by Jin Yong
Yang Kang rolled on the ground, trying to escape to the door. Unfortunately the door was blocked by the coffins. He turned his head to see Ouyang Ke was standing on his hands on the bench, his body bent forward, his face looked like he was smiling yet he was not smiling, his eyes were staring at him with a weird expression. Yang Kang shuddered involuntarily. He wanted very bad to run away, but because of Ouyang Ke’s stare, his body stiffened like a corpse, he could not move.
Ouyang Ke looked upward with a laughter and said, “I, the one surnamed Ouyang, have been roaming the world for half of my lifetime; unexpectedly I have to die under this kid’s hands. One thing I don’t understand, Xiao Wangye, why did you kill me?”
Yang Kang moved his legs and leaped up; he wanted to escape outside the door before answering his question. While his body was still midair, suddenly he felt a gust of wind behind his back; the back of his neck was grabbed by a steel-hook hand. He was unable to continue his leap and was forced to land on the coffin, along with Ouyang Ke next to him.
Ouyang Ke said, “You are not willing to talk, do you want me to die with my eyes open?”
The acupoint on the back of Yang Kang’s neck was grabbed by Ouyang Ke; he could not move his limbs. He knew he would not escape alive, he laughed coldly and said, “All right, I’ll tell you. Do you know who she is?” While saying that he pointed his finger toward Mu Nianci.
Ouyang Ke turned his head and saw Mu Nianci with a dagger in her hand, ready to pounce forward to help, but she was afraid she might hurt Yang Kang; her expression was full or concerns, exactly like what Cheng Yaojia showed toward Lu Guanying. Suddenly it dawned on Ouyang Ke. He laughed and said, “She ... she ...” his words were cut short by coughing.
Yang Kang said, “She is my fiancee; twice you have bullied her. How can I let you go?”
Ouyang Ke said with a smile, “So that’s how it is. We are going to hell together!” Raising his hand high his palm was ready to strike the top of Yang Kang’s head.
Mu Nianci cried out in alarm, she rushed forward to save him, but it was too late. Yang Kang closed his eyes ready to die; he waited for Ouyang Ke’s palm to strike down; who would have thought that after waiting for a while there was nothing moving above his head. He opened his eyes and saw Ouyang Ke was still smiling with his hand still high in the air, but his left hand, which grabbed Yang Kang’s neck, was actually relaxed. Hastily Yang Kang struggled free and leaped away. Ouyang Ke tumbled down on top of the coffin, his breathing had ceased.
After staring blankly for half a day, Yang Kang and Mu Nianci rushed to each other and held each other’s hands. They had countless words to say to each other, but neither one knew where to start. They both looked at Ouyang Ke’s body and still felt fear in their hearts.
Cheng Yaojia helped Lu Guanying up and unsealed his acupoints. Lu Guanying knew that Yang Kang was a Jin’s envoy. Even though he killed Ouyang Ke, thus Lu Guanying was indebted to him, he could not make an enemy his friend, so he simply cupped his fists in respect, then without saying anything he took Cheng Yaojia’s hand and they both went away. These two people had just undergone a thrilling experience, escaping a life and death situation; they completely forgot about seeing Guo Jing and Huang Rong earlier.
Huang Rong was very happy to see Yang Kang and Mu Nianci were back together; she also appreciated the fact that Yang Kang saved Mu Nianci from a possible disaster. Guo Jing also hoped that his sworn brother would change for the good. He exchanged a glance with Huang Rong, both of them broke into smiles.
They heard Mu Nianci say, “I have brought back your father and mother’s bodies.”
Yang Kang said, “Actually it was my responsibility. I have bothered Meizi so much.”
Mu Nianci did not want to bring up past events; she simply discussed with him how to bury Yang Tiexin husband and wife. Yang Kang pulled the broken spearhead from Ouyang Ke’s abdomen and said, “We have to bury him quickly. If his uncle finds out, even if the world is big, there will be no place for us to hide.” Two people immediately buried Ouyang Ke’s body in the backyard of the inn; and then went to the village to hire some people to help them carry the coffins and buried them in the backyard of Yang family’s former home. Yang Tiexin had left his home for a long time that everybody who knew him had died. Nobody asked them anything.
