Book 10 Chapter 1 – Separate Deployment
The atmosphere at the Flying Horse Ranch tensed up.
The sentry stations and lookout towers, which were normally unguarded, were now tightly guarded. All the able-bodied men in the entire Ranch marched out of the mountain city batch by batch, and reassembled at the pasture ready to head for the battlefield.
As soon as Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling slipped back into their room, before they even had any chance to sit down, Lan Gu already came and ordered them, “Changzhu’s strict order: unless under specific assignment, Inner Castle people are to stay in their respective courtyards. Violator will be dealt with in accordance with the house rules. Are you clear?”
Leaning by the door, Kou Zhong said to Lan Gu, who was standing outside the door, “We are at war or not, everybody still has to eat; therefore, Lan Gu came to deliver this strict order to us, isn’t it superfluous?”
Lan Gu did not expect that Kou Zhong would not give her any face at all, his expression did not show any concern for his superior; she was so angry that her thin face turned green as she said, “I am in charge in this village courtyard. If I want you two to stay her then you are not allowed to take one step out of the door; otherwise, don’t blame me for being discourteous.”
Giggling, Kou Zhong said, “Lan Gu, calm down. Just now the Housekeeper reported to Changzhu that the vanguard of Four Big Bandits’ allied armies appears in the vicinity; we were just talking with Changzhu about our living arrangement.”
Turning his head toward Xu Ziling, who was sitting in a chair, covering his mouth and snickering, he called out, “Xiao Jing’s memory is better than mine; what did Changzhu say again?”
Xu Ziling promptly put up a serious expression, and said flatly, “Changzhu told us not to worry. She ordered us to make more pastries to entertain Princess Ning and her entourage, and we must not be careless, because our Ranch’s grand reputation in negotiation and troops deployment depends on it.”
Lan Gu was tongue-tied, because she remembered that she has not made any new arrangement for their lodging; her anger subsided considerably. “Since you have Changzhu’s order, why are you still here?” she spoke haltingly.
The two boys thanked the Heaven in their hearts, and quickly slipped out toward the firewood shed.
※ ※ ※
Dusk.
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling finished making pastries, put them in brocade box, and holding it with both hands they headed toward the Green Ring Courtyard where Li Xiuning stayed. Along the way they encountered several patrolling troops, but after some explanations, they did not have any trouble.
Green Ring Courtyard was a standalone courtyard surrounded by high walls on all four sides. The right side of the middle of the courtyard was dancing trees; the scenery was serene and seemed to be detached from the outside world.
The most distinguishing feature of this courtyard was that outside the entrance, there was a rock garden approximately ten zhang in diameter, the pouring water from which form a pond underneath with goldfish in it. There was also a long nine-bend bridge, more than ten zhang long, connecting this garden and the middle courtyard.
The long bridge weaved left and right among the rocks, much like a maze, and in the middle there was even a hexagonal pavilion; the layout was ingenious, making people sighed in admiration.
Xu Ziling noticed that Kou Zhong was silent the entire trip; he knew the conflict in Kou Zhong’s heart because of Li Xiuning, yet he also knew that in this kind of matter, nobody can lend a helping hand; therefore, he could only sigh in his heart.
Inside the hexagonal pavilion sat two fully armed men; looking at their clothes, the two boys knew that these men were part of Li Xiuning’s personal guards. Seeing the two boys, the two men asked in surprise, “Anything wrong?”
Kou Zhong explained the purpose of their visit. One of the men said in relief, “Just give it to us!”
Kou Zhong had already anticipated that this would happen; he smiled and said, “Earlier this morning, Princess Xiuning came to tour the kitchen, and instructed us, Xiao Ren, that after we make the pastries, she wanted us to explain how to make it. Would two Daye please make a report inside?”
The guard frowned and said, “Princess is receiving guests, plus this is not an urgent matter. We must report it first and see whether Princess can receive you or not later on. It would be better if you just give that thing to us.”
Without much choice the two boys put the pastries down, turned around and left.
Once they were out the guards’ vision, Xu Ziling wondered, “Who might be Li Xiuning’s guests?”
Kou Zhong smiled wryly and said, “I am sure they are Ranch people; for her, they are guests. Oh! Not good!”
