Chapter 3 (Revised) Poor Bao'e...
Meanwhile, Zhu Bao'e transformed into flames and fled. During her escape, she remembered many more things.
It turns out she has been in the book for over a thousand years.
More than a thousand years ago, she dressed up as an ordinary young lady. Relying on her good family background, she was always lazy and idle, living a carefree life.
It was also her good fortune that when she was a teenager, she was fortunate enough to meet a celestial master who took her as his disciple.
With the guidance of a celestial master, she devoted herself to cultivation, ascended to immortality, and was appointed as Tianpeng, in charge of the Milky Way.
The task wasn't too demanding, and she could manage it.
But she was used to being unrestrained and had a habit of making a scene when she was drunk. Hundreds of years ago, she caused a ruckus at the Queen Mother's Peach Banquet, which violated the heavenly rules and resulted in her being banished to the mortal world.
She was banished to the mortal realm, but to make matters worse, she was reborn as a pig.
Looking back now, this fool belatedly realized that she had actually transmigrated into the body of Zhu Bajie, the character wielding a rake in "Journey to the West"!
Yunzhan Cave, Fuling Mountain.
When she was banished to the mortal realm, she landed on Mount Fuling and stayed there for hundreds of years.
However, in order to save Young Master Gao, she was hit on the head by a demon, and she forgot everything from her past.
Bao'e parted the clouds and looked out, spotting a cave dwelling in the mountains and fields in the distance.
Pine and cypress trees and bamboo groves line both sides of the cave, while wild grasses and vines grow haphazardly in front of the cave.
It was a desolate and deserted place, uninhabited for a long time.
With tears welling in her eyes, she was pulling up weeds and vines when the traveler caught up with her.
The Monkey King brandished his iron cudgel and laughed, "You got a knock on the head and a blast of wind, now do you remember who I am?"
What could Bao'e not remember?
Although she had transmigrated into the book over a thousand years ago, she still vaguely remembered some plot points of "Journey to the West" and knew about the Great Sage Equaling Heaven's abilities. Moreover, she had even met him when he was the Keeper of the Heavenly Horses in the Heavenly Palace.
She was furious and unafraid of him. Holding a rake, she angrily swung it at him, shouting, "You rude, impatient monkey, you unreasonable stable boy! What have I ever done to offend you that you dare to hit me for no reason? This is outrageous!"
The Great Sage still had the leisure to joke with her: "A mere flick of the staff doesn't count as a real attack. If I were to use my true skill, I'm afraid one strike would end your life."
"Stop talking!" Bao'e mustered all her strength and swung her rake down, aiming to poke nine bloody holes in him.
The Monkey King parried with his staff: "Good sister, you recognize me and still want to hit me, but you get annoyed after being tricked by me, Old Sun."
Bao'e remembered how he had impersonated Gao Cuilan to trick her earlier, and she immediately jumped up and down in anger.
He must have recognized her early on and deliberately changed his appearance to look like that.
She raised her rake again and said, "Don't say any more, take this!"
The traveler showed no mercy and fought her with his staff.
The two fought for about thirty rounds in mid-air. Just as they were locked in combat, the Monkey King suddenly said, "You fool, why did you give up being an immortal and come down to the mortal world to recognize that old man Gao as a relative? He never acknowledges you. Do you know that the old man gave me half of his fortune and begged me to send you away as soon as possible!"
"That damned monkey! If he knew this principle, why didn't he go and give that old bastard a whack instead of trying to beat me up? He could have just chased him away and avoided all trouble." Bao'e was furious and wielded her rake with even more force.
The two fought for another hundred rounds until the sky began to lighten.
Bao'e's belly was only filled with the dozen or so hot sesame cakes that Young Master Gao had sent, and after working hard for half a day, she had no strength left.
Unable to withstand the onslaught, she gritted her teeth and seized an opportunity to transform into a whirlwind and disappear back into the Cloud Stack Cave.
Good Bao'e, she has mastered the wonderful method of hiding her head when she should, like a turtle. She hid in the cave and refused to come out no matter how much the Monkey King shouted and banged on the door.
Having figured out her background, the traveler wasn't in a hurry. Also, he was worried about his master, so he decided to return to Gao Family Village first.
Zhu Bao'e hid in the cave, tightly closing the stone door, blocking out most of the light.
She wiped away the sweat, collapsed to the ground, and looked up at the dimly lit cave.
Inside the cave, all the household items were still there, but they were covered in ash and overgrown with weeds, giving it a desolate appearance, indicating that no one had been there for several years.
On the rough, damp stone wall hung an old painting of men and women drinking merrily.
The woman in the painting is lying on a tiger-skin bed, her face flushed and drunken.
The man held a wine cup, watching her, while in his other hand he used a sharp knife to carve meat and eat it. He had a half-smile on his face, and a sinister look lurked between his narrow eyes.
She suddenly remembered that a few years ago she wanted to marry Gao Cuilan, but his parents had given her all sorts of excuses.
They said there was still a short time; they also said it wouldn't be too late to discuss things slowly after she regained her memory; they also said that before she lost her memory, she had a past relationship with "Mao Erlangjun" from Yunzhan Cave in Fuling Mountain.
At the time, she thought they were talking nonsense, making up a fake person to fool her. Now that she has regained her memory, there really is such a person!
This Mao Erlangjun is a demon transformed from a rabbit.
She was beautiful but frail, with a vicious nature; she was a beauty with an unkind face and a black heart.
