by Jin Yong
He went out the room in delight. Crouching by the door he looked downstairs and saw that the beggars were going back and forth on their patrol duty; they were completely oblivious of the accident happened on the second floor. Zhang Wuji thought, "Yifu has not left too long, I can still overtake him. And then we, father and son, will come back and make an earth-shattering disturbance here, to teach these beggars the way we Ming Cult deal with our enemies.” Thinking to this point, his spirit rose. Remembering that the dark shadow he saw earlier went out from the west side, he jumped out to the enclosing wall using a tall tree as a stepping-stone, and then rushed to the west.
Following the main road, he ran for several ‘li’s before arriving on a fork on the road. He looked around looking for clue, and saw a blazing fire mark behind a rock, pointing to the road going southwest. Zhang Wuji was very happy thinking that now his Yifu’s whereabouts was clear and he would see him very soon.
Yang Xiao had explained the markings and signs used by the Ming Cult to communicate to each other to him in detail. He noticed that although this blazing fire sign had only several strokes the lines were bold; not many people within the Ming Cult were able to produce this kind of drawing other than people of Xie Xun’s caliber who was well-versed in both sword and pen [orig. wen2 wu3 quan2 cai2].
His doubts were gone. Hurriedly he took the small lane, straight to the relay station of Shahe [city in Hebei]. It was already dawn; he stopped by any restaurant along the way to buy some steamed buns and flatbreads to satisfy his hunger and then hurriedly continued his journey westward until he arrived at the small town of Bangzi. He saw another blazing fire symbol on the lower part of a
wall on the corner of the street, pointing toward an abandoned ancestral hall. He was very happy thinking that his Yifu might be hiding in that hall.
As he got near the gate, he heard a clamoring noise of people talking and shouting as rowdy characters and people of obscure background who gathered around the main hall, gambling. It turned out that this place was some kind of a gambling establishment.
The manager saw Zhang Wuji and noticed his fancy and expensive-looking attire, he knew a rich customer had arrived; busily he smiled and mumbling some welcoming words, "Gongziye [young master], come and roll the dice; your luck must be good, beat these three villagers.” Turning his head he called out the crowd of gamblers, "Make room for Gongziye. Everybody, put your bet down, let Gongziye have his hands on the money!”
Zhang Wuji frowned, he knew these gamblers were not Jianghu characters. Raising his voice he called out, "Yifu, Yifu! Are you Senior in here?” He waited for a while, but nobody answered. He called out again several times.
Seeing he did not come to gamble, but shouting and creating disturbance instead, a ruffian called out, "Good child, your Senior is here, hurry up and roll the dice!” The main hall resounded with the sound of the ruffians’ laughter.
Zhang Wuji asked the manager, "Did you see an elderly gentleman, big and tall, yellow hair, and blind eyes?”
As the manager realized this person did not come to gamble, but to look for someone, he was disappointed. He said with a laugh, "What a joke! You are saying that there is a blind man who came here to roll the dice? This blind man must be crazy!”
Zhang Wuji was not in a good mood as he failed to find his Yifu. Listening to the manager and that ruffian being rude and make fun of his Yifu, he took two steps forward, grabbed the manager and the ruffian, and casually flung them to the roof. Although these two men were not injured, they were scared out of their wits and screamed like a pig being slaughtered.
Zhang Wuji pushed the crowd over and took two silver ingots from the gambling table. He said, "Gongziye is having his hands on the money.” He put the silver into his pocket, and left the ancestral hall in big strides. The ruffians froze in fear; who would dare to chase him?
Zhang Wuji continued his journey westward. Not too long afterwards he saw another blazing fire sign. It was already evening, and he had arrived at Fengrun, another big city on the northern part of Hebei. Following the sign, he found a whitewashed wall with a black gate. The copper-ring door knockers were shiny, inside the wall plum blossoms were half-blooming; it was a quiet, elegant and clean house.
He picked the doorknockers and knocked three times. A short moment later he heard footsteps approaching. With a creaking noise the black door opened. A strong fragrance immediately attacked his nostrils. The one who answered the door was a girl wearing a pink leather jacket with a small knot on top of her head. She pursed her lips, laughed, and said, "Gongziye, long time no see. Jiejie [older sister] misses you very much. Come in and drink some tea.” Her words were followed by another laugh, and then she threw a coquettish look at him.
