by Jin Yong
These words were only coming out of the mouth of a little girl, but they were stated so clearly and logically, it was really overwhelming.
Yu Canghai did not know how to answer, so he asked sternly, “Who on earth is telling you to ask these questions of me? Is your father from the Huashan Sword School?”
The little girl turned around to ask Dingyi, “Granny, is his scaring a little girl the kind of deed from a proper hero or a true man?”
Dingyi sighed. “That, I don’t know.”
People in the hall became more and more surprised. Those words the little girl said before were probably taught by grownups, but the two questions she just asked were really her own response, elicited from the manner of Yu Canghai’s questioning. They showed clear criticism and were right to the point. How could one have expected her to be so sharp at such a young age?
Looking at the little girl through her blurring eyes, Yilin saw her slim back. Suddenly she realized, “I have seen this little sister before. Where have I seen her?” She thought for a while and then remembered. “Yes, she was also at the Huiyan Wine House yesterday.” All the scenes from the previous day suddenly ran through her mind and became clearer and clearer.
The previous morning, when she was forced into Huiyan Wine House, there were many people sitting around seven or eight tables. Then the two from the Taishan Sword School challenged Tian Boguang and Tian Boguang killed one of them. By then most of the customers had been scared away, and the waiter dared not serve anyone anymore. But in the corner close to the street, a big, tall monk continued to sit by a small table. There were also two more people sitting at another small table. Throughout the time until Linghu Chong was killed, and she carried his body downstairs from the wine house, the monk and the other two never left. At that time, she was scared to death; with lots of things going through her mind, she simply did not care much about the giant monk and the other two. Now seeing the back view of the little girl and comparing it with the scene in her mind, she could clearly remember that the little girl was one of the two sitting by the small table in the wine house. She had her back to her at that time, so she only remembered her appearance from the rear. And she was wearing a yellow blouse then, not the green blouse she had on now. If the little girl had not turned around, she would never have remembered her.
But who was the other one? She could only remember that it was a man for sure. But was he old or young, and what kind of clothes was he dressed in? She could not remember anything. Also, she remembered seeing the monk pick up his bowl to drink his wine, and when Tian Boguang was tricked into admitting his failure, the monk had laughed loudly. The little girl was laughing too; her clear laughter seemed to be ringing in her ears again. It was surely her! Who was that giant monk? Why was a monk drinking wine?
Yilin was immersed in the memories of the previous day’s scenes. It seemed as though Linghu Chong’s smiling face had appeared in front of her eyes again: how he had tricked Luo Renjie into coming closer before his death; how he thrust his sword into the enemy’s belly; how she carried Linghu Chong’s body staggering down the stairs empty-minded, not knowing where she had been; how she absent-mindedly went out of the town gate and just walked about aimlessly…. She could feel the body in her arms getting colder and colder. She didn’t feel his weight, didn’t feel sad, nor know where she was going. Then, she came by a lotus pond where the lotus flowers were so bright and so beautiful. Then, her chest seemed as if it was struck by a big hammer, and she could not hold out any longer. She fell down together with Linghu Chong’s body, and then passed out.
When she slowly regained consciousness, she felt bright sunshine blinding her eyes. She tried holding on to the body but missed. Jumping up in surprise, she found herself still by the lotus pond, with the beautiful lotus flowers just as before, but there was no sign of Linghu Chong’s body. She was so panic-stricken that she rushed around the lotus pond several times, but still couldn’t find any sign of where the body had gone. Seeing the bloodstains on her clothes, she knew it couldn’t have been a bad dream. She almost passed out again, but she forced herself to calm down a little, and then searched around one more time. Still, the body seemed to have flown away on wings without a trace. The water in the lotus pond was quite shallow. She waded into the water and searched around; still, there wasn’t a single trace. Then, she went back to Hengshan Town, asked for the location of the Liu House, and found her Master. But during all this time, she had being pondering, “Where did Big Brother Linghu’s body go? Maybe someone passing by took it? Maybe it was dragged away by wild animals?” When she thought that he had lost his life saving her, but she couldn’t even take good care of his body, she felt miserable. If the body really had been dragged away by wild animals and had already been eaten, she would kill herself. Actually, even if Linghu Chong’s body were fine, she would rather not live anyway.
