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 笑傲江湖-英文版 1 - Extermination (Translated by 高毅) |
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高毅
[博客]
声望: 学员
性别:  年龄: 44
加入时间: 2011/06/21
文章: 6
海归分: 65
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作者：高毅 在 海归茶馆 发贴, 来自【海归网】 http://www.haiguinet.com
The story took place in China, circa 1750 A.D.
Breezes brushing against the willows, fuming with intoxicating fragrances, it was spring time in southern China. On Shimon Ave., in Fuzhou City, Fujian Province, a granite road stretched all the way to the western gate of the town. In front of a grandly constructed mansion, stood two stone altars, one on each side of the building. Each altar serves as the pedestal of a twenty-foot flagpole, with an army-green flag hoisted to the top. On the flag to the right, embroidered in golden silk was a picture of a mighty and fierce looking lion, as the flag fluttered against the wind, the lion appeared livelier than ever. Above the lion’s mane was a pair of flying bats, both embroidered in dark silk. Stitched on the banner on the left in boldfaced letters were the words “Safeway Security”. Glistening brass knuckles the size of teacups were welded on the mansion’s giant red entrance in the front. Above the door was a plague, written on it in golden characters were “Safeway Security”, and the word “Headquarter” etched below. The entrance was flanked by two rows of benches, sitting on them were eight tightly-dressed men, with their backs straight, all appear fit and prepared.
A sudden series of “clip-clop” sounds came from inside the courtyard; the eight men stood up at once, rushed inside, and saw five horses charging out from the western gate of the complex, galloping along the horse’s path to the front entrance of the building. Leading the pack was a purebred snowy stallion, its harness and boot straps were all made of sterling silver. Sitting on its saddle was a well-dressed young man, roughly eighteen or nineteen years of age. He had a falcon sitting on his left shoulder, a blade hanging on his waist, and a longbow on his back. The young man rode with good speed. Following behind was an entourage of four men on horsebacks, all in army-green jackets. As the five of them got close to the front gate, three of the eight men cheered in unison: “Junior Chief is going hunting again!” Laughing, the young man snapped his horsewhip into the empty air to make a loud bang, the white stallion under him whinnied a long-winded hiss and charged out onto the granite boulevard. A man yelled: “Captain Shi, bring back another hog so we can all feast again tonight.” The man in his forties who was behind the young man replied with a smile: “Don’t worry, we’ll sure save you a pig tail. Just don’t get yourself loaded with piss first.” In the midst of laughs, the five rode off into the distance.
Soon as they exited the city’s outer gate, Lin “Penny” Pingzi, the “Junior Chief”, gently squeezed his legs, the white stallion churned its hooves and charged ahead in full speed, leaving the other four in dust. Penny rode onto a hill, released his falcon, which chased out a pair of yellow rabbits from the woods. Reaching for the longbow from his back, Pinzi took out eagle-feathered arrow from the quiver next to his saddle, nocked it on the string and pulled. “Swoosh”! A yellow rabbit fell to the sound. Just as he was ready to shoot again, the other rabbit disappeared into the bushes. Captain Zen arrived with his horse, said in a smile: “Great shot, Juior Chief!” Then they heard Ba’re, their horse driver, yelling from the woods to their left: “Junior Chief! Hurry! Pheasants!” Penny Lin rushed over just to see a pheasant flying out of the trees, he took a shot as the pheasant flew over his head, making him miss. Penny hastily raised his horsewhip and snapped it toward the pheasant, the power propagated along the whip, with a thumping sound the pheasant was down, its feathers scattering all over the place. All five cheered. Captain Shi praised: “With that, Junior Chief could’ve knocked down a bald eagle, never mind a little pheasant.” The entourage kept hunting games in the woods, Captains Shi and Zhen, with horse drivers Ba’re and Seven, trying hard to be good sports to please the Junior Chief, by chasing the games to his vicinity, intentionally forgoing killing opportunities themselves. After four hours, Penny Lin caught two more rabbits, two pheasants, but had no luck with larger games like hogs or deer. Still feeling the itch, Penny said: “Let’s go into the mountains.”
Captain Shi thought to himself: “Once inside the mountains, with Junior Chief’s temperament, we’d never leave before it’s pitch black, all of us will surely hear it from Madam Lin after we get back. So he suggested: “It’s getting dark, plenty of sharp rocks in the mountains, let’s not risk hurting your white horse’s hooves, tomorrow we can all get up early to hunt big hogs.” He knew no matter what he said, it would be hard to persuade this capricious Junior Chief, but Penny indeed loved his white stallion, and would never let it see any harm. It was a Persian thoroughbred bought by his grandmother under a big price tag from the Capital City, and was given to him as his seventeenth birthday present two years ago.
Sure enough, soon as he heard the possibility of his horse getting hurt, Penny padded his stallion’s head, said: “My “Little Snow Dragon” is too smart to step on any sharp rocks, but your four horses might not be. Fine, we’ll go back, or Chen Qi here might crack his butt open.” In the midst of laughter, they turned the horses around. Penny rode in the front, instead of following the original route back, he turned north, after riding in full speed for a while, he was finally satisfied and slowed down.
Coming up to a tavern on the side of the street, Captain Zen said: “Junior Chief, how ‘bout we get something to eat? Fresh rabbits and pheasants, they’ll go great with wine.” Penny replied with a smile: “You only pretend to go hunting with me, but you’re really in it for the liquor. If I don’t give you enough booze, next time you might not want to come out.” He stopped, jumped off the horse, and walked leisurely towards the tavern.
Normally Mr. Cai, the café’s owner, would already come out to greet them, take the harness from Penny, and shower him with things like: “Junior Chief caught so many games today”, and “What impressive archery skills, one of the world’s finest!” Today however, as Penny stood in front of the tavern, he could only hear dead silence. Instead of Mr. Cai, a girl in an emerald green dress stood next to the furnace. She had two ponytails, each had a clip. The girl was facing inside, she was mixing wine and did not turn around.
Captain Zen cried out: “Where’s Cai? Why isn’t he showing us the seats yet?”
Ba’er and Seven, the two horse-drivers, pulled out the chairs, wiped them clean with their sleeves, and showed Penny Lin his seat. Shi and Zen sat in the accompanying seats, the two horse-drivers sat at another table. With coughs coming from the kitchen, out came an old grey-haired man, he said: “Gentlemen, are you here for wine?” The old man had a northern accent.
Captain Zen jeered: “No, give us milk tea … Of course we want wine! First bring out three handles of Maotai. Where is Cai? What happened here? Did the place change hands?”
The old man replied: “Yes sir, yes sir … Winnie, bring out three Maotai. To be honest, good sir, my name is Sa, I was born nor far from here, but left when I was young. My sons and daughter-in-laws are all dead, as they say - ‘no matter how high a tree grows, its fallen leaves will always return to its root,’ so I decided to come back to the homeland with my grand-daughter. Who knew that after forty years, the old friends and relatives all passed away. Just my luck, the owner of this shop, Cai, wanted out, so he sold it to me for 30 teals of silver. Thank God I’m finally home, listening to everyone speaking in native tongue surely makes me feel warm inside, it’s a shame I already forgot the way to speak it myself.”
The girl in green dress emerged from the kitchen holding a wooden tray, she laid out cups and chopsticks in front of the men, set three bottles of liquor on the table, then walked away with her head down, never glanced once at her customers. Penny noticed the girl had an attractive figure, however her skin was swarthy and leathery, her face was covered with chicken pox scars and really looked quite hideous. Knowing she was new at serving people and was still rough on the edges, Penny Lin overlooked her stiffness.
Captain Shi handed a pheasant and a rabbit to the old man Sa: “Gut and clean these well, cook them into two large dishes.” Old man Sa replied: “Yes sir, yes sir! How ‘bout some appetizers to go with the wine, beef slices, beans or peanuts?” Winnie did not wait for grandpa’s orders to bring out the appetizers and set them on the table. Captain Zen said: “This is Childe Lin, Safeway Security’s Junior Chief, he is young and chivalrous, righteous and brave, oh yeah, and he knows how to spend. If he enjoys your cooking, the thirty teals of silver will be made back in no time.”
The old man replied: “Yes sir, yes sir! Thank you so much, so much!” He then took the rabbit and the pheasant to the kitchen.
Captain Zen poured wine into a glass and gulped it down, stuck out the tongue out and smacked the lips: “Tavern changed owner, but not the taste.” He poured another glass, but before he could drink it, he suddenly heard the sounds of two horses’ hooves closing in from the north.
The two horses came with such speed, that within moments they had arrived at the front of the tavern. A man was heard saying: “There’s a tavern here, let’s have some wine.” From the accent, Captain Shi could tell that they were from the Province of Szechuan, he turned to look, and saw two men wearing army-green robes tying their horses to the big banyan tree that was in front of the shop. Walking inside, they gave Penny Lin and his entourage a glance, then casually took their seats next to one of the empty tables. Both men wore white bandanas on their heads and army-green robes, their attire could be called “sophisticated”, if not for their bare legs and feet, and the strapless hemp sandals on them. Captain Shi knew that it was how Szechuan people dress, the white bandanas were a commemorate piece people wore at funeral of Zhuge Liang, one of the most famous and endearing political leaders in China’s history, who a thousand years ago had governed Szechuan with great wisdom, resourcefulness and compassion, his influence was such that even a thousand years later, his people still would not take off those white bandanas. Penny was nevertheless perplexed: “For someone who can neither fight nor read, these two surely look strange.” He heard the young man holler: “Yo, beer! Beer! Damn, this place must shit crags, they are fugging killin the mares.”
Keeping her head down, Winnie approached the two men’s table and murmured: “What beer do you want?” Her voice was low, but surprising sweet and pleasant. A little bristled, the younger man of the two suddenly reached out his right hand to touch Winnie’s chin, he said with a smile: “Too bad, too bad!” Startled, Winnie jumped back. The other man laughed: “Buddie Yu, da little bitch’s body is smoking, but her face, tis like she got beaten by an ugly stick.” “Buddie Yu” broke out into laughter.
Penny Lin was furious, slamming his right fist down on the table, he said: “Just who you think you are, filthy scums, how dare you come to Fuzhou and treat it like your pissing ground?” The man named Yu smiled: “Brother Jia, this guy’s using some serious profanity, now which of us you think this sissy boy is going after?”
Penny Lin looked like his mother, with very handsome and delicate features, in the past even if a man was to only wink at him, he’d be slapped across the face without mercy, how could he stand to be called “sissy boy”? Picking up a tin jug from the table, he hurled it across the room. Yu ducked, the tin jug rolled all the way to the lawn outside, the wine inside splashed all over the place. Captain Shi and Captain Zen stood up and ran to those two men.
Yu smiled and said: “This guy should be dancing on a pole, not fighting.” Captain Zen shouted: “This is Junior Chief Lin of the Safeway Security, how dare you to show such disrespect?” The word “disrespect” barely left his lips as he swung his left fist ferociously towards Yu’s face. Yu turned over his left hand, gripped Captain Zen’s wrist, jerked it hard towards him, causing Captain Zen to lose balance, his body tumbled towards the table. Yu’s left elbow smack down and landed on Captain Zen’s neck. Bam! The head of Captain Zen crashed into and broke the tabletop, both he and the table fell over.
Even though Captain Zen was not among the top fighters in the Safeway Security, he was not a pushover either, Captain Shi saw him getting knocked down after only one exchange, he knew that his foe can’t just be a nobody, so he asked: “Who are you, friend? If you’re also from the Martial World, why do you disrespect the name of Safeway Security?”
Yu scoffed: “Safeway Security? Never heard of it! What do they do?”
Penny Lin leapt towards him, he shouted: “It’s for teaching people like you a lesson!” He punched out his left fist, before the arm was fully extended, his right hand crossed over from the bottom of his left one. It was the move called “Realm in the Cloud”, from his heritage martial arts “Heaven-Turning Set”.
