The Deer and The Cauldron - Unabridged Thread

[foxs]

While he was fretful, frightened and anxious, and was busy blaming the gods and accusing other people, suddenly he heard someone outside the window was speaking in a low voice, “Quickly go in and save him out.” It was Jiu Nan, the good-looking-nun Shifu’s voice.

As soon as the voice entered his ears, Wei Xiaobao was so happy that he wanted to jump; it was a pity his hands and feet were tied that he could not jump. He also heard Ah Ke’s voice, “He … he is not wearing any clothes, I can’t save him!”

Wei Xiaobao was furious; he cursed in his heart, “Dead girl, I don’t wear any clothes, why can’t you help me? Could it be that I have to wear clothes before you can save me? If you don’t save your husband, it’s the same as murdering your own husband. You will become young widow, will you be happy then?”

He heard Jiu Nan said, “Just close your eyes, cut the ropes binding his hands and feet, won’t that work?”

“That won’t do,” Ah Ke said, “If I close my eyes, I can’t see. What if … what if I touch his body? Shifu, you save him.”

“I have left home,” Jiu Nan angrily said, “How can I do this kind of things?” Although Wei Xiaobao was young, he was a teenage boy, and he was stark naked, it was quite a disgraceful situation, how could she look?

Wei Xiaobao wanted to scream, “Just get some clothes and throw it in to cover me; won’t that mean you will not see me?” Too bad there was a stinky sock stuffed in his mouth that he could not speak; plus Jiu Nan and Ah Ke, master and disciple, were extremely lacking in their experience to meet a contingency.

The two of them were dressing up as palace maids, they applied yellow powder on their beautiful faces; usually they were afraid the Princess would question them, hence they only mingled with palace maids who did heavy work, and had never seen the Princess’ face.

That evening they heard indistinct cracking of whips and the screaming noise coming from the Princess’ bedroom, thereupon they same to the bedroom window to take a look. They saw Wei Xiaobao, completely stripped off his clothes and bound, was being ruthlessly whipped by the Princess.

While outside the window Jiu Nan, master and disciple, had not reached an agreement, Princess Jianning already returned to the bedroom; she giggled and said, “Momentarily I cannot find any pig oil, cow oil, or vegetable oil, we will have no choice but to extract some black bear oil by heat. [The original word for ‘coward’ is ‘black bear’] You said it yourself, you are not a hero [yingxiong] but a coward [gouxiong/black bear]; I have never seen what black bear oil look like. Have you seen it?” While saying that, she picked up a candlestick from the table and used the flame to burn the flesh of Wei Xiaobao’s chest.

Under severe pain, Wei Xiaobao jerked his body backward. The Princess grabbed his hair with her left hand to prevent him from moving, while with her right hand she continued burning his skin. Shortly afterwards, burning smell arose. Jiu Nan was shocked. Instantly he pushed the window open, lifted up Ah Ke and threw her into the room. “Quickly save him!” she shouted, while she herself turned around with eyes closed tight to avoid seeing Wei Xiaobao’s nakedness.

Being thrown into the room by her shifu, Ah Ke saw saw the smooth naked body of Wei Xiaobao in front of her eyes; she did not want to look, but it was too late. Without any choice she stretched out her palm to hack down the back of Princess Jianning’s neck.

“Who’s there?” the Princess called out in alarm. She used her left hand to block, but due to the sudden movement of her right hand, the candle flame went out. However, there were still four or five red candles burning on the table, hence the room was still bright enough to see.

Ah Ke successively made her move; how could the Princess be her match? ‘Crack, crack’ twice, her right arm and her left leg were twisted out of joint, and she fell by the bedside. She had quite an unyielding temperament, her mouth was still cursing in rage.

Ah Ke angrily said, “It’s you who are not good, and you are still cursing others?” Suddenly ‘Ah!’ she broke crying, in her heart she felt she was deeply wronged.

The Princess was stunned; she stopped cursing. She thought, you were the one who beat me up, why are you crying instead? Ah Ke grabbed the dagger from the floor and cut the rope binding Wei Xiaobao’s hands and feet; her face blushed deep red from shame. Tossing the dagger away, she flew out the window and disappeared. Jiu Nan followed behind her.

The commotion inside the room was like the sky and the earth turning upside down, naturally the palace maids and eunuchs outside had heard it early on. However, they had been warned by the Princess, no matter how strange the noise inside, without being summoned, nobody was allowed to come in. Whoever stuck his or her head into the room, that head would be chopped down. Everybody looked at each other in dismay; they all have a strange look on their faces.

This Princess loved to fool around since she was little; hundreds and thousands of weird tricks emerged one after another, for many years these people were used to her antics, nobody suspected anything. The Princess’ own mother was a fake goods born of the uncultivated land of the Jianghu, how could she control and guide her daughter? Shunzhi left home to become a monk, Kangxi was still young, even if Princess Jianning was more undisciplined and out of control than this, nobody cared.

A moment ago the Princess summoned the palace maids and eunuchs into the room to drag the fainted Qian Laoben and Gao Yanchao out and bind them up. Everybody knew there would be some strange occurrences tonight. Yet it never occurred in anybody’s mind that the Princess could, unexpectedly, be beaten and rendered immovable by other people.

Hearing his good-looking-nun Shifu and Ah Ke already left far away, Wei Xiaobao pulled the sock from his mouth, turned around to close the window, and cursed, “Stinky girl, have you ever seen fox-spirit oil? I haven’t. How about we extract some by heat so we can look at it?”

He kicked her twice, grabbed and twisted her hands behind her back. He ripped a piece of her skirt, and tied her hands with it. The Princess’ hand and leg’s joints were dislocated, she was in so much pain that her brow was beaded with sweat, how could she resist? Wei Xiaobao grabbed the front of her clothes and pulled it hard. ‘Rip’ her clothes was immediately ripped apart. The gauze vest she was wearing was thin to begin with, as soon as it was torn, the snow white flesh of her chest was exposed.

Wei Xiaobao’s heart was filled with hatred. He picked up the candlestick from the floor, lighted it, and put the flame on her chest. “Stinky girl,” he cursed, “The payback is coming soon. I don’t need too much fox-spirit oil, I only need to extract some by heat to fill the sour plum bowl; it will be enough.”

“Ah!” the Princess screamed in pain. Wei Xiaobao said, “Ah right, you must also taste my stinky sock.”

He stooped down to pick up the sock and was about to stuff it into her mouth. The Princess suddenly said in a soft voice, “Gui Beilei, don’t stuff the sock in my mouth, I won’t scream.”

As soon as the three characters ‘Gui Beilei’ entered his ears, Wei Xiaobao was stunned. That day, in the Princess’ bedroom in the Palace, she took the role of a servant and attended to him, she also addressed him as ‘Gui Beilei’. Right now hearing her calling him intimately with the same appellation, he could not stop his heart from being moved. He heard her speaking in a soft voice, “Gui Beilei, please spare your servant. If you are not happy, just whip your servant to vent your anger.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “If I don’t whip you ruthlessly, it will be difficult to purge the hatred from my heart.” Putting down the candle, he picked up the whip and lashed it out on her.

The Princess cried softly, “Aiyo, aiyo!” She closed her charming eyes into a slit, yet there was a hint of smile on her cherry lips, as if she was experiencing an unspeakable comfort.

“S1ut,” Wei Xiaobao cursed, “Are you happy?”

The Princess replied softly, “I … your servant is a s1ut; would Gui Beilei hit me a bit harder, please? Aiyo!”

Wei Xiaobao tossed the whip away. “I won’t hit you!” he said. Turning around, he tried to find his clothes, but did not know where she had hidden them. “Where is my clothes?” he asked.

“Please,” the Princess said, “Help me fix my dislocated joints, let … let your servant attend Gui Beilei to dress.”

Wei Xiaobao mused, “Although this s1ut is weird, the Emperor has sent me to escort her to Yunnan. I can’t kill her.” He cursed, “F*ck your granny, you are a stinky little girl.” He continued in his heart, “Your Ma is the old wh0re, laozi does not have any appetite for her. Your granny does not have anything good in her, but laozi has never seen her.”

“Isn’t it fun?” the Princess asked.

“Your granny is fun,” Wei Xiaobao angrily replied. Lifting up her arm, he located the joint, and tried hard to fix it. But he did not know the technique to set broken bones; it was only after several tries was he finally able to fix the dislocated joint. The Princess did not stop crying ‘aiyo, aiyo!’ from the pain.

By the time her dislocated leg joint was fixed, the Princess was leaning over his back. The two people’s bare skin and flesh touched, Wei Xiaobao felt his lips dry his tongue parched, while his heart was burning. “Could you just sit down?” he said, “If you are like this, laozi might treat you as my wife.”

“But I want you to treat me as your wife,” the Princess said intimately. Her arms embraced him tight. Wei Xiaobao struggled lightly, he wanted to push her away, but the Princess pulled him and planted a kiss on his lips.

Immediately Wei Xiaobao felt his head spinning and his vision blurred, followed by his heart fluttering, as if he was inside the cloud and mist. He suddenly found out that the s1ut, fox-spirit in front of his eyes was unspeakably pretty and adorable. The red candles in the room went out one by one. Wei Xiaobao was in between asleep and awake states, his mind was fuzzy, he had no conscience where he was.

In his blurry, dazed state, suddenly he head Ah Ke’s voice outside the window, “Xiaobao, are you in there?”

Wei Xiaobao was startled, instantly he woke up from a beautiful dream. “I am here,” he replied.

“What are you doing? Why are you still here?” Ah Ke angrily asked.

Wei Xiaobao panicked. “Yes!” he said, “I am not … not doing anything.” He wanted to shove the Princess away and get out of the bed, but the Princess firmly embraced him.

“Don’t go,” she said quietly, “Tell her to get the hell out of here. Who is she anyway?”

“She … she is my wife,” Wei Xiaobao said.

The Princess said, “I … I am you wife, she is not.”

Ah Ke was ashamed and angry at the same time. She stomped her feet, turned around and left.

“Shijie, Shijie!” Wei Xiaobao called out. He did not hear any reply. Suddenly a pair of warm and soft lips closed his own, so that he could not call anymore.

The next morning Wei Xiaobao wore his clothes, and tiptoed out of the Princess’ bedroom. He asked the eunuch in-waiting outside the room, and found out that Qian Laoben and Gao Yanchao were all right, they were still bound inside a room on the eastern wing. He was relieved, but was quite ashamed as well; he did not dare to meet those two. Thereupon he ordered the eunuch to quickly release them.

Back to his own room, he was joyous, but a little afraid. He did not dare to think too much, hence he crawled underneath his quilt and fell asleep.

Later on that afternoon he came to see Jiu Nan, with head hung low, and his face blushed deep red; thinking that this time Shifu surely would punish him severely, perhaps she would beat him to death with one palm strike. Who would have thought that Jiu Nan did not know what happened at all, instead, she warmly comforted him, “That girl is so mean,” she said, “Like a mother like a daughter. Are you hurt really bad?”

Wei Xiaobao was greatly relieved. “Not bad,” he said, “Only … only … fortunately she did not injure my muscle and bones.” Seeing Ah Ke was glowering at him, he said, “I owe it to Shifu and Shijie for rescuing me; otherwise she … she would definitely burn me to death last night.”

Ah Ke said, “You … you … last night …” Suddenly she blushed and did not continue.

Wei Xiaobao said, “She … the Princess … put some knockout drug. Shijie jumped into the room to rescue me, but she … at that time the effect of the drug has not worn out, I was unable to move.”

Jiu Nan took a pity on him, she said, “Although I have accepted you as my disciple, all along I have not passed on any martial art to you; unexpectedly you were bullied by that little girl.”

If Wei Xiaobao had a mind to train excellent martial art, he should have asked her in earnest, and Jiu Nan would have gladly taught him. He only needed to train a little, and would have reaped lifelong benefit. But for anything that needs hard work, he was afraid he might fall short. When he was bound, whipped and burned by the Princess the previous night, he blamed all his shifus for not teaching him martial arts, yet right this moment when his shifu really wanted to teach him, he hummed and hawed instead. “Shifu,” he said, “I have a terrible headache, as if my head is about to split open. I also feel like the skin and muscle on my entire body is about to fall piece by piece.”

Jiu Nan nodded and said, “Just go and rest; later on just see this little girl less, if you really have to see her, take a dozen or so people with you, she won’t possibly give you any trouble publicly. When she gives you any food or drink, no matter what you must not eat or drink it.”

Wei Xiaobao repeatedly said, “Yes.” He was about to withdraw when Jiu Nan suddenly asked, “Why did she beat you up last night? Didn’t she know that the Emperor is very fond of you?”

Wei Xiaobao said, “She … she did not want to go to Yunnan to get married, she said that it was my idea. It seems to me that he little s1ut knew that we, master and disciple, dealt with her mother.” By telling minor lie like that, he was pushing most of the blame of the Princess beating him last night to Jiu Nan.

Jiu Nan nodded, “Most likely her mother has told her. From now on you must be extra careful.” She thought, “When I dealt with the fake Empress Dowager at the Palace that day, I was quite ruthless; but Xiaobao did not show his face at all that time. Could it be that the fake Empress Dowager had an inkling and ordered her daughter to retaliate?”

The party slowly continued southwest. Every evening, the Princess always quietly summoned Wei Xiaobao to accompany her. At first Wei Xiaobao was still afraid his shifu and his Tian Di Hui companions might find out, but as these two young people had just found the matter between man and woman, once the extremely sweet and charming Princess wrapping her body around his, how could he be willing to give this experience up? Even a gentleman might not necessarily be able to resist, much less he had never received any proper training in human relationships or etiquette.

For the first several days he would sneak out quietly at night. Later on he would stay in the Princess’ bedroom the whole night. During the day he was the marriage envoy, in the nights he was the prince consort. All the palace maids and court eunuchs dreaded the Princess, plus Wei Xiaobao unceasingly rewarded them with large quantities of money; who would dare to utter even half a sentence about this affair?

When Ah Ke twisted the Princess’ joints that night, naturally the Princess wanted to know who was this ‘Shijie’, yet with graceful words, flowery speech Wei Xiaobao was able to skirt around this question. The Princess’ character was rather coarse, plus she was at the heat of the passion, hence she did not inquire further.

These two, a young man and a young woman, had just tasted the passion for the first time; it was like oil mixed in honey. In her cunning and reckless temperament, the Princess always playfully assumed the role of a slave, as soon as he entered the room, she would kneel down and greeted him, “Gui Beilei, Gui Fuma [consort, emperor’s son-in-law]” unceasingly.

When Fang Yi tricked Wei Xiaobao to go to the Divine Dragon Island, during the voyage, she only treated him with intimate manners and tender words, driving him crazy [orig. bewilder him until his six vital organs fail]. This time he was truly overwhelmed with joy, the Princess drove him even more crazy. The two of them only hoped that the journey would never last. Even though Ah Ke mingled among the palace maids, Wei Xiaobao knew perfectly well that she would never treat him like the Princess did; unexpectedly Wei Xiaobao did not try to curry favor from Ah Ke like he usually did.

One day they arrived at Changsha [prefecture, capital of Hunan province, south central China]. From the Divine Dragon Island Lu Gaoxuan caught up with them on fast horse, carrying with him the Cult Leader Hong’s verbal order, telling him that the Cult Leader was extremely delighted to receive the two copies of sutra, commending the White Dragon Envoy for handling this matter with dedication, that he was astute and competent, that he was indeed our Cult’s great minister who had given outstanding service. The Cult Leader especially bestowed him with the leopard embryo tendon-altering pill’s antidote.

With all the majesty of a royalty these past few days, Wei Xiaobao had already forgotten that there was an acute poison in his body. Hearing the message, he was nonetheless very happy. Immediately he, along with Lu Gaoxuan and Fat Toutuo, took the antidote. Lu and Fat, two people, bowed to express their gratitude, saying that it was entirely due to the White Dragon Envoy establishing this great merit that the two of them could enjoy the Cult Leader’s favor in the form of this legendary magic potion of the immortals, that the calamity in their bosoms was eliminated.

Lu Gaoxuan said, “Jiaozhu and Madame passed on an order to the White Dragon Envoy: the remaining six copies of the sutra must still be sought. If the White Dragon Envoy can render this distinguished merit, Jiaozhu would not be stingy in bestowing his reward.”

“Naturally I will strive to do that,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Jiaozhu and Madame’s favor is as heavy as the mountain, even if our bodies are torn our bones are crushed, it is difficult to repay.”

Fat and Lu, two people said together, “Jiaozhu will enjoy the immortal good fortune forever, his long-life is the same as the Heaven’s. White Dragon Envoy will enjoy a life of ease and comfort forever, and live as long as Mount Nan.”

Wei Xiaobao smiled without saying anything. He mused, “What’s so good about enjoying life in ease and comfort? If I can enjoy romantic good fortune every day like this forever, having a life as long as Mount Nan will make a bit more sense.”

[foxs]

Chapter 30 - Small town of the southern dynasty leans to be domineering, troops of western provinces are the most light and nimble.
(Translated by Foxs)

LuDingJi-30.jpg

Wu Sangui held the wooden case with both hands and said with a laugh, “These two toys, would Imperial Envoy Daren take it so you can play with it?” Wei Xiaobao shook his hand, refusing to take it, and said, “This is an effective weapon to protect yourself, thank you for Wangye’s generous gift, lowly officer does not dare to accept.” Wu Sangui pushed the box into his hand.

[foxs]

Wei Xiaobao and the Princess wished that the journey to Yunnan would not reach the end forever, but although the road was long, and the journey was slow, there would be a day when they arrived at the destination. Guizhou province was Wu Sangui’s territory; a massive military force was stationed at Luodian [county], Guizhou. Princess Jianning’s party had just entered the border of Guizhou province, Wu Sangui had already dispatched his troops and horses to meet them. By the time they entered Yunnan, Wu Yingxiong himself came out to welcome them. Seeing Wei Xiaobao, he did not stop expressing his gratitude.

According to the royal court protocol, he and the Princess could not see each other before the wedding ceremony. By this time however, the Princess and Wei Xiaobao had been stuck together as by glue; hearing about Wu Yingxiong’s arrival, immediately her willow-like eyebrows went straight up, and she threw a fit.

That night the Princess told Wei Xiaobao to think of a way to send Wu Yingxiong to see Yan Wang, so that the two of them could live forever as husband and wife. Wei Xiaobao jumped in fright; he thought that there was no harm in sneakily being a fake consort in the night, but he must never be a real consort.

Seeing him frowning and muttering to himself irresolutely, the Princess angrily said, “Why aren’t you saying anything? Sending that fellow Wu Yingxiong to see Yan Wang was your own idea, it wasn’t mine.”

“We must send him all right,” Wei Xiaobao said, “But we must wait for a good opportunity before making our move. We must not raise anybody’s suspicion.”

“Alright,” the Princess said, “I’ll listen to you for the time being. In short, I only want to be with you, I will definitely not share my bed with this fellow. If you don’t send him out to see Yan Wang, if what we are doing is revealed to the world, I will tell Wu Sangui that you have raped me. Even if Huangdi Gege favored you more than this, I am afraid Wu Sangui will still chop you into seventeen or twenty-eight pieces. You are going to see the old man Yan Wang first; just consider it you are preceding Wu Yingxiong as his advance party officer!”

Wei Xiaobao was enraged; he waved his hand in a slapping motion, and shouted, “Nonsense! When did I ever rape you?”

The Princess giggled and chuckled, she stretched out her arm to embrace him, while saying in soft voice, “You are such a heartless, short-lived little lover; you slapped me that heavily, aren’t you afraid you might hurt me?”

One day they arrived at Kunming [prefecture, capital of Yunnan]; they heard bugle horns and a military officer announced, “Ping Xi Wang welcomes Princess’ phoenix[1]-self.”

Wei Xiaobao urged his horse to move forward, he saw a team of soldiers in bright shining armor, riding on tall horses, galloping to meet them. They dismounted together, and arranged themselves on either side of the road. Amidst the sound of bamboo flute and string instruments, several hundreds young boys wearing red gown with banners in their hands preceding a general stepping out in front of the troops. A herald loudly announced, “Your servant Ping Xi Qin Wang Wu Sangui pays his respect to Your Highness Princess Jianning.”

Wei Xiaobao looked up and down carefully, sizing up Wu Sangui. He was a man of grand stature, with deep red, almost purple face, he had more white than black in his hair and beard; although he was old, his gait was still strong and healthy as he walked over in big strides. Wei Xiaobao mused, “People all over the world are talking about this old turtle’s reputation, turns out he has this kind of appearance.”

Seeing he walked to the Princess’ carriage, kneeled down and kowtowed, Wei Xiaobao stood by his side, and said in his heart first, “The old turtle Wu Sangui pays his respect.” But he waited until Wu Sangui finished kowtowing before announcing, “Ping Xi Qin Wang pays his respect.”

Wu Sangui stood up, walked over toward Wei Xiaobao, and said with a laugh, “And this must be the brave warrior who captured Oboi, the world famous Wei Jueye [master viscount]?”

Wei Xiaobao paid his respect and said, “I do not dare to accept the honor. Humble officer pays his respect to Wangye.”

Wu Sangui laughed aloud, grabbed Wei Xiaobao’s hand, and said, “Wei Jueye is kind and virtuous, Xiao Wang [little king, referring to self] has been looking forward to meeting your illustrious self for a long time; please disperse with this perfunctory propriety. Henceforth Xiao Wang, father and son, will rely on Wei Jueye to preserve our existence. If you think we are worthy to receive the favor, please consider us your own famiy.”

Wei Xiaobao noticed the Yangzhou accent in his speech, and was thirty-percent happy. “Hot piece Mama,” he mused, “Looks like you and I are fellow townsmen.” He said, “I really do not dare to accept the honor; how can humble officer dare to claim connections with people of higher social class?” He also added several percent of Yangzhou accent into his speech.

Wu Sangui laughed and asked, “So Wei Jueye also from Yangzhou?”

“Precisely,” Wei Xiaobao replied.

“That’s even better,” Wu Sangui said, “Xiao Wang’s official residence is Liaodong, but my ancestral home is actually Gaoyou, Yangzhou. We are actually real kinsmen.”

Wei Xiaobao said in his heart, “Hot piece Mama, turns out you are Gaoyou’s salted duck egg. Yangzhou could produce a big traitor like you, laozi is actually quite ashamed.”

Wu Sangui and Wei Xiaobao rode side-by-side; they rode in the front, leading the Princess entering the city. The people of Kunming heard that the Princess was about to marry Ping Xi Wang Heir Apparent, the street was already lined with a sea of people, the city was bustling with noise and excitement. There were lanterns everywhere, archways were decorated, houses and building were adorned with celebratory hanging scrolls; the sound of gongs and drums, mixed with firecrackers, shook the heavens.

Wei Xiaobao and Wu Sangui entered the city side-by-side. Seeing people were bowing to welcome them, he was very proud of himself. But then he had a second thought, “A princess as pretty as the flower and jade, coquettish and coy, for no reason is given to that fellow Wu Yingxiong to be his wife, and laozi has to escort his bride for thousands of li, this stinky fellow’s luck in love is indeed too good.” Therefore, he also felt indignant.

Wu Sangui welcomed the Princess at the Anfu[2] Garden west of the City of Kunming, which was Ming Dynasty’s Qian Guo Gong[3] Mu Family’s former residence. It was a lofty multi-story building, overlooking a garden pavilion with splendid view. As soon as Wu Sangui learned about the Princess was given into marriage to his son, he carried out a large-scale construction effort to renovate the building that it looked completely new. After Wu Sangui, father and son, paid their respect to the Princess from behind a hanging curtain, they accompanied Wei Xiaobao to the Ping Xi Wang Mansion.

Ping Xi Wang Mansion was located on Mount Wu Hua[4], which was the former palace of Ming Dynasty’s Emperor Yong Li. The palace encompassed a vast area of several li square. After Wu Sangui occupied the palace, over the last few years he constantly added multi-story expansions and pavilions. By this time, the lofty towers and engraved walls, the red pavilions and jade-green ponds, hardly differed from the inner courtyards of the Imperial Palace.

A grand banquet was already prepared in the main hall. All civil and military officials under Wu Sangui’s banner came to accompany the guests. Naturally the Imperial Envoy, high-ranking official Wei Xiaobao sat at the seat of honor.

After three rounds of drink, Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Wangye, back in Beijing, I often heard people say that you wanted to rebel …” Wu Sangui’s countenance turned ashen instantly, the countenance of a hundred or so officials also changed, only to hear Wei Xiaobao continued, “… as I came to the Mansion today, I knew that those people were talking rubbish.”

Wu Sangui calmed down somewhat. “Please Wei Jueye understand,” he said, “Despicable and lowly people are jealous of me and always trying to plant false evidence against me; you must never believe them.”

“That’s right,” Wei Xiaobao said, “I think that the reason you wanted to rebel is no more than to be the Emperor. But His Majesty’s Palace is not as magnificent as yours, his clothes are not as beautiful as yours. His Majesty’s food was under my management, but I am very ashamed to say that it is not as delicious as your mansion’s. Being the Ping Xi Wang, you live a much more comfortable life than His Majesty; why would you want to be the Emperor? When I get back to Beijing, I will report to His Majesty that Ping Xi Wang is definitely not going to rebel. Even if you are asked to be the Emperor, you, Senior, would never be willing.”

In that instant, the main hall was quiet, all the officials halted their cups in the air and did not drink, they all stared at him, not understanding his ‘neither fish nor fowl’ speech; their hearts were pounding. Wu Sangui’s face alternated between red and white; he was at a loss of how to respond. He thought, “From what he said, obviously the Emperor has already suspected that I intend to rebel.” With no other choice, he let out a hollow laugh and said, “His Majesty is wise and filial, he always makes determined efforts to govern. Indeed, of all the virtuous Emperors of the past, no one is as good as him.”

“That’s right,” Wei Xiaobao said, “‘Raw bird fish soup’ [niao sheng yu tang, see Chapter 14], stepping down gracefully.”

Wu Sangui was startled; after a while, he understood that Wei Xiaobao meant to say ‘Yao Shun Yu Tang’ [also Chapter 14]. He said, “Humble minister admires His Majesty’s frugal virtue, actually I do not dare to live a sumptuous life every day; it’s just that the holy graciousness has swept vast, the Princess is here to marry, we do not dare to be negligent in hospitality, and have to put our heart and soul in serving the Princess and Wei Jueye. After the wedding is over, we will have to save greatly.” He thought that when this fellow returned to Beijing, he would report to the Emperor that I indulge in a life of luxury in here, of course the Emperor will get mad; it would be best if I can close his mouth.

Who would have thought that Wei Xiaobao shook his head and said, “Still, having money to spend, live an indulgent life is better. You are the Wangye, if you do not live off your wealth, why bother being a Wangye? If you dislike having too much gold and silver, afraid that you won’t be able to spend it, I can help you spending it, why can’t I? Ha ha!”

As soon as he said those words, Wu Sangui was greatly delighted, as if a large chunk of rock in his heart had just fallen to the ground; thinking that if you are willing to accept money, won’t that be easy?

Hearing him openly asking for money during the banquet, the civil and military officials were beaming from ear to ear, they all thought that he was just a kid after all, dealing with him should be easy. Everybody was drinking merrily, while in their hearts they were thinking of how to present the bribe. The former awkward and terrified atmosphere was swept clean, everyone sang the praises of his achievements and virtue, tooted their horns and licked his behind, and then dispersed after a happy time.

Wu Yingxiong personally escorted Wei Xiaobao back to Anfu Garden. They entered the main hall and were seated. Wu Yingxiong presented a brocade box with both hands, saying, “Here are some change; would Wei Jueye please accept to cover your incidental expenses? When your honorable-self is returning to the north, Fu Wang [father king] will have another way to compensate for Wei Jueye’s trouble.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “There is no need to stand on ceremonies. When I left the Capital, His Majesty said to me, ‘Xiao Guizi, everybody says that Wu Sangui is a treacherous court official. Go and personally investigate for me whether he is a loyal minister or a treacherous official. You must a bit more cautious, don’t make any mistake.’ So I said, ‘Your Majesty, please set your heart at ease, your servant will open my eyes wide, from start to finish I will investigate clearly.’ Ha ha, Xiao Wangye, don’t you agree that loyal or treacherous will be decided in just a mouth?”

Wu Yingxiong could not help but was secretly enraged, “Your Great Qing’s rivers and mountains were handed over by my father so that you could lay your foundation. After the great undertaking, you forget favors and violate justice by coming to investigate whether we, father and son, are loyal or treacherous. In that case, it seems that the Princess is given to marriage is not necessarily out of good intention.” He said, “We, father and son, are loyal and devoted in working for His Majesty. Even if we became dogs or horses, we could not ever repay His Majesty’s benevolence.”

Wei Xiaobao crossed his leg and said, “That’s right, I always knew you are most loyal. If His Majesty did not trust you, he would never have you as his Meifu [younger sister’s husband]. Xiao Wangye, as soon as you become the Emperor’s Meifu, you will rise eight levels, your promotion will come very quickly.”

“That is due to His Majesty’s vast and mighty heavenly grace,” Wu Yingxiong said, “I can’t thank Wei Jueye enough for helping me maintaining my social circle.”

Wei Xiaobao said in his heart, “I am helping you to be the little turtle, I wonder if you will be deeply grateful.”

After sending off Wu Yingxiong, he opened the brocade box to see the contents. Inside there were ten packs of banknotes, each pack consisted of forty sheets, each sheet worth five hundred taels; altogether there were two hundred thousand taels of silver. Wei Xiaobao was pleasantly surprised; he mused, “He is very extravagant with gifts, two hundred thousand taels for incidental expenses. If laozi needs large spending money, how much will I get? One million, two millions?”

The next day Wu Yingxiong invited the Imperial Minister Marriage Envoy to visit the military drill ground to inspect the troops. Wei Xiaobao and Wu Sangui stood side-by-side on the reviewing platform. Two Dutong [Commander/Lieutenant General] under Ping Xi Wang’s command led several dozen Zuoling [Company Commander] in full battle gear, with helmet on their heads and full armor, dismounted in front of the platform and saluted. Following which, team-by-team troops and horses performed demonstration under the platform.

After the border guards came the newly organized Wu Ying Zhong Yong [five-battalion loyal and brave] troops and Wu Ying Yi Yong [five-battalion righteous and courageous] troops; each battalion was led by a Zong Bing Tong [regional commander]. From the formation and the demonstration, it was obvious that these troops were ‘strong soldiers and sturdy horses’, a well-trained and powerful army.

Although Wei Xiaobao was completely without any knowledge of military affairs, seeing the majestic display of the troops, with unending flow of one team after another, he said to Wu Sangui, “Wangye, today I really submit to you. I am the Commander of the Valiant Cavalry Brigade, our Valiant Cavalry Brigade is His Majesty’s personal troops, but I am ashamed to mention it. If we were to fight your Zhong Yong Brigade and Yi Yong Brigade, our Valiant Cavalry Brigade would be routed, would definitely flee to the wilderness.”

Wu Sangui was very proud of himself; he said with a laugh, “Wei Jueye’s compliment, I am ashamed and dare not accept. Xiao Wang was born of military family; training troops is my original occupation.”

They heard the booming artillery sound, the troops shouted together, their voice shook the four corners of the field. Wei Xiaobao was greatly shocked, his knees turned to jelly, his buttocks dropped into his chair, and his face turned ashen immediately.

Wu Sangui snickered inwardly, “You are merely a puppet minister by the Emperor’s side, relying on graceful words and flowering speech to coax the young Emperor’s favor; other than that, what fart do you have? A yellow-mouthed little kid whose smell of mother’s milk not yet dried, unexpectedly can become a Viscount, the Valiant Cavalry Brigade Commander, and Imperial Envoy Minister. Clearly the young Emperor is confused; how can he assign you as his trusted aide?” He did not have any regard toward Kangxi to begin with, and now that he had seen Wei Xiaobao’s worthless appearance, he was even more delighted, thinking that the imperial court did not have any capable person, there was nothing to worry about.

After the troop inspection was finished, Wei Xiaobao took out the Emperor’s Imperial Edict and handed it over to Wu Sangui, saying, “This is His Majesty’s Imperial Edict, why don’t Wangye read it for everybody to hear?”

Wu Sangui kneeled down to receive it; he said, “It is His Majesty’s Imperial Edict, it would be better if the Imperial Envoy read it out loud.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “It recognizes me, but I do not recognize it. I am totally illiterate; how can I read?”

