Chapter 122 — The Altar
劍問蒼天 · Page 2 of 7
As the liquor entered the monkey's mouth, Little Grey set the sack down and smacked its lips. Suddenly its face lit with great delight—it seemed to rather like the taste—and it could not help letting out a few "chi chi" cries.
It was at this moment that Ming Li heard the sound and turned his head. Seeing that even the monkey was drinking, he was startled, and then his anger flared beyond measure. He thought to himself that the world had gone mad—why, even foxes and monkeys had taken up the "wine rise"...
"Little Grey, come here!"
Ming Li called out sharply. Little Grey gave a start, looked toward Ming Li, saw its master's face rather stern, scratched its head, set down the wine sack, and came running.
But it had taken only a few steps when it suddenly seemed to remember something. It turned back, ran to the drunkard's side, seized the sack with the remaining half-measure of strong liquor in its hand, and came running back dragging it along the ground.
Ming Li was choked with exasperation. Meanwhile, the many Miao who had noticed the monkey's doings burst into laughter. The Miao were a bold, hearty people, and the men especially loved their drink. Seeing that the monkey shared their common interest, they could not help feeling a sudden kinship with it, and thought to themselves that, look as you might across the whole world, the Miao's strong liquor was surely the finest under heaven—if you doubted it, why, even a monkey could not resist a sip...
For a moment the Miao actually grew merry, and from the crowd a good many bananas and fruits were tossed toward Little Grey—plainly they liked the monkey and meant to feed it.
At first Little Grey was startled. All at once heaven and earth seemed to change color as countless strange objects came pelting down, impossible to avoid, and it flew into a rage, chattering "chi chi" and putting on a fierce face at the Miao. But a moment later, when it looked closely and saw they were all fragrant, delicious fruits, how could it not be delighted? It at once reached down, picked up several bananas, then trotted slowly back to Ming Li's side, plopped itself down on the ground, peeled the bananas, and ate. And the wine sack it clutched in its hand was still there—it had carried it back.
Ming Li watched Little Grey eat with relish, every so often poking out its head to put the wine sack to its lips and take a sip.
The monkey had drunk several mouthfuls of strong liquor, yet its face seemed not to redden at all—it appeared to hold its liquor remarkably well. Ming Li opened his mouth to say something, but then looked back at Xiaobai, leaning against his shoulder in her wine-flushed haze, and suddenly gave a sigh, swallowed his words, and said nothing.
Little Grey, meanwhile, wore a grinning look. Seeing Ming Li glance its way from time to time, it stretched out a paw, picked up one of the bananas it had retrieved, and offered it to Ming Li—it seemed quite loyal, wanting to share its good fortune.
Ming Li was silent, his face shifting through a succession of expressions. At last he slowly shook his head, turned away, and looked no more at the monkey.
Little Grey shrugged its shoulders, unable to understand why its master took no interest in such a delicacy. It was content to eat its fill, so it paid him no mind. It glanced around, darted off to gather a few more bananas, set them on the ground before it, and savored them slowly.
This scene of jumbled chaos was what the Miao chieftain Tu Magu saw as he emerged from the altar.