Yu said: “The sissy-boy ain’t half bad.” His palm parrying the attack, his right hand reached for Penny’s shoulder. Penny lowered his right shoulder, clenched his left hand and swung the fist. Yu’s head jerked back to dodge, only to find Penny’s left fist releasing into a palm, a straight up hit suddenly became a lateral swipe, with a move “Floret in the Mist”, “paaa”, Penny’s fist landed squarely on Yu’s face. Infuriated, Yu tried to fly-kick Penny. Penny dashed to the right, returned with a kick. By then, Captain Shi also started fighting with the man named Jia. Captain Zen was helped by Ba’er to get back on his feet, screaming profanities, he went up to double-team Yu. Penny yelled: “Go help Captain Shi, I can take care of this scab myself!” Captain Zen knew how competitive the Junior Chief was, and would not let others help him, so he picked up a leg from the broken table, and hurled it towards Jia.
The two horse drivers ran out, one pulled out Penny’s sword from next to the saddle, the other held a hunting fork, both pointed fingers at Yu and cussed vehemently. Although the two horse drivers were lame fighters, both had piercing and booming vocal cords. They cussed in the local dialect. The two Szechuan men could not understand a single word, but knew they probably were not being complemented on their great looks.
One after another, Penny Lin used the moves in the “Heaven-Churning Set” that was taught to him by his father. He often used this routine to spar with the security guards back home. Partly because this heritage kungfu was exceptional, and also none of the guards were dumb enough to really fight the Junior Chief, Penny had plenty of practices, but almost no actual combat experience. And even though occasionally he had fights with local gangsters, those street rats were no match for Penny’s family kungfu. Within a couple of exchanges, they would all been beaten so badly and ran away like strayed mutts.
This time, however, was different. After just a dozen exchanges, Penny gradually lost his fighting zeal. He sensed that his opponent was really quite strong and would not easily be pushed around.
The man carelessly parried Penny’s attacks, yet he did not miss a beat in his taunts: “Hey little buddy, the more I look at you, the more I think you’re a girl, you gotta be a drag. Your face is just too fair and delicate, how ‘bout I give you a kiss on the cheek, and let’s call off the fight. Ok?”
Fuming, Penny glanced at Captains Shi and Zhen, even with their double-team, they were no match for Jia. Captain Zen’s nose received a massive blow, blood and mucus were running all over the place. Penny sped up his attacks, all of a sudden – wham! –Penny slapped Yu across the face. The big blow infuriated Yu, he yelled: “You stupid ungrateful little prick, I was only toying with you ‘cuz you look like a girl, you dare to hit me?” Changing gears, Yu’s fists came after Lin with mighty speed and rage. The two fought along the way to the outside of the tavern. Penny saw his opponent’s fist coming straight at him, recalling an “Unburden” trick taught by his father, immediately Penny extended his left hand to block. However he underestimated Yu’s strength, and failed to deflect the blow, “Pong!” as it struck Penny in the chest. Penny’s body shook, he doubled over. The man dropped his arm, pushing Penny’s chest down towards the ground, his right arm followed up with move “Iron Clutch”, pushing against his nape. Laughing hysterically, the man said: “Say ‘Uncle!’ Then kowtow!”
Outraged, Captains Shi and Zhen tried to shake off their foe so they could come to rescue, but Jia increased the pace of his attacks and would not let them loose. Ba’re the horse driver picked up his hunting fork and thrusted it towards Yu’s back, he cried out: “Let him go! You wanna die …” Before he could finish his sentence, Yu’s left foot kicked back, sending the fork flying, then his right foot followed, sending Ba’re tumbling on the ground seven or eight times. He wouldn’t be getting up for a while. Seven, the other horse driver vehemently cursed: “Motherfucking son of a bitches, goddam bastards, why don’t you both rot in hell!” But each cuss, he took a step back; he cussed eight or nine times, and took back eight or nine steps.
Yu said with a smile: “Giving up, sweetheart?” Adding force to his arm, he pushed Penny’s head down lower and lower, until his forehead almost touching the ground. Penny tried to punch Yu’s stomach with backhanded jabs, but fell short a couple of inches every time, his hand could not reach the man. He felt excruciating pain on his neck, as if it was about to snap at any moment, he was seeing stars, with thundering sounds in his ears.
Penny began to claw and punch violently. Suddenly his hand fell a hard object in his pocket, exasperated, he did not care what it was, pulled it out, with all his strength shoved it forward, and stuck it into Yu’s stomach. Yu let out a deafening cry, let go of both hands, took two steps back, his facial expression was that of extremely horror. On his abdomen stuck out a dagger, with the blade all the way in, leaving only the hilt visible. He was facing west, the setting sun shined on the hilt of the dagger, making it shimmer. He opened his mouth trying to speak, nothing came out, he thought about pulling the dagger out but could not muster enough courage. Penny Lin was also scared mindless, shaking in his boots, he took several steps back. Jia and the two captains stopped their fights, all staring in shock at the man they knew as Yu. His body quivered some, putting the right hand on the hilt of the dagger, he yanked it out, at once blood squirted out, several spectators screamed. Yu shrieked: “Jia … Jia … Tell dad, avenge for, for …” He swung his right hand back and threw away the dagger. Jia screamed: “Brother Yu! Brother Yu!” He hurried to catch him from falling. Yu dashed to the ground, his body shook a little, then seized moving.
Captain Shi said in a low voice: “Get weapons!” He ran next to the horse, took his weapon and held it in his hand. Being around the block a couple of times, Captain Shi knew that wherever there is bloodshed, vengeance is never far away.
Jia only glared at Lin Pingzi for a moment or two, rushed over to pick up the dagger, ran next to his horse, jumped on its back, having no time to untie the harness, with a swing of the dagger, he cut the harness loose, squeezed his legs, and rode off with full speed.
Seven walked over to Yu’s body and kicked it over, blood was still gushing out of the wound, he said: “You deserve it. That’s what happens when you mess with our Junior Chief!”
Penny had never killed anyone before and was scared mindless, he said with a quivering voice: “Cap … Captain Shi, what … what are we gonna do? I … I didn’t mean to kill him.”
Captain Shi mulled this over: “Safeway has been in the security business for three generations, fighting and killing are all part of the job, those who got killed by us were all bandits who had it coming for them. Besides, those confrontations only took places in the wildness, afterwards, we only need to find some place close and bury the body, problem solved. No one had ever seen bandits taking Safeway Security to court before. But this time is different, the departed was clearly no bandit, and we are not far away from the city. Someone had just lost his life, it’s nothing to be taken lightly. Never mind a junior chief of a security agency, even if the perpetrator was the son of a mayor or a governor, he won’t be able to get off easily.” Captain Shi frowned and said: “Hurry, let’s move the corpse inside the tavern, this place is close to the main road, make sure no one sees this.” Luckily it was late in the day, the road was empty. Ba’re and Seven carried the corpse inside the shop.
Captain Shi said in a low voice: “Crown Chief, do you have money?” Penny hastily replied: “Oh yes, of course, of course!” as he took out twenty or so teals of silver from his waist pocket. Captain Shi took it, walked into the tavern, put it on the table, said to the old man Sa: “Hey Mr. Sa, that stranger was harassing your grand-daughter, out of chivalry our Junior Chief stepped in to help, he had no choice but to kill the man. Everyone here is a witness, you caused this whole mess, if news gets out, everyone will be in trouble. These silver teals are for you, let’s bury the body first, then we can figure out how to ‘neutralize’ the situation.”
Mr. Sa replied: “Yes sir! Yes sir! Yes sir!”
Captain Zen said: “We at the Safeway Security are in the business of helping people, by protecting their assets from bandits, we don’t blink twice at killing a few robber thugs. These two Szechuan rats look shady, my guess is either they’re outlaws, or serial rapists, most likely they came to our city for bad business. But our Junior Chief was too shrewd to let me slip in, he knew they were up to no good so he took care of the two troublemakers, keeping our city safe. He could’ve gone to the city hall to collect his bounty, except that our Junior Chief didn’t want the hassle nor the celebrity. Old man, you better keep your mouth shut, if there is any leak, we’ll say that it was you who invited these two bandits here, you pretended to run a tavern, at the same time acting as their leads. From your accent, you don’t sound like a local at all. Or else why these two just happened to show up right after you took over the tavern? I’d win the lottery with that kind of odds!”
Mr. Sa only replied: “I won’t tell, I won’t tell!”
Ba’re, Seven, led by captain Shi, buried the body under the vegetable garden in the back of the tavern. They also dug up dirt to cover the blood stains at the shop’s entrance. Captain Zen said to Mr. Sa: “After ten days, if we don’t hear anything in the news, we’ll bring over another 50 teals of silver for your retirement; but if you let your tongue catch up to your brain, well, the Safeway Security must’ve buried at least eight hundred, if not a thousand, bandits, we don’t mind digging up two more holes for you and your grand-daughter.”
Mr. Sa replied: “Thank you so much, thank you so much! I won’t tell, I won’t tell!”
After taking care of everything, it was pitch dark. Penny felt a little calmer, he entered his family’s security compound filled with apprehension.
Walking into the main hall, he saw his father sitting in the armchair meditating. With hesitation he called out: “Dad!”
Zenan Lin looked quite happy. He asked: “Did you go hunting? Caught any hogs?”
Penny replied: “No.”
Zenan Lin raised his pipe, and all of a sudden jabbed it towards his son’s shoulder, he shouted with a smile: “Repose!”
Penny was aware his father often check the progress of his kungfu training without warning. If it was any other day, soon as he sees his father using this “Fallen Shooting Star”, the twenty-sixth move of the “Spirit-Exorcising Sword Art”, he will immediately respond with the forty-sixth move “Blossoming Lotus Revealing the Buddha”. But this time he was hesitant, not sure if his father had found out about the killing in the tavern, and is now disciplining him with his pipe. He did not have the nerve to sidestep, instead he cried out: “Dad!”
Zenan Lin’s pipe was about to make contact with his son’s shoulder, he abruptly stopped the attack three inches away from his son’s dress, and asked: “What’s wrong? If you are confronted by an enemy in the real world, but still act so slow, you think you can keep this arm?” His words were meant to reproach, but his face was beaming with smile.
Penny answered: “Yes sir!” Lowering his left shoulder, he made a full turn, circled around to his father’s backside, smoothly picked up a feather duster from the tea table, and lunged towards the back of his father. It was none other than the “Blossoming Lotus Revealing the Buddha” move.
Zenan Lin nodded with a smile: “That’s more like it”. Deflected his son’s attack using the pipe, Zenan returned with another move “Playing Flute on the River”. Penny gathered himself, parried with the move “Purple Mist from the Orient”. After more than fifty exchanges between father and son, Zenan’s pipe abruptly stuck out, gently pressed against the pressure point below his son’s left nipple. Penny was not quickly enough to defend, a jolt of numbness overcame his left arm as he dropped the feather duster on the ground.
Zenan Lin said with a smile: “Not bad, not bad, you’ve improved everyday this month, today you were able to last four move moves.” He returned to his seat, packed his pipe with shredded tobacco, said: “Penny, I want to let you know of the good news we got today!”
Penny took out the flint stones, helped his father to light the pipe, asked: “Did father receive a big order?”
Zenan shook his head with a smile: “Long as we are good, why worry not getting enough big orders? What we need to worry is when those big orders do come, if we’ll be able to take them.” He took a long drag from his pipe and continued: “Just now I received a message from Convoy Zhang in Hunan, telling us that Reverend Yu, the head of Wind Pine Temple in Szechuan, had accepted our gifts!”
Penny’s heart skipped a beat as he heard the words “Reverend Yu” and “Szechuan”. He asked: “Accepted our gifts?”
