Da Tang Shuang Long Zhuan Volume 3 Chapter 3 part1

Book 3 Chapter 3 - Betting Against Beautiful Woman

After traveling for more than ten li in one stretch, they reached a secluded forest. Only then did the two boys dare to stop and pick up some wild fruits to eat.

Kou Zhong heaved a deep sigh and said, "The man who attacked Zhai Rang sneakily is definitely not a Turkic, otherwise he would have the same accent as Yan Lihui and the other Turkic people; who could he be?”

Xu Ziling was sitting by his side; still having lingering fear in his heart, he said, "That Zu Junyan is really despicable, conspiring with outsiders against his own Boss; we must expose him.”

"Who would believe us?” Kou Zhong replied with a wry smile, "We have no control over this kind of matter. The most important thing right now is to pick up Susu Jiejie, and immediately get her out of the danger zone, lest disaster will find her like the fish in the moat [see Book 1 Chapter 11]. Would you like me to be the matchmaker to arrange your marriage to Susu Jiejie?”

Xu Ziling angrily said, "You still have time to joke around in time like this? You'd better find the way to Pengcheng first, and then we'd do a couple of business transaction without any capital, get a couple of fast horses to take us to Rongyang. That is most important.”

Kou Zhong sprang up, patted his chest and said, "Leave it to me. Just now when we were on top of the hill, I saw a temple in the distance. We can go to that temple to ask for directions. Let's hit the road!”

The two boys continued their journey. But when the temple was in sight, they were greatly disappointed.

The way leading to the temple was full of weeds; apparently it has been a long time since any human ever set foot on this path. Clearly this temple was an abandoned broken-down temple.

In time when war was raging continuously, even an entire town could turn into ghost town; much less just a temple.

When they reached the external wall of the temple, it was indeed dilapidated and lifeless.

Kou Zhong said with a wry smile, "At least we will have roof over our head; tonight we'll sleep here!”

Xu Ziling sighed and said, "I really miss last night's roast chicken. You possess great magical power, why don't you conjure another one up for me to see?”

Kou Zhong pulled him toward the main gate. Just as they stepped over the threshold, they got a big shock. Two coffins were placed side to side in the temple's main hall; both were covered in dust and cobwebs, and looked extremely creepy.

The two boys were numb as they stood there as in a trance.

After a long time Kou Zhong finally said, "Do you dare to sleep in here?”

Xu Ziling shook his head emphatically; he said, "There's nothing good in here; I'd rather sleep outside with the sky as our roof and the earth as our bed.”

Kou Zhong couldn't agree more, "Let's go!” he said.

They were just about to leave when suddenly, ‘bang!' one of the coffin lid shot out and flew toward the two boys.

The two boys were scared out of their wits and screamed together, "Ghost!” as they urged their feet to run like crazy out of the temple.

Suddenly they heard a loud shout from behind, someone was shouting angrily, "Kids, where do you think you are going?”

The two boys got their senses back; turning around, they saw the Sui general who wielded a pair of awls last night at the battlefield, was running toward them. He had shed off his armor and helmet, and was only wearing a regular warrior suit.

As long as it was human and not ghost, it would be a lot easier to deal with. Kou Zhong pulled the long saber on his back, stood in the middle of the courtyard, and laughed aloud. "Turns out it's an old friend!” he said.

Like a lightning the Sui general was already in front of him; raising his pair of awls, he took Kou Zhong's saber head-on.

Seeing the fierceness of the opponent's move, Kou Zhong did not dare to meet hard with hard. Unleashing the ‘Crossing Bird Technique', he swiftly darted a zhang away.

But Xu Ziling refused to back down, he charged forward with his saber to meet the awls.

‘Dang! Dang!' Xu Ziling was shaken and had to take two steps back.

Meanwhile Kou Zhong attacked from the side, his saber surged on like tidal waves, rolling around toward the opponent.

The man stayed calm and unhurried, the awls in his left and right hands moved in continuous attack, separately blocking the two boys' long sabers, alternating between wide open and tightly close, but the variation within the moves was endless. Momentarily Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were helpless to deal with him.

