Chapter 33 – Conversations at night in Fengling, Part 4
The young girl said, “Not necessarily true. Father often said, ‘A person who studies military theories must know that superior parties always exist and so one cannot be complacent.’ If that applies to humans, then it applies to our eagles too, so more magnificent birds should exist.”
The young woman said “At your young age, what do you understand? When we went out, our parents told you to listen to me, have you not remembered?”
The young girl said with a smile, “That also depends on whether what you say is right. Younger brother am I right or is elder sister right?”
The youth next to her is big and sturdy, but actually looked very naive, so he hesitated for a while then said, “I don’t know. Father said we should listen to elder sister, and told you not to talk back to elder sister.”
The young woman looked very pleased and said, “Isn’t that so?”
The young girl saw that her younger brother was helping her elder sister, but she was not angry and said with a smile, “You don’t understand anything either.” Turning her head to the straightforward man she said, “Uncle, continue the Eagle Hero’s story, please.”
The man said, “OK, since the lady wants to hear, I shall speak; although I, whose surname is Song, have poor skills, I am an honest man. What I say is true and definitely doesn’t contain half a word of lies, if the lady does not believe me, then there’s no need to listen.”
The young girl took the wine pot and poured out a bowl of wine for him, then said with a smile, “Why would I not believe you? Come on, quickly start talking!” She also called out, “Waiter, bring ten catties of wine again and cut 20 catties of beef, my elder sister requests all of you to drink merrily and drive out the cold air.” The servant repeatedly agreed and relayed the order. The many travelers smiled from ear to ear, expressing their gratitude with one voice. Before long, three waiters brought the wine and meat.
The young woman calmly said “Even if I wanted to provide a treat, I would not invite people who utter rubbish. Waiter, the bill for the wine and meat money should not be charged to my account.”
The servant gawked, looked from the young woman to the young girl, not knowing what to do. The young girl took off a golden hairpin from her hair and gave it to the servant, saying, “This hairpin is made of real gold, it’s worth several taels (a unit of currency) of silver. Take it away and exchange it for money. And bring another ten catties of wine and 20 catties of mutton.”
The young woman got angry, “Younger sister, must you be spiteful with me? Even a pearl on this hairpin alone is worth more than 100 taels of silver; you bothered and begged Uncle Zhu for it, but now you casually use it to treat people to a drink. When you return to Xiangyang, if Mother asks about it how will you answer?”
The young girl stuck out her tongue and said with a smile, “I shall say it fell on the road, and I could not find it.”
The woman said “I will not lie for you.”
The young girl used her chopsticks to grasp a piece of beef and put it in her mouth. She then said, “After all, we have already eaten, how can I take it back now? Everybody, please eat, there is no need to be polite.”
The people saw the two arguing and all found it interesting, but they liked the young girl’s na?ve character, so even those who did not drink carried the liquor bowls to those who drank the wine, helping the young girl secretly. The young woman spitefully closed her eyes and used her hands to cover her ears.
The young girl said with a smile, “Uncle Song, my elder sister is sleeping, it’s OK if you speak loudly; you won’t wake her.” The young woman opened her eyes widely, getting angry, “When did I sleep?” The young girl then said, “That’s even better, even if we talk loudly we won’t disturb you.”
The young woman said loudly, “Xiang’er, let me tell you, if you anger me, I will not allow you to follow us around tomorrow.” The young girl said, “It’s alright, I can travel together with Younger brother.” The woman said “Younger brother will come with me.” The young girl said, “Younger brother, say, who will you follow?”
The youth was caught in a fix, if he helped his big sister, his other sister would be upset, if he helped his other sister, his big sister would be angry, so he said, “Mother said, the three of us must always travel together and not be separated.”
The young woman stared at her younger sister and snapped, “If I had known that you would become so disobedient, I would not have been anxious to find you back when you got kidnapped by the thugs when you were small.”
The young girl heard her say that, causing her heart to soften, so she hugged the young woman’s shoulders, begging, “Good elder sister, please don’t be angry, it’s my fault.” The young woman was angry and paid no attention to her. The young girl then said, “If you don’t smile, I will tickle you.” That young woman turned her head away instead. The young girl suddenly extended her right hand and poked at the young woman’s armpit from behind. The young woman did not counter the move but swept her left hand backwards. The young girl used her left hand to block and her right hand continued to move forwards. The young woman sank her right elbow slightly, pressing down on her sister’s arm. The young girl then circled her palm and avoided the elbow, executing the graceful move beautifully. In that short moment, the two people exchanged seven or eight moves, all originating from the ingenious “Subtle Hand Arresting Technique”. Although the young girl did not manage to tickle her elder sister’s armpit, the young woman also could not catch her sister’s arm.
Suddenly a person in a corner softly said, “Good skills!” Both sisters stopped and looked at that corner and saw a person curled up into a ball, the head buried between the knees sleeping soundly. The sisters sat on a pile of firewood looking at him resting in such a position without moving at all. The other people were unable to see his face, so it looked like this comment was not made by him.
The youth said, “Big sister, elder sister, Father warned us not to reveal our martial arts casually.”
The young girl smiled, “Young old man, you are right.” She turned her head to the straightforward man and said, “Uncle Song, sorry, we sisters were busy arguing and forgot to listen to your story, please continue.”
The man named Song said, “I’m not spinning a yarn, this is the absolute truth and nothing but the truth.”
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