Wu Sangui laughed; he held the Imperial Edict with both hands, turned toward the troops and read it out loud. His voice was clear and sonorous, backed with abundant chi, sentence-by-sentence reached far away. The tens of thousands troops on the field bent their knees to kneel; they listened in absolute silence [orig. the crow and peacock made no sound].

---

[1] Orig. ‘luan’ – a mythical bird related to Phoenix.

[2] An – calm/safe/peace, Fu – abundant/mound.

[3] Qian – abbreviation for Guizhou province, Guo Gong – State Duke.

[4] Wu – five, Hua – abbreviation for China/splendor/grand.

[foxs]

The Imperial Edict commended Ping Xi Qin Wang’s excellent service and heavy merit, his diligence in handling the royal matter, in guarding the border, in pacifying the non-Han ethnics. Without exception all the generals and soldiers under his command had rendered merit, all were to be promoted one level and to be granted some rewards. After the reading of the Imperial Edict was done, Wu Sangui kowtowed to the north and called out, “Respectfully thank Your Majesty’s grace, long live Your Majesty!”

All the troops echoed, “Respectfully thank Your Majesty’s grace, long live Your Majesty!”

This time Wei Xiaobao was prepared, he was not startled; but as tens of thousands troops shouted their earth-shattering shout, his heart was shaken, he could not stand steadily.

Returning to the Ping Xi Wang Mansion, Wu Sangui consulted with him the Princess’ wedding day. Wei Xiaobao knitted his brows and looked very unhappy.

Wu Sangui said, “The fourth of next month is the ecliptic propitious day, having a wedding would have great luck, great profit. What does Wei Jueye think about that date?”

Wei Xiaobao mused, “Once the Princess is given in marriage to Wu Yingxiong, I can’t be the fake consort anymore.” He said, “Don’t you think it is too soon? The Princess getting married is not a small matter. Wangye should give everything thorough consideration. Let me be honest with you: Empress Dowager and His Majesty the Emperor dote on this Princess very much. If there is anything less than perfect, it won’t be too convenient for us as the servants.”

Wu Sangui was apprehensive; he thought, “You deliberately make things difficult, are you not trying to extort bribe?” He laughed and said, “Yes, yes. I leave it all to Wei Jueye’s discretion. Whatever it is that you think is inappropriate, please give us direction, we will strive to do it for you. If the fourth is too rushing, the sixteenth of next month is also an extremely good day, it does not clash with the Princess and my son’s birth date, all taboos are off.”

“Very well!” Wei Xiaobao said, “I will ask for instructions from the Princess; let’s see what she has to say.”

Returning to Anfu Garden, he found a lot of Yunnan officials were already waiting to have an audience with him. Wei Xiaobao received their gifts, spoke some perfunctory words, and sent them away. Remembering that ever since his arrival in Yunnan he had not seen his sworn brother Yang Yizhi, he sent a messenger to Wu Yingxiong, asking him to sent Yang Yizhi over to see him.

Yang Yizhi did not appear, it was Wu Yingxiong who personally came to see him, saying, “Wei Jueye, Fu Wang has sent Yang Yizhi on a mission and he has not returned yet; he cannot come to serve Jueye.”

Wei Xiaobao was quite disappointed. “I wonder where he is going?” he asked, “And when is he coming back?”

Wu Yingxiong’s countenance changed slightly; he said, “He … he went to Tibet, it’s far away from here; this time … I am afraid Wei Jueye won’t be able to see him.”

Noticing his vague answer, Wei Xiaobao thought, “His words is incomplete and not honest; what trick is he playing?” He asked, “I wonder what mission Yang Xiong is doing in Tibet? How long has he been gone?”

“Nothing important,” Wu Yingxiong replied, “The Tibetan Lama sent someone to deliver a gift, Fu Wang then sent Yang Yizhi to send a gift in return. He left a few days ago.”

“It’s very unfortunate,” Wei Xiaobao said.

After sending Wu Yingxiong off, the more he thought, the more he felt something was amiss. They knew very well that he was a good friend of Yang Yizhi; why was it that as he arrived in Yunnan, Yang Yizhi happened to be sent away on a mission, and not a moment later or a moment sooner? Wei Xiaobao had just arrived in Yunnan, Wu Sangui sent Yang Yizhi away, it seemed like Wu Sangui intentionally did not want Yang Yizhi to meet Wei Xiaobao. Immediately he summoned Zhao Qixian and Zhang Kangnian, two people, and ordered them to have a drink and gamble with Wu Sangui, father and son’s bodyguards, to try to make discreet inquiry about Yang Yizhi.

When he met the Princess that evening, he mentioned to her that the wedding date had been set to be the sixteenth of the next month. The Princess said, “I want you to send this fellow Wu Yingxiong to see Yan Wang before the wedding day; otherwise, during the ritual [of kneeling to heaven and earth] I will scream and yell. I don’t want to marry him no matter what.”

Wei Xiaobao’s mood was already bad, hearing her like that, his temper flared. He stomped his feet and stormed out of the room. The Princess grabbed and pulled his hand, but he flung her away heavily, and rushed out of the room. The Princess screamed and yelled, but he pretended not to hear.

After sitting alone for half a day, he was bored; thereupon he called for a dozen or so Imperial Bodyguards to throw dice and gamble with him; only then did he feel better.

Gambling to the middle of the night, Zhao Qixian and Zhang Kangnian entered the room. Wei Xiaobao had the dice in his hand, but had not tossed it down yet; seeing the two of them, he laughed and said, “Right now the banker is lousy, if you want to lay your bet, better do it early.”

Zhao Qixian said, “The matter which Fu Zongguan [deputy chief] ordered us to do, subordinates have found some information.”

“Good!” Wei Xiaobao said, and tossed the dice. He got heaven’s gate. After paying the upper and lower gates, he pulled the two men’s hands and took them to the side room. “What is it?” he asked.

Zhao Qixian said, “Reporting to Fu Zongguan: that Yang Yizhi really did not go to Tibet. Turns out he violated something and Ping Xi Wang locked him up.”

Wei Xiaobao knitted his brows. “What did he do?” he wondered aloud.

Zhao Qixian said, “Subordinates had some drink with some mansion’s guards, we mentioned that we knew this man surnamed Yang, and wanted to invite him to drink and gamble with us. A guard said, ‘So you are looking for Yang Yizhi? He has gone to Hei Kanzi [lit. black/dark raised ground, or simply black hole in the ground].’ I asked him where Hei Kanzi is. Another guard scolded the first guard as talking rubbish, saying that he loves to joke, telling me not to believe him.”

“Hei Kanzi?” Wei Xiaobao muttered to himself.

“We knew something’s fishy here,” Zhao Qixian continued, “After drinking with them for a while, we excused ourselves. On the way back here, we asked around and found out that Hei Kanzi is a big prison. It was then that we know Yang Yizhi has been locked up by Ping Xi Wang. As for what crime he did, I was afraid I might arouse suspicion, hence I did not dare to ask too much.”

“Where is Hei Kanzi?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

“About five li southwest of Wu Hua Palace,” Zhao Qixian replied.

Wei Xiaobao nodded. “Right,” he said, “Both Dage have worked hard. Go back outside to play, be the bankers on my behalf.”

Zhao and Zhang, two people, were greatly delighted; they went out to gamble. They knew that to be bankers on Wei Xiaobao’s behalf means if they lost, it would be considered his loss, if they won, they would enjoy their share. Either way, it was an assignment with great benefit.

Wei Xiaobao was depressed. “Yang Dage must have committed a grave offense, otherwise Wu Yingxiong would not have lied to me by saying that he was sent to Tibet. If not grave offense, those two, father and son, would probably look at my face and let him out. Since Wu Yingxiong has already lied to me, if I plead on his behalf, they might adamantly deny, perhaps they would immediately kill him and destroy his body to eliminate the trace; henceforth the dead cannot testify. If I want to rescue him, I must use brute force. Even if Wu Sangui is angry, laozi is not afraid of him, I think he won’t dare to be hostile to me.”

Immediately he sent for Li Lishi, Feng Jizhong, Gao Yanchao, Qian Laoben, Priest Xuanzhen, Xu Tianchuan, and the other Tian Di Hui warriors. He explained the situation and asked them how to save Yang Yizhi.

“Wei Xiangzhu,” Li Lishi said, “We have to do it! If we can rescue this Yang Dage, that’s the best. If we cannot, Wu Sangui would think that you want to deal with him, naturally he would think that you are under the Emperor’s order. If we do not scare him half dead, we might force him to rebel sooner.”

“Precisely,” Wei Xiaobao said, “I am only afraid that he might rebel right away, and then he might grab our heads so that all of us will spend our time gambling inside the big jail Hei Kanzi; that might be far from good.”

Priest Xuanzhen said, “As soon as we see something is amiss, all of us must jump onto fast horses and make a dash.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “I want you to think of a way to rescue people, I will invite this fellow Wu Yingxiong and detain him here. We can use him as a hostage so that Wu Sangui will not dare to act rashly.”

Qian Laoben said, “Wei Xiangzhu’s move is brilliant. Tomorrow we will scout around Hei Kanzi’s surrounding, and then dressed as Wu Sangui’s attendants, we will break into the prison and take the prisoner out.”

In the afternoon of the next day, Wei Xiaobao sent a messenger to invite Wu Yingxiong for a feast and discussion about the wedding. The main hall of the Anfu Garden was filled with the sound of string and woodwind instruments, with wine and meat in abundance. The Tian Di Hui warriors had already changed into Ping Xi Wang Mansion Guards’ uniform and went to the Hei Kanzi jail.

Wei Xiaobao secretly ordered Valiant Cavalry Brigade sergeants and the Imperial Bodyguards to secure the perimeter and keep an eye on Wu Yingxiong’s guards; while he and Wu Yingxiong were drinking wine and watching the opera. The troupe presented a Kunqu opera [see note 11, Chapter 1], ‘Zhong Kui[1] married the younger sister’. Five little demons tumbled around, crawling in and out the tables, displaying various martial art skills. It was very lively. Wei Xiaobao cheered and applauded again and again, and gave the troupe a generous tip.

While the show was in progress, someone sneaked behind him, and lightly tugged his sleeve. Wei Xiaobao turned his head around and saw that it was Gao Yanchao. Gao Yanchao nodded slowly. Wei Xiaobao knew the mission went well. He was greatly delighted. “Xiao Wangye,” he said to Wu Yingxiong, “Please continue watching, I want to go pee.”

Wu Yingxiong mused, “This little rascal is so vulgar.” He laughed and said, “Jueye, please do as you wish.”

Wei Xiaobao went to the rear hall, and saw not one of Tian Di Hui warriors was missing; he said happily, “Very good, very good, all Xiongdi did not suffer any harm; did you manage to get him out?” Seeing everybody’s grim expression, he knew there must be something else.

Full of hatred Gao Yanchao said, “That traitor Wu Sangui is really ruthless!”

“What is it?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

Gao Yanchao and Xu Tianchuan turned around and left the room. They returned carrying someone wrapped in felt blanket. Seeing the felt blanket was full of blood, Wei Xiaobao was startled and scared; he rushed forward, and saw that the man wrapped inside the felt blanket was indeed Yang Yizhi. But his eyes were tightly closed, with no trace of blood on his face at all.

“Yang Dage,” Wei Xiaobao called out, “It’s your Xiongdi rescuing you out.” Yang Yizhi slightly nodded, but it was not clear if he heard him or not. “Dage,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Are you injured?”

Xu Tianchuan gently opened the felt blanket. Wei Xiaobao cried out in alarm, and withdrew two steps back. His body swayed, he nearly fell down. Qian Laoben reached out to hold him. Turned out Yang Yizhi’s hands were severed from the wrist, his legs were also severed from the knee down. Xu Tianchuan said in a low voice, “His tongue was cut, and his eyes were gouged out.”

Wei Xiaobao had never seen anything more devastating than the pitiful condition in front of his eyes. He was deeply shaken and broke into wailing. Although originally he did not have too close of a friendship with Yang Yizhi, he did enjoy congenial conversation with him, plus they had already sworn brotherhood with each other, vowing to enjoy the blessing together, and to endure the hardship together.

Seeing his limbs were severed, Wei Xiaobao’s grief and indignation was difficult to bear. He pulled his dagger and shouted, “I am going to cut Wu Yingxiong’s four limbs.”

Feng Jizhong pulled his arm and said, “Need to make further consideration.”

This man did not talk a lot, but every time he spoke he hit the nail on the head. Wei Xiaobao was thirty percent afraid of him. Immediately he calmed down, nodded his head and said, “Feng Dage is right.”

Xu Tianchuan closed the felt blanket; he said, “This matter really is our concern. Wu Sangui blamed Yang Dage for making friends with Wei Xiangzhu and swearing brotherhood with him; he accused him of betraying the former master, of coveting riches and honor, of relying on the Imperial Court, and thus punished him like this, hovering between life and death, so that none of the high-ranking military officers under his command would dare to have any intention to revolt.”


With tears in his eyes Wei Xiaobao said, “All eighteen-generation ancestors of Wu Sangui are dead turtles! Yang Dage became sworn brothers with me does not mean that he was betraying him. That big traitor himself is harboring ill-intention, yet he blindly suspicious of others doing so. To have Yang Dage look like this is the clear proof of his intention to rebel. Even if Yang Dage indeed wanted to rely on the Imperial Court, what’s wrong with that?”

“Exactly,” Qian Laoben said, “Wei Xiangzhu should take Yang Dage back to Beijing, let him submit an accusation to the young Emperor.”

Wei Xiaobao turned to Xu Tianchuan, “Wu Sangui committed this evil deed because he accused Yang Dage of making friends with me; how did Xu Dage know about it?”

Xu Tianchuan turned around and went out the room. When he returned, he carried a man, whom he threw heavily to the floor. This person was wearing a seventh-pin rank uniform; he had fair skin, and rather plump. He crawled on the floor, and then stayed motionless.

“Wei Xiangzhu,” Xu Tianchuan said, “You have heard this fellow’s name for a long time, but has never met him. He is none other than Lu Yifeng.”

“Aha!” Wei Xiaobao said with a cold laugh, “Turns out it is Lu laoxiong [old chap], you were brazenly being unbridled in Beijing, and then Wu Yingxiong had your dog legs broken; how come you are here now?”

Lu Yifeng was so scared that he could only say, “Yes, yes, Xiaoren does not dare!”

Xu Tianchuan said, “It was indeed ‘the enemies on a narrow road’ [i.e. inevitable clash between opposing factions], turns out this fellow is the big jail Hei Kanzi’s warden. Even if he turned into ash, laozi will always recognize him. Dressed as Wu Sangui’s personal bodyguards, we carried Yang Dage out; this fellow was putting some air, he said he wanted official document, he also said that we had to have Ping Xi Wang’s personal decree. Damn it, his own dog life is the Ping Xi Wang’s personal decree.”

Wei Xiaobao nodded. “It was such a lucky coincidence,” he said, “Meeting this fellow would make rescuing Yang Dage easier.” He presumed that the Tian Di Hui warriors put a saber on his neck, hence it was an effortless victory [orig. ‘no blood on the men’s swords’], they managed to bring Yang Yizhi out without much trouble. In any case, the Eight-armed Ape had many arms; and while he was at it, he simply brought Lu Yifeng along.

Xu Tianchuan said, “It was this old fellow who informed me the confidential matter of Yang Dage offending Wu Sangui.”

As soon as Lu Yifeng heard the word ‘inform’, he busily said, “It was you … the Senior, who … who compelled me to tell you that; I … I would never dare to divulge Ping Xi Qin Wang’s confidential matter.”

---

[1] Zhong Kui, mythological character, supposed to drive away evil spirit.

[foxs]

Wei Xiaobao kicked him and three of his front teeth fell off. “I am going back to Wu Yingxiong,” he said, “I don’t want him to get suspicious. Gentlemen, please interrogate this fellow carefully. If he does not want to talk, just cut both his hands and both his legs.”

With mouth full of blood Lu Yifeng hastily said, “I talk, I talk.” He knew these people did not have any regard for the law or natural morality; thinking about Yang Yizhi’s tragic condition, he nearly fainted.

Wei Xiaobao went toward Yang Yizhi and called, “Yang Dage!”

Yang Yizhi heard the call, he wanted to sit up, but as soon as he raised his upper body, he fell back down. Seeing his miserable condition, the crowd of warriors was filled with hatred. This man was the lackey of a traitor, he actually did not deserve their pity, but unexpectedly Wu Sangui, father and son, were capable of cruelly treating a loyal subordinate like this; it was obvious how vicious their heart was.

Wei Xiaobao wiped his tears dry, calmed himself down, and returned to the hall. He burst into loud laughter and said, “Very interesting.” He saw the actors of the opera stood frozen in front of the banquet table. As soon as they saw Wei Xiaobao came back, the gongs and drums resounded, the opera ‘Zhong Kui married the younger sister’ resumed.

Turned out when he went inside, Wu Yingxiong ordered the opera to stop, to wait for his return before continuing, so that he would not miss anything. Wei Xiaobao apologize to Wu Yingxiong, saying that when the Princess heard that the prince consort was here to drink wine, she summoned him and meticulously asked him about the prince consort’s day-to-day habit, what kind of clothes he liked to wear, what kind of food he loved to eat, that sort of things, and did not let him go for a long time, so that he had to tire Wu Yingxiong, who was waiting in the hall. Wu Yingxiong was greatly delighted, he repeatedly said that it was not a problem.

As soon as Wu Yingxiong left, Wei Xiaobao went back to the side room, but he did not see any Tian Di Hui warrior. Upon asking around, he was told that they went out. He felt strange, wondering what they were up to.

It was quite late into the night before the warriors returned; this time they also brought somebody along. What happened was that Xu Tianchuan interrogated Lu Yifeng, and found out that the reasons Wu Sangui punished Yang Yizhi like that were: one, he was undoubtedly suspicious that after becoming sworn brothers with Wei Xiaobao, Yang Yizhi might betray him; two, it actually had something to do with the Mongolian Prince Galdan.

For the last several years, this Galdan and Wu Sangui had developed quite a close relationship; they unceasingly sent gifts to each other, until recently Galdan sent an emissary to Kunming to deliver gift. This emissary was called Hantiemo. He had a lengthy conversation with Wu Sangui every day for several days. Somehow, Yang Yizhi found out the inside story; apparently he confronted Wu Sangui and thus incited his wrath. Lu Yifeng’s official position was very low, he did not know the details; he only heard bits and pieces from Wu Sangui’s bodyguards’ mouths. Under Tian Di Hui warriors’ torture, he did not dare to conceal anything and thus had spilled out everything he knew.

After quick discussion, the warriors decided to carry it through to the end [orig. one don’t do, two don’t rest]; while they were still dressed as Wu Sangui’s personal bodyguards, they might as well go to kidnap the Mongolian emissary Hantiemo.

Wei Xiaobao had met Galdan at Shaolin Temple, that man was arrogant, harsh and unreasonable; he made his warriors to shoot him with golden secret projectiles, if not for the treasured vest protecting his body, he would have lost his life long ago. He thought Galdan’s emissary must not be a good person. He saw Hantiemo was about fifty something years old, with a light yellow beard under his chin, his eyes flickered indefinitely, obviously he was a crafty man.

“Let him see Yang Dage,” Wei Xiaobao said.

Gao Yanchao complied, and pushed Hantiemo to the room next door. They heard Hantiemo screamed, his voice was brimming with terror; seeing Yang Yizhi’s tragic condition, he was scared out of his wits. Gao Yanchao dragged him back. They saw his face was completely drained of color, his body was trembling unceasingly.

“Have you seen the man next door?” Wei Xiaobao asked. Hantiemo nodded. Wei Xiaobao said, “I asked that man, but his answers were vague and not honest, he lied to me several times. I always have a rule, anybody who told me a lie, I would cut one of his legs, told me two lies, cut his both legs. How many lies did that man tell me?”

Gao Yanchao said, “He told seven lies.”

Wei Xiaobao shook his head. “Ay,” he sighed, “That man told too many lies, I had no choice but to also cut both of his hands, both of his eyes, and his tongue. Only his head is spared.”

Pulling his dagger, he leaned over and waved the dagger lightly, cutting one leg of a wooden stool in front of him, and then he played with the dagger in his hand. “My dagger can cut human’s hand and leg cleanly and neatly,” he said with a laugh, “Do you want to try?”

Hantiemo was actually a Mongolian brave warrior, but after seeing Yang Yizhi’s devastation, he was so scared that his soul flew away and scattered. He stammered, “Whatever Daren … Daren ask, Xiaode [little/lowly one] … Xiaode will not dare to conceal … conceal even half a word.”

“Very good,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Ping Xi Qin Wang wanted me to ask you: everything that you told Wangye, are they actually the truth, or a lie? Was there any empty word?”

“Daren please understand,” Hantiemo said, “How can Xiaode … Xiaode dare to deceive Wangye? Indeed there is not a single empty word.”

Wei Xiaobao shook his head and said, “Wangye did not believe it; he said that you, Mongolians are very crafty, the words you said oftentimes cannot be trusted, you love to cover up things the most.”

Pride mixed with anger appeared on Hantiemo’s face; he said, “We are Genghis Khan’s descendants, we always say one as one, two as two …”

Wei Xiaobao nodded, “Right,” he said, “You say three as three, four as four.”

Hantiemo was startled; he was very fluent in Han language, but his knowledge of idioms and Chinese expressions [see also note 5 of Chapter 29] was very limited; he did not know that what Wei Xiaobao said was tongue-in-cheek, he was simply teasing him. He thought there was a different meaning, which he did not know about; thereupon momentarily he did not know how to respond.

Wei Xiaobao’s countenance sank as he said, “Do you know who I am?”

Hantiemo said, “Xiaode does not know.”

“Go ahead and guess,” Wei Xiaobao said.

Hantiemo saw that the construction Anfu Garden was magnificent and beautiful, he was brought in by Ping Xi Wang Mansion’s attentands, Wei Xiaobao was very young, but he was wearing a first-pin rank uniform, and yellow magua, with a piece of ruby and a pair of peacock plumes on his hat; it was the attire of high-ranking official, nobility of the Imperial Court. Plus the yellow magua was the sign of outstanding honor and glory. Hantiemo’s mind was very quick, he pondered, “You are very young, yet have achieved this high-ranking of officialdom, you must be relying on the shade of your father’s good fortune. Within the Kunming city wall, other than Ping Xi Qin Wang, who else has this kind of fame and power? Plus Ping Xi Wang’s personal bodyguards are so respectful to you. Right, that must be it.” Thereupon he respectfully said, “Xiaode has eyes but failed to see; turns out Daren is Ping Xi Wang’s Xiao Gongzi [little young master].” He had met Wu Yingxiong. Now that he saw Wei Xiaobao, he noticed the similarity of his clothes to Wu Yingxiong’s; hence he came to that conclusion.

Wei Xiaobao was startled. “Damn it,” he cursed, “What did you say?” In his heart he said, “You think I am the big traitor, the old turtle’s son; won’t that mean laozi is a little traitor, a little turtle?” Immediately he laughed aloud and said, “You are indeed smart, no wonder Prince Galdan sent you to handle this kind of important mission. Your Prince’s friendship with me is not bad.” He then described Galdan’s appearance and the clothing he wore; he added, “That day your Prince and I discussed martial art, he demonstrated these several moves to me. His martial art skill is really superb.” While saying that, he demonstrated the several moves Galdan used at Shaolin Temple.

Hantiemo was greatly delighted, immediately he paid his respect and said, “Xiao Wangye is a good friend of our Prince. Turns out we are of the same family.”

“Is your Prince well?” Wei Xiaobao asked, “Wasn’t he with Sang Qi Lama recently?”

Hantiemo said, “Sang Qi Lama is precisely staying at our Prince’s mansion as an honored guest right this moment.”

Wei Xiaobao nodded, “I thought so,” he said. And then he asked, “There was also a young Han lady who loves to wear blue skirt; I think she is called Ah Qi. I wonder if she is also staying at your Prince’s mansion?”

Hantiemo’s eyes grew big, his face revealed a pleasantly surprised expression; he said, “Turns out … turns out even this … this matter Xiao Wangye also know; indeed … indeed … amazing.”

Wei Xiaobao was only blurting whatever was on is mind, he was simply guessing randomly, yet surprisingly his guess was correct. Feeling very pleased with himself he laughed aloud and said, “Your Prince did not conceal anything from me, Miss Ah Qi is your Prince’s good friend; his Shimei, Miss Ah Ke is my good friend[1]. Won’t that make us really belong to the same family? Ha ha, ha ha …!”

The two of them laughed together, the barrier between them vanished. Wei Xiaobao said, “Fu Wang sent me to ask you really well, the things you told my Fu Wang, are they really with all sincerity, and there is no other conspiracy?”

“Xiao Wangye,” Hantiemo said, “You have such friendship with our Prince, how can you still have such suspicion?”

Wei Xiaobao said, “Fu Wang said that when someone is telling lies, what he says the first time might not be the same as when he says it the second time. This matter is really of too great an importance, once we are not careful, everybody will fall with head and face filthy with grime, will be in an extremely difficult situation; therefore, Fu Wang wanted you to repeat to me everything from head to tail, to see if there is any ‘mortise and tenon that won’t fit with each other’. Hantiemo Laoxiong, it’s not that I don’t believe your Prince, but with you, it is our first meeting; I don’t really know you. I must, therefore, question you carefully; please don’t blame me.”

“That, you should,” Hantiemo said, “If this matter ever leaks out, there will be fatal consequences. Ping Xi Wang is handling this matter very carefully, this is an absolute must. Xiao Wangye, please report back to Wangye, after our four families form an alliance, we will send troops together, and divide the land under the heavens [referring to China] into four parts. The rivers and mountains of the Central Plains will entirely belong to Wangye. The other three families will not be envious or have any change of mind.”

Wei Xiaobao was shocked; he thought, “Four-part domination! I wonder which four families? But if I ask him, I would appear not knowing what he is talking about, and then my cover will be blown away.” He then chuckled and said, “This matter has actually been discussed several times by your Prince and I. But as far as how this matter will be accomplished, how to divide the land under the heavens into four parts, after much negotiation we have never reached any agreement. What did your Prince say this time?”

“Our Prince says that it’s not that he has a mind to demand too much favor,” Hantiemo said, “But the matter of contacting the Luocha[2] Country to send their troops is the result of His Highness …”

As soon as Wei Xiaobao heard the word ‘Luocha Country to send their troops’, his heart shivered in fear. In the meantime, Hantiemo continued, “… is the result of His Highness’ effort after he suffered untold hardship before he succeeded. Luocha Country’s firearms are incomparably fierce, when the firearms shoot, the Qing troops will have countless difficulties to resist. As long as the Luocha Country is willing to send the troops, this important matter will succeed. Ping Xi Wang will become the Great Emperor of China, Xiao Wangye will become the Crown Prince.”

Luocha Country is Russia, the country where the people have yellow hair and jade green eyes, and exceptional stature. The Chinese regarded these people as the demon ‘luocha’, the evil spirit in Buddhism; consequently, at that time the country was called Luocha Country.

During Shunzhi’s reign, the Cossack Cavalry of Luocha Country had had several confrontations with the Qing troops; although each time the Qing troops were beaten, they also managed to inflict serious damage to the Cossacks. Wei Xiaobao did not understand the affairs between nations, but when he was in the Palace, he had heard that the Luocha Country’s troops were brutal and violent; their firearms were swift and fierce, and were difficult to withstand. He thought, “My, my, this is serious; selling his own country has become Wu Sangui’s second nature, this time he collude with Luocha Country. I must report this to the young Emperor immediately, we must think of a way to resist Luocha Country’s firearms and canons.”

Seeing Wei Xiaobao was hesitating without saying anything, with his face showing a displeased expression, Hantiemo asked, “I wonder if Xiao Wangye has any advice?”

“Um,” Wei Xiaobao’s mind flashed like a lightning, trying to think how to conceal what he was really thinking. Suddenly he recalled Zheng Keshuang’s strive with his older brother over their father’s position that he sent Feng Xifan to assassinate his Shifu Chen Jinnan. Immediately he bitterly said, “Damn it, what other advice I may have? Fu Wang becomes the Emperor, in the future it will be my Gege who succeed him to the throne, I will only be a prince; what good will it be?”

Hantiemo suddenly saw the light; he walked over and said in a low voice, “Since our Prince is already a good friend of Xiao Wangye, when Xiaoren return, I will explain to the Prince Xiao Wangye’s desire. When this great undertaking is accomplished, our Mongolia and Luocha Country, plus the Living Buddha of Tibet, three families, will seek to protect Xiao Wangye. In that way … in that way Xiao Wangye will have nothing to worry.”

Wei Xiaobao thought, “Turns out the four families who will deploy troops are Mongolia, Tibet, Luocha Country, plus Wu Sangui.” Immediately his face showed a delighted expression as he said, “If the three of you will really strive for me, when I have the power in my hands, naturally I will reward you heavily; definitely I won’t forget you, laoxiong, for your help.” Casually he took out four banknotes, worth five hundred taels each, from his pocket and handed it over to Hantiemo, saying, “Please take this first for your incidental expenses.”

Seeing how generous he was with reward, Hantiemo was overjoyed at the unexpected fortune; immediately he bowed to express his gratitude. The little bit of suspicion he originally had in his heart, at this moment it vanished completely. He was certain that this Xiao Wangye wanted to vie for the Emperor position with his older brother Wu Yingxiong; his master Prince Galdan and Hantiemo himself just happened to be in the middle of the raising and lowering of their hands, hence they occupied a very advantageous position.

Wei Xiaobao said, “According to your Prince, after our success, how are we going to divide the land under the heavens?”

Hantiemo replied, “The beautiful rivers and mountains of the Central Plains naturally will belong to your Wu family. Sichuan will return to the Living Buddha of Tibet, the roads north and south of Tianshan[3], the Inner Mongolia’s four eastern and two western leagues[4], Chahar, Jehol, and the city of Suiyuan will return to our Mongolia.”

“That’s quite a vast expanse of land,” Wei Xiaobao said. Actually, he did not know the size of any places mentioned, but listening to Hantiemo mentioning a lot of places, he guessed the area must be quite substantial.

Hantiemo smiled and said, “The effort our Mongolia will spend on Wangye’s behalf will also be very substantial.”

Wei Xiaobao nodded. “How about the Luocha Country?” he asked.

---

[1] The original, ‘Xiang Hao’ ( 相好 ) carries a deeper connotation that simply a ‘friend’, but not as deep as ‘beloved’ ( 亲爱 ), or (心上人).

[2] Demon in Buddhism, the same ‘Luocha’ as in Yu Luocha (White-haired Demoness), and the Yu Luocha of Luocha Cult (Lu Xiaofeng Book 4, Silver Hook Casino).

[3] Tianshan: Mountain range between Xinjiang and Mongolia and modern day Kyrgyzstan.

[4] League: a subdivision corresponding to prefecture in Inner Mongolia.

[foxs]

Hantiemo replied, “The Great Emperor of Luocha Country said that Luocha Country and Wangye’s territory will have the Shanhai Pass [the Eastern Pass of the Great Wall] as the border. They will not tread a single step into the inside of the Pass. Outside Shanhai Pass originally belongs to Manchurian Tatars; the Luocha Country will occupy the Manchu people’s land, they will not occupy even a cun of Chinese people’s land.”

Wei Xiaobao nodded. “In that case, I think it is fair,” he said, “Have your Prince made a schedule on when we are going to raise our arms?”

Hantiemo said, “In this great undertaking, Wangye is the leader, the other three families will merely respond by launching converging attack; naturally we will wait for Wangye’s thought.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “Fu Wang really wants to know, after we deploy our troops, how are the three families going to respond?”

Hantiemo said, “In this matter, we ask that Wangye not to worry. As soon as Wangye’s large force is out of Yunnan and Guizhou, our Mongolian elite troops will be deployed from the west to the east, the Cossack elite cavalry of Luocha Country will move from the north to the south, and attack Beijing from two directions. The Living Buddha’s Tibetan army will immediately sweep Sichuan border, plus Shen Long Jiao’s surprise-attack force …”

“Ah!” Wei Xiaobao exclaimed, and slapped his thigh. “You … you know about Shen Long Jiao?” he said, “Hong Jiaozhu … what did he say?” Hearing that the Divine Dragon Cult was unexpectedly also involved in this conspiracy, his heart was shaken; he could not prevent his voice from quivering.

Seeing the change in his countenance, Hantiemo asked, “Has Wangye told Xiao Wangye about Shen Long Jiao?”

