The Deer and The Cauldron

[foxs]

Smurf, how about 'narrow-mindedness'? Athlon, thanks for the info, hopefully you'll find this version have more details still. Ace, Crazee, you are right, they were more concerned about their own group than the country as a whole. Anh, take care, OK? Toasted, I was going to try (to guess), but after reading the other posts, I was suddenly overwhelmed with inferiority complex ... Zhx, Pannonian, Itnw, Chowbeng, thank you for sharing those info. You guys are so knowledgeable. Thanks for making this thread alive. Too bad when this story is over and compiled, those valuable comments cannot be included. I did not realize there are many people following this. Oh I know, someone mentioned that I should look at the number of 'views' (forgot who said that), but first, I did not have time, second, perhaps those people are just like me: I like to wander around other threads just to know what's going on, and make plan on which story I will read next. I noticed that some new translators are stepping in, which is great!

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Chen Jinnan and Mu Palace warriors had always been loyal to Zhu Family of Ming; as soon as they heard that, their countenances changed greatly. Mu Jiansheng said, “If we fail to support the offspring of the Zhu Clan to regain the throne, won’t that mean we are supporting that big traitor Wu Sangui?”

Gui Zhong suddenly said, “Wu Sangui is a good man. He gave me this white tiger skin to be made as my robe. Have you seen it?” While saying that, he opened up the lapel of his robe to expose the white tiger skin underneath, seemingly very pleased with himself.

Gui Erniang said, “Child, don’t talk nonsense in here.”

With a cold laugh Su Gang said, “In Gui Shaoye’s opinion, a leather robe is more important than our Han’s rivers and mountains.”

“Child,” Gui Erniang angrily said, “Take that leather robe off!”

Gui Zhong was shocked, “But why?” he asked.

Gui Xinshu stretched out his hand to pull the sword hanging on his son’s waist. White light flashed, ‘swish, swish!’ the sword in Gui Xinshu’s hand continuously flitted across his son’s chest, back, shoulders and arms. Everybody was shocked; they all leaped back from their chairs, they thought Gui Xinshu was killing his son. But then they saw that the leather robe Gui Zhong was wearing had become seventeen or eighteen pieces, falling around his body, revealing the short silk, cotton-padded undergarments. Gui Xinshu’s sword moved very fast; it cut the leather robe into pieces, yet it did not touch the cotton-padded silk undergarments at all. When the crowd of warriors had seen clearly, they all cheered.

Gui Zhong was so scared that he could only stared blankly, while coughing incessantly. He almost cried as he said, “Dad … (cough, cough) … (cough, cough) … Dad … (cough) … I …”

Gui Xinshu waved his hand, the sword went back into its sheath, and then he took off his own cotton robe and draped it over his son’s body. “Put it on!” he said.

Gui Erniang picked up the pieces of white tiger skin from the floor and threw them into the blazing stove; immediately the fire blazed higher, a burst of burning leather smell arose, the white tiger was gradually burned into ashes. “What a pity, what a pity,” Wei Xiaobao repeatedly stated.

“Let’s go,” Gui Xinshu said. He pulled his son’s hand and led him toward the door.

Chen Jinnan said, “Gui Er Xia is going to attempt great things, we would like to offer some plans.”

“I do not dare!” Gui Xinshu said, “No need!” While saying that, he walked toward the door of the hall.

Wei Xiaobao knew Gui Xinshu was going to make his move at once, it would be too late to inform the Emperor, he must use all kinds of delaying tactics. Blocking in front of Gui Xinshu, he said in a loud voice, “The number of rooms in the Palace, if not ten thousands, then there are at least five thousands. Do you know where the Tatar Emperor live?”

Gui Xinshu was startled; he realized these words made a lot of sense. Turning his head around he asked, “Do you?”

Wei Xiaobao shook his head, “Nobody does,” he said, “Tatar Emperor is afraid someone might come to assassinate him, each night he moves from place to place to sleep. Sometimes he sleeps at the Chang Chun [eternal spring (season)] Palace, sometimes he sleeps at the Jing Yang [Bright (scenery) Positive] Palace, sometimes he sleeps at the Xian Fu [harmonious good fortune] Palace, Yan Xi [extended joy] Palace, or perhaps at the Li Jing [beautiful scenery] Pavilion, Yu Hua [rain flower] Loft, or Yu Qing [nurturing (a child) celebration] Palace.” In one breath he mentioned seven or eight different Palace or Pavilion names.

Listening to him, Gui Xinshu frowned. Wei Xiaobao added, “Even the court eunuchs and Imperial Bodyguards who serve on the Emperor’s side do not know where the Emperor will sleep tonight.”

“So how are we going to find the Emperor?” Gui Xinshu asked.

Wei Xiaobao said, “When the Emperor holds the morning audience, all civil and military officials will see him. As he entered the building, he will come to see you, others will never find him.” Actually the situation was not as dire as he made it to be, Kangxi did not frequently move around to lie down, but Gui Xinshu, husband and wife, were ‘uncultivated land’ and ‘cloth clothes’; how could they know the Imperial Palace’s inner courtyards’ practices? Hearing Wei Xiaobao’s crazy nonsense, they thought that the Emperor taking strict precautions against assassins was rightly so, hence they were greatly hesitating.

Looking at Gui Xinshu’s expression, Wei Xiaobao knew that he realized the difficulty of this situation; in his heart Wei Xiaobao was very pleased. “Gui Laoyezi [old master],” he asked, “Do you know how many concubines the Emperor has?”

“Humph,” Gui Xinshu snorted; he stared at Wei Xiaobao without saying anything.

Wei Xiaobao said, “The storytellers said that the Emperor has three palaces and six courtyards, the chambers of imperial concubines’ beautiful girls … beautiful women are around three thousand. The Tatar Emperor does not have that many wives, I don’t think he has three thousand, but I’ll say he has at least eight or nine hundreds. Every night he becomes the groom; today he sleeps at the 351st imperial concubine’s room, tomorrow he’ll sleep at the 634th imperial concubine’s room. Even the imperial concubines themselves will not know where the Emperor will spend the night. They might have to wait three years, four years, and still do not know if the Emperor is coming or not.”

“Xiaobao,” Chen Jinnan said, “You have lived in the Palace for a long time, you must know a way to find the Emperor.”

Wei Xiaobao replied, “During the day it is easy to find him, but in the night, no matter what I have no idea to find him.”

Chen Jinnan said, “In that case, during the day tomorrow we disguise ourselves and with you leading us, we’ll sneak into the Palace to execute the mission. Last time didn’t you take Qian Xiongdi and Wu Er Ge in and out of the Palace?” While saying that he pointed to Qian Laoben and Wu Lishen, two men.