The two boys remembered the spy at the same time.
Xu Ziling made a prompt decision, “We will immediately split up; remember to go back first to fetch your Moon in the Well.”
Kou Zhong pulled him back and said, “Outside, the enemy may attack and besiege us for ten days, half a month, the situation inside is more critical, how could you slip out and have fun this soon and leave me to suffer in here alone?”
Xu Ziling pushed him back and said, “If we are acting together, it will be easier for others to suspect us. Don’t forget that body shape and height can’t be changed. Besides, we want to train ourselves to assume personal responsibility to better prepare ourselves for the future. Do you understand?”
※ ※ ※
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling changed into the night-walker outfits that Lu Miaozi supplied them earlier. After putting on the masks, they immediately changed into two completely different persons that they nearly could not recognize each other.
Xu Ziling turned into a thirty-something rough-looking man, with rough bronze face, full of pockmarks, plus saber scar about three cun long on his right cheek; a Jianghu big-bandit, who was used to kill and burn, persona. His face matched well with his tall and straight, sturdy built; so that his entire person exuded an indescribable coarse and wild aura.
Kou Zhong’s appearance was even weirder. Not only he had an aquiline nose, which was not too pleasant to look at, his face was covered in full beard; an arrogant, violent, tyrannical and wild persona. His age looked to be about ten years older than Xu Ziling’s new persona.
The two boys took turn looking into the copper mirror and both doubled-up in laughter.
Kou Zhong patted Xu Ziling’s shoulder and said, “Tonight we, the Two Eccentrics of Yangzhou, are deployed separately, to turn his mother’s heaven and earth upside down.” [Translator’s note: just want the readers to know that the same character (怪) was translated as ‘freaks’ in Eagle Shooting Hero (as in ‘Seven Freaks of Jiangnan’), but I feel that in this context the two boys were not exactly ‘freaks’.]
Xu Ziling nodded and said, “If anybody finds out that we are not here and inquire later, we must say that we went to Mr. Lu to learn his skill; are you clear?”
Hanging the Moon in the Well on his back, Kou Zhong replied, “In that case, we ought to rendezvous at Lu Miaozi’s place first to be absolutely safe. Come! The guy who does not have any yiqi [spirit of loyalty, code of brotherhood]!”
They jumped out the window.
Xu Ziling followed closely behind Kou Zhong, unleashing their night-walk skill, darting like a rabbit, crouching like a heron, subsequently passing several rows of buildings, until they finally reached a two-story building and crouched on its roof. “Why did you say I have no yiqi?” he whispered.
Staring at the general direction of the Green Ring Courtyard where Li Xiuning stayed, Kou Zhong said hatefully, “You said you have yiqi? The fun things you hogged for yourself, leaving me in here eating the northwest wind, waiting for the enemy to execute their plot like an idiot.”
At first Xu Ziling was smiling, but then he could not help laughing. “Who told you to become that romantic? The hero rescues the beauty; it’s yours exclusively. Remember to regroup at Mr. Lu’s place before daybreak. Please behave! Now if you’ll excuse me, Xiaodi is not able to accompany you!”
Raising his arms, like a lightning he soared into the night sky in the direction of the Castle’s wall.
Watching Xu Ziling disappearing into the distant darkness, Kou Zhong sighed helplessly and slid down onto a smaller building. With movements like a swimming fish, his ghost-like figure floated toward the Green Ring Courtyard.
The vortex of qi within his body grew and multiplied endlessly, making him appeared to have unlimited supply of explosive power. Evading several teams of patrolling guards, traversing the rock garden, he reached the foot of the courtyard wall.
Kou Zhong focused his mind and sent his power to his ears. Immediately an incomparably moving world of audio descended into his ears. The swimming fish moving their tails in the pond under the forest of rocks, the dancing leaves in the evening breeze, even any noise within the ten zhang radius around him: the breathing, the coughing; nothing escaped his eardrums. So much so that he startled himself, surprised that he had become more and more formidable.
If he could hide within the central zone of the Green Ring Courtyard, wouldn’t he be able to use his pair of ears to listen to most of what’s happening within the Courtyard?
But of course it would not be easy. Not only was Li Xiuning herself a martial art master within the Li Clan, her intelligent was also surpassed others. Under the current circumstances, she would have deployed her men to form a tight perimeter, which would prevent the enemy from breaking in.