Zhang Wuji was flabbergasted. "How did you know me? Who is your Jiejie?” he asked.
The girl laughed and said, "You still ask? Hurry up, don’t let my Jiejie die of loneliness [orig. qianl
du3 gua4 chang2 - pulling the tripe, hanging the intestines].” Reaching out, she grabbed Zhang Wuji’s right hand and pulled him in.
Zhang Wuji was greatly astonished, "Why does she act like she has known me for a long time?” he wondered. But then he remembered, "Ah, right, Zhiruo must be staying in here; she knew I was following the sign all day looking for them, so she told this girl to wait for me. Ay, we haven’t seen each other for many days now, Zhiruo must be dying of loneliness because she misses me very much.” He felt tenderness in his heart and without hesitation, followed the girl inside.
They walked through a small pathway of cobblestones, passed a courtyard, and entered a side room. He saw a parrot perched beneath the eaves, which said in throaty voice, "Qing Gege [big brother Qing, or lit. ‘passionate brother’. I am not sure whether the character ‘Qing’ here is someone’s name, or it refers to ‘beloved brother’] is here. Jiejie, Qing Gege is here.”
Zhang Wuji blushed profusely, "Even a parrot knew,” he thought.
He saw the chairs in that room were padded with embroidered cushions; the charcoal fire was raging, warming the room so that it felt like spring. There was a small incense burner on the table. The girl turned around and left, but a short moment later returned with a tray of six different fruits and a pot of green tea. She slowly poured the tea and handed it over to Zhang Wuji; and she actually pinched his wrist gently.
Zhang Wuji frowned; "How could the girl be this frivolous?” he thought. If Zhou Zhiruo saw them, wouldn’t she be offended? Thereupon he asked, "Where is Xie Laoye [old master Xie]? Where is Miss Zhou?”
The girl laughed, "Why are you looking for Xie Laoye? Are you jealous? What if my Jiejie came in and saw your expression? Look at you, you don’t have any conscience; you come to our place, yet in your heart you keep thinking about some Miss Zhou and Miss Wang.”
Zhang Wuji was startled, "”What kind of nonsense are you talking about?” he asked. That girl only pursed her lips, smiled and left the room.
A moment later, he heard the tinkling noise of bracelets. The curtain was lifted open, the girl returned, holding the hand of a woman around twenty one or twenty two of age. Her skin was snowy white, her face was quite beautiful with arched eyebrows and a grain of mole on the right corner of her mouth. She glanced at him gracefully, and smiled before she said anything. Her figure was elegant, and she welcomed him in a charming manner. Zhang Wuji felt a rich fragrance assailing his nostrils; he was really uncomfortable.
That woman said, "Xiang Gong [honorable master], what is your precious surname? Today you have come to pay me a visit, Xiao Nuzi [little/lowly girl, referring to herself] feels very honored.” As she was speaking, her left hand landed on Zhang Wuji’s shoulder.
Zhang Wuji blushed profusely and tried to evade. "My humble surname is Zhang,” he said, "Is there a gentleman by the surname of Xie and a lady by the surname of Zhou in here?”
The woman smiled and said, "This is the ‘li xiang yuan’ [fragrance peach courtyard]; if you are looking for Zhou Xianxian, she lives at ‘b
i tao ju’ [jade-green peach residence]. Are you so infatuated by that girl that you lost your mind and looking for Zhou Xianxian at the ‘li xiang yuan’? Hee hee ...!”
Suddenly it dawned on Zhang Wuji that this place was a brothel. "Please forgive me,” he said.
Quick as a flash he slipped out the door.
The girl pursued him and called out, "Gongzi, in what way my Jiejie is inferior to Zhou Xianxian? Aren’t you going to sit down even for a moment?”
Zhang Wuji repeatedly shook his hand; he fished out the silver ingot he took from the casino and tossed it to the ground, while flying out the gate. His mind was so troubled that he was not able to calm himself for a long time.
