Chapter Ninety: Slaughtering the Chicken at the Temple

Chapter Ninety: Slaughtering the Chicken at the Temple

When Zhou Wei saw Tang Zhong and Qiu Yihan climbing toward the summit side by side, one tall and one short, hands clasped together, his eyes nearly popped from his head. His face was full of shock and disbelief.

"Fuck."

He could not help but curse aloud. Turning to Liang Tao, who was also staring in astonishment, he said angrily, "So who exactly has been pursuing Qiu Yihan?"

Zhou Wei felt stupid.

Stupid beyond reason.

Needling, mocking, attacking, guarding against him at every turn, each trying to outdo the other—after all that, he had been barking up the wrong tree. He had always thought Liang Tao, that pretty-boy, was Qiu Yihan's intended match. Naturally, he had taken him as his chief love rival.

Only when Qiu Yihan had run over and taken Tang Zhong's hand did he realize that Tang Zhong was the man she liked.

"I am the one pursuing her," Liang Tao said with a strange look on his face.

"You?" Zhou Wei sneered. "If that's true, why did she go off and take someone else's hand?"

"I am pursuing her," Liang Tao said. "Our second brother is being pursued by her."

"-----" Zhou Wei wanted to say impossible, but the facts before his eyes left him no choice but to believe it.

How could Qiu Yihan's taste be that bad? Liang Tao was handsome, stylish, and dressed to the nines in designer labels from head to toe. Even if she was going to reject Zhou Wei and choose another man, it ought to have been Liang Tao.

Could it be she preferred violent men?

Liang Tao suddenly grew furious. He glared at Zhou Wei and said, "Aren't you always pursuing her too? How did you let her take another man's hand?"

Zhou Wei was about to strike back, but when he saw Liang Tao's expression, he suddenly narrowed his eyes and smiled.

"What is it? Angry?" Zhou Wei asked with a grin.

"What do I have to be angry about?" Liang Tao denied it. "She and our second brother are a perfect match. If she had chosen you, that would have been a flower stuck in a pile of dung."

"Go on. Curse all you like," Zhou Wei said cheerfully. He had been furious at first, but seeing someone even angrier than himself put him in a good mood. "I know it must feel terrible to have your girl stolen by your brother. Swearing a few times will make you feel better."

Liang Tao threw a punch, and Zhou Wei quickly dodged it. Then he ran back to flirt with the female classmate who had always liked him, and did not bother Liang Tao again.

Liang Tao walked over to a large stone by the roadside and sat down, mouth open as he gasped for air.

"Have a cigarette."

Hua Ming dropped onto the stone beside him and handed over a crumpled cigarette pack.

Liang Tao took a cigarette, put it in his mouth, and lit it.

Hua Ming also took one out and lit it, taking a deep drag before saying, "I haven't smoked for a day and a night just to make a good impression in front of a woman. I've nearly choked to death."

"Serves you right. You are not some gentleman, and yet you insist on pretending to be elegant," Liang Tao laughed and scolded.

"Do you think he will apologize to you?" Hua Ming suddenly asked.

"What?" Liang Tao said.

"Will he apologize to you over this woman's matter?" Hua Ming asked again.

"What sort of thing is that to say?" Liang Tao laughed, though somewhat stiffly. "What is there to apologize for? Qiu Yihan is not my woman. Their love and affection are perfectly normal. Why would he apologize to me?"

"I don't think he will," Hua Ming said. "Just as you said, Qiu Yihan is not your woman. You and he are standing on the same starting line. The result is only that you were not as fast as him. He has no reason to apologize to you."

"And more than that, he cannot apologize. If he does, it would mean he has a knot in his heart, that he feels he stole your woman. In that case, your relationship would change for the worse. It might even create a rift between you. Someone as clever as he is would never do such a foolish thing."

"You don't need to say any more. I understand it all."

Liang Tao took a hard drag on his cigarette and said, "I don't blame Second Brother. Really, I don't blame him at all. I just don't quite understand something. Do you think I'm handsome?"

"Handsome," Hua Ming nodded.

"Compared to Second Brother?"

"More handsome than him. Not as handsome as me."

"I wasn't asking you," Liang Tao said irritably. "Didn't I also tell you my father is the mayor?"

"Yes. I told Second Brother that too," Hua Ming said. "You should know that from the very beginning, I was on his side. And when you first came, you were acting like an utter pain in the ass. I found it very hard to stomach----"

Liang Tao interrupted him. "Just answer what I ask. No need to improvise."

"We are brothers now. I have to be honest with you," Hua Ming said solemnly.

Liang Tao laughed, jabbed Hua Ming in the side, and said, "Look: I am more handsome than Second Brother, my father is the mayor, and everything I wear is either LV or Dior. I just can't figure out why all those women chose him."

"You excel on the outside. He excels on the inside," Hua Ming said. "Someone as outstanding as Second Brother, I would even like him, let alone those women."

Liang Tao was shocked. He sprang up from the stone at once and asked in alarm, "You like Second Brother too?"

"Get lost," Hua Ming cursed. "I mean I like him as a man. It is not the same as what those women feel. And besides, Liang Tao, do you know why I never once had my eye on Qiu Yihan?"

