Chapter 38 – Life and death are indistinct, Part 5
Zhou Botong lifted up his hand – with the bee in it, high in the air. He looked so proud.
“This is my skill: keeping bees!” he said.
“Those bees were given to you by Xiao Longnü. What’s so special about it?” Huang Rong asked.
“This is the amazing part,” said the Old Urchin. “The Jade Bees given to me by Xiao Longnü were valuable creatures. After I took care of them, they become even more valuable, very rare, and second to none! This is amazing! How could Xiao Longnü be compared to me?”
Huang Rong laughed a big laugh! “Oh Old Urchin, you have become more shameless than ever!” she said. “This time you blew your own horn really loud. Your ego is unrivalled, very rare indeed! Now, THAT is second to none!”
Zhou Botong was not angry, he even chuckled. “Oh Little Huang Rong, let me ask you this: Human beings are the most intelligent creature; we can tattoo our own body, making pictures of dragons, tigers, or leopards. We can even tattoo a whole book, ‘Peace and Security under the Heaven’ [tian xia tai ping]. However, other than human beings; among the birds or the beasts or the bugs, are there any tattoos?”
“Yes, there are,” answered Huang Rong. “Tigers have stripes, leopards have spots, butterflies and snakes could be decorated with beautiful patterns.”
“But answer this,” continued Botong, “on the bugs, have you ever seen characters?”
“Are you talking about natural bugs?” Huang Rong asked. “If so, then the answer is no.”
“Good! Now let me show you this!” And he stretched his arm toward Huang Rong.
Huang Rong looked at the bee carefully. She saw that on the bee’s wings there were indeed characters! She looked closer, wanted to know what they said. There were three characters on the right wing, ‘Qing Valley’s bottom’ [Qing Gu Di] and another set of three characters on the left wing, ‘I am at Jue’ [Wo Cay Jue]. The characters were the size of a grain of rice, yet they were very clear. They looked like they were made with needles.
Huang Rong was amazed, she muttered, “Qing Gu Di, Wo Cay Jue, Qing Gu Di, Wo Cay Jue … This obviously was not natural, someone must have written it. Considering the Old Urchin’s character, he would not have a patience to write these letters … A moment later she said, “You said this is very rare, second to none. But I am sure you have asked Yinggu to tattoo these six characters! How could you fool me?”
Zhou Botong blushed. “You go and ask Yinggu!” he challenged. “You ask if it was she who tattooed the bee!”
“Don’t you think she will conspire with you and lie to me?” Huang Rong asked. “If you said the sun rises from the west, she would certainly say the same thing.”
“That’s a fact!” said the Old Urchin, “The sun indeed rises from the west. Who said it was from the east?” Even though he said that, his face turned redder. He was embarrassed, shy, and irritated at the same time. He let the bee go and grabbed Huang Rong’s hand.
“Come! Come! Come!” he said, “I will let you see it with your own eyes.”
He pulled Huang Rong to the side of the hill where a beehive was hung, separated from the other beehives. He stretched his arm into the beehive and caught two bees.
“Now, see this!” he said, showing the Jade Bees to her.
Huang Rong strained her eyes. She found both bees had the three-character sets on their wings. The characters also read, ‘Qing Gu Di’ on the right wing and ‘Wo Cay Jue’ on the left wing. She was more amazed. “This is really peculiar,” she thought. “I need to get to the bottom of this …” So she said, “Old Urchin, please catch a few more bees for me!”
Zhou Botong caught four bees, two had characters just like the other, and the other two didn’t have any. He showed them to Huang Rong who was silent and did not say that Yinggu tattooed the bees again.
“Now, what else do you have to say?” he asked, laughing heartily. “Today you see the Old Urchin’s amazing ability!”
Huang Rong did not reply, she kept murmuring, “Qing Gu Di, Wo Cay Jue, Qing Gu Di, Wo Cay Jue …” She was still pondering the sentence when suddenly a thought came to her mind, “Ah, it is: ‘I am at the bottom of Passionless [Jue Qing] Valley’ [Wo Cay Jue Qing Gu Di]. Who is at the bottom of the Passionless Valley? Could it be Xiang’er?” Her heart was beating faster. She turned her head to look at Zhou Botong, and said, “Old Urchin, these Jade Bees were not yours. They flew in from somewhere else!”
Again the Old Urchin blushed. “Ah, this is weird!” he shouted, “How did you know that?”
“Why wouldn’t I know?” answered Huang Rong. “These few bees have been flying in for some time now.”
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