Chapter - 331 Inn In a Deserted Village (6)

At that time the Mongolian army was launching a large scale attack against the capital, they laid siege around the city. As a single woman traveling with two coffins in the turmoil and chaos of war, she experienced untold hardships, until finally she arrived at her adopted parents' hometown. She had left home since she was five years old, and had never been to the Ox Village before. As she saw Shagu's inn she was thinking of stopping by for some food and directions; who would have thought that she came across Ouyang Ke here.

At this time she did not know whether this beautiful woman wearing exquisite gown was her captor's accomplice or not; when Cheng Yaojia was taken prisoner by Ouyang Ke, Mu Nianci was already hidden away inside the empty coffin. These two women had never met each other, so Mu Nianci thought Cheng Yaojia was one of Ouyang Ke's concubines. She chopped her dagger toward Cheng Yaojia, then darting toward the door trying to escape. She heard the rustling noise of a clothes, someone was leaping over her head. Mu Nianci lifted her dagger up, Ouyang Ke's body was still midair, his right hand's index finger and thumb pinched the back of her dagger and pulled it away, while his left hand grabbed her wrist. Mu Nianci was forced to let her dagger go; her body leaped up and two people fell together on the doorway, halfway above the coffin.

"Aiyo!" the four porters cried out in alarm. The coffin fell to the ground, pinching five, six of the porters' eight feet.

Ouyang Ke's left hand embraced Mu Nianci in his bosom, while his right hand stabbed the dagger randomly toward the back of those four porters. The porters screamed in terror and scrambled anxiously over the coffin to run away. The other four porters also dropped their coffin and ran outside the inn; without asking for their money.

Lu Guanying tumbled down as he was free from the enemy's hand. Cheng Yaojia rushed over to help him up. She was totally ignorant of what was going on around her; her mind was set on how to get away from the enemy. With Mu Nianci in his left hand Ouyang Ke pushed the coffin with his right hand, and leaped back to the table. He snatched Cheng Yaojia's belt and very soon she was also embraced at the crook of his right arm. Ouyang Ke sealed both women's acupoints and sat on a bench. He laughed and called out, "Huang Meizi, you have to come over here too!"

While he was feeling smug, a shadow flashed in from outside; a young gentleman came in. It was Yang Kang. After he went out from underneath Huang Yaoshi's legs along with Wanyan Honglie, Peng Lianhu and the others, they ran away out of the Ox Village. Everybody was angry at the humiliation they had just received; they hung their heads low and nobody said anything. Yang Kang thought if he wanted to seek revenge, he must find Ouyang Feng first, who had not returned from stealing the book in the imperial palace. Thereupon he asked Wanyan Honglie's permission and went back alone, waiting in the forest just outside the village.

That night Zhou Botong, Ouyang Feng and Huang Yaoshi three people came and go in a flash. With Yang Kang's current skill level, he could not even see them clearly. Early the next morning he saw Mu Nianci bringing the coffins into the village. His heart pounded from excitement and he followed behind her quietly. He saw her enter the inn, and then saw the porters running away, he felt strange, so he peeked through a crack on the door and did not see Huang Yaoshi inside; but he saw Mu Nianci was embraced by Ouyang Ke in a frivolous way.

Ouyang Ke saw him come in, he called out, "Xiao Wangye [Young Prince], you came back!" Yang Kang nodded. Ouyang Ke saw his face looked unusual, he tried to console him, "In the past Han Xin had also received humiliation by crawling underneath someone else's crotch. But a real great man can be bent and can be stretched. It was nothing. Just wait for my uncle, then you can extract your revenge."

Again Yang Kang nodded his head. His gaze was fixed on Mu Nianci.

Ouyang Ke smiled and said, "Young Prince, what do you think of my two beautiful women?" Yang Kang nodded again. Ouyang Ke was not present when Mu Nianci and Yang Kang were jousting to find a spouse on the street of the capital; therefore, he did not know that these two had a deep relationship between them.

At first Yang Kang did not think much of Mu Nianci, and then afterwards he saw how much she was passionately devoted to him; his heart could not help but be moved by her love, hence he promised to marry her. Right now he saw Ouyang Ke was hugging her, his heart swelled with hatred, but he maintained his composure.

"There was a wedding in here last night," Ouyang Ke said with a smile, "There is some wine and chicken in the kitchen. Xiao Wangye, I'd like to bother you to fetch the food, I want to drink with you several cups. I am going to tell these two beautiful women to strip and dance to accompany your drinking."

"Nothing better than that," Yang Kang replied with a smile.

To suddenly seeing Yang Kang, Mu Nianci was pleasantly surprised. But when Yang Kang did not pay her any attention, she was mad. Now she saw his frivolous expression as he was going to join Ouyang Ke in humiliating her, her heart turned icy cold. She was determined that as soon as her hands and feet were free, she would cut her own throat in the presence of this heartless fellow; and then she would forever be free from the anxieties of the world.

She saw him turned around to go to the kitchen. He fetched the food and drink, then sat alongside Ouyang Ke. Ouyang Ke poured two cups of wine and held them up in front of Mu and Cheng two women's mouths and said with a smile, "Drink this wine first, it will help to make your dancing more interesting." The two women were very angry, but since their acupoints were sealed, they were unable to turn their heads away from the wine cups on their lips. Ouyang Ke managed to pour half a cup into their mouths.

"Mr. Ouyang," Yang Kang said, "I admire your martial art skill very much. Let me toast you one cup before we enjoy the dancing."

Ouyang Ke took the cup Yang Kang handed over; he drank it in one gulp, then casually he released the two women's acupoints, but he placed his hands on the acupoints on their backs. He smiled and said, "If you listen nicely to what I say, not only you won't get hurt, but I will make you happy!" He turned to Yang Kang and said, "Xiao Wangye, which one of these young girls do you like? I'll let you choose first!"

Yang Kang slightly smiled and said, "Thank you very much!"

Mu Nianci pointed toward the two coffins on the doorsteps and imposingly said, "Yang Kang! Do you know whose coffins are those?"

Yang Kang turned his head and saw on the first coffin there was a red piece of paper with this line of characters on it: 'da song yi shi yang tie xin ling jiu' [the bier of Yang Tiexin, a chivalrous warrior of the Great Song Dynasty]. His heart turned cold, but his face did not show anything. He said, "Mr. Ouyang, can you hold them closely for me? I want to see which one has the smaller feet. I am going to choose her."

Ouyang Ke laughed and said, "Xiao Wangye is truly smart! I think this one's feet are smaller." While saying that he rubbed Cheng Yaojia's chin before continuing, "I have a special skill. I only need to look at a girl's face to know what her body looks like, from top to bottom."