The rim of the cup touched his lips. Liu Xiaolou drew in a long breath, savoring the fragrance of the wine. Nothing seemed out of place, so he finally drank.
The Sanxuan Sect were masters of incense. Liu Xiaolou had studied this craft for years. He couldn’t claim to be the best in Jing-Xiang, but at the very least he was near the top in western Xian. He had drunk this osmanthus brew plenty of times at Shenwu Mountain. He knew its flavor by heart. One sniff told him the wine was clean.
When he finished, Tu Er clapped his hands and praised him. “Good. Bold and hearty!”
Elder Cai stroked his beard and chuckled. “As expected of a fine son-in-law for the Su family. Not only straightforward, but handsome too.”
At those words, goosebumps broke out across Liu Xiaolou’s skin. His thoughts raced. Could this old fox be the one? This was bad, as bad as it gets. A lamb in a tiger’s den. How in the world was he going to get out of this?
While he racked his brains to no avail, Tu Er refilled the cup. “Good things come in pairs. Brother, offer the Elder another toast.”
Liu Xiaolou had no way out. The solitary, rough-edged nature of a wandering cultivator from Wulong Mountain surged up in him, and he decided to lay it out plain. “Elder Cai, Brother Tu Er, for you to invite me here tonight, I doubt it was just for food and drink. If you have something to say, please speak it. Otherwise the wine tastes flat and the dishes have no flavor.”
Elder Cai gave the faintest nod and looked toward Tu Er. Tu Er smiled. “Xiaolou, why keep up the act? We’re all among our own here. No need to carry that outside mask with you. Just relax.”
Liu Xiaolou looked him straight in the eye. “Brother, I don’t understand. What do you mean by ‘our own people’?”
Tu Er leaned back, watching him with a playful look. “Younger brother, then I’ll come right out with it. You know Dong Wei of Qishan, don’t you?”
Liu Xiaolou frowned. “I know him.”
Tu Er said, “I met him not long ago. He told me everything about you. Heh, no need for me to spell it all out, is there?”
“Brother Tu, don’t stop there!" Liu Xiaolou shouted. "You have to tell me what that bastard said!”
Tu Er’s smile was half-mocking. “He told me you have a fondness for the cut sleeve. Well? Is that false?”
Liu Xiaolou froze for a moment, then snapped back and cursed. “That dogshit Dong; after I saved his life, he turns around and spreads filth like this? I’ll kill him myself!”
Tu Er frowned. “So it isn’t true?”
Liu Xiaolou shot back, firm as steel. “Not a damn bit!”
Tu Er said, “There’s nothing shameful in it, so why deny it? And tell me this. Married to the Su family’s Fifth Daughter for months now, yet she’s still a maiden? Don’t bother denying it. Anyone with eyes can see the truth.”
Liu Xiaolou blurted out, anxious, “How could anyone tell that at a glance? At best you’d be sixty or seventy percent sure, and there’s still a good thirty or forty percent chance you’d be wrong. It’s different for everyone!”
“Then why hasn’t she conceived?” Tu Er pressed.
Liu Xiaolou shot back, “She’s an inner disciple of your Danxia Sect. Don’t you know her better than I do? She’s a madwoman for cultivation, obsessed with nothing but cultivation. Ask her to bear children? You might as well kill her!”
Tu Er glared at Liu Xiaolou, and Liu Xiaolou glared right back. The two of them locked eyes for a long time, until frustration began to creep into Tu Er’s gaze.
Among insiders, telling whether a man had that “fondness” was sometimes nothing more than a look.
If Tu Er could see it, then Elder Cai certainly could as well. He shot Tu Er a vicious glare, so sharp that Tu Er instinctively shrank back.
After glaring at him, Elder Cai started to sweep out with his sleeve, but when his eyes fell on Liu Xiaolou he hesitated, unwilling to let go. A surge of dark fire roared up inside him. He suddenly slammed the table and barked, “Don’t refuse a toast only to drink punishment! Since you’ve come here tonight, you’ll see this through no matter what!”
