Time: 2013-02-28 12:55 Source: Story Website Author: Story King
Cai Xiu was the only daughter of Tailor Li, and she was born with the talent for embroidery. In Fuchuan Street of Man Mountain, Guidong, the Li family had been tailors for generations and was very famous. Clothes tailored and sewn by the father-and-daughter duo were always bright and eye-catching, meticulously fitting, making the wearer comfortable and at ease. Therefore, officials, gentry, merchants, vendors, young ladies, and married women from the town all came to Li's Tailor Shop for clothes, which made their business very prosperous.
Cai Xiu had delicate jade-like fingers and a slender, graceful figure. She started learning embroidery with her mother at the age of four or five, and as she grew, she became more beautiful and her embroidery skills more refined. When she was ten, a white-haired, disheveled old woman fleeing hardship fainted in front of her house. Cai Xiu, undaunted by dirt and smell, gritted her teeth and dragged the old woman inside, called her parents to bring a doctor, gave the old woman water and medicine, washed her face and feet, and tirelessly attended her day and night for about ten days.
"Cai Xiu, good girl, you have not only grown nimble hands but also a kind heart!" said the elderly woman gratefully after recovering, holding Cai Xiu's small hand affectionately and praising her. "Grandma has a silver needle and a strand of red silk; I hope that with them, you can embroider a life of integrity and happiness!"
Before leaving, the old woman gave Cai Xiu a special silver embroidery needle, a strand of soft, bright red silk, and also a book called "Divine Embroidery." After the old woman left, young Cai Xiu often stayed alone in her bedroom, reading the "Divine Embroidery" book and using the silver needle and red silk to embroider dragons and phoenixes, flowers and plants, insects and fish, filling her room with her creations, deriving great joy from her own handiwork.
Time passed swiftly, and in the blink of an eye, Cai Xiu grew from a small, yellow-haired girl into a young lady as beautiful as a flower and jade. Now, eighteen-year-old Cai Xiu had bright eyes and white teeth, a high chest and slim waist, graceful and elegant, capturing everyone's attention on Fuchuan Street.
On a winter day, Tailor Li was sewing clothes while Cai Xiu was embroidering. The father and daughter were rushing to make clothes for a client when they suddenly heard violent shouts and sounds of fighting outside the shop. Cai Xiu put down her embroidery needle to go see what was happening, but saw a young man in his twenties, holding a sharp sword, covered in blood, stumbling into the shop, and bumped fully into her.Cai Xiu was about to scold the swordsman for his abruptness when, unexpectedly, he suddenly collapsed to the ground with a thud. At that moment, they heard Luo San, the head constable of Fuchuan County, cursing and shouting, calling the constables to quickly search the tailor shop for the criminal.
Cai Xiu had just hidden the young swordsman in her boudoir when Constable Luo, along with a group of constables, stormed into the shop aggressively.
'Old Master Li, a murderous criminal we're pursuing has fled into your tailor shop. Hand him over immediately!' he said, pointing a sharp knife at Li the tailor, glaring with bloodshot eyes as he demanded the culprit.
'Constable Luo,' Li the tailor calmly stood up and smiled, addressing Luo San, 'No stranger has entered the shop since this morning. How would I have a murderous criminal to hand over to you?'
'No criminal to give me?' Luo San looked at the bloodstains on the ground and sneered coldly, 'If I find that murderer in your shop, I will have you locked up in the county jail!' He shoved Li the tailor aside and led the constables in ransacking the shop inside and out.
Kicking open the door to Cai Xiu's boudoir, they saw her sitting gracefully by the window, humming a tune while embroidering. Her delicate and pretty appearance made the old lecher Luo San's Adam's apple bob nervously as he swallowed hard.
'Cai Xiu, little sister, you're embroidering!' Luo San leered as he approached, 'Just now, a wounded murderer ran into the tailor shop. Did you hide him?'
'Constable Luo, as you just said,' Cai Xiu angrily replied, 'How could a girl in her boudoir hide a wounded murderer? Don't slander me and tarnish my purity!'
'What slander? I see the murderer hiding under your bed!' The old lecher Luo San, intending to take advantage and assault Cai Xiu, shouted loudly to intimidate her, then opened his arms and lunged at her viciously.
The constables, knowing that Luo San had malicious intentions toward Cai Xiu, tactfully stepped out of the room, all pricking their ears to listen to what was happening inside, secretly sighing in their hearts: such a beautiful and delicate embroidery girl is about to be violated and abused by the old lecher Luo San!