Zenan said: “I tried not to involve you in the family business, thinking that you weren’t ready. But you are getting older, this heavy burden on my shoulders will gradually be transferred to yours, from now on you need to pay more attention to the agency’s affairs. My son, our family is able to thrive in the Escort Security business for three generations, mainly because people were sold on the reputation established by your great-grandfather when he found the business, but also because the martial arts we inherited were not half bad, so that our business could continue to be prosperous, and became one of the elite security escorts south of the Yangtzi River. Whenever people hear the brand ‘Safeway Security’, they all give two thumbs up: ‘Very safe! Very secure!’ Out in in the real world, twenty percent of a person’s success comes from his reputation, twenty percent comes from his skills, the remaining sixty percent must be earned from the people he knows, both in the city, and in the hood. How much ‘face’ people are willing to give him, so to speak. Think about it, Safeway’s escort carts crisscross ten provinces, if on every trip we start wars, even if we win them all, we won’t have enough people left to count the money we make. As the saying goes: ‘Destroy a thousand of your enemy’s army means losing eight hundred men of your own.’ In a war, there are no winners. If there are casualties among the security guards, heavens forbid, the commissions we receive from our customers won’t cover the pensions we pay out to surviving families, never mind any profits left for us. Therefore my son, people like you and I who are in the security escort business, first and foremost need to have wide networks consist of meaningful relationships, the word ‘connection’ is really much more important than any kungfu kicks or sword plays.”
Penny responded: “Yes, dad!” On any other day, he would have been extremely excited to hear his father talking about the prospect of handing the business over to him, and carried on the dialog as if having ants in his pants, but at that moment he felt as if there were about seventy eight butterflies flying around in his stomach, all he could think about was the words “Szechuan” and “Reverend Yu”.
Zenan took another drag of smoke and said: “You dad’s kung-fu is of course not up to par with your great-grandfather, it might not even be as good as your granddad, but my business skills are better than either of our forefathers. Around Fujian, from Guangdong Province in the south, all the way up to Zhejiang, Jiangsu Provinces in the north, these four territories’ business were founded by your great-grandfather. Shandong, Hebei, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and Guangxi, all six provinces’ trades were established in your dad’s hands. What’s my secret? Saving you the suspense, it’s no more than the four words ‘Make Friends, Not Enemies’. Safeway, Safeway, “Safe” goes before “Way”, it reminds us that goodwill should always take priority over any plan. And goodwill comes from the four words “Make Friends, Not Enemies”. If we change the name to “Waysafe”, it will mean … well, it will just sound weird. Haha, haha!”
Penny went along with his father and chuckle a little, but there was not a trace of joy in his laughter. Zenan did not sense his son’s uneasiness, he continued: “The Scripture says: ‘Human yearn for greed.’ But your dad yearns for Szechuan’s spicy food! Our escort routes start from Fujian, cross westbound to Jiangxi, Hunan, and stopp at Hubei, but why don’t we go further west along the river, all the way to Szechuan? Szechuan was nicknamed the ‘Land of Dreams’ and is full of riches. If we acquire the routes in Szechuan, we can head north to Shanxi, south to Yunnan and Guizhou, our business can increase at least thirty percent. However, Szechuan Province is full of ‘crouching tigers and hidden dragons’, all gifted martial artists. If our business is to expand to Szechuan, we must be connected to two martial art schools – The Greenboro Clan and the Er Mei Clan. For the past three years, before every major holiday, I would prepare lavish gifts and have our people deliver them to the Wind Pine Temple of the Greenboro clan, and to the Golden Roof Pagoda of the Er Mei clan. Neither heads of the two schools accepted the gifts. The head of Er Mei clan, Friar Sheen, had the kindness to greet the people I sent, thank them, invite them for a vegetarian meal, then send them back with the gifts still under wraps. But Reverend Yu of the Wind Pine Temple, what a character! Soon as our gift-bearing captains reach the halfway point on his mountain, they are stopped and told that Reverent Yu is meditating in seclusion, that he won’t receive visitors, that the school had everything it needs and won’t accept gifts. Not only did our captain not see Reverend Yu, he didn’t even know if the temple housed Taoist monks, or comedians. Every gift-delivering captain came back angry. If it wasn’t for my pre-departure warnings to our people, ordering them to be respectful no matter how rude the other party is, after being treated in such way, you bet they’ll let those people hear it, there might even been several big fights already.”
As he said this, Zenan looked very pleased, and said as he stood up: “Who would’ve known that this time, Reverent Yu not only accepted our gifts, he actually sent four apprentices to Fujian to pay us a visit …” Penny interrupted: “Four? Not two?” Zenan said: “Yes, four apprentices. You can tell how highly Reverend Yu regards us, isn’t it a great compliment to Safeway? Just now I had sent out messengers to notify the branches in Jianxi, Hunan, Hubei and other provinces, telling them to treat these four honorable guests well, to take care all of their needs.”
All of a sudden Penny asked: “Dad, when Szechuan people talk, do they always like to use words like “dag-nab-it”?” Zenan replied with a gentle smile: “Only hooligans in Szechuan talk this way. There are of such people in every part of the world. Of course these people like to swear. Listen to our agency’s horse drivers talk, you think they sound graceful? Why are you asking this?”
Penny answered: “I was just wondering”.
Zenan resumed this speech: “When the four Greenboro apprentices get here, be sure to make friends with them, observe and learn the refinement that’s part of a elite martial art school. Making ties with these people will benefit you for life. “
Father and son talked for a while, Penny could not make up his mind as to whether tell his father about what happened earlier, he finally decided to tell his mother first, then his father. After dinner, the three members of the Lin family were shooting the breeze in the back hall, Zenan was discussing with his wife about the upcoming birthday of his brother-in-law in early June, it was time to send over some presents, but it was not easy to find a present that measures up to the yardstick of the Golden Saber Wang’s family, of Lo’yang, the capital city of China. Just as they were speaking, they heard commotions coming from outside, people were running towards the interior in quick steps. Zenan frowned and said: “No manners!” Then he saw three horse drivers running into the hall, the front of the pack said in exasperation: “Chi … chief …”
Zenan hollered: “What’s going on?”
Seven the horse driver replied: “Ba … Ba’re is dead.”
Stunned, Zenan asked: “Who killed him? You guys were gambling and fighting again, weren’t you?” Zenan was fuming: “These battle-hardened people are such hard nuts to crack, they are always arguing and fighting. We are in the city, killing someone is a big deal.”
Seven replied: “No sir, no sir. Just now Lenny went to take-a dump, and saw Ba’re lying in the vegetable garden next to outhouse, no wound on his
body, but his body was cold, but I don’t know how he died. Maybe some kind of disease.”
Zenan let out a sigh of relief, at once feeling more relaxed, he said: “I’ll go take a look.” He immediately got up and walked towards the vegetable garden. Penny followed behind. They reached the vegetable garden, saw eight or nine security guards and horse drivers gathered together, all dispersed to yield the way when they saw the boss coming. Zenan took a look at the body of Ba’re, he saw that someone had unbuttoned his blouse, there was no blood on this body. He asked Captain Zhu next to him: “No wounds?” Captain Zhu replied: “I’ve checked, not a single cut on his entire body, doesn’t look like he died of poison, either.” Zenan nodded and said: “Notify the bookkeeper, he’ll take care of Ba’re’s funeral, then bring a hundred teals of silver to Ba’re’s family.”
A horse driver dying of sickness did not bother Zenan much, he turned around and returned to the hall, asked his son: “Didn’t Ba’re go hunting with you today?” Penny answered: “Yes, dad, he was OK when we got back, I don’t know how he suddenly got sick.” Zenan said: “Hmm, life is full of surprises, both good and bad ones, they come at you without warning. I’ve been trying to expand the business to Szechuan, and thought it might take another ten years, who would’ve known that Reverend Yu was feeling spontaneous, not only did he accept my gifts, but he also sent four apprentices, to travel thousands of miles to visit us.”
Penny said: “Dad, even though the Greenboro clan is a famous school in the Martial World, but the Safeway Security’s name and dad’s reputation are also up there. In the past we sent people to Szechuan, it’s only fair that Reverend Yu pays us a visit.”
Zenan said with a smile: “That’s funny talk. The schools of Greenboro and Er Mei were established hundreds of years ago, each has numerous remarkable talents, even though they are nowhere close to achieving the status of Shaolin or Wutang, but compare to Songshan, Taishan, Hengshan, Huashan, and Hanshan, the “Penti-sierra Alliance”, those two measure up well. Lord Yuantu, your great-grandfather, created the seventy-two moves of “Spirit-Exorcising Sword Art”, back then he dominated the Martial World, and could really be called invincible. Then he passed the baton to your grandfather, whose kungfu skills was not as highly regarded as that of Lord Yuantu, I am afraid your dad is even a little bit worse. For each of the past three generations, the Lin family only had one son, not even a single apprentice brother. Compare to those groups, you and I are outnumbered.”
Penny said: “If we gather all the men from the branches of the ten provinces, won’t we be just as strong as those so called Shaolin, Wutang, Er Mei, Greenboro, and Penti-sierra Alliance?”
Zenan said with smile: “My son, it’s OK to share your thoughts with me, but if you talk like this outside, and let others hear it, you’d be in trouble. The eighty-four captains in our ten branches each has his own expertise, put them together, of course we won’t take licking. But what do you get from defeating those clans? As the saying goes - “Harmony breeds wealth”, we are in the security escort business, we need to be even more courteous. We keep being modest, let others be in the lime-light, it’s no skins off our noses.”
Suddenly someone screamed: “Oh no, Captain Zen died, too!”
Both father and son were stunned. Penny jumped out from his chair, his voice quivering: “They came for …” stopped short of blurting out the word “revenge”. By that time Zenan had already reached the hall’s entrance, he did not pay attention to his son’s words, but saw Seven the horse driver running in from the outside, exasperated, he screamed: “Chi … Chief, oh no! Captain Zen … Captain Zen was also killed by the evil Szechuan ogre.”
Straightened his face, Zenan shouted: “What evil Szechuan ogre? Nonsense!”
Seven replied: “Yes sir, yes sir! The evil Szechuan ogre … the Szechuan man was nasty and mean when alive, he must be more nasty when dead …” Seeing the stern gaze beaming from his master’s eyes, he was afraid to go on, but instead he looked at Penny, his face pleading with fear.
Zenan asked: “You said Captain Zen is dead. Where’s the body? How did he die?” By that time more security guards and horse drivers had rushed into the hall. One of the security guards answered with a frown: “Captain Zen died in the horse stable, exact same way as Ba’re, without a scratch on his body, no external bleeding, no bruises on the face. Perhaps … perhaps he encountered some sort of evil … evil spirits on his earlier hunting trip with the Junior Chief, and somehow was … was possessed by it.”
Zenan said with a scoff: “I’ve travelled everywhere in this world my whole life, never had I seen any ghosts. Let’s go check it out.”
He exited the hall, walked over to the stable, and saw Captain Zen lying on the ground, his two hands still clasping a saddle. Apparently he was unsaddling the horse when he suddenly fell down and died. There were no signs of struggle taking place.
It was already dark, handing the lantern to someone next to him, Zenan untied Captain Zen’s clothes, then started to meticulously inspect the body from front to back, he even pinched every joint on the body. As expected there was not a single wound, not even a broken joint on the hands.
Zenan had never believed in ghosts. Ba’re’s death was startling, he let it pass, but Captain Zen died in the exactly same fashion, which was really strange. If it was a plague like Black Death, why there were no black spots or rashes found anywhere on the body? He figured it probably had something to do with his son’s hunting trip today, he turned around and asked Penny: “The people went with you to hunt, besides Captain Zen and Ba’re, also Captain Shi and him.” Pointing a finger at Seven.
Penny nodded.
Zenan said: “You two come with me.” Then he gave order to a horse driver: “Tell Captain Shi to please come to the east wing for discussion.”
The three of them arrived at the east wing of the complex, Zenan asked his son: “What exactly happened?”