“Qian Dage only went as far as the imperial kitchen,” Wei Xiaobao said, “As soon as Wu Er Ge and the others entered the Palace, the bodyguards … the bodyguards discovered them. To see the Emperor’s face, it was still a hundred and eight thousand li away. Qian Dage, Wu Er Ge, don’t you agree?”

Qian and Wu, two men, nodded their heads. The two of them knew that to enter the Palace and look for the Emperor was like fishing a needle from the bottom of the ocean.

“Disciple has a way,” Wei Xiaobao said.

“What way?” Chen Jinnan asked.

Wei Xiaobao said, “Disciple is going to see the Emperor tomorrow, he will surely want to talk about Wu Sangui’s rebellion, how to send the troops to fight, disciple will advise him to come out and inspect the cannon. As long as he is out of the Palace, it would be a lot easier to make our move. Whether the assassination attempt is successful or not, we can put oil on the soles of our feet, and will be able to escape a lot easier; it will be a lot less dangerous.”

With a cold laugh Gui Erniang said, “So the Emperor will listen to you, a baby? If you do not come out of the Palace for three years, do you think we should wait for three years? You use all sorts of excuses, in the end you are not willing to lead us in, is that it?”

Mu Jiansheng said, “To enter the Palace and assassinate the Emperor, Xiongdi has done it. It was shameful actually, our Mu Palace lost quite a number of Xiongdi. My own little sister, along with Fang Shimei, also this Wu Shishu, as well as two other Shidi, were trapped inside the Palace and met quite an unexpected fate. Fortunately we received Wei Xiangzhu’s help for the sake of loyalty before we could get out of the danger. It’s not that we are coward who are afraid to die, this matter is truly difficult to succeed.”

Gui Erniang looked coldly at Wei Xiaobao; she asked, “You can rescue them out of danger?”

Wu Lishen hastily said, “Although Wei Xiangzhu is young, his benevolence and righteousness surpass others, he is quick-witted and smart; Xiongdi owes my life entirely to him.”

Gui Erniang said, “Mu Palace failed, that does not necessarily mean that surnamed Gui will also fail for sure.”

Liu Dahong stood up abruptly and said, “Gui Family husband and wife are Divine Fist Without Equal; it’s only natural that you surpass us, tiny Mu Palace, by a hundredfold. I would suggest you go at once, we will be waiting in here for good news.”

A brother from Great Benevolence Hall said, “Wei Xiangzhu, you’d better also go to the Palace. Wait until the Gui Family Three Da Xia [big hero] are captured by the Tatar bodyguards, you’d better find a way to rescue them.” He was still bitter over the Gui Family, three people murdered Wu Liuqi, so that even though they were in the presence of their Zongduozhu, he could not refrain from mocking them a bit.

Wei Xiaobao cursed in his heart, “If the three of you turtles enter the Palace and are caught, even if my head is chopped I won’t save you out.” He laughed and said, “How can the Gui Family Three Da Xia be caught by the Tatar bodyguards? There are more than eight thousand Imperial Bodyguards in the Palace, Gui Shaoye only needs to cough several times, these more than eight thousand guards will have their brains shaken and die.” Quite a number of people from Tian Di Hui and Mu Palace broke out in laughter.

Gui Zhong laughed. “Is there really such thing?” he said, “That will be really fun. So they are afraid to hear my (cough … cough, cough) …? (Cough, cough) … (cough, cough) …” The Gui couple was furious; one of them grabbed their son’s arm and the three of them walked out side-by-side.

“Gui Er Xia,” Chen Jinnan said, “Please calm down. Xiongdi has a plan.”

Gui Erniang always knew that Chen Jinnan was full of stratagems; she turned around, waiting for him to continue.

Chen Jinnan said, “Gui Er Xia virtuous husband and wife are exceptionally skillful in martial arts, you are unequaled in the present age, but you are entering a very dangerous ground, all in all there will be multitude of enemies, but only a few friends. We’d better discuss a foolproof plan to …”

Gui Erniang cut him off, “I thought Chen Zongduozhu really had a brilliant idea, humph!” Turning around again, she walked toward the door.

Liu Dahong and Wu Lishen suddenly rushed forward and blocked the door. Liu Dahong said, “If the two of you want to help Wu Sangui, we from Mu Palace absolutely will not allow it to happen.”

“What?” Gui Erniang said, “You want to fight?”

Liu Dahong said, “The two of you might better kill me and my martial brothers clean first before going out this door to lend a hand to Wu Sangui.”

“Who says we are going to lend a hand to Wu Sangui?” Gui Erniang said.

Liu Dahong said, “Although the two of you do not have any intention to help that traitor Wu, but if you succeed, that traitor Wu’s momentum will gain a lot of boost, he cannot be controlled anymore.”

“Get out of the way,” Gui Xinshu said in a low voice, while taking a step forward.

Liu Dahong spread his arms to block the door. Gui Xinshu stretched his left hand forward to grab Liu Dahong’s chest. Liu Dahong raised his hand to parry, ‘smack!’ two palms collided, Liu Dahong’s body swayed two times, his entire face turned deathly pale. “I only used fifty-percent of my power,” Gui Xinshu said.

Wu Lishen shook his head and said, “There is no harm in you using a hundred-percent of your power so that all of us martial brothers will die violently.”

Gui Zhong said, “You want a hundred-percent, I’ll give you a hundred-percent.” He raised both hands, one bent close to his body, the other outstretched. Wu Lishen stretched out his arm to parry. Gui Zhong pulled his hand back, Wu Lishen struck an empty space. Gui Zhong seized the opportunity when Wu Lishen was about to pull his hand back, quick as lightning his hands grabbed the acupoints on Wu Lishen’s chest and waist.

Chen Jinnan rushed forward to stop them. “We are all good friends here,” he persuaded, “Let’s not use force.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “We all argue incessantly, in the end we still don’t have any solution. Let’s do it this way: we throw dice, leave it all to luck. If Gui Laoyezi wins, not only we will not hinder the three of you from entering the Palace, Wanbei [junior] will explain in details the situation in the Palace to the two of you.”

“And if you win?” Gui Erniang asked.

Wei Xiaobao replied, “In that case we will put this matter on the shelf for the time being, after Wu Sangui is dead, we will make our move against the Emperor.”

Gui Erniang thought, “If we do it on our own, Mu Family will most likely go to inform the Tatars, in the end this matter will be difficult to accomplish. We might as well listen to him.” She turned to ask her husband, “Er Ye [second master], what do you think?”

Gui Xinshu said to Wei Xiaobao, “If you lose you must not go back on your word.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “A real man gave his words, dead horses cannot pull it back. The Tatar young Emperor is not my laozi [old man], why would I want to protect him? It’s just that if we win, we must win it heroically, if we lose, we must lose gracefully. No matter who wins or loses, we must not harm our friendship.”

