When Zhao Rong and the others saw the old beggar die before their very eyes, they couldn't help but fall into a silent mourning. Zhao Rong sighed and said regretfully, "If only this old beggar had kept himself out of trouble and been a good person after retiring. If he hadn't gotten involved with those wicked won, he'd surely be living a happy life right now. He never would have ended up in Bada Alley, controlled by crooks, only to die in agony…"
But before Zhao Rong could finish, the old beggar suddenly stirred again. He looked at Zhao Rong and said, "I advise you… don't attempt the eighth challenge. The so-called master guarding it… is the old woman who gave the disease of love…"
With those words, the old beggar drew his last breath and closed his eyes. His breathing stopped, his heart fell still, and his pulse vanished.
When Zhao Rong's group heard that the guardian of the eighth challenge was the very woman who had given the old beggar the disease of love, they were filled with righteous indignation. "No way," they declared. "We have to go to the eighth challenge right now, avenge this old beggar, and get rid of that wicked woman!"
The assistant imdiately snatched a brick from the ground, clutching it nacingly. "That wicked woman at the eighth challenge is too cruel!" he snarled. "She knew she had the disease of love, yet she still seduced this old beggar and infected him. That's unforgivable!" Having contracted the disease of love himself, the assistant harbored a deep hatred for won who knowingly infected others.
Lili picked up a pebble from the ground nearby, holding it tight. "If I get my hands on that wicked woman," she said, her voice filled with anger, "I'll smash her skull with this rock!"
Yu Lan grabbed a stick and whipped a nearby rabid dog with it before saying through gritted teeth, "I'm going to use this stick to beat that wicked woman to death!"
Xuelian pulled out two cans of pepper spray. "When we get to the eighth challenge," she said fiercely, "I'm going to catch that evil woman, pry her mouth open, and empty both of these cans into her stomach. She'll get the punishnt she deserves!"
With that, the group of five charged toward the eighth challenge. However, when they arrived, they saw not an old woman, but a middle-aged man with a stubbly face.
The assistant looked at the stubbly man and asked in surprise, "Hey, mister, are you the master of this final challenge?"
The man sat on the ground, one hand digging in his nose and the other scratching his foot. "Yeah, I'm the master of the eighth challenge," he said unhygienically. "What about it?"
When the assistant heard that this stubbly man was indeed the master of the eighth challenge, he turned to the three won in disbelief. "What the heck? Didn't the old beggar in the seventh challenge say the master here was the wicked woman who gave him the disease of love? Why is it a man?"
Lili took her glasses from her bag, put them on, and squinted at the stubbly man. She nodded and said seriously, "You're right. That's definitely a middle-aged man, not an old woman."
Yu Lan went a step further, taking out a pair of binoculars to stare at the man's crotch. "He's wearing pants, and there's a bulge, not a dip," she reported. "He's a man, no doubt about it."
Xuelian then pulled a 'gender detection device' from her bag and scanned the man from a distance. "The analysis confirms he's a man, not a woman," she announced. "Could the old beggar have misspoken? Or identified the wrong person?"
The assistant shook his head, offering his own theory. "I think the wicked woman the beggar ntioned must have had an outbreak and died. So, they sent soone else to take her place as the master of the eighth challenge."
Lili gave the assistant a thumbs-up. "You must be right, Assistant. That has to be it."
But Yu Lan frowned, lost in wild speculation. "What if," she mused, "the wicked woman the beggar ntioned and this stubbly guy… are the sa person?"
Xuelian shook her head, practically snorting with laughter. "Yu Lan, what are you talking about? Is the old beggar's eyesight so bad that he'd mistake a stubbly man for an old woman?"
Just as everyone was feeling bewildered, Zhao Rong stepped forward, pointed at the stubbly man, and accused him, "Stop pretending! Just admit it already! You dressed up as a woman to deceive the old beggar and passed your disease on to him. You tricked him into coming here! Now he's dead, and we're here to avenge him!"
When the assistant and the three won heard Zhao Rong claim the man before them was the old woman the beggar had described, their jaws collectively dropped.
Lili said in disbelief, "Zhao Rong, are you suggesting the beggar's vision was so bad he'd mistake a man for a woman?"
Yu Lan was even more disgusted. "But the beggar danced with that 'old woman' in the public square countless tis! In all that ti, he never noticed she was actually a man in disguise?"
Xuelian also found it incredible. "Even if the beggar's eyesight was terrible and he was completely oblivious, they still went to his room… they shared a bed and… you know. I refuse to believe that even then, he didn't realize the old woman he'd brought ho was a man!"
The assistant spoke up, moved by the absurdity. "I can't believe there's a man in this world foolish enough to mistake another man for a woman." Then again, he thought about that Hollywood movie he'd seen, *M. Butterfly*, starring Zun Long. Things like that had actually happened in real life. Still, seeing it play out right in front of them, the five young people found it impossible to comprehend.
Just then, the middle-aged man stood up. He smiled at Zhao Rong's group and said, "You're all so naive, believing everything that old beggar said. Did it ever occur to you to ask him if he even liked won in the first place?"
User Comments
0 comments from readers