Wei Xiaobao laughed aloud; he said, “Why hasn’t he? Twice I have had long talk with Hong Jiaozhu and Madame Hong; I have even met with the Five Dragon Envoys of the Cult. I thought your Prince did not know about this matter.”

Hantiemo smiled and said, “Hong Jiaozhu of Shen Long Jiao has already received an imperial appointment from the Great Emperor of the Luocha Country. As soon as the Luocha Country deploys its troops, naturally Shen Long Jiao will have no choice but to respond. In the future, China’s coastal islands, including Taiwan and Hainan Islands, will become Shen Long Jiao’s territory. Not only that, Fujian’s Geng Jingzhong, Guandong’s Shang Kexi, Guangxi’s Kong Sizhen, everybody may respond. Once Wangye gives a shout, from the east, south, west and north everybody will move together, won’t this Manchurian Qing’s dominion fall into Wangye’s hands?”

Wei Xiaobao laughed aloud. “Wonderful, wonderful!” he said, while in his heart he groaned, “Bad, bad!” He was, after all, still very young; telling lies here and there, he was capable of not revealing any flaw. But encountering national affair like this, he could not help but secretly feeling worry for the young emperor. Those words, ‘wonderful, wonderful’ did not sound very joyous at all.

Hantiemo was very astute; he could tell the deep concern behind what Wei Xiaobao did not really mean what he said. “Xiao Wangye’s friendship with our Prince is out of ordinary, you are also treating Xiaoren generously; even if my body is crushed to dust Xiaoren cannot repay it. Whatever difficulty Xiao Wangye might have, there is no harm in giving me clear direction. If Xiaoren can do anything to serve you, I will not balk at ten thousand deaths.”

“I was just thinking,” Wei Xiaobao said, “If everybody takes one piece on the east, one piece on the west, when I become the Emperor in the future, my territory will be broken and in disorder; that will be very disappointing.”

Hantiemo mused, “Turns out you are concerned over this matter. It makes sense.” He said in a low voice, “Xiao Wangye please understand, after this great undertaking is accomplished, those cronies Geng Jingzhong, Shang Kexi and Kong Sizhen will be eliminated. At that time, if you want us, Mongolian to send troops to help, naturally we won’t decline.”

Wei Xiaobao delightedly said, “Thank you very much, thank you very much. You may bring these words of mine back to your Prince. You are Prince Galdan’s trusted aide; your promise is just the same as if the Prince personally gives me his words.”

Hantiemo felt a bit awkward, but then he thought that it would be a future problem, there is no harm to carelessly make a promise right now. Patting his own chest, he said, “Xiaoren will definitely do my utmost for Xiao Wangye; I definitely will not turn my back on you.”

Wei Xiaobao questioned him some more for quite a long time, but did not get any new useful information; hence he said, “Just take a rest in here, I will go back to report to Fu Wang.” And then he continued in low voice, “Whatever we talked about today, if you ever leak even half a word, my Gege will definitely strike a vicious blow to kill me; I am afraid even Fu Wang will be helpless to save me.”

Hantiemo had seen quite a lot of brothers struggling for position and killing each other within the Mongolian tribal clans; he knew this was indeed not a small matter. Thereupon he bent his knees immediately and raised his hands toward the heaven to make a vow.

Wei Xiaobao went out of the room; he instructed Feng Jizhong and Xu Tianchuan to strictly guard Hantiemo, and then he went to visit Yang Yizhi. As soon as he pushed the door open, he could not help but was greatly shocked, for half of Yang Yizhi’s body was rolled on the floor. He rushed forward to help him up, but saw that Yang Yizhi’s eyes were wide open, yet he was motionless since he had already died. There were several large characters written in blood on the white sheet of the bed. Wei Xiaobao only knew a ‘three’ [San] character and a ‘cassia’ [Gui] character. He turned his head around and asked, “What characters are those?”

“Yes,” Gao Yanchao responded, “Wu Sangui zao fan [rebel/revolt] mai guo [sell country], seven characters.”

Wei Xiaobao sighed and said, “At the point of his death Yang Dage used his severed hand to write.”

“Precisely,” Gao Yanchao grimly said.

Wei Xiaobao called the Tian Di Hui warriors together and conveyed to them what Hantiemo had told him. None of the warriors was not enraged; they all cursed Wu Sangui for betraying his country the first time, and now wanted to do it the second time. Priest Xuanzhen gnashed his teeth. Suddenly he untied the front piece of his garment and said, “Gentlemen, please look!”

They saw a scar on his chest, as big as a rice bowl, where the skin wrinkled and the bone protruded; it looked really gruesome. He also had a long saber scar on his left shoulder, approximately a chi long. These people had known each other for quite a long time, yet nobody knew that he had suffered such a serious injury in the past. When they saw it, nobody was not overwhelmed with shock.

Priest Xuanzhen said, “This is precisely the wound from the devils of the Luocha Country’s firearms.”

Wei Xiaobao asked, “So Daozhang [(Taoist) priest] has fought with the Luocha people?”

With a grieved expression Priest Xuanzhen said, “My father, (older and younger) uncles, nine brothers in all, have died under the Luocha people’s hands. Pindao[1] left home precisely because of this.” Thereupon he briefly narrated his story.

Originally from generation to generation his family engaged in furs business. They ran a furs business in Zhangjiakou [prefecture, in Hebei province]; they owned a hundred-year old shop there. One particular year his father’s elder brother and his father took their brothers, sons and nephew to go beyond the Great Wall to purchase silver fox, sable and other precious furs. Along the way they came across a band of Luocha people, who coveted their gold, silver and goods, and wanted to rob them. There were actually three escort masters under their employment who went along to protect them. But the Luocha people’s firearms were very fierce; as soon as they opened fire, the three escort masters died instantly. His father and uncles also died under their firearms, sabers and horses. Xuanzhen’s shoulder was cut by a saber, the pit of his stomach was fried by the gunpowder; he fainted in a pool of blood. The Luocha people thought he was dead. They plundered their gold, silver and goods, and left.

After Xuanzhen regained his consciousness, he struggled for many months in the forest of the mountain before his wounds were healed. Because of this calamity, his family property was completely gone, their furs business went bankrupt. In his discouragement he left his home to become a Taoist priest. When the country changed its master, he joined Tian Di Hui. But when he recalled how swift and fierce Luocha people’s firearm was, although it had been more than twenty years ago, he still often got nightmares in the middle of the night, he would shout loudly and woke up with a start.

Li Lishi said, “The fiercest weapon those Luocha people have is the firearm. As long as we can think of a way to break it, we don’t have to be afraid of them.”

Priest Xuanzhen shook his head and said, “When it went off, it is indeed like thunder and lightning. Even if your martial art is higher, you won’t be able to dodge it, you won’t be able to block it.”

Xu Tianchuan said, “Luocha people want to join hands with Wu Sangui to snatch away the Tatars’ realm, we can simply watch with folded arms, let them fight each other until the sky and the earth turn upside down. We can benefit as the third party and seize the opportunity to restore the Great Ming’s rivers and mountains.”

Priest Xuanzhen said, “I am afraid we will only beat the tiger from the front door only to have a wolf come from the back door. Luocha people are ten times more vicious than the Manchurian Tatars; after defeating the Manchurian Qing, they won’t stop at Shanhai Pass, they would definitely enter the Pass to occupy our land under the heavens.”

“Shall we help the Manchu Tatars instead?” Xu Tianchuan asked. The warriors made comments one after another.

Naturally Wei Xiaobao was determined to help Kangxi, but he did not dare to speak it out. “There is no hurry to make the decision right now,” he said, “We have snatched Yang Dage away, we have captured Hantiemo and Lu Yifeng; very soon Wu Sangui will find out about it, and then what are we going to do?”


Everybody pondered silently, and then some said that they had better fight with him immediately, some said they had better escape that very same night. Wei Xiaobao said, “This old turtle has many troops and horses under his command; if we have to fight, we cannot beat him. Yunnan and Guizhou are so big, we won’t necessarily be able to escape his clutch in ten days or half a month. Um, let’s do it this way: I am asking gentlemen to take that dog official Lu Yifeng, along with Yang Dage’s body, back to the big prison Hei Kanzi.”

The warriors were startled. “Send them back?” they asked.

“Exactly,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “We only need to scare that dog thief Lu Yifeng, I’ll say most likely he will not dare to announce it publicly. If he reports it to his superior, he himself will not escape the responsibility. Yang Dage is dead anyway, there is no point in keeping his corpse.”

Although the warriors had rich experience in the Jianghu, their knowledge of government officials’ character was far inferior to Wei Xiaobao’s. They all thought that his risky move[2] this time was too dangerous; breaking into jail, freeing a prisoner and kidnaping an official was quite a major event, how could Lu Yifeng not report it to his superior? Li Lishi hesitantly said, “I think this dog official Lu Yifeng is too much of a coward; I am afraid … I am afraid in this important matter he won’t dare not to report it.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “I am not afraid that he is a coward, but I am afraid he is too stupid and useless, cannot do his job as a government official. In the officialdom, there is a principle ‘conceal from superior, do not conceal from subordinate’; an enormous matter will disappear when you cover it up. Nobody wants to deliberately put a black pot over his own head. Just bring that dog official over, let me remind him some.”

Gao Yanchao turned around and left, returning with Lu Yifeng in his arms, and tossed him to the floor. He had been beaten and was scared, his face had already turned ghastly pale.

“Lu Laoge [old older brother],” Wei Xiaobao began, “You must be exhausted.”

“I … I don’t dare,” Lu Yifeng replied.

“Lu Laoge is a real friend,” Wei Xiaobao said, “All Ping Xi Wang’s classified information, you have narrated it to us in full detail without concealing anything. Very well, a friend is a friend, we are going to let you go. Laoge has leaked Ping Xi Wang’s classified information, we will not tell anybody about it. Real men of the Jianghu will say one as one, two as two. If you, Laoge, like to publicize it yourself, to openly set yourself against Ping Xi Wang, it’s your own business. Ha ha, ha ha …”

Lu Yifeng shook all over; he said, “Even if Xiao … Xiaoren has gar … gargantuan nerve, I won’t … won’t dare.”

“Very good,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Brothers, please escort Lu Daren back to yamen. You might as well bring that prisoner’s body back with you, so that when there is any inquiry, Lu Daren will not have a hard time explaining.” The warriors complied together. Lu Yifeng was pleasantly surprised, but was also confused; with the warriors holding his arms, he was ushered out.

For the next several days, the Tian Di Hui warriors were waiting in trepidation; they were afraid Lu Yifeng would report to Wu Sangui, and then a large group of troops and horses under Ping Xi Wang’s command would storm into Anfu Garden to massacre them all; yet unexpectedly nothing was astirred. It was unclear whether that old traitor Wu Sangui was very crafty, that he waited until the time is ripe before making any movement, or contrary to what they expected, Wei Xiangzhu’s premonition was correct, that Lu Yifeng indeed did not dare to report.

The warriors were restless; day after day they talked about it over and over. Finally Wei Xiaobao said, “Let’s do it this way, I am going to pay Wu Sangui a visit, to see what he has to say.”

Xu Tianchuan said, “I am afraid he will detain Wei Xiangzhu and won’t let you go back; that would be terrible.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “All of us are in his grasp anyway, if the old turtle wanted to catch me, even if I don’t go to see him, I won’t be able to escape.”

He selected several officers and soldiers from the Valiant Cavalry Brigade and several Imperial Bodyguards and went to the Ping Xi Wang Mansion. Wu Sangui personally came out to welcome him. With smiles all over his face he took Wei Xiaobao’s hand; together they entered the Mansion. “To what do I owe Wei Jueye’s visit this time?” he asked, “You only need to pass it on to my son, and then won’t everything be done for you? Why would you have to toil your honorable self?”

“Aiyo,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Wangye is too polite. Xiao Jiangguan’s [lit. little/lowly military officer, referring to self] official duty is low, compared to the Prince Consort’s it is too far below. What Wangye said, Xiao Jiang is too undeserving.”

Wu Sangui laughed and said, “Wei Jueye is the beloved general serving by His Majesty’s side that he most doted on, your future is full of promise, indeed your prospect is immeasurable. It won’t be the least bit surprising if in the future you will come to this Mansion and be the Wangye.”

Wei Xiaobao’s heart skipped a beat; he could not stop his countenance from changing. Halting his steps, he said, “What Wangye said is not right.”

Wu Sangui laughed. “What do you mean not right?” he asked, “Wei Jueye is only fifteen or sixteen years old, already you are the Commander of the Valiant Cavalry Brigade, Deputy Chief of the Imperial Bodyguards, Imperial Envoy, and was granted the title of Viscount. From Zijue [viscount] to Bojue [earl/count], Houjue [marquis], Gongjue [duke], Wangjue [king/prince] and then Qin Wang [prince[3]], it won’t take more than a dozen, perhaps twenty, years. Ha ha, ha ha …”

Wei Xiaobao shook his head, “Wangye,” he said, “Xiao Jiang left the Capital this time, His Majesty instructed, ‘Tell Wu Sangui to serve well. In the future this Ping Xi Qin Wang title will belong to my meifu [husband of younger sister] Wu Yingxiong; after Wu Yingxiong died, the Qin Wang title will belong to my waisheng [sister’s son or wife’s sibling’s son], when my waisheng dies, it will belong to my waisheng’s son. In short, let Ping Xi Qin Wang title belongs to the Wu family forever.’ Wangye, when he said that, His Majesty was extremely sincere.”

---

[1] Lit. Impoverished (Taoist) priest, referring to self.

[2] The original refers to a move in (a game of) chess.

[3] The character ‘qin’亲 means ‘relatives’. I think it is a prince related by blood to the royal family. Prince Kang was a Qin Wang. I don’t know why Wu Sangui was also a Qin Wang.

[foxs]

Wu Sangui was very happy in his heart. “Did His Majesty really say that?” he asked.

“Why would I lie to you?” Wei Xiaobao said, “But His Majesty also said that there is no hurry for me to tell you this, he wanted me to investigate carefully; if Wangye is indeed a very loyal minister, then I should tell you that. Otherwise, hey, hey, won’t that mean you are saying that the Lord of Ten-thousand Years’ words does not count? That once he gave his words, dead horses cannot chase?”

“Humph,” Wu Sangui said, “Since today Wei Jueye have just told me that, you have decided that I am a loyal minister?”

“Are you not?” Wei Xiaobao said, “If Wangye is not a loyal minister, nobody in this world is. If someday Wei Xiaobao can really have a golden mouth like Wangye, to be granted the title Zheng Dong Wang, Sao Bei Wang, Ding Nan Wang[1], or whatever, but can stay here in Ping Xi Wang Mansion in Yunnan, ha ha … I will be the guest for the rest of my life; I don’t want to act as the host forever.”

The two of them were talking and walking inside. Wu Sangui was very happy to listen to Wei Xiaobao; pulling Wei Xiaobao’s hand, he said, “Come, come, let us sit in my private study room.” Walking through two garden courtyards, they arrived at Wu Sangui’s private study.

Although this room was called a study room, the walls were full of sabers, spears, swords and halberds, there was not a single bookshelf or a book. There was a large round-backed wooden armchair in the middle of the room, draped in tiger skin. Ordinary tiger will have black stripes on yellow background, but this tiger skin had black stripes on white background; it was really unusual.

“Aiyo, Wangye,” Wei Xiaobao said, “This white tiger skin must be very rare. Xiao Jiang has never seen anything like this in the Palace. Today my horizon has been broadened.”

Wu Sangui was very proud of himself; he said, “When I was guarding the Shanhai Pass in the past, I went hunting in the vicinity of Ningyuan, and caught it. This kind of white tiger is called ‘Zouyu’ [mythical animal]; it is indeed very rare, to get this tiger means great luck, great profit.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “Every day Wangye is sitting on this white tiger skin, you will gain promotion and wealth forever without an end. Tsk, tsk, tsk, it’s really amazing.”

He saw next to the tiger skin chair there were a couple of marble screen, about five or six chi tall. The picture of mountain, water [together means ‘landscape], wood and rock on the screen seemed to be alive. On one of the screen, there was a picture of mountain peak, on the mountain peak there seemed to be a black-naped oriole. By the water there was a tiger, the posture looked beautiful and alive. Wei Xiaobao praised, “These two screens must be very valuable too. I have never seen something like this in the Palace. They say that Laotianye [God/Heaven] was gifted this kind of painting, to whomever’s hands it falls, it will be an omen.”

Wu Sangui smiled, “What about these two screens? I wonder what omen they might have?” he asked.

Wei Xiaobao said, “In Xiao Jiang’s opinion, this aloof and remote little black-naped oriole can only chirp ‘jijizhazha’, quite useless. Underneath is actually a big tiger, majestic, very formidable. This big tiger is naturally Wangye.”

Wu Sangui was very happy; immediately he thought, “He said that the little black-naped oriole is standing aloft, can only chirp ‘jijizhazha’, and is quite useless; isn’t he referring to the young Emperor? By saying those things, is he testing me?” Thereupon he asked, “This little black-naped oriole, I wonder what it is referring to.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “What does Wangye think?”

Wu Sangui shook his head, “I don’t know,” he said, “Would Wei Jueye give me your advice?”

Wei Xiaobao smiled. He pointed to the other screen and said, “Here we have mountains and we have water, of course it is referring to ‘ten thousand li of rivers and mountains’. Ha ha, good omen, good omen!”

Wu Sangui’s heart jumped; he was about to ask, but in the end he did not dare. In that moment he felt his lips were dry, his tongue parched.

With the corner of his eyes Wei Xiaobao suddenly caught a glimpse of a sutra laying on the desk, it was precisely the ‘Forty-two-chapter sutra’ with which he was very familiar. It’s just that the sutra had blue silk cover. Immediately his heart jumped. “The eighth copy,” he said in his heart, “Indeed it is in the old turtle’s place. Wonderful, wonderful!”

Immediately he turned his eyes away from the sutra, and looked at the sabers and spears on the wall. He laughed and said, “Wangye, you are indeed a great hero, a great warrior, even your study is full of weapons. Frankly speaking, Xiao Jiang cannot tell the good from the bad, when I heard the word ‘study room’, my head was getting big; who would have thought that your study room is this magnificent? Indeed, my utmost admiration.”

Wu Sangui laughed heartily; he said, “Each one of these weapons has its origin. Xiao Wang hang them here just for old time’s sake.”

“So that’s how it is,” Wei Xiaobao said, “In those years Wangye swept the east and shook the west, struggled in the south and fought in the north, establishing enormous heroic deeds [orig. to ride a laboring horse to great deeds]. These weapons must be the ones Wangye had used?”

Wu Sangui smiled. “Exactly,” he said, “In defending the border, throughout my life I have fought several hundred battles, big and small; from the cradle to the grave, this Wang [king] title came from struggling with everything I have.” The implication was that I was not like you, the little baby who was lucky to obtain the Emperor’s favor and was promoted to Viscount.

Wei Xiaobao nodded in agreement; he said, “When Wangye defended Shanhai Pass, I wonder which weapon did you use? Which great merit did you render?”

Wu Sangui’s countenance changed quickly. When he defended Shanhai Pass, the battle was against the Manchurians, which means the more he killed Manchurians, the bigger his merit was. By asking this question, Wei Xiaobao was obviously mocking him as a traitor (to Han people). In that moment his hands trembled slightly, he nearly was not able to suppress his anger.

Wei Xiaobao continued, “I heard that the Emperor Yongli of the Ming Dynasty was pursued by Wangye from Yunnan all the way to Burma, until finally he was caught and hung by Wangye with a bowstring …” While saying that, he pointed to a long bow on the wall, and asked, “I wonder if that was the bow?”

When Wu Sangui killed Emperor Yongli of Ming, he had made up his mind to show his loyalty and devotion to the Qing Dynasty, that he would not be double-minded; however, deep down in his heart he was actually quite ashamed. Nobody in his mansion had ever dared to mention this matter; unexpectedly Wei Xiaobao brought it up on his face, and thus unmasking his scar. In that instant the fury in his breast was difficult to endure; he said sternly, “Today Wei Jueye has repeatedly mocked me, I don’t know what is your intention?”

Wei Xiaobao said in consternation, “I did not! How can Xiao Jiang dare to mock Wangye? Back in Beijing, Xiao Jiang heard everybody in the Palace said that Wangye even hang the Ming Emperor, showing your utmost loyalty toward our Great Qing. I heard that when Wangye hang Emperor Yongli, you acted personally, the bowstring tightened around his neck, ‘zhi, zhi, zhi’, Emperor Yongli groaned ‘ai, ai, ai’, and Wangye laughed heartily. Very good, very good, that was very loyal!”

Wu Sangui sprang up, clenched his fists, but then he had a second thought, “How can a little kid like this have this kind of guts, have the impertinence to provoke me like this? Must be that little muddle-headed lord incited him, ordering him to test me; or perhaps my other opponents in the Imperial Court intentionally prompted him to speak provoking words, trying to control me.” Being a wily old fox, immediately he suppressed his angry look and chuckled. “Those ‘defending our border and rendering great merits’ and so on are not worth mentioning,” he said, “Actually, only being loyal and devoted to His Majesty can be considered a little bit of my strong point. Xiao Xiongdi, you want to be Zheng Dong Wang, Sao Bei Wang, you must learn how to be loyal and devoted to His Majesty like your Lao Gege here.”

“Yes, yes!” Wei Xiaobao said, “Absolutely, I cannot afford not to learn it! It’s a pity Xiao Jiang was born several decades too late, the Ming Dynasty Emperors have all been killed by Wangye, so that Xiao Jiang has nowhere to put my hands into.”

Wu Sangui cursed in his heart, “There will come a day when you will fall into my hand, and then I will make a mincemeat of you!” He laughed and said, “If Wei Jueye wants to set up a merit, why worry you won’t get any opportunity?”

Wei Xiaobao laughed, “It would be good if someone revolts,” he said.

Wu Sangui’s heart turned cold. “Why?” he asked.

Wei Xiaobao said, “If someone revolts, His Majesty will send me to battle, Xiao Jiang will do what Wangye has done, I will fight with everything I have and kill the enemy, catch the rebels, and may break open the border region.”

“Wei Xiongdi,” Wu Sangui grimly said, “This kind of talk is irresponsible and must not be mentioned. With the current Holy Son of Heaven on the throne, the whole world’s heart is converted, every person gives his allegiance, who might want to revolt?”

Wei Xiaobao said, “So according to Wangye, nobody will revolt?”

Wu Sangui was taken aback; he said, “If we say nobody will revolt, naturally it may not be necessarily true. The former Ming Dynasty rebels, or followers of renegades everywhere, those who wish to create disorder, I am afraid there are some.”

“If someone revolts,” Wei Xiaobao continued, “Will it mean that the Holy Son of Heaven is not on the throne anymore?”

Wu Sangui struggled hard to suppress his anger. “Hey, hey, hey,” he let out some dry laughed, and then said, “Xiao Xiongdi’s talk is very interesting.”

Actually, after seeing the ‘Forty-two-chapter Sutra’ on the desk, Wei Xiaobao was constantly trying to infuriate Wu Sangui, hoping that in his anger, he might brush off his sleeve and storm out of the room, so that Wei Xiaobao might have a chance to steal the sutra. Unexpectedly Wu Sangui was extremely shrewd, although his anger flared several times, he was able to control his temper and thus he did not fall into Wei Xiaobao’s trick.

Seeing Wu Sangui could not be provoked, Wei Xiaobao knew he would not have the opportunity to reach out and snatch the sutra away; immediately he changed his tactic, he said several things that Wu Sangui would love to hear. But while his mouth was busy licking Wu Sangui’s behind, his mind was racing, trying to find a way to get hold of the sutra. He thought, “Supposing I faked an Imperial Edict, saying that His Majesty wanted to have this sutra, I have no doubt that the old turtle would not dare not to offer it. Much less His Majesty did indeed want to have the sutra, and did tell me to take the opportunity while I am in Yunnan to look for it. If I said that I want the old turtle to hand me the sutra, I am not faking an Imperial Decree. However, I am afraid that while the old turtle would readily agree, he would rig up a scam in secret, perhaps he would be like Prince Kang, who forged a ‘western shellfish goods’ [there’s this phrase again: 西贝货儿 see chapter 29] to the Emperor, then I could not get the pieces of skin inside.”

As soon as he thought about forging the sutra, he had an idea. Suddenly he lowered his voice as he said, “Wangye, His Majesty has a secret edict for you.”

Wu Sangui was startled; he stood up instantly and said, “Minister Wu Sangui respectfully hear and obey the Imperial Decree.”

Wei Xiaobao pulled his hand and said, “No rush, no rush, let me tell you the background information first.”

“Yes, yes,” Wu Sangui said, but he did not sit down.

Wei Xiaobao said, “His Majesty understands very well that you are a loyal minister of the Great Qing, yet he repeatedly instructed me to ascertain whether you are loyal or a traitor, does Wangye know why?”

Wu Sangui scratched his head and said, “I don’t know.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “Actually, His Majesty has an important matter he wants you to do, but somehow he does not feel reassured yet whether you would or would not strive to do your best. He is sending Princess Jianning down to marry your Heir Apparent, actually his intention was to … to … that …”

“He wants to encourage me?” Wu Sangui asked.

“Right,” Wei Xiaobao said, “His Majesty said his intention was to encourage you. My literary knowledge is too lacking, I could not remember that word.”

Wu Sangui said, “Whatever mission His Majesty has for me, laochen [the old minister, referring to self] will do my utmost, I will toil as his dog or his horse. I am just wondering what mission might His Majesty has for laochen to do.”

“This mission concerns a matter of utmost importance,” Wei Xiaobao said, “By this time tomorrow, I am asking Wangye to wait for me in the Mansion, Xiao Jiang will come back to pass on His Majesty’s secret order.”

“Yes, yes,” Wu Sangui said, “His Majesty has a decree, laochen will go to Anfu Garden to receive it.”

With a low voice Wei Xiaobao said, “Too many eyes and ears in Anfu Garden, this place is more dependable.”

Finished speaking he took his leave. Wu Sangui wondered what trick he was playing, he respectfully walked Wei Xiaobao out.

The next day Wei Xiaobao returned about the same time, the two of them went into the study room.

“Wangye,” Wei Xiaobao began, “What I am about to tell you is a matter of utmost importance, you must never divulge it in any way, even when you present a memorial to the Emperor, you must not mention it a character or half a word.”

“Yes, yes,” Wu Sangui complied, “Naturally I will not dare to divulge the secret.”

Wei Xiaobao lowered his voice, “His Majesty obtained a secret report, Shang Kexi and Geng Jingzhong is about to rebel!”

As soon as Wu Sangui heard it, his countenance changed greatly. Ping Nan Wang [king who pacified the south] Shang Kexi was guarding Guangdong, Jing Nan Wang [peaceful south king] Geng Jingzhong was guarding Fujian; together with Wu Sangui, they were known as the three border defenses. These three defenses shared glory and disgrace, their rise and demise were interrelated. Wu Sangui’s rebellion plot actually involved a joint large-scale military movement with Shang and Geng, two defenses. When he heard that the Emperor was aware that Shang and Geng, two people were about to revolt, naturally Wu Sangui was thrown into extreme panic. “Is … is that true?” he asked in a trembling voice.

The previous day he concocted a story that he had a secret order from the Emperor to scare Wu Sangui so that he would lose his head out of fear, and thus Wei Xiaobao would have an opportunity to steal the sutra. However, he was, after all, only a young kid whose knowledge of military or country affair was limited. He thought that if he babbled nonsense, first, Wu Sangui might not necessarily believe him, second, when the lie was exposed, perhaps the repercussion would be so significant that Kangxi might blame him; therefore, he decided to return to Anfu Garden and discuss it over with Tian Di Hui warriors first before returning on the next day to pass on the imperial edict. Qi Biaoqing suggested that they framed Shang and Geng, two defenses, saying that they plotted a rebellion, to frightened Wu Sangui in a big way, since in effect they were exposing his own rebellion plot. Sure enough, as Wei Xiaobao brought it up, Wu Sangui was so scared that he was at a loss of what to do.

“Actually,” Wei Xiaobao continued, “His Majesty kept hearing that the three defenses were planning a rebellion, but it sounded like a fabricated fact, just like the later generation of Mu Family trying to frame you; His Majesty never believed such thing.”

---

[1] King who attacked the East, King who swept the North, and King who stabilized the South, respectively. Reminder: Wu Sangui’s title Ping Xi Wang means King who pacified the West.

[foxs]

“Yes, yes,” Wu Sangui said, “His Majesty is an enlightened sage, His Majesty is an enlightened sage.”

“But this time, about the Shang and Geng, two defenses’ conspiracy, His Majesty has finally acquired reliable evidence,” Wei Xiaobao said, “His Majesty said: right now the two defenses’ rebellion plot is not out in the open yet, we must not beat the grass to scare the snake; however, he wants the Wu defense to deploy massive military force to be stationed at the Guangdong, Guangxi borders. As soon as those two defenses rise up, the Wu defense is to immediately dispatch the troops to Guangdong and Fujian, to arrest those two traitors and send them off to Beijing. That will be an enormous meritorious service.”

Wu Sangui bowed and said, “I solemnly receive the Imperial Edict. If Shang and Geng, two defenses are acting against the law, laochen will immediately deploy troops to capture those two people and present them to Beijing.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “His Majesty said: Shang Kexi is a muddle-head, Geng Jingzhong is a useless fellow, they are definitely not Wu defense’s match. As long as Wu defense agrees to deploy troops, the Imperial Court will not need to send a single soldier, this matter will be solved just by stretching a hand and grab it.”

Wu Sangui smiled and said, “Please tell the Lord of Ten-thousand Years to set his heart at peace. Laochen drills the troops in here, I do not dare to be negligence the least bit, especially to serve the Emperor on a special mission. All the soldiers and generals under laochen’s banner, each one is comparable to three bannermen soldiers, and they all pledge their lives in loyalty and devotion to His Majesty.”

“I am going to report what Wangye is saying today back to the Emperor,” Wei Xiaobao said, “When His Majesty hears it, he will be very happy.”

Wu Sangui was secretly delighted, “This way I can move an army and send a general, even if the little muddleheaded lord knew about it, he won’t be suspicious.”

Wei Xiaobao pointed to a rifle hanging on the wall. “Wangye,” he said, “Is that a westerners’ firearm?”

“Exactly,” Wu Sangui said, “That is Luocha Country’s firearm. It was obtained during the battle our Great Qing and the Luocha Country had outside the Pass, it is indeed a very sharp weapon.”

“I have never had any firearms before,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Can you let me borrow it for a moment?”

Wu Sangui smiled and said, “Naturally you can! This kind of firearm is used during the battle; although it can reach far, it is rather inconvenient to use. Luocha people have some other short gun.” Walking toward a wooden cabinet, he pulled open the drawer, and took a red wood case out.

Wei Xiaobao was standing right by the desk. As soon as he saw Wu Sangui turning around, he also turned around, lifted the front piece of the yellow magua he was wearing, took out a copy of ‘Forty-two-chapter Sutra’ from the pocket of the magua, put it on the table, took the copy of sutra that was originally on the table, and put it into the pocket of his magua. This swapping was done in an extremely fast and nimble manner; even if Wu Sangui was watching helplessly, his vision would be blocked by Wei Xiaobao’s back and it would be hard for him to know what’s going on, much less Wu Sangui was also turning his back to fetch the gun. All eight copies of the sutra had exactly the same appearance, only the book jackets had different colors. The previous night Wei Xiaobao took the Bordered Blue Banner’s copy, tore off the red border, and swapped it off with the Plain Blue Banner’s copy.

He saw Wu Sangui opened the wooden case and took out two short guns, about a chi long each. From the muzzle he stuffed some gunpowder, and packed it using an iron rod. He also put three iron bullets inside the muzzle. And then he took a fire knife and ignited a piece of paper, and handed the gun and the paper to Wei Xiaobao and said, “Light the fuse, the iron bullet will shoot out.”

Wei Xiaobao received the gun, and aimed the muzzle at the rockery outside the window. He blew the lighted paper to ignite the fuse. There was a loud explosion, a burst of hot air hit his face, his arm was violently jolted, the gun fell to the floor, smoke arose before his eyes; he could not help but to retreat two steps backward.

Wu Sangui laughed aloud and said, “This gun’s power is very formidable, isn’t it?”

Wei Xiaobao’s arm was numb from the shock. “Damn it,” he cursed, “Western people’s toy is indeed demonical.”

Wu Sangui laughed and said, “Look at the rockery!”

