Nightfall

In a little village on the edge of the Great River Kingdom, a middle-aged man sat with a fishing rod under a banyan tree beside a little pond.

His injured eyes were tightly bandaged up, preventing him from seeing the bubbles that indicated the locations of the fish or any movement on his line. An ordinary man would have become restless and depressed in such a situation, but he looked calm and peaceful as he held the fishing rod in a firm grip.

The thin bamboo pole slightly drooped and bent into a curve. The fishing line went taut, and the sudden movement startled a nearby lizard. The sound of a tail swishing across the lake mud could be heard as it scurried away.

The middle-aged man tightened his right hand as he reeled in his catch. A slender fish was lifted out of the water, desperately struggling to escape back into the safety of the depths. He withdrew the rod and reached out his hand to take the fish off the hook, then threw the fish into the basket beside him. From his agile moves, one could tell this was a regular action for him.

A woman wearing plain clothes walked over to his back and happily praised him when she saw the day’s catch in the basket. The woman looked ordinary, just a bit delicate. Her clothes were simple and plain, yet clean. From only her appearance, she seemed just over 20, but the occasional weary and numb look that appeared in her bright eyes added more than ten years to her age.

The woman talked to him for a moment, then supported him as they walked to the back of the big tree.

Behind the banyan tree was a small courtyard, with a tilted fence and a withered thatch roof. It looked like it had seen better years. Yet, the yard and the house looked tidy, exuding the same feeling that the woman gave to others.

“It seems you’ve really taken a liking to fish. If there’s any of today’s catch left, I can trade it for some of the distiller’s yeast in town. I’ve heard that it’s a good lure for fish.”

The woman began talking as they reached the house.

The man answered, “Actually, I’m not really that interested in fishing. I just use it to calm down when I feel troubled. It’s been quite a while since I could last see anything, so I tend to get anxious.”

“Doctor Song had mentioned that your eyes will have recovered by today if there has been no problem with the treatment.”

The woman helped him to sit down on a chair and nervously looked at him. She wanted to untie the bandage but refrained from doing so, her fear of the result holding her back.

Though the middle-aged man could not see anything, he seemed to have perceived her anxiety. He smiled and comforted her, “If my eyes don’t heal, I will accept it as my fate. So go ahead!”

The woman’s fingers nervously twisted as she scolded him, “Stop saying such ominous words! You will be all right, your eyes will see the world once again.”

With her trembling fingers, she began to untie the bandage, starting from the back of his head and carefully passing it by his ears. One layer after another, the bandage was slowly unwound.

The sun cast its light into the small yard from above the banyan, lighting up Chao Xiaoshu’s face. The part covered by the bandage looked a bit pale, for it had been hidden from the sunlight for a long time.

His eyebrows were tightly knotted, eyes closed. Although he could comfort the woman by saying that it would be his fate, despite his easy-going nature, he still couldn’t get rid of his own nervousness.

The woman nervously scanned over his eyes with her head lowered. She cheered him up with her gentle voice, “It’s ok. Open your eyes. Maybe you can see.”

With a flutter of his eyelashes, the middle-aged man slowly opened his eyes for the first time a long while. In his deep eye sockets, one could see a pair of listless eyes.

The woman was disappointed, her clothes visibly damp from the sweat caused by her great nervousness. She subconsciously loosened her collar as she asked with a bit of expectation, “Can you see now?”

At that moment, a slight breeze passed through the branches of the banyan tree, causing a flutter of glimmering sunlight.

A beam of light rested on his dim eyes, refusing to leave the contours of his iris, and thus his eyes became brighter and brighter. Just like the quivering of the fishing rod that caused ripples on the water, it all indicated a resurgent life.

The things before his eyes became clearer and clearer.

He saw a delicate-looking woman and her plain clothes in the style of Great River Kingdom. He saw her nervousness and anxiety, as well as the crystal drop of sweat that slid down along her neck to between her plump breasts.

He peacefully looked at her, saying, “I can see.”

The woman was excited. Suddenly she noticed his eyes resting upon her breast, so she turned aside shyly and hurried to tidy her clothes, trying to escape his gaze.

He looked at her with a smile, his eyes filled with gratitude.

If not for her careful treatment, her searching for medicine and doctors, and her endurance under the strange eyes of those villagers, his eyes could never have recovered this quickly.

But he still didn’t know who this woman was. This was the first time he actually saw her. From their previous conversations, he only knew she was a widow.

“Thank you for taking care of me.”

He sincerely said.

The woman tidied her clothes and slowly turned back, softly saying, “I still don’t know your name.”

He answered, “I’m Chao Xiaoshu. Chao with the character for dynasty, and Xiaoshu with the characters for small tree.”

His handsome and mature face left her both flurried and disappointed. She felt that he must be a man with quite a background behind him, and so would probably leave as soon as his eyes had healed.

“This is all the money that’s left.”

She thought of something and quickly fetched out a handful of taels of silver, handing them to over to Chao Xiaoshu.

Thinking it over, Chao Xiaoshu accepted the taels of silver, saying nothing.

The woman felt somewhat happy, seeing that he didn’t try to give her the taels of silver as a way to show his gratitude. She asked him to take a good rest, then went to boil water to make their evening meal.