Suddenly, from deep within her heart, another thought popped up. That was a thought she had never dared to think about. The thought had come to her several times through the day, but each time she immediately pushed it back and only thought, “How could I be so disturbed? How could I be thinking such nonsense? This is just absurd! No, it’s not like that!” But now, she could not hide it any longer, and it appeared clearly in her mind: “When I carried Big Brother Linghu’s body, I felt very calm and peaceful. I was actually feeling a bit happy, just like when I exercise chanting the Buddhist Scriptures with an empty mind. I seemed to have hoped to just hold his body and walk casually on a never-ending road that nobody else was on. I would pay any price to find his body. Why? Am I not able to bear the thought that wild animals ate his body? No! Not that at all! I just want to carry his body and walk around aimlessly, or just sit by the lotus pond quietly. Why did I faint? Oh, no, I am terrible! I should not be thinking like this. Master wouldn’t allow it, and Buddha wouldn’t tolerate it either. These are evil thoughts. I shouldn’t be trapped by evil thoughts. But where is Big Brother Linghu’s body?” Her mind was in such chaos. She could almost see the smile on Linghu Chong’s lips once again. It was such a carefree smile. Then it changed into a disdainful look on his face when he swore, “You are bad luck, little nun!” She felt a pain from her chest like a knife cutting into her flesh….
Yu Canghai’s voice rose again. “Lao Denuo, this little girl is from your Huashan Sword School, isn’t she?”
“No. This is the first time I have seen this little sister. She is not from our sword school,” Lao Denuo denied in a hurry.
“Sure. If you don’t want to admit it, fine!” Yu Canghai did not believe him at all.
Suddenly Yu Canghai waved his hand. With a flash, an awl-shaped missile shot toward Yilin. “Little Sister, see what this is?” he yelled.
Yilin was still deep in her thoughts, and had never expected a projectile from Yu Canghai. She actually felt some kind of joy: “It is a relief that he is killing me. I don’t feel like living anyway!” Seeing the missile flying closer, and hearing several people shouting, “Look out for that projectile!” she still had no intention of dodging it. For some unknown reason, she felt unspeakable peace and joy, feeling that there was only sadness and endless loneliness in the living world. She would be very happy if the missile killed her.
Dingyi gently pushed the little girl aside and dashed in front of Yilin to block the missile. Although she had the look of an old Granny, the dash was extremely fast. The missile wasn’t traveling that fast, but it was still a shooting projectile. Dingyi started later yet arrived earlier, and was able to get ready to catch the projectile. Just when it seemed that Sister Dingyi would catch the projectile without too much effort, the missile suddenly dropped to the floor about two feet away from her. Since Dingyi had already extended her arm to catch it, yet missed, it was like losing a bout in front of everyone. Her face turned slightly red.
Yu Canghai immediately waved his hand again and threw the paper ball toward the little girl’s face. The paper ball was made out of the paper with the turtle pict
ure.
“So the bull-nose shot the missile just to lure me away. He wasn’t really trying to hurt Yilin,” Dingyi thought to herself.
The small paper ball went much faster, and carried much more strength than the awl-shaped missile. Yu Canghai had used his inner strength when he threw the paper ball. If it hit the little girl’s face, she would definitely get hurt.
Dingyi was standing next to Yilin. When she realized what had happened, it was already too late to help. All she could do was yelling, “You…!”
The little girl swiftly sat down on the floor and cried, “Mom, Mom, he wants to kill me.” She moved very swiftly, and dodged the paper ball in perfect timing. Anyone could tell that she knew martial arts, but just acted like a spoiled child. Everyone thought it was quite funny. Yu Canghai also felt that it wouldn’t be appropriate to push her any more. He had a belly full of suspicions, but none of his questions could be answered.
Seeing the embarrassed expression on Yu Canghai’s face, Sister Dingyi couldn’t help laughing inwardly. Since the Qingcheng Sword School had lost face so badly, she didn’t want to mess with him anymore, so she said to Yilin, “Yilin, I don’t know where the little sister’s parents went. Why don’t you go with her to look for them, so she won’t be bullied because nobody is looking out for her?”
