The Eleventh Son II: Factional Feuds
aka: Huo Bing Xiao Shi Yi Lang [火并萧十一郎], Fo Bing Siu Sap Yat Long [火並蕭十一郎], Hỏa Tính Tiêu Thập Nhất Lang, Hoa Tinh Tieu Thap Nhat Lang.
This novel was written in 1976.
Early fall. A beautiful sunny day.
Sunlight shone through the thin paper on the windows, illuminating her smooth satin-like skin. Lying lazily in water that was slightly warmer than the sunlight, she raised her pair slender and graceful legs high up, and allowed her bosom the receive the gentle caress of the sunbeams.
So gentle, just like a lover's hands.
But Feng Siniang's heart was not happy at all.
After half a month of frenzied travelling, taking a hot bath could be considered the most pleasureable thing in the world. But if anyone's heart had as many concerns as hers, there would perhaps be nothing in the world that could make her happy.
Feng Siniang was usually not a melancholic woman, but now, she appeared so.
The wind blew gently outside the window. The world outside was a hill strewn with rocks.
She had come to this place before. She had been here two years earlier.
Two years earlier, she had been in the same house taking a hot bath. She remembered that she had been very happy then.
At least, a lot happier than she was at the moment.
Her external appearance today was not really different from what it was two years ago.
Her bosom was still very firm and her waist was still very small. Her stomach was still very flat, while her long slender legs were still smooth and strong.
Her eyes still sparkled with brightness, and her smile could still move a person's heart.
But she knew in her heart that she had already aged a lot. The aging of a person's heart was truly frightening indeed.
In the past two years, she had not treated herself poorly.
She had still ridden on the fastest horses, climbed the highest mountains, eaten the spiciest food, drunk the most pungent wine, played with the fastest sabres and killed the most vicious men.
She had still been enjoying life to the greatest extent.
Yet, it was a pity that she could not expel the loneliness in her heart, regardless of how she enjoyed herself!
A marrow-penetrating loneliness that resembled the termites in a wooden pillar had turned her into an empty shell.
Besides the loneliness, there were those life-sapping reminiscences.
Reminiscences of youth, and of the past. Reminiscences that were populated by only one person.
Although she was unwilling to admit it, there would never be anyone in the world who could take this person's place in her heart.
Not even Yang Kaitai.
She was already married to Yang Kaitai, but she had run away on the wedding night.
The thought of Yang Kaitai's square face, the prim-and-proper way in which he carried himself as well as his sincere and genuine heart made her feel that she had really let this gentleman down. But she could not help herself at all.
Because she could not forget Xiao Shiyi Lang!