053 â Dirty my eyes
Many people have had such dreams before: being born into a wealthy landowning family and becoming a hedonistic young master. You could do nothing all day long apart from bringing servants to bully innocent young woman on the streets.
It was unclear whether Gao Qiu did many good things in his previous life, but his dreams have came true one after another.
Being the youngest son of Tianduâs magistrate family, his status and background is superior when compared to the landowning families. Therefore, Gao Qiu never wasted his resources and innate skills ââWhenever he has time he would bring his bunch of servants to look for beautiful women who tempted his heart.
Tiandu is the capital of the kingdom; East Market Street is one of the major business and trading streets. Tides of people rushed back and forth, and endless streams of horse and carriages passed by, reflecting a bustling centre of prosperity.
Along with his servants, Gao Qiu marched up and down the streets, taking fruits and grabbing desserts from the stalls; whatever he took is stuffed into his mouth. Those that suited his appetite are devoured, those that donât match his likings are thrown against the bossâs face which he then scolded them for their poor quality of goods. He also forced them to get out of his sight or he will beat them up every time he sees them againââ
As a matter of fact, Gao Qiu had just took a bite of a pear but realising the pear was too tart to even swallow, he smashed the remaining half of the pear against the fruit shop ownerâs head and said in fury: âYou dog thing, what pear are you sellingâ-You call this a pear? This is dog shit. Hurry leave my sight, get out of Tiandu, get out of the capital, donât let me ever see your face again. If I see you once I will beat you up onceâââ
These were the words he said to each business that did not please him.
When Gao Qiu spoke, his sleeves are rolled up as if he is about to destroy their shop.
âYoung masterâyoung masterââââ His henchmen Gao Fugui next to him hurriedly discouraged him, whispering: âMaster told you to not stir up trouble again, otherwise he will certainly break the legs of me and the servantsâ-Young master, will you kindly, for the sake of your pitiful brothers, forgive that old thing? â
âIâm causing trouble? Iâm just enforcing justice on behalf of the heavenââyou taste it, try it; are the pears he sell edible? Can you eat them? Such poor quality fruits yet he dares to sell them on the street, all of them should be arrested and locked up in Tianduâs prisonâââ
While Gao Qiu spoke, he forced the half-eaten pear into Gao Fuguiâs mouth.
Gao Fugui did not dare to resist, while taking a large bite of the pear he pointed in front at a graceful figure and said: âYoung master, the target is hereââlook ahead, itâs the type of girls you like. â
Gao Qiu raised his head and took a glimpse, in front of him was indeed a graceful woman wearing a long pink dress.
His eyes lit up, tossed the pears to one side and shouted loudly: âDogâ-brothers, get started.â
Three minutes later, Gao Qiu had already blocked the path of the delicate and pretty young woman.
âBeautiful woman, why become a thief?â Gao Qiu asked as he waved the fan in his hand, displaying the elegant appearance of a son of nobility. As if he is not a fatty with a belly full of intestinal fat.
He looked at the young lady with a face of regret, shook his head and sighed: âIf you are short on money, you can always ask me. If you donât tell me how would I know you are short of money? But stealing is badâ-a good girl becoming a thief, this reallyââshould be arrested and locked up in the prison to learn your lesson? â
âI did notâââ The womanâs complexion turned extremely pale, desperately shaking her head, but was unable to explain herself: âI didnât steal. I didnât do anything, you threw your purse into my basketâââ
âHahahaâ-â Gao Qiu raised his voice as he laughed loudly: âYouâve got to be kidding me? How can my purse run right into your basket? My purse did not fall into the basket of others but instead ran right into your basket? How come your purse did not run right into my pocket? This explanation, wonât work on me.â
Gao Qiu walked towards the watching crowd with a face of discontent and cupped his hands: âLadies and gentlemen, everyone come and judge this for me, would there be such a thingâ-my money was stolen by her, but she said my purse ran towards her. It canât be that a purse also has long legs so it can move by itself?â
âPeiâ-â Someone at the back of the crowd scolded: âThe son of Gao official wants to harm other young women again. â
âItâs not like he hasnât done such things beforeâââ
âPlacing his money bag into someone elseâs basket, slandering them as thieves, then bringing them to Tianduâs mansion to do whatever he wantsââ-â
ââ-
âWho?â Gao Qiu raised his voice and scolded. âWhich dog is talking behind the crowd? Come to the front; stand here and confront meâ-â
As expected no one dared to walk to the front to confront him, who would dare to offend the son of Tianduâs magistrate family?
Gao Qiu looked at the maiden with a face of distress and said: âI have protective feelings towards fair maidens, but I canât condone criminalsâ-young lady you have to take a trip to Tianduâs mansion with me, let young master I enlighten you, hope that after you and meââspend a night together you would turn over a new leaf and not carry on in this wrong pathââ
âIâm not going.â The young womanâs thin and weak body shrink back and screamed in tears:â Iâm not going, I know who you areââhelp me, help meâââ
Gao Qiu is angry; he is infuriated.
He felt his character has been insulted and questioned.
