Chapter 14
Hideous Nangong's Secret
Big G: "Think about it, what if Sour Plum is The Rock's little sister?"
Swally: "Even if she is that has nothing to do with me."
Big G: "What if The Phoenix was an enemy of the Plum family?"
Swally: "I wouldn't know."
Big G: "I am certain that's why Sour Plum conspired to take down The Phoenix, but is Hideous Nangong her enemy as well? Is she the one who helped Hideous Nangong escape? Did she release him because of the hidden treasure?"
Swally: "Why don't you go and ask her?"
Big G sighed, "She didn't bring it up so I doubt I will get anything out of her."
Swally laughed coldly, "It seems that you don't have the nerve to ask."
Big G: "The nerve?"
Swally: "You're scared of offending her, scared of making her mad, so..."
He suddenly stopped talking, his facial expression sullen.
Big G looked back and saw Sour Plum walking over.
She was smiling sweetly with big, beautiful eyes, "You should have asked me about this. Why would I be angry?"
Swally regained his composure, "You heard everything we just said?" he asked coldly.
She hung her head, "I didn't eavesdrop on you intentionally I came to tell you that dinner was ready."
Swally: "What a coincidence."
He was already standing up, he just turned his head and walked away. Sour Plum watched him walk away, letting out a sigh, "I didn't do anything to offend him, why did he take one look at me and just walk away?" she smiled bitterly.
Big G laughed, "Perhaps he likes you."
She blinked a couple of times, "Likes me? Then why does he always avoid me?"
Big B: "Maybe that is because he can tell the person you like isn't him."
She put her head down, after some time she suddenly smiled.
Big G: "What are you smiling about?"
She smiled, pursing her lips, "I am smiling about you men, you never ask the right questions, or say the right thing."
Big G: "That thing I wanted to ask you about, you..."
She interrupted him by grabbing his hand, "Let's go, it's dinner time, I will tell you everything after we're finished eating," she said with a smile.
Big G: "Why don't you tell me now?"
Sour Plum: "I'm worried that you will lose your appetite."
She walked inside holding Big G's hand, holding it very tightly, even after sitting down she looked reluctant to let go of his hand.
Dash was watching her hand, Forest was also watching her hand, Swally was intentionally pretending not to notice, but he couldn't help stealing a glance or two.
Big G's heart was content beyond words, so he ate an exceptionally large amount of food.
While he was wiping his mouth, Sour Plum suddenly broke the silence, "You all guessed correctly, I am The Rock's little sister, The Phoenix was our family foe, but we could never find him until we finally thought of that plan." She laughed, and then continued explaining, "We accurately predicted that The Rod and the Golden Poodle would be able to drag him out of his hole, they are officials, and naturally it's easier for them to find people." She suddenly stopped, taking a deep breath before continuing, "Up to this point, all of your predictions were right."
Big G: "And then?"
Sour Plum: "You were wrong about everything after that."
Big G was shocked, "What did we get wrong?"
Sour Plum: "First, that person dressed in black isn't Hideous Nangong."
Big G: "Then who is it?"
Ronan Plum was biting her lip, it took her a long time before she could finally say "it's my older brother."
This statement left everyone stunned, Big G could barely stop himself from yelling.
Forest cried out, "Your brother? Why would he do all of that?"
She hung her head, "Everyone from the world of martial arts knows of the Plum Family, so they all assume that we have a lot of money. Our family has always openly displayed our wealth, and anytime a friend from those circles needed help we were always very generous." Her facial expression turned miserable, "Since our father passed away, our family only appeared to be strong on the outside, but we can barely support ourselves now, let alone help others, so..."
Dash: "So you not only wanted to take The Phoenix's life, you wanted his money."
She nodded her head, "Correct, so we worked at it from both sides, by the time I arrived here to carry out the crime, my brother was already talking to The Rod and the Golden Poodle, and became their body guard."
Big G: "The Rod and the Golden Poodle are both pretty clever, how could they believe so easily that he was Hideous Nangong? Why would they casually allow him to be their bodyguard?"
