He Danggui dreamed of her mother. Her mother wore a common silk coat embroidered with flowers, wearing her hair in a Zhuiyue haircut. Mom talked her with a sad face, "Yi, I owe you so much and I am ashamed to see you... My own misfortune has brought the same trouble to you. I really owe you so much..."
When she woke up, her pillow was wet. And it was still dark outside.
He Danggui turned over and felt cold, then she found that Zhen Jing kicked the quilt out of the bed. She slept against the wall, and Zhen Jing on the outside. Since she wanted to get the quilt back without waking Zhen Jing, she knelt on the bed with her ear next to Zhen Jing"s stomach. After three times of trying, it was still beyond her reach. After she found it didn"t work, she gave up the method and jumped out of bed to pick up the quilt.
He Danggui was surprised that she could jump over about a meter with a little effort. Plus the height of the bed...
"Bang!" Her head struck the low roof.
He Danggui covered her head and wept a drop of tear, half squatting on the ground. Zhen Jing was awaked by the loud noise. She raised her head and asked sleepily, "Xiaoyi, does your b.u.t.t still hurt? Are you hungry? There is another piece of rice crust in the pot. What time is it now?" Then Zhen Jing fell asleep again before He Danggui could answer.
He Danggui kneaded the back of her head, picked up the quilt and covered Zhen Jing. Then she put on a coat, closed the door and went out. She wondered what happened just now, and why had she struck the roof?
Standing in the middle of the yard, He Danggui bent her knees and tried to jump again. This time she used half of her forces, and there was a noticeable pause as she rose to the highest point in the air. She could even see the water vat outside of the courtyard wall. She was lucky not to be hurt, though her hands and feet touched the ground at the same time for poor preparation.
This time, she finally convinced herself that she had internal force, so she jumped higher than before!
Sitting cross-legged, He Danggui could sense her channels and Dantian, and found that the disordered Zhenqi in her body yesterday had disappeared. There was no messy breath in her channels, but the breath in Dantian was steady and thick, as if the strength of her whole body was from here. She felt as if she had infinite strength and could easily run around the Taoist Temple 3 times.
With this thought, He Danggui began to run. She ran out of the courtyard and the Taoist Temple, and ran quickly around the temple. 1 lap, 2 laps, 3 laps... 15 laps, 16 laps, she stopped. Not because she was tired, but because the man with a cold face had reappeared.
"Why don"t you go to bed in the midnight? Will you go there tomorrow or not? My time is very valuable. If you don"t intend to set off tomorrow, I won"t take care of you anymore." Gao Jue frowned and glared at her.
He Danggui bent down and rested with her hands on her knees, feeling her breath long and regular, unlike the jumbled and rapid breathing that she used to feel after strenuous exercise. She had some internal force in her previous life but very few. No matter in previous life or in this life, she had no practical experience of internal energy. Therefore, although she could clearly feel that her internal force was stronger than the previous life, she didn"t know how powerful it would be.
"Hey, you, go to sleep now!" Gao Jue shouted at her rigorously.
She remembered that there was a recording in a book, saying that people who had just acquired internal force could make the other person numb and unable to move within an hour if they tried their best to poke other person"s Jianjing acupoint. She could do this in her previous life and she certainly could do it now. But she gave up when she looked at his tall figure. Gao Jue was so tall, and he was even taller than Duan Xiaolou. Just like his last name Gao (Gao meant tall in Chinese), he was very tall. If she wanted to poke his Jianjing acupoint, she had to jump. Although she jumped higher than her previous life, she hadn"t mastered the skill of landing.
"Hey. If you still don"t go to sleep, I"ll throw you to feed the wolf!" Gao Jue threatened.
Looking at his cold face, she gave up the attractive idea of using him to do the acupoint experiment. But Gao Jue really had a strong sense of existence. When he stood with Duan Xiaolou, Lu Jiangbei and Liao Zhiyuan, his sense of existence was not as strong as it was now. To be honest, besides Duan Xiaolou, it was fair to say that Gao Jue had the most handsome and sharp face, and he had deep eyes, but he was the least popular one among the four by girls. Hadn"t he been married? Did he also show the same expression to his wife at home? How miserable his wife felt!
"On my three. One, two..." Gao Jue gritted his teeth.
