Thread: The Deer and The Cauldron

  1. #2741
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    Well, Hong was an evil dictator that forced his followers to sing daily praises and fed them body mutilating poison. It is probably another JY argument against organized religion and iron hand of dictatorship without compassion.

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    Thanks foxs

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    Default Chapter 44 - Part 5

    Crazee, that was the reason I said WXB was always at the right place and right time. Smurf, iirc, this novel was written during the height of cultural revolution, so I think you are right. Anh, how's the weather? Storm season is over, the weather is cooling down, it's the best time to visit Florida?


    Fortunately Cult Leader Hong was seriously hurt, his palm power was greatly reduced, plus Wei Xiaobao was wearing his treasured protective vest; although he was hit that the sky darkened and the earth turned black, he did not suffer serious injury.

    He was just about to crawl up when suddenly he felt his shoulder tightened as Cult Leader Hong grabbed him with both hands. Wei Xiaobao felt as if his heart was about to jump out of his chest cavity. In his horror, he could not think about anything [orig. ‘when hungry, you can’t pick what you eat’, and ‘in panic, cannot choose the road to travel’]; ducking down, he crawled underneath Cult Leader Hong’s crotch, and suddenly remembered that this move was the first part on one move from the ‘three moves to save life’ taught by Cult Leader Hong in the past. Whether the move was called ‘imperial consort riding an ox’ or ‘Xi Shi riding a goat’[1], how could he remember about it right now?

    With everything he had he leaped up and landed onto Cult Leader Hong’s neck. Actually he had not practiced this move to perfection; but even if he did, he would never be able to execute the move against a first class martial art master like Cult Leader Hong. It’s just that Cult Leader Hong had had a fierce battle against four Divine Dragon Cult’s martial art masters, and then Madame Hong denounced him; his mind was disturbed, plus he received several heavy blows one after another, the last one being the Wild-goose Tail Saber cutting deep into his bone, and a judge pen penetrating deep into his lower abdomen. After running for several hundred steps, he lost a lot of blood, his internal energy was depleted, his grab on Wei Xiaobao’s back was weak, so that as soon as Wei Xiaobao struggled he was able to free himself and finally rode on his neck. Riding on Cult Leader Hong’s shoulder, Wei Xiaobao was afraid he might be thrown down, instinctively he grabbed Cult Leader Hong’s head to get a hold, the middle finger of both hands happened to press on Cult Leader Hong’s eyelids.

    Something flashed like a lightning in Cult Leader Hong’s mind; he remembered that it was he himself who taught Wei Xiaobao this move. As soon as he managed to ride on the enemy’s neck, he should immediately dig the enemy’s eyes out. Cult Leader Hong would never had imagined that as a hero of this age, in the end he would lose his life under this little urchin’s hand. Not only that, the move he was using was exactly the one he taught him. It was indeed an appropriate retribution. Remembering the countless number of people he had killed during his lifetime, receiving this karma could not be considered injustice; he could not help but heaving a deep sigh, his hands drooped down by his side.

    As soon as Cult Leader Hong relaxed his body, he was unable to bear the load, hence he fell face up. Wei Xiaobao still thought that it was part of some formidable move; hastily he leaped back and ran away. He heard Cult Leader Hong said while gasping for breath, “Ah Quan, Ah Quan, come … come here.”

    Madame Hong took several steps closer, but she stopped more than a zhang away in front of him. Cult Leader Hong said, “The child in … in your belly, actually … actually whose child is it?”

    Madame Hong shook her head and said, “Why do you insist on knowing?” While saying that, she involuntarily cast a side long glance toward Wei Xiaobao, her face blushed slightly.

    Cult Leader Hong was shocked and angered at the same time; he shouted, “Could it be … could it be this little demon?”

    Madame Hong bit her lip without saying anything; obviously it was a tacit approval. Cult Leader Hong bellowed, “I’ll kill this little demon!” He sprang up and pounced on Wei Xiaobao.

    With face full of blood, Cult Leader Hong opened his mouth wide, exposing badly damaged, broken yellowish teeth; his hands were also dripping with blood, as he pounced toward Wei Xiaobao. Wei Xiaobao was so scared that his body and soul separated; he turned around and crawled underneath Madame Hong’s crotch and hid behind her. With arms wide open Madame Hong confronted Cult Leader Hong; she said indifferently, “Your prestige has shaken the world, now it’s enough!”

    Cult Leader Hong was leaping in the air, the last ounce of real chi in his body disappeared without a trace, ‘Wham!’ his body landed by Madame Hong’s feet. Yet he still fiercely said, “I am the Cult Leader, you … you should obey … obey my command. Why … why … did everybody rebel against me? You … all of you are wrong, only … only I am right. I will kill all of you, only I, one man can … can enjoy immortal good fortune forever … my long life … the same as hea … hea … hea …” Without able to finish the last word ‘heaven’, his mouth gaped open, he breathed his last, but his eyes were still wide open.

    Wei Xiaobao crawled away several more steps and then he jumped to run away for several more zhang before he turned around and saw that Cult Leader Hong was lying on the ground unmoving. After a long time he took two steps closer, while taking the stance that he was ready to flee any time. “Is he dead?” he asked.

    Madame Hong sighed and said quietly, “He is dead.”

    Wei Xiaobao took two more steps and asked, “He … how come his eyes are not closed?”

    Suddenly ‘slap!’ his face was heavily slapped, followed by a twist on his right ear; it was Princess Jianning. She also kicked Wei Xiaobao’s buttocks while cursing, “You, son of a b1tch, he did not close his eyes because you stole his wife. You … why did you fool around with this shameless woman?”

    “Humph,” Madame Hong snorted, while reaching out to grab the back of Princess Jianning’s neck, ‘slap!’ she also heavily slapped her face. Waving her arm, she tossed the Princess backward to the ground. When this happened, Wei Xiaobao was the one who suffered the most, because the Princess’ right hand was still twisting his ear. As her body tumbled backward, she took Wei Xiaobao’s ear along that he fell on top of her.

