Chapter 51

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Chapter 51: Bending the Bow

     

As the wedding procession reached the entrance of the Liu family’s house, the sky was already bright. Many people were waiting at the entrance. Zhang Xiaohua led the horse to the crowd and then stopped. After Zhang Xiaolong dismounted, Zhang Xiaohua handed the reins of the horse to the approaching Liu family members.

     

Everyone clasped their hands and congratulated Zhang Xiaolong, saying: “Congratulations to the groom, congratulations!” Zhang Xiaolong happily returned the greetings. Then, the crowd made way for him. When Zhang Xiaohua looked up, he saw a wooden stand beside the entrance with a bow placed on top of it.

     

This was a village custom. The first thing the groom had to do when welcoming the bride was to shoot three arrows into the sky at the bride’s doorstep, symbolizing the expulsion of all evil spirits. He had seen this many times when others got married. However, although Zhang Xiaolong’s arm injury had healed, he still had trouble with farm work. How could he pull a bow and shoot arrows now?

     

It seemed that this task would have to fall to the groomsman, Zhang Xiaohua. However, Zhang Xiaohua was only a twelve or thirteen-year-old child, and having him draw the bow seemed rather far-fetched. Everyone looked at each other in confusion. Zhang Xiaolong thought for a moment and then stepped forward, ready to take the bow. Zhang Xiaohua panicked and quickly rushed forward, grabbing his elder brother. He said: “Big brother, your arm has just healed. How can you draw this thing? It will be a waste of all previous efforts if it gets injured again. Let me do it.”

     

Zhang Xiaolong smiled and said: “It’s okay. It’s just drawing the bow and shooting the arrows. I still have the strength for that. You’re still young, how could you have the strength to draw a bow and shoot arrows?”

     

Zhang Xiaohua also smiled and said: “Big brother, you’re underestimating me. I can handle plowing and tilling the fields by myself. How could I not have the strength? Let me give it a try. If I fail, then you can take over. That way, neither of us will lose face, right?”

     

Zhang Xiaolong thought about it and agreed. After all, the groomsman’s role during the wedding procession was to assist the groom. If Xiaohua couldn’t do it, he would have to do it himself. Mr. Liu probably knew that his arm wasn’t fully recovered, so the bow placed on the stand should be a soft bow that didn’t require much strength to draw.

     

As Zhang Xiaohua approached the stand, he reached up to take down the large bow that was as tall as he was. It felt surprisingly heavy in his hands. He had never handled a bow before and assumed all bows were heavy, so he didn’t think much of it. Then, he picked up an arrow without a tip from the stand and fitted it onto the bow. Turning back to Zhang Xiaolong, he asked: “Big brother, where should I aim?”

     

Zhang Xiaolong pointed towards the sky outside the village and said: “Over there.”

     

Zhang Xiaohua nodded in agreement. Mimicking what he had seen others do before, he planted his feet firmly in a horse stance. Then, facing the sky, he exerted all his strength to pull the bowstring. However, the bowstring turned out to be very taut. Zhang Xiaohua could only draw it about three-quarters of the way before it became too difficult to pull further. His face flushed with embarrassment. Normally, he could simply release the arrow at this point, but being his first time shooting a bow and arrow, and having seen others draw the bowstring fully, he mistakenly thought he needed to fully extend it as well.

     

Taking a deep breath, he exerted more force with both arms. Sure enough, a surge of strength flowed from his arms, and with a loud shout, the bow and arrow immediately formed a full moon. Confidently looking at the dawn outside the village, he released the taut bowstring. The arrow shot out like a meteor with a “whoosh” sound. Watching the arrow fly away into the distance, Zhang Xiaohua unexpectedly felt a sense of joy in his heart.

