The perfect plan was just a dream.

For tens of thousands ‘li’ Zhang Wuji had been travelling together with Yang Buhui, keeping each other company and relying on each other. Now that they suddenly parted, he felt sadness. However, thinking that at last he did not fail Ji Xiaofu by successfully delivering her daughter to Yang Xiao, he could not help feeling relieved and gratified. After standing still for half a day, he remembered that he might bump into He Taichong, Ban Shuxian, or other Kunlun Pai here, so he quickly walked down the valley.

After walking for more than ten days, his arm was gradually healing; however, wandering around Kunlun Mountains, he still could not find his way out of the mountain. One particular day, he walked for half a day and then stopped by a pile of rocks to take a rest. Suddenly from the northwesterly direction he heard sound of barking dogs. From the noise, he estimated there were about a dozen dogs or so. The sound of barking was getting closer, it seemed like the dogs were pursuing some wild animal. Amidst the barking dogs, there appeared a little monkey running for his life; there was a short arrow sticking out from the rear of the monkey’s thigh. The monkey was still several ‘zhang’ away from Zhang Wuji when suddenly it fell tumbling down. Because of the arrow on its thigh it was unable to climb a tree. By this time its strength was gone that it could not even crawl back up.

Zhang Wuji came near the monkey and looked; the monkey looked back at him with fear, but its eyes also spoke to him, begging for pity. Zhang Wuji’s heart was touched; he mused, “I am also running away from Kunlun Pai people, so we are in the same boat.” Thereupon he gently lifted the monkey up and pulled the arrow out. Then he took some medicine from his pocket and applied it on the arrow wound.

Right this moment the barking of the dogs sounded very near. Zhang Wuji quickly opened his robe and hid the monkey in his bosom. He heard loud and intense ‘woof! woof! woof!’ as a pack of about a dozen large hounds with sharp teeth surrounded him. The hounds smelled the monkey. They bare their fangs and brandish their claws threateningly, but did not dare to attack immediately.

Zhang Wuji was terrified to see these vicious dogs exposing their row after row of sharp white teeth. He knew that as soon as he let the monkey in his bosom out, the dogs would turn their attention to the monkey and would not give him any trouble. However, he had received instruction from his father since he was a child to take chivalry seriously; he did not want to fail even toward a wild animal. Immediately he leaped over the dogs and ran as fast as he could. The pack of dogs barked wildly and ran after him.

How could Zhang Wuji match the speed of the hounds? He only managed to run for about a dozen of ‘zhang’ when the pack of dogs overtook him. He felt a sudden pain on his leg as a vicious dog sank its teeth on him and would not let him go. Hastily he turned around and struck the dog’s head with his palm. This palm strike carried his entire strength. The dog rolled down on the ground and then stopped moving altogether. The rest of the hounds attacked together. Zhang Wuji punched and kicked wildly with all his strength. However, his arm had not completely healed that he could not rotate his left hand; before long, a vicious dog bit his left hand and then the dogs pounced on him from all directions. His head, his face, his shoulders, practically his entire body was bitten by the dogs. While he was about to lose his consciousness out of shock and fear, he heard faint calls of a clear and tender voice of a woman. But the voice seemed to be very far away. His vision blackened and he passed out.

In his unconscious state, Zhang Wuji felt as if he was in the middle of packs of jackals and wolves, tigers and leopards which were ready to devour him. He wanted to cry out for help, but no sound was coming out of his mouth. Suddenly he heard that someone was saying, “The critical situation has passed, perhaps he will live.”

Zhang Wuji opened his eyes and saw a pale yellow light. He felt he was lying on a bed inside a small room, with a middle-aged man standing next to his bed.

“Da … Dashu … [big uncle, or more appropriately: honorable uncle] I … how did I ..” Zhang Wuji only managed to utter these words when he suddenly felt burning pains all over his body. Only then did he slowly remember that he was attacked and bitten by a pack of wild hounds.