    Madame Hong shouted, “You talk without compass and set square. I will kill you at once.”

    The Princess was furious; she sprang up and charged toward Madame Hong. Madame Hong moved her left foot to hook, the Princess tripped and fell face down. The Princess charged again for the third time, and again she was thrown down to the ground. Finally she realized that her martial art skill was too far below the opponent’s. She sat on the ground and broke into crying and swearing. But she did not dare to curse Madame Hong; she merely repeated over and over, “Little b@stard! Dead eunuch! Little animal! Stinky Xiao Guizi!”

    Wei Xiaobao stroke his hurting ear, and felt blood on his hand. Turned out the Princess had pulled his ear too hard that she tore a long cut on it.

    Madame Hong said in a low voice, “He and I were always husband and wife, is it alright if I bury him?” Her voice was gentle, as if she was pleading that Wei Xiaobao would allow her to do so.

    Wei Xiaobao was pleasantly surprised; he hastily said, “Of course it’s alright, we should bury him.” Picking up the judge pen from the ground, he and Madame Hong started to dig a hole on the beach. Fang Yi and Mu Jianping came along to help. Together they put Cult Leader Hong’s body into the hole and bury him.

    Madame Hong kneeled down and kowtowed several times; she quietly said, “Although you forced me to marry you, but … but after we got married, you have always treated me well. I have never had any feeling toward you. Now that you are dead, you might as well know about it, you don’t need to take it to heart.” Finished speaking, she stood up, and could not stop the tears from streaming down her face.

    She stood in a daze for a moment, and then she wiped her tears and asked Wei Xiaobao, “Are we going to stay here, or go back to the Central Plains?”

    Wei Xiaobao scratched his head, “We definitely cannot stay here,” he said, “Hong Jiaozhu, Mr. Lu and the others’ ghosts will definitely demand our lives; it’s desperately serious. But if we return to the Central Plains, the young Emperor wants my head. It would be best if … if we can find a peace and quiet place where we can hide.” Suddenly he remembered a place. “I got it,” he said happily, “Let us go to the Tong Chi Island. There’s no ghost there, and the young Emperor won’t be able to find me.”

    “Tong Chi Island?” Madame Hong asked, “Where is it?”

    Wei Xiaobao pointed to the west and said with a laugh, “There’s a small island over there, I call it Tong Chi Island.” [reminder: tong chi means ‘eat ‘em all’ (gambling).]

    Madame Hong nodded. “If you like to go there, let us all go,” she said. For some reason, she was very obedient to him [orig. ‘a thousand compliance a hundred obedience’].

    Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted. “Go, go!” he shouted, “Let us go together!” Going over to the Princess, he helped her up while saying with a laug, “Let us go on board!”

    The Princess waved her palm, Wei Xiaobao leaned sideways to dodge. The Princess angrily said, “You go to hell! I am not going with you!”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “There are lots and lots of ghosts on this island: headless ghosts, legless ghosts, and ghosts whose intestines were blasted by the cannon, and then multi-hand ghosts who love to stroke pregnant women’s belly …”

    Hearing that, the Princess was extremely scared; she stomped her foot and said, “And then there’s chewing-maggot ghosts who love to speak nonsense.” Her left foot flew out, she kicked Wei Xiaobao’s buttocks heavily. “Ah!” Wei Xiaobao screamed and jumped away.

    Madame Hong camly walked over. The Princess backed off several steps. Madame Hong said, “Later on if you hit Wei Gongzi one time, I will hit you ten times. If you kick him one time, I will kick you ten times. I have spoken, and my words always count.”

    The Princess was so angry that her countenance turned deathly pale. She said angrily, “Who are you to him? Why do you protect him so? Your … your own husband is dead, you want to snatch someone else’s husband?”

    Fang Yi interrupted, “Isn’t your own husband also dead?”

    The Princess was furious. “Little s1ut,” she cursed, “Your husband is also dead.”

    Madame Hong slowly said, “If you dare to speak one more rude sentence, I’ll leave you alone on this island and won’t let anybody accompany you.”

    The Princess thought that this vixen was able to do whatever she was able to say; if she was left alone on the Island, and then a lot of ghosts with spilled intestine, ghosts with many hands came out, what should she do? All her life she lived as the Princess, she only needed to point her finger and people would jump to do her bidding; but this time she had no choice but to put aside her ‘golden branch, jade leave’ status and her harsh and unreasonable, rough temperament, and obediently stopped making noise.

    Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted; he thought, “This little vicious gal met her match today; from now on someone is able to control her, so that she would not hit me whenever she is not in a good mood.” He raised his hand toward his ear, which was torn by her; it was throbbing with pain.

    Madame Hong said to Fang Yi, “Miss Fang, please tell the boatmen to prepare to set sail.”

    “Yes,” Fang Yi replied. She then added, “How could Madame be this polite to your subordinate? I really do not deserve it.”

    Madame Hong smiled and said, “From this day onward we are sisters; there’s no more Madame and subordinate. You call me Quan Jiejie, I’ll call you Yi Meimei. The poison’s antidote, I’ll give it to you as soon as we get onboard. Henceforth you have nothing to worry about.” Fang Yi and Mu Jianping were exremely delighted.

    They all went aboard, the boat sailed westward. Wei Xiaobao glanced to the left and right; he was very proud of himself. True to her word, Madame Hong took out the antidote and gave it to Fang Yi. She also opened the boat’s safe, took out Wei Xiaobao’s dagger, his ‘han sha she ying’ secret projectile, his banknotes, everything, and gave them back to him. Zeng Rou’s and the others’ weapons were also returned.

    Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “How about from now on I also call you Quan Jiejie?”

    “Very good!” Madame Hong happily replied, “Let’s tell each other our age, see who is older and who is younger.”

