The Deer and The Cauldron

[ah-gi]

Just came out of lurking. Thanks for your effort, Fox. Very appriciate it!

[SkyWalker]

Thanks for the update foxs and Happy Father's Day to you! Enjoy the weekend!

[crazee]

Looks like WXB is going to get more fights.....than he can handle.

Thank Foxs

Happy Father's day to all daddies.

[pannonian]

Ian Liew found something interesting.

http://www.spcnet.tv/forums/showthre...l=1#post982807

[crazee]

Ian Liew found something interesting.

http://www.spcnet.tv/forums/showthre...l=1#post982807

My daughter was showing me the various manuals ( A5 note book) with different wuxia names, She wanted to get one with Jui Yang Zen Jing but it was out of stock. We managed to see some in Shenzen but since it was a bit expensive, we did not buy any.

[foxs]

ah-gi, welcome, hope you enjoy it as much as we do. Sky, thanks. Pannonian, Crazee, I don't remember there was a 'brown banner' ... (or was it black? I can't tell for sure from the photograph)

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Knitting her pair of curved eyebrows Princess Jianning said, “When the heroes of Jianghu made an appointment for a martial art competition, they are dead set on not leaving until they meet. You don’t come to keep your appointment, won’t you be the laughingstock of the warriors under the heavens? You don’t come to have the match; that means you admit defeat.” It was the Jianghu’s custom, which she learned from the Imperial Bodyguards.

“Alright,” Kangxi said, “Just consider I concede. Princess Jianning’s martial art skill is number one in the world, punching the fierce tiger of the southern mountain and kicking the legendary dragon [orig. ‘legendary dragon with the ability to control rain and floods’] of the northern sea.”

Princess Jianning laughed and said, “Kicking the caterpillar of the northern sea!” Her foot flew up again toward Wei Xiaobao. Wei Xiaobao leaned sideways to evade; her foot kicked empty air.

She knew that the Emperor was not willing to have a martial art match with her today, while the Imperial Bodyguards were all tall and powerfully built, if she fought them for real, she knew she was not their match. This little eunuch, both in terms of age and height, was about the same as she was, plus his movement was very agile, he was just the right person to test her martial art skill. “Alright!” she said, “Your Shifu is scared of me, he does not dare to fight me. You come with me.”

Kangxi had always been very fond of this vivacious and witty younger sister, he could not bear to sweep down her excitement. “Xiao Guizi,” he ordered, “Go accompany the Princess to play, tomorrow you may serve on me again.”

Princess Jianning suddenly shouted, “Huangdi Gege, en garde!” She threw both fists toward Kangxi’s temples [orig. ‘sun’ acupoints] in ‘bell and drum sounding simultaneously’.

“Good move!” Kangxi called out. He raised one hand to block, while turning his wrist and leaning sideways, executing the move ‘pushing the window to look at the moon’, pushing her back lightly. The Princess staggered and tumbled several steps forward.

“Pfft!” Wei Xiaobao stifled his laughter.

The Princess’ shame turned into anger, “Dead eunuch,” she cursed, “What are you laughing at?” Reaching out, she grabbed his right ear and dragged him out of the study room. If Wei Xiaobao really wanted to evade, the Princess would not be able to catch him, but in the end he did not dare to be rude and had no choice but to let her twist his ear.

Still twisting his ear Princess Jianning dragged him along the corridor. Outside the study room stood a large number of Imperial Bodyguards and eunuchs who were serving the Emperor. Seeing the two people, no one did not find it amusing, but being afraid of Wei Xiaobao’s power and influence, nobody dared to laugh audibly.

“Alright, alright,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Let me go; wherever you want to go, I’ll come with you.”

The Princess said, “You are the leader of a gang of bandits who were running amuck lawlessly; today I managed to catch you, how can I easily let you go? I will seal your acupoint first and then we’ll talk.” Stretching out her forefinger, she stabbed Wei Xiaobao’s chest and lower abdomen several times. She did not know how to seal acupoints, naturally these several stabs were merely random poking.