“Xiaozi [boy, kid],” that man said, “Just consider yourself lucky you did not die. What is it? Are you hungry?”

“I … where am I?” Zhang Wuji said. Because of severe pain all over his body, Zhang Wuji passed out again.

By the time he came around for the second time, the middle-aged man was no longer in the room. Zhang Wuji thought, “Definitely I won’t live much longer, why do I have to experience this much torment?” Looking down his body, he saw his neck, his chest, arms and thighs were wrapped in cotton cloths, while a strong smell of medicine assailed his nostrils. Turned out someone was treating his wounds, but from the smell of the medicine, he knew the person applying the ointment had a rather shallow medical skill. He smelled almond, ‘ma qian zi’ [sorry, I don’t know what it is], ‘fang feng’ [windproof], ‘nan xing’ [southern star], and various other herbs. These kind of herbs were effective to treat rabid dog bites, as it would draw out rabies pus from the wound; but the dogs biting him were not rabid at all, his wounds were on his flesh and bones, without any poisoning. The medicine was not only ineffective, it would increase the pain.

Powerless to get up, he lay down until dawn. The middle-aged man came to check him up. Zhang Wuji said, “Dashu, thank you so much for saving me.”

The man coldly said, “This is the ‘Hong Mei Shan Zhuang’ [Red Plum Villa]; it was our Miss who saved you. Are you hungry?” While saying that he went out and came back with a bowl of steaming hot porridge.

Zhang Wuji drank several mouthful, but his stomach was nauseous; his head was dizzy and he did not have the appetite to each more.

He lay down for eight days before he was finally strong enough to get up. His legs felt weak without the least bit of strength. He knew it was because of excessive lost of blood, so it would take a while to recover.

The man came everyday to deliver his food and change his medication. Although his expression was rather bored, Zhang Wuji was still very appreciative toward him. Only, Zhang Wuji’s mind was filled with unanswered questions, but he did not dare to ask too much because the man seemed uninterested to converse with him.

One day, the man returned with the same medication, ‘fang feng’, ‘nan xing’ and so on. Zhang Wuji could not help from saying, “Dashu, these medicines are not effective for my illness. Would you change it for me?”

The man turned to him with a condescending look. After staring at Zhang Wuji for half a day he said, “Laoye [old master, grandmaster] personally wrote the prescription; how can he be wrong? You said the medicine is not effective, how could it revive you from the dead then? Really! Little kid is babbling nonsense. If our Laoye heard it, he might not be offended, but you really do not know good from bad.” While saying that he spread the medicine on Zhang Wuji’s wound. Zhang Wuji could only force a smile.

The man said, “I think you wound is so much better. Why don’t you go see Laoye, Taitai [Madame], and Xiaojie [Miss] to kowtow and thank them for saving your life?”

“That is only appropriate,” Zhang Wuji said, “Dashu, why don’t you take me to see them?”

The man led Zhang Wuji out of the small room, walked through a long corridor, passed through two halls, and came to a warm chamber. It was the beginning of winter, but the Kunlun region had been very cold for quite some time. The room was as warm as the springtime. Zhang Wuji could not locate the furnace; he only saw the chamber was decorated extravagantly, with couches draped in brocade and soft pillows. In all his life Zhang Wuji had never seen such a splendid and cozy room as the one he was in. Looking at his own dirty clothes, he felt so out of place standing inside such a luxurious warm room; he could not help feeling ashamed at his own filth.

There was no one inside the warm room, but the man’s expression was extremely respectful. Bowing, he said, “The boy who was bitten by the dog is well, he wants to kowtow to Laoye and Taitai to express his gratitude.” After saying this, he stood silently with relaxed hands; he did not even dare to breathe loudly.

After what seemed like a long time, from behind the screen walked in a fifteen, sixteen year-old young woman. She cast a sidelong glance toward Zhang Wuji and said, “Qiao Fu, what are you doing? Why did you bring him here? If the bugs and parasites from his body jump down, what are we going to do?”