“Yes, Master!” Yilin answered. She walked up to the little girl and took her hand. The girl smiled at her, and they walked out of the hall together.
Yu Canghai sneered and stopped paying any more attention to the girl. He turned around and stared at Mu Gaofeng.
Chapter 5: Healing
Linghu Chong slowly closed his eyes. His breathing gradually slowed down and soon he fell asleep. Yilin stayed by Linghu Chong’s side, and gently whisked a leafy branch to drive away mosquitoes and other bugs for him
Yilin followed the girl outside. “What’s your name?” she asked.
The girl gave a sly grin. “My last name is Linghu and my first name is Chong!”
Yilin’s heart thumped. “I asked you politely, why are you making fun of me?” She pulled a long face.
“What makes you think I’m making fun of you?” The girl kept grinning. “Do you think your friend is the only one who is called Linghu Chong?”
Yilin felt deep sorrow in her heart. She sighed and could no longer hold back her tears. “Big Brother Linghu was my savior,” she said. “His death was my fault, I…I am not worthy to be his friend.”
Just then, in the hallway outside, two hunchbacks hurried by. Yilin recognized them as the Hunchback of the North Mu Gaofeng, and Lin Pingzhi. The girl giggled.
“What are the odds! An old, ugly hunchback, together with a young, ugly hunchback.”
Yilin was a bit annoyed by the girl’s remarks. “Girl,” she asked, “is it possible for you to find your mother and father by yourself? My head is beginning to hurt, and I’m not feeling very well right now.”
The girl grinned. “I know you’re faking a headache. You’re just mad because I used Linghu Chong’s name. My dear sis, your Master asked you to take care of me; are you abandoning me already? If some rascals pick on me again, your Master’s going to blame you for sure!”
“You are much more capable than I am, and you’re very smart too. Even the renowned Master Yu didn’t know what to do with you. People are all thanking Buddha that you aren’t the one picking on others. Who would dare bully you?” Yilin countered.
The girl burst into laughter. She held Yilin’s hand and said, “Now you’re the one making fun of me. If it weren’t for your Master, that bull-nose would’ve beaten me up. Sis, my name is Qu Feiyan. My grandpa calls me Feifei; you can call me Feifei too.”
Yilin felt a little better when the girl revealed her real name. But she also thought it was strange that the girl knew she was still thinking about Linghu Chong, and used his name to startle her. Maybe the clever and eccentric girl had hidden outside the window and overheard her report to all the masters. “Well,” she said, “Miss Qu, let’s go find your mother and father then. Where do you think they might be?”
“I know where they went,” Qu Feiyan said. “If you want to look for them, you can go by yourself. I’m not going.”
“Why don’t you want to go?” Yilin asked in surprise.
“I am still too young; of course I don’t want to go. But you’re different, you’re so gloomy and depressed right now, maybe you’d prefer to go there early,” Qu Feiyan said.
Yilin’s heart thumped. “You mean your mother and father….”
“My parents were murdered by bad guys a long time ago. If you want to look for them, you’ll have to go to the underworld.”
Yilin was very vexed. “If your parents have passed away already, how can you still make fun of them? I am leaving!”
Qu Feiyan grabbed onto Yilin’s left hand and started to beg, “My dear sis, I don’t have anyone else. I’m always so lonely. Nobody plays with me. Please, please just stay a little bit longer!”
Yilin was moved by her words. “Well, alright,” she sighed, “I’ll stay with you a little longer. But you have to stop saying such nonsense. Also, I am a member of the Buddhist order, so it isn’t appropriate for you to call me sis.”
Qu Feiyan laughed. “You think I was just saying silly words, but I think they make perfect sense. Different people have different perspectives. You are older than me, so I should call you sis. What’s wrong with that? Sis Yilin! Why don’t you quit being a nun?”
Yilin was startled, and stepped back.
Qu Feiyan let go of her hand. “What’s so great about being a nun?” she asked. “You can’t eat fish, shrimp, chicken or duck, not to mention beef or lamb. Sis, you’re really very pretty. You don’t look so good right now because you shaved your head,37 but once you grow a nice long head of beautiful hair back, you’ll be a real babe!”
