When she boarded the boat, Zhai Lanye was startled, the floor that touched her feet was not of wood, but of a soft and silk goat skin. Not only the flooring under her feet, but the entire deck of the boat, even where the workers passed by, was all covered with goat skin.
“Miss has come…” A lady-in-waiting welcomed her, “Master is ordering the lady to take off her shoes and socks before entering.”
Zhai Lanye was surprised, “Taking off shoes and socks?” She noticed that the maid was also barefoot.
“Yes, this is master’s order.”
His instruction was unusual, but since a girl’s feet couldn’t be shown to anyone, Zhai Lanye anxiously looked around her, it was fortunate that she didn’t spot a single man.
“Miss?”
After hesitating for a moment, Zhai Lanye nodded.
The maid took out a round stool, asked her to sit down, bent over to take off her shoes and socks, then helped her stand up.
Barefoot stepping on the goatskin carpet, the smooth and soft wool insinuated between her toes. Zhai Lanye was uncomfortable trying to stand straight, then she walked down the soft and smooth carpet leading to the main hall of the boat and it felt like she was dreaming.
“Miss, please follow me.”
The lady-in-waiting walked away in front of her. Zhai Lanye took a deep breath, then followed her.
After entering the main hall at the light of a dim lantern, she only felt that the material under her feet was not the same as before. Although it was still feathery, it was not as soft but much harder. She looked down in surprise and discovered the ground no longer covered by goat skin; it was replaced with wolf skin.
Going further inside, it became darker and darker. The maid took a lamp from the wall and held it in her hands. She quickly catched up with the maid and didn’t dare to delay her steps.
After climbing two flights of stairs, passing a corridor, then another flight of stairs, in front of Zhai Lanye appeared a large, spacious, open room and it seemed they had reached the top floor.
A bright moon shone in the sky, and on the floor was a black fox fur spread on the bottom, shining like a needle…
Her bare feet stepped on the shiny fox’s fur, making her skin look smooth, white and clear. Zhai Lanye accidentally lowered her head and looked at her feet, paused for a moment, while her face suddenly reddened.
“You have come…” A low, deep male voice emerged from the darkness.
The maid who had led the way had left in silence, and Zhai Lanye stood there, feeling a little lost. After a few moments had passed, she said in a soft voice, “Is that you?”
“I haven’t seen you for three years, do you not recognize my voice?” The man leaned back in the long arm chair and, slightly laughing, he said, “Come here, let me look at you. Don’t stand so far away; you know that my eyesight is not good.”
Zhai Lanye, hesitant, walked to the side of the long arm chair, her beautiful eyes looked at the man, while the man’s gaze was on her feet.
He slowly extended his hand, and gently placed the palm of his hand on her ankle. The moment their skin touched, Zhai Lanye trembled and hid her feet.
“Sit down, let’s both talk.” he said while pointing at the fox’s fur carpet. The man was not angry.
Zhai Lanye bent her knees and sat on the fox’s fur carpet, politely covering her feet with her skirt, then timidly and tensely sitting down while lowering her gaze.
The man looked at her for a moment, smiled a little, then took her hand, rubbed it in his palm, and asked, “I heard that you like fresh fish soup, don’t you?”
Zhai Lanye nodded with a light movement.
“I often eat it in the Capital.” She answered him.
There was a moment of silence between the two of them.
She glanced at him several times, and finally gathered the courage to ask, “Will you take me away this time?”
The man smiled, raised his hand to caress her face, and gently stroke her beautiful chin with his thin long fingers, then he whispered, “That time we met, it was three years ago?”
“Three years ago, it happened to be the day of Crystal Day.*”
*[Crystal day = the last day of autumn, indicating the starting days of winter. This day usually start from the 23-24 of october and end around 7-8 of november, TN]
The man sighed, “I couldn’t get out of the Capital, if it weren’t for my mother’s mourning, I wouldn’t be able to come here now.”
“Your mother…” She raised her head to look at him with distressed eyes, “You must be sad, right?”