Although Luo San was the head constable of the county, he was corrupt and abusive toward the people, often using the pretext of investigating cases to assault and mistreat innocent women. The residents of Fuchuan Town harbored deep hatred for him.The constables were sighing over the delicate Caixiu, when suddenly the room rang with Luo San's piercing, agonized screams. They hurriedly kicked the door open and rushed in, only to see Luo San, his face bruised and swollen and his entire body covered in welts, tucking his butt under the bed. Countless large hornets with red heads and black wings were buzzing and droning around him, continuously stinging his face and backside.\"Gentlemen officers,\" Caixiu said to the constables in terror, \"I told Chief Luo that there were no murderers in my room, but he insisted on crawling under the bed to search! Unexpectedly, he disturbed a hornet's nest down there and got stung like this—it's truly terrifying!\"\The constables looked around in confusion, wondering if there could really be a hornets' nest under the girl's bed. They saw no nest under the bed, but noticed that a framed embroidery on the wall called 'The Frenzied Dance of the Bees' had hornets constantly flying out of it. Realizing something suspicious was going on, they didn't dare investigate further. They quickly carried the stung Luo San, looking like a swollen pig or toad, out of Caixiu's chamber.\No sooner had the constables left, the injured swordsman who had already awakened hurried out from behind the canopy of the flower bed and thanked Caixiu: \"Thank you, Miss, for saving my life. I, Liu Yanyun, am deeply grateful!\"\Seeing that the young swordsman was tall, handsome, and elegantly refined, Caixiu's face naturally flushed. \"Master Liu, there's no need for thanks. Helping someone in danger is simply the proper thing to do,\" Caixiu said, her long lashes fluttering. She asked with concern, \"May I ask, how did Master Liu offend these villains like Luo San, that they would chase you so recklessly?\"\"It's a long story!\" Liu Yanyun sighed. It turned out that he was a disciple of the heroic Zhang Chunlin from eastern Guangxi. When he went down the mountain after leaving his master, he happened to encounter He Yuzhou, son of the county magistrate He Jingxiang, along with his vicious servants forcibly kidnapping a civilian girl. The girl's parents, desperate to save her, confronted them rationally, only to be split in two by He Yuzhou's sword. Seeing He Yuzhou and his group abusing their power, forcibly taking the girl, and killing innocents, Liu Yanyun, enraged, immediately charged forward, striking down He Yuzhou with his sword and killing several of the evil servants who aided him. Chief Luo San of the county office, hearing the news, came with the constables to capture Liu Yanyun. Liu Yanyun fought Luo San, engaging in over 200 rounds of fierce combat, but was defeated by Luo San and had no choice but to escape with his sword while injured.If it weren't for Caixiu stepping in to save me today, I would have definitely died at Luo San's hands!
The playboy He Yuzhou is a vile man who seduces wives and daughters, utterly unforgivable. This villain even took the opportunity to flirt with Caixiu multiple times while getting clothes made at Li's tailor shop. Caixiu detested him deeply. Now, upon hearing that Liu Yanyun had killed the playboy, she hurriedly said admiringly, “Young Master Liu, you killed He Yuzhou and avenged the women who suffered here, truly admirable. I must also thank you on their behalf!” Saying this, her beautiful eyes fixed on Liu Yanyun, and her heart couldn't help but beat violently.
To avoid implicating Caixiu and her father any further, Liu Yanyun took out his sword and prepared to leave. “Young Master Liu, your wound hasn't healed yet, and the recently defeated Captain Luo must have laid ambushes near my home. How can you leave my shop to go outside?” Caixiu anxiously stopped him. “I think you should stay for now and heal before doing anything else.” Looking at the delicate and lovely Caixiu, Liu Yanyun's handsome face flushed involuntarily, and he couldn't help but nod.
Meanwhile, Luo San was stung by wasps all over, his face bruised and swollen, covered in poisonous welts, and was carried back to the county office by the constables, lying in bed moaning. His senior brother, He Jingxiang, the magistrate of Fuchuan, came to see him along with their junior, Chen Qianming. “Senior brother,” Luo San groaned, “Liu Yanyun killed my nephew and escaped into Li's tailor shop. I tried to pursue him but ended up like this from the wasp stings. You must avenge me and my nephew!”
“It's the middle of winter now, these wasps are very strange,” the fat and large-eared He Jingxiang pondered, stroking his goatee. “Ordinary girls are afraid of insects. Why would Tailor Li leave such a large wasp nest under his daughter's bed?”
