Lin Pingzhi

[athlee]

Waiting 15-20 years and hoping eventually your plan will succeed, and hoping your enemy will still be alive, is something that only an outsider can say they would do.

Think about how rash and hotheaded teenagers are, and now multiply that by 10x as he was wealthy and spoiled and watched his parents tortured and killed over a period of a few weeks.

But he was patient enough to actually want to take Yue as sifu and learn from him to avenge his parents. I think (not expressly said or implied in novel to my knowledge) it was only because Yue stole the manual and tried to kill him that sent him to depression and resulted in him going for the fast track revenge scheme.

[pannonian]

SPW is, I believe, Jin Yong's most sophisticated meditation on power. Eunuchs were a major problem during the Ming Dynasty, many of them reached the highest echelons of power based solely on the fact that they (or their parents) were willing to cut off their family jewels to gain access to royalty and using that access to gain wealth and power. Of course, eunuchs were a problem in the entirety of China's history, which is why I think Jin Yong never actually gives a definitive time period for SPW.

We know it's Ming dynasty. From chapter 35, conversation between Lin Pingzhi and Yue Lingshan:

"No. My great grandfather didn't become a Buddhist when he got old. He
was a monk first before returning to secular life again."

"There were also heroes who were monks when they're young. Our founding
ancestor of the Ming, Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang, he was a monk before he
became the emperor."

[Trien Chieu]

But he was patient enough to actually want to take Yue as sifu and learn from him to avenge his parents. I think (not expressly said or implied in novel to my knowledge) it was only because Yue stole the manual and tried to kill him that sent him to depression and resulted in him going for the fast track revenge scheme.

Again, he was stupid. If he had the intelligence and patience, he would choose the alternative.

[Ren Wo Xing]

To be honest, I don't think Lin Pingzhi hated Linghu Chong. He felt some jealousy towards him due to his high sword skills and his previous relationship with Yue Lingshan, but I think he always felt at least some gratitude for Linghu Chong for the way he had humiliated the Qingcheng disciples in the past. For example, the one time they met again when he was going after Yu Canghai et. al., this was their exchange:

He then saw Lin Pingzhi taking a piece of snow white handkerchief out of his bosom and lightly dabbing his face with it. Lin Pingzhi's appearance was delicate and pretty. The way he took out his handkerchief, dabbed his face, and shook his clothes; it was just like an actor on stage playing the role of a pretty young woman.

After Lin Pingzhi had sat down, he lightly said, "Brother Linghu, you're well!"

"You're well!" Linghu Chong nodded his head.

Lin Pingzhi turned his head slightly and saw a Qingcheng disciple holding a pot of hot tea to give to Yu Canghai. "You're called Yu Renhao, aren't you? Years ago when my whole family was killed, you were there too. Even when your face is ashen, I still recognise you." Yu Renhao dropped the teapot on the table, turned around suddenly with his hand already on his sword handle, and then retreated for two steps.

"I'm Yu Renhao, what do you want?" His voice was rough, but it was trembling as he spoke and his face had turned ghostly pale.

"Ying Xiong Hao Jie, The Four Aces of Qingcheng!” Lin Pingzhi smiled. “You're number three, but there's no aura of a hero at all. This is funny, really funny."

'Ying Xiong Hao Jie, The Four Aces of Qingcheng' was Qingcheng School's four disciples with the strongest martial arts. They were Hou Renying, Hong Renxiong, Yu Renhao, and Luo Renjie. Among these people, one of them had been killed by Linghu Chong in the Huiyan Wine House, while the remaining three were present at that moment. Lin Pingzhi laughed mockingly and said, "That Brother Linghu once said: 'Dumb Bear Wild Pig, the Four Asses of Qingcheng'. That's too good for you to be compared to animals. In my opinion, hng, hng, you're even worse than animals."

[tape]

It wasn't the type of hate he had for Yu Canghai, but I think it would still be classified as hate in that, given the opportunity, he would kill him for no real reason. It definitely stemmed from jealousy though.

Again I really blame the ridiculous requirement of PiXie. If he didn't have to swipe his manhood away, I think he would have accepted Yue Lingshan after his revenge and the rest would follow.

[Trien Chieu]

Again I really blame the ridiculous requirement of PiXie. If he didn't have to swipe his manhood away, I think he would have accepted Yue Lingshan after his revenge and the rest would follow.

Yeah, the requirement of Pixie is ridiculous but he had a choice of not practicing it. He was about to marry Lingshan and a happy life ahead of him but he blew it all away.

I would blame his great grand father Lin Yuantu for the situation as well. Teach your descendants real kungfu from shaolin so that they can defend themselves against strong enemies like Yu Canghai, not the 72 useless strokes of Pixie Swordplay. Again, Lin Yuantu was a well respected/high rank monk from shaolin, I am pretty sure he knew great kungfu from Shaolin other than the KHBD.

[Guo Xiang]

Again, he was stupid. If he had the intelligence and patience, he would choose the alternative.

The point is, LPZ actually didn't have the time to wait out. If he waited, he would have ended up DEAD. No revenge, and definitely no hottie. As mentioned by either Blackraven or Tape or both of them, LPZ already tried to wait, but circumstances (in which Yue seriously wanted him dead) left him with no other choice.

It wasn't that he's stupid or impatient - the circumstances he was in gave him no other choice. He's going to be either a dead man, or a castrated man.

[Dirt]

Did Lin Pingzhi know that Yue Buqun was going to kill him? If not, textually speaking, he could have waited, the fact that he did not and cut off his you know what and went down the path of corruption still speaks badly of him. If he did know, then yeah, he really had no other choice.

[tape]

Yes LPZ did know. What we know of Yue Buqun is mainly what comes from LPZ when he is telling Yue Lingshan.

[Bai Qi44]

There's no hate from LPZ towards LWC. Just jealousy. LPZ would kill LWC, but not out of hate nor jealousy, but rather to gain fame. There was an encounter in the cave where LPZ said that LWC's name was famous throughout the realm (and it was). Killing LWC would make LPZ infamous.