The plane cut through the clouds, and Yuetao had already drifted happily off to sleep. In her dream, she returned to Moon Valley and saw the masters and their wives who had raised her from the cradle.
The masters crowded around her, asking, “Taotao, did you find a handsome young man you like? We’ll go ask for your hand on your behalf.”
Yuetao waved them off. “We’ve already slept in the same bed. There’s no need to ask for my hand.”
First Master happily tugged at his beard and leaped up.
“Wonderful, wonderful! At last, someone’s taking our Taotao off our hands… taking over the job of raising her!”
Second Master said, “So her new family doesn’t send her back, we should prepare a little more dowry for Taotao.”
Third Master said, “Right. Liniment for bruises and sprains, life-saving pills, kidney-protecting pills, liver-protecting pills, heart-saving pills… We’ve got them all ready. There’s enough to keep our son-in-law supplied for decades.”
Fourth Master said, “Will that man even survive a few decades with Taotao? We’d better prepare some more gold. It’s hard currency—you can always use it.”
Fifth Master said, “I’ve stockpiled a cellar full of food.”
Sixth Master said, “A cellar full of weapons.”
Third Master’s Wife said, “A cellar full of clothes and bedding.”
Seventh Master said, “I haven’t decided what to stockpile for that ungrateful apprentice… beloved apprentice…”
Her masters loved her so much. It was so warm…
After more than ten hours in the air, followed by high-speed trains, taxis, motor tricycles, tractors, donkey carts…
At last, when she returned to Moon Valley, Yuetao discovered that the dream she’d had on the plane was actually coming true.
“Masters, you really are stockpiling things! You’re acting as if you’re about to leave.”
In the only cluster of houses in Peach Blossom Village, seven old men with white hair and one with black hair were carrying box after box of who-knew-what down into the cellar.
When they saw her, they all pursed their lips and reddened eyes.
Third Master’s Wife swept the girl she’d raised from childhood into her arms.
“My Taotao! Is that man good to you? Has he bullied you? Does his family have money? Are his parents easy to get along with? Does he have troublesome brothers or sisters?”
Yuetao hugged Third Master’s Wife back and answered only the first question.
“Yes!”
As for the rest, Yuetao didn’t know. She didn’t understand. She wasn’t sure.
She didn’t want to see them again anyway, so what his family was like had nothing to do with her.
Third Master patted his wife’s shoulder and said helplessly, “Even if that man’s whole family were a pack of mad dogs, they still wouldn’t be a match for our Taotao.”
Yuetao pouted. “Third Master, are you complimenting me?”
Fourth Master burst out laughing. “How is that not a compliment? We’re saying you’re formidable.”
First Master said, “Still, Taotao, after you get married, you’ll have to rein in your temper. Don’t flip the table and beat people up just because they say something you don’t like.”
Second Master chimed in. “Exactly, exactly. Taotao, we’re ladies, ladies! Once you’re married, you can’t be as reckless as you are at home. You have to reason things out when something happens, understand?”
Shen Yuetao caught the phrase “get married” twice in her masters’ words.
Puzzled, she nestled against Third Master’s Wife and asked, “Get married? Who? Third Master’s Wife, are you getting remarried?”
Third Master’s Wife shoved her beloved pupil away. “You little brat! I’m already this old. What the hell would I get remarried for?”
Shen Yuetao said, “There are only two women here who could get married—you and me. If you’re not getting married, then it must be me! When did I decide to get married? How come I don’t know?”
The moment the girl said that, the busy old men stopped what they were doing. Seven shocked faces turned toward the beloved pupil they had raised themselves, and they asked her cautiously, “Taotao, didn’t you find a man you like?”
Thinking of Shang Zhan, she nodded. “I did!”
The seven masters relaxed a little, then continued, “And you didn’t just sleep in the same bed?”
Yuetao said, “Right.”
Seventh Master asked, “Then why aren’t you marrying him? Is the man a scumbag? Does he not want to take responsibility?”
Yuetao shook her head. “No. He even talked to me about getting married yesterday.”
“Mm-hm, marriage! Marriage is good!”
Everyone nodded vigorously in agreement.
Yuetao waved her little hand, plopped down in the courtyard’s rocking chair, and began to sway.
“What’s so good about it? Not one married couple is any good. I don’t want to get married. I left without telling him. He’ll never find me, and even if he does, I’m not marrying him.
I have food, a house, money, looks, and brains—and now I should have a child, too. Why would I walk into the prison of marriage and turn myself, a beautiful young woman as free as the wind, into a lunatic? No way!”
She rubbed her belly. The egg princess should have finished choosing her consort by now, right? Her precious baby girl~~~
Around Yuetao in the courtyard, the seven old men and one old woman all wore stunned expressions of dawning realization.
First Master asked, “Taotao, what did you mean when you said you might have a child now?”
Fourth Master asked, “Taotao, you were joking about not getting married, right?”
Third Master asked, “Don’t you like that man?”
Yuetao thought about Shang Zhan. Perfect looks, perfect body, technique… perfect plus, heh heh heh~
“Mm, I like him.”
Fifth Master said in anguish, “If you like him, why don’t you hurry up and make him yours?”
Yuetao held up a finger and wagged it.
“No. Men transform before and after marriage. Fighting every day is fine, but if I end up killing someone, wouldn’t I be in trouble?
Around here, I can beat a wild boar to death and it’s no big deal. But if I beat my own husband to death, I’d go to jail. If I killed someone, I’d definitely get the death penalty. What a rip-off. Not worth it.”
Sixth Master muttered under his breath, “We tell her every day how good marriage is, and she’s still this clear-headed?”
Yuetao winked at Sixth Master. “I have a phone and a TV. Those short dramas, novels, and news stories weren’t a waste of time~”
Second Master said, “And watching all that stuff made you smart, too.”
Seventh Master, the one with black hair, pushed through the others and asked Yuetao solemnly, “What did you mean when you said you might have a child?”
Yuetao cupped her beautiful little face and grinned smugly.
“That man is 188 centimeters tall, healthy, strong and perfectly built, with striking features and a handsome face. He’s very smart—a top student at one of that country’s best universities—and he’s great at making money.
I’m absolutely not going to pass up genes like those.”
Third Master’s Wife asked, “So you’re pregnant?”
Fourth Master asked, “And you’re keeping the child but ditching the father?”
Seventh Master rubbed his temples and asked, his head aching, “How are you going to raise a child?”
Yuetao got up from the rocking chair and casually picked up her beloved little whip, snapping it through the air in a beautiful flourish.
“I’ll raise my daughter the way you raised me! Masters, I’m going out to play. I’ll be back before dark. Remember to make my favorite dumpling hot pot and barbecue for me~ Woohoo~~”
The chair she had just sat in was still rocking, but the girl had already dashed out of the courtyard and run off to the mountains to play wild.
At the same time, nearly all of Manhattan had been turned upside down by Shang Zhan. He’d searched the underground black market, airline passenger lists, taxi companies—every means of transport he could check.
The woman who had spent a night locked in an all-consuming embrace with him had vanished into thin air.
It was as if she really were the Queen Mother of the West’s daughter, returned to heaven to guard the Milky Way, just as she’d said.
“Shen! Yue! Tao!”