By the time they finished burying their dead, the sky had already turned dark. That night Mu Nianci slept at a villager’s house, while Yang Kang spent the night in the inn.
Early morning the following day Mu Nianci went back to the inn, she was going to ask him what he wanted to do next. She saw him pacing back and forth in the inn, stomping his feet and complaining bitterly. She asked him what happened and Yang Kang said, “I was so muddle-headed to let those two people leave yesterday. I should have killed them to close their mouths. Now that they are gone, where can we find them?”
“Why?” Mu Nianci was surprised.
Yang Kang said, “If this fact that I killed Ouyang Ke ever leaks out, won’t that be a disaster?”
Mu Nianci knitted her brows in displeasure. “A real man is not afraid to take responsibility of his actions,” she said, “If you are afraid, you shouldn’t have killed him yesterday.”
Yang Kang did not say anything, he was busy thinking how to pursue and kill Lu and Cheng two people to close their mouths.
Mu Nianci said, “Even though his uncle is very fierce, we can run away to some far away place, he won’t be able to find us.”
Yang Kang said, “Meizi [sister/beloved], I have another thought: his uncle’s martial art is unparalleled, I want to take him as my master.”
“Ah!” Mu Nianci exclaimed.
“I have had this thought for a while,” Yang Kang continued, “But they follow a very strict rule: they only take one disciple per generation. Now that this man is dead, his uncle might take me as his disciple!” He sounded very proud of himself.
Hearing his words and looking at his expression, Mu Nianci’s heart turned cold. With a trembling voice she said, “It turns out the reason you killed him yesterday was not to rescue me at all, but you have another agenda in your mind.”
Yang Kang laughed and said, “You are overly skeptical; for you, even if my body is crushed to dust and my bones smashed up to pieces, I am most willing.”
“Let’s talk about that later,” Mu Nianci said, “Right now, what are you going to do? Are you willing to be a loyal patriot for the Great Song; or do you still want to seek unlimited riches and honor, acknowledging an enemy as your father?”
Looking at her beautiful face and smart appearance Yang Kang was silently full of admiration, but listening to her talk exposing the content of his heart he was not pleased at all. “Riches and honor? Humph,” he said, “What riches and honor do I have? The Great Jin’s capital has fallen to the Mongolian army. The Jins were defeated every time they went out to battle. The fall of Jin country is the present disaster we are facing.”
The more Mu Nianci listened to him, the more displeased she became. “The defeat of the Jins is precisely what we are earnestly wished for,” she said with a stern voice, “Yet you actually feel sorry for them. Humph, what if the fall of Jin country is the present disaster? Is the Jin country your country? This . this .”
“Why are we talking about other people’s business?” Yang Kang cut her off, “I have been bitterly missing you since you left me.” Slowly he went over to grab her right hand. Mu Nianci could hear the tenderness in his voice, her heart softened; she let him pull her hand gently, without struggling she followed him, her face was slightly blushing.
Yang Kang’s left arm was about to embrace her shoulder when suddenly they heard bird cries high in the air; it was very loud and clear. They looked up and saw a pair of big white eagles spreading their wings flying across the sky. Yang Kang had seen this pair of eagles that day when Wanyan Honglie led a team of soldiers to pursue and kill Tuolei, and he knew that later on Huang Rong took the eagles away. “How did the white eagles come t
o this place?” he thought. He pulled Mu Nianci’s hand and hurriedly walked outside. He saw the pair of eagles fly in circles overhead, while a young girl was sitting on a steed’s back by the big tree outside; she was looking at a distance. That young girl was wearing a pair of leather boots, with a horse whip in her hand. She was wearing Mongolian attire, with a long bow on her back and a quiver full of arrows hanging on her waist.
The eagles circled overhead for a while, then they flew along the road. A moment later they flew back. And then sound of hoof beats was heard coming from the road, a number of horse riders came speeding by.
Yang Kang thought, “Apparently this pair of eagles is to lead the way so that these people can meet with this Mongolian girl.” He saw dust rose on the road and three riders were coming fast toward them. A swishing sound was heard, an arrow shot out to the air, coming this direction. The Mongolian girl extracted a long arrow from her quiver, drew her bow and shot the arrow to the air. As the three riders heard the arrow, they called out in delight, and rushed their horses even faster.
