"Where's my donkey?"
"My horse is gone too."
The two of them checked carefully under the tree. Apart from the neatly gnawed grass stubble and chewed smooth locust branches, they found no signs of the reins being broken, so it didn't look like the dog had run away on its own.
Zhong Lu said, "Let's go back to the stable first."
The two men then went to the stable. When they returned to the stable, they didn't see the donkey and horse. When they asked the attendant, the attendant also said that they had not seen them.
Xu Jiang thought for a moment and asked, "If we haven't seen the horses and donkeys, then we have seen people."
The attendant said, "Except for Lord Mu and his servant, no one else was seen, but Lord Mu left in a carriage."
Zhong Lu frowned and said, "A famous musician came out before them, didn't you see it?"
The attendant shook his head, "No."
Xu Jiang pondered and said, "Since he hasn't left the bamboo forest yet, he must still be nearby. Let's split up and look for him."
Just as they were about to go back, they saw a horse coming out of the bamboo forest, dragging its reins.
The attendant recognized it as his own horse and said happily, "Master, our horse is back."
Xu Jiang looked behind the horse but didn't see her donkey. "Where's my donkey?"
Zhong Lu asked his followers to go with Xu Jiang to look for her, while he stayed in the stable to wait. He was too old to walk.
Xu Jiang and his followers went in the direction where Ma came back and searched upstream of Zhuxi River. After searching for about a moment, they suddenly heard a cry for help.
The two looked at each other and ran forward. It took another while before they found someone in the creek.
"It's really you!" Xu Jiang pointed at the clay figurine in the ditch and shouted, "Thief! Where's my donkey?"
The flute player angrily cried, "Who are you calling a thief? I didn't steal your donkey!"
"You didn't steal them, so maybe they ran away on their own?"
"It just ran away! I saw they were tangled up and couldn't move, so I kindly went to untie them, but the damn donkey untied the rope and ran away. Not only did it run away on its own, but it also entangled the horse and ran away. I chased it for a long time and finally caught up with it. Just as I was about to take it back, it was dragged into the ditch by the damn donkey." He lay in the ditch, slapping the water in anger. "Besides, I didn't know it was your donkey. If I had known it was yours, I would have let it be strangled. It deserved it."
Xu Jiang crossed her arms and looked at him suspiciously, "Really?"
"Good intentions don't go unrewarded!" He roared with his head covered in mud and water, "Pull me up! I sprained my ankle!"
Xu Jiang thought about her stubborn son's nature and thought that he might do such a thing, so she believed it reluctantly. Then she and her followers pulled him out of the ditch.
The attendant checked his foot and found that it was indeed sprained and swollen like a steamed bun.
Xu Jiang snorted, then suppressed a laugh and asked, "Did you see my donkey running over there?"
The only thing clear from the flute player's appearance was his pair of eyes, which were rolled up to the sky. He pointed unhappily at the upper reaches of the Bamboo Creek and said in a gruff voice, "It's going that way."
Xu Jiang asked his attendants to help him to the stable first, and went to look for the donkey alone.
She hadn't walked far along the stream bank when she saw her donkey, wagging its tail and happily nibbling on reed buds beside a patch of reeds.
Xu Jiang walked over, slapped it hard on the butt, and cursed, "Stupid donkey! What are you running around for? If someone steals it and sells it to make donkey meat BBQ, you'll deserve it!"
As soon as he finished speaking, a roar came from the bamboo forest, "Who are you slandering? Who stole it? How could I be the one who did such a shameful thing?"
Xu Jiang raised her foot and glanced at the clay figure, which had dragged its broken body a few steps. "Your ears are quite pointy." Then she snorted, "I didn't say anything about you, but you're rushing to take the blame. Who can you blame?"
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