The Deer and The Cauldron

[crazee]

Thanks again Foxs,

It really funny the way things turn out.
Twist and turn and end up our XB gets his way....

[SkyWalker]

Thanks for the update foxs.

[crydee]

Thanks for the updates Foxs!...
I am wondering if all of WXB connection will get the man to suffer...His clan, his bodyguard, Mu Palace...what's next the White dragon clan..? 8-/
Agree with you guys ..the arc is getting to long.

But the author manage to make it hilarious..though

[foxs]

Lorry, Ali, still ... didn't they try to think? 9Dragons, Smurf, Crazee, Crydee, funny, yes, too long, heck yes! I think Jin Yong was trying to drag the story as long as possible ... Do you realize that Jin Yong's chapters are a lot longer than other writers'? Gu Long or Liang Yusheng, for example. Sky, you are welcome. How's New York? How much snow do you have?

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“He can’t wait,” Wu Lishen said, “Who has someone who is readily available?”

Everybody shook his head and said, “I don’t.” Everybody appeared to have missed a good opportunity and had deep regret.

Wei Xiaobao happily said, “Gentlemen friends, it is not me who is unwilling, but you do not have any sisters, so please let us go.”

Wu Lishen shook his head and said, “No we won’t. A real man said a word, a team of horses cannot chase it. Today you must bow to the Heaven and the Earth. Otherwise, we will offend Sha Shen [don’t know what it is, literally means demon deity] Taisui [God of the year], and then everybody here will die a violent death; won’t this joke be started again? Alright, you bow to the Heaven and the Earth to get married with her.” While saying that, he pointed to Ah Ke.

Ah Ke and Wei Xiaobao shouted together, “No, not good!”

Wu Lishen angrily said, “What do you mean not good? Little Miss, do you want to bow to the Heaven and the Earth with my Xiongdi, or do you want to bow to the Heaven and the Earth with this young hero? You decide.”

Ah Ke’s entire pretty face bloated with deep red; she shook her head and said, “I don’t want both!”

Wu Lishen angrily said, “Until now you still use all sorts of excuses. The time has arrived, if we miss this good hour, the demons will descend, no one here will stay alive. Hey, Ah San, Ah Gou, these two little fellows are not willing to bow to the Heaven and the Earth to get married, cut their noses!”

Ao Biao and one of his younger martial brothers complied together; with raised steel saber, they rubbed the flat of the blade on Ah Ke’s nose several times. Ah Ke was not afraid of death, but thinking that if her nose was cut, she would be extremely ugly; she was scared to death that her face turned completely without any color.

Wei Xiaobao said, “Don’t cut my Shijie’s nose, cut mine instead.”

Wu Lishen said, “We need to cut two noses as a sacrifice to the Sha Shen, you only have one. Hey, the one surnamed Zheng, how about we cut your nose as a substitute for this Miss’ nose?”

Ah Ke looked at Zheng Keshuang with begging-for-pity look. Zheng Keshuang looked the other way, he did not dare to meet her eyes, yet he shook his head.

Wu Lishen said, “This fellow is unwilling, yet your Shidi is. Hey, your Shidi treats you a lot better than he does. If you don’t marry this kind of person, whom are you going to marry? Bow to the Heaven and the Earth, play music!”

Amidst the sound of gongs and drums, Ao Biao took the head covering from the fake bride and put it on Ah Ke’s head; he also untied her. As soon as she was free, Ah Ke sent out a punch. ‘Wham!’ it hit the pit of Ao Biao’s stomach. Luckily she did not have any internal energy, so that although he was hit, it was not too painful. Ao Biao raised his steel saber and put it across the back of her neck.

Wu Lishen started the ritual, “The bride and groom bow to the Heaven!”

Ah Ke felt the coldness of the blade on the skin of her neck, as well as a slight pain; she had no choice but to stand alongside Wei Xiaobao and kowtow toward the outside.

Wu Lishen continued, “The bride and groom bow to the Earth.” Ao Biao pushed her body around to kowtow toward the inside.

At the ‘bride and groom bow to each other’, the two of them kneeled toward each other and kowtowed several times.

Wu Lishen laughed aloud and said, “The new husband and wife thank the matchmaker.”

