The Legendary Siblings Chapter 30
Xiao Yu’er pressed his ear to the dirt wall as well. Quietly he listened for sounds up above.
Xiao Mimi was indeed raging up there. Her yells of anger and curses were clearly audible, although he couldn’t make out her exact words, he could imagine.
Jiang Yulang said, “I’ve planned for this for so long. I figured that she would never figure out my hiding place. She would think I had escaped somehow. But that toilet cover…”
Xiao Yu’er comforted him, “She’s so mad right now, if I were her, the last thing I’d notice would be if the toilet lid was on or not.”
“Let’s hope that’s true,” Jiang Yulang said. He paused, then said, “As long as she doesn’t find us, she won’t stay long here. And if everyone’s dead, why would she stay in this place?”
Xiao Yu’er agreed: “Right, she would surely leave.”
“We’d just have to hide here at most for half a month,” Jiang Yulang guessed. “By that time she’ll have left for sure. Then we can walk out of here, free men, not worrying about her chasing us.”
“So you know about the secret exit?” Xiao Yu’er asked.
Smiling calmly, Jiang Yulang said, “There’s not a secret in the world that can be kept from everyone.”
Laughing, Xiao Yu’er said, “Good. We’ll wait our half month. Living underground for half a month, would be rather interesting. I dare say not many people have enjoyed such an experience.”
He flung himself down again, winked and laughed: “Only…I do apologize, but I cannot unseal your acupoints.”
“You…you really insist on this?” Jiang Yulang said.
Xiao Yu’er explained, “I can’t. You and I will be living together day and night, I really have some misgivings. I have to be on my guard.”
With a smile he went on, “By the way, I almost forgot to tell you, I sealed your acupoints in such a way that you will not be able to independently unseal them.”
This little hole was like a snake’s lair, and Jiang Yulang was the snake itself. Sleeping with a snake in its home; most people wouldn’t be able to get a wink.
Xiao Yu’er, however, did it easily. He gobbled up his preserved sausage, wolfed down some cake, and washed it all down with a bowl of wine. Cheeks red and belly full, he settled down nicely into a sweet slumber.
There was a torch set into the wall. Its light showed Xiao Yu’er’s pink cheeks clearly. Jiang Yulang stared at them for a while. He was secretly counting Xiao Yu’er’s breaths. He had already reached four thousand. Xiao Yu’er’s breaths were even and deep.
Jiang Yulang had already examined the meridians (?) on his own legs. The bastard wasn’t lying, he must have used some bewitched sealing technique from some d*mned sect. Now he was just lying there, sleeping happily, precisely because he knew Jiang Yulang wouldn’t dare kill him.
But Jiang Yulang quietly reached out his hands. Xiao Yu’er continued to sleep, and even began to snore lightly.
With eyes fixed on Xiao Yu’er, Jiang Yulang kept stretching his hands forward. Xiao Yu’er’s sounds grew louder.
Jiang Yulang’s hands suddenly found a book, and rapidly flipped its pages. There was a piece of folded paper sandwiched within the book. Jiang Yulang let out a breath, and took out the paper.
Lightly he set the book back, and carefully folded the paper even smaller. He thought for a bit. In the boots? No. Finally he settled on tucking it into his topknot. Now his pale face shone with a light.
Then he let out another breath, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.
On the instant, Xiao Yu’er’s eyes popped wide open. The torch in the wall showed Jiang Yulang’s pale cheeks clearly. Xiao Yu’er’s face betrayed a mocking smile.
His eyes seemed to say: [You cannot fool me, there is nothing in which you can fool me.]
Jiang Yulang’s breaths also grew even and deep. Silently Xiao Yu’er stood up. He also reached his hands out, and waved them about ten times in front of Jiang Yulang’s face. Still Jiang Yulang breathed steadily. He hadn’t noticed at all.
The little fox was very exhausted, and had truly fallen asleep. Xiao Yu’er slowly and lightly extended two fingers to pull at Jiang Yulang’s hair. However, he had not yet reached the hair when he changed direction. Now the fingers were aimed at Jiang Yulang’s “sleep” acupoint.
The sleeping Jiang Yulang suddenly sighed: “If you want to take it, go ahead. There’s hardly a need to seal another acupoint.”
Xiao Yu’er blinked, then burst into stunned laughter: “Ah, so you weren’t asleep.”
Jiang Yulang morosely pointed out: “Being with someone like you, how could I sleep at all?”
“But your acting abilities are superb,” Xiao Yu’er complimented him with a laugh. “Even I was tricked by you.”
“You’re not bad yourself,” Jiang Yulang snorted.
