As
the boat came near the city of Kaifeng[1], a conversation about
fellow martial people in Kaifeng started among the Yue Buqun couple and their
apprentices.
“Even
though Kaifeng is a big city, there’s not a great deal of interest in martial
arts around here. And for people like old Escort Hua, senior Master Hai, or the
Three Elites of Henan, they have neither truly outstanding martial arts skills
nor great fame. Let’s just tour around some of the scenic spots and historical
sites. We can skip visiting anyone or any studios so we won’t disturb
anyone,” Yue Buqun suggested.
“But
senior apprentice brother, have you forgotten that very famous figure in the
city of Kaifeng?” Madam Yue grinned.
“A
very famous figure? Who…who are you referring to?” Yue Buqun asked.
“‘Cure
one and kill one; kill one then cure one. Cure as many as I kill; that shows my
skill.’ Now who’s that?” Madam Yue gave a hint.
“Aha,
you are talking about the ‘Killer Doctor’ Ping One-Finger. He is indeed very
famous. But he’s so eccentric that he most probably wouldn’t want to see us
even if we paid him a visit,” Yue Buqun said with a smile.
“That’s
true. Or else we could have asked this Killer Doctor to take a look at Chong’s
injuries since Chong’s inner wounds are not getting any better and we just
happen to be coming to Kaifeng anyway,” Madam Yue agreed.
“Mom,
what does the nickname Killer Doctor mean? If he is a killer, how can he be a
famous doctor?” Yue Lingshan asked in curiosity.
“Well,
this Doctor Ping is a weirdo…well…a strange fellow in the Martial World. He
has profound medical knowledge and his magical hands can bring the dying back to
life. It is said that regardless of how ill or how badly wounded the patient is,
so long as he agrees to work on him the patient will be cured for sure. But he
has this very odd rule. He says that God of Heaven and Lord of Underworld, of
course, both know how many people are there in this world. If he cured too many
people so that less people die, there would be too many living and too few dead.
Certainly the Lord of Underworld is not going to be too fond of that. And when
his final days come, even if the Lord of Underworld leaves him alone, his
officers and goblins would for sure get even with him, therefore, his days in
the underworld probably are not going to be easy at all,” Madam Yue explained
with a light grin.
Quite
amused by these words, all the apprentices giggled.
“That’s
why he made an oath,” Madam Yue continued, “that so long as he cures
someone, he must kill another one to even the numbers. And if he kills someone,
he must cure another one to make up. He put up this big banner right in his
office, which said clearly, ‘Cure one and kill one; kill one then cure one.
Cure as many as I kill; that shows my skill.’ He says that because of this
practice, the God of Heaven wouldn’t fault him for taking away lives, and Lord
of Underworld wouldn’t blame him for taking over his business either.”
The
entire audience burst into loud laughter.
“What
a funny guy this Doctor Ping One-Finger is! But why does he have such a strange
name? Has he only one finger?” Yue Lingshan asked.
“I
think he has more than just one finger,” Madam Yue answered. “Senior
apprentice brother, do you know why he picked such a name?” she asked her
husband.
“Doctor
Ping has all ten fingers. He called himself One-Finger because either to kill or
to cure, he only needs one finger to do it. If he wants to kill someone, he just
hits him with one finger, and if he wants to cure someone, he only uses one
finger to check pulses,” Yue Buqun clarified.
“Oh,
I see. Then I suppose he must be an expert in sealing pressure points,” Madam
Yue remarked.
“That
I am not too sure. There probably isn’t that many who has fought this Doctor
Ping before. Everyone in the Martial World knows how good of a doctor he is. In
one’s life, who can say that he is immune to unexpected misfortunes? Maybe one
day he will need to ask for Doctor Ping’s help, that’s why no one wants to
offend Doctor Ping. But unless it’s absolutely necessary, no one would just
rashly ask for his help either,” Yue Buqun said.
“Why’s
that?” Yue Lingshan couldn’t help but ask.
“Because
whenever a fellow martial person asks him to cure a wound or disease, he would
make this person swear an oath ahead of time that after the person is cured, he
must obey Dr. Ping’s order to kill a person Dr. Ping specifies. This is called
one life in exchange for another. It’s easier if the person is asked to kill
someone totally unrelated to himself, but if he is asked to kill someone who’s
a close friend of his, or even his father, brother, wife, or son, then
wouldn’t it be real difficult?” Yue Buqun explained.
“This
Doctor Ping is truly odd!” the apprentices remarked.
“Big
apprentice brother, in that case, you can’t really ask him to work on you
then,” Yue Lingshan concluded.
Linghu
Chong had been propping against the door at the backside, listening to Master
and Master-Wife discussing the peculiarity of the “Killer Doctor” Ping
One-Finger. When he heard little apprentice sister’s words, he replied with a
slight smile on his cheeks.
“That’s
right! I would be very afraid if he asks me to kill my little apprentice sister,
once he cures me.”
That
brought loud laughter out from the rest of the apprentices.
Yue
Lingshan also grinned. “This Doctor Ping has no grudge against me. Why would
he ask you to kill me?” She turned her head and asked her father, “Dad, then
is this Doctor Ping a good guy or a bad guy?”
“Well,
it is said that he is quite grumpy, and always do things to his liking,
sometimes chivalrous and sometimes irregular. He is really neither a good guy
nor a bad guy. To say it nicely, he is a strange genius. But in plain words, he
would be a freak,” Yue Buqun answered.
“Here’s
what I think. Many of the rumors flowing around the Martial World are really
exaggerations, and this might just be one of them. When we get to the city of
Kaifeng, I’d like to go pay a visit to this Doctor Ping,” Yue Lingshan
responded.
“Nonsense!
Don’t be mischievous!” Both Yue Buqun and Madam Yue admonished almost in
unison.
Seeing
the solemn expression on her parents’ faces, Yue Lingshan was slightly
stunned. “Why?” she asked.
“Meeting
people like this? Are you out of your mind? Trouble will come looking for you if
you do,” Yue Buqun reproached.
“Why
would trouble come looking for me just for a visit? I am not asking him to cure
me. What’s the big deal?” Yue Lingshan mumbled.
“We
are here to enjoy visiting scenes, not to cause troubles.” Yue Buqun pulled a
long face.
Seeing
how angry her father had become, Yue Lingshan dared not speak another word. But
her curiosity toward this “Killer Doctor Ping One-Finger” only grew bigger
and bigger.
At
early morning the next day, the boat entered the city limits of Kaifeng. But it
was still quite a distance from the real city.
“Guess
what?” Yue Buqun smiled a big grin. “There’s this place not far from here
where a member of our Yue family once became the center of the limelight many
years ago. We’d better pay a visit there.”
“Yay!
I know! I know! It’s Zhuxian Town, where General Yue, Yue Pengju,[2]
kicked Jin Wushu’s[3] behind big time,” Yue
Lingshan cheered.
Yue
Fei, who fought the Jin army and defended China, was a heroic figure all martial
people admired deeply in their hearts, and Zhuxian Town was the place where Yue
Fei had completely crushed the Jin army. Naturally, everyone in the group wanted
to check it out.
“Hurry
up! Let’s go to the Zhuxian Town first. Then we’ll have lunch inside the
city of Kaifeng,” Yue Lingshan leapt ashore ahead of everyone else and
shouted.
The
passengers started walking off the boat except Linghu Chong who remained sitting
by the backside of the boat.
“Big
apprentice brother, aren’t you going?” Yue Lingshan asked.
Ever
since Linghu Chong had lost all his inner energy, he often felt weary and tired
and didn’t want to move much. He figured that since everybody else was going
ashore to have fun, it would be the perfect opportunity for him to learn that
“Song of Peace and Serenity.” Besides, seeing how Lin Pingzhi stood side by
side with Yue Lingshan, looking intimate and affectionate, he felt even more
uncomfortable.
“I
am too tired. I won’t be able to keep up with you guys,” he answered.
“Alright,
have a good rest then. I’ll get you some good wine from the city of
Kaifeng,” Yue Lingshan replied.
Sorrow
swelled Linghu Chong’s heart as he watched Yue Lingshan and Lin Pingzhi walk
away abreast, leading the way ahead of everyone else.
