Legend of Condor Heroes Book 2

by Jin Yong

  Guo Jing understood his First Master’s love toward him as shown by his willingness to go with him into a dangerous situation. His heart was overwhelmed and he kneeled and kowtowed respectfully.

  “Your younger brother comes from a rich and honorable family, you must be careful,” Nan Xiren reminded him. Guo Jing did not understand, he only looked at his master. Han Xiaoying smiled, “You don’t understand your Fourth Master’s words. It’s all right. You will understand later. Just be careful at all times,” she said. “Yes,” Guo Jing said.

  Zhu Cong smiled, “Huang Yaoshi’s daughter is actually very different from her father,” he said. “We shouldn’t provoke her anymore, should we, Third Brother?”

  Han Baoju twitched his moustache. “That little brat scolded me even though she is as short as a winter melon; she even thinks herself pretty.” Speaking thus he could not restrain a smile.

  Guo Jing knew his masters no longer bore any grudges toward Huang Rong; he was delighted. But then he remembered her whereabouts was unknown, he couldn’t help feeling depressed.

  “Jing’er,” Quan Jinfa said, “The sooner you leave, the sooner you will be back. We will wait patiently in Jiaxing.” With that the Six Freaks of Jiangnan headed south.

  Guo Jing held his red horse’s reins and followed his masters with his eyes until he no longer could see them. Then he turned his head toward Yang Kang. “My worthy younger brother [xiandi], this red horse of mine is extremely fast; we can go to Beijing and back within ten days. What do you say

  I accompany you and spend several days looking around?” Yang Kang agreed. Two young men mounted the horse and headed slowly to the north.

  Yang Kang sighed with heavy feelings. Only a month ago he lived a luxurious life. He came to Jiangnan with a great company as a special emissary of the Great Jin, with all the power and prestige that came with it. Now he was traveling back to the capital quietly, with nobody pampering him along the way. It was like he was having a pleasant dream and suddenly woke up to the harsh reality of life. Guo Jing might not necessarily take him along to kill Wanyan Honglie; which made him more distressed. He contemplated warning Wanyan Honglie, but could not make up his mind about it.

  Guo Jing, noticing his grim expression, thought that he was mourning the death of his parents and so tried to console him.

  Around noon they arrived in Liyang and straightaway tried to find a restaurant for some refreshments. Out of the blue, someone who looked like a restaurant worker, approached. “Are you gentlemen Mr. Guo and Mr. Yang?” he bowed as he asked, smiling broadly. “The table is ready, please come with me and eat.”

  Guo Jing and Yang Kang were baffled. “How did you know us?” Yang Kang asked.

  “A guest arrived earlier and asked us to prepare a meal for you. I was even given a detailed description of how Mr. Guo and Mr. Yang look,” he said, still with a smile on his face. He then took the horses’ reins and led them to the stable.

  Yang Kang snorted and cynically said, “The Returning Cloud Manor Master Lu is so kind.” They entered the restaurant and sat down. As it turned out, the food was exquisite and the wine was superb. Guo Jing even found some chicken that he liked very much. They ate to their hearts’ content and were about to pay the bill, but the restaurant worker simply smiled and said, “No need to pay gentlemen, everything has been taken care of.” Yang Kang laughed and tipped him generously. He thanked them profusely and led them out of the restaurant, bowing and smiling the whole time.

  Guo Jing praised Manor Master Lu’s generosity. Yang Kang, however, still bore a grudge because he had been captured and held prisoner. “I assume he uses this trick to befriend the people of Jianghu; no wonder he’s the leader of the Lake Tai area,” he said.

  “Isn’t Manor Master Lu your martial uncle?” Guo Jing wondered.

  “It’s true that Mei Chaofeng taught me some martial arts,” Yang Kang answered. “But that doesn’t necessarily make her my master. If I had known they came from a heretical sect, I would not have wanted to learn any of it and I wouldn’t have fallen into this situation.”

  “How so?” Guo Jing was confused.

  Yang Kang realized he had made an indiscreet remark. He blushed and said with a smile, “Little Brother feels the ‘Nine Yin White Bone Claw’ and her other martial arts are unorthodox.”