Ah Ke was extremely angry; suddenly her leg flew up and kicked Wu Lishen’s lower abdomen. This kick was indeed not light. ‘Ah!’ Wu Lishen cried out and retreated several steps back, while repeatedly coughing. He then laughed and said, “The bride is so vicious, even the matchmaker is being kicked!”

Right this moment, there were repeated whistles outside the ancestral hall, followed by sounds of footsteps from east, south, west and north; at least there were forty, fifty people. Wu Lishen’s smiling expression immediately vanished. “Blow out the candles,” he hissed. Immediately the ancestral hall was pitch-black.

Wei Xiaobao rushed toward Ah Ke and pulled her hand, “There are enemies outside,” he said in a low voice.

Ah Ke was really angry and upset; she sobbed and said, “I … I have bowed to the Heaven and the Earth with you.”

“To me, it was something that I always seek but fail to get,” Wei Xiaobao said in a low voice, “It’s just that the bowing to the Heaven and the Earth was rather too sloppy.”

Ah Ke angrily said, “It does not count. You think it was for real?”

“Why would it be a fake?” Wei Xiaobao said, “This is called ‘the (grain of) rice has become (steamed) rice’, ‘the wood has become a dog’ [mu yi cheng gou].”

With a whimper Ah Ke said, “What ‘the wood has become a dog’? It’s ‘the wood has become a boat’ [mu yi cheng zhou].”

“Yes, yes,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Niangzi [wife] is well-educated, later on you need to teach me a lot to be a Xianggong [lord/master/young gentleman, but can also mean ‘husband’ (wife’s term of address)].”

Hearing him unexpectedly thickening his face by using the term ‘niangzi’ and ‘xianggong’ to call each other, Ah Ke was growing more anxious and broke into crying.

They heard the shout outside was deafening, dozens of people were shouting together. It sounded like the roar of a beast, or the bellow of an ox; it was so jumbled and indistinct that they did not know what they were shouting. Ah Ke was terrified, against her will she leaned close to Wei Xiaobao. Wei Xiaobao reached out and wrapped his arm around her; he said in a low voice, “Don’t be afraid, looks like a bunch of lamas are attacking.”

“What should we do?” Ah Ke asked.

Wei Xiaobao pulled her arm, he took her quietly sitting behind the image of the deity. Suddenly there was a flash of light, several dozen people rushed into the ancestral hall, each one of them had a torch and a weapon in his hands. As soon as Wei Xiaobao and Ah Ke saw these people, they were shocked. These people’s faces were painted with green fancy patterns, they wore bird’s feather on their heads, and their upper bodies were naked. Their waists were wrapped in a piece of animal skin, their torso and their arms were also painted in elaborate patterns. Turned out these people were of ethnic groups from outside China.

Ah Ke thought that these barbarians did not look like human, but they did not look like ghosts either; each one of them had a sinister expression on his face. She was even more terrified, and shrank herself inside Wei Xiaobao’s embrace while trembling incessantly.

The barbarians uttered wild ‘wah, wah!’ noise; one of them, who was among the first to enter, shouted, “Han people, no good, kill them all! Barbarians, good, must kill people! Guhuatulu, ahbasili!” The barbarians shouted loudly, they were talking in barbarian language.

Wu Lishen was a Yunnan native, he understood barbarian language, but he did not understand even half a word of these barbarians’ talk. He said in barbarian language, “We are good Han people, we must not kill.”

The barbarian leader still said, “Han people, no good, must kill all. Guhuatulu, ahbasili!”

All the barbarians shouted together, “Guhuatulu, ahbasili!” They raised their big sabers and steel forks, and charged forward. Wu Lishen and his company did not have any choice but to raise their weapons and meet the enemy.

As soon as these people met, Wu Lishen and the others were greatly amazed. Turned out these barbarians’ martial art skill was quite refined and established; their weapon technique was conforming to the martial art study, their attack and defense was carefully measured, they did not randomly chop or wildly attack at all.

Several moves later, even Wei Xiaobao and Ah Ke were able to see this fact. While engaging in a fierce fight, Wu Lishen shouted, “Everybody, be careful, these barbarians have learned our Han people’s martial art, we must not consider them lightly.”