“Even
if learning the ‘Song of Peace and Serenity’ could really cure my internal
wounds, why would I bother to cure and why would I bother to learn the music?”
he thought to himself.
Staring
at the muddy waves of the Yellow River surging east continuously, he suddenly
felt that life’s pain and suffering were really no different from the flowing
river – both would come wave after wave and never stop. The thought triggered
a disruption in his inner energy flow. An immense pain from his lower abdomen
immediately consumed him.
Meanwhile,
Yue Lingshan and Lin Pingzhi certainly were in a completely different mood.
Walking side by side, whispering in each other’s ears, the two were having a
wonderful time.
“Lingshan
and Pingzhi are both still young. A man and a woman walking together like this
might be all right in the countryside, but it certainly wouldn’t be
appropriate in a big city. Why don’t we give them some company?” Madam Yue
gave her husband a pull on the sleeve and whispered.
“We
are no longer young. I guess it would be totally appropriate for us to walk
together then,” Yue Buqun joked.
Madam
Yue let out a smile and then caught up with Yue Lingshan in quick paces. The
four of them asked their way from pedestrians and then headed straight toward
the Zhuxian Town. Just when they were about to enter the Zhuxian Town, a big
shrine by the roadside caught their attention. The sign on top of the shrine had
four words in golden paint, “Shrine of General Yang.”
“Dad,
I know this one. This is the shrine for General Yang Zai-Xing.[4]
He went to River Shang by mistake and was killed by the Jin archers,” Yue
Lingshan said.
“Correct!
General Yang died defending his country. That is something that deserves great
respect and admiration. Let’s go in the shrine to pay our respects to the
spirit of a martyr,” Yue Buqun replied.
At
the time, the many apprentices were still far behind, so the four of them
decided to go inside without waiting for the rest of the group. A statue of Yang
Zai-Xing occupied the middle of the shrine. The man in the statue had a white
face and wore a set of silver-colored armor, looking very heroic.
“This
General Yang is so handsome!” Yue Lingshan thought to herself. She couldn’t
help but turn around and cast a glance at Lin Pingzhi to compare Lin Pingzhi
with the statue in her heart.
Suddenly
a voice came from outside the shrine.
“I
bet you this Shrine of General Yang is built for Yang Zai-Xing.”
Recognizing
the voice, both Yue Buqun and Madam Yue immediately grabbed onto the hilts of
their swords and their faces turned pale.
Then
another voice rose, “There are many generals named Yang. How can you be so
sure that this is Yang Zai-Xing? Why can’t he be Golden Blade Grandpa Yang,[5]
or even Yang the Sixth[6]
or Yang the Seventh?”[7]
“Just
within the Yang Family Corp, there are many possibilities. It doesn’t
necessarily have to be Grandpa Yang, or Yang the Sixth, or Yang the Seventh. Who
says it can’t be Yang Zongbao[8]
or Yang Wenguang?”[9] another voice argued.
“Why
can’t it be Yang the Fourth?” yet another voice joined the debate.
“Yang
the Fourth surrendered to the foreign invader. No one’s going to build a
shrine for him,” the previous one explained.
“Are
you implying that I will surrender to the foreign invader because I am the
fourth?” the other one mocked.
“Sure,
you are the fourth. But what has that gotten anything to do with Yang the
fourth?” the previous one argued.
“You
are the fifth. Yang the Fifth ended up becoming a monk on Mount Wutai. Why
aren’t you a monk then?” the other one challenged.
“If
I become a monk, you’ll have to surrender to the foreign invader,” the
previous one responded.
Only
after hearing the first sentence, Yue Buqun and Madam Yue had already figured
out who they were – the bunch of Peach Valley’s Freaks. Yue Buqun waved a
signal; the four of them quickly hid behind the statue, the Yue couple on the
left and Yue Lingshan and Lin Pingzhi on the right.
The
bunch of Peach Valley’s Freaks kept arguing outside of the shrine, yet neither
of them would simply come in to get the answer. Yue Lingshan couldn’t help but
feel amused.
“What’s
there to argue about? Whether it was Yang Zai-Xing or Yang the Fourth, why not
just come in here and take a look? Wouldn’t that save a lot of trouble?” she
thought to herself amusingly.
Madam
Yue listened carefully and could only recognize five different voices. She
figured that the sixth one must have died from her sword stab. The reason why
she had left Mount Huashan with her husband was to stay away from those five
freaks, afraid that they might go back for revenge. Who would have expected that
they would meet right here? Even though the freaks hadn’t spotted their group
of four yet, the other apprentices could show up any minute, and they would have
no way of escaping at all. Worries clouded her mind.
The
debate among the five freaks became more and more heated, and finally one of
them suggested, “Why don’t we go inside and take a look. Then we’ll see
which stinking guy this shrine was built for.”
The
five of them all rushed in alongside, and one of them shouted excitedly.
“Aha,
look here! It clearly says here ‘Shrine of General Yang Sir Zai-Xing’s
Spirit.’ This of course is Yang Zai-Xing.” It was Branch Fairy.
Trunk
Fairy scratched his head for a brief moment and then spoke, “It says ‘Yang
Sir Zai’ here, not ‘Yang Zai-Xing.’ I see. This General Yang’s first
name is Sir Zai. Hmm, Yang Sir Zai, Yang Sir Zai, what a great name!”
“This
obviously is Yang Zai-Xing. You are so full of it. Why are you saying that
it’s Yang Sir Zai?” Branch Fairy was infuriated.
“Read
the words! It clearly says ‘Yang Sir Zai’, not ‘Yang Zai-Xing’.” Trunk
Fairy argued.
“Then
what do the words ‘Xing’s Spirit’ stand for?” Root Fairy joined in.
“Xing
means happy.[10]
Xing’s Spirit means the spirit is very happy. After this chap Yang Sir Zai
died, people even built a shrine for him, of course his spirit is going to feel
very happy,” Leaf Fairy explained.
“Exactly!
Exactly!” Trunk Fairy couldn’t agree more.
“Didn’t
I say that the shrine was built for Yang the Seventh? I am right once again!
Man, I am so smart!” Flower Fairy said contentedly.
“It
is Yang Zai-Xing. How can it be Yang the Seventh?” Branch Fairy asked angrily.
“It
is Yang Sir Zai. How can it be Yang the Seventh?” Trunk Fairy also asked
angrily.
“Third
brother, what’s Yang Zai-Xing’s ranking among his brothers?” Flower Fairy
asked.
“I
don’t know.” Branch Fairy shook his head.
“Yang
Zai-Xing was the seventh child. He was Yang the Seventh,” Flower Fairy
claimed. “Second brother, what’s Yang Sir Zai’s ranking among his
brothers?”
“I
used to know. But I don’t remember now,” Trunk Fairy murmured.
“Well,
I do remember. He was the seventh child also. That’s why he was Yang the
Seventh as well,” Flower Fairy said with a big grin.
“If
this statue is Yang Zai-Xing, then it can’t be Yang Sir Zai. If it’s Yang
Sir Zai, then it can’t be Yang Zai-Xing. How can it be both Yang Zai-Xing and
Yang Sir Zai?” Root Fairy remarked.
“Big
brother, think. What’s the meaning of the word ‘Zai?’ ‘Zai’ means
again, another one. This must be a statue for two, not just one. That’s why
it’s both Yang Sir Zai and Yang Zai-Xing,” Leaf Fairy explained.
“That
sounds logical!” The other four Fairies all agreed.
“You
say that if there’s the word ‘Zai’ in one’s name, that means one more,
then it’s obviously public knowledge that Yang the Seventh had seven sons!”
Branch Fairy suddenly remarked.
“Following
that logic, then if someone’s name contained the word ‘Thousand,’ he will
have to raise one thousand sons?” Root Fairy asked.
Hearing
that the debate took such odd turns, Yue Lingshan almost broke into loud
laughter. But she bit her lips hard and kept her silence.
The
five Peach Valley’s freaks argued some more when Branch Fairy suddenly blurted
out, “Yang the Seventh! If you give blessings to our sixth brother and let him
live, I am willing to kowtow to you. Actually, I am going to kowtow right
now.” He knelt down on the floor and kowtowed sincerely.