His character was different from the elegance of Duan Xiaolou, the gentleness of Lu Jiangbei, and the cynicism of Liao Zhiyuan. He was dangerous and cold, a standard image of imperial guards who liked to extort confessions by torture with a broadsword in his right hand and a whip in his left hand. Looking at him gritting his teeth with a cold face, she seemed to see the scene that he wore his ferocious face, brandis.h.i.+ng a whip to torture the prisoners, and marking the prisoners with a burning iron...
"Three." Gao Jue moved, approaching her step by step.
He Danggui tidied her skirt and saluted, then she said, "Master Gao, please stop. I"ve made it clear that I don"t need your help whether it is tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. You can leave the Taoist Temple and return to the capital now."
He remained silent for a moment and told her without expression, "I have to stay in Yangzhou for several days, so Duan Xiaolou asked me to take care of you before he returned to the capital to report his work. Stupid woman, although you asked him to go down the mountain and find 4 porters for you, he didn"t trust them. You think I"m willing to help you? I hate the kind of self-righteous women. If you still don"t go to sleep, I"ll throw you to feed the wolf."
What? "Feed the wolf" again? Did he have any more intimidating words? As an imperial guard, he only had such limited intimidating words. Didn"t he regret that he didn"t have a rich vocabulary when he extorted the prisoners for confessions? As an official, how incompetent he was. Was it because of his cold face? It was intimidating by nature, so he needn"t to study hard after his birth.
There was another thing that He Danggui felt confused, so she asked, "Although I"m very grateful for your help in guiding my Zhenqi, couldn"t you use a better posture? I"ve seen the pictures in some books, all of which are conveying from head or back!"
Gao Jue continued to keep silent with a cold face.
He Danggui continued, "In addition, although I know your time is valuable, you can either leave me alone or take your time when you were helping me. You conveyed your Zhenqi to me like you wanted to kill me. I almost died of pain! Do you really want to save me?"
He only replied, "Idiot."
"..." He Danggui was very angry.
"If I conveyed it from your head, you would be an idiot now, and you can"t stand here to blame me." He said coldly, "I haven"t inquired you why there was Zhenqi in your body, how dare you ask me? You are an ungrateful woman. If I didn"t save your life, once the Zhenqi ran in your body for half a month, you would be dead or disabled."
He Danggui was surprised at first, but then she recalled that if it wasn"t for his atrocity, she would have had money today. If she had money, she could buy silver needles. If she had silver needles, she could try to guide the Zhenqi by herself. The situation wasn"t as bad as he said. However, after listening to his explanation, He Danggui was not as angry with him as before. After a second thought, he "gifted" so much Zhenqi to her today, maybe more than what Lu Jiangbei conveyed slowly to her before. Now she had some internal force because of him, so she forgave him for his previous atrocity.
"Hey, woman." Gao Jue asked her, "There are 57 moves in the whole set of Five Mimic-animal Boxing, 12 moves for Tiger Play, ranking 1st among all the 5 sections. Why did you perform 19 moves in the Crane Play when you practiced this morning?"
He Danggui smiled, "I have read the original, the Catalogue of Five Mimic-animal Boxing, handed down by Hua Tuo, so it is more complete than the moves spread in marketplace. Since Master Gao is also interested, I will play it for you from the beginning."
Gao Jue looked at the stars in the sky and said nothing.
He Danggui didn"t care about this. Anyway, she could play alone. It was better for her to get instructions from this top senior. As the saying went, "Purity begets purity". If one day she also became a senior who could fly with a cool face everywhere, by then when she recalled the experience of practicing martial arts, Master Gao and Master Lu Jiangbei would also be her guides.
So, she began to play from the beginning, stretching and jumping, spreading and falling, and acting like the floating clouds and flowing water. Tiger Play imitated the tiger"s bright eyes, wagging head and tail and stepping with softness in the hardness. It showed the tiger king"s mighty manner. Crane Play imitated the crane"s haughtiness, leisurely and self-satisfied, showing the crane spread its wings, the wild geese landed, and the independent manner of the crane"s step posture…
Like Tai Chi, Five Mimic-animal Boxing was a kind of civilian martial art, but it was easy to learn but difficult to master. Moreover, Five Mimic-animal Boxing had two extremes. The seniors with internal force would be very good-looking when they played it. They would act skillfully and decisively, like the floating clouds and flowing water, which were extremely natural and unrestrained. Ordinary people who didn"t know martial arts, however, would play like the old cattle ploughing the fields. Their strength did not match their own ambitions. When they played less than half, they would be breathless. Their movements and imitation of the five animals were hilarious, which made people laugh. Anyway, what ordinary people pursue was to strengthen their bodies. As long as they moved their joints and relaxed their muscles and bones, they would achieve their goals. Everyone"s movements were ugly, so no one would laugh at others.