And then there were Li Gang and Dou Wei who came with her; both were not easy to deal with. Once a misunderstanding arose, things could go bad real fast.
Thinking to this point, since he already had a good grasp of the situation on the other side of the wall, he drafted a plan to infiltrate the Courtyard.
Chapter 1 - Part 2
Xu Ziling shot toward the city wall like an arrow, the ‘divine escape’ in his hand shot out, controlled by his internal power, noiselessly grabbing the top of the wall in between two lookout towers, and then at the dead end, out of the line of sight of the guards, he flipped over the wall, and then after loosening up the divine escape, again he noiselessly flipped over the fifteen-zhang city wall, and stuck himself to the wall he slid down to the ground.
Taking advantage while the guards’ attention was focused on the pasture outside the city, he darted along the foot of the wall toward a safe place where the river was running along the city wall.
The stars filled the sky, but the moon was hazy; suddenly a strange feeling welled-up in his heart.
A strong feeling of loneliness overwhelmed his heart, as if he was entering an isolated world, where he no longer related to anybody else.
The divine escape shot out again, grabbing a large rock on the opposite bank of the river. The vortex of power concentrated at the yongquan acupoint on his right foot, enabling him to shoot to the other side almost parallel to the water surface, greatly reducing the chance of being detected.
Without even stopping he entered a sparse forest and ran toward the eastern gorge entrance.
He had neither a plan nor confidence that he would be able to avoid detection from the guards at the eastern gorge entrance, because by using the ‘flying divine escape’, he could easily climb over the steep and dangerous cliff to get to the battlefield outside.
※ ※ ※
Kou Zhong leaped over the wall, the divine escape in his hand shot out like lightning, the claw traversed an eight-zhang of empty space and caught the eaves of the building nearby, propelling him toward the roof, where he quickly ducked into the darkness.
After listening carefully and making sure he clearly grasped the layout of his surroundings, he slipped down to the ground. Halting and darting, he passed through a small garden and flitted across three buildings, and finally hid under a flowering shrub.
Sweeping his eyes around, Kou Zhong found out that he was in right in the heart of the garden, with flowers and trees, a pond, rockery and a pavilion around him; an elegant and serene environment.
All the buildings surrounding the garden were brightly lit, and he was able to faintly hear voices from those buildings.
Focusing his heart and mind, Kou Zhong listened carefully. Immediately a woman’s voice coming from the building to his left caught his attention.
Just by hearing her voice Kou Zhong immediately recognized that this was the woman whom he trailed secretly the other night; the spy.
Deliberately lowering her voice, she said, “Princess Ning ought to understand by now, that since Changzhu knows Li Tianfan and is going to have confidential meeting with him in the near future, she is very likely to provide Li Mi with war-horses and equipment. Although Housekeeper and most of the Managers are in strong opposition, their urging is in vain.”
Kou Zhong shivered in fear; he had a faint feeling that this conspiracy is somehow related to Li Mi. Because no matter what happened to Li Xiuning, the Li Clan would naturally suspect that the root cause was the collusion between Shang Xiuxun and Li Mi.
If Li Tianfan was Li Mi’s son, then he must also be Song Yuzhi’s fiancé.
“This is serious,” Li Gang’s voice was heard, “I wonder if your honorable husband is aware of Madam’s visit this time?”
Full of confidence, the woman replied, “Of course, it was Laoye who implored Yuan’er to seize this opportunity to come and discuss this matter with you, with the hope that our relationship with your honorable Clan will not be damaged just because Changzhu is unable to think straight.”
Kou Zhong praised her in his heart; under these no-conflict circumstances, she was able to make Li Xiuning’s side at least have some misgivings.
Dou Wei’s deep and heroic voice was heard, “This is really strange, because as far as we know, Li Mi is the main culprit who secretly supporting the Four Big Bandits in disrupting the South; why would the Four Big Bandits come to attack the Ranch?”
The woman named Yuan’er calmly replied, “Laoye has already analyzed this matter; it may be a deliberate diversion. That’s why he repeatedly urged Yuan’er to contact you as soon as possible, because most likely this is Changzhu’s first muddleheaded action under Li Tianfan’s instigation.”