But this man's formidable martial art skill only aroused the two boys' fighting spirit. They were using him as their sparring partner in practicing their saber play. The more they fought, the braver they were; the longer they fought, the more proficient they got, until finally they managed to force him falling back repeatedly.

The man launched a fake attack, and then floated backward.

The two boys halted. "Why stop fighting?” they asked in chorus.

"Cannot beat you, why continue fighting?” the man retorted.

Seeing he was this forthcoming, a good impression grew in the two boys' heart.

"Where are your troops?” Xu Ziling asked.

The man returned his awls to his back, his eyes gleaming with cold ray as he said, "If not for you, two people, disturbing my, Qin Shubao's troop formation, how could I be defeated by that stinky woman [poniang] Shen Luoyan? Although I cannot kill you today, I will never forget this big enmity.”

Kou Zhong sneered and said, "So you consider that a big enmity? You Sui army are worse than beasts; burning the whole town is not enough, even people and livestock are not spared, yet you still rape and murder the women; how are we going to settle this blood debt? I really wish that Shen poniang would get rid of you.”

Qin Shubao was shocked, "Is there such thing?” he asked.

Thereupon Xu Ziling narrated the tragedy they personally witnessed the other night. Hearing this, Qin Shubao shook his head and sighed; he dejectedly said, "Just put that blood debts on my, the Ol' Qin's account. In any case, when the Ol' Qin go back this time, it will be hard to avoid losing my head; so I don't care about anything anymore.”

Kou Zhong was puzzled, "Since you know you are going to lose your head, why go back?” he asked,

"You are just a little kid, what do you know?” Qin Shubao replied impatiently, "Just get lost from laozi's presence; if you provoke my anger, I will drag you down to the grave with me.”

Kou Zhong had an idea; he laughed and said, "To a dead person, money is useless. Since you are going to go back and deliver your life, it would be best if you use your money to accumulate merit and do good works; why don't you give all your money to us, brothers? To requite evil with good, won't this benevolence worth doing?”

Qin Shubao intently looked at the two boys, sizing them up; a moment or two later, he burst into laughter and said, "You, these two little kids, your martial art skill is not bad, plus you are getting more and more formidable; who could have thought that you are actually just two poor wretches. So be it! All the money I have is barely enough for us to eat a good meal. Before I die, let me, Qin Shubao, be your host, and give you your mother's big meal, and then we'll go our separate ways!”

Xu Ziling was skeptical, "You are not going to look for an opportunity to harm us, are you?”

‘Pei!' Qin Shubao spat; he said angrily, "Who do you think you are? By the time I, Qin Shubao, started to fight in the south and attack to the north, you were still hiding behind your mother's breast, peeing in terror and crying for your Niang. Since you can't tell the good from the bad, the deal is off; don't even think that I will give you half a penny.”

Kou Zhong struck while the iron is still hot[1], saying, "You really are sincere. Let us go to the best wine shop in Pengcheng; if we don't have enough money to settle the bill, we will ask you, Laoge [old big brother], to take the full responsibility.”

Qin Shubao laughed aloud and took the lead.

Chatting and joking, the three of them walked for a while, and then they saw the glittering light of a river ahead, reflecting the starlight in the sky above. Qin Shubao pointed to a high mountain in a distant to their left, saying, "That is Mount Luliang [in Shanxi], Pengcheng County lies about thirty li northwest of the mountain. The road ahead is Sishui [lit. river Si, county in Jining, Shandong]. We will stop for the night here, come daybreak tomorrow, we'll find a boat to go to Pengcheng, and save our leg muscles a little bit.”

"If you use your money to hire a boat, will we have enough money to eat and drink?” Xu Ziling wondered aloud.

Qin Shubao patted the pair of awls on his back and said, "Do we need money to ride a boat? Who would dare to inconvenient me, the Ol' Qin?”

Kou Zhong was flabbergasted, "All soldiers are evil people,” he said.

