大唐双龙传 [Da Tang Shuang Long Zhuan] by Huang Yi

[Abhay]

Thanks Foxs...

[徐中銳]

Xu Xiong...

Has something else that's fun for you... :
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://i.sheyinghouqi.com/uploadfile/sheyingtupian/zhongguochuantong/baguayijing/201108/1/17.jpg')

[foxs]

Lao Qianbei, true. Bocah, thank you for your willingness, please check your pm. Ysabel, HPC, Abhay, you are welcome. Akolaw, thanks, I added your info to my source doc. Kowloon, thanks. Ycb, Princess will stay for a while. Xu Xiong, thanks, just what I needed. I understood divination now. Yay! Here’s the entire Chapter 11.

---

Book 9 Chapter 11 – Wholehearted Gratitude

Xu Ziling was about to slip out of the pastry kitchen when Kou Zhong grabbed him and pulled him back. Helplessly he smiled wryly and said, “The entire process of making the smoked fish has been prepared properly; to explain it, the famous chef Kou, whose mouth is like a torrent, can handle it singlehandedly with ease. By firmly detaining Xiao Ren in here, don’t you feel like you are wasting manpower?”

With pained expression on his face Kou Zhong said, “Just consider me begging you to stay this time, all right? Without you here, I am afraid things will go wrong. Hey!”

“What can go wrong?” Xu Ziling asked, “Give me an example?”

Clearing his throat, Kou Zhong said, “For example, in a moment of rashness, I might abandon the great undertaking in favor of my feeling toward the Princess. Or perhaps I will lose face as a real man to kneel in front of her, begging her to marry me. Ay! One lifetime, two brothers; please be obedient and stay here to give me moral support.”

Xu Ziling laughed in spite of himself, “You think she is coming to have a tryst with you?” he asked, “I can guarantee that Lan Gu will be by her side to lick her butts, even Beautiful Changzhu might be here, glaring like a tiger watching its prey, to see what dirty little secret you have with Li Xiuning.”

Kou Zhong shook his head and said, “Your experience with women is still somewhat inferior to Laozi’s. I don’t know if you noticed Princess’ demeanor last night; that kind of ‘her thoughts in a whirl’, ‘not knowing what to do’ expression, clearly represented the fact that she has no affection toward me at all. Therefore, she is not coming today for that, or else she will find all kinds of excuses to dismiss others.”

Xu Ziling said in astonishment, “Not only you grew an acupuncture orifice on your tian ling acupoint [i.e. top of the head], you also grew a pair of eyes there. I plainly saw last night you fixed your eyes on the floor, how did you see the subtle changes in her expression?”

A bit embarrassed, Kou Zhong said, “A martial art master [orig. gao shou, lit. high hand] like me, merely depending on my perception I would know a lot of things; do you understand? Xu ‘low hand’? So, get back in here!”

Xu Ziling raised his hands, “Can I go to the bathroom first?” he asked.

Kou Zhong changed tactics, hugging Xu Ziling as warmly as he could, short of giving him a kiss, he said, “My good Xiongdi, remember, the earlier you go, the earlier you’ll come back.”

Xu Ziling was indeed thinking of slipping away, but Kou Zhong preemptively said, “One lifetime, two brothers; we advance and retreat together.”

Unable to get away, Xu Ziling smiled wryly and said, “Such a timid guy, how could you contend for hegemony of the world?”

“Where are you two going?”

Stunned, the two boys turned around.

Shang Xiuxun and Li Xiuning were walking along the promenade, and would soon catch up with them. Surprisingly, there was no entourage.

Shang Xiuxun was still wearing tight warrior outfit, with a feather on her hat, so that in her loveliness, there was a vigorous heroic air.

Li Xiuning was surprisingly plain and simple; she wore a pure white long gown with blue vest with yellow-flower pattern on it. She appeared lovely and touching. This beauty was similar to Song Yuzhi, in that she also carried a particular grandeur and daintiness specific to women who were born in high-class family and big clan, a personality trait that can make any man feel small in her presence.