Yilin could tell that Qu Feiyan was speaking from her heart, so she smiled. “I am already a member of the Buddhist clergy. We believe in the doctrine of the Four Emptiness; why would I care whether my outer husk is beautiful or ugly?”
Qu Feiyan turned her head toward Yilin and looked at Yilin’s face carefully. It had just stopped raining, and dark clouds started drifting away slowly. Moonlight streamed through the opening at an angle and illuminated Yilin’s face with a pale silver glow, which made her face even more beautiful. Qu Feiyan gave a sigh.
“Sis, you are so beautiful,” she said slowly, “no wonder he thinks about you so much.”
Yilin’s face became flushed. “What are you talking about?” she exclaimed uncomfortably. “If you keep making fun of me, I am going to leave.”
“Alright! I’ll stop,” Qu Feiyan said with a smile. “Sis, can you give me some ‘Heavenly Connecting Glue?’ I need to save someone.”
“Who are you saving?” Yilin asked in surprise.
“He’s a very important person, but I can’t tell you who he is yet.” Qu Feiyan grinned.
“I really should give you the medicine if you need it to save somebody’s life,” Yilin said, “but my Master told us that the making of the ‘Heavenly Connecting Glue’ is not easy, and we have been ordered not to use it if the wounded person is unworthy.”
“Sis,” Qu Feiyan said, “if somebody cursed your Master and your Heng-Shan Sword School, would he be worthy or unworthy?”
“If he cursed my Master and our Heng-Shan Sword School, of course he would be unworthy, how could he be any good?”
“That’s really very interesting,” Qu Feiyan mused slyly. “There’s this guy who once said again and again that he would have really bad luck after seeing nuns, and would lose all his bets. He abused you, your Master, and the entire Heng-Shan Sword School. If such an unworthy fellow got wounded….”
Before she even finished speaking, Yilin had already turned around and stridden away angrily. Qu Feiyan jumped in front of her, arms outstretched and blocking Yilin’s way. She kept smiling but had no intention of letting Yilin pass.
A thought sudden
ly struck Yilin. “Yesterday at the Huiyan Wine House, this girl sat with a man throughout the entire incident, until Big Brother Linghu was murdered. When I carried his body down the stairs, she was still sitting there. She must have seen the whole thing; there’s no need for her to eavesdrop on what I said at all. Could she have followed me all the way?” She wanted to ask the girl an important question, but could not make herself speak the words. Yilin could only blush with embarrassment.
“Sis, I know you want to ask me, ‘Where did Big Brother Linghu’s body go?’ Am I right?” Qu Feiyan grinned.
“Yes, would you please tell me? I…I would really appreciate it!” Yilin pleaded.
“I don’t know, but there’s someone who does. However, he’s badly wounded and could die any minute now. If you can save him using the ‘Heavenly Connecting Glue,’ he might be able to tell you where Big Brother Linghu’s body is.”
“You don’t know yourself?” Yilin asked.
“If I, Qu Feiyan, know where Linghu Chong’s dead body is, may Heaven let me die a terrible death by Yu Canghai’s sword tomorrow!”
“I believe you. You don’t have to vow,” Yilin said hurriedly. “So who is this person?”
“It’s up to you if you want to save his life or not. And the place we’re going to isn’t such a good place either.”
In order to find Linghu Chong’s body, even a hill of knives or a forest of swords would not stop Yilin from going, much less something like “not a good place.” Yilin nodded, “Let’s go,” and they marched towards the gate.
It was still raining outside. There were some oilpaper-umbrellas propped against the wall beside the gate. Yilin and Qu Feiyan each took one and walked out towards the northeast corner of the city. It was already late at night, and there was hardly anybody in the street. When they walked by, a couple of dogs in the deep alleys barked at them. All Yilin could think about was where to find Linghu Chong’s body, so even though Qu Feiyan led her through many remote little streets, she did not care. After they walked for quite a while, Qu Feiyan entered a very narrow alley. A small red lantern stuck out from a door on the left side of the street. Qu Feiyan knocked on the door three times. Someone approached from the courtyard within, opened the door, and stuck his head out. Qu Feiyan whispered something in the man’s ear and stuck something into his hands.
