Da Tang Shuang Long Zhuan Volume 8 Chapter 9 part2

Aware that Xiao Xian would not reveal the details of their meeting, Kou Zhong changed the subject once again by talking about the current situation of the warlords vying for supremacy.

After the banquet, Big Sister Xiao unashamedly went back with them to the General Mansion. She was very passionate toward Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling, and did not try to be discreet at all, so that Yun Yuzhen was pouting, and Susu was frowning deeply. But since they were aware that that was her nature, they were quite helpless to stop her.

In the inner hall they chatted about this and that for the whole sichen, and then, although she was unwilling, Susu had to remember about the baby in her womb and had to take her leave to return to her room and take a rest.

On the pretext that he had to accompany his tender wife, Xiang Yushan also seized that opportunity to take his leave; leaving Kou Zhong, Xu Ziling, Yun Yuzhen and Xiao Huan, whose flirtatiousness and charm penetrated the bones. Immediately the situation became awkward.

Xu Ziling rose up; with aloofness that push other people ten-thousand li away, he said, "I also have to take my leave, forgive me for not accompanying you, but I need to go back to my room to train, to deal with the travel tomorrow.”

Kou Zhong also stood up, but before he even had a chance to speak, Big Sister Xiao already spoke crossly, "We are just having interesting conversation here, how could you slip away just like that? Hee! How about Dajie and you go to your room and have some drinks?”

After sending him a ‘my deep regret, but Xiaodi is unable to help however much I would like to' look, Xu Ziling hurriedly slipped away.

Kou Zhong noticed that Yun Yuzhen was fuming with anger while hanging her head down. For the first time in his life he envied Xu Ziling's ‘no woman is important' view; with a wry smile he said, "If I don't train but drinking and be merry all night with you, two beautiful women, the day after tomorrow you will forever not see me, this ‘the will is there, but not the strength' [idiom from Confucian Analects] kid.”

Early morning the next day, when the sky has not even brightened, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling left Baling. Together with Duan Yucheng, Bao Zhifu, Shi Jie and Ma Gui, four men, driving four mule carts loaded with salt, crossing the river to the north, starting their long journey.

Their first destination was Jingling Prefecture by Han River.

Learning from experience, this time they did not take the waterway, but opted for land route instead, which was more convenient to cover their tracks.

By dusk, they stopped and pitched camp in the wilderness, while letting their mules to enjoy the beautiful grass around.

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling sat down on underbrush by a pile of rocks. The former sighed and said, "Xiao Xian is really formidable; he could eat people without spitting their bones.”

Xu Ziling lifted up his eyes toward the towering, steep mountain peaks vying to be the most beautiful, beyond the plain, which, under the glow of the setting sun, gave him some kind of elusive immortality feeling. Sighing with Kou Zhong, he said, "With Su Jie in his hands, he does not need to be afraid we are going to take him down. If Xiang kid married Su Jie for the sake of ‘Duke Yang Treasure', I will be the first who is going to take his little life away.”

Grabbing his own head, Kou Zhong said distressingly, "This is more formidable than threatening Su Jie with a saber. Let's forget about Xiang kid treating us with deferential respect, the fact is that he is most probably more cunning than the two of us put together. To say the least, we have absolutely no way to take him down.”

Xu Ziling's countenance sank; he said slowly, "If we meet Li Jing someday, I will certainly ask him why he let down Su Jie's affection toward him. Were it not for Su Jie, he would have lost his life in the South.”

Shaken, Kou Zhong said, "Xiao Ling, this is the first time that you addressed him directly by his name.”

Xu Ziling's palm struck a hundred-jin rock by his side.

‘Bang!'

The rock crumbled immediately.

While Kou Zhong was staring at him, tongue-tied, Xu Ziling let out a heavy sigh and said, "Why is it that there are so many things in the world that we know that it should not be like that, but we are helpless to do anything about it?”

Kou Zhong hung his head down in silence, engrossed in his own thought.

That night the two boys simply sat like that until dawn.

Early the following morning they continued their journey.

Two days later they entered the mountainous area.

Along the way the scenery was extremely beautiful. The mountain road was nestled among the dense forest, one segment of the roads overlooked a hundred-zhang deep ravine, while below the mountain was the panoramic view of rice fields and cultivated lands. When they reached certain elevation, their eyes feasted on the range upon range of bluish-green, ten-thousand-hill going up and down as far as their eyes could see.

That night they pitched camp at the foot of the mountain.

Since that day when they sat staring blankly all night long, Xu Ziling was unusually silent. The two boys did not even sleep in the camp; instead, they stayed outside with the earth as their sleeping mat and the heavens as their bed curtain, as if they were back at the small valley where they buried Fu Junchuo.

Sometimes when Xu Ziling was sitting alone far away, Kou Zhong would chat with Duan Yucheng and the others.

