Chapter 35: The arrow tore through the air, emitting a whistling sound.
Back at Zhujia Village, Xu Sirui was still sullen. Zhu Yingning would have preferred him to throw a tantrum or curse like before; at least he could be described as "full of energy." Now, his silence seemed like a real blow.
When Liu Guifang asked them why they came back so early today, she had to resort to her vague explanation again: "Because...some reasons."
"Did you call your brother?"
"Yes."
"What did he say? Are you doing well in the city?"
Zhu Yingning then carefully repeated what Zhu Jixiang had told her.
Liu Guifang finally showed a look of relief. After a while, she remembered something and said to her, "Oh, Master Qi came to our house this morning and said he could lend you the bow you've been asking for for a long time."
“?!”
She nearly jumped up when she heard that. "He agreed?! Then I'll go find him right now!" She had already reached the door when she thought of Xu Sirui. She turned around and saw him still sitting on the kang, looking hopeless and wishing he'd die and be reborn. She simply went over to him and pulled him aside, "Let's go together."
"What for?" he asked weakly.
"hunt."
"?"
The mention of hunting inevitably reminded Xu Sirui of his sprained ankle. Thinking of his sprained ankle, he inevitably recalled the dark history on TV. With a look of utter despair on his face, he gritted his teeth and said, "What do you mean, humiliating me?"
"...No." She waved her hand. "Oh, it's hard to explain in a few words. Anyway, it's not the kind of hunting you're thinking of. You'll know when you see it. I'm not exaggerating, you'll definitely regret it if you don't see it."
"How do you know what kind of hunting I have in mind?"
"You must be thinking of digging a hole in the ground."
"Zhu Yingning!" he roared angrily.
She quickly covered her ears and ran away.
Just as Xu Sirui was furious, vowing never to leave the house, a sudden burst of screams erupted from outside. The screams were part surprise, part admiration, part adoration, and part eagerness to try. The emotions were rich and layered, and he instantly forgot his vow. With a frown on his face, he walked towards the door and looked towards the source of the noise, wanting to see what was going on outside.
A group of children crowded on the threshold of a house in the village, seemingly watching something.
After a while, Zhu Yingning came out with a longbow in his hand.
Xu Sirui was stunned. He leaned his upper body out of the window and squinted his eyes to take a closer look.
The bow was taller than the children watching from the threshold, with a long tip made of hardwood, its arms clad in ox horn, and a sinew string with a noticeable pad. The entire bow was sleek and slender, massive and imposing.
It is a very regular Qing bow.
He recognized this thing thanks to the various physical education classes his parents enrolled him in as a child. He wasn't very good at archery, but to accumulate material for pretense—just as someone who knows a lot about cars doesn't necessarily have to be a skilled driver—he memorized some of the bows and arrows his teacher had explained, including the Qing bow. The reason he remembered it was simple: his teacher had described the Qing bow as the pinnacle of China's cold weapon era. Even without consciously remembering it, the term "pinnacle" easily leaves a deep impression on the human mind.
But he had only seen pictures and had never seen the real thing.
To make sure he was not dazzled, he quickly rushed out of the house and came to Zhu Yingning.
Looking at it up close, the bow looks even more oppressive.
"Is this a Qing bow?" He was so excited that he could barely control his tone. To prevent Zhu Yingning from having only heard of one name, he also listed all the other names he knew for the Qing bow. "Manchu bow? Manchu bow?"
"Ah?" Zhu Yingning looked stunned. "What is that? Is that the name of this bow?"
“…”
Xu Sirui was speechless for a moment, feeling powerless as if she had poured a bucket of cold water on him just as the flame of anger was about to burst out.
Just as they were looking at each other in silence, a hunchbacked old man walked out of the house and spoke to him in a gibberish dialect.
Xu Sirui didn't understand, but Zhu Yingning showed a surprised expression after hearing it and helped translate, "He said you are very connoisseur. This bow is indeed a Qing Dynasty bow. He said his ancestor was a bow maker appointed by Emperor Qianlong. Later, he moved to Xinjiang and settled there. Many of his descendants moved from Xinjiang to other places, and he was one of them. Now he is the only one in his lineage who can make this kind of bow and arrow."
The extinguished fire in Xu Sirui's heart rekindled. He pointed at the longbow and said in disbelief, "Did he make this bow himself?"
The old man nodded.
He was shocked.
This was the first time in Xu Sirui's long time here that he'd felt the thought of "fun." It wasn't a matter of finding joy in the face of the dull, repetitive life in the mountain village, but rather a genuine feeling of shock.
Just as he was about to ask something else, Zhu Yingning said, "I'm going hunting. Are you coming?"
Xu Sirui was confused for a moment: "You? Going hunting with this bow?"
"Yes." She responded as a matter of course.
"But you don't even know what it's called!"
Zhu Yingning froze for a moment, as if truly shocked by his accusation. She lowered her head and began to think. After a full five seconds, she finished her thought and asked seriously, "I really don't know its name, but does this affect anything?"