The barbarian leader called out, “Han people’s killing technique, barbarians know them all, not afraid of Han people. Guhuatulu, ahbasili!”

The barbarians were many, their martial art skill was also very good. Each one of Mu Palace people had to face three, sometimes four, enemies. In a very short period of time they were already in a very dangerous position. Wu Lishen brandished his saber in a fierce combat against the leader, yet unexpectedly it did not look like he was having the slightest bit of advantage. The longer they fought, the more he was alarmed. Suddenly he heard ‘Ah, Ah’, twice; two of disciples were injured and fell down. Shortly afterwards, Ao Biao’s leg was stabbed by a hunting fork and he also fell down. Three barbarians pounced on him and captured him.

A moment later, about a dozen or so Mu Palace people had been knocked down. Zheng Keshuang’s had already been injured early on; he only offered a little bit of resistance and was quickly subdued. All the barbarians carried ox tendon, with which they bound their captives.

The barbarian leader hopped up and down while loudly blabbering in barbarian tongue. Wu Lishen groaned inwardly; he was thinking of escaping, but was concerned about Wei Xiaobao and his disciples’ safety. Thereupon he did everything he could to fight fiercely, hoping to subdue the leader and thus forcing them to let his people go. Suddenly the leader hacked his saber directly toward Wu Lishen’s head, Wu Lishen raised his saber to block. ‘Dang!’ his arm went slightly numb. Suddenly he felt a stick sweeping toward his back, hastily he leaped up to evade. The leader’s saber flipped over, and then landed on his neck. The leader shouted, “Han people, lose. Barbarian, not lose.”

Wei Xiaobao mused, “This barbarian is so stupid, he does not know the word ‘win’, only knew the word ‘not lose’.”

Wu Lishen shook his head and heaved a deep sigh; he tossed his saber and immediately had his hands bound.

With torches raised high, the barbarians looked everywhere. Wei Xiaobao knew that they could not hide anymore. Pulling Ah Ke’s hand, he rushed outside while calling out, “Barbarians, good people. The two of us are barbarians. Guhuatulu, ahbasili!”

The leader reached out to grab Ah Ke’s neck. Three barbarians pounced forward and grabbed Wei Xiaobao. Wei Xiaobao only shouted half of “Guhua …” before his mouth was covered.

When the leader saw him, his expression changed. Stretching out his arm, he grabbed Wei Xiaobao in his arms while shouting, “Xihuahbu, qiliwendeng.” And then he carried Wei Xiaobao out of the ancestral hall.

Wei Xiaobao was greatly shocked; turning his head toward Ah Ke, he called out, “Niangzi, this barbarian is going to kill me. You must live as a widow for me, you can’t remarry that …” Before he finished, they were already outside the main gate.

The barbarian leader ran more than ten zhang, before he released Wei Xiaobao and set him on the ground. He said, “Gui Gonggong, how come you are here?” He sounded genuinely surprised, but also delighted.

Wei Xiaobao was startled and happy at the same time. “You … you are a barbarian, and you knew me?”

The man laughed and said, “Xiaoren is Yang Yizhi, the Yang Yizhi from Ping Xi Wang Mansion. Gui Gonggong did not recognize me. Ha ha …”

Wei Xiaobao laughed aloud. He was about to speak, Yang Yizhi pulled his hand and said, “Let’s go farther away to talk, don’t let the others hear us.”

The two of them went more than twenty zhang away before stopping. Yang Yizhi said, “Unexpectedly I can see Gui Gonggong in here, truly I am delighted.”

“How did Yang Dage come here?” Wei Xiaobao asked, “And you dress up as Guhuatulu, ahbasili?”

Yang Yizhi laughed and said, “There were a bunch of people having an assembly at Hejian Prefecture, planning to bring harm to our Wangye; Wangye obtained some information about it and sent Xiaoren here to investigate.”

Wei Xiaobao was secretly alarmed; his brain turning very fast, trying to find an idea. He said, “Last time those Mu Palace fellows entered the Palace to assassinate the Emperor, framing Ping Xi Wang …”

Yang Yizhi hastily said, “And we owe it to Gonggong’s esteemed, as high as the cloud and the sky’s friendship, by presenting a memorial to the Emperor and clear this matter up, washing away the injustice our Ping Xi Wang received. Our Wangye is endlessly grateful, he often mentioned that he wanted to personally express his gratitude to Gonggong.”

