Man from the Wild South

Chapter 1 (part 2 of 2)

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Embarra.s.sment, embarra.s.sment. I am competing today with the heroine Shang Guan Jing for the top placement in embarra.s.sment. She is mortified by a rumbling stomach and poor manners while I have to bury my head beneath a pillow and say - Sorry! the guy"s name is "Feng Jin" and not "Su Jin". I can"t believe I made the same mistake after calling ‘Su Ling’ as ‘Feng Ling’ (Mistaken Marriage Match - Legendary Military Advisor) but I just did.

Anyway, to move on, here is the next chapter on the first face-to-face interaction between Shang Guan Jing and Feng Jin. I am more into para for para translation at the beginning but will move to a more summarized style subsequently. And as today is Vesak in Singapore, here is wishing all Buddhists a blessed Vesak.

Chapter 1 (part 2 of 2)

"Why are you crying?"

The question reverberates in her brain as she wills herself to remain in this blissful, black void. She is very tired, she wants to sleep but she can feel her tears falling uncontrollably down her cheeks. Ultimately, it is her stomach rumblings that bring her back to the world of consciousness.

Where is she? When is the last time she has eaten? She smells food and following the trail of the delicious aroma, she opens her eyes.

She is lying on a bed with the bed curtains drawn. Turning her head, she sees the blurred outline of a man in white who is busily arranging food on the table. Her memories return in full force and she figures that this must be the man she was trying to save before she fainted in the forest. Recalling the villains, she wonders briefly if he was hurt? But judging from her current surroundings, both of them must have managed to escape unharmed, although she has no recollection on how they made it to safety.

She has travelled the pugilist world by herself for 2 years and is no naïve young woman, unwise to the dark side of human nature. Looking at the slender man beyond the bed curtains, she sighs to herself that it is not just woman who can suffer humiliation in the hands of men. Good-looking men apparently, are not immune to the same fate.

Still, life must go on and she pushes herself up with some difficulty. Her head is very heavy and she tries to regulate her breathing. When the man noticed that she has awakened, he approaches the bed. "If Miss is not feeling well, do rest for a minute more and not rush to sit up."

The gently-spoken words are accompanied by the parting of the bed curtains. Thinking that she can finally meet him face to face, she puts on a polite smile and faces him squarely. "I am fine now. Thank you Young Master …."

Her words trail off. The men in the woods have called him good-looking, but his face, his face…

To his credit, he has very nice-looking features. But the skin of his face is coloured in various patch of red, pink and light pink which extends from his neck to forehead. Although she cannot see beyond his collar, she figures that the uneven skin colour probably extends to his whole body as well.

By the time she has recovered from shock, he has turned away - probably to avoid her rude stare - and effectively shields his expression from her eyes. Shang Guan Jing berates herself mentally for hurting the man"s feelings and reminds herself of the people she has seen with prominent birth scars or uneven skin colors.

To minimize the damage she has caused, she grabs his sleeve as he turns to move away and quickly gushes out. "I…..I am sorry. Young Master, please do not be offended by my rudeness."

After a pause, he shrugs. "No worries Miss, the fault is mine. I was born like this and having lived by myself for so long, I have nearly forgotten how I would appear to others. I have servants but they are also too used to my looks by now. For someone like Miss who is unaccustomed to my looks, I can only be grateful that you have not fainted when you see my face."

Although he is trying to lighten the mood, Shang Guan Jing can feel the sorrow beneath his smile and mentally beat up herself left, right, center again for being so insensitive. To diffuse the awkwardness that has sprung up between them and to confirm if he is indeed the man in the woods, she tries another track. "Did Young Master save me and brought me out of the forest?"

He did not turn around at the question and she hears him manage with some difficulty. "Actually, it is the other way round. Miss is the one who has lent a hand in the name of righteousness. Thanks to you injuring the men, they have ran away and saved me from being… being…"

Remembering the lewd dialogue in the forest, Shang Guan Jing suppresses her disgust at the terrible fate that has nearly fallen on this man. "This is the first time I am travelling through the southern forests and having overestimated my abilities, I am really fortunate to have met Young Master. If not, I doubt I would have survived either."