That young girl urged her steed forward to approach the riders. As they were about three ‘zhang’s apart from each other, the girl and one of the rider shouted and jumped from their saddles toward each other; their hands met in the air and together they landed on the ground.
Yang Kang was secretly startled, “The Mongolians are very proficient in riding and shooting techniques; even a young girl has this kind of ability. Is it a wonder that the Jins are defeated?”
Inside the secret room Guo Jing and Huang Rong also heard the birds’ cry and the hoof beats coming near. After a moment they also heard several people talking and walking toward the inn. Guo Jing was pleasantly surprised, “How did she come over here? This is wonderful!” he thought.
Turned out the Mongolian girl was his fiancee, Huazheng; and the other three were Tuolei, Jebeh and Borchu. Huang Rong did not understand one word of Huazheng’s babbling of talking and laughing in Mongolians; while Guo Jing’s face turned green one moment and white another moment. His delight was replaced with anxiety. “My heart already belongs Rong’er, so I can’t marry her. But she has looked for me here. How can I break my promise? What should I do?” he thought in his heart.
With a low voice Huang Rong asked, “Jing Gege, who is this girl? What are they saying? Aren’t you feeling well?”
Several times Guo Jing had meant to tell Huang Rong everything once and for all, but always each time the words were already on his lips, each time he swallowed them back. Now that Huang Rong asked him, he could not hide anymore. “She is the Mongolian’s Great Khan, Genghis Khan’s daughter. She is my fiancee.”
Huang Rong was shocked; tears started welling up her eyes. “You ... you have a fiancee?” she asked, “Why have you never told me?”
That day when Qiu Chuji and the Six Freaks of Jiangnan discussed Guo Jing’s engagement in the inn at the capital, the Six Freaks of Jiangnan did mention that Genghis Khan had betrothed his beloved daughter to Guo Jing, but at that time Huang Rong had not arrived outside the window yet; therefore, she had not heard about it and all this time she was not aware about this engagement.
Guo Jing said, “Now and then I wanted to tell you, but I was afraid you won’t be happy. Sometimes I did not remember this matter.”
“She is your fiancee, how can you not remember?” Huang Rong asked.
Guo Jing was at a loss. “I don’t know,” he said, “In my heart I always regard her as my sister; we are like brother and sister. I don’t even want to marry her.”
Huang Rong raised her eyebrows in delight, “Why?” she asked.
Guo Jing replied, “The Great Khan decided this matter for me. At that time I was not unhappy, but I was not happy either. I only thought that the Great Khan’s decision must be right. But now, Rong’er, how can I leave you to marry another?”
“What should we do then?” Huang Rong asked.
“I don’t know,” Guo Jing replied.
Huang Rong sighed and said, “As long as in your heart you are forever good to me, I don’t care if you marry her.” But a moment later she said, “However, if you marry her, I won’t like another woman to be with you all day. Perhaps one day I won’t be able to control my temper and make a hole in her chest with a sword, and then you will hate me. Enough talking about this, why don’t you listen to them and tell me what they say.”
Guo Jing pressed his ear to the small hole and heard Tuolei and Huazheng talk about what happened after they parted. It turned out that after Huang Rong and Guo Jing went down to the sea, the white eagles flew around in the wind and the rain looking for their masters. There was no place on the ocean for them to set their feet on, so they had to fly back to the mainland. They remembered their old home in the north, hence they flew to find their other master.
Huazheng was astonished to see the white eagles came back. She saw a piece of cloth tied on the eagle’s foot, with some Chinese characters carved on it. She took the cloth to some Han people in the army to translate. Turned out they were the ‘in danger’ two characters. Huazheng was concerned, so she went south immediately to investigate. By this time Genghis Khan was busy supervising the military expedition against the Jins; day after day the Mongolians engaged the Jins in fierce battles both inside and outside the Great Wall, so nobody stopped her when she expressed her intention to go to the south.
The eagles understood their master’s intention, they flew ahead several hundred ‘li’s to look for Guo Jing, and went back every night. In so doing they arrived at Lin’an. Guo Jing had not been found, they came across Tuolei instead.