“I do not dare to accept the gratitude,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Wangye regards me highly like this, while I am by the Emperor’s side, if I can do such a trivial matter for Wangye, naturally I will. This time His Majesty knew that there are some rebellious thieves who were having an assembly at the Hejian Prefecture, with the intention of bringing harm to Ping Xi Wang. I volunteered to come over here to investigate.”

Yang Yizhi was greatly delighted. “Turns out His Majesty already knew about it,” he said, “There is no way the rebellious thieves’ evil schemes will succeed. That’s wonderful. Xiaoren received Wangye’s order to infiltrate those damn dog-heads’ congress. I heard them electing various provinces’ meng zhu, intending to harm our Wangye. I won’t conceal it from Gui Gonggong: in our hearts we are deeply concerned. It is easy to dodge the spear in the open, it is hard to avoid a stab in the dark. If the rebellious thieves dare to come to Yunnan to fight, it’s not that Xiaoren is boasting, but if a thousand of them came, we’ll capture a thousand, if ten thousand of them came, we’ll kill all ten thousand. What we are afraid of is that like last time the Mu Palace’s dog thieves committing outrages, yet they shifted the blame to our Wangye, and thus later on have brought us infinite trouble.”

[Gubrak]

Thanks Foxs. Great work, and detail !

[crazee]

Looks like the story line is going back to the main thread.....thank goodness...

Well is XB married or not ??
I doubt he can get things that easy....

Thanks Foxs.

[SkyWalker]

Thanks for the post foxs. And no, there's no snow yet. Hopefully we won't have any this winter. I'm tired of snow! I'm ready to relocate to a nice & warm area! How's the weather in your area? Cold yet?

I think WXB & Ah Ke are not considered married b/c they didn't have the blessings of their elders and more importantly, the bride was unwilling!

[smurf120]

I'm sure in WXB's mind they are about 90% married - since he has gone on with more rites with her than anybody else he has encountered.

This made me chuckle out loud as I'm sure he is much less concerned about Ah Ke's purity than his jealously of ZKS.
"Wei Xiaobao was greatly shocked; turning his head toward Ah Ke, he called out, “Niangzi, this barbarian is going to kill me. You must live as a widow for me, you can’t remarry that …” Before he finished, they were already outside the main gate."

Who knows how many more gov't officials, foreigners (Tibetans, Mongolians, Russians), and stalkers showed up at the Turtle Slaying Assembly - I guess no one checked IDs at the door!

[aliderhamy]

Smurf your the man...

[Ace High]

I'm sure in WXB's mind they are about 90% married - since he has gone on with more rites with her than anybody else he has encountered.

Not to mention that Ah Ke actually has agreed (directly or indirectly) to marry him in numerous wagers.

Who knows how many more gov't officials, foreigners (Tibetans, Mongolians, Russians), and stalkers showed up at the Turtle Slaying Assembly - I guess no one checked IDs at the door!

They practically have no sense of secrecy and discretion. Everybody was free to invite and/or take along anybody they want, everybody was free to come and go as they please. Not to mention persons such as ZKS who will blab at the first chance to impress a girl.

[tweety365]

What always bugged me about this scene (all the adaptations have it) is the fact that Wu Lishen and company are so called "heroes", yet they are forcing an unwilling maiden to marry one of their friends. What started out as a trick on ZKS and to teach him a little lesson has turned into grown men using brute force to bully a weaker female. The hypocrisy never sat well with me .

Thank you for all your hard work, foxs!

[foxs]

Gubrak, you are welcome. Crazee, Smurf, Ali, Ace, in WXB's mind, 'yes', in Ah Ke's mind, 'no'. Tweety, I watched a couple of Gong Li movies, both were set in early 1900s, and in both movies, they said 'buy a wife'. I guess in those days the brides did not get any say in marriage. Or both, for that matter, usually it's the family who decided everything with the help of the matchmaker. Anyway, when working on this part, I got to think: thus far Ah Ke knew WXB as a eunuch. What if she knew that he was not? I mean, I understand that for some people, 'less-than-perfect' men are repulsive. Perhaps her disdain toward WXB went deeper than what we have discussed so far.