The two women were outside the corridor, basking in the beautiful sunlight, so that their glamour radiated all around, so that they appeared to be exuding some kind of exotic natural endowment that transcended the mortal world.

Momentarily the two boys could only stare blankly at them.

As the two women elegantly came to their presence, Li Xiuning graciously said, “I’m sorry! I made the two Great Shifu waiting for a long time!”

The two boys hastily saluted and answered humbly.

Shang Xiuxun spoke indifferently, “Xiao Ning, you explain to Princess, I need to talk to Xiao Jing for a moment.”

Seeing Li Xiuning, Kou Zhong forgot everything else. He also wished that he could have an opportunity to talk with her privately; thereupon he hurriedly took Li Xiuning to the kitchen.

Shang Xiuxun took Xu Ziling toward the garden at the rear courtyard. Reaching a pavilion, she stopped and said, “What did that Old Man tell you last night?”

“He taught us how to design garden and landscape,” Xu Ziling replied, “Would Changzhu like me to repeat it for you?”

Turning her back toward him, Shang Xiuxun asked, “He didn’t say anything else?”

Xu Ziling sighed and said, “He also told us about himself, how thirty years ago he was wounded by the enemy, and how these past few days the old injury flared out, that his days are numbered!”

Shang Xiuxun’s tender body trembled slightly, “What?” she blurted out.

Xu Ziling continued in low voice, “According to Mr. Lu’s own estimate, he would only live eight to ten more days. Perhaps because of this he kind of look upon us with favor!”

Shang Xiuxun slowly turning her tender body around, her beautiful eyes looked deep into Xu Ziling’s eyes for half a day, before she said softly, “Have you two thought about your own future? Will you be satisfied being two chefs for the rest of your life?”

She suddenly changed the subject like that, Xu Ziling was caught off guard and was at a loss of how to respond, hence he only gave her noncommittal answer, “If we don’t become chefs, what can we do?”

Displeased, Shang Xiuxun said, “You are originally not chefs anyway, you were merely salt smugglers; how dare you say such thing to me.”

It was only then did Xu Ziling remember what Kou Zhong had told these people; he calmly said, “Whatever we do, in the end it’s just looking for money. Smuggling salt carries very high risk, we may lose our life savings at any time; how can it be compared to earning steady income of half a tael of real gold each month?”

Shang Xiuxun’s eyes shot sharp rays, her words contained deep meaning as she asked, “After earning enough money, what are you going to do?”

Xu Ziling improvised on the spot, “It depends on the current political situation; if the world is back to its unified peace, we will return to our hometown and open a small restaurant. Hey! For us, this is terrific!”

Shang Xiuxun smiled and said, “You are still lying to me? Just by listening to your clear reasoning, the elegance of your style of conversation and response, I know that you are definitely not ordinary folks. Besides, Lu Miaozi is haughty and conceited, how could he have any interest in spending any time with you? Who are you? Why did you come here?”

Xu Ziling groaned inwardly; fortunately his mind churned an idea, immediately he found a countermeasure. Smiling wryly, he said, “Changzhu is indeed formidable. The two of us are actually Yangzhou people. Niang’s family was aristocratic family in Yangzhou, we ran a restaurant that had good reputation locally. Afterwards the muddleheaded ruler was assassinated, Yangzhou was thrown into chaos, the mobs and the soldiers looted all over the place, implicating us that we were left destitute and homeless. We wandered around and ended up in Yuhang. At first we worked in a restaurant; later on we saw how profitable salt trading was, hence we took the risk to run one. Who would have thought that we met robbers along the way, and were barely able to escape with our lives? And that was how we ended up here.”

What he said was half truth and half false; unless Shang Xiuxun was able to confirm certain details of his story, it would be difficult to find any flaw. He was not concerned that this beauty might find out their real identity in Yangzhou, because other than Yuwen Huaji and a limited number of people, nobody knew that they were actually Yangzhou’s ruffians.