Wu Sangui focused his eyes and saw the a small corner of the rockery had been exploded, there were fragments of rocks scattered on the ground; he could not help but sticking out his tongue, and did not pull it back for half a day. “If this gun explode on someone,” he said, “Even if you have copper muscle and iron bone, you won’t be able to withstand it.” Stooping down, he picked up the short gun and put it back into the wooden case.

When the mansion’s guards heard the explosion, they all came to the window and looked inside. After seeing their Wangye was safe and sound, and was talking to Wei Xiaobao, they felt relieved.

Wu Sangui held the wooden case with both hands and said with a laugh, “Wei Xiongdi, please take it so you can play with it.”

Wei Xiaobao shook his head and said, “This is an effective weapon to protect yourself, Wangye’s generous gift, I do not dare to accept.”

Wu Sangui pushed the box into his hand, and said with a laugh, “We are brothers, why differentiate between you and I? What’s mine is yours.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “This is Luocha people’s treasure, you might not necessarily get another one in the future. Xiao Jiang absolutely cannot accept it.” But in his heart he was thinking, “You are colluding with Luocha people, you can have any number of guns you want, naturally it is not a rare object at all.”

Wu Sangui laughed and said, “Exactly because it is rare that I dare to give it to Xiongdi. If it is a common object, Wei Xiongdi would not even look at it. Ha ha …”

Thereupon Wei Xiaobao thanked him and accepted; he said with a laugh, “Hereafter if I come across people who want to harm me, I will take out the gun, ‘bang!’ I will shoot him, and explode him till his body torn and his bones crushed. Xiao Jiang’s life is actually bestowed by Wangye.”

Wu Sangui patted Wei Xiaobao’s shoulder and said with a laugh, “You don’t need to be that polite. Guns are indeed very formidable, but putting the gunpowder, loading the bullets, lighting the flint, igniting the fuse, the procedure is really bothersome, unlike our bow and arrow, which we can shoot in rapid succession, continuously.”

“That’s right,” Wei Xiaobao said, “If the westerners’ guns are like bow and arrow, can be shot in succession, will we, Chinese, still have our lives? The Great Qing’s beautiful rivers and mountains will be difficult to protect.” Speaking to this point, he giggled and said, “Actually, there is a benefit to me to have these two guns; now I do not need to train martial art. All those martial art experts or martial art masters are not my match anymore.”

After some idle talks, took his leave and returned to Anfu Garden, where he closed the door, and opened up the sutra’s outer skin. As expected, he found a lot of sheepskin pieces inside. He mused, “I have obtained all the pieces of map hidden in the eight copies of sutra. Laozi only needs to focus my attention and slowly assemble the map together, the Tatars’ buried treasure and dragon’s vein will fall into my hand.” However, the thought of focusing his attention to put together these several thousand pieces of sheepskin into a complete picture already gave him a headache; he thought, “No need to rush, we have plenty of time.”

Immediately he stitched back the cover and put the sheepskin pieces into the pouch with the rest of the pieces, which he hid in his innermost pocket, next to his skin. Thinking about the great success of his mission, he could not help but feeling happy and contented. “The young Emperor, the old wh0re, the old turtle, Hong Jiaozhu, the big traitor, and also my Shifu, the not-old, not-young, middle-aged nun, everybody wanted to obtain these eight copies of sutra, in the end it is still I, Wei Xiaobao, who gets it. Ha ha … if they knew, one will pull my hand, the other will pull my leg, and pull me in four directions, I will be torn away from limb to limb.” He was very excited, too bad that he could not tell anybody about it. Unable to flaunt his achievement, unavoidably he felt everything was fine except for one small defect.

Crossing his legs, he hummed the little tune he learned in Yangzhou brothel, “A cup of wine, slowly being poured, I ask Qing Gege [beloved older brother], where did he come from? In that place, Yangzhou, there are twenty-four bridges, at the end of each bridge, there is a beautiful woman, Qing Gege …” While he was singing happily, suddenly he heard someone knocking his door lightly. Three knocks, stopped, two knocks, stopped, three knocks. It was precisely Tian Di Hui’s secret signal.

Wei Xiaobao stood up and opened the door, Xu Tianchuan and Gao Yanchao entered. Seeing the two people’s serious expression, he asked, “What is it?”

Xu Tianchuan said, “I heard from the Imperial Bodyguards that the Mansion’s bodyguards are searching to the east and inquiring to the west, to find a Mongolian; I am sure they are looking for Hantiemo. From what I heard, they seem to be highly suspicious of us, but they do not dare to ask us openly. Wei Xiangzhu, what do you think?”

Wei Xiaobao said, “Go fetch that fellow, bind him and hide him underneath my bed; I don’t think Wu Sangui’s subordinates will dare to search my room.”

Xu Tianchuan said, “I am afraid that when Wei Xiangzhu is out, the big traitor’s guards will use whatever excuse they can find to force their way in to search.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “No matter what we won’t allow them to come in; if we really reach a stalemate in discussion, we will fight them. Could they be brazen enough to resort to violence and kill us?” Xu Tianchuan and Gao Yanchao nodded in agreement.

Suddenly Qian Laoben rushed in and said, “The big traitor is going to set this place on fire.”

The three of them were shocked. “What?” they asked in chorus.

Qian Laoben said, “These past few days I patrolled the Anfu Garden all around, to guard against the big traitor playing tricks on us. Just now I saw some people sneaked into the woods to our west. I secretly followed them, and saw more than a dozen people hiding in the woods, carrying quite a lot of kerosene, saltpeter, sulfur, and other materials to light a fire.”

“Damn it,” Wei Xiaobao cursed, “The big traitor has the guts to burn the Princess to death?”

“I don’t think so,” Qian Laoben said, “They suspect we kidnapped Hantiemo, but do not dare to enter the Garden to search. When the fire breaks, they will swarm in to fight the fire, while seizing that opportunity to search.”

Wei Xiaobao nodded. “Right,” he said, “That must be it. Dage, what is your wise opinion?”

Xu Tianchuan gestured by running his hand across his neck; he said, “Kill him to close his mouth, destroy his body to leave no trace!”

When Wei Xiaobao heard ‘destroy his body to leave no trace’, he thought, “That is one trick I am an expert at, nothing can be easier, I guarantee that in just a short time that big beard Mongolian will turn into a pool of yellow liquid. But this fellow has the inside information on the collusion between the big traitor and the Luocha Country, I must send him to the young Emperor so that he can personally interrogate him.” He said, “This big beard Mongolian is the biggest proof of the big traitor’s rebellion conspiracy. We must send him to Beijing; even if the big traitor does not rebel, he will be forced to rebel. This Hantie somebody is the magic weapon to guarantee that the Mu Family will obey our Tian Di Hui’s orders.”

How to force Wu Sangui to revolt, and how to force the Mu Family to obey Tian Di Hui’s orders, were precisely the two important matters that were always in the Tian Di Hui warriors’ mind. As soon as the three men heard this, their countenance changed greatly; they chorused their agreement. Xu Tianchuan said, “If not for Wei Xiangzhu’s reminding us, we nearly harm this important matter.” In their hearts their admiration toward this glib-tongued teenager grew.

Qian Laoben said, “The problems at hand are: how to deal with the big traitor’s subordinates in setting this place on fire to do their searching, and how to get this Hantiemo out of the big traitor’s territory. The borders of Yunnan and Guizhou, two provinces are tightly guarded; leaving Kunming is even more difficult.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Boss Qian [Qian Laoban, see Chapter 13], you can smuggle a Huadiao Fuling pork into the Palace, can’t you smuggle another big fat pig out of Kunming?”

Qian Laoben laughed and said, “To get a big, fat pig out of town, I am afraid we can’t go pass the gate; we must think of some other method. Hiding a corpse inside the coffin is also an old trick, I am afraid it will be difficult to conceal the truth.”

Wei Xiaobao said with a laugh, “If faking a dead person is not good, let him pretend to be a live person. Boss Qian, you shave his big beard, put some kind of flour, plaster or whatever on his face, to change his appearance, let him wear the Valiant Cavalry Brigade hat and coat. I am going to select a squad of Valiant Cavalry Brigade sergeants and send them back to Beijing, saying that the Princess is sending her respect to His Majesty, reporting the wedding date to the Empress Dowager and the Emperor. Let this big beard without the beard mingled among the Valiant Cavalry Brigade troop, seal his mute acupoint so he can’t shout. Would the guards, Wu Sangui’s subordinates ask the Emperor’s personal guards to announce their names one by one before letting them pass?” The three people cheered and praised his ingenuity, they all agreed that it was a brilliant plan.

“Is there any brothel in Kunming?” Wei Xiaobao suddenly asked.

Qian Laoben and the others, three people, looked at each other; they thought, “Wei Xiangzhu wants to visit a prostitute?” Qian Laoben laughed and said, “Naturally there are some.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed. “If we invite Priest Xuanzhen to take a stroll in a brothel, will he be willing to go?” he asked.

Qian Laoben shook his head and said, “Daozhang has left home, I am sure he won’t want to go. If Wei Xiangzhu has an interest, subordinate may keep you company.”

“You will definitely go,” Wei Xiaobao said, “But Xuanzhen Daozhang is big and tall; among our brothers, he is the only one with similar built as that big beard.”

As soon as the three people heard it, they understood that Priest Xuanzhen was to impersonate Hantiemo. Gao Yanchao laughed and said, “For the sake of our Society’s important matter, I am sure Xuanzhen Daozhang will follow orders to visit a brothel.” The four of them burst into laughter.

Wei Xiaobao said, “Please ask Daozhang to wear the big beard’s clothes and take the big beard’s belongings, paste the ‘genuine goods at fair prices’ yellow beard shaved from the big beard’s face on his chin. The rest of the brothers, keep the Ping Xi Wang Mansion guards’ uniform you are wearing now; pick a big brothel, go and drink and make trouble there. Everybody grabs a prostitute [orig. good-looking powder head], in the fight that ensues, Qian Laoben stabs Daozhang to death …”

Qian Laoben was startled, but he understood immediately; naturally he would not kill people for real. He laughed and said, “Wei Xiangzhu’s idea is great. Xuanzhen Daozhang and I will fight over a beauty, we will mumble something, speaking in Mongolian tongue … But we must have another corpse ready.”

Wei Xiaobao nodded, “Right,” he said, “Go look around, find a criminal in Kunming whose stature is more or less the same as the big beard, catch him and kill him, hide his body by the brothel. After Boss Qian kills Daozhang, shoo the prostitutes out. Daozhang will turn back to life, and put the big beard’s clothes on the dead body.”

Gao Yanchao laughed and said, “The dead man’s face must be chopped into pulp, and throw the clump of yellow beard under the bed, let Wu Sangui’s subordinate find it, and then they will think that the murderer intends to conceal the fact that Hantiemo is dead.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Gao Dage’s thought is more thorough than mine. Everybody, take some money, go visit the brothel! This is so much fun, too bad I cannot go with you.”

[foxs]

Chapter 31 - Massive army of Luodian formed a deep barrier, great waves boiled in thousand-qing Dianchi
(Translated by Foxs)

LuDingJi-31.jpg

The Princess curled in the corner of the bed, her body was covered in embroidered quilt, a snow-white leg was exposed outside the quilt, both of her arms were bare, it was clear that she was naked. Wu Yingxiong’s naked body was lying on the floor, motionless. The lower part of his body was bloody; his right hand was grasping a short blade.

[foxs]

After dinner, Wei Xiaobao waited for more than an hour before strolling toward Princess Jianning’s room. The Princess had been waiting anxiously; seeing Wei Xiaobao, she angrily said, “Where have you been? I have been waiting for you.”

Wei Xiaobao angrily responded, “Your Gonggong [father-in-law] held me up to talk to him, he spoke treason and heresy, I argued with him for half a day. If I wasn’t anxious to see you, I would still be arguing with him right now.”

“What did he say?” the Princess asked.

Wei Xiaobao said, “He said that His Majesty always suspected him as a treacherous court official, he is very upset about it. I said if His Majesty suspected him, how could he send the Princess down here to marry your son? He said that it must be that His Majesty did not like you, he intentionally sent you down the pit to harm you.”

The Princess was enraged; she slapped the table heavily and shouted, “The old turtle is talking nonsense, I’ll tear off his beard. Tell him to see me quickly.”

Wei Xiaobao also put an angry look on his face. “His granny,” he cursed, “I was ready to risk my life against him. I said: the Princess is His Majesty’s favorite, she is good-looking, and intelligent too; which of your son’s quality can surpass her? I also said: you dare to speak such thing, the Princess won’t want to get married, we will return to Beijing tomorrow. Based on the Princess’ status, I don’t know how many men in the world who would fight to have her as his wife. There is something in my heart that I did not speak it out. I really wanted to tell the old turtle: I, Wei Xiaobao, am dying to marry the Princess myself.”

The Princess immediately beamed with joy. “Right, right!” she said, “Why didn’t you tell him that? Xiaobao, let us go back to Beijing tomorrow. I will tell Huangdi Gege: I must marry you.”

Wei Xiaobao shook his head, “When the old turtle heard me, he calmed down immediately, saying that just now he was babbling nonsense, he was merely cracking jokes, and that I must not take him seriously; what’s more, I must not let the Princess hear anything he had just said. I said: nobody is more loyal to His Majesty and the Princess than I, the one surnamed Wei, I have never dared to speak even half a word of lie to His Majesty and the Princess.”

The Princess held her arms around his neck, and gently kissed his face. “I always knew you are very loyal to me,” she said.

Wei Xiaobao kissed her back and said, “The old turtle was so frightened that he almost kneeled down to ask for my help. He also gave me a pair of Luocha people’s guns, he wanted me to do my best to cover up for him.” Finished speaking, he took out the gun, put some gunpowder and an iron bullet, and let the Princess shoot toward the garden.

The Princess opened fire. There was a loud explosion, followed by a large tree branch broke and fell down. She stuck out her tongue and said, “How fierce!”

Wei Xiaobao said, “You take one, I take the other, the two guns were originally a pair.”

The Princess sighed and said, “Two guns, one female one male, sleeping side by side inside this wooden case, how intimate is that? As soon as you separate them, both will be alone and very desolate. I don’t want it, you keep them together.” When saying that, she recalled that in the end, the Emperor’s decree could not be altered. Her desire to marry Wei Xiaobao was eventually an empty word.

Wei Xiaobao held her in his arms and gently comforted her, he whispered some frivolous words into her ears. Listening to the intense emotion, the Princess could not stop her cheeks from blushing red, and she giggled happily. Wei Xiaobao gently undressed her and pulled the brocade quilt over her naked body. He thought, “Why haven’t the big traitor’s subordinate lighted the fire yet? It would be best if when they rush in here to search, they found the Princess to be stark naked. Then the Princess would break out in anger.”

He sat on the bed, caressing the Princess’ cheeks gently, while raising up his ears to listen to the activity outside. The Princess was breathing heavily, she said in an intimate voice, “I … I want to sleep. You … you …”

They heard the gong from the garden announcing the first watch of the night. Wei Xiaobao was waiting impatiently. Suddenly the gong changed to a series of loud ‘tang, tang’, followed by a dozen people shouted, “Fire! Fire!” [Orig. ‘water flow’ or ‘flood’, see note 16 of Chapter 14, also the next occurrences in this Chapter.]

The Princess sat up with a start; she grabbed Wei Xiaobao’s neck and said with a trembling voice, “Fire?”

“Damn it,” Wei Xiaobao angrily said, “The old turtle must be setting up the fire, he wants to burn you and I, two people to death to shut our mouths, to prevent us from divulging his ridiculous talk today.”

The Princess was frightened even more. “What … what should we do?” she asked.

“Don’t be afraid,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Wei Xiaobao has a red-bellied devotion to you; even if I cannot protect my own life, I still have to protect my beloved Princess to ensure your complete safety.” He gently pried her arms from his neck, and walked toward the door. As soon as he saw people rushing in, he would get out of the Princess’ bedroom first.

But he heard the noise outside was like ‘a boiling cauldron of voices’, all around people were shouting, yelling and screaming, “Fire! Fire! Quickly protect the Princess!” Wei Xiaobao looked out the window, and saw a dozen or so people rushing in from the flower garden outside. He mused, “The big traitor’s subordinates came this quick. They must have entered Anfu Garden early on, and hid themselves around here; they rushed over as soon as they heard the fire alarm.” Turning his head toward the Princess he said, “Princess, it is not such a big fire, you don’t have to be afraid. The old turtle is here to catch some adultery.”

“Catch … catch what?” the Princess said with a trembling voice.

Wei Xiaobao said, “He must have suspected that you are good to me, hence he is hoping that he could catch us committing adultery.” Finished speaking, he pushed the door open and said, “Just lie on the bed, don’t get up, I am going to stand outside your door. If there is real fire, I will carry you out to safety.”

The Princess was very grateful. “Xiaobao,” she said, “You … you are very good to me.”

Wei Xiaobao stood outside the door for a moment, and then he raised his voice, “Everybody, protecting the Princess is most important.”

Amidst the hubbub, a captain of Ping Xi Wang Mansion guards rushed over. “Wei Jueye,” he called out, “The Garden is on fire, Shizi [Heir Apparent] has come here personally to protect the Princess.”

He saw from the northeast corner came two rows of lanterns, a group of people were coming his way. They arrived quickly; he saw that the one in the front was precisely Wu Yingxiong. Wei Xiaobao thought, “To search for that big beard Mongolian, unexpectedly the little traitor himself is leading the effort; obviously they consider the big beard to be very important. The conspiracy with Mongolia and Luocha Country, as well as the rebellion plot must be true.”

While he was still some distance away, Wu Yingxiong called out, “Is Her Highness the Princess alright?”

A guard responded, “Wei Jueye is already here to protect her.”

“That’s wonderful!” Wu Yingxiong said, “Wei Jueye, sorry for bothering you; Xiongdi can’t thank you enough.”

“Why am I bothered?” Wei Xiaobao said in his heart, “Princess and I are embracing each other intimately, was that a bother? Are you thanking me for this? In that case, you are welcome.”

In the meantime, the Imperial Bodyguards, the Valiant Cavalry Brigade chiefs under Wei Xiaobao’s command had also rushed in one after another. They were awakened from their slumber, their clothes were in disarray, some were even barefooted, some had not put on their jacket, they all looked pathetic. When they heard the fire-alarm, their first thought was: “If the Princess is burned to death, I will lose my head.” Therefore, they all rushed over.

Wei Xiaobao ordered his men to guard the perimeter of the Garden. Zhang Kangnian tugged Wei Xiaobao’s sleeve; Wei Xiaobao went with him several steps away from the crowd. “Wei Fu Zongguan [deputy chief],” Zhang Kangnian said in a low voice, “There’s something fishy here.”

“What is it?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

Zhang Kangnian replied, “As soon as there was fire-alarm, Ping Xi Wang Mansion guards jumped in over the wall from all directions [orig. four sides, eight directions]; obviously they were already prepared. With their mouths they cry out to fight the fire, but they entered every room searching for something. Our brothers shouted and scolded them to stop, but it was useless; several of us had already fought with them.”

Wei Xiaobao nodded. “Wu Sangui suspected that we know his plan,” he said, “I think he is going to rebel!”

Zhang Kangnian was shocked; he cast a glance toward Wu Yingxiong, and then with a low voice said, “Is it true?”

“Let them search,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Don’t stop them.” Zhang Kangnian nodded; quietly he passed on the order to the officers and soldiers who came from Beijing.

By this time they could see a faint blaze of the fire on the southwest and southeast corners of the Garden. A dozen or more fire hoses had already spurting water, but the water was directed to the sky; columns of water swayed in the air, it looked like a large water fountain.

Wei Xiaobao went over to Wu Yingxiong and said, “Xiao Wangye, your divine ability to predict the future is indeed very admirable. Zhuge Liang and Liu Bowen[1] of the past are definitely inferior to you.”

Wu Yingxiong was startled. “Wei Jueye is making fun of me,” he said.

“Not at all,” Wei Xiaobao said, “It is obvious that you have already predicted that tonight, at the second watch of the night, Anfu Garden was going to catch fire, and may burn the Princess to death. You decided it was not going to be fun; therefore, you have prepared everything well in advance, and kept watch outside the Garden, waiting patiently for the fire. As soon as the fire broke, you gave your command, everybody immediately jumped in to fight the fire. Ha ha … good skill, good skill.”

Wu Yingxiong’s face reddened; he said, “I did not prepare it beforehand, it was a pure coincidence. Tonight my Jiefu [older sister’s husband] Xia Guo invited me to dinner; Xiongdi was on my way home after eating and drinking, accompanied by my family bodyguards, passing by this place. We happened to see the Garden is on fire.”

Wei Xiaobao nodded. “So that’s what happened,” he said, “I remember a storyteller said: ‘In all his life, Zhuge had always been cautious’; I said: Wangye actually surpasses Zhuge Liang. I was not wrong at all. Xiao Wangye went to your Jiefu’s home to drink wine; bringing along a team of fire fighters is definitely a big plus. Were you thinking of using it here?”

Wu Yingxiong knew that Wei Xiaobao had seen through his ploy; his face turned red again as he sheepishly said, “This time of the year the wind is strong the weather is dry, it is so easy to catch fire. We’d better be a bit more careful; this is called ‘preparedness averts peril’.”

“Absolutely,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “Too bad there is one thing Xiao Wangye did not prepare.”

“Please advise,” Wu Yingxiong said.

“Next time Xiao Wangye go to your Jiefu’s home to drink wine, it would be best if you also bring a team of bricklayers and carpenters, as well as tiles and bricks, lumber, lime and nails.”

“I wonder what for?” Wu Yingxiong asked.

Wei Xiaobao said, “There might be a one in ten thousand chance that your Jiefu’s home will catch fire. The fire fighters only spurting water upwards, they are unwilling to put out the fire, unavoidably your Jiefu’s house will be burned down to the ground. Xiao Wangye can issue an order immediately to have the bricklayers rebuild your Jiefu’s multi-story home. Now that, I’ll say, is called ‘preparedness averts peril’.”

“Hey, hey, hey,” Wu Yingxiong let out several hollow laughs. He turned to a guard by his side and said, “Wei Jueye thinks the fire-fighters are not doing their best in putting out the fire. Go grab the captain and his deputy, and break their dog’s legs.” The guard complied and left.

“Xiao Wangye,” Wei Xiaobao asked, “After breaking the fire-fighter team’s captain and his deputy’s dog’s legs, which official post are you going to promote them to?”

Wu Yingxiong was startled. “Wei Jueye,” he said, “I am afraid I don’t understand your words.”

“I don’t understand either,” Wei Xiaobao said, “I thought, ‘Hey, Xiao Wangye will have to build two more big prisons, so that he can promote these two, the captain and his deputy, to be the wardens’.”

Wu Yingxiong’s countenance changed; he thought, “This kid is indeed formidable. Lu Yifeng became the Hei Kanzi prison’s warden, unexpectedly you also knew.” Pretending to be oblivious of this matter, he laughed and said, “Wei Jueye is indeed very good in making jokes, no wonder His Majesty is very fond of you.” While in his heart he made up his mind, “As soon as I am back, I will send someone to get rid of Lu Yifeng; let this kid finds that the dead cannot testify.”

Soon afterwards, one after another the Ping Xi Wang Mansion guards returned to report that the fire did not spread too far, and that gradually the fire was dying down. Wei Xiaobao listened carefully as these people were giving their report, but he could not detect any code word. He noticed that as Wu Yingxiong listened to each person’s report, he did not seem pleased; apparently he knew that Hantiemo had not been found yet. He was wondering if there is a secret signal. Looking at these people’s expression as they gave their report, he did not see anything out of ordinary either.

Suddenly he saw an officer rushed over and reported that the fire intensity had increased and that it seemed to be heading their way; it would be best if the Princess was to be awakened and alerted of the fire. Wu Yingxiong nodded.

Wei Xiaobao was standing on the side; he did not seem to be paying any attention, but actually he watched closely the guard’s expression and posture. He noticed that Wu Yingxiong was looking down toward the guard’s right thigh. Wei Xiaobao followed his gaze, and saw that the guard had the thumb and index finger of his right hand formed a circle, which he placed by his knee. Wei Xiaobao immediately understood, “Turns out two fingers make a circle means they have not found Hantiemo; they do not use any code word at all.”

“Wei Jueye,” Wu Yingxiong said, “The fire is heading this way, we’d better ask the Princess to move her sacred self. If the Princess is frightened, we are guilty and deserve ten thousand deaths.”

Wei Xiaobao knew that Ping Xi Wang Mansion guards had looked everywhere and did not find Hantiemo. In the Garden, the Princess’ bedroom was the only room they had not searched. Since they already started, they might as well continue to the end; hence they wanted to also search the Princess’ bedroom. Wei Xiaobao could not help but was enraged. In that instant, his childish behavior flared-out, he raised his right hand with thumb and index finger forming a circle, and waved it in front of Wu Yingxiong’s face several times.

As soon as he saw this signal, naturally Wu Yingxiong was shocked; the countenance of his subordinates the guards also changed greatly. “Wei … Wei Jueye,” he stammered, “This … what is the meaning of this?”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Are you saying that you don’t understand the meaning of this signal?”

---

[1] Zhuge Liang (181-234), military leader and prime minister of Shu Han during the Three Kingdoms period, the main hero of the fictional Romance of Three Kingdoms, where he is portrayed as a sage and military genius. Liu Bowen (1311-1375), general under the first Ming emperor Zu Yuanzhang, also has a reputation as a military genius.

[foxs]

Wu Yingxiong composed himself and said, “This signal … this signal … um, I got it. That’s a copper coin. Wei Jueye is saying that you want silver and copper coins before the Princess can move her sacred self.”

Wei Xiaobao mused, “The little traitor’s brain actually can move very quickly.” Thereupon he laughed without saying anything.

Wu Yingxiong laughed and said, “About the silver and copper coins, we are brothers, naturally we can talk over everything.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “Since Xiao Wangye is so generous, let me thank you on behalf of our brothers here. Xiao Wangye, about the moving of Princess’ sacred self, please handle it yourself.” After a chuckle, he continued, “You are husband and wife, you can talk over everything. In the middle of the night, it is inappropriate for Xiao Jiang to enter the Princess’ bedroom.” He continued in his heart, “So that you can see for yourself whether that Mongolian big beard is in the room or not.”

Wu Yingxiong hesitated slightly, and then he nodded, pushed the door open and entered the outer hall. He stopped in front of the bedroom door and spoke in a loud and clear voice, “Subject Wu Yingxiong is here to supervise and lead the fighting of the fire, and to protect the Princess. Currently the fire is spreading this way; would Princess please move, so that we can guarantee your complete safety?”

A moment later they heard a gentle and charming grunt from the inside, “Mm.”

Wu Yingxiong thought, “Although you and I have not officially married, I am the prince consort, it has been officially declared. Right now it is an emergency, by coming into your room, I cannot be considered overstepping my boundary. If I don’t investigate clearly this time, in the end it won’t be appropriate. Except me, other people should not enter your bedroom.” Thereupon he shoved the door open and entered.

Wei Xiaobao and a hundred or so Imperial Bodyguards, Valiant Cavalry officers and Ping Xi Wang Mansion guards were waiting outside the room. A long time passed, they did not hear anything from inside. After another while, they started to ‘you look at me, I look at you’, a smile started to appear on their eyes and on the corner of their mouths; everybody had the same thought, “This betrothed couple has never seen each other, suddenly they met inside the Princess’ lady chamber; it must be a romantic meeting. I wonder what they are talking about. Would Xiao Wangye embrace the Princess? Would he hold her in his arms? Would he kiss her?”

Wei Xiaobao was the only one consumed by jealousy; although he knew that Wu Yingxiong’s real intention was to look for Hantiemo, and it was unlikely that at this time he was in the mood to be intimate with the Princess, but he also knew that the Princess was a loose woman who could do anything. Whether she was intimate with Wu Yingxiong willingly or not, it would be very difficult to tell.

Suddenly they heard the Princess screamed, “You dare to be rude? You … you … stop! Get out, now!”

Outside, the people looked at each other, some giggled. They all thought, “Xiao Wangye cannot bear not to make his move.”

They heard the Princess screamed again, “You … you must not … must not take off my clothes. Get out! Aiyo! Help! Help! This man is raping me! He rapes me! Help! Help!”

Everybody could not help but was amused; they thought that Wu Yingxiong was overly anxious, he was also too brazen. Although the Princess would be his wife eventually, they had not yet married; how could he act rashly like that? Several military officers could not refrain from letting out an audible laugh. The Imperial Bodyguards looked at Wei Xiaobao, waiting for his signal, whether they should protect the Princess or not. They all thought, “This fellow Wu Yingxiong is raping the Princess. Although he is rude, in the end it is a private affair between them, husband and wife. If we as the servants rashly intervene, we will definitely invite trouble for ourselves.”

Wei Xiaobao’s heart was pounding madly, “This little traitor is so shrewd, how could he fool around like this? Could it be … could it be that he really wants to harm the Princess?” Thereupon he called loudly, “Xiao Wangye, please get out quickly; you must not offend the Princess.”

The Princess suddenly screamed, “Help!” Her voice was extremely sad and shrill.

Wei Xiaobao was shocked; he waved his hand and shouted, “Forgive my offense, this is an emergency.” And then he rushed into the room. Several Imperial Bodyguards and the Mansion guards followed behind him.

They saw the bedroom door was opened wide, the Princess curled in the corner of the bed, her body was covered in embroidered quilt, a snow-white leg was exposed outside the quilt, both her arms were bare, it was clear that she was naked. Wu Yingxiong’s naked body was lying on the floor, motionless. The lower part of his body was bloody; his right hand was grasping a short blade. Seeing this scene, everybody was shocked and was momentarily at a loss. The Mansion guards hastily went over to Wu Yingxiong to see whether he was dead or still alive. They checked for breath, and found that he was still breathing, his heart was also still beating, he was merely fainted.

The Princess cried and said, “This man … this man is rude to me … Who is he? Wei Jueye, quickly arrest him and kill him.”

“He is the Prince Consort Wu Yingxiong,” Wei Xiaobao said.

“No, no, he is not,” the Princess cried out, “He tore off my clothes, then he took off his own clothes, he raped me … This bad guy, quickly kill him.”

The Imperial Bodyguards were angry, the Emperor sent them on a mission to protect the Princess. The Princess was the current imperial younger sister, her noble body was like golden branch, jade leaves, yet this fellow Wu Yingxiong had humiliated her like this. It could be said that they failed in their duty.

The Mansion guards looked awkward; deep in their hearts they were ashamed. There were several astute and competent men among them, these people thought that since things had come to this, if they could find Hantiemo inside the Princess’ room, perhaps they could make a false counter-charge against the Princess, or at least they could somehow deny the accusation or gain a little bit of leeway. Thereupon they busied themselves, pretending to administer first-aid to Wu Yingxiong, while actually they were looking everywhere, including underneath the bed, but how could they find any sign of Hantiemo’s?

Suddenly, one of the Mansion guards cried out, “Shizi … Shizi’s lower body … lower body …” Wu Yingxiong’s lower body was drenched with blood, everybody could see that, but at first they thought it was due to his rudeness toward the Princess. But now after they heard the man’s cry, they all looked at his lower body. They saw the blood was still gushing out, apparently he was injured. The Mansion guards panicked; those with metal cut medication in their possession busily tried to apply it on his wound.

Wei Xiaobao shouted harshly, “Wu Yingxiong is rude to the Princess, he committed grave offense by greatly disrespectful toward her. Arrest him first, we’ll present a memorial to the Emperor, let His Majesty decide on his punishment.” The Imperial Bodyguards complied at once, they rushed forward to pull Wu Yingxiong up.

The Mansion guards had heard with their own ears, and seen with their own eyes, that Wu Yingxiong was indeed being rude to the Princess; they simply could not deny it. Hearing Wei Xiaobao, they all groaned inwardly, “Bad, really bad!” Nobody had the heart to offer the slightest resistance. A Mansion guard bowed and said, “Wei Jueye, please show mercy. Shizi is injured, we are asking Wei Jueye to allow Shizi to return to the Mansion and have his wound treated. Our Wangye will be most grateful. Shizi is definitely guilty, but we ask the Princess to be magnanimous. Wei Jueye, please plead on his behalf.”

Maintaining a wooden expression Wei Xiaobao said, “This kind of grave offense, we do not dare to conceal it from His Majesty, who would dare to plead on his behalf? Let’s talk it over outside; we all gather inside the Princess’ bedroom like this, where are our manners? How can there be such thing?”