Sour Plum: "First of all, because they have never actually seen Hideous Nanong before; second, because my brother was carrying one of his personal objects; third, they never imagined that someone would impersonate Hideous Nangong."
Big G: "Fourth, because you guys got lucky. But how did your brother get a hold of something belonging to Hideous Nangong?"
Sour Plum: "Because he is my brother's friend."
Big G exhaled, "Sounds like your brother is a genius, he actually made friends with that kind of person," he smiled bitterly.
Her face went red, "He has always enjoyed making new friends, and he likes helping people. A lot of people from the world of martial arts have been grateful for his assistance. It's because of all his friends and his generosity that our family gradually became poor."
Big G smiled, "That's true, only stingy and miserable savers never run out of money, and if I knew he was that kind of person I wouldn't have punched him so hard."
Her face became sullen, "There are two more things I have to tell you," she said slowly.
Big G: "Go on."
"First, I don't like it when people say bad things about my brother in front of me; second, if he wasn't using an unfamiliar weapon, it would have been you who took a beating."
"The Rock," Rujia Plum used stones for weapons, even Big G knew that. Big G just smiled, "Then I wonder how good the real Hideous Nangong's kung fu is?"
"If you had come across the real Hideous Nangong, you probably wouldn't be sitting here right now," she said casually.
Big G: "Where would I be sitting then?"
"You would by lying down, if you weren't in a coffin already, you would at least be bed ridden," she replied.
Big G laughed, but his laugh sounded a little awkward.
Fortunately she kept talking, "Our plan was going so smoothly start to finish, until..."
She looked at Forest, "Until I accidently saw him," Forest said.
She sighed, "I wish you had never went to the city that day, that you hadn't seen him."
Forest: "He was afraid that we would look into his secret, so he wanted to kill us."
"He is the only son from the Plum family, and there is no way that our family's good reputation for the past few hundred years would be ruined on his watch," she said sadly.
Dash sighed, "So he would rather admit that he is Hideous Nangong, instead of exposing his true identity; he would rather die than to lose face, is that it?"
Sour Plum nodded, her eyes were red.
Dash suddenly took a long sigh, "Being the only son from a famous martial arts family definitely brings a certain kind of distress."
Big G: "Maybe there is only one type of person in this world even more distressed than him."
Dash: "What kind of person?"
Big G: "His little sister."
Sour Plum gave him a glance, half smiling half complaining, she truly was unbelievably grateful.
Forest was staring foolishly at her, "Was that coffin sent by you?" he suddenly asked.
"Yeah."
Forest: "What was the point of that?"
"I knew that you would feel bad about killing someone, the empty coffin was supposed to let you know that the person you thought you killed wasn't dead."
Forest looked even more confused, "Either way, I am grateful for what you did," he muttered.
Big G looked at him, and then looked at Sour Plum, "You should be grateful, that was very thoughtful," Big G said with a sigh.
Swally had been silent the whole time, "But the name Hideous Nangong was written on the coffin," he suddenly said callously.
"No matter what, I couldn't sell out my brother."
Her eyes were turning redder, "I know that what he did was wrong, but I could only try to stop him in secret..." she kept explaining.
Swally: "So you remained hidden the whole time."
"I didn't dare, I couldn't expose myself, but I tried my best to make things right with all of you, I hope that you can find a way to forgive him," she said dejectedly.
Swally: "Where is he now?"
"He went home."
Swally: "You were the one who let him go?"
"Of course it was me, he is my older brother, and I couldn't watch him suffer..."
She suddenly raised her head, "If you can't bring yourselves to forgive him, there is no need to go looking for him, I am willing to take full responsibility for our mistakes."
Forest stood up abruptly, "No matter what they say, I don't think you did anything wrong," he proclaimed loudly.
Big G: "Whoever says she is at fault is a bastard."
Dash: "All I can say is that she simply isn't human."