Shang Xiuxun stared at his face for a moment; her jet-black eyebrows knitted slightly, she asked, “Where did you learn your martial art from?”

“We were Shi Long’s martial school disciples,” Xu Ziling replied, “Later on Shi Long offended that muddleheaded ruler, he was executed, along with all his relatives. Fortunately [maternal] grandfather spent a lot of money on our behalf, so that we were not implicated [orig. guilt by association].”

Shang Xiuxun looked as if she did not know what else to ask; she was silent for a long time. Only now did Xu Ziling really breathe a sigh of relief, knowing that she has not heard anything about Shi Long’s relationship with the ‘Secret to Long Life’.

Shang Xiuxun suddenly looked at him up and down several times, and then calmly said, “Honestly, people with physical and personality traits like you, two brothers, are really rare in the world, otherwise the Old Man would not have high regards on you. However, because you have missed the prime age to start training martial art, no matter how hard you train, your accomplishment would be limited. Ay! Being chefs is a waste of talent for people like you; therefore, while the Old Man has not died yet, you might as well ask him to impart on you some kind of unique skill, perhaps I will consider hiring you in different capacity, and thus you wouldn’t have to waste your lives.”

For the first time Xu Ziling started to have a good impression on her; he respectfully said, “Thank you very much for Changzhu’s direction.”

Somehow Shang Xiuxun let out a gentle sigh before saying, “You may go back now! Li Xiuning ought to finish learning about how to make smoked fish; what’s so attractive about firewood anyway?”

The last sentence made Xu Ziling stared blankly at her.

As soon as Kou Zhong stepped into the kitchen, he pointed to the various ingredients neatly organized on the table, and in deadly earnest expression he started to explain, “This is the seasoning, and here we have the sauce; this …”

“There’s no one else around!” Li Xiuning cut him off.

It was as if Kou Zhong’s acupoint had just been sealed; he froze for half a day, before finally hung his hands and said dejectedly, “Princess, please grant your advice.”

Li Xiuning moved up behind him and said softly, “Er Ge [second brother] was very concerned over you, because you were unwilling to follow him in conquering the world, he often felt unhappy. This time I can see you again, it’s really great. Ay! How did you end up hiding here and being chefs? Was it because you were afraid of Li Mi?”

Kou Zhong suddenly straightened up his back and said coldly, “We are not afraid of anybody!”

Li Xiuning cheerfully replied, “No wonder Er Ge praises you without cease; just by looking at wherever you go you turn the sky and the earth upside down, I know your ability. Now I understand Er Ge’s evaluation on you in those days was not simply exaggerated praise.”

The fragrance of Li Xiuning’s breath as she spoke was wafting gently into Kou Zhong’s nose; he shook his head with a bitter smile as he walked over toward the window. As he stared blankly outside the window, at the scenery of people moving about in the courtyard under the bright sunny sky, his mind was in turmoil.

He has finally made it. But he could not go back to the former days. If Li Xiuning had said those words in the past, he would not have to bow out sadly, did not dare to compete with Chai Shao over her fragrant heart, because of low self-esteem.

Seeing he walked over and was lost in thought, Li Xiuning sighed inwardly.

Based on her orchid heart’s intelligence, she already understood Kou Zhong’s feeling for her even then. But with her family’s power, talent, and beauty, there were an untold number of men who fell for her; therefore, she did not take it seriously.

But this time seeing Kou Zhong again, not only he had turned into a dignified, handsome and great man, the most attractive thing about him was that he exuded some kind of hard-to-describe personality traits. It’s just that the matter between Chai Shao and her had already been settled conclusively; no one could alter it, including her. But she did not wish to change it either.

While she was in dilemma, not knowing whether she should stay where she was or should walk over toward Kou Zhong, Kou Zhong’s voice entered her ears, “Are you married?”

