Chapter 2

Apricot Blossom Stockade lay deep in the mountains, hills on every side. Only one path led in and out. That road held traps and mechanisms; young men guarded it in rotation. Outsiders could hardly enter; insiders could hardly leave without consent from several chiefs.
So after Ge Qingsong left with Lin Suyan, they could only circle the nearby forest.
They did not mean to leave the mountains. War and chaos ruled outside—no road to live. Their “elopement” was only to hide in the hills a few days until the storm passed, then return.
They had brought food and weapons.
But Ge Qingsong was a scholar who could not truss a chicken. He had never known real hardship. His plan was simple in thought—when wolves came, he froze in terror.
When the Xiao party found them, a great black wolf was drooling as it lunged at Lin Suyan. She screamed, tears and snot on a delicate, beautiful face.
Ge Qingsong had collapsed to one side—scared until he wet himself.
Xixi: “……”
Xixi had once liked Ge Qingsong well enough. Among the stockade youth he was the handsomest after her brothers.
The Ge family had been city gentry with means. Before entering the mountains Ge Qingsong had studied at an academy—bookish air, gentle speech—unlike the other men of the stockade.
That was before.
After this morning, Xixi found him hateful. The halo that had surrounded him shattered at the sight of him curled and trembling in a corner, trousers soaked. Only disgust remained.
“He looked all right in daily life. Useless when it counts. Lucky you didn’t marry him.”
Her third brother Xiao Yuanfeng spoke.
Yuanfeng was twenty—tall and strong, handsome features, skin burned dark so his teeth looked very white. In rough short jacket he carried a long bow and quiver, looking at Ge Qingsong with the same disgust.
Still, seeing danger urgent, he loosed two arrows at once and killed the black wolf.
“Truly sickening.”
Perhaps from disgust, Xixi felt less angry and less hurt. She stepped from the brush first. Another black wolf charged Ge Qingsong. She did not move—waited until it knocked him down and bit his arm—then snorted, ran up, and lopped off the wolf’s head with her axe.
Stinking wolf blood drenched Ge Qingsong’s head. He could not bear it—screamed once and fainted dead away.
Xixi curled her lip and looked at Lin Suyan nearby.
Lin Suyan was first startled by her heavy makeup, then hunched her shoulders and wept in terror. “I’m sorry—Miss Xiao, I’m sorry—I was wrong. I shouldn’t have listened to Cousin and eloped. I shouldn’t have ruined your wedding. Please—please take me back. Don’t leave me…”
Fear of being abandoned to the wolves left her no room for pride. Her slender body lay on the ground like a plant beaten by rain—frail and pitiable.
Lin Suyan had been in the stockade only two months. Xixi did not know her well and had never looked closely. Now she saw—the girl was indeed very beautiful. Even weeping she drew pity.
No wonder that dog Ge Qingsong, though already betrothed, had run off with her.
“This woman ruined your marriage and made you a laughingstock. I say don’t bring her back—let her die here.” Yuanfeng said coldly on purpose, pained for his sister.
Lin Suyan was so frightened she dropped the fragile act and threw herself at Xixi’s legs, wailing.
Xixi picked her off in disgust. “Too noisy. Cry again and I’ll really leave you here.”
Lin Suyan had thought Xixi must hate her for stealing her man and wrecking her wedding. Hearing this she was disbelieving—but at once she scrambled up on hands and knees, forcing back sobs. “Sorry—I won’t cry. I won’t cry.”
Xixi did not like Lin Suyan, but she did not especially hate her either. Whether to flee the marriage was Ge Qingsong’s call.
If Ge Qingsong had her in his heart and a clear head, Lin Suyan could do nothing. If Ge Qingsong’s heart wandered, without Lin Suyan there would be someone else.
She had no patience to say more to Lin Suyan. The friends who came had lifted Ge Qingsong to carry back. She grabbed Lin Suyan’s sleeve, wiped her still-bleeding axe, took her third brother’s arm and followed.
Lin Suyan: “……”
Lin Suyan stared at her blood-soaked sleeve. After a long while she exhaled and hurried after them.
**
Back home Ge Qingsong was pinned to the ground and beaten hard by his father.
A black wolf had torn a chunk from his right arm—flesh mangled, dreadful. After his father’s thrashing he looked bloodier still, wretched in the extreme.
Ge Jincai did not care. After beating his son he had men carry him on a litter to the Xiao home to apologize.