Forest's face suddenly went red, even his neck widened, "She isn't human?" he asked staring at him.
Dash sighed, "She isn't human, because I have never met a person as courageous as her."
Big G clapped his hands, "That's right, she didn't have to tell us everything, but she didn't hold anything back, who could be more courageous?"
Swally: "Not even you?"
Big G exhaled, "If it was me, I'm not sure I would have the courage to admit all of that to someone's face."
Swally suddenly smiled, "It turns out that women aren't as pathetic as you seem to believe."
Big G: "Not pathetic at all, they are simply amazing."
Her eyes were turning red again, "You guys... really don't blame me for everything?"
Big G: "Blame you? Who would dare? We should all get down on our knees and bow before you."
Dash: "If it wasn't for you, even if we weren't poisoned to death, we would have starved."
She looked down, "My brother isn't actually a..."
"You don't have to explain, we don't blame him either," Big G interrupted.
"Really?"
Big G: "If I was him I probably would have acted the same way."
Dash: "I might have acted even more ruthlessly than him."
Big G: "I'm just worried about your brother, won't he be furious once he knows about how you meddled in his affairs?"
She smiled bitterly, "He already knows."
Big G was shocked, "How did he react?"
Sour Plum: "He was furious."
Big G: "What did you do?"
Sour Plum: "I slipped away."
Big G frowned, "But sooner or later you will have to go home."
She hung her head again, not saying anything.
Dash suddenly smiled, "If she goes back, obviously things will be unpleasant, but she doesn't have to go home."
Big G: "Why?"
"Because when a young women gets married, she doesn't have to return to her parent's home," Dash smiled.
Big G couldn't stop himself from laughing, "That's right, if she gets married, then she doesn't belong to the Plum family anymore, and her older brother can't say anything."
Dash: "So she is in a hurry to get married."
Big G: "With who?"
"Obviously she will marry the person she likes, perhaps it's me, maybe it's you," Dash said casually.
Big G stood there in daze.
He suddenly realized that Sour Plum was giggling discreetly.
× × ×
She kept looking down, blushing, sitting there quietly. She seemed to be contemplating something, as if she were heartbroken, but her emotions got the best of her and a smile slowly showed on her face. She was smiling like a little fox who had just stolen eight chickens.
All of a sudden Big G realized that the four of them, grown men, had all fallen nicely into her trap.
Under these circumstances, no matter who she liked, they would feel obligated to marry her.
Without knowing it, this little fox had lured them in, she had them by the necks, all she had to do was pull, and one of them would be strung up, tied up for life.
"It appeared that women were in fact smarter than men imagined."
But alas, who was her target?
Dash was also smiling just like a fox, an old fox.
He seemed to know that it definitely was not going to be him.
There seemed to be a few things that Big G didn't fully understand, Dash suddenly smiled, "It's not like we're famous heroes or anything, but we are definitely not ungrateful cowards, isn't that right?"
Forest: "Right."
Dash: "So if Miss Plum has a problem, we will definitely help her solve it, isn't that right?"
Forest: "Right."
He made sure he was the first to answer twice in a row.
Big G looked at him, sighing, he secretly thought to himself: "Young people are always so emotional, as soon as the noose is ready they are looking for a chance to stick their necks out."
Before he could finish with his long sigh, he noticed Dash staring at him, "And you? Wouldn't you say that's right?"
It's not like he could say no, he wanted to find an egg to shove down Dash's throat, but Swally suddenly spoke: "There is no point in asking him, when it comes to appreciating the finer sex, and playing the hero, is there anyone on earth who could best Mr. Guo?"
Dash nodded, Swally's comments seemed to reflect his thoughts, "That is certainly true, but what about you?" he asked seriously.
Swally laughed, "Just say the word old Mr. King, what objection could I have?" he said casually.
Dash was putting on a nice show, "Miss Plum, have you been listening to everything we said?" he said with a smile breaking on his face.
She was still hanging her head, she made a slight yes sound with her nose, and it was so quiet it sounded like a mosquito.