  Guo Jing concurred. “What my worthy younger brother said is correct. Your master, Priest Changchun’s [Eternal Spring] martial arts are exquisite and he comes from an orthodox Taoist school. If you tell him the truth and repent, I am sure he will be willing to forget past matters.” Yang Kang silently agreed.

  That evening they arrived at Jintan. Again, another restaurant worker welcomed them and led them to a table full of choice foods and wine. This happened for the next three days. The next day the two crossed a river and arrived at Gaoyou and received the same welcome. Yang Kang sneered and said, “I want to see just how far Returning Cloud Manor extends their hospitality.” However, Guo Jing was starting to get suspicious; every time they ate, he would find one or two bowls of his favorite food. If it was Lu Guanying, how would he know what he liked?

  After they finished eating Guo Jing proposed, “My worthy younger brother, let me go ahead and investigate.” Mounting his red horse he quickly rode ahead, passing three scheduled stops and soon arrived at Baoying. Sure enough, nobody welcomed him there. Guo Jing found the biggest inn in town and checked into the best room. That evening he heard a horse with loud ringing bells galloping and stopping right in front of the inn. Someone entered and ordered some food scheduled for tomorrow, for Mr. Guo and Mr. Yang.

  Guo Jing had guessed earlier it must be Huang Rong; but on hearing her voice he was overjoyed nonetheless. He restrained himself from coming out to see her. He thought that since Huang Rong liked to play around, he would surprise her later that evening. He slept soundly until about the second hour, quietly got up and went tiptoeing to scare Huang Rong in her room. Then he saw a shadow flashing on the roof; it was Huang Rong. “Where is she going in the middle of the night?” Guo Jing wondered.

  Quickly using his lightness kungfu he followed behind. Huang Rong ran without looking around to the outskirts of town; oblivious that somebody was following her. She stopped at the bank of a small creek and sat beneath a willow tree. She took something out of her pocket and bent down to play with it.

  The moonlight shone on her beautiful face as a cool breeze swayed the willow branches and her clothes gently fluttered. The creek whispered softly and the insects chirped quietly. It was a beautiful scene to behold. Guo Jing was about to come near when suddenly he heard Huang Rong quietly say, “This is Jing ge ge, this one is Rong’er. You two sit down nicely face-to-face. Yes, like this .”

  Guo Jing tiptoed behind her. He could not see clearly in the dim moonlight, but he saw in front of her two clay figurines, one resembled a man, the other a woman. These figurines were made in the famous Wuxi city; they were round, fat and really cute. During their stay at Returning Cloud Manor Guo Jing had learned from Huang Rong that although mere toys, Wuxi’s products were the result of very high quality craftsmanship. The locals called them ‘da a fu’ [big lucky]. Huang Rong owned several such figurines on Peach Blossom Island.

  Guo Jing came nearer and saw in front of the figurines tiny clay bowls filled with flower petals, leaves, and so on. He heard her saying softly, “Jing ge ge can eat this bowl, Rong’er will have this one. Rong’er cooked them herself. Aren’t they delicious?”

  “Delicious, very delicious!” Guo Jing said as he stepped out.

  Huang Rong was startled. She turned her head and smiled sweetly; rushed into Guo Jing’s arms and hugged him tightly. They sat shoulder-to-shoulder beneath the willow tree busily talking about what had happened during their few days of separation [which felt like years to them]. Actually it was

  Huang Rong who busily talked; Guo Jing was content with simply looking at her face and listening to her chatter.

  Huang Rong told him how that night a
fter her father threatened Guo Jing’s life she had jumped into the lake. After hiding for some time she figured out her father must have left, so she came back to the village. She saw Guo Jing was safe and sound and was greatly comforted; but recalling how she had been so harsh with her father she felt really bad. The next morning she saw Guo Jing and Yang Kang heading north to Beijing; thereupon she preceded them and arranged for meals along the way.

  They talked all through the night in the warm sixth month’s weather. The weather was pleasant and Huang Rong’s heart was happy; after a while she became sleepy, her speech became fuzzy and not too long afterward fell asleep against Guo Jing’s chest; her jade-white skin felt cool and her breath blew softly. Guo Jing was afraid he might awaken her, so he sat motionless against the willow tree and after a while he too dozed off.