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Striking his own chest, Wei Xiaobao boldly said, “Yang Dage, please report to Wangye, there is nothing to be worried about. When I return to the Capital, about that dog-heads’ congress, I will report everything by fives and tens, by fifteens and twenties [i.e. systematically and in full detail], nothing will be left out in my memorial to the Emperor. Opposing Ping Xi Wang is the same as opposing His Majesty. The more they hate Ping Xi Wang, the more it shows that Wangye is loyal and devoted to His Majesty. If His Majesty is happy, not only Ping Xi Wangye, even Yang Dage will be heavily rewarded, you will be promoted and gain wealth; it’s a cinch.”

Yang Yizhi happily said, “We are heavily reliant of Gui Gonggong’s vigorous intercession. Xiaoren does not expect promotion and wealth. Wangye has shown great kindness to my late father, he has saved Xiaoren’s entire family’s lives. Just before his death, my late father left me his last words, instructing Xiaoren to pledge my life to protect Wangye completely. Gonggong, you came here, are you investigating Mu Family dog thieves’ plot?”

Wei Xiaobao slapped his thigh. “Yang Dage,” he said, “Not only your martial art skill is superb, your foresight is also divine. My admiration, my admiration. My Shijie and I are in disguise, we want to find out what trick they are playing, but we were found out. I talked some nonsense, surprisingly they believe it, and forced my Shijie and I to bow to the Heaven and the Earth to get married. Ha ha … this is called ‘profiting from a disaster’.”

Yang Yizhi thought, “You are a eunuch, how can you marry? Ah right, you and that young Miss pretended to be a pair of lovers and they believed it.” He said, “That Shaking-Head Lion’s martial art is not bad, nevertheless, he is bold but not very astute.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “You dress as barbarians, is it for the purpose of capturing them?”

Yang Yizhi said, “Mu Family and our Prince’s Mansion have enmity as deep as the sea. Last time we suffered heavy damage from them, all along we have not been able to collect our capital back. This time at the dog-heads’ congress we saw them, Xiaoren then made a plan. If we made disturbance in Zhili [see Note 3 of Chapter 27] and His Majesty finds out, I am afraid he will blame our Wangye, saying that Ping Xi Wang’s Mansion people are breaking the law in the vicinity of the Capital, committing murder and creating trouble.”

Wei Xiaobao gave him a thumb up; he praised, “Yang Dage’s stratagem is indeed very brilliant. You are dressing up as barbarians, guhuatulu, ahbasili; even if you massacre the whole lot of Mu Palace people, other people only know that it was the barbarian revolting, nobody would suspect Ping Xi Wang at all.”

Yang Yizhi laughed. “Exactly,” he said, “It’s just that by dressing like this, crazy and bizarre, we only make Gonggong laugh.”

“What do you mean ‘laugh’?” Wei Xiaobao said, “In my heart I envy you very much. I really want to shed these clothes, paint my face with green fancy patterns, and shouting and jumping around with you.”

Yang Yizhi laughed and said, “If Gonggong wishes, we can dress up together.”

Wei Xiaobao sighed and said, “This time I can’t; if my wife saw me dressing outlandishly like that, she will throw a fit.”

“Gonggong really getting married and have a wife now?” Yang Yizhi asked, “I thought you were forced by those dog thieves to pretend?”

This matter was not easy to explain clearly in just a few words, thereupon Wei Xiaobao changed the subject by saying, “Yang Dage, you and I hit it off very well with one another. If you consider me worthy, let the two of us tie the knot to become sworn brothers. There’s no need to use ‘Gonggong’ or ‘Xiaoren’ anymore, it sounds so awkward.”

Yang Yizhi was greatly delighted. First, Ping Xi Wang was in need of his help; hereafter, there would be many important matters in need of his aid in front of the Emperor. Second, this little Gonggong was generous, outspoken and straightforward, a really good friend. That day at the Prince Kang’s mansion, he was very polite to him. Thereupon he said, “That is exactly what I have been wishing for; but I am afraid I am not able to climb that high.”

