Sitting in the big carriage, with eight strong men walked on both sides of the carriage. Ma Jingguo felt the wind blow across his face. He put his elbows on the window frame, opened the white curtains, and looked at the beautiful early autumn. The leaves around the mountain have begun to change color. He can smell the fresh breath of autumn.
He doesn't know why out of the four seasons, autumn is always the season in his memory. It may be because in early autumn was the first time he saw Mu Dishi, and it was also in autumn that he lost Mu Dishi, his beloved person.
He asked himself countless times why everyone he loved always left him behind. First, his parents, then Mu Dishi. He is not a person who is disfigured or looks too ugly. He is a decent person with good interpersonal skills. Why is no one willing to stand by his side to accompany him during his lonely hours?
Yuan Chaomei walked to the open window and said, "Chief, we will be at the Gu Manor soon."
Ma Jingguo let out an "um" and continued to close his eyes recalling his past, listening to Mu Huidai next to him playing the guzheng. He stared past his eyelashes, his gaze did not fall on Mu Huidai's face, but on her fingers. Mu Huidai is the young lady of some family with the surname Mu from down south. He took her away from her house because Mu Huidai had the same surname as Mu Dishi and her hands looks like Mu Dishi's hands. Another reason is that she has good guzheng skill.
Li Howin poured a cup of tea and handed it to Ma Jingguo. He said softly, "Chief, I went to the market a few days ago and brought your favorite tea."
Ma Jingguo took the teacup and sniffed it. The sweet green tea made his nostrils itchy. The fragrance of green tea brought him back to those happy days when he lived in Tianshan with Mu Dishi. Whenever he finished chopping the firewood, Mu Dishi would pour him a cup of tea. Before drinking that cup of tea, he would kiss Mu Dishi. From that kiss, he could also tasted the faded scent of the green tea from Mu Dishi's mouth.
Ma Jingguo murmured, "Xiao shushu…" After drinking the tea, he stretched the empty cup towards Li Howin. He looked at the young man with the same eyelashes as Mu Dishi. "Do you miss your parents?"
Li Howin lowered his head and said, "I…" He filled Ma Jingguo's teacup with tea. "I…"
Ma Jingguo sighed and looked at the shy young man. He said, "If you miss them, please tell me. If you want, you can stay with them for a few days."
Li Howin said softly, "I miss them very much...but..."
Ma Jingguo snorted, "When you visit them and return to Sunset Sector, I will not kill them, but if you don't come back after the visit, I will kill all the people in Li Village with the surname Li." Ma Jingguo looked at Li Howin frighten trembling lips. "Come here."
Li Howin approached Ma Jingguo. Ma Jingguo drank the tea. He lifted Li Howin's chin with his right index finger. He lowered his head and kissed Li Howin's trembling lips, and at the same time passed the green tea in his mouth into Li Howin's mouth.
Li Howin, who has experienced this treatment repeatedly, obeyed and swallowed the green tea. He felt Ma Jingguo's soft tongue slid into his mouth. After Ma Jingguo's tongue entangled with him, Ma Jingguo retracted his tongue and licked Li Howin's lips.
Ma Jingguo smiled at Li Howin and said, "After returning from Gu Manor, I will ask Chaomei to accompany you to meet your parents." Ma Jingguo continued to drink his tea.
Ma Jingguo sighed and closed his eyes. He recalled when he started to replace everything around him. He might no longer has Mu Dishi by his side, but he found many people with similar characteristics to Mu Dishi.
Back then Ma Jingguo passed by Li Village on his way to Tianshan. He remembered that many years ago, when Mu Dishi and him walked down south, they would stop and rest in Li Village and continue south the next day. He went to the same inn where he and Mu Dishi usually rest. He wanted to sit at the same table that he and Mu Dishi often sit, but there were already two people sitting at the table, so he paid them a small gold ingot and they agree to moved to a different table.
Ma Jingguo look to his right, he saw four martial artists sitting at the table, talking.
"Do you know that we met a young man who looked like Mu Dishi in Jiangnan? At first glance, I thought this young man was Mu Dishi."
"Really?"
"Even people who knew Mu Dishi say so themselves, but the young man…" He shook his head.
"What? The young man what?" The other martial artists wanted to know more.