He did not reply immediately as if trying to a.s.sess her sincerity. When he seems satisfied that she is probably sincere, he finally smiles. "The dense forest of Nan Man is filled with rodents, snakes and insects. There are also poisonous gases that can kill people without leaving a trace. Unlike the locals, Miss probably does not know to carry scented sachets to ward off insects and rodents. Nor do you know that chewing on mint leaves can counter the effect of inhaling poison gas. But I am really glad that you have ventured into the forest or I would have…. I…."

He meets her eyes and turns away shyly, leaving Shang Guan Jing with the weirdest feeling of being the man around here. Discounting the man"s patchy skin tone, this man standing in front of him can actually be labelled "pretty" with a pair of intelligent eyes and prominent cheekbones arched above a pair of finely curved lips. With his gentle manners and frail looks, it is actually not a surprise that the villains have picked him as their victim! "Does Young Master know the background of those men?"

He shakes his head. "Nan Man has too many forests, mountains, lakes and valleys that make it a good place for people to hide themselves. Our terrain is also good for people to defend themselves in event of an attack and given our location as an exit point to the Southern Seas where pirates roam; there are no lack of bad people around here. As for those men yesterday, they are not locals and I have no idea about their background."

"In spite of what you have said, Young Master stays here alone? Is it not dangerous?"

"Well, I do have servants so I am not exactly alone. Besides, there are several villages around here – which I do visit once in a while."

Thinking of his unusual looks, Shang Guan Jing can guess why he has chosen to stay in isolation, away from prying eyes and her heart ache in sympathy. The awkward silence is broken by the sound of her stomach ramblings and at her obvious embarra.s.sment, the man bites back a smile. "I think Miss must be hungry."

"Hmm, just a little." She figures that it has been 3 to 4 days since her last meal.

He smiles and seems to have gotten over their initial unease. "My servants have prepared a simple meal and if you do not mind, please help yourself to the food. They have also made some herbal soup which is very good at dispelling the effects of the poison gases. Come, please help yourself to the food."

Shang Guan thanks her host and pushes herself off the bed. But as if she is not embarra.s.sed enough with her rumbling stomach, her face fell when she realizes that her collar is gaping wide open. Worse, the binding cloth that she used to bind her breast has started to unwind beneath her clothing!

As she clutches at her collar without trying to be too obvious that her binds are unravelling, her hands froze in shock. She pats her torso and when she did not encounter the familiar object, her heart sinks at the realization that her precious token has gone missing!

"Are you looking for this?"

Seeing a metal tablet between his fingers, Shang Guan Jing looks at the man in white with upmost grat.i.tude. The token that is more important than her life! What is she to do if she has lost it? She takes a deep breath to control her panic but the hand that reaches out to take the token is still shaking from shock.

"When I noticed that your face has gone pale and that you are sweating profusely I…. thought to loosen your bindings so that you can breathe easier. I saw the token while I… I was…. loosening your binds and because it is heavy which hinders your breathing, I kept it away for safekeeping. I have no ill intentions and hope Miss does not misunderstand. Oh, and your sword! I have placed it on that table. And goodness, the food is turning cold. Does Miss want to eat now?"

The weird sense of male-female reversal hits her once more at his obvious fl.u.s.ter over her state of undress. His gentle manners also call out to her motherly instincts and in that moment, Shang Guan Jing has mentally labelled him as someone vulnerable and is in need of protection.

She adjusts her clothes quickly and walks over to the table laden with food. She makes some small talk and they finally got around to exchanging names. "My name is Shang Guan Jing. How may I address Young Master?"

"My name is Feng Jin. "Feng" as in phoenix. "Jin" as in beautiful fabric." He smiles politely, and raises both fist in greeting. He puts various dishes into her bowl and settles elegantly in the seat opposite hers. "What brings Miss Shang Guan to Nan Man?"

