Gouge held the little beggar girl's hand and walked forward with her, deliberately keeping a slow pace for fear she had been hungry too long to walk far.
As they passed a crew of nightsoil collectors, everyone coming and going pinched their noses and gave them a wide berth. The little beggar girl tugged at Gouge’s hem to steer clear as well, but Gouge thought nothing of it. He said to her, "It's completely normal. Without them, who would haul the nightsoil? Everyone has their own work to do, nothing to turn your nose up at."
The beggar girl asked with a puzzled look, "Big Sir, were you a nightsoil collector before? How come you understand them?"
Gouge smiled and said, "Little sister, your big brother used to live on a mountain with an old gentleman, chopping firewood, I suppose. Don't call me Big Sir, it sounds terribly awkward."
The little beggar girl asked, "Then what should I call you? Top Scholar?"
"No, not that either. I can't write characters," Gouge shook his head with a smile.
"Ah, you can't write?"
"That's right. My mother never taught me. Axiu taught me, though, and Mother Shi taught me too, oh, and Master Shi taught me as well, but I didn't study properly. I'm rather thick-headed."
"Hmph, then what on earth should I call you? You're really getting me all mixed up. You gave me steamed buns to eat, so I'll call you Big Meat Bun Brother."
"Ha-ha! Axiu calls me Big Zongzi Brother, you call me Big Meat Bun Brother, and Mother calls me Gou Zazhong. Now isn't that strange?"
"Does your mother call you Gou Zazhong? When my mother was still around, she called me Little Puppy. I had no idea what that meant either."
Gouge laughed so hard he rocked back and forth. "What a coincidence! Turns out we're family after all, both in the Dog generation."
Seeing him laugh so happily, Little Puppy gave a silly smile of her own. The two of them burst out laughing together, startling passing strangers, who thought the pair were out of their minds and gave them a wide berth.
"You shouldn't call yourself that anymore in the future. Let me pick a name for you," Gouge said.
"All right, but if you pick a name for me, I'm afraid my mother won't be used to calling me by it," the little beggar girl said.
"I said the exact same thing to Uncle Xie back then. But I never beg people for anything. If he wants to give it, he gives it; if he doesn't, I won't beg him."
"What's wrong with begging? Why don't you ever beg people?"
"Whenever I begged my mother, she'd beat me every single time. And after the beating, she'd cry for days on end, going on about, 'Now you know to come and beg me? Why didn't you beg me in the first place? Why didn't you go beg that dainty little hussy?'"
"She sounds really strange. My mother wasn't like that. But I can't find her anymore. She said she went back up to the sky. I just have to look up and I can see her. Look, that star right there is her. But I'm not grown up yet; I'll only be able to see her once I'm grown."
Gouge looked up. There were no stars to be seen—it was just something adults said to humor children. By now, he understood the ins and outs of human interactions well enough that he wasn't as half-clueless about these things as he used to be.
"Let's find a place to rest," Gouge said.
"Okay, Big Meat Bun Brother, I'm a bit tired. I'm going to sleep for a little bit." With that, the little beggar girl quietly curled up in a corner and fell asleep.
Shi Potian asked, "Why are you sleeping here? It's so filthy."
The little beggar girl answered earnestly, "It's dirty here, so other people won't come and snatch it. The last time I slept in a clean place, an old beggar chased me away, so I remembered."
Once she fell asleep, Gouge gradually drifted off too, and in a hazy dream, the next day arrived.
Gouge got up and found the sun was already three poles high. He turned to shake the little beggar girl awake, only to find she had been up for ages, staring at him from nearby with round, wide-open eyes. He couldn't help a sheepish laugh.
"Let's go. You sure woke up early."
"I dreamed about my mother. After talking about her with you last night, I miss her a little."
"I miss my mother a bit too. But my previous mother has already—sigh, my new mother is a jianghu heroine, and she's not here."
"You have it so good. I don't have a mother anymore, but you have two."
Gouge took the little beggar girl's hand. Every now and then, she would look back at him, always seeing his calm and collected expression. She flashed a cheeky grin and tightly gripped his hand without letting go. Actually, there was something she hadn't told him: she had dreamed of Gouge too, which was why she was afraid he would leave her behind. She had gotten up extra early to stand guard over him, planning that if he tried to run off, she'd run right along with him.
As they walked into a stretch of mountain forest, Gouge spotted a woodcutter sitting under a tree, sighing miserably. Curious, he walked over.
"Kind brother, have you run into some trouble?"