“Yes, yes!” Qiao Fu replied.

Zhang Wuji had already been uncomfortable, this time his face blushed even redder. Other than the one on his back, he did not have any other change of clothes. Certainly his clothes were full with bedbugs and fleas by now. He thought that this Miss was not the least bit wrong.

He saw her face was oval like a goose egg, her black hair drooped over her shoulders. She was wearing some kind of fine silk or satin, which sparkled under the light. She wore a golden bracelet on her wrist. In short, he had never seen such a splendid and luxurious young lady. He mused, “When I was surrounded by the pack of dogs, I faintly heard a woman’s voice shouting. That Qiao Fu Da Shu also said that it was his Miss who saved me. I ought to thank her.” Thereupon he kneeled down and kowtowed. “Thank you Miss for saving me,” he said, “I will never dare to forget your kindness as long as I live.”

The young girl was startled, and then she giggled. “Qiao Fu, Qiao Fu, what did you do? Did you fool this dumb kid?”

Qiao Fu laughed and said, “Xiao Feng Jiejie [older sister], this dumb kid kowtowed to you, you shouldn’t accept it. The dumb kid has never seen beautiful face; he thought you are our Miss! But come to think about it, our home’s maid is somewhat comparable to our honorable precious Miss [orig. ‘qian jin’ – thousand gold].”

Zhang Wuji was stunned, he stood up hastily. “It’s bad!” he thought, “Turns out she is a maid, and I thought she was the Miss.” His face turned red and white as he was extremely embarrassed.

Xiao Feng suppressed her laughter. She looked at Zhang Wuji to size him up. His face and upper body were still stained with blood; his wounds were still wrapped in cloth strips. Zhang Wuji was very self-conscious; he was aware of his filth and unsightly appearance, he wished the earth would open up and swallow him.

Xiao Feng lifted her sleeve to cover her nose while saying, “Laoye and Taitai are busy, you don’t need to kowtow. Let’s go to see Miss.” While saying that, she circled around Zhang Wuji at a distant and hurriedly led the way because she was afraid the bugs and fleas from Zhang Wuji’s body might jump onto hers.

Zhang Wuji followed behind Xiao Feng and Qiao Fu. Along the way he noticed the maids and servants were all wearing expensive looking clothes and jewelry. Of the chambers, halls and pavilions he passed there were not any that didn’t look exquisitely beautiful. Zhang Wuji spent the first ten years of his life on the Bing Huo Island [ice and fire]. For the next several years, he spent half his time on Mount Wudang, the other half in the Butterfly Valley. His food and drink and everyday life was very simple. He had never imagined that there were this kind of rich and luxury households in the world.

After walking for a while, they arrived outside a large pavilion. Zhang Wuji saw a sign above the door, which read ‘ling ao ying’ [spirit mastiff camp]. Xiao Feng walked into the pavilion. A moment later she came out and beckoned them to enter in. Qiao Fu then brought Zhang Wuji in.

As soon as he stepped in, Zhang Wuji was shocked, for he saw more than thirty ferocious looking large dogs, arranged in three rows, crouching on the ground. A young woman wearing genuine arctic fox fur coat was sitting on a chair draped in tiger skin. There was a whip in her hand. She barked, “General Qian, throat!”

A vicious dog leaped up suddenly and bit the throat of someone who was standing by the wall. “Aiyo!” Zhang Wuji could not help but crying out as he saw this cruel scene. He saw the dog bit off a piece of flesh and then sat down and started to chew. When he calmed down, Zhang Wuji noticed that the person was actually a dummy made of leather. All its vital points were covered in chunks of meat.

The young woman barked again, “General Che Qi! Lower abdomen!” The second vicious dog leaped up and bit the dummy’s lower abdomen.

