Four Ounces Deflects a Thousand Pounds (4)
Four Ounces Deflects a Thousand Pounds (4)
Hong Ye stood before the mirror and looked over her attire.
To say she had never gone out at all would be a lie, but she had never gone out for a personal reason like this.
Her face was blank and expressionless, and her clothes seemed not to suit her. The fluttery garments women were supposed to wear only made her skin tone stand out and made her feel shrunken. After turning around several times and assessing her appearance, she threw off what she was wearing.
"Hah...."
There were already several pieces of clothing discarded in Hong Ye's room for similar reasons. Crumpled and horribly disfigured as if they had been unearthed from a dead person's burial goods, the clothes seemed to be relishing their former splendor when they had hung on the rack.
After trying on several more outfits, Hong Ye eventually took out the training robe she usually wore.
Hong Ye disliked Docheol.
Because he wore her out with troubles like this.
*******
When she stepped out the gate in her training robe, Hong Ye instinctively grew tense. She saw Docheol standing outside the gate. Docheol had changed into clean clothes and was carrying an axe at his waist.
He looked like a reasonably decent martial artist, so Hong Ye felt unnecessarily intimidated.
"Oh ho, junior sister Hong Ye, now..."
"Shh, she'll hear you."
"They say the quiet cat climbs onto the stove first..."
But suddenly, whispered words from behind pressed at her back.
She felt her face flush, but she squeezed her eyes shut and hid her expression. Backbiting was a daily affair. She was not so sensitive that she would blush and overreact to such idle talk now. Just as calluses form when skin is scraped over and over, her body had grown numb to the small wounds thrown at her.
"You've come out."
Docheol smiled as he said that when she walked down. The smiling face that seemed to know nothing annoyed Hong Ye. He did not know how much she had agonized and struggled just to step out here.
He did not know that she had a reason so desperate that she had to force herself out here.
That was why Hong Ye disliked Docheol.
*******
"Is this the child the Taiji Sect's Grandmaster recently took in?"
The moment she took a step, the voices she had heard as a child echoed like a distant reverberation. When she was very young, the Grandmaster had taken her to a place full of martial artists. As with most things the Grandmaster did, Hong Ye had not known why he brought her there.
Was it truly out of love? Or was it to show off his 'good deeds' to others?
"Hm."
The Grandmaster's true intention was not what mattered to Hong Ye. What remained in the memory of a child not even ten years old that day was only a single remark a martial artist had left behind, his face twisted because he could not find anything to say.
"Hm."
And Docheol was rubbing his chin and staring at her attire. The short sound he had left behind, "Hm," was lighter than that complicated remark the martial artist had made back then, and it carried a peculiar tone. Back then the meaning had been glaringly obvious, but now Hong Ye could not grasp the meaning of Docheol's single word.
Hong Ye clutched the hem of her training robe and spoke.
"...Do you have something to say?"
"Seeing you outside like this felt fresh. It makes me realize anew how beautiful you are, young lady."
Hong Ye's shoulders stiffened. Another remark she was not used to had popped out. Beautiful? Hardly anyone ever gave her such a compliment. Most of it was teasing or lip service. She had always reacted like a block of wood, but she could never stay silent at a single word from Docheol.
Her face flushed and her lips twitched.
"...If you are toying with me, I will go back."
"You need to realize, young lady, that you are beautiful and charming."
"...Please stop."
Because Hong Ye genuinely did not know what to do, Docheol said nothing more on the subject. But just as a single drop of dye darkens an entire bucket of water, the words he dropped sent a spark-like ripple through her heart.
"Understood. Let's start walking. We have many places to go today."
Hong Ye walked along the street following Docheol's lead. Had she ever strolled a street like this? Unless it was for business, she had never properly walked the streets of Chengdu. She thought she must look ridiculous. She had lived her whole life in Chengdu, yet here she was being guided by an outsider through the marketplace.
But Docheol, wholly untroubled by such a sight, was intent on enjoying the Chengdu marketplace. Hong Ye disliked that about Docheol.
"Look here."
Docheol said.
