大唐双龙传 [Da Tang Shuang Long Zhuan] by Huang Yi

[Ysabelkid]

Thanks foxs

[George Harris]

Nice chapter, seems something's up with Susu ... Have a job opportunity or two up by a family member and they could use the help so it's a good time before something else happens to change it. Wonder if this clan will try to come after them more now or not ... can't wait and see!

[HPC7595]

Thanks foxs

[SkyWalker]

Thanks foxs.

I really think there's something wrong with Susu. Maybe she's the spy.

[Jayariyin]

Thanks, foxs.

[akolaw]

I don't think there is anything wrong with Shen, she like to tease with the 2 boys and she is fond of Xu ziling, that is it. If we look at her from a modern viewpoint, we can appreciate she has a modern independent mind.

I don't think she have any sexual relationship with Li Mu, both of them are too smart to fall into this mistake.

[akolaw]

Li mi will not have any affair with his top gun's woman at this time.

Li Mi did not have a turf, he is not rich, and he don't have an army, that is why he join Dai Lung Tou's Wa gong Shan.
Li Mi is a good martial artist and a good field leader, he have a frame and he also lead a team of high caliber followers,

High caliber person have high pride, (Xu shiji must be good martial artist and good general as well) why did they follow Li Mi, Li must be good charismatic leader, that treat his follower like brothers, and stealing brother's wife is a big No No to charismatic leader. This will drain all his followers, Li will not do it unless he is emperor or he had nothing to lost.

Li just betray Dai Lung Tau, who accepted Li and give him a chance to lead Dai's army, this shows his ambition, that he is not interest to work under some body, if he had his gang leave him now, he don't have any chance to play the big game,

[akolaw]

Shen is a beautiful young woman. Xu ziling was 16 at the beginning of the story, by now he is 17???, Shen is 4 to 5 years older, so she is around 23. Shen is Li Mi's Jun Shi , she should be knowledgeable and good strategist, she also handle spy network, she should be good analyst, with good organization skill and people skill, she must be very proud of herself. She is attracted by Xu ziling and Ba, both are very handsome young men of high caliber, how able her fiance, Xu shiji, top gun of Li mi, another handsome young man of high caliber. Li Mi is call Li gung, a respectful address to middle age man of higher social status, just like gung ji is a respect address to young man of higher social status. She is not attracted by Li, and She is too rational to fall to ruin the trust of their team.

She may or may not have slept with her fiance, does it matter?? she quarrel with Xu shiji over Xu's affair, she must be frustrated and want to go out with other boys, isn't that how a young beautiful woman with high post react.

Personally, I don't think she have any affair with Ba as well.

[akolaw]

She is young and beautiful, as any young and beautiful woman dreaming for a romance relationship, but her young and handsome boyfriend want to have many woman, and she is too proud to accept that.

She also have high IQ and EQ, in another word she think and act much more maturely than her actual age. So she is not naive, and she is struggle by this two state, looking for romance and know deep down that this is not going to happen.

[徐中銳]

Shen Luoyan raised her lily-white hand, letting him see she had a secure grip of the book. She smiled and said, “Don’t blame me as a horny b1tch; I deliberately moaned in loud voice to attract your attention, but I still did not expect you would come that quickly...

Oh! Are you interested or not? Being messed up by him, I really want to have a man.”

Xu Ziling angrily said, “Go back to Xu Shiji! I am going to leave.”

Yeah, « not naive », I know other adjectives...

[Anh Nam]

Thanks foxs

[foxs]

Drak, you are right on this, i.e. SLY is the only other women who has a lot of screen time. Komeng, Ysabel, HPC, Jaya, Anh, you are welcome. George, Sky, I know you guys dislike Susu, but I did not realize it was that bad ... Well, since I have not read the book myself, you could be right. Akolaw, good analysis, but I am leaning toward Xu Xiong; think SLY is not as 'innocent' as you think. I don't know, perhaps I am more used to 'traditional' wuxia, where the female protagonists are usually not so loose like Huang Yi's description of SLY. But again, we will see together how the story unfolds. Here is the end of Chapter 8.

---

It was not clear which side did those three men belong to, but in the blink of an eye they were already ascending the small hill, and suddenly stopped in front of the three. The men cupped their fists in greeting; their manner was very polite.

The one in the middle was a man about twenty-seven, twenty-eight, wearing grey clothes. There was a cane strapped onto his back, there was a gentle, cultured manners in the midst of his heroic-looking features; a tough and stocky build man [orig. ‘back of a tiger and waist of a bear’], but there was something in his outer appearance that broke people’s heart.

