Chapter 6: Into Peach Blossom Island for the Mother-Daughter Beauties

Before Yang Guo came back, Ke Zhen'e had already come looking for him once. He had felt around the bed and couldn't find him, then searched the inn from one end to the other and still saw no sign of him. He was extremely anxious. When he came looking a second time, Yang Guo had already returned. Just as he was about to ask where he had gone, he suddenly heard a whoosh of wind overhead as someone vaulted across the roof.

He knew two very skilled fighters were crossing the roof, so he hurriedly picked Guo Fu up, laid her on the bed beside Yang Guo, and stood guard by the window with his iron staff, afraid the two were enemies who might come back. Sure enough, the wind sounds drew closer from far away, and in an instant they were on the roof.

Yang Guo recognized them as Guo Jing and his wife. Before long, their voices could be heard, and Ke Zhen'e finally relaxed and opened the door.

Huang Rong came in and, seeing that old and young were all there, asked, "Master Ke, nothing happened, did it?"

Ke Zhen'e said, "With this old body here, I wouldn't let anyone hurt those two no matter what."

Yang Guo sneered to himself. This old blind man sure knew how to boast. Forget Ouyang Feng - even Li Mochou was more than the old blind man could handle.

Huang Rong, though, nodded in gratitude.

Only then did Yang Guo realize that Ke Zhen'e meant he would fight to the death before letting anyone hurt Yang Guo and Guo Fu.

Even if the main concern was Guo Fu, Yang Guo still felt a little grateful.

This old man did have something to recommend him.

Guo Jing was worried about Yang Guo. He brought a candlestick over to the bed and looked him over.

Yang Guo was sitting up on the bed, his complexion much rosier now, the blackness in his palm no longer so obvious. Smiling, he said, "Uncle Guo! Your nephew is much better now!"

Beside him, Guo Fu's eyes on Yang Guo showed a trace of shy delight before she could hide it.

Huang Rong noticed her daughter's unusual reaction, but for the moment she didn't think much of it. Afraid she would get sleepy, she had Ke Zhen'e escort Guo Fu away.

After that, Huang Rong came closer and asked Yang Guo, "Guo'er, did Ouyang Feng come looking for you?"

As he breathed in the delicate fragrance coming from this stunning woman, Yang Guo felt refreshed. Still, he widened his eyes in mock surprise. "No, why?"

Huang Rong said nothing, only fixed her eyes on Yang Guo.

During the day, she had seen the flaw in the poison-drawing method he used, which was why she had decided to go gather herbs. When they came back that night, Yang Guo looked completely different.

And when they had run into Ouyang Feng on the way back, the two things naturally connected in her mind.

Yang Guo knew he couldn't hide it from Huang Rong, so he told her about Ouyang Feng teaching him the Toad Skill to help expel the poison, to avoid any rift between them. He left out only the part about becoming a disciple.

"I was afraid Uncle Guo would punish me, so I didn't dare tell him."

"You were forced into it, Guo'er. Still, it's better not to cultivate the Toad Skill if you can help it," Guo Jing said with a sigh after hearing the story.

Yang Guo protested, "If I don't practice the Toad Skill, the Ice Soul Silver Needle poison won't be fully cured. I don't want to end up with a weak constitution for the rest of my life. I'll just train it until the poison's root is cleared. I don't want to learn this strange, ugly art any more than I have to!"

If he hadn't known Guo Jing's generous nature and that Guo Jing wouldn't stop him from practicing the Toad Skill, Yang Guo would never have said it.

Guo Jing had no choice. The herb-gathering trip this time had not yielded enough, and there was no way to cure Yang Guo's poisoned wound completely. If only his father-in-law were here.

Huang Rong thought for a moment. "I just don't understand why Ouyang Feng treats Guo'er so well."

Guo Jing didn't think much of it. "From what Guo'er says, Ouyang Feng is mad and unpredictable. You can't judge him by ordinary standards." After thinking it over, he added, "Rong'er, we should head back to Peach Blossom Island as soon as possible."

"It's just hard to explain it to Master Ke. Jing-gege, you have to keep this from him for now," Huang Rong said, referring to the matter of Yang Guo learning the Toad Skill.

