Chapter 7.3 – The Woman Who Broke Her Word

Zhang Qianjun Wanma folded his arms and sat in front of Little Brother Zhang and Zhang Haiqi. After a long time, he finally said to Zhang Haiqi, “So, you’re the woman my master waited for all his life.”

Zhang Haiqi used a tree branch to fiddle with Zhang Qianjun’s clothes. They had once been worn by his master and the color had faded after too many washings. Zhang Haiqi looked unhappy and muttered, “You guys are still so poor.”

“Then why are you here now?” Zhang Qianjun Wanma felt extremely aggrieved. It wasn’t because his master had spent all his life waiting in vain, but because the matter of waiting for someone instantly changed from a bleak and beautiful thing to something so utterly stupid.

“Who the hell would remember to come?” Zhang Haiqi looked at the mountains in the distance a little resentfully. “Urgh, you’re so annoying. Let’s talk business.”

“Fuck your business! He waited for you up until the day he died. I thought you couldn’t come either because you died outside of the mountains or because you were a femme fatale who was just fucking playing with him. These two possibilities are loads better than the fact that you simply forgot about it!” Zhang Qianjun Wanma was extremely angry, but his face remained expressionless because he still deeply remembered his master’s teachings that he had to comply with any request the people who shot the cloud-piercing arrows made.

As the three of them remained silent for a while, Zhang Qianjun noticed that Little Brother Zhang and Zhang Haiqi looked a little awkward.

Little Brother Zhang was leaning against a tree, his tongue fiddling with something in his mouth. He looked at Zhang Haiqi, “Let me ask you this, just how many random promises have you made to people? Can you stop doing that? The lives of ordinary people are very difficult. They’re not there for you to toy with.”

“Keeping my word isn’t exactly my strong suit.” Zhang Haiqi lit a cigarette. “Plus, he’s the one that died early. Isn’t it true that I’m here right now?”

“That’s not right,” Zhang Qianjun Wanma said. “My master met that girl when he was in his fifties. He died when he was a hundred and sixteen. Even if you were that girl, you should be in your seventies now. How come you still look like a young girl? You’re lying to me.”

“Didn’t your master tell you that I’m an immortal who cultivates a youthful appearance?” Zhang Haiqi looked at Little Brother Zhang. “This is my son. You can ask him if you don’t believe me.”

Zhang Qianjun Wanma looked at Little Brother Zhang.

“I’m adopted,” Little Brother Zhang said reluctantly.

Zhang Qianjun Wanma suddenly felt that his master was really stupid. He immediately decided to help them, and once the two of them left, he would leave here right away.

“Which one of you shot the cloud-piercing arrow?” Zhang Qianjun Wanma asked them. “I only listen to those who shoot the arrows.”

Little Brother Zhang and Zhang Haiqi exchanged a look before both pointed at themselves. “Me.”

Zhang Haiqi immediately became angry, “Why are you lying?”

“How am I lying? You’re even willing to compete with me for this kind of thing? Can’t you be even a little more motherly since you’re my mom?” Little Brother Zhang narrowed his eyes as he enunciated each word clearly.

“That’s enough!” Zhang Qianjun Wanma interrupted them. “Your argument won’t bring out any results. I’ll only listen to him.” He pointed at Little Brother Zhang. “You’re a woman who doesn’t keep her word, so I won’t listen to you. Now, talk. What do you want?”

Little Brother Zhang pulled a map out of his pocket. “We want to go to Bone Washing Cave. We need a guide who’s familiar with the road.”

“Han Chinese can’t go to that place,” Zhang Qianjun Wanma said.

“Then we won’t go there as Han Chinese, yeah?” Little Brother Zhang said.

“Then you have to have a reason to go in there. Bone Washing Cave is the place where the Abi people wash bones. People here think that human bones, flesh, and skin are three different things. The lifespan of the flesh is the shortest, so people can live the same amount of time as their flesh. But the lifespan of bones and skin is much longer than that of flesh, with the lifespan of bones being the longest. As a result, they believe people aren’t really dead when they pass away. Forty-nine days after someone has passed, their skin will die. Thirty years after their death, their bones will die. All of the bones with rotten skin and flesh will be taken to Bone Washing Cave to be cleaned and washed before their relatives take the bones home. This place is very sacred to the Abi people. People can’t enter the cave if they aren’t there to wash bones.”

The three were silent for a while.

Zhang Haiqi stood up and suddenly asked Zhang Qianjun Wanma, “Where’s your master’s grave?”

“What do you want to do?”

“Didn’t he want to see me?”

<Extra 7.2><Table of Contents><Extra 7.4>

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Tiffany’s Notes: Zhang Qianjun’s mind is officially blown lol.

3 thoughts on “Chapter 7.3 – The Woman Who Broke Her Word

  1. I thought little brother Zhang is the same as his mom, which has longer lifespan than normal??? But why Haiyan and Haixi aging with normal rate but not haiqi???

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    1. I think lil brother Zhang (Haiyan) gain his long lifespan after he officially join the Zhang, which is when his mother tattooed him at the hot spring pool

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