He Danggui also had internal force now. Although she didn"t know how deep it was, even though her Dantian continuously transported power to her limbs and viscera like this, she had been immersed in the happiness that she had new realm of internal force. With no distractions, she focused on performing every movement perfectly and finally finished slowly.
It was amazing. She was exhausted when she finished playing two sections this morning. Now she was strong enough to play the whole set of Five Mimic-animal Boxing, and her breath was still very steady!
"Master Gao, please give me some suggestions!" He Danggui chuckled and wondered if her Five Mimic-animal Boxing was good enough for Gao Jue.
Her eyes were unforgettable!
Gao Jue couldn"t help thinking that if he told others that he was fascinated by a pair of eyes, would anyone laugh at him? He put his hands behind him and looked at the girl, who was smiling and charming. It was hard to describe how he felt for a moment. After a long time, he nodded, "Well, it"s a great performance." The girl laughed more happily.
"The senior ones play this to extend life; the secondary ones play it to avoid the attacks; and the junior ones play it to ensure their safety." Gao Jue said sincerely, "Congratulations, your martial arts have reached the level of a junior one, and you will not die on the street due to the sudden illness in the future." The girl"s smile grew stiff.
He Danggui was angry. She finally understood that he was not a lack of learning and vocabulary, but a satirist.
Gao Jue took a look at the white sky in the east and said, "It"s almost 5 o"clock. Since you don"t want to go to bed, let"s start off early. Don"t waste my time."
He Danggui said angrily, "Now that your excellency said I won"t die in the street, I dare not delay your time, let alone letting the General of imperial guard be my porter. So, Master, suit yourself if you want to leave. The next time I meet Master Duan, I will tell him the truth. It wouldn"t be you breaking the promise."
Gao Jue glanced at He Danggui condescendingly and commanded her, "Listen, you only have an hour to dress. No matter what you look like an hour later, we"re leaving." After that, Gao Jue disappeared from where he stood. The cypress branches above their heads shook slightly.
He Danggui had a second thought. If she could use Gao Jue as a servant later, why should she refuse his service? So, she dismissed Gao Jue"s arrogance. Then she turned to run back into the East Wing-room and pushed the door. Seeing Zhen Jing falling asleep, she reached out and patted Zhen Jing"s face, "Get up! We are heading to eat the Stewed Pork Ball in Brown Sauce!" Zhen Jing opened her sleepy eyes, yawned and asked, "What time is it? Does your b.u.t.t still hurt, Xiaoyi?"
"Don"t mention my b.u.t.t anymore! Get up, ascetics are forbidden from morning laziness!"
He Danggui picked out a light yellow clothes and went to comb her hair, but she couldn"t find the only wooden hairpin of hers. Then she remembered that she had dropped it in the yard after she tried to attack Gao Jue with it in the morning. So, she went out to look for it. After walking around the yard twice, she found the hairpin, only it had broken into two parts and there was a vague big footprint on it.
"Barbarian." He Danggui pursed her lips. Then she went back to her room, found a red print chopstick in the kitchenware and fold off the thick end to make a chignon like Zhen Jing"s.
Under Gao Jue"s instruction, after an hour, He Danggui and Zhen Jing went out the yard and waited, but they didn"t see Gao Jue. He Danggui had to go to the West Wing-room to look for him. However, when she got there, she found that all the rooms were empty. There was no trace of people or luggage. She wondered if Gao Jue had already gone. Well, that"s okay if he left. She only needed to go to Ers.h.i.+ Lipu Village in the halfway up the mountain to find 2 strong porters, and they would be easier to be commanded than Gao Jue! So, He Danggui turned back to look for Zhen Jing.
It had been so dark and silent that He Danggui thought it was her own delusion earlier. Now she finally noticed that her eyesight and hearing were significantly better than before. Looking at the distance, she could even see the lines of Zhen Jing"s eye pupil in a hundred paces away! What"s more, she could hear people"s breathing from the trees above her when she tried to listen!