    Everybody told their birth date, month and year. Naturally Madame Hong, Su Quan was the oldest. Fang Yi was next, and then the Princess. Zeng Rou, Mu Jianping and Wei Xiaobao were born on the same year. Zeng Rou was three months older than he, while Mu Jianping was a few days younger.

    Su Quan, Fang Yi, and the others, four women called each other Jiejie and Meimei [older and younger sisters, respectively] affectionately. Only the Princess stood on the side, sulking. Su Qian said, “She is Her Highness the Princess, naturally she is unwilling to be sisters with us, common people. All of us should keep addressing her as Your Highness the Princess.”

    The Princess coldly said, “I do not dare.” She thought about how they unite and form a clique, leaving her alone without any ally; she also thought about the dead eunuch Xiao Guizi, who had to conscience, who was apparently a lot closer to those four women than to her. Thinking about her sad fate, she could not help feeling broken hearted and broke into tears.

    Wei Xiaobao leaned to her side, pulling her hand to comfort her, and said in a gentle voice, “Alright, alright; we are all happy here, please don’t cry …”

    The Princess raised her palm, and slapped it hard, but suddenly she remembered Su Quan’s warning. This palm strike carried a lot of force, she was unable to hold it back. Without any other choice she changed direction midway, ‘slap!’ it heavily slapped her own chest. “Ah!” she screamed in pain.

    Everybody else broke into loud laughter. The Princess was even more furious; she buried her face in Wei Xiaobao’s bosom and cried loudly. “Alright, alright,” Wei Xiaobao said with a laugh, “No need to fight. Let’s throw dice, I’ll be the banker.”

    But after searching carefully inside the Cult Leader Hong’s safe, they still could not find Wei Xiaobao’s pair of dice. It must be that when Lu Gaoxuan was searching his body, he tossed the dice away carelessly. Wei Xiaobao was quite dejected. Su Quan laughed and said, “We can carve two dice from a piece of wood.”

    “Wood is too light,” Wei Xiaobao said, “They are no fun to throw.”

    Zeng Rou put her hand into her pocket, when she pulled it out, her hand was clenched into a fist. “Guess,” she said with a laugh, “What is it?”

    “Is it copper coin?” Wei Xiaobao said, “That’s also good. Better than not gambling.”

    Zeng Rou laughed and said, “Guess, how many?”

    Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Three?”

    Zeng Rou opened up her palm; lying on her pink palm were unexpectedly two dice.


    [1] Imperial Consort, ‘gui fei’, I believe it refers to Yang Guifei; she and Xi Shi were two of the four legendary beauties of ancient China.

  4. #2744
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    err...mssr foxs, when did forn...tion (without) under consent of the king happened? Darn it. Really good luck under the bad luck.

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    Thank you Foxs. I hardly post but I'm ALWAYS around.

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    Thanks Foxs! Great read.

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    Thanks foxs
    The weather has been nice for 2 days after 2 months of too much rain. We always get rain for Halloween.

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    Thanks foxs. Sorry, had to study for a test. But erhm...it seems I missed a lot.

    LOL at the Princess and Madame Hong. Finally there's someone who can deal with the Princess. I dont understand the point of having Zeng Rou in the story. She is pretty much irrelevant and the plot won't change much if she disappears.

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    Only Xiaobao can get captured by the enemy, get stripped of weapons, face death in the eye, and emerge miraculously and utterly victorious, exterminating a prominent cult of martial arts experts and collecting a couple of wives to join his harem, I mean entourage.

  10. #2750
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    Sigh.....so ended a powerfool man. I suppose the main aim is to remind us that pride and selfishness does not really pay. He really pitifully.

    Well, XB is now father of 2 child ....wow. not bad for an inexperienced man.

    Now what..... he's living in seclusion with beautiful women all round.
    I'll bet he gets bored.

    Thanks Foxs....lovely translations and as usual, panting for more.....
    cheerio..

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    Default hmmm

    I have an uneasy feeling about this...

    Will be interesting to see what happens next.
    Ali Derhamy

  12. #2752
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    Default Chapter 44 - Part 6

    Err, Kamensilver ... I am not sure what you mean. Are you talking about the Princess? Madame Hong? (based on your forn...tion). Could you elaborate? Muliono, Hoang, Anh, you are welcome. Zhx, LOL, you are right. She was just an extra, probably to round up the number to 'seven'. 9Dragons, WXB reminded me a lot of Forrest Gump. Crazee, what I don't understand is: how did other people find out that WXB went out to sea? Ali, several posts in several days, what happen?

    “Ah!” Wei Xiaobao cried loudly; he sprang up and asked repeatedly, “Where did you get it? Where did you get it?”

    With a soft chuckle Zeng Rou put the dice on the table. Wei Xiaobao scrambled forward, grabbed the dice and started to throw; his excitement knew no bounds. He felt that there was a slight imbalance of weight on these two temporary dice; obviously these dice were loaded with mercury. He thought Zeng Rou was always gentle and shy, how could she possibly play with these kind of loaded dice to cheat some money? Upon further reflection, he remembered, and was very happy. Turning around and gave her a hug, he kissed her face and said with a laugh, “Thank you very much, Rou Jiejie, luckily you always keep these two dice by your side.”

    Zeng Rou blushed profusely; she struggled and ran outside to the deck. What happened was that when Wei Xiaobao and the Wang Wu Pai disciples threw dice with their lives at stake that day, after he let everybody go, just before leaving Wei Xiaobao’s command tent, Zeng Rou had asked for these two dice. Wei Xiaobao had already forgotten about this, but Zeng Rou had always kept the dice with her.

