Chapter 19 – The underground old lady, Part 7
Lu E said, “I have been filled with sadness over the years; I thought that I was a child without a mother. But my mother had actually been alive all this time; I’m really overwhelmed with joy today.”
The granny pointed to Yang Guo and said, “Who’s he? Why did you bring him here?”
Lu E said, “Mother, listen to me.” She then told her how Yang Guo entered the valley, how he contracted the Passion Flower poison, how the two fell down into the crocodile pool; she told it all from the beginning. But she kept the matter of Valley Master Gongsun marrying Xiao Longnu from her in case her mother would be disturbed by this and break out in a jealous rage.
Whenever Lu E was unclear on something, the granny would ask her carefully about it. Apart from the matter about Xiao Longnu, Lu E did not keep anything from her. The more the granny heard, the more peaceful she became; her expression towards Yang Guo was also getting more and more pleasant. When Lu E described how Yang Guo killed crocodiles and how he protected her, the granny kept on calling out, “Good, good! Little kid, looks like my daughter hasn’t picked you without good reason.”
Lu E’s face went red and she lowered her head.
Yang Guo knew that it wasn’t conveniently to explain all the intricacies within all these events right now so he said, “Auntie Gongsun, we first need to come up with an escape plan; how do we get out?”
The granny’s face sank and shouted, “What Auntie Gongsun? Don’t ever say the words Auntie Gongsun again. Don’t think that because I look frail I can’t do anything; if I want to kill you it’ll be as easy as turning my palm.”
A sudden ‘bo’ sound was heard as something came out of her mouth, a ‘zheng’ sound was heard as it knocked Yang Guo’s dagger to the ground.
Yang Guo felt his arm tremble severely; his five fingers couldn’t hold on and the ‘dang’ sound heard was the dagger striking the floor. Yang Guo leapt backwards in shock; he saw that there was a date stone by the dagger, spinning around on the floor. He was still in shock as he thought, “With the force that I grip the dagger with, even if it was Jinlun Fawang’s golden wheel, Da’erba’s golden rod or Valley Master Gongsun’s jagged saber, they wouldn’t be able to knock the dagger out of my hands. Though I wasn’t prepared, this granny just spat out a date stone from her mouth to do this; this person’s martial arts really are awesome.”
Lu E saw his face change color and she quickly said, “Brother Yang, my mother won’t harm you.” She went over to him and tugged his hand; she turned to her mother and said, “Mother, tell him how to greet you. He doesn’t know yet.”
The granny laughed and said, “Fine, this old woman’s name will never change; the people of Jianghu call me the ‘Iron Palm Lotus Qiu Qianchi’. What should you call me? Ha-ha, shouldn’t you be kowtowing to me and calling me ‘mother-in-law’?”
Lu E quickly said, “Mother, don’t you know, there’s nothing between brother Yang and I, he… he just has good intentions towards me and nothing else.”
Qiu Qianchi said angrily, “Nothing else? Nothing between you? Where are your clothes? Why have you only got underwear on? Why are you covered by his gown?” She suddenly pitched her voice up and screamed, “If the one named Yang is thinking about being shameless like that Gongsun Zhi I’m going to make sure that he dies without a complete corpse. [Refers to hacking the body apart.] The one named Yang, are you going to marry my daughter?”
Yang Guo saw that she spoke madly and was impervious to reason; how could she force him to marry her daughter after just speaking a few words? But if he bluntly refuses, it would be extremely embarrassing for Lu E. There’s also the fact that this granny’s martial arts are extremely high and her character extremely weird; if he said any words that were just slightly displeasing, she would kill him immediately. He saw that the most important thing right now was for the three of them to get out of this place so he said, “Please relax Old Senior; Yang Guo is not a man without a conscience; I will never dare to forget the kindness that Lu E has shown me.” These words were extremely agreeable; though he didn’t agree to marry Lu E, the words pleased the ears of Qiu Qianchi; she nodded, “You’d better not.”
Gongsun Lu E of course knew what Yang Guo meant by this; as she looked at Yang Guo, there was a look of disappointment in her eyes and she lowered her head. A while passed before she said to Qiu Qianchi, “Mother, how did you get down here? Why did father say that you were dead and let me stay saddened for all these years? If I’d known you were here, I would have risked my life to come and find you.” She saw that her mother was unclothed; if she let her mother wear Yang Guo’s gown then she would be insufficiently dressed; so she tore the back and front of the gown and draped it over her mother’s shoulders.
Yang Guo was saddened when he saw what a state the gown that Xiao Longnu had made for him had fallen into; it stirred the Passion Flower’s poison and his body broke out with unbearable pain once again.
When Qiu Qianchi saw this, her face moved slightly and her right hand searched for something on her person; but after a thought, her hand came out empty handed.
From her mother’s expression and actions, Lu E had an inkling of her mother’s thoughts; she pleaded, “Mother, can you cure the Passion Flower’s poison that brother Yang has in him?”
Qiu Qianchi said in a subdued manner, “I have my own troubles being trapped down here; if others can’t save me, how can I save others?”
Lu E said anxiously, “Mother, if you save brother Yang, he will definitely help you. Even if you can’t save him, brother Yang will do all he can to help you. Isn’t that right brother Yang?”
Yang Guo did not have a good opinion of Qiu Qianchi but he should help her on behalf of Lu E; so he said, “Of course. Senior has been down here for so long, you must be very familiar with the layout and terrain of this place; can Senior tell me one or two things about it?”
Qiu Qianchi gave a long sigh and said, “Though this place is deep in the ground, it’s not that difficult to get out.” She looked at Yang Guo and said, “You must be thinking that if it’s not hard, how come I’m still down here? Ai… The tendons in my arms and legs were destroyed long ago, and all my martial arts went with it.”
Yang Guo had noticed a while ago that there was something different about the movements of her arms and legs. But Lu E was shocked when she heard this, she asked, “You did this by falling from up above?”
Qiu Qianchi said gloomily; “No! A person did this to me.”
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