by Guo Xiaoting
“Probably that is not so important as our having some refreshments,” said the monk.
“You two must be very happy,” he said to the two headmen, who were clearly becoming more and more angry and disgusted.
“What is there to be happy about?” Headman Chai asked. “This business has nothing to do with Cloud Dragon Hua.”
“You must not get excited, you two,” said the monk. “Later I will get two other men to catch Cloud Dragon Hua and give him to you so that you can get the reward.”
CHAPTER 78
Yang, Lei, and Chen attack the evil Daoist; Sorcerer Hua invades Ten Li village
AS Ji Gong led the two headmen off into the hills, he saw the Sorcerer Hua Qingfeng raise his sword to kill Yang Ming, Lei Ming, and Chen Liang, who were all lying on the ground in a trance. How did this terrible situation come about?
When the Daoist Hua Qingfeng had fled from the Plum Blossom Hills, he was thinking to himself that he somehow must kill Ji Gong. He thought that, if he had the blood of a pregnant woman on his sword, he could cut through even a lohan’s golden light. The strongest blood would be that of a woman carrying a male child.
With a little silver he bought a medicine chest and a few pills with which he thought he could go somewhere and set himself up as a doctor. As he carried his medicine chest into a small village, he heard two old women talking. “Auntie Liu,” one asked the other, “have you had breakfast yet?”
“I have,” Auntie Liu replied.
The two old women were named Liu and Chen. “Look,” the one named Liu continued, “wasn’t that the wife of Wang the Second who just passed?
“Yes,” replied old Madam Chen.
“Those two don’t know how happy they are. How is it that she is still carrying his noon meal to him?” asked Grandmother Liu.
“Auntie Liu,” said the other, “don’t you know that the wife of Wang the Second is soon going to have a child?”
Sorcerer Hua Qingfeng walked on into the village and watched. Sure enough, the young woman was pregnant and the child would be a male. There is an old saying that telling whether a child will be a son or a daughter is the easiest thing in the world. If the woman starts to walk down the road and steps off with her left foot, the child will be a son. If she starts off with her right foot, it will be a daughter.
Hua Qingfeng saw and immediately knew. He walked up to her, chanting, “Oh, Limitless One” and said, “I see the color in your face is a little dark. Is there something wrong between you and your husband?”
The woman stopped and asked, “Daoist Master, can you read faces? Can you really tell whether there is anything wrong between my husband and me? If you see some sign that you can explain, I would thank you.”
“If you would tell me the eight characters relating to your birth, I could explain everything to you,” said Sorcerer Hua.
The woman gave the sorcerer the details of her birth, as requested. Hua Qingfeng heard and understood. He pointed and she became senseless. The sorcerer caught her as she fell and walked off with her.
Someone in the village saw them and called out, “A Daoist is carrying off the wife of Wang the Second.” Villagers started in pursuit, but the Daoist was soon out of sight.
In the mountains, Hua Qingfeng tied the woman to a tree and drew his sword to kill her. Suddenly, three men appeared. They were Yang Ming, Lei Ming, and Chen Liang. Lei Ming, ever chivalrous, rushed to the woman’s defense with his knife drawn, but Hua Qingfeng felled him with his hypnotic power. Chen Liang suffered the same fate, saying to himself, “I will save them or die with them.” Yang Ming also attempted to fight the sorcerer, but he, too, fell to the ground.
The Daoist laughed and was about to kill them all when he heard a shout from Ji Gong. “You thing! You dare to harm my disciples!” As soon as the Daoist saw the monk, he was so frightened that he ran like the wind and escaped. The monk again did not follow him. He freed the three friends from the spell. Then he pointed and the woman’s understanding returned.
As the monk, his disciples, and the woman came out of the mountain pass, they saw a large number of villagers approaching in pursuit of the Daoist. “The Daoist has escaped from us,” Ji Gong told them. “Take this woman home.” The villagers led her away.