Guo Jing hesitated for a moment, looked at Yang Guo, and finally said, "If Master Ke doesn't bring it up, I won't say anything."

Huang Rong knew Guo Jing was deeply devoted to his master; since he'd said as much, it was as good as an agreement. She carefully reminded Yang Guo of a few more things before returning to her room. Not long after, Ke Zhen'e came back and slept on the same bed as Yang Guo.

The night passed without incident.

The next morning, Guo Fu woke Yang Guo. Though Yang Guo had teased her yesterday, leaving the young woman ashamed and embarrassed, by today she'd already forgotten it. She bounced over with a laugh and said, "Brother Yang, let's go catch crickets together today!"

Catching crickets seemed a bit dull, but since the pretty young woman had asked, Yang Guo naturally wouldn't refuse.

He took her fair hand in his and went looking for the places where crickets hid.

Guo Fu had just been caught off guard by Yang Guo taking her hand; her lovely face flushed red, and after sneaking a glance at him she let him lead her along with a mix of shyness and delight.

Very quickly, Yang Guo led Guo Fu to find plenty of crickets. Guo Fu had always played alone before, but now that Yang Guo was by her side, she was having a wonderful time, her beautiful face bright with constant laughter.

In particular, when Yang Guo teased her here and there on purpose, Guo Fu would only turn bashful for a moment before letting him steal an occasional kiss or a caress now and then.

Yang Guo didn't dare push too far with Guo Fu. If Huang Rong caught them, he might lose his chance to have both mother and daughter. After playing for a while, he saw Guo Jing and the others packing up to set off.

"Mother, what is it?" Guo Fu asked, still full of curiosity.

"We're going back to Peach Blossom Island," Huang Rong said with a light smile.

Yang Guo said, "Uncle Guo, Aunt Guo, if you're returning to Peach Blossom Island, I won't be able to see you off."

"Guo'er, you're not coming with us?" Guo Jing, feeling sorry for Yang Guo's lonely circumstances, was at a loss when he saw that he would not be going to Peach Blossom Island.

Hearing that, Guo Fu immediately grew anxious and said sweetly, "Brother Yang, come back to Peach Blossom Island with us too."

At that point, Huang Rong also noticed her daughter's unusual behavior. Especially when she saw her precious daughter address Yang Guo with such intimacy and such attachment, Huang Rong's heart tightened, and she felt a little uneasy.

Her brow furrowed slightly as she thought that perhaps Yang Guo should not be allowed to go to Peach Blossom Island after all.

But to her surprise, Yang Guo spoke first. "For the past two days, Uncle Guo and Aunt Guo have taken such good care of me. I'm grateful, but I don't want to live under someone else's roof. I've been on my own for years, and though it's been hard, I can still support myself."

Hearing this, Huang Rong saw that although Yang Guo was young, he had a proud spine, and she found herself liking him a little more for it.

Then she thought that even if they left Yang Guo behind now, with Jing-gege's temperament he would surely soften and regret it before they even reached Peach Blossom Island.

Then they'd have to turn back and look for Yang Guo again. Wouldn't that be far too much trouble?

Thinking this through, she smiled and said, "What, Guo'er, are you still thinking about doing those sneaky little chicken-snatching tricks?"

Huang Rong was referring to the rooster Yang Guo had grabbed before he returned to the kiln cave. Guo Fu had told her about it, and Guo Jing had lectured Yang Guo about it for quite a while.

Yang Guo flushed red and said, "I already told you, that chicken ran right up to my door on its own. I only caught it so I could return it to its owner."

Huang Rong paid no mind to his excuse.

When Guo Jing heard about it, he was even less willing to let Yang Guo leave.

He didn't want Yang Guo to turn bad the way his father had. If he didn't take him away, there was no telling whether Ouyang Feng might whisk him off, and before long they could end up with another young Western Poison on their hands.

Guo Jing said, "Guo'er! If you won't go to Peach Blossom Island, I'll tie you up if I have to and drag you there myself!"

Yang Guo spread his hands. "Then tie me up, Uncle Guo."

Guo Jing lifted a finger, ready to strike an acupoint on Yang Guo.

Damn, was he serious?

Yang Guo hurriedly shouted, "All right, all right, I'll go to Peach Blossom Island with Uncle Guo."