To Zhang Wuji’s surprise, these dogs were in training to follow orders to attack people. Their bites were highly accurate. To his shock, Zhang Wuji recognized these dogs as the pack of malicious hounds that wildly bit him at the mountain. Thinking back, he vaguely remembered that the shout which stopped the dogs was the voice of this young woman. At first he only knew that this Miss had saved his life, but now he realized that the many suffering he received was actually because of her. Anger arose to fill his chest; he thought, “That’s it, that’s it! She was in cahoots with the dogs. How can I deal with her? If I knew it earlier, I would rather die on that mountain than treating my injuries in her house.” Ripping the bandages from his body, he threw strips of cloth to the ground then he turned around and walked away.

“Hey, hey!” Qiao Fu called out, “What are you doing? This is our Miss, why don’t you kowtow to her?”

“Pei!” Zhang Wuji spat, “Thank her for what? The malicious dogs that injured me, don’t they belong to her?”

The young woman turned her head. Seeing the extremely angry expression on Zhang Wuji’s face, she showed a faint smile and beckoned him. “Xiao Xiongdi, come here,” she called.

When Zhang Wuji saw her face, his heart suddenly went ‘thump, thump, thump’ continuously, because this young woman face was very captivating; it was so fair and smooth. In trying to fight his feelings, his ears were buzzing, his back turned cold and his limbs slightly trembled. He quickly hang his head low, he did not dare to look at her. His face, which was originally bloodless, suddenly turned deep red.

The young woman laughed. “Come here,” she called again.

Zhang Wuji looked up. His eyes met her bright eyes which were like a vast expanse of water. His mind suddenly turned blurry; he slowly walked toward her against his own will.

“Xiao Xiongdi,” the young woman said with a smile, “You are angry with me, aren’t you?”

Zhang Wuji had suffered many pains under these dogs’ teeth, how could he not be angry? But as he stood in front of her, he only felt that her breath smelled like orchid, her body emitted intermittent whiff of fragrance that he felt he was going to faint; how could he think about this word ‘angry’? Shaking his head, he said, “I am not!”

The young woman said, “My surname is Zhu, given name Jiuzhen. How about you?”

“I am called Zhang Wuji,” Zhang Wuji replied.

“Wuji, Wuji!” Zhu Jiuzhen said, “Hmm, it is a very elegant name. [Translator’s note: Wuji means ‘without a shame’] Xiao Xiongdi must have come from an aristocratic family. Mmm … why don’t you sit over there?” While saying that, she pointed to a low stool by her side.

Since the day he was born, Zhang Wuji had never seen such a beautiful woman that he was shaken to the core as if he was enchanted. If Zhu Jiuzhen told him to jump into a fiery pit, he would jump down without hesitation. Hearing her telling him to sit next to her, with unspeakable delight he immediately went and sat down reverently. It was beyond Xiao Feng and Qiao Fu’s expectations to see their Miss showing favor toward this dirty and stinky kid.

Zhu Jiuzhen barked her order again, “General Zhe Chong! Chest!” One large dog leaped up to bite the dummy, but the meat on the chest of that dummy had been bitten by another dog; so that dog bit the meat on the side of the dummy’s body and started to eat it.

Zhu Jiuzhen angrily said, “Greedy pig! You did not follow orders?” Raising the whip in her hand, ‘Whack! Whack!’ she lashed it twice.

The whip was full of thorns, as it lashed down, two long strips of bloodstains appeared on the back of the dog. But the dog was still unwilling to put the meat down, it growled menacingly instead.

“You are not following orders?” Zhu Jiuzhen barked. The whip lashed again, striking the dog so that it rolled around wildly with blood dripping from all around its body. Her whip technique was swift and ingenious, no matter where the dog run, it could not escape from the whip. At last the dog spat out the meat and then kneeled on the ground, motionless, whining in low voice. Yet Zhu Jiuzhen did not stop lashing her whip until it was dying to its last breath, and then she said, “Qiao Fu, put medicine on it.”