At once Penny explained how he was on his way back from hunting, having a drink at the tavern; how two Szechuan men came in and started harassing the bar girl, then the verbal confrontation; and how words escalated into punches, the man pulled his collar, asking him to kowtow; how under panic and rage, he pulled out the dagger from his boot, and killed the man; and how they buried the body in vegetable garden, gave the shop owner money, asked him to tell no one about what had happened. All that had happened in the past few hours, among other things, were divulged.
The more Zenan listened, the more the storyline diverged from his expectations. Getting into a fight and killing an outsider was, after all, not exactly the end of the world. He calmly listened for his son to finish, mulled it over for a moment, then asked: “These two men did not say which group they were affiliated with, or which clan they belonged to?”
Penny answered: “No.”
Zenan asked: “Anything strange you could tell from their speech and gesture?”
Penny answered: “I didn’t think there was anything strange, the guy named Yu …”
Before he could finish, Zenan interrupted: “The man you killed , his name was Yu?”
Penny answered: “Yes! I heard his partner call him ‘Buddy Yu’, but I didn’t know if it was spelled “YU”, or “YOO”. They spoke in an unfamiliar dialect, I wasn’t sure.”
Zenan shook his head and murmured: “No way could they be so fast. Reverend Yu just said he’ll send people over, they couldn’t have arrived so quickly, unless they were flying.”
Alarmed, Penny asked: “Dad, do you think those two men were from the Greenboro clan?”
Zenan did not respond, instead he struck a pose, and asked: “You used this moved of the ‘Heaven-Churning Fist’ on him, how did he counter?”
Penny answered: “He couldn’t dodge it, I slapped his face hard.”
Zenan chuckled and said: “Very good! Very good! Very good!” The room was originally filled with tension and fear, Zenan’s chuckle also made Penny giggle, instantly he felt much more relaxed.
Zenan further questioned: “You used this move on him, how did he then counter?” He struck another pose as he spoke.
Penny answered: “At that time I was extremely mad, and I couldn’t recall clearly, it seems I went like this, and gave him another punch on the chest.”
Zenan felt even more at ease: “Good, this move was meant to be used like that! He couldn’t even dodge such a move, no way he was a son or nephew of the world-renowned leader of the Greenboro Clan, head of the Wind Pine Temple, Reverend Yu.” He kept saying “very good”, not as approval to his son’s kungfu skills, but to feel rest assured himself. Who knows how many Yu’s in Szechuan”? This guy was killed by his son, then his kungfu must be shabby, he couldn’t anyhow be connected to the Greenboro Clan. Tapping on the table using the middle finger of his right hand,
Zenan asked: “How did he then get a hold of your collar?”
Penny gave hand gestures, trying to show his dad how he was held down and could not move.
Seven got some of his nerves back, so he chipped in: “Ba’re threw his fork at him, but the guy boot it away with a back-kick, then another back-kick sent him into in a summersault.”
Startled, Zenan asked: “He flip-kicked Ba’re, and knocked down his fork? How … how did he do it?”
Seven replied: “I think was like this.” With both hands holding on the back of a chair, his right leg kicked back, his body jumped, left leg followed with another back-kick. Those two kicks looked ridiculous, like how a horse kicks when it is getting gang-raped. Penny saw how stupid Seven looked, he could not help but laugh: “Dad, see how …” But seeing great fear on his father’s face, he could not finish the sentence.
Zenan said: “These two flip-kicks, if I am not mistaken, appears to be part of the Greenboro School’’s exclusive move - ‘Invisible Phantom Kick”. Penny, exactly how he made these two kicks?” Penny replied: “At that time my head was held down, I couldn’t see his flip-kicks.”
Zenan said: “Right, we have to ask Captain Shi.” Walking out of the room, he called out: “Has anyone see Captain Shi? Why isn’t he here already?” Two horse drivers heard his voice and came over, they told him that they could not find Captain Shi anywhere. Pacing up and down in the hallway, Zenan meditated upon the new information - If these two flip-kicks were indeed the “Invisible Phantom Kick”, then even if the guy was not directed related to Reverend Yu, he must be connected to the Greenboro Clan. Who in the world could he be? I must go take a look.
He said: “Tell Captains Cui and Ji to please come to meet me.”
Captains Cui and Ji were known for their diligence and knowledgeable, both were veterans in the business and confidants to Zenan. Soon as the two heard about Captain Zen’s death and Captain Shi disappearance, they went to wait outside the hall, ready to be summoned. Hearing Zenan’s call, they immediately walked in.
Zenan said: “We have to take care of something, Mr. Cui and Mr. Ji, Penny and Seven, come with me.”
The group of five rode out of the city on their horses, heading north. Penny rode in front to guide the way. After a little while, all had arrived in front of the tavern, they saw that the shop entrance was shut. Penny walked up to the door to knock, calling out: “Elder Sa, Elder Sa, open the door.” He knocked for a long time, but nobody answered. Captain Cui looked over at Zenan, and raised his hands to gesture a break-in. Zenan nodded, Captain Cui’s pushed with his hands, “kacha”, broke the latch. The two loose doors swung back and forth a couple of times, making creaking sound.
Soon as Captain Cui broke the door latch he pulled Penny swiftly to the side, seeing no movement inside, he stuck a match and walked in, lit the oil lamp on the table, then two more lanterns. The group made a sweep of the place. It was clear, with all the stuff still left intact.
Zenan nodded: “The old man didn’t want trouble. A man was killed here, the body buried under his garden, he didn’t want to get caught up in this, so he must’ve run away.” Walking to the vegetable garden and pointing to a hoe leaning against the wall, he said: “Seven, dig up the corpse, let’s take a look.”
Seven truly believed it was a ghost that was behind this whole mess, his shovel barely touched the ground as his hands and feet became limp, he was about to collapse.
Captain Ji scolded: “Pathetic! How the hell did you make a living in our line of work?” Taking over the shovel, he handed the lantern to Seven, and started digging himself. It didn’t take long for him to see the cloth on the corpse. After digging up more dirt, he jammed the shovel under the corpse, lifted it hard to pick up the corpse. Seven turn around as he was too afraid to watch, but he heard the other four screaming at the same time. Shocked, Seven dropped the lantern, the fire was extinguished, all of sudden pitch darkness swallowed the vegetable garden.
Penny said in a trembling voice: “We clearly buried the Szechuan guy here, how could … could …”
Zenan said: “Quickly! Light!” He had remained calm, but fear had crawled into his voice at that instant.
Captain Cui struck the match and lit the lantern, Zenan immediately bent down to inspect the corpse. After a while he said: “Again no wounds, died in the exact same way.”
Seven gathered himself and took glance at the corpse, then shrieked: “Captain Shi! Captain Shi!” The corpse was that of Captain Shi, while the Szechuan man’s body was nowhere to be seen.
Zenan said: “That old man, Sa …”
Snatching the lantern, he ran inside to resweeps the place, from the wine cellar to the kitchen, he even made a thorough pass at the furniture in the dining room, nothing was out of the ordinary. Captains Cui, Ji, and Penny all helped out. Suddenly Penny cried out: “Mmm? Hey dad, come this way!”
Following the voice, Zenan walked over, and saw his son standing in the room of the bar girl, his hand holding a green handkerchief. Penny said: “Dad, how could a poor girl have such a thing?”
Taking the handkerchief, Zenan smelled a delicate fragrance, it had creamy feel, also quite heavy, apparently it wasmade from premium silk satins. Taking a closer look, he saw the edges of the handkerchief were encircled by three rows of stiches, on one corner embroidered a small red coral reef, done in exquisite embroidery workmanship.
Zenan asked: “Where did you find it?”
Penny answered: “It fell at the corner under the bed, they might had left in a hurry, and didn’t see it as they were packing.”
Zenan bent down and shined the lantern under the bed once more. He saw nothing else there. He asked softly: “You said the wine girl was quite ugly, I assume she wasn’t dressed in luxury, but her clothes were very neat, right?”
Penny answered: “I didn’t pay much attention at the time, but they couldn’t have been dirty, or I would’ve noticed as she was serving us.”
Zenan turned to Captain Cui: “Brother Cui, what do think?”
Captain Cui answered: “I think the old man and the young girl must have something to do with the deaths of Captains Shi, Zen and Ba’re, they could even be the perpetrators.”
Captain Ji followed: “Those two Szechuan guys were likely in the same camp, or why would they remove his corpse?” Penny said: “That man Yu was clearly harassing the girl, or I wouldn’t have fought him, they couldn’t have been together.”
Captain Cui said: “Junior Chief, you are too trusting, there are bad people out there. They often set up snares to trap people. -Two of them can pretend to fight, so an innocent bystander could be lured in to mediate, and then those two would gang up on the mediator. It happens all the time.”
Captain Ji asked: “Chief, what do you think?”
Zenan said: “The old man and the girl, for sure they came for us, only I don’t know if they had something to do with those two guys from Szechuan.
Penny suddenly said: “Dad, you said Wind Pine Temple’s Reverend Yu sent four people, weren’t they… weren’t they four people?”
Penny’s words struck a chord in Zenan’s mind, dazed momentarily, he then muttered: “Safeway Security had always been respectful to the Greenboro Clan, we had never rubbed them the wrong way. Reverend Yu sent people to find trouble with us, why?”
The four of them glances one another, none could speak for a while. After a long pause, Zenan said: “Let’s move Captain’s Shi’s body inside first. When we get back, nobody talk about this, especially the authorities can’t get involved or we’d be in trouble. I had always treat people with courtesy, and had never wanted to offend friends, but I am no coward who will never fight back.”
Captain Ji raised his voice: “Chief, ‘One trains an army to use it in moments of need’. Let’s unite and fight back, we won’t let our agency’s name to be tarnished.”
Zenan nodded: “Thank you! You are right.”
The five of them rode back into town. As they approached the compound, from far away they saw many torches lighting up the entrance to the building, where many people had gathered. Zenan’s heart skipped a beat, he hurried ahead. Several people called out: “The Chief is back!” Zenan jumped off the horse, and was greeted by the livid face of his wife Madam Wang, who said to him: “You see this? My! They are taking it out on our house!”
On the ground lay two poles, on them were the same banners that stood in front of the gate, snapped off by someone and was thrown to the ground. The surface of the cuts was smooth, indicating that they were slit by a razor-sharp saber or sword.
Not carrying any weapon herself, Madam Wang drew the sword from the sheath hung on her husband’s waist, “szz szz”, she sliced off the two banners along the poles, rolled them into a ball, and walked inside. Zenan ordered: “Captain Cui, cut both poles down! They want war? We’ll give them war!”
Captain Cui complied: “Yes sir!”
Captain Ji cursed: “These people have no guts, they waited for the Chief to leave, then sneakily did their dirty business.”
Zenan beckoned to his son, the two went in. Captain Ji was still crying out things like “Damn cowards, dirty weaklings …”
Father and son came to the east wing, they saw that Madam Wang had unfurled both banners on top of two tables. On the one that had an embroidered yellow lion, both of its eyes were cut out, leaving two empty holes; As for the other banner, the characters “Safeway” were removed, leaving behind only the characters “Security”.
Zenan finally lost control of himself, he slammed down hard on the rosewood table in front of him, “kacha!” the impact shattered the table into two pieces.
Penny said with a quivering voice: “Dad, it … it was all my fault, I am so sorry!”
Zenan raised his voice: “So what if you killed him? If it was me who saw him, he’d be dead, too!”
Perplexed, Madam Wang asked: “What are you talking about?”
Zenan said: “Penny, tell your mom what happened.”
So Penny again described, this time to his mother, the whole ordeal of him killing the Szechuan man earlier during the day, and also of discovering Captain Shi’s body behind that same tavern.