    Now they had the dice, but not a single one of the women had any interest in gambling. Although they did play to keep him company, not only the stake was low, they did not care much about winning or losing either. After playing for no more than the time needed to eat a meal, everybody no longer had any interest in playing. Compared to the people in Yangzhou’s brothel or casino, or people in the Palace, or the people in military, who bet excessively and gamble ferociously, the difference was like night and day. Wei Xiaobao’s interest quickly waned. “No more playing, no more playing!” he blurted out, “You don’t know how to play.”

    Thinking that from now on he was going to take refuge on the Tong Chi Island, although there would be five beauties to keep him company, but there would not be any money to gamble, not a play to listen to; his days would be very boring. Besides, even if there was ten million gold or silver, what’s the use? Gold and silver would just be like sand and stone; winning money would just like winning sand and stone. Besides, the concern over whether Shuang’er was alive or was dead, and that Ah Ke’s whereabouts was unknown, was constantly in his mind; how could he cast away the thought about these two girls and simply forget about them?

    The more he thought about it, the more depressed he was. “Let’s not go to Tong Chi Island,” he said.

    “So, where do you want to go?” Su Quan asked.

    Wei Xiaobao thought for a moment before replying, “Let’s go to Liaodong, to dig that great amount of buried treasure out.”

    Su Quan said, “Won’t it be great if all of just spend our days in peace and quiet on an uninhabited island? Even if we can dig the great treasure out, it will be quite useless.”

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Gold, silver, pearls and jewels by the thousands and tens of thousands, how can it be useless?”

    Fang Yi said, “The Tatar Emperor must have sent out troops and horses everywhere to look for you, we’d better hide, lie low until the fuss dies down. After a year or two, this matter will settle down; if you still want to go to Liaodong, then all of us will go, it won’t be too late by then.”

    Wei Xiaobao asked Zeng Rou and Mu Jianping, “What the two of you think?”

    Mu Jianping said, “I think Shijie is right.”

    Zeng Rou said, “If you are afraid of boredom, we’ll hide on the island for no more than several months.” Seeing unhappy expression on Wei Xiaobao’s face, she added, “Every day we will accompany you throwing dice and play, whoever lose will be punish by having his or her palm slapped; is it all right?”

    Wei Xiaobao mused, “Damn it, what’s so fun about slapping someone’s palm?” But looking at her tender and bashful face, her cute mannerism, he could not stop his heart from being swept away. “Alright, alright,” he said, “I will listen to you all.”

    Fang Yi stood up and said with a smile, “I have constantly wronged you in the past, let me make some dishes and invite you to drink wine; just consider it my apology to you, is it all right?”

    Wei Xiaobao was delighted; he busily said, “I really don’t dare to accept it.”

    Fang Yi went to the stern to cook. Fang Yi’s culinary skill was indeed superb, she paid particular attention to the seasoning; although the boat did not have complete inventory of spices and seasoning, the people who ate it did not stop praising her.

    “Let’s play finger-guessing game,” Wei Xiaobao shouted.

    Mu Jianping, Zeng Rou and the Princess had never played finger-guessing game before. Wei Xiaobao taught them ‘two good brothers’, ‘the brightest and best of the Five Classics’, ‘four seasons safe and sound’ guesses. At first the Princess was sullen and unhappy, but after guessing several fists, and drank several cups of wine, she started to talk and laugh more.

    After spending a night on the boat, the next afternoon they arrived at the Tong Chi Island. They saw the remains of the camp of Qing navy built there, the thatched cottage used as the command tent in those days was still standing, but naturally the impressive air Wei Xiaobao set up as the great general was long gone. Yet Wei Xiaobao did not seem to mind at all; pulling Fang Yi’s hand along he laughed and said, “Yi Jiejie, that day it was right here that you tricked me into getting on the boat, and narrowly lose my little life, and was sent away to Luocha Country.”

    Fang Yi giggled tenderly and said, “I have already apologized to you; are you saying that I should kowtow and apologize to you?”

    “No need to do that,” Wei Xiaobao said, “But good intention has its own good reward; I suffered untold hardships, in the end I can really be with you today.”

    From behind them Mu Jianping called out, “What are you two talking about? Can you share it with us?”

    Fang Yi laughed and said, “He said he wants to catch you, and carve a little turtle on your face.”

    Su Quan said, “Let’s not fool around and play yet, it’s more important that we deal with serious matters first.” Right away she ordered the boatmen to take all the provision and utensils from the boat and brought it to the island; she also ordered them to dismantle the sail, poles for punting boats, oars, ropes, the wooden rudder at the back of the boat, and brought everything to the island, and keep them inside a cave on an overhanging cliff.

    Wei Xiaobao praised her, “Quan Jiejie is really careful, we must look at these things, this boat must be torn apart, so we need not be worried that they will escape.”

    He had not finished speaking when from a distance they heard a ‘bang!’ from the direction of the sea, it sounded like a cannon. The six of them were surprised; they all look to the ocean, and saw that amidts the white fog that filled the surface of the ocean, there were two ships heading this way. And then they heard ‘bang, bang!’; obviously the ships opened fire two more times.

    “Not good!” Wei Xiaobao called out, “The young Emperor sends people to catch me.”

    Zeng Rou said, “Quickly get on the boat and run away.”

    Su Quan said, “The sail and the rudder are all ashore, there’s no time to assemble them; we’ll have to hide and act according to circumstances.”

    Out of these six people, other than the Princess, the remaining five had experienced many hardships and perils, hence they did not panic at all. Su Quan said, “No matter how we hide, in the end the officers and men will find us. Let us hide inside the cave on that cliff over there; the officers and men could only attack up the cliff one by one. One comes, we kill one. This way we will not be swarmed by them.”

    “Right,” Wei Xiaobao said, “This is called ‘a man is shut off, catching a turtle in a jar’.”

    Su Quan smiled. “That’s right!” she said. But the Princess could not help bursting into loud laughter.

    Wei Xiaobao glowered at her. “What’s so funny?” he asked.

    The Princess pursed her lips. “Nothing,” she said with a laugh, “You used your idiom really well, I am full of admiration.”

