Tossed by the woman-in-white, the two boys were aching all over; whining and groaning they sat up. You look at me I look at you, they saw the frosty face of the woman-in-white; how could they dare to speak? The atmosphere was extremely terrifying.
After traveling for at least twenty, thirty li, the woman-in-white let out a cold snort and reduced the speed of the boat. Gathering up his courage, Kou Zhong tried to sound her out, "Dashi, you must have followed us all this time; otherwise, how could you arrive at the nick of time?”
The woman-in-white did not even look at them; she said angrily, "Who have time to follow you, two little demons who only know how to steal and swindle? It's just that noticing Yuwen Huaji is sending people to search nearby towns and villages, I came back for you.”
Xu Ziling respectfully said, "Thank you very much for Dashi's kindness in saving our lives. If we have the opportunity, we, two brothers, will definitely repay Dashi.”
The woman-in-white condescendingly said, "I did not do it out of the kindness of my heart. It's just that if I can make Yuwen Huaji not happy, I'll do it in a heartbeat. So there is no need to thank me. When we arrive at Danyang, we will go our separate ways, and henceforth I forbid you to even mention me. Or else I will come and chop your little doggies' head.”
Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, "Go our separate ways then we go our separate ways. If in the future we master an unrivalled martial art skill, I want to see if you still dare to call us ‘little doggy this, little doggy that'.”
The woman-in-white's eyes flashed in anger, but then she softened. When she spoke up, there was no trace of anger in her voice. "Even if you do obeisance and enter Turkic people's ‘Wu Zun' [Revered Martial Art] Bi Xuan [lit. complete mystery] school, don't even think that you would achieve any considerable skill. Therefore, it would be best if you forget this dream of yours. Go learn a good craftsmanship, make your living, take a wife, have children, and enjoy your life to the fullest. That will be the most decent thing to do.”
Hearing this, the two boys were deeply hurt. After staring blankly at her for a while, Xu Ziling could not help asking, "Are you saying that our innate ability is too lacking?”
The woman-in-white sighed. She looked down at the two boys tenderly, and then with an unusually gentle voice she said, "You must have realized that you are not even qualified to have me lying to you. Your natural endowment is actually better than most people I've ever seen. Take last night for example, after being tossed around like that you did not get sick, it is indeed hard to come by. But you do lack the good fortune.”
Receiving her compliment, the two boys' self-esteem and confidence was somewhat restored. "What good fortune?” they asked at the same time.
While still rowing, the woman-in-white replied, "It's the good fortune of training. All who wish to excel above the masses and become martial art expert must start their training since childhood. According to my Shifu, anybody who wants to learn anything until achieving the ‘what the heart wishes, the hand accomplishes' level, the most important period is the ten years between the age of five until fifteen. Just like learning language; if one starts to learn after this period, no matter what the pronunciation will not be just right. [Translator's note: the term here refers to the pronunciation of Chinese characters.] Martial art is also the same. Supposing you start today, no matter how hard you work, you will spend twice the effort to get half the result. If you only learn enough skill to run errands, sooner or later you will be killed. In that case, it will be better if you did not learn at all. Do you understand?”
The two boys stared blankly at her. They felt their hands and feet icy-cold; their world seemed to lose its life force and meaning. Kou Zhong has always had unyielding nature; he patted the treasured book behind his back and loudly said, "Maybe we are an exception? Furthermore, we still have the secret manual. Don't you think our case is a bit different?”
For the first time the woman-in-white's eyes showed pity. Shaking her head, she said, "The truth is always hard to accept. The book you have, I‘ve already looked. It is called ‘The Secret to Long Life'. It is indeed a treasury of the Taoists, but it has nothing to do with martial art. You'd better find a place where you can throw it away. Otherwise, you may face disaster because of it. Ay, in my opinion, that book is just a lie; how could human beings can achieve immortality?”
The two boys' countenance was immediately devoid of any color; they were unable to speak. The boat was filled with awkward silence.
Danyang was the biggest town in the upper reaches of Yangzhou; it was the route that has to be taken if one was to go from the inland out to sea via Yangzhou. In importance, it was second only to Yangzhou. The only thing it lacked was, of course, the Grand Canal that linked the north and the south.
The scenery inside the city was unique; the river weaved through it, adorned with hundreds of stone arch bridges over the river course. People built their lives around the water; high and low, row upon row of houses strewn at random. Where there was water there was street, where there was water there was market, where there was water there was road. Water, road, bridge, building, mixed into one entity, into one tranquil, pristine water scenery; tender and soft was water.
By early morning the next day, when the city gate opened, the woman-in-white, along with Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling, mingled into the throng of peasants and villagers to sneak into the city. Because their dream of the future was shattered, their enthusiasm was dampened, they just followed the woman-in-white like a pair of walking corpses wandering around the city.
Obviously it was the first time the woman-in-white came here, her clear eyes looked around, seemingly interested in everything.
Upon entering the gate, they followed the main street going deep into the city; both sides of the street were lined with shops that people used as a place of business at the front, and as residence at the rear. The shop fronts were open, bright with the light from sunroof, and filled with all kinds of goods and arts and crafts products; it was extremely flourishing. The number of visitors was not a few either; it could even be said that the customers crowded these shops like a cloud.