     

Zhang Xiaohua replicated the same procedure with the remaining two arrows, shooting them far out of Baligou. After shooting the three arrows, Zhang Xiaohua felt his arms numb and sore, making it difficult to lift them. He couldn’t place the bow back on the stand. At this moment, everyone applauded and praised Zhang Xiaohua’s strength. Only Zhang Xiaolong noticed something unusual. He quickly walked up to Zhang Xiaohua, took the bow, and prepared to place it back on the stand, but unexpectedly his hand sank. Zhang Xiaolong was very surprised, how could this soft bow be so heavy?

     

However, the others had already gathered around them, not giving him any more time to think, so he placed the bow back on the stand. He was then surrounded by everyone and escorted into the Liu family’s compound amidst applause, leaving the bow alone on the stand.

     

Just as Zhang Xiaolong was being escorted into the Liu family’s compound, Hunter Zhang from the northern end of Baligou was busy packing his gear and preparing to go hunting in the mountains. He entered the hut where his bow and arrows were kept. Not long after, he came out in a state of frustration and asked his wife urgently: “Wife, where is the bow that was placed on the stand?”

     

His wife replied strangely: “Which bow? How would I know? I never go into that little hut.”

     

Hunter Zhang became anxious and said: “It’s the ancestral five-stone bow that’s been passed down by my ancestors. It was placed on the right-side shelf at the very top. I saw it just the day before yesterday, but now it’s gone. Could it be that our home was robbed yesterday?”

     

His wife, who had been preparing breakfast at the stove, suddenly remembered something and hurried out, saying: “I remember now, husband. Yesterday, Mr. Liu, the teacher, sent someone to borrow a soft bow. I guess he must have needed it for his son-in-law today and was worried about not being able to draw it, so he specifically asked for it. At that time, I was busy packing our child’s clothes, so I told the visitors to help themselves. I recall you mentioning there was one on the top shelf that you made for fun, so I informed them.”

     

Hunter Zhang asked: “Did they take it out for you to see?”

     

His wife replied ashamedly: “Well, they did show it to me. But it’s just something you made as a hobby. I was too lazy to look at it, so I just let them take it away.”

     

Hunter Zhang immediately scolded: “You useless woman! When borrowing something, couldn’t you at least take a look? They took away our ancestral heritage, and you couldn’t be bothered to check! Moreover, Teacher Liu has always been kind to us. He’s the one who sent the children from our village to study. He must have had a good reason to borrow the soft bow. But you’ve gone and given them a bow that hasn’t been drawn in decades! Isn’t this purposely embarrassing them? Wait till I come back to see how I’ll deal with you!”

     

After saying that, Hunter Zhang hurriedly ran out in distress. By the time he reached the gate of Liu’s house, Zhang Xiaolong and the others had already entered the courtyard. His ancestral strong bow was still placed on the stand at the entrance. In his opinion, it must have been left there because no one could pull it open and lost face. Just then, he noticed someone peeking out from Liu’s gate. He called out: “Liu San, please tell Teacher Liu that I’ve taken this bow and arrows.”

     

The person inside replied: “Okay, got it.”

     

Zhang the Hunter quickly took the bow, holding it dearly like a treasure, with a guilty expression on his face. He hurried away, fearing someone might stop him and criticize him for taking out a bow that no one could draw. With his mind preoccupied, he didn’t notice that the three arrows without arrowheads that should have been on the stand were nowhere to be seen.

     

At this moment, Zhang Xiaolong was already accompanied by Zhang Xiaohua and standing in front of Liu Qian’s chamber door. According to the local customs, if the groom wanted the bride to open the door, he had to answer the questions posed by the bride satisfactorily. Only then could the door be opened. In reality, these questions were mostly proposed by the bridesmaids and others, the bride herself wouldn’t make things difficult for her future husband.

     

Zhang Xiaolong now faced this same challenge. Mr. Liu had always been a person with scholarly grace, so most of the guests were intellectuals. There wasn’t a single person skilled in martial arts, otherwise, someone would have recognized the astounding feat of Zhang Xiaohua’s three arrows just now.

