Clap Our Hands to Make a Promise
Clap Our Hands to Make a Promise
Even as the piece ended, everyone still felt the melody lingering in their ears. Perhaps saying that the music would loiter around the house for three days might not even be an exaggeration.
"Let me ask what is love and affection, the thing that lets people vow to be together no matter alive or dead!…" Dongfang Wenxin suddenly broke into tears and said softly, "What is love and affection? What is it?… Does it have to be so torturous?"
Jun Moxie let out a sigh and recited slowly, "Let me ask what is love and affection, the thing that lets people vow to be together no matter alive or dead! Back and forth, south and north, together they fly, as they age in the cycle of summer day and winter night; they are a joyous flock where partings are plights, and among them are crazily affectionate girls and guys. You must be saying, the endless journey through a million layers of cloud and past thousand snowy mountains, who will it be flying toward alone?"
Upon hearing this poem, Dongfang Wenxin was stunned as she continued to feel and ponder the meaning behind it. She stood there blankly before finally turning around and dashing back to her room. Her distressed cry could be heard. "You must be saying, the endless journey through a million layers of cloud and past thousand snowy mountains, who will it be flying toward alone?… Wu Hui! Wu Hui… how am I going to face the challenges of this world alone without you?"
"Moxie, do you think anything bad will happen to mother…?" Guan Qinghan asked Jun Moxie quietly. There was a strong sense of concern in her tone and a slight sense of blame. She was blaming that Jun Moxie should not have mentioned Dongfang Wenxin's tragedy.
Jun Moxie sighed again and said, "Mother had been suppressing her feelings and trying to pretend to be happy lately. That is very tiring. If she does this for too long, it will be even more problematic. Just let her cry and vent out her sadness and she will be better afterwards."
Guan Qinghan and Dugu Xiaoyi nodded in realization. They felt it made sense.
Amidst the silence, the flute music emerged again and drifted across the whole settlement, flowing smoothly.
It was the Song of No Regrets again, asking what love and compassion was.
In the courtyard separated by just a wall, Ye Guhan, another crazily affectionate guy who was looking lonely and weak, was standing below a tree and allowed the snow falling from the branches to land on his head and neck, but he seemed not to have realized. He just listened to the melody, looking blank. His empty left sleeve danced with the freezing breeze. His face looked bitter and his eyes showed all of his dismay. He muttered, "What is love and compassion? Xiu Xiu, are you doing well?"
Dugu Xiaoyi and Guan Qinghan stayed behind to study the piece when Jun Moxie left, but Han Yanmeng followed him.
"Jun Moxie, my nephew, when are you heading for the Blizzard Silver CIty?" Han Yanmeng asked, puffing her cheeks.
"The Blizzard Silver City? Why will I want to go there?" Jun Moxie looked surprised, "It's so far away and so cold there, why will I go?" Upon hearing the title "nephew," Jun Moxie felt rather uncomfortable. But his mother and third uncle recognized it, so what could he do?
Was he going to get bullied around by this little girl?
"You!" Han Yanmeng was a bit angry. "Then what about the Xiao Family? Don't you want revenge?"
"Of course I do… but the Xiao Family is also your Han Family's arch-enemy, and the hatred is especially deep. Isn't it a higher priority for you and your family instead?"
Jun Moxie spread his hands and said, "But you also know that the Xiao Family is very strong, and they have a lot of men. So isn't it natural for your family which is on par with them to deal with them? When you guys are engaged in battle, I will then secretly sneak into the city and free your sister so that she can reunite with my uncle. Isn't that all? What else can I do?"
"But… but then in that case, our city… won't our city be completely destroyed…" The girl was almost crying. She looked at Jun Moxie, biting her lips, and stomped the ground, "How… how can you be so mean?"
"I'm mean? How did you deduce that?" Jun Moxie said as if he was treated with injustice. "To be mean, I have to be closely related to you, right? But your family and mine aren't really related in the first place? As for my third uncle, I must admit, but when I think about it carefully, I don't feel resigned to do it. Just think about this: my father's, second uncle's and brothers' death are all related to the Blizzard Silver City? Even if the Xiao Family did it, doesn't your family know as well? You allowed them to do it! How can you say I am mean now?"
"It was really wrong for us to condone the Xiao family before, but right now, don't we have a common enemy? You say you're not resigned to help?" Han Yanmeng's eyes sparkled. "You must have conditions! If you have conditions, just say, or else how will I know and how can I meet them?"