From the other two men, one was a forty-something short and stout man, while the other was a middle-aged man dressed like a Confucian scholar. Both were extraordinary-looking men.

Just from the fact that even after running at full speed like that, the men were still calm and composed, it was clear that these men were top quality martial art masters.

The man in grey laughed aloud and said, “Finally we are able to catch up with two Xiongdi, we are indeed very pleased. I am Liu Heita, the Cavalry Commander under the banner of King of Xia.”

And then he proceeded to introduce the Confucian Scholar on his left, “This gentleman is known in Jianghu as the ‘Iron Fan’, Zhuge Dewei; he is also Ol’ Liu’s sworn brother.”

Zhuge Dewei waved his left hand, like magic a [folding] fan suddenly appeared. ‘Cha!’ the fan opened, and he lightly fanned himself a couple times; his manner was full of confidence.

Liu Heita pointed to the short and stout man and said, “Dong Shu [uncle, younger than one’s father] is known as the ‘Door God’. His skill is equally famous with the newly acquired general under Li Mi’s command, Qin Shubao, their fearlessness is without a rival.”

This ‘Door God’ was surprisingly modest. “Gongzi must not paste gold on my face,” he declined, “I am Cui Dong, only an errant-boy serving under Gongzi!”

Kou Zhong was bewildered, “Who is this King of Xia?” he asked.

Liu Heita replied, “No wonder the three of you did not know, our humble master Dou Jiande has founded a kingdom named Xia; it has not been announced to the world yet.”

The three people looked at each other; it was only then did they know that these men were on Dou Jiande’s side.

Liu Heita suddenly said, “Would Miss turn your back around? Because Ol’ Liu has a first meeting gift I’d like to present to these two Xiongdi, but I am afraid it will be frightening to Miss.”

Xu Ziling was astonished, “What first meeting gift?” he asked.

Susu apprehensively turned her tender body around.

Liu Heita smiled calmly; he gave a hand signal, the ‘Door God’ Cui Dong immediately untied a cloth bag, with some unknown object inside, hanging from his waist, and casually tossed it toward Kou Zhong.

Puzzled, Kou Zhong caught it, but very soon his countenance changed greatly. Immediately he tossed the cloth bundle back to Liu Heita and cried out in terror, “My Niang! Whose head is this?”

Amidst Susu’s shrill scream, Liu Heita caught the bundle, calmly reached into it, and grabbed the head by the hair and took it out. Holding it in front of the two boys’ eyes, he said, “Let Ol’ Liu introduces him to you. This man surnamed Zheng, given name Zong, known as the ‘Flying Feather’. If he did not lose his head and thus could not walk, I am afraid the three of you would have fallen into Wagang Army’s hands.”

Inwardly Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were scared and very nervous, but seeing the opposite party’s men did not show any changes in their countenance, they suppressed their fear of this dead man’s head. The former let out a dry cough and said, “Hey! Would Liu Xiong take this away first? We don’t want to scare our Jiejie.”

Although Liu Heita had no problem with that, Zhuge Dewei and Cui Dong’s faces flashed a mocking look; obviously they looked down on these boys for being scared by a human head like that.

Liu Heita handed the head over to Cui Dong and said, “Hang this head on a prominent place as a way for us to greet Xu Shiji.”

Cui Dong accepted the order and left.

With normal expression Liu Heita cupped his fist and said, “Now that two Xiongtai have become characters that everybody in the world wants to obtain, I wonder what your future plan may be?”

After exchanging a glance with Xu Ziling, Kou Zhong cleared his throat and said, “We don’t know what kind of luck we have walked into that everybody believes we know the whereabouts of the Duke Yang Treasure, while the fact is …”

Liu Heita showed his displeasure as he cut him off, “Kou Xiong, do you think I, the Ol’ Liu, am also looking for you for the treasure? You are gravely mistaken!”

After a short pause, he continued, “This time we hit the road, is because we received King of Xia’s order to confer with Da Longtou, to advise him to gain the initiative by striking first by eliminating Li Mi. Who would have thought that we were one step too late, Zhai Mansion has become ashes. We investigated for many days before discovering that only the three of you escaped the great catastrophe. Not only that, you also turned the City of Xingyang upside down. You gain Ol’ Liu’s utmost admiration.”

With her back still facing them, Susu asked, “Has the human head been removed?”

“Miss Susu, please set your heart at ease,” Liu Heita apologetically said, “Human head is gone!”

Still with fear and trepidation Susu turned around. Looking at her moving expression, frightened and timid, as if she was asking for pity, Liu Heita could only stare blankly.

