Linglong stayed in the cave for three days without eating, without drinking, without moving. Eventually, she was so hungry her eyes turned black, her throat was as dry as fire. Wu Tong did not come to force her, every day food was delivered on time, and hot water for her to freshen up, she did not eat or use it, he did not seem to see. Anyway, the food turned cold and was replaced with new, the water was cold and replaced with hot water.
On this day, at noon, he came again to bring food and water, when the lid lifted, it was a plate of diced chicken with peach nuts, a familiar color and aroma. Linglong instantly remembered her mother, He Danping, who was the best at cooking this dish, and every time she brought it out, she and Xuanji grabbed it all. She thought of the grass and trees of Shaoyang Peak, the tenderness of her parents, and the loveliness of Xuanji, and she couldn’t help but shed a tear.
The tears fell on the dry and cracked lips, marinating it in pain. She licked them with her tongue. bitter and astringent. She stared in a daze at the fragrant rice dish, her heart gradually moved a little. You can’t starve to death here, and if you do die, wouldn’t you be following his wishes?. There is a voice in her head saying this over and over again. She gradually moved to stretch her legs and was about to eat it when the curtain was lifted and he came back.
Linglong hastily retracted, and her whole body stiffened with caution.
Wu Tong ignored her and brought out the cold rice and hot water. Linglong was shocked and couldn’t help but say, “Wait …… wait.”
Wu Tong raised his eyebrows to look at her, but still did not speak.
Linglong bite her lips, and said in a mosquito voice, “Diced chicken …… do not take away ……”
The corners of Wu Tong’s mouth hooked, smiled lightly and said, “Got it, the diced chicken will be delivered after warming it up.” He uncovered the curtain and quickly walked away. Linglong leaned against the cold cave wall, the grievances in her heart were like a tidal wave, one wave after another, for a while only felt frustration, shame, helplessness, resentment …… all kinds of emotions came, and finally became extremely bewildered.
After a while, he did bring the hot diced chicken with peach nuts and a bowl of tea soup. Linglong had already lost first, no longer cared about dignity and face, jumped up and poured the tea soup into her mouth, she was so thirsty that she was going crazy.
When she finished the bowl of tea, she was still not finished, but she saw Wu Tong grabbing a big purple sand pot with a round belly in his hand and poured another bowl, saying, “Don’t drink so fast, it will choke you.”
Linglong’s heart was on fire, she threw the tea bowl away and hid her face back in the corner. Wu Tong didn’t seem to quarrel with her. He put the things on the ground one by one. After a while, he brought two pots of hot water, and several clothes and towels for changing. When he came in for the third time, he brought in three or four thick beddings and laid them on the cold ground, even the pillows were prepared.
Linglong watched him go with bewilderment. There was no movement for a long time. Then she carefully undressed, not daring to take off everything, only used a little hot water to wipe the face and hands, and secretly undid her small garments, turned her back to scrub the body. The new clothes he brought, she did not even glance at them, all thrown aside.
When she was almost finished, Wu Tong came in again and changed two new pots of hot water and a soap and comb. Although Linglong hated him to the bone, she was a little relieved to see him prepare everything with such care. She also washed her hair and felt fresh all over, and the floor was covered with mattresses, so she was naturally a hundred times more comfortable than before. At this moment, she picked up the food before eating, and her heart could not help being very sad. Although she kept her high posture, she made him accommodate in everything. But, in fact, she had already failed miserably.
After several days without interfering with each other life this, Linglong’s previous defensiveness has long ceased to exist. Although every time he came in to deliver something, she would hold her sword in front of her body, but as soon as he left, she would no longer cower in the corner and cry like before.
The reason why Wu Tong imprisoned her is something she has never understood until now. He must have planned to retaliate against the Shaoyang Sect and the other four sects who wanted him, and must have thought of many insidious ways to fix her.
But, why, in the end, he did nothing? Maybe she knows the answer vaguely in her mind, but refuses to think about it. There are many things in the world, and seeing them too clearly is not good.
Thinking of this, she couldn’t help but sigh faintly. Xuanji has been watching her from the sidelines, seeing her expressions changing, and finally calming down, finally cautiously opened her mouth: “Did he torture you? Are you hurt?”
Linglong closed her eyes tiredly, shook her head and whispered, “Xuanji, I’m so tired. I want to sleep for a while ……”
Xuanji nodded and helped her to sleep, tucking in the blanket, but heard her whisper again, “Tell Litle Six …… that I miss him so much, why hasn’t he come to see me?”
Xuanji couldn’t answer, her throat was sour, and she barely responded, and then she opened the door to go out.
Linglong closed her eyes, shrunken in the quilt, her thoughts fluctuated, as if she was back to that day.