Hearing
those words, Yue Buqun and Madam Yue exchanged a glance, each feeling somewhat
relieved. Apparently that freak was still alive even though he took a severe
stab from Madam Yue. Those Peach Valley’s Six Fairies’ behaviors were so
hard to make sense of; the Yue couple would rather not make an enemy out of
them.
“But
what if sixth brother dies?” Branch Fairy asked.
“Then
I’ll smash this statue to bits and pieces and piss on whatever is left of
him,” Trunk Fairy answered.
“Even
if you smash the statue of Yang the Seventh into bits and pieces, and then piss
on it or even shit on it, so what? Sixth brother would be dead already, and your
kowtow would all be wasted!” Flower Fairy reminded him.
“You
are right! I better hold the kowtow for now. Let’s go get a clear answer,
whether sixth brother’s wound is curable or not. If it’s curable, we can
come back to kowtow; if it’s not, then we’ll come here to piss on him,”
Branch Fairy agreed.
“If
it’s curable, he will be cured whether we kowtow or not. There’s no need to
kowtow. If it’s not, he won’t be cured whether we piss or not. We can skip
pissing,” Root Fairy remarked.
“If
sixth brother’s wound is incurable, then we just skip pissing? Aren’t our
bladder gonna explode if we skip pissing? We could die!” Leaf Fairy asked.
Trunk
Fairy suddenly broke into a loud cry. “If sixth brother won’t survive this,
we’ll all stop taking a piss, even if we’ll all die because of that.”
At
those words, the rest four fairies also broke into loud cries.
“Wait
a minute,” Branch Fairy suddenly stopped crying and instead, burst into loud
laughter. “If sixth brother can be cured, wouldn’t we be just crying for
nothing? Come on guys, let’s get a clear answer first, and then we can cry
later.”
“What
you just said doesn’t make sense at all. If sixth brother can be cured, then
why would we be crying later?” Flower Fairy disagreed.
Amid
the non-stop arguing, the five men rushed out of the shrine in quick steps.
“Whether
that man will survive or not is of great importance to us,” Yue Buqun said to
Madam Yue. “Let me go look into this. Junior apprentice sister, you, Lingshan,
and the other apprentices can stay here and wait for me.”
“You
can’t just go all by yourself. Let me go with you and watch your back,”
Madam Yue replied in a determined tone and then ran out of the shrine first.
In
the past, when Yue Buqun had important matters to deal with, Madam Yue would
always go with him to aid. Hearing what his wife had said, Yue Buqun knew that
it would be impossible to change her mind, so he simply followed quietly.
After
the two of them went out of the shrine, from a distance, they could see the
Peach Valley’s Five Freaks turn into a col from a small path. Following the
five men quietly, they dared not stay too close and kept a good distance.
Thanked to the loud and non-stop arguing from the five, it wasn’t hard for
them to shadow the freaks from a long distance behind.
Following
the mountain path, after passing by a dozen or so big willow trees, they came to
a small creek. Several tile-roofed houses stood next by the creek. The arguing
sound from the five freaks went straight into one of the houses.
“Let’s
circle around to the backside of the house,” Yue Buqun suggested.
The
couple ran toward their right using their Qing-Gong skills and circled back
after about a quarter of a mile. A row of willow trees stood at the backside of
the house. The two hid themselves behind the willow trees and listened.
Suddenly,
the yelling voice of the Peach Valley’s five freaks broke out abruptly.
“You
just killed our sixth brother!”
“Why…why
did you cut his chest open?”
“I
am gonna kill you son of a bitch!”
“We’ll
cut your chest open too!”
“Oh,
no! Sixth brother! You have died a horrible death! We…we’ll never take a
piss again, even if our bladders explode.”
Yue
Buqun and Madam Yue were astonished. “Did someone just cut their sixth
brother’s chest open?”
After
exchanging some gestures, the two of them crept next to the window and looked
inside from a crack of the window.
About
seven or eight lights lit the entire room and a large bed occupied the middle of
the room. A naked man lay on the bed facing up, his chest cut wide open and
blood gushing everywhere. The man’s eyes shut tightly as if he had been dead
for sometime. His face showed clearly that he was none other than the Fruit
Fairy who took a stab from Madam Yue on top of Mount Huashan. The remaining five
Peach Valley Freaks stood around the bed, shouting and yelling hysterically at a
short, stocky man.
The
short, stocky man had a larger-than-average head. The sparse mustache on his
lips and the way he moved his head back and forth added much comical effect to
his appearance. Both of his hands were covered with blood, the short dagger in
his right hand also had blood dripping down from the tip of the blade. He stared
at the five Peach Valley Freaks for a while and finally spoke.
“Are
you done farting?”
“We
are done. It’s your turn now,” the five freaks answered in unison.
“This
half-dead man took a stab in the chest,” the short, stocky guy replied. “You
treated the wound with ointment and then carried him such a long way here so
that I can save his life. But you were too slow. The wound had grown back
together and all the nerves and internal passages had grown back the wrong way.
Just to save his life is easy. But since his nerves and internal messages are
all messed up, he will not only lose all his Kung Fu, but also become paralyzed
from waist down. Why would I want to create such a good-for-nothing?”
“A
good-for-nothing is still better than a dead man,” Root Fairy challenged.
“Humph,
either I cure him completely or I don’t touch him at all. How utterly
embarrassing it will be if I only make him into a good-for-nothing? Enough,
enough! Now take this corpse and get out of here. I don’t want to work on him
no more! You guys are annoying me to death!” the short, stocky man snapped.
“You
said we ‘annoy you to death,’ why aren’t you dead yet?” Root Fairy
asked.
“You
have already annoyed me to death. Can’t you tell? How do you know that I am
not dead already?” the short, stocky man stared right into Root Fairy’s eyes
and answered in a chilly tone.
“If
you are incapable of curing my sixth brother, why did you cut open his chest?”
Trunk Fairy asked.
“What
does my nickname say?” the short, stocky man asked coldly.
“Isn’t
your stinking nickname something like ‘Killer Doctor’?” Trunk Fairy
answered.
A
chill went through the Yue Couple’s bodies as they cast a glimpse at each
other, both thinking the same thing, “Who would have thought that this odd
looking short fatty turned out to be the world-renowned ‘Killer Doctor?’
That’s right, it is said throughout the Martial World that this Ping
One-Finger possesses the most excellent skills in healing and curing. It would
only be natural that the five freaks took their seriously wounded brother to him
for a cure.”
Ping
One-Finger’s cold voice rose again. “Since my nickname is ‘Killer
Doctor,’ what’s such a big deal when I kill one or two?”
“What’s
so hard about killing somebody? Even I know how to do that. But you only know
how to kill people, not how to cure people. You are not worth the part of the
name where it says ‘doctor’,” Flower Fairy joined in.
“Who
says I don’t know how to cure people? I cut open this half-dead man’s chest
so that I can reconnect his nerves and internal passages. After I am finished
with him, both his internal and external Kung Fu skills will remain the same as
if he was never wounded. Only that will show the true skills of the ‘Killer
Doctor’,” Ping One-Finger replied.
The
five Peach Valley Freaks were overjoyed at these words. “So you are capable of
curing our sixth brother. We shouldn’t have blamed you,” they responded in
unison.
“Why…why
aren’t you working on him? Sixth brother’s chest has been cut open. He is
bleeding terribly. If you don’t hurry up, it will be too late,” Root Fairy
reminded him.
“Now
are you the ‘Killer Doctor’ or am I the ‘Killer Doctor’?” Ping
One-Finger asked.
“Of
course you are. What a dumb question that is!” Root Fairy answered.
“Very
well! If I am, then how would you know whether it’s too late or not?” Ping
One-Finger retorted. “Besides, I was already working on him after I cut his
chest open. But how can I get on with my work when five wordy creeps simply
wouldn’t shut up and leave me alone? Didn’t I tell you to go have fun at the
‘Shrine of General Yang’ for a half-day and then also check out the
‘Shrine of General Niu’ and the ‘Shrine of General Zhang?’ Why have you
come back so soon?”
“Hey,
get on with your work. You are the wordy one now, not us,” Trunk Fairy
responded.
Ping
One-Finger gave him a good stare for a moment, and then out of nowhere, he
suddenly shouted out, “Get me the needle and the thread!”