“What do you mean climbing high or climbing low?” Wei Xiaobao said, “Speaking of high and low, are you the taller one, or I am the taller one?”

Yang Yizhi burst out laughing. Thereupon the two of them kneeled down on the spot, using dirt as the incense, they kowtowed eight times and made a statement to be brothers.

“Xiongdi,” Yang Yizhi said, “From now on the two of us are as close as flesh and bones, a lot more than ordinary brothers. However, in front of other people, your Gege will still call you ‘Gonggong’, to avoid raising other people’s suspicion.”

“Naturally,” Wei Xiaobao replied. “Dage, what are you going to do with those Mu Family people?”

Yang Yizhi said, “I am going to take them to Yunnan and slowly torture them. After obtaining their confession that they framed our Wangye, we are going to take them to the Capital to let the Emperor know that Ping Xi Wang has whole-hearted loyalty, and make it clear that by protecting Ping Xi Wang, Xiongdi did not make the slightest mistake.”

Wei Xiaobao nodded. “Very good, very good!” he said. “Dage, do you think that Shaking-head Tiger would confess?”

“It’s Shaking-head Lion Wu Lishen,” Yang Yizhi corrected, “This man has quite a reputation in Jianghu; I heard his manner is very unyielding, he won’t confess. I respect him as a real man, I won’t make things too difficult for him. But the rest of those people, inevitably there will be some who can’t endure the torture; they might confess.”

“Not bad,” Wei Xiaobao said, “This plan is not bad.”

Yang Yizhi could detect from his tone that he was speaking thoughtlessly and did not really mean it; thereupon he said, “Xiongdi, you and I are not outsiders. If you think something is inappropriate, please speak bluntly.”

“There is nothing inappropriate about it,” Wei Xiaobao said, “I heard there is another rebellious thief within the Mu Family called Mu Jiansheng, there is also a certain Stiff-backed Black Dragon called Liu somebody.”

“Iron Back Blue Dragon Liu Dahong,” Yang Yizhi said, “He is Mu Jiansheng’s Shifu.”

“Right,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Dage, your memory is very good. His Majesty instructed me to find these two people’s trail. Have you caught them?”

Yang Yizhi said, “Mu Jiansheng also went to Hejian Prefecture. Along the way we scooped up information about him, but as soon as we entered Xian County, he slipped away, we do not know where he hides.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “It is somewhat embarrassing; just now I talked nonsense, and was able to deceive that Shaking-head Lion and turned him into Nodding-Head Lion, who agreed to take me to see their Xiao Gongye. I actually wanted to verify their plot in framing Ping Xi Wang, and then return to the Capital and present a report to the Emperor. Since Dage has already had assurance, you might be able to torture their conspiracy out. In the end it’s the same thing, Xiongdi actually does not need to take a risk.”

Yang Yizhi deliberately considered, “I torture several insignificant people, they may not necessarily know the real inside information. Even if they did, Mu Family dog thieves’ bones are very hard, they may not necessarily be willing to speak. Besides, Wangye personally offers an explanation is absolutely inferior to the report from someone whom the Emperor personally sent to investigate, which will emerge powerful. If we simply pretend we did not know anything and let Gui Xiongdi go submit the report to the Emperor, it will be much better.” Thereupon he pulled Wei Xiaobao’s hand and said, “Xiongdi, your plan is a lot more brilliant, I’ll listen to you in everything. But how are we going to release those Mu Family dog thieves without raising their suspicions?”

Wei Xiaobao said, “For that, I will need you to think of something.”

Yang Yizhi thought for a moment, and then said, “Let’s do it this way: You run away back to the ancestral hall, pretending that you are summoning up courage and determination to save your Shijie, I will pursue you, and then the two of us will speak gibberish, pretending to speak in the barbarian tongue. After talking for a while, you convince me, and I will respectfully leave. This way we won’t reveal the least bit of trace.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed, “Wonderful!” he said, “I, Gui Gonggong is fluent in barbarian tongue. There is an opera about that, Emperor Ming of Tang[2] had a subordinate scholar named Li somebody, when he was drunk, he produced an essay, scaring a bunch of barbarians that they pissed in their pants in terror.”