“Yes, Miss!” Qiao Fu replied, and took the wounded dog out of the hall and handed it over to the servant in charge of the dogs.

The rest of the dogs were all frightened to see this scene; no one dared to move. Zhu Jiuzhen sat back on her chair and barked her orders again, “General Ping Kou! Left leg! General Wei Yuan! Right arm! General Zheng Dong! Eye!” One by one the vicious dogs leaped bit according to the order, no one missed the target.

To Zhang Wuji’s amazement, she had given these dozens of ferocious dogs names as generals, while she directed them all with ease and competence just like a marshall. Zhu Jiuzhen turned her head toward Zhang Wuji and said with a smile, “Did you see these animals? If I do not firmly beat them with the whip, how can they be obedient to me?”

Although this pack of dogs had inflicted enormous pain on him, seeing the dog was beaten to miserable condition, Zhang Wuji could not restrain from feeling sorrowful.

Seeing he did not respond, Zhu Jiuzhen laughed and said, “You said you are not mad at me, but you don’t say something? How did you come to the western region? Where are your father and mother?”

Zhang Wuji thought that with his current miserable condition, if he mentioned the name of Tai Shifu and his parents’ names, he would only bring disgrace to them; thereupon he said, “My parents are dead. It was hard for me to survive in the Central Plains, so I wandered everywhere and ended up in here.”

“I shot that monkey,” Zhu Jiuzhen said, “Who told you to hide it in your bosom? You were so hungry that you wanted to eat monkey’s meat, weren’t you? You had not thought that you might be ripped to death by my dogs.”

Zhang Wuji blushed; he repeatedly shook his head and said, “I was not thinking of eating the monkey.”

With a captivating smile Zhu Jiuzhen said, “In front of me, you’d better not deny it.” Suddenly she remembered something and asked, “What kind of martial art did you train? My General Zuo’s skull shattered and it died. Your palm power is truly not bad.”

Hearing that he had killed one of her pet dogs, Zhang Wuji apologetically said, “I was in panic and hit with all I had. When I was little, I learned two, three years of random punching and kicking with my father, it was not any martial art at all.”

Zhu Jiuzhen nodded, then turned to Xiao Feng and said, “Take him to bath and give him some presentable clothes.”

Xiao Feng pursed her lips, laughed and said, “Yes!” and took Zhang Wuji out.

Zhang Wuji was reluctant to part from Zhu Jiuzhen; as he reached the door, he could not help but turn his head to look at her one more time. Who would have thought that Zhu Jiuzhen was also looking at him? As he looked at her bright and beautiful eyes, she flashed him a sweet and captivating smile. Zhang Wuji blushed until he felt his entire body, from the root of his hair to the end of his toes, turned red; as if his soul had just left him. He did not pay attention to the threshold, and thus he tripped and fell flat on his face, right on top of dog dung. His entire body was still covered with wounds; this fall had made him sore all over, but he did not dare to groan, he busily propped himself up and crawled away.

Xiao Feng giggled and said, “To see our Miss, everybody would be infatuated and head over heels in love with her. But you are still this young, you are also falling for her?” Zhang Wuji was really embarrassed, he rushed ahead of her.

After walking for a while, Xiao Feng laughed and said, “Are you going to take a bath and change your clothes in Taitai’s room?”

Zhang Wuji halted his steps at once and looked up; he saw above the door ahead of them hung an embroidered golden banner. He had never been to this place before. It was then that he realized that in his confusion he had taken the wrong turn. That maid Xiao Feng was so sly that although she knew, she did not say anything, but waited until he went straight to the family room before opening up her mouth to mock him.

Zhang Wuji hang his reddened face down without saying anything. Xiao Feng said, “You call me ‘Xiao Feng Jiejie’ and earnestly ask me, then I’ll take you out.”

Zhang Wuji said, “Xiao Feng Jiejie …”

With her right hand index finger pointing to her own cheek Xiao Feng said with straight face, “Hmm, what do you want from me?”

