from his eyes, his mouth still spoke coldly, "So what if I saw it? You did not ask me to protect her. Besides, I practically did not know her. Whether she is dead or alive, what does it have to do with me?"

Chu Liuxiang stared at her [sic; for some reason, I always feel that Hei Zhenzhu was a girl, although perhaps it was a typo here (Chinese has different characters for "he" and "she")]; his palms slowly loosened, his body swayed, he nearly fell down. Finally he plopped down on his b.u.t.ts - unexpectedly Su Rongrong has died!

Unexpectedly this incomparably intelligent, infinitely gentle and tender girl has died. He really could not believe it. He really could not believe that there was someone in the world who had the heart to make his move to kill her.

Hei Zhenzhu stared at Chu Liuxiang with his big eyes. Biting his lip, he said, "That woman was really this important to you?"

Chu Liuxiang hissed, "You will never know how important she is to me. I would rather have my body chopped by blades and torn apart than letting her suffered any harm."

Hei Zhenzhu was silent for half a day. Suddenly he was overcome by emotion; stomping his feet, he said, "You are solely engrossed in grieving for her, but I don"t need to be grieving for her, and you also have no right to force me to grieve for someone that I don"t even know; isn"t that right?"

Once again Chu Liuxiang jumped up and grabbed his shoulders, saying, "That"s right. You don"t need to grieve for her, but you must tell me, who killed her?"

Hei Zhenzhu"s chest moved up and down. It was half a day later that he spoke heavily, "She came yesterday evening to the pavilion over there, and looked in all directions. As soon as I saw her, I knew she was the one you were talking about. While I was thinking of coming over …"

"But you did not, did you?" Chu Liuxiang said sternly, "Otherwise, she would not have died."

"Before I came over," Hei Zhenzhu responded, "There were already four men coming to the pavilion. Those four unexpectedly appeared to know her, they talked to her for a moment, and she seemed to respond with smile on her face."

Chu Liuxiang immediately asked, "What did the four men look like?"

Hei Zhenzhu said, "I was quite some distance away from them, I could not even see their faces clearly, I could only see that they all wore green gown [orig. chang pao, traditional Chinese men"s robe], very garish looking."

Chu Liuxiang laughed coldly and said, "They were going to harm somebody, yet still wearing such a garish attire, there must be something fishy here."

"That"s right," Hei Zhenzhu replied, "They deliberately wanted other people to pay attention to their clothes, hence cannot possibly pay too much attention to their faces. Plus the clothes can be taken off at any time."

Chu Liuxiang said, "Since you also know this point, why didn"t you pay special attention …"

Hei Zhenzhu coldly cut him off, "This was something that came to my mind later. At that time, I am not an immortal, how would I know that they were going to kill her? I only saw that since the woman seemed to know them, naturally I did not pay any attention to them."

Chu Liuxiang sighed and asked, "How did they make their move?"

Hei Zhenzhu said, "Since they seemed to be chatting amiably, I did not wish to interfere even more. It seemed to me that the four men wanted her to come with them, but she shook her head, refusing to go. The four men were taking and gesticulating for a while, but after half a day, she was still shaking her head while laughing. The four seemed to be helpless; they cupped their fist as if they were taking their leave."

"And then what happened?" Chu Liuxiang could not help asking.

Hei Zhenzhu laughed coldly and said, "And then … there was no then. Right when they were cupping their fist, all four of them shot secret projectiles from their sleeves. The secret projectiles were both numerous and fast, plus they were shooting from a very close distance. Although the woman jumped up, she was still too late. I just heard a miserable cry; she was knocked over the railing and fell into the lake."

Chu Liuxiang"s voice trembled, "Those … those secret projectiles really … really hit her?"

Hei Zhenzhu said, "If they did not hit her, are you saying they ought to hit me instead?"

Clenching his teeth, Chu Liuxiang said, "You saw people were plotting against her, could it be … could it be …"

Hei Zhenzhu cried out, "What do you think I am? A wooden statue? I saw people plotting against her, naturally I was shocked. But by the time I rushed over, those four men in green robes have already disappeared without any trace. Although blood unceasingly rose up in the water, but not even the head of a corpse was to be seen."

Without waiting for him to finish, Chu Liuxiang already turned around and flew away.

Looking at his stronger-and-more-healthy-than-a-swallow figure, Hei Zhenzhu suddenly let out a faint sigh and said, "I never thought that such a staunch and cool-headed man could be grieving and is overwhelmed with emotion like this. The person who could make him grieving, although she is dead, she could be considered very lucky."

The railings of the Fengyu Pavilion [lit. wind and rain] have already been mended, the water of the lake under the railing was also very calm. The night breeze was blowing into the pavilion, carrying the scent similar to a girl just finished taking a bath. The faint starlight was gentle and soft, like the lover"s tears. All in all, there was not the slightest bit of sign that a murder had just happened here.