Chen Jinnan thought that his last sentence made a lot of sense; he said, “This matter involves great responsibility, in the end it will affect the calamity or good fortune of our great undertaking of restoring our country; it is difficult to predict. People of old used divination when they were in doubt, we will roll the dice, the idea is the same. Everybody needs not argue opinionatedly, let’s depend on the Will of Heaven.”

Gui Erniang said, “Child, let him go.”

“I won’t,” Gui Zhong replied.

“This little brother wants to play with you by rolling the dice,” Gui Erniang said.

Gui Zhong was delighted; immediately he relinquished his grip, releasing the acupoint on Wu Lishen’s chest. Wu Lishen felt the pain on the pit of his stomach was unbearable, his breathing could not flow freely, he shook his head continuously.

“Gui Shaoye,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Please take your dice out. We’ll use yours.”

“Dice?” Gui Zhong asked, “I don’t have any. Do you have some?”

“I don’t have it either,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “Who has some dice?” he asked around. Everybody slowly shook their head, they all thought, “We are not rotten gambling ghost, who would carry dice everywhere?”

Gui Erniang said, “No dice, we’ll flip a coin.”

“Throwing dice is more fair,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Genuine goods at fair prices, cheating neither old nor young. I am a boy, Gui Shaoye is an old gentleman, thus it is clear that we must throw dice. I am sure one of the personal guards would have some dice; I’ll go ask.” Finished speaking, he pulled the bolt, open the door, and went out of the hall.

[crazee]

Wow....with so many expert on translating and \knowledgeable ppl in this forum....err am I making a fool of myself with my stupid comments ???

Thanks Foxs...I'll bet XB is up to no good and the dice he gets will not be honest ones.....

[Ace High]

With a cold laugh Gui Erniang said, “So the Emperor will listen to you, a baby?”

They were at Beijing, and I doubt there was nobody in the Capital that didn’t know who WXB is and the relationship he has with the emperor. Even Galdan and Sangye have heard WXB’s name from a far. Heck, even WXB’s residence was a dead giveaway. A mere earl of third rank’s residence is equal to a feudatory king’s residence? Furthermore, despite being ‘a little baby’, WXB’s troops fly the (plain) yellow banners, which signify their elite status as the emperor’s personal troops.

Gui Erniang said, “Mu Palace failed, that does not necessarily mean that surnamed Gui will also fail for sure.”

“Our martial arts are better than yours, so naturally you failed and we will succeed.”

What are the odds of the 3 against 8,000 guardsmen? This will be a battle of attrition. Some of the guards will die and others injured, but the Gui’s won’t be unscathed either. As the battle go on, the guards will have reinforcement coming, either from off duty guards or from other banners’ troops, while the Guis will have none. No matter how minor the injury each injury received by the Guis, it will accumulate and hamper them. No matter how heavy injury inflicted to the guardsmen, fresh guards can immediately replace the spot.

[Ace High]

I think that you're helping to prove my point. The Han people (and Taiwan in particular) did have reasons to overthrow the Qing Empire, but the question of whether it's actually worthwhile to do so is an altogether different matter.

The Han people did also have reasons to overthrow the Ming dynasty (and they did).

[ToastedRossi]

Ace, Crazee, you are right, they were more concerned about their own group than the country as a whole.

Thanks foxs for your work. To be fair, Taiwan under the Chengs was never under Qing rule and they never acknowledged the Manchus as the legitimate rulers of China. It sort of reminds me of a certain Asian mainland power's relationship with a certain island power.

Toasted, I was going to try (to guess), but after reading the other posts, I was suddenly overwhelmed with inferiority complex ...

Don't worry about it, the Guis are about as prominent in this novel as they are in SSWRB. He Tishou is the only character where it really helps to have read that earlier book.

Xiaobao gets to be a real hero in this section while playing both sides of the conflict. He also gets to say a lot of things that are straight up insightful and truthful. But this:

“Dice?” Gui Zhong asked, “I don’t have any. Do you have some?”

“I don’t have it either,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “Who has some dice?” he asked around. Everybody slowly shook their head, they all thought, “We are not rotten gambling ghost, who would carry dice everywhere?”

is a complete lie. It might be the most dishonest thing that's come out of xiaobao's mouth. If I didn't know better, I'd assume that he always has 4 sets of dice on him: two sets that are loaded, one honest set, and one set cybernetically implanted in him.

Thinking about it, Xiaobao is equipped a lot like a RPG protagonist at all times: soft armor, dagger, corpse-dissolving powder, knockout drug, dice. And D&D didn't even come out until two years after this book did.

Wow....with so many expert on translating and \knowledgeable ppl in this forum....err am I making a fool of myself with my stupid comments ???

Nah, it's all good. When I first read this book, I didn't know anything about the early Qing history either.

Thanks Foxs...I'll bet XB is up to no good and the dice he gets will not be honest ones.....

But you trust Xiaobao too much!

They were at Beijing, and I doubt there was nobody in the Capital that didn’t know who WXB is and the relationship he has with the emperor. Even Galdan and Sangye have heard WXB’s name from a far. Heck, even WXB’s residence was a dead giveaway. A mere earl of third rank’s residence is equal to a feudatory king’s residence? Furthermore, despite being ‘a little baby’, WXB’s troops fly the (plain) yellow banners, which signify their elite status as the emperor’s personal troops.

The Guis are really out of the loop, but what Gui Erniang is saying is that she doesn't trust Xiaobao to help them.

“Our martial arts are better than yours, so naturally you failed and we will succeed.”

What are the odds of the 3 against 8,000 guardsmen? This will be a battle of attrition. Some of the guards will die and others injured, but the Gui’s won’t be unscathed either. As the battle go on, the guards will have reinforcement coming, either from off duty guards or from other banners’ troops, while the Guis will have none. No matter how minor the injury each injury received by the Guis, it will accumulate and hamper them. No matter how heavy injury inflicted to the guardsmen, fresh guards can immediately replace the spot.

This book treats the matter way more realistically than Jin Yong's other novels. In most of the others, it's a lot more trivial to sneak into and out of palaces.

[Ace High]

The Guis are really out of the loop, but what Gui Erniang is saying is that she doesn't trust Xiaobao to help them.

Look at how the Guis generally behaved to everyone. They brushed away every single opinion no matter how reasonable and sensible it is just because they are contrary to their own opinions. Gui Er Niang did not trust WXB because he always point out the flaws in the Guis’ plannings (or lack of it, for that matter), hence ‘giving all sort of excuses’ to protect the Tatar’s emperor in the Guis eyes. Even when the Mus back WXB up by telling the Guis WXB have rescues the Mu’s people from the Palace (showing how influential and powerful WXB is in the Palace), the Guis just scoffed at them on pure spite.