Feng Yunxiang would not let them in. She only said Ge Qingsong must keep as far from her and her Xixi as the world allowed—never show his face again.
Ge Qingsong had read the sages for years. He still had shame. He was not without feeling for Xixi—only Cousin’s lot was pitiful and needed tenderness, so he had…
Seeing Feng Yunxiang, once so kind, point at his nose and curse coldly, Ge Qingsong’s pale face flushed red. At last shame and humiliation overwhelmed him and he fainted again.
Injury and shock together—he ran a high fever as soon as he returned home.
Xixi had meant to beat him once more. Seeing that, she could only set it aside for now.
The next morning, worried about her cousin, Lu Zhining came early to the Xiao home.
Lu Zhining dug Xixi from bed. Xixi yawned lazily.
Lu Zhining sat by the bed and studied her face carefully. “Still heartbroken?”
Xixi shook her head. “A little at first. Then I thought of him wetting himself from fear and I wasn’t heartbroken anymore.”
Lu Zhining: “……”
Good enough.
“I thought it over last night. Maybe I didn’t love him that much—only the betrothal was set long ago, so I never looked elsewhere. If he had told me plainly he loved Lin Suyan, I would have let them be. We’ve known each other years. Do you think I’m the sort who won’t do right by a friend?”
More than sorrow, Xixi was angry.
Ge Qingsong had fled on their wedding day—that shamed not only her but her parents and her whole family. That was what she could not forgive.
Lu Zhining thought Ge Qingsong had been vile indeed. After cursing him with Xixi she said: “Come with me to gather herbs on the back mountain later?”
Yesterday’s uproar had spread everywhere. Lu Zhining feared gossip would pain her cousin and wanted her away from people for a while.
Xixi refused. “Later I’m going down the mountain with Third Brother and the others. A fat sheep passes our territory today.”
Going down the mountain could change her mood too.
Lu Zhining nodded and said no more.
**
After breakfast Xixi set out with her brothers.
Not long after leaving she ran into her nemesis Pang Yuejiao.
Pang Yuejiao’s father Pang Sihai was chief of Apricot Blossom Stockade. Pang Sihai and Xiao Ding were sworn brothers, so Yuejiao and Xixi had grown up together.
They were near in age—one spoiled, one overbearing—characters that clashed. Every meeting brought quarrels. Grown, they became rivals who rushed to mock whenever the other suffered misfortune.
Xixi’s disgrace yesterday was huge. Yuejiao had long wanted to jeer. Seeing Xixi now she planted hands on hips and said with relish: “Well, well—our Young Lady Xiao! You don’t look well. Cried all night without sleep? Don’t take it too hard. Lin Suyan is pretty and gentle—no wonder Cousin Qing liked her. Look at you—five bowls a meal, one punch could kill an ox, running the hills with blade and spear, shouting fight and kill at every turn. Of course you can’t compare. Cheer up.”
Born two months apart, Yuejiao was also seventeen. She wore a half-new lotus-pink dress, butterfly silk flowers in her hair—only pretty in face, but presence loud and sharp.
Xixi was not angry. She leaned close, sniffed deliberately, then covered her nose and jumped back two steps. “Wow, Pang Yuejiao—did you eat fart for breakfast? Your mouth stinks.”
Pang Yuejiao: “……”
“You ate—” Her father had been a yamen runner; ancestors had been officials. Yuejiao styled herself a magistrate’s daughter and flared: “Xiao Xixi! A girl who talks shit and piss all day—no wonder Ge Qingsong dumped you!”
Xixi rolled her eyes. “Still better than having nobody forever.”
Yuejiao had no betrothal yet. A birthmark on her right forehead, hidden by bangs, was not small. Spoiled and proud, her marriage prospects had been poor.
Her father had lately contacted nearby stockades and held a martial contest to choose a husband. In the end Yuejiao still had no match.
That was her sore spot. Xixi stabbed on purpose. Yuejiao was furious: “I’m not unwanted! I’m selective! Bet you—see who marries first!”
Xixi could not be bothered with such a boring wager—but Yuejiao said: “You’re scared. You want to surrender. A rough man-woman like you—with your father’s child betrothal gone—what man would want you!”
Xixi: “……”
Xixi could live without a man—but she could not lose, especially not to sharp-tongued Pang Yuejiao.
Her eyes slanted. She laughed coldly. “Fine—we bet. Loser calls the winner ‘Grand-aunt’ for three months and does her washing and cooking. Dare you?”