How To Polish A Pearl

Chapter 6 - Sealing

"Hey, Qingfu." A female bouncy voice slices through his thoughts. A young woman in purple is bending over the bed, a little too close, staring at him between his folded arms. The pink and purple beads weaved into her long dark hair are resting against his chest.

"Hey, Qingfu, are you awake yet? Are you crying?"

"You are...?" He says without even looking at her, as he sits up swinging his legs over the side of the bed. The icy stone floor is cool through his socks, sharpening his mind. His eyes alert, taking in the room for the first time.

"I am Gu Xiang. You can call me Ah-Xiang." She says, her voice annoyingly happy. She has no qualms sitting next to a man on a bed without anyone present. It is not like she hasn't done it before. Though usually it is to pay them and kick them out. Some even had to be dragged out when they refused to leave hoping to make a few extra bucks.

This man though, he wasn't like the others. Other than the fact that he was being prepared to be married to her Zhuren tomorrow, she had never seen Wen Ke Xing pay this amount of attention to any of his men before. It was usually just picking the most beautiful man and then do, whatever it was that they did, all night long. Though she did have some idea of what went on based on sounds, accidental walking in and the marks on various body parts. However, she had long ago decided to ignore, ignore, ignore.

Afterwards, her Zhuren never so much as spared them a glance as he walked away. Never doing the same man twice. For some reason, he was going to hang around.

"Gu Guniang," (1), he says, "I am thirsty, is that for me?"

"Sure." She motions the cup already in her hand towards him. "Here, I had already prepared it for you but you slept longer than usual. It is cold now but I can heat it up if you want?"

Accepting the tea, his eyes wander around the room. The room is not huge, and the design is both lavish and horrific. Light rosewood furniture is mixed with heavy large stone pieces either in the shape of demons or with similar carvings on them. The combination is confusing to say the least.

Realizing that the cup is already empty, it's content already in his stomach, he continues, "Is there any wine?"

"What...?" A bit astonished that there is another person who wakes up already wanting to get drunk, she shakes her head scolding herself for even being surprised. "Okay Qingfu, I will get you some."

Jumping off the bed and down the platform, she skips—almost bouncing—out of the room. Halting right outside the open door, she sways back, heavy on her heels, half of a face peering at him, "What type of wine do you want?"

"Gu Guniang, any kind will do, but make sure it is strong."

Seeing the face disappear, he scoffs through irritated lips. Qingfu? Not if I can help it. Standing up, he slips into his boots, not bothering with the outer robe that has been left in an obvious place right next to the bed. Did they leave me all alone? Without any restraints?

Stepping off the platform, he slowly moves towards the open door. When he is about three steps away, two guards in that ghost uniform, hinders his exit.

"Master Zhou, you are not permitted to leave Hua Men pavilion."

In a move he had been practicing for thousands of hours, starting at the young age of four, he pushes off with his right leg, his left arm straight out in front of him. The problem is, he doesn't move. He is just standing there imitating a statue of a dancing ballerina.

"..."

What the hell? Stunned, he suddenly realizes that he feels empty. His spiritual core is silent—unmoving—like frozen in place. Thinking back, he tries to remember when he felt it last? It had definitely been there during that nocturnal visit. Was it there when I woke up? He doesn't know. It's not something that he pays attention to. It was just something that was always there. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Why would it be the first thing I check in a place like this?

Taking a step forward, more ghosts come into view. There must be over thirty of them out there. I can't fight them all without my martial arts.

Flashing them an insincere smile, he pulls the doors close and turns around. There must be other exits.

He must have spent over ten minutes trying to find another way out from the pavilion, without any luck. Searching through the rooms, he comes to the realization that this pavilion is in fact a cave system—with a single opening. This explains why it was so dark.

"Qingfu?" Ah-Xiang approaches from behind, an amused look on her face as she skips forward with two bottles of wine in her right hand. "You can stop looking. There is only one exit out from this cave.

"Gu Guniang, I am not sure what you are referring to."

"Sure. Anyway, I am sure you have noticed by now that your spiritual core has been sealed. There are thousands of ghosts between you and the exit from Ghost Valley. You might as well give up now." She steps even closer, as if to appraise the man before her.

"Here is the wine." She says as she hands him the bottles. "I only grabbed two. I don't think you should have more. You are still healing from whatever happened last night. The doctor told me that too much alcohol may slow down the recovery. We need you to be as beautiful as possible in three days, it's a big day for you."

"...?"

"Qingfu, don't you want to look your best? The eighths day of the eighths month is a big day for you."

"..." Staring blankly at her, he opens the first bottle and takes a sip, his expression changing to surprise. Wow, good wine! Who would have thought that they would have good wine here?

"Oh, of course, no one has told you yet. You are getting married in three days."

Choking on the wine, Zhou Xu looks at her in disbelief. So, it was true? What he said last night was actually true?

Respectfully bowing before Zhou Xu, Ah-Xiang winks and says, "May you soon give birth to a son." (2) Raising her head, she smiles that annoying smile again, and turns to skip out of the room.

Zhou Xu watches the doors closing behind her, her laugh carrying all the way into where he stands, breath still caught halfway in.

Married.

In three days?

Wait, what? Son? His eyes growing bigger as the words hit him in full force.

{{ (>_<) }}

Author's notes:

(1) Guniang, or gūniang (姑娘) – this how someone a bit older addresses a young (unmarried) woman.

(2) "May you soon give birth to a son", or "Zhù nǐ zǎo shēng guì zǐ" (祝你早生贵子) – is one of many traditional ways of congratulating a married couple. Obviously, there will be no baby here, but Ah-Xiang is telling him to be prepared for a lot of Wen Ke Xing.

You're welcome - ٩(θ‿θ)۶