This book treats the matter way more realistically than Jin Yong's other novels. In most of the others, it's a lot more trivial to sneak into and out of palaces.

Sneak into which part of the palace? And at which time? Sneak into the lightly guarded Imperial Kitchen of an incompetent emperor to steal some food? Of course it’s a trivial matters compared to sneaking into the Palace to assassinate the Emperor during a state of emergency. Security inside the Palace will surely tighten during the Rebellion (The Qing have very competent military officials and guard commanders to not to take this course of action).

[Anh Nam]

Thanks foxs
With over 410,000 views of this thread you must have a lot of viewers even though some of us check your thread often.

[crazee]

Thanks foxs
With over 410,000 views of this thread you must have a lot of viewers even though some of us check your thread often.

Wow....410,000 views, that's a lot.

Foxs,....that's a great job and highly popular too.

[foxs]

Ace, Toasted, good discussion. The Guis are so out of the loop, thinking that everything can be solved using their superb martial art. Actually, even in this novel it was not uncommon people sneaking in and out of the Palace, only like Ace said, they were not assassinating the Emperor. I imagine with thousands of people inside, who would keep track of everybody? Anh, Crazee, like I said, there is a possibility that those people are just like me, 'browser'. Or like Anh said, 'repeat offender', er, I mean, 'repeat viewer'.

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He went out of the eastern hall, entered the main hall, and fetched six dice from his pouch. The dice were the talisman that he carried everywhere, but if he took out dice on the spot, Gui Family husband and wife would definitely suspect him. He sat down in the main hall for a moment before returning to the east hall and said with a laugh, “I found some dice.”

“How do you decide winning or losing?” Gui Erniang asked.

Wei Xiaobao said, “The trick in throwing dice, I don’t understand the least bit. Gui Shaoye, how do you say we must gamble?”

Gui Zhong picked up two dice and said, “You and I compete in accuracy.” His finger flicked, ‘chi, chi!’ the two dice flew and extinguished two candles, followed by ‘pop, pop!’ the two dice embedded itself into the wooden partition. The crowd of warriors broke into praise, “Good skill!”

Wei Xiaobao said, “I have seen people throwing the dice; it’s a competition of the number of dots, big or small, not a competition of secret projectile throwing skill.”

“That’s right!” Gui Erniang said, “The two of you throw one time, who has the bigger number of dots wins.”

Wei Xiaobao thought, “Only throwing one time, maybe his luck is really good, all at once he rolls thirty-six dots.” Thereupon he said, “Let’s do it this way: each one of us will throw three times, two out of three will win.”

Gui Zhong thought that the more they throw the dice the more he would have fun. He said, “Each one of us will throw three hundred times, whoever wins two hundred times will be considered the winners.”

“That will be too much trouble,” Gui Erniang said, “Each one throwing three times is enough.”

Xu Tianchuan pulled the two dice embedded into the wooden partition and put them on the table. “Gui Shaoye,” Wei Xiaobao said, “You throw first.”

Gui Zhong picked up the dice, and with a giggle he was ready to throw. “Hold on!” Gui Erniang said. Turning her head, he asked Liu Dahong and Mu Jiansheng, “If we win this game, will Mu Palace be considered lost too?”

Just now Liu Dahong exchanged a palm strike with Gui Xinshu, the blood and chi in his chest was still bubbling up, by this time he had not been able to regulate it yet; he thought that the opponent had said that he was only using fifty-percent of his power, this man was a senior hero, it must be not an empty word. If he really wanted to go to the Palace to assassinate the Emperor, based on Mu Palace’s power alone, how could they stop him? Thereupon he nodded. Mu Jiansheng said, “Let the Heaven reveal its will, the decision will be based entirely on the throw of the two gentlemen.”

“Very well!” Gui Erniang said. Turning to Gui Zhong she said, “Throw it! The bigger the number of dots the better.”

Gui Zhong examined the dice carefully. He said, “The biggest number of dots is six, the smallest is two, and then there is this big indentation here.”

“That big indentation is one dot,” Gui Erniang said.”

Gui Zhong said, “It’s so weird, the four dots are red.” Waving his right palm, ‘Slap!’ the six dice went into the tabletop, all top surfaces had six dots on them. Turned out he arranged the dice on his palm, with all dice have one dot facing up, so that when he slammed the dice down, naturally all six dots were facing up.

Everybody was stunned, but they were also amused. This tuberculosis ghost seemed too weak to stand up to the wind, yet his internal energy was surprisingly this deep; but where in the world would there be throwing dice technique like this?

“Child,” Gui Erniang said, “That’s not the way to throw the dice.” Stretching out her palm, she slapped the table once, the six dice immediately jumped up. Everybody cheered. Gui Erniang picked up the dice and rolled it gently. She said, “Whatever dots come up, that will be the number of dots you get. You can’t rely on your own desire.”

“So that’s how you do it,” Gui Zhong said. Imitating his mother’s movement, he picked up the dice and gently tossed them on the table. The dice rolled. When they stopped, the number of dots was twenty. Six dice produced twenty dots, the chance of winning was slightly higher.

Wei Xiaobao picked up the dice, his little finger pushed a little bit, he was secretly employing his trick, and then he shouted, “Eat ‘em all!” while throwing the dice away. Five dice stopped to show seventeen dots, the last dice continued rolling. Based on Wei Xiaobao’s skill in cheating, the last die should stop at six dots, bringing the total to twenty-three dots, then he would win the first throw. Who would have thought that the die suddenly tripped into a little hole on the table, one of the holes created by Gui Zhong when he slammed the dice just a moment ago. The die shook slightly and stopped rolling altogether. The top surface showed one dot. Eighteen dots; he lost.

Wei Xiaobao said, “There are holes on the table, this one did not count.”

He picked up the dice and was about to throw again. Chen Jinnan shook his head and said, “This is the Will of Heaven, you lost the first round.”

Wei Xiaobao thought, “There are two more throws, I will definitely win.” He handed the dice to Gui Zhong.

Gui Zhong won the first round, he was extremely pleased with himself. He gently rolled the dice, but only got nine dots. When Mu family people saw that this round his lost was guaranteed, they could not help but standing up and cheering.

Wei Xiaobao walked around the table to another corner, far from the six little holes, and threw the dice over there. Unexpectedly he got four dice at six dots each, and two dice at five dots each, bringing the total to thirty-four. Any combination of two dice already won. The victory was completely without any surprise without any risk.

Both sides had won one round each, the third throw would decide win or loss. Gui Zhong threw the dice. Six dice rolled around for a good while, finally they stopped at thirty-one dots, the chance of winning was very high. Anxiety reappeared on the Mu Family’s people’s faces, thinking that to beat these thirty-one dots they would need enormous good luck. But Wei Xiaobao was not worried at all, he thought, “I will use the same trick, I’ll throw thirty-four dots to beat you.”

