Embroidery Girl
chapter 17: the victory dance

Tang Li stood in front of the window while looking outside. People are still crowded in the streets. Beautiful lights lit up brightly decorate the streets.

He had been there for a long time, and had only ordered one cup of wine. The servants began to talk about it because they had not paid and spent a small amount of wine. But Tang Li did not care about it. He sat pensively at the table while knocking on the table. Then, stand looking outside. There was nothing else he had done from earlier other than those two things alone.

He began to wonder why Li Xin Mei had not come as well, what caused her to leave, and how important the item she had left behind was.

A locket?

He remembered the locket. The locket was then hung up. He smiled thinly. He will not return it, he will enjoy the girl's sorrow.

Suddenly his two eyes were sharp, he quickly turned around. But there was no one on his desk. He was sure there was someone before. After observing for a while it turned out that there was a bundle of cloth on the chair.

He picked it up and threw it several times in the air. There will be a coin sound.

Who gave you this?

He's unlocked. There was one scroll of paper and many gold coins. He opened the scroll.

Your enemy is my enemy too. You take it easy, I'll catch him and torture him. After a few days, I'll return it. A criminal will remain a criminal. That's what's inside that scroll.

......................

In the darkness of the night, a girl walked down the steps. He's a little down. In his hand was a sword and a puppet. He walked without looking ahead, just looked down, kept walking, and walked.

He didn't know, up to where to walk. He only knew, he walked down the peak and crossed the cold dirt road. The sinister sound as well as the flash of lightning, did not frighten him. He would never even think about that fear at all. His mind was filled with the shadows of his mother who was disappointed, angry and hated him.

How bad the shadow was, to the point that a little tears were dripping down.

How bad it is that he is not careful and not alert.

The lightning flash again propagated like a root, then followed by a very loud rumbling sound. He was shocked and looked at the sky which was filled with black clouds.

The moon began to sink and the stars began to close their eyes.

“It will rain, I have to be fast!” as soon as he spoke, he quickened his pace.

However, not yet reached the homes of the surrounding residents, raindrops scattered and very thick. He kept running and running. He no longer knew where the road was before. But how glad he was to find a hut. He quickly got there and opened the door slowly.

In the hut two adult women were sitting opposite each other. They stared strangely at him.

“A-can I take shelter for a moment?”

“Of course. Come here, pretty girl.” The warm welcome he got from the adult woman on the left. The woman smells so good. Her face was not very pretty, but very friendly. All over her body was covered in an extremely beautiful white han fu. Maybe he was a noble.

Li Xin Mei hesitated to enter. He approached the woman as soon as he closed the door.

When he came, the woman shifted her seat and hinted him to sit down. He hesitated, but he accepted.

A warm blaze was before him, along with the younger woman. She was a bit careless, but her face was very pretty. He wears a yellow han fu that toasts the flowers.

“Auntie's name, Lu yingtao, just call aunt ying,” said the lady beside her. He could only nod slowly. He was not used to two women he did not know.

“At the other side, she is jing heihai. Just call brother jing.”

Li xin Mei again nodded.

“I-iya.” He nodded then hugged his knees, leaned his head there and stared at the bonfire.

“Finally we found it, brother.” Suddenly jing heihai, said.

“We didn't find it, but got it. You're too excited, be patient, we'll get it.”

Li Xin Mei did not care what the two people were talking about. Today, she was eager to meet Tang Li. Although the man was savage and his enemy, he had at least known him and could speak at length with him.

Lu yingtao and jing heihai spoke various things. But everything was unknown to Li Xin Mei. He was also not interested in the conversation. His pendant was gone, and his mother would definitely scold him.

A few minutes passed, they finally fell silent. Lu yingtao picked up one of the tree branches in front of him. He scavenged something from within the burning charcoal. Li Xin Mei was interested, she observed for a while. Lu yingtao turned out to scavenge something round from there. There were three circles covered in ash like eggs.

Seeing Li Xin Mei observing him, she asked, “Do you like eggs?”

Li Xin Mei was silent for a moment and asked, “egg?”

Lu yingtao nodded. “When we arrive here, we bring the eggs and cook them straight away. We use wet soil from the outside to coat our eggs so as not to be destroyed during the cooking process. Eat one, you must be hungry.”

He looked at the egg covered with soil. This was the first time he had seen someone cooking in such a unique way. He began to think, if the two people in front of him had a very great survival experience.

He raised his face and hesitated. Although he was afraid of strangers and afraid of being poisoned, he was very curious how the roasted egg tasted.

“Eh? You were carrying a sword and a doll. Can aunt see?”

He immediately held tightly to his two toys which indicated that they should not be borrowed at all. His innocent expression also changed.

Seeing that, there was no trace of disappointment on Lu yingtao's face. Instead, he smiled gently. “Where did you get the doll? Do you know what the name of the dance is?”

He weakly shook his head.

“The name of the welcome dance, sometimes also called the victory dance. I can do it. The dance if in the designation for victory, then the scarf at the end of the stick will be replaced with a flag, while for the welcome dance, will be put long red scarf.”

“Sister, why are you talking such unimportant things?” suddenly jin heihai interrupted with his upset face.

“if you don't like it, you can sleep.”

Jin Heihai immediately turned to lay his body on the bed not far from there.

As the sound of his breathing softened, Lu yingtao continued, “There are three stages to be performed in these dances. First, a dance without a shawl. This dance is very soft and beautiful. The dancers only carry sticks. Meanwhile, his shawl was slid on his waist. The second stage, then they will pull the shawl and fasten it on the stick. Then last cover.”

Li Xin Mei was not very understanding of what Li youngtou was talking about. But he was amused by his talk.

“The sword and the doll, where did you get it?”

“I...aku...I got it from one of the traders in the city.” Li Xin Mei suddenly panicked. It was fortunate that Lu yingtao did not care much about it.

“Auntie, can I eat this egg now?”

“Of course ,however, be careful, still hot.”

Li Xin Mei nodded. He then took it. The egg was still hot, but he forced it to open it. He was very eager to taste it.

It takes a struggle in opening it, because the more open it, it will be hotter. She cages must blow her hot hands.