Part 14 – Mishap

Smirched with dust, straw and feathers, Jin Ling, Lan Sizhui and Wen Ning exited through the village gates. Glumly, Jin Ling brushed himself and Fairy off as best he could. His booted foot lashed out at a rock stuck in the road, which didn’t budge from its depression in the slightest. The glancing blow only made the young sect leader that much more exasperated.

“What a total waste of time!” he exclaimed.

Lan Sizhui smiled apologetically, plucking another stray pinion from his hair. “Yes, who would’ve guessed the one mutilating all those livestock was just an old woman with a grudge? The acts were so gruesome…”

“Forgive me, Young Master Jin,” Wen Ning said, looking more ridiculous than the rest of them with all that silly down and straw still clinging to his grave and menacing form. “I did not mean to lead you astray on a goose chase.”

Lan Sizhui glanced quickly at his relative. But Wen Ning’s expression remained as rigidly solemn as ever. With a poker face like that, it was impossible to know whether the pun was intentional or not.

Regardless, Jin Ling scowled. A ‘goose chase’ indeed! Nothing about this day had turned out as planned, and this joke of a night-hunt had been no exception. It had been over before the sun even set!

“At least we were able to bring the perpetrator to light and stop the needless slaughter,” Lan Sizhui said, clearly trying to make both Jin Ling and Wen Ning feel better over the debacle.

Jin Ling glared. “Who cares about some stupid cows and chickens that weren’t even possessed?!”

Lan Sizhui gave him a chiding look, and Jin Ling glanced away with a frown. Good deeds were nice and well enough, but this wasn’t the sort of thing he could even begin to lord over his uncle and all the rest. So the dream he’d had of returning to Lotus Pier all high and mighty on the heels of an impressive feat of cultivation while they dithered over political matters had been crushed.

Now he was the one left feeling like he couldn’t show his face!

As the old overgrown farm path met the main road that ran between Yunmeng city and Lotus Pier, Lan Sizhui paused and turned to Jin Ling. “I suppose this is where we part ways, Young Master Jin. Thank you for coming along with us, even though it didn’t turn out to be much of a challenge.”

Jin Ling shook his head, indignant. “No way am I returning to Lotus Pier on a sour note like this! How am I supposed to demand for Uncle to let you back in if I have nothing to shame him with?!”

Lan Sizhui looked at him in mild surprise. “So that was why you tagged along with us? I just assumed you were bored and had some time to kill.”

Jin Ling flushed. “Well, of course, that was part of it! But it would have been nice too, to have some sort of leverage I could use to put my uncle in his place. Anyway,” he blustered on, “where are you headed? I’ll just spend the night wherever you’re staying, and we can try for something better tomorrow.”

“To be honest,” Lan Sizhui said, smiling crookedly, “I’m not really sure.”

“Then let’s go into the city,” Jin Ling decided, as Wen Ning gave his stilted equivalent of a shoulder-slump. “We can find something good to eat and figure out the rest after that.”

Lan Sizhui’s warm and easy smile made Jin Ling forget he’d ever been upset in the first place. “Okay, let’s!”

Mo Dao Zu Shi © Mo Xiang Tong Xiu