“Yang Ming,” instructed the monk, “you go back to your family.” Yang Ming at once said goodbye and left. “Lei Ming and Chen Liang, come with me.” The two men nodded their heads in agreement.
When the three approached Ten Li Village, they saw a teahouse by the road and outside it an area shaded by matting, raised on a framework of poles. “We will stop here and rest,” said the monk. His two disciples nodded in assent. The monk did not sit down in the shade of the mats, but started walking straight into the teahouse and then sat down inside.
“Teacher, the weather is so hot,” protested Chen Liang as they were walking inside. “Why do you not rest outside under the matting where it is cool? It will be very hot in the teahouse.”
“You see all these men outside. In a little while, they will come inside. Find yourself seats and sit down,” Ji Gong said.
“What is this?” asked Chen Liang.
“Watch,” replied the monk. Then the monk went into the back courtyard, and facing toward the northeast, performed the kowtow, kneeling and touching his forehead to the ground three times.
Chen Liang thought to himself, “Since I have known Ji Gong, I have never seen him kowtow until now, nor he did I ever see him burn incense or worship Buddha.” He watched the monk as he finished touching his head to the ground and came back into the room. The waiter brought them a pot of tea. After the monk had drunk two or three cups, a torrent of rain began to fall. It was as though a dark current had unrolled from the northwest.
The men who were drinking tea outside came running inside to escape the rain. A raging wind drove the rain. Crashes of thunder followed quickly, one after the other, and the lightning increasingly filled the room with a blinding light.
One of the men suddenly said, “Somebody in this room must have done a terrible wrong.”
The monk, meanwhile, was speaking to himself in a low voice. Everyone seemed to be waiting for something. Suddenly, one of the men at the side of the room cried out and then came over and knelt before the monk. “Holy monk,” he pleaded, “help me! Help me! My father lost his mind and once, when I was drinking, I slapped his face twice. Help me! From now on I will change.”
“If you truly change,” said the monk, “I can help you, but I cannot be certain you will change.” The monk seemed to speak into the empty air words that could not be heard. Then he said, “I can help you if you truly change. Can you truly change?”
“I can change! I will change!” responded the man.
After a while the monk said, “There is another who drove his younger brother from their home and kept the family property.”
One of the men spoke up. “It was I, not that there was much family property, but I did drive my younger brother from our home. Can you help me, holy monk?”
“I can help you, but I don’t know whether it will stop this thunder and lightning. At any rate, you must bring your younger brother back within three days,” ordered the monk.
“I will truly bring him back within three days,” promised the man.
The rain and the thunder and the lightning continued as before. The room was like an oven, and yet there was an air of peace as every person seemed to draw around the monk.
“What would happen if Cloud Dragon’s uncle repented,” queried Chen Liang, who was close by Ji Gong.
“Watch,” replied the monk. “In a little while we may know.”
Then they saw a Daoist walking through the wind and rain. Slowly he came on toward the teahouse while the lightning flashed around him. When he had almost reached the area shaded by the matting, a great bolt of lightning struck the man. His face was brightly lit for a moment. He turned toward the north and fell to the ground dead. For a few moments, flames arose fr
om his body. Then as suddenly as the storm had begun, it stopped. Above, the sky was clear and blue. In the west the sun sank toward the horizon, making the sky in the west red.
Chen Liang went out and looked at the dead body. He recognized the face of Cloud Dragon Hua’s uncle, Hua Qingfeng.
“Lei Ming and Chen Liang,” said the monk, “I have here a letter and a piece of medicine. I want you to follow the Changshan road toward Dianzhou prefecture. Five li before one reaches the prefecture there is a village called Five Li Marker Village. In the door of the temple there, you will see a tall man standing. Give him this medicine to take. Also give him the letter and tell him to carry out the instructions in it. On your way, be careful to mind your own business. If you do not, there may be grave consequences.”
“And where shall we see you again?” asked Chen Liang.