He was quite wealthy, and perhaps fearing that the demons from all directions would plot against him, he used some gold and silver to coax her into marriage.
However, a few years later, Ujiro-kun passed away.
She found it too deserted, so she went down Fuling Mountain, where she happened to save the young master Gao.
Now that she has returned to this old place, she has no heart to reminisce about the past. She only finds the cave dusty and overgrown with weeds, which cannot compare to the soft brocade quilts of the Gao family.
She muttered some complaints, wondering how Miss Gao had become Young Master Gao, and racking her brains trying to figure out where there was any Mao Erlang in Journey to the West. She even complained that Mao Erlang died too cleanly, and that his ghost didn't come back to clean up the mess from time to time.
Before long, she got so tired that she fell asleep and found a dry grassy spot nearby to curl up and lie down.
Before she could even close her eyes, she suddenly heard a rustling sound and felt someone staring at her. She immediately thought it was a ghost and jumped up in fright.
Thinking of Mao Erlangjun's vindictive nature, she wiped her face and choked out to the old painting, "My dear husband, though you are dead, my heart is completely filled with you! How could I bear to let you sweep the floor, dust, pull weeds, and level the ground? A few jokes, and you're already causing trouble?"
As soon as she finished speaking, a tiny mouse darted out from the grass beneath the old painting and disappeared in an instant.
It turned out that the commotion was caused by this rat spirit.
Bao'e was so angry that she paced around in circles: "You unlucky rat spirit, that monkey hit me, and now you're playing tricks on me too. Why don't you stay a few steps longer and get hit by my rake?"
She cursed that Second Young Master Mao for dying so quickly, not even bothering to use magic to protect the cave before he left, allowing this rat spirit to occupy the cave and become its overlord. She wondered if this rat spirit was perhaps her maternal grandfather, since he was still being cared for in this huge cave even in death.
She was tired of cursing and put down the rake to doze off. But fearing that the rat spirit would bite her ears, she covered her ears tightly before closing her eyes in peace.
Zhu Bao'e was asleep when she suddenly heard someone calling her from outside the stone gate, their voice high and low, mournful and pitiful, like someone calling for her soul.
She mustered her strength, dragged the rake, and walked behind the stone gate, pressing her ear to listen carefully.
A voice from outside the door called out, "Bao'e, Bao'e, are you in here?"
Zhu Bao'e recognized the voice of Young Master Gao and was overjoyed, but then she suddenly remembered that the monkey had transformed into Gao Cuilan to trick her yesterday.
Fearing it was another trick by Sun Wukong, she suppressed her smile and refused to respond.
Young Master Gao: "Bao'e, this morning I heard that hairy-faced little elder tell his master that you hid in this Cloud Stack Cave. Fearing he might harm you, I rushed here. I wonder if you are safe?"
Bao'e thought to herself that this monkey was indeed cunning; he had to ask how she was doing before he could trick her.
She remained silent, plotting how to get revenge on him.
Young Master Gao waited for a long time, then became even more anxious: "Bao'e, Bao'e, why are you silent? Are you blaming me? I swear to heaven, if I have harmed you, may I go to hell!"
Zhu Bao'e became suspicious. This person dared to make such a vicious oath, unlike that monkey.
She hesitated before asking, "No need for further words, I only want to ask you, when did we first meet?"
Young Master Gao replied hastily, "More than three years."
Where is it?
"In the desolate forest at the foot of Fuling Mountain."
"What did the monster look like when you encountered it in the mountains?"
He added, “It was a tiger spirit as big as a house. You beat it to death with a stick, skinned it, and made a blanket from its hide, which is still laid out in your bedroom.”
That's right, that's right.
Bao'e continued to test him: "What did I give you as a gift last Mid-Autumn Festival?"
“Bao’e, you must have misremembered. Last Mid-Autumn Festival, when you looked at the round, bright moon in the sky, tears suddenly streamed down your face, and you said that you seemed to see an old friend. I asked you where the old friend was, but you shook your head and said that you couldn’t remember, that it was just a vague memory.” The young master Gao said slowly, “I was afraid that you would be sad, so I gave you a jade hairpin, but you asked me if that hairpin could be exchanged for a few reunion cakes.”
Exactly, exactly!
Zhu Bao'e hurriedly pressed the door shut and asked again, "Yesterday you delivered cakes, how were they made, and what kind of fillings did they have?"
"They are steamed cakes and vegetarian buns filled with fresh and tender vegetables."
Exactly! Exactly!!
She asked, "The water I drank?"
He replied, "Lukewarm water that is neither too hot nor too cold."
She asked, "The hairpin I wore?"
He replied, "I asked someone to buy the material last month, and I made the gold and jade hairpin myself."
She then asked, "What kind of meat do I like to eat?"
“Bao’e, you’re confused again. That year you beat the tiger spirit with a stick. Fearing I would be scared, you explained that a Bodhisattva had admonished you to observe a vegetarian diet and subdue the demon to atone for your sins, and never eat people. After that, you completely forgot about the past, but I remembered these things and reminded you not to eat meat.”
Upon hearing this, Bao'e concluded that he was not the monkey in disguise.
“Brother,” she had long forgotten about her confession to Mao Erlang, and now entrusted her heart to this young master Gao. She hurriedly opened the stone door, “This mountain path is steep and difficult to walk on. How did you, with your frail body, manage to climb up here with such difficulty?”
A note from the author:
----------------------
The article significantly shortens the distance between Gaojiazhuang and Fulingshan.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