Li Xiuning’s tender body shook dramatically; hanging down her small head, she sadly said, “Although I am not yet married, my situation is not much difference to a married woman.”

Kou Zhong threw his head back and let out a long laugh; like a whirlwind he turned around and with his eyes shooting lightning-like light he said, “Very well! I’ll consider you as someone else’ wife. Perhaps you’ll find it difficult to understand, but I really am happy with your answer, because from now on I can get rid of the distraction in my heart and wholeheartedly fight for my ideals.”

In Li Xiuning’s eyes, he seemed to be changing into another person, revealing Kou Zhong’s insufferably arrogant, overbearing heroic spirit, that she had never imagined would appear from him. Shocked, she was momentarily unable to say anything.

Kou Zhong’s awe-inspiring, radiating all around air suddenly turned into an incomparable tenderness; revealing his bright, sunshine-like signature smile, his flashing snow-white teeth, he said apologetically, “Xiaodi was momentarily unable to restrain emotions, and have frightened Princess; I am terribly sorry. Looks like Princess’ interest today is not in smoked fish, but is us, the two boys, instead. So now Princess ought to know the answer.”

Taking a deep breath, Li Xiuning fought to keep her emotion, which was fluctuating endlessly due to Kou Zhong’s instigation, under control. She nodded and said, “Although Xiuning understood Kou Xiong’s kindly feeling, it is still hard for me to avoid feeling extreme regret and disappointment. I wonder whether there is still room for amendment?”

Kou Zhong nearly turned from hero [ying xiong] to a coward [lit. gou xiong, black bear] and blurted out, ‘Only if you are willing to marry me!’ Fortunately he remembered Song Yuzhi and the Shuanglong Bang he personally founded; pressing hard this urge, he calmly smiled and said, “Life is interesting because although we lost a lot of things, we also gained a lot of other things. There are moments of joy, there are also days of wounded spirit and broken soul.”

And then, striding in front of Li Xiuning’s tender body, he looked down and stared deep into the beautiful princess’ beautiful eyes; his tiger-eyes shooting out ocean-deep emotion that stirred her heartstrings and made her shivering inside. With an incomparable tenderness in his voice he said, “Perhaps Xiuning has never had me, Kou Zhong, in your heart, but in my, Kou Zhong’s heart, you, Xiuning, was the first woman that made me fully enjoyed the kind of feeling that made me difficult to sleep at night, that made me worry about personal gains and losses, but also made me enjoyed the matchless excitement of the first love. Although it was only for a night, it has made me extremely grateful. Thank you.”

“Ah!”

By the time Li Xiuning was crying out tenderly, Kou Zhong already left the kitchen in big strides.

And he never looked back.

Shang Xiuxun and Xu Ziling, one in front of the other, arrived at the kitchen door. Seeing Kou Zhong strode out with grim expression on his face, they were both stunned.

Without waiting for Shang Xiuxun to ask any question, upright and unafraid Kou Zhong walked past the two and muttered, “I am going to the latrine.”

[ycb5959]

Thanks once again, foxs.

[LuDongBin]

You seem to recover fast from the jet lag. And ''the one that escapes" concept is an interesting perspective regarding the 50 yarrow stalks divination method of I Ching. Thks foxs.

[Jayariyin]

Thanks, foxs.

[Abhay]

Thanks Foxs!

[Ysabelkid]

Thanks foxs

[SkyWalker]

Thanks foxs.

Is Shang Xiuxun the old man's long lost daughter? She seems to have a love/hate relationship with him. I still don't get the relationship between LXN and KZ.

[oo_TLD_oo]

Thanks foxs. I really admire your work and dedication. Could Shang Xiuxun's last few words in the chapter - "what’s so attractive about firewood anyway" be read as "is Chai Shao really that charming" instead?

[Laoren]

Thanks fox.

[徐中銳]

Shang Xiuxun suddenly looked at him up and down several times, and then calmly said, “Honestly... while the Old Man has not died yet, you might as well ask him to impart on you some kind of unique skill...