Wei Xiaobao cried out loudly, “My acupoints are sealed!” He dropped sitting down, acted stunned, and thus motionless.

The Princess was startled but delighted. She lightly kicked him, Wei Xiaobao did not budge. The Princess shouted, “Get up!” Wei Xiaobao was still motionless. The Princess still thought that she accidentally did seal his acupoints; she said, “Let me unseal your acupoints!” She gave his lower back a kick.

Wei Xiaobao thought, “If this stinky little mother sees that she can’t unseal my acupoints, she will kick me again.” Thereupon he cried out, “Ah!” and sprang up and said, “Princess, your acupoint sealing skill is excellent, I am afraid even His Majesty cannot do it.”

“You, this little eunuch, is very crafty and sly,” the Princess said, “Since when do I know how to seal acupoints?” However, seeing his well-intention to please her, she was happy. “Come with me!” she said.

Wei Xiaobao went along with her, to the room where he and Kangxi used to have their martial art competition in the former days. “Bolt the door,” the Princess said, “Don’t let anybody steal my boxing style.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed, while in his heart he mused, “Just with your meager martial art skill, who would want to steal your boxing style?” Immediately he turned toward the door and closed it. The princess picked up the door bolt, as if she was going to give it to him, but suddenly there was a loud ‘Bang!’ on Wei Xiaobao’s ear, with a severe pain on the top of his head, he passed out instantly.

When he regained his consciousness, he opened his eyes and saw the Princess was standing in front of him with arms akimbo, grinning, “What a good-for-nothing trash. People who learn martial art will pay particular attention to the eyes watching the six pathways and the ears listening to eight directions. I struck you this time, why didn’t you guard against it? What kind of martial art did you learn?”

Wei Xiaobao said, “I … I … I …” he felt a splitting headache; suddenly he realized his left eye was wet and sticky, he could not open this eye. His nose smelled blood, and suddenly it dawned on him that he had been struck with the door bolt that his head was broken and his blood flowing.

The Princess waved the door bolt in front of him and shouted, “If you have guts, quickly get up.” ‘Whoosh!’ she swung the door bolt toward his shoulder.

“Ah!” Wei Xiaobao cried out and sprang up.

The Princess swept the door bolt horizontally, aiming toward his leg’s bone. Wei Xiaobao sidestepped while reaching out to snatch the door bolt away.

“Good move!” the Princess called out. The door bolt went up, fiercely jabbing the pit of his stomach. Wei Xiaobao dodged to the left, unexpectedly the door bolt made a turn and ‘Bang!’ it hit his right cheek heavily.

Wei Xiaobao saw golden stars dancing randomly before his eyes, he staggered several steps. The Princess called out, “You are a big bandit of Lulin [Lit. ‘green wood’ – a reference to the criminal world], I must exterminate you immediately.” The door bolt swept across violently, Wei Xiaobao threw himself onto the floor. The Princess was greatly delighted, she raised the door bolt and heavily swung it toward the back of his head.

Wei Xiaobao only heard the strong and swift wind at the back of his head. In his shock, he quickly rolled away. ‘Bang!’ the door bolt struck the floor. “Aiyo!” the Princess cried out. She had used too much force that the door bolt jolt the palm of her hand and gave her severe pain. In her rage, she kicked his waist as hard as she could.

“I surrender! I surrender!” Wei Xiaobao cried out, “Don’t hit me!”

The door bolt shot down, this time the Princess hit his lower abdomen. ‘Crack!’ luckily it hit the Five Dragon Command hidden inside Wei Xiaobao’s pocket. Wei Xiaobao was just about to spring up, but was thrown down again.

Again and again the Princess swung the door bolt trying to hit him, while cursing in rage, “Dead eunuch, I want to hit you, you dare to evade?” Although her strength was not too big, she was dealing with Wei Xiaobao without any leniency, as if she wanted to beat him to death on the spot.