The
unexpected shout took the five Peach Valley’s Fairies and the Yue couple by
surprise; everyone’s heart almost skipped a beat. A tall and thin woman walked
in the room with a wooden basin in her hands. Quietly, she set the basin on the
table. The woman was in her forties and had a square face with two big ears and
a pair of sunken eyes. Her face looked pale and had little color in the cheeks.
“You
want me to save this man here. I have already told you my rules, haven’t I?”
Ping One-Finger spoke again.
“Sure.
And we have agreed to it and swore our oath already. No matter whom you want
dead, just let us know. We promise that we won’t disappoint you,” Root Fairy
answered.
“Good,”
Ping One-Finger nodded. “I haven’t thought of anyone that I want dead.
I’ll let you know once I decide. Now, all of you stand over there and shut
your mouth up. If I hear anything from you, I swear that I’ll give it up and
not give a damn about this man no more.”
Ever
since they were kids, the six Peach Valley brothers had always slept in the same
room and eaten on the same table. They never stopped talking. Even in their
dreams they kept on arguing back and forth. But now all they could do was to
stare at each other, each had a stomach full of things he would love to spill
out. When they thought that even a single word out of their mouth would get
their sixth brother killed, each one of them bit his lips hard to fight the urge
to talk, afraid of letting any sound out, not even a heavy breath or a fart.
Ping
One-Finger picked up a big needle from the tray on the table. After threading in
the thick, diaphanous thread, he quickly sewed Fruit Fairy’s chest back
together. His ten fingers were short and chunky, almost like ten carrots, yet
they moved with ultimate efficiency and accuracy. Within moments, he had already
sewed the over nine-inch long wound back together. Then he took many kinds of
medicine, some powder, some liquid, from the many china bottles behind him and
applied them to the wound. Next, he pried Fruit Fairy’s mouth open and poured
some different kinds of liquid down the throat before wiping the blood off Fruit
Fairy’s body with a wet cloth. The tall and thin woman helped by the side,
sometimes handing over the medicines, sometimes holding the needle for him,
appearing to be very proficient.
Ping
One-Finger glimpsed at the five Peach Valley’s Fairies. Seeing that all five
of them had already opened their mouths and were in a rush to begin talking, he
said, “This man hasn’t come back to life yet. You can begin talking after he
comes back to life.” With their mouths still open, the five freaks’ faces
froze instantly with a totally awkward look. Ping One-Finger let out a snort and
then sat down by the side. The woman took the needle, thread, dagger and the
rest of the stuff out of the room.
Hiding
outside of the window, Yue Buqun and Madam Yue held their breaths. At the moment
it was completely silent inside the room, so any little sound from outside of
the window would, for sure, catch the attention of the people inside the room.
After
a long while, Ping One-Finger stood up and walked by Fruit Fairy. All of a
sudden, he struck out with his palm and smacked heavily on the “Bai-Hui”
point on Fruit Fairy’s head. “Ah!” six men shouted out in shock. Out of
the six men, five were the Peach Valley’s Five Fairies, and the sixth one was
actually the man lying on bed who had been unconscious all the time – Fruit
Fairy.
Right
after the cry, Fruit Fairy sat straight up and scolded, “God damn it! What the
hell did you hit my head for?”
“God
damn it! If I didn’t drill open your Bai-Hui point with my inner energy, would
you have recovered so quickly?” Ping One-Finger scolded back.
“God
damn it! Quick or slow, my recovery is none of your business!” Fruit Fairy
rebuffed.
“God
damn it! If your recovery were slow, how would people know the brilliance of the
Killer Doctor’s skills? And wouldn’t it be annoying to have you sleep in my
room any longer than necessary?” Ping One-Finger replied.
“God
damn it! Are you saying that I am annoying you? I am getting out of here. You
think I care about you?” Fruit Fairy mocked. As soon as he said those words,
he rolled out of bed and headed out.
The
other five Peach Valley Freaks had not expected him to recover so quickly and
were able to walk out just like he said he would. In great shock and joy, they
all followed him out of the door.
Completely
shocked and terrified, the Yue couple all came to the same conclusion, “That
Ping One-Finger’s medical skills are indeed astonishing. Besides, his inner
strength is nothing ordinary, either. When he smacked the Bai-Hui point on Fruit
Fairy’s head, he must have injected vigorous inner energy into Fruit Fairy’s
body to wake him up instantly.” Within the moment of hesitation, the Peach
Valley’s Six Fairies had gone far away.
Ping
One-Finger stood up and then walked into another room. Yue Buqun gave his wife a
signal, and the two quietly sneaked away. Not until they were hundreds of feet
away from the room did they speed up their steps.
“That
Killer Doctor’s inner strength is simply extraordinary. But his behavior was
indeed very unusual,” Madam Yue exclaimed.
“Since
the Peach Valley’s Six Freaks are around, the city of Kaifeng has gotten to be
a place of trouble. We’d better leave here at once. There’s no need for us
to get tangled up with them,” Yue Buqun suggested.
Madam
Yue answered with a hum. Throughout her life, only the last several months had
given her the most grievances. Even her husband, the Head Master of the Huashan
Sword School, a member school of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance, had to run
around in hiding. And it almost felt as if there was nowhere safe no matter
where they went. The couple had never kept anything from each other, but every
time when this topic came up, both of them would immediately change topic to
avoid the embarrassment. Now when they finally knew that Fruit Fairy would live
on, both felt great relief as if a big rock had been removed from their hearts.
The
two of them went straight back to the “Shrine of General Yang” and found Yue
Lingshan, Lin Pingzhi, Lao Denuo, and the rest of the apprentices waiting at the
back hall.
“Let’s
get back to the boat,” Yue Buqun ordered.
By
then everybody had become aware that the Peach Valley’s Five Freaks were close
by, so neither questioned the order and all returned to the boat in a hurry.
Just when they were going to ask the boatman to set sail, the Peach Valley’s
Five Fairies’ loud shouts suddenly came from ashore.
“Linghu
Chong! Linghu Chong! Where are you?”
All
faces of the Huashan Sword School members changed color as they watched six men
rushing toward the wharf in trots. Besides the Peach Valley’s Five Fairies,
there was also Ping One-Finger among the group. The Peach Valley’s Five
Fairies had seen the Yue Buqun couple before, so when they recognized Yue
couple’s faces from afar, all cheered uncontrollably. Within seconds, they had
arrived and immediately all five of them leapt toward the boat.
Instantly
Madam Yue unsheathed her sword and stabbed it forward toward Root Fairy’s
chest. At the exact same time, Yue Buqun also drew his sword and pushed Madam
Yue’s blade down using that of his own.
“Don’t
be reckless!” he whispered.
The
bow of the boat sunk slightly when the Peach Valley’s Five Fairies boarded the
boat.
“Linghu
Chong! Where are you hiding? Why don’t you come out?” Root Fairy yelled
loudly.
“Why
should I hide? Am I afraid of you?” Linghu Chong roared in fury.
Right
at the moment, the boat bumped slightly and another person had leapt aboard –
the “Killer Doctor” Ping One-Finger.
Yue
Buqun felt a great shock inward. “The minute junior apprentice sister and I
got back this dwarf shows up right here. Could we have left any traces when we
sneaked about outside of his window? Could he have found the traces? The Peach
Valley’s Five Freaks alone are already hard enough to deal with, not
mentioning adding such a tough opponent on top of that. Alas, perhaps our lives
are destined to end here at Kaifeng today.” Then he heard Ping One-Finger
speak.
“May
I ask which one of you is brother Linghu?”
Surprisingly,
his words were quite polite.
“I
am Linghu Chong. May I have your respectful name? May I ask what I can do for
you?” Linghu Chong slowly walked onto the bow of the boat and answered.
Ping
One-Finger looked Linghu Chong up and down. “Someone has asked me to treat
your wounds,” he said.
Reaching
out and grabbing Linghu Chong by his hand, he placed his index finger on top of
Linghu Chong’s wrist and began checking his pulses. Suddenly, he raised his
eyebrows and uttered a cry of surprise. But soon his eyebrows gradually knitted
into a straight line and another cry of surprise followed. Raising his head
high, he stared into the sky blankly, his left hand scratching his head madly.
“How
odd! How odd!” he murmured to himself.
