by Jin Yong
Yue Lingshan opened the meal basket. Taking out two plates of dishes, together with two pairs of chopsticks and two rice bowls, she set them on a big rock with a flat top.
“Two sets of chopsticks?” Linghu Chong uttered.
“I’ll eat together with you. Look, what’s this?” Yue Lingshan’s face split into a big grin when she took out a small wine-calabash from the bottom of the meal basket.
Linghu Chong was very addicted to wine. Seeing the calabash of wine, he stood up and bowed deeply to Yue Lingshan. “Thank you so-o-o much!! I’ve been worrying about having no wine to drink for an entire year. You just saved my life!”
Yue Lingshan uncorked the wine-calabash and then passed it to Linghu Chong. “There’s not much here. I can only steal one small calabash of wine for you everyday. If I try to steal too much, my mom might find out about it,” she explained with a smile.
The Huashan Sword School rule said that an apprentice meditating on the “Cliff of Contemplation” would be prohibited from eating any meat, which was why the kitchen only prepared a big plate of boiled vegetables and a plate of Tofu for Linghu Chong. But considering herself going through the punishment together with her big apprentice brother, Yue Lingshan found the dishes quite enjoyable. After dinner, the two chatted with no specific topics for another hour. Only when it was already in the nightfall, did Yue Lingshan go down the cliff.
From then on, Yue Lingshan would bring food up the cliff around dusk everyday, and the two would have dinner together. At noon the next day, Linghu Chong simply ate the leftovers from previous day’s dinner as his lunch.
Although Linghu Chong lived alone atop the cliff, he didn’t feel lonely at all. Every morning after he woke up, he would meditate with breathing exercises and also practice the Huashan style inner energy and the sword arts taught by his Master. He also spent time pondering upon and going over Tian Boguang’s fast knife chops and the move created by Master-Wife – Unrivaled and Unmatched, The Thrust of Ning. There was only one thrust in this The Thrust of Ning move, but it contained many techniques from Huashan style inner energy and Huashan sword arts. Linghu Chong knew that he was not at the level to execute this move yet. If he had tried to use it, he would only make a fool out of himself, so he worked hard everyday in advancing himself with his Kung Fu skills. Thus, although he was punished to meditate by facing the wall to think over his mistakes, he didn’t do any of those. Other than having some chats with Yue Lingshan every evening, he simply worked hard on his Kung Fu skills with dedication. Two months passed like that, and it started to get colder and colder each day atop the cliff. Some more days later, Madam Yue finished making Linghu Chong a new set of cotton-padded coat and had Lu Dayou bring it to him up the cliff.
One day, a windstorm swept by in the morning, and by noon, big snowflakes had started swirling out of the sky. Seeing the heavy dark clouds gathering in the sky, Linghu Chong could tell that the snow would be lasting for quite a while. “The road up the cliff is very steep and dangerous. By dusk the road must be very slippery. Little apprentice sister shouldn’t try to bring me any food in a day like this,” he couldn’t help thinking. But there was no way of communication for him to send the message. In great worries, he could only wish that Master and Master-Wife would know about this and stop little apprentice sister from coming.
“How could Master and Master-Wife not know about the fact that little apprentice sister has been bringing food for me instead of sixth apprentice brother? Maybe they just pretended to not know and paid no attention. If little apprentice sister tried to climb up the cliff today, a single slip would cost her life. I guess Master-Wife would ban her from climbing up the cliff for sure,” he thought.
Linghu Chong waited anxiously until dusk, casting a glance down the cliff every once a while. Seeing that it was getting darker and darker and Yue Lingshan never showed up, Linghu Chong felt a bit relieved. “Tomorrow morning, sixth apprentice brother will bring the food up. I hope little apprentice sister will never take on the risks.”
He was about to go back in the cave to sleep when rustling sounds of somebody climbing the snow-covered road to the cliff came to his attention. Then Yue Lingshan’s voice rose, “Big apprentice brother…big apprentice brother…!”