She was imprisoned in that cave for an unknown number of days, her body chained, and could not get out. Every day, she only waited for Wu Tong to bring her food and water, and the two of them were at peace with each other. She always had a tense string in her heart, always reminding herself that he must have a purpose for imprisoning her, but what it was, she did not know.
Later, she didn’t know what he was up to. The time for delivering food and water was getting late. For three or four days, he delivered the tofu and vegetables she hated the most. She thought this was his new trick to torment her, and finally one day she couldn’t resist arguing with him, throwing over all the food and saying loudly, “Or don’t bring the food! I’d rather starve to death!”
The expression on Wu Tong’s face at that time was very subtle, seemingly smiling, as if there was something dangerous coalescing in his eyes. He sneered and said, “You’re a very difficult lady to serve. You really think you are here to enjoy? It’s not bad to have something to eat.”
Linglong finally asked for food because she was softened up, which was tantamount to her accepting his favor. This has been pricking her heart all this time, at this moment, her sore spot was stabbed. She kicked over the hot water basin and puller out her Duàn Jīn. The mattress was hacked and cut into strips of cotton wool, and shouted, “You can kill me now. Why don’t you kill me?!”
Wu Tong grabbed her wrist and tripped her foot, and Linglong fell to the ground upside down. He followed and pinned her underneath him. She was so shocked that she thought he was going to forcibly molest her, so she closed her teeth and immediately chewed her tongue. Unexpectedly, when she bit, she did not bite her tongue but bit his finger.
He forced his finger into her mouth, so that she could not bite her tongue. Linglong was so hateful that she put all her might into biting his finger, hoping to break it immediately. The blood from his finger dripped down and landed on her tongue, fishy and astringent. Linglong thought she was going to be brutally tortured, so she closed her eyes and just bit down on his finger without letting go.
After waiting for a long time, he remained motionless, and Linglong opened her eyes suspiciously. She saw his face was close at hand, his eyes were cold like electricity and he was determinedly looking at her. The eyes seemed to hate her to the extreme and wanted to cut her into a a thousand pieces. Linglong’s heart is even more frightened, saying in a trembling voice, “Quick …… quickly kill me!” His finger was still stuck in her mouth, the words were slurred.
Wu Tong took advantage of her words to loosen his teeth and quickly pulled his finger out. Linglong was stunned when he pulled a piece of cotton wool that she had cut up and shoved it into her mouth. She screamed and resisted desperately, not knowing how many bloody scratches she made on his face, but finally he filled her mouth with cotton wool, not to mention biting her tongue, even her mouth could not be closed.
Her insides burned, her eyes turned black, thought she was going to be tortured to death by him this time. Her hands and feet suddenly became soft, he pressed hard on her acupuncture points, making her unable to move.
“What do you know, you high and mighty lady? Oh, I see, you’ve been treated like a princess since you were a little girl… There are only good people and bad people in the world. Your parents, elders, and masters are all good people. Anything that offends you, all are bad people, right?”
He asked sarcastically, cupping her chin and shaking it from side to side.
Linglong closed her eyes tightly, waiting for him to get angry and kill herself with a slap, which would be painful.
“You don’t know what your father, mother, elders and masters did to me, do you? Hey, there is a reward of 500 taels! My life, Wu Tong, can be ended for 500 taels? Did I kill someone? Or did I do something unforgivable and evil? Five great sects! What a great style! I’m grateful to them for joining forces to deal with a small disciple like me, making me famous in the jianghu[1] and having no place to hide.”
He finished, suddenly heard a sound like tearing cloth. Linglong’s heart jumped, thinking he was going to do something indecent in a rage, after a while, only to hear him laugh: “Good boy, open your eyes and look. Take a good look at what your good elders have done to me!”
When has Linglong been willing to listen to him? She didn’t know what he would use to compel her, so she just closed her eyes.
His hand suddenly touched her cheek, stroking it back and forth, and softly said, “Linglong, open your eyes and look at me.” Then, he untied a knot on her body, “If you don’t look at me, it’s me who will look at you. Take off your clothes and look at them well and carefully.”
Linglong could feel his hand going in through the collar, and she was so shocked that she had to open her eyes and face him. He looked at her with a strange light in his eyes, and suddenly straightened up and said with a miserable smile: “So? You see?”
His upper body clothes had already been taken off, revealing his strong chest, which was densely covered with many wounds, one from his heart to his belly, and extending downward, completely fatal. The large red scar is ugly. Like a centipede crawling on top of him. Linglong groaned lowly, wondering whether it was because of horror or fear.
Wu Tong said morosely: “I have died countless times! Every time I crawled back from the gates of hell! Five hundred taels is enough to buy my life? They think too well! Now, let them have a taste of what it’s like to be forced into a desperate situation!”
