Da Tang Shuang Long Zhuan Volume 6 Chapter 7 part2

Du Fuwei went on, "His stupidity benefited Li Mi, who had Xu Shiji and Shen Luoyan prepare an ambush at Liyang, and inflict defeat on Yuwen Huaji; countless soldiers surrendered, women, money and goods were lost. Relying on his exceptional martial art skill, Yuwen Huaji led twenty thousand remnants toward Weixian at the north; his reputation will be difficult to maintain.”

Kou Zhong blurted, "Won't that mean Li Mi's prestige is flourishing?” He could not help thinking about Li Mi's ‘Duke of Pushan's Decree' to have him and Xu Ziling hunted and killed. Their unfavorable situation has made a turn to the worse. Moreover, thinking back to Du Fuwei in front of him, whom he had no hope of overcoming, unless there was divine intervention, there would not be any narrow and lucky escape this time.

Du Fuwei turned his attention to Kou Zhong; gazing deeply into his eyes, he said, "Between you and Xiao Ling, two boys, I like you, this kid, better. Do you know why?”

Kou Zhong thought that he was being sarcastic; he sneered and said, "Toward Die's misplaced kindness, Child will be eternally grateful [orig. hard to forget even after one's teeth fall out].”

A hint of smile escaped from the corner of Du Fuwei's mouth; he said softly, "Does Child want to know the reason?”

"Speak up then!” Kou Zhong grudgingly replied, "Even if Child does not want to listen, I can't.”

Du Fuwei did not pay any attention to Kou Zhong's frigid irony and scorching satire; he said indifferently, "Because you, this little demon, are a lot like me.”

Stunned, Kou Zhong looked at him; for the first time he could feel that Du Fuwei was sincere.

Du Fuwei averted Kou Zhong's gaze. Looking straight ahead he said slowly, "Yuwen Huaji did not look into the mirror; his martial art skill is abundant, but his popularity is insufficient. When the news of that fatuous ruler got killed reached Luoyang, Yang Shichong [sic, I think it was supposed to be Wang Shichong] immediately threw his support to King of Yue, Yang Dong to be a puppet emperor. Nowadays, whoever has control over the military will have control over the general situation. Otherwise, even if you have unrivalled martial art skill, you will become no more than an outstanding warrior or perhaps super assassin.”

Listening to the implication of what he said, Kou Zhong started to get a feel of the purpose of this one-on-one conversation Du Fuwei wanted to have with him.

Du Fuwei explained further, "Li Yuan can't be considered anything; however, this dog father unexpectedly begot a tiger cub Li Shimin. In succession he swindled the Tujue and Liu Wuzhou not to attack Taiyuan, so that the Li Clan won't have fears of trouble in the rear, furthermore, it enabled him to launch sudden attack to defeat Song Laozheng [venerable old man], capture Chang'an, and support King of Dai, Yang You to be the emperor, and nearly angered Li Mi to death.”

Du Fuwei's eyes returned to Kou Zhong as he spoke in heavy voice, "Right now the Sui Dynasty's name remains, but the reality is gone. Although one after another their later generations are receiving support to become the emperor, it is nothing more than the final radiance of the setting sun; a little bit of excitement here and there before it is thrown into oblivion. Those with aspiration, who make unifying the world [China] as his mission, who are carrying thousand different schemes, who are surveying the world, other than Li Mi, who could possibly contend with me, Du Fuwei?”

Kou Zhong's tiger-eyes lit up; his eyes exuded incomparable passion, but he did not say a single word.

Boldly and powerfully Du Fuwei slapped a small table by his chair, the solidly built table immediately disintegrated and crumpled to the floor.

Kou Zhong jumped in fright and turned his eyes on him.

Du Fuwei's eyes exuded a spirited ray that Kou Zhong has never seen before. Staring at Kou Zhong, he said, "If you are willing to earnestly and sincerely recognize me, Du Fuwei, as your father, and change your surname to my Du surname, I, Du Fuwei, will treat you like my own, and will help you become the new dynasty's emperor.”

Kou Zhong was stunned, "You don't want to be the emperor?” he asked.

Du Fuwei threw his head back and let out a long laugh; he said, "Li Mi wants to be the emperor, Yuwen Huaji wants to be the emperor, Dou Jiande wants to be the emperor, although he has no guts Li Yuan also wants to be the emperor. Everybody wants to be the emperor, but what about me, Du Fuwei? It's only this: with my martial art skill, I am unwilling to be left out.”

Kou Zhong looked at him incredulously; he sounded him out, "You are really willing to yield the emperor position to me?”

Du Fuwei replied in a heavy voice, "The fish and the bear's paw, you can't have both at the same time [idiom from Mencius]; both are difficult to attain. If I forced you to help me becoming the emperor, someday I will be killed by you. You and Xu Ziling are the type of person who innately unwilling to accept an inferior status. The first time I talked to you, I already knew it.”

Kou Zhong's tiger body shook severely; he awkwardly said, "If I really admit you as my father, how could I possibly harm you?”

Du Fuwei sighed and said, "In the struggle over the throne, nobody has any relationship with anybody else; compassion, duty, propriety and integrity are totally useless. Those who want to achieve big things do not attach any importance to reality, it's easy for them to say empty words, and in everything they do, they must be vicious and merciless. The reason why the Ol' Du thinks highly of you, is precisely because you are that kind of person. You have ambition, and you have the capability. So when everybody in Jianghu say that you are simply lucky, only the Ol' Du is deeply aware that the two of you are really formidable. Just ask anybody, who has not fallen under your trick and fallen under your control? And who has really been able to deceive you?”

After a short pause, he continued, Xiao Ling and you are two different types of people; even if I killed him, he would never admit me as his father.”

His expression turned serious as he went on, "As soon as you make your decision, we, you and I, have the world in our bag.”

Kou Zhong thought hard for half a day; he suddenly said, "Supposing I am unwilling, are you going to kill me?”

Du Fuwei smiled wryly and said, "Originally I did have such intention, but on second thought, if you are not delighted to do so, later on you will guard against me, and I guard against you, what's the point in that? But I am quite surprised you asked me that; it seems to me that you are not going to accept.”

Kou Zhong's eyes were gleaming with unusual shine, as if he was entering a beautiful dream world. Brimming with vision for the future, he slowly said, "If I obtained the world by relying on you, Ol' Die, then it's really to unexciting. Yes, I do have ambition to win over the world, but what I am really looking forward to is the course of events. Before achieving the goal, I want to empty-handedly experience the challenge and blood and sweat of invigorating the country. Die, do you understand?”

Du Fuwei straightened up and rose; laughing wildly, he said, "Do you know that by calling me Die repeatedly, you have saved your and Xu Ziling's little lives? Just now I was ready to make my move. So be it! I want the two of you to leave town immediately, I guarantee that no one will stop you. Next time we meet, don't blame me for being ruthless.”

And then looking back, he smiled and said, "You'd better find a good place to hide, get out of the limelight and the intensity of the fire; otherwise you would become ghosts who died unjustly under the ‘Duke of Pushan's Decree'.”

After another loud laugh, he disappeared.

Chapter end