“Probably at Dianzhou prefecture,” replied the monk. “When you reach the prefecture, keep your eyes open and remember what you see—but don’t try your hand at solving anything! If you act, things will no longer be in an undisturbed condition.” As Lei Ming and Chen Liang listened to what the monk said, it seemed as if he were half swallowing and half spitting out his words. They took the medicine and the letter and left.
They followed the highway until they were outside the north gate of Changshan. It was growing late, and Chen Liang said, “Let us stay at the inn ahead.” They went in and engaged a three-section room on the north side of the courtyard. After they had eaten and drunk, Chen Liang slept.
Lei Ming went out into the courtyard to cool off. “Everyone in the inn is sleeping and there is not a breath of wind in this courtyard,” he thought. “There must be a breeze above.” He leapt up onto the roof. He was just about to lie down, when suddenly he heard someone call out, “Murder! Murder!”
“It must be a highway robbery,” thought Lei Ming. Blade in hand, he went to look for the source of the sound until he came to a building with courtyards on all four sides. There he saw a light in the north building. Again he heard a voice cry, “Murder!” It came from inside that building. Lei Ming leapt down, made a hole in the paper window, and looked in. His hair stood on end. He gripped the handle of his blade, ready for anything.
CHAPTER 79
Lei Ming hears a third cry for help; Chen Liang closely questions a woman’s evidence
WHAT Lei Ming saw through the hole in the paper was a brick platform bed on the north side of the room. Next, on the east wall, was a tall clothes cupboard. In front of it was an “eight immortals” table with some chairs. Everything in the room was neatly arranged. On the bed lay a woman a little over twenty years old. She was wearing a simple blue gown and slippers. She had no powder or rouge on her face.
Nearby stood a young man about twenty years old, with his hair dressed in the “beef-heart” style. He was wearing white clothing. His yellowish face was somewhat ugly in features and expression. His left hand held the woman by her hair and in his right hand he held a sword. He was saying, “You must tell me the truth. If you don’t tell me the truth, I will kill you slash by slash.”
Lei Ming heard the woman say, “A fine one you are, Second Tiger! I was burning paper and I called up a demon! What have I done to you to make you take a sword to me?”
Lei Ming grew more and more angry as he listened. He wanted to go into the room, but he thought to himself, “I must not be too rash. Chen Liang is always telling me to be more prudent. I will go back and talk it over with him and ask him whether we should do something about this or not.” Having decided, he went back over the roof and returned to their room.
There he nudged Chen Liang, saying, “Wake up.”
“What are you waking me for?” asked Chen Liang.
“I saw something just now. I went up on the roof because the weather was so hot. I had been in the courtyard trying to cool off, but it was hot there, so I climbed on the roof to catch the breeze. Just as I did, I heard someone call out, ‘Murder!’ I thought that it was a highway robbery and I followed the sound until I reached another courtyard. There I saw a man threatening a woman. She said something, but I didn’t understand what she meant. I thought of going in, but I was afraid you would say I was rash. I wanted to ask you whether we should pay attention to the matter or not. What do you say?”
“Lei Ming,” responded Chen Liang, “you were wrong. You had no reason to go up on the roof and let the inn people see you, but that doesn’t matter. About this other business—if you didn’t know about it, it wouldn’t bother us. Since we do know, however, if we don’t do something about it, we will regret it. Let us go and see what’s happening.” Chen Liang got dressed and the two went out together without waking anybody in the inn. They crossed the roofs to the other courtyard.
Again there was a cry for help. The two went down into the courtyard, crouched by the lighted window, and looked inside. Then they heard someone say, “Second Tiger, you have cheated me and now you want to kill me. I really did burn paper and bring up a devil! Why don’t you let me go? Help, someone, quickly!”
“If you shout,” the man said, “I will kill you!” Bringing the sword closer, he scratched the woman’s face, which became bloody. She began to cry and again called, “Help!”
Seeing this, Chen Liang jumped up and said to Lei Ming, “Come with me!” The two men pushed the door open and sprang into the room. “My friend,” Chen Liang asked, “Why are you threatening this woman with a sword at the third watch near midnight?”