Madam Wang had long been aware of the sudden deaths of Ba’re and Captain Zen, after hearing that Captain Shi also suffered a bizarre death, instead of being shocked, she was furious. Hitting table, she got up and said: “Husband, they can’t bully Safeway Security like this? Let’s get people together, we’ll all go to Szechuan to settle this with the Greenboro Clan. Let’s get my dad, my brothers and his fellow apprentices.” Madam Wang had had a hot temper since she was a child. Before getting married, she often pulled out her weapons to start street fights; her family, the Golden Saber Clan, enjoyed great influence in the city of Lo’yang, everyone there put up with her for the sake of her father - the “Invincible Golden Saber” Tyran Wang. Now that Madam Wang’s son had grown up to a young adult, but her own temperament hadn’t changed a bit.
Zenan said: “We are not so sure who is the enemy yet, it might not be the Greenboro Clan. My thinking is that they won’t stop after only cutting down two flag poles and snuffing out a couple security guards …”
Madam Wang interrupted: “What more do they want?”
Zenan took a look at his son and Madam Wang understood immediately, her heart started to thump hard, her face turned white as a sheet.
Penny said: “I caused all these. I’m the one who struck the chords, I’ll be the one facing the music. Your son is … He is not scared.” Despite his words, his quivering voice revealed just how frightened he was inside.
Madam Wong said: “Nonsense! They’ll have to go through me first! The “Safeway Security” banner of our family had stood for three generations, it was never tarnished even once.” Turing to her husband, she said: “If we don’t fight back this time, we might as well retire.” Zenan concurred: “I’m sending people to search around town, to see if there are strange faces; I’ll also add more people to guard the interior of the compound. Wait for me here with Penny, make sure he doesn’t wonder around.”
Madam Wang replied: “Yes, I know.” The couple tacitly understood each other - the enemy’s next target would be their son, they were in the open while the enemy was hidden, should Penny take a few steps outside of the compound, he would be dead in no time.
Zenan went into the hall, he gathered all the security guards, and then dispatched them to searches and reconnaissance. All the guards had long gotten the news of someone cutting down Safeway Security’ banners, it was a big slap across everybody’s face. United by a common foe, all were prepared for battle by sharpening their weapons, ready to go.
Seeing unity in the agency gave Zenan some comfort, he returned to the inner hall and asked his son: “Penny, your mother is not feeling well these days, the enemy is close by, why don’t you sleep in the couch outside of our room for a few nights, you’ll keep your mother safe.”
Madam Wang chuckled: “Ha! HIM keeping ME safe …?” She stopped in mid-sentence as she suddenly realized - her husband only pretended to have their son protecting her, in reality, having the son close by, he would be easily protected by them. This baby son of theirs was hot-tempered, if he knew that he was seeking shelter under his parents’ protection, he might do something extremely stupid and dangerous, like going out alone to confront the enemy. So she changed her earlier remark: “Your dad’s right, Penny, mommy’s arthritis has been acting up lately, my limbs are all numb and soft, your dad is taking care of the strategic stuff, he can’t spend time with me all day long, if the enemies attack the inner quarters, I won’t be able to fend them off.” Penny said: “No problem, I’ll stay with mom.”
That night Penny slept on the couch outside of his parents’ room. Zenan and his wife left their door ajar. Keeping their weapons next to the pillow, they went to bed fully dressed, only covered themselves with a thin blanket, so in case any threats arose they could respond quickly.
Nothing happened that night.
The next morning at daybreak, somebody softly called from outside the window: “Junior Chief, Junior Chief!”
Penny tossed and turned on the couch for half of the night, he did not fall into deep sleep until dawn, did not wake up when the man called. Zenan asked: “What’s wrong?”
The man outside replied: “Junior Chief’s horse … the horse is dead.”
Penny was very fond of his white stallion, soon as the stableman in charge of the horse saw that it had died, he ran to report the incident. Faintly hearing the bad news, Penny turned over at once and then sat up, quickly he asked: “I’ll go take a look.”
Knowing that something was wrong, Zenan quickly walked alongside him to the stable, and saw the white stallion stretched out on the ground. It had long been died, but no wounds could be seen anywhere on its carcass.
Zenan asked: “Did anyone hear the horse making noises last night?”
The stableman replied: “No sir.”
Zenan took his son’s hand to console him: “It’s OK, son. I’ll have someone buy another horse for you.”
Caressing the horse’s carcass, Penny could not help but started weeping. All of a sudden Seven, the horse driver, ran in as if his pants were caught on fire, yelling with exasperation: “Oh no! Chi … Chief! Oh no! The guards … the guards, the evil ogre got them, too!”
Zenan and Penny both asked in shock: “What?”
Seven kept saying: “Dead, all dead!”
“What’s all dead?” While asking, Penny grabed Seven’s chest and shook him Seven stammered: “Junior … Junior Chief … dead.”
Zenan heard him say “Junior Chief dead”, such inauspicious words sickened him, but scolding Seven for it surly would make the association appear more palpable.
Noises came from outside, one was saying: “Where is the Chief? Hurry up and tell him!”
Another said: “This evil ogre is so powerful, what … what should we do?”
Zenan bellowed: “I am here, what’s going on?”
Two security guards and three horse drivers heard him and came over. One of the guards said: “Chief, of all the people we sent out last night, none had come back.”
Zenan overheard the previous exchange, he knew someone must had died, but last night he sent out a total of twenty-three security guards and horse drivers, how could they be completely annihilated? He quickly asked: “Did someone die? Maybe they are still searching and not back yet.”
The guard shook his head and said: “We’ve already found seventeen bodies …”
Zenan and Penny both shouted in disbelief: “Seventeen bodies?”
The guard’s expression was full of fear, replied: “Yes, seventeen, among them were Captain Fu, Captain Chan, and Captain Wu. All bodies are in the hall.”
Without a word Zenan marched towards the hall, when he arrived, he saw that all the tables and chairs in the hall were moved aside, leaving space in the middle for the seventeen dead bodies, all tangled up on the floor.
Even though Zenan had seen many horrors before in his life, he had never imagined himself witnessing anything like this, his two hands trembled violently, his kneecaps weakened, they almost could not support up his upper body, he murmured: “What … What… What …” His throat was parched and could not make out any sound.
Then he heard a sigh coming from outside: “Gosh! Captain Gao was such a nice person, I can’t believe the evil ogre got to him, too.” Zenan saw four or five neighbors coming in, carrying with them a board with a corpse lying on top.
A middle-aged man in front said: “This morning when I opened my shop, I saw this man lying on the street, I recognized he was a security guard of your agency, my guess was that he caught the plague, or he was possessed, so we brought him over.”
Zenan bowed with his hands held in front, and said: “Thank you so much, thank you so much.” Then he spoke to a horse driver: “Give three teals of silver to every one of the nice neighbors, go get it from the bookkeeper.”
Seeing a roomful of corpses, the neighbors were too scared to stay long, they thanked Zenan and left in a hurry. Shortly after that, another neighbor delivered three more bodies. Doing the headcount, Zenan sent out twenty-three men last night, by then twenty-two corpses turned up, only Captain Zee’s body was missing, which was expected to arrive at any moment.
Zenan returned to the east wing, he gulped down a cup of warm tea. Utterly confused, he had a tough time calming himself down; he walked out of the door, saw the two flag poles were cut down, and felt even pain. Up to this point, the enemy had slaughtered over twenty of his people, yet they had not revealed themselves even a bit, nor ha d they offered an official challenge. Zenan turned around, he stared for a long while at the plaque above the entrance, with the golden characters “Safeway Security” etched in it, and thought: “The words on this plaque have been shining for decades, who could’ve known that I’ll be the one to snuff it out.”
Then he heard hoofing sounds coming from the streets, a horse leisurely strolled by, with a man lying on its back. Zenan ran to it. As expected, he saw a corpse lying on the horseback. It was Captain Zee. Apparently someone first killed him on the way, then placed his body on the back of the horse, the horse knew the way home, so it came back by itself.
Zenan let out a long sigh, tears started rolling down his cheeks and fell on Captain Zee. Carrying the body body, he walked into the hall, said: “Brother Zee, I promise I will avenge for you, only if … only if … oh, you died so quickly, and couldn’t tell us who the enemy is …” Captain Zee was not anyone who stood out in the agency, neither was he a closer confidant to Zenan than the other security guards, however with emotions welling up inside, Zenan could no longer hold back his tears. Those tears were really those of anger than pain.
Madam Wang stood in front of hall’s entrance, her left hand holding a gold saber, her right hand pointing at the patio, she screamed from the top of her lung: “Worthless cowards, you people only know how to stub from behind, if you have any guts, come in like a man and fight me to the death. Instead you thugs sneak around like rats and do this dirty business, shame on you cowards.”
Laying Captain Zee’s body onto the ground, Zenan asked his wife in a whisper: “Honey, saw something?”
Madam Wang shouted: “It’s because I saw nothing. These cowards, they must be afraid of the seventy-two moves of our family’s ‘Spirit-Exorcising Sword Art.’” Holding the hilt of the golden saber with her right hand, she cut a circle in the air and then shouted: “They’re fear my golden saber!”
Suddenly they heard snickers coming from the corner of the roof, then they heard a hiss, as a projectile shot down towards her, “dong!” it struck the surface of the golden saber. Madam Wang’s arm went numb, she no longer could hold on to her weapon, and had to drop it on the ground. The
remaining force sent the saber rolling all the way to the patio.
Letting out a holler, with a flash of light, Zenan had drew the sword in his hand. Flexing both legs, he jumped on the roof, followed with a move “Flouncing the Malevolence”, the tip of his blade dispersed outwardly like a blossoming flower, at once it flew towards the roof corner that was source of the projectile. Not holding back, he put everything he had into this hit, except that it struck nothing but air. That roof corner was as empty as an echo, no trace of enemy was found. He stooped down and jumped to the roof on the east corner, still no sign of the enemy.
Carrying their weapons, both Madam Wang and Penny Lin jumped on the roof for backup. Madam shouted while furiously kicking her feet: “Cowards! Instead of sneaking around like a thief, come out and fight me to death! Which dirty place did you crawl out from?” She kept asking her husband: “Which way did the cowards run? What did they look like?”
Zenan shook his head, lowered his voice and said: “Don’t alarm the others.”
All three of them made another pass on the rooftop, then jumped back down into the patio. Zenan whispered: “What hit your golden saber?”
Madam Wang cussed: “Those bastards! I don’t know!”
Three of them searched around, they could not find anything that resembled a hidden weapon, only under the oak tree, they saw countless tiny pieces of brick, scattered everywhere on the ground. Apparently the enemy used a small piece of brick to knock down Madam Wang’s saber, which was truly frightening considering how much force a little piece of brick needed to generate to do that.
Not that long ago Madam Wang was rejoicing in her monologue of “Dirty cowards”, and “scumbags”, among other things. But after seeing the brick pulverized into tiny pieces, her anger was transformed into fear. Momentarily stunned, she walked into her room without a word, waited for her husband and son to follow her in, she immediately shut the door, then whispered: “The enemy is too strong, we are no match, what should we do?”
Zenan said: “We ask friends for help. In the martial world, people help one another in times of need, it happens all the time.”
Madam Wang said: “We have plenty of close friends, but none is more skilled in kungku than you and I. Those worse than us won’t be any help.”
Zenan said: “You are right, but more heads together mean more ideas, we can get some friends here to think things over, it won’t hurt.”
Madam Wang said: “All right, then whom should we invite?”
Zenan said: “We first reach out to the ones close by. I’ll transfer the best people from the branches in Hangzhou, Nanchang and Guangzhou; then we invite our martial arts colleagues living in the other five provinces.”
Pucking her brows, Madam Wang said: “If we ask for help like this, once the news gets out, it’ll embarrass the Safeway name.”
Out of the blue, Zenan asked: “My beautiful wife, you’re turning thirty-nine this year, am I right?”