The Mansion guards repeatedly bowed in agreement, they carried Wu Yingxiong out. The Imperial Bodyguards also withdrew, leaving the Princess alone with Wei Xiaobao.

The Princess suddenly smiled, she beckoned Wei Xiaobao to come over. Wei Xiaobao came to the bed, the Princess wrapped her arms around his shoulder, and whispered in his ear, “I castrated him.”

Wei Xiaobao was shocked. “You … you what?” he asked.

The Princess blew softly into his ear, she laughed in low voice and said, “I pointed the gun to him, forcing him to strip naked, and then using the gun handle I gave his head a knocking, so that he passed out, and then I cut his loathsome thing. From now on, he can only be my eunuch, he can’t be my husband.”

Wei Xiaobao found it amusing, but was also shocking. “You brazenly fool around like that, the disaster you brought is not small.”

“What disaster?” the Princess said, “I did this wholeheartedly for your sake. If I marry him, our marriage would be a fake marriage. In short, I simply cannot let you wear a green cap and be a turtle [i.e. someone whose spouse was cheating].”

Wei Xiaobao’s mind was churning, but this matter was indeed too far beyond his expectation, he did not know how to deal with it.

The Princess continued, “The rape and the rude treatment are all fake, but when I screamed and yelled, you heard it from the outside, didn’t you?” Wei Xiaobao nodded. The Princess smiled and said, “And so, what are we afraid of? Even is Wu Sangui is angry, he only knew that his own son is no good.”

Wei Xiaobao heaved a deep sigh. “If he died because of your cut, then what should we do?” he asked.

“How could he die because of my cut?” the Princess said, “There are several thousand eunuchs in our Palace, which one died because of the cut?”

“Alright,” Wei Xiaobao said, “You will stick to your statement: he was raping you, he took the knife to force you, in your desperate struggle to resist him, you reached out to push him. He had the knife in his hand, and he was stark-naked. One pushing the other wielding, he cut himself.”

The Princess buried his head inside the embroidered quilt to stifle her laughter. “That’s right,” she said in a low voice, “Let’s say it that way: he cut himself.”

Wei Xiaobao went out of the bedroom, and told the Imperial Bodyguards in low voice how with a knife in his hand Wu Yingxiong had threatened the Princess, how the Princess desperately fought to resist him, how in the struggle Wu Yingxiong had castrated himself. The Imperial Bodyguards were shocked and amused at the same time; they all said that Wu Yingxiong’s lust had reached the heavens, hence what happened to him was a retribution well-deserved. There were several of Wu Yingxiong’s guards still lingered around to find out what had happened; they stood on the side and eavesdropped, ashamed look appeared on all their faces.

With such a major event going on in the Anfu Garden, the Mansion guards quickly extinguished the fire, then they flew back to report to Wu Sangui, while at the same time summoning a physician to treat Wu Yingxiong’s injury. The Imperial Bodyguards immediately spread the news about the root cause of Wu Yingxiong’s injury, so that even all the Mansion guards also agreed unanimously that it was because their Heir Apparent was being rude to the Princess.

Inevitably they added some oil and soy paste to the story; some said that they heard it when the Heir Apparent ripped the Princess’ clothes, some described how the Heir Apparent coerced the Princess with the knife in his hand. As for how the Heir Apparent finally got castrated, each storyteller narrated it with ‘living spirit, living image’: how the Heir Apparent put the knife on the Princess’ neck, how the Princess struggled to fight him, how she pushed the Heir Apparent’s hand, how the knife slipped and what a bad luck for him. All kinds of circumstances were described as if they were witnessing it with their own eyes. They were telling the story with gusto, their spittle splattered everywhere, their hands and feet were flailing; the audiences were dumbfounded, and did not stop nodding their heads.

Less than an hour later, Wu Sangui obtained the urgent report; he jumped onto his horse and flew to the Garden, and immediately kowtowed in front of the Princess’ bedroom to beg for forgiveness. Flustered and exasperated, he repeatedly said, “The guilt deserves ten thousand deaths!”

Wei Xiaobao stood by his side, showing concerns. “Wangye, please rise,” he said, “Let Xiao Jiang come in to probe the Princess’ mood.”

Wu Sangui took out emeralds, jade and pearls from his bosom, stuffed it into Wei Xiaobao’s hand, and said, “Wei Xiongdi, Xiao Wang was in a hurry, I did not have time to grab some banknotes; please kindly divide these jewels to the Imperial Bodyguard brothers. In front of the Princess, please urgently request an audience.”

Wei Xiaobao returned the jewels to him and said, “Wangye, please set your heart at ease. As long as it is within Xiao Jiang’s power, I will definitely do my best; for the time being I cannot accept Wangye’s gift. In all honesty, this matter is simply too big, I don’t know what it is that the Princess has in mind. Ay, this Princess is hot tempered and proud, she is ‘three-chaste nine-upright’ [i.e. exemplary in remaining faithful to one's husband until death], a virgin who is pampered and spoiled since childhood, that even the Empress Dowager and His Majesty also yielded to her thirty-percent of the time. Shizi is indeed … indeed a bit too daring.”

“Yes, yes,” Wu Sangui said, “Wei Xiongdi, please speak to the Princess, I must have an audience with her.”

Wei Xiaobao nodded, his expression was serious, he walked toward the Princess’ door and said in a loud and clear voice, “Reporting to the Princess: Ping Xi Wangye personally came to apologize for the offense, would Princess remember he is an old minister who has rendered great merit, and deal with him leniently.”

Wu Sangui said in a low voice, “Yes, yes! The old minister is kowtowing in here, would Princess deal with me leniently.”

After half a day, they still heard nothing from the Princess’ room. Wei Xiaobao repeated his words. Suddenly they heard crashing noise, sounded like a stool fell down to the floor. Wei Xiaobao and Wu Sangui looked at each other in bewilderment. They heard a palace maid screamed, “Princess, Princess, you must not commit suicide!”

Wu Sangui was so frightened that his face was drained of any color; he thought, “If the Princess really killed herself, although right now everything is not completely ready, I will have no choice but to deploy the troops to stage a rebellion immediately. How can I face the charge of hounding the Princess to death?”

He heard several palace maids were wailing inside. A palace maid came out hurriedly and said with a cry, “Wei … Wei Jueye, Her Highness the Princess hanged herself on the beam, you … you come quickly and help … help her …”

Wei Xiaobao hesitantly said, “The Princess’ bedroom, it is inappropriate for us as the servants to come in.”

Wu Sangui lightly pushed his back and said, “Act according to special circumstances, rescuing the Princess is more important.” Turning toward a Mansion guard, he said, “Quickly summon the physician.” Finished speaking, he gave another push on Wei Xiaobao’s back.

Wei Xiaobao scrambled inside. He saw the Princess was lying on the bed, surrounded by seven, eight palace maids who were weeping around her. Wei Xiaobao said, “I know internal energy, I can help resuscitate the Princess.”

The palace maids stepped aside. The Princess’ eyes were tightly closed, her breathing was weak, and there was really a strip of red mark on her neck. A piece of rope was hanging from the beam, the other half of the rope was lying by her head, and an overturned stool was lying on the floor. Wei Xiaobao laughed inwardly; he thought, “What a performance! This Princess who loves to fool-around blindly is actually not an idiot.” He rushed to the bed and stretched his finger to pinch the ‘renzhong’ [human center] acupoint on her upper lip heavily.

The Princess moaned and slowly opened her eyes. “I … I don’t want to live,” she said vehemently, but weakly.

“Princess,” Wei Xiaobao said, “You are a thousand-gold lady, you have to come to accept an unpleasant fact. Ping Xi Wang is kowtowing outside, begging for your forgiveness.”

The Princess cried and said, “You … you tell him to quickly kill that evil man.”

[foxs]

Blocking the palace maids’ eyes with his body, Wei Xiaobao put his hand inside the quilt and pinched the Princess’ waist a little. The Princess struggled hard not to laugh; she grabbed his arm and ferociously dug her fingernails in his flesh, as she wailed, “I don’t want to live, I … how am I going to conduct myself from now on?”

Outside the room, Wu Sangui heard the Princess’ cry faintly; learning that her attempt to kill herself was unsuccessful, he could not refrain from heaving a deep sigh. And then he heard her cry, ‘how am I going to conduct myself from now on’, he thought, “I can’t really blame her for getting angry. Young husband and wife fighting with each other using spear or saber is not a big deal, they might injure the other anywhere. It’s just a real bad luck that the knife happened to cut right there. Even if Yingxiong is healed in the future, the Princess will only be a living widow for the rest of her life. Presently we must strive to cover this matter up, and not let it be widely known.”

Half a day later, Wei Xiaobao came out of the room, he did not stop shaking his head. Wu Sangui hastily stepped forward and asked in a low voice, “What did the Princess say?”

“She is not going to die,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “But the Princess is unyielding, if she is determined to do something, she won’t listen to anybody’s advice, she would definitely try to kill herself again. I already instructed the palace maids to wait upon her well, and not to leave her side even for half a step. Wangye, I am afraid she would take poison.”

Wu Sangui’s countenance changed. He nodded and said, “Yes, yes. We must guard against that possibility.”

“Wangye,” Wei Xiaobao said in a low voice, “If by any chance the Princess met any unexpected misfortune,while Xiao Jiang was sent by the Emperor to protect the Princess, this little life of mine will be difficult to protect. If that ever happened, Wangye, you must arrange a way out for me.”

Wu Sangui shivered with fear. “What way out?” he asked.

Wei Xiaobao said, “I can’t tell you anything right now, I only hope that the Princess will be safe and sound, everybody will be happy. But her life is her own, if she really wants to die, we may be able to prevent her for three, four days, but we can’t stop her for ten days of half a month. Xiao Jiang has a selfish intention: I only hope that the Princess would marry into your Mansion sooner, so that Xiao Jiang will be relieved of my responsibility for the most part.”

Wu Sangui was secretly delighted. “In that case, let us have the wedding immediately,” he said, “My son is creating the trouble, he was rushing and thus resulting in this disaster. Wei Xiongdi is doing your best to maintain order, Xiao Wang is deeply grateful, I won’t possibly add another burden on Wei Xiongdi’s shoulder.” Lowering his voice, he said, “I just don’t know if the Princess is still willing … willing to be married?” He was thinking, “My son has become a useless person, I just hope that the Princess’ age is young and her experience shallow, she does not understand the matter between men and women yet. The cutting just now, she might not necessarily understands where the knife landed. She will get married confused and ignorant, the timber has turned into a boat, she will have nothing to say. Who knows? Perhaps she still thinks that all men in the world are like that.”

Wei Xiaobao also lowered his voice, “The Princess is young, she does not understand this kind of matters. She is a respectable person, she won’t say anything.”

Wu Sangui was greatly delighted; he mused, “Heroes usually agree [i.e. great minds think alike].” But then he immediately thought, “Damn it, what kind of hero is this kid anyway? How can he discuss things with me on equal terms?” He said, “Yes, yes, let’s do it. What happened just now, it’s not that we dare to conceal it from His Majesty, but the Lord of Ten-thousand Year has to deal with ten thousand different matters daily, he is taking care of the affairs of the nation, and is extremely busy. We, as the servants, are loyal to our master and love our country, we must not increase His Majesty’s concerns. The Empress Dowager and His Majesty treasure the Princess; if they hear this kind of matter, they might not be happy. Wei Xiongdi, being government officials, the secret of our success is to report only the good news, not the bad news.”

Wei Xiaobao patted his chest and flicked his own hat; he said magnanimously, “Hereafter Xiao Jiang will rely on Wangye to train me to get promotion. In this matter, I will stake my own little life in handling it according to Wangye’s instruction.” Wu Sangui repeatedly expressed his thanks. Wei Xiaobao said, “However, there are many people who witness this scandal tonight, if someone else reveals the secret, you can’t hold Xiao Jiang responsible.”

“Naturally,” Wu Sangui said. But in his heart he had already formulated a plan: he was going to dispatch his troops and horses, disguised as robbers, deep inside Guangxi to set an ambush. When Wei Xiaobao’s delegation returned to Beijing, he would have them all massacred. Guangxi was Sun Yanqing’s territory. His wife Kong Sizhen was the daughter of Kong Youde, the Ding Nan Wang [King who stabilized the South]. The Empress Dowager had taken her as her adoptive daughter, and bestowed her the title of Heshuo Gege [Hoxud or Xoshut Keke (princess, Manchu word)]; she was the darling of the Imperial Court. Let Kong Sizhen deal with the criminal charge of disturbance within her territory, robbers killing government officials within her jurisdiction.

Although Wei Xiaobao was quick-witted, he could not match Wu Sangui’s rigorous scheme and deep foresight. Seeing Wu Sangui was deep in thought, he still thought that Wu Sangui was worried over this matter might leak out; he laughed and said, “Wangye, don’t worry. Xiao Jiang will do my best to restrain my subordinates, I will order them not to speak thoughtlessly or make irresponsible remark.”

Wu Sangui said, “Today Wei Xiongdi has helped me with this major problem, it’s not enough to thank you with gold, silver and jewels. But the officers and men under Wei Xiongdi’s command is not a few, to close their mouths, you must let Xiao Wang do my best to send my regards. As soon as I am home, I will send someone to deliver it to you.”

“Let me thank you very much then,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “I wonder how is Shizi’s condition; let us go take a look, I hope his injury is not so serious.” Wu Sangui and Wei Xiaobao went to visit Wu Yingxiong.

The physician knitted his brows. “Shizi’s life is not in danger,” he said, “It’s just that … it’s just that …”

Wu Sangui nodded and said, “His life is not in danger, that’s good.” Afraid that Wei Xiaobao might detain his son, he ordered the Mansion guards to immediately escort the Heir Apparent back to the Mansion to recuperate. He personally kept Wei Xiaobao busy, to prevent him from changing his mind. It was not before Wu Yingxiong finally left Anfu Garden did he take his leave.

Wei Xiaobao thought, “When the little traitor regains his consciousness, he will definitely tell what has really happened, but what’s the use? Who would believe a golden-branch-jade-leaves Princess would castrate her own husband for no reason at all? I would think that even the big traitor himself would not easily believe him, most likely he would give his son a severe scolding.” He also thought, “When the Princess is married, during our way back to Beijing, I must spend a lot of effort with Ah Ke.”

Returning to his quarter, Xu Tianchuan, Xuanzhen, and the others had already obtained the news, nobody did not clap their hands to express their delight. Wei Xiaobao did not wish to tell them the truth, he asked them how their visit to the brothel was. The warriors told them that everything went smoothly according to their plan. Wei Xiaobao thought that tonight an important matter had just happened, if they dispatched troops to return to the Capital right away, the big traitor would definitely suspect that they were going to report to the Emperor. Therefore, it would be best if they waited until things had calmed down before they sent the Mongolian big beard out.

After a flustered night, the warriors were about to withdraw, suddenly the Imperial Bodyguard Zhao Qixian rushed toward the door and said, “Reporting to Fu Zongguan [deputy chief]: Ping Xi Wang is attacked by an assassin!”

Wei Xiaobao was shocked. “Assassinated?” he busily asked, “Who is the assassin?” He did not want Zhao Qixian to see the Tian Di Hui warriors in his room very late at night, hence he went outside the door and asked again, “The big han[1] … big … did Ping Xi Wang die?”

“He did not,” Zhao Qixian said, “I heard he only suffered light injury. The assassin was arrested on the spot, turned out … turned out she is a palace maid serving the Princess.”

Wei Xiaobao was even more shocked. “Palace maid serving the Princess?” he asked, “Which one? Why would she want to assassinate Ping Xi Wang?”

“I don’t know the details,” Zhao Qixian replied, “As soon as subordinate obtained the news that Ping Xi Wang was attacked by the assassin, I rushed here to report.”

“Go quickly, investigate clearly and report back to me,” Wei Xiaobao said.

Zhao Qixian complied and left. He had just taken a few steps when Zhang Kangnian walked in in quick steps; he said, “Reporting to Fu Zongguan: the palace maid assassinated Ping Xi Wang is called Wang Ke’er.”

Wei Xiaobao’s head spun; he said with a trembling voice, “She … she … why did she do that?” Wang Ke’er was Ah Ke’s alias, it was the character ‘Ke’ [珂] divided into character ‘Wang’ [王] and character ‘Ke’ [可].

Zhang Kangnian said, “Ping Xi Wang has brought her back to the Mansion, saying that he would personally interrogate her: who was the mastermind behind the attack.”

As soon as Wei Xiaobao heard that his beloved was arrested, his mind was in chaos, he could not think anymore.

Zhang Kangnian said, “Everybody says, who else would send her? This Wang Ke’er is only a sixteen, seventeen years old girl, she must be very loyal to the Princess, seeing that Princess was humiliated until she wanted to kill herself, she must be very upset, and thus she went to avenge the Princess to vent off her anger.”

In the darkness of his mind, Wei Xiaobao suddenly saw a spark of light. “Right, right,” he busily said, “That must be it. Such a beautiful young girl, what enmity might she have against Ping Xi Wang? Even if we wanted to assassinate Ping Xi Wang, we would not send a young girl like her.”

Zhao Qixian and Zhang Kangnian looked at each other; they thought, “Wei Fu Zongguan must be confused; why would we want to send anybody to assassinate Ping Xi Wang?” Zhang Kangnian said, “I think Ping Xi Wang also did not suspect anybody else. If this matter were known, who would gain from it? Most likely he would quietly send someone to kill this palace maid, and be done with it.”

“She must not be killed, she must not be killed,” Wei Xiaobao said with a trembling voice, “If he killed her, laozi will fight him to the death, I will fight with that old turtle, the big traitor, ‘white blade coming in, red blade coming out’.”

Zhao and Zhang, two men, looked at each other again; they were doubting in their hearts, “Could it be that Wei Fu Zongguan is angry because the Princess was humiliated, and he sent this palace maid to assassinate?” The two of them stood with hands hanging by their sides, they did not dare to say anything.

“What should we do? What should we do?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

Seeing he seemed to be not in his right mind and was extremely anxious, Zhang Kangnian comforted him, “Wei Fu Zongguan, this matter is indeed a big trouble, but if we report to His Majesty and have the main offender investigated, it is still Wu Sangui, father and son, who are in the wrong. Raping the Princess, what was he thinking? Besides, Wu Sangui did not die. Even if he investigated who incited the assassination, we can categorically deny that we do not know the person; he can’t do anything.”

Wei Xiaobao shook his head with a bitter laugh, “I swear it was not me who incited her,” he said, “We are brothers, could I be concealing the truth from you?”

Zhao Qixian and Zhang Kangnian were relieved instantly; they heaved a deep sigh together. “It’s easy then,” Zhao Qixian said, “We’ll say that we are asleep, we feign ignorance, and that’s that.”

“No, can’t do,” Wei Xiaobao said, “I am afraid I will have to brother two Dage: please take my visiting card to Ping Xi Wang, tell him that Wang Ke’er has offended Wangye, which is major offense, and that I am enraged. But she is the Princess’ personal palace maid, I am asking Wangye to hand this little girl to you, let me make a report to the Princess, and have her flogged heavily to vent Wangye’s anger.”

Zhao and Zhang, two people complied and left. They both felt that Wei Xiaobao was a bit superfluous; it would be better to have Wu Sangui kill this palace maid quietly, ‘the gods do not know, the ghosts are not aware’, everybody’s happy.

Wei Xiaobao hurriedly went to Jiu Nan’s room. When he pushed the door and went in, he saw she had just finished meditating and was still sitting on the bed; he said, “Shifu, do you know that Shijie … Shijie … about Shijie?”

“What about her?” Jiu Nan asked, “Why are you so flustered?”

“Shi … Shijie … she … she went to assassinate the big traitor,” Wei Xiaobao said, “But she … she was caught.”

Rays of light flashed in Jiu Nan’s eyes. “Did she kill him?” she asked.

“She did not,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “But … but Shijie was caught by him.”

“Humph,” Jiu Nan snorted. There was a disappointment on her face. “What a useless thing,” she coldly said.

Wei Xiaobao felt strange; he mused, “She is your disciple, and she is caught by the big traitor, yet you don’t seem to care?” But after thinking it over, he understood. “Shifu,” he said, “You have a way to rescue Shijie, don’t you?”

Jiu Nan stared at him; she shook her head and said, “I do not. She is such a useless thing!”

Along the way, Wei Xiaobao had noticed that his master was always cold and indifferent toward this martial sister, she did not seem to love her dearly, in fact, she did not treat her as well as she treated him. However, even if Shifu did not like her, I, Wei Xiaobao, liked her like crazy. He anxiously said, “The big traitor is going to kill her. I am afraid by this time he has already had her flogged that she is hovering between life and death; he wanted to … to find out who incited her.”

“It was me who incited her,” Jiu Nan coldly said, “If the big traitor has the ability, let him come to deal with me.”

Jiu Nan sent her disciple to assassinate Wu Sangui, Wei Xiaobao was not the least bit surprised. She was the former Ming Dynasty’s Emperor Chongzhen’s daughter, Wu Sangui was the person who delivered the Great Ming’s rivers and mountains on a platter, naturally she hated this man to her bones. Even she herself had tried to assassinate Kangxi on Mount Wutai. But Ah Ke’s martial art skill was mediocre, Wu Sangui had countless martial art experts as his guards by his side. Even if the assassination succeeded, it would be difficult for her to escape. Shifu sent her on this kind of mission, wouldn’t it be clear that she wanted her to deliver her own life?

Wei Xiaobao had myriads of doubts and suspicions in his heart, yet he did not dare to ask her openly. He said, “Shijie will never confess it was Shifu who sent her.”

“Is that so?” Jiu Nan said, and closed her eyes.

Wei Xiaobao did not dare to ask anything anymore, he went out of her room.

Since Zhao and Zhang, two people, went to Wu Sangui to ask for Ah Ke, he did not expect them to return quickly. He paced back and forth in the hall, until the sky gradually brightened. Three times he sent some Imperial Bodyguards to see if there was any news, but none of them came back to report anything. Finally he could not bear it anymore, selecting a squad of Valiant Cavalry sergeants, he personally led them toward to Ping Xi Wang mansion. About three li from Ping Xi Wang Mansion, he stopped at the Fa Hui [lit. Dharma wisdom/intelligent] Temple, and sent several Imperial Bodyguards ahead to find any news.

About the time needed to eat a meal later, he heard the urgent sound of hooves, Zhang Kangnian galloped over and reported to Wei Xiaobao: “Subordinate and Zhao Qixian went to see Ping Xi Wang under Fu Zongguan’s order. All along Wangye did not receive us. Zhao Qixian is still waiting outside the door.”

Wei Xiaobao was anxious and angry at the same time. He stomped his foot and cursed, “Damn it, Wu Sangui is putting on air!”

Zhang Kangnian said, “He is a king holding power over a territory; in the world, other than His Majesty, he is the most powerful. He is not willing to see us, lowly Imperial Bodyguards, this is a very normal occurrence.”

---

[1] ‘Han jian’ literally means ‘traitor to China (i.e. Han people)’, I usually just simplify it to ‘traitor’. Here Wei Xiaobao was going to say ‘da han jian’.

[foxs]

Wei Xiaobao angrily said, “I will personally come to see him. All of you come with me!” Wei Xiaobao turned his head toward a Valiant Cavalry Zuoling [company commander], “Call all of our troops, have them ready outside Wu Sangui’s doghouse, waiting for my order.” The Company Commander accepted the order and left.

When Zhang Kangnian and the others heard the order, they all panicked; looking at Wei Xiaobao’s flustered and exasperated appearance, it seemed to them that Wei Xiaobao was determined to go into conflict with Wu Sangui. But Ping Xi Wang’s troops and horses were numerous, while the people escorting the Princess from Beijing to Yunnan was only a little over two thousands men. If a war broke, perhaps in less than an hour they would all be decimated.

“Wei Fu Zongguan,” Zhang Kangnian said, “You are an imperial envoy, a high-ranking minister, you received His Majesty’s order to come to Kunming. Whatever happens, you must talk it over with him. Ping Xi Wang can’t possibly not give you any face. In your subordinate’s opinion, there is no harm in us coming slowly.”

“Damn it,” Wei Xiaobao angrily said, “What ‘thing’ is Wu Sangui anyway? If we are coming slowly, he would kill my w … kill Wang Ke’er, and then who’s going to save her?”

Looking at his hasty words and stern countenance, Zhang Kangnian did not dare to say anything anymore; he thought, “Killing a palace maid, what’s the big deal? She is not your Meizi [younger sister], why would you want to mobilize the entire force to go to war?”

“Get the horse, get the horse!” Wei Xiaobao repeatedly called. He turned around and jumped onto his horse, and galloped away toward Ping Xi Wang mansion. Seeing the minister, the imperial envoy’s arrival, the guards at the gate busily welcomed him and escorted him into the main hall, while a guard rushed inside to report.

Xia Guoxiang and Ma Bao, two Zongbing [Regional Commander] went out to meet him. Xia Guoxiang was Wu Sangui’s son-in-law, the head of the ten Zongbing under Wu Sangui’s banner. After saluting Wei Xiaobao, he said, “Wei Jueye, it may be assumed that you have already obtained the news that Wangye was attacked by an assassin. Wangye’s injury is not light, he is unable to personally welcome you, please forgive his offense.”

Wei Xiaobao was shocked. “Wangye is injured?” he asked, “Didn’t they say he was not injured?”

With concern all over his face, Xia Guoxiang said in low voice, “The pit of Wangye’s stomach was stabbed by the assassin’s sword, the wound is about three, four cun deep …”

“Aiyo!” Wei Xiaobao exclaimed in shock, “That’s terrible.”

With knitted brows Xia Guoxiang said, “Whether Wangye can … can come out alive this time, right now it is still very difficult to say. We are afraid that the people’s hearts will be shaken, hence we did not announce it; we only said that he is not injured at all. Wei Jueye is one of us, naturally we must not conceal anything from you.”

“I want to visit Wangye,” Wei Xiaobao said.

Xia and Ma, two people looked at each other. Xia Guoxiang said, “Let Xiaoren show the way.”

Arriving at Wu Sangui’s bedroom, Xia Guoxiang said, “Yuefu [father-in-law], Wei Jueye is here to visit you, Senior.”

They heard Wu Sangui groaned behind the curtain several times, but he did not say anything. Xia Guoxiang lifted up the mosquito net. Wu Sangui was frowning with clenched teeth, as if he was suppressing the pain. There were splatters of blood on the quilt and the mattress. His chest was bandaged, from which blood did not stop seeping out. Two physicians were standing by the bed, with knitted brows and worried look on their faces.

Wei Xiaobao did not expect Wu Sangui’s injury to be this heavy. The anger that was filling his heart vanished into thin air in an instant; he could not help but was deeply anxious. He did not care whether Wu Sangui would live or would die, but if he died from his injury, it would be much more difficult for Wei Xiaobao to save Ah Ke. “Wangye,” he asked in a low voice, “Is your wound very painful?”

Wu Sangui let out some ‘he, he’ groans, he opened his eyes, there was no luster in them at all. “Yuefu,” Xia Guoxiang said said, “Wei Jueye is here to visit you, Senior.”

“Aiyo, aiyo,” Wu Sangui groaned several times, “I … I won’t make it. You … go kill Yingxiong … Yingxiong, that little animal. It was he … he who brought me to my death.”

Xia Guoxiang did not dare to reply; he gently laid down the curtain, and went out the room with Wei Xiaobao. As soon as they were outside, Xia Guoxiang covered his face and cried, “Wei Jueye, Wangye … Wangye … won’t make it. All his life the Senior displayed utter loyalty to his country, but he will end up succumbing to this fate. Really … really the Emperor of Heaven does not bless a good man.”

Wei Xiaobao said in his heart, “Display fart loyalty to his country! The Emperor of Heaven does not bless the big traitor, that is indeed the heaven’s law and earth’s principle.” He said, “Xia Zongbing, in my opinion, although Wangye’s injury is heavy, he won’t die for certain.”

“Thank the Heaven and thank the Earth,” Xia Guoxiang said, “If only it will be as Jueye’s golden mouth said. But I wonder how did you know?”

“I can tell fortune by looking at someone’s facial features,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “Wangye’s appearance is unspeakably noble. In the future, his status will be a hundred times better than it is today. This time he will definitely not die.”

Wu Sangui was a Qin Wang [see note 14, Chapter 30], governing all military and civil affairs of two provinces, Yunnan and Guizhou. In term of order of feudal nobility, he had already reached the top, his government official rank was also already at the extreme point. Wei Xiaobao said that in the future his status would be a hundred times better than today; other than the Emperor himself, who would have a status a hundred times better than Ping Xi Wang?

As soon as Xia Guoxiang heard this, his countenance changed greatly. “The Emperor’s benevolence is vast and mighty,” he said, “Our Wangye’s rank and nobility has already reached the peak, he cannot rise higher than he currently is. I just hope that as Wei Jueye’s golden mouth said, the Senior will turn misfortune into blessing, from death back to life.”

Wei Xiaobao saw his look; he thought, “Wu Sangui is going to rebel, nine out of ten you already knew; otherwise, when I said that he will rise a hundred times higher, why would you look that scared? I might as well scare him some more.” Thereupon he said, “Xia Zongbing, please set your heart at ease; I look at your facial feature, your appearance is also unspeakably noble. Someday I might ask you for much promotion, for much improvement.”

Xia Guoxiang bowed and cupped his fists; he said respectfully, “Imperial Envoy Daren words are too heavy. Daren has strived to encourage me, Xiao Jiang will be loyal and dedicate myself to the service of my country; I do not dare to bear Imperial Envoy Daren’s high hope for me.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Hey, hey, you are doing well! Your Heir Apparent becomes the Prince Consort, he is bestowed the titles Shao Bao [young protector] and Taizitaibao [tutor to the crown prince] simultaneously. In the past, Yue Fei, Grandfather Yue, who routed the Jin army at the Zhuxian town, massacred the Jins and drove them scared shitless, was only bestowed the title Shao Bao. Only by being the Princess’ husband one would reap this kind of benefit. Xia Zongbing, you are doing well!” They were talking while walking out.

Xia Guoxiang was so scared that the palms of his hands were wet with cold sweat; he thought, “Listening to this kid, it looks like he knew that my father-in-law wants to be the emperor. Could it be … could it be that this matter has leaked out? Or perhaps this kid does not know the immensity of heaven and earth and just casually talking rubbish?”

When they reached the winding corridor, Wei Xiaobao halted his steps and asked, “The assassin who attacked Wangye, did you catch him? Who is he anyway? Who sent him? Was it the remaining evil element of the previous Ming? Or perhaps Mu Family people?”

“The assassin was a woman,” Xia Guoxiang replied, “Her name is Wang Ke’er. Someone talked nonsense … that she is a palace maid serving the Princess. Xiao Jiang does not believe it, most probably she pretended to be a palace maid. Imperial Envoy Daren, please understand, Xiao Jiang is almost certain that this person was sent by the Mu Family.”

Suddenly Wei Xiaobao was frightened, he groaned inwardly, “Not good! They do not dare to offend the Princess, hence falsely accuse Ah Ke as Mu Family people, so that they could execute her at will. This is terrible!” He said, “Wang Ke’er? The Princess indeed has a palace maid serving her by the name Wang Ke’er. The Princess likes her very much, she would not allow her to leave her side even for a short time. Isn’t this girl about seventeen, eighteen years old, slim, and very pretty?”

Xia Guoxiang hesitated. “Xiao Jiang’s mind was occupied solely by Wangye’s injury, I did not pay any attention to the assassin at all. If this woman did not impersonate a palace maid, then she must have used fake name. Imperial Envoy Daren, please think: if this woman surnamed Wang is really the Princess’ favorite palace maid, then she must have received Princess’ instructions; she must be well-educated and understand propriety, gentle and obedient, how can she go and assassinate Wangye? It does not make any sense.”

The more he asserted that the assassin was not a palace maid serving the Princess, the more Wei Xiaobao was frightened. With a trembling voice he asked, “Have you … have you executed her?”

“Not yet,” Xia Guoxiang replied, “We want to wait for Wangye to heal and recover completely, then he can interrogate her in person to ascertain who is the mastermind behind the assassination.”

Wei Xiaobao was relieved. “Take me to see the assassin,” he said, “Whether she is a real palace maid or a fake one, I will know as soon as I see her.”

Xia Guoxiang said, “We do not dare to toil Imperial Envoy Daren’s honorable self in this matter. This woman is definitely not a palace maid serving the Princess. There are many rumors floating outside, Daren need not pay any attention.”