Chu Liuxiang simply could not imagine that in such a beautiful place, someone would have the heart to kill such a beautiful girl. He was thinking of looking for one or two vestiges of the secret projectiles. .h.i.tting the railing. If he could find out with what weapon those people committed the killing, perhaps he could find out who they were.

But the railings have been replaced with new ones. These people did their job carefully and meticulously, just like girls meticulously putting on their makeup before a blind date, they would definitely not leave a single blank s.p.a.ce that others would be able to see. Dealing with this kind of enemy not only require intelligence and valor, it would need a bit of luck as well.

And anybody could see that right now what Chu Liuxiang was lacking was precisely this bit of luck; it could even be said that he lacked a lot of luck.

Chu Liuxiang was leaning on the railings, under the sparkling and translucent starlight that appeared to be hazy.

Suddenly a small boat floated over from the middle of the lake.

An old man, wearing lean clothes and bamboo rain hat, was sitting on the bow, enjoying a cup of wine by himself, swinging by the Fengyu Pavilion. He looked at Chu Liuxiang up and down several times, and then laughed suddenly and said, "If the young man wanted to drown your sorrows in wine, there is no harm in coming aboard and enjoying a few cups with this old man."

This old fisherman was out of the ordinary.

Chu Liuxiang rubbed his nose, and jumped aboard. He has never known phony courtesy, picking up the wine cup, he drained it in one gulp. Looking up, he chanted, "Only afraid that the gra.s.shopper boat from the twin creeks is loaded without moving, a lot of things to worry about …"

Pa.s.sing the wine cup to the fisherman, he said, "Laozhang [sir, term of respect to address older man], do you have enough wine to wash away the anxiety and depression in Zaixia"s mind?"

The old fisherman seemed to have been accustomed to the world"s unrestrained men; raising the wine bottle, he poured a cup full for him, and said with a slight smile, "Such a fine time, beautiful scenery, why would zuxia [you (used to a superior or between persons of the same generation)] shed tears?"

Throwing his head back, Chu Liuxiang laughed heartily and said, "Tears? In all my life, Ol" Chu has never known what tears taste like!"

The laughter gradually subsided, "Slap!" he heavily put the wine cup down, unexpectedly it seemed like even the wine could not go down his throat. The old fisherman stared at him blankly. Suddenly he heaved a faint sigh and said, "With you grieving for me like this, what harm is there in me if I really died?"

Chu Liuxiang sprang up and grabbed the "old fisherman"s" shoulders; losing his voice, he said, "Rongrong, it is you … is it really you?"

He did not care that they were on a small boat in the middle of a big lake; he did not care if the boat would capsize, unexpectedly he grabbed her entire body and lifted it up, while laughing loudly, "I knew you would not die, I knew no one would have the heart to kill you."

Su Rongrong hugged his neck tightly. Leaning against his ear, she laughed softly and said, "Put me down. Aren"t you afraid someone might see us?"

Chu Liuxiang laughed and said, "I am just holding a xiao laotou [lit. small old man, usually used in derogatory way]. Even if someone saw us, it has nothing to do with us."

Using one hand to twist her nose, he went on, "One Song Tian"er and one Li Hongxiu are enough to give me headache, unexpectedly you are even more mischievous than they are, deliberately causing me to be this anxious."

Su Rongrong spoke softly, "It"s not that I wanted you to be anxious, but I wanted those people to think that I have really died, so they won"t guard against me. Just think, do I have the heart to make you anxious?"

Chu Liuxiang gently put her down; staring at her, he said, "You think they can hurt you?"

Su Rongrong sighed and said, "Those four men"s move was ruthless and cruel; fortunately I have already seen through them, otherwise … otherwise, I am afraid I would really not be able to see you again, ever."

Chu Liuxiang hatefully said, "Toward someone like you, unexpectedly they could commit such an evil scheme. This kind of people should really have their heads chopped off. Tell me quickly, who are they?"

Su Rongrong sighed and said, "How would I know?"

Puzzled, Chu Liuxiang said, "But you did talk to them, didn"t you?"

"Yesterday," Su Rongrong began, "I was in the pavilion, waiting for you. Suddenly those four men came, asking me if I was Miss Su, saying that they were Zhusha Bang disciples, also that you sent them to pick me up."

Smiling sweetly, she went on, "But I knew that you knew that I was waiting for you, so you couldn"t possibly send other people to me. You knew that I loathe meeting strangers the most, hence I became suspicious and was unwilling to come with them. I also saw them exchanging eye signals in secret, so I already guard against them making their move."

Chu Liuxiang sighed and said, "Fortunately you know me, I can"t possibly stir up your loathing … but why didn"t you just subdue them then and force them to tell you their story?"

Su Rongrong replied, "These men were using sinister method, meticulous planning. If I subdued them, there would be more people coming for me later on, I don"t know if I would be able to stop them, so …"

Chu Liuxiang laughed and said, "So you pretended to be hit by their secret projectiles to avoid later trouble."

Su Rongrong laughed and said, "You know I don"t like to fight the most."

Chu Liuxiang said, "But the blood floating up from the lake, how did that come about?"