Tuolei was sent by his ‘fu wang’ [father king] on a diplomatic mission to Lin’an, to solicit cooperation from the Song Dynasty for a converging attack against the Jin country. But the Song ministers and officials were enjoying peace and prosperity in the southeast; they also were afraid of the Jin’s army. They were thanking the heaven and the earth that the Jins did not attack them; how could they dare to pull a tiger’s whisker? Therefore, they were very indifferent toward Tuolei; they placed him in the guest house and did not pay any attention to him anymore. Fortunately Wanyan Kang was captured by Lu, father and son, at Lake Tai; otherwise the Songs would have received the Jins’ order and have Tuolei killed.
Later on came the news that the Mongolian army was moving fast and the Jin’s capital of Yanjing fell. The ministers of the Song Dynasty changed their attitude immediately; now they treated Tuolei as the Fourth Prince this and the Fourth Prince that, flattered him to no end. They went as far as agreeing immediately to form an alliance to attack the Jins; they thought if they could seize the opportunity to defeat their enemy without to much effort, then why not?
Tuolei was not happy, but he still agreed to sign the bilateral agreement with the Southern Song Dynasty to attack the Jins. That day he returned to the north, the Songs ministers respectfully sent him off outside the city gate. Tuolei did not feel like performing perfunctory propriety, so he simply slapped his horse and left.
Just outside Lin’an he saw the white eagles; he thought Guo Jing must be around, who would have thought that it was his own sister. Huazheng asked, “Did you see Guo Jing Anda [Mongolian for ‘sworn brother’]?” Before Tuolei could answer they heard clamoring noise outside the door; the sound of armors and horses. It turned out it was the Song Dynasty’s escort finally caught up with the Mongolian envoys.
Yang Kang was standing quietly at the door; he saw the Song troops were carrying a banner with these large characters written on it: ‘Respectfully sending off the Mongolian Fourth Prince to return to the north.’ He was unable to restrain having a disquieting thought, an extreme regret in his heart. Just dozens of days ago he was also a prince, an honorable envoy; today he was alone in the world and nobody paid him any attention. He had tasted riches and honor all his life, so it would be very difficult for him to throw away everything he held dear.
Mu Nianci watched him with a cold eye; she noticed his unusual expression. Alt
hough she did not know what he was thinking, but remembering that he had never forgotten the glory and splendor of being a part of the enemy, she was unable to restrain herself from feeling hurt.
The captain of the Song escort team went into the inn and respectfully appeared before Tuolei. He spoke with Tuolei for a moment before going back out and bark his order, “Go to every house and find out if there is someone surnamed Guo, Guo Jing, Guo Guanren [Master Guo - lit. government official] living in this village. If he doesn’t, ask where did he move to?”
The soldiers complied with one voice and immediately spread out. Not too long afterwards from the village noises were heard of chicken scrambling and dogs running, men crying out and women screaming; for the soldiers did not find the information they were looking for, so they helped themselves to plunder sheep and other belongings. How else would they punish the villagers for not giving out the information they wanted?
Yang Kang’s heart was stirred, “If the troops can seize this opportunity to plunder, why can’t I seize this opportunity to befriend this Mongolians?” he thought, “I will accompany them returning to the north and kill him along the way; that won’t be difficult. The Mongolian Great Khan will think it is the work of a Song man; hence the alliance between the Mongolia and the Song Dynasty will be broken. It will be a great advantage to the Jins.” Once his mind was decided he told Mu Nianci, “Wait here for a moment.” And in big strides he entered the inn.
The captain tried to stop him with a loud shout; holding up his hand in front of Yang Kang. Yang Kang lifted up his left arm and tossed the captain away. The captain fell backward and for half a day did not crawl back up.
Tuolei and Huazheng were startled. By that time, Yang Kang had already arrived at the center of the room. He took the broken spearhead from his bosom and lifted it high above his head; respectfully placed that spearhead on the table, and then he knelt down in front of the table, wailing loudly, “Guo Jing, oh, Brother Guo, you died a miserable death. I surely must avenge your death, Guo Jing, oh, Brother Guo.”