Everywhere the woman-in-white went, due to her beauty, both men and women gave her admiring look, but she did not seem to care, as if all of these were to be expected, as if she turned a blind eye to it.
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling have not eaten for half a day and one full night. Although they were not in a good mood, they still had to fight the feeling of the empty stomach; while the woman-in-white did not even seem to notice they were passing many restaurants already, she simply walked straight ahead. Kou Zhong could not help coming over to her, coughed lightly, and said, "Shouldn't we pay a visit to the temple of five viscera first?” [Translator's note: I guess it's a slang to refer to eating. Five viscera: heart, liver, spleen, lungs, kidneys.]
The woman-in-white halted her steps in front of a big building with white-washed wall and black roof tiles. "Do you have money?” she coldly asked.
From the other side Xu Ziling forced a laugh and said, "Naturally we don't have any money. But Dashi, if you have some, won't that be the same?”
With a cold laugh the woman-in-white said, "So if I have money than it would be the same as you have money? Have you looked into the mirror recently? Besides, my money, along with my bundle, has long ago fallen into the bottom of the river when you, two little demons, crashed the boat and capsized it. Yesterday you had people serving you two meals, you had ample food and clothing, while I haven't had even half mantou [steamed roll] to eat. And now you are still blaming me for not taking you for a big feast?”
Kou Zhong was indignant. "Are you angry with us?” he said, "If our boat did not capsize, Yuwen Huagu would have catch up with us early on. At best we would be turned into bones by him [Translator's note: play of words, gu hua, gu - bone, hua - transform]; but Dashi has countenance of flower, face like the moon. I guarantee that you will be taken as a concubine by that strange Yuwen fellow.”
The woman-in-white stopped abruptly. The two boys thought she was going to make things difficult for them; they were ready to run to two different directions. The woman-in-white was taken aback; looking at the two boys' scared expression, she could not stop an amused look from appearing on her face for the first time.
And then when she saw the boys' stunned expression, she really smiled and said, "You two little demons, wait here for a moment, let me get some silver, and then I'll take you to a nice meal. Afterwards all kindness and benevolence will cease, we'll have nothing to do with each other.” When she spoke the last two sentences, she was imitating Kou Zhong's style; she broke into laughter and walked toward a shop on the left.
Kou Zhong looked up and found out that it was actually a pawnshop. He quickly blocked her and said solemnly, "Pawning stuff? Nobody is more adept than me.”
The woman-in-white was unhappy, "How do I know you won't stuff your pocket first?”
Havinfg his real intention revealed by her, Kou Zhong could only sigh and dejectedly stepped back by Xu Ziling's side.
Following the woman-in-white entering the pawnshop with his gaze, Xu Ziling blurted out, "Since our dream of becoming the number one martial artist in the world is finished, looks like we don't have any choice but to focus on studying for the imperial examination. And then you can become the Right Premier, and I can become Left Premier.”
With a wry smile Kou Zhong said, "While the world is in chaos, the one without prospect the most is precisely a rotten ghost scholar. But I still don't believe her mother's opinion that ‘The Secret to Long Life' is completely unrelated to martial art. Although there is no Taoist priest who achieves immortality, we can see highly skilled Taoist priests on the street. From this we can clearly see that even though we cannot train to be immortal, we can still train to have exceptional martial art skill.”
Xu Ziling stood up excitedly, but then he sighed and said, "But didn't that woman say that we missed the precious childhood to start training?”
Kou Zhong said, "I think she could see that our bones are much better than hers; afraid that in the future we can surpass her head, she intentionally spoke some discouraging words so that we will lose heart. Ay …” Evidently he also felt that by what he said he was just deceiving himself; hence he did not continue.
In the meantime, the woman-in-white walked out in high spirits. The two boys hurriedly came over to her. The woman-in-white said in a low voice, "Listen up, you two little demons, if I hear you call me behind my back ‘this woman' or ‘that woman', I will cut off both of you, little doggies.” [Reminder: the word ‘woman' (po niang) is usually used derogatorily.]
The two boys were deeply embarrassed; they could only nodded and said yes repeatedly.
The three people climbed onto the second floor of a restaurant, sat on a table facing the window, and ordered some vegetable and meat dishes.
There were more than a dozen tables, half were filled with diners. On one table, there was a respectable-looking young man wearing luxurious clothing; one look and others could see that he was the son of a prominent family. He repeatedly cast a glance toward the woman-in-white; apparently he was mesmerized by her beauty.
Xu Ziling let out a dry cough, "May we venture to ask Dashi's honorable surname and great given name, so that we can address you properly?”
The woman-in-white propped her chin with one hand; she asked in surprise, "The two of you little demons are no more than Yangzhou's little ruffians, little gangsters; why is it that when you talk you always talk like you are old and full of experience, pretending like you are a pair of impoverished bookish students?”
Kou Zhong proudly replied, "This is called the person is poor, the ambition is not lacking. There will come a day we will become a pinnacle of virtue and ability; I want to see if you still dare to call us good-for-nothing.”
The woman-in-white was in an unusually good temper; she thought for a moment, and then said, "After I leave, what are you going to do? Cheating for your food and drink has never been an option.”