Chapter - 433 The Bride's Pale Arms Parts the Red Clothing (8)

He slept until midnight, and was awakened by some light tapping on his door. Han Lin'er sat up with a start and asked, "Who is it?"

"It's me," he heard Zhou Zhiruo's voice outside the door, "Please open the door, I need to talk to you."

"Yes, yes," Han Lin'er said. He went to the door barefooted, pulled the latch open, then quickly turned around to light the candle. He saw that Zhou Zhiruo's eyes were red and puffy, her expression looked greatly different. Han Lin'er was scared. "Miss Zhou, you … you …" he stammered, without able to continue whatever he was going to say. Suddenly he got an idea; he dashed out the room while saying, "I'll fetch some water for you to wash your face."

A short moment later, he returned with a washbasin in his hands, still barefooted. Zhou Zhiruo gave him a mournful smile. She sat on the table, supporting her chin with her hand, staring blankly at the candle.

"You … please wash your face," Han Lin'er said.

Zhou Zhiruo did not say a single word; she merely shook her head and suddenly tears start flowing down. In his fright, Han Lin'er was stumped. He relaxed his hands while still standing; wondering why she was so upset, and dying to know what it was she wanted to tell him.

The two of them maintained the silence for a long time. Suddenly a light 'crack' was heard as the wax snapped off the candle. Zhou Zhiruo trembled as if she had just awakened from a sleep. "Mmm," she mumbled softly then she stood up to leave.

"Miss Zhou," Han Lin'er said loudly, "Who offended you? I, the man surnamed Han will take my dagger to him. Even if I have to die, I will make a few holes on his body. Please tell me!" Zhou Zhiruo only shook her head sadly, and then returned to her room.

From the time she entered his room, Zhou Zhiruo only sat quietly for a long time. It appeared that she had wanted to unburden herself from her troubled mind; but all along she did not utter a single word, so that a hot tempered and rash man like Han Lin'er can only scratch his head in confusion. As she left, he stood absentmindedly, occasionally curling his fist to hit his own head. After thinking for a while without finding anything, he heard 'bang, bang, bang!' three times from a distance, and he thought, "Why haven't Jiaozhu and Peng Da Shi come back yet?" Since there was nothing else he could do, he laid down on the 'kang' again to sleep.

While he was dozing off, suddenly he heard a couple of loud noises, as if a chair was knocked down to the floor, coming from the room to his east; it was the room where Zhou Zhiruo slept. In his anxiety, Han Lin'er leaped up from his bed and ran toward that room.

Under the moonlight he saw a dark shadow inside that eastern room, swaying lightly, as if it was hanging in the air. Han Lin'er was shocked. "Miss Zhou, Miss Zhou!" he called out, while stretching out his hand to push the door, but it was bolted from inside. Using all his strength he pushed the door with his shoulder and the bolt snapped. Rushing into the room, he struck the flint to light the candle first, and then turned around to see Zhou Zhiruo's feet which were hanging in the air, while a rope was wrapped around her neck, and the other end of the rope was tied onto the beam.

Han Lin'er felt as if his soul was about to leave his body. Hastily he jumped up to pull the rope from the beam, and then laid Zhou Zhiruo on the bed. He felt for her breathe and luckily she was still breathing.

"Miss Zhou, Miss Zhou," he called in a very loud voice, "You … why didn't you look at the bright side? Why did you … why …"

Suddenly he heard someone from outside the door calling out, "Han Dage, what is it?" A man walked in, it was Zhang Wuji.

As Zhang Wuji saw what happened, he felt as if a lightning bolt had just struck him. With trembling hands he broke off the rope around Zhou Zhiruo's neck, and then he felt her chest and found that her heart was still beating. "She is all right," he happily said, "I can save her." Reaching down toward her back and lower abdomen, he massaged her acupoints, while transmitting the Jiu Yang divine energy from the palms of his hands. After one round, 'Wah!' Zhou Zhiruo regained her consciousness and started to cry.

"Good, very good!" Han Lin'er exclaimed in exultation, "Miss Zhou is alive!"

Zhou Zhiruo opened her eyes and as she saw Zhang Wuji, she cried again, "Why do you care about me? Let me die in peace." Suddenly she noticed Zhang Wuji's upper lip was still bleeding, with some fine tooth marks on it. She could not suppress her fury; she raised her hand and heavily slapped Zhang Wuji's face left and right.

Han Lin'er was flabbergasted; how could anybody beat the Cult Leader? But in his eyes, Zhou Zhiruo was like an immortal; so he was confused and did not know what to do. Right that moment, someone gently tapped his shoulder twice. Han Lin'er turned his head and saw Peng Yingyu. In his delight he said, "Peng Da Shi, you're back! Quick, quickly advise Miss Zhou."

Peng Yingyu laughed, "Advise what?" Toward Zhang Wuji he said, "Reporting to Jiaozhu: I did not find any information regarding Jin Mao Shi Wang [golden-haired lion king]."

"Hmm," Zhang Wuji mumbled. He looked awkward.

"Han Xiongdi," Peng Yingyu said, "Let's go and take a walk outside."

"No, no, we can't," Han Lin'er replied, "They are going to fight. Miss Zhou is certainly not Jiaozhu's match."

Peng Yingyu laughed out loud, "Silly brother!" he said, "Do you think even if the two of us are ganging up with Miss Zhou, we can beat Jiaozhu? I'll say Jiaozhu is not Miss Zhou's match." He winked at Han Lin'er, and pulled his hand out of the room. Han Lin'er was still trying to turn his head, his face showed a deep concern. Zhou Zhiruo could not help but try to stifle her laugh, and then threw herself on the bed and wept again.

Zhang Wuji sat on the edge of the bed, gently tapped her shoulder and said in a tender voice, "Zhiruo, I did not have any appointment to meet her; it was truly an incidental meeting."

Zhou Zhiruo randomly kicked her feet, while sobbing, "I don't believe you, I don't believe you. Whatever lies you are saying, don't tell me to believe you."

Zhang Wuji sighed, "'When Zhou Gong feared the days of rumor, Wang Mang enjoyed being praised as a polite and modest scholar,'" he quoted, "The matters of this world is so easy to be misunderstood …"

Zhou Zhiruo snorted and sat up, "That Junzhu Niangniang [princess] uses those verses to insult me, yet you consider it so poetic that you memorize it in your heart. Look at your lip, aren't you ashamed? Where is your dignity?" Speaking to this point, she could not restrain her own cheeks from blushing.

Zhang Wuji thought that whatever he said, the incident today was very difficult to debate. Besides, he had determined to marry Zhou Zhiruo and grow old together. So the only thing he could do was suppress his emotions, and wish that this incident would eventually fade away from her memory as well. Under the candle light, he saw her pretty face was slightly red, with a deep rope mark around her neck, causing the neck swell on both sides. He thought that if Han Lin'er had been late in realizing what was going on and not rescued her, by the time he returned to the inn, she would have been dead, and no matter what kind of power he had, he would hate himself. Thinking of this, he was both ashamed and felt compassion toward her. He reached out to embrace her and kissed her cherry-red lips.