By this time, it was already dark. He was afraid he might miss the blazing fire signs along the way; therefore, he decided to find an inn to spend the night, while his heart was filled with disquieting thoughts. "Why did Yifu go to the casino and to the brothel? There must be a profound meaning behind all these actions, but what is it?” Sleeping to the middle of the night, he suddenly awakened, "Yifu is blind, how could he leave so many clear markings along the way? Could it be that Zhiruo was by his side giving him directions? Or could it be that the enemy deliberately faking our Cult signs to play a trick on me? Are they trying to lure me into ambush? Humph, entering the dragon’s pool or the tiger’s lair, I’ll have to get to the bottom of this good or bad.”
Early the next morning, he saw another blazing fire outside Fengrun’s city gate, the sign was still pointing to the west. By following the sign, he arrived at Yutian [still another city in Hebei] around noon. Now the sign pointed toward a large house of a rich family. There were lanterns hung on the gate; seemed like the family was celebrating a joyous occasion. The lanterns were adorned with red characters ‘zhi zi yu gui’ [???? - I don’t know how to translate this, the dictionary gives me ‘marry/wedding’]; apparently, their daughter was getting married. The sound of music and the noise of guests filled the air. Zhang Wuji had learned his lesson; he did not rush in to ask Xie Xun’s whereabouts, instead, he mingled with the guests to observe. But since he did not see anything unusual, he went out to look for another sign, and he did indeed find one on the trunk of a big tree nearby.
The blazing fire sign took him from Yutian to Sanhe, and then he was directed to the south until he arrived at Xianghe. By this time he was starting to have a thought, "Most likely the Beggar Clan is already aware that I am on their trails, therefore, they play the ‘luring the tiger from the mountain’ trick to get me as far away as possible, so that they can proceed with their shady evil business.”
Although he was anxious, he did not dare to stop following the blazing fire signs fearing that it was really Xie Xun and Zhou Zhiruo who left them. "Supposing they were running away from strong enemies, and left these signs along the way with the hope that I will find and save them, but because I think I am smart, I return to Lulong, what if Yifu and Zhiruo finally die? Things have come this far, I have no choice but keep following these signs until everything comes to light.”
From Xianghe to Baocheng, toward Dabaizhuang, Panzhuang, and then turning to southeast, toward Ninghe [a city in Tianjin], from here the blazing fire vanished without any trace; Zhang Wuji could not find any more signs. He explored the city of Ninghe, but did not see anything unusual. "It was definitely the Beggar Clan who led me over here, causing me to lose several days running around in vain.” Thereupon he bought a horse to return to Lulong, and then at the second hand clothing store he found a white long gown. Borrowing a pen and some red ink, he drew a large blazing fire on the white gown; having determined to face the Beggar Clan head-on as the Cult Leader of the Ming Cult.
Wearing the white gown, he went to the rich man’s mansion in big strides. The main gate was a pair of huge red double-doors, which were tightly closed at that time. The shiny copper nails on the doors were the size of the mouth of a cup. Zhang Wuji pushed with both of his palms. ‘Crash!’ the huge double-doors flew up and landed in the middle of the courtyard. A series of resounding ‘Bing!
Bing! Bang! Bang!’ sounds were heard as two large goldfish vats were smashed.
On top of his concern over Xie Xun and Zhou Zhiruo’s safety these past few days, he felt that he was a victim of some practical joke, which made him going in circles around the Hebei province; he needed to vent up his frustration. This time coming back to the Beggar Clan headquarters, he was determined to confront them once and for all. As he split the gate open, he walked in big strides and shouted in a thunderous voice, "Beggar Clan people, hear me: have Shi Huolong come out and see me.”
There were around a dozen four and five-pouch Beggar Clan disciples standing in the courtyard; they were already shocked when the gate suddenly flew in, now they saw a young man wearing white robe breaking in, some seven, eight people immediately shouted almost simultaneously and blocked this unwelcome guest, "Who are you?” "What do you want?”
Zhang Wuji raised both of his arms, a successive ‘slam, slam’ noise was heard as he struck the seven, eight Beggar Clan disciples, sending them flying toward a row of windows. Passing the courtyard, he went straight to the main hall. ‘Bang!’ he smashed the door to the hall, and saw a banquet table in the middle of the room, with Shi Huolong sitting on the head of the table.
