Part II: Book of Saber
Chapter 17
A Son of My Father
Characters list (not in any particular order):
Ruyu …………......................................…......… ………….Rain Lau Yuk Chui
Li Renying .....................................……….......... .…..…….Tony Leung Chiu Wai
Huang Yitao .....................................……….......... .…..….. Felix Wong Yat Wah
Huang Jiwen .....................................……….......... .…..….. Howie Wong Man Ho
Yong Butong .....................................……….......... .…..…..Vivian Leung Siu Bing
A parade had just begun on the main thoroughfare, and Ruyu lost no time in joining in the fun. For a time being, she forgot all about Di Bao. From the parade, she was pulled into a new entertainment, an acrobatic show. In the center of large crowd, three strong men were forming a human ladder on top of one another. Then the last performer, a little girl, climbed onto shoulders of the topmost man while balancing ten bowls on her head. Then she transferred the bowls onto her left foot and stood with only the right leg. Ruyu gaped at this amazing stunt. Then she clapped loudly along with another impressed audience. She cheered out even louder when the climax came; a standing upside-down with two feet balancing five bowls each. The crowd held their breaths as the girl carefully placed the bowls on each foot then slowly lifted them up while turning upside-down with only two hands rested upon the topmost man’s shoulders. All eyes were now staring at her for the next darling stunt, standing upside-down with only one hand.
Everyone’s attention was focused at the four performers including Ruyu. She didn’t dare to blink, for afraid that she would miss the most important act. At that moment, her quick eyes involuntarily caught a glimpse of a shifty character stealing an audience’s purse from the opposite of the stage. That pickpocket looked up and saw her. He started and sprinted away. Without thinking, Ruyu chased after him while shouting, “Hey, you! Stop!” She took short cut through the stage and unintentionally knocked the man who was the base of the ladder. The girl on top swayed, and all ten bowls fell onto the ground, broken. Oblivious to the commotion she had caused, Ruyu swiftly ran after the him, intending to catch the thief.
The pickpocket ran straight out of town through the east gate. He had a little light Kung Fu skill, so he managed to lose his pursuer in short time. Relieved, he stopped under a big tree and sat down. He used his shirtsleeves to wipe up his sweaty face while cursing at the nosy girl who dared to disturb his business. Then he smiled with satisfaction when he remembered about his booty. He slowly took a heavy purse out from his shirt and was about to open it when someone snatched it from his hands. He looked up and saw the same girl who had been chasing him. She waved the purse in front of him with taunting smile. Angry, he tried to take his prize back by force, but to his amazement, the girl moved very fast – in fact much faster than he did. In no time, she got him securely trussed with a piece of rope like a pig that was waiting to be killed. Then she broke a tree branch and proceeded to give him a good whipping despite his pleas. When one twig broke, she would replace it with another. Seemed as if the life of this small criminal would not last till the sunset.
A passing man stopped when he heard the cry for help from the tied up man. A young woman was beating this poor man cruelly. Filled with pity, the stranger somersaulted in between the thrashing and grabbed the branch out of the girl’s hand.
Ruyu had never had this much fun before. ‘This is a lot better than practicing Kung Fu or concocting a new poison,’ she thought. When, out of the blue, her cane was seized by a slender man dressed in strange clothes, she naturally turned furious. Without a word, she took out a whip that coiled around her waist and lashed it out at the newcomer. This whip of hers was woven from tough buffalo hides and was soaked in an acid pond for 49 days and 49 nights. After that, its inner side was polished with hornet poison so whenever it touched the skin of an enemy, he would feel the throb as if he got stung by hornets. Her grandparents gave it to her for protection on her fifteenth birthday. For years, she had practiced using it on a tree or on a hay-stuffed scarecrow but never actually used it on human before. Ruyu was excited. This was the time to test her Kung Fu skills on someone after boring years of playing by herself; her dear apprentice brother and sister being the pacifists who never wanted to learn any martial arts.
Skillfully, she waved her whip around the stranger, intending to scare him out of his wits for a while before giving him a few lessons. To her surprise, he betrayed no fear or anxiety but stood still, observing the dancing whip with interest. Ruyu quickly changed her tactic; she moved in for real now. But before her whip could have touched its target, he warded it off again and again with the twig that he had wrenched from her hand earlier. All this time, he hadn’t moved from his position at all. By now, Ruyu was all out for his blood. She swished her whip deftly to her opponent’s chest. “Whoosh.” The whip had hit the man’s right shoulder; his sleeve ripped open showing a scaled armor underneath. At the same moment, the twig came up, hooked the whip, and jerked it away from Ruyu’s hand.