Duan Yucheng respectfully said, "For the four of us to come with Zhong Ye and Ling Ye out to temper ourselves in the world, is truly a blessing. In just a short two-month period, it's like what other people would go through in several years; it is indeed eye-opening.”

Bao Zhifu and the others nodded their agreement.

In order to avoid other people's eyes and ears, they agreed not to address the two boys as Gang Leaders.

Shi Jie also expressed his feelings, "No matter how bad the situation, as long as Zhong Ye and Ling Ye are around, we are always full of fighting spirit and vitality; and we have the confidence to cope with any danger.”

Ma Gui joined in, "The hardest to come by is that the two masters have never treated us as underlings; moreover, you never put on airs.”

Kou Zhong laughed nonchalantly and said, "Right now we all are brothers, hands and feet, together going out into the world. Not only to establish great undertaking that will last hundreds of generations, we are wishing to bring peace into the world, so that everybody can live in peace and work happily. Destiny is made whenever there is a will to create.”

Hearing that, the four men seemed to be emotional and excited.

Shi Jie hatefully said, "What we detest the most is those dog officials and thieving soldiers; we want to kill them as many as possible without showing mercy.”

Duan Yucheng suddenly hanged down his head, his shoulders twitched. Real men don't cry easily; evidently he had a very painful past.

Kou Zhong looked at him with astonishment; Ma Gui leaned over and whispered explanation on his ear, "Xiao Duan's fiancée was raped and murdered by the thief soldier; he always cries bitterly every time he remembers it.”

Kou Zhong nodded sympathetically; reaching out, he put his hand on Duan Yucheng's shoulder and said, "Let bygone be bygone! Tomorrow is our hope. Our destiny should not be in other people's hands, but it ought to be in your hands and mine. Even if our heads are rolling away, our blood splatters; there will never be any regret.”

Kou Zhong walked over and sat cross-legged next to Xu Ziling, who was lying down, looking up at the sky. When Kou Zhong also looked up, he saw black cloud was rolling in, covering most of the originally starry sky. Sighing, he said, "Looks like thunderstorm and heavy rain is coming!”

Xu Ziling remained silent.

Kou Zhong looked down and asked, "What are you thinking about?”

Xu Ziling sat up and spoke heavily, "I am remembering the days when we lived in that small valley where we buried Niang's bones. Supposing we never left, today there would not be that many people whose spirit disappear whose soul broken in pain. Aren't human beings always bringing trouble to themselves?”

A bean-size raindrop fell on the back of Kou Zhong's neck, and slipped into the collar of his clothes. As he looked up, a lightning happened to streak across the night sky, followed by the muffled sound of distant thunder, shattering the tranquility of the mountain and fields, as if it was playing overture to the incoming storm.

Reaching out to Xu Ziling's shoulder, Kou Zhong smiled wryly and said, "Fate does not have this ‘if' syllable in it. What has happened has happened. Supposing we did not obtain the ‘Secret to Long Life' by lucky coincidence, right now we would be facing different trouble and different pain; Yan Laoda would not have died and would continue abusing us, and we definitely would not have sat here waiting for the storm to come. Life is like that, Lao Daye [lit. old big master; another term for God] put you in such position, whether you want it or not, you simply must do your best to play that role.”

‘Crash!'

A crashing thunder was followed by a gale that swept the mountain and fields, and then the heavy rain was pouring from the sky.

Letting the rain drenching his entire body, Xu Ziling said in a low voice, "Since when did you believe in destiny?”

Revealing a hint of wry smile, Kou Zhong replied, "I only believe that everything that has happened was fate. As for the future, I believe our fate is in our hands. If we did not have this thought, how could there be any fighting spirit and meaning in the way we conduct ourselves?”

Xu Ziling nodded and said, "Since it is unknown, it does not exist. This is destiny's most captivating aspect. No matter what the future holds, we are going to challenge the future, to seek our own ideals.”

Kou Zhong smiled, "Ha!” he said, "We'd better sing a song together in this dark and stormy night, in order to unfold the solemn and stirring feelings toward life in our hearts. Ling Shao, what is your respected opinion?”

Xu Ziling laughed aloud and pulled Kou Zhong up.

After exchanging a determined and full-of-passion glance, as if by prior agreement, they both broke out in loud singing, "Deep in the mountains watching the heaven's fate, everlasting thoughts appear one by one, since ancient times keep flourishing without end, heroes and sages are definitely able to strive …”

The singing voice reverberated into the distance, even the thunderstorm could not cover it up the least bit. Duan Yucheng and the others heard the song, their heroic spirit was excited by this ode to their pride and longing.

The rain was growing more violent, but raging flames have already sparked off in their hearts, there was not even a shred of fear of the blowing and beating wind and rain.

Chapter end