The Deer and The Cauldron

[crazee]

Maybe you guys can aim to be the 1st person before Foxs instead.

(Meaning, comment just before Foxs posts an update. LOL)

Hey....that's a beautiful way to say last to post before close ??

BTW, Foxs's always first ......

[foxs]

Tweety, Gubrak, thanks. Smurf, thanks to you too. I know you guys don't have to post anything, but you still take time to do it. Crazee, this time you got to post just before me, exactly like IcyFox said. Sky, it's official now: actually, I had an interview out of state and I am moving away ... So, a little bit of announcement: I will be busy with moving and starting a new job that I cannot guarantee regular update. The Lord's willing, I will continue to the end. I will try to finish this chapter (one more part), and then ... I will post whenever I have enough material. Please bear with me.

EDIT: I meant to comment on the girls as well: As I said before, I don't like these two. It was an accident, but they were dead set on killing him. Think about it: if a woman was assaulted by a man, and she kicked his groin, it is perfectly acceptable, right? You could argue that the woman was the weaker side; but in this case, WXB was the weaker side. He did not mean (in this case, at least) to be lewd. Talking about double-standard ...

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Suddenly the door curtain was lifted up, two women walked in. "Alright!" Wei Xiaobao shouted with glee, "Two more Meizi come together. Come here and give me a kiss first ..." Before he finished, he had seen clearly the appearance of these two girls, and could not help but was greatly shocked.

He cried out, sprang up, and overthrew the two prostitutes in his arms to the ground. Turned out these two women were the girl in green, whom he thought of during the night and he missed during the night, and her older martial sister.

With a cold laugh the woman in blue said, "As soon as you entered the town, we have been following you, we want to see what evil deed you are going to commit."

Wei Xiaobao's back was wet with cold sweat; forcing a laugh he said, "Yes, yes. This Miss, your ... your neck's wound ... neck's wound healed?"

"Humph," the girl in green snorted, but she ignored his question. The woman in blue angrily said, "We waited outside Shaolin Temple every day, to cut your body into ten thousand pieces to repay my Shimei's deep enmity and great hatred. Humph, finally the Heaven did not disappoint those who try, and have you, evil monk, fallen into our hands."

Wei Xiaobao groaned inwardly, "Laozi will definitely return to Heaven today." But he laughed and said, "Actually ... actually I did not offend ... did not offend Miss; it's just that ... it's just that one grab was not a big deal. I think ... I think ..."

The girl in green blushed, a killing aura appeared in her eyes. The woman in blue coldly said, "What did you say a moment ago? What did you call us?"

"Bad, it's really bad luck," Wei Xiaobao replied, "I ... thought the two of you were ... were also flower ladies of this pleasure house."

The girl in green said in a low voice, "Shijie, why do you talk too much to this bald-headed thief who committed all kinds of evil things? Just kill him with a chop."

'Shua!' white light flashed, Wei Xiaobao screamed and shrank his neck, the hat on his head was slashed by her willow-leaf saber, exposing his bald head. The prostitutes were thrown into confusion, they screamed, "Murder, murder!"

Wei Xiaobao ducked and hid behind a prostitute. "Hey!" he called out, "This is a pleasure house, only wh0res are allowed here. If you do not get out quickly and people knew about it, it would be ... would be very shameful ..."

'Shua, shua!' the two women repeatedly slashed around, but the room was crowded with a dozen or so prostitutes, how could they chop him? The blades swept past, they narrowly missed two prostitutes. Wei Xiaobao called out loudly, "Laozi is visiting a brothel, what's there to be looked at? I ... I am going to undress, I am going to take off my pants." He loosened the bottom part of his garments and tossed it away.

The two women were furious, yet they were afraid Wei Xiaobao would really act shamelessly by taking off his pants. The girl in green turned around and bolted out the door. The girl in blue was startled, but she also dashed out of the room. 'Bang, bang!' she bumped the procuress and the 'turtle slave' [see my note earlier] who came in to look, and sent them tumbling down to the left and right.

