It is a Straight Road
Chapter 8 :   The ease which Xu Zhi dismisses her servants makes her captors more convinced that she

The ease which Xu Zhi dismisses her servants makes her captors more convinced that she is some high-ranking concubine. “But isn’t it weird?” Yi Lang thinks aloud, “her maid looks much more like the sensual, doe-eye type that a man would look for in a mistress. How did she get chosen over the beauty?”

Still the 2 men agree that it is not wise to linger and they lead Xu Zhi and Zhou Wen Wu to a small house. None of them noticed that Xu Zhi is not under the spell of the bell as she copies Zhou Wen Wu’s movements perfectly. She and Zhou Wen Wu are brought to a bedroom and asked to sit on a bed while their captors leave. When they are at the door, Xu Zhi overhears Yi Lang asking Lou Quan Guang. “Do you think that the Soul s.n.a.t.c.hing Bell works every time? What if –“

“Look, haven’t we tested the bell and seen it work each and every time? If it suddenly stops working, then I swear it is the head of these people that is not working.”

Xu Zhi is very excited to hear them talk about this mysterious hand bell. Although she has been momentary affected at the first and second ‘dang!’, she has come out of its spell quickly both times. So the bell does not work on people with head problems? She slants a look at the man sitting next to her and notes that even when he is under the spell of the bell, his breeding remains and he sits regally straight like a prince.

Lou Quan Guang is also observing Zhou Wen Wu and turns back to stand before him. From beneath her lowered eyes, Xu Zhi sees him slipping a hand inside Zhou Wen Wu’s collar, before withdrawing his hand and leaving the room.

Wow, this bell seems to be quite powerful stuff. Does its victim really feel nothing, even when he is molested? How long can the bell control someone? How does it work? To verify her first hypothesis, Xu Zhi copies Lou Quan Guang and slips her hand inside Zhou Wen Wu’s collar. She can feel his bandages around his chest and steady heartbeat. When she retracts her hand and waves it in front of his face, his eyes remain vacant.

Closing the gap of his collar, she decides to experiment on something else. “Zhou Wen Wu, Xu Zhi is going to die soon. Are you satisfied?”

Hmm, no reaction. Maybe happier news will yield a reaction?

“Zhou Wen Wu, Xu Zhi is finally yours. You have finally won her over! Are you happy?” When he remains still like a wooden statue, she rubs her temple absently as a familiar headache returns to brother her thinking. With the current state of things, she can probably escape, but it is very not nice if she leaves him behind. Besides, she is quite reluctant to leave the bell.

Sighing, she rests her aching head against his shoulder and finds that his warm body is a soothing balm to her splitting head. Of course, she would never have tried this kind of suicidal action had he not been hypnotized, but the discovery is a pleasant surprise. Perhaps she should consider getting someone to warm her bed in the coming winter?

Her head slips onto his chest and she quickly straightens. As she does so, she notices his bloodshot eyes and realizes that he is coming out of his daze.

“Xu Zhi?”

She bolts upright. “Zhou Wen Wu! You have come out of the spell!” Indeed, Xu Da must be someone very dear to him. “Tell me, where did the Soul s.n.a.t.c.hing Bell transport your soul to?”

“Soul… s.n.a.t.c.hing… Bell?”

“Yes, Soul s.n.a.t.c.hing…” Before she can explain further, she is enveloped in a bear hug, Er, has he mistaken her for Xu Da? They do bear some resemblance to each other, but surely they are not so alike? Or has the Soul s.n.a.t.c.hing Bell caused his recognition powers to deteriorate?   “Zhou Wen Wu, I’m Xu Zhi.”

His response is to hug her even more tightly until she catches a whiff of blood, which means that his wound must have reopened. Doesn’t he feel any pain? Or does the Soul s.n.a.t.c.hing Bell cause confused, crazy behavior when its victim has awaken?

She quickly updates him about their circ.u.mstances. “… so they will be returning shortly to bring us out of the city. They will surely use the Soul s.n.a.t.c.hing Bell at that time so you must remember not to struggle. If you are not under its spell, I will not be able to imitate you.” Thinking that he may not be willing to endanger himself, she adds. “Don’t worry, I will do my best to protect you.”