Recalling his own impending fate, Qin Shubao dejectedly said, "Stop deriding me.” Taking off his pair of awls, he lay down on the grassy land by the river, using his awls as the pillow.

The two boys also took their long saber off their back, and copying him, they lay down on the grass. Watching the disappearing stars above, they realized soon it would be daybreak.

Qin Shubao said, "I still don't know your, two little kids' names.”

After telling him their names, Kou Zhong said, "We consider you, laoge as a true friend, plus we know you are going to lose your head, hence we told you our real names. But you must never tell anybody else, otherwise, we won't live much longer than you do.”

"Are you wanted criminals?” Qin Shubao asked in surprise, "In time like this, who has time to pay attention to you?”

"It's really hard to explain in a few words,” Xu Ziling said, "But it's the truth.”

Qin Shubao cheerfully said, "You consider the Ol' Qin as your friend, naturally I won't betray you, and I don't want to know your background either. But honestly, your saber technique can be considered quite advance, ordinary folks will find it difficult to be your match. More importantly, you are still young, in the future you will definitely become great men. The most formidable thing is that you continuously create new moves that change according to the situation. The second time we fought, I had to strain a lot harder to deal with you. It was almost a miracle.”

Being praised by him, the two boys felt they were floating in the air like immortals. But Qin Shubao suddenly sat up and turned his gaze toward Mount Luliang, and heaved a sigh.

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were greatly puzzled, they also sat up to accompany him. "What's so special about that mountain?” Kou Zhong asked.

Qin Shubao sadly said, "There's nothing special about that mountain, but there is a very special woman on the mountain. I rarely thought of here all these years, but now that my days are numbered, I can't help thinking about her.”

Sympathizing with him, Xu Ziling said, "Qin Laoge should go see her first before making other plans. Perhaps after seeing her you won't be so foolish as to go back to have your head chopped by other people.”

"You can easily lose your life in battlefield anyway,” Kou Zhong added, "Henceforth you can conceal your identity and live a peaceful life.”

Smiling wryly, Qin Shubao said, "How can you understand me? I would rather die than being an ordinary citizen. Right now the imperial court is looking for talents, perhaps I can render merits to redeem my crime. If I really don't have any other choice but to die, do you think I would go back?”

Relieved, Xu Ziling said, "I see. In that case, you ought to go see your sweetheart even more.”

Qin Shubao laughed aloud and said, "It's just a wishful thinking on my part; she is the thousand-jin (catty) gold [i.e. daughter (honorific)] of the Sect Leader of Luliang Pai, while I am only a poor soldier. I only have the qualifications to look at her from the distance several times, but after I met her, every time I had intimate relationship with women [Translator's note: the original word is the vulgar version], I always pictured them as she. Ay! This year she ought to be twenty, I am afraid she is already married and bore children.” The last sentence was spoken with a sob.

The two boys scrutinized his appearance; they saw that although his built looked strong and powerful, his face looked like cast-iron, adorned with wind and frost [i.e. hardship]. His cheekbones were a bit too high, so that in comparison, his sparkling, lively eyes looked a tad low; in short, he could not be considered handsome. Definitely not the type of men whom women would likely pour out their affection to.

Noticing the sky was turning bright, Qin Shubao stood up and said, "I don't know why I told you, two kids, the load on my mind. Look! A boat's coming.”

The two boys followed him running to the shore.

A small sailboat was sailing upstream. Since the three people had sharp eyes, they could see that there was only one person on the boat, wearing a long robe and a bamboo rain hat, standing at the stern to steer the boat. A fishing net was spread across the deck, and several bamboo baskets were strewn on the bow.

Qin Shubao waved and called out, "Laoxiong [‘old chap'], can you give us a ride?”

[1] Orig. ‘beat the snake following the stick'. From baike.baidu.com: the full idiom is ‘wooden stick beats the snake, the snake follows the stick'; meaning: one can look at an opportunity and seize the opportunity to increase the benefit/advantage.

Chapter end