Blinking, Zhang Chengling looked dumbly at her for a long while, before he said in sudden realisation, "Oh? Have you married Cao-dage? I understand now, are you and him…sharing a blanket?"

Gu Xiang’s face turned red in an instant. Glaring ferociously at Zhang Chengling, she questioned, “What nonsense are you talking about? Which bastard taught you these obscene things?”

The difference between a young maiden and an old woman was that, as bold as the young maiden was, she was only bold when speaking of others’ affairs; once it came to her own, she was always thin-skinned. Zhang Chengling actually had a very innocent mind--be it at the Zhang Manor, or roaming about in exile, no one had properly explained to him what those things were all about.

He could only infer some traces of it from his two flippant shifus’ mutual teasing, merge it with his own imagination, and draw the conclusion that “Those who share a blanket are husband and wife”. And thus, in the teenager’s pure heart, the blanket had become a mystical ceremonial ritual, one like exchanging wine cups[28].

He didn’t think there was anything impure about it, so he asked it casually. Gu Xiang’s hackles rose, and she raised her hand to discipline this little ruffian who spoke impertinently. Hastily, Zhang Chengling evaded it, uttering the mantra as he did so. This had almost become his trademark--if he didn’t recite the mantra, he could not perform the qinggong.

Gu Xiang made another questioning noise; earlier, when they had exchanged blows, she had sensed that this little tyke knew some gongfu. If some moves hadn’t looked more familiar to her, in the dim conditions, she would have almost not recognised him. She looked Zhang Chengling up and down, and said, “I haven’t seen you for some days, but you’ve become a little more competent. Where is my master and your shifu?”

And so Zhang Chengling related the whole process of how he had been heartlessly abandoned by that scumbag couple. After listening to it, Gu Xiang spat, reached out a hand to slap him upside the head, and reprimanded, “So you’ve grown old enough to leave the nest? Do you know who those people are? Not even I and…and Cao-dage dare to act rashly, what are you playing hero for?”

As she spoke, another person jumped down from the top of the wall, dressed in black clothes and a mask, in a woman’s long skirt, and said, “A-Xiang, why are you taking so long? I thought you…”

Astonishingly, it was a man’s voice. He noticed Zhang Chengling, abruptly stopped talking, and plucked off his mask. It was none other than Cao Weining.