“I am asking you to take me out,” Zhang Wuji said.

“That’s better,” Xiao Feng laughed.

Taking him back to the small room, Xiao Feng said to Qiao Fu, “Miss said for him to take a bath and change his clothes with a clean one.”

“Yes, yes!” Qiao Fu replied. He was full of respect. Apparently, although Xiao Feng was also but a servant, compared to the other servants and maids her position was somewhat higher. Five, six male servants immediately stepped in, calling her ‘Xiao Feng Jiejie this’ and ‘Xiao Feng Jiejie that’, flattering her to no end. Xiao Feng actually looked cold and indifferent. Suddenly she came to Zhang Wuji and bowed to him,

Zhang Wuji was flabbergasted. “You … why?” he stammered.

Xiao Feng laughed and said, “Just now you kowtowed to me, right now I am returning the respect to you.” Finished speaking, she disappeared into the inner chamber in a flash.

Qiao Fu told everybody else how Zhang Wuji thought Xiao Feng was their Miss, how he kowtowed to her, adding some spices to his story, describing Zhang Wuji’s appearance as more ridiculous than it actually was so the hall was full with the crowd of servants’ howl of laughter. Zhang Wuji entered the room with his head hung low, but he was not angry. His heart was filled with the memory of the Miss’ laughter and anger, and each word she uttered.

After he took a bath, he saw Qiao Fu return with a set of dark green clothing, which he recognized as the servants’ attire. Zhang Wuji was angry in his heart, “I am not your family’s servant,” he mused, “How do you expect me to wear this kind of clothes?” He was about to wear his own worn out clothes when suddenly he noticed it was full of holes, exposing his skin and flesh. “If Miss wants to see me again and sees that I am still wearing this kind of dirty and worn out clothing, she will be unhappy,” he thought, “Actually, what wrong with me being her servant and doing errands for her?” With this thought, he calmed down and changed into the servant clothes.

Contrary to his expectation, not only the Miss did not call him that day, for the next a dozen of days later, he did not even see Xiao Feng, let alone the Miss. Zhang Wuji often daydreamed with blank expression on his face, thinking the Miss’ voice, her laugh and her face. He even felt that her appearance when she fiercely whipping the dogs was kind of flirtatious and lovely. He was thinking of going to the rear courtyard on his own. He would be satisfied just by looking at her from a distant, or hearing her voice when she was talking to someone else. But Qiao Fu had repeatedly warned him that if it was not their master who summoned them, they were not supposed to enter the gate. Otherwise, the vicious dogs would devour them. Remembering the ferociousness of the dogs, although he longed to see her, in the end he decided it was probably not a good idea to go to the rear courtyard.

More than a month had passed. Zhang Wuji’s broken arm was healed as good as new. The wounds of the dogs’ bite had also been healed, only there were some permanent teeth mark scars on his arms and legs. However, instead of feeling upset, a feeling of sweetness crept into his heart each time he remembered that these scars were from the Miss’ pet dogs.

These days, the cold poison in his body still flared up once every few days. Each time it flared up, it was worse than the last. One day the poison attacked him again. He lay down on the bed with the cotton quilt wrapped tightly around his body, while he was shivering badly. Qiao Fu came into the room. He was accustomed to see Zhang Wuji under the cold attack and did not think of anything unusual.

“Get plenty of rest,” he said, “Drink lots of hot preserved meat porridge! This is the new clothes Taitai [Madame] give to you for the New Year.” While saying that, he put a bundle on the table.

Zhang Wuji endured the poison attack all through the night before the cold gradually subsided. He got up and opened the bundle only to see a set of leather clothes. The lining was of snow-white sheepskin. He was delighted. The style of the leather clothes was still of the servant attire, apparently the Zhu family had regarded him as their servant.