Shang Guan Jing pauses in chewing and considers how to answer. "Since Master Feng is local, have you heard of the Diao family?"

"Diao family? Hmmm…."

"Yes, the Diao family. I need to find them."

"What does Miss Shang Guan need from them?"

"Actually, I do not know."

"You do not know?"

"I really do not know, unbelievable as it sounds." She grimaces. "I am from Ling Feng Sect of the Western Seas. My Teacher, the Sage of Ling Feng, has sent me to look for the Diao family and said that I would know what to do next once I have found them."

"Really? What a mysterious statement!"

"So has Master Feng heard of them?"

He places a piece of meat in her bowl. "No, I have never heard of them."

********

"What do you know about Ling Feng Sect of the Western Seas?"

Standing under a blue moon, the man"s white robes glows with a violet hue.

Yes, the moon is blue tonight but to the guard who has been around for ages, the sight is not surprising. Who knows if it is really the moon he is seeing in the sky, let alone a blue moon, green moon or pink moon?

"The Western Seas is a vast lake situated at the western edge of the central plans. From what I heard, it is so big that someone standing on one side of the sh.o.r.eline will not be able to see the opposite sh.o.r.e. There are five mountains surrounding the lake and Yu Ling Feng is the tallest peak on these mountains." Yan Ying digs further into his memory. "According to our clan elders, we have some clansman who left Nan Man several generations ago and they have settled on the western mountains after discovering gold there. Could Miss Shang Guan be a descendent of that particular family-branch?"

"No she is not." The man smiles cynically. The wind caught his sleeves and causes it to bellow around his slender frame. "But the carvings on her sword and her token is interesting. It may be worthwhile to investigate further."

"Yes Feng Zhu. I will start checking on this at once."

Just when Yan Ying is about to leave, Feng Jin calls out after him. "My, aren"t you in a hurry to leave. Don"t you want to stay and talk to me?"

Yan Ying sighs inwardly but maintains his outward calm. "Your humble servant…. is more than happy talk with Master if you are in the mood."

"Ha-ha, I like your answer." Feng Jin folds his hands behind him and the movement smoothen his sleeves in an elegant wave. Beneath the blue moonlight, his pretty features looks a little mesmerizing – if one can ignore the scary, uneven skin tone that is. Yan Ying tries to stem the cold sweat from breaking out at his neck and lowers his eyes to the ground so that he can avoid direct eye contact with his mercurial employer.

"By the way, if you come across any more thieves or robbers dumb enough to cross my forest, do not chase them away. Let me have some fun with them first."

"Yes sir."

Yan Ying peers up and seeing that his employer has walked away, he quickly follows. His employer may not be good at martial arts, but when he walks, he makes no sound like a qinggong master. The blue moonlight is quite dim but he thinks that he sees excitement on his employer"s face. But no matter what is getting him excited, Yan Ying is pretty sure that the Feng Jin is up to No Good.

"Do you know? She said that she wanted to save me. She said she can rescue me. Ha-ha. What do you think? Should I let her rescue me? This is so rare and she seems so earnest about it. If I do not let her save me, will it makes me too petty?"

Although Yan Ying has not checked out the background their guest, he is very sure that the lady must have done something Very Bad in her last life, so much so that retribution has finally caught up with her in this life.

"Do you know that her face actually turned red when she saw my face? Ha-ha-ha, it is so funny to see her face changing colour when I did not cast a spell." Feng Jin"s eyes gleam with delight. "This kind of change without using magic is fun. Outright interesting I say. What do you think?"

Yan Ying tries to remain stone-face. "Your humble servant thinks that this is truely an unexpected find. As the saying goes – you can wear out a pair of shoes with iron sole with searching, only to find that person that you are looking for is right in front of you. Since she did barge into your forest and not the other way around, this should be fate. And since it is fate, one must not go against the wills of heaven."

Miss Shang Guan…. good luck to you.

Feng Jin laughter has a nice, musical ring to it, but the hint of malice beneath the laughter is unmistakable. "I like your answer."

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