With little finger pressed on the hollow of his palm, he set up the position of the dice and then gently rolled them out. He saw the six dice rolled on the table and stopped one by one; six dots, five dots, five dots, six dots … the first four dice all produced big numbers, he already had twenty-two dots. The fifth die also stopped at six dots, bringing the total to twenty-eight dots. The last die was still spinning. If it stopped at three, it would be a draw, then they would have to throw another round. One or two dots would mean he lost; four, five or six would give him victory. His chance of winning was 60%. Wei Xiaobao thought, “Even if it is three dots and we have to throw one more time, you won’t necessarily have the same good luck.”

The last die seemed to roll endlessly; they saw that it was going to land on six. “Good!” he shouted excitedly. Suddenly the die flipped over and rolled again. He was stunned. “There’s a ghost!” he cried out.

When he took a glance, he saw Gui Xinshu was blowing gently toward the dice. Right this moment, the die stopped rolling, the big indentation was facing up to the morning sky. It was one dot. Everybody shouted in chorus.

Wei Xiaobao was shocked and angered at the same time, he had seen people cheating in dice countless times, but to see people blowing on the dice to flip it over, this was his very first time; he had never even heard about it before. This old man’s internal energy was outstanding to the extreme, he was able to blow a thin stream of air; not only he was able to turn the six dots into one, perhaps when Gui Zhong threw thirty-on dots just now, it was not entirely due to his good luck in gambling, but because his laozi [old man] on the side was blowing air to help him. With face bulging red he shouted, “Gui Laoyezi, you … you … (whoosh, whoosh, whoosh)!” While saying that he pursed his lips to blow.

“Twenty-nine dots, you lose!” Gui Xinshu said. Reaching out, he picked the six dice and pinched them between his thumb and middle-finger. ‘Crack!’ the dice shattered, a few drops of mercury flowed out; the drops scattered around the tabletop and immediately turned into hundreds or perhaps thousands of small beads, which rolled everywhere.

Gui Zhong clapped his hands and cheered, “It’s fun, it’s fun! What is that thing? It looks like water, but also looks like silver.”

Seeing Gui Xinshu was exposing the mercury inside the dice to artificially increase their weight, Wei Xiaobao knew he could not argue over him blowing the dice. Pretending to me amazed, he said, “Turns out there is some mercury inside the dice. Laoyezi, you have taught Junior something new. The dice are made of ox bones, today I learned that mercury also come from cows. Previously I thought that it was silver plus water turned into mercury. Cows can cultivate soil, they also can produce mercury. Amazing, amazing!”

Gui Erniang ignored his nonsense; she said, “Anybody has anything else to say? Wei Xiongdi, please explain in details the situation of the Imperial Palace.”

Wei Xiaobao cast a glance toward his Shifu. Chen Jinnan nodded his head, saying, “It’s the Will of Heaven, you must explain honestly to the two Seniors.” He knew this disciple of his was very crafty, hence he added the word ‘honestly’.

Wei Xiaobao’s mind was churning; he had an idea, he said, “Since I have lost, naturally I can’t renege on the result of the bet. A real man steals, robs and cheats is not a big deal, but betting result must be honored. There are too many rooms in the Imperial Palace, even if I explain everything I can’t make you understand. I’ll draw a picture. Xu San Ge, Qian Dage, please accompany the guests, I’ll make the drawing.” Cupping his fist toward everybody, he turned around, walked out of the hall, and entered his study room.

This earl mansion was given to him by Prince Kang, inside the study room, the books filled the wall, writing brush and ink stone was prepared on the table. Wei Xiaobao was afraid his gambling luck would turn bad, books and loss [‘shu’ and ‘shu’] are homophone; normally he would not enter this Study Room [‘shu fang’ – book room, library] even for half a step. Right now he sat in front of the desk and shouted, “Grind the ink!” He had already summoned his personal attendant to serve him.

The Bojue Daren [Earl] has never written any letter, the personal attendant was bewildered, but his face showed admiration. Immediately he pulled himself together and started to work. He put fresh water into the antique purple coiled dragon stone ink slab that used to belong to Wang Xizhi[1], took the pine-black fragrant ink that was a leftover from Chu Suiliang[2] of the Tang Dynasty, pressed it by applying force from his wrist to his finger, and then while holding his breath and with full concentration ground the ink on the ink-stone to make thick liquid ink. From the brush container he fetched a writing brush made of mottled bamboo inlaid with silver, with best quality goat hair, manufactured by Zhao Meng of Huzhou. And then he spread a piece of gold-patterned jade edition note-paper, manufactured under imperial orders of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, on the desk. Lastly, he lighted a dragon-essence musk-fragrance incense stick on the burner just like when Madame usually wrote letters, before waiting respectfully for Bojue Daren to start writing. When everything was set up, it was like: ‘Zhong Wang Ou Chu Yan Liu Zhao, it was a shame that everybody was inferior to Wei Xiaobao’. [Translator’s note: Not sure what it means, but the first line was a bunch of surnames, some of them appeared in the description of the product he was using (Wang Xizhi, Chu Suiliang, Zhao Meng, etc.)]

Wei Xiaobao bent his palm like a tiger claw, using qinna [grab and capture/grappling] power he grabbed the shaft of the brush, dipped it into the ink until the brush was soaked, suddenly with a light ‘plop!’ a large drop of ink dripped from the tip of the brush onto the paper, immediately staining the gold-patterned jade edition note-paper. The personal attendant thought, “Turns out Bojue Daren is not writing letters, he is going to paint, Liang-calligraphy style, by splashing ink onto the paper.” But then he saw him making a straight vertical line down on the left of the dot, as if he was drawing a curvy tree trunk. And then on the left of the tree trunk he lightly put another dot. It appeared like the northern school’s Li Sixun’s hatchet hacking style, or perhaps the southern school’s Wang Mojie’s draping hemp cloth style. It was definitely a combination of the two schools’, north and south, major styles.

The attendant had always been serving in the study room, he had quite a bit of ink in his belly [i.e. literary knowledge]; while he was sighing in admiration, suddenly he heard the Earl asked, “Is my ‘Xiao’ [little] character written well?” The attendant jumped in fright; he did not know that Bojue Daren was writing the character ‘Xiao’ [小]. Hastily he uttered some words of praise, saying, “Daren’s penmanship, the stroke from right to left, did not create a square, vertical line from the sky is genius.” [Translator’s note: honestly, I have no idea what he was talking about, perhaps about Chinese strokes?]

Wei Xiaobao said, “Go, summon Zhang Tidu here.”

The attendant complied and went out, thinking, “I wonder what Bojue Daren is going to write next?” But even if he guessed ten thousand times, he would never have guessed correctly.