Liu Xiaolou shook his head. “Elder Cai, even if I’m just a son-in-law married into the Su family, I still count as one of the Danxia Sect, don’t I? If Elder Cai insists on forcing me, then I’ll have no choice but to die here. But before I fall, I’ll make sure my blood sprays three feet and stains your study red. And after I’m gone, will Elder Cai really be able to bear the blame of murdering a fellow disciple?”
Elder Cai glared at Liu Xiaolou, raising his hand several times as if to strike, but in the end he held back. With a sigh he said, “Enough, enough. A twisted melon is never sweet. Go on. Tu Er, see him out.”µ
Liu Xiaolou froze. Just like that, he was being let go? Still, he didn’t dare linger. He bowed with cupped hands. “Elder Cai, since you are not forcing me, this junior—”
Elder Cai cut him off with a wave. “Go, go. Tonight never happened.”
Liu Xiaolou nodded. “Rest assured, Elder. I won’t breathe a word.”
Leaving the study, he hurried out of Linhu Courtyard. Relief came only with the growing fear that Elder Cai might change his mind. If the man still couldn’t put him out of his thoughts, Liu Xiaolou would never sleep easy again. Someone as small as him, once targeted by Elder Cai, could be killed and buried without a trace. Even if it were discovered, who would dare intervene?
Thinking of this, he slapped his own face. Being too good-looking really was a curse. What a damned headache.
Tu Er followed him out, face creased with worry. With a sigh he warned, “Brother, you must remember Elder Cai’s words. Not a single syllable must slip. Otherwise… disaster comes from the tongue.” That, of course, was the true reason Elder Cai had sent him to see Liu Xiaolou off, to make sure the warning was driven home once more.
Liu Xiaolou was in a foul mood and didn’t feel like paying him much attention, but he had to give this assurance: “Relax. How could I ever blab about something like this?”
Tu Er said, “Good, good… Anyway, I was the one who got it wrong. Sorry about that.” Then, unconvinced, he muttered, “How could I have been wrong? You really aren’t one of us?”
Liu Xiaolou snapped. “There’s something I didn’t mention before. My sect practices Yin-Yang Arts. Yin-Yang Arts, not Yang-Yang Arts. How do you expect me to be one of you?”
Tu Er finally looked defeated. He stomped his foot and cursed, “Damn Dong Wei. He really deserves it!”
Liu Xiaolou couldn’t have agreed more. Right now he hated Dong Wei with every fiber of his being. He was already planning to get even. He had a rough idea of Dong Wei’s cultivation level; only five or six layers. If he confronted him head-on, he might not gain much and could even take the worse of it. But if he played dirty, that Dong fellow would never walk away unscathed.
“When did you see Dong Wei, Brother Tu? Where?”
“His family came two days ago.”
“They came too?” Liu Xiaolou stopped dead in his tracks.
“Dong of Qipan Mountain is affiliated with Mount Maogong. He’s technically part of our Danxia Sect branch. Though he rarely comes to the Grotto-Heaven, for the sect’s millennium ceremony, of course he had to attend,” Tu Er explained. “I only found you because he mentioned it. After the ceremony, I’ll need to have a serious talk with him.”
Hearing this, Liu Xiaolou suddenly laughed. “Brother Tu, you really picked the wrong person. Completely the wrong one, even with a lantern. What do you call this? Two people destined to meet but never truly recognize each other!”
“What do you mean by that?”
“Do you know why that Dong guy slandered me?”
“How?”
“He’s known me a long time and has always had designs on me, but I never showed the slightest interest. When he heard I was going to the Shenwu Mountain's son-in-law recruitment assembly, he followed along, scheming to ruin me. Many people witnessed it; it’s all on record. Brother Tu, you only had to ask around to find out.”
Tu Er froze for a moment, then gritted his teeth. “I see…”
Liu Xiaolou said, “So he’s actually the one with a thing for men…”
....
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