Wei Xiaobao was scared and angry at the same time, he did everything he could to turn around and leap. The Princess raised her door bolt directly toward his face. Wei Xiaobao raised his left hand to block. ‘Crack!’ the bone of his arm nearly broke. His mind was racing, “Obviously Princess is not playing with me, why would she want to kill me? Ah, right, she must be under the Empress Dowager’s order to take my life!” Thinking to this point, he no longer wanted to allow her to beat him. Stretching out the two fingers of his right hand, he swiftly aimed the Princess’ eyeballs using the move ‘a pair of dragons fights over a pearl’.

“Aiyo!” the Princess cried out and took a step backward. Wei Xiaobao swept away with his left foot, the Princess hit the ground head first. “Dead eunuch,” she yelled, “You hit me for real?”

Wei Xiaobao clamped his hands over the door bolt and seized it, he wanted to strike the top of her head, but seeing the fear in her eyes mixed with anger on her face, he was startled, “This is the inner courtyard of the Imperial Palace, once my door bolt strike down, it will be a matter of treason and heresy. Unless I kill her and use transforming corpse powder to pulverize her, it will cause no end of trouble.” With this slight hesitation, the door bolt in his hand stopped midair.

“Dead eunuch,” the Princess cursed, “Pull me up.”

Wei Xiaobao thought, “She really want to kill me, but it won’t be easy.” Instantly he reached down to pull her up.

The Princess said, “Your martial art skill is not as good as mine, it’s just that I was not careful and I tripped; that’s all. Just now you called out you want to surrender, why did you hit me? As a real man, why didn’t you keep Wulin’s custom?”

Wei Xiaobao’s forehead was drenched with blood, it covered his eyes. He reached up to wipe it with his sleeve. The Princess laughed and said, “You lost, such a useless thing. Come, let me wipe the blood off you.” From her bosom she took out a snow white handkerchief, and took several steps closer.

Wei Xiaobao took a step back and said, “Your servant does not dare to accept the honor.”

The Princess said, “As the heroes and warriors of Jianghu, we must enjoy blessings and endure misfortune together.” She then used her handkerchief to wipe the bloodstain on his face.

Wei Xiaobao could smell a delicate fragrance coming out of her body; his heart was slightly shaken. Right now the two of them stood very close to each other, he could see her beautiful face and very fair skin; he thought, “This little princess is actually very pretty!”

The Princess said, “Turn around, let me have a look at the wound at the back of your head.”

Following her instruction, Wei Xiaobao turned around, thinking, “Previously I was over suspicious; turns out the little princess is really playing, it’s just that her desire to outdo others is too strong, when making her move, she did not realize the gravity of things.”

The Princess gently ran her hand over the wound at the back of his head; she asked with a laugh, “Is it really painful?”

Wei Xiaobao said, “Not bad …” Suddenly there was a sharp pain on Wei Xiaobao’s back, she swept his feet away and sent him tumbling down on the floor. Turned out the Princess quietly took out a short dagger she had hidden inside her small boot and caught him off guard with a sneak attack.

Her left foot treaded on his back, she raised her blade and stabbed his left and right legs. And then she laughed and said, “Is it really painful? Since you said ‘not bad’, I added several stabs with my dagger.”

Wei Xiaobao was greatly astonished; he groaned inwardly, “Laozi is about to die!” His back was protected by the treasured clothes he was wearing, the blade could not stab him there, the cuts on his legs were not a serious injury, but the pain made him hover between life and death. He wanted to unleash the second move ‘Little Lian lies in disarray’, which was taught by Madame Hong, to escape, but because of his previous injury, he did not have any strength. Besides, he had not trained this move to perfection. He struggled hard trying to crawl in between her legs toward her back, but his movement was way too slow, he had just started moving when his buttocks suffered another stab. He heard her giggling as she said, “Is it really painful?”

[SkyWalker]

Thanks for another nice update foxs.

[Single Whip]

Thanks Fox. Wow this princess is really viscious. I wonder what Shuang Er would do to her if she had seen what happened.

[SkyWalker]

I think WXB finally met his match in the Princess. She's a vicious little thing!

[rati4u]

Thanks a lot foxs..
WXB got very badly beaten.. His fartial arts are of no use?

[smurf120]

That princess is crazy! so violent!

[KChill]

That princess is crazy! so violent!