    To some degree Wei Xiaobao knew his own limitation, he presumed that he must have used the idiom incorrectly, hence he glowered at the Princess.

    The six of them entered the cave. Su Quan brandished a saber to cut some branches and piled them up in front of the cave as a cover. They looked out from the gaps between the branches, and saw that the two boats, one in front the other behind it, sailed straight toward the Tong Chi Island. The ship on the back continuously fired its cannon, the shells landed on the water all around the ship on the front, columns of water rose up to the sky.

    “The boat on the back opens fire to attack the boat at the front,” Wei Xiaobao said.

    “Exactly,” Su Quan said, “Turns out the two boats are fighting each other.”

    Wei Xiaobao happily said, “In that case perhaps those two boats are not here to look for us.”

    “I hope so,” Su Quan said, “It’s just that when they arrive on the Island, they will see the boatmen. As soon as they ask, they will know, and then they will definitely search for us. Even if we rush to kill the boatmen first, there’s not enough time to bury their bodies.”

    “How come the ship in the front did not fire back?” Wei Xiaobao wondered, “Totally useless. It would be best if you fire me once, I fire you once, everybody is hit, both ships go down to the bottom of the ocean together.”

    The boat at the front was comparatively smaller, the sail absorbed the entire force of the wind, it sailed really fast. Suddenly with a cannon blast the mast broke, the sailcloth caught fire. Wei Xiaobao and the others could not help crying out in alarm. The boat in the front immediately leaned to one side, the hull turned horizontal. The boat lowered a small skiff, about a dozen people got on the skiff and started rowing. By this time they were already close to the Island, the boat on the back also gradually got near, but because the water was shallow, the bigger boat could not reach the shore. This boat also lowered some skiffs, five of them.

    The front one skiff trying to escape, the rear five skiff were pursuing them. Shortly afterwards, the front skiff reached the beach, the dozen or so people jumped ashore, they looked around carefully. Someone leaped forward and cried out, “The overhanging cliff overthere can be defended, everybody go that way.”

    Hearing the voice, Wei Xiaobao thought it sounded like his Shifu Chen Jinnan. The dozen or so people climbed along the hillside and rushed toward the cliff. When they were near, one of them, with a sword in his hand, stood at the edge of the cliff, giving orders; who would it be if not Chen Jinnan? Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted, from the cave he leaped out and called, “Shifu, Shifu!”

    Chen Jinnan turned around and saw Wei Xiaobao; he was also pleasantly surprised. “Xiaobao,” he called out, “How can you be here?”

    Wei Xiaobao rushed toward him like flying. Suddenly he stopped dead on his track, because he saw that among the dozen or so people there was a young woman with bright eyes and snow white skin; unexpectedly it was Ah Ke. “Ah Ke!” he called at the top of his lungs, and scrambled over. But then he saw someone standing behind her; unsurprisingly, it was Zheng Keshuang. Since he saw Ah Ke, it was only natural that he would also see Zheng Keshuang; it was only to be expected. But he was greatly delighted, and then suddenly he saw this loathsome fellow, his heart sank instantly; he only stared blankly while his feet were rooted on the spot.

    From the side someone called out, “Xianggong [young master]!”

    Another person called out, “Wei Xiangzhu!”

    Wei Xiaobao acknowledge the call without thinking, he did not even cast any glance from the corner of his eyes toward these two people, he was only staring blankly at Ah Ke. Suddenly a soft small hand reached out to grab his left palm. Wei Xiaobao’s body shook; he turned his head around to look, and saw a pretty face full of smiling was looking at him, with tears continuously streaming down her face. It was Shuang’er.

    Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted; he pulled her into his embrace. “Good Shuang’er,” he called out, “I miss you like crazy.” He was so happy that he felt his heart was about to explode. In that instant, even Ah Ke was pushed to the back of his mind.

    “Feng Dage, Feng Xiongdi,” Chen Jinnan called out, “Let us guard this pathway.” The two men complied in chorus, each one pulled his weapon and stood side by side on the narrow path leading to the cliff. Turned out one was Feng Xifan, the other was Feng Jizhong [Note: different ‘feng’ characters].

    Suddenly seeing these many people, Wei Xiaobao could only asked, “How did you all get here?”

    Shuang’er replied, “Feng Daye [term of respect for older men] took me to look for you, we came across Chen Zongduozhu, and we heard that you went into sea, thereupon … thereupon …” Speaking to this point, she was overwhelmed with joy that her throat choked and she was unable to continue.

    By this time the pursuing troops from the five skiffs had also arrived on the beach. Looking down from the cliff, they saw that the troops were Qing soldiers, altogether there were seventy or eighty men. The one in front was holding a long saber, his stature was tall and sturdy, but it was too far, they could not see his facial features too clearly. That man directed the Qing troops to form groups. One group of men stood far away, the general barked his order, the troops took long bows from their backs, and some feathered arrows from their quivers; they strung the arrows on the bow, aiming the arrowhead to the cliff.

    Chen Jinnan called out, “Everybody duck down!”

    Actually, caught in this kind of situation, Wei Xiaobao did not need his Shifu’s order; as soon as he saw the Qing troops with bows in their hands, he had already stationed himself behind a large rock. He heard the general shouted, “Release the arrows!” Immediately there was an unending sound of swishing arrows.

    The cliff was very high, shot from the bottom going up, by the time the arrows arrived, they already lost their momentum. Feng Xifan and Feng Jizhong, one with a sword, the other with a single-blade saber, braved the arrows and broke every single one of them.

    “Shi Lang,” Feng Xifan called out, “You are a shameless traitor; if you have guts, come up here, let you and laozi have a man-to-man duel to the death.”

    Wei Xiaobao thought, “Turns out the one leading the troops down there is Shi Lang. Marching to war, this man is indeed an expert.”