The reason he didn't want to go to Peach Blossom Island was that he didn't want to owe the Guo family a favor. But seeing Guo Jing like this, there was no way out.

Fine.

Anyway, he would only be staying on Peach Blossom Island for a short while.

Guo Fu, after all, still had a playful, impulsive temperament. Since she had spent both yesterday and today having a lot of fun with Yang Guo, and deep in her heart there was still a faint sense of attachment and sweetness she didn't yet understand, she was overjoyed to hear that Yang Guo would be going back to Peach Blossom Island with her. Her lovely face was full of delighted smiles. "Good, good! Brother Yang, Peach Blossom Island is beautiful. Once you get there, you'll love it so much you won't want to leave."

Yang Guo thought to himself that Peach Blossom Island being beautiful was worth shit. The real prize was the two beauties, Huang Rong and her daughter.

But out loud, Yang Guo still played the curious innocent and asked, "Is that so?"

Guo Fu immediately pulled him along, laughing as she told him how beautiful Peach Blossom Island was and how much fun there was to be had there.

After listening for a while, Yang Guo realized that aside from saying that the peach blossoms on Peach Blossom Island were very beautiful, most of what Guo Fu said was just how much fun the island was.

Meanwhile, Huang Rong saw her precious daughter being so close with Yang Guo, and her heart only grew more uncomfortable. But for the moment she couldn't show it; she'd have to find an opportunity later to keep her daughter a little farther away from Yang Guo.

And so the five of them left Jiaxing and headed southeast.

Along the way Yang Guo told jokes to amuse Guo Fu. Of course, he only chose ones she could understand.

Guo Fu had a very low threshold for laughter; often one joke would keep her giggling for ages.

Guo Jing watched the two young people get along so happily and felt pleased, but several times he opened his mouth and then, seeing Huang Rong's cold expression, swallowed the words back down.

Huang Rong could tell what he was thinking. Nothing more than wanting to betroth Fu'er to Guo'er. Even if he didn't say it now, he would bring it up in a few days.

By evening, the five of them stopped at an inn again. Guo Jing had originally planned to have Yang Guo sleep with Ke Zhen'e as he had the previous night.

Yang Guo was worried that Ouyang Feng might come. If things went like in the original story and Ke Zhen'e discovered him, then ended up fighting Guo Jing to a draw, that would be extremely bad.

So he said, "Uncle Guo, that's not possible!"

"Guo'er?" Guo Jing looked at Yang Guo in surprise.

Yang Guo glanced carefully at Ke Zhen'e and said, "Er, nothing. It's just that Old Ke is too restless in his sleep at night - snoring and grinding his teeth. I didn't sleep well at all last night. So, um..."

The others all stared, dumbfounded, but Guo Fu clapped and laughed. "No wonder Brother Yang got up so late this morning!"

Ke Zhen'e's old face was a little hard to take, and with a sweep of his sleeve he went inside. Huang Rong cast a suspicious look at Yang Guo, but said nothing. Guo Jing said, "Then let's get Guo'er his own room."

In the nights that followed, Ouyang Feng indeed came looking for Yang Guo. Yang Guo also asked him one by one about the parts of the Toad Skill he still didn't understand, and after several days, he had essentially entered the basics of the Toad Skill.

When it was finally time to switch to river travel, that night Yang Guo took his leave of Ouyang Feng and said, "Tomorrow I will be going by boat to Peach Blossom Island with Uncle Guo and the others. You'd better not follow. In about half a year, I should come back off Peach Blossom Island."

Ouyang Feng snapped, "What I want to do, do you think you can boss me around?"

With that, he turned himself upside down and left by walking on his hands.

Yang Guo smiled. Ouyang Feng couldn't beat Guo Jing and Huang Rong together, and he didn't even know whether Huang Yaoshi was on the island.

Saying that would probably keep him from looking for Peach Blossom Island again.

The next day they hired a boat and headed east along the river. As usual, when they moored, they found the Wu brothers, and from there the whole group traveled by sea to Peach Blossom Island. The Wu brothers were grief-stricken over their mother's death, and Yang Guo couldn't be bothered with them, so the journey passed in silence.