Sounds like my kinda woman!!!

[Gubrak]

Thanks Foxs

[crazee]

Sounds like my kinda woman!!!

no no!, I will not go to her with a 10feet pole!

Cannot hit back, only can get hit, how to fight ??
Looks like a good bashing for WXB, Wutai must look very welcoming heh heh heh!

Thanks Foxs, - the manual err notebook is just with plain cover with the martial art name on the top right side written from top down.

[ah-gi]

Thanks again, Fox!

The funny thing is: I read this story in Thai some 30 years ago and I can still enjoy your translation very much. I think it's because your translation can still keep the essence of the author's original story. Your style is comparable to the famed professional translators here. Oh, and please excuse my English.

[CFT]

no no!, I will not go to her with a 10feet pole!

You boaster!

[tweety365]

Of all WXB's wives, she is the most annoying. But I suppose he is into the S&M thing.

Thanks foxs!

[crazee]

You boaster!

Eh ? Maybe with shorter pole, err can consider ?

[foxs]

Whew! I did not realize this part is very long. Sky, Single Whip, rati4u, Gubrak, ah-gi, you are welcome. No, I don't think he could get away with his divine silver tongue skill this time. Smurf, KChill, Crazee, CFT, I think I agree with Tweety in this one, I think Jin Yong did have S&M in mind when he created the character.

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“Very painful,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Princess’ martial art skill is superior, your servant is not the Senior’s match. The … heroes of Jianghu, the great warriors, after they seize people, they would definitely spare their lives.”

The Princess laughed and said, “Capital offence might be forgiven, but living hell is difficult to spare.” Squatting down, she sat on his buttocks and shouted, “If you move, I will stab you dead immediately.”

Wei Xiaobao replied, “Your servant cannot move half an inch.” But the Princess happened to sit right on the wound; he could not bear not to groan loudly.

The Princess loosened his belt and used it to bind his legs together, and then using the dagger she cut the front piece of his jacket and used it to bind his hands together. She laughed and said, “You are my prisoner, we are going to practice a new move, called … called ‘Zhuge Liang captured Meng Huo seven times’.” Everybody in the imperial family of Manchurian Qing was very familiar with the stories of the ‘Romance of the Three Kingdoms’; in fact, she had read the story three times.

Wei Xiaobao had also seen the play of this story; “Yes, yes,” he hastily said, “Zhuge Liang captured Meng Huo seven times and released him seven times; Princess Jianning captures Xiao Guizi, but she has caught him only once and released him only once. If you release me, I am not going to revolt against you. Compared to Zhuge Liang, you are seven times more formidable.”

“That won’t do!” the Princess said, “Zhuge Liang must burn down the rattan-armored troops.”

Wei Xiaobao was scared out of his wits; he hastily said, “Your servant does not … does not wear rattan armor.”

The Princess laughed and said, “In that case, burning your clothes is just the same.”

“No, don’t! You can’t do that!” Wei Xiaobao shouted.

The Princess angrily said, “What do you mean I can’t do that? Zhuge Liang wanted to burn, he just burned, the rattan-armored troops did not have anything to say.” Seeing a candlestick and a fire-blade flint next to it on the table, she immediately made fire and lighted the candle.

Wei Xiaobao screamed, “Zhuge Liang did not burn Meng Huo to death. You want to burn me to death. You are not Zhuge Liang, you are Cao Cao!”

The Princess grasped the corner of his clothes with her fingers; she was just about to light it with the candle flame when suddenly she saw his glossy and shining black braided hair, she had an idea, and used the candle flame to light the tail of his braided hair.

Hair is extremely easy to catch fire. As soon as it was lighted, it immediately burned, making a ‘chi, chi’ sound. A burning smell filled the room. Wei Xiaobao was so scared that his soul flew to the outer sky. “Help, help!” he cried out, “Cao Cao is burning Zhuge Liang to death!”

Grasping the root of his pigtail, the Princess swung it back and forth while laughing heartily and said, “It’s a torch, it’s much more amusing.” In the blink of an eye the flame burned toward the head. The Princess let it off her hand. In an instant Wei Xiaobao’s head would caught fire. In this desperate situation, his strength suddenly increased greatly. He struggled free and rammed his head toward the Princess’ bosom.