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling did not care, but Susu asked, “One day earlier Miss was sent off by Laoye, she left under the protection of Tu Guanjia [housekeeper/manager]. I wonder if General Liu has heard any news about her.”

Liu Heita replied, “With a martial art master of Tu Shufang’s caliber protecting Miss Jiao, she should have no problem. I will dispatch my men to make inquiries on their whereabouts.”

Susu laughed cheerfully and said, “With Gongzi giving your promise, Susu is relieved!”

Seeing her blooming-flower-like smile, once again Liu Heita could only stare wide-eyed on her. This time Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling noticed something different about him; all their eyes were on him.

Zhuge Dewei let out a dry cough and said, “Er Di [second (younger) brother], this place has danger lurks on every side, we’d better rush to Yangwu first, and then we can have a heart-to-heart chat over wine much more comfortably.”

As if he was just awakened from a dream, Liu Heita noticed Kou and Xu, two boys’ peculiar look; his old face turned red from embarrassment as he said, “As soon as Dong Shu is back from his task, we will set out immediately. To tell you the truth, I feel instant connection with the two gentlemen [orig. people of talent appreciate one another (idiom)/to sympathize with one another]. This is the time the world’s outstanding heroes rise up, a great time for those who are able to be kings. In sincerity I’d like to invite two gentlemen to join our army. In the future riches and honor we will enjoy together. If there is any fake word in me, let me, Liu Heita, not have a good ending.”

Toward this young martial art master who was full of heroic spirit, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling had quite a favorable impression; but joining his group was another matter altogether.

Kou Zhong let out a dry cough and said, “I also will tell you the truth; right now we have something important to do, about joining your precious side, let’s talk about it a bit later.”

Liu Heita looked disappointed; he said, “I hope the two gentlemen are really tied and not just finding excuses to decline the Ol’ Liu’s invitation.”

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling did not expect him to be this vain; they found it a bit hard to explain.

Susu interjected, “They really did not deceive Liu Gongzi, I can be their witness.”

Liu Heita laughed aloud and said, “Since Miss says so, naturally I have no doubt. It’s just that I was wondering if in this matter the Ol’ Liu can be of any help?”

Kou Zhong laughed and said, “Liu Xiong seems to have too much time in your hands, plus you are showing undeserved favor toward us, so we thank you in advance. However, this is a very delicate matter, involving our deep enmity with Yuwen Huaji; therefore, we simply cannot involve other people.”

Liu Heita shrugged, “Turns out the widespread rumor in Jianghu that you have obtained evidence that Li Clan and Yuwen Clan are about to rebel is indeed not a wind from an empty cave.”

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling looked at each other. It should be noted that only a few people were privy about this account book matter; who might have leaked it?

Xiang Yushan came to look for them, the two boys still did not think much about it; but now Liu Heita also said the same thing, the two boys started to be afraid.

Just one ‘Duke Yang Treasure-trove’ already made them jumpy and jittery, now the account book matter was piled on top of that; would they still have days of peace and happiness? Yuwen Clan alone was enough to give them a pounding headache.

In the meantime, Ciu Dong came back, Liu Heita stopped talking, he urged everybody to hasten.

Kou Zhong and the others also knew it was unwise to tarry, plus they had a good opinion on Liu Heita, hence they decided to travel together with them, so they set out toward Yangwu.

[Drak17]

AWYISSS. I am camping you!

Thanks for the chapter.

[HPC7595]

Thanks foxs

[George Harris]

It isn't that I dislike Susu, it's just ... there's something off with her that I can't put a finger on, something familiar too ... something I noticed at the moment they first meet that just makes for a scratch in the back of my mind. Honestly, if her mistress hadn't made an appearance in this volume and the way we found out she had been treated after returning, which was enough for me to want to destroy all of those guys and I wouldn't have felt that if I didn't look at her kindly, because I originally thought She was the daughter in hiding, but now it's like she's been hiding something since the beginning that I can't figure out, no idea if it's good or bad but it makes me kind of can't wait to see what happens but yet ... I would feel dumb if it turns out to be a nothing type of thing, Ya know? Especially since she's that cool head of reason (to the point of spoiling the potential fun) to the boys potential for mischief.

[Ysabelkid]

Thanks foxs

[Jayariyin]

Thanks, foxs.

[Anh Nam]

thanks foxs

[Laoren]

Thanks foxs, finally manage to catch with this latest chapter. Alot of new characters keep appearing, at times I am lost as to who is who

[BocahTuaNakal]

dang, i tot there gonna be a big fight with those 3
thanks, foxs