Yang Yizhi laughed and said, “That was Li Taibai’s drunken manuscript scared barbarian book.”

Wei Xiaobao clapped his hands and said, “Right, right! Gui Gonggong awakes and speaks scary barbarian language is just as amazing as that. Dage, we must play a convincing act; you may punch and kick me, and I won’t be injured. Ah, right, I am wearing a treasured vest that saber and spear won’t penetrate. There is no harm in you chopping me several times; as long as you don’t use any internal energy, so you won’t shake and injure my five viscera and six bowels, I will be perfectly all right.”

Yang Yizhi said, “Xiongdi has that kind of treasured clothes, that’s very good.”

Wei Xiaobao bragged, “His Majesty sent me on a mission to investigate the rebellious thieves’ treacherous plan, he was afraid they might find out and have me killed; thereupon he took off from his own body this treasured vest, which was a tribute from the western red-haired country, and bestowed it to me. Dage, you do not need to worry that you might injure me, why don’t you chop me several times to test it?”

Yang Yizhi pulled his saber out and lightly slashed Wei Xiaobao’s left shoulder. Sure enough, the saber cut open the outer garment, but as the blade came in contact with the inner garment, it could not go deeper. He increased the strength of his hand slightly, lightly chopping Wei Xiaobao’s left shoulder again, still he was not able to create any damage. “Good treasured clothes, good treasured clothes!” he praised.

“Dage,” Wei Xiaobao said, “There is a fellow surnamed Zheng inside; he is that young gentleman who wears gorgeous embroidered pillowcase. This fellow is always messing around my Shijie. Looking at him, Xiongdi is very angry. It would be best if you could take him away.”

“I’ll just send a palm strike and kill him then,” Yang Yizhi said.

“You must not kill him, you must not kill him,” Wei Xiaobao said, “This man is wanted by the Emperor, in the future a very important matter will rest on his shoulder. Please just capture him and take him away. Guard him well, don’t make things difficult for him, but don’t interrogate him about anything either. After twenty, thirty years, I will let you know when I want him, then you send people to take him to Beijing.”

“Yes,” Yang Yizhi said, “I will take care of this thing for you properly.” Suddenly he raised his voice to shout, “Huluxidu, ailibala! Xulaoxulao!” Lowering his voice, he laughed and said, “The two of us have been talking for a while, I am afraid they will get suspicious.”

With a sharp voice Wei Xiaobao shouted several words of ‘barbarian tongue’. Yang Yizhi laughed and said, “Xiongdi’s ‘barbarian tongue’ is a lot more fluent than your Gege.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Naturally; in the past Xiongdi wandered destitute in a foreign land, the lord of the foreign land wanted to take me as fuma [emperor’s son-in-law, consort], hence I am accustomed to speak the ‘barbarian tongue’.” Yang Yizhi burst out in laughter.

“Dage,” Wei Xiaobao continued, “I have a difficulty, I want you to help me finding a way out.”

Yang Yizhi struck his chest and generously offered, “Whatever trouble Xiongdi has, your Gege will give my life if you want me to. As long as you tell me, there is nothing that I won’t obey.”

Wei Xiaobao sighed and said, “Thank you very much. To say that this matter is difficult, it is actually not difficult; but to say that it is easy, it is definitely not easy.”

Yang Yizhi said, “Xiongdi may just tell me, I will help you ponder over it. Supposing your Gege cannot do it, I am going to ask our Wangye. Several tens of thousands troops and horses, several million taels, can be easily mobilized.”

Wei Xiaobao smiled; he said, “Thousand armies ten thousand horses, mountain of gold and silver, I am afraid will be quite useless. It’s about my Shijie, she was forced to bow to the Heaven and the Earth and marry me, but in her heart she is very unwilling. It would be best if you have a marvelous idea, help me to change rice (grain) into (cooked) rice, tricking her to decide that the timber has been turned into a boat.”

Yang Yizhi could not help but feeling amused; he thought, “Turns out it is for that matter, I thought it was for some important matter, instead, it has something to do with dealing with that young girl. But you are a eunuch, how can you take a wife? Right, I heard during the Ming Dynasty it was common for some court eunuchs to take several wives. Xiongdi must be thinking of having some toys to satisfy his ‘dry craving’.”