    He heard Shi Lang called back, “If you have guts, come down. One-to-one duel, Laozi is not afraid of you.”
    Last edited by foxs; 10-26-12 at 07:36 PM. Reason: Errors

  13. #2753
    Senior Member smurf120's Avatar
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    I am not at ease with Fang Yi being nice. She always turns on WXB on a dime. Sometimes I see Zeng Rou as a surrogate for when Shaung'er is not around. The girls always pair off in my mind as Miu Jianping/Fang Yi, Ah Quan/Princess, Shaung'er/Zeng Rou, with Ah Ke being the odd one out.

    So happy to see that WXB truly does care for Shaung'er even enough to push out Ah Ke from his mind.

    Never occurred to me that WXB was adulterer twice - Hong and Wu.

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    Just when I'm wondering if the story's going to turn boring with 1 man and 5 pretty ladies....I mean what can they do ?
    ..things get heated up. Now...how convenient, Shuang Er is back and from so many islands, the same one occupied by our hero. Well, As foxs says, it's always at the right place and right time....

    Nice going foxs....Thanks.
    I'm still very impressed with your works.....
    cheerio..

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    Thanks foxs
    We are now under a tropical storm warning.

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    I still have no clues who WXB cares for more. Shuang Er or Ah Ke?

    I'd pair the girls like this:

    Shuang Er/Zen Rou/Mujianping: good/well-behaved ones.

    The Princess/Madame Hong: Violent, bossy, fierce ones.

    Ah Ke/Fang Yi: the prettiest ones

    or it can also be The Princess/Ah Ke and Madame Hong/Fang Yi.

    Thanks for the update.
    Last edited by zhxzhx; 10-26-12 at 07:46 PM.

  17. #2757
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    Default Chapter 44 - Part 7

    Smurf, actually, he raped two women and was 'raped' by one. Crazee, I am still confused: how did they know WXB went out to sea? I am assuming the Shen Long Jiao group did not announce their identity and when they went out to sea they did it surreptitiously. But then again, there are many coincidences in this stroy, so I should not be surprised. Anh, hopefully it'll pass soon. Zhx, as I said earlier: if there is one woman that WXB loved, it was Shuang'er, although he himself did not realize it.

    I have a stupid question to those of you who are technologically savvy: how do you turn on the 'html' option on this forum? My problem is: when I post something from home, I can 'Paste from Word', but when I am in the office, that button is greyed out, and the formating appears like plain text (with [\ ...]). Anybody know? The way to get around it is: I posted it first, then edit the post. But it shouldn't work like that, should it?


    “Alright!” Feng Xifan replied.

    He was about to come down, Chen Jinnan said, “Feng Dage, don’t fall into his trick, this man is contemptible and shameless, he is capable of doing anything.”

    Feng Xifan was only taking one step before he stopped. He called out, “You said one-to-one duel, why did you send five skiffs … damn it, six skiffs, even our skiff is also stolen. Stinky traitor, you sent the skiffs to get more people, isn’t that relying on number to gain victory?”

    Shi Lang laughed and said, “Chen Junshi [lit. army master, military strategist], Captain Feng, the two of you have superb martial art skill, Ol’ Shi has always been full of admiration. There is a common saying, ‘a wise man submits to circumstances’. It would be better for you to take Zheng Gongzi down and surrender together, His Majesty will definitely bestow the two of you very high ranking official position.”

    In the past Shi Lang was a great general under Zheng Chenggong’s [Koxinga] command; together with Zhou Quanbin, Gan Hui, Ma Xin, and Liu Guoxuan, four people, they were known as ‘Five Tiger Generals’[2]. Chen Jinnan was a military strategist; although Feng Xifan was strong in martial art, his commanding and planning skill was not too good, hence he was made the captain of Zheng Chenggong’s bodyguards. Shi Lang had fought alongside Chen and Feng, two people, in bloody battle, they had shared trials and tribulations for a long time. This time he still addressed the two people as their former military rank.

    From the cliff down the distance was about seven or eight zhang, Shi Lang was standing far away, but his internal energy was abundant, every word he said could be heard clearly. Zheng Keshuang’s countenance changed; he said with a trembling voice, “Feng Shifu, you … you must not surrender.”

    Gongzi, don’t worry,” Feng Xifan replied, “As long as Ol’ Feng still has one breath left, I will never surrender to the Tatars.”

    Although Chen Jinnan knew that Feng Xifan was treacherous and devious, that twice or three times he had attempted to harm him, he wanted to protect Zheng Keshuang in his conspiracy to gain the Yan Ping Jun Wang Heir Apparent position; yet as he heard him speaking with ‘devotion to righteousness that inspires reverence’, Chen Jinnan was quite impressed. “Feng Dage,” he said, “Today side-by-side you and I will fight to death; whatever happens we will protect Er Gongzi [second young master] through and through.”

    “I will follow Junshi,” Feng Xifan said.

    Zheng Keshuang said, “By protecting me, Junshi will render merit; when we get back to Taiwan, I will definitely present a memorial to let Fu Wang [father king] understand clearly, he will definitely bestow great … great reward.”

    Chen Jinnan said, “It is subordinate’s responsibility.” While saying that, he walked toward the shore to evaluate the situation.

    Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Zheng Gongzi, great reward is not needed. As long as you don’t become hostile and heartless by harming my Shifu, we will greatly appreciate it.”

    Zheng Keshuang shot him a malicious look. Wei Xiaobao lowered his voice, “Shijie, we’d better capture Zheng Gongzi and present him to the Qing troops.”

    Ah Ke spat and said, “As soon as we met, you did not say anything good. Why did you scare him?”

    Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Scaring him several times is fun, he won’t die of fright anyway. Even if he is scared to death, it’s not a big deal.”

    “Pei!” Ah Ke spat again; suddenly she blushed and lowered her head.

    Wei Xiaobao asked Shuang’er, “How did all of you get together?”