“The woman has ascended to the Western Heaven and is extremely happy to be there, why should I be sad?” The man still smiled, “My father is a little sad, I advised him ‘your wife is dead, yet the hero still sings arrogantly’*, but unfortunately, he didn’t listen. So it was better for me to escape and calm down, and come to see you on the way.”
*[It indicated that, dead people goes to the afterlife, you should be happy, what is there to be sad about, TN]
“……” She did not know how to reply to his words, but could only ask again, “This time, will you take me away?”
The man still did not answer, he only caressed her face. Then, in a soft voice, he said,“I heard Zhou Xian scared you that night, so now you can’t even live in that house…”
Upon hearing this, Zhai Lanye lowered her head in fear, “I also don’t know what happened, how could he suddenly… kill himself? I did everything following your orders, thinking he would only be hurt for a few days, how could, how coud… How did I harm him to death?”
“Silly girl, that’s his own problem, what does it have to do with you?” The man’s voice became softer and softer, his hand moved to her ear, and stroke her earlobes, “All this time, you’ve been doing very well, every time I received one of your letters while in the Capital, I felt very happy.”
“Why don’t you let me accompany you, sir? I will do well.” She said eagerly.
“I know, you have always been good. Have you met Lu Yi? What do you think of him?”
He comforted her, his eyes and his hands slowly moved down, gently lifted up a little of her skirt, his gaze was fixed on her jade-like legs…
“We only met once. When he asked about Zhou Xian, I was a little annoyed, but at some point he finally stopped asking, then we just had a light chat. Afterward, he sent people to give me a fragrance box and snacks.”
“Snacks?” The man tilted his head slightly.
“Rice cakes. I was also surprised, why would he send snacks? I also heard that whenever he’s free, he would go down to the kitchen to cook.”
The man laughed out loud, “You have been deceived by them. How could he possibly do that? There must be someone beside him who messed it up… But, this can tell me that he is not interested in you, otherwise, how could he let others tease you like that?”
“It’s Lanye’s fault for being incompetent.”
The man smiled and said, “There is nothing you can do. I predicted from the beginning that he would not be easily fooled by you.”
“Young Master doesn’t blame Lanye?”
“Of course.” He answered blankly, drawing circles intently on the soles of her feet.
Zhai Lanye became shy and flinched, embarrassed, then she curled up trying to hide her legs, but he was quick to grip them again. In the early spring, the wind was cold, her ankles were exposed outside of her skirt; that made her freezing but his hand carried a strange heat, which instantly made her tremble.
“Young Master…” She complained, uncomfortable.
“I remember when I left, it was only six inches and two.”
*[About a size 6 in shoes, TN]
The man raised his other hand, rubbed it along the outline of her feet and squeezed it, like he was admiring and delicately holding an antique. Zhai Lanye was embarrassed to the point that her face turned red. She didn’t dare to move. In her heart, she was only afraid that someone would suddenly rush in.
After a while, with only the sound of his breathing to listen to, with a very sorry tone, he said, “It’s now six inches and seven, isn’t it?”
Zhai Lanye was surprised by his accurate calculation. She nodded her head, “Yes.”
“Too bad, too bad…” The man put on a deeply regretting face, then put down her feet and looked right at her, “If you want to come with me to the Capital, your foot can’t exceed six inches.”
“Wh…What…” Zhai Lanye remained still, not understanding what he meant at all.
“This is a rule that I made a few years ago. You see, I can’t do anything, right?”
He was still smiling lightly, speaking in a soft tone, like drips of water.
“These years, I, I…I’ve been waiting for you…” Zhai Lanye’s eyes widened as much as she could, but she didn’t dare to blink and she couldn’t stop her tears from falling down, “In my heart, I only thought of you. I’ve never ignored any of your orders.”
“I know, I know it all.”
He watched in delightment how her tears were falling, dripping into the black fox’s fur like pearls.
***
It had been almost a cup of tea [time] since they had left the dock. The boat was being pushed forward, one paddle after another, the surface of the water reflected the moonlight.