“Aiyo!” the Princess cried out, it was too late for her to dodge, Wei Xiaobao had already struck her lower abdomen, unexpectedly the flame on his head died out. With both hands the Princess swatted the ashes and burning hair from her clothes, her lower abdomen felt very painful. She was startled and frightened at the same time, and raised her foot to kick several times randomly on Wei Xiaobao’s head. After a few kicks, Wei Xiaobao fainted.

In his daze, Wei Xiaobao felt severe pain on the wounds all over his body. When he regained his consciousness, he realized he was lying on his back on the floor. His chest was bare, his clothes, vest, and undergarments were unexpectedly undone. The Princess, with her left hand holding some kind of white powder, was cutting a three, four fen [about one, one and a third centimeter] deep cut on his chest using her short dagger, and then scattered the white powder on the wound. “What are you doing?” Wei Xiaobao screamed.

The Princess laughed and said, "The Imperial Bodyguards told me that when they capture bandit or evil thief and the thief did not confess, they would put salt on his wound. The thief would then scream for his life and he would definitely confess. Therefore, I brought along this salt to especially deal with you, a Jianghu big thief."

Wei Xiaobao felt his wounds were throbbing with pain; he screamed, "Help! Help! I confess, I confess!"

The Princess giggled and said, "You are useless; you readily confess, where's the fun in that? You should say: 'Today laozi has fallen into your hands, you want to kill me, you want to cut me into pieces, if I frown I am not a real man.' I'll cut some more wounds and put a bit more salt on you. And then you can beg for your life; now that should be interesting."

Wei Xiaobao was furious. "Damn it," he cursed, "You are a stinky little mother ... hey, hey, I wasn't cursing you; I ... I am not a real man. I confess, I confess!"

The Princess sighed. She was about to throw the salt away when suddenly she had a second thought; scattering the salt to his wounds, she grimly said, "I am the Zhangmen [sect leader/head master] of Jianning Pai [Sect], my martial art skill is number one in the world. I have just captured this big bandit who does not shrink from any crime ..."

"Alright, alright," Wei Xiaobao said, "I am the big pirate of the rivers and oceans, today my skill is inferior to others, and am being caught by the Zhangmen of Jianning Pai, whose martial art skill is number one in the world, my lot is death, not life. The saying in the Jianghu is right: It's all exaggeration, you don't need to take it seriously. Since zaixia has already submitted, so be it."

Hearing him speaking the Jianghu lingo, which was similar to what Zhang Kangnian and the other Imperial Bodyguards had told her, the Princess was very happy. "Now you are talking," she praised, "Since we want to pretend, we must do it properly."

In his heart Wei Xiaobao cursed 'stinky little mother, rotten little miss'; he felt like the pain he suffered had entered his bone and marrows. In that instant he could not tell whether she had received the Empress Dowager's order to take his life, or she was simply imitating the way of life of Jianghu's heroes. He thought that this stinky little mother was so vicious; even if she was simply playing with me, laozi's life would be gone under her hands for sure. Suddenly he recalled the effective scheme he played on Mu Jianping when he was trying to threaten her: young misses are always afraid of ghosts. Thereupon he suppressed his pain and said, "On second thought, Laozi does not want to submit. Senior Master Zhangmen, if you have guts, let me go, we'll compete again. If you are afraid of Laozi's superior martial art skill and do not dare to fight with me, then kill me with a stab of your dagger. I will die in injustice and become a ghost; I will follow behind your back during the day, and will enter your quilt during the night, to grip your neck and suck your blood ..."

"Ah!" the Princess screamed. "Why would I want to kill you?" she said in a trembling voice.

"Quickly let me go, then," Wei Xiaobao said.

"I won't let you go!" the Princess said, "Dead eunuch, you scared me." Picking up the candlestick, she put the flame on his face.

