Ink Burns

Chapter 179 The Fisherman's Winter (Part 2)

For several days in a row, Xue Chen went to Xinglin Hall in Qiushui Ferry, either to accompany Shui Guang up the mountain to collect herbs, or to watch Shui Guang prepare, chop, and brew herbs outside the medicine room with fascination.

The women and children who regularly came to see the doctor had become quite familiar with Shuiguang. Seeing this, they squinted and bumped Shuiguang's shoulder: "Who is this?"

His attitude was ambiguous, and his words were drawn out.

Shui Guang, back to the window and door, held the medicine guillotine with one hand, and with a "bang," chopped it down as if beheading someone.

“Aunt Yao, it’s nobody.” Shui Guang smiled sweetly, her dimples brimming with honey, her voice already resembling a Beijing accent: “It’s the notorious idiot from the Twelfth Hutong of the capital. His head was caught in his mother’s hole when he was born, and he’s been mentally challenged ever since. Now, his family is too lazy to take care of him, so they’re sending him outside. Hearing that I’m incredibly skilled with silver needles, they asked someone to find me, begging me to give him a good few acupuncture treatments to make him smarter.”

Was he actually an idiot?
Aunt Yao turned her head hesitantly.

Shui Guang followed Aunt Yao's turn, put the medicinal herbs aside, and smiled so much that her eyes narrowed into slits. She then lightly waved to Xue Chen, who was leaning against the door outside the corridor.

Xue Chen straightened up as soon as the bullet hit her, raised her hand, and grinned.

He does look somewhat mentally challenged.

Aunt Yao sighed regretfully: "The wealthy man from Twelfth Alley is actually an idiot—can he be cured?"

Shui Guang turned around and began chopping the herbs with renewed vigor, her smile sweet: "The sins we are born with are very difficult to cure. There is only one way to cure them."

Aunt Yao peeked out and asked, "What?"

“Cut off his head and let him be reincarnated.”

Shui Guang glanced sideways. The medicine room was shaded, and the hemp paper covering the windows was soaked with kudzu twigs and turned brown. Shui Guang was facing away from the light, her face hidden in the grayness of the dark room, her sweet smile mixed with a touch of innocent cruelty.

******
As May arrived, the weather turned scorching hot. This early summer, which lasted only ten days, was the most comfortable and enjoyable time Xue Chen had experienced in his eighteen years. He indulged in the beauty of Qiushui Ferry, wandering through the woods with his beloved, resting on the riverbank, and while away the meaningless time with her coquettish laughter. Heaven knows, he was willing to offer her the moon, the stars, and the most beautiful cloud in the sky, and give them all to her!
Unexpectedly, Ru Chun always kept her distance from him. Whenever he approached, Ru Chun would shyly dodge away, her dimples on her rosy round face making her look sweetly intoxicating.

Qiushui Ferry is nestled against Fragrant Hills. Under the lush green trees, a boy and a girl lie side by side.

Xue Chen couldn't help but turn away.

"Don't panic, don't panic," Ru Chun said, dodging his outstretched hand and close face as she asked, "When are you going to break off the engagement? I've already found out. Female officials in the Six Departments have one chance to choose to leave or stay when they turn twenty-five—I'm sixteen now, so I still have nine years. If you break off the engagement, go to Anding Village in Luoye Town, Pingning Mountain, to propose to Doctor Wei. That's my father; you've approached him."

Xue Chen was completely bewildered by the long list of place names: in all his life, he had never heard of such long names before. What town? What village? What hermit doctor?
Breaking off the engagement is impossible, so naturally, proposing marriage is also out of the question.

Xue Chen stammered and laughed it off: "Okay, okay, if you become a third-rank physician, you'll leave the palace and get married at twenty-five?"

While giving perfunctory replies, he leaned forward again. The usually timid boy suddenly revealed a hint of strength and stubbornness beneath his gentle demeanor in front of this female official of humble origins and low social standing.

Ru Chun turned her head away again, but when she looked up, her eyes were filled with tears: "Er Lang."

Xue Chen paused, and the extra bit of toughness he had shown was completely dissolved by the soft sweetness.

Xue Chen turned over, exhaled a long breath, and lay back down.

Ru Chun, however, turned to the side with a smug look on her face, her arm resting on her cheek. The lush green moss in the mountains exuded a sense of relaxation and vitality. The tears in Ru Chun's eyes had long been blown away by the refreshing summer breeze that swept across the mountains, and sweetness and lightness returned to the girl's eyes.

Ru Chun stretched out her hand, her sharp, small fingertips tracing Xue Chen's slightly thin eyebrows and eyes in the air.

"Erlang," Ruchun said coquettishly.

Xue Chen hummed in response, unable to contain her excitement.

"The capital is bustling. After arriving in the capital from Songjiang Prefecture, apart from spending two days in the Six Ministries, I've been gathering, washing, brewing, and delivering medicines here at Qiushui Ferry." The little girl's voice rose high: "I've heard that the capital has efficacious temples, beautiful eaves, wide walkways, acrobatics, sugar figurines, and fine pastries and wines! Oh! My father also said that there's a gambling den in the capital. Some wield axes, some play with clubs, some carry sandalwood sticks, some wield meteor hammers, some wear iron gauntlets, and some carry iron chains. The gambling den opens at night and closes at cockcrow. On the four-sided gambling platform, people gamble on who lives and who dies, who wins and who loses!"

Ru Chun propped herself up on her arms, resting her hands on her round face, squeezing her chubby cheeks together. Her large, round eyes, like apricots, blinked like butterflies fluttering their wings.

