Chapter 116 — Tianshui Stockade
The Sword Questions the Heavens · Page 6 of 6
In an instant the onlookers burst into an uproar.
The three ruffians were overjoyed. Ruffian Two threw open his collar, displaying a fine physique, and said, "Little sister, come with me! I'll give you the hot... and the fragrant!"
Many in the crowd burst out laughing at once. Xiao Bai glanced at Ming Li standing beside her, the smile on her face unchanged.
Ruffian Three mocked Ruffian Two: "What do you know about 'hot and fragrant'? It's 'fragrant and hot'!" With that he turned to Xiao Bai and said, "Little sister, my family has ten thousand mu of good land. Come with me and I guarantee you..."
He got only halfway through before he could not go on, for Xiao Bai's smile had deepened, a charm that seemed to radiate from within her, and in her bright eyes the light flowed like water, as though it might spill over.
Yet her body drew back a step, until she stood beside Ming Li, and she said softly, "But I already have a husband."
The crowd erupted in another uproar. Xiao Hui, who had already climbed onto Ming Li's shoulder, went "swoosh" and dropped from it to the ground.
After a moment, for some reason, Xiao Hui suddenly sprawled on the ground and began pounding the earth furiously with his monkey palms, grinning and chattering with laughter.
Ming Li stood there silent, his face dark, feeling the six fierce, hostile eyes of the three ruffians fixed on him.
A moment later the ruffians charged. Plainly the southern saying, "a wife comes from the fist," was still thriving after a thousand years and more, and the folk of the south still lived by it.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Three sounds, and three figures flew through the air, struck the wall by the roadside, then fell heavily and groaned aloud.
The onlookers gaped. Ming Li said mildly, "Let us find a place to stay, and set out at dawn tomorrow." With that he walked on. Xiao Hui, sprawled on the ground, caught up in two or three bounds, scrambled onto his shoulder, chattering with laughter without cease, and turned his head to pull a face at Xiao Bai.
Xiao Bai smiled faintly and followed, coming up beside Ming Li, and suddenly said in a low voice, "You see, shut away for three hundred years, and I am still not so old after all, am I?"
Ming Li said not a word, only quickened his pace.