Jinxia stood at the stern of the boat. Looking around, there were two or three boats that could be seen in the distance. She did not know when the boat had sunk in the darkness, but when she listened carefully, aside from the sound of water splashing, a total silence surrounded them.
Gao Qing was standing in the bow of the boat, feeling that the silence in the air was slightly odd. He became suspicious and, using his instinct, he put his hand on his sword at once, while scanning his surroundings without missing a spot…
“The waterways here are confusing, quickly paddle so we can enter the waterway of the city sooner.” He told the boatman.
The boatman did not dare to disobey, he speeded up his movements, the paddle brushed in the water faster, creating waves in the lake. The boat moved forward quickly, but unexpectedly, a moment later, a ‘boom’ sound was heard, as if the ship had hit a hard object under the water.
Jinxia struggled trying to hold the side of the boat and to stand up straight again.
Gao Qing was almost thrown out of the watercraft. He said to the boatman in anger, “What happened?”
The boatman replied, while stuttering, “This servant does not understand, maybe we have bumped into something.”
“Hurry up and paddle!”
“Yes, yes, yes.”
The boatman quickly answered, then he took the paddle and started rowing again. Just as the paddle touched the water, it was as if it were jammed into a crack of a rock.
“What’s the matter?” Gao Qing knew something was wrong. His swimming skills weren’t good, he was calmer when on land. Since the danger was occurring on water, it made him panic a little and somewhat less controlled.
The boatman had yet to answer his question, his body had been pulled down into the water. They heard the sound of water splashing, a few bubbles and then nothing.
Their surroundings returned to the original silence, as if nothing had happened.
There are people underwater!
Jinxia’s whole body became tense, she slowly squatted, until she was fully laid down on the floor of the boat. With one hand she pulled out her sword, then she patiently waited…
The two JinYiWei who were in charge of guarding Sha Xiuzhu in the cabin also took out their swords, in panic they shouted: “Commander! Commander!”
“What’s wrong?” Gao Qing also panicked and was annoyed, he frantically observed his surroundings, then looked inside, and said, furious, “What are you shouting for?”
“Daren…”
One of the JinYiWei pointed his finger to the floor of the boat: their black shoes had been soaked in water. They did not know how it had happened but the boat had several gaps in various places, and the water was beginning to rush in.
Gao Qing rushed in, reached out and cut the corner of his clothes to cover a gap, “Don’t just stand there, hurry and cover these gaps.”
“The water came in unexpectedly, no sounds were heard, Daren…Is it possible that this is caused by ghosts?” People who lived near the water had all heard the story about the devil that claimed people’s lives.
He coldly replied to his question, “Go guard at the bow of the boat. As soon as anything appears, kill it! No matter human or ghost.”
The two JinYiWei did not dare to say anything, one of them quickly ran to the bow of the shop, took out his sword and stood on guard.
Jinxia was laying on the floor of the boat, her eyes glanced at Sha Xiuzhu, wanting to see if there was any reaction in his face, but it seemed the man didn’t want to engage with her, he lowered his eyes, and the cabin light was dim, making it hard to see his expression…
Hearing the sound of water splashing at the bow of the boat, Gao Qing turned his head, just to see the JinYiWei who was on guard there suddenly disappearing without a trace.
“Commander…”
The remaining members of JinYiWei were obviously scared.
Gao Qing kept pinning a piece of cloth on the boat’s crack. In a harsh voice, he shouted, “You, cover the remaining gaps and look after him! You, why are you on the ground? Is LiuShanmen full of useless people like you?”
“You… If you’re so useful then why don’t you jump in the water!”
Jinxia said furious. She was most upset with people who did not know how to solve anything but take out their anger. After finishing her words, she suddenly saw something arising from the water beside the boat. Little by little, it continued to flow on the surface of the water, making people terrified. After looking with attention, she noticed a dark black hair floating on the top, following the waves…
Is this a person or a ghost?!? She took a deep breath of the cold air and, no longer able to think much further, she took out her sword and swiped it across the water. The water splashed all over her, but her effort was in vain, because she was hitting nothing. There didn’t seem to be anything under water, except a long, tangled dark hair.