Seeing that Gouge was accompanied by a pitch-black, filthy little beggar girl, the woodcutter wasn't startled at all, taking him simply for an ordinary passing traveler.
The woodcutter said, "My mother wants me to settle down and take a wife early, but I'm just a woodcutter. I don't have the bride price to make a proposal. My family is so poor the walls are as bare as a plucked chicken, and I'm pushing thirty without even being able to get a wife. I feel like I've lived this whole life in vain. Sigh, to this day I'm still a virgin. You don't understand my suffering. Sometimes I wonder, is it because I'm too ugly that no girls love me?"
"Me too. Her ladyship my master also wants me to settle down and marry Axiu early."
"How can that be the same? You already have a wife, and you're still pulling my leg? You just go around looking for trouble, don't you?"
"Eh, how do you know Grandpa Bai's name? His name is indeed Zizai, and everyone calls him Master Vigor and Virtue."
The woodcutter had no idea what a Master Vigor and Virtue was; he simply assumed it was some county magistrate and couldn't help holding him in considerable awe.
"What does this Axiu girl do? Is she a butcher's daughter, or a tenant farmer's daughter? Can she make clothes?"
Gouge thought about it seriously and said, "I don't know. I've never seen Axiu make clothes. She's the daughter of people from the mountains—that mountain is so tall, both freezing and high. The last time I went there, I nearly froze to death."
The woodcutter said doubtfully, "In that case, your wife lives in the mountains too. So she must be the daughter of a woodcutter family like us."
Shi Potian said, "I suppose so. They probably have to chop firewood all the time too. It's no different from what you do every day, brother."
The woodcutter said proudly, "I don't know if your cheap father-in-law is fast at chopping firewood, but I'm terribly fast at it. I might even be better than him."
If that cheap father-in-law of his, Bai Wanjian of Qi Chilling the Northwest, had been here to hear this unseemly nonsense from Gouge and the woodcutter, he probably would have changed his name to Bai Wansi (Dead-in-the-Northwest-of-Anger).
Gouge smiled gently. "Brother, what are you fretting about? If you have no money, you can earn some. You're still so young."
The woodcutter stroked his hair and said, "Me? Don't look at me and think I'm handsome; I'm actually pushing thirty, hehe. But you see, because I'm fat, my mother always says she gave birth to a pig, as stupid as a pig's head. She says if I stood on a scale, I wouldn't even be worth as much as a porker."
Gouge said, "What a coincidence, brother! My mother always called me Gou Zazhong. Now we're both lower than pigs and dogs, hahaha!"
The woodcutter started laughing too, a brilliant gleam lighting up his sun-darkened eyes.
"Little brother, this is your daughter, I take it? Why is she so filthy? My house is just ahead, come wash your face at my place."
The little beggar girl jumped up anxiously. "No, no! This is Big Meat Bun Brother, and I'm Little Puppy. My mother is up in the sky!"
The woodcutter had no idea what she was talking about, taking it for the rambling nonsense of a little girl, and warmly invited Gouge to his home as a guest.
Gouge readily accepted, not looking down on these impoverished folk scratching out a living just because of his formidable martial arts.
After walking a short distance along the mountain path, they spotted a small cottage in the distance. As they drew closer, their footsteps sounded too loud, prompting the old woman inside to start cursing at the top of her lungs, "Pighead! How did I ever give birth to a good-for-nothing like you? You're thirty years old and you still haven't gone out to find a woman! The boys in the same village started having kids ages ago, and their children are almost as tall as an old woman like me, while you're still all alone by yourself! How do you even have the face to see this old woman? Get out!"
The woodcutter didn't care in the least, clearly long used to the scolding. Gouge cared even less; having grown up being beaten and scolded by Mei Fanggu, he assumed all parents in the world treated their children this way from childhood. Little Puppy cared even less still. Her mother had passed away when she was too young to understand much, and she had practically no memory of how to get along with a mother, so she too assumed all parents spoke to their children this way under heaven.
Thus, the harder the old woman inside cursed, the happier the three people outside laughed, treating it all as a normal exchange between a mother and her child.
The woodcutter laughed as he pushed the door open to invite Gouge in for a drink of water, shouting inside, "Mother, I have two guests!"
Startled, the old woman leaned on her walking stick and came out. When she saw Gouge holding a little beggar girl by the hand, her face broke into a broad grin.
"You freak, and you even brought an even weirder pair! Fun, this is so fun!"
The older people get, the more childlike they become. Clearly, the old woman was advanced in years and muddle-headed, as she just smiled at Gouge and the child.