A
long while passed before he reached out again to check Linghu Chong’s pulse
from the other wrist. But as soon as his index finger touched Linghu Chong’s
wrist, he sneezed all of a sudden.
“This
is so weird. I’ve never seen anything like this before,” he muttered.
Root
Fairy could no longer hold his tongue and jumped in. “What’s so odd about
it? It’s so obvious that he was wounded in his Heart Passage. I have already
treated him with my inner energy.”
“Why
are you still insisting on saying that he was wounded in his Heart Passage?
Obviously he had problems with his Lung Passage. If it weren’t I who opened
his many pressure points along the Lung Passage, you think he’d still be alive
today?” Trunk Fairy immediately rebuffed.
Wasting
no time, Branch Fairy, Leaf Fairy and Flower Fairy all jumped into the big
debate, each claiming himself the only one that gave the right and critical
treatment and the one who should get the credits.
Ping
One-Finger suddenly gave a loud shout, “What crap!”
“Hey!
Are you talking crap, or are we, the five brothers, talking crap?” Root Fairy
mocked angrily.
“Of
course you are!” Ping One-Finger answered. “Inside brother Linghu’s body,
there are two streams of stronger energy flow, which seemed to have come from
Monk No Commandment. There are also six streams of weaker energy flow, which
probably came from you guys, you six fools!”
Yue
Buqun and Madam Yue shot a glance at each other, both thinking, “This Ping
One-Finger is indeed incredible. It’s not hard to detect the eight streams of
energy flow inside Chong from his pulse, but it is completely amazing that he is
able to identify the origin of the different energy streams and knew two of them
came from Monk No Commandment.”
“Why
are you saying that our six energy streams are weaker and the god-damned No
Commandment’s energy streams are stronger? There’s no doubt that ours are
stronger and his are weaker!” Trunk Fairy snubbed furiously.
“What a nerve!” Ping One-Finger sneered. “He was only one, yet his two energy streams overwhelmed all the energy streams of the six of you combined. How the hell could yours be stronger, huh? Monk No Commandment the old scumbag, he has outstanding Kung Fu skills yet no brain! God damn it! What an idiot!”
Flower
Fairy stuck his finger out and pretended to also check Linghu Chong’s pulse.
“Well,” he said, “it seems that the energy streams of the Peach Valley’s
Six Fairies are actually in total control and have completely overwhelmed Monk
No Commandment’s….” Suddenly he cried out in pain and pulled his finger
back quickly as if somebody has bitten it. “Ouch! God damn it!” he shouted.
Looking
very pleased, Ping One-Finger burst into loud laughter. Everybody could tell
that he must have passed his advanced inner energy through Linghu Chong’s body
and gave Flower Fairy a painful shock.
After
some more laughing, Ping One-Finger put the solemn face back on.
“Listen
up, all of you! Go wait in the boat’s hold and be quiet! I don’t want hear a
word out of you!”
“Wait
a minute! What makes you think we’d do exactly what you tell us to do?” Leaf
Fairy protested.
“Didn’t
you swear an oath that you would kill a person for me?” Ping One-Finger asked.
“That’s
right! But we only agreed to kill a person for you. We never agreed to follow
your orders?” Branch Fairy answered.
“It’s
totally up to you whether you want to follow my orders or not. But what if I ask
you to kill the Fruit Fairy of the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies? What do you
think?” Ping One-Finger sneered.
The
Five Fairies all shouted out in protests. “That’s outrageous! You have just
cured him. Why are you asking us to kill him?”
“Well,
what kind of oath did you five swear to me?” Ping One-Finger asked.
“We
agreed that if you can cure our brother Fruit Fairy, then when you order us to
kill a person, regardless of who that person is, we must do it. No excuses,
whatsoever,” Root Fairy replied.
“That’s
correct!” Ping One-Finger nodded. “Now did I cure your brother?”
“Yes,
you did!” Flower Fairy concurred.
“Is
Fruit Fairy a person?” Ping One-Finger pressed on.
“Of
course he is a person. He is no ghost,” Leaf Fairy answered.
“Fine.
I want you to kill a person for me, and this person is Fruit Fairy!” Ping
One-Finger concluded.
The
five Fairies looked at each other in blank dismay. All felt that this order was
unspeakably queer, yet neither of them could think of any argument.
“If
you are not willing to kill Fruit Fairy, I am sure we can work something out.
Now will you follow my orders? I am telling you to go sit in the boat’s hold
and behave yourselves. I don’t want any movement or any word out of you,”
Ping One-Finger commanded.
The
five Fairies hurriedly acknowledged the order, and within seconds, all five of
them sat down in the hold, their hands on their knees and their backs straight
up, making sure that no one could have behaved any better than them.
“Master
Ping, I heard that you have this rule when you treat your patients: after
you’ve cured the patient, he will have to kill someone for you. Is that
true?” Linghu Chong asked.
“That’s
correct! I do have this rule,” Ping One-Finger admitted.
“But
I don’t want to kill anyone for you, so please save your trouble and don’t
treat me,” Linghu Chong exclaimed.
“Huh!”
Ping One-Finger uttered a cry of surprise. He looked Linghu Chong up and down as
if he had seen something totally eccentric and abnormal. After a long pause, he
spoke again.
“Firstly,
your case is too severe and I can’t cure you; secondly, even if I could cure
you, someone else has already agreed to kill for me. You don’t have to worry
about it at all.”
Ever
since Yue Lingshan had shifted her love interests to someone else, Linghu Chong
had lost the joy of life. But when he heard from this famous doctor, who had
such a great reputation with his capability of bringing the dying back to life,
that even he couldn’t cure the wounds, Linghu Chong still found himself swept
by utter desolation.
The
Yue couple gave each other a stare, both thinking, “Who has gotten such great
due respect that could have made ‘Killer Doctor’ to make house calls? What
kind of relationship does he have with Chong?”
“Brother
Linghu,” Ping One-Finger spoke again. “There are eight streams of foreign
energy forces inside your body that could not be discharged, nor dissolved, nor
tamed, nor overpowered, which have caused all the injuries and suffering. I was
entrusted the task to cure your wounds. It’s not that I am holding any effort
back from you. Because your injuries are related to inner energy, that’s why
medicine and medical treatments won’t do you any good. Ever since I became a
doctor, I’ve never seen any injuries like this. Alas, there’s really nothing
I can do. I am so ashamed.”
He
took a china bottle out from his chest pocket and then poured ten vermilion
pills into his palm.
“These
are ten ‘Heart-Soothing’ pills. They contain many kinds of precious
medicinal materials and took me a long time to make. Take one pill every ten
days and you will be able to live for another one hundred days.”
“Many
thanks!” Linghu Chong took the pills respectfully.
Ping
One-Finger turned around and headed toward the bank. But suddenly he turned back
again. “There are two more pills in the bottle. I might as well give all of
them to you.” He took out the china bottle and handed it out.
But
Linghu Chong didn’t take it. “I can tell that senior master really treasure
these pills very much. They must contain great healing power. It’s probably
better to keep them with you to save someone else in the future. Even if I could
live ten days or twenty days longer, it’s not gonna do anybody, even I myself,
any good.”
Ping
One-Finger threw a sideways glance at Linghu Chong for a moment and then
murmured, “Having no regards of one’s own life, you do show the qualities of
a true man. No wonder! No wonder! Alas, what a pity! I am sorry!”
He
shook his giant head, turned around, leapt off the boat, and then walked off in
big strides. He came and went so abruptly and completely ignored Yue Buqun, the
Head Master of the Huashan Sword School. Yue Buqun was greatly annoyed. But
there were still five menaces sitting in the boat’s hold. Getting rid of them
was not going to be an easy task.
The
five Fairies all sat absolutely still, their eyes looking down, their hands on
their knees, as if they were monks meditating in trance. If Yue Buqun ordered
the boat to start sail, then the five menaces would have, for sure, been brought
along. If he didn’t order the boat to start sail, then nobody knew how long
they were going to just sit there, or if they were going to jump up suddenly to
attack in retaliation for the stab Madam Yue gave Fruit Fairy. Lao Denuo, Yue
Lingshan, and some more apprentices had seen with their own eyes the horrible
scene how the Fairies had ripped Cheng Buyou into pieces. Even now, each of them
could still feel chills on their back from the fear. They simply gazed at each
other in dismay, and neither was even brave enough to cast a glance at those
five.