  Guo Jing did not know how long he slept, but by the time he opened his eyes he could hear the birds chirping merrily and he smelled the sweet fragrance of the wild flowers. The sun was rising; but Huang Rong was still asleep. With her eyebrows creased, her ruddy complexion, her graceful smile, she looked like she was having a sweet dream.

  “Let her sleep a bit longer; I must not make any noise,” Guo Jing thought. He looked like he was counting her long eyelashes when suddenly a voice was heard, coming from about twenty feet to his left.

  “I found the Eldest Miss Cheng’s room; it is on the second floor of the building surrounded by a flower garden behind the Tong Ren pawnshop,” the voice said.

  “Good! We will work tonight,” another voice replied, it sounded like an older man. Both men spoke in low voices, but in the quietness of the morning Guo Jing could hear every single word clearly. He was startled; they sounded like some ‘flower picking thieves - rapists’ [cai hua yin zei], naturally he could not let them do all kinds of evil things.

  Suddenly Huang Rong opened her eyes; she leaped out of Guo Jing’s arms and called out, “Jing ge ge, catch me!” She ran toward a big tree. Initially Guo Jing was perplexed, but Huang Rong kept beckoning him to come. Finally he understood. They were pretending to be a young couple playing hide-and-seek in the morning. He pursued her while laughing and joking loudly, intentionally made his footsteps heavy to conceal his lightness kungfu.

  The two men were not expecting anybody else to be around that early in the morning. They were startled, but upon seeing a young man and a young woman noisily playing, their suspicions vanished. However, they did not continue talking and left immediately.

  Huang Rong and Guo Jing could see their backs. They were dressed in rags and looked like they were beggars.

  “Jing ge ge, what do you think they are going to do to that Eldest Miss Cheng?” Huang Rong asked after they had walked far enough.

  “Most likely not a good thing,” Guo Jing answered. “Do you think we should help her?” “For sure,” Huang Rong answered with a smile. “Only I don’t know if they belong to Hong Qigong’s clan or not?”

  “I don’t think so,” Guo Jing said. “But then Qigong said that all beggars under the heaven are in his care . Hmm . perhaps those two are impostors.”

  “There are tens of thousands beggars in the world; certainly some of them have turned bad. I don’t care how good Qigong is, he will not be able to manage each and every one of them. Looks like these two are the bad ones. Hong Qigong has been so kind to us that it is impossible to ever repay him. I think he will like it if we take care of these bad ones.”

  “You are right,” Guo Jing agreed. Even though he was a little bit tired, the thought of repaying Qigong’s kindness lifted his spirits.

  “Those two men’s bare legs were covered with boils. I am sure they are not false, so those two were real beggars. Other people would not disguise themselves like that,” Huang Rong said.

  “You really are very observant,” Guo Jing said admiringly.

  The young couple went back to town for some breakfast; then they walked idly down the street toward the west end of town. There they saw a very big pawnshop with four characters painted on the white wall, ‘Tong Ren Pawnshop’, with each character taller than an average man. Behind the shop was a garden and in the middle was a two-story building. There was a dark green bamboo curtain covering a big window on the second floor. Guo Jing and Huang Rong looked at each other and smiled. Hand-in-hand they walked away to play elsewhere.

  After dinner that evening they retreated to their respective rooms for some rest and meditation. About one o’clock that night they ran toward the western part of the town; leaped up on the garden wall and saw the dark shadow of the big building. Silently they climbed to the roof and swung their bodies down from the eaves. It was a summer night, so the window was open. They looked around the big room and to their surprise there were seven young girls, all about eighteen or nineteen years of age. One beautiful girl was sitting next to a lamp, reading. They thought she must be Miss Cheng. The other six were dressed as servant girls, all holding unsheathed weapons in their hands; they looked stern yet graceful, obviously they knew martial arts.

  Guo Jing and Huang Rong initially intended to help this young woman, but, seeing she was well prepared, they thought they would wait and see. So they quietly climbed back to the roof and waited.

  Not too long after they heard a faint call from outside the wall. Huang Rong immediately pulled Guo Jing and they looked down to see two shadows leaping the wall and walking toward the building. The shadows looked like the two beggars they’d seen earlier. One of the beggars whistled softly. A servant girl drew back the curtain and asked, “Have the hero brothers from the Beggar Clan arrived? Please come up.” The two beggars leaped up and entered the room.

