Book 1 Chapter 4 - Impossible to unravel
Kou Zhong put his mouth next to Xu Ziling's ear and said in a very low voice, "This woman [orig. ‘poniang', usually used derogatorily] is prettier than Auntie Hong of Spring Breeze Courtyard.”
Xu Ziling was staring blankly at the woman-in-white's stately and elegant jade-countenance; hearing Kou Zhong, he nodded in approval. The woman-in-white, who was still sitting in meditation, suddenly opened her eyes and glowered at them.
The two boys were startled; they withdrew and huddled together, trying to get as far away from her as possible. The woman-in-white's delicate body suddenly shook violently, which forced her to close her eyes again.
It was quite some time later that she opened her eyes again. Casting an angry look at them, she asked in one breath, "Where are we?”
The two boys perfunctorily looked around both banks of Yangtze River, and then shook their heads together.
The woman-in-white looked up to the sky trying to determine the time of day. Seeing the sun was about to set behind the mountain, and the banks of the Great River was bathed in the glow of the setting sun, she knew that she has been meditating four close to two sichen [1 sichen is equal to two hours]. After pondering for a moment, she asked in soft voice, "Why is Yuwen Huaji after you?”
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling exchanged glances, and then both of them shook their heads vigorously, "Don't know!”
The woman-in-white's eyes flashed with cold rays. After staring fiercely at the two boys, she suddenly burst into tender laughter and said, "I want you, two little demons, to jump into the river right now!”
The two boys were so hungry that their limbs did not have any strength; hearing her, their countenance turned pale with fright since they did not know what to do.
The woman-in-white suddenly sighed; she said unenthusiastically, "I want to sleep for three sichen, the two of you little demons must steer the boat nicely. If the boat capsize, I will want your lives as compensation.”
Stars filled the whole sky, the moon was low on the horizon. In the dim moonlight, these two good friends, who depended on each other for survival, huddled together to keep themselves against the attack of hunger and of the river breeze, while their palm was pressed on the rudder.
The woman-in-white had her back toward them, as she sat facing the bow in meditation to heal her injury. She did look like a beautiful goddess idol carved from jade and stone. Her beautiful hair has been loosened by the wind, it fluttered freely in the breeze like a cloud.
Kou Zhong whispered as softly as he could in Xu Ziling's ear, "Do you think she can hear us?”
Xu Ziling was watching her as if he was in a trance, hence he did not hear him. "What did you say?” he blurted out.
Kou Zhong pinched his leg hard. He sighed and said, "I wonder what kind of fellow is that Yuwen Huaji, compared to this wo … hey, this evil woman, he seems to be more formidable.”
Horrified, Xu Ziling looked at the woman-in-white's back. It was quite a moment later that he finally breathed a sigh of relief. Kou Zhong elbowed his arm and said in ecstasy, "She really can't hear.”
Xu Ziling asked the question he has been dying to ask, "So the secret manual is really not damaged by the water?”
Kou Zhong reached out to fetch ‘The Secret to Long Life' and flipped a few pages before handing it to Xu Ziling. "Why don't you look at it yourself!” he said, "I've already told you that this is genuine goods at fair prices, a special treasure. Otherwise, why is that Yuwen Huagu so anxious to get it? Ha! That's funny, the name Huagu [transforming bone] is a bit more-fitting than Huaji.” [hua - change into/transform, ji - and/to reach/up to/in time for. I don't think it means anything.]
Xu Ziling turned the book back and forth a few times. "If it is waterproof,” he mused, "Chances are it might also be fireproof … Ah!
With lightning speed Kou Zhong snatched the book back, he deftly hid the valuable and heavy treasure well, while muttering, "Don't even think of testing it. Ha! We are finally leaving that stuffy, confining egg Yangzhou city. And now everything is fine. Except for our precious belly.”
Now that he mentioned it, suddenly Xu Ziling's tummy reacted with an unhappy rumbling. "Do you think this beautiful evil woman would be willing to lend us some traveling expenses for us to treat our ailing belly? After all, her eyes have taken advantage of our best.”
Kou Zhong's eyes lit up because he spotted the small bundle lying by her side. He made some eye signals to Xu Ziling, and then started to crawl quietly toward the bundle. Naturally Xu Ziling knew that he was going to ‘imitate the dog and steal chicken', to be a thief and to do some shady business. Quickly he grabbed Kou Zhong's ankle while shaking his head vigorously with a firm expression on his face.
Kou Zhong struggled twice, yet he was unable to break free. Dejected, he sat back down by Xu Ziling's side and said sadly, "If Zhong Shaoye turns into a hungry ghost, I will definitely come to you, the other hungry ghost, to settle the account.”
Xu Ziling said, "Don't forget that we are heroes. Right now we are rushing together on a meteoric rise [orig. divine steed flashes past] on a highway to the abundant enterprise of Duke, Marquis, General and Prime Minister. Making such a move against a weak and unsuspecting woman like this will really bring harm to our good reputation as Yangzhou's two dragons; not to mention she did after all save our lives.”