Sputtering her lips, Madam Wang was apparently offended: “Gosh! You’re asking for my age now? I was born in the year of the Tiger, don’t you know how old I am?”
Zenan said: “On the invitations I send out will say we’re having your fortieth birthday celebration …”
Madam Wang interjected: “Why add a year to my age for no reason? Am I not old enough for you?”
Shaking his head, Zenan said: “Who said you are old? You don’t have a single grey hair yet. In the name of celebrating your birthday, we can invite friends and relatives over without rousing any suspicion. When the guests arrive, we pick a few close ones and privately inform them the situation, it won’t be embarrassing at all to the agency.”
Madam Wang tilted her head and thought for a moment, said: “Ok, we do it your way. Now what do I get in return?”
Zenan whispered in her ear: “A big present – next year we’ll make another baby!”
Spitting her tongue, Madam Wang’s face turned red, she said: “You old dirty mutt, I can’t believe you are still in the mood to joke around.”
Zenan chuckled, then he the room and walked to the accountant’s office, where he would start preparing the invitations. Deep down inside he was quite anxious himself, his little jokes meant nothing more than his feeble efforts to ease her wife’s fear. Zenan thought to himself: “As the saying goes, ‘seeing a mirage in the desert can’t save a man dying of thirst’, most likely before dawn breaks, something else will go down, when all our friends get here, will there even be any Safeway Security left?”
He arrived at the entrance to the bookkeeper’s office. Two servants, appearing extremely horrified, came up to him and said in a quivering voice: “Chi … Chief … It’s … It’s just terrible!”
Zenan asked: “What’s wrong?”
One of the servants answered: “Just now the bookkeeper asked Lin Fu to go buy some coffins, he … he … right after he turned the corner on East Lane, he suddenly fell down and died.”
Zenan said: “What? Where is he?”
The servant replied: “He’s still lying on the street”.
Zenan said: “Ten go and bring back his body.” He thought: “The enemy had the audacity to strike in broad daylight, in the middle of busy streets!”
The two servants answered: “Yes sir … yes sir …” but would not budge.
Zenan said: “What’s wrong?”
A servant said: “Please … please … Chief, go see …”
Zenan knew that there was more to the story. Giving a snuffle, he walked towards the main entrance, there he saw three security guards and five horse drivers looking out from inside the gate, their faces were white as sheets, all were extremely horrified.
Zenan asked: “What’s wrong?” Before anyone could answer, he saw it himself. On the granite slate outside the entrance, six words were written in fresh dripping blood: “Anyone taking ten steps out – DIES!” On the ground about ten steps from the gate, a two-inche wide line was drawn in blood.
Zenan asked: “Did anyone see when this was written?”
A security guard answered: “Just now as we heard about Lin Fu’s death, everyone rushed over there to see, leaving the entrance unguarded, hence nobody saw who wrote this. It could be a prank!”
In a loud and clear voice,Zenan spoke: “Yours Truly here can’t wait to die and go to heaven, I would like to meet the one who’ll help me!” He then marched out of the door.
Two security guards cried out at the same time: “Chief! Wait!”
Waving his hand at those two guards, Zenan’s feet had already crossed the red line. He examined the words and the line, all were drawn in blood and still not dry. Using his feet, he smudged the six words written in blood, he then returned to the inside, said to the three security guards: “It was just a bluff, ignore it! You three brothers, please go pay a visit to the funeral home, then go to the Serenity Temple on the west side, invite some monks to come and give a few days of service, they’ll redeem the lost souls from purgatory, and drive out the plague.”
Seeing their boss crossing the red line and was OK, the three guards complie. They straightened their weapons, and then together side by side they walked out of the door. Zenan watch them until they crossed the red line and turned the corner, he waited a little longer, then came back in.
He walked into the bookkeeping room, said to Huang the bookkeeper: “Dr. Huang, please write some invitations for Madam Wang’s birthday celebration, we’d like to invite friends and family over for a toast.”
Dr. Huang said: “Yes sir, for which day?”
Before Zenan could answer they heard quick footsteps from outside, Zenan stuck his head out and heard a bang – someone fell on the ground. Zenan ran out, he saw Captain Dee, one of the three men he sent out earlier to the funeral home, his body still twisting.
Zenan helped him get up on his feet, he asked him hastily: “Brother Dee, what happened?”
Captain Dee said: “All dead, I … I escaped.”
Zenan said: “Who’s the enemy?”
Captain Dee struggled: “I … I didn’t … couldn’t …” He twitched for a while, and then stopped breathing.
Within moments, everyone in the agency had gotten the news. Madam Wang and Penny came out from the inner quarters, all they heard were the
six words whispered by everyone: “Anyone taking ten steps out – DIES!”
Zenan said: “I’ll go get the bodies of the other two men.”
Bookkeeper Huang shouted: Chief Lin, don’t go. Let money do the work! (or ‘the prospect of money makes people do stupid things’). Whoever … whoever brings back the bodies gets thirty teals of silver.”
He repeated himself two more times, but there were no volunteers.
Madam Wang suddenly screamed: “Huh? Where is Penny? Penny, Penny!” Her last cry sounded extremely worried. Everybody started calling out: “Junior Chief, Junior Chief!”
Suddenly Penny’s voice came from outside: “I’m here!”
Overjoyed, everyone rushed to the entrance to see Penny’s tall figure turning from the street corner. He carried a body on each shoulder; they were of course the two captains who had just died.
Zenan and Madam Wang leapt towards him, carrying their weapons, they passed the red line to escorted Penny back. The guards and drivers all applauded: “What bravery at such young age! Bravo!” Zenan and Madam Wang were also very proud. Madam Wang complained: “Sweetie, you have such a hot head! Those two men were good friends, but they are gone, why take the risk?”
Penny gave a wry smile, he felt horrible inside: “Because of me, so many had died. If I remain a spineless coward, I won’t be able to call myself a man.”
All of a sudden someone cried out from the back hall: “Why? The chef die, too?”
Zenan shouted: “What?”
The housekeeper was white as a sheet, he timidly approach Zenan, and said: “Sir, Chef Hua went out the backdoor to for groceries, he died beyond ten steps. These six blood words were also … also in the back.”
Hua was the agency’s cook. His favorite dishes, like Peking Duck, Mooshi Chicken, Dim Sum, and Wonton, were famous in Fuzhou. He was one of the Zenan’s resources for entertaining the local elites.
Zenan’s heart skipped beat, he pondered the implications of this new even: Chef Hua was only a lowly cook, he was not a security guard or a horse driver. The rule of the engagement in Jianghu is that, in an armed robbery, all drivers, porters and chauffeurs will be left unharmed. His enemy acted with such ruthlessness, could their intention be the extermination of the whole Safeway Security?”
Speaking to all Zenan said: “Everyone stay calm! These thugs only stab people from behind. You all saw how three of us just walked ten steps beyond the gate, did the thugs dare to do anything?”
Everyone in the compound acquiesced, but since that time nobody ventured to take another step out of the door. Tormented by the situation, both Zenan and Madam Wang began to run out of ideas.
That night Zenan made patrolling arrangements, but as he was walking around, he actually saw a dozen or so guards sitting in a circle in the hall, and no one was guarding outside. When they saw the Chief, feeling embarrassed, they all stood up, still no one moved their feet. Zenan knew how formidable the enemy must appear to those people, so many had died, he himself was at a loss of what to do, he could not blame those people for being scared. So he gave them some encouraging words, then he asked the servants to bring out some wine and food, which he shared with the people in the hall. Everyone was anxious, so they drank in silence and no one talked much. It was not long before a few people passed out from the wine.
The next afternoon, they suddenly heard hoofing sound, several horses charged out of the compound. Zenan went over to check it out. It turned out that five of the guards could not endure the situation any longer, instead they deserted the rest of the group.
Shaking his head, Zenan sighed: “Nobody wants to be on a sinking ship. I can’t keep all my brothers safe, if anyone else wants to leave, I’ll understand.” Some of the remaining guards criticized those five for having no loyalty; yet others remained quiet and thought to themselves: “Why didn’t I leave, too?”
When evening came, the five horses came back carrying five corpses. Those five guards wished to run away from fate, except that fate caught up to them first.
Filled with anger and sadness, Penny carried his sword and ran out, standing three paces outside the red line, he spoke in a loud and clear voice: “A man answers to his actions. That Szechuan guy, Yu, I’m the one who killed him, nobody else had anything to do with it. If you want blood, take it from of me - Penny Lin. Leave the others alone. Come and cut me into pieces, only cowards keep killing innocent people. I, Penny Lin is here, I dare you to come out! If you don’t come out, you’re all bunch of gutless pieces of shit!” He screamed louder and louder, he unbuttoned to expose his chest, beat against it as he screamed: “A real man is here, I’m not afraid to die, come to rip me open, I dare you to come and rip me open, I double dare you! A bunch of chickens!”
His eyes bloodshot, Penny kept screaming and beating against his cheat, the pedestrians watched from afar, none dared to come close. Zenan and his wife heard their son’s screams, both ran out of the door. For the past few days those two had just about enough, both were fill to the brim with anger and were ready to explode, hearing Penny challenging the enemy in such way, they both joined in the cussing session.
The guards stared at one another, all were impressed by the courage shown by those three, all thought: “The Chief is a brave man, Madam is also a cougar, such bravery is expected from those two. But Junior Chief looks like a girl, how could he be so fearless? Truly impressive!”
The three of them screamed for a long time, still no one showed up. Penny shouted: “What ‘Die after ten steps’, bullshit! I’ll take more steps just to spite you.” With that he walked out a few more steps. Standing still with a sword in hand, Penny contemptuously looked around into the empty distance.
Madam Wang said: “OK, enough, these cowards only pick on the weak, they don’t have the balls to touch my son.” Taking Penny’s hands, they returned inside. Still shaken with fury, Penny finally lost it after they returned to the bedroom, he fell on the couch and started crying. Zenan caressed his hair, said: “My son, by showing great courage, you had brought honor for our family. But it was the enemy didn’t dare to show themselves, what more could we do? Now take a rest.”
After a while, Penny stopped crying and slowly dozed off.
After dinner, Penny overhead his parents whispering to each other, discussing that some guards were being imaginative, by planning to dig a tunnel out from the backyard. Those people probably thought that their chances of survival were next to nothing if they stay trapped in the compound.
Madam Wang sneered: “They can dig all day, I’m afraid that … that … Never mind!” both Zenan and Penny knew what she meant to say, that these people might suffer the same fate as the five who died earlier.
Zenan mumbled: “I’ll go check it out, if it’s feasible, maybe they can all get out.”
He went out but returned shortly after, said: “Those people were all talking, no action.”
That night the three of them went to sleep early. Nobody patrolled as everyone in the compound seemed to have surrendered his life to the unknown. Penny slept until midnight, suddenly he felt a light tap on his shoulder, he jumped up at once. As he was reaching for the sword under the pillow, he heard his mother’s voice: “Penny, it’s me. Your dad went out for a long time and is not back, let’s go look for him.”
Penny was shocked: “Where did dad go?”
Madam Wang replied: “I don’t know.”
The two carried their weapons and came out of the room. First they checked the main hall. The place was brightly lit with candles, a dozen or so security guards sat on the floor throwing dice. For days people had been living with their hearts in their throats, feeling helpless, they figured why not enjoy themselves, perhaps for one last time. Madam Wang made a gesture, they turned around and left.
The mother and son looked everywhere without finding any trace of Zenan. The two became more and more concerned, but they kept it to themselves. Everyone in the compound was scared enough, if they hear that the Chief is missing, it would be chaos beyond control.
The two searched to the back of the complex, Penny suddenly heard a faint “ka”, from the armory on his left. There were also lights coming from inside. He ran over there, poked a hole through the window’s paper pane. Peeking inside, he shouted in happiness: “Dad, you’re here!”