Greatly surprised but also greatly delighted, Linghu Chong rushed by the side of the cliff. In the shower of the big snowflakes, he could see Yue Lingshan struggle her way up the cliff in slips and skids. Restricted by the order from the Master, Linghu Chong dared not to step even one step down the cliff, only reaching out with his hand to try to catch Yue Lingshan. As soon as Yue Lingshan’s left hand touched his right hand, Linghu Chong grabbed onto her wrist and pulled her up the cliff. Under the dim light, Yue Lingshan appeared to have snow all over her; even her hairs were covered in snow. There was a big swelling on the left side of her forehead and blood was still dripping down slowly from the cut. “You…you….” Linghu Chong was lost in words.
Yue Lingshan bit her lip as if she was going to start crying. “I fell, and the meal basket fell into the valley. You…you’ll be hungry tonight.”
Linghu Chong’s heart was swelled with gratefulness and with compassion. He pressed gingerly on her wound with his sleeve and said affectionately, “Little apprentice sister! The mountain road is too slippery. You shouldn’t have come up here.”
“I don’t want you to starve. And…and, I wanted to see you,” Yue Lingshan muttered.
“But if you had fallen into the valley as a result, how could I ever face Master and Master-Wife again?” Linghu Chong said.
“Get rid of that worrying face of yours! See, I am fine here. It’s just that I am too impotent. I lost the meal basket and the wine-calabash right before I almost made it up the cliff,” Yue Lingshan said.
“I only want you to be safe. I don’t mind if I have to starve for ten days,” Linghu Chong said compassionately.
“Half way up, the road was so slippery. I gathered all my inner energy and jumped a couple of times. Hey, I actually made it up that real steep slope by the ‘Five Pine-Trees.’ I was so scared of falling down into the valley at that moment.” Yue Lingshan gasped.
“Little apprentice sister,” Linghu Chong demanded, “promise me that you’ll never risk your life for me again. If you had really fallen down into the valley, I would have jumped down after you for sure.”
Yue Lingshan looked at Linghu Chong with warmth and happiness blazing in her eyes. “Big apprentice brother, why do you worry so much? If I had fallen down on my way to bring you food, it would be the result of my own carelessness. Why would you feel so guilty?”
“It’s not about feeling guilty.” Linghu Chong shook his head slowly. “If it were sixth apprentice brother who was bringing food to me and fell down into the valley and got killed, will I jump down the valley after him?” He shook his head slowly as he spoke. “I will try my best to take good care of his parents and his family. But I won’t jump off the cliff to die along with a friend.”
“But if I had died, then you wouldn’t want to live any more?” Yue Lingshan asked slowly.
“That’s correct. Little apprentice sister, it wasn’t because you were bringing me food. Even if you were bringing food for someone else and died because of that, I wouldn’t have wanted to stay alive.”
Yue Lingshan gripped onto Linghu Chong’s hands tightly, her heart filled with tenderness and affection. “Big apprentice brother!” she called out gently.
Linghu Chong had an urge to embrace her in his arms, but still couldn’t gather enough courage to do so. The two of them simply stared at each other quietly, neither one moved an inch. Big snowflakes kept pouring down from the sky and soon the two looked almost like two snowmen.
After a long while, Linghu Chong finally broke the silence. “You can’t go down the cliff all by yourself tonight. Did Master and Master-Wife know that you came up here? It would be better if they can send someone up to get you.”
“This morning, out of the blue, Dad received a l
etter from the Songshan Sword School’s Alliance Chief Zuo, saying that they need to discuss something urgent, so he and Mom had left Mount Huashan today,” Yue Lingshan said.
“Then does anyone else know that you came up here?” Linghu Chong asked.
“Nope. Nobody. Second, third, forth apprentice brothers and Monkey Six all headed to Mount Songshan together with Mom and Dad, and no one knows that I came up the cliff to see you. Otherwise, Monkey Six would have fought with me for the chance to bring food up for you, and that would be very troublesome! Oh, that’s right. The chap Lin Pingzhi saw me coming up. But I told him to shut his mouth if he wanted to be spared of a good beating tomorrow.”
“Wow, what an impressive senior apprentice sister.” Linghu Chong grinned.