Xiao Yu’er laughed out loud: “Excellent! Well then…are you going to let me peek at what’s in your hair?”
Jiang Yulang smiled bitterly: “How could I refuse?” Meanwhile he drew out the long piece of paper. His fingertips shook. Obviously the piece of paper was very important to him, but still he took it out. With respect to matters in which he had no choice, Jiang Yulang never tried to resist.
He tossed it to Xiao Yu’er, then sighed deeply: “I must have been really evil in my former life, to be running into you.”
Xiao Yu’er’s heart was full of curiosity. What secret could be on that paper? By the way Jiang Yulang was acting, this could be no ordinary secret.
His heart hammering, he flipped open the paper. It took no more than a glance- he burst into giggles.
Jiang Yulang stared at him: “Smug, aren’t we?”
Xiao Yu’er laughed even harder, “Oh yes, certainly.”
“To be able to view this secret, of course you would be smug,” Jiang Yulang growled through gritted teeth. “Otherwise, you would never in one lifetime be able to see the treasures this paper has hidden.”
Xiao Yu’er gasped, “Oh yes, this paper is truly valuable indeed…” As he spoke, he tore the paper into shreds. Jiang Yulang got the shock of his life. His face went even paler, making him look terrifying. His voice trembled: “You…do you know how much this piece of paper is worth?”
Slowly Xiao Yu’er said, “Of course I know. I’ve seen this before. Not only that, but I had a copy of my own.”
Jiang Yulang was stunned. He repeated, “You…you also had a copy?”
“Not only did I possess a copy, I’ve also been to the hiding place of the treasure!”
Jiang Yulang’s valuable piece of paper, naturally, was identical to the one Tie Xinlan had given to Xiao Yu’er, the treasure map which had cost many lives.
Of course, Jiang Yulang could not know these details, and right now could only stand there in shock. “You…you are telling the truth? You have been there?”
“Why should I lie to you?” Xiao Yu’er retorted.
Jiang Yulang’s breathing became rapid and shallow. He stammered, “Then…the treasure…who has it now? Where is it?”
His eyes gleaming, Xiao Yu’er said, “You tell me how you got this map, and I’ll tell you.”
Jiang Yulang’s hands twisted tightly on his own clothing. He said, “If I tell you, you will really tell me?”
Xiao Yu’er reassured him, “If you tell me and I don’t tell you, then I’m a turtle.”
Sighing in relief, Jiang Yulang told him, “I stole the treasure map from my father’s study.”
“And where did your father get it from?” Xiao Yu’er persisted.
“This I really don’t know.”
“Hmm, that’s right,” Xiao Yu’er muttered, “I heard your father is quite a famous man. This map was probably a gift to him. Little did he guess what a good son he had.”
Sighing and shaking his head, he laughed, “Stealing even your father’s possessions, this type of filial son is rare indeed.”
Jiang Yulang’s face did not redden in the slightest. He said, “This is nothing, I…”
Xiao Yu’er cut in: “You wanted the treasure all for yourself, so you stole out secretly, and reached Mount Emei. Who knew you would then fall into Xiao Mimi’s hands. Luckily you did, or you may have been dead at this point.”
“Why?” Jiang Yulang asked curiously.
Xiao Yu’er went on, “Indeed, it was fortunate that your father had you for a thieving son, otherwise he would have fallen for a big trick.”
“Trick?” Jiang Yulang repeated.
“To tell you the truth,” Xiao Yu’er said, “the treasure map was a fake. It is worthless. The maker of the map merely wished any treasure seekers to kill themselves while fighting each other for it!”
Jiang Yulang was completely stunned. After a pause, he mumbled, “And who is the mapmaker?”
Xiao Yu’er said spitefully, “I don’t know either. But I will find them. Not for the sake of any greater good, but because this person has tricked me, and so I will make them pay.”
Jiang Yulang muttered, “No wonder you asked me where I got the map from, no wonder…”
Suddenly, sounds came up to them through the underground tunnel.
It was Xiao Mimi’s voice. She was hollering: “Jiang Yulang, Xiao Yu’er, you little rotten eggs, are you down there?”
Their hands turned to ice. Neither could move.
They heard her peals of laughter: “It doesn’t matter if you don’t make a sound, I already know you’re down there.”
Jiang Yulang said, trembling: “She…she’s trying to trick us.”
Xiao Yu’er disagreed: “I don’t think so. Right now she’s speaking directly into the toilet hole, or we wouldn’t hear her so clearly.”
“I told you that toilet cover would get us in trouble,” sighed Jiang Yulang.
