Eight
“Are you really in love with Luán Niángzĭ?” Xíng Hài asked Lĭn Xuĕyā who came by her house for a visit.
“I am in love.” He answered without delay. “That is why I’m making all these plans to make her fall in love with me. Oh, speaking about plans. To use the rotting corpse of the government official whom Gānbăo poisoned was a pretty nasty plan, wasn’t it? Even though his room is now empty, no one wants to move in there because of the disgusting smell.”
“Don’t change the subject.” Xíng Hài said tersely. “You’re not really in love with her, are you?”
Lĭn Xuĕyā stopped smiling and looked at her with his clear eyes.
“Does it look like it?”
“Yeah, it does. Every man at the Mansion of the Eight Celestials worships Luán Niángzĭ and is bewitched by her body. But you’re not. You had been invited to her bedchamber many times but have yet to embrace her. Unlike the other men you don’t look at her with that blank stare to begin with. That’s not right in any way. Are you truly in love with her?”
Lĭn Xuĕyā said “Hmm,” looking thoughtful. “I am in love,” he said, but I am not bewitched.”
“I want to make Luán Niángzĭ fall in love with me. In other words, I don’t want to worship her, I want to conquer her. To be seduced only by her simple flirtation and then praise her for nothing is not enough. Don’t you think so too?”
“No, I do, but… I still don’t understand…”
“What is it that you don’t understand?”
“The fact that there is a human man who is not tempted by that Luán Niángzĭ…”
Xíng Hài’s suspicions were justified. Luán Niángzĭ’s beauty was such that The Room Owning Trio, who knew all the ins and outs of the way of love, or the fine fellows of the Jiānghu who had offered to help the landowner’s daughter, were all instantly bewitched by her. It was incomprehensible to Xíng Hài that Lĭn Xuĕyā could repeatedly be invited to Luán Niángzĭ’s bedchamber and still remain sane.
“Ah. About that.” Lĭn Xuĕyā said casually. “Luán Niángzĭ’s beauty. There is certainly an unusual amount of magic in it. Her appearance, voice, scent and even her touch, will eventually infiltrate the heart of a man and seduce him. Even if you close off your senses, it is hard to escape the temptation of her. That is why it is not the senses that should be closed, you know.”
“Then, what should?”
“The heart.”
Lĭn Xuĕyā put his hand on his chest.
“I closed my heart to the enchantment of Luán Niángzĭ. In the words of a Zen monk, it would be an immovable heart. I’m somewhat familiar with this method. I’d heard of Luán Niángzĭ’s beauty before, so when I met her, I did so with an immovable heart. Therefore, even if I liked her beautiful appearance, I wouldn’t be bewitched. That is why. Are you convinced?”
Xíng Hài was dumbfounded. As easy as Lĭn Xuĕyā put it, this would be the essence of Zen, a state of mind that was not easily attained by ordinary people.
“Immovable heart…? I see. But doesn’t that mean that you’re not in love with Luán Niángzĭ?”
“No, no, I am in love. I told you that it is possible to love her beauty even if you close your heart to it. I am truly in love with it. As a beautiful treasure unique to this world.”
Lĭn Xuĕyā smiled faintly and lighted his kiseru. He smoked on it with a somewhat ecstatic look on his face. Purple smoke drifted between Xíng Hài and Lĭn Xuĕyā.
“In other words, you didn’t fall in love with Luán Niángzĭ because she is a beautiful woman but you see her as a beautiful ornament or something?”
Her question was immediately answered by Lĭn Xuĕyā.
“No. I love her as a human. Because she is a human. If she weren’t I wouldn’t fall in love.”
These words seemed somehow meaningful.
I don’t really understand what this thief thinks.
As Xíng Hài though in her heart with disgust, Lĭn Xuĕyā suddenly said.
“No. Lately, I’m beginning to think that non-human things are not so bad either.”
“Non-human things?”
“Ah”
“What would that be?”
“A demon. It’s you.”
“What!?”
Xíng Hài’s face, which had maintained its serenity became distorted as if she had eaten something strange.
“Lately I’ve been looking forward to coming here and talking to you. It’s not the first time I have met a demon, but I have never interacted with one in such depth. The demons that people fear and shy away from seem to be more pleasant beings when actually talked to.”
