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Originally Posted by kidd
1. Hu Fei
2. Yuan Cheng Zi
3. Dik Yun (haven't watch the series, but in the Jin Yong Qun Xia Zhuan, the guy belongs to the stupid group).
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I'll start with
Di Yun. I am sorry that he belongs to the stupid group in the game, but there is some degree of truth in the classification. Di Yun was actually an orphan in rural China. He was adopted by Qi Changfa (Qi Fang's father) as a child and thus, grew up with Qi Fang. Before his life was changed forever on that fateful trip to the city, he mainly worked in the family farm and learnt some "nice to see, bad to use" martial arts. Being an uneducated rural farm-boy, he was honest in his heart, straight in his thinking and somewhat slow in processing his environment. He trusted others quite easily before he learnt that some people, including "family", should not be trusted at all. He also had a bit of a fiery temper (bull's temper, they called it) before he learnt self-control. But he was also the kind-hearted sort that would stick up for those who were bullied. He had tremendous respect for his teacher and guardian, Qi Changfa, and was quite heartbroken when Qi Changfa tried to kill him through a stab in the back.
Yuan Chengzhi was the son of Yuan Chonghuan. Yuan Chonghuan was betrayed and sentenced to death (similar to what happened to Yue Fei, but some people say it's even worse. The historical records on Yuan Chonghuan are quite painful to read), leaving Yuan Chengzhi to be brought up in rural seclusion by 4 of his most trusted military generals. At about age 10 or so, after an ambush of a memorial ceremony for Yuan Chonghuan, Yuan Chengzhi was sent to Mount Hua to learn martial arts from Mu Renqing (the leader of the Huashan School). He stayed in Mt Hua until age 20 or so, after which he went out into the
jianghu to join the rebel army of Li Zhicheng on the instructions of Mu Renqing. By then, his martial arts skills were considered very good (he did not learn any more martial arts after that), but he had almost zero
jianghu experience. That, plus his honest, righteous and somewhat naive thinking, got him into quite a bit of trouble. After he failed to kill Chongzhen in revenge for his father's death, he left China for Brunei (on Borneo Island). JY admits in his non-fiction article on Yuan Chonghuan (2nd ed) that he did not do a good job on writing Yuan Chengzhi as a character, because he was written in a very plain and two-dimensional way.
Hu Fei is more interesting, compared to Di Yun and Yuan Chengzhi. His parents passed away barely a few days after he was born, leaving him to be brought up by Ping Si, a man whom his father had saved a few days earlier. Being deeply indebted to Hu Fei's father, Ping Si did not let Hu Fei forget that his parents needed to be avenged and that he had to learn the Hu Family Sabre Technique that his father was famous for. Unlike Yuan Chengzhi, Hu Fei took a more aggressive stand on his parents' death. He was also quite streetwise (having grown up in the
jianghu with Ping Si), so he could respond quickly to situations and think more critically. At the same time, he was quite hot-tempered, so he got into a fair share of trouble as a teenager (see Other Tales of the Flying Fox). Being chivalrous and willing to help the poor, he ended up having quite an adventure in Other Tales.
Comments:
There are some similarities between Yuan Chengzhi and Hu Fei, but I personally feel that readers are given a better understanding of Hu Fei because the character is given a chance to "learn and grow" as he goes through his adventures. Yuan Chengzhi, on the other hand, does not seem to "grow", only dealing with problems one by one as they appear.
Do read
Other Tales of the Flying Fox, if you can. It was my favourite novel before I read XAJH and HSDS, and it still is, for the category of those with fewer than 40 chapters. Then, read
Flying Fox of Snow Mountain, and you'll see how much "growing" Hu Fei does compared to Yuan Chengzhi.
After that, if you are still up to it, read the
Linked Cities. It's only 12 chapters.
Keep
Crimson Sabre to the last, or read it when you have absolutely nothing to do, like when you are a very long flight or something. It's that slow.