Wei Xiaobao’s countenance sank; he said, “Wangye was attacked by an assassin, his injury is very heavy, supposing there is ‘three-long two-short’ or ‘two-short three-long’[1], nobody would escape the responsibility. When I return to Beijing, His Majesty will definitely ask me in details what happened, who was the assassin, who was the mastermind? If I don’t see it clearly with my own eyes, and His Majesty raises the question, how am I going to respond? Could it be that you want me to talk nonsense? This guilt of deceiving our lord, naturally I cannot take it upon myself. Xia Zongbing, hey, hey, I am afraid neither can you.”

As soon as he brought up the Emperor’s name, Xia Guoxiang did not dare to disobey anymore. “Yes, yes,” he repeatedly said, but did not move a single step.

Wei Xiaobao’s face showed his displeasure. “Xia Zongbing always uses all sorts of excuses, what trick are you playing?” he said, “If you have any trick, or prepare some trap, there is no harm in bringing it on, let’s see if I, the one surnamed Wei, can handle it or not.”

Because his beloved was captured, he believed unfortunate fate was more likely to befall her than a fortunate one; in his anxiety, in his speech he unexpectedly did not give Xia Guoxiang any leeway, the hypocritical façade of the officialdom was completely ripped down.

Xia Guoxiang anxiously said, “How can Xiao Jiang dare play any trick on the Imperial Envoy Daren? It’s just that … it’s just that I really have some difficulties.”

“Is that so?” Wei Xiaobao coldly said.

Xia Guoxiang said, “I am being honest to the Imperial Envoy Daren, our Wangye has always been very strict to his subordinates. Xiao Jiang is the Senior’s son-in-law, Wangye is twice as strict toward Xiao Jiang, so that the other subordinates cannot say behind his back that Wangye is unfair.”

Wei Xiaobao smiled and said, “You are his son-in-law, but you do not make a good use of your position. I heard Wangye’s queen is called Chen Yuanyuan, the number one beauty under the heavens. Our Great Qing’s rivers and mountains have strong connection with Chen Wangfei [wife of a king]. Your mother-in-law has a ‘bashful flower obstructing the moon’ appearance, naturally your wife also has a ‘fish sink, goose alights’ appearance[2]. If you want to take full advantage of your position as the son-in-law, you only need to look at your mother-in-law several times more often, lick your father-in-law’s behind several times more often, you are not doing too bad …”

“Xiao Jiang’s wife …” Xia Guoxiang started, but Wei Xiaobao cut him off, he said happily, “As the saying goes: when the mother-in-law sees the son-in-law, her saliva is dripping greedily. In my opinion, however, your mother-in-law is such a beauty, the saying must be reversed: when the son-in-law sees the mother-in-law, he swallows his saliva into his tummy. Ha ha, ha ha …”

Xia Guoxiang looked awkward; he thought, “This kid talk’s rubbish, the way he speaks is just like a marketplace hoodlum, there is not even half a point of high-ranking official’s manners.” He said, “Xiao Jiang’s wife is not Chen Wangfei’s daughter.”

Wei Xiaobao sighed, “What a pity, what a pity. Your luck is not good.” His countenance sank as he said, “I want to interrogate the assassin, yet you are talking about this and that, even steered the conversation toward your mother-in-law. Hey, hey, it’s really strange.”

Xia Guoxiang’s anger was rising, but he maintained a respectful expression as he said, “Imperial Envoy Daren wants to interrogate the assassin, nothing can be better than that. Imperial Envoy Daren’s one question surpasses a hundred questions, a thousand questions of ours; but I am afraid Wangye … Wangye …”

“Wangye what?” Wei Xiaobao angrily said, “He won’t allow me to interrogate the assassin?”

“No, no,” Xia Guoxiang hastily said, “Imperial Envoy Daren must not misunderstand; if Daren can look at the assassin and investigate her background, our Wangye can only be grateful to you, he will not detain you, absolutely. Please forgive Xiao Jiang for being bold, I have something to say, and ask that Daren not to take offense.”

Wei Xiaobao stomped his foot and said, “Ay, you are always humming and hawing, there is not the least bit of real man’s lofty quality. You must be kneeling in front of your wife’s bed a lot. Speak up! Speak up!”

Xia Guoxiang cursed in his heart, “Your surname Wei’s eighteen generation ancestors are b@stards.” He said, “I am only afraid that if by any chance the assassin is indeed a palace maid serving the Princess, when Daren sees her, you would take her away, and then when Wangye wants to see her, Xiao Jiang cannot hand her over; that … that would be terrible.”

Wei Xiaobao mused, “This fellow is very crafty indeed; he wants me to promise in advance that I will not take the assassin away. Your granny, this assassin is my dear wife; how can I let you bully her?” He laughed and said, “But you said the assassin is definitely not the Princess’ palace maid, why worry?”

“That was Xiao Jiang’s guess,” Xia Guoxiang said, “As for the actual fact, actually I am not clear myself.”

“So you won’t allow me to take the assassin away?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

“I do not dare,” Xia Guoxiang replied, “Would Imperial Envoy Daren please sit down in the hall and make yourself comfortable, let Xiao Jiang report to Wangye, and then Imperial Envoy Daren may discuss this matter with Wangye later. If Wangye is angry, he cannot blame Xiao Jiang.”

Wei Xiaobao said in his heart, “Turns out you are afraid your father-in-law might spank your bottom, you don’t dare to take on the responsibility.” He let out a ‘hey, hey’ laugh, and said, “Alright, go and report. But let me tell you this: I don’t care if Wangye is asleep or awake, I want you to come back to me immediately. Your Wangye’s health is important, our Princess’ life or death is not a trivial matter either. After Her Highness the Princess was bullied by your Heir Apparent, I don’t know her condition right now, I must hurry back to check on her.” He was afraid Wu Sangui was still unconscious and was not awake, and thus Xia Guoxiang would stay by his bed and did not come out again.

Xia Guoxiang bowed and said, “I definitely do not dare to harm Imperial Envoy Daren’s business.”

“Humph,” Wei Xiaobao snorted. “This is your business, not mine,” he said with a cold laugh.

However, after Xia Guoxiang went in, it was quite a while before he came out again. Wei Xiaobao lost his patience, he repeatedly stomped his feet.

---

[1] Three-long two-short ( 三长两短 ) is an idiom means ‘unexpected misfortune/accident’.

[2] An idiom from Zhuangzi: female beauty captivating even the birds and beasts.

[foxs]

“Wangye is not awake yet,” Xia Guoxiang said, “Xiao Jiang was afraid Imperial Envoy Daren is waiting anxiously, as soon as I finished my report, without waiting for Wangye’s instruction I came out to serve Imperial Envoy Daren to examine the assassin. Imperial Envoy Daren, please.”

Wei Xiaobao nodded, and followed him inside. After passing through several winding corridors, they arrived at a garden. He saw several dozen guards with weapons in their hands, patrolling back and forth; the garden was heavily-guarded.

Xia Guoxiang led him toward a rock garden, where he showed a golden arrow banner of command to the military officer guarding in front of it. “Wangye’s order,” he said, “I am here to serve the Imperial Envoy Daren to examine the assassin.”

The military officer checked the arrow banner of command, bowed and said, “Imperial Envoy Daren, please. Zongbing Daren, please.” As he stepped aside to let them pass.

Xia Guoxiang said, “Let Xiao Jiang show the way.” And he entered into the cave in the rock garden.

Wei Xiaobao followed in. Only several steps later, he saw a large iron door. Two armed-guards stood on either side of the door. Turned out this rockery was the entrance to a dungeon. They walked through three such doors in succession; the path was sloping down. Finally they arrived in front of a small room. There were thick iron bars in front of the room, behind the bar a young girl was sitting on the floor, with both hands holding her head, she was sobbing quietly. There were several oil lamps hanging on the wall, illuminating the room with its pale yellow light. Wei Xiaobao rushed forward; with both hands gripping the iron bars, he focused his eyes on the young girl.

Xia Guoxiang shouted, “Stand up, Imperial Envoy Daren has some questions for you.”

The young girl turned her head around, the lantern light shone on her face. Wei Xiaobao’s and the girl’s four eyes met, “Ah!” both exclaimed in shock. The girl immediately stood up, the shackles on her hands and feet created clanking noise. “How … how did you get here?” she asked. They were both utterly amazed.

Wei Xiaobao would never expect that this girl was not Ah Ke at all; rather, she was the Mu Family’s Xiao Junzhu [young princess, see note 1 of Chapter 10] Mu Jianping.

After calming himself down, he turned his head around to ask Xia Guoxiang, “Why is she locked up in here?”

“Daren knows the assassin?” Xia Guoxiang asked, “Is she … is she really a palace maid who serves the Princess?” His shock was not below Wei Xiaobao and Mu Jianping’s.

Wei Xiaobao asked, “Is she … is she the swordsman who assassinate Wu … assassinate Wangye?”

“That’s right,” Xia Guoxiang said, “This woman has a gargantuan nerve, she dares to commit this kind of crime, rebelling against the Emperor. In the end, who sent her? Would Daren please interrogate her clearly?”

Wei Xiaobao was slightly relieved. “Turns out it’s a big misunderstanding,” he thought, “The assassin who tried to kill Wu Sangui is not Ah Ke; actually, it’s the Mu Family’s Xiao Junzhu. Her father was killed by Wu Sangui. She tried to assassinate him, obviously it is to avenge her father. It’s not surprising at all.” He asked Xia Guoxiang again, “Did she say that her name is Wang Ke’er? And that she is a palace maid serving the Princess?”

Xia Guoxiang said, “After we captured her, we asked her name, surname and origin, as well as who sent her here. But she was unwilling to say anything. However, someone recognized her as the palace maid Wang Ke’er; I don’t know whether she is or she isn’t. We ask Daren to verify.”

Wei Xiaobao pondered, “Xiao Junzhu is captured, I have to try to save her. She is also my wife, I must not be partial.” He said, “Naturally she is a palace maid serving the Princess. Princess is very fond of her.” While saying that, he signaled Mu Jianping with his eyes. “Why did you assassinate Ping Xi Wang?” he asked, “Don’t you want your little life anymore? Who sent you? Quickly confess, otherwise you will suffer.”

Mu Jianping boldly said, “Wu Sangui is a big traitor to Han people, he acknowledge the criminal as his father, he handed over the Great Ming’s rivers and mountains to the Tatars. Among all Han people, which one does not wish to take his life? I only feel sorry that I failed to kill this traitor.”

“Little servant girl!” Wei Xiaobao pretended to be angry, “You dare to disregard the law and natural morality. You have lived in the Palace so long, unexpectedly you did not understand any rules and regulations, you dare to speak such treason and heresy? Aren’t you afraid you might lose your head?”

Mu Jianping retorted, “You have lived in the Palace a lot longer than I have, what rules and regulations do you know? If I am afraid of losing my head, I would not come to Kunming to kill that big traitor Wu Sangui.”

Wei Xiaobao took a step forward and shouted, “Quickly confess, who sent you to assassinate? Who else is your conspirator?” While talking, he curled his right thumb, and waved it several times toward his back, indicating that Xiao Junzhu should implicate Xia Guoxiang. His body was covering his thumb; since Xia Guoxiang was standing behind him, he did not see Wei Xiaobao was making signals with his finger and his eyes.

Mu Jianping caught his signals; pointing to Xia Guoxiang, she loudly said, “My conspirator is him! He was the one who sent me here.”

Xia Guoxiang was enraged. “Rubbish!” he shouted.

“You still want to deny?” Mu Jianping said, “You told me to assassinate Wu Sangui. You said that Wu Sangui is extremely evil, everybody hates him to the death. You said … you said that after I assassinated Wu Sangui, you would … you would …” She did not know Xia Guoxiang’s status, plus she was not good in telling lies, hence momentarily she was at a loss.

Wei Xiaobao prompted, “He would be promoted and gain wealth, and hereafter nobody would beat him or curse him?”

“That’s right!” Mu Jianping said loudly, “He said that Wu Sangui often beats him, scolds him, and is very ruthless to him. In his heart he resents it very much; he had always wanted to personally kill Wu Sangui, but … but he didn’t have the guts to do so.” Xia Guoxiang was cursing and yelling, but Mu Jianping did not pay him any attention.

“Be careful of what you say!” Wei Xiaobao shouted, “Do you know who this general is? He is Ping Xi Wang’s son-in-law Xia Guoxiang, Xia Zongbing. Although Ping Xi Wang often beats him, scolds him, it was for his own good.” While saying that, he raised his thumb in front of his chest, indicating that he approved of what she said.

Mu Jianping continued, “This Xia Zongbing told me that as soon as Wu Sangui is dead, he himself will be the Ping Xi Wang. He said that whether the assassination is successful or not, he would let me go, that he would not let me suffer the least bit of suffering. But he actually locked me up in here. Xia Zongbing, I have obeyed your order, I have finished the mission, when are you going to let me go?”

Xia Guoxiang was extremely angry; he thought, “This stinky girl originally did not know me, it was this kid who told her. This muddleheaded kid is playing a joke with laozi in order to save you. Turns out the two of you know each other; I really did not expect it.” He shouted, “If you keep talking nonsense, I’ll beat you until your skin is broken and your flesh lacerated, you are hovering between life and death.”

Mu Jianping was scared; she did not dare to say anything anymore. She thought that if Wei Xiaobao failed to save her, this military officer would definitely deal with her maliciously.

Wei Xiaobao said, “Whatever you want to say, there is no harm in you saying it. This gentleman, Xia Zongbing is my good friend. If it is really he who incited you to assassinate Ping Xi Wang, you can honestly tell me, I will not reveal it to anybody.” While saying that, he repeatedly signaled with his eyes.

Mu Jianping said, “But he … he is going to beat me to death, I don’t dare to speak.”

“In that case,” Wei Xiaobao said, “What you said earlier was the truth.” He sighed, took several steps back, and shook his head.

Xia Guoxiang said, “Daren please understand: rebellious-thief slanders senior official is a common occurrence, naturally you must not take her seriously.”

Wei Xiaobao hesitantly said, “You are not wrong. However, Ping Xi Wang is usually very strict toward Xia Zongbing; Xia Zongbing resents him very much, hence you wanted to kill the old man, your father-in-law. I am afraid a little girl like her cannot fabricate baseless rumor like that. After Ping Xi Wang is completely healed from his wound, I will try to persuade him, so that the two of you, father-in-law and son-in-law, will not become … become water something and fire something.”

Previously, when Xia Guoxiang heard Mu Jianping slandering him, although he was angry, he did not care too much, because his achievement, riches and honor, everything was actually bestowed by Ping Xi Wang; nobody would believe that he would conspire against him. However, if Wei Xiaobao really brought this matter up in front of Ping Xi Wang, his father-in-law might think that he was harboring a grudge, and that he complained to an outsider about it. For the past few years his father-in-law was short-tempered; he dealt with his subordinates even more strictly. If he heard this kind of talks, very likely Xia Guoxiang would suffer some misfortune. Thereupon he hastily said, “Wangye has always treated Xiao Jiang with extreme benevolence, he treated me just like his own son, Xiao Jiang is very grateful to him. Imperial Envoy Daren absolutely must not say such thing to Wangye.”

Seeing Xia Guoxiang was very anxious, Wei Xiaobao smiled and said, “People do not wish to harm the tiger, the tiger wants to harm people. Biting the hand that feeds him is not uncommon in the world. Ping Xi Wang treats me pretty good, I must warn him to be vigilant, so that he won’t fall into his own people’s evil scheme. Ping Xi Wang has strong soldiers and sturdy horses, with countless martial art experts to guard him; if there is any outsider wanting to harm him, how could he succeed? However, inside thief is difficult to guard against, if one of his own people is backstabbing him, I am afraid he cannot dodge it.”

The more Xia Guoxiang heard it, the more frightened he was. He knew perfectly well that Wei Xiaobao was simply making it up, with the sole intention to save this young girl. But Ping Xi Wang tended to be overly suspicious of everything and everybody. Just a few days ago his own brother Wu Sanmei walked into the rear hall but forgot to take the saber hanging on his waist off. He personally tore the saber off and reprimanded him severely. If Wei Xiaobao ever mentioned anything like ‘outside enemy easy to resist, inside thief difficult to guard against’; granted that Ping Xi Wang might not believe him, but these words would plant a root in his heart, and then Xia Guoxiang’s future advancement might be greatly hindered. Thereupon he said in a low voice, “Imperial Envoy Daren’s advice on my promotion and future advancement, Xiao Jiang will forever never dare to forget your, Senior’s great kindness and great benevolence. If Daren has any order, Xiao Jiang will go through water and tread on fire, will not decline under any circumstances. Even if it involves huge responsibility, Xiao Jiang will do my best to accomplish it.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “I was just giving you food for thoughts. What this little girl said, the Heaven knows, the Earth knows, you know, I know, plus the little girl herself knows, a total of three people. Actually, you should have killed her early on to close her mouth, nice and clean. But now the words have entered my ears; if you want to eliminate potential informants, then you must kill me as well. I have Imperial Bodyguards and troops and generals under my command, right now they are already on guard against this matter, several thousand people are waiting outside the Mansion. If you kill me, you will still find it difficult to overcome this matter.”

Xia Guoxiang’s countenance changed; he bowed with cupped fist and said, “Xiao Jiang will never dare to do that.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Since you cannot kill us to shut our mouths, sooner or later Ping Xi Wang will hear about this matter. Xia Zongbing, you are the leader of the ten Great Regional Commanders, plus you are the Ping Xi Wang’s son-in-law; I am afraid among the other nine Regional Commanders, as well as other civil and military officials of the Mansion, there are quite a few people are jealous of you [orig. ‘drinking your vinegar’]. As the saying goes: When you open the door, among the seven ingredients: firewood, rice, oil, salt, soy, vinegar and tea[1], there bound to be a few people who drink vinegar, and add some oil and soy paste. As soon as this rumor is leaked, even for a little bit, Ping Xi Wang’s ears will not be peaceful. Everybody will speak malicious words about you on the Senior’s ears, adding firewood and straw to it, and fan it into flame. Ping Xi Wang is injured; in his illness, how can his temper be good? This … this … ay!” While saying that, he continuously shook his head.

Wei Xiaobao was merely speculating, yet Xia Guoxiang thought that this kid really understood my Mansion’s affair clearly; the number of people who are jealous of me was indeed not a few. He said, “Daren gives Xiao Jiang food for thought, Xiao Jiang can’t thank you enough, but I wonder what should I do?”

“This problem is actually very difficult to solve,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Alright, let me carry some of the responsibility, just hand it over to your friend here. Give this little girl to me, I will take her away, and say that the Princess wants to personally interrogate her.” Lowering his voice, he whispered into Xia Guoxiang’s ear, “Tonight, I will kill her, and announce that she prefers death than confessing her crime; she is tortured, cannot endure it, and thus she meets her fate. Won’t that mean we turn big matter into small, small mater into nothing, clean and clear?”

Xia Guoxiang had already expected that Wei Xiaobao would say those words; he cursed in his heart, “Damn it, muddleheaded stinky kid, you want to save this girl, yet you make it as if you are doing me a favor, that you, the stinky kid, are helping me avoiding big problem. But how did you know this little girl? It really surprises me.” He asked, “Daren, could you confirm again: is she a palace maid serving the Princess? A while ago Xiao Jiang interrogated her, but she does not seem to know the Princess’ appearance and age, as well as general situation around the Palace.”

“She is unwilling to implicate the Princess, naturally she intentionally did not answer your questions correctly,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “This girl is loyal to the Princess, plus she did not fail Xia Zongbing’s great trust. Very good, very good.”

Xia Guoxiang understood that once again Wei Xiaobao was turning this matter around and put the blame on his head; he hastily said, “Daren’s ingenious plan is indeed brilliant. Would Daren please put in writing that you order Xiao Jiang to hand over the prisoner, so that Xiao Jiang can give account for it in front of Wangye?”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and cursed, “Damn it, laozi is totally illiterate, what hand order or foot order[2] is there to write?” Puting his hand into his pocket, he drew a short gun and said, “This is a gift from your Wangye. Take it and show it to Wangye, tell him that I am under the Princess’ order to take the prisoner away. This gun is the proof.”

Xia Guoxiang received the gun with both hands, and put it inside his pocket. He went out and came back with two military officers; he ordered them to open the iron bars, and removed the shackle on Mu Jianping’s feet, but left the handcuffs binding her hands. Xia Guoxiang grabbed the iron chain of the manacles and dragged her out of the Mansion’s gate, where he handed the iron chain over to Wei Xiaobao. He also gave the key to the handcuffs to him, and said in a loud voice, “Imperial Envoy Daren receives Her Highness, the Princess’s order to take the prisoner away for questioning. Everybody must guard the prisoner carefully, don’t let her escape.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed. “Are you afraid that I would deny taking the prisoner from you?” he said, “Everybody here has seen it, they all have heard it. I cannot deny it even if I wanted to.”

Xia Guoxiang bowed and said, “Daren is making fun of me. Xiao Jiang does not have that intention.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “Go tell Wangye, I am very concerned about the Senior’s well-being, I will come back tomorrow to pay my respect and wish him well.”

Xia Guoxiang bowed again and said, “I do not dare.”

Wei Xiaobao took Mu Jianping back to Anfu Garden, straight into his room. He bolted the door, and asked with a giggle, “Good wife, what has actually happened?”

Mu Jianping’s little face turned deep red from embarrassment; she angrily said, “We have just met and nothing good coming out of your mouth?” She raised her hands, the iron chain of the manacles made ‘ding ding dang dang’ noise. She said, “Remove this thing first, and then we’ll talk.”

---

[1] These seven substances are considered life’s daily necessities in ancient China.

[2] The phrase ‘written order’ is actually ‘shou yu’, with ‘shou’ means ‘hand’.

[foxs]

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “I have to enjoy some intimacy with you first. As soon as the handcuffs are removed, you won’t be willing.” While saying that, he wrapped his arms around her slender waist and embraced her.

Mu Jianping was greatly anxious. “You … you are bullying me,” she said.

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Alright, I won’t bully you. You can bully me.” He put his cheek toward her lips and touched it gently, and then taking out the key given by Xia Guoxiang, he unlocked the handcuffs. He pulled her to sit side-by-side with him on the bed before he finally asked her about the story behind Wu Sangui’s assassination.

Mu Jianping said, “Hong Jiaozhu and Madame were very delighted to receive the thing that you sent; they let me take the antidote, so that the poison in my body is neutralized. They sent the Scarlet Dragon Vice Envoy to take me here to see you, so that you will work for them loyally. Madame said that Jiaozhu and Madame knew that you missed me, therefore … therefore …”

Wei Xiaobao grabbed her hand and said, “Therefore they sent you here to become my wife?”

“No, not that,” Mu Jianping anxiously said, “Madame said that they were afraid in your heart you were anxious about me, and would not be able to do your work in peace. She really did not say anything else.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “Madame must have said it, you are simply concealing it from me.”

Mu Jianping said, “If you don’t believe me, when you see Madame later, you can ask her yourself.”

Wei Xiaobao saw that she was so anxious that her eyes were brimming with tears; afraid that she would cry because of his teasing, he said warmly, “Alright, alright. Madame did not say that; but what about you? Don’t you miss me? Didn’t you want to see me?”

Mu Jianping turned her head away and nodded gently. Wei Xiaobao said, “What about the Scarlet Dragon Vice Envoy? Why did you assassinate Wu Sangui?”

“We arrived at Kunming three days ago,” Mu Jianping replied, “We wanted to see you right away, but unexpectedly we met my Gege and Liu Shifu outside the western gate.”

“Ah,” Wei Xiaobao exclaimed, “Your Gege and Liu Shifu are in Kunming? I did not know that.”

Mu Jianping said, “Ao Shige, Liu Shige, and the others have also arrived; only Wu Shishu did not come because he fell sick. Everybody has arrived at Kunming to set up a mission to assassinate Princess Jianning.”

Wei Xiaobao was shocked. “Assassinate Princess Jianning?” he asked, “But why? The Princess has never offended your Mu Family.”

“According to my Gege,” Mu Jianping said, “We want to topple the big traitor Wu Sangui, and right now we saw a very good opportunity. The Tatar Emperor is giving his Meizi in marriage to Wu Sangui’s son; if we can assassinate the Princess, the Emperor would definitely blame Wu Sangui for not protecting her satisfactorily. If an imperial decree was issued to chastise him, most probably Wu Sangui would be compelled to rebel.”

Listening to this, the palm of Wei Xiaobao’s hands were wet with cold sweats. He thought, “This plan was very malicious. I was so engrossed in scheming against Wu Sangui that I did not think of protecting the Princess well. If the Mu Palace struck first and gained the upper hand, I would be in a terrible mess.” He asked, “And then what happened?”

Mu Jianping said, “My Gege told me to dress as a palace maid to get close to the Princess and assassinate her. They were waiting outside to provide support. As soon as I succeeded, they would get me out. The Scarlet Dragon Vice Envoy heard their plan, he told me that since the White Dragon Envoy is in charge of protecting the Princess; if we killed the Princess, perhaps you would be implicated. I thought that he was right, and I wanted to discuss it with you. Unexpectedly Liu Shifu found out about it, he killed the Scarlet Dragon Vice Envoy with a chop of the saber.” Speaking to this point, her body trembled slightly; obviously she was recalling the circumstance at that time, and still had lingering fear.

Wei Xiaobao held Mu Jianping’s hands tightly and comforted her, “Don’t be afraid, don’t be afraid. You did that for my sake, I appreciate that very much.”

Mu Jianping’s tears trickled down her face; sobbing and sniffling she said, “But … but when you saw me, you bullied me, and … and you did not believe me.”

Wei Xiaobao lifted her hand and slapped it on his own face. “Scoundrel, you deserve to die, I’ll kill you, you son of a wh0re!” he cursed himself.

Mu Jianping hastily pulled his hand and said, “No, I don’t want you to beat yourself, to curse yourself.”

Wei Xiaobao lifted her hand again and gently slapped it on his own cheek; he said, “Wei Xiaobao still deserves to die. Your good wife, the dear little precious thing from Mu Family was caught by Wu Sangui, why didn’t you rescue her earlier?”

“Haven’t you rescued me out?” Mu Jianping said, “But we must think of a way to also save Gege and Liu Shifu.”

Wei Xiaobao was slightly startled. “Your Gege and Liu Shifu are also captured?” he asked.

“The night before last,” Mu Jianping told him, “The place where we stayed was suddenly surrounded by Wu Sangui’s guards. There were so many of them, there were more than twenty among them with superior martial art skill. We were only a few, and were overwhelmed by sheer numbers. Ao Shige was killed on the spot. My Gege, Liu Shifu and I were captured by them.”

Wei Xiaobao sighed and said, “Ao Shixiong was killed by the big traitor; what a pity, what a pity.” He also asked, “After you were captured, how did you manage to assassinate Wu Sangui?”

“Assassinate Wu Sangui?” Mu Jianping asked, “I did not. Naturally I wanted to kill the big traitor, but … but those evil men put me in fetters and handcuffs, how can I assassinate him?”

The more Wei Xiaobao listened, the more surprised he was. “You were captured the evening of the day before yesterday?” he asked, “Where were you in the last two days?”

“I was always locked up in a dark room,” Mu Jianping said, “Just today they took me to be locked up in that dungeon. Not too long afterwards, you came in.”

Wei Xiaobao had a nagging feeling in his heart that something was wrong; clearly he had fallen into Xia Guoxiang’s big trap, but as for what actually went wrong, he could not say. After hesitating for a moment, he asked, “Today Wu Sangui was assassinated, he received quite a heavy injury; was it you who assassinated him?”

“Of course not,” Mu Jianping replied, “I have never seen Wu Sangui. Will he die?”

Wei Xiaobao shook his head, “I don’t know,” he said, “Have you ever told them your identity or background?”

“I have not,” Mu Jianping replied, “I did not say anything. The military officer who interrogated me was very mad; he asked me whether I was mute. Wei Dage, you have also said that I was a mute.”

Wei Xiaobao gently kissed her cheek; he said, “You are my dear little mute. I also said that I was going to carve a little turtle on your face.”

Mu Jianping was shy and delighted at the same time, her eyes were brimming with tenderness, but she did not dare to turn her head to look at him. But Wei Xiaobao was too busy thinking to notice, “Why did Xia Guoxiang want Xiao Junzhu to pretend to be a palace maid? Right, he must be testing me, whether I knew Mu Palace people or not. This time I rescued Xiao Junzhu, it was a clear indication that we belong to the same group. He spread a trap, and luring me to tread on it and fall into it. This time laozi was not careful and has fallen into his trap. This is bad; this is really bad. Now that laozi is in this big mess, what is my next step to get out of this mess?”

Although he was sharp-witted and crafty, when all is said and done, he was still young. In dealing with a really important matter, he was not Wu Sangui, Xia Guoxiang, those extremely sly old traitors’ match. His heart was anxious, his body was drenched in sweats. “My dear good wife,” he said, “Please wait here, I must discuss with other people how we are going to rescue your Gege and Liu Shifu.”

Immediately he went to the western wing. After summoning the Tian Di Hui warriors, he explained the situation clearly. As soon as Xu Tianchuan and the others heard it, they all agreed that there was something really fishy going on.

Xuanzhen said, “Could it be that Wu Sangui was able to see through our stunt of impersonating Hantiemo and have him killed?”

Qian Laoben said, “I wonder how did Wu Sangui get the information that he managed to capture the Mu Palace friends in the middle of the night?”

Wei Xiaobao’s heart was moved. “There is a fellow in the Mu Palace called Liu Yizhou,” he said, “This man harbors a grudge against me, plus his character is ‘greedy for life, afraid of death’. Most likely he was the one who disclose the information under interrogation.”

“Probably so,” Qian Laoben said, “But Wei Xiangzhu, you are the Tatar Emperor’s favorite and trusted Imperial Envoy Minister, no matter what the big traitor can’t possibly suspect you to have any connection with the Mu Palace people. There must be something else in this matter …” Knitting his brows, he pondered deeply.

Qi Biaoqing said, “My guess is that the big traitor did not suspect Wei Xiangzhu to have any connection with the Mu Palace people; it was just a coincidence.”

Wei Xiaobao busily asked, “What do you mean it was just a coincidence?”

“Most likely the one assassinating the big traitor was indeed that palace maid who served the Princess, Wang Ke’er,” Qi Biaoqing said, “Everybody said the same thing, I don’t think they are making it up.”

“Yes, yes,” Wei Xiaobao said, “That Wang Ke’er is really missing; she must have been caught by the big traitor.”

Qi Biaoqing said, “The big traitor naturally expected that the Princess would send Wei Xiangzhu to ask for her maid back. Looking at the Princess and the Imperial Envoy Daren’s faces, he won’t have any choice but to release her; but he actually is unwilling to set the assassin free. By lucky coincidence, they caught the Mu Family’s Xiao Junzhu. Hence they say that she was the assassin. When Wei Xiangzhu came to the prison and looked at her, naturally you would say that she was not Wang Ke’er. This way, Wei Xiangzhu would have your hands bound and would be unable to do anything about it.”

Wei Xiaobao slapped his thigh. “Right, right,” he said, “After all, Qi San Ge is a scholar, your thinking is very clear and logical. Even if they did not capture Mu Family’s Xiao Junzhu, they would randomly find a girl and press me to accept it, saying, ‘Imperial Envoy Daren, here is the assassin, do you, Senior, want her? If you want her, just take her away, don’t be polite. She is not a palace maid serving the Princess? That’s wonderful!’ His granny, at that time, the most laozi could say would be that the Princess is missing a palace maid, and ask them to diligently seek for her within the Kunming city walls, but I could not insist on taking the prisoner away. To their surprise, I knew the Mu Family’s Xiao Junzhu, it must be beyond their expectation. If the big traitor bring this matter up, it won’t be easy for me to dodge the question.”

“Wei Xiangzhu,” Qi Biaoqing said, “Things have come to this, you have no choice but to tough it out with Wu Sangui. Tell him that you have received the Emperor’s Imperial Edict to make friends with the Mu Family.”

Wei Xiaobao was reminded by his speech; he laughed aloud and said, “That’s right, that’s right. I released Wu Lishen and his gang, it was indeed …” But speaking to this point, he held his tongue, thinking, “His Majesty personally ordered me to release Wu Lishen and the others, but I definitely cannot tell them this.” Thereupon he changed the subject, “Although I can say that I received the Emperor’s Imperial Edict, I am afraid I cannot deceive the big traitor.”