"Why?" Liang Tao asked curiously. Hua Ming was not the sort who liked to live like a monk, so why would he pass up a peerless beauty like Qiu Yihan? That question had been bothering him for a long time. "You seem to be afraid of her."

"Would I stop taking the initiative to approach a girl just because I am afraid of her?" Hua Ming grinned broadly. "The very first time I saw her, I had a strong premonition: she would become Second Brother's woman someday."

Liang Tao grew furious. "Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"If I had told you, how else would I have enjoyed so many days of drama?" Hua Ming laughed loudly.

Liang Tao flicked his wrist, and the cigarette butt in his hand shot straight into Hua Ming's mouth.

Hua Ming coughed violently, then leaped down from the rock to chase after and beat Liang Tao.

Some things, once spoken plainly, still leave you as brothers.

Tang Zhong had only wanted Qiu Yihan to hold onto his sleeve so he could lead her up toward the summit.

He had not expected the girl to make such a decision, her small hand sliding step by step downward until it rested in his palm.

If Tang Zhong were to fling her hand away at this point, it would be too wounding to her pride.

But if he did not let go----

Tang Zhong knew Liang Tao liked Qiu Yihan, and he approved of Liang Tao's taking the initiative to pursue her. Liang Tao met with setback after setback, and he could do nothing about it.

He was not close to Qiu Yihan. They had not met much more often than Hua Ming and Liang Tao had. Even if he wanted to help, there was little he could do, for in his eyes he had no standing to meddle in another person's affairs of the heart.

But now the situation seemed to have become even more complicated.

"Why must you climb to the summit?" Tang Zhong asked.

"Because I have never climbed to the summit before," Qiu Yinong said softly. She did not have the courage to look at Tang Zhong's face. The tips of her ears were flushed red, and she seemed a little nervous and shy.

"You have never been to the summit?" Tang Zhong asked in confusion.

"I have," Qiu Yinong said. "But never on my own feet. Every time I traveled with my father, mother, grandfather, and grandmother, we were always driven there and driven back. I only ever saw the scenery in passing, never truly felt it beneath my feet the way I do now. I have been to so many places, but I have forgotten all the sights. I took so many photographs, yet when I look through the albums, those places feel so unfamiliar. It is as though I had never been there at all. Today, I very much wanted to climb to the summit by myself. Then I could remember all these big trees and rocks. I would not forget them for a very, very long time."

Tang Zhong was moved by this small wish of hers, feeling a pang of sorrow and a dampness in his heart.

"All right. I will take you up," Tang Zhong said.

"Mm."

The girl nodded gently.

No breathtaking view is more splendid than that from a perilous peak, and the saying proved true.

When Tang Zhong and Qiu Yihan stood atop Jade Maiden Peak, looking down at the houses below like pieces of bread and the mountain road stretching like a thread, it seemed as if the whole world lay beneath their feet.

Qiu Yihan, her hair tousled and her sleeves fluttering in the wind, opened her arms toward the cliff, looking like an immortal maiden about to take flight.

"So beautiful," Qiu Yihan said, turning back to look at Tang Zhong.

"So beautiful," Tang Zhong said with absolute certainty.

One referred to the scenery, the other to the person.

"There is a temple over there," Qiu Yihan shouted, pointing not far ahead.

"Chen Xuebing mentioned this place. Let's go take a look," Tang Zhong said.

"Let's go."

Qiu Yihan took Tang Zhong's arm first, and the two of them quickly walked toward the temple.

The Taoist temple had long been neglected and looked old and decayed.

A large plaque hung at the entrance, bearing a name that Tang Zhong could not quite make out.

An old Taoist priest sat on a small stool by the door, dozing in the sun. No matter how many times Tang Zhong called out, he received no reply.

"It seems someone is inside," Qiu Yihan said.

They entered the temple. Inside stood a deity statue whose paint and surface had all peeled away, leaving it looking like a slab of blackened wood carved into human shape. Tang Zhong and Qiu Yihan guessed for a long time, but still could not tell what great figure it was meant to be.

Passing through the main hall, they came to the rear courtyard of the temple.

In the yard, a middle-aged Taoist in a gray robe was sitting on the ground slaughtering a chicken.

He did not cut the bird's throat first to drain the blood, then boil water and pluck it. Instead, he held the live chicken in one hand and tore out its feathers in handfuls. Every pull took away a patch of skin as well. The bird's belly had already been stripped bare, blood streaming everywhere, a ghastly sight.

His other hand clamped the chicken's neck. No matter how desperately the bird struggled, it could not make a sound.

Qiu Yihan's pretty brows furrowed, and she said, "Hey, how can you kill a chicken like that? That's too cruel."

"How it dies, is it not still death?" the middle-aged Taoist said with a sly smile, glancing up at her.

"This is torture," Qiu Yihan said angrily. "Aren't Taoists not supposed to kill living things?"

"The chicken must not be killed. But a person may be," the middle-aged Taoist said, hurling the chicken in his hand at Tang Zhong even as he himself darted like lightning toward Qiu Yihan, who stood very close by.