Cheng Yaojia hung her head lower and smiled slightly, she said, “The rice is not mine. Xiang Gong [honorable master], please help yourself.”
Lu Guanying ate two bowls full, then he cupped his fists to express his gratitude; he said, “Xiao Ren wishes to ask Miss about a certain place. I wonder how far is the Ox Village from this place? ”
Cheng Yaojia and Huang Rong were both delighted. “Ha, it turns out he is also looking for the Ox Village,” they both thought. Cheng Yaojia stood up to return his respects and said, “This is the Ox Village.”
Lu Guanying was delighted, “That’s wonderful!” he said, “Xiao Ren also wonders if Miss knew about a certain man.”
Cheng Yaojia was about to say that she was not a local when suddenly she changed her mind, “I wonder who is he looking for?” she thought.
Lu Guanying said, “I am looking for a gentleman surnamed Guo, Master Guo Jing. I was wondering where he lives… Is he home right now?”
Cheng Yaojia and Huang Rong were startled. “Why does he look for him?”
Cheng Yaojia was dumbstruck; she hung her head low and blushed to her ears. Looking at her expression Huang Rong had guessed with 80% certainty, “It turns out this Miss secretly fell in love with Jing Gege because he saved her in Baoying.” First of all Huang Rong was still very young, secondly she was an open-minded person, thirdly she believed in her heart that Guo Jing would not have a different mind; therefore, her heart was free from jealousy. On the contrary, she was really glad to find that others liked Guo Jing.
Huang Rong’s speculation was right on target. When Cheng Yaojia was held captive by Ouyang Ke, it was true that it was the Beggar Clan’s Li Sheng and his men who helped her; but they were not Ouyang Ke’s match. If Guo Jing and Huang Rong did not go into action, she would have suffered disgrace. She saw Guo Jing was still young. Not only his skill was superb, but also his manner was sincere. A strand of love thread unexpectedly floated from her and stuck on Guo Jing.
She was the young lady of a very rich family; she had never left home before, and she had reached the age where she started to have interest in the opposite sex. As she saw an attractive young man she unexpectedly fell in love.
Even after Guo Jing left, he was always in this Cheng Da Xiaojie’s mind. Thinking left and right she mustered up enough courage and left home in the middle of the night. She was a pugilist, but had never left home; she did not have the slightest idea about the way of the Jianghu people. She happened to hear Guo Jing was from the Ox Village of Lin’an prefecture, thereupon she asked around the way to the Ox Village.
Her appearance was elegant and her bearing was noble; along the way bad people did not dare to bully her. At the previous village she was told that the Ox Village was near; but when she suddenly heard Shagu say this was the Ox Village she had no idea what to do next. She had come thousands of ‘li’s to find Guo Jing, but now she was hoping Guo Jing would not be home. Her thought was, “I will go secretly to his home in the evening, take one look at him, and then go home. I can’t let him know I came for him; I would die of embarrassment if he finds out.”
Right at that moment Lu Guanying arrived and inquired about Guo Jing. Cheng Yaojia was afraid he had found out her heart’s contents. She was at a lost for a moment then decided she would stand up and leave. But suddenly from outside the door an ugly face appeared then vanished. Cheng Yaojia was startled; she drew back two steps. That ugly face reappeared and called out, “Double-headed ghost! Come out in the sun if you have the ability. San Tou Jiao Master Hou challenges you to fight. I have one more head than you do. Under the bright sun, Master Hou does not fear you!” His meaning was clear: as soon as it was dark, Master Hou would candidly admit defeat although he had more heads. Lu and Cheng two people obviously did not understand.
“Humph!” Huang Rong snorted. “All right, finally they come back,” she murmured. She believed Lu’s and Cheng’s martial art skills were not too high, it would be difficult for them to fight Peng Lianhu and the others. If she and Guo Jing wanted to help, all they did would be delivering two more lives. The best way would be telling them to get out of the way quickly. But how could she let them know? She went over other possibilities, but after thinking back and forth she still could not produce any good idea. All they had was each other and their courage.
When Peng Lianhu and the others saw the double-headed ghost, they all thought it was the same expert, dressed as a ghost, who humiliated them the previous night. Therefore, they all ran away as far as possible from the village. Nobody dared to come back, with the exception of Hou Tonghai. He was a simple man, and actually believed it was a real ghost. He felt the blazing sun on his head, hurting his scalp. While everybody else had disappeared, he cursed, “Ghosts will meet their dooms under the sun. They did not know that, yet they dare to roam the Jianghu. I, Lao Hou [the Old Hou], am not afraid. I am going back to face the ghost. Let them respect me.”
Thereupon he came back in big strides to the inn albeit with trepidation in his heart. When he stuck his head on the door, he saw Cheng Yaojia and Lu Guanying sat in the middle of the room. “Not good!” he said to himself, “The double-headed ghost has transformed itself into a man and a woman. Old Hou, oh, Old Hou, you have to be very careful.”
Lu Guanying and Cheng Yaojia heard his challenge, but they did not understand the reason. They looked at each other and decided he was a mad man; hence they ignored him.
Hou Tonghai kept cursing, but the ghost did not come out to fight. He believed the ghost was afraid of the sun. But to barge in and capture the ghost inside, the Old Hou did not have any nerve. They were in a stalemate situation for half a day. He was waiting for the two ghosts to transform themselves to other forms, who would have thought that the ghosts did not show any activities at all. Suddenly he remembered an old saying that ghosts were afraid of filthy things. So he left at once to find some dung.
There were several outhouses in the village; there was one big one next to the inn. In his effort to capture the ghost he was not afraid of filth, so he took out his outer garment and scooped out a large bundle of dung, then he returned to the inn. He saw Lu and Cheng two people were still sitting in the inn. The secret weapon in his hands boosted his courage considerably. He called out loudly, “All right, daring ghost! Master Hou wants you to return to your original form.” With a three-pronged fork in his left hand and the bundle of dung in his right hand, he boldly entered the room.