    Shuang’er said, “Chen Zongduozhu took Feng Daye and me to go out to sea to look for you. I remembered you have been to this Tong Chi Island, so I told Chen Zongduozhu about it and we went this way to take a look. Along the way we happened to see the Qing troops pursuing Zheng Gongzi’s boat, shooting and sinking it. So we rescued him and we fled this way. Thank heaven and thank the earth, at last we found you.” Speaking to this point, her eyes turned red.

    Wei Xiaobao reached out to pat her shoulder. “Good Shuang’er,” he said, “These days, there was not a single day passed in which I did not think about you.” It was not an empty talk; every day he thought about Ah Ke and Shuang’er, two women, if not ten times, then at least eight time. As a matter of fact, he was concerned over Shuang’er’s safety more than he thought about Ah Ke.

    “Brothers,” Chen Jinnan shouted, “While Tatar’s reinforcement has not arrived, we go down to charge and kill the enemy. Otherwise, if six skiff-loads of Tatar soldiers arrive, it won’t be easy to deal with.” Everybody voiced their agreement.

    This time, from among the dozen or so people who came to the Island, other than Chen, Feng, Zheng, Feng, as well as Ah Ke and Shuang’er, there were eight Tian Di Hui brothers, and three of Zheng Keshuang’s personal bodyguards.

    Chen Jinnan said, “Zheng Gongzi, Miss Chen, Xiaobao, Shuang’er, the four of you stay here. The rest of you, come with me!” Brandishing his sword, he was the first to rush down the cliff.

    Feng Xifan, Feng Jizhong, and the eleven men followed, with loud battle cry they rushed down hill, charging swiftly toward the Qing troops. The Qing troops released the arrows in succession, all were knocked down by Chen, Feng and Feng, three men. Previously they were fighting a naval battle, Shi Lang’s boat was a battleship, its cannon was formidable, Chen Jinnan and the others could only take a beating. Presently they were in a close combat, among the Qing troops, other than Shi Lang, one person, the other men’s martial art skill was mediocre; how could they fight martial art experts like Chen, Feng, and Feng, three men? Tian Di Hui brothers and Zheng Mansion’s bodyguards were also quite skillful; as soon as these fourteen men charged into the formation, the Qing troops were completely routed.

    Wei Xiaobao said, “Shijie, Shuang’er, let us also charge a bit.” Ah Ke and Shuang’er complied together.

    “I am going too!” Zheng Keshuang said.

    He saw Wei Xiaobao with a dagger in his hand charged down the cliff, Shuang’er and Ah Ke ran one after another behind him. Zheng Keshuang was only rushing down several steps before he halted his steps; thinking, “I have a thousand-gold body, how can I go to face danger together with these underlings?” He called out, “Ah Ke, you should not go either!” Ah Ke did not respond, she followed close behind Wei Xiaobao.

    Although Wei Xiaobao’s martial art skill was so-so, he had four treasures with him; charging into the enemy ranks, it was like crossing a ravine like a flat ground. Which four treasures? The first treasure: his dagger was extremely sharp, the enemy’s weapons broke upon contact; the second treasure: his protective treasured vest, impervious to sword or spear; the third treasure: his exquisite escaping-skill, no enemy could catch up with him; the fourth treasure: Shuang’er always stayed by his side, the Qing troops could not get close to him.

    Based on these four treasures, if he had to fight a martial art master, he would not be able to avoid defeat; however, dealing with the Qing troops, the four treasures were more than enough. In a flash he already injured several men; his impressive power was in full display, aura of death emanating from his body. He thought, “In the past Zhao Zilong charged seven times through the ranks of Cao Cao’s army, I am sure it was no more than this. Perhaps even I, Wei Xiaobao …”

    They all charged and kill the enemy, the Qing troops fled to all directions. Chen Jinnan fought Shi Lang one on one, for a short white they were locked in a fierce combat. Feng Xifan and Feng Jizhong killed the Qing troops left and right like chopping melon slicing vegetables; in less than a time to eat a meal, out of eighty some Qing troops, fifty or sixty men were either dead or injured. The ruined army, defeated generals scrambled to the sea. These navy sailors were very adept in swimming, they hurriedly swam toward the big boat. On the other side two of Tian Di Hui brothers were dead, one was seriously injured. The rest of them surrounded Shi Lang.

    Shi Lang’s steel saber fluttered and flew, it clashed intensely with the sword in Chen Jinnan’s hand. Although trapped and heavily surrounded, he did not show the least bit of fear. Wei Xiaobao called out, “General Shi, if you don’t toss your saber away and surrender, very soon you will become dog meat paste.” Shi Lang’s mind was focused on the fight, he neither saw nor hear the words and actions of the bystanders.

    The fierce combat continued. Chen Jinnan let out a long whistle, and thrust his sword forward three times in rapid succession. On the third strike his sword stuck to Shi Lang’s steel saber. Chen Jinnan flicked his wrist, and made two circles. “Ah!” Shi lang cried out, the steel saber flew out of his hand. The tip of Chen Jinnan’s sword flashed and stopped at his throat. “What do you have to say?” he shouted.

    “You have won,” Shi Lang angrily retorted, “Just kill me and be done with it. What else do you want me to say?”

    Chen Jinnan said, “This moment do you still think yourself as a hero? You turned your back against your master and betrayed your friends, is that the conduct of a hero?”

    Shi Lang suddenly threw himself back and rolled on the ground. With this roll he broke away from the tip of the sword on his throat. With both legs he executed chain-kicks, his target was Chen Jinnan’s calf. Chen Jinnan pointed his sword in front of his legs. If Shi Lang continued to kick, he would only send his own legs to be impaled by the sword. In desperation he pressed his left hand to the ground to support himself, while with both legs he forcefully feigned a kick upward, and then quickly somersaulted backward. But as soon as he stood on his feet, the tip of Chen Jinnan’s sword was already waiting in front of his throat again.

