Chapter 27 — Self-Respect
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 1 of 8
"Xiaofan, didn't you say you were going to look for Xiao Hui and that big yellow dog? So why have you gone and brought me to the kitchen?" Zeng Shuyan trailed along behind Zhang Qingyue, clucking without pause.
Zhang Qingyue looked the kitchen over carefully. It was roomier than the one on Dazhu Peak by no small measure, and far brighter too. He kept his eyes moving as he said, "I haven't laid eyes on them since first thing this morning, but I'd wager most anything they're right here."
"Impossible. What do you take a Three-Eyed Spirit Monkey for? Those are spirit creatures born of heaven—they better ordinary folk in every measure. And here you are, treating it like a common thief—a greedy one, at that!"
Under Zeng Shuyan's dumbfounded stare, Zhang Qingyue fished Xiao Hui out from behind a jar in a corner of the kitchen. Held up in midair, Xiao Hui chittered and squealed without cease; then Da Huang came trotting out from behind the jar and set to barking loudly at the pair of them.
Zhang Qingyue glanced at Zeng Shuyan. Zeng Shuyan's face wore a look somewhere between laughter and tears.
Cradling Xiao Hui to his chest, Zhang Qingyue cursed the dog: "Dead mutt, shut your noise! You want someone to come catch us?"
Da Huang seemed to understand. It looked at Xiao Hui huddled in his arms, gave a few soft whines low in its throat, and fell silent. Zhang Qingyue glanced around—everything in the kitchen appeared whole and undisturbed. Plainly these two thieves had not yet made their score. Much relieved, he hurried out with Xiao Hui in his arms; but after two steps he saw that Da Huang had not followed. He turned, and there was the dog, tail tucked, gone back behind that jar to nose about a bit, then come trotting over with an enormous meat bone in its jaws.
Zhang Qingyue glared at Xiao Hui in his arms. Xiao Hui bared its monkey teeth in a foolish grin. Zeng Shuyan, watching from the side, shook his head mightily.
The two of them crept out of the kitchen with monkey and dog in tow, in mortal fear of being spotted—for once so foul a name fastened on them, it could never be washed clean. Only when they had put some distance behind them did they breathe easy.
Zhang Qingyue panted a while, then said, "By the way, I haven't congratulated you yet—you won another match."
Zeng Shuyan paid it no mind at all; his eyes were fixed on Xiao Hui in Zhang Qingyue's arms. "What of it? Sooner or later I'll lose to somebody too. Why is Xiao Hui so filthy? How many days has it been since you bathed him?"
Zhang Qingyue blinked. "Never once."
"You—you—how can you treat it like that!"
Zhang Qingyue thought this nonsense. The monkey scrambled up and down all day long; how could it ever be clean? But seeing that Zeng was beyond reason on this point, he gave a dry laugh and changed the subject. "By the way, did you know? In tomorrow's third round, Lu Xueqi's opponent is my senior sister, Tian Lingsu."
"Your senior sister? The Tian Lingsu who wields the Amber Red Silk?"
"The same." Zhang Qingyue reached up to stroke Xiao Hui, which was clambering onto his shoulder. "Lu Xueqi has been riding high these last two days. I'm a little worried for my senior sister."
"Fair enough. If nothing else, that 'Tianxuan' in Lu Xueqi's hand is more than a body can bear."
Zhang Qingyue said with some concern, "Shushu, do you think my senior sister might be in danger? In her first match Lu Xueqi destroyed her opponent's immortal sword, and in the second I hear that Changmen senior brother was badly hurt as well."
"You do worry overmuch. That senior sister of yours is far above you in cultivation—worry about yourself. From here on out each opponent is fiercer than the last, and by your own account you haven't even cultivated the third level of the Yuqing Realm of the Taiji Xuanqing Dao. One of these days someone will split you in two with a sword! Here, let me hold Xiao Hui."