“Princess Ning,” Dou Wei said, “No matter what, we must immediately strengthen our defense.”
“He who comes is surely ill-intentioned, no-one well-meaning will come,” Li Xiuning replied indifferently, “If this matter is really driven by Xun Jie [elder sister], she knows our strength like the back of her hand; we can’t guard against her even if we want to.”
Hearing her voice, there were both love and hatred in Kou Zhong’s heart. The beauty was able to display such cool-headedness under these circumstances, no wonder the Li Clan entrusted the heavy responsibility of negotiating with Shang Xiuxun to her.
Li Xiuning went on, “Is it possible for Yuan Jie to notify Da Zongguan [big chief manager] to have a confidential discussion with us?”
Kou Zhong cheered inwardly; if Li Xiuning saw Shang Zhen, Yuan’er cheap trick would be exposed immediately.
To his surprise, however, Yuan’er readily agreed; she also said, “Yuan’er will immediately dispatch a messenger to notify Laoye. He is currently in charge of the eastern gorge defense; unless there is a military emergency, there shouldn’t be any problem.”
And then Yuan’er took her leave, Li Xiuning, three people personally sent her off.
Kou Zhong has more or less understood Yuan’er’s plot. He pondered over whether he should seize this opportunity to hide inside Li Xiuning’s personal chamber, waiting for her return, and then he could … hey! Thinking to this point, his heart was burning; forgetting everything else, he flashed in.
※ ※ ※
Xu Ziling stood on top of a peak above the steep cliff, overlooking the plain extending into the distance outside the mouth of the western gorge.
Under this hazy moonlight and star-filled night sky, the winding mountains and rivers appeared to unfold from under his feet.
Suddenly Xu Ziling understood Kou Zhong’s desire for supremacy over the world.
It was the feeling of sovereignty over the world, the feeling of dominion over the mother earth.
Someone Kou Zhong’s character would never take second place to anybody.
He, Xu Ziling, would not be willing to accept inferior status either, but what he was after was free and easy, unfettered way of life.
No one can tie him down.
Including Kou Zhong.
After helping Kou Zhong getting the ‘Duke Yang’s Treasure’, he would have accomplished his responsibility as a good brother. The meritorious deed completed, he could retire.
At the end of his eyesight, he saw a small hill about three li southwest of the city gate tower at the mouth of the gorge, where human figures were moving about; by his estimate there were at least several hundred people going down the slope of the hill, pouring into the vast prairie between the small hill and the mouth of the gorge. It appeared that these people were pushing toward the Ranch.
About five li to the northwest, there was a winding river with nine bends and ten turns traversing the prairie toward the back of that small hill, with dense forest on both sides, from where came the neighs of the horses hidden over there.
Between these two places, there was a small village built by the river, but he did not see the least bit of lights, neither did he hear any sound of dogs or chicken; obviously all the villagers have fled early on.
On this side of the mouth of the gorge, the Flying Horse Ranch’s warriors also marched out of the city gate tower, with the imposing manner of soldiers ready for war. Just by looking at the two sides’ movements, he knew that hard battle was inevitable.
Xu Ziling’s blood was boiling. Like a big bird he soared into the air and jumped down the cliff.
※ ※ ※
Kou Zhong flitted up toward the roof, and immediately crouched down motionless.
Dou Wei’s voice was heard again, “Does Princess think that that Yuan’er is trustworthy?”
Li Xiuning sighed and said, “How could Shang Xiuxun be that kind of despicable scumbag? But we definitely must be on guard; we’ll decide what to do after we talk with Shang Zhen. Oh! Is there a way for us to examine Yuan’er’s background?”
Li Gang said, “For the time being, we have no way …” He suddenly stopped speaking.
While Kou Zhong was pondering why, a clear and bright male voice came from the eaves of the opposite building, “Friend, you broke into the Green Ring Courtyard at night; may I ask what brings you here?”
Kou Zhong jumped in fright. Granted that his attention was focused at eavesdropping Li Xiuning’s party discussion, but the other side was able to come this close him so quietly; evidently he was a martial art master.
And the voice sounded a bit familiar.
When he looked up to see, to his astonishment, it was Li Xiuning’s lover, Chai Shao.