Da Tang Shuang Long Zhuan Volume 3 Chapter 5 part2

Happy New Year everybody!

Li Shimin looked at the two boys in disbelief; he reached into his pocket, took out a money purse and without even looking at it he tossed it to Kou Zhong. "Just look how much money is in there,” he said.

Kou Zhong caught the purse, and opened it without hesitation. As soon as he looked inside, he gasped, "My grandma, old dad, and all my ancestors!” he exclaimed, "It's his mother's gold ingots!”

Hastily Xu Ziling craned his neck to look. He was speechless. "It worth at least several hundred taels of silver,” he said.

Kou Zhong's eyes lit up; he stuffed the purse into his pocket. Taking a deep breath he said, "Taking people's money, we'll avoid calamities on their behalf; the two of us brothers will take full responsibility of this matter.”

Xu Ziling had a bit more conscience. "Zhong Shao,” he said apologetically, "You must return the money first, we have to wait until the business is done before we can receive the payment.”

Li Shimin shrugged him off, "Take it! Whether success or failure, we can all be friends. That money should be enough for you to stroll into low-grade brothel a hundred times over.”

The two boys were touched. Kou Zhong raised his thumb in praise, "We accept your friendship.”

"Not too loud,” Li Shimin said in low voice, "I don't want others to know that you are here.”

Kou Zhong's thick face blushed; he lowered his voice to the lowest volume and said, "Let me tell you an astonishingly big secret! Madame Dong Ming kept an account book in her residence listing the purchase of weapons your Old Die made in secret to her, on it there is his signature and stamp too. Just imagine if this treasure is stolen, what would happen then?”

Li Shimin was shaken. Naturally he knew that these two boys did not invent some crazy talk. Because the reason that he took his troops to Pengcheng this time was to place another order to Madame Dong Ming for another batch of weapons.

Since two years ago his father, Li Yuan, was transferred to Hong Hua to be its caretaker, while at the same time he was assigned to be the Junshi [military advisor] of Guan You's thirteen counties. To deal with Yang Xuan'gan's main forces, Li Yuan finally accepted his advice to buy a large quantity of weapons from Madame Dong Ming. This matter was outside Emperor Yang of Sui's knowledge; if it leaked, and there was credible evidence, the paranoid Emperor Yang of Sui would certainly suspect him of planning a rebellion. If not, it would be a fantastic story indeed.

After staring blankly for half a day, Li Shimin frowned and said, "Madame Dong Ming has several martial art masters under her command, each one of the four law protector fairies has ultimate skill. Other than ‘Shan Ren' Ning Daoqi [see Book 1 Chapter 6] personally made the move, who would be able to come aboard their ship to steal such an important thing?”

Xu Ziling laughed and said, "Seeing that you are such a true friend, we can tell you a secret; but you must not harm us like other people, or perhaps when this business is done use some trick against us.”

Li Shimin seriously said, "If I, Li Shimin, commit any despicable act, let me not die a good death. Humph! You dare to look at me that way.”

As if nothing had happened, Kou Zhong said, "It is called ‘once bitten by a snake'. It is also called ‘being careful sailing on ten-thousand-year ship'. We must establish trust with each other first, only then will any large-scale plan be effective.”

It was obvious that Li Shimin thought that between the two, Kou Zhong was comparatively the dishonest one. He turned to Xu Ziling and said, "You will tell me!”

Right that moment someone was passing through outside. After the sound of footsteps was gone, Xu Ziling asked, "Whose room is this?”

Li Shimin laughed. "It's mine,” he replied, "The deck below is used by the womenfolk. If you want to steal clothes, you have come to the right place. Our builds are similar.”

The two boys were amused.

Thereupon Xu Ziling narrated the story around Haisha Bang's desire to attack Dong Ming Pai's flagship. When Li Shimin heard that Yuwen Huaji and Dugu Ce were involved, his eyes flickered with cold ray, his imposing aura radiated all around.

"Therefore,” Kou Zhong summed up, "Right now only the two of us can mingle aboard the ship. Besides, they thought that our martial art skill is low, hence they do not guard against us so much. Of course, we will be very secretive, so that we won't let Laoxiong's [old chap] money down.”

Li Shimin was already accustomed to the way he tooted his horn, he did not even bother whether they would be secretive or not. After thinking hard, he said, "What can we do to lure Madame Dong Ming someplace else? This is something that I have to think about.”

Finished speaking he stood up, opened the chest and took out two sets of clothes, and handed them over to the two boys, "Change into dry clothes first, and after a good night sleep, I will wake you up when we arrive at Pengcheng by daybreak. I need to go to the lower level and have some talk with my sister.”

"We can sleep on the floor,” Kou Zhong offered.

Li Shimin laughed and said, "Such a big bed, enough for three people to sleep, why sleep on the floor? Are we not only business partners, but brothers and friends as well? Ha! Your encounter is so bizarre that it is hard to believe.”

Finished speaking he went out through the window again.

When the two boys stepped into Pengcheng, they were rather hesitant, but were full of good feeling. What they were wearing was clean and tidy warrior outfit, on their waist hung highest quality steel saber and a full money pouch given by Li Shimin. Ever since they came out of their mother's womb, they had never looked so grand like this.