In that instant the screams in that brothel shook the sky, and the curses moved the earth. For the time being Wei Xiaobao escaped the danger of the blades, but he knew those two women would definitely guard the exits; as soon as he left the brothel for even one step, they would immediately kill him. Raising his voice, he shouted, "Everybody, don't move randomly, everyone will get ten taels, no exception, nobody will be skipped." As soon as they heard it, everybody calmed down immediately.

Wei Xiaobao took out twenty taels and handed it over to the turtle slave, ordering him, "Quickly go and get me a horse, wait at the mouth of the alley." The turtle slave received the money and left.

Wei Xiaobao pointed to a prostitute and said, "I'll give you twenty taels, take off your clothes quickly, let me change into it." The prostitute was greatly delighted, she took off her clothes immediately.

Everybody started to talk at once, they wanted to know what was going on. Wei Xiaobao said, "Those two are my first wife, my second wife. They shaved my head, forbidding me from visiting a brothel. I ran away, then they pursue me to kill me."

When the procuress and the prostitutes heard this, they could not help but were delighted. It was quite common for the wife and children of a patron to come to the brothel to quarrel and fight; nothing special about it. But raising a saber to kill was a rarity. As for the wife and concubine working together to shave their husband's head and forbidding him from visiting a brothel, it was the first time that they ever heard such thing.

Wei Xiaobao hurriedly changed into the prostitute's clothing, and used a piece of printed cloth to wrap his head. When the prostitute realized that he wanted to dress up to escape, laughing and giggling, they helped him apply rouge and face powder. When the other patrons of the brothel who were gambling heard the news, they all came over to watch the fun.

Soon the turtle slave returned and reported that the horse was ready. After knowing the reason, he said, "Shaoye, you must be careful. Your first madam is guarding the back door, the young madam is guarding the front door. They both have sabers in their hands."

Wei Xiaobao produced a large sum of money while swearing, "Those two vixens maintain such a tight control over their husband; it's really rare and highly unusual."

Receiving thirty taels gift from him, the procuress said, "Those two tigresses are destroying others' clothes and food. If all women in the world are like your two wives, won't we drink the northwest wind? May Er Lang Shen[20] curse those two tigresses that they be without a son or a grandson. Aiyo, Xiao Shaoye, I did not mean you. You'd better divorce those tigresses and then you can come here to play without any care every day."

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, "That is actually a brilliant idea. Mama, go to the front door and curse that vixen for a while; but you'd better hide behind the door to protect against her resorting to violence and harming you with the saber. Sisters, everybody dash out from the back door. Those two brutish wives of mine won’t be able to catch me.” Immediately he took out some money and distributed it among the prostitutes. Without exception, all of them jumped for joy.

Because of the generous reward, those who were inherently brave would be braver, while those who were not brave gathered enough courage. As the prostitutes received the shining white silver, everybody suddenly put ‘loyalty’ above everything else, they would strife to put their lives at stake.

They heard the voice of the procuress raining curses from the front door, “Old vixen, little vixen, if you want to keep your husband, you must obey him, winning his favor is the right thing to do. If you don’t have any ability, he will go the brothel to seek pleasure. You use the saber to scare him, to kill him, what’s the farting use? Your husband is kind-hearted and generous, he is the number one good person in the world, you, two tigress are not his match. Let Laoniang [old lady, referring to self; the counterpart of Laozi] tell you: you must behave, quickly kowtow and apologize to him, and then do obeisance to me, let Laoniang be your master, I’ll teach you skills you can use in bed, so that you can serve him well. Otherwise, he might decide to sell you to Laoniang, let you become prostitutes in here. We’ll make a deal today … aiyo, aiyo, it hurts so much I am going to die.”

Wei Xiaobao knew that the woman in blue had lost her patience and beat the procuress. He said, “Everybody, let’s go!” More than twenty prostitutes rushed out from the back door, with Wei Xiaobao mingled among them.

The girl in green was guarding the back door with willow-leaf saber in her hand. Suddenly she saw more than twenty heavily made-up women burst out of the door. Her beautiful eyes widened, she was completely at a loss.

The crowd of prostitutes rushed toward the alley. Wei Xiaobao jumped onto the horse and galloped toward Shaolin Temple.