The hand pressing on her back moves upwards to stroke her nape, its movement so gentle, she is taken aback. “Xu Zhi… is your head alright? I saw with my own eyes… how you are being pushed to the floor…”

There is a faint quiver in this voice that Xu Zhi takes note as another possible side-effect of the bell. When he finally relaxes his grip, she quickly squirms out of his embrace and a.s.sures him that she is fine.

Zhou Wen Wu looks at her as straightens her clothes. “Are you not affected by this bell because you have a head ailment?”

“Seems like it.”

Eyes narrowing, he walks towards the windows and observes the situation outside. Looking at the half-opened main gate not far away, he tells her that they need to leave immediately.

Eyes gleaming, she tries to dissuade him. “Ah Wu, this is the best opportunity to understand more about Soul s.n.a.t.c.hing Bell. I have never seen or heard anything like it and this is really too good an opportunity to pa.s.s up.”

Zhou Wen Wu merely walks back to her and tucks some stray tresses of her hair behind her ears. Some of her hair has probably come loose when she fell and there is also a trace of dirt under her eyes. Moving a finger to wipe away the smudge, he is finally satisfied when she has resume her usual impeccable look. Zhou Wen Wu says coldly. “They are just a bunch of thieving bustards. Just kill them all Xu Zhi. You must be crazy to even consider leaving with them.”

He tries to pull her up from the bed but she only pushes herself further to the inner recess of the bed. When he grabs her by her ankle, she quickly argues. “Wait! Wait! You have no idea how many men they have outside, or how many more Soul s.n.a.t.c.hing Bells they have. They can easily put you under the spell of the bell again and where will that leave us? Isn’t it much better if we leave with them… ”

Zhou Wen Wu pays her no heed and continues to drag her off the bed. When she lost her balance and fall backwards, he quickly dashes forward to cus.h.i.+on her head before it hits the bed. “Xu Zhi, can you stop struggling!”

“Can. Then let’s stay together. Wait, what are you doing!” Zhou Wen Wu has tugged off a decorative belt on her waist and is tying one end of it on her wrist. When he is done, he quickly ties the other end of the belt in a dead knot on his wrist.   Finished, he hoists her over his shoulder and they glare at each other over her b.u.t.t. “Xu Zhi, my last memory of you is when you are being pushed to the ground, hands over your head. In Xi Xuan, no one should dare humiliate you like this!”

His anger is palpable but totally out of character. “Zhou Wen Wu, haven’t you been waiting for me to die?”

Pause. “Which is why I say Xi Xuan men are wretched b.a.s.t.a.r.ds!”

Striding to the door, he adds. “I will cut anyone down, be it G.o.d or demon, who dare stand in my way. Even if I were to fall under the spell of the bell again, we are now tied together and no one can take you away from me. If anyone tries to do so, I’ll kill them all!”

Xu Zhi nearly rolls her eyes. It is just a fragile belt tying the both of them together, what makes him think that their ‘chain’ is unbreakable? Besides, she is immune to the bell while he is not, and if she is tied to him… just who is protecting who? Before she can protests further, he has opened the door – and nearly knocks into Yi Lang and Lou Quan Guang.

They are both shocked to catch them when they are escaping and Zhou Wen Wu uses their momentary surprise to reach for Yi Lang’s neck. Unfortunately, before he can break it, Lou Quan Guang shakes his bell with a loud ‘Dang!’.

“Zhou Wen Wu, let go of Xu Zhi!”

When he freezes, Xu Zhi thinks to herself – cutting down G.o.ds and demons indeed! Next she hears Lou Quan Guang exclaims. “My G.o.d, the willpower of this man is amazing! Indeed they make man differently in Xi Xuan. Or did he manage to resist the bell because he is so beautiful?”

Xu Zhi silently wonders at the number of brain-damaged people in the room.

Yi Lang coughs. “Look, this has nothing to do with how beautiful a person looks! Strange, why is he still holding on to Xu Zhi? Did he not hear your instruction? How about the woman? Is she awake too?”

“Both of them? Not possible!” Lou Quan Guang reaches over to pat her b.u.m and when she does not react, he dismisses his friend. “Xu Zhi, come down.”