Jun Moxie looked quite bitter. "Sis, stop beating around. My head has already expanded thrice; if it gets bigger, it will explode!"
Jun Moxie continued with a bit of unhappiness. "I guess you've already planned it all. I will go to the Silver City to kill the Xiao family. Then I will help my uncle get back his wife and help you make peace in the SIlver City. From then on, my uncle and aunt will be happy ever after and the Silver City will prosper without any concerns. Everyone's happy, and you've planned it. You are the elder; you've really planned it all too well. But what about me? You all get what you want. What can I get in the end? I don't. My third uncle at least gets a beauty, but I don't even get to touch the hair of a beauty. Would you be willing if it's you?"
"Then… How about I introduce you to some sisters in the Silver City? However, whether you can succeed depends on your ability. How about that?" The little girl bit her lip and said with some sort of determination.
"No, no! What kind of condition is this? My third uncle married a princess of Silver City. And you want me to be satisfied with some maidservants? This… this is not fair treatment!" Jun Mo Xie indignantly said. "At least she will have roughly the same status, right? If I got a maidservant when my uncle got a princess, how disgraceful would it be to me!"
"Roughly the same status?" Han Yanmeng widened her eyes in confusion, "But there's no more…"
"How can that be?" Jun Moxie frowned and pretended to be unhappy and continued to lure her. "There's at least one more person…"
"One more? Who?" The girl frowned and thought about it really hard. She sometimes raised her head and sometimes bent it down, as if having a very difficult time thinking. In the end, she even used her fingers to count, and finally said firmly after a long while, "I'm certain there's no more!"
"Really? Are you sure?" Jun Moxie looked at her unsatisfied. "Don't bluff me, this is important to the future of the Silver City!"
"I didn't! If I did, I am a little dog! There's really no more!" The little girl pointed at the sky like taking an oath. "I promise, if there's really someone else, I will… I will…"
"What will you do? Are you going to kidnap her and send her to me?" Jun Moxie said, kept on inducing her words.
"Sure! If there's really someone like this, I will kidnap her and send her to you! I will do anything for the future of the Silver City! But what if there's no one else?" The girl spoke like she were a heroic figure. Her facial expression showed an immense confidence in what she had bet, and looked at Jun Moxie as if her strategies had worked. She laughed and said, "If there isn't, you will have to go help us kill those traitors in the Silver City!"
"Ok! Sure! Promise me, if there's someone else, then you will kidnap her and send her to be my mistress; if there isn't, then I will help your family and will not ask for anything else!"
Jun Moxie urged seriously and said, "That's settled. We take the oath by clapping our hands. There's no repent; do you dare to have a bet?"
"Of course I dare!" The girl was so happy that she started to giggle. "No one is more familiar with the Silver City than me; if I said there's no more, then there's no more! Let's do it, quick!"
She was secretly even happier. "Uncle Mu also said that this guy is very cunning. But now he is like a fool! Not only is there no suitable person at all, even if it is true, isn't it still all to our discretion? If we say there isn't anymore, then it is simply the truth! Wow, now I've really won something! I will go back and tell Uncle Mu the good news!"
Being scared that Jun Moxie would repent now, she stuck her meaty palm out before Jun Moxie's face and shook it continually, obviously wanting to confirm this wonderful deal! Although she was telling herself to be calm, she really could not help smiling really hard to show her satisfaction.
Wahahaha, what a nice deal!
"As long as there are suitable candidates, you will really get her to be my mistress? You don't regret it?" Jun Mo Xie apparently distrusted Han Yanmeng. This angered Han Yanmeng and she shouted at him with a low voice, "If I say so, then so be it! Yes, your mistress! I will be the witness of this matter. There are no mistakes! Yikes, why are you so indecisive! Quickly, clap hands as an oath, clap hands as an oath!"
"No, I have to rethink about it!" Jun Moxie just stretched out his hand and suddenly took it back. He looked suspiciously at Han Yanmeng and said, "Why does it look like a trap? I smell a conspiracy! Besides, if you don't mean what you say, that's a big loss for me!"
The little girl jumped three feet high and went crazy! She said angrily while wielding her hands all over the place. "Not keeping my promise? Hum! I tell you, I, Han Yanmeng, have never broken a single vow! Hm, as a token of honesty, I swear by the supreme reputation of the Blizzard Silver City today! If I can't keep my promise, let me… let me… I will take off my clothes and walk around Heavenly Scent City!"
"Deal!" Jun Moxie was elated.
"Deal!" Han Yanmeng could no longer wait. "Clap hands, quick! Come!"