Xíng Hài’s slit eyes lifted.
“Oh… Demons are not something to be feared…? I’m pleasant…?”
It was an insult for a demon to be told that by a human being. He may or may not be aware of the chilling tone of her questions, but Lĭn Xuĕyā hmm’d in a carefree manner.
“Pleasant is not quite the right word. I am beginning to think…,” and the next thing he said was, “that you’re cute.”
“Die!”
Instantly a red serpent like thing leapt out of Xíng Hài’s hand. It was her favourite whip ‘Life Mourning Thorn’.
The whip tore through the air and shot out with great force. At the point of impact, Lĭn Xuĕyā was already gone from where he had stood. He had jumped backwards.
“Sorry, sorry. I didn’t think you would be that upset.”
Xíng Hài slapped fierce words in his cool face.
“Bastard! You’re messing with me!”
“I’m sorry you think I’m messing with you. I really think that you are cu—”
“You’re still doing it!”
The sound of the whip cutting through the air sounded again.
Without changing his expression, Lĭn Xuĕyā dodged it with a graceful movement.
“Don’t be angry, don’t be angry. You promised that you would kill me only if I failed to bring Luán Niángzĭ down. I apologise if I have offended you. From now on I will be careful of what I say.”
“Next time I’ll kill you!”
Xíng Hài, still angry, glared at him.
“Scary. But I like your temperament, you know. Oops, am I going to get scolded again for saying this? Let’s change the subject and talk about our next opponent.”
With a smug attitude Lĭn Xuĕyā returned to his chair. Xíng Hài too sat down on her chair, giving him a sharp look.
“The last one is Zhū Yībào, right?”
There was still a hint of annoyance in Xíng Hài’s voice as she asked.
“Yes, He’s not going to be like the other two. After all he is a famous person of the Jiānghu. He is not so weak as to be afraid of one or two spirits of the dead. He might even turn the tables on us.”
“Hmpf,” Xíng Hài snorted. “Then it’s okay not to use just one or two spirits?”
With that blunt statement, Lĭn Xuĕyā seemed to have an idea of what she was going to do next. He nodded and said that he understood. However, with a somewhat dour expression on his face he asked, “Is that a good idea? It’s not that I don’t trust your skills…, I just think we shouldn’t underestimate that man Yībào.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.”
After saying this, she turned away and fell silent.
“Are you still angry?”
Xíng Hài remained silent and refused to answer. Lĭn Xuĕyā exhaled an “Oh dear.”
“I’m afraid I’ve put you in a very bad mood. Oh, well. I will leave it to you … I think I’d better go. All the best to you.”
With that, he stood up. Xíng Hài did not look his way once until he had left the room. Her mind was disturbed with indignation.
Disgusting! Disgusting! Disgusting! I can’t stand this guy at all!
She kicked against the leg of the table.
He enjoys seeing me? I’m cute? Nonsense! The other day too! That jerk shamelessly wanted to embrace me! I can’t wait to tear him to pieces! I’ll remind him of what happens when you make fun of demons!
Xíng Hài kicked the table again and again.
At that moment, the living doll, who had been sitting silently on its chair in the corner of the room, suddenly spoke up.
“LADY XÍNG HÀI! LADY XÍNG HÀI! WHAT ARE YOU ANGRY ABOUT! PLEASE CALM YOURSELF! SHALL I RUB YOUR SHOULDERS? WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO MAKE YOU SOME TEA?”
“You don’t have to do anything!”
With that one shout the living doll fell silent.
“…Good-for-nothing.” Xíng Hài muttered and clicked her tongue. She gazed at the living doll she had called a good-for-nothing. She had thought that she had almost completed her living doll, but now, when she studied it again, it somehow looked like an unfinished mess. The eyes were too big. Its lips were too thick and crude. She didn’t even like the colour of its hair… The more she looked at it, the more flawed and far from ideal it was.
“I’ll have to ask Luán Niángzĭ again.”
But even if she asked her, she probably would not be able to get her preferred parts.
“Ugh, shit!”
She kicked the table. It was an annoying night in every way.
***
Setsuna's Translation 