With the whip in a new hand, its new owner went after its former owner. Though without Ruyu’s dexterity, the new whip user was very strong. Every time the whip was lashed, it went straight to its target with incredible accuracy. Becoming a target for her own weapon, Ruyu only managed to dodge left and right a few times before she was hit on the right shoulder. However, she had no armor underneath her blouse, so the white skin was clearly exposed from her torn sleeve. The skin where the whip touched swelled, and black blood began to ooze out from the cut. When the man saw Ruyu turned pale, he immediately withdrew the whip and threw it on the ground. He approached her and asked her with real concern.
“How are you doing? Sorry, I didn’t know that you didn’t wear the protective vest. How come? My father and I wear them all the times.”
Ruyu looked up at the handsome face and groaned loudly. Then she fainted. The man looked down at the unconscious girl confusingly. He scratched his head, and finally heaved a sigh. He bent down and picked her up easily. Although he was a small-framed person, he had amazing strength. Noticing a cave nearby, he carried her in there and laid her down. Then he tore off the remaining sleeve and sucked out the poison until the blood turned red again. Then he took out a rectangular based bottle made of jade from his shirt and poured yellow powder from it onto her wound. The sting made her open her eyes. She gave a cry when she saw him peering intently on her bare shoulder. She turned crimson and screamed in chill voice. With quick reflex, she used ‘Dragon Claw Piercing Eagle’s Heart’ move and hit out at her rescuer’s chest with the left hand then was immediately regretted of her rash action. She tried to pull the palm back, but suddenly felt that she was pulled uncontrollably into the man in front by strange energy. When her palm was about to touch his chest, the same energy changed the direction and again bounced her hand back. In space of fifteen seconds, she was thrown to the corner of the cave and was unconscious for real this time.
Actually, after noticing his guileless eyes not so different from those of Di Bao, Ruyu at first only wanted to trick her opponent to come near her so that she could test dragon palm moves that she had learned from her grandmother. However, upon seeing his youthful and attractive face close-up, she decided to feign unconsciousness instead to see what he would do to her. Having grown up among numerable poisons, why should she be afraid of a mere hornet poison? Besides, being an owner of the whip, she would naturally have the poison’s antidote. Only her rescuer was in haste, he forgot to think of this obvious logic.
All the while she was in his arm, she could smell like-flower fragrance from his body. The longer he was near her, the more intoxicated she got from the scent of his body. In the end, she just let herself inert to enjoy the strange sensation from this delightful odor. The yellow powder suddenly woke her up from the beautiful dream.
It took quite a while the second time around to wake Ruyu up. The first thing she thought of was the stranger. So when she found that the stranger was about to depart, she quickly called him to stop.
“Hey, Mister. You can’t leave me here yet, not after what you did…”
The young man’s face went blank. He asked the girl on the ground politely, “Why not? You seem to be all right now. Your wound looks clean enough, and you are awake. I should apologize to you for hurting you with your whip. I didn’t know it had poison.” He turned toward the cave’s entrance then turn backed again. “There is one favor I would like to ask from you. I want to beg you not to beat the man outside any more and let him go.”
Ruyu gave him a dashing smile. She replied coyly, “Oh! That beggar is just an insignificant criminal. I thrashed him to teach him not to steal again. You did beat me in the fight, so you can have that dirty thief if you like.” Then she praised him with admiring eyes. “You are an extraordinary man with a strange armor and powerful energy like that. Who is your master? What is your name?” She thought of his scent and wondered if she had just been dreaming.
He listened to her thoughtfully then replied. “Oh, so he’s a pickpocket! I don’t want him, but thank you for letting him go. I’m very sorry that you got thrown away from my energy. I didn’t mean to hurt you, honest.” He bowed to the girl gracefully and chatted away. “My name is Yong, my father called me Butong. I don’t have a master. I live with my father in a remote island. What shall I call you?” He was thinking that this girl was a strange character. She seemed fierce yet her smile was warm and friendly. She made one feel as it he could talk to her about anything. He smiled
He had been staring at her, and she turned pink under his friendly gaze. She tried to finish her sentence but became too bashful. “My grandparents named me Ruyu, and it was really my fault that I got thrown away. I was too hasty to push you, but I just woke up and was taken by surprise. Besides, you, er, you…”
“I what?” The handsome youth asked quizzically. ‘The Central Plains people are very odd. Can’t they ever finish sentences?’ He thought.