"That sounds so exciting!" The girl's cheeks puffed out as she looked at Xue Chen expectantly. "Tomorrow I have a day off and don't have to see patients. How about we borrow Aunt Liu's oxcart from the alley entrance and go to town? We can eat pastries and watch the fighting, okay? Okay!?"

Fighting?

Xue Chen was stunned for a moment and didn't react for a while. After hearing Ru Chun's next words, he suddenly realized: it was an underground boxing gym!

The capital, right under the emperor's nose, is teeming with talented and righteous people. The most capable people in the world come to the capital to make a living, but once they enter the capital, they realize that they are just a drop in the ocean. There are always mountains beyond mountains and people beyond people, and it is difficult to stand out.

Even if you can't get ahead, you still have to survive.

Some people with some martial arts skills joined the "fighting profession," helping people collect debts, teach boxing, and chase after payments to make a living. Those who were really short of money would go to underground boxing gyms to make a living. Behind them were boxers, and in front of them were bettors. Whoever died lost, and whoever lived won. Those who dared to step into the ring either had no way to make a living or had extremely good martial arts skills. There was one person who liked this kind of dangerous, bloody thing the most.

He heard about it from this person, and was even dragged by this person to watch a few shows.

On the platform, the blood splattered from the boxer onto his face was still warm. Xue Chen frowned: "How can you like this bloody mess?"

Ru Chun corrected him: "It's not that I like it! It's that my dad likes it! Most of the itinerant doctors in the countryside, besides being able to cure diseases, also have some martial arts skills. People who practice martial arts should all like the excitement of a fight that decides life and death, right?"

Xue Chen nodded in agreement: "Indeed. I really like 'playing' stuff." (A name was omitted in the middle.)

Ru Chun's ears twitched slightly, but she seemed not to hear, focusing only on her own topic: "Come on, come on—I've been in the capital for so long, and I haven't eaten a single piece of mutton or a mung bean cake. If we have time tomorrow morning, let's go eat and drink, and then watch the 'fighting match' tonight. I've saved up some copper coins these days, and we'll see who wins and who loses!"

Ru Chun's eyes sparkled.

If he were to go to the capital, Xue Chen's first reaction would be to refuse: there would be too many people around, and if his relationship with Ru Chun were discovered, there was no guarantee that Xue Xiao wouldn't use this opportunity to his advantage and use it against him.
Xue Chen thought again: If he saw the “fighting” at night, wouldn’t that mean that Ru Chun couldn’t leave the capital and return to Qiushui Ferry?

With a curfew in place in the capital, and the "hunting" taking place late at night, the city gates are closed, making it difficult for the spies to move around. If Ru Chun can't go home, where can she go?

I naturally stayed at the official post station with him!

Just one room!

All you need is a bed!

What's this about breaking off the engagement? What's this about proposing marriage?

The deed is done, it's all his now!
After a moment of silence, Xue Chen gave a faint, sincere, and harmless smile: "I don't like this fighting and killing stuff, it's all for you."

"Hey!" Ru Chun smiled and cheered, her two dimples facing Xue Chen.

The next morning, the carriage clattered into the capital. As dusk fell, the carriage stopped in the alley outside the hexagonal pavilion. Xue Chen, dressed in an indigo straight robe, stepped out first and reached out to take his hand. A girl wearing a veiled hat that covered her face got out of the carriage, her arm resting on his.

Although the hexagonal pavilion is called a "pavilion," it is actually a hidden yet spacious underground passageway, bustling with people coming and going.

Ru Chun let out a soft "Wow" from behind her veil.

Xue Chen laughed and said, "We're just lucky. Today is the duel between 'Da Xing' Axe Master Wei and Double Blade Qiu Lingyue. There are so many spectators that we almost couldn't get tickets. We had to ask someone for help to get tickets for the second floor."

The second floor has private rooms, each with a door in the front and a window in the back, with the window facing the table in the main hall.

Ru Chun stood before the widened window, her brows furrowed and her eyes lowered as she looked out.

Putting aside the crowd and the jostling, Ru Chun immediately saw that in the very center of the first row in front of the stage, as if separated by an invisible barrier, there was only a tall and broad-shouldered young man in black sitting there with an imposing air.

No one dared to overstep the bounds and approach him.

Ru Chun's face was hidden behind the plain black veil, her large, round eyes fixed intently on the person.

As night fell, bright candlelight was lit simultaneously in the hexagonal pavilion.

For illumination, the candles in the hexagonal pavilion were not covered with delicate cages, but rather the flames were displayed roughly and violently in the open.

The fire, like a snake, meandered and climbed all the way.

Xue Chen couldn't help but shiver.

"Erlang is afraid of fire?" Ru Chun didn't turn around, her voice muffled inside her veil, deep and unpredictable.

Xue Chen smiled and said, "It's not that I'm afraid, it's just that I don't like it."

"Why?"

After a moment of silence, Xue Chen smiled and said, "When I was little, I saw a huge wildfire that burned the mountain, the trees, and the people to the ground."

Ru Chun laughed, turning to look at him through the hazy black veil: "Have you become afraid of fire ever since? Have you ever regretted seeing that wildfire that night?"

Xue Chen shook his head lightly: "What's there to regret? I don't like fire, so I had them all covered with glass domes, so I can avoid seeing them and being bothered by them. There are many things in this world that we don't like, so do we have to regret them all?"

What a classic example of "Why not eat meat porridge?"

What a typical "upper class" person!

Ru Chun's smile deepened slightly, and after nodding slightly, she shifted her gaze back to the area below the platform.

On the burly man with slightly thinning hair on top.