劍問蒼天 - 第23章 比試 - 清風書屋

The monkey Xiaohui saw the man standing before it staring straight at him, eyes fixed in a most peculiar way, and flew into a rage. With a "swoosh" it flipped its paws up and clawed at him. The man, caught off guard, nearly had his face raked open; fortunately his reflexes were quick, and he jerked his head back hard, dodging by a hair's breadth.

Zhang Qingyue was startled and hastily called Xiaohui off. Turning to look at the man, he saw that he was plainly badly shaken, one hand pressed to his face, muttering over and over: "Close call, close call."

Zhang Qingyue felt rather guilty and said, "Senior Brother, I'm terribly sorry!"

Unexpectedly the man did not seem to mind. He smiled faintly and waved a hand: "It's nothing. My own carelessness—I forgot that the Three-Eyed Spirit Monkey (Note 1) has a fierce temper and is quick to bite."

Zhang Qingyue blinked. "Three-Eyed Spirit Monkey?"

The man was taken aback. "What—you didn't know this monkey was a Three-Eyed Spirit Monkey?"

Zhang Qingyue was baffled. "What in the world is a Three-Eyed Spirit Monkey?"

The man's eyes went wide. He looked Zhang Qingyue up and down and said, "You don't even know what a Three-Eyed Spirit Monkey is, and yet you keep one?"

Zhang Qingyue said, "I ran into it once while I was cutting bamboo in the grove. It pelted me with pinecones a few times, and then it just followed me home."

The young Qingyun disciple opposite him now looked as though his jaw might drop off. He murmured, "A few pinecones and it followed him home, a few pinecones and it followed him home..."

Seeing him muttering away like a madman, Zhang Qingyue shook his head and turned to go. But he had not gone far when the man actually came after him, his face wreathed in smiles, and said in a low voice, "Junior Brother—oh, no, Senior Brother, you..."

It was the first time in his life Zhang Qingyue had been called "Senior Brother," and seeing that the man was at least twenty, he hurriedly said, "Oh, I don't deserve that. If there's something you want to say, just say it."

The man paused, then beamed all the more. "Ha, you really are easy to talk to, Junior Brother. Ah—how about this, let me introduce myself. My humble surname is Zeng, and my given name is Shuyan..." He trailed off. "And your name is...?"

Zhang Qingyue said, "I am Zhang Qingyue, a disciple of Dazhu Peak. Senior Brother Zeng Shuyan, you—er, 'Uncle'?"

The man started, then his face reddened slightly and he laughed awkwardly: "Ah, I wasn't trying to take advantage of you on purpose. My *shuyan* is the *shu* of 'book' and the *yan* of 'words'—not the *shu* of 'uncle.' This is all my father's fault. When I was born, my mother wanted to name me Yingxiong, 'Hero'—now wouldn't Zeng Yingxiong have been a grand name? But my father saw that I loved reading from the time I was small, and on a whim named me Shuyan. It's made me a laughingstock my whole life. Honestly."

Zhang Qingyue could not help laughing aloud, thinking to himself that this man's name had much the same flavor as Sixth Senior Brother's. His earlier gloom had been broken by this fellow and thinned out considerably, and he felt a little warmer toward him. "Ah—so you're very fond of reading, Senior Brother Zeng?"

ZENG: "That I am. About this I can't be modest—on all of Fenghui Peak there's no one who's read more books than I have. Though most of what I read is strange tales and exotic lore, records of spirits and prodigies; it often drives my father half out of his mind. Ah, but back to the point—you really didn't know this monkey was a 'Three-Eyed Spirit Monkey'?"

Zhang Qingyue shook his head. "I didn't. I just thought it was an ordinary monkey."

At this, as if understanding his words, the monkey Xiaohui, crouched on his shoulder, suddenly let out a shrill "chit-chit" and gave Zhang Qingyue's hair a hard yank, hurting him so much that he cried out: "Ai-ya, you wretched monkey!"

ZENG SHUYAN: "Ah—clever indeed."