When she boarded the boat, Zhai Lanye was startled, the floor that touched her feet was not of wood, but of a soft and silk goat skin. Not only the flooring under her feet, but the entire deck of the boat, even where the workers passed by, was all covered with goat skin.
“Miss has come…” A lady-in-waiting welcomed her, “Master is ordering the lady to take off her shoes and socks before entering.”
Zhai Lanye was surprised, “Taking off shoes and socks?” She noticed that the maid was also barefoot.
“Yes, this is master’s order.”
His instruction was unusual, but since a girl’s feet couldn’t be shown to anyone, Zhai Lanye anxiously looked around her, it was fortunate that she didn’t spot a single man.
“Miss?”
After hesitating for a moment, Zhai Lanye nodded.
The maid took out a round stool, asked her to sit down, bent over to take off her shoes and socks, then helped her stand up.
Barefoot stepping on the goatskin carpet, the smooth and soft wool insinuated between her toes. Zhai Lanye was uncomfortable trying to stand straight, then she walked down the soft and smooth carpet leading to the main hall of the boat and it felt like she was dreaming.
“Miss, please follow me.”
The lady-in-waiting walked away in front of her. Zhai Lanye took a deep breath, then followed her.
After entering the main hall at the light of a dim lantern, she only felt that the material under her feet was not the same as before. Although it was still feathery, it was not as soft but much harder. She looked down in surprise and discovered the ground no longer covered by goat skin; it was replaced with wolf skin.
Going further inside, it became darker and darker. The maid took a lamp from the wall and held it in her hands. She quickly catched up with the maid and didn’t dare to delay her steps.
After climbing two flights of stairs, passing a corridor, then another flight of stairs, in front of Zhai Lanye appeared a large, spacious, open room and it seemed they had reached the top floor.
A bright moon shone in the sky, and on the floor was a black fox fur spread on the bottom, shining like a needle…
Her bare feet stepped on the shiny fox’s fur, making her skin look smooth, white and clear. Zhai Lanye accidentally lowered her head and looked at her feet, paused for a moment, while her face suddenly reddened.
“You have come…” A low, deep male voice emerged from the darkness.
The maid who had led the way had left in silence, and Zhai Lanye stood there, feeling a little lost. After a few moments had passed, she said in a soft voice, “Is that you?”
“I haven’t seen you for three years, do you not recognize my voice?” The man leaned back in the long arm chair and, slightly laughing, he said, “Come here, let me look at you. Don’t stand so far away; you know that my eyesight is not good.”
Zhai Lanye, hesitant, walked to the side of the long arm chair, her beautiful eyes looked at the man, while the man’s gaze was on her feet.
He slowly extended his hand, and gently placed the palm of his hand on her ankle. The moment their skin touched, Zhai Lanye trembled and hid her feet.
“Sit down, let’s both talk.” he said while pointing at the fox’s fur carpet. The man was not angry.
Zhai Lanye bent her knees and sat on the fox’s fur carpet, politely covering her feet with her skirt, then timidly and tensely sitting down while lowering her gaze.
The man looked at her for a moment, smiled a little, then took her hand, rubbed it in his palm, and asked, “I heard that you like fresh fish soup, don’t you?”
Zhai Lanye nodded with a light movement.
“I often eat it in the Capital.” She answered him.
There was a moment of silence between the two of them.
She glanced at him several times, and finally gathered the courage to ask, “Will you take me away this time?”
The man smiled, raised his hand to caress her face, and gently stroke her beautiful chin with his thin long fingers, then he whispered, “That time we met, it was three years ago?”
“Three years ago, it happened to be the day of Crystal Day.*”
*[Crystal day = the last day of autumn, indicating the starting days of winter. This day usually start from the 23-24 of october and end around 7-8 of november, TN]
The man sighed, “I couldn’t get out of the Capital, if it weren’t for my mother’s mourning, I wouldn’t be able to come here now.”
“Your mother…” She raised her head to look at him with distressed eyes, “You must be sad, right?”
