“Your leg hurts, do you think I don’t know?” Huang Rong said, “What hungry or not hungry? I want you to be in so much pain that you will listen to me.”
Ke Zhen’E was very angry; using both hands he lifted up the bowl full of hot steaming pumpkin and threw it to her face. Huang Rong laughed coldly, but one of the soldiers called out in pain. Ke Zhen’E knew she must have moved sideways to evade and the bowl of hot pumpkin must have splashed on the soldier’s body.
“What?” Huang Rong scolded, “Ke Daye [Big Master Ke] is giving you the pumpkin to eat, you are not happy? Quickly eat them up.” That soldier was afraid Huang Rong might beat him again, but also his stomach was very hungry; so enduring the burning ache on his face he picked the pumpkin up and ate it piece by piece.
This time Ke Zhen’E could not decide whether he should be angry or whether he should laugh; half standing and half sitting he leaned against the bench. He felt very awkward; he wanted to pull out the arrow, but was afraid his blood would spurt out like crazy. She certainly would see someone in danger and not willing to help; most probably she would even mock him.
While he was still hesitating he heard Huang Rong said, “Go get some fresh water, quick!” Her speech was followed by a ‘Slap!’ apparently she had just slapped one of the soldiers on the ear.
In his heart Ke Zhen’E mused, “This little demon, she is all right as long as she does not say anything; but as soon as she opens her mouth, she makes others suffer.”
Huang Rong continued, “Take this knife and cut the clothes around Ke Daye’s arrow wound.” One of the soldiers complied and did as she said. Huang Rong said, “You, the one with surname Ke, you’d better not cry out in pain; otherwise, your Miss may not pay you any more attention if she is annoyed.”
“Who wants your attention anyway?” Ke Zhen’E angrily replied, “Just scram as far as possible.” He had not finished his words when suddenly he felt a severe pain on his wound. It seemed to him that Huang Rong had grabbed the shaft of the arrow, and instead of pulling it out, she thrust it into his flesh. Ke Zhen’E was shocked and angry; he was about to throw a punch out when he felt another stab of severe pain and suddenly his palm was holding a shaft of arrow. Turned out Huang Rong had pulled the arrow out and squeezed it into his hand.
Ke Zhen’E heard Huang Rong say, “You move one more time, I am going to slap your ear really good.”
Ke Zhen’E knew she was capable of doing what she said she would do. Currently he was not the little demon’s match; if she killed him with a blade, then it would be a clean end to his life, but if she ever slapped his face, he would suffer disgrace for the rest of his life, so with a pale face he stayed silent. Hearing some ripping sounds he knew she was tearing several strips of clothes. She wrapped the cloth around his thigh, above and below the wound, tightly to stop the bleeding; and then he felt icy cold water on his wound, apparently she was washing his wound with cold water. He was stupefied, thinking, “If she had evil intention, why did she save me? But if she said she doesn’t harbor evil intention, humph, humph, can anything good come out of the Peach Blossom Island’s sorcerers, father and daughter? She must have some evil plan for me later on. Ay, these people are so full of craftiness; it is really difficult to guess her real thoughts.”
While he was busy with his own thoughts, Huang Rong had already applied some cut wound medicine and wrapped it up properly; he felt his wound was cool and for the most part the pain was gone, but suddenly he heard rumbles from inside his tummy.
Huang Rong coldly said, “I thought you were not hungry, but it turns out you are really starving. Too bad we don’t have anything to eat right now. All right, let’s go!” With two ‘slap, slap’ sounds her stick beat the two soldiers, telling those two to lift Ke Zhen’E up and continue their journey.
About thirty, forty ‘li’s later, the sky was getting dark. They heard the loud cry of crows; hundreds of thousands crows flew back and forth in the air. Hearing these crows Ke Zhen’E knew they were in the vicinity of the ‘tie qiang miao’ [Temple of the Iron Spear]. This Temple of the Iron Spear was built to honor a well known general from the Five Dynasties period, the Iron Spear, Wang Yanzhang. Next to the temple there was a tall pagoda. For generations the crows had made their nest on top of this pagoda. There was a legend among the locals that the crows of the Temple of the Iron Spear were the spirits of dead soldiers and generals, so nobody dared to disturb them to such an extent that the crows breed and multiplied, became as many as they were that day.
“Hey,” Huang Rong said, “The sky is getting dark, where can we spend the night?”
Ke Zhen’E thought for a moment, “If we lodge at someone’s residence I am afraid they might open their mouths and lead the soldiers to come and arrest us.” So he said, “Not too far from here there is an old temple.”
“What’s so interesting about crows?” Huang Rong scolded, “You have never seen one before? Go!” This time Ke Zhen’E did not hear the sound of the stick, nevertheless the two soldiers cried out in pain. He wondered whether she pierced them with her finger or kicked them with her foot.
Not too long afterwards they arrived in front of the Temple of the Iron Spear. Ke Zhen’E heard Huang Rong kick the temple door open. The strong odor of crows’ dung and dust assaulted their nostrils. Apparently this temple had been deserted for a long time. He was afraid she would complain of the filth, but surprisingly it seemed like she did not even notice. He heard her ordering the two soldiers to sweep the floor; she also ordered them to go to the kitchen and boil some water. Then he heard she was softly singing a song about some ‘pair of mandarin ducks desire to fly together’ and some ‘not yet old but the hair on the head has turned white.’
A moment later the soldiers brought the hot water over. Huang Rong changed the wrap on Ke Zhen’E’s wound first before washing her own face and feet. Ke Zhen’E was lying down on the ground, using the meditation mat as his pillow. Suddenly he heard she spat and said, “Why are you looking at my feet? Do you think my feet are for you to look? I’ll dig your eyeballs out!”
That soldier was so scared that his soul almost left him; ‘bonk, bonk, bonk’ he knocked his head on the ground. Huang Rong asked, “Tell me, why did you look at me washing my feet?”