He raised his hand and struck his right calf twice, making a hollow sound. His right calf had been cut off at the knee and was fitted with a wooden prosthetic leg.
He saw Linglong’s face showing fear, he couldn’t help but laugh wildly and said, “How about it, want to see the one below?” After that he even went to untie his trouser belt, Linglong screamed and closed her eyes tightly.
Seeing her face flushed, her colour was like a peach blossom, and his heart swayed. He couldn’t help holding her face and owed his head and kissed her cheek. The place where the lips touched was all soft and delicate. He was so excited that he couldn’t help but unbuckle her belt and murmured, “Everything is just beginning ……. Why not try something sweet first ……”
The palm of his hand leaned into her thin clothes, only to feel that her skin was as delicate as warm jade. Such a young girl who was like a jade flower held in his arms, no matter where he held it. Besides, he was never a gentleman. He held her tightly in his arms with passion, and kissed her gently on her face, only to feel that she was trembling slightly, so pitiful, his heart softened and he said softly, “Don’t be afraid.”
Seeing that her long eyelashes were like butterfly wings, fluttering twice, and suddenly several large teardrops rolled out. All the lust filling him suddenly disappeared without a trace, but for a moment he was reluctant to let go, holding her face, kissed her trembling eyelids a few times, and whispered, “Open your eyes, you just need to open you eyes, I did nothing. Wu Tong is true to his word.”
He held his breath as he watched her long eyelashes tremble once, twice, and finally opened her eyes, her black and white eyes staring at him. The eyes seem to be pleading, but also with a deep hatred, but also mixed with pity, fear, despair and other emotions.
Wu Tong looked at her for a long time, and finally slowly let go of his hand, put on his coat and stood up.
“Diced chicken with peach nuts, right?” After a long time, his voice suddenly rang at the entrance of the cave. “Ha, what a lady.”
Linglong didn’t speak. In fact her mouth was stuffed with cotton wool, which made it impossible for her to speak.
Wu Tong opened the curtain and walked out. Suddenly he remembered something and smiled back at her with a sneer, saying, “Where is your little lover at this time? He didn’t seem to come to save you, and he didn’t come to look for you! Poor kid ……”
Linglong’s heart was shaken, as if she had been hammered in the heart, and her tears flowed even harder.
After that, he never touched a finger of her again, and brought her favorite meals to her at all times. Only Linglong herself, as if she had lost her soul, just sat there all day, dazed, no one knew what she was thinking.
Later, Eldest Senior Brother and Second Senior Brother somehow ran into him. It turns out that there are more than just the two of them here, there are no less than 30 demons gathered outside the cave for him to call on, he never lets anyone in, and she is never allowed to go out, so she actually didn’t know.
Linglong turned over on the bed, her fingers suddenly clenched in the bedding, tears quickly wetting the pillow.
Where is your little lover at this time? Wu Tong’s words are like nails, which have been nailed to her heart since that day. Zhong Minyan never came. She waited until she was completely desperate, until her soul was drawn out of her. Now that she was saved by Xuanji, she still couldn’t see him.
Suddenly, she felt that everyone was deceiving her. In fact, he had abandoned her, right? Why else would he not come to see himself? The seclusion was simply an excuse.
Linglong covered her head with the blanket and cried out in pain. After crying for a while, she heard the door of her room creak open and a person came in gently. She thought it was Xuanji coming in to see what was going on, so she hurriedly stopped crying and closed her eyes and pretended to sleep.
After waiting for a while, the person didn’t enter the back room, just looking through something in the outer room. She quietly opened a corner of the quilt, and could see the person in the outer room, revealing a corner of their clothes and wearing long boots, clearly a man.
She was overjoyed, thinking it was Zhong Minyan who had come, so she hurriedly called out, “Little Six! Why did you come to see me only now!”
“Huh?” Téngshé who came in to steal food almost choked on her cry and looked towards her with round innocent eyes. The two of them met each other in a daze.
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[1]: The meaning of the term jianghu (江湖; jiānghú; meaning ‘rivers and lakes’) has evolved over the course of Chinese history, but usually refers to the martial arts world of ancient China.
First coined by Zhuangzi in the late 4th century BC, it referred to a way of life different from that of being actively involved in politics. At the time, it referred to the way of life of underachieving or maligned scholar-officials who distanced themselves from the circles of political power. In this sense, jianghu could be loosely interpreted as the way of life of a hermit.
Over the centuries, jianghu gained greater acceptance among the common people and gradually became a term for a sub-society parallel to, and sometimes orthogonal to, mainstream society. This sub-society initially included merchants, craftsmen, beggars and vagabonds, but over time it assimilated bandits, outlaws and gangs who lived “outside the existing law”.
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