Seeing the change of events, the woman in blue abandoned the procuress immediately and turned around to give chase. The prostitutes crowded the alley, they reached out to pull her, while shouting, “Tigress, your husband is gone riding a horse, you won’t catch him! Hee! Hee! Ha! Ha!”

The girl in blue was so furious that she almost pass out; she raised her saber in threatening gesture, but the crowd of prostitutes knew she would not dare to really kill anybody. “Lowly vixen, vinegar pot, wicked b1tch,” they taunted incessantly.

The girl was anxious; raising her voice, she called out, “Shimei, that wicked thief ran away, quickly pursue him!” But she heard the hooves beat was getting farther and farther away; how could they pursue him?

Wei Xiaobao rushed out of the town, while taking off the female clothing he was wearing and tossed it away one by one. In his rush and panic to get out of the brothel, he had left the bundle containing his monk robe in the room. Spitting into his sleeve, he wiped the cosmetics from his face, thinking, “Laozi’s lot on life this year is really bad; first I became a monk, then I dressed up as a prostitute. Ay, if only that miss in green is willing to be my wife, even if my head is chopped down, I won’t want to go to the brothel.”

In one breath he galloped back to Shaolin Temple; he steered the horse toward the back of the mountain, jumped down the horseback, and quietly sneaked into the Temple via the side door. Covering his face, he dashed madly into his own meditation room. Only after washing off the rouge and the powder from his face, and putting on the monk robe, did his heart finally calmed down. He mused, “If those two old wife and little wife came to the Temple to make trouble, even if I die, Laozi will not admit anything to them.”

Toward the afternoon the next day, Wei Xiaobao was still lying on the bed in his meditation room, dreaming about the girl in green’s figure, which moved his heart; he could not bear not to take chances again, thinking, “How can I find a way to see her again?”

Suddenly Jing Ji entered his meditation room and said in a low voice, “Shishuzu, for the next few days you must not leave the Temple; this affair is getting somewhat worse.”

Wei Xiaobao was startled; hastily he asked for the full details. Jing Ji said, “A worker from the Xiang Ji kitchen told me just now: he was chopping some firewood at the side of the mountain when he came across two young women with sabers in their hands; they were inquiring about you.”

“What did they ask?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

“Asking him if he knew you,” Jing Ji replied, “Asking him what time do you usually go out, where do you usually go. Shishuzu, those two young women harbor evil designs toward you, they are guarding outside the Temple, they want to harm you. As long as you stay inside the Temple, they won’t dare to come in.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “We, Shaolin Temple eminent monks, are afraid of them and do not dare to go out the Temple, what kind of talk is that?”

“Shizhisun [martial grandnephew] has already reported this to Fangzhang,” Jing Ji said, “The Senior ordered me to report to Shishuzu, asking you to yield one step to them. Presumably those two young women will not persevere, if they don’t see you after waiting for several days, naturally they will leave. Fangzhang said that Wulin friends can only say that we are great and magnanimous people, they cannot possibly say that the grand Shaolin Temple is unexpectedly afraid of two young women that don’t belong to any school or sect.”

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[20] Er Lang Shen is a Chinese God with a third truth-seeing eye in the middle of his forehead.

[wandering]

thanx for the updates fox...gratz on the new job

[camtay]

Thanks foxs!

Even if you will not be able to update regularly, we very much appreciate your kind efforts to bring these novels to non-chinese speaking readers.

I would like to wish you all the very best in your new job and new chapter in your career!

Hope to see your updates (in your own time) and God bless!

Cheerio!

[aliderhamy]

this is good reading

thanks for letting us enjoy this book foxs.

[crazee]

Yeah.....fourth again !!!

Thanks Foxs, Congrats on a new Job.
Wish I could get a new one too.....only the market here is bad...for people like me I mean.

Well, looks like XB got what he wanted, only in a different package. He's really good and is able to see the weak points of the girls to escape....

It must be hectic,, having to move and at the same time satisfy a group of vultures gobbling what ever work you have done.....( err I mean this translation )

[athlonkmf]

those girls are never meant to be nice. esp. when you see what they'll do in later chapters.

[Gubrak]

Thanks Foxs for your hardwork, don't bother us reading wxb, yr new job is a priority.
And good luck with yr new job.