Yay, it's now set for Kou & Xu to spend as much time with Lu as they can, learning, perhaps, to draw-like/cut paper-into :
$this->handle_bbcode_img_match('http://bartomon.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/radial-iching-bandgonw.jpg')

[HPC7595]

Thanks foxs

[spynet]

Thanks foxs!

[foxs]

Ycb, Jaya, Abhay, Ysabel, Lao Qianbei, HPC, Spy, you are welcome. DongBin, au contraire my friend, you guys benefited from my sleep deprivation. But now that I am somewhat back to ‘normal’ (well, as ‘normal’ as it could be in foreign land), I don’t have as much time to translate. Sky, interesting theory, but it is also possible that she thinks Lu was her mom’s ‘the other man’ and hence her dad’s rival. About KZ & LXN, do you care to elaborate? Xu Xiong, welcome back!

EDIT: Sorry, I missed TLD earlier: yes, you are right. I blame it on my lack of sleep. I already fixed my source document, so you'll see it in the unabridged thread.

---

Book 9 Chapter 12 – Underground Collection

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling sat side-by-side on the low stonewall by the pavilion on the back mountain, facing the precipitous cliff towering in the sky; below their feet was precisely the hundred-zhang deep abyss where the falling water rolled on endlessly.

After Kou Zhong finished listening to Xu Ziling’s latest generation of lies he told Shang Xiuxun, Kou Zhong wiped the cold sweats from his forehead and said, “Fortunately I said I was in a hurry to go to the bathroom; otherwise the beautiful Changzhu might grab me and ask questions, and then we would have to jump down this ravine.”

Craning his neck to look down into the rapids at the bottom, he wondered aloud, “Based on our martial art skill, if we jump down, would we die or not?”

Xu Ziling smiled slightly without saying anything, but his eyes seemed to penetrate the deepest part of Kou Zhong’s heart.

Finally Kou Zhong surrendered, “Why didn’t you ask me what happened between Li Xiuning and me a moment ago?”

Xu Ziling sneered and said, “Didn’t you say that the martial art from the ‘Secret to Long Life’ has turned you more and more cold-hearted? You also said that for the sake of vying for the world, you would do anything by hook or by crook, and that you’d sacrifice everything you valued in your life? Since that is the case, do I still need to beg for an answer from you?”

Kou Zhong slapped his thigh and said with a sigh, “Ling Shao, this time you are wrong. The fact is that I am extremely vexed right now, because I could not help asking her if she was married to that muddled egg Chai Shao [Translator’s note: I feel that ‘muddled egg’ is funnier than scoundrel, b@stard or @$$hole …]. Just think! Ling Shao! Supposing her answer was ‘I’m not married yet’, how would I handle her? I was fully aware that by asking that question I was spinning a cocoon around myself, yet I still asked her. Tell me, why did I do that?”

Xu Ziling’s response was tepid, “So what did she say?”

Grieved, Kou Zhong replied, “She said that although she has not officially married, but there’s not much difference with a married woman.”

Xu Ziling smiled wryly and said, “That is akin to saying that the one she loves is Chai Shao. That answer is indeed very difficult to bear, and also made me feel for the first time that you deserve sympathy. So what are you going to do? The moves you make in the battlefield of love will give you more headaches than the moves in the life and death’s confrontation, plus the battlefield of love will leave both sides wounded.”

Kou Zhong coolly said, “Hence the reason I turned grief and indignation into strength; I told her I did not care in the slightest, and I thanked her for giving me the taste of grief for losing my love. With great difficulty I resisted the intense urge to kiss her and stormed out of the door. With my back against her, I felt so much pain that my entire body went numb.”

Xu Ziling casually remarked, “So did you go to the latrine to hide while weeping in bitter tears?”

Stunned, Kou Zhong turned his head to stare at him, “Don’t you have any sympathy toward the poor me?” he asked.