As soon as the flame made contact with the face, there was a 'chi' sound; Wei Xiaobao suffered a terrible pain, he threw he head backward and used his right shoulder to bump her arm as hard as he could. The Princess' arm was jolted, the candlestick fell to the ground and the flame died instantly. In her anger, she picked up the door bolt again, and swung it toward the back of his head.

Wei Xiaobao's pain was unbearable; he was extremely terrified, "This time I won't live anymore," he thought, and cried out loudly, "I am dead." Pretending to be dead, he lay down motionless.

The Princess was angry, "You pretend to be dead!" she said, "Quickly wake up, accompany me playing!" Wei Xiaobao did not move at all. The Princess lightly kicked his foot. Seeing he did not budge the least bit, she said in a gentle voice, "Alright, I won't hit you anymore, please don't die."

Wei Xiaobao mused, "When I am dead, I am dead; how could I not die? Dog's fart nonsense."

The Princess tore off the precious hairpin for her hair and poked his face and neck several times. Wei Xiaobao tried hard not to move. The Princess said in gentle voice, “Please, please … don’t … don’t scare me. I … I did not mean to kill you, I only wanted to have a martial art match and fight with you, who told you … who told you to be that useless and unable to defeat me …” Suddenly she realized that there was a very light sound of breathing coming from Wei Xiaobao’s nose, she was very happy; reaching out toward his chest, she felt that his heart was still beating. She laughed and said, “Dead eunuch, turns out you are not dead yet. This time I’ll spare you. Quickly open your eyes.”

Wei Xiaobao was still motionless. But the Princess did not fall into his trick; she shouted, “I’ll dig your eyes, so that after you are dead, you will become a blind ghost and can’t find me.” Picking up the short dagger, she placed the tip of the dagger on his right eyelid.

Wei Xiaobao was shocked; he rolled away to evade immediately. The Princess angrily said, "Spoiled little demon, you scared me. I ... I must prick your eyes blind." Leaping over, she stretched her foot to slam it onto his chest, while raising her dagger and jabbed it toward his right eye. This time she was not pretending, she threw her body along to increase the momentum of the stab. If Wei Xiaobao was hit, not only his eye would be blinded, the undoubtedly the dagger would be thrust straight into his brain.

Wei Xiaobao hurriedly bent his legs and struck her chest with his knees. 'Bang!' the Princess staggered and slowly fell down. Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted, bending his body over, he extracted the dagger from his boot and cut the cloth binding his legs first. As soon as he was able to stand, he kicked the top of the Princess' head heavily, to make sure that she would not awake for a while. Only then did he stick the dagger into the table's leg, turned around, and gently ran the belt binding his hands over the edge of the blade. He only needed to run the belt twice, and it was instantly cut.

He heaved a deep sigh; after a narrow escape, his heart was unspeakably happy, momentarily the painful wounds all over his body were forgotten. He thought, "How am I going to handle this stinky little mother? This is an extremely difficult matter. Listening to her tone, apparently she really wanted to play with me; if she received the Emperor Dowager's order to take my life, why would she be afraid to see I pretended to be dead? But if this is merely child's play, why would she have to be that vicious? Ah, I get it: she is the Princess, she has never considered eunuchs and palace maids as humans; people die or live, she does not care, in her eyes, it's like pinching an ant."

The more he thought, the angrier he was, and he landed another kick on her chest. Unexpectedly, this kick had opened up the breathing passage that was blocked before. The Princess moaned softly and woke up. She slowly propped herself up while cursing, "Dead eunuch, you ..."

Wei Xiaobao was still angry, he reached out and slapped her face twice, and punched her chest once; still not enough, his right foot swept across, the Princess tumbled down again. Wei Xiaobao leaped and sat astride her back, and then, like beating a drum, his fists kept punching her legs, her back, her buttocks, as hard as he could, while shouting, "Dead little mother, stinky little mother, daughter of a wh0re, Laozi is going to beat you to death."

"Don't hit, don't hit!" the Princess yelled, "You are not following the rule, I am going to have the Empress Dowager kill you, I will have ... have the Emperor kill you, to ... to put you to death by a thousand cuts."

[ah-gi]

This part came out pretty fast. Thanks again, Fox!