The child generously said, "Hello, Granny. I'm Little Puppy, and this is Big Meat Bun Brother."
"Hello to you too, little lass. Come in, come in! The old woman has nothing to treat you with—blame this good-for-nothing for not having a woman to manage the household. To this day the walls are bare and there's not a single thing, making a laughingstock of us in front of guests."
Gouge smiled to indicate it didn't matter. He drank half a bowl of water and handed the remaining half of the cool water to the little beggar girl. She gulped it down in one breath, found it sweet, and wanted more. She smiled sheepishly at Gouge.
Gouge stood up and ladled another bowl for her from the water vat. Only then did the little beggar girl drink her fill, wiping her little mouth with a look of satisfaction.
The woodcutter smiled and asked, "Little brother, do you know any unmarried older girls around twenty-seven or twenty-eight?"
Gouge asked in bewilderment, "Why twenty-seven or twenty-eight? There are teenaged ones, but they're all betrothed." He thought of Dingdang first, then Hua Wanzi, followed by Sister Shijian, and Gao Sanniangzi of Liaodong. He ran through them all in his mind, but none of them suited the woodcutter.
The woodcutter sighed and said, "Nowadays, finding a wife isn't easy! They want money, they want status. We're all bitter wretches as it is, yet they still insist on marrying someone better off. You tell me, how many coppers do working folks like us make in a whole year? Asking me to scrape together a bride price would practically cost me my life. To this day, the only private stash I've saved up is just enough for me to buy some drinks and food—what good is that?"
Gouge also felt it was a great pity, when suddenly a flash of inspiration struck him. "Eh, brother, I just thought of someone."
Seeing his reaction, the woodcutter figured his marriage prospects might actually work out. He grabbed Gouge's hand in great delight and said, "Brother, speak! As long as your older brother here can manage it, I won't say another word. To get a wife, I'll do anything!"
Gouge smiled and said, "It's not really any clever trick. It's just that my older and second brothers know a lot of people; maybe they'll have a way."
The woodcutter said in disappointment, "What do your older and second brothers do? What kind of people do they know?"
Gouge said, "My older and second brothers are envoys. It seems they hand out something called the Reward-Good-and-Punish-Evil Order. They know an awful lot of people."
The woodcutter assumed they were just message-runners for some wealthy household and said dismissively, "So they just know a few maidservants and slave girls, then. Oh well, that'll have to do. Where are your older and second brothers, anyway? Let's make it today—introduce your old brother to someone today, and when we tie the knot, I'll treat you to drinks."
Gouge said, "I don't know where my older and second brothers are either. I'm looking for them myself. I heard they're at the South China Sea Fishing Village. Do you know it? Just keep heading south, and when you see the sea, you've found it."
The woodcutter said, "I really haven't seen the sea in all my life. If I get the chance, I'll definitely go take a look."
Before leaving, Gouge gave him the jade flute Xie Yanke had given him, telling him that as long as he found his older and second brothers and showed them the jade flute, it might just work. He himself would also follow the trail of the jade flute to find him.
The woodcutter stared at the odd trinket, having no idea what it was good for, but since Gouge gave it to him, he accepted it anyway.
What Gouge didn't know was that later on, after the old woman passed away, the woodcutter actually packed up and went all the way to the South China Sea Fishing Village, where he finally laid eyes on the sea.
Later on, when Xie Yanke was traveling around with Shi Zhongyu, he happened to catch sight of this jade flute. Upon learning its origin, he couldn't whether to laugh or cry. He thought to himself that Shi Potian truly had a heart of gold, giving away the jade flute he had presented him to some nameless woodcutter in the mountains. Shaking his head, he decided to help the fellow out on a whim. He found a well-matched match for the woodcutter—a courtesan from the red-light district. Though her profession was lowly, she was quite a pretty thing, with a delicate face and enchanting eyes that could hook a man's soul.
Xie Yanke couldn't care less. He loathed the red tape of conventional morality. He figured that since the fellow was a woodcutter well past thirty whom proper maiden families wouldn't give the time of day, he might as well save himself the trouble and just have Shi Zhongyu go into the alleyway entrance and casually ransom any courtesan to give him.
Shi Zhongyu was no ordinary character; he was the vanguard of the romantic brigade. Back in the day, he had spent over half a year lingering in Yangzhou's Yihong Courtyard before Zhang San and Li Si dragged him out, so he was no stranger to sensual luck. Having him go find a pretty sister in the pleasure quarters was like a fish taking to water. He ended up staying inside for nearly a month, almost driving old Xie to rush in after him.