Xiao Yu’er also sighed, “That woman is too much.”
They heard Xiao Mimi laughing again: “Jiang Yulang, what a genius, what an idea to escape using a sh*t hole.”
“Did you hear that, she called you a genius,” Xiao Yu’er teased.
Jiang Yulang asked, incredulous, “How can you even be laughing right now?”
“Think about it,” Xiao Yu’er said. “Why shouldn’t I be laughing?”
Jiang Yulang said: “Because…because you aren’t afraid of her?”
“That’s right,” Xiao Yu’er said. “No matter how powerful she is, as long as we stay here, she won’t dare to come in. And with her temperament, she won’t be waiting around out there either.”
After reflecting on it, Jiang Yulang also laughed: “Ah, that’s right, she doesn’t know what we’ve got in here. She won’t take the risk. Even if she waited out there, she won’t wait for very long. Eventually we’ll get a chance to escape.”
Xiao Mimi coaxed: “Come out, you little rotten eggs.”
Xiao Yu’er yelled back: “Why don’t you come in, you old rotten egg.”
She said, “So you’re really not coming out?”
“How about you coming in?” he replied.
“You’d rather stink yourselves to death?” Xiao Mimi said.
Xiao Yu’er laughed loudly: “Don’t you worry, we won’t die of the stench. It’s so nice and comfy here, there’s sausages, wine, are you sure you won’t join us for a drink or two?”
She joked back: “Even if you don’t care, I can’t bear the smell.” In a low voice she added, “Besides, I don’t even want you to come back up.”
“Really now?” chortled Xiao Yu’er.
Xiao Mimi explained, “If you come back up, I might kill you in a fit of anger. That would be too easy a death for you; I need you to die in a slow agony.”
Xiao Yu’er laughed even louder: “And how are you going to make us slowly…” His laughter suddenly died.
She was laughing now: “Go ahead, laugh, little rotten egg, why aren’t you laughing?”
Jiang Yulang’s expression also changed. The two men yelled together: “Xiao Guniang, Miss Xiao…”
No response came up the tunnel. They looked at each other, their faces the colour of ash.
They heard a rumble, then a “wa la la” clattering and banging cacophony up the tunnel.
Jiang Yulang stammered, “It’s over…”
Xiao Yu’er muttered: “Incredible…hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, I should have known she would do this.”
“Well, now we don’t have to worry about that toilet cover anymore,” Jiang Yulang groaned.
Xiao Yu’er said loudly, “Well, she may have sealed up the entrance to the tunnel, but we could still dig our way out.”
Sighing, Jiang Yulang said despairingly, “She meant to trap us in here. She would surely have fixed a metal barrier onto the toilet, or a stone lid or something…”
“So we’ll just dig upward in another direction,” Xiao Yu’er stubbornly insisted.
Jiang Yulang pointed out, “When this place was first constructed, it was designed to be water-resistant. Between us and the surface, there is a layer of stone about a foot thick.”
A pause. Then Xiao Yu’er released Jiang Yulang’s sealed acupoints with a flick of his wrist. He said, “I suppose you won’t be trying anything funny…”
Jiang Yulang could only mumble: “Half a month…after that, we’ll starve to death in here.”
Xiao Yu’er slapped him heartily on the shoulder, then laughed loudly: “Come on, don’t give up, we’ve got at least half a month’s life to live then…I should have died so many times before now, this half a month is practically a gift.”
Although he was laughing, his laughter was harsh and grated on their ears.
Jiang Yulang had not moved for three hours.
He was just sitting there, staring at nothing, in a daze, thinking about he knew not what. Xiao Yu’er opened the wine jar, and called to him eight times, but was ignored.
So Xiao Yu’er had to drink by himself. He drank a mouthful and laughed. Another gulp, then a sigh. He muttered, “Refusing to drink when at death’s door, that person must be an idiot.” Jiang Yulang stared at him without a word.
Xiao Yu’er continued to rant: “My only regret is, we’re dying a bit too soon. In fact I really regret it now, I should have enjoyed that body of Xiao Mimi’s. Ai, to not enjoy the fairer sex, what a positive waste of youth…”
Swaying, he got to his feet, and went to swipe another link of sausage.
Jiang Yulang snapped coldly: “You’re drunk.”
Laughing, Xiao Yu’er shot back: “Well, drinking yourself to death is a much better way to go than dying of starvation.”
Suddenly Jiang Yulang sprang up, and struck out with a palm. His body was light, and his hand was quick- this stroke was meant to take Xiao Yu’er’s life!
End of Chapter 30