  In the darkness outside Guo Jing and Huang Rong looked at each other in surprise. Earlier they thought that as soon as the beggars arrived there would be some fighting or something interesting; who would have thought that they knew each other?

  Miss Cheng immediately stood up, paid her respects, and uttered some pleasantries. “Would you tell me your honorable names, please?” she asked.

  “My surname is Li,” the older beggar answered, “And this is my martial nephew Yu Zhao.”

  “So you are Senior Li and Elder Brother Yu,” Miss Cheng said. “The valiant heroes of the Beggar Clan always uphold justice and are admired by the people of the martial arts world. It really is an honor for me, young disciple, to finally meet two revered role models. Please, sit down.” Although what she said was common Jianghu pleasantries, her facial expression was shy. She paused a lot in between sentences; which showed she was not used to this kind of talk. She said ‘admired by the people of the martial arts world’ with sincerity, but sounded like she was not sure what she was talking about. When she finished speaking her head hung low and her face blushed.

  Shyly she looked up toward the old beggar’s one eye and timidly asked, “Senior Hero, aren’t you the venerable ‘Serpent King of the East River’ [jiang dong she wang] Li Sheng?”

  The old beggar laughed. “You have keen eyes, Miss! I have had the honor of meeting your master, the ‘Sage of Tranquility’ [qing jing san ren]. Even though we are not the best of friends, we’ve always had great respect for each other.”

  Guo Jing had also heard the name ‘Sage of Tranquility’ mentioned and was delighted, “The Sage of Tranquility, Sun Bu’Er, is one of the Quanzhen Seven Masters; therefore, this Miss Cheng and those two beggars are not strangers.” He heard Miss Cheng continue, “I am very grateful to receive the Senior Hero’s aid in upholding justice. I will listen to Senior Hero’s instructions.”

  “Miss, you are worth a thousand gold taels,” Li Sheng said. “But for this licentious man to look at you, even with one eye, is still too much.” Hearing this Miss Cheng’s face blushed profusely. Li Sheng continued, “Now I suggest you stay overnight in the main house, along with these honorable servants of yours. I will deal with that conceited man alone.”

  “Young disciple is not skilled in martial arts, but I am not afraid of that villain,” Miss Cheng said.
“How can I let Senior deal with him alone?”

  “Please don’t say such things Miss,” Li Sheng said. “Our Clan Leader Hong and your honorable founder Senior Wang were good friends; that means we belong to the same family. Why do you want to consider it otherwise?”

  Actually Miss Cheng wanted to try out her own martial arts, but she listened to Li Sheng since she dare not defy him. So she bowed and said, “Then I will leave everything in Senior Li and Elder Brother Yu’s capable hands.” After saying that, she gracefully led her maidservants downstairs.

  Li Sheng walked towards the young lady’s bed, pulled back the embroidered quilt, and without taking off his shoes laid his dirty body on the sweet smelling bedding. “Go downstairs,” he told Yu Zhao, “Be on guard with everyone else. Do not make any moves without my command.” Yu Zhao complied. Li Sheng then hid his entire body under the blankets after extinguishing the candle beside the bed.

  “Miss Cheng might not want to sleep under that blanket anymore,” Huang Rong laughed inside. “The members of the Beggar Clan are just like their leader, they like to deliberately create trouble in a funny way. This matter is actually much more amusing than I originally thought.”

  Because there were other people standing guard, Huang Rong and Guo Jing quietly hid themselves under the eaves. About an hour later she heard the night watch sounding the signal ‘knock, knock, bang, bang, bang ...’ at the front of the building. It was the third hour. Then she heard a pebble fall in the flower garden.

  A moment later eight people came leaping over the wall and headed straight to the second floor. They lit a lantern briefly, enough to see the bed, then quickly extinguished it. In that very short time Guo Jing and Huang Rong could see their appearance. It turned out they were the female disciples of Ouyang Ke who dressed like men and all wore white clothing. Four of them pulled open the bed’s curtain and covered Li Sheng’s head with a silk hood; firmly held, they lifted him up. Two of them opened a big sack and in went the blanket with Li Sheng inside it. They quickly tightened the sack mouth and lifted up the sack. They worked swiftly and quietly in the dark, without making any noise. It seemed they were very skilled in what they were doing.