[SkyWalker]

Thanks much for all your hard work foxs and congratulations on your new job offer. Good luck with everything!

I think I'm the only one who wants this part of the story to end now. Tired of WXB acting like a love sick boy. And these two girls are freaking evil and annoying. Hopefully we'll be done with this part soon.

[ah-gi]

Thanks again foxs for your hard work. Like everyone said, your job should come first. Don't worry to much about us the readers. We will follow at your own pace.

[smurf120]

Good luck in your new prospects! I actually felt some family warmth the brothel was able to give WXB - only very slightly expressed.

[crydee]

..very funny..
quote- I’ll teach you skills you can use in bed, so that you can serve him well. Otherwise, he might decide to sell you to Laoniang, let you become prostitutes in here. We’ll make a deal today … "
The two girls must be fuming mad...Thanks Fox appreciate it

[foxs]

Wandering, Camtay, Ali, Crazee, Gubrak, Sky, Ah-gi, Crydee, you are most welcome, thanks everybody, for your well-wishes (that means you too, Smurf The Smurf movie is out this week). Athlon, looks like these two girls are one of those 'not villain, but we hate them just the same'. Sky, I wish for the same thing, but after browsing ahead, it looks like these girls will still have some 'screen-time'.

Here is the last part of Chapter 22. At least it's not a cliffhanger.

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Wei Xiaobao said, "Young women that don’t belong to any school or sect, humph, they may be much more formidable than us, the great monks who belong to a school or sect."

"Who said it wasn't true?" Jing Ji replied. He remembered his hatred because of his broken arm, which would be difficult to avenge. He said, "It's just that Fangzhang has ordered that no matter what we must keep the peace and patch up a quarrel."

After Jing Ji left, Wei Xiaobao thought, "I'd better see that old monk Cheng Guan; it would be best if he has come up with a wonderful idea."

When he got to Bo're Hall, he saw Cheng Guan with his head between his hands, his eyes were looking at the beam of the roof, while pacing back and forth around the room, and mumbling incessantly. Wei Xiaobao did not dare to interrupt his train of thought, he waited for a long time, watching Cheng Guan circling the room several times, while still looking like he did not see him. Wei Xiaobao coughed several times. Cheng Guan did not pay any attention. Wei Xiaobao called, "Lao Shizhi [old martial nephew], Lao Shizhi!" Cheng Guan still did not hear.

Wei Xiaobao stepped forward, he reached out to tap Cheng Guan's shoulder, while saying with a laugh, "Lao ..." His palm had just touched his shoulder, suddenly his body was jolted and he was thrown away. 'Bang!' he crashed onto the wall, his breathing was blocked, he opened his mouth to cry, but nothing came out.

Cheng Guan was shocked; hastily he came forward and kneeled down. Putting his palms together he saluted and said, "Shizhi is guilty, deserving ten thousand deaths, by offending Shishu. Shishu, please punish me heavily."

After lying down for half a day, Wei Xiaobao was finally able to breathe; he forced a laugh and said, "Please get up, please get up, don't be overly courteous, it was my own fault."

Cheng Guan still did not stop apologizing. Propping himself against the wall, Wei Xiaobao crawled up, and then, helping Cheng Guan up he asked, "What kind of martial art was that? It was so formidable." He thought, "If this martial art is not too difficult to learn, perhaps there is a benefit for me to learn it."

Cheng Guan's face showed a terrified expression. He said, "I am really sorry. In response to Shishu's question, this is the 'hu ti shen gong' [divine skill to protect the body] from Bo're Palms."

Wei Xiaobao nodded; he thought that to learn this skill, he would have to master some Shaolin Long Fist, Luohan Fist, Subduing the Tiger Fist, Weituo Palm, Scattering Flower Hand, Boluomi Hand, Vajra's Divine Palm, Picking Flower Grab and Capture, all kinds of gibberish set of martial art techniques. He did not have time; even if he did, he would not have the mind to take the trouble to practice hard. He asked, "Have you found anything that can be learned in a short time?"