“Senior brother, no matter how strange things are, it's true that Luo San is half-dead from the wasp stings,” Chen Qianming said, “Tonight I will break into Li's tailor shop alone and definitely bring back the heads of Liu Yanyun and the Li father-and-daughter!”
Chen Qianming, nicknamed “Qiú Xū Hǔ” (Curly-Beard Tiger), is highly skilled, ruthless, and fearsome with his curly beard. Since stepping into the world, numerous martial arts masters have fallen to him. With him going to seize Liu Yanyun and the others' heads, it would surely be an easy task. But to be safe, He Jingxiang still warned him: “Even big ships often sink in gullies, so you must be extra careful!”
“Senior brother, don't worry!”Chen Qianming confidently patted his chest, and that night at midnight, he grabbed a ghost-head broadsword and stormed Li's tailor shop, climbing over the wall, prying open the door, and breaking into Caixiu's boudoir. He Jingxiang, Luo San, and Chen Qianming, known as the "Three Wolves of Eastern Guangxi," were once three notorious bandits occupying Langman Mountain. Bandits, having earned enough money from killing and robbing, spent money to savor and recruit the magistrate, clerk, and constable of Fuchuan, committing corruption and killing innocents, turning a small county in Fuchuan into their bandit domain. At that moment, Chen Qianming brought a knife to Caixiu's bedside and saw her playboy sleeping soundly on an embroidered pillow under the quilt. He shouted loudly and raised his knife, ready to strike her jade-like neck. In the blink of an eye, a huge mountain eagle suddenly pounced from the embroidered piece hanging on the wall, cackling angrily and pecking off Chen Qianming's right wrist holding the knife. As the ghost-head knife clanged to the ground, Chen Qianming looked up in terror, only to be blinded by the eagle's pecking in one eye. Chen Qianming was terrified and hurriedly climbed over the wall to escape, ignoring the pain even when the mountain eagle pecked the back of his neck several times. Chen Qianming fled back to the county office, his face covered in blood, but only managed to shout "Mountain eagle, deadly mountain eagle!" before he collapsed and died. He Jingxiang, who had lost both his son and his advisor, could not swallow this humiliation. He prided himself on his martial arts skills and cunning, so how could he care about the daughter of a small tailor shop? "No matter what deadly wasps and mountain hawks are," He Jingxiang shouted angrily, "Even if Li's tailor shop is a dragon's den or tiger's den, I'll break in!" He immediately decided to storm the tailor shop at night, kill Cai Xiu and the others, and burn the shop to ruins.
Finally, after waiting for midnight, He Jingxiang brought Luo San, who had been treated from the wasp sting, one wielding a sword and the other a knife, and entered Li's tailor shop heading straight for Cai Xiu's boudoir. They kicked open the door and saw the room brightly lit, with Cai Xiu and Liu Yanyun sitting at the door, waiting for them. Caixiu was quietly embroidering, and Liu Yanyun wasn't carrying a sword. Instead, behind each of them hung a wall hanging with a dragon and phoenix embroidery. "Li Caixiu, Liu Yanyun," Luo San pointed at Caixiu and cursed loudly, "You killed my junior nephew and let the eagle peck at my junior brother. Today, I'm going to kill you both to avenge my junior nephew and junior brother!" "" Luo San," Cai Xiu laughed, "Aren't you two afraid of hornets and mountain hawks?""Don't be afraid," Luo San shouted, waving the steel saber in his hand. "We applied medicine on our bodies before coming, we're ready, so nothing to fear from hornets or mountain eagles!" "Liu Yanyun, you killed my beloved son and caused the death of my junior brother along with the Embroidering Girl, you two will pay for this!" Seeing the murderer of his son, He Jingxiang could no longer hold back. He shouted angrily and charged forward, swinging his sword straight at Cai Xiu and Liu Yanyun. Luo San was unwilling to be outdone and closely followed, swinging his knife at them. "You two villains, committing unforgivable crimes by harming the innocent," Cai Xiu screamed as she pointed at them, "Since you've come here to die, I'll grant you that!" With a wave of her jade hand, suddenly from the embroidered cloak behind her, a giant python and a ferocious tiger leapt down, each heading to confront Luo San and He Jingxiang. Seeing the python open its blood-filled mouth and lunge at him, Luo San was terrified and began wildly swinging his knife. But every slash missed, while each strike from the python was deadly. During the fight, the python's massive tail suddenly knocked the steel saber out of Luo San's hand, then it opened its mouth and bit him. Luo San only managed to cry out "Help!" twice before the python swallowed him whole. After swallowing Luo San, the python bowed three times to Cai Xiu, then quickly slithered back onto the wall-hanging.