The girl was getting redder and redder. Eventually, she started to cry and said between sobs, “You have seen my bare shoulder, and you have touched it. And now, you are not going to be responsible to your conducts! Better kill me than leaving me with this humiliation.”
Ruyu peeped at the man in front through her tearful eyes and giggled inwardly. He kneeled down awkwardly and tried to comfort her. He asked desperately, “What do you want me to do then? Gee! If I had known that you didn’t like to be touched, I wouldn’t have helped you. Why all the fuss? You were wounded, so I took care of you; that’s all. Stop crying please. I felt bad seeing you like this.”
Tears instantly stopped flowing. Ruyu wiped her face and beamed at him like a flower that just received morning dews. She whispered, “Well, I…you…we are to be husband and wife.” Her eyes were bright, and her face was glowing in the dim of the cave.
The young man knotted his eyebrows. He was not sure what she meant. “Is it necessary?” When she nodded shyly, ready to let tears drop again if he refused her, he agreed indifferently. “All right. We can be husband and wife then, whatever that is, if it can make you happy. Can I go now? I have a long way to go yet.”
Ruyu couldn’t help laughing at her new-gained husband. He looked so sincere yet he didn’t seem to have any clue on what’s going on. Imagined not knowing what husband and wife were. She giggled again. Such a fine-looking lad but so innocent and naïve. Di Bao would become a man of the world when compared to him. Of course, this man was cuter than her apprentice brother was, aside from being better than she was in martial arts. She examined his facial features closely in dim light. He looked so adorable, almost too pretty a face for a man. He had pale skin with almond-shaped eyes and red lips with pearly teeth. ‘He is a perfect husband for me. Grandma and Grandpa will approve of him for sure.’ She got up, arranged her clothes neatly and explained. “Husband and wife are two people who live together and like each other very much. You are the husband, and I am the wife. From now on, I’ll always go where you go.” Her heart was warm at the thought of her husband. ‘He has a beautiful smile, pleasing like rain on parched earth, and he is mine.’
Yong Butong nodded at the explanation. He spoke, “Hmph. It doesn’t sound bad to be husband and wife with you. In fact, I like you a lot.” He couldn’t understand why the girl turned scarlet again. He mistook it as a fever, so he gave her a white pill from another bottle with oval base. “Here take this. It’s our family pill. It will strengthen your body against fever.”
Though puzzled, Ruyu obediently swallowed the pill. Right away, she felt warm energy circulated throughout meridian points. Moreover, when she tried moving her inner energy from one point to another, she found that it had traveled smoothly and continuously like water overflowing a dam. She exclaimed in wonder, “Good pill! Good pill! My grandpa doesn’t even have this kind of stuff at home.” She clapped her hands happily and was more impressed than ever at this wonderful husband of hers.
An idea came across her mind, and she asked him teasingly. “Hmph, your name is Yong Butong; that means ‘forever no sorrow’. Then are you never sad?”
Yong Butong shook his head. “The only sorrow I have is not knowing my mother. I came to Mainland because I wanted to find her. I want to take her back to our home, but I don’t know if my father would let you stay with us or not. He doesn’t like any visitors. He cuts their tongues and their ears and chained them to train them as our servants.” Then he laughed. “You must think I’m pretty stupid asking some senseless questions. But the people here are weird too. Yesterday, I tried to exchange a bun with my pearls,” he took out several huge pearls out of his pocket and showed them to his new friend. He continued the story. “I ended up with a basketful of buns because the seller said that one of these little pearls has more value than a single bun.” He saw Ruyu’s unconcealed admiration, so he put a whole bag of pearls in her hand. He smiled at her delighted face. “Don’t worry. I still have lots more with me. Father said that people will go nuts over them, but I didn’t know they would be this crazy. There are plenty of them at home. All I have to do is to dive into the sea and bring them up. He changed the subject. “Are you from around here?”
Still in awe from the sight of precious pearls, she answered as if in a dream, “No, I came from the western border. My mother died years ago, but I never know my father. I am here on a search for him.”
Yong Butong sighed and spoke sympathetically. “We have the same fate then. Father never tells me anything about her except one time that he was drunk. He said that I reminded him of her. He said that she must be living happily with her lover in the south at this moment.” He stopped to question Ruyu, “Are ‘lovers’ the same as husband and wife?”