With a dejected expression Cheng Guan shook his head and said, "Shizhi has already thought that without using 'one finger Dhyana' or ‘tendon altering sutra’ internal energy cultivation, we can neutralize those two Nu Shizhu's martial art by using only the Bo're Palm; it's just that ... it's just that ..."

Wei Xiaobao said, "It's just that to train Bo're Palm, I will need twenty, thirty years; isn't it?"

Cheng Guan haltingly replied, "Twenty, thirty years, I am afraid ... I am afraid ..."

Wei Xiaobao's face showed contempt as he flatly said, "You are afraid it might not be enough?"

Cheng Guan looked very ashamed as he said, "Exactly." After staring blankly for a moment, he continued, "Let Shizhi think: I wonder if Picking Flower Grab and Capture will be effective against them."

Wei Xiaobao thought that this old monk was one who rigidly adheres to formalities; whatever he was doing must be in sequence. Even if the Picking Flower Grab and Capture was effective, he would have to spend at least a dozen or so years to train. This old monk had a profound level of internal energy, perhaps he was not inferior to Cult Leader Hong. Yet Cult Leader Hong was able to casually creating new moves, which were able to change according to the situation, which were free, natural and unrestrained. This old monk, on the contrary, was a blockhead; Wei Xiaobao must show him the enlightened path.

"Lao Shizhi," he said, "In my opinion, those two women are very young, they can't possibly have several years of martial art training."

"That's right," Cheng Guan said, "That's why I feel very strange."

Wei Xiaobao said, "Since they can't possibly train step by step, we also do not need to strictly practice step by step. I don't believe they have internal energy cultivation as deep as yours. In my opinion, to deal with those two girls, we simply do not need to cultivate internal energy."

Cheng Guan was shocked; his voice was trembling as he said, "Training martial art without ... without good foundation, won't that be ... won't that be heretical?"

"But they are not heretical," Wei Xiaobao said, "Only without school without sect. To deal with martial art without school and without sect, we must also use without school without sect technique."

Cheng Guan was completely bewildered; he mumbled to himself, "Without school without sect, without school without sect? This ... Shizhi does not understand."

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, "You don't understand? Then let me teach you."

Cheng Guan respectfully said, "Would Shishu please give your advice?"

In all his life, all the martial art uncles with a 'Hui' character in their names were virtuous eminent monks with outstanding martial art skill. He thought that this little martial art uncle was very young, his internal energy cultivation was insufficient, but he must have some outstanding quality; otherwise, how could he be his martial art uncle? For the past several days he had racked his brain trying to find a martial art skill that can be learned quickly, but all along he did not make any breakthrough. It seemed that even if he spent another ten years or twenty years, even until his death, he would not be able to solve this problem. Now that there was this young eminent monk with 'Hui' character in his name who was willing to give him direction, inevitably he was surprised but delighted at the same time; feeling of respect sprang up automatically in his heart.

Wei Xiaobao said, "You said that those two girls were using some Kunlun Pai, Emei Pai moves. If we compare our Shaolin Pai martial art to these random mix of school and sect's martial arts, which one is stronger?"

"Perhaps our Shaolin Pai is somewhat stronger," Cheng Guan replied, "Even if we are not stronger, at least we are not weaker than they."

Wei Xiaobao clapped his hands and said, "That makes it easy. They do not use internal energy, but only use some Xili Hulu [meaning: gibberish] Pai style; we do not need internal energy either, just use some Shaolin Pai style, then we will be able to defeat them. I don't care if it is Bo're Palm, Vajra's Divine Fist, Boluomi Hand or Amitabha Buddha Foot, as long as internal energy cultivation is not needed, then it will be very easy to learn, won't it?"

Cheng Guan knitted his brows. "Amitabha Buddha Foot?" he said, "I don't think our Sect has that martial art; I wonder if it is other sect's martial art? But without internal energy cultivation, our Sect's fist or palm techniques won't have the least bit of formidable power; if we came across other sect's martial art expert with profound internal power, we might get our tendon broken and our bones fractured in just one move."

Wei Xiaobao laughed aloud and said, "Those two young women, are they martial art experts with profound internal power?"

"They are not," Cheng Guan replied.

"Why worry, then?" Wei Xiaobao said.