Xu Ziling coldly replied, “Because the one deserving my sympathy is not you, but Li Xiuning.”

Kou Zhong had his eyes fixed on the cliff across the canyon; he mumbled as if he was talking to himself, “I was indeed a bit out of line, but at that time I really had a feeling that the more hurt her, the happier I would be. That was a completely out of control emotions, I know in my heart that I’m still holding tight on her.”

Xu Ziling sighed and said, “Thereupon you gave it your all in your attempt to, in a snap of your fingers, make her that she won’t be able to forget you. Isn’t that more cruel and ruthless to her?”

As if he was in delirious ravings Kou Zhong said, “Kill me now! I am in unbearable pain.”

Xu Ziling reached out to put his hand on his shoulder; he said with a wry smile, “I spoke without tact too much! Matters between men and women are like this, basically there is no logical explanation. Whoever has a bit stronger ‘divine power to protect the body’ will suffer less harm; upon inspection, looks to me that it’s very difficult for your ‘divine power to protect the body’ to meet a minimum standard.”

Kou Zhong said in astonishment, “You said you don’t have any tact, but now I just want to cry bitterly.”

The two boys ‘you look at me, I gaze at you’, and then a smile started to form at the corners of their mouths, followed by a chorus of laughter and difficult-to-discern bitter-sweet hot tears, which warmed their hearts, and enforced the mutual feeling of sincere friendship between the two brothers.

Gasping for breath, Xu Ziling patted Kou Zhong’s shoulder and said painfully, “Every time you lose your love, you are dragging me down and leaving me confused; therefore, I am the real victim here.”

Kou Zhong said with a wry smile, “Why is it that although I have suffered losing my love for the first time early on, the second time around is still unbearable? Not only that, it’s getting worse!”

Shrugging his shoulders, Xu Ziling said, “What’s so strange about that? It’s because your love to her was even deeper.”

Kou Zhong seemed to be fully recovered; he nonchalantly nodded his head and said, “What you said is not without reason; over time, dripping water can wear out hard rock, therefore, right now my heart must have hundreds of holes and thousands of cavities. This is called ‘the great method of dripping tears on the heart’; it’s a ‘different tune played with equal skill’ with Lu Miaozi’s ‘escaping one’, because Li Xiuning is precisely my ‘escaping one’. Even though Shang Xiuxun is half a notch superior to her, in my heart I only have her.”

And then he added, “The rice has already been cooked, there’s no more stopping. To conform to the Yijian Technique, what will our next step be?”

Xu Ziling calmed down; pondering deeply, he said, “We’ll have to find a way to identify that s1ut first.”

Kou Zhong sighed and said, “If only we could go door to door and knock.”

Knitting his brows, Xu Ziling said, “With your exceptional ears, eavesdropping within a radius of a hundred li should not be a difficult thing to do!”

Kou Zhong laughed despite of himself, “Real exaggeration!” he said, “Come on!”

One after another the two boys jumped down from the stonewall and strode away from the pavilion.

Arriving at the winding corridor, they were met by Xiao Juan’s slim and graceful figure. “I found you!” she called out cheerfully.

※ ※ ※

Shang Xiuxun was sitting upright and still on one side of the spacious study room, engrossed on a book she was holding with both hands, seemingly oblivious that Big Sister Fu has arrived, with the two boys right behind her.

Across the small garden outside was precisely the reception hall where Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling met her for the first time. At that time they had their spirit and soul upside down by this beauty’s charming and touching mannerism as she sampled their handicraft.

The fact was, in her heart, Shang Xiuxun hated herself.

Even she did not understand why she loved to see these two boys so much; perhaps because she was so lonely?

It was not an issue of how many people she had by her side; rather, it was an issue of her state of mind.