“Hey,
what are you doing here?” Linghu Chong came back into the hold.
“We
are just sitting here and behaving ourselves. We are not doing anything,” Root
Fairy answered.
“We
are about to start sail. You can go back ashore now,” Linghu Chong urged.
“Ping
One-Finger told us to sit in the hold and behave ourselves, no talks and no
movements. Otherwise, he is gonna ask us to kill our brother. That’s why we
are sitting here behaving ourselves and dare not talk or move,” Branch Fairy
replied.
Linghu
Chong couldn’t help but grin at these words. “Doctor Ping has gone ashore
already. You can start talking and moving now!”
“No
way! No way! What if he sees us talking and moving about? That’s not going to
be good!” Flower Fairy shook his head frantically.
Suddenly
a croaky voice floated from ashore, “Hey, you five ugly goblins! Where are
you?”
“I
think he’s calling us,” Root Fairy suggested.
“Why
do you think he’s calling us? Are we ugly goblins?” Branch Fairy argued.
The
voice shouted again, “I have one more ugly goblin here. Doctor Ping has just
cured him. Do you want him or not? If you don’t want him, I am gonna drop him
in the river to feed the fish.”
Hearing
those, the five Fairies instantly leapt out of the hold side by side and landed
ashore. The middle-aged woman who had helped Ping One-Finger with the operation
stood by the river straight as a ramrod. With her left arm extended to the side,
she lifted a stretcher in her left hand, and Fruit Fairy lay on the stretcher.
The woman looked ill from her face yet had great strength. To lift the over one
hundred pounds Fruit Fairy plus the wooden stretcher using only one arm seemed
so easy for her.
“Of
course we want him. Why would we not want him?” Root Fairy said hurriedly.
“Why
are you calling us ugly goblins?” Branch Fairy asked.
“Look
at yourself, you look more like an ugly goblin yourself,” Fruit Fairy said
while lying on the stretcher.
It
turned out that after Ping One-Finger had sewed Fruit Fairy’s wound back
together, fed him some miraculous medicine, and then smacked his head to inject
advanced inner energy, he immediately stood up and walked out. But due to the
loss of great amount of blood, he fainted again after only a short distance and
was brought back into the room by the middle-aged woman. Even though he was
still far from recovering, his wounds didn’t keep him from yielding to anyone
orally, and he simply couldn’t help but contradict the woman.
“Do
you know what Doctor Ping fears the most in his life?” the woman asked coldly.
“We
don’t know. What does he fear the most?” the six Fairies replied in unison.
“He
fears his wife!” the woman answered.
“We
thought he feared nothing at all. Who would have though he actually fears his
wife? Ha-ha! Oh my god! Ha-ha!” The Peach Valley’s Six Fairies laughed so
hard that they almost laughed their heads off.
“What’s
so funny? I am his wife,” the woman said in a chilling tone.
Instantly,
the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies shut themselves up.
“He
never dare disobey my orders,” the woman continued. “If I want anyone dead,
that person will be the one he tells you to kill.”
“Yes!
Yes! May we ask you who you want dead, Mrs. Ping?” the Peach Valley’s Six
Fairies asked in unison.
The
woman cast a glance toward the boat’s hold and looked at all the Huashan
members one by one. Her eyes moved from Yue Buqun to Madam Yue, then to Yue
Lingshan, then to the rest of the Huashan apprentices. Every one could feel
goose bumps all over his back, all knowing that if this woman with the ugly and
bloodless face had pointed at one of them, the five Fairies would instantly rip
that person into pieces. Even first class fighters like Yue Buqun perhaps
wouldn’t be able to escape from their hands.
The
woman slowly looked away from the Huashan members and then turned her eyes to
the faces of the six Fairies. The six brothers also felt their heart pounding in
their chests from fear. “Uh,” the woman let out a sound, and the six Fairies
immediately answered, “Yes! Yes!” “Hum,” the woman let out a snort, and
the six Fairies again answered at once, “Yes! Yes!”
“I
haven’t thought of whom I want dead,” the woman finally said. “But Doctor
Ping said that there’s a Young Master Linghu Chong on the boat who he respects
very much. You must wait upon him until he dies. Whatever he tells you to do,
you will do it for him with no exceptions. Do you hear me?”
“Wait
upon him until he dies?” the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies asked with big
frowns.
“That’s
correct! Wait upon him until he dies. But he only has one hundred days left in
this life. Within the next one hundred days, you must obey all of his orders,”
Mrs. Ping explained.
Hearing
that Linghu Chong only had no more than one hundred days left, the Peach
Valley’s Six Fairies all became happy again. “Sure, to wait upon him for one
hundred days shouldn’t be that hard!” they all said.
“I
am truly grateful for Master Ping’s generous offer, but I dare not trouble the
Peach Valley’s Six Fairies to care for me,” Linghu Chong rejected. “Will
you please tell them to stay ashore? We hereby bid our farewell to you.”
Mrs.
Ping kept her cold face without any sign of joy or anger, whatsoever. “Doctor
Ping said that Young Master Linghu’s internal injury is solely caused by those
six scumbags. Not only would Young Master Linghu die because of that, it also
made Doctor Ping lose great face from not being able to cure him and give a
satisfactory answer to the one who entrusted him for the task, that’s why he
must punish these six scumbags to a great extent. Doctor Ping had planned to ask
them to kill one of their brothers following their own oath, but he decided to
show mercy and only ask them to wait upon Young Master Linghu.”
She
paused for a moment and then continued. “If these six scumbags do not follow
Young Master Linghu’s commands and Doctor Ping hears about it, he promises to
kill one of them immediately.”
“Since
brother Linghu’s injury was caused by us, it’s really nothing that we wait
upon him for a while. A true man knows when to pay back a favor and when to
settle a score,” Flower Fairy declared.
“A
true man is willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of friendship, much less
waiting upon his injuries,” Branch Fairy added.
“My
wounds also need someone to wait upon. So I’ll wait upon him and he will wait
upon me. Back and forth, it’s good for both of us,” Fruit Fairy followed.
“Not
mentioning that we can only wait upon him for a limited one hundred days. How
short it is!” Trunk Fairy joined in.
Root
Fairy smacked his own thigh loudly and said, “Even in the old days people
could travel a thousand miles to help at the news of their friend’s trouble.
For us six brothers, did we ever hesitate to jump in troubles and help the
needed…?”
Mrs.
Ping shot a glance of distain toward the six Fairies and then simply walked
away. Branch Fairy and Trunk Fairy lifted the stretcher and leapt onboard. Root
Fairy and the rest of the Fairies all followed. Then six voices shouted
simultaneously, “Start the sail! Start the sail!”
By
then, Linghu Chong knew that, for sure, they wouldn’t be able to keep the six
Fairies from going together with them, so he said, “Six Fairy brothers! I can
let you come together with us, but you must show good manners to my Master and
Master-Wife. This is my first order. If you don’t do as I say, then I don’t
want you to wait upon me.”
“We,
the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies, have always been refined and courteous
gentlemen. Everybody knows that. We will even show respects to your apprentice
or your grand-apprentice, much less your Master and Master-Wife,” Leaf Fairy
replied.
Hearing
that he had called himself a refined and courteous gentleman, Linghu Chong found
himself greatly amused. He turned to Yue Buqun and said, “Master, these six
Fairy brothers would like to board our boat and sail east with us. Do you think
it’s alright?”
Yue
Buqun pondered. It seemed that, at least for now, these six wouldn’t make
things difficult for the Huashan School. With everybody else on the same boat,
they still remained a serious hidden danger. But it was probably impossible to
drive them away under the current circumstance. Fortunately these six men
appeared to be mentally deranged despite the outstanding Kung Fu skills they
possessed. So it wouldn’t be entirely impossible to contain them by strategy.
At that thought, he nodded.
“Alright.
I guess they can take the boat with us if they insist. But I prefer a quiet life
and would not want to listen to them argue back and forth non-stop.”