He ordered the woman with his fan, said: âSince you want to do it the hard way; take her away.â
His voice lowered, the henchmen behind him dashed forward to arrest the girl who âstole his walletâ.
Paââ
A whip swung across.
Before Gao Qiuâs eyes were complete darkness and then his cheek were burning in pain. He felt that the right side of his face was almost being split into two halves.
âWho was it?â Gao Qiu screamed in a sharp voice. âWho just hit me? â
Hearing Gao Qiuâs sharp screeching voice, his servants immediately stopped what their doing and gathered together to protect the young master.
âWho?â Gao Fugui was considerably loyal, rushed forward to shield Gao Qiu and shouted:âWho dares to attack our young master? Come and fight me Gao Fuguiâ-â
Paâ-
A whip slashed across Gao Fuguiâs mouth. Drenching in blood, his skin was flayed open and his flesh was torn apart.
He covered his mouth with his hands as he shouted but the malicious words he wanted to say couldnât come out.
Gao Qiuâs eyes browsed around the surroundings and then locked on his attacker.
It was a young lady, a beautiful young lady.
The most beautiful girl Gao Qiu have seen in all these years.
If he could marry such a woman, he would rather turn over a new leaf, abstain from eating meat, pray to Buddha, and would stop dallying with other young women.
Flawless like a painting.
She had the beauty of a concubine that would be renowned through history, an appearance like singing snow.
Her beauty canât even be described by thousands of words.
The maidenâs purple long hair was tied back into a confident ponytail and she was dressed in white Chinese clothes and sat on a black fine horse. She condescendingly sized up Gao Qiu.
No, it seems she did not even took a glimpse of him. Throughout the never ending long street and the gathering crowd, not even one person is worthy for her take a glance at.
Gao Qiu is a thoughtful and sensitive man; when he noticed that this woman did not even pay the slightest attention to him, he could not help but feel furious.
âWhat is your name?â Gao Qiu cupped his hands in salute, looked at the maiden on the black horse with a smiling expression and asked.
Paââ
The maiden flicks her wrist, the black horsewhip in her hand flayed towards Gao Qiuâs face.
Gao Qiu was not able to dodge at all; his left cheek endured another hit.
Both his left and right sides now displayed a red hole, looks quite balanced and funny.
âMaiden, if you have something to say then go ahead, no need to use violenceââ-we are all polite people, if thereâs something youâre not happy with about me then you can tell me directlyââ-â
Paââ
The maiden stretched her hand; it was the whip once again.
âHey, do you hear me? Are you deaf? Are you a mute? â
Paââ
âDo you know who my father is? You dare to hit meââ-â
Paâ-
Gao Qiuâs face suffered yet another whip.
Gao Qiu began to weep.
He really is weeping, he felt sad and deeply hurt, and his face was burning with throbbing painââjust like someone had used a knife to slash across the flesh of his face.
Gao Qiuâs cheeks were streaming with tears, he raised his head to look up at the young lady in white and howled in agony: âDonât think because youâre beautiful you can do whatever you want. Iâll tell you, when Iâm praising you, you can do whatever you say, Iâm fed up of you- who do you think you areââItâs bad enough that you hit me but you also wonât tell me your name. Isnât that unreasonable? â
Paââ
Gao Qiuâs face was flayed with the whip once again.
Gao Qiuâs lied on one side and then suddenly flopped to the ground.
âYou dare to bully our young masterââ-â Gao Fuguiâs mouth was dripping with blood, even his speech is not as clear as before, he pulled out a long blade from his waist and shouted: âBrothers, help me grab hold of this person.â
The maiden in white glanced ahead; his pace in rushing forward slowed down substantially and then cautiously began to circle round at the horseâs muzzle and returned.
He pointed at the woman and shouted: âWho are you, leave your name, wait for us to come to your doorââââ
âLu Qiji.â The maiden in white rocked forward in the saddle and the black horse clattered through the splitting crowd.
Gao Fugui was delighted and glad. He ran over to support Gao Qiu from the ground, proud of his achievements he said: âYoung master, young master, I helped you ask the young ladyâs name, she told me her name is Lu Qijiâââ-â
Paâ
Gao Qiu slapped Gao Fuguiâs face and then one fist after one fist punched across, while yelling: âYou dog servant, you deserve to be killed with thousands of bladeââ-Who the hell told you ask who she is? What do you need to know whom she is for? ân/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
âYoung masterâ-young masterâââ Gao Fugui clutched his head, desperately begging for mercy.
Behind the maiden in white were several similarly dressed young men and women wearing gorgeous clothes and riding on horses. They were of a similar age and their backgrounds were similar. The bright vigorous horses trotted through the crowd, receiving the admiration of the passer-by one after another.
âSon of Gao magistrate is becoming more ridiculousâââââcomparable to a brutish rogueâ. A young man wearing a black warrior suit and carrying a sword said with a faint smile: âQiji are you not worried of dirtying your whip?â
âIf I donât whip him, he will dirty my eyes.â The maiden in white said in a cold and harsh tone.