Qian Laoben said, “To really deceive the big traitor, naturally it won’t be easy. But if Wei Xiangzhu stick to your statement that it was the Emperor’s idea, even if the big traitor do not believe it, he would not have any choice. In short, Wei Xiangzhu must not become hostile to him, wait till we are out of Yunnan Guizhou, two provinces, then we won’t have to be afraid of him.”

Xu Tianchuan nodded and said, “This is a brilliant plan. The big traitor has committed shameful deeds, inevitably he is overly suspicious, he is afraid the young Emperor would find out about his plan to rebel.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “The Mu Palace people knew very well that I am on imperial order to protect the Princess, yet they still wanted to assassinate her; indeed they did not uphold yi qi too much. If Wu Lishen, Wu Er Ge was here, he would definitely not approve.”

Qi Biaoqing said, “They knew that Wei Xiangzhu ‘live in Cao camp but his heart is in Han camp’, it’s not that he is really faithful in working for the Tatar Emperor, for this reason, they might have some misgivings in this matter. Although our Tian Di Hui made a bet with the Mu Palace, but everybody unites against a common enemy. Liu Dahong and the others have resounding reputation as real men, we simply cannot watch with folded arms and ignore them.”

However, speaking about how to save Mu Jiansheng, Liu Dahong, and the others, this matter was really not easy, the warriors could not come out with the best plan. After discussing it for a long time, Wei Xiaobao said, “I am afraid we cannot use any of these plan. I am going to see the big traitor again, then we’ll look for another opportunity.”

After the warriors were dismissed, Wei Xiaobao thought, “Perhaps Ah Ke that wife of mine did not really go to assassinate the big traitor, neither was she captured by the enemy. Perhaps it was all false report from outsiders.”

He went to Jiu Nan room, but did not see Ah Ke. “Shifu,” he asked, “Is Shijie here?”

Jiu Nan only stared at him blankly. “Has Wu Sangui released her?” she asked, “He … he knows?” When speaking the last sentence, her expression looked different, her voice was slightly trembling.

Wei Xiaobao felt strange, “Wu Sangui knows what?” he asked.

Jiu Nan was silent. A moment later, she asked, “How is the big traitor’s injury?”

“Very heavy,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “Disciple has just gone to see him, he was still unconscious, perhaps he won’t live.”

A happy expression appeared on Jiu Nan’s face briefly; immediately her brows were knitted again as she said in a low voice, “Must really let him know.”

Wei Xiaobao wanted to ask what is it that she wanted him to know, but looking at his Shifu’s grave expression, he did not dare to ask too much; he then excused himself.

In his heart, he still had a one-in-ten-thousand hope; hence he went around to inquire about Ah Ke’s whereabouts. Usually this palace maid ‘Wang Ke’er’ very rarely made an appearance, in her disguise, her beauty was well covered, hence nobody paid her any attention. All the palace maids, eunuchs and Imperial Bodyguards in Anfu Garden said that they had never seen her. An Imperial Bodyguard remarked, “Wang Ke’er? Isn’t she the palace maid who went to assassinate Ping Xi Wang? Has Ping Xi Wang released her? But I have not seen her.”

After being busy for the whole day and night, Wei Xiaobao was very tired. Returning to his room, he made some small talk with Mu Jianping, and then put his head down on the bed and fell asleep immediately.

Book note: Luodian (county) is located in central Guizhou (province), it was where Wu Sangui stationed a massive military force. Dianchi is a lake in Yunnan. Qing is a unit area, approximately 6.67 hectares (16.5 acres).

[foxs]

Chapter 32 - Breaking singing voice continued by string instrument, dancing sleeve capable of listening to prolonged guest’s boasting.
(Translated by Foxs)

LuDingJi-32.jpg

When she sang the word ‘flow’, she held the last note long, seemingly unending, while the pipa climbed higher and higher, gradually drowning the singing voice. After a moment, the pipa gradually slowing and softer, like the water trickling down a distant creek, until it finally died down.

[foxs]

The next day he went to find out about Wu Sangui’s injury. Wu Sangui’s second son came out to meet him, thanking the Imperial Envoy officer for his visit, telling him that Wu Sangui’s condition did not change, that right now he was sleeping peacefully, that it was inappropriate to disturb him. Wei Xiaobao asked about Xia Guoxiang, but was told that he was on duty leading the troops to quell a disturbance, to guard against the unrest among the people, and that there was some changes going on in the city. When asked about Wu Yingxiong’s condition, he did not give specific answer.

Wei Xiaobao had a faint feeling that there was great suspicion rising within the Ping Xi Wang Mansion, almost to the point of hostility. If he insist on rescuing Mu Palace people, it would be difficult to succeed. Rescuing Ah Ke would be more difficult than difficult. Perhaps if he stir up the Palace to resort to force immediately he would only deliver his own little life in Kunming.

Another day passed. He was having a discussion with Qian Laoben, Xu Tianchuan, Qi Biaoqing, and the others, when Gao Yanchao walked in, announcing that an old Taoist Priestess was seeking an audience. Wei Xiaobao was surprised. “Old Taoist Priestess? Why is she looking for me? Is she asking for alms?”

“Subordinate asked her the purpose of her visit,” Gao Yanchao replied, “She said she received orders to deliver a letter to the Imperial Envoy Daren.” While saying that, he presented a letter in yellow envelope.

Wei Xiaobao frowned and said, “I must trouble Gao Dage to open and look, what is written in there?”

Gao Yanchao opened the envelope and took out a piece of yellow paper, looked at it for a moment, and read, “Ah Ke in trouble …”

As soon as Wei Xiaobao heard those four words, he sprang up and anxiously said, “What Ah Ke in trouble?” The Tian Di Hui warriors did not know about Jiu Nan and Ah Ke; they all just stared at him with a blank look on their faces.

Gao Yanchao said, “That’s what’s written in this letter. It has neither a head nor a tail, and there is no signature either. It only says for you to come with the bearer, to take the trouble of visiting the writer to discuss a plan to save her.”

Wei Xiaobao asked, “Is the Taoist Priestess outside?”

Gao Yanchao has just said one sentence, “She is outside,” Wei Xiaobao had already bolted out the door.

When he reached the side room beside the front door, he saw a grey-haired Taoist Priestess sitting on a wooden bench, waiting for him. The Imperial Bodyguard on duty loudly announced, “Imperial Envoy Minister has arrived.”

The Taoist Priestess stood up and bowed to pay her respect. Wei Xiaobao asked, “Who sent you to see me?”

The Taoist Priestess said, “Would Daren please step out? You will find out at the appointed time.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “Where are we going?”

“Please come with Pindao [impoverished Taoist, referring to self],” the Taoist Priestess said, “It’s not convenient to talk here.”

“Very well,” Wei Xiaobao said, “I will come with you.” He shouted, “Prepare a carriage, saddle the horse!”

“Would Daren take the carriage?” the Taoist Priestess said, “That way we won’t alarm other people.”

Wei Xiaobao nodded. He went out the door together with the Taoist Priestess and climbed into the carriage. Afraid that it was the enemy’s trap, Xu Tian Chuan, Qian Laoben, and the other followed some distance away. The Taoist Priestess gave the direction they were to take, the carriage headed west, and went out of the western city gate. Seeing the landscape was getting more and more desolate, Wei Xiaobao was feeling slightly uneasy; he asked, “Where are we going?”

“We will arrive soon,” the Taoist Priestess replied.

After traveling for more than three li, they turned north. The road narrowed, it was barely enough for one carriage. Shortly afterwards they arrived in front of a tiny Buddhist nunnery. “We are here,” the Taoist Priestess said.

Wei Xiaobao jumped down the carriage. He saw a wooden tablet on top of the door to the nunnery. There were three characters written on the tablet, the first one was ‘Three’, the other two he did not recognize. Turning his head and taking a glance, he saw Gao Yanchao and the others in the distant, presumably they would wait around this place; thereupon he followed the Taoist Priestess into the nunnery.

He saw all around him the nunnery was untainted by even a speck of dust. The courtyard was adorned with several bushes of camellia, and a Chinese redbud tree [Cercis chinensis]. In the middle of the sacrificial hall there was an image of Guanyin [Goddess of Mercy] in white. The image’s appearance was very beautiful, in the dignified Buddhist imagery, there was thirty-percent of prettiness.

Wei Xiaobao mused, “I heard among Wu Sangui’s wife, there is one nicknamed Four-sided [or Four-Faced] Guanyin, there is also one nicknamed Eight-sided [or Eight-Faced] Guanyin. I wonder if they are really as pretty as Guanyin Pusa [Bodhisattva]. Damn it, the big traitor’s luck in love is not shallow.”

The Taoist Priestess led him to the eastern side chamber, and served him tea. Wei Xiaobao opened the teacup lid, a burst of delicate fragrance greeted his nostrils. The tea inside the cup was dark green, unexpectedly it was a freshly brewed Longjing tealeaves. He felt a bit strange, “These Longjing tealeaves were brought all the way from Jiangnan to this place, the price would be prohibitive. How can the Taoist Priestesses or Buddhist nuns in this nunnery be this ostentatious?”

The Taoist Priestess returned with a lacquered wooden tray in her hands, with assortment of eight different delicacies, arranged on white tray cloth. There was pine-nut candy, hickory cake, walnut flakes, rose cake, apricot candy, mung bean cake, lily crackers, and osmanthus scented red bayberry preserved in honey. All were Suzhou-style light refreshments, and all were exceptionally exquisite. Wei Xiaobao was not a stranger to this kind of Jiangnan delicacies, when he was at the Yangzhou brothel in the past, when the patrons arrived and the procuress [lit. female brothel keeper] wanted to entertain the guests, taking advantage when nobody was watching, he often nibbled a slice or two pieces. Unexpectedly coming across an old friend in a tiny Buddhist nunnery in Yunnan, he was very happy. “Laozi is back at the Yangzhou’s Lovely Spring Courtyard,” he mused. After serving the light refreshments, the Taoist Priestess withdrew immediately.

There was a copper incense burner on the small side table, a thin wisp of blue smoke rose up in spirals, the scent was that of precious sandalwood incense. Wei Xiaobao was familiar with this kind of scent; each time he came to see the Empress Dowager at the Palace of Compassionate and Peaceful, he would always smell this sandalwood fragrance. Suddenly he sprang up in fear. “Aiyo! Not good! Could it be that the old wh0re is here?”

He heard intermittent sound of footsteps outside the door. A woman walked in. She put her palms together toward Wei Xiaobao and said, “Nun [or Priestess, see footnote] Jijing[1] pays her respect to Wei Daren.” Her voice was clear and supple, she spoke in Suzhou accent.

The woman was approximately forty-years old, she was wearing light yellow Taoist gown, she had a beautiful face [orig. ‘like painting’], so clear and attractive that it was difficult to describe with words. In all his life Wei Xiaobao had never seen such a beautiful woman. He was holding the teacup with both hands, and was about to drink; but right now his mouth was open wide, unexpectedly he was unable to close it. In that instant he was dumbstruck and was at a loss to know what to do. The woman smiled and said, “Wei Daren, please sit down.”

“Yes, yes,” Wei Xiaobao absent-mindedly replied. His knees went soft, he plopped down into his chair, the tea in his hand splashed, the front piece of his jacket was immediately wet for the most part.

In all her life, the beautiful woman had seen many men all over the world lost their soul and dropped their spirit when they saw her for the first time, hence she was not the least bit surprised; but Wei Xiaobao was only a fifteen, sixteen years old teenager, unexpectedly he was also intimidated by her peerless glowing countenance. The beautiful woman smiled and said, “Wei Daren is young yet have great talent. I heard that in the past Gan Luo became the prime minister at the age of twelve, Wei Daren actually do not lose to him.”

“I don’t dare,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Aiyo! All those women, Xishi, Yang Guifei[2], are definitely inferior to you.”

The beautiful woman raised her sleeve to cover half of her jade cheek; she smiled sweetly, immediately hundreds of charms grew without restraint. Following which her countenance turned solemn as she said, “Xishi, Yang Guifei, they all women with cruel fate. Xiao Nuzi [little/lowly woman, referring to self] only regrets that the Heaven bestowed me with such countenance, and thus harming the common people under the heavens, making their lives miserable. Because of that I now live with the clear lantern of Buddha as my companion, persistently live in repentance. Ay, even if I strike through the wooden fish [Buddhist instrument] or chant the sutra until it rots, I still cannot redeem even one of the ten thousand sins of my past.” Speaking to this point, her eyes turned red, she could not stop the tears from flowing down.

Wei Xiaobao did not understand what she was talking about, but seeing how when she smiled the divine light was meeting and parting, how in her distress she looked so lovely and moving, he could not help but feeling compassion toward her. He did not even know her background, but the blood in his breast bubbled up, he only felt that even if his body was torn and his bones crushed for her sake, he would take it ‘as sweet as syrup’ [an idiom from the Book of Songs: to endure hardship gladly]. Striking his chest he stood up and fervently said, “Who bullied you? I will stake my life for you. Whatever difficulty you have, please feel free to hand it over to me. If I cannot deal with it, I, Wei Xiaobao, will cut my head and give it to you.” While saying that, he raised his right palm and chopped it heavily on the back of his own neck. Such a lofty spirit of a real man was indeed rare, but this time it was not the least bit superficial.

The beautiful woman stared at him for half a day; she said with a sob, “Wei Daren’s righteousness reaches the cloud in the sky, Xiao Nuzi does not know how to repay it.” Bending her knees, she suddenly kneeled down and gracefully prostrated herself in front of him.

“Not right, not right,” Wei Xiaobao called out. Promptly he also dropped down on his knees and ‘dong, dong, dong’, kowtowed to her several times, saying, “You are immortal descending into the world, Guanyin Pusa reincarnated; you deserve my kowtows.”

The beautiful woman said in a low voice, “I really don’t deserve this.” Holding out her hands, she pulled his arms and helped him up. The two of them stood up together.

Seeing several drops of tears hanging on her cheeks, sparkling and translucent like beads of pearl, Wei Xiaobao busily stretched out his sleeve and gently wiped her face. “Don’t cry, don’t cry,” he said tenderly, “Even a gargantuan problem, we will deal with it fair and square.”

Based on that beautiful woman’s age, she could be his mother. But in her appearance, manners, speech and expression, there was sweetness, charm, grace and loveliness that other people could not help but feeling tenderness and pity toward her. “Actually, why are you sad?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

The beautiful woman replied, “After Wei Daren saw the letter, you came immediately, Xiao Nuzi is really grateful …”

“Aiyo!” Wei Xiaobao exclaimed, as he slapped his own forehead, “Muddle head! It is for Ah Ke’s sake …” He stared blankly at the beautiful woman; suddenly he came into realization, “You are Ah Ke’s Mama!” he loudly said.

The beautiful woman said in a low voice, “Wei Daren is very smart. I was not going to tell you, but you have guessed correctly.”

“That was easy,” Wei Xiaobao said, “The two of you look very much alike, but … but Ah Ke Shijie is inferior to … to your beauty.”

A blush appeared on the beautiful woman’s face, her bright, smooth and white, soft skin exuded a tender pink color, as if she had just applied a layer of rouge on her jade-white face. “You call Ah Ke your Shijie?” she asked in a low voice.

“Yes,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “She is my Shijie.” Without concealing anything, he told her how he first met Ah Ke, how he was beaten by her that his arm bones were dislocated, how he did obeisance to Jiu Nan and took her as his master, how they came together to Kunming. He even told her how he adored Ah Ke, but Ah Ke did not even consider him in her eyes; all kinds of feeling and reasons, he calmly gave her a straightforward account. Only about Jiu Nan’s real identity, as well as his intention to bring Wu Sangui’s conspiracy to a bad end, which he thought the implication would be too great, he skipped completely and did not mention even a single word.

The beautiful woman listened quietly. When he finished, she sighed and said quietly, “How can a wife be involved in something of a paramount importance? A hero is helpless to overcome his passion. Young beauty is the source of trouble. The problem at hand can’t be more clear. Wei Daren has a future full of promise …”

Wei Xiaobao shook his head. “Not right, not right,” he said, “Young beauty is the source of trouble; I have heard the storytellers said the same thing, that Daji[3], Yang Guifei, were responsible for causing the harm of the nation. Actually, if there was no wretched man, no wretched emperor in the world, even if the woman was more beautiful, she can’t possibly bring the harm to the country. Everybody said that for the sake of Chen Yuanyuan, Ping Xi Wang surrendered to the Qing Dynasty. In my opinion, if Wu Sangui was really loyal to the Ming Dynasty, eighteen Chen Yuanyuan would not make his granny Wu Sangui surrenders to the Qing Dynasty.”

The beautiful woman stood up, gracefully kneeled down and bowed respectfully to him and said, “Thank you Wei Daren for seeing clearly, for distinguishing the unredressed injustice that plagued jianqie[4] for all eternity.”

Wei Xiaobao hurriedly returned the propriety. He wondered out loud, “You … you … Ah … aiyo, that’s right, I am indeed a complete muddle head. If you are not Chen Yuanyuan, where in the world would there be such … such … a beautiful woman like you? It’s just that, ay, I am more and more confused; aren’t you Ping Xi Wang’s Wangfei [wife of the king]? Why are you here living a pious life? How can Ah Ke Shijie be … be your daughter?”

The beautiful woman stood up and said, “Jianqie is indeed Chen Yuanyuan. The story behind it is complicated and not easy to express succinctly; but first, Jianqie needs help from Wei Daren, hence I do not dare to conceal anything; second, I have just heard how Wei Daren is able to recognize Jianqie’s unredressed injustice, in my heart I am very grateful. For more than twenty years Jianqie has suffered enough insult from the people all over the world, they put the blame of the fall of our country on Jianqie’s head. At the present age, only two gifted scholars understand that Jianqie has received unjust treatment. One is the great poet Wu Meicun, Wu Caizi [gifted scholar]. The other is precisely Wei Daren.”

Actually, Wei Xiaobao was completely ignorant and did not have any knowledge of national affair, he did not have any clue if Chen Yuanyuan was wronged or not. It’s just that he saw how in her frightened state she did not lose her graceful appearance; he admired her greatly. Plus he utterly detested Wu Sangui, and she was Ah Ke’s mother. Even if she had a thousand shortcomings, committed ten thousand mistakes, it was not a mistake at all. In his mind, not even half of it was not Wu Sangui’s fault.

Listening to her praising him as a gifted scholar, he was self-conscious; he waved his hand and hastily said, “I don’t know a single character as big as a watermelon. If you want to call me a gifted scholar, you might as well add two characters ‘dog fart’ in front of it, then it will become ‘dog fart gifted scholar’ Wei Xiaobao.”

Chen Yuanyuan smiled and said, “Being able to write verses and literary works will make you no more than little gifted scholar; having knowledge and experience, having responsibility, will put you into the great gifted scholar category.”

---

[1] Orig. ‘chu jia ren’ – those who left home to become monk or nun (applicable to either Buddhist or Taoist). Jijing literally means ‘peace’ or ‘quiet’. Reminder: ‘Daren’ (lit. big person) is the term used by commoner/subordinate to address government official/superior.

[2] Xi Shi (c. 450 BC), famous Chinese beauty, foremost of the Four legendary beauties, given by King Gou Jian of Yue as concubine to King of Wu as part of a successful plan to destroy Wu. Yáng Guìfēi, or Yang Yuhuan (719-756), famous Tang beauty, consort of Emperor Xuanzhong, blamed for extravagance and killed as a scapegoat during the Anshi rebellion.

[3] Daji (c. 11th century BC), mythical fox spirit and concubine of the last Shang Dynasty Emperor Zhou Xin.

[4] Lit. lowly concubine; it can also mean ‘I, your servant’ (deprecatory self-reference for women).

[foxs]

Hearing these few words of flattery, Wei Xiaobao could not stop the bones in his entire body from going soft; he thought, “She is the world’s number one beauty, yet unexpectedly she said I am a big gifted scholar. Ha ha … turns out laozi’s talent is really not low. Damn it, ever since I came out of my mother’s womb, this is the first time I have ever heard this.”

Chen Yuanyuan stood up. “Would Daren step inside?” she asked, “Let Xiao Nuzi relates everything to you.”

“Yes,” Wei Xiaobao replied. He followed her along a gravel pathway in the garden, toward a small room.

The room was bare, no table, no chair, but there were two putuan [meditation mat] on the floor. A scroll of calligraphy hung on the wall, it looked densely populated with a lot of characters. Next to the scroll hung a pipa [Chinese lute].

“Daren please sit down,” Chen Yuanyuan said.

She waited until Wei Xiaobao was seated on one of the putuan before she walked over to the wall and took the pipa down, carried it in her arms, and sat down on the other putuan. Pointing to the calligraphy scroll on the wall she said softly, “This is the long poem the Great Gifted Scholar Wu Meicun wrote for Jianqie. It is called ‘Yuanyuan Song’ [yuan literally means circle/round]. Today we are brought together by fate, I’d like to play and sing for Daren, but the grime will be clearly heard.”

Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted. “Wonderful, wonderful,” he said, “But when you sing several verses, you must explain it to me, I am a dog fart gifted scholar, my learning is very much so-so.”

Chen Yuanyuan smiled. “Daren is too modest,” she said. Thereupon she tuned the pipa, ‘ding ding dong dong’, she plucked the strings several times, and then said, “I have not played for a long time, please don’t blame me for being rusty.”

“There is no need to be polite,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Even if you played wrong, I would not know.”

He heard she lightly and slowly twirled her fingers and plucked several notes, and sang in a drawn-out voice[1], “At that time when the emperor abandoned the human world, Wu crushed the enemy and captured the capital, bearing down from Jade Pass. The six armies, wailing and grieving, were uniformly clad in the white of mourning. One wave of headgear-lifting anger propelled him, all for the sake of the fair-faced one.”

Singing these four lines, she said, “It is talking about the time Chong Zhen, the Son of Heaven returned to the heaven, Ping Xi Wang and the Manchurian Qing joined arms, defeating Li Zicheng and advancing into Beijing. The officers and soldiers were all wearing mourning apparel for the Emperor. Hence Ping Xi Wang sent his troops, it was actually for me, this unlucky woman.”

Wei Xiaobao nodded and said, “You are such a beautiful woman, Wu Sangui surrendered to the Great Qing for your sake, I can’t really blame him. If it were me, Wei Xiaobao, I would surrender as well.”

Chen Yuanyuan rolled her beautiful eyes; she thought, “You are just a baby, yet you are also teasing me.” However, when she looked at him, she saw his solemn expression and knew that he was being sincere; she could not help but was touched by the friendship shown. She continued to sing, “The fair-faced one, drifting and fallen, was not what I longed for. The offending bandits, smote by heaven, wallowed in wanton pleasures. Lightning swept the Yellow Turban, the Black Mountain troops were quelled. Having wailed for ruler and kin, I met her again.”

She explained, “Here he was talking about Wangye defeating Li Zicheng. The poem says: Li Zicheng’s endeavor failed because he himself was no good, after he reached Beijing, his conduct was preposterous. When Wangye saw this verse, he was very unhappy.”

“That’s right,” Wei Xiaobao said, “The song obviously says that the defeat of Li Zicheng was not his merit at all.”

Chen Yuanyuan said, “The later section of this song tells the story of Jianqie’s life.” She sang, “Meeting for the first time going through the field of Dou Family, the singing and dancing of the nobleman’ gate was like flower. Allowing the display of konghou [Chinese harp] craft in the midst of grief, waiting to fetch the General in lacquered carriage. In the Huan Hua [lit. washing/rinsing flower] of hometown Suzhou, little girl Yuanyuan as delicate as openwork silk gauze. Dreaming to roam the Fu Cha’s[2] park, the palace beauty supports the rise of the sovereign king. In the front was a lotus picking person, in front of the door was a strip of pond.”

The melody tender and charming, winding and turning, the sound of pipa was undulating slowly, just as a breeze rising and falling, or a gently ripple of the water of the lotus pond.

Chen Yuanyuan said in a low voice, “Here the poem is comparing Jianqie to Xi Shi; it’s rather overpraised.”

Wei Xiaobao shook his head and said, “Incorrect comparison, incorrect comparison!”

Chen Yuanyuan was slightly startled. Wei Xiaobao continued, “How can Xi Shi be superior to you?”

A slight blush appeared on Chen Yuanyuan’s face. “Wei Daren is making fun of me,” she said.

“I am not making fun of you at all,” Wei Xiaobao replied, “I have a strong reason. I heard people say that Xi Shi was from Zhuji [county level city] of Shaoxing [prefecture], Zhejiang [province]; although she was beautiful, Shaoxing people speak ‘niang ge jian tai ta ta jiao[3]’, how can they compare to you, Suzhou people who speaks coyly and string all words together?”

Chen Yuanyuan laughed sweetly, “Turns out there is that reason,” she said, “Come to think about it, King Wu Fu Cha [see previous note] was also a Suzhou native, how could he like Xi Shi?”

Wei Xiaobao scratched his head and said, “That King Wu Fu Cha’s ears were not too clear, so it was possible.”

Chen Yuanyuan covered her mouth as she squealed, her face blushed profusely, her glance was graceful, her cherry lips were trembling slightly, her anxious look lasted for a while, yet her overall appearance seemed sweet and charming. Wei Xiaobao only felt comfortably warm, as if he was drunk, and in his confused mind he did not know where he was.

He heard she continued singing, “A pair of oars flying on the surface of the strip of pond, where could the heroic family return to? How could they know that there were not born under an unlucky star? Right now, only tears wetting the clothes. The scent of sweet-smelling grass links the apartments of the Palace, nobody pities the beautiful woman [orig. bright eyes and white teeth]. Insisting on returning home, the Eternal Alley was closed to respectable families, it only leans to let the new sound of guests to enter.”

Singing to this point, she sighed gently, and said, “Jianqie came from the windblown dust [i.e. prostitution], I don’t need to conceal my origin …”

“What do you mean coming from the windblown dust?” Wei Xiaobao asked, “Please don’t speak in literary terms with me, I don’t know anything about literary terms.”

Chen Yuanyuan said, “Xiao Nuzi was originally a Suzhou house’s prostitute …”

Wei Xiaobao slapped his knee and called out, “Wonderful!”

Chen Yuanyuan’s face looked hurt, she said in a low voice, “That is Jianqie’s unkind fate.”

Wei Xiaobao was happy and excited. “You and I are kindred spirits,” he said, “I also came from the windblown dust.”

Chen Yuanyuan opened wide her pair of as-clear-as-water phoenix eyes, she started blankly at him, while saying in her heart, “Obviously he does not understand the meaning of ‘coming from the windblown dust’.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “You came from a brothel, I also came from a brothel; only you are from Suzhou, I am from Yangzhou. My Mama is a prostitute at the Lovely Spring Courtyard of Yangzhou. Only her appearance cannot be compared to you; one is heavenly, the other is down to earth.”

Chen Yuanyuan was greatly surprised; she asked in a tender voice, “You are not joking?”

“Why would I joke with you?” Wei Xiaobao said, “Ay, I was just too busy. I should have sent people to fetch Mama, I should not let her be a prostitute anymore. But I saw that at the Lovely Spring Courtyard, she was living a cheerful life, bustling with noise and excitement; if I brought her to Beijing, I am afraid she would be in low spirit.”

Chen Yuanyuan said, “A hero is not afraid of low family background. Wei Daren is open and candid, you do not refuse to talk about it, it is precisely the natural quality of a hero.”

“I only told it to you,” Wei Xiaobao said, “I have never told it to anybody else; otherwise, people would point their fingers at me and call me a wh0re’s b@stard. I can’t take it. In front of Ah Ke, you must not mention it even more. She is already looking down at me; if she found out about it, she would never pay any attention to me forever.”

“Wei Daren, don’t worry,” Chen Yuanyuan said, “Jianqie won’t talk too much. Actually, Ah Ke, she … her own Mama is not any wise and virtuous woman from a well-known family.”

“It would be best if you do not mention it,” Wei Xiaobao said, “She hates prostitutes the most, she said that this kind of woman is extremely bad.”

Chen Yuanyuan hung down her head and said in a low voice, “She … she said that brothel’s women are … are extremely bad?”

Wei Xiaobao hastily said, “Please don’t feel sad, she was not talking about you.”

Chen Yuanyuan was low-spirited. “Naturally she was not talking about me,” she said, “Ah Ke did not even know that I am her Mama.”

Wei Xiaobao was surprised, “How can she not know?” he asked.

Chen Yuanyuan shook her head and said, “She does not know.”

Cocking her head sideways, she was lost in thought for a moment before slowly said, “The Empress Dowager of the Son of Heaven Chong Zhen was surnamed Zhou, she was also Suzhou native. Son of Heaven Chong Zhen doted on Concubine Tian. The fight between the Empress Dowager and Concubine Tian was very fierce. The Empress Dowager’s father Jia Dingbo bought me out of the brothel and sent me into the Palace, hoping to take away the favor from Concubine Tian …”

“That was a great idea,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Concubine Tian would be in big trouble.”

“It was not such a big trouble,” Chen Yuanyuan said, “Son of Heaven Chong Zhen worried about the affairs of the nation, he was not interested in women. I haven’t lived in the Palace for long when the Emperor ordered the Empress Dowager to send me out of the Palace.”

“Strange, strange!” Wei Xiaobao loudly exclaimed, “I heard that Emperor Chong Zhen had eyes but failed to see; he only believed treacherous officials but had Yuan Chonghuan, a greatly loyal minister, killed. Turned out he did not have any foresight toward men, but he did not have any foresight toward women even more, that he did not want a woman like you. Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk.” He shook his head repeatedly, thinking that among the strange things in the world, nothing was more strange than this.

Chen Yuanyuan said, “Some men like scholarly honor [in imperial exams] and the riches that come with it. Some like gold, silver and jewels. As the Emperor, he had to think about how to solve the country’s problems. Not everybody loves good-looking women.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “I want scholarly honor and riches, I also want gold, silver and jewels. I want good-looking women even more. One thing I don’t want is being the Emperor; even if it given to me, I won’t do it. Aha! In this city of Kunming, there is a dear friend of mine who is the number one high-ranking official under the heavens, he has become the richest old man in the world, he married the number one beauty in the world, unexpectedly he still toys with the idea of becoming the Emperor.”

Chen Yuanyuan’s countenance changed slightly. “Are you talking about Ping Xi Wang?” she asked.

“I won’t mention any names,” Wei Xiaobao said, “In short, it is not you, Chen Yuanyuan, and it is not me, Wei Xiaobao.”

Chen Yuanyuan said, “The next part of the song talks about how I met Ping Xi Wang. After he asked for me from Jia Dingbo, he left for Shanhai Pass to guard the border, leaving me behind at his house in Beijing. Not long afterwards, Li … Li … Li Chuang[4] attacked the Capital.”

She sang, “The sitting guest flies the goblet toward the red sunset, the sorrowful song of string, to whom would it complain to? The youngest of Marquis Bai Xitong, looking back, time and again the flowering branch was chosen. The morning brings the frail bird out of the cage, when will it cross the Milky Way? The end of the military document ordering hateful killing was extremely urgent, hurting the people who must be painstakingly left behind. Wanting to meet deep kindness, wanting to see each other is difficult, the dynasty’s ant thieves crowd Chang’an. With pity thinking about the willow at the front of the women’s storied building, looking at the horizon as white cotton wadding.” Singing to this point, the pipa stopped, she stared blankly at the wall, lost in thought.

Wei Xiaobao thought the song had reached its end, he clapped and cheered, “Are you done?” he asked, “You sing well, your singing is wonderful, your singing is top-notch.”

Chen Yuanyuan said, “If I died at that time, the song would naturally end here.”

Wei Xiaobao’s face turned deep red; he thought, “Damn it, laozi is uneducated. Li Chuang broke into Beijing, my Shifu’s father Emperor Chong Zhen’s song has come to an end. But Chen Yuanyuan’s song has not ended.”

Chen Yuanyuan said in a low voice, “Li Chuang seized me away. Afterwards, Ping Xi Wang snatched me back. I was not a human, I am only an object; whoever is stronger, he can take me away.” She sang, “Searching everywhere the green pearl is encircled in the inside, the powerful call of golden eagle coming out of purple-red tree fence. Were it not for the brave soldier achieving complete victory, would the beautiful woman return on a horse? The woman on the horseback called, the silver hair on the temples stood in fright. The candle flame forge ahead to the battlefield, streak of tears left red marks of makeup across her face. Dreary beating of the drums on a personal expedition toward Sichuan, thousands of riders and chariots heading toward Jinniu [lit. golden ox, district of Chengdu, Sichuan]. Sloping valley going deep above the cloud in the painting on the multi-story building, vanishing beyond the pass toward the sunset as seen through the vanity mirror. The incoming news filling the rivers and villages, red Tallow tree [sapium sebiferum] has gone through ten seasons of frost. The master who teaches singing still has pity, taking the gauze-silk (female) companion down memory lane. Old nest shared by clay swallows, flying to the tip of the branch, they transformed into a pair of phoenix, constantly conveying their deep grief to the respected senior generations; some men arrogate to themselves the marquis king position.”

