Chapter 4 The Moment
After Yuxiao insisted, Dr. Wang accepted the payment and left. When
the two men in uniform, likely government guards, started questioning how Yuxiao became hurt, he skipped over what had happened in Yuyang and just described his ordeal in the woods. The guards were alarmed, saying this was a criminal case and that he needed to go to the county government to explain things before he could leave.
Yuxiao did not want to draw attention and had never dealt much with the government at home, but he thought he would cooperate this time, as it shouldn't take too long. The guards, seeing how easily he accepted, said, "We can save your time. It'll be faster if we ride there."
Yuxiao agreed to their demand, had the hotel clerk get him some clothes, and headed out, heedless of the late hour and his wounds. As he watched the guards get on their horses, he felt a bit awkward. "Sir, I'm sorry. I'm okay with a horse carriage, but can't ride a horse."
The two guards looked at him. The taller one said, "Why don't you ride a horse with me then?"
Yuxiao nodded, and then said to the clerk, "Could you check with your bookkeeper? I used two gold coins on my horse and carriage. Could you use one of the coins for today's expenses?"
The clerk was overjoyed at the good deal. He hurriedly replied, "I'll get on it now," and ran to the accounting office to repeat Yuxiao's request.
The accountant was happy, too. He walked over to Yuxiao with a gold coin. "Sir, you're really going to give us a gold coin?"
Yuxiao nodded.
Hearing this, the accountant handed one gold coin to him. "Okay, a promise is a promise. The two guards here can be our witnesses."
Yuxiao was puzzled by their wordiness. Why would he go back on his word? He stuffed the coin into his money pouch, copied the guard's actions in getting on the horse, and sat behind the taller guard. With his hands on the guard's shoulders, he said, "Let's go."
The two guards didn't waste words. They nudged their horses with their knees and set off toward the south. Yuxiao felt a lot less rocky riding on the horse's back than in the horse carriage. He was intrigued. It's better riding the horse than sitting in a horse carriage, not to mention faster, and less bumpy too. I should get a horse, too, after I'm done with this.
He started paying attention to how the men rode the horses. As one guard pulled on the reins and his left hand applied more force, the horse headed left, and vice versa. Whenever the man squeezed the horse's belly with his legs and said "Jia," the horse would go faster. He was fascinated by all the details and didn't notice the guards taking him into a narrow road that was lined with many trees on the sides, which blocked much of the moonlight.
The two guards looked at each other, but Yuxiao was still watching one guard's hand motions and not their gazes. Yuxiao heard the man yell, "Shhh!" as he pulled back on the reins. The horse reared up and pawed the air with its front legs. Yuxiao felt off-kilter and fell off the back of the horse, right into a spread-eagle position. Stars danced in front of his eyes at the fall. Before he could get up, a foot was on his chest and a sword pressed to his neck.
Yuxiao was shocked, but not scared. "Sir, what's going on?"
"You are a killer!" the guard yelled, pressing harder on the sword. "You killed four people already. I ought to end you now."
Yuxiao tried to explain. "They were going to kill me. I had to fight back."
As he talked, the other guard searched him. Before long, the guard found a small pouch with glittering contents. The man grew excited. "Brother Li, we got a fat cat here."
Yuxiao started to panic as they took away his only wallet. The guard who took the wallet said, "Let's just end him and take off."
The guard named Li still had his foot on Yuxiao's chest. His hands held onto the sword and his eyes glinted cruelly. Without a word, he raised the sword to slam it down on Yuxiao's neck.
Someone else trying to kill me? Yuxiao thought as his body reacted. He took a deep breath and kicked his legs forward. Li was about to hit Yuxiao when his foot on Yuxiao's chest sank a little. Pain sprung through Yuxiao's back, and a force pushed him and the sword. The sword edge barely brushed Yuxiao's face.
Yuxiao couldn't linger on the pain. He jumped into a standing position and lunged toward Li. Yuxiao's hands gripped Li's head from the back as he pressed the man to the ground. There was a twist and the guard's head turned 180 degrees, instantly killing him.
Yuxiao didn't pause as he picked up Li's sword and charged toward the other guard; his entire motion took less than five seconds. The surviving guard, watching Yuxiao's bloody face and sword, could barely react. Yuxiao looked like a monster in the moonlight, scaring him into running.
Yuxiao hated abusive men like these and couldn't let him get away. He tossed the sword like a javelin, piercing the guard, who had just gotten on the horse, right in the back. The horse trotted two steps before the man was thrown off, shivered a few times, and took his last breath, with no one the wiser as to his last thoughts. Yuxiao walked over to him and retrieved his wallet. His right eye felt blurry, and feeling it with his hand, he could see there was a smear of blood in the moonlight.
He was stunned. Did I hurt my eye? He felt his right eye with a shaking hand again, then felt calmer. He had only hurt the corner of his eye a little bit and realized the sword must have grazed his right cheek near his temple. He was not vain about his looks, and all of his working out was for cultivating the qi, but he still sighed. "My face has a scar now."
His words were not deep, but if anyone elderly had heard him they would have been surprised at how jaded he sounded, even though his voice was still young.
Killing six people in one day. Yuxiao stared at the new corpse on the ground.
The soft light from the moon and stars gave everything a glow, and by now, most people would have already fallen asleep. The crickets had lowered their chirping, and even the owls had found their prey and were quiet. There was no sound except the wind moving through the trees, and the two horses could be heard ambling in the woods, snorting lowly. Two dark shadows were motionless on the ground, while another dark shadow stood still, too, as a silhouette in this painting of the forest at night.
As the moon sent down its brightest rays, this young man, staring into space or perhaps lost in thought, looked up at the moon. His eyes had lost their sense of bewilderment from before; it was as if this night gave him a new direction. The blood on his face could not cover up his naiveté, but there was maturity there, and it made his face a little frightening. He looked down at the now sleeping horses, and sat down in a lotus pose to begin meditating and gathering his breath.
The moon and the stars slowly went away, and day took over from night. A pale horizon appeared with the rising sun, and then the red sun rose up from the east, coloring half the sky. As the red faded and the sun rose higher, most of the earth was lit up by daylight. Next to the still young man, the two horses were awake and already grazing.
When the horses were full, they trotted a little further away, perhaps seeking water, or maybe looking for home. The sun moved to the middle of the sky, but the horses didn't return. All of a sudden, the young man opened his eyes. A bright light flashed within them and an excitement brightening his whole face. Then he started laughing, the sound so loud, it must have traveled far. His face, with remnants of blood, actually seemed rather scary.
"The heavens may not have answered me, but I have finally cultivated qi! Yes!"
This laughing and excited young man was Yuxiao, but he was not the useless fourth brother of the Xue family anymore. Not only was he no longer a loser—he could be called a genius now. He'd had his coming-of-age ceremony already, but hadn't turned sixteen years old yet. How could an almost-sixteen-years-old, who cultivated qi with his own method, be called a moron? Maybe in his family a sixteen-year-old getting qi was not a big deal, but those who did always practiced the orthodox way and had the right supplements. He was always allergic to those supplements, and yet he had gotten the qi anyway. It was a spectacular achievement.