How To Polish A Pearl

Chapter 14 - Compartmentalizing

A/N: Did you recover from the last chapters? Have you tried any pearl polishing? Did you know that whipping with pearls doesn't leave a lot of marks...? Just saying.

⊂ (▀▿▀) つ

Finishing the third bottle of his favorite Jiangsu wine, Wen Ke Xing still couldn't taste any real flavor. Frustrated, he throws the bottle on the table and watches it crash into the bowls and plates, food scattering all over the table. "Ah-Xiang, did you give me the wrong bottles? What is wrong with this wine? It's tasteless!"

"Zhuren?"

"Ah-Xiang, take it away."

Ah-Xiang looks a bit confused at her master but abides. He had always been moody, but he usually shifted between indifferent self-restraint and outright viciousness. He wasn't usually frustrated or bothered over things. Not openly anyway.

It was only when it was the two of them that he would, from time to time, show a reflection of his more human side. The person he once must have been or could have become outside of Ghost Valley. It wasn't like he would be kind, it was more that he wouldn't scold her and instead try to teach her something. Not that she would soak up his life lessons or remember it for future reference. Her mind was more of the simple kind.

Is this what married life does to people? Not understanding her master's temper, Ah‑Xiang takes the empty bottles and scurries away to see if she can find some other wine. Maybe some Zhuyeqing wine can calm him down. (1)

Staring blankly at the back of Ah‑Xiang as she bolts from the room, he sighs. One of those sighs that empties the lungs so completely the face starts to tingle a bit. The thoughts that had been creeping into his mind throughout the day and had been ignored, suppressed and compartmentalized were starting to leak.

He hadn't seen him all day. Though it is traditional for the new wife to get up early and make breakfast for the husband after the wedding night, he had a feeling this wasn't on the cards. It wasn't like they were a traditional couple, or a couple at all, so why would he stay until morning? Thinking back to the night before, Wen Ke Xing wondered what it would have been like waking up next to Zhou Xu, or anyone for that matter. He had never stayed or let anyone stay long enough to find out.

After finishing that bottle of wine under the moonlight, he had left Hua Men and returned to Jianshan. No matter how much he tried to deny it, he had snuck a glance at the sleeping bride before he left. Only to make sure that he was still breathing of course.

He had slept peacefully, had even slept longer than usual. Ah-Xiang had woken him up for the first time since he became Guzhu. When he opened his eyes, the first thing on his mind had been those walnut-colored ones staring up at him, a passionate rose color tinted around the outer edges. Blinking a few times, they had been replaced by Ah‑Xiang's almond ones as she poked him on the forehead with her index finger. He was immediately irritated.

"Zhuren! Why are you not awake? The Ten Devils you asked me to send for have come. They are waiting for you in the Kuai He pavilion." (2)

He had sighed, like he always did, and flicked her on the forehead, "Idiot, why didn't you wake me earlier."

"Zhuren, I thought you might be tired from..." Ah-Xiang had turned away, a mixture of blush and ash spreading like red tiger stripes across her face. "I mean, I heard they had to call the doctors this morning..."

One would have thought she would be used to her Zhuren's nightly activities, or daily too for that matter, but no. The shameless flaunting of his conquests and appetite had always left her stunned, choking down her words and thoughts. Ignore, ignore, ignore. He was after all her Zhuren. He had saved her in this life when she had been thrown into Ghost Valley and she even used to beat up anyone who dared to say anything derogative, but she couldn't very well beat up herself.

"Ah-Xiang, no one who rises before dawn three hundred and sixty days a year fails to make his family rich." (3)

"Zhuren, why do you always speak in riddles? I don't know what that means."

"..." He was unsure if he should just give up trying to make this girl cultured. "Is the bath ready? I need to wash off yesterday's activities."

"Of course, it is ready. It has been ready for a while now."

"Tell them to wait in Kuai He until I am done. It is not like they have a choice now is there? Just keep feeding them snacks and tea." He had said, smiling that cold smile that even makes Ah-Xiang shiver, and reluctantly gotten out of bed. He had left a trail of clothes on the floor behind him, as he walked towards his hot pool area, still determined to ignore those walnut-colored eyes that continuously kept nagging at the back of his head.

His soak in the warm peach scented spring water had brought out memories of skin against skin and breath against breath. Again irritated, he had ignored them and called Ah-Xiang to get some of his favorite "washers" to come. Though, he had quickly sent them away because of how annoying they were with their talking and giggling. No other reason.

The rest of the day had been spent talking to his "guests". These Ten Devils that he had specifically invited for the wedding and arranged to stay in the Wu Ying Manor. These leaders of the groups within the Ghost Valley. His ten second-in-command. Well, not that he actually had any deputies, they were more like disposable top lackeys.

The day had been exceedingly slow, and the ghosts had been just as he expected. Fake, dishonest, and so easy to read he just couldn't understand how they could have climbed to where they were today. Surely being murderous wasn't all the merit that was required? They had served their purpose helping him take down the former Guzhu though. However, seeing once is preferable to hearing a hundred times, and he had to figure out how to manage them for his plan to work. (4)

Throughout the day, he had gotten updates on his 'wife'. Zhou Xu had woken up, had his bath and his injuries attended to. He had finished all the food they had put in front of him, without appearing suspicious. He hadn't tried to run. And he hasn't asked a single time about me.

Instantly feeling a little bit irritated, Wen Ke Xing stands and walks over to the open window just as Ah-Xiang comes running back with another two bottles in her hands.

"Zhuren, try these.", almost stumbling as she stops on his left.

Not sparing her a glance, he takes the bottles and with one focused push, he sores through the window.

Ah-Xiang watches his robe flow in the air as he skims the mountain side, heading straight for Hua Men. I guess he couldn't wait for the second wedding night.

─=≡Σ((( つ＞＜)つ

Authors notes:

((1) Zhuyeqing wine or zhúyèqīnqjiǔ (竹叶青酒 or 竹葉青酒, where Zhuyeqing means 'the green bamboo leaf' and jiu means wine. This sweet liquor is produced in Shanxi and made from Fenjiu (light aroma version of Baijiu, i.e. fermented sorghum grain) which is brewed with a dozen or more selected Chinese herbal medicines. One of these is bamboo leaves, which gives the liquor a yellowish-green color and also its name.

Basically, Ah-Xiang wants to give him a calming and medicinal wine to calm him down.

(2) Kuai He – or Kuài hē (快喝) means drink fast. No one is friendly in the Ghost Valley. I figured that the tearoom would be a place of reporting rather than socializing, i.e. say what you need and get out (assuming you are still alive).

(3) 'no one who rises before dawn 360 days a year fails to make his family rich.' Simply put, the harder and smarter you work on a rice paddy, the greater the output. Wen Ke Xing is referring to all the effort he has put into his (yet unknown) plans and that she should remember to put in the hard work in order to reap what she sows.

(4) 'Seeing once is preferable to hearing a hundred times' – proverb about how it is better to see for yourself than hear from others. Kind of like the English version 'one picture is worth more than a thousand words.