“Of course!” Yue Lingshan let out a big smile. “Somebody is finally calling me senior apprentice sister now. If I don’t put on the manner of a senior, what a waste would that be? It’s not like you. Everybody calls you the big apprentice brother. What do you care?” The two of them broke into a laugh.
“Well, then you can’t go back down tonight. Why don’t you spend the night in the cave and plan on going back down tomorrow morning?”
Linghu Chong held Yue Lingshan’s hand and walked her into the cave. The cave was quite small, just big enough for the two of them to stay in, and not much room left after that. The two of them sat down facing each other and chatted until late night. Yue Lingshan finally dozed off and fell asleep. Afraid that she might catch a cold, Linghu Chong took off the cotton-padded coat he was wearing and tucked it around her. In the dim light reflected by the snow outside, he could vaguely see her cute little face.
“Little apprentice sister has such deep affection for me. Even if I have to die for her and be smashed into ten thousand pieces, I will not regret it,” Linghu Chong thought to himself.
In the silence, he soon fell into an even deeper thought. “I lost my parents when I was still little. Luckily, Master and Master-Wife brought me up and treated me like their own son. I am the head apprentice of the Huashan Sword School. Not only did I become an apprentice earlier than everybody else, but also my Kung Fu skills were way above the rest of the apprentice brothers. One day I will probably take over the responsibility from Master and become the Head Master of Huashan. Now with little apprentice sister treating me like this, it would be impossible for me to ever repay the great kindness from my Master. But I’ve always been doing things with no restrain and have kept Master and Master-Wife angry with me. I’ve really disappointed their expectations. I must thoroughly rectify my errors starting from now on. Otherwise, I would be failing not only Master and Master-Wife, but also little apprentice sister.”
Staring at the lovely hair of Yue Lingshan, which rustled gently from her breathing, Linghu Chong drifted into deep thoughts when he suddenly heard Yue Lingshan murmuring, “Hey, chap Lin, you are not behaving yourself! Come over here to let me give you a good beating!”
Linghu Chong was surprised. But seeing Yue Lingshan turning her body to the side with her eyes shut tight and her breathing falling back into a normal rhythm, he realized that she was just having a dream. Quite amused, he thought, “Finally getting to be a senior apprentice sister to someone, she probably has been acting in a real cocky way. During these days, apprentice brother Lin must have been ordered around left and right, and probably had enough of suffering. She can’t even stop bullying him in her dreams.”
Guarding by Yue Lingshan’s side, Linghu Chong did not sleep at all. Yue Lingshan had been totally exhausted the previous evening, so she slept till late the next morning before waking up. Finding Linghu Chong staring at her with a smile, she returned with a smile and then said with a yawn, “Did you wake up early in the morning?”
Linghu Chong didn’t tell her that he had not slept at all during the night. “What dream did you have? Did you beat up apprentice brother Lin?” he asked with a grin.
“Did you hear me talk in my dreams?” Yue Lingshan asked after thinking for a moment. “This chap Lin is so stubborn. He just doesn’t want to listen to me. Ha-ha, I scold him not only in day times, but also when I am sleeping.”
“How did he get on your nerves?” Linghu Chong asked.
“I dreamed that I had asked him to go practice sword skills with me in the waterfall, but he had all kinds of excuses and simply didn’t want to go with me. I finally tricked him into going. And as soon as he got to the waterfall, I pushed him down the waterfall.”
“Oops, you can’t do that. You are going to get him killed,” Linghu Chong commented with a smile.
“It’s only a dream. It’s not real. Why are you worrying so much? Are you afraid that I really might kill this chap?”
“Well, what one thinks about in day time, one dreams about it at night. You must have really thought about killing apprentice brother Lin during the day, and you kept thinking about it, that’s why you dreamed about it at night.”
Yue Lingshan showed a winkled nose. “This chap is useless. He has been practicing the entry-level sword art form for three months now, and it still looked far from right. Yet he is the dedicated type and kept practicing days and nights. I get mad just looking at him practicing. What do I have to think about if I want to kill him? All I need to do is to raise my sword and then bring the sword swishing sideway. A sure kill with a single blow!” She slashed out with her right hand and performed a move of Huashan sword arts.