She was the only daughter of the former Ranch Master; since her childhood she had been cultivated to be the heir, hence with aloof and remote position, governing her subordinates was as natural as breathing. Everybody venerated her like a deity; only these two boys were the exception, although on the surface they were very respectful. Just by looking at the brazen and wild expression in their eyes when they looked at her, she knew that in their eyes, she was just a woman.

This has sparked a ripple in her heart, something that was fresh and unique.

Big Sister Fu reported, “Two Xiao Shifu are here.”

Kou Zhong took a few steps forward; holding his saber with both hands he presented it to her and said, “Treasured Saber is here!”

Seeing Kou Zhong pretending to be respectful and proper, “Pfft!” Shang Xiuxun burst out giggling, just like a blooming fresh flower, so that Big Sister Fu, who seldom saw her beautiful demeanor like this, was stunned.

Noticing the three people were staring at her, Shang Xiuxun strived to suppress her smile; with a wooden face she scolded in low voice, “How many treasured sabers are there in the world?”

Still in low voice she went on, “Fu’er, you may withdraw!”

Big Sister Fu was slightly stunned, and then she withdrew from the study room.

Shang Xiuxun put down the book on the small table by her side. From Kou Zhong’s hands she took the Moon in the Well; immediately her face showed astonishment. “I did not expect it to be this heavy,” she said in surprise.

Kou Zhong smiled apologetically and said, “This treasured saber is different from ordinary sabers.”

Frowning, Shang Xiuxun said, “Why are you standing so close?”

Embarrassed, Kou Zhong stepped back to Xu Ziling’s side. Only the latter knew that he really did not wish to part with the Moon in the Well.

With her left hand Shang Xiuxun held the scabbard, with her right hand she lightly grabbed the hilt, but her pretty eyes were fixed on the two boys. She said calmly, “Although this saber is unremarkable at all, plus it’s a bit rusty, but somehow when I went back, from time to time the sight of this saber appeared before my eyes, and I have some kind of unspeakable feeling toward it.”

Kou Zhong praised her wholeheartedly, “Changzhu indeed has a superior taste, unlike people with mediocre, superficial taste.”

Shang Xiuxun was already accustomed with the two boys’ conversational manner, which did not regard her as the Ranch Master. Glowering at him, she said, “Who wants you to flatter me?”

‘Ring!’

The Moon in the Well went out about half a chi from its scabbard.

Emotionally moved, Shang Xiuxun said, “I have never seen any blade more blunt and more dull, without any shine, than this one, yet I have never seen some kind of loftiness in a simple and unadorned, inelegant blade like this either.”

Her pretty eyes shot toward Kou Zhong, she said in a heavy voice, “How did you get this?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Kou Zhong replied, “It was my Ah Ye [(paternal) grandpa who gave it to Die, and Die gave it to me.”

Returning the saber to its scabbard, Shang Xiuxun muttered irresolutely, “I wonder what did that Old Man say about this saber?”

Kou Zhong was slightly stunned; now he remembered that that night he lied about carrying this saber to see Lu Miaozi and learn martial art from him, but Lu Miaozi basically has never seen this saber. However, naturally not answering was not an option, therefore, he replied respectfully, “Mr. Lu said that this saber was the personal weapon of the one saber expert of two hundred years ago, the ‘Saber Overlord’ Ling Shangren; I don’t know how it fell into my paternal grandfather’s hands?”

‘Ring!’

The Moon in the Well was pulled out of its scabbard by Shang Xiuxun’s delicate and beautiful lily-white hand; she drew with it about a dozen saber flowers in front of her, but there was no frightening yellow glow like when Kou Zhong was using it.

A bit disappointed, Shang Xiuxun held the saber still and examined it carefully. She was puzzled, “Is it really rust? But it does not look like rust stain; rather, it’s the texture of the metal specific to the saber’s body.”

Noticing that just like Xiao Xian, Shang Xiuxun did not bring out the saber’s unusual luster, Kou Zhong was even more convinced that he was the true master of this treasured saber. He said proudly, “This is a psychic treasured saber; my grandfather once said that one time a thief broke into our house, this saber unexpectedly let out incessant ringing to warn us!”