Dash: "Then whatever issue you might be dealing with, why don't you let us know?"
She sunk her head even lower, looking utterly helpless, "I am embarrassed to say," she said quietly.
Dash: "It's ok, just say it."
Her face was red, adding to her look of helplessness and embarrassment, with a lot of effort she finally stuttered, "When my brother discovered what I did, he practically went crazy, he kept forcing me to tell him why I would do such a thing, why I would help strangers over my own brother?"
Dash: "What did you say?"
Her face turned even redder, "I couldn't think of what else to say, I could only say... only say... only say..."
She seemed to be cramping up, all she could say were those two words.
Big G couldn't take it anymore, "Say what?" he couldn't help but ask.
She was biting down on her lip hard, as if she had made a firm resolution, "I could only say, I wasn't helping just any stranger. Then he asked, who it is if not some stranger, I could only say it was, it was..." she said blushing.
"Was what?" Big G couldn't help asking.
"I could only say that it was his brother-in-law, because I was already engaged to this person."
It was as if she went limp after finishing her sentence, she practically sank beneath the table.
Big G almost fell down below the table as well.
Dash blinked, "What did you brother say when he heard that?"
"After hearing what I said, he calmed down a little, but he warned me sternly, if I was lying to him he would beat me to death, and he is forcing me to bring... bring back home."
Dash: "Bring what back?"
"The person..." She said, biting her lip.
Dash: "What person?"
"Bro... brother-in-law..."
Dash: "Whose brother-in-law?"
"My... the brother-in-law of my older brother."
After saying all of this, she appeared to go limp again.
Big G was also feeling weak.
Dash continued his lengthy show, as if he was only now starting to understand everything she said.
In fact, trying to clearly understand what a young women means is not always easy.
Dash laughed, "Only one question remains to be answered."
Forest: "What question?"
Dash: "There are four of us, who is to be the brother-in-law to Miss Plum's brother and will they agree to go back with you?"
Forest: "Who wouldn't be willing? Would one of us actually be willing to allow Miss Plum to be beaten to death by her brother?"
Dash: "What if one of us wasn't willing to go back with her?"
Forest: "Then that person could never be our friend, how could you be friends with someone who is incapable of being a good friend."
Dash clapped his hands, "That's right, even if one of us wasn't willing to go, the remaining three would force him to, agreed?"
Forest: "Agreed."
Dash glanced at Big G from the corner of his eye, "And you?"
"There is no point in asking him, do you actually think that Mr. Guo would turn his back on a righteous cause?" Swally suddenly asked callously.
Dash smiled, "Great then, all of the potential issues have been resolved, what are you waiting for Miss Plum?"
She was trying to prolong the situation, as if women naturally enjoyed making men wait.
Her eyes were darting back and forth, looking over the four of their faces.
Big G was hoping that this pair of eyes wouldn't come to rest on his face.
He didn't actually despise this so called Sour Plum, if she had said that she liked someone other than him this morning, he would have been furious.
But liking someone is entirely different than having to marry them.
Being forced to marry someone is an entirely different story. Even if you like drinking, you wouldn't be willing for someone to hold you by the nose and pour alcohol down your throat.
All he could hope for was that Sour Plum had poor taste, and chose someone other than himself.
But there was nothing wrong with her eyes, and they came to rest solely on him.
She wasn't just staring at him, she was smiling ever so sweetly, such an intoxicating smile.
Most people would be smiling sweetly upon hooking a nice big catch.
Big G wanted to return the smile, but he couldn't.
He was sighing inside, "That's just my luck, not my fault I'm better looking than them."
"I promised that you would be the first one I tell after making up mind," she suddenly said.
"You know, you don't have to keep your word with me, young women often make promises they forget about," he mumbled.
"I didn't forget—come with me, I will tell you," she said sweetly.
She suddenly stood up and walked out, she was bouncing lightly, just like a swallow.
Like a swallow who had just caught a feast of caterpillars.