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墨書 Inktalez
She said, "You may not know this, but in our region, all the girls have a high-pitched voice, what you might call a dolphin sound. It’s something we practice while shouting in the valleys; it’s one of our specialties! With so many mountains around, producing a few high notes is as easy as playing a game. By the way, you can come and touch my hair to see if it’s as strong as that one underwater!"
I felt embarrassed; after all, what kind of man casually grabs a girl's hair? Moreover, the tone of the Yellow Witch clearly hinted that she was annoyed, as if my earlier comments conveyed some sort of "disrespect towards women." I swear, that wasn’t my intention!
The Yellow Witch chuckled, probably mocking me for having a guilty conscience but no courage. Suddenly, she reached back and pulled out a silver hairpin, and instantly, her long hair cascaded down like a waterfall. In the glow of the campfire, her hair shone dark and lustrous against her snow-white face. At first glance, she was quite a beauty! It was just her identity that was off-putting.
It wasn’t until the Yellow Witch stood up and walked over to the pile of luggage that everyone snapped out of their daze and focused on her next move.
She picked up three thick pieces of wood from the ground—two were stuck into the earth while one was laid across them to form a simple wooden frame. Then she took a thick bunch of her hair and draped it over the horizontal piece, tying the other end to her luggage. The luggage was already heavy; we had been taking turns carrying it with Wang Meng along the way. Now that it was wet, even a strong man would struggle to lift it. Yet here was the Yellow Witch, using her hair and the wooden frame to gradually pull up one of the wet bags.
Her experiment wasn’t meant to prove her strength but rather to counter my second point about women’s hair not being strong. About three seconds later, the makeshift wooden frame couldn’t bear the weight of the backpack and broke in half. However, not a single strand of her hair snapped, leaving everyone in awe.
This woman was meticulous; she had noted that my Three-edged Sword hadn’t cut through a thick bunch of hair earlier and had only used that same thickness to humiliate me. She concluded with an impactful remark: “Never underestimate a woman’s strength.”
The Yellow Witch had successfully countered two of my points. I felt utterly humiliated, wishing I could just disappear into a ground fissure. But then she delivered another blow while tying up her hair casually: “By the way, I’m curious about something else. You don’t mind if I ask, do you?”
I thought to myself that since she was already on this topic, what good would it do for me to mind? So I politely replied, “What’s your question?”
Still busy fixing her appearance as if unaware of how damaging her next words would be to me, she asked innocently: “When you were in the water and sensed something was wrong ten minutes ago, why didn’t you speak up immediately?” And then she looked at me with an innocent expression.
My mind went blank; I silently vowed never to offend this woman again. The others listened intently to her question, their eyes fixed on me—some waiting for my answer while others were eager to see me squirm.
What should I do? I can’t admit to conspiring to escape, especially since it was a huge misunderstanding! If word gets out, how am I supposed to live with myself?
I gritted my teeth and said, “Actually… I wasn’t sure at the time. I thought it was just some water plants or something. My mind wasn’t even on that. Plus, A Li was missing, and I was worried about her safety, so all I could think about was finding her. I didn’t—”
Before I could finish, Liuzi couldn’t hold back any longer. “Who the hell are you trying to fool? That woman had an incident in the water! There was movement down there, and instead of checking it out, you pretended you didn’t know anything? Are you feeling guilty for something, or do you just want her to die faster?”
Liuzi finally showed some intelligence, and of course, it had to be at my expense. I couldn’t tell if it was good luck or bad luck!
Every word he said made sense, and with everyone watching, I found myself momentarily speechless. But I couldn’t just stay silent; that would be like admitting guilt! In a panic, my mind went blank, and all I could think to say was something trivial: “Watch your mouth; she has a name!”
Liuzi had a short temper and couldn’t stand anyone challenging him. He always took pride in intimidating others (except for his master, of course). With his anger flaring up, he forgot everything else and shoved me hard. “Woman this, woman that! I’ll call her whatever the hell I want; who are you to tell me?”
I felt uncomfortable hearing that and also wanted to escalate the situation to change the topic. So, I grabbed Liuzi by the collar and stood up abruptly, ready to throw a punch at his face. “You say one more word?”
Liuzi’s eyes bulged as his face twitched with rage. “I’ll say it! Woman!” Suddenly, he swung a fist at me—quick and fierce. I was completely unprepared for it; pain shot through my mouth as blood erupted from my gums. I spat out blood along with a tooth.
“Damn it!” I spat again in anger and lunged at Liuzi, but someone grabbed my arm from behind. Meanwhile, A Chen tackled Liuzi from the side; both of them kicked and struggled as if they were the ones who had been hit.
Third Granduncle Master finally couldn’t stand it anymore and interrupted the chaos. “Enough! Look at both of you! Aren’t you ashamed? Sit down!”
Liuzi cursed as he sat down in A Chen’s previous spot, deliberately avoiding sitting next to me. That suited me just fine; I took a seat between A Chen and Wang Meng.
Third Granduncle Master seemed reluctant to discuss what had just happened in front of “outsiders.” I guessed that part of him held onto the old belief that family matters shouldn’t be aired publicly. Even though there were conflicts within our Shimen new Old School, there was no need for outsiders to know about them. This point had been made clear when Third Granduncle Master scolded both Liuzi and me earlier. On another note, he likely felt compelled by the situation; after all, in his eyes, even if I wasn’t the best Master Nephew, I was still closer than anyone from Yellow Witch. Especially after several high-profile comments from her, Third Granduncle Master had come to regard her with newfound respect—this woman’s intellect might even rival his own.
I managed to escape a disaster and let out a sigh of relief.
After some time, the light had completely faded, and in the distance, there was a faint yellow glow. Meanwhile, the moon had quietly risen. It was then that I could finally discern the direction; I had been disoriented in the cave, unsure of whether it was south or north, feeling rather dizzy.
As everyone gathered around the fire, they took out food to satisfy their hunger. They heated up whatever they could, making the meal taste even better than usual. For the moment, they forgot the unpleasantness that had just occurred. The atmosphere grew more cheerful with each bite, and soon someone started telling risqué jokes. One person wasn’t enough; they insisted on getting everyone involved. Dali suggested playing rock-paper-scissors, with the loser having to tell a joke.
To everyone’s surprise, the first person to lose was Third Granduncle Master. The group fell silent for a moment, stunned; no one could imagine what Third Granduncle Master telling a risqué joke would look like. Yet they couldn’t help but conjure up images in their minds, and their expressions were priceless.
After a while, A Chen cleared his throat, ready to tell a joke on behalf of his master. Just then, Third Granduncle Master spoke up seriously. To everyone’s astonishment, he actually told one—an old and risqué one at that!
The group was torn between wanting to laugh and holding it in; they felt like they might burst from suppressing their laughter. In the end, it was Wang Meng who couldn’t hold back any longer and laughed out loud. That broke the dam, and everyone erupted into laughter, rolling around in fits of giggles. Only Third Granduncle Master remained with a flushed face, sitting upright and maintaining his dignity as the elder.
Just as everyone was laughing so hard that tears were streaming down their faces, Yellow Witch suddenly called out, “Hey… did you guys hear something?”
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