Chapter 11 — The Secluded Valley
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 3 of 6
A cool wind came blowing gently through the hills. Tian Lingsu wore a dress of red, just as she had on the day she first went up with Zhang Qingyue to cut bamboo, and she went hopping and skipping along ahead of him. Zhang Qingyue followed behind, watching that beautiful girl before him drift lightly through the mountains like a red cloud; with the mountain wind there seemed to come, faint and hidden, a delicate fragrance.
His heart swam for a moment, and suddenly a feeling rose in him: how good it would be if they could walk on like this forever.
He was lost in the thought, but Tian Lingsu had already gone far ahead. She turned and called out loudly, "Xiaofan, why are you so slow!"
Zhang Qingyue started awake, his face reddening; he dared not let his thoughts wander further, and hurried to catch up.
When the two of them reached the edge of the bamboo grove, Tian Lingsu said to Zhang Qingyue, "Xiaofan, you go in first by yourself. I'll follow behind."
Zhang Qingyue nodded, took up his knife, and went in. After a few steps he suddenly remembered he ought to tell Tian Lingsu to be careful; he turned to look, but she was already gone from sight.
He stood there, dumbfounded, an inexplicable sense of loss passing through him. Then he shook his head, cast aside such idle thoughts, and walked on toward the depths of the grove. When he reached his destination, all was still among the bamboo. Zhang Qingyue looked all about him and could not find that gray-furred monkey anywhere. He muttered to himself: I hope the beast hasn't got itself a bit of sense and decided not to come, guessing I've brought help today.
So he thought, peering in every direction; but finding no trace of the monkey was no use to him, and he had no choice but to go to a black-jointed stalk and make as if to cut it.
"Tsk-tsk-tsk-tsk" — suddenly the familiar shriek rang out overhead.
Zhang Qingyue sprang aside by pure reflex, but felt a pain atop his head: he had been too slow, and a pinecone caught him square, with no small smart. Zhang Qingyue looked up. There was the gray monkey, as always, hanging upside down from a branch and laughing without end.
Joy surged in his heart. He leaped up, pointed at the monkey, and laughed aloud: "Ha! You've come at last!"
His voice was not loud, but the monkey was startled out of its wits. This fellow, it thought, is always leaping with rage and blazing with fury when he is hit; why should he be so glad today? Can it be that after days of being pelted he has come to like it — that he is uncomfortable without a good knock, and pleased when the blow hurts?
Just then a flash of red passed among the bamboo. Tian Lingsu came flying through the air upon the Amber Vermilion Silk, swift as lightning, her five fingers hooked like a claw, reaching to seize the monkey.
But the monkey was quick beyond expectation. A glance from the corner of its eye and it understood at once; its tail released the branch and its whole body dropped. Tian Lingsu had reckoned every direction in which it might flee — before, behind, to left, to right — and plotted her pursuit accordingly, but she had not thought the gray monkey would simply let itself fall; she started in surprise and caught only air.
Zhang Qingyue, below, made as if to spring; but he saw the monkey in midair stretch out a slender arm, seize a bamboo trunk, and cling fast in an instant; then, without a breath of hesitation — as though it knew how formidable the woman in red above must be — it began to sway and spring, swinging from one bamboo to the next and the next, bent on making its escape.
Tian Lingsu's competitive spirit was roused. She cried in midair, "After it!" Her left hand drew a sign, and the Amber Vermilion Silk tore through the air. Zhang Qingyue, on the ground, stretched his legs and ran, giving chase with great strides.