was burning hot; he knew her severe wound had caused her a fever, making her sprouting nonsense. Although his medical skill was exquisite, there was nothing on the small boat, not even a blade of grass, so he was helpless. He tore away a piece of his clothes and soaked it in the water, then pressed it on her forehead.

Yin Li continued to ramble; suddenly she shouted, “Father, you … don’t kill mother, don’t kill mother! I was the one who killed ‘Er Niang’ [second madame or second mother], you’d better kill me; it had nothing to do with mother … Mother is dead, mother is dead! I killed my mother! Boo hoo hoo…” She cried miserably.

“Zhu’Er, Zhu’Er, wake up,” Zhang Wuji said in a gentle voice, “Your father is not here, you don’t have to be afraid.”

“Father is not good, I am not afraid of him!” Yin Li indignantly said, “Why did he marry ‘Er Niang’, ‘San Niang’ [third madame or third mother]? Is not one wife enough for one man? Father, you have two hearts and three minds; delight in the new, discard the old. You’ve married someone yet marry another, hurting my mother really bad, hurting me really bad! You are not my Father, you are a heartless man, a greatly wicked man!”

Zhang Wuji was shocked and alarmed; his face turned blue and his lips white. Turned out he had just had a good dream; he dreamt that he married Zhao Min, and also married Zhou Zhiruo. Yin Li’s face had changed, she was beautiful; he also married her and Xiao Zhao. Whatever idea he did not dare to think during the day had manifested itself in a dream when he was sleeping. He felt that these four girls were all good, and he could not bear to part with any of them. Hence when he comforted Yin Li, his mind was still vaguely remembering the sweetness that the dream brings.

This time listening to Yin Li scolding her father, he recalled how in the past she had told him that because she could not accept her mother being cheated, she killed her father’s beloved concubine, so that his uncle, Yin Yewang wanted to kill his own daughter. This tragic incident had affected Yin Yewang greatly that to comfort his own feeling he took several more wives and concubines.

Zhang Wuji looked at Zhao Min, and could not help but look at Zhou Zhiruo as well, remembering his dream, he was deeply ashamed. He heard Yin Li mumbling in her sleep, but suddenly she implored urgently, “Wuji, please come with me, I am asking you. You’ve bitten the back of my hand really bad, but I don’t hate you the least bit. I will take care of you as long as I live, to be close to you, to regard you as my master. Don’t hate me because my face is ugly; if you want it, I’d rather lose my martial art, I’ll discard the poison from the thousand spiders, so my face will come back to when you first saw me …”

She spoke these last few sentences with a very tender and gentle voice, totally different from the strong-willed and short-tempered, eccentric cousin Zhang Wuji had always known; that gentle and tender feeling also grew in his heart. He heard her continue, “Wuji, I went everywhere looking for you, I went to the end of the earth without hearing anything about you, and then in the western region I heard you have died, falling off a cliff; made me want to stop living. In the western region I met a guy named Zeng Ahniu; his martial art skill was very high, he was also very good to me; he wanted to take me as his wife.”

Zhao Min, Zhou Zhiruo and Xiao Zhao knew that Zhang Wuji often used the name Zeng Ahniu, they all turned their eyes to him. Zhang Wuji blushed profusely; he felt very awkward to be under these three girls attentive gaze. He really wished he could just jump into the sea and did not come back up until Yin Li regained her consciousness.

He heard Yin Li mumbled and said, “That Ahniu Gege [big brother Ahniu] said to me, ‘Miss, with all my heart I sincerely desire to marry you. I only hope you will not regard me unworthy.’ He said, ‘From now on, I will cherish you with all my might, I will look after you. No matter how many people come to make things difficult for you, no matter how many fierce people come to bully you, I don’t care if I’ll have to lose my life, I will protect you. I want you to be happy, I want you to forget your past sufferings.’ Wuji, that Ahniu Gege’s character is a lot better than yours; his martial art skill is also stronger than that Emei Pai’s Miejue Shitai. But my heart belongs to you, this heartless and short-lived little rascal, hence I cannot come with him. You have died young then I will be your widow for the rest of my life. Wuji, tell me, isn’t Ah Li good to you? You ignored me in the past, don’t you regret it now?”

At first Zhang Wuji was very embarrassed when she repeated what he said to her, but the more he listened to her, the more his heart was touched. He could not control his tears from flowing down his cheeks.

By now the thick fog had already been dissipated, the crescent moon illuminated the boat. Yin Li was leaning on her side, so that her graceful figure was clearly seen. She softly said, “Wuji, in the afterworld, aren’t you lonely? Don’t you miss me? I am going with Popo to the northern sea’s Bing Huo Island to find your Yifu, and then I am going to the Wudang Mountain to offer sacrifice on your parents’ graves. Afterwards I am going to the snowy peak in the western region where you died and I’ll jump down to accompany you. But I must wait for Popo’s a hundred years [meaning: a lifetime, till she died]; I cannot accompany you yet, leaving her to suffer in this world alone. Popo treated me very well, if she did not save me, I would have been killed by Father early on. For your Yifu’s sake I have betrayed Popo; she must hate me very much, but I still have to be good to her. Wuji, don’t you think so?”

She talked as if she was discussing something face to face with Zhang Wuji. In her heart, Zhang Wuji had become a ghost from another world. The way she spoke soft and gentle words to the dead, plus the moonlight shining on the ocean, a quiet night, lone boat were all making those who were listening feel a sudden chill creep in their hearts.

Yin Li kept rambling to the east and to the west, which did not make any sense whatsoever; sometimes she called out in alarm, sometimes shouted in anger, each word was a manifestation of inexhaustible anxiety in her heart. She called out and shouted randomly like that for a while, finally her voice softened, and slowly she fell into a deep sleep.

The other five people on the boat were silent as they were busy with their own thoughts. The only audible noise was the sound of the waves gently striking the hull of their little boat. Under the gentle wind and the bright moon, they felt that the life’s miseries from tens of thousands days ago still exist today, and will be forever.

In between thoughts, they suddenly heard a very faint gentle singing float above the water, ‘In the end, this body will be difficult to escape from that day. Out of a hundred years span of life, those who reach seventy are already sparse. Years of misery pass like torrential flood of the river.’ [Translator’s note: I am not a poet, and this passage is very difficult to translate. I welcome any correction.] It was Yin Li who softly sang the song in her sleep.

Zhang Wuji’s heart turned cold; he remembered inside the secret passage of the Brightness Peak, when their exit was completely stopped by Cheng Kun that they were unable to get out, Xiao Zhao had also sung this tune. Almost without thinking he turned to look at Xiao Zhao. Under the moonlight he saw that Xiao Zhao was looking at him with a blank expression her face.