“You’ve
said it wrong, Mr. Yue,” Branch Fairy argued. “Why do you think a person is
born with a mouth? Other than eating, this mouth is also used to talk. And how
about the two ears? Of course they are used to listen to people talking. If you
prefer a quiet life, then you are really letting the Almighty Creator down for
giving you a mouth and two ears.”
Yue
Buqun knew too well that if he had argued back, when the other five brothers’
five mouths all joined in, that would be like opening a can of worms, and there
would be no end to it. He couldn’t beat them in physical fight, nor would he
be able to beat them in a word fight, so he simply let out a slight smile and
then said, “Boatman, set sail!”
“Mr.
Yue, didn’t you just open your mouth to tell the boatman to set sail? If you
really prefer a quiet life, you should have signaled him to set sail with a
gesture,” Leaf Fairy joined in.
“The
boatman is at the back of the boat, and Mr. Yue is here in the middle section.
If he had signaled yet the boatman couldn’t see him, then it would still be
useless,” Trunk Fairy disagreed.
“Couldn’t
he have walked to the back of the boat and then signal the gesture?” Root
Fairy suggested.
“What
if the boatman couldn’t understand his gesture and thought the ‘set sail’
command was the ‘sink the boat’ command? That would be terrible,” Flower
Fairy argued.
Amid
the arguments from the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies, the boatman had weighed the
anchor and set sail.
Both
Yue Buqun and Madam Yue cast a glance at Linghu Chong spontaneously followed by
a brief glance at the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies. After exchanging some looks
at each other, the Yue couple all had the same thought.
“Ping
One-Finger mentioned that someone had entrusted him to treat Chong’s injury.
From his words, it seems that this person must have been someone with very high
status in the Martial World, that was why Ping thought nothing of the Head
Master of the Huashan Sword School, yet was very polite to an apprentice of the
Huashan Sword School. Who had entrusted Doctor Ping to treat Chong? Since Ping
called Monk No Commandment a ‘god damned idiot,’ then obviously it wasn’t
Monk No Commandment.”
In
the old days, they would have called Linghu Chong over and asked him in detail,
but unconsciously, much misunderstanding had emerged between the master and the
apprentice. Both of them knew it was not yet the time to ask Linghu Chong. When
Madam Yue thought of that even Ping One-Finger, the number one doctor in the
Martial World, couldn’t cure Linghu Chong’s injury and that he only had one
hundred days left in his life, sadness welled up in her heart and tears streamed
down her cheek.
Sailing
with the wind and downstream, the boat traveled speedily. By evening, they were
already not far from the town of Lanfeng. The boatman anchored the boat along
the bank and soon had prepared dinner. Just when everyone was ready for supper,
suddenly, loud voices came from ashore.
“Excuse
me! May I ask if the heroes of the Huashan Sword School are on this boat?”
Before
Yue Buqun had a chance to answer, Branch Fairy had already answered, “Heroes
of both the Huashan Sword School and the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies are all on
this boat. What do you want?”
“Great!
Great! We have been waiting here for an entire day and night. Hurry! Hurry up!
Take those over!” the man replied gleefully.
Over
a dozen hefty looking men walked out from a straw mat shed falling into two
lines, each with a red-lacquered small case in his hands. An empty-handed man in
a blue robe walked by the boat and bowed down.
“Our
superior was very concerned when he heard that young hero Linghu was not feeling
well. He really wanted to pay a visit himself but simply did not have enough
time to make the trip back. So he sent me specific orders by homing pigeons and
asked me to present some small gifts to young hero Linghu on his behalf.”
One
by one, the dozen of men walked aboard in a file and placed the over a dozen of
cases down on the boat.
Utterly
surprised, Linghu Chong couldn’t help but ask, “I am Linghu Chong. May I ask
who the respectful superior of yours is? I am afraid I am unworthy of such
generous gifts.”
“Young
hero Linghu is a man of good fortunes. I am sure you will fully recover in no
time. Please take care!” the man replied. Bowing down respectfully, he led the
bunch of men and walked away.
“I
wonder who is sending me the gifts. This is so odd,” Linghu Chong murmured.
The
Peach Valley’s Five Fairies could no longer hold their patience. “Let’s
open them up!” they acclaimed in unison and soon had opened all of the
red-lacquered small cases. Some of the cases were filled with exquisite
refreshments and pastry; some contained smoked chicken or ham that were great to
go with wine; some held all kinds of expensive and precious medicinal materials
such as ginseng, pilose antler, swallow nest, and tremella; the last two cases
were filled with small gold and silver ingots, apparently for Linghu Chong to
use along his trip. These were no small gifts at all! As soon as the Peach
Valley’s Five Fairies spotted the candies, cookies, candied fruits, and the
pastries in the different cases, they wasted no time grabbing the treats and
jamming them into their mouths. “This is delicious! So delicious!” they
shouted cheerfully.
Linghu
Chong checked the many cases carefully and thoroughly yet didn’t find any
notes, seals, or signs that would give out a trace of the gift-giver’s
identity.
“Master,”
Linghu Chong said to Yue Buqun, “I really can’t figure this one out. These
people seem to bear no ill will, and it doesn’t look like that they are
playing pranks on us either.” Having said those words, he put some of the
treats in front of his Master and Master-Wife respectfully before distributing
the rest of them to his apprentice brothers and sisters.
Yue
Buqun cast a glance at the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies. They all had some of
the treats, and none of them had any abnormal reactions from the food. It seemed
that the food was not poisoned. So he asked Linghu Chong.
“Do
you have any martial friends living in this area?”
“No.”
Linghu Chong shook his head after he pondered for a moment.
Sound
of hoof beats suddenly rose. Eight riders dashed toward them along the river.
Someone shouted among the riders.
“Is
young hero Linghu of the Huashan Sword School over there?”
“Yes,
yes! He’s over here! What good stuff have you brought with you?” the Peach
Valley’s Six Fairies shouted cheerfully.
“Our
chief heard that young hero Linghu had come to the town of Lanfeng. He also
heard that young hero Linghu is quite fond of wine, so he told me to put
together sixteen jars of excellent mellow wine and bring them here, so young
hero Linghu can enjoy them on the boat along his trip,” the man shouted back.
Soon,
the eight riders had arrived, and sure enough, each saddle atop the horsebacks
had two wine jars hanging from it. And on the wine jars, some wrote “Best
Quality Royal-Wine,” some wrote “High Grade Fen-Wine,”[11]
and some others wrote “Shaoxing Red Wine.”[12]
These sixteen jars of wine turned out to have contained sixteen different types
of wine. In Linghu Chong’s mind, there was nothing else that could have been a
better gift than these great wines. He hurried to the bow of the boat and then
cupped his hands to salute.
“Please
forgive my ignorance. Will you please tell me the name of your respectful clan?
And what is your respectful name?”
“Our
chief specifically told us again and again to not mention the name of our clan
to young hero Linghu. He said that these are only very humble gifts. It’s
embarrassing enough. Why embarrass ourselves even more by mentioning our
names?” the man answered with a grin. He waved a signal to his companions, and
all the riders carried the many wine jars onto the boat.
Yue
Buqun gazed at the eight men from within the boat’s hold. Every one of them
was vigorous and nimble. Carrying one wine jar in each hand, they leapt aboard
easily. None of the eight had any outstanding Kung Fu skills, and it was obvious
that they were all from different Kung Fu schools. They must have been telling
the truth when they said that they were members of a clan.
After
sending the sixteen jars of wine aboard, the eight men bowed to Linghu Chong,
jumped back onto their horses, and soon faded into the night.
“Master,
how strange this is! I wonder who is playing a joke with me and sent me this
many jars of wine,” Linghu Chong grinned.
“Could
it be Tian Boguang? Or could it be Monk No Commandment?” Yue Buqun murmured.
“Right!”
Linghu Chong replied. “Those two tend to do things the odd way. Who knows, it
might be them behind all these. Hey, Peach Valley’s Six Fairies! We have so
much great wine here. Aren’t you going to have some?”
“Of
course! Of course! We don’t’ see any reason not to!” the Peach Valley’s
Six Fairies agreed wholeheartedly.
Root
Fairy and Trunk Fairy each picked up a jar. After opening the seal, they poured
the wine into bowls. The wonderful smell immediately filled the air. The six
Fairies didn’t even pretend to be polite to Linghu Chong, raising the bowls up
and down, they began swallowing the great wine in big gulps.