Ruyu nodded, trying not to snicker aloud. She could see that he was serious. She announced, “I’m on my way to Guangxi with my apprentice brother. After he finds his brother, I’ll be your guide to find your mother. Then you can help me find my father.”
Talking of Di Bao made her aware that he was left alone in the city. Just when she was about to propose Yong Butong to go back to town with her, a male voice was heard outside the cave.
“Hey, you guys. Someone is tied up here. Come and help me untie him.”
Another voice also belonged to a man, exclaimed excitingly. “Look at this whip. I’ve just found it. Isn’t it nifty? I think I will give it to Xing-xing since we haven’t got anything for her yet.”
Hearing that her favorite weapon was about to fall into a stranger’s hand, Ruyu rushed out of the cave. Outside, three men were examining the new weapon. They were near one another in height. The one who was holding the whip was sturdy built. His arms were full of muscles, and his hands were big and rough. His skin was tanned, showing the long hours of outdoor activities. His name was Huang Jiwen (Howie Wong). The man who was standing next to him was on the lean side and fairer than the first man. He had a solemn face though his eyes were lively as if they were laughing all the time. He was Li Renying (Tony Leung). The third man stood further away. He was holding a rope that Ruyu used to tie the pickpocket, who by now had run away as fast as his legs would take him. This third man was called Huang Yitao (Felix Wong), and he was an older brother of Huang Jiwen. He had a similar build as his younger brother with an honest face and sincere eyes. All three men had compassionate faces. Three horses were eating grass near by.
Ruyu jumped in front of Huang Jiwen and shouted, “Give me back my whip.” At the same time, she tried to wrench her whip from his hand, but his grip was too powerful for her. When she failed to retrieve her favorite weapon, she punched out two palms in a move called ‘Dragon swallows the Heaven’; it was then followed by ‘Dragon sweeps the Sky’ and ‘Dragon showers the Earth’ consecutively. The whip handler did not expect so powerful moves from a young girl, so he had no time to dodge the coming palms. Just when he was about to receive the full blows, a sword entered their energy field, destroyed their force, and continued its course toward the girl. It was Li Renying. Yong Butong saw the lean man thrust the sword at Ruyu, so he intercepted the sword with his right index and middle fingers. Its tip was held firmly between his two fingers. Li Renying tried to pull his weapon back but felt as if a pair of iron tongs clamping tightly on it. Huang Yitao then jumped in to lend hands to his friend and his younger brother. He flashed his fists at Yong Butong who received them with his left palm. The force from the four men met at the center of the sword so that it snapped in half. Everyone staggered back at least three steps. Huang Jiwen then released the whip and, having the least inner power, was the first to get thrown away from the web. At that moment, Ruyu reached for her needles and threw them toward him. Huang Yitao saw that, so he leaped in, shielding his younger brother with his own body. The needles buried deep in his upper body, and he collapsed to the ground. These projectiles had poison, so his face turned ashen then became green.
The swordsman Li Renying stepped in and caught the whip and cast it at Ruyu, who would have gone down earlier if it weren’t for the marvelous pill Yong Butong had given to her. While she was trying to avoid the whip, Yong Butong stepped forward and flicked a marble at Li Renying’s wrist, causing his hand temporarily numb. The whip fell down and was again retrieved by Huang Jiwen.
Upon seeing Huang Yitao’s condition, Huang Jiwen grabbed his elder brother with great strength and hopped onto his white horse. Then he urged his horse to speed forward in the southern direction while shouting to his friend to take the antidote from the little witch and meet them at Doctor Ma’s house.
When Ruyu heard the word ‘little witch’, she immediately gave a yell and jumped onto another horse and started the pursuit after Huang Jiwen and his brother, intending to take back her whip and give him a good beating for calling her name.
Yong Butong was about to follow her, but he was obstructed by Li Renying. There was only one horse left, and each man was fighting to get on it. Although Yong Butong had strong inner power, he had no knowledge of sword fight. On the other hand, Li Renying was more skillful in sword art but was inferior to Yong Butong in the inner strength department. With a tree branch that he picked up from the ground, he started with a move ‘Maiden picks Flowers’ and changed to ‘Maiden chases Butterflies’ then followed with ten other moves, all their names began with ‘Maiden’.
This was a set move of Maiden Sword. It belonged to the Sword South School. Sword God adapted these moves from his wife’s tribal dance steps; therefore they were graceful in style aside from requiring little inner strength, yet each move hid powerful defense and would be very fatal if applied with high inner force.