The man turned his head and seeing what kind of men the two were, as well as Lei Ming’s red hair and blue face, he lowered his sword and asked, “What are your honorable names?”
Chen Liang answered, “Chen” and Lei Ming said, “Lei.” As the man heard their names, he seemed more reasonable. “We two are originally from Jajiang,” continued Chen Liang. “We are escorts passing through. We heard the call, and at first thought there was a robbery. Because we have always been helpful to other people, we burst into the room. My friend, what is your name and why are you threatening this woman with your sword?”
“So you are escort officers,” commented the man. “Since you ask, my name is Son and I am called Second Tiger. Our home is in the Son Family Village, a small place of about eighty homes with the Son name. There are few outsiders. This woman is my sister-in-law. My brother had a medicine shop. He died three years ago and she was childless, but look at her big stomach now! I want to know how this came about. She cried out. It was for this reason that you two officers were disturbed.”
“This is other people’s business. Why should we be disturbed?” thought Chen Liang. He said, “We are all ordinary people. Let’s just forget about this.”
“Since you have no wish to call others, I’ll be off and leave you two here,” said Second Tiger.
When Chen Liang heard this, he thought, “How can this be? That is no way for the rascal to speak.”
“Don’t leave,” said Lei Ming. “Why should you go and leave us here? That is no way to talk.”
Looking at the two, Second Tiger did not dare to argue or seem to take offense. “Then let us leave together,” he quickly said.
Lei Ming and Chen Liang started to step outside, but the woman spoke up saying, “Don’t go yet, gentlemen. He is not telling the truth.”
Chen Liang stopped to listen and asked, “What is not true?”
“My husband was named Son and kept a well-known medicine shop. He did die three years ago. When we were first married, I never heard anything about Second Tiger. Then something was said about a younger brother. He did not often come to see the family when my husband was alive. It was like burning paper and calling up a devil unexpectedly. One day in October, I was standing in the gateway and I saw him. He had hardly anything to wear and I asked, ‘Second Tiger Son, why don’t you have any warm clothing?’ He replied, ‘Sister-in-law, I don’t have the money to buy clothes.’ I thought that it was pitiful. I asked him in. Then I wrapped up my husband’s clothing and gave it to him. I als
o gave him some money and told him to set himself up as a small merchant. Afterward, he was always out of money and he came to borrow some again and again. You open your door to do a good deed, and it goes on from there. He wanted me to sell the house to get more money. I cursed him and drove him out. Today my servant had asked leave to go home and Second Tiger came and threatened me. As for my big stomach, that is caused by illness. I called out, but no one came until you did. I don’t even think he is my husband’s actual brother.”
Just then a woman said, “Did you call, mistress? What is it?”
Chen Liang saw an old gray-haired woman. Her face was covered with scars from smallpox. Her eyes were squinting and she had a misshapen nose. Some of her yellow teeth were missing.
“Second Brother Son,” said Chen Liang, “come in and sit down.”
“You two go back your hotel room,” said Second Tiger. “I’ll be off and thank you another day.”
“You need not thank us,” said Chen Liang. “Just go home.”
“I still want to go into the city,” said Second Tiger.
“How can you go through the city gate at this time of night?” asked Chen Liang.
“The wall has a weak spot,” the man replied. “I can go in.” Saying this, he left.
Chen Liang and Lei Ming did not knock at the inn gate, but returned to their room by the same route that they had left it.
“Well, we saved a person,” said Chen Liang, “and tomorrow we will be on our way, though I fear that there may be consequences.”
“It is nothing,” said Lei Ming and so they both slept peacefully.
The next morning when they got up Chen Liang said to the porter, “We are going to Dianzhou prefecture. Is this the highway?”
“Yes,” replied the porter.
“Quickly bring us something to eat and drink,” said Chen Liang. “As soon as we finish eating, we will be on our way.”