Actually, after the character ‘Xiao’, Wei Xiaobao drew a circle. Underneath the circle, he drew a horizontal line, something that looked like stiff firewood or shoulder pole, and then a squiggly line like an earthworm passing through the shoulder pole. The earthworm passing through the shoulder pole was actually a ‘Zi’ [子] character. This three-character string was actually Kangxi’s name, ‘Xiao Xuanzi’. Since he did not know how to write the character ‘Xuan’, he substituted it with a circle.[3]

He recalled that day when he was a monk in the Qingliang Temple, Kangxi drew some pictures in the imperial decree; Wei Xiaobao was happy and very impressed. Following the example of the Holy Sage, he respectfully copied what he did; today the situation was urgent, hence he submitted the memorial to the throne in drawings.

After writing the name ‘Xiao Xuanzi’, he drew a sword, with the tip of the sword penetrating the circle. If it meant to be a saber, it did not look like a saber, if it meant to be a sword, it did not look like a sword. Just by drawing these, his forehead was drenched in sweats.

He had just finished the drawing when Zhang Yong arrived.

---

[1] Wang Xizhi (303-361), famous calligrapher of Eastern Jin, known as the sage of calligraphy.

[2] Chu Suiliang (597–658), a chancellor of the Tang Dynasty, during the reigns of Emperor Taizong and Emperor Taizong's son Emperor Gaozong. He became increasingly trusted by Emperor Taizong toward the end of his reign and was charged with the responsibilities of serving as the imperial historian and providing honest advice.

[3] In Cantonese, ‘Xuan’ of Xiao Xuanzi's nameis a homophone for circle. (Courtesy of Pannonian)

[Ace High]

Actually, even in this novel it was not uncommon people sneaking in and out of the Palace, only like Ace said, they were not assassinating the Emperor. I imagine with thousands of people inside, who would keep track of everybody?

The Imperial Palace is a 200 acres area complex which consists of 980 buildings. It will be a logistic and human resource nightmare to properly guard all buildings and courtyards. It is reasonable to assume there are high, medium and low security areas.

These were some of those who successfully sneaked into the Imperial Palace without being detected.
Mao Dong Zhu (fake empress dowager)
Deng Bing Chun
Liu Yan
Jiu Nan (taking WXB along)
Thin Monk
Mu Jian Ping (involuntarily, smuggled inside a pig)

[SkyWalker]

Thanks foxs.

It's so sweet that WXB is warning his friend of the attack. He can be very loyal to those he cares about.

[chowbeng]

These were some of those who successfully sneaked into the Imperial Palace without being detected.
Mao Dong Zhu (fake empress dowager)
Deng Bing Chun
Liu Yan
Jiu Nan (taking WXB along)
Thin Monk
Mu Jian Ping (involuntarily, smuggled inside a pig)

Technically, Wei Xiaobao himself also sneaked into the palace in the first place.

[Anh Nam]

Thanks foxs

[Ace High]

Technically, Wei Xiaobao himself also sneaked into the palace in the first place.

WXB was captured alongside Mao Shi Ba. Hai Da Fu knew from the start Xiao Gui Zi was killed and replaced by WXB.

[Ace High]

And then he spread a piece of gold-patterned jade edition note-paper, manufactured under imperial orders of Emperor Huizong of the Song Dynasty, on the desk.

I found out that Emperor Hui Zong’s third brother, King of Yue Zhao Cai who lived in Gioro after their capture, was the founder of the clan Gioro in which the Qing Imperial Family Aisin Gioro is a cadet branch. As such, the Qing has as ‘legitimate’ claim to the Dragon Throne as any descendant of Imperial House of Zhu, due being descendants of Imperial House of Zhao themselves.

[pannonian]

Actually, after the character ‘Xiao’, Wei Xiaobao drew a circle. Underneath the circle, he drew a horizontal line, something that looked like stiff firewood or shoulder pole, and then a squiggly line like an earthworm passing through the shoulder pole. The earthworm passing through the shoulder pole was actually a ‘Zi’ [子] character. This three-character string was actually Kangxi’s name, ‘Xiao Xuanzi’. Since he did not know how to write the character ‘Xuan’, he substituted it with a circle.

"Xuan" is a homophone for circle.

[crazee]

LOL..... that what I like about XB, he's chinese writing skill is as good as mine.....

Thanks Foxs...

There must be something good for people to repeatedly browse in this forum....and I know it's definitely not my silly and crazee postings.....

[zhxzhx]

thanks foxs.

Mao Dong Zhu (fake empress dowager)
Deng Bing Chun
Liu Yan
Jiu Nan (taking WXB along)
Thin Monk
Mu Jian Ping (involuntarily, smuggled inside a pig)

LOL

[foxs]

Ace, coincidentally, there are a lot names (in the Palace) in this part that I don't know how to translate. Sky, that was his greatest strength. Chowbeng, Ace was right, technically, WXB was brought into the Palace by Hai Dafu, hence he did not sneak in. Anh, you are welcome. Pannonian, are you talking about 'yuan', like in Chen Yuanyuan? Crazee, it's good that you visit this forum often ... I agree, these people are very knowledgable. Zhx, technically she was smuggled in, but yes, she managed to get in without detection.

---

Wei Xiaobao folded the gold-patterned jade edition note-paper and put it in an envelope. He sealed it well and handed it over to Zhang Yong, while saying in a low voice, “Zhang Tidu, this is a very important memorial to the throne. Please deliver it at once to the Palace and present it to His Majesty. Just say that this is my secret memorial, the Imperial Bodyguards and eunuchs will immediately announce your arrival.”

Zhang Yong complied. He received the envelope with both hands, and was about to put it into his pocket when they heard the two personal guards outside the study room asked in chorus, “Who’s there?” The door opened with a bang, three people burst in, they were none other than Gui Family husband and wife and Gui Zhong.

In a glance Gui Erniang saw the memorial in Zhang Yong’s hand; both reached from left and right, she snatched the envelope away, and asked Wei Xiaobao in stern voice, “You are going to inform the Tatar Emperor?”

Wei Xiaobao was so stunned that he could only stare blankly. “No … it’s not … it’s not …” he stammered.

Gui Erniang tore open the envelope, took the letter out and looked at the strange drawing on the paper. She was puzzled. “Look at this!” she said, while handing it over to Gui Xinshu. “What is this?” she asked Wei Xiaobao.

“I told him to go to the kitchen,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “I am ordering some … some … some dumpling soup for the guests to eat, the small dumplings, not the big ones. I want some pattern to be carved on the dumplings. He … he did not know what I mean, I drew some picture for him.”

Gui Xinshu and Gui Erniang nodded; their expressions softened. The drawing on the paper indeed looked like carving a pattern on the dumpling with a knife, so he was not trying to inform the Emperor at all.