Hong Ye flinched at the words and looked around. She shrank back, afraid people's eyes would gather on her, but nothing happened. A beat late, she turned her gaze toward Docheol and found him wearing a ridiculous mask and staring at her.
"Hup...."
She almost laughed without thinking, but she forced her expression to harden and averted her eyes. At her looking away, Docheol giggled instead and set the mask back down on the stall. The merchant laughed heartily looking at Docheol and Hong Ye, and Docheol said,
"Now, let's keep going."
Hong Ye could not say anything to Docheol. It was because she had not known that a man who conducted himself with some gravity in the Taiji Sect would play such a childish prank. While she was flustered, Docheol drew her deeper into the market.
The market she had entered alone for the first time disturbed her mental image. People of every stripe were selling colorful goods, and it felt as if she had plunged into a lake swirling with dyes. When she turned her eyes, it was as if five-colored curtains were fluttering on all sides.
And within that, Docheol seemed to poke his face out and smile playfully.
"Young lady. Take a look at this."
It was food sold on the street. Seasoning had been spread onto pieces of meat and grilled to look appetizing. One of the passing merchants was carrying those skewers and laughing heartily, and a child eating with a blissful expression crossed between Docheol and Hong Ye.
"Th-this will interfere with training...."
"You won't eat any?"
Hong Ye struggled to think and tried to stop him, but her pace was far too slow here. Before she knew it, Docheol had already picked up two skewers and was holding one out to Hong Ye. A skewer dripping with sauce. It was crude, worldly food, but its aroma and color were a strong stimulus to her.
She shook her head and said,
"...If I keep coming into contact with these... worldly things.... I cannot grasp the profound principles."
At her words, Docheol pointed to the sign hanging on the stall.
[Sichuan Tang Clan Certified Grilled Skewer Restaurant]
The shopkeeper nodded with an indifferent face and said,
"Many people come."
Dumbfounded, Hong Ye opened her mouth.
"...No, the Tang Clan is...."
At that, both the shopkeeper and Docheol looked at her with wide eyes and asked back,
"What about the Tang Clan?"
If she pressed the point here, she would have nothing to say.
"...I'll, I'll eat it."
Hong Ye had no choice but to reach for the skewer and take a bite. The meat juices saturated with rich seasoning spread softly in her mouth. The tender flesh chewed easily, releasing a fatty fragrance, and as she swallowed, a sweet scent slid down her throat.
"Mm...."
Her eyes had unconsciously gone round, but seeing Docheol's teasing gaze, she tried to turn her head away again. The shopkeeper was smiling pleasantly, and Hong Ye forced her expression stiff.
Docheol said,
"You don't need to keep your face so tight here."
The people were bustling. But a silence hung between the two of them. Clutching the skewer tightly, Hong Ye lowered her head and said,
"......I cannot do that."
"It's all right here. Because nobody cares."
Docheol pointed to the street. Hong Ye followed his hand and looked out at the market. The street that had been dyed with color now began to take on human shapes and show itself in detail. People moving busily. Among them were people of Southern Barbarian blood like herself, and people from the far Western Regions were wandering about as well.
In the direction of the square, a man in ridiculous clothes was dancing, and elsewhere a storyteller had gathered people and was telling old tales. A mask play was unfolding in a clustered performance area, and the merchants glanced at her before being too busy looking elsewhere.
"Haha...."
Hong Ye's mouth opened.
But her voice was soon buried by the shouts of the hawkers and the music for the mask play. No one paid attention to her. After all, a martial artist in training robes and a Southern Barbarian were not such rare sights in Chengdu.
"Hahaha...."
Hong Ye laughed. The sound of her laughter did not carry far.
Even just a little further outside, there were people laughing just like her at drinking parties, and people intoxicated by the heated mask play shouted. Hawkers waved their hands to call customers without waiting for anyone else to go first, and her voice could not be heard.
No one knew her.
No one cared about her.
The moment she realized that, she felt a strange sense of liberation and laughed. Unable to stop laughing, she placed her hand on a stall and even shed tears as she laughed.
It was such a simple thing.
Even if she stepped just a little outside, everything she had agonized over was nothing at all.
Hong Ye laughed because that was funny.
She laughed because it was foolish.