“The woman has ascended to the Western Heaven and is extremely happy to be there, why should I be sad?” The man still smiled, “My father is a little sad, I advised him ‘your wife is dead, yet the hero still sings arrogantly’*, but unfortunately, he didn’t listen. So it was better for me to escape and calm down, and come to see you on the way.”
*[It indicated that, dead people goes to the afterlife, you should be happy, what is there to be sad about, TN]
“……” She did not know how to reply to his words, but could only ask again, “This time, will you take me away?”
The man still did not answer, he only caressed her face. Then, in a soft voice, he said,“I heard Zhou Xian scared you that night, so now you can’t even live in that house…”
Upon hearing this, Zhai Lanye lowered her head in fear, “I also don’t know what happened, how could he suddenly… kill himself? I did everything following your orders, thinking he would only be hurt for a few days, how could, how coud… How did I harm him to death?”
“Silly girl, that’s his own problem, what does it have to do with you?” The man’s voice became softer and softer, his hand moved to her ear, and stroke her earlobes, “All this time, you’ve been doing very well, every time I received one of your letters while in the Capital, I felt very happy.”
“Why don’t you let me accompany you, sir? I will do well.” She said eagerly.
“I know, you have always been good. Have you met Lu Yi? What do you think of him?”
He comforted her, his eyes and his hands slowly moved down, gently lifted up a little of her skirt, his gaze was fixed on her jade-like legs…
“We only met once. When he asked about Zhou Xian, I was a little annoyed, but at some point he finally stopped asking, then we just had a light chat. Afterward, he sent people to give me a fragrance box and snacks.”
“Snacks?” The man tilted his head slightly.
“Rice cakes. I was also surprised, why would he send snacks? I also heard that whenever he’s free, he would go down to the kitchen to cook.”
The man laughed out loud, “You have been deceived by them. How could he possibly do that? There must be someone beside him who messed it up… But, this can tell me that he is not interested in you, otherwise, how could he let others tease you like that?”
“It’s Lanye’s fault for being incompetent.”
The man smiled and said, “There is nothing you can do. I predicted from the beginning that he would not be easily fooled by you.”
“Young Master doesn’t blame Lanye?”
“Of course.” He answered blankly, drawing circles intently on the soles of her feet.
Zhai Lanye became shy and flinched, embarrassed, then she curled up trying to hide her legs, but he was quick to grip them again. In the early spring, the wind was cold, her ankles were exposed outside of her skirt; that made her freezing but his hand carried a strange heat, which instantly made her tremble.
“Young Master…” She complained, uncomfortable.
“I remember when I left, it was only six inches and two.”
*[About a size 6 in shoes, TN]
The man raised his other hand, rubbed it along the outline of her feet and squeezed it, like he was admiring and delicately holding an antique. Zhai Lanye was embarrassed to the point that her face turned red. She didn’t dare to move. In her heart, she was only afraid that someone would suddenly rush in.
After a while, with only the sound of his breathing to listen to, with a very sorry tone, he said, “It’s now six inches and seven, isn’t it?”
Zhai Lanye was surprised by his accurate calculation. She nodded her head, “Yes.”
“Too bad, too bad…” The man put on a deeply regretting face, then put down her feet and looked right at her, “If you want to come with me to the Capital, your foot can’t exceed six inches.”
“Wh…What…” Zhai Lanye remained still, not understanding what he meant at all.
“This is a rule that I made a few years ago. You see, I can’t do anything, right?”
He was still smiling lightly, speaking in a soft tone, like drips of water.
“These years, I, I…I’ve been waiting for you…” Zhai Lanye’s eyes widened as much as she could, but she didn’t dare to blink and she couldn’t stop her tears from falling down, “In my heart, I only thought of you. I’ve never ignored any of your orders.”
“I know, I know it all.”
He watched in delightment how her tears were falling, dripping into the black fox’s fur like pearls.
***
It had been almost a cup of tea [time] since they had left the dock. The boat was being pushed forward, one paddle after another, the surface of the water reflected the moonlight.