Just as she was shocked by his accusation, Xu Sirui was also shocked by her self-righteousness, thinking that this would certainly have an impact. This was a complete waste of food, and a wild boar could not eat fine bran.
Although he didn't say these insulting words out loud, he couldn't hide his contempt as he followed Zhu Yingning into the mountains. He felt that handing this bow to her was child's play. What did she know? What value could she bring to this bow?
She walked all the way into the forest before she stopped, stood in front of him and laughed, "Xu Sirui, you seem particularly unconvinced."
He was stunned for a moment and denied it flatly: "No."
Just as I was wondering how she suddenly became so perceptive, I heard her say, "This is the third time you've breathed through your nose behind me."
He snorted briefly and quickly through his nostrils, a gesture that either indicated a rhinitis attack or expressed contempt.
“…”
Does he have it?
Xu Sirui was a little embarrassed.
Zhu Yingning wasn't angry at all. She just handed him the bow calmly and said, "You can try to pull it open. This bow weighs forty pounds."
Forty pounds wasn't heavy. Xu Sirui could use a glass bow up to sixty pounds. He took it, and the bow felt heavy in his hand.
"Give me an arrow."
She pulled a quiver from her quiver and handed it to him, correcting his posture.
Out of arrogance as an expert, he didn't listen to her words at all, and drew the bow according to the vague posture in his vague memory.
"This posture makes it easy for the string to hit your chest..." she reminded him softly.
Xu Sirui glared at her, telling her not to interrupt his luck. Due to lack of practice, and the bow being unexpectedly heavy, he couldn't pull it open the first time. After taking a deep breath, he finally managed to get it to forty pounds the second time. He held on for about five seconds, then hurriedly pulled it back before his hand started to shake.
"Not bad." Zhu Yingning was quite surprised.
Forty pounds is a number that can be used to test the difference between experts and amateurs. It is usually difficult for an untrained person to pull forty pounds for five seconds without shaking his hands.
In fact, Xu Sirui felt that his performance was just average, but since he was praised, he shamelessly agreed.
After returning the bow to Zhu Yingning, he saw her pull out a new arrow.
"Why don't you just stop trying? Your shoulder isn't healed yet, is it?"
She shook her head and said, "It's okay, it's already scabbed over."
After saying that, he pulled the bowstring.
The moment she pulled away, Xu Sirui's pupils widened. It wasn't because her movements were particularly professional—compared to the competitive movements taught by teachers at professional archery academies, Zhu Yingning's movements were remarkably folksy, devoid of any formalization. But it was this folkiness that caught his eye in that instant. It was because they were so natural. Her movements were as natural as bending over to pick up a stone, like eating, drinking, sleeping—everything was so natural and simple that it seemed internalized, a survival instinct that needed no embellishment to manifest itself naturally. The thin, sturdy muscles in her arms instantly tightened with her movements, forming beautiful curves, her fingers curled, her elbows steady.
Before he could recover from the shock of nature, she turned around and pointed the bow at his face.
The wind suddenly stopped.
The chirping of cicadas, the singing of birds, the croaking of frogs, all the noisy sounds suddenly faded away, and the only thing he could hear was the roaring of his own heartbeat in his ears.
So close—so close that only a person stood between them—the bow and arrow, thrust with great energy, aimed at his face, like a gun to his forehead, a beast lurking before his eyes. Her deep black eyes, hidden behind the bow and arrow, reflected the eerie mountain scenery, like a swirling black hole, sucking the arrow into her hunting range, and then—
The fingers loosened slightly.
Before his confused mind could form any thoughts of begging for mercy or help, the arrow grazed his cheek and flew out, the arrowhead tearing through the air with a whistling sound.
With a thud.
The arrow pierced the wood.
The sound was like the breaking of a spell, pulling him out of the tightness of his scalp and the stiffness of his body. His hearing returned, and the chirping of cicadas, birds, and frogs filled his mind once again. The tension was so intense that his ears tinnitus and legs trembled. He reached out to hold on to a nearby tree to barely keep his balance.
Looking up at Zhu Yingning, she lowered her arms and walked past him as if nothing had happened, as if she was not the one who had just pointed the arrow at him.
Just as he was about to yell something to vent his fear, she had already expertly pulled the arrow out of the tree behind him. Xu Sirui turned around and saw that there was a snake stuck in the arrow.
Seven inches in the middle.
"Hold……"
He was stunned.
"Don't worry, it's not poisonous." She thought he looked pale because he was afraid of snakes, so she grabbed the snake's body and slowly explained, "This kind of snake is very common in the mountains. It's just that it was coiled on the tree behind you. I was afraid you would be scared if you turned around, so I shot it first."
“…”
Xu Sirui was speechless.
After a long moment, he finally opened his mouth and said with difficulty, "Don't you think your arrows are scarier than snakes? I just thought you were going to blow my head off with an arrow."
She looked at him in surprise, as if she didn't understand why he had such an idea: "Why should I blow your head off?" After a pause, she added seriously, "Murder is against the law."
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