Linghu
Chong also filled a bowl with wine and took it to Yue Buqun.
“Master,
please have some. This wine is not bad, indeed.”
Yue
Buqun slightly frowned and hummed.
“Master,”
Lao Denuo joined in, “taking precaution never hurts. We don’t know who sent
us these wines. Who knows if there’s anything odd in these wines?”
Yue
Buqun nodded in agreement. “Chong, we’d better be careful.”
But
once the wonderful smell of high quality wine had gone into Linghu Chong’s
nose, he could no longer hold his craving.
“I
won’t be living much longer, anyway. It’s no difference for me whether the
wine was poisoned or not,” he said with a grin.
Raising
the bowl up with both hands, Linghu Chong poured all the wine in the bowl into
his mouth and swallowed them in big gulps. “Great wine! Fabulous!” he
praised.
Suddenly
a voice came from ashore. Someone also praised loudly, “Great wine!
Fabulous!”
Linghu
Chong looked toward the direction the voice had come from and his eyes came upon
a down and out scholar looking man in shabby clothes. The scholar had a torn
folding fan in his right hand. Raising his head high, he sniffed again and again
in the air, trying hard to catch as much of the great scent of wine as possible.
“Definitely
great wine!” the scholar praised again.
“You
haven’t even tasted it, how would you know if the wine was good or bad,
brother?” Linghu Chong asked with a grin.
“As
soon as you smell the scent of the wine, you should have known that this is
sixty-two year old High Grade Fen-Wine. Then undoubtedly it has to be great!”
the scholar replied.
Linghu
Chong had become quite an expert in the subject of wine thanked to the
enthusiastic teachings from the Elder Bamboo-Green. He had already figured out
that the wine was about sixty years old. But it would be simply impossible to be
so sure that the wine was exactly sixty-two years old. The scholar must be
exaggerating, he thought.
“If
this brother doesn’t mind, would you like to join us for some wine?” Linghu
Chong invited with a smile.
“But
you hardly know me at all,” the scholar replied while wagging his head back
and forth. “We have only met by chance like patches of drifting duckweed.
I’ve already disturbed you enough by sniffing the scent of wine here. How can
I trouble you even further by drinking your wine? I really couldn’t do that! I
certainly couldn’t do that!”
“The
old saying said it well: We are all brothers within the four seas. From what you
just said, I can tell that you must be an expert in the knowledge of wine. I’d
love to consult you on some of the questions. Come aboard please! Don’t be too
modest,” Linghu Chong invited again with a smile.
Hearing
these words, the scholar strolled over slowly. After bowing down deeply, he
said, “My surname is Zu, the same Zu that’s in the word ancestor.[13]
The famous Zu Di[14] in history who trained at
the first crow of a cock was indeed a remote ancestor of mine. My first name is
Qianqiu, which means a thousand years. This brother! May I ask what your
respectful name is?”
“My
surname is Linghu, and my first name is Chong,” Linghu Chong replied.
“Great
surname! Great surname! And your first name is great too!” Zu Qianqiu praised
while walking aboard the boat from the springboard.
Linghu
Chong was amused. “Just because I am inviting him for some wine, even my name
is now a better name. Go figure!” he couldn’t help thinking.
He
filled a bowl with wine and then handed the bowl to Zu Qianqiu.
“Here
you go! Enjoy!” he said.
Zu
Qianqiu was a man in his fifties. He had a sallow face, a pair of listless eyes,
and a brandy nose. Sparse beard occupied the lower half of his face. The front
of his garment had many oil stains. When he extended his hands out, filth could
clearly be seen under the fingernails of all his ten fingers. He was a thin man
yet had a big belly that was totally out of proportion.
Seeing
that Linghu Chong had handed over the bowl of wine, Zu Qianqiu didn’t take it
from him right away.
“Brother
Linghu, although you have great wines, yet you don’t have any good vessels of
wine. What a great pity that is!” he exclaimed.
“We
are in the middle of a trip and only have a few rough bowls and cups. Mister Zu,
you’ll just have to make do with them,” Linghu Chong replied.
“No
way! No Way!” Zu Qianqiu shook his head and exclaimed. “Obviously you
haven’t mastered the secret of the art of drinking; otherwise, you wouldn’t
have been so careless about the vessels of wine. The art of drinking must have
great regards to the vessels of wine. The kind of wine cup to use is very
particular to what kind of wine you are drinking. If you are drinking Fen-Wine,
then of course we have to use a Jade Cup. In the Tang Dynasty, a poet once
wrote, ‘Jade Cups bring about the light of amber.’[15]
Evidently a Jade Cup can help to perfect the color of the wine.”
“No
doubt!” Linghu Chong agreed.
“Look
at this jar of the Northeastern White-Wine,” Zu Qianqiu pointed at one of the
wine jars and continued, “the flavor of the wine is excellent, but it lacks
the sweet scent of good wine. You’d better drink it with a Rhino-horn Cup,
which will make the wine taste just perfect. One should know that a Jade Cup
will enhance the color of the wine and a Rhino-horn Cup will enhance the sweet
scent of the wine. Our ancestors kid us not. Indeed!”
Back
at Luoyang, Linghu Chong had listened to Elder Bamboo-Green teaching and
explaining the subject of wine and had mastered a great deal of knowledge about
the origin, the smell, the method of winemaking and storing procedures of the
many kinds of famous wines, yet he knew nothing about wine vessels. And now when
he listened to Zu Qianqiu speak with such fervor and assurance, he couldn’t
help the feeling of suddenly seeing the light.
“As
for Grape Wine, the answer is naturally the Luminous Cup. The ancients wrote in
their poems, ‘Wonderful Grape Wine filled the Luminous Cups; I want to
drink but the sound of Pipa[16]
is already calling me to my horseback.’[17]
Grape Wine has this gaudy kind of reddish color, which doesn’t really promote
the kind of heroic spirit us men should have shown when we drink it. But after
we pour the Grape Wine into the Luminous Cup, the color of the wine is now no
different from the color of blood. Drinking wine is almost like drinking blood.
Yue Fei wrote in his poem, ‘With soaring aspirations I eat my foe’s flesh
to rid my hunger; amid my talk and my smile I drink the enemy’s blood to rid
my thirst.’[18] How brave and heroic!”
Linghu
Chong nodded again and again. He had very little education in literature, so
when he listened to Zu Qianqiu quoting various poems he wasn’t very clear as
to what each sentence really meant. But when he heard the last one, “amid
my talk and my smile I drink the enemy’s blood to rid my thirst”, he
agreed wholeheartedly that this line indeed showed ultimately heroic spirit
between the words, and could invoke great inspiration from the listeners.
Zu
Qianqiu pointed at another wine jar and went on. “As for Sorghum Wine, it is
the most ancient wine in human history. Yidi invented the method of wine brewing
back in the Xia Dynasty when Yu was the king.[19]
Yu drank the wine and really loved the taste of it. Guess what? That wine was
none other than this Sorghum Wine. Brother Linghu, ordinary people are so
shortsighted. They only know that King Yu achieved a great deal in
flood-control, which benefited the entire afterworld, but they didn’t know
that flood-control was so insignificant compared to the real accomplishment he
had achieved. Do you know what his real accomplishment was?”
“Making
Wine!” Linghu Chong and the Peach Valley’s Six Fairies answered in unison.
“Precisely!”
Zu Qianqiu confirmed, and all eight of them laughed out loud.
“To
drink the Sorghum Wine, only a Bronze Jue[20]
can bring out the ancient meaning of it,” Zu Qianqiu continued. “And as for
the Rice Wine, even though first-class Rice Wine has a fair taste, it lacks the
appropriate amount of sweetness and seems to be thin and weak. We ought to drink
it with big ladlers to show the lofty quality.”
“I
am just a man from the wildness. I had no idea that the relationship between
wine and wine vessels actually calls for such careful study,” Linghu Chong
said.
Zu
Qianqiu gave a gentle pat on a wine jar that had the words “Hundred-Grass
Wine” written on it.
“In order to make the Hundred-Grass Wine, one must collect a variety of grasses and then soak them in top quality wine, that’s why it has a kind of faint, pleasant scent, the kind you would smell o