Xu Zhi tries to slide down but after a few attempts, the hand circling her down shows no sign of loosening. After a few more attempts at wriggling, Yi Lang asks Lou Quan Guang to tell her to stop moving while he takes out a dagger and cuts the rope connecting Xu Zhi and Zhou Wen Wu together.

Lou Quan Guang looks unhappy. “Don’t tell me he likes this woman. Why else is he so protective of her? Zhou Wen Wu, let go of Xu Zhi.”

Zhou Wen Wu twitches but did not release Xu Zhi. Unhappy that Zhou Wen Wu is spoiling her plans, Xu Zhi contemplates on the possibility of telling her captors – forget about him, let me leave with you!

Yi Lang is spooked by Zhou Wen Wu’s stubbornness and tries to persuade Lou Quan Guan to release them. But the latter refuses and shakes his bell. “Zhou Wen Wu, do you like Xu Zhi?”

Xu Zhi can barely control her mouth from twitching. Can he stop thinking about man-woman-relations.h.i.+ps and concentrate on leaving?

When Zhou Wen Wu remains silent, Lou Quan Guan repeats the question while Yi Lang tries to stop him from agitating Zhou Wen Wu.   While they are arguing, Zhou Wen Wu suddenly says. “Just xiao qing xiao ai (small love, small affection) only.”

Xu Zhi wonders if she has heard wrongly. But the voice belongs to Zhou Wen Wu; there is no mistake about that.

Lou Quan Guan is disgruntled by the news. Walking behind them, he bends to peer at Xu Zhi’s face. “So her eyes are just a tad bigger than mine, skin a bit smoother than mine, and she is a few years younger than me. What’s the big deal?”

Xu Zhi has to exert a lot of effort to keep her expression normal.

Seeing that the sun is starting to set, Yi Lang reminds Lou Quan Guan that they need to leave and Lou Quan Guan orders Zhou Wen Wo to carry Xu Zhi to the carriage.

As she is being carried up the carriage, Xu Zhi hits her hands and knees against the carriage in the process. Swallowing her pain, she thinks to herself that she has seriously, totally, underestimated the stubborn genes of the Crazy Prince.

Xu Zhi is lowered slightly once Zhou Wen Wu sits down and her face is now on par with Zhou Wen Wu. When the carriage starts moving, her headache returns with a vengeance and beads of sweat breaks out on her forehead. When thinking about the bell fails to work, she tucks her hand un.o.btrusively inside her sleeve, and digs her nails into her flesh. While she is fighting the pain in her head, she hears Lou Quan Guan asks from behind her. “Zhou Wen Wu, what do you think about one-night stands?”

“Not interested.”

“Not interested? You look barely over 30 and you have already lost interest in such things? Or maybe you are just tired of woman? Zhou Wen Wu, have you tried sleeping with a man before?”

“Never.”

“Hmm, is there a possibility that you prefer men over women? If there is a chance, would you like to try?”

“Man cannot bear children.”

Although Xu Zhi has never been interested in other people’s business, her forced invasion into his privacy is still a little awkward. Zhou Wen Wu’s words imply that he is too stressed about producing a heir to enjoy what went on between the sheets and she tells herself not to feel too bad towards him. Still, for a man who sees no pleasure in s.e.x and yet remain obsessed with Xu Da, she can only conclude that her sister attractiveness know no bounds indeed.

“If you like Xu Zhi, tell me what is so good about her?”

“There is nothing good about her.”

Lou Quan Guan is puzzled by his answer. Is the bell faulty? As he reaches out to touch Zhou Wen Wu’s hand as if in confirmation, Xu Zhi just takes note and remains quiet. Afterall, the man has even touched her bottom, what’s the big deal if he fondles Ah Wh’s hand?

“Zhou Wen Wu, if you are willing to leave with us, I”ll release Xu Zhi once we are out of the city.”

“… follow you, release Xu Zhi.”

Both Xu Zhi and Lou Quan Guan are both amazed at the extent of his protectiveness but before Lou Quan Guan can ask him more questions, their carriage has reached the city gates. Lou Quan Guan asks Xu Zhi to pretend that they are her servants and to tell the guards that she is leaving the city.