"Although they have similar feature, this young man's fighting skill is not as good as that of Mu Dishi. Their fighting skills are as far apart as heaven and earth. I heard that Mu Dishi is a man with skill and beauty. Not only that, he is." The man motioned the other three martial artists to get closer so that he could whisper. "He likes men..." He giggled. "I heard that he was a man whore. He slept with more than fifty martial artists, and in return they helped him kill all the martial artists in the Mu Treasure Cave…"
Even if they speak softly, Ma Jingguo can hear clearly, as if they were sitting in front of him. He stood up and walked to the table.
He smiled at the four martial artists, hiding a murderous intention. He asked, "Shixiong, you surely know a lot about Mu Dishi? Are you related to him? Is he your friend?"
The martial artists said, "No I am not related to Mu Dishi in anyway."
Ma Jingguo said, "If you aren't a family member or a friend, how do you know so much about Mu Dishi's affairs?" He looked at the martial artist coldly. "Have you slept with Mu Dishi?"
The martial artist said, "Mu Dishi is my enemy, this xiong-tai, indeded, I am one of the martial artist who slept with Mu Dishi, but after I slept with him, I refused to help him kill the other martial artists."
Ma Jingguo smiled and said, "Really? Do you know who Ma Jingguo is?"
The martial artist asked confusedly, "Who?"
Ma Jingguo smirked and slowly repeated, "Ma… Jingguo…"
The martial artist, "No, who care who he is."
Ma Jingguo said angrily, "Ma Jingguo is a very jealous man and a very possessive person. He hates when others touch things that belong to him, or bad talk about people he knows." Ma Jingguo quickly grabbed the hand of the martial artist, drew the knife from behind the belt, and stabbed the knife into the martial artist's hand.
The martial artist grunted in pain. He threw his left hand towards Ma Jingguo, but Ma Jingguo quickly threw a punch at the martial artist's incoming punch. Ma Jingguo's punch shattered the knuckles of the martial artist, and the force of the fist pushed the two forearm bones of the martial artist out from the skin by the elbow.
The other three martial artists quickly stepped back and drew their swords at Ma Jingguo. Ma Jingguo looked at them with a sneer. He said with a chilling voice, "Scram of die."
The wounded martial artist asked painfully, "Who are you?"
Ma Jingguo asked, "You heard people say that Mu Dishi slept with other martial artists, or did these fifty martial artists said it themselves."
The wounded martial artist said, "These martial artists said it themselves, so I have the idea to say it."
Ma Jingguo asked, "So, you really haven't slept with Mu Dishi?"
The injured martial artist groaned in pain, "No!"
Ma Jingguo said, "Waiter come here with a piece of paper and a brush." The waiter walked over and put the paper on the table. "Can you write?"
Waiter, "Yes."
Ma Jingguo said, "Name?" He twisted his knife, and the injured martial artist screamed in pain. "Name?"
After the injured martial artists said the names and which sectors of the fifty martial artists who claimed to have slept with Mu Dishi, Ma Jingguo grabbed the piece of paper and handed a small piece of silver to the waiter.
Ma Jingguo leaned against the injured martial artist and whispered, "In life and in death, no one can have Mu Dishi, because Mu Dishi is mine." He quickly pulled out his knife and slit the injured martial artist's throat.
Yuan Chaomei walked into the inn and walked to Ma Jingguo. She said, "Chief, Wen qianbei and I have passed the news to the Gu already."
Ma Jingguo handed the note with fifty names to Yuan Chaomei. He said, "Chaomei, find these prodigal men and turn them into eunuchs."
Yuan Chaomei took the paper and said, "The young man you are looking for is with Yan Zhanjin."
Ma Jingguo asked, "He is sick?"
Yuan Chaomei, "He is poisoned with seven colors pill."
Ma Jingguo, "Chaomei, later, I will go to see if he really resembles my xiao shushu."
Later that night, Ma Jingguo walked slowly in the dark. He saw the young man standing alone at the gate. He approached and stood behind the young man for sometime. Seen from the back, he is a bit look like Mu Dishi, because of his long silky hair. Ma Jingguo reached out and touched his hair. The texture of the young man's hair is different from that of Mu Dishi. He thought in his heart, 'everybody praises you for looking like my xiao shushu. If Zhanjin can think of a way to cure you with my xiao shushu's acupuncture techniques, you might stand a chance to survive'. He assembled all his internal energy and punched the youth on the back. His internal energy opened the youth's meridians and led the poison inside the young man to the youth's left arm.
When Ma Jinggou looked at the young man as he walked past the young man. He uttered coldly, "You don't look like him. Why do everyone think you look like him?"