Kou Zhong surrendered. "This evil woman's skill can't be considered bad,” he said, "But she is a weak and unsuspecting woman. Oh! Why does it have to rain now?”
They both looked up to the sky, and saw black clouds rolling in fast. Very quickly the moon and the stars disappeared, followed by heavy rain pouring down. In no time at all the tranquil river turned into a wildly turbulent one. The Great River was pitched black, they could not even see the fingers in front of their nose, let alone the woman-in-white. Therefore, they could forget about steering the boat in such a difficult situation.
The fishing boat was tossed around endlessly by the river; they were surrounded by vast darkness. The rain shot down like arrows. Their clothes were completely drenched, making them cold and miserable.
In their frantic struggle, ‘Boom!' the fishing boat suddenly hit something, immediately it leaned sideways and capsized. They both cried out in alarm and threw themselves in the direction of the woman-in-white.
With its earth-shattering power [orig. hiding the sky and covering the earth], the river water swoop down on them. The three people held on to each other and sank down together into the river.
In this situation, where the violent storm blew the rain horizontally, where the waves surged rapidly, where the turbulent water prevented them from seeing their own fingers, where Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong were starving and freezing, where they were attacked relentlessly by the water, every time they struggled hard to surface, they would immediately be pulled down into the water again.
The two boys' original intention was to rescue the woman-in-white, but in the end Xu Ziling was holding on to her neck, while Kou Zhong was pulling her legs. The woman-in-white was still in deep sleep, but her body was perfectly straight; no matter how hard the wind and the rain attacked her, she stayed floating face up on the river. In a way, she has become the two little demons' life-saving raft.
They were struggling between being living persons versus being water ghosts for nobody knows how long. The power of the rain finally lessened. The moon also showed its face a little. It was only then did they realize that the water has washed them out closer to the shore. In their great delight they exerted the strength that they did not know they still had, to pull the woman-in-white along to the shore.
As soon as they reached the muddy shore, the two boys were not able to hold on anymore; they lay down on the sand on either side of the woman-in-white.
The river still sent its waves to the shore, but no longer with the violent force of a moment ago. The two boys could not stop panting, in contrast to the woman-in-white soft and slow breathing, as if she was sleeping soundly.
The moon was obscure by drifting clouds once again. Before the three people were shrouded by the darkness, light suddenly came from the direction of the lower reached of the river. The two boys forced themselves to look up, and were shocked to see six big, brightly lit five-mast warships, with all their sails down, sailing at full speed toward them.
They were so scared that their scalps felt numb. Quickly they crouched as low as possible behind a sandbar. In time like this they really wish the river tide would be a bit more violent.
Time seemed to stop to a stand still.
While in their hearts Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling beseeched all gods and Buddhas, known or unknown to them, the huge warships finally sailed far away. Fortunately the ships were so tall that their lights barely reached the darkness where the three of them were lying down, plus at that time the sky was still filled with drizzle, so the visibility was low, plus lantern lights could not reach far; hence the three of them escaped great calamity.
With the woman-in-white between their hands and feet, the two boys huffed and puffed to get her onto the grassy area farther up the shore, and then both of them dropped down, totally exhausted.
Xu Ziling was the first to suffer a dizzy spell, he could not hold on, his vision blackened and he blacked out. Kou Zhong called him twice. And then after feeling his back to make sure the ‘secret manual' was safe, he felt relieved and closed his eyes to sleep.
After sleeping for nobody knows how long, Kou Zhong was the first to wake up. He saw the sun was shining on the open space around him, his body felt comfortably warm, the heat seemed to penetrate his body and soul. Moaning in comfort, for a moment he felt as if he was still in his little nest in Yangzhou. It was not until he heard the rumbling noise of the river beneath his feet did he finally remembered what had happened the previous day. He woke up with a jolt, opened his eyes wide, and sat up.
The place where they were was surrounded by range of hills, the sun had already at the top of the hills, the Great River was flowing from the south, flowing right next to them.
After looking more clearly, he could not help sucking a breath of cold air. Turned out in this section of the river the rapid water merged with rugged shoal, reefs stood up everywhere; no wonder that although he tried to steer it, their boat suddenly crashed and sank.
But it was a good accident; if not for their boat capsized, perhaps Yuwen ‘Huagu's ships would have caught up with them early on.
Xu Ziling was still sleeping like a dead person.
Heavens! Where is that woman-in-white?
Kou Zhong was at a loss, but he was also being paranoid; he was afraid she might slip back into the river. Quickly he crawled toward Xu Ziling and slapped his face in his usual technique. "Xiao Ling! Xiao Ling! Wake up! That evil woman is gone.”
Xu Ziling struggled hard to open his eyes, but unable to withstand the harsh sunlight, he closed his eyes immediately. "Ay,” he moaned, "I was just dreaming of Zhen Sao's delicious meat and vegetable steamed buns! What? That evil woman slipped away?” Suddenly he sat up and glanced to the left and looked to the right with a look of disappointment on his face.