Xu Ziling was tall and straight, scholarly and elegant. On the other hand, Kou Zhong looked bold and powerful, with a heroic and imposing aura around him.

The two boys walked side by side. From time to time people shot them admiring and envious look.

Kou Zhong laughed aloud and pulled Xu Ziling's elbow, "What we need right now is a pair of steeds and a dozen or so footmen, otherwise we can go to a low-grade brothel first and acting like young tycoons.”

Xu Ziling cheerfully said, "Visiting low-grade brothel is an essential program for tonight, but right now we need to find a wine shop. Bug bowl of wine, big piece of meat, we'll have a his-granny's good time, while casually discuss how we are going to proceed in this business deal. We have received other people's money, naturally we must do something for him.”

Kou Zhong took a surreptitious look around, examining the façade of the restaurants lining up both sides of the main street. "I did not expect Pengcheng to be this thriving and lively,” he said, "The strangest thing is, there does not seem to be any refugee around. Look! Those of elder sisters are so pretty. Ha!”

Xu Ziling looked around and saw Kou Zhong was staring at a group of young women walking directly toward them, with what he thought was the most attractive smile he could muster. Amazingly, the group of young women did not try to avoid the two boys' stare; they smiled back at them with even more attractive smile.

It was the first time ever that the two boys received such courtesy. After the group of young women walked passed, they squealed in delight and entered a restaurant on their right that looked like a rather upscale restaurant.

With their appearance, weaponry and attire, as soon as the two boys set foot on the second floor, the waiters greeted them attentively, and called them ‘Gongzi this' and ‘Gongzi that' as they led them to a table by the window facing the street. At this time from about a dozen tables on the second floor, more than half had guests sitting on them.

Kou Zhong generously tipped the waiter while ordering food and drink. He said excitedly, "Those sweet girls just now have a rather high nose, their eyes are big and blue; they must be Hu women [non-Han people, esp. from central Asia]. I heard that they are licentious by nature, very easy to get our hands on them. Ha! Perhaps this time we don't need to visit a low-grade brothel.”

Xu Ziling was worried, "Why did you order that much wine? Two catties? Can you drink wine? I can only drink a little bit.”

Kou Zhong reached out to grab Xu Ziling's shoulder. "Life is short, make merry while you can!” he said, "From two marketplace ruffians in Yangzhou, we now become big shots in Wulin world. With this kind of encounter, we have nothing to complain to Laotianye; how can you not enjoy it with cheerful heart?”

With his other hand he beckoned Xu Ziling to look out the window at the endless stream of horses and carriages on the street below; he sighed and said, "Look! This is such a beautiful world. Meeting this kind of fine time, beautiful scenery, we ought to welcome it with a bit of wine and celebrate. You drink one catty, I drink one catty. Whoever does not get drunk will be considered a hero.”

Following his gaze, Xu Ziling also stared blankly at the street. He remembered Fu Junchuo, he remembered Li Jing and Susu, his heart was overwhelmed with an indescribable feeling. "Alright,” he nodded and said, "One catty it is.”

Kou Zhong suddenly lowered his voice, "On the table to the left, there is a handsome guy who keeps looking at you; I think he prefers male to female.”

Startled, Xu Ziling turned to look. Sure enough, on a large table by the stairs, about three, four tables away, sat three men. One of them wore a dark green scholar robe, and was exceptionally handsome; he was sizing the two boys up. When he noticed that Xu Ziling was staring at him, he nodded and smiled.

Remembering what Kou Zhong had just said, Xu Ziling was startled; hastily he averted his gaze and said in low voice, "He seems to recognize us. Maybe it's another trap of Shen Luoyan. Don't forget that the deadline for that woman's three-day bet is still tonight!”

Kou Zhong nodded. "I almost forget,” he said, "Did you see his throat?”

Xu Ziling was taken aback, "Is it any good?” he asked.

Kou Zhong stroked his own adam's apple and said with a low chuckle, "That guy cannot be more handsome than that, plus he does not have this thing that we have; what do you say he is?”

Horrified, Xu Ziling gasped, "Not Shen Luoyan in disguise!”

"It doesn't seem like it,” Kou Zhong replied, "Oh no! She came over.”

Shocked, Xu Ziling turned around. The woman who disguised herself as a scholar was already standing by their table. Her feature that was particularly impressive, other than her ‘handsome' face, which was adorned with a pair of big, bright and lively eyes, was her pair of long legs, so that disguised as a man, she gave other people some kind of tall and straight impression.

While the two boys were staring at her in surprise, she revealed a faint nonchalant smile as she cupped her fist and spoke in deeper voice, "Across five lakes and four oceans are brothers, two Xiongtai carried an extraordinary look; I wonder what are your honorable surname and great given names, so that I, Li Zhi, can make friends with you.”

Kou Zhong giggled and said, "I am Zhang San, he is Li Si[1]. If across five lakes and four oceans are really brothers, there won't be people everywhere running away for their lives. Handsome Xiongtai, please return to your seat!”

[1] ‘Zhang the third' and ‘Li the fourth' are equivalent to ‘Tom, Dick and Harry' in western world. The third name is ‘Wang Wu' (Wang the fifth).

Chapter end