Originally, this sword art was taught to both Liu Tong and Tian Fei. However, being a rough man, who had no appreciation for beauty and did not understand the full potential behind the moves, Liu Tong looked down on this ‘harmless sword dance’, so he soon forgot about it. Accordingly, his two godchildren, the Huang brothers, never learned it. On the other hand, Tian Fei was a refined man, who admired all forms of beauty continued to practice this set move although he hardly had the use for it. When he adopted a daughter, Xing-xing, he started teaching her this Maiden sword set for means of protection as it suited her temperament and physical strength. Li Renying, being her playmate since young often sparred with her, so naturally he was trained of this sword art along with this little martial sister of his.
Yong Butong watched the elegant Maiden sword moves with wonder. He stopped fighting and instead started to sing a song along to accompany this beautiful sword dance. Li Renying saw an opportunity and stabbed his twig forward, aiming at his opponent’s side. He only intended to scare this pretty boy into yielding him the cure of poison for his friend; therefore, he used only half of his inner strength. Unexpectedly, when the twig touched his opponent’s shirt, it vibrated and tore in pieces. The shock ran through the stick into his hand, his arm, and his entire upper body. Amazed at the strength of this handsome lad, Li Renying could do nothing but stood there stupefied.
In truth, although Yong Butong had powerful inner strength, what really saved him from harm was his scaled inner shirt made from the five-hundred-years-old shell of tortoises. All this time, he didn’t realize that he had been attacked, as he was totally immersed in what he mistook as a dance. When he saw the other man stopped, he called out disappointingly. “Big brother, what an exquisite dance! Why did you stop? I haven’t remembered all the steps yet. Can you do that again, so that I can dance for my father at home?”
Li Renying gawked at Yong Butong, thinking that he was joking at first, but when realizing that he was speaking sincerely, he could not help but laughed a little. “Little brother, thank you for the complements. I am not even half as good as my martial sister is. She could execute these moves as if an angel came down from the heaven, but I will ‘dance’ for you again if you give me the antidote for the poison.”
Yong Butong shook his head and said slowly, “I don’t have it, but I am sure she will surely give it to you. I’ve only met her three hours ago, but she seemed friendly enough. Don’t worry. I’ll ask her to as soon as I can catch up with her.”
Li Renying thought inwardly that there never ceased a wonder with this boy. This young gentleman had met a girl for only three hours, and she was already his wife. He looked very young with a girlish face, yet he had inner strength of an old man. He took sword moves as sword dance, and instead of putting on defense, he just sang a song and let his body be a target.
Yong Butong was in turn impressed with the other man’s martial skills. ‘How come Father never teaches me those dances? All I have learned were saber dances; they are not as flexible and as pretty as this twig dance. Maybe if I can find Ruyu and get the antidote from her, this man might consent to teach me some more steps.’ He was thinking aloud from an old habit of talking to himself when he was bored at home.
Li Renying was amazed from hearing this young man’s inner thought. He had never seen a guileless man with pure mind like this one before. His animosity was totally gone by now. So he cupped his hands and politely addressed the other man. “Young brother, you have an unrivaled inner power for a man of your age. May I ask who is your master?”
Yong Butong shrugged indifferently. “Thank you for your complement, but I have no master, only a father in a remote island in the east. I’d rather learn your dance because it seems more fun.” He added innocently.
For some unknown reasons, Li Renying was anxious to make peace with this stranger. “Of course. I’ll show you the moves when we obtain the antidote. Actually, my friend was somewhat rude to your wife a moment ago, and I want to apologize to you for that. Let’s us go find my friends and your wife now, so all this misunderstanding can come to an end.”
Yong Butong knitted his brows. He shook his head again and spoke, “No, that is wrong. Ruyu was the one who was rude to your friend first. No need to apologize. However, she had a little fever, so she might have acted unconsciously. I beg you my forgiveness for her.” He eyed the remaining steed and suggested. “You’d better take the horse. I’ll go on foot.” Before Li Renying could have said anything, he was gone.
Li Renying gaped and sighed, “Extraordinary man indeed.” He got on the horse and headed toward the house of the well-known physician of the south, Dr. Ma of Guangxi.
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Comments would be appreciated. Sometimes I am so one-sided mind I can't really judge my own story. <IMG SRC="smilies/blush.gif" border="0"> <IMG SRC="smilies/redface.gif" border="0">
Thank you for reading.