When singing about ‘arrogating to themselves the marquis king position’, she seemed to be entranced. This time Wei Xiaobao did not dare to ask whether she had finished singing or not; he had made up his mind, “Unless she says that she is finished singing, I am not going to ask too much, so that I won’t make a fool of myself.”

He heard she said grimly, “I came with Ping Xi Wang when he invaded Sichuan, where he was conferred the title ‘King’. When the news reached Suzhou, all my former sisters of the courtyard were envious, saying that my luck was good. They still have to do that kind of shady business in the courtyard until they are old.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “When I was at the Lovely Spring Courtyard, I often heard they say something like ‘every night there is someone new in the bridal room’, ‘freshness is exciting’, nothing wrong with that.”

---

[1] I found partial translation in The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature, Vol. 2, edited by Kang-I Sun Chang and Stephen Owen, copyright Cambridge University Press 2010. Unfortunately, I can’t find the rest. Therefore, as you see the shift from highly polished sentences to crude, literal translation, you know where the real translator’s work ends and the half-baked translator’s work starts.

[2] 夫差, I am not sure what it is, a friend says that it was government official, like governor or deputy.

[3] 娘个贱胎踏踏叫, again, I don’t know what it is. Perhaps a saying or an idiom.

[4] Li Zicheng, the Roaming King (Chuang Wang), see also Chapter 27, note 1.

[foxs]

Chen Yuanyuan cast him a glance; seeing that he did not seem to be sarcastic, she gently sighed and said, “Daren, you are still young, you don’t understand this kind of distress.”

Plucking her pipa, she sang, “At that time receiving reputation by association, noble grief causing famous warrior prolonged struggle. One piece of jewel ten thousand pieces of anxiety, slender waist wandering along the fortresses and mountains along the Great Wall. Misplaced blame like a gale made the flowers fall, colors of spring without boundary covering the heaven and the earth. Taste and smell of the demise of the nation coming from everywhere, turning-over envoy minister received notoriety. How could a wife consent to shut down such a matter of paramount importance? Reluctant hero is full of affection. The bones of the entire family turn to dust, a generation of festive female clothing reflecting youthful perspiration.”

With eyes brimming in tears she stopped her pipa. “Gifted Scholar Wu Meicun knew that although my fame spread all over the world, my heart was in pain,” she said while sobbing, “Common people scolded me as the young beauty who brings disaster to the water, harming the Great Ming’s rivers and mountains. Gifted Scholar Wu knew that I was a mere young girl, what can I possibly do? Be it good or bad, it’s the men who did all these things.”

“That’s right,” Wei Xiaobao said, “When the Great Qing’s troops and horses attacked by the thousands and tens of thousands, you are only a delicate and pretty young woman, how could you possibly stop them?” He thought, “She could play and tell stories this well, just like the mister storyteller at Suzhou singing ballad with pipa accompaniment. I could banter with her several sentences, or provide vocal accompaniment to her singing, I can be the assistant to the mister storyteller. If the two of us going to Yangzhou and open a business at the teahouse, I guarantee we will cause a sensation within the Yangzhou city walls, so much so that the teahouse will burst at its seam. I will hold the signage over her head, naturally I would also enjoy the limelight.”

While he was feeling very pleased with himself, he heard she continued singing, “The lord did not see, when the baby first rose in the hall, it was like the mandarin ducks lodging for the night. One will never be satisfied to look at the flowery Yue maiden, the cry of bird arose from the fragrant dusty footpath, the wooden shoes were lined with green moss. A thousand li of worry moved out of the Palace, pearl song, green jade dance, out of ancient Liang prefecture. For the sake of the lord, do not sing the Wu Palace song, to the southeast day and night the Han River flows.”

When she sang the word ‘flow’, she held the last note long, seemingly unending, while the pipa climbed higher and higher, gradually drowning the singing voice. After a moment, the pipa gradually slowing and softer, like the water trickling down a distant creek, until it finally died down.

Chen Yuanyuan heaved a deep sigh, tears streaming down her face, with a choking voice she said, “I am displaying a disgraceful performance.”

Standing up, she hung the pipa on the wall, and then walked back to the putuan and sat down. She said, “The last part of the song was talking about King Wu Fu Cha perishing for the country. I did not understand it in the past, the song was talking about my life’s story, why did it mention the Wu Palace? Even if it was comparing me to Xi Shi, it is already mentioned in the front. Wu Palace, Wu Palace, could it be that it is talking about Ping Xi Wang’s Imperial Palace? In recent years I started to understand. Wangye drilled the troops and trained the horses extravagantly, I am afraid … I am afraid … ay, I exhorted him several times, but he was offended and was very angry. I left home in this San Sheng An [three sages nunnery], wearing my hair leading a pious life, repenting of my whole life’s sin, hoping that everybody will live in peace and harmony, spending the rest of my life in here. Who would have thought … who would have thought Ah Ke … Ah Ke …” Speaking to here, she broke into a noiseless sob.

After listening to her song for half a day, Wei Xiaobao was enchanted by her beautiful voice, by the melody of the song, which was very pleasant to listen to, so much so that he completely forgot the purpose of his visit. As soon as he heard her mentioning Ah Ke, he sprang up and asked, “What actually happened to Ah Ke? Did she really assassinate Ping Xi Wang? She is your daughter; that makes her Wangye’s Junzhu [princess, see last chapter, Xiao Junzhu]. Aiyo, it’s bad, it’s bad.”

Chen Yuanyuan was startled. “What’s bad?” she asked.

Wei Xiaobao’s mind was in turmoil, “No … nothing,” he casually replied. Actually, he suddenly realized that since Ah Ke had already looked down on him, now that she was Ping Xi Wang’s princess, the distant between she and this son of a prostitute was even farther away.

Chen Yuanyuan said, “When Ah Ke was two years old, she suddenly disappeared in the middle of the night. Wangye sent people to search everywhere in the city, but there was no trace of her. I suspected … suspected …” Suddenly she blushed and turned her face away from him.

“What did you suspect?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

Chen Yuanyuan said, “I suspected it was Wangye’s personal enemy who kidnapped this girl, perhaps to threaten him, or to blackmail him.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “There are so many martial art experts working as bodyguards and military officers in the Palace, unexpectedly someone was able to sneak in [orig. ‘the gods did not know, the ghosts are not aware’] and stole Ah Ke Shijie away. That person’s ability must be very high.”

“That’s right,” Chen Yuanyuan said, “At that time Wangye was so angry, he had two bodyguard chiefs executed; he also had the Tidu [provincial commander] and Zhifu [prefectural magistrate] envoy of the City of Kunming removed. After searching for several days without finding any clue, Wangye was about to kill more people. Finally I managed to calm him down. For the last dozen of years, I have not heard any news about Ah Ke. I thought … I thought she had already died.”

“No wonder Ah Ke says that her surname is Chen,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Turns out she is taking your surname.”

Chen Yuanyuan leaned sideways. “She … she said her surname is Chen?” her voice quivering, “How did she know?”

Wei Xiaobao had a sudden inspiration, “Day and night the old traitor is always afraid that someone would come to assassinate him, the security around him must be very strict,” he mused, “Perhaps kidnapping a baby out of the Palace is more difficult than assassinating him. In this world, other than Shifu Jiu Nan, I am afraid there is nobody else.” He said, “Most likely the person who kidnapped her told her that.”

Chen Yuanyuan slowly nodded and said, “That’s right. But … but why didn’t he say that her surname was … was …”

“That her surname was Wu?” Wei Xiaobao said, “Humph, there is nothing necessarily radiant with Ping Xi Wang’s surname.”

Chen Yuanyuan was gazing out the window, she was staring blankly as if she did not hear him. Wei Xiaobao asked, “And then what happened?”

“I thought about her a lot,” Chen Yuanyuan said, “I hoped the Heaven would pity me; as long as she did not die, I hoped one day I can see her again. Yesterday afternoon I received news from the Palace, saying that Wangye has been attacked by an assassin, and was seriously injured. I hurriedly went to the Palace to see him. Wangye was indeed attacked by an assassin, but he was not injured.”

Wei Xiaobao was shocked. “So he was only pretending to be seriously injured?” his voice was quivering.

“Wangye said,” Chen Yuanyuan continued, “He pretends to be seriously injured so that the adversary would act blindly without thinking, and thus he could catch everything in one net.”

Wei Xiaobao was greatly taken aback. “He is indeed pretending,” he mumbled, “I … I am such a big fool, I should have guessed early on.” He said in his heart, “The big traitor is indeed very suspicious of me.”

Chen Yuanyuan said, “I asked him what kind of person was the assassin. Wangye did not say anything, but he took me to a side room. On the bed sat a young woman, her hands and feet were shackled. I did not need to take a second look, I knew she was my daughter. She looked exactly like me when I was her age. As soon as she saw me, she stared at me blankly, and then asked, ‘Are you my Mama?’ I nodded; and then pointing to Wangye, I said, ‘Greet your father[1]’. Ah Ke angrily said, ‘He is the big traitor to China, he is not my father. He killed my father, I want to avenge father.’ Wangye asked her, ‘Who is your father?’ Ah Ke replied, ‘I don’t know. Shifu told me that when I see my Ma, Ma will tell me’. Wangye asked her who her Shifu was, she was unwilling to talk. But eventually she revealed that she had received her Shifu’s order to assassinate Wangye.”

Listening to here, Wei Xiaobao understood about 70, 80% of the story. He presumed his Shifu Jiu Nan hated Wu Sangui to the bones; killing him alone was not enough to vent her anger, hence she kidnapped her daughter, taught her martial art, and sent her to assassinate her own father [orig. fuqin, formal]. He stood up, went to the window, and thought, “That’s right, Shifu has never liked Ah Ke. Although she taught her martial art styles, she did not pass on the least bit of internal energy cultivation. Although Ah Ke’s style is indeed brilliant, it is actually a big mess; it encompasses different martial art styles from all kinds of school and sect. Old Monk Cheng Guan has such profound knowledge, yet he could not figure out her school. Um, Shifu did not let her enter the Tie Jian [Iron Sword] School; I, Wei Xiaobao, am actually the first disciple of Tie Jian School.” Thinking about the viciousness of Jiu Nan’s revenge, he could not help but shiver with fright.

Chen Yuanyuan said, “Her Shifu has deep plans and distant thoughts, he hated Wangye so much that he set up this stratagem. If Ah Ke succeeded in assassinating Wangye, his big enmity would be avenged. If the assassination failed, Wangye would still find out that the assassin who was trying to take his life was his own flesh and blood daughter; needless to say, his heart must be grieved.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “Right now there is no problem. She has not stabbed Wangye, your family is reunited instead. You can explain everything to Ah Ke, won’t everybody be happy then?”

Chen Yuanyuan sighed. “If only it’s that easy,” she said, “Then I would thank the Heaven and thank the Earth.”

“Ah Ke is your own daughter,” Wei Xiaobao said, “Anybody with eyes will be able to see that. If it was not a ‘fish sink, goose alights’ [see note 5, Chapter 31] mother, you would not give birth to a ‘bashful flower obstructing the moon’ daughter.” In describing beautiful women, the only phrase he knew was ‘fish sink, goose alights’ and ‘bashful flower obstructing the moon’, eight characters [chen yu luo yan, xiu hua bu yue], therefore, those were the only phrases he repeatedly used.

After a short pause, he continued, “Wangye did not wish to let Ah Ke go, could it be that he wanted to have her flogged? She was kidnapped when she was only two, how could she know her own origin? Therefore, how can he blame her?”

Chen Yuanyuan said, “Wangye said, ‘Since you don’t recognize me, naturally you are not my daughter. Forget the fact that you are not my daughter, even if you were my flesh-and-blood daughter, by committing this kind of rebellious defiance against your superior, disregarding the law and natural morality, I must not let you live.’ While saying that, he rubbed his nose.”

Wei Xiaobao smiled, “Does he like to rub his own nose?” he asked.

Chen Yuanyuan’s voice trembled, “You don’t know,” she said, “That is Wangye’s habit; when he rubbed his nose, that means he wanted to kill people; it never fails.”

“Aiyo!” Wei Xiaobao cried out, “How can that be good? He … has he killed Ah Ke?”

“For the time being he has not,” Chen Yuanyuan replied, “Wangye … he wanted to investigate who the mastermind is, he also wants to find out who Ah Ke’s father really is.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, “Wangye is overly suspicious; really, it’s getting silly. As soon as I saw you, I knew you are Ah Ke’s Mama. How could he not be Ah Ke’s Papa? It must be because Ah Ke was trying to assassinate him, he became very angry.” Speaking to this point, his expression turned serious as he said, “We must quickly think of a way to save Ah Ke. If Wangye rubs his nose again, it won’t be too good.”

Chen Yuanyuan said, “Xiao Nuzi brazenly invited Daren to come over, it was precisely to discuss this matter. I am thinking that Daren is the Imperial Envoy Minister, sent by His Majesty himself, Wangye would definitely want to give you some face. Ah Ke masqueraded as a palace maid serving the Princess, as long as Daren personally appears, saying that the Princess wanted her maid back, I have no doubt that Wangye would not refuse.”

Wei Xiaobao bent the index finger of his right hand and continuously tapped it onto his own forehead. “Idiot, idiot,” he said, “I have fallen into his trap.”

“This plan of yours,” he said, “Not only I have thought about it ahead of you, I have even executed it. Who would have thought this big … big Wangye is one step ahead of me, he had the little idiot’s hands and feet tied up. I have already asked Wangye for the assassin, and Wangye has already given her to me, it’s just that she was not Ah Ke.”

Thereupon he told her in details how Xia Guoxiang brought him to the dungeon to identify the assassin, how he saw a well-acquainted young woman, how he believed the rumor was false, i.e. the assassin was really not Ah Ke, how he convinced Xia Guoxiang that the young woman was indeed a palace maid serving the Princess, and how he ended up taking her out of the prison. He also said, “This servant Xia Guoxiang has prepared a scheme beforehand, he spoke in loud voice in front of the several hundred people in front of the Mansion, stating that he has handed over the Princess’ palace maid to me; how could I come back to him and ask for the second person? Needless to say, this servant would definitely talk officiously, saying something like, ‘Wei Daren, you must not play a joke with Xiao Jiang. The Princess’ palace maid has assassinated Wangye, Xiao Jiang boldly acted for the sake of Wei Daren’s face, risking the cap on my head, risking Wangye’s flogging and martial punishment, I let Daren take her away. Hundreds and thousands of people in front of the Palace are my witness. Wangye has ordered: he is hoping that Daren would discipline the palace maid rigorously, that you would investigate who was behind it? Now Daren comes again to ask for someone else. This … this joke may be too much.” He was imitating Xia Guoxiang’s accent and mannerism, and was actually doing a pretty good job.

Chen Yuanyuan knitted her eyebrows. “Daren is right,” she said, “Son-in-law Xia is indeed that kind of person. Turns out … turns out they have already set up a trap to shut Daren’s mouth.”

Wei Xiaobao stomped his foot and cursed, “His granny, that male …” he cast a glance toward Chen Yuanyuan and said, “If they touch a strand of Ah Ke’s hair, laozi will fight that big … big b@stard to the death.”

Chen Yuanyuan pulled her sleeve and bowed to him with cupped fist, saying, “Daren cherishes my daughter this much, Xiao Nuzi wants to express my gratitude in advance. It’s just that …”

Wei Xiaobao hastily returned the propriety and said, “I am going to lead our troops and horses to crash into Ping Xi Wang Mansion, to kill him until he is in a sorry state. If I can’t save Ah Ke out, I will take the big traitor’s surname. Laozi won’t have Wei as my surname, my surname will be Wu! Damn it, laozi will be Wu Xiaobao!”

Seeing how agitated he was, and how he was speaking nonsense, Chen Yuanyuan was rather scared. She said in a gentle voice, “Daren’s good intention toward Ah Ke …”

“What Daren or Xiaoren?” Wei Xiaobao cut her off, “If you consider me as one of your own, you must call me Xiaobao. I should have called you Auntie[2], but thinking about that damned Uncle, I am seething with rage.”

Chen Yuanyuan walked over and gently put her hand on his shoulder; she said, “Xiaobao, if you don’t look down on me, you can just call me Ah Yi [Auntie[3]].”

Wei Xiaobao was delighted; he said, “I’ll call you Ah Yi. When I was at the Lovely Spring Courtyard in Yangzhou …” Speaking to this point, he suddenly stopped.

Actually, Chen Yuanyuan also understood that at the Lovely Spring Courtyard, he called all the prostitutes ‘Ah Yi’. She understood worldly affairs, and understood Wei Xiaobao’s good intention; she said, “I am extremely happy to have such a good nephew as yourself. Xiaobao, we must not use force against Wangye, in the City of Kunming, his troops and soldiers are numerous; even if you defeat him, he could kill Ah Ke with one stab first, and then you and I, two people, will be grieving for the rest of our lives.”

She was speaking with the soft accent of the Wu dialect; first, her voice was very pleasant to listen to, second, in her speech she was treating Wei Xiaobao as one of her own. Upon hearing her, the rage that was filling his heart immediately vanished into thin air. “Good Ah Yi,” he asked, “Then what should we do to rescue Ah Ke?”

---

[1] Orig. ‘die die’ (pronounced dee-eh), also in subsequent sentences. See also Chapter 1.

[2] Orig. ‘bo mu’ – wife of father’s elder brother, a polite form of address for a woman who is about the age or older than one’s mother.

[3] Ah Yi – maternal aunt, a polite form of address for a woman who is younger than one’s parents.

[foxs]

Chen Yuanyuan pondered for a moment before saying, “I could urge Ah Ke to admit Wangye as her father. Even if he were more heartless, he would not kill his own flesh-and-blood daughter …”

Suddenly from outside the door someone was shouting loudly, “Acknowledging the bandit as one’s father, how can this be so?”

The curtain on the door rose up, a big and tall old monk walked in in large strides. He had a thick steel monk’s staff in his hand, which he stomped onto the floor. The iron rings on the head of the staff created a random ‘dang dang’ noise. The old monk had a square face, he had an ash-grey beard underneath his chin, his eyes were flashing like lightning, his overall appearance was impressive. Just by standing like that, he looked like a small mountain covering the doorway. His waist was sticking out his back straight, like a tiger or a lion, his grandeur was indeed overwhelming.

Wei Xiaobao was startled; he withdrew three steps back, and almost wanted to hide behind Chen Yuanyuan. Chen Yuanyuan, however, looked happy. Her countenance brightened as she walked over to the old monk and said softly, “You have come!”

“I have come!” the old monk replied. His voice turned lower, his eye turned gentler. Their gaze met, their eyes revealed admiration and joy.

Wei Xiaobao was greatly surprised, “Who is this old monk?” he wondered in his heart, “Could he be … could he be Ah Yi’s lover? An old customer when she was still a prostitute? Monk visits prostitute; that is out of question. Um, not surprising, actually, when laozi was a monk, I also went to a brothel.”

“Have you heard?” Chen Yuanyuan asked.

“I have heard,” the old monk replied.

“Thank Heaven and thank the Earth,” Chen Yuanyuan said, “That child is still … still alive. I … Wah!” suddenly she broke out crying and threw herself into the old monk’s bosom.

The old monk reached out with his left hand and gently stroked her hair. “Whatever happens we must save her,” he said consolingly, “Don’t worry.” His majestic voice was brimming with deep emotion. Chen Yuanyuan buried her face in his bosom as she sobbed softly.

Wei Xiaobao was amazed and scared at the same time, he did not dare to move at all. “The two of you regard me as a dead man,” he mused, “Laozi better act as a dead man.”

After crying for a while, Chen Yuanyuan sobbed, “You … can you really save that child?”

“I will do everything possible,” the old monk replied in an awe-inspiring voice.

Chen Yuanyuan straightened up and wiped her tears. “What shall I do?” she asked, “Tell me, what shall I do?”

The old monk frowned. “In short,” he said, “We must not let her acknowledge the traitor as her father.”

“Yes, yes,” Chen Yuanyuan said, “I was wrong. Because I wanted to save the child, I was not thinking about you. I … I have offended you.”

“I understand,” the old monk said, “I don’t blame you at all. But she must not admit him as her father. She must not, absolutely not.” His voice was not loud, but there was strong imposing aura in it that if there were ‘thousand troops ten thousand horses’ in front of him, they would bow their heads and obey his commands.

Suddenly they heard the sound of thumping boots outside the door, someone let out a long laugh and said in a loud and clear voice, “An old friend has graced Kunming with his presence, Xiao Wang’s face is a lot brighter!” It was none other than Wu Sangui’s voice.

Immediately Wei Xiaobao and Chen Yuanyuan’s countenance changed. The old monk acted as if he did not hear anything, only his eyes suddenly brightened.

‘Swish, swish!’ out of the blue white light flashed, two swords slashed, the curtain hanging on the door was cut. Wu Sangui appeared at the doorway with a smile on his face. Followed by ‘Crash, bang!’ plaster, dust, and fragments of wood flew everywhere, the four walls, along with the windows on them, were demolished by men wielding iron sledge-hammers. On each hole several guards appeared, some with strung bows and arrow, some with raised lances in their hands. The tip of the arrows and lances was aimed inside. Wu Sangui only needed to issue an order, the arrows and lances would immediately fly into the bodies of the three people inside, turning them into hedgehogs.

“Yuanyuan, come out!” Wu Sangui shouted.

Chen Yuanyuan hesitated. She took a step forward, stopped, and shook her head. “I won’t come out,” she said. Turning her head around, she gently pushed Wei Xiaobao’s shoulder and said, “Xiaobao, this matter has nothing to do with you, you go out.”

Wei Xiaobao knew she sincerely wanted to protect him, and was deeply moved. “Laozi won’t go out,” he said loudly, “Hot piece mama, Wu Sangui, if you have guts, go ahead and kill laozi as well.”

The old monk shook his head and said, “The two of you go out. The old monk should have died more than twenty years ago.”

Chen Yuanyuan walked over to him, pulled his hand and said, “No, I will die together with you.”

Wei Xiaobao loudly said, “Ah Yi have yi qi, do you think Wei Xiaobao is greedy for life, afraid of death? Ah Yi, I will also die together with you.”

Wu Sangui raised his right hand and angrily shouted, “Wei Xiaobao, you conspire with big rebel against the law. I will kill you and present a memorial to the Emperor, explaining everything, my merit will not be small.” Turning to Chen Yuanyuan, he said, “Yuanyuan, why are you so muddleheaded? Still not coming out?”

Chen Yuanyuan shook her head. Wei Xiaobao said, “What do you mean conspiring with big rebel against the law? You are falsely accusing good people.”

In his extreme rage, Wu Sangui laughed instead. “Little baby,” he said, “I’ll say you still don’t know who this old monk is. He has kept you hoodwinked inside a drum. By the time you reach the gate of hell, you still don’t know for whom you have delivered your life.”

The old monk sternly said, “Laofu [old man, referring to self] has never changed either my surname or my given name. The Emperor of Heaven has bestowed me the surname Li and given name Zicheng.”

Wei Xiaobao was shocked. “You … you are Li Chuang, Li Zicheng?” he stammered.

“That’s right,” the old monk said, “Xiao Xiongdi, you go out! A real man is fully responsible for what he’s done. The Ol’ Li has undergone hundreds of battles, I have lived for more than seventy years; I don’t want a little Tatar official like you to accompany me delivering our lives.”

Suddenly white shadow flashed; someone leaped down from the roof, pouncing toward the top of Wu Sangui’s head. Wu Sangui let out an angry roar; the four guards behind him moved their swords together toward the white shadow.

The shadow flicked his sleeve, a gust of strong wind swept away, jolting the four guards backwards; followed by a palm strike toward Wu Sangui’s back. Wu Sangui could not hold his stand; he was thrown into the room. Just like Wu Sangui’s shadow the person also leaped in, his palm hacked down and struck Wu Sangui’s shoulder. Wu Sangui grunted and fell sitting down on the floor. The person then put his palm on the ‘tian ling’ [sky spirit] acupoint on the top of Wu Sangui’s head, and barked his order to the guards surrounding them, “Quickly release the arrows!”

This turn of events happened so quickly that the guards were taken by surprise. Seeing their Wangye had fallen into the enemy’s hand, who dared to make any move?

“Shifu! Shifu!” Wei Xiaobao called out happily. The person who jumped down from the roof and subdued Wu Sangui was precisely Jiu Nan.

When Wei Xiaobao went to the Three-Sage Nunnery, she followed him in secret, and all along she had been hiding on the roof. When Ping Xi Wang’s Mansion guards arrived by the thousands and surrounded the Three-Sage Nunnery, Gao Yanchao and the others, who were guarding outside the nunnery, did not dare to move rashly. Jiu Nan’s qinggong had reached the pinnacle, she curled up underside the eaves, unexpectedly the guards did not detect her presence.

Jiu Nan stared at Li Zicheng. “Are you really Li Zicheng?” she asked in a majestic voice.

“That’s right,” Li Zicheng replied.

“I heard you were killed on Mount Jiugong, turns out you are still alive today?” Jiu Nan asked.

Li Zicheng nodded. Jiu Nan asked, “Was Ah Ke born to you and her?”

Li Zicheng sighed. He cast a glance toward Chen Yuanyuan, and then nodded.

“I should have known,” Wu Sangui angrily said, “Only a traitor and rebel like you can sire that …”

Jiu Nan kicked his back; she cursed, “Both of you are traitors and bandits, ‘half-jin eight-liang’ [half-pound eight-ounce]; I don’t know which one is a bit more wicked.”

Li Zicheng raised his monk staff and stamped in on the ground, ‘Bang! The green brick immediately shattered into several pieces. “Lowly Nun!” he shouted, “Who do you think you are, dare to speak nonsense like that?”

Seeing his Shifu had arrived, Wei Xiaobao’s courage was greatly boosted; although Li Zicheng was intimidating, he did not fear him the least bit. “You dare to offend my Shifu, are you bored of your life?” he shouted back, “You are a traitor and rebel; my Shifu, the Senior has never said anything incorrect …”

Suddenly he heard ‘whoosh, whoosh’ noise; three lances flew in from outside the window, swiftly shooting toward Jiu Nan. Jiu Nan slightly turned her head to evade, the sleeve of her left arm swept, it coiled around two lances, which she then threw back out the window, while with her right hand she caught the third lance. ‘Ah, ah’ two blood-curdling screech were heard outside the window, two guards were hit by the lances on the pit of their stomach, and died instantly. Jiu Nan placed the tip of the third lance right in the middle of Wu Sangui’s back.

Wu Sangui called out, “Don’t act rashly, everybody withdraw ten steps.” The guards chorused their compliance, and withdrew several steps.

With a cold laugh Jiu Nan said, “What a coincidence. In this tiny meditation room today we have the number one big rebel without any equal since time immemorial, and the number one big traitor without any equal since time immemorial.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “And we have the number one beauty without any equal since time immemorial, and the number one martial art master without any equal since time immemorial.”

Jiu Nan could not stop her grave and stern face from revealing a slight smiling expression. She said, “Number one martial art master? How could I dare? But you are the number one little smart-aleck without any equal since time immemorial.”

Wei Xiaobao burst out in laughter, Chen Yuanyuan also chuckled; but Wu Sangui and Li Zicheng pulled their faces, their minds racing, trying to find a way to escape. All their lives these two men were used to lead large armies, they were ambitious and ruthless characters who were used to fighting in one place after another all over the world, God knows the number of dangers, difficulties and bad risks they had encountered in all their lives; however, in the situation they were currently facing, unexpectedly they were at their wits’ end. They racked their brains thinking about dozens different scenarios, yet they felt none would be effective.

With stern voice Li Zicheng shouted to Jiu Nan, “What do you want?”

Jiu Nan laughed coldly and said, “What do I want? Naturally I want to kill you with my own hands.”

“This Shitai,” Chen Yuanyuan said, “You my daughter, Ah Ke’s Shifu, aren’t you?”

With a cold laugh Jiu Nan replied, “I took your daughter away, I taught her martial art not because of kindness, I want her to assassinate the big traitor with her own hands.” While saying that, she added the strength of her right hand a little bit, the lance sank down, the tip of the lance penetrated about half a cun into Wu Sangui’s flesh. “Ah!” he could not bear not to cry out in pain.

“This Shifu,” Chen Yuanyuan said, “He … he is a total stranger to you, Senior; he has neither grievance nor enmity with you.”

Jiu Nan tossed her head backward and laughed aloud. “He … he has neither grievance nor enmity with me?” she said, “Xiaobao, tell her who I am; also make the big traitor and the big rebel, two people, to understand clearly.”

Wei Xiaobao said, “My Shifu, the Senior, is the Princess born to the Emperor Chong Zhen of the Great Ming, Princess Changping!”

“Ah!” Wu Sangui, Li Zicheng and Chen Yuanyuan exclaimed together; they were all stunned.

Li Zicheng laughed aloud. “Very good, very good,” he said, “I have caused your father’s death in the past, today I can die in your hand, it is a hundred times better than dying under this big traitor’s hands.” While saying that, he took two steps forward, and drove his monk staff to the ground. The tail of the staff went about a chi into the floor. With both hands he pulled his clothes, ‘rip!’ the front part of his robe was torn, exposing his hairy chest. “Princess,” he said with a laugh, “Make your move. The Ol’ Li didn’t die under the traitor’s hands, didn’t die under the Tatars’ hands, but I am losing my life under the Great Ming Princess’ hand; that is very good!”

In all her life, Jiu Nan hated Li Zicheng to the bones, but she always thought that he had already died on Mount Jiugong of Hubei (province), hence it would be difficult for her to avenge this great enmity with her own hand. Today she found out that he was still alive, it was an unexpected delight. However, presently she saw his heroic and open-minded spirit, how in the face of death he maintained his calm and did not show the slightest bit of fear; she could not help but admiring him in her heart. She coldly said, “Sire is indeed a real man. I am going to kill your enemy first today, before taking your life. I’ll let you see it with your own eyes your enemy lose his head, so that you can die happily.”

Li Zicheng was greatly delighted; he cupped his fist and said, “Many thanks Princess, zaixia cannot thank you enough. In all my life my greatest hope is that I will see with my own eyes this big traitor die a violent death.”

Seeing Wu Sangui was groaning under the lance, without any strength to resist, Jiu Nan was unwilling to kill him with the spear just like that; she said to Li Zicheng, “You might as well fulfilling the desire of your heart; come and kill him!”

Li Zicheng was delighted. “Thank you very much!” he said. Looking down toward Wu Sangui he said, “Traitor, in the battle of Shanhai Pass, your braided troops helped you, hence I was unfortunate and my troops lost. Right now you are captured by the Princess, if I kill you just like that, it will be too easy for you; even if you are dead, you won’t be convinced.” Looking up, he said to Jiu Nan, “Your Highness the Princess, please release him, let me stake my life to see who would live and who would die.”

Jiu Nan lifted up the lance and said, “I want to see who would kill whom first.”

Still crouching on the floor, Wu Sangui groaned several times. Suddenly he sprang up, seized the monk staff, and ferociously swept it across Jiu Nan’s waist.

“Reckless thing!” Jiu Nan scolded. The lance in her hand turned around, pressing the monk staff down. She exerted her internal energy, Wu Sangui felt his arm numb and aching, the monk staff fell to the ground. The tip of the lance swiftly moved toward his throat. Although Wu Sangui was a brave soldier, in front of martial art expert with profound internal energy like Jiu Nan, he was as helpless as a baby that he was unable to withstand a single move. His face turned ash-grey as he repeatedly withdrew, but the tip of the lance was always pointing at his throat.

Li Zicheng stooped down to pick up the monk staff. Jiu Nan turned the lance around and handed it over to Wu Sangui, saying, “The two of you fight fair and square.”

“Alright!” Wu Sangui shouted. His lance went straight toward Li Zicheng. Li Zicheng waved his monk staff to parry, followed by a counterattack with the staff. Thereupon these two men were engaged in a fierce battle in this tiny meditation room.

Jiu Nan pulled Wei Xiaobao away and told him to stand behind her, to guard against the staff and the lance from injuring him.