Zhang Wuji had always had a warm nature and seldom lost his temper; he did not consider the clothes as an insult. He only thought, “It’s hard to imagine I have been here for more than a month. Very soon it will be the New Year. Mr. Hu said I would not live for more than a year. This New Year will be my last. I will be gone before the next New Year.”

As the year came to a close and the New Year’s Day approached, the bustling of activities in the rich family doubled. The servants were very busy painting the walls and the doors, and slaughtering pigs and sheep; all were in high spirits. Zhang Wuji helped Qiao Fu do some errands. He was hoping the New Year’s Day would arrive soon, thinking that when he kowtowed to wish Laoye, Taitai and Miss a happy new year, he would see Miss again. After seeing her one more time, he would quietly go away and die in some remote mountain area, so that he would not be an unnecessary burden for Qiao Fu and the other servants.

Amidst the noise of the firecrackers, the New Year’s Day arrived. Zhang Wuji followed Qiao Fu toward the main hall to greet their masters for the New Year. He saw a pair of elegant and beautiful middle-aged man and woman sitting in the hall, while around seventy, eighty maids and servants kneeled down on the floor.

With a happy laugh the man and the woman said, “Everybody has worked hard!” While on the side, two housekeepers distributed money. Zhang Wuji also received two ‘liang’ [tael] of silver. He did not see the Miss and was very disappointed. Holding the money with a blank expression on his face, he suddenly heard a charming and flirtatious voice from the outside, “Biaoge [older male cousin], you come here early this year.” It was precisely Zhu Jiuzhen’s voice.

A male voice laughed and said, “Would I dare to come late to greet Jiujiu and Jiumu [maternal uncle and aunt, respectively] a happy new year?”

Zhang Wuji’s face turned hot; he felt as if his heart was about to jump out of his chest, his palms were wet with perspiration. After hoping for two whole months this was the first time he heard Zhu Jiuzhen’s voice again; how would he stop his soul from being shaken?

He heard another female voice saying, “Shige [older martial brother] rushed here early, I wonder if he wants to pay a New Year visit to our Elders, or if he wants to a New Year visit to Biaomei [younger female cousin]?”

Amidst the voices, three people stepped into the hall. The crowd of servants stepped aside one after another. Zhang Wuji absentmindedly stood motionless. It was not until Qiao Fu forcefully pulled him aside that he finally moved out of the way.

Among the three people walked in, one was a young man. Zhu Jiuzhen walked on his left. She was wearing a scarlet sable coat, accentuating her tender and beautiful face, difficult to be described, difficult to be painted. On the other side of the young man was another young woman.

Ever since Zhu Jiuzhen entered the hall, Zhang Wuji’s eyes had never left her; he did not even care whether the young man and the other young woman were smart or were ugly, or whether they were wearing red or green. The two people kowtowed toward the masters, husband and wife. The hosts and the guests exchanged some words, but Zhang Wuji was oblivious to it all; he heard it but did not understand. In his eyes there was only Zhu Jiuzhen one person.

Actually Zhang Wuji was still too young, about male-female relationship, he only ‘knew one but understand a half’. However, just like everybody else, it was the first time his lust was awakened by a young and good-looking woman that he was infatuated and head over heels like a fool; so it was hardly Zhang Wuji’s natural disposition at all. Furthermore Zhu Jiuzhen was indeed dazzlingly beautiful, and he met her while he was in distress and she saved him; his admiration was hard to control. He only felt that as long as he could look at her once and hear her voice, then he would have an inexhaustible joy.

The masters, husband and wife, talked with three young people for a while. “Pa, Ma,” Zhu Jiuzhen said, “I am going out to play with Biaoge and Qing Mei [younger sister Qing]!” Her voice carried a thirty-percent little spoiled girl’s tone. The masters smiled and nodded.

Mrs. Zhu said with a laugh, “Take good care of Wu Jia Meizi [little sister of the Wu family], you, three teenagers, must not quarrel among yourselves in this N