Chapter - 4 Love is Ruthless (4)

Soft footsteps can be heard behind him, a small soft pair of hands covered his eyes. He recognized it was his daughter's voice when she spoke.

"Father, who am I?"

Lu Wushuang had always been close to her father. When she was three years old, she played this game with him. This made her parents laugh. He was sad, so now his daughter is trying to cheer him up. Under normal circumstances this would have worked. But today it would be no use as he pulled his daughter's hands away.

"Father has no time to play, let's go inside and play!"

Lu Wushuang stood there. She always had the love of her father and now he had no time for her. She let out a sigh and wanted to share in her father's misery only to see the male servant Ah Gen hastily arriving.

"There's a guest outside master."

"You tell them I'm not at home."

"Master, she doesn't want to see you. She just wants to spend the night here."

Lu Liding said, "Who? Are they women?"

"No, it's a mother with two small boys. They've been waiting a long time."

When Lu Liding heard it was a mother with her two sons, he was able to relax a bit. "It's not a Taoist priestess?"

Ah Gen shook his head, "No. It's a plainly dressed woman, she looks like a mother of a respectable family."

"Alright, take them to the guest room and treat them well. Give them something to eat." Ah Gen hurriedly went out. Lu Wushuang said, "I'm going as well" as she hastily exited.

Lu Liding stood up, he wanted to go inside to discuss how to face this enemy with his wife. He made his way into the hall. He showed her the prints, and told her about the missing corpses. Mistress Lu pondered and said, "We are going to have to hide the two girls?"

Master Lu pointed at the wall. "The girls are inside, but I fear that the monster that did this won't let them escape so easily. We have practiced kung fu for several years now, when the person enters our home; remember not to show any emotion."

Mistress Lu stared at the wall, "There are nine prints? We only have seven people within the household." As soon as Lu Liding heard this, his limbs went numb and looked at his wife startled, and cried. He reached out and held her arms.

"Dear, when the time comes, there is no need to be afraid. The top two palm prints are for Brother and his wife, the middle two are ours. In the last group, two are Ying and Wushuang, there are three are for Ah Gen and our two maids. Blood will fill this house tonight."

Mistress Lu quivered and said, "Brother and sister-in-law?"

"I don't know what deep debt the witch is after, but brother and his wife are dead. She has sent people to dig up the grave and disturb the corpses."

"You are saying that madman was sent by her?"

"Correct."

Mistress Lu saw that her husband's head was covered with sweat. "Why don't you go into your room, clean yourself up, and rest a while before we discuss this again."

Lu and his wife went into their room. "Wife, today it will be hard for the Lu family to avoid death, but if we survive we will honour Brother and sister-in-law's name." "You are correct," replied mistress Lu.

The two of them thought, Lu Liding is not a famous name, but the name Lu Zhanyuan is. The He Yuanjun couple was famous throughout the Jianghu world. The Lu name was famous and no one in the Jianghu dared make fun of the name.

The two of them went to the back garden after they heard a sudden sound from the east wall. Near the top of the wall was a person. Lu stepped in front to shield his wife. He looked up and saw a young boy sitting on the wall, trying to pick a ling flower. By his leg, someone shouted out, "Careful, don't fall." It was Cheng Ying, Lu Wushuang and a boy picking flowers by the wall.

Lu thought, "The girls are naughty, getting someone else to do their errands."

The boy on the wall managed to pick a flower. Wushuang shouted, "Give it to me-give it to me!" The boy smiled, and threw it to Cheng Ying. Cheng Ying caught it and gave it to her cousin. Lu Wushuang was angry, and threw the flower onto the ground. She took a few steps, and angrily shouted, "Who cares? I don't want it anymore."

Lu and his wife saw how the kids were playing and arguing, and sighed. They withdrew to their room.

Cheng Ying saw Wushuang crush the flower and asked, "Cousin, why are you angry?"

"I don't want his. I'll pick one myself."

As she said this, she moved her right foot a little, and leapt. She hung onto a purple cane hanging from the tree. She used her strength and managed to leap up higher a few times, and landed on a silver branch of the Cinnamonum cassia tree (one of the group of aromatic trees like camphor and cinnamon) The boy on the wall clapped. "So you are joining me!"

Wushuang swung on the branch a few times and released her grip, throwing herself towards the wall. Although she has learned a little lightness kung fu, this leap was very dangerous. But since she was angry with the boy giving the flower to Ying and not her, she wanted to keep her pride in front of the boy. She wasn't used to jumping such a distance. The boy gulped and said, "Stretch your hand out" as he reached out. If the boy hadn't reached out, Wushuang would have made it, but when she saw his hand in midair she shouted, "Move!" and leaned to the side to avoid his hands. The ability to twist in the air is part of a higher level of kung fu; she had seen her dad perform this once before, but without the supervision of her parents how could she try it? As she turned, her hand wasn't able to reach the top of the wall. She shouted, "Oh no!" before falling to the ground. Another boy near the foot of the wall reached out to catch her. The wall was about ten feet tall. Though Wushuang was light, the force of her hitting the ground would still be high. The boy managed to grab her waist, the both of them falling onto the ground. Only to hear two "ka ka" noises, as the bone in Lu Wushuang's left leg snapped. The boy changed colour to that of the flowers on the stone altar, as blood spouted out. Cheng Ying wanted to help the boy who tried stopping the disaster up. The boy got up, and pressed hard on the heavy wound. Wushuang had already fainted. Cheng Ying picked up her cousin and shouted, "Uncle, aunt, hurry!"

The couple rushed out of their rooms to see to injured children, as well as a middle-aged woman who also rushed out from her room. It was the woman who had come to ask for shelter for the night. They saw her pick up the injured children and rush into the hall. Ignoring her own child's injuries, she tended to Lu Wushuang's leg, intending to put the snapped bone back in place. Mistress Lu fetched a piece of cloth and tied it around the boy's head before going to see her daughter. The woman then pressed down on the "bai hai" (white sea) pressure point and the "wei zhong" (middle gathering) pressure point on Lu Wushuang's leg to ease the pain, as she place one hand each on the broken pieces of bone, then put the bone into place. Lu Liding saw her movements were swift, her pressure point "dim yue" kung fu was at a respectable level, and his curiosity was raised. "Who are you? Why did you come here?" The woman was busy tending to Wushuang's leg and didn't reply to the questions.