“Cloud by the Hill – Chap Lin’s head falls off!” Linghu Chong burst into laughter.
“If I actually use this Cloud by the Hill move, his head will fall off for sure.” Yue Lingshan giggled loudly.
“You are the senior apprentice sister. When a junior apprentice brother has problem with his sword practice, you should be giving him some pointers, not drawing your sword to kill for no specific reasons. All new apprentices of the Master will be your junior apprentice brothers. What if when Master takes in one hundred new apprentices, and you decided to kill ninety-nine of them in a couple of days? What are we going to do then?” Linghu Chong joked.
“You are absolutely right about that! I’ll only kill ninety-nine of them and make sure I leave one alone. If I kill all of them, then who is going to call me senior apprentice sister?” Yue Lingshan held onto the side of the rock wall and almost laughed herself silly.
“If you killed ninety-nine junior apprentice brothers, the one hundredth one would be running away for sure. You still won’t be able to maintain your senior apprentice sister status.” Linghu Chong suggested.
“By then I’ll make you call me senior apprentice sister.” Yue Lingshan grinned.
“I have no problem calling you senior apprentice sister. But are you going to kill me or not?” Linghu Chong asked jokingly.
“If you listen to my orders, then I won’t kill you. If you don’t, then I will.” Yue Lingshan also said jokingly.
“Little apprentice sister, I beg you to show some mercy with your sword!”
It had stopped snowing by then. Afraid that when apprentice brothers and sisters found out that Yue Lingshan had been missing they might start slanderous gossips, which could be disastrous for little apprentice sister’s reputation, Linghu Chong urged Yue Lingshan to go back down after some short chats.
“I want to stay here a bit longer to play. Mom and Dad are both not at home. It’s very boring!” Yue Lingshan still didn’t want to go.
“My good apprentice sister, in the last couple of days, I just created some more moves for the Chong-Ling Sword Art. As soon as I can leave the cliff, I’ll go with you to practice sword skills in the waterfall. Alright?”
After quite some coaxing, Linghu Chong finally succeeded in getting her off the cliff back home.
At dusk that day, Gao Gengming brought food up the cliff instead. He said that Yue Lingshan caught a cold and was having fevers. She had to rest in bed, but she thought about the big apprentice brother and had asked him to make sure not to forget bringing some wine when he brought the food up.
Linghu Chong was greatly shocked and became extremely worried. He knew that she had a terrible fall the previous evening and was probably terribly scared, which caused all the illness, and wished dearly that he would be able to rush down the cliff to pay a visit to her. Although he had starved for two days, with the meal right in front of him, he only felt a lump in his throat and could hardly swallow.
Gao Gengming knew that big apprentice brother and the little apprentice sister were a loving couple, and that was why as soon as Linghu Chong heard about her illness, he became very worried. So he tried to comfort him.
“Big apprentice brother, don’t be too worried. Yesterday we had a lot of snow. Little apprentice sister must have spent too much time in the snow playing and caught a cold. For people who practice inner energy like us, such a little cold is really nothing. After taking some medicines, it will be gone in no time,” he persuaded.
But Yue Lingshan remained sick for over two weeks. Only after the Yue couple had returned to Mount Huashan and rid the fever for her using Huashan style inner energy was she able to recover slowly. By the time she was finally able to get up to the cliff, it was already over twenty days later.
After suffering such a long parting, both felt great joy tempered with sorrow. Yue Lingshan stared at Linghu Chong’s face and burst out a cry, “Big apprentice brother, did you get sick too? How come you look so thin?”
Linghu Chong shook his head. “I didn’t get sick. I…I….”
“You…you were thinking of me. And you lost weight because of the worries.” Yue Lingshan suddenly realized. She burst into tears. “Big apprentice brother, I am all recovered by now.”
“I watched the road days and nights waiting for this very moment. Thank Heavens! You came at last!” Linghu Chong muttered, holding Yue Lingshan’s hand tightly.
“Actually, I saw you many times,” Yue Lingshan said.
“What? You saw me many times?” Linghu Chong asked in surprise.