It was as if Cheng Guan had just been woken up by this last sentence; he blew off a deep sigh and said, "So that's how it is, so that's how it is! Shizhi has never thought about it." He was quiet for a moment before continuing, "But there is another problem: our Sect's has eighteen different palm techniques, special skills, inside and outside, thirty-six techniques, unique skills, seventy-two. Each technique has at least several dozen variations, at most more than a thousand. It's really not easy to master all of these different techniques to perfection. Even without internal energy cultivation, that is, learning the style only, we are talking about several decades here."

Wei Xiaobao mused, "This old monk is really annoyingly dumb." He laughed and said, "Why do we have to master everything to perfection? As long as we know the girl uses what style, we'll simply counter soldiers with arms, counter water with an earthen wall; the young girl attack with what move, the old monk neutralize her with what move. I guarantee they will be beaten so badly that they'll flee to the wilderness and will be wiped out to the last man."

Cheng Guan repeatedly nodded his head with a happy expression on his face, as if murky darkness suddenly opened.

Wei Xiaobao said, "That Miss wearing blue has used some Laoshan Pai's 'rivers pour away by the day'; you said there are six ways to dodge it, seven ways to counterattack. Actually, why bother with all those stuffs? As long as I can use one move to defeat her, why should I learn the other twelve techniques? Won't it be a lot simpler?"

Cheng Guan was greatly delighted. "Absolutely right! Absolutely right!" he exclaimed, "Those two Nu Shizhu has broken Shishu's arms and injured martial nephew Jing Ji and the others, four people, using the ‘separating tendon dislocating bone technique’ involving four different sects' techniques. We can use Shaolin Pai martial art to counter their move." Immediately he demonstrated the technique used by the girls one by one, and then he explained the technique to counter each move, followed by demonstrating it for Wei Xiaobao.

Sometimes the technique proposed by Cheng Guan was too complicated and too difficult to learn; sometimes unwittingly he used internal energy. Wei Xiaobao would then ask him to think about other technique that was simple and clear. Shaolin Pai martial art was indeed very broad and greatly abundant, while Cheng Guan was really patience. As soon as Wei Xiaobao felt that the move was too hard to learn, he simply shook his head, and then Cheng Guan would try different technique. If it did not work, he would try different move, until Wei Xiaobao was able to execute the move effortlessly.

Seeing in less than an hour this young martial uncle was able to master a particular style, while he himself had painstakingly spent many days to solve the problem, Cheng Guan was so happy that he pulled his own ear and stroked his own cheek, while his heart was unbearably excited. But suddenly he remembered something and said, "What a pity, what a pity." And then he shook his head and said, "Dangerous, dangerous."

Wei Xiaobao hastily asked, "What do you mean 'what a pity'? What's the danger?"

[Gubrak]

Given chance for the FIRST !!!
Thanks Foxs

[SkyWalker]

Thanks foxs. Have a great weekend!

[athlonkmf]

Once again, for months straight, wxb never thought off sy or his other wives. Shouldn't he be like 15 now?

[crazee]

Yahhoo..... fourth again, ....err is there a prize for being the same for 3 rounds

Thanks Foxs....wow inspite of moving and getting a new job we still get updates...Grrrreat.
many thanks. love you for that....

One thing I can say about XB is his persistence, it looks like he will not give up. Why no get his soldiers to capture the 2 ladies and lock them up in a private house ?
Give the all the luxury and break them down....heh heh heh....

I suppose they do not have the "wrongful detention law" then....do they ??? lol....

[wuxiagurl]

Thank you Foxs for all your translations... And best of luck with the new job! Hope to be able to read your translations soon.

It is pretty irritating to read of WXB and some unlikeable girls, but I wanna find out what happens.... grr...

[smurf120]

Oh Foxs! Not a cliffhanger???

Wei Xiaobao hastily asked, "What do you mean 'what a pity'? What's the danger?"

haha thanks for the update - I wanna know how he deals with Ah Ke (Green Girl).

[smurf120]

Also, at one point I thought WXB always had too much time on his hands, but now that I am reading, he is actually the only one that is working or on some kind of task (however lazy he is at doing it). The two girls, or the monks, for example, truly have nothing to do all the time!