The Untamed ( Wei Wuxian and Lan Zhan )
Chapter 86: Shudong #14
Grabbing the bamboo pole by her feet,
she skipped along the road. She
swung her pole as she walked, ceaselessly swatting at the branches above her head, knocking at the rocks that she passed, scaring the grasshoppers within the bushes. As soon as somebody approached from afar, she immediately stopped skipping. Properly holding onto her pole, she knocked on the ground as she slowly wandered forward, appearing quite wary.
The group that came was a few villager women. Seeing her situation, they all moved out of her way and whispered to one another. The girl hurry, "Thank you, thank you."
One of the women seemed as though she felt sorry for her. Lifting the white cloth that covered her basket, she took out a steamed bun and gave it to her, "Sister, be careful. Are you hungry? Take this and eat it."
The girl ah-ed and replied thankfully,
"How can I take it? I-I..." The woman shoved the bun into her hand, "Take it!"
She finally took it, "Sister, A-Qing is very thankful of you!"
So the girl's name was A-Qing.
Bidding the villager women farewell, A- Qing finished the bun in just a few bites, and continued to skip along, hopping three inches high each time. Skipping with her inside of her body, Wei WuXian's head spun from dizziness. He thought to himself, The maiden is so full of energy. Now I understand. She's pretending to be blind. She was probably born with those white eyes. Although she looks blind, she can actually see, so she's pretending to be blind with her eyes, tricking people into feeling sorry for her. Being a girl who roamed the streets alone, if she pretended to be
blind, people would naturally think that she really couldn't see and lower their guard. However, in reality, she could see everything. This allowed her to adjust according to the circumstances and was indeed a clever method of self- protection.
Despite this, A-Qing's soul was truly
blind, which meant that she did lose her sight before she died. Then, how did she go from pretending to be blind to being actually blind?
Was it that she saw things she shouldn't have seen?
When nobody was around, A-Qing
skipped along; when people were around, A-Qing shrunk down and
pretended to be blind. Pausing now and then, she arrived at a marketplace.
Since it was bustling with people, of
course she'd show off her skills.
Performing to the fullest, she knocked on the ground with her bamboo pole, her act as believable as ever. Slowly walking through the crowd, she suddenly ran into a middle-aged man dressed in bright, expensive-looking clothes. She pretended as though she was frightened,
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I can't see. I'm sorry!"
She couldn't see? She clearly rushed
right into the man!
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