Initially Zenan was facing inside with his body bent forward; hearing Penny’s voice, he slowly turned around. Penny saw the most horrifying look on his father’s face. Stunned, the joy he first felt suddenly disappeared. He opened his mouth wide, but nothing could come out.
Pushing open the door, Madam Wang dashed in. She saw that the ground was covered with blood. On top of a wooden board lay a fully naked man, his chest cavity was pried open. Looking at the face of the corpse, she recognized him to be Captain Zhu, who along with four others deserted earlier today. His horse carried the corpse back.
Penny also entered the armory and locked the door. Zenan took a bloody heart out of the body’s chest, said: “His heart was broken into a dozen pieces, it really was … was …” Madam Wang finished his sentence: “Greenboro’s ‘Heart-Breaker Attack’!”
Zenan nodded, he was speechless.
Penny finally understood. His father was performing autopsy on the dead bodies, to see for himself the real causes of their deaths.
Zenan put the heart back, wrapped the corpse with an oilcloth, tossed it aside, then wiped his hands clean. Leading his wife and son back to the
bedroom, Zenan said: “The enemy was indeed an elite fighter of the Greenboro Clan. Honey what do you think we should do?”
Penny was indignant: “Your son caused the whole mess, tomorrow I’ll go out again to challenge, then fight them to death. If I lose then he kills me, so be it.”
Zenan shook his head, said: “This man’s single blow can shatter a heart into pieces, yet leaving no traces of injury to the surface of the body, even in the Greenboro Clan, his martial arts must be ranked among the top few. If he wanted you dead, you would’ve been dead long ago. My guess is the enemy is too cold-blooded to kill us at once.”
Penny asked: “Then what does he want?”
Zenan said: “The scumbag is toying with us, like how a cat toys with mice, he wants to fully enjoy himself by scaring the mice to death, or he won’t feel gratified.”
Penny was furious: “Damn it. This scumbag treats Safeway Security like a rat-hole!”
Zenan concurred: “Indeed he treatings Safeway Security like a rat-hole.”
Penny said: “Maybe he is scared of dad’s seventy-two moves of “Spirit-Exorcising Sword Art”, else why was he too scared to show himself, and instead hide in the corner, waiting to stab people behind their backs?”
Zenan shook his head and said: “Penny, against everyday thugs, your dad’s “Spirit-Exorcising Sword Art” would be more than enough, but this man’s “Heart-Breaker” kungfu really far surpasses your dad’s. I … I used to never capitulate to people, but after seeing that heart of Captain Zhu, I … I ...” he let out a long sigh.
Penny saw the look of dejection in his father eyes, which was very different from how he normally was. Penny dared not to speak anymore.
Madam Wang said: “Knowing how powerful the enemy is, a smart man knows when to fight and when to hide. Let’s hide from him for the time being.”
Zenan nodded in agreement: “My thought exactly.”
Madam Wang said: “Let’s leave for Lo’yang tonight. Fortunately we already know whom we’re up against, as the saying goes - ‘paybacks don’t
have expiration dates.’”
Zenan agreed: “Right! My father-in-law has all the connections, sure he can help us. Gather up some valuables, we leave tonight.”
Penny said: “Once we are gone, who will take care of all these people in the compound?”
Zenan said: “The enemy has no beef with those people, once we leave, they’ll all be left alone.”
Penny thought: “Dad’s right. So many were killed all because of me. Once I leave, sure the enemy will stop harassing the security guards and horse drivers.” At once he went back to his room to pack. Thinking that the enemy might burn the building down, he looked over his clothes and toys piece-by-piece, reluctant to leave any behind. At the end he packed two large bundles of stuff, and still felt that he had left too many goodies behind. So his left hand grabbed a jade horse from the table, while his right hand reached to snatch a pelt, something he personally peeled from a cougar that he hunt down. Carrying both bags, he went back to his parents’ room.
Madam Wang could not help but to laugh, she said: “We are escaping as fugitives, not moving our house, why bring all these stuff?”
Shaking his head, Zenan sighed and thought to himself: “Though we are a martial family, but our son has been so pampered since childhood that, besides knowing some kungfu, he really is no different from any other rich kids. Today calamity suddenly befell on the family, we all have to make adjustments, it wasn’t his fault.” Zenan could not help but to feel a surge of fatherly love inside him, then he said: “Your grandfather’s place has everything, no need to bring too much. We should bring only gold and silver coins, maybe some valuable jewelries. On the way we’ll pass through our regional headquarters in Jiangxi, Hunan and Hubei, we won’t be starving. So travel light. The less one carries, the faster he’ll be in a fight.”
Penny had no choice but to put down the bags. Madam Wang said: “Do we go out from the front gate, or sneak out from the backdoor?”
Zenan sat in the armchair, with his eyes shut he puffed hard on the water pipe. After a moment he opened his eyes, said: “Penny, go tell everyone in the agency to pack their bags, we’ll all leave tomorrow at dawn. Ask the bookkeeper to give out money to everyone, and then tell them to return after the plague is gone.”
Penny replied: “Yes, dad!”
Perplexed, he wondered why his father had changed his mind.
Madam Wang said: “You want people to leave together? Who will look after the agency?”
Zenan said: “No need to look after a haunted place? Besides, soon as three of us leave, everyone else will follow.”
Penny went out to inform everyone. Within moments, panics had set in within the compound.
Zenan waited for his son to leave, then he said to his wife: “Honey, Penny and I will be changing into horse drivers’ clothes, you can dress up as a servant. At dawn more than a hundred people run out at the same time, I don’t care how good the enemy is, they can’t be more a few people, how will he know which one to follow?”
Madam Wang applauded: “Great idea!” She went out, then brought back two sets of dirty clothes that belonged to horse drivers. She waited for Penny to come back, then she gave the clothes to her husband and son. She also changed into a green dress herself, with a blue bandana wrapped on the head. Except for the fairness of her fair skin, she looked just like a woman servant.
As the unbearable stench coming from those clothes reached Penny’s nostrils, he was overwhelmed by an attack of disgust, but he had no choice except to put them on.
At dawn Zenan ordered the front gate to open, he said to his people: “It hasn’t been my year, this place is plagued by disease and death, we have no other choice but to get away for a while. For the brothers who still want to be in the security escort business, please go to Hangzhou and Nanchang to visit our respective Zhejiang and Jiangxi subdivisions, Captains Lu and Yi there will take good care of you. Now let’s all go!”
Right away in the courtyard more than a hundred people mounted their horses, they gushed out of the front gate together. Zenan locked the gate, with a shout, he led a dozen riders and cross the red line. Being in a large crowd made people less nervous, all knew that the sooner they leave the place, the better. Leading the way, the dozen riders headed towards the north gate of the town; the rest of them had no plan, seeing everyone else heading north, they also followed behind.
As the crowd turned the corner of the street, Zenan gestured to have his wife and son to slow down, he whispered to them: “Let all of them go north, we’ll head south.”
Madam Wang was puzzled: “We are going to Lo’yang, why go south?”
Zenan said: “The enemy thinks that we must be heading for Lo’yang, they’re probably waiting near the north gate ready to intercept us; instead we head south, first we make a huge detour and then head north, let those scumbags intercept nothing but air.”
Penny said: “Dad!”
Zenan replied: “Yes?”
Penny was quite for a moment, then he said again: “Dad!”
Madam said: “What’s on your mind? Let’s hear it.”
Penny said: “I still think we should leave from the north gate, the enemy killed so many of our people, if we don’t confront them now, we’ll never live with ourselves?”
Madam Wang said: “We’ll sure seek revenge for what happened, but with your kungfu, do you think you’ll be able to take on their “Heart-Breaker”
attacks?”
Penny said in spite: “At most I’ll be like Captain Zhu, and have them shatter my heart into pieces, so what?”
Zenan’s face darkened, he said in fury: “For three generations of our family, if everyone acted as stupid and arrogant as you, Safeway Security wouldn’t need other people to destroy it, it would be wiped out from within a long time ago.”
Penny dared not to say more, he followed his parents traveling south. Upon exiting the city wall, they turned to southwest, crossed Ming River, and arrived at South Islet. They rode nonstop for half a day, without give the horses a rest. It was not until past noon when they decided to take a break in a pub on the side of the road. Zenan ordered the server to bring out whatever food they had ready, the quicker the better. The man complied, then he went to prepare food. Not seeing the server return for a long time, Zenan became impatient and called out: “Waiter, how much longer?”
Nobody responded.
Madam Wang also called out: “Hello? Anybody there?”
Still no answer.
Madam Wang abruptly got up, opened her bundle and took out her golden saber, with its blade facing the ground, she ran into the kitchen, and saw the server lying on the ground. A woman was leaning against the doorsill, she was the man’s wife. Putting her finger under the man’s nostrils, she could not sense him breathing; she touched his lips, they were still warm.
By that time both Zenan and Penny had drawn their swords. They made a sweep in and around the pub. It was a lone shop built next to a hill, there were only pine trees behind, with no other buildings close by.
Holding the sword in front of him, Zenan said in a loud and clear voice: “Friends of the Greenboro Clan, my family is here, please show yourselves.” He cried out several times, only to hear his own voice “show yourselves, show yourselves” bouncing back from the valley. The echo lingered, but there were no other sounds.
The three of them knew they had been surrounded, that the enemy had picked this place for the final showdown. Although they felt the butterflies in their stomachs, but knowing everything will be over soon helped them to traded in their fears for composure.
Penny shouted: “Penny Lin is here, come and kill me! Stinky bandits, cowards, I knew you’re too chicken to show yourselves. Sneaking around like rats, you’re all a bunch of losers!”
Suddenly long and clear laughter arose from the bamboo thickets, after a bright flash, a man dressed in white had appeared in front of Penny. With no time for a closer look, Penny stuck out his sword, a move “Straight to Heart”, he lunged towards the man’s chest. The man sidestepped to dodge. Penny quickly tilted the blade and slashed down, with a sneer, the man circled around to Penny’s left. Penny struck out with the back of his left hand, followed by retracting the sword and swinging it to same direction.
Zenan and Madam Wang both carrying their weapons, ready to jump in. They saw their son attacking with a combination of moves, his swordplay measured and deliberate, he was not at all fazed by such a dangerous enemy, therefore both Zenan and Madam Wang took two steps back. They observed that the enemy was dressed in green, a sword hung on his waist; he had an elongated face, is in his early twenties. The man’s face showed utter contempt at his opponent.
Penny had let anger and frustration store up in him for some time. Deploying the Spirit-Exorcising Sword Art fully, with each lunge and slash, he exerted the utmost power as if having no concern for his own safety. The other man did not draw his sword, nor did he attack, and instead only sidestepped.
After Penny had thrown out about twenty blows, his opponent mocked: “’Spirit-Exorcising Sword Art’, haha, what a joke!” He then flicked his finger, “dang!” as Penny felt the dorsal of his palm shook violently, he could no longer hold on to his sword but let it fall onto the ground. Then with a drop kick from the man, Penny was sent into a series of summersaults and landed face down. Standing shoulder to shoulder, Zenan and his wife stood in front of Penny. Zenan said: “What is your name, sir? Are you of the Greenboro Clan?”
The man sneered: “With your lousy kungfu, you don’t deserve to know my name. But since I am here for revenge, I should let you know who I am. You are right! Your daddy here IS from Greenboro. “
His sword pointing at the ground, Zenan gave a slight bow, said: “I have tremendous admiration for Reverend Yu of the Wind Pine Temple, every year I send gifts to Greenboro, and never missed an opportunity to pay him our respect. This year Reverend Yu was even about to send four apprentices to Fuzhou. So please, tell us, how we have offended your excellency?”
Turning his nose up at the sky, the young man gave another snicker, he waited for a while before saying: “Yes, my master sent four apprentices to Fuzhou, I’m one of them.”
Zenan said: “Great! Can you please tell me your name?”
The young man seemed to be too distained to answer, he finally said after a scoff: “I’m Noble Yu.”