    Shi Lang’s heart turned cold; he knew in term of martial art he was not Chen Jinnan’s match. “Junshi,” he suddenly asked, “How did Guoxing Ye [Koxinga] treat me?”

    This question caught Chen Jinnan totally off-guard. In that instant, the entanglement of gratitude and grudges between Zheng Chenggong and Shi Lang flashed through Chen Jinnan’s mind. He sighed and said, “To be fair with you, Guoxing Ye did indeed wrong you. But we have received Guoxing Ye’s great kindness; although we received unjust treatment, what can we do?”

    Shi Lang said, “Are you saying that I should immitate Yue Fei, suffer false accusations and die?”

    Chen Jinnan said in stern voice, “Even if you cannot be Yue Fei, you must not be Qin Hui[3]. You ran away for your life, that was all right. But how can a real man surrender to the Tatars and become a traitor that is worse than a dog or a pig?”

    Shi Lang said, “My father and mother, my brothers, wife and children, what crime have they committed? Why did Guoxing Ye kill them all that not a single one survive? He murdered my entire family, I want to kill his entire family as revenge!”

    Chen Jinnan said, “Revenge is a small matter, becoming a traitor is a big thing. Today I am going to kill you. I want to know if you will have the face to see Guoxing Ye.”

    Shi Lang straightened up his head and loudly said, “Go ahead and kill me. I am afraid it will be Guoxing Ye who won’t have the face to see me, not I don’t have the face to see him.”

    Chen Jinnan sternly said, “Up to this point you still argue forcefully.” He was going to thrust the sword into his throat, but could not help thinking about how in the olden days Shi Lang and he had marched to battle together, how they had gone through life and death together. Under Guoxing Ye, Shi Lang started as a lowly soldier; he rose through blood soaked and hard-fought battle, his meritorious service was indeed not small. If not for Madame Dong meddling with military affairs and actively insulting the generals, today this man would be the protective wall of Taiwan. Although going over to the enemy was a treason that could not be forgiven no matter what, his whole innocent family was killed, in all honesty this man deserved sympathy.

    “I’ll give you a path to life,” Chen Jinnan said, “If you swear an oath to denounce your surrender and return to serve Zheng Wangye, today I will spare your life. From now on you can atone for your crimes by meritorious acts, striving your hardest to resume the great undertaking, and then you can still be considered as a magnificent real man. Shi Xiongdi, I encourage you with good words, hoping you would turn around.” The last few words were spoken with utmost sincerity.

    Shi Lang lowered his head, his face bore an ashamed look; he said, “If I return to Taiwan, won’t I be a capricious lowly man?”

    Chen Jinnan put his sword back into its sheathe; he stepped forward to grip Shi Lang’s hand and said, “Shi Xiongdi, as decent human beings we must pay particular attention to righteousness and moral integrity. As long as henceforth you serve your country with red-bellied devotion, your muddled past, who would dare to laugh at you? Even Guan Wangye in the past also surrendered to Cao Cao.”

    Suddenly a voice behind him said, “This evil thief said that my Yeye [paternal grandfather] killed his entire family. My Taiwan definitely won’t pardon him. You quickly kill him.”

    Chen Jinnan turned his head around and saw that the voice belonged to Zheng Keshuang. “Er Gongzi,” he said, “General Shi is well versed in the art of war; in those days he had no equal in Guoxing Ye’s army. If he surrenders back, he will bring very great benefit to our great cause of fighting the Qing restoring the Ming. We must attach most importance to our country; none of us should take personal gratitude and grudges of the past to heart.”

    “Humph,” with a cold laugh Zheng Keshuang said, “If this man returned to Taiwan and got a grip of military power, do you think our Zheng Family will survive?”

    Chen Jinnan said, “As long as General Shi swears a heavy oath, I am willing to guarantee with my own life, as well as my family’s, that he will not have a change of heart.”

    With a cold laugh Zheng Keshuang said, “By the time he killed my entire family, do you think you and your family’s lives can compensate for ours? Taiwan belongs to our Zheng Family, not yours, Chen Junshi’s, Chen Family’s.”

    Chen Jinnan was so angry that his hands and feet turned ice-cold. He struggled hard to contain his anger. He was about to reply when suddenly Shi Lang moved his feet and dashed away. “Junshi,” he called out, “Your yi qi to me is profound, Xiongdi will never forget it. Xiongdi is unwilling to be Zheng Family’s slave …”

    “Shi Xiongdi,” Chen Jinnan called out, “Come back. Let’s talk …” Suddenly he felt sharp pain on his back, a blade entered his back and went all the way until its tip came out of his chest.


    [2] From the dictionary: ‘Five Tiger Generals’ was an allusion to the Romance of the Three Kingdom’s five great generals under Liu Bei’s command, i.e. Guan Yu, Zhang Fei, Zhao Yun, Ma Chao and Huang Zhong.

    [3] Yue Fei (1103-1142), Song dynasty patriot and general. Qin Hui (1090-1155), Song dynasty official who betrayed Yue Fei.
    Last edited by foxs; 10-26-12 at 07:59 PM.

  18. #2758
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    Foxs,
    Can't help you much in technology, I am from the older generation. At home I use the Firefox and there is an add-on that can stop scripts running and when posting I do not see the attributes you mentioned.

    Thanks for the great update. It's hard to imagine how a person like Chen Jinnan could survive so long. Maybe I should say he is an idealist, but unfortunately idealists do no last too long, It's really hard to understand how Chen Jinnan still keeps his loyalty and devotion to people that are clearly unfit and undeserved leaders!

  19. #2759
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    Thanks foxs

  20. #2760
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    Default Finnaly

    im glad hes dead.... he is way to stiff and stupid... why develop such a character in the first place... hes like super capable and yet super stupid. Blindly serving an evil master is the epitomy of evil.
    Ali Derhamy

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