Moreover, Shi Zhongyu had gone in looking plump, but when he came out he looked utterly drained, having lost a solid five pounds. Nobody knew what on earth he had been up to in there, but he had spent every last one of the gold leaves Xie Yanke gave him, and when he left, he brought this very courtesan out with him.
This courtesan was named Xuan'er. Sold into the brothel in her early years by heartless parents who couldn't afford to feed her, she had no money to redeem herself and could only drag out her days there. She had thought her life was destined to be like that, spending her remaining years in a sunless abyss, but to her surprise, she had been handpicked by Shi Zhongyu. She was overjoyed, assuming the dashing and handsome Shi Zhongyu had taken a fancy to her. But when they reached their destination and she saw that her true master was a dark, uncultured woodcutter, a wave of disappointment washed over her.
Xie Yanke couldn't be bothered to waste words with her, simply tossing out, "Do you want him or not? If not, I'll send you right back."
Xuan'er said, "Oh my, listen to you! How could Xuan'er dare? Xuan'er is just a fallen leaf upon the water; wherever my lord tells this slave to go, Xuan'er will drift with the current. From now on, wherever you tell me to go, that's where Xuan'er goes. Truly, following a chicken if you marry a chicken, following a dog if you marry a dog—I'll be utterly obedient."
Shi Zhongyu felt a deep pang of regret, thinking that he had merely squandered all his money just to pick a woman whose face happened to be caked in extra-thick powder. To his surprise, she actually turned out to have quite a flavor to her, leaving him full of remorse.
Xie Yanke rolled his eyes, pointed at the woodcutter, and said, "This is your husband now. Go live your life with him." Inwardly, he blamed Gouge for casually giving away his jade flute to strangers.
Once the woodcutter suddenly acquired such an exquisitely charming young wife, he didn't care a whit about her past. He happily settled down with his wife in the South China Sea Fishing Village, transforming from a woodcutter into a fisherman. Post-marriage, things between him and Xuan'er were quite harmonious.
Xuan'er never expected that this woodcutter who looked like a big oaf would turn out to be so—cough, cough, content unsuitable for children. In short, she never stopped praising how fierce her man was.
If Bai Zizai could be called Master Vigor and Virtue, this woodcutter could well be styled Master Vigor and Might.
No wonder Xuan'er was left marveling, casting aside the pretty boy Shi Zhongyu to settle down peacefully and live out her days with the woodcutter.
Having him as her own man turned out to be a rather delightful affair—and the real bliss was yet to come.
From then on, that pair of husband and wife became a fixture of the South China Sea Fishing Village. Whenever anyone caught sight of Sister Xuan'er, they would take a few extra glances, only to be fiercely chased off by the woodcutter, who would bellow, "This is my woman, nobody is allowed to swipe her!" Xuan'er would giggle and retort, "Then you'll have to make it up to me properly! Put your every ounce of strength into serving me right before I'll be yours heart and soul, otherwise this old lady is running off with another man!"
The woodcutter would roar with laughter. "I don't know how to do much else in this life, but I've got plenty of muscle! Haven't you ever seen an ox plow a field? Even if you haven't, you've seen a pig run, right? In all my days, I've only ever seen an ox worked to death, never a field plowed to ruin! I'll just spend all that great strength I used to use for chopping firewood on something else, and it'll pack just as much punch!" Sister Xuan'er would blush and concede, "My husband really does have plenty of strength... cough, cough. Anyway, anyway, I don't regret marrying him at all. I think he's much better than that pretty boy Shi Zhongyu!" And she would shyly hug him close.
Every single night, the men of the South China Sea Fishing Village would come to eavesdrop outside their window. If the little beggar girl had been around, she undoubtedly would have asked Gouge in confusion,
"Big Meat Bun Brother, why is that older sister screaming so miserably? She looks like she's in awful pain, keeping on about how she's going to die."
Gouge wouldn't have understood either. Hearing the little beggar girl ask that, he surely would have said in perplexity, "I don't get it either. Let's go back and ask Axiu."
That, in short, was the tale of Gouge passing through the mortal world with the little beggar girl, experiencing the hardships of humanity alongside the woodcutter, and witnessing Xuan'er's fiery, water-deep bliss. The sole victim of the entire ordeal was Shi Zhongyu, who dropped a full five pounds—truly worked to the bone! "Though clothes grow loose, I do not regret a whit, for her I waste away with pining fit."