Nodding his head, Zenan said: “You must be the third member of the so-called ‘Gallant Hero, Noble Champ –Greenboro’s Four Elites’, so you are one of Wind Pine Temple’s four senior apprentices, no wonder you’ve attained such expertise in the“Heart-Breaker” attack. Killing without spilling blood, impressive! Impressive! Mr. Yu, you came from far away to visit us, I didn’t provide sufficient accommodation, please forgive my inconsideration.”
Noble responded coldly: “The “Heart-Breaker” attack, hmm… you didn’t provide us accommodation, but this highly skilled son of yours had accommodated us plenty, by killing my master’s only son, I guess that wasn’t too impolite.”
When Zenan heard this, a stream of cold air ran down along his spine, he previously thought that if the person his son killed was just a regular apprentice in the Greenboro Clan, then he could invite one of the influential figures in Jianghu to be the mediator, he will make a formal apology, perhaps that way he will have a chance to amicably resolve the matter. But the dead man actually turned out to be the adoring son of Ocean Yu, the headmaster of the Wind Pine Temple. In that case, he had no other alternatives except to fight to death.
Crossing the sword in front of him, Zenan tilted his head up and scoffed: “That’s ridiculous, you must be joking.”
Noble rolled his eyes and said arrogantly: “Something is funny to you?”
Zenan said: “I’ve long heard of Reverend Yu’s superhuman martial art skills, also of the standard he puts on the conducts of his family members, and as such he was admired by all the people in Jianghu. But for the scumbag whom my son killed by mistake, he was nothing but a scoundrel who enjoyed bullying young girls; besides, if he died in my son’s hands, you can tell just how bad his kungfu must had been. How in the world could a person like that be the son of Reverend Yu? Wouldn’t that be funny?”
The jeering smile disappeared from Noble Yu’s face, for a moment he was speechless. Suddenly another voice chimed in from the pine thickets: “As the saying going, ‘two fists are no match for four’. In that tavern, Junior Chief Lin led twenty-four Safeway Security guards, and without warning they attacked our Brother Yu …” The person walked out while speaking, he had a small head and a narrow forehead, his hand waving a folding fan, he continued: “If it was a fair fight, it wouldn’t be a big deal, Safeway Security could have more people, they would still all be useless. But Junior Chief Lin first poisoned brother Yu’s wine, then he threw at him seventeen kinds of hidden weapons soaked in poison, hehe, that little twerp, he was so nasty. We came to visit him in goodwill, no way could we have known his dirty tricks?”
Zenan said: “And who might this be?”
The man said: “Don’t be such a stranger, Chief Lin, you can simply call me Wisdom Fan.”
Penny picked up his sword. He stood on the sidelines in full rage, and was waiting for his father to finish the small talk, so he would jump back into the fight. When he heard the pile of rubbish coming out of Wisdom Fan’s mouth, at once he cried out in fury: “Baloney! I had never seen that scumbag before in my life! How could I know that he was from Greenboro? What incentive do I have in harming him?”
Swinging his head left and right, Wisdom Fan said: “Baloney,shmoloney! If you had no beef with apprentice-brother Yu, why did you ambush him with thirty guards? Seeing you harassing a bar girl, Brother Yu did the right thing, he stopped you, and then reprimanded you, but he also spared your life. Instead of being grateful, you ordered those bastard guards of yours to attack him.”
Ready to explode from anger, Penny shouted: “So Greenboro Clan is made of a bunch of crooks and liars!”
Wisdom Fan snickered: “Watch your mouth, little sissy boy!”
Penny was fuming: “What are you going to do?”
Wisdom nodded: “Nothing, it’s no big deal.”
Surprised, Penny did not expect him to say that. Suddenly, he heard a whoosh sound, someone had jumped in front of him. Penny tried swinging his left fist out, but before he could, it was already too late, bam! He was slapped hard across the right cheek. Seeing stars, Penny almost passed out. Wisdom Fan struck with incredible speed, then he returned to where he stood, touched his own right cheek, and mocked: “Little sissy boy, why did you hit me? It hurts, it hurts! Hahaha!”
Seeing her son humiliated, Madam Wang pulled out the saber, “swoosh”, she hurled it towards Wisdom Fan. It was the move “Heavenly Blaz” from her heritage saber play. Wisdom Fan ducked his head, the saber blade cut down next to his right arm, missing it by inches. Startled, he made a light cuss, he no longer underestimated his opponent and drew the sword from the waist. As Madam Wang’s second attack came, Fan raised his sword to parry.
Pushing his sword forward, Zenan said: “It’s easy enough for Greenboro to end Safeway. However in Jianghu, justice will always triumph over force. Please Mr. Yu, after you!”
Noble Yu pressed on the sheath. Clank! As his sword jumped out of the sheath into his hand. He then said: “After you, Chief Lin!”
Zenan thought: “I’ve long heard that Greenboro Clan’s ‘Wind Pine Sword-art’ combines both the briskness and the power, that it’s ‘strong as a pine, but gentle as breeze’. I must seize the initiative to have any chance of winning.” Seizing the niceties at once, with a dab of his blade’s tip, Zenan’s sword lashed out at Wisdom Fan, it was none other than the move “Poltergeist Rising”, of his family’s Spirit-exorcising Sword Art.
Noble Yu saw his opponent’s blade fiercely coming towards him, he sidestepped to dodge. Zenan did not follow through with his original attack, instead he switched his move midway to the“Riven Phantom”, the tip of his blade pointed directly at his opponent’s eyes. Noble Yu to hopped backwards. Zenan’s third move immediately followed, Noble Yu raised his sword to parry.Cclank! Both men’s arms shook as their weapons crossed.
Zenan thought: “I wondered how good Greenboro is, that was it? With such shabby training, he couldn’t be the one making those powerful Heart-Breaker attacks! Most likely he had a powerful backup.” As he thought of this, a shutter of chill arose from inside his stomach.
Noble Yu’s sword circled back, then thrusted out like a shooting star, its tip dispersed into seven positions one after another. Zenan also countered extremely quickly, attacking with all his might.
After more than twenty exchanges between the two, still it was hard to say which had the upper hand. Fighting next to them were Madam Wang and Wisdom Fan. Madam kept running into danger, her golden saber had a hard time blocking the opponent’s blitz sword attacks. Seeing her mother losing, Penny charged with his sword towards Wisdom Fan, when he reached striking distance, he lifted the blade to start hacking at Wisdom’s forehead. Wisdom Fan tilted his body to dodge.
Penny hacked again like mad, suddenly he stumbled, not knowing what had tripped him, he fell down on the ground before hearing a man’s voice: “Lie down!” Then someone’s foot stepped on him with force, and a sharp object pierced his clothes and against his back skin. Penny could not see anything except dust, but he heard his mother screaming: “Don’t kill him, don’t kill him!” He then heard Wisdom Fan shouting: “You lie down, too.”
It turned out that as Penny and his mother were battling Wisdom Fan, a men closed in from behind, with a leg sweep, he tripped Penny to the ground. The man then took out a dagger and stuck it against Penny’s back. Madam Wang was already losing, seeing her son in danger, her saber play fell apart completely. Seizing the opportunity, Wisdom Fan punched with his elbow, knocking her down instantly. Wisdom Fan hurried up and struck Penny and Madam Wang’s pressure points, paralyzing them both.
The one who tripped Penny was none other than Jia, the companion who flee from the tavern after Yu died.
Zenan was aware that both his wife and son were taken down by the enemy, under duress, his attacks became faster but sloppier. Noble Yu let out a long laugh, and followed up with a series of moves to take back the initiative.
Shocked by what he saw, Zenan asked himself: “How did this man know my Evil-exorcising Sword Art?”
Noble Yu let out a sneer, he said: “This Evil-exorcising Sword Play is nothing special! I know it, too!” Waving his sword, “Poltergeist Rising”, “Riven Phantom”, “Flowing Specter”, three moves one after another, they really were of the Evil-exorcising Sword Art!
At that moment, Zenan seemed to have witnessed the most horrific scene in the world, he never could have imagined that his opponent also knew his family’s Evil-exorcising Sword Art - the secret kungfu that his father taught him. Enthralled in despair, he lost all the fighting will. With a shout from Noble Yu, “Gotcha!” Zenan’s right knee was hit, his right leg quivered as he finally knelt down.
Zenan immediately leapt back up, but his opponent’s sword also followed him by poking up, and was pressed against Zenan’s chest. He heard Guido Jia applauding: “Brother Yu, what a great exhibition of the ‘Shooting-Star Chasing the Moon’!”
The “Shooting-Star Chasing the Moon” was also part of the Evil-exorcising Sword Arts.
Zenan let out a long sigh, tossing his weapon on the ground he said: “You … you … know how to use the Evil-exorcising Sword Art … just give us a quick one.”
Suddenly Zenan felt sharp pain on his back, as Wisdom Fan had struck his pressure point there with the hilt of his sword, he then said: “A quick death? Ha, you wish! Listen up, all three of you will go see my master.”
Grabbing Penny’s collar to lift him up, Guido Jia started slapping Penny’s face brutally with both hands, while cussing: “From now, your daddy here will beat your face eighteen times a day, every day until we arrive at Mt. Greenboro. Make sure to turn your sissy face into a Halloween mask!” Out of fury, Penny spat at him. The two were no more than a foot apart, Guido could not duck in time and “pah”! the phlegm landed right on his nose.
Enraged, Guido threw Penny hard against the ground, then starting kidding his back like mad.
Wisdom Fan smiled and said: “Enough, enough! If you kill him, we can’t turn his corpse over to the master. He looks more like a girl, he can’t take your punches and kicks.”
Guido was a third-rate fighter, but he was a top-notch scoundrel, not only was he not favored by his master, even his apprentice brothers looked down on him. After hearing Wisdom Fan’s words, Guido stopped kicking Penny, but kept spitting on Penny out of spite.
Fan and Yoo carried Zenan’s family into the tavern and threw them on the floor. Wisdom said: “Let’s eat before leaving, Brother Jia, would you please make us something?”
Guido Jia complied: “Sure.”
Noble Yoo said: “Elder Brother Fan, we need keep these three from escaping. The old man’s kungfu wasn’t too shabby, do you have any good ideas?”
Wisdom Fan said with a sinister smile: “It’s easy! After we eat, we’ll cut all their joint ligaments, then we use a cable to wire through their shoulder blades, like how people do with crabs. I guarantee they won’t be able to run away.”
Penny was furious, he broke into loud cussing: “If you have any guts then kill the three of us now, treating us with these shenanigans only shows you are just a bunch of losers!”
Wisdom Fan grinned: “If you little sissy ever open your mouth again, I’ll find some cow dung or dog poo and make you eat it!”
His words worked, even though Penny was about to pass out from anger, he immediately shut up, dared not to speak another word.
Wisdom Fan said smilingly: “Brother Yoo, master taught us these seventy-two moves of Evil-exorcising Sword Art, we actually used it well, Chief Lin saw it and crapped his pants right away. Chief Lin, my guess is that you must be thinking right now: “How could them Greenboro people know the Lin family’s ‘Evil-exorcising Sword Art’. Am I right?”
Zenan was thinking exactly that - "How could them Greenboro people know the Lin family’s ‘Evil-exorcising Sword Art’?"
作者：高毅 在 海归茶馆 发贴, 来自【海归网】 http://www.haiguinet.com
上一次由高毅于2011-7-01 周五, 14:49修改，总共修改了2次
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 笑傲江湖-英文版 1 - Extermination (Translated by 高毅) -- 高毅 - (108015 Byte) 2011-6-24 周五, 16:12 (2455 reads) - 谢谢。请多指教！ -- 高毅 - (12 Byte) 2011-7-01 周五, 14:31 (211 reads)
- 继续关注ing -- eden - (0 Byte) 2011-6-26 周日, 02:05 (227 reads)
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