Thinking that since his childhood Wei Xiaobao had had his body purified, Yang Yizhi could not help but feeling sad. Taking Wei Xiaobao’s hand in his, he said, “Xiongdi, in this life, we cannot always hope that everything is going as we wish. Since the ancient times, there are extremely numerous great heroes, great warriors who have physical defect; you don’t have to care about it. Let’s go in.”

“Alright!” Wei Xiaobao said. He shouted some words in ‘barbarian tongue’ and rushed into the ancestral hall.

Brandishing his saber, Yang Yizhi ran after him, also shouting some ‘barbarian’ words, and rushed into the main hall to grab Wei Xiaobao. The two of them exchanged some words. You said some ‘xilihulu’, I replied with ‘ahyibala’, they were prattling incessantly, while sometimes pointed to Wu Lishen, sometimes pointed to Ah Ke.

Wu Lishen, Ah Ke and the others were pleasantly surprised, they thought that there was hope. “Luckily he understands barbarian language,” they mused, “It would be best if he could make these barbarians retreat.”

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[2] Also known as Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, (685-762, reigned 712-756).

[Ace High]

It seems to me that both Kang Xi and Wu San Gui's people were doing their job competently. Their people manage to get important informations on the rebellion plans and movements while the Anti-Qing faction still congratulating their province meng zhus.

[Anh Nam]

Thanks Foxs

[smurf120]

Smurf your the man...

LOL, I am female.

@Ace High, I agree the government people have done some good infiltrating work but then again, it was supereasy.

I chuckled at " I will report everything by fives and tens, by fifteens and twenties, nothing will be left out in my memorial to the Emperor." because the modification sounds like the Fifteen Twenty drinking game.

@Tweety - yes! however terrible/playful WXB is in persuing Ah Ke, it is well within how he was raised, his personality, and his young age. I'm shocked at how easily he got all these "wulin heroes" to play along!

[aliderhamy]

LOL, I am female.

@Ace High, I agree the government people have done some good infiltrating work but then again, it was supereasy.

I chuckled at " I will report everything by fives and tens, by fifteens and twenties, nothing will be left out in my memorial to the Emperor." because the modification sounds like the Fifteen Twenty drinking game.

@Tweety - yes! however terrible/playful WXB is in persuing Ah Ke, it is well within how he was raised, his personality, and his young age. I'm shocked at how easily he got all these "wulin heroes" to play along!

are you sure... woman dont normally get this sort of thing. ohh well good job, you must be smarter then avarage woman hahaha

[Ace High]

@Ace High, I agree the government people have done some good infiltrating work but then again, it was supereasy.

One of the reasons why it is supereasy was the Anti Qing Restore Ming movement are operating under the assumption that they have the full support of common people. Even if the secrets were leaked to the masses, they simply assume that nobody will inform the Qing.

Although we could argue that the goverment officers also were doing their jobs, not just shrugged it off and only sending good report saying all is well to the Central Goverment.

[crazee]

Oh....there is a Miss Smurf here....gotta mind the language...

Thanks Foxs, yes, our XB is good at plotting and making the situation best for himself...
A bunch of elders being conned by a youngster...well that youngster must be pretty much a monster....don't you agree ??

Yes, I guess the authorities of the day seems to be rather on the ball as far as intelligience is concerned. I suppose if these stories are true to the situation in those days, the rebels are rather stupid and brazen to hold such big gatherings openly. You see people like Zheng Keshuang spilling to outsiders without a care in the world....and not knowing that one of them is a highly placed court official.... imagine the situation, the meeting is no secret anymore. I'm just baffled that the emperor did not chop off all the rebellion with one stroke and have all those at the meeting slaughtered. I suppose it's just because Oboi is not around ....my 2 cents worth.

[crazee]

are you sure... woman dont normally get this sort of thing. ohh well good job, you must be smarter then avarage woman hahaha

Hey Aliderhamy....if there are other ladies in this forum......err "hell's fury" will be mild in comparism heh heh heh....

[aliderhamy]

Hey Aliderhamy....if there are other ladies in this forum......err "hell's fury" will be mild in comparism heh heh heh....

note for later "send flowers to all forum users"