After supper, Chao Xiaoshu carefully took a bath, the first time he took one ever since his eyes were injured. He felt quite refreshed. He then put on the ordinary clothes of a farmer, which had been handed to him by the woman, who seemed very shy at the time.

Walking out into the yard, he observed the flowing clouds in the dark sky, as well as the apparent halo around them. He knew it would take time for his eyes to completely recover, though he could see things fairly clearly now.

Chao Xiaoshu narrowed his eyes at the thought of that sudden sword attack from the sky. Then he shook his head with a smile, lamenting that Liu Bai, the Sage of Sword, was indeed peerless.

Despite being defeated under his sword, Chao Xiaoshu was calm, or even pleased, because it was only to be expected in his opinion.

Different from the youngsters like Long Qing, Chao Xiaoshu had been immersed in the underworld in Chang’an for many years. Although he was a real king of the underworld, he never persisted in pursuing the title of the strongest, so he had never been afraid of defeat. On the contrary, so long as he didn’t die after being defeated, he would learn from the failure and make progress.

Suddenly, a gentle pitter-patter awakened him from the memory of that fight against Liu Bai. It was the sound of a stream of water cascading down the smooth skin of the woman.

Chao Xiaoshu didn’t turn back to look into the house. Of course, he knew that if he were to turn around now, he would perhaps see a beautiful and charming silhouette framed against the window paper.

He silently listened to the sound with a smile, somewhat immersed in it.

After bathing, the woman walked into the yard and approached him.

The fragrant aroma from her body gently overran Chao Xiaoshu’s sense of smell.

Water trickled down from her wet hair.

Her clothes were damp, yet exuded the warmth of her body.

The atmosphere was sultry and nebulous.

Glancing at the side of his face, she suddenly hugged him and said tremblingly, “Can you share your story with me?”

Chao Xiaoshu quietly looked at her with his head lowered and replied, “My story is quite boring.”

The woman buried her head in his arms and murmured, “But it’s a story of the world outside. I want to listen to it. At the very least, I want to have some stories to recall after you leave.”

Chao Xiaoshu raised his hand and softly fondled her wet hair, feeling her body become hotter and hotter.

The woman secretly bit her lip. Then she took heart to raise her head as she tightened her arms around him. She reached her right hand into his clothes, trembling as she clumsily fondled him. Then she raised herself to the tips of her toes to touch his lips to hers.

“I choose to be dissolute.”

She murmured with a slur.

Chao Xiaoshu gently sucked her lips as his right hand slowly moved up from her waist. He grasped her beating chest through her thin clothes as he asked, “Will you still listen to my story?”

Her face flushed, yet she didn’t let go of him. She passionately kissed him back, murmuring, “I know you’re about to go. I don’t want to listen to stories. What I want is a memory with you.”

“I won’t leave immediately.”

Chao Xiaoshu gently pushed her a bit away, kissed her forehead, and asked with an awkward smile, “How about telling you my story first?”

A cool night breeze passed through the tilted fence and fumbled her thin clothes. The chill against her exposed skin made her sober. As she realized how shamelessly she had just behaved, her face blossomed into a burning scarlet hue. Yet, as she savored the remaining taste of his lips and his warm chest, she was unwilling to leave.

“Don’t you need to go back home?”

“I’m not in a hurry.”

Chao Xiaoshu answered her calmly. Although Chang’an was a good home, where there were his friends, His Majesty, and his father, he was in no rush to return now. Because here it was peaceful. Here lay that magnificent banyan. And here lived the woman who loved him.

She half-heartedly argued back, “But your family will be worried about you.”

Chao Xiaoshu answered, “I will write letters to them.”

The woman felt embarrassed to some extent, remembering how she had thrown herself on him yet was refused. So, twisting her fingers, she turned around and hurriedly entered her house with the excuse of making the bed for him.

The dim lamp light shone upon the beautiful figure of the woman.

With his newly recovered eyes, Chao Xiaoshu calmly admired that alluring and charming figure before him.

That night, they still slept on different beds, but it was unknown who among them was tossing and turning, and who was wallowing in regret. The only sure fact was that the chirps of those insects were gentler and softer than they were before. Every so often there was the creaking of the bed board, which sounded like a moan.

At dawn, a sudden hustle and bustle broke the quietness and tenderness of the small yard.

Over a dozen villagers, led by a few elders, surrounded the small yard with pitchforks, hoes, and other such tools in their hands. Then they rudely plowed down the already tilted fence.

The woman had been preparing breakfast. She wiped off the drops of sweat on her forehead and nervously looked at her fellow clansmen, trembling and trying to play up to them, “Fourth master, what can I do for you?”

She was speaking to the gray-haired man at the very front of the mob. He was the clan leader, and he wielded absolute authority over the village and even the whole town.

The clan leader didn’t answer her. Instead, he just glared down at her indifferently, as if he was looking at a dead person.

She was instead answered by a brawny man and several lumps of mud.

“Adulterous bitch!”

The brawny man severely scolded her.

Those lumps of pungent mud had been thrown straight at her, dirtying her clean clothes and sullying her appearance.