Wei Xiaobao waved his hand to Zhang Yong and said, “Quickly go, quickly go!” Zhang Yong turned around and exited the study room. Wei Xiaobao said, “Tell them to prepare well, get more people, do it quickly! Everybody is going to eat soon, this is life-and-death situation, must not delay even for a moment.” From the door Zhang Yong replied again.

Gui Erniang said, “It’s just light refreshment, no need to rush. Wei Xiongdi, have you drawn the Imperial Palace map?”

Wei Xiaobao took another sheet of gold-patterned jade edition notepaper, spread it on the desk, and handed the writing brush to Gui Erniang and said, “I tried drawing some, but it was not good. I’ll say, I’d better ask you to draw it.”

Gui Erniang received the brush, sat down, and said, “Very well. Please start.”
Wei Xiaobao thought that he had nothing to conceal,thereupon he started from Wu Men [Meridian Gate], to the north toward Jin ShuiQiao [Golden Water River Bridge]. Turning to the west, passing Hong Yi Ge[great/extensive righteousness pavilion (usually two-storied)], passing Tai He Dian[Hall of Supreme Harmony], Zhong He Dian [Hall of Central Harmony], Bao He Dian[Hall of Preserving Harmony], three main halls, passing Long Zong Men [grandancestor gate] toward the imperial kitchen; Wei Xiaobao’s origin. From here tothe east, passing Qian Qing Men, to Qian Qing Palace[4].

And then turning toward Tai Dian [grand/safe/peaceful palacehall], Kun Ning Gong[5],Yu Huayuan [imperial (flower) garden], Qin An Dian [veneration safe/securehall]; from the imperial kitchen going north was southern warehouse, Yang XinDian [Hall of Mental Cultivation], Yong Shou Gong [Palace of Eternal Longevity],Yi Kun Gong [respectable female (see note) palace], Ti He Dian [body/formharmony hall], Chu Xiu Gong [Palace of Gathering Elegance], Li Jing Xuan [beautifulbright pavilion], Shu Fang Zhai [rinsing fragrance study-room], Chong Hua Gong[repeated magnificent palace].

From here southward was Xian Fu Gong [Palace of UniversalHappiness], Chang Chun Gong [Palace of Eternal Spring (season)], Ti Yuan Dian [body/formorigin/primary hall], Tai Ji Dian [supreme ultimate hall]. To the west was YuHua Ge [rain flower pavilion], Bao Hua Dian [magnificent guardian hall], ShouAn Gong [long life safe/secure palace], Ying Hua Dian [brave magnificent hall].

Turning south again was XiSan Suo [western three buildings], Shou Kang Gong [long life healthy palace],Ci Ning Gong [Palace of Compassionate and Peaceful], Ci Ning Huayuan [flowergarden], Wu Ying Dian [Hall of Martial Valor]. Out of Wu Ying Men [Gate ofMartial Valor], passing the bridge going east, passing Xi He Men [Gate of ProsperousHarmony], going back to Wu Men, was Zijincheng’s [Forbidden City] western halfsection.

The Gui Family husband and wife listened as he rambled on for half a day, and only covered the western half section of the Imperial Palace. They could not even remember the names of ‘gong dian ge lou’ [palace, hall, pavilion, two-storied buildings’, hence they could not help but breaking in cold sweats. Gui Erniang dutifully wrote down the names of palaces and gates. Wei Xiaobao then talked about the palaces and gates of the eastern half section. Fortunately his memory was very good, plus he loved to play around everywhere in the Imperial Palace, hence he was very familiar with it.

Gui Erniang wrote for quite a long time before she finally finished writing the position of the Imperial Palace’s Nine Inner Halls Forty-Eight Residences. She put down the writing brush, took a deep breath, smiled and said, “Sorry to bother Wei Xiongdi to explain everything this clearly. Thank you very much.” When listening to Wei Xiaobao mentioning all the palaces and gates’ names and locations, she noticed that he was talking as if enumerating his own family’s valuables, without the slightest hesitation, hence she presumed that it was the truth. She thought that even if he wanted to fabricate fiction, he did not have that kind of ability.

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “This is the price Gui Shaoye collected from winning the dice, you do not need to thank me.” He also said, “The Emperor’s Imperial Bodyguards are usually waiting around the imperial sedan chair station by the Tong Hua Men [east magnificent gate], but now they are at war with Wu Sangui, the Tatar Emperor surely increases security. It may be assumed that in the Forbidden City’s forty-eight residences, there will be Imperial Bodyguards guarding inside.” He thought, “I’d better warn them first, so that when Xiao Xuanzi receives my secret memorial and sends more guards, these three turtles will not suspect me of informing him.”

“That is only natural,” Gui Erniang said.

“Although there are a lot of Imperial Bodyguards in the Palace,” Wei Xiaobao continued, “They are not martial art masters; only there are a lot of them. Manchu people’s archery skill is very formidable, but naturally the three of you do not care about it.”

“Thank you for the advice,” Gui Erniang said, “We’ll take our leave now.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “The three of you must eat some dumplings first, so that you will have the strength to work.” Walking to the door, he said loudly, “Guards, send some refreshments here.” The servant waiting outside the door responded loudly.

“No need,” Gui Erniang said. Taking her son’s hand, she exited the study room side-by-side with Gui Xinshu. Both husband and wife thought, “Most likely there will be some trick in your carved dumplings. Why would you carve something on dumplings? We fell into your trick once, we won’t fall the second time.” In Wei Xiaobao’s mansion, these three people did not even drink half a sip of tea.

Wei Xiaobao walked them out of the door; cupping his fist to bid them farewell, he said, “Junior’s eyes are looking towards the report of victory, my ears are waiting for good news.”

Gui Xinshu stretched out his hand toward the Chinese stone lion by the main gate, his palm struck the head of the lion, immediately fragments of stone swirled in the air. With a ‘hey, hey’ cold laugh, he shook his sleeve and left.

Wei Xiaobao stared blankly for half a day; he mused, “If that palm strikes laozi’s head, the feeling won’t be good at all. He is warning me not to spoil their important matter, otherwise he would strike me with his palm.” Stretching out his hand, he also struck the lion’s head with his palm. “Ah!” he cried out, while jumping back; the hollow of his palm was hurt really bad. The top of lion’s head was originally very smooth, but because of Gui Xinshu’s palm strike just now quite a bit of stone flaked out that it became jagged and sharp. Wei Xiaobao raised his hand to look at it under the lantern light, fortunately it was not bleeding of cuts.