Listening to this even Xu Ziling was frowning, thinking that Kou Zhong went too far; but then again, only by doing that would they convince Shang Xiuxun that it was part of family legend.

Shang Xiuxun glowered at Kou Zhong and said, “You are bragging! Have you ever heard the saber ringing?”

Kou Zhong said with a wry smile, “Last time a thief came, it happened to be resting, so it did not ring.”

Shang Xiuxun was unable to hold back much longer, she burst into silver-bell like moving tender laughter, put the saber back into its scabbard, and tossed it back to Kou Zhong. She said, “Play a move or two, show me how much success you achieved from Shi Long.”

Kou Zhong held the saber across his chest, pulled it out of the scabbard, and hacked into the air several times, using ‘low hand’ moves and techniques unique to Shi Long’s martial school, with all the shortcomings displayed accurately and wonderfully.

Shang Xiuxun covered her laughing mouth and said, “Although your expression is of a martial art master’s, your technique is quite mediocre, ay! You paid money to learn the skill in vain.”

Pretending to refuse to concede, Kou Zhong said, “Please check this out, my move ‘stars fill the sky’!”

He moved the saber and brandished it wildly.

Seeing him going all-out until his face turned red and his ears hot, Shang Xiuxun laughed like a shaking stem of flower; she said, “If you continued like this, there is no need for the enemy to kill you, you would die of exhaustion!”

Kou Zhong awkwardly returned the saber to its sheath; panting, he said, “Sabers are used to attack the enemy; how could you not use any force?”

Shang Xiuxun no longer paid any attention to him; turning to Xu Ziling, she said, “And what is your expertise?”

Xu Ziling was just admiring her alluring, beautiful-beyond-human-comprehension, touching manner while she was laughing; hearing the question, it was as if he had just been awakened from a dream. “I am worse compared to Xiao Ning, please excuse me!”

Irritated, Shang Xiuxun said, “Looks like you disregard me as your Changzhu more and more. Don’t you know that what I say is an order?”

But then she smiled and said, “So be it! Avoiding displaying your disgrace to save face is a smart move.”

Suddenly rapid footsteps were heard in the distance, but coming fast toward them. The First Manager Liang Zhi’s voice was heard outside the door, “Subordinate has an urgent matter needs to be reported to Changzhu.”

Still smiling, Shang Xiuxun said, “Da Zhishi, please come in!”

The two boys hastily stepped aside.

Liang Zhi came over toward Shang Xiuxun’s seat in large strides. Bowing, he said, “Reporting to Changzhu: there are about 2000 enemies appear about thirty li from west side entrance of the Ranch, they look to be the vanguard regiment of the Four Big Bandits.”

Shang Xiuxun’s pretty eyes flashed with cold rays; she spoke cool-headedly, “Any movement outside the east side entrance?”

With solemn expression Liang Zhi replied, “There’s no report yet.”

Shang Xiuxun’s gaze fell onto the two boys; she spoke heavily, “You may return to your lodging house. If there is nothing important, do not walk around; understood?”

The two boys promptly acknowledged the order and withdrew from the room.

※ ※ ※

Closing the door to their room, Kou Zhong sat down by Xu Ziling’s side. “This does not make sense,” he said, “Anybody knows that Flying Horse Ranch is more difficult to break than any other fortified city; why would the Four Big Bandits abandon their stronghold and attack this place? There must be an intrigue here.”

“Could it be only a diversion?” Xu Ziling mused, “Their real target might be the nearby Dangyang or Yuan’an, or even farther down Jingling.”

[ycb5959]

Thanks, fox!

[LuDongBin]

Just like the two young heroes hiding their talents, you hide the jet lag pretty well too. Hope you adjust soon. Thks foxs.

[Ysabelkid]

Thanks foxs

[Abhay]

Thanks Foxs.

[Jayariyin]

Thanks, foxs.