     

Although Mr. Liu had informed his friends and students beforehand that his son-in-law came from a humble background, advising them not to embarrass him too much, the truth was, Mr. Liu’s intelligent and virtuous daughter had attracted the attention of quite a few suitors. Today, she was unexpectedly married off to someone outside their circle. Among the guests, there were indeed a few who felt dissatisfied about this. However, they couldn’t show their dissatisfaction openly in front of Mr. Liu. Nevertheless, a few busybodies were considering how to make things difficult for Zhang Xiaolong during the bride’s questioning.

     

Liu Yueyue, of course, was Liu Qian’s bridesmaid. This girl was always fearless and direct, acting without thinking. Sure enough, her first problem was: Zhang Xiaolong to write a few characters to demonstrate his calligraphy skills.

     

As soon as this question was raised, Liu Qian inside the chamber glared at Liu Yueyue reproachfully and asked: “Whose idea is this? Why didn’t you tell me?”

     

Liu Yueyue said coquettishly: “Sister, it was the idea of the group outside. There’s no harm in making brother-in-law lose face a little now. It can also encourage him to diligently learn calligraphy in the future. Don’t you agree?”

     

Liu Qian smiled bitterly in her heart. What could she say? The problem had already been asked, how could she take it back? Sigh, she just hoped that Xiaolong wouldn’t blame her for this in the future.

     

In the main hall, Mr. Liu’s face also looked a bit ugly. This was clearly meant to embarrass his son-in-law. However, weddings were about festivity, and no matter how much people played around, no one could be blamed. It was all up to how Zhang Xiaolong handled it. If he really couldn’t manage, he could just scribble something, it wouldn’t matter much, since he was a farmer after all.

     

The expressions on the faces of Zhang Xiaolong and his brother were also quite strange. What they feared had come to pass. Zhang Xiaolong sighed in his heart and stepped forward, ready to scribble a few characters just to get by. At this moment, Zhang Xiaohua once again grabbed his eldest brother’s arm and said: “Don’t be impatient, big brother. Let me try.”

     

“You, can you do it?” Zhang Xiaolong asked with some doubt.

     

Zhang Xiaohua patted his hand and said; “Just like I said before, if I can’t do it, then you can take over.”

     

Zhang Xiaohua stepped forward and said to everyone: “Everyone, as I said earlier, my elder brother’s arm injury hasn’t fully healed. I’ll write the characters on his behalf.”

     

After speaking, he walked over to the prepared writing materials and thought for a moment. Suddenly, his eyes lit up. He looked up and said: “Everyone, to make things more interesting today, let’s not use these brush, paper, and ink-stone.”

     

The crowd asked curiously: “Then what will you use?”

     

Zhang Xiaohua asked: “Is there a mop available? Today, I’ll write a few large characters for everyone using a mop.”

     

“A mop? How do you write with that?” Someone asked in surprise. As they spoke, someone brought over a mop. Zhang Xiaohua found a basin, poured the ground ink into it, dipped the mop in the ink, and then held the handle of the mop in both hands. He carefully contemplated for a moment in his mind. Finally, he lifted the mop and on the bluestone pavement of Mr. Liu’s courtyard, he wrote two large characters like dragons flying and phoenixes dancing: “Piao Miao(缥缈)”.

     

The two characters were written with an ancient and elegant style, full of graceful charm. Zhang Xiaohua completed them in one go, stunning the onlookers. Mr. Liu in the main hall heard the commotion outside, and suddenly everything became unusually quiet. He also stepped out of the hall. When he saw the two characters on the bluestone pavement, he remained silent, deeply savoring them, and was captivated.

     

Speaking of the characters “Piao Miao”, they were originally on the token. After Zhang Xiaohua had someone identify them that day, he repeatedly simulated, pondered, and practiced how to write them. He couldn’t write other characters, such as “Zhang Xiaohua”, but these two characters had already been deeply engraved in his heart like a seal, so they naturally came to him. Of course, with his level of education, writing with a brush would definitely invite ridicule. However, using a mop to write didn’t require worrying about technique and such.