Returning to the eastern hall, he saw Chen Jinnan and the others were drinking wine. He reported to his Shifu that he had already explain the Forbidden City’s details to the Gui Family husband and wife, and he had just walked the three of them out. Chen Jinnan nodded and said with a sigh, “Even if the Gui Family husband and wife are able to assassinate the Tatar Emperor, I am afraid they won’t be coming back.” The crowd of heroes drank their wine in silence, everybody was busy with their own thought. Occasionally someone would say something, but nobody responded.

More than an hour later, someone outside the door said, “Reporting to Jueye: Zhang Tidu is seeking an audience.”

Wei Xiaobao was inwardly delighted; yet he said, “In the dead of the night, what urgent matter could it be? Tell him I am already asleep, whatever it is can wait until tomorrow.”

“Yes,” the man responded.

Chen Jinnan said in a low voice, “Perhaps some news from the Palace; go and ask.”

Wei Xiaobao complied. He went to the main hall and saw Zhao Liangdong, Wang Jinbao and Sun Sike, three men were standing in the main hall, their expressions showed that they were panic-stricken, but he did not see Zhang Yong. Wei Xiaobao was startled. “Where is Zhang Tidu?” he asked in a low voice.

Wang Jinbao said, “Reporting to Daren: Something bad happened to Zhang Tidu, he collapsed outside the mansion’s gate, we brought him to the side room over there.”

Wei Xiaobao was shocked. “How … how did he collapse?” he asked, while rushing toward the side room. He saw Zhang Yong’s eyes were tightly closed, his countenance was deathly pale, the pit of his stomach was moving up and down incessantly. “Zhang Tidu, what happened to you?” Wei Xiaobao called out.

Zhang Yong slowly opened his eyes, “Lowly … lowly …” he said. His eyes turned over and he fainted again. Wei Xiaobao busily reached out to feel his pocket, and found his own memorial was still there. He took out the envelope and sure enough it was his own ‘mist-like pen stroke’ drawing; he could not help but groaning inwardly.

Sun Sike said, “Just now the night patrol captain came to report that they found a military officer fainted on the curb several hundred steps outside the mansion gate. Someone went out to look, and recognized Zhang Tidu, hence they brought him back here. The blood on the back of Zhang Tidu’s head is already dry, apparently he has fainted for quite some time.”

Wei Xiaobao thought, “He has been unconscious for a long time, the memorial has not been delivered, that means he met misfortune as soon as he was out of the mansion’s gate. Could it be that those three turtles sent people to set an ambush outside the mansion gate because they were afraid I might send someone to inform the Emperor, and thus they made their move against Zhang Tidu?” In his heart he was very anxious.

By this time Zhang Yong had slowly regained his consciousness. Wang Jinbao busily raised the wine pot to let him drink several mouthful of Shaojiu [same as white wine]. Sun Sike and Zhao Liangdong used the Shaojiu to rub Zhang Yong’s palms. Zhang Yong’s spirit was somewhat aroused. “Lowly officer deserves to die,” he said, “Just as I left the mansion gate … not even … several hundred steps, suddenly the pit of my stomach … the pit of my stomach hurt like it was cut by a saber. I endured … endured for several more steps, my eyes suddenly went black, I could not … could not accomplish the task Daren entrusted to me. Lowly officer will immediately … immediately go …” While saying that, he propped himself, trying to get up.

“Zhang Dage, please lie down to rest,” Wei Xiaobao hastily said, “Let these three gentlemen do it, it will be the same.” Handing the memorial to Wang Jinbao, he ordered him and Zhao Liangdong and Su Sike, three men to contact the Imperial Bodyguards and rush to the Imperial Palace to submit the memorial. His heart was anxious, “Those three Guis have already left more than an hour ago, I am afraid Xiao Xuanzi’s life has already gone, we might as well give medicine to a dead horse.” Wang Jinbao and the others, three men, received the order and left.

Zhang Yong said, “That old fellow … old fellow in Daren’s study room has a formidable martial art skill. As I walked out of the study room, he pushed lightly on my … on my back … (cough, cough). At that time I did not feel anything; who would have thought that I have already suffered internal injury. As soon as I left the mansion gate, it … it flared out immediately … I failed Daren’s important task …”

It was only then did Wei Xiaobao understand that although Gui Xinshu saw the memorial was not a report to inform against them, he was still suspicious, hence he secretly dealt Zhang Yong a heavy hand, so that he would not be able to accomplish his mission. Seeing the ashamed look on Zhang Yong’s face, Wei Xiaobao hastily said, “Zhang Dage, set your heart at ease and recuperate, I do not blame you the least bit. Damn it, that old turtle plotted against you, we cannot let it rest.” After comforting Zhang Yong for a while, he ordered his personal guards to prepare some ginseng soup and summon the physician to treat his injury.

Returning to the eastern hall, he said, “That was not news from the Palace. Zhang Tidu is heavily injured by Gui Er Ye, I am afraid his life can’t be guaranteed.”

Everybody was shocked. “Why did he injure Zhang Tidu?” they asked hastily.

Wei Xiaobao shook his head and said, “Zhang Tidu was patrolling outside the mansion; seeing the three of them exited the mansion, he came forward to question them, Gui Er Ye then sent him a palm strike.”

Everyone nodded. They thought, “An ordinary military officer, how can he endure Shen Quan Wu Di’s little finger?”

Wei Xiaobao was quite regretful, he mused, “If I had known that Zhang Tidu would fall into evil scheme and the memorial could not be delivered to Xiao Xuanzi, I should have not told them the Imperial Palace’s situation that clearly, I should have muddled east, south, west and north randomly. Laozi should move mountains and drain seas for them, changing the Huang Ji Dian to Shou An Gong, Zhong Hua Gong to Wen Hua Dian; let those three turtles wander around in the Imperial Palace, crawling confused and disoriented.”

They sat waiting; they heard the ‘du di du tang tang tang tang’, signaling the fourth night watch period [1 – 3am] from outside the hall. After a while, from the alley some distance away came the sound of barking dogs; they all sprang up while grabbing the hilt of their weapons. Bending their ear to listen attentively, they heard the barks continued for a while before gradually dying down.

---

[4] Qian Qing Men: ‘qian’ – one of eight trigrams (bagua), symbolizing heaven, male principle, ‘qing’ – clear/quiet, ‘men’ – gate. Gate of Heavenly Purity. Qian Qing Gong – Palace of Heavenly Purity.
[5] Kun Ning Gong: ‘kun’ – one of eight trigrams, symbolizing earth, female principle, ‘ning’ – peaceful, ‘gong’ – palace. Palace of Earthly Tranquility. (Most of the English names are courtesy of Ace High.)

[crazee]

Getting exciting now....thanks Foxs.

Looks like the Guis are really careful but sadly they are willing to give up their lives just to kill the emperor.
- The Kamikazee, I hope I got that right followed that ? and the suicide bomber got their ideas from this too ??