Jinxia stood at the stern of the boat. Looking around, there were two or three boats that could be seen in the distance. She did not know when the boat had sunk in the darkness, but when she listened carefully, aside from the sound of water splashing, a total silence surrounded them.
Gao Qing was standing in the bow of the boat, feeling that the silence in the air was slightly odd. He became suspicious and, using his instinct, he put his hand on his sword at once, while scanning his surroundings without missing a spot…
“The waterways here are confusing, quickly paddle so we can enter the waterway of the city sooner.” He told the boatman.
The boatman did not dare to disobey, he speeded up his movements, the paddle brushed in the water faster, creating waves in the lake. The boat moved forward quickly, but unexpectedly, a moment later, a ‘boom’ sound was heard, as if the ship had hit a hard object under the water.
Jinxia struggled trying to hold the side of the boat and to stand up straight again.
Gao Qing was almost thrown out of the watercraft. He said to the boatman in anger, “What happened?”
The boatman replied, while stuttering, “This servant does not understand, maybe we have bumped into something.”
“Hurry up and paddle!”
“Yes, yes, yes.”
The boatman quickly answered, then he took the paddle and started rowing again. Just as the paddle touched the water, it was as if it were jammed into a crack of a rock.
“What’s the matter?” Gao Qing knew something was wrong. His swimming skills weren’t good, he was calmer when on land. Since the danger was occurring on water, it made him panic a little and somewhat less controlled.
The boatman had yet to answer his question, his body had been pulled down into the water. They heard the sound of water splashing, a few bubbles and then nothing.
Their surroundings returned to the original silence, as if nothing had happened.
There are people underwater!
Jinxia’s whole body became tense, she slowly squatted, until she was fully laid down on the floor of the boat. With one hand she pulled out her sword, then she patiently waited…
The two JinYiWei who were in charge of guarding Sha Xiuzhu in the cabin also took out their swords, in panic they shouted: “Commander! Commander!”
“What’s wrong?” Gao Qing also panicked and was annoyed, he frantically observed his surroundings, then looked inside, and said, furious, “What are you shouting for?”
“Daren…”
One of the JinYiWei pointed his finger to the floor of the boat: their black shoes had been soaked in water. They did not know how it had happened but the boat had several gaps in various places, and the water was beginning to rush in.
Gao Qing rushed in, reached out and cut the corner of his clothes to cover a gap, “Don’t just stand there, hurry and cover these gaps.”
“The water came in unexpectedly, no sounds were heard, Daren…Is it possible that this is caused by ghosts?” People who lived near the water had all heard the story about the devil that claimed people’s lives.
He coldly replied to his question, “Go guard at the bow of the boat. As soon as anything appears, kill it! No matter human or ghost.”
The two JinYiWei did not dare to say anything, one of them quickly ran to the bow of the shop, took out his sword and stood on guard.
Jinxia was laying on the floor of the boat, her eyes glanced at Sha Xiuzhu, wanting to see if there was any reaction in his face, but it seemed the man didn’t want to engage with her, he lowered his eyes, and the cabin light was dim, making it hard to see his expression…
Hearing the sound of water splashing at the bow of the boat, Gao Qing turned his head, just to see the JinYiWei who was on guard there suddenly disappearing without a trace.
“Commander…”
The remaining members of JinYiWei were obviously scared.
Gao Qing kept pinning a piece of cloth on the boat’s crack. In a harsh voice, he shouted, “You, cover the remaining gaps and look after him! You, why are you on the ground? Is LiuShanmen full of useless people like you?”
“You… If you’re so useful then why don’t you jump in the water!”
Jinxia said furious. She was most upset with people who did not know how to solve anything but take out their anger. After finishing her words, she suddenly saw something arising from the water beside the boat. Little by little, it continued to flow on the surface of the water, making people terrified. After looking with attention, she noticed a dark black hair floating on the top, following the waves…
Is this a person or a ghost?!? She took a deep breath of the cold air and, no longer able to think much further, she took out her sword and swiped it across the water. The water splashed all over her, but her effort was in vain, because she was hitting nothing. There didn’t seem to be anything under water, except a long, tangled dark hair.