As soon as the leaders of the Beggar Clan heard the loud commotion on the entrance, they immediately sent someone to investigate. But Zhang Wuji was so fast that as that seven-pouch disciple was hurrying outside, he met him halfway. With one hack Zhang Wuji grabbed his chest and threw him toward Shi Huolong.
The rich-looking host was sitting a few seats away from the head of the table. As he saw the seven-pouch disciple flying towards the banquet table, he stretched out his arms and caught the flying man. He felt the incoming force was earth shattering so he immediately launched the ‘qian jin zhui’ [a thousand-catty drop] to steady himself. To his surprise, ‘bang, bang, bang’ he was forced to repeatedly take seven, eight steps backward and did not stop until his back was against a large pillar. Loosening up his grip, he let the seven-pouch disciple down on the floor. He panted heavily, his body weakened, and he dropped to the floor right in front of that large pillar.
The crowd of beggars witnessed this scene with amazement. Right at that moment, they heard Zhang Wuji exclaim; he was both astonished and delighted, because he saw sitting on that round table, to the left of the head of the table, was a young woman, who was none other than Zhou Zhiruo. And the man who was sitting next to her was Song Qingshu.
"Wuji Gege!” Zhou Zhiruo cried out in shock. She tried to stand up, but her body swayed and she fell to the floor.
Zhang Wuji was startled, he rushed forward to hold her. But before he straightened his back up, a ‘Slap!’and a ‘Bang!’ were heard as his back were simultaneously struck by Song Qingshu’s palm and a Beggar Clan master’s fist. But Zhang Wuji had already protected his whole body with the Jiu Yang Shen Gong so that the power of the palm and the fist was immediately neutralized.
Holding Zhou Zhiruo in his arms, he jumped out to the courtyard. "How is Yifu?” he asked.
"I ... I ...,” Zhou Zhiruo’s voice was shaky.
"Is he [orig. lao3 ren2 jia1 - senior] all right?” Zhang Wuji asked.
"My acupoint is sealed by them .” Zhou Zhiruo said.
Zhang Wuji only cared about Xie Xun, "How is Yifu?” he asked again.
"I don’t know,” Zhou Zhiruo replied, "I was captured by them and brought here. I don’t know Yifu’s whereabouts.”
Zhang Wuji laid her down on the ground and massaged several points on the joint of her leg. Who would have thought that Zhou Zhiruo’s acupoint was sealed using a special technique and his massage did not show any result. Her feet were planted on the floor, yet she was unable to stand up; her knees bent and she sat back down.
All the beggars left their seats and stood on the steps in front of the courtyard. Shi Huolong cupped his fists and said, "Are you the Zhang Jiaozhu of the Ming Cult, Sire?”
Zhang Wuji knew he was facing a leader of a clan, so he must not fail to show courtesy; immediately he cupped his fists in return and said, "I don’t dare. I beg Shi Bangzhu’s forgiveness for breaking into your Clan’s headquarters.”
"Zhang Jiaozhu’s name has shaken the Jianghu in the past few years,” Shi Huolong said, "It’s like thunder ... ringing in my ear, and today seeing the old chap’s skill, which is really fierce, hey hey, my utmost admiration.”
Zhang Wuji said, "I come recklessly and have become Shi Bangzhu’s laughingstock. Where is my Yifu, Jin Mao Shi Wang [Golden-Haired Lion King]? Please let him, Senior, come out to see me.”
Shi Huolong’s face flushed, and then he laughed and said, "Zhang Jiaozhu is young, but your words are this bold. We invited Xie Shi Wang [Lion King Xie] with a good intention, to come ... to drink a cup of wine, but not only Xie Shi Wang left without bidding us farewell, he harmed our eight disciples with heavy hands; damn it [orig. ta nai nai, lit. his granny; a curse phrase], how are we going to settle this business? Why doesn’t Zhang Jiaozhu advise us on this?”
Zhang Wuji was startled, he thought, "Those eight Beggar Clan disciples were indeed the victims of Yifu’s heavy hands. It seems that he, Senior, is really not here. But where did he go?”