Although Du Fuwei was an ambitious and ruthless character of the ‘dark road' who could kill people without blinking an eye, he was helpless against Kou Zhong. To show that he was magnanimous, he forced a laugh and said, "As long as you don't deliberately stir up trouble, why would I be afraid of your talk? The amount of salt I took is more than the grains of rice you have eaten, the number of bridges I crossed is more than the road you have travelled.”
Kou Zhong showed a ‘I beg to differ' expression, but he did not contradict.
Xu Ziling said in a low voice, "We, two brothers, accept our misfortunes as decreed by fate. Du Zongguan [see Chapter 1], after obtaining the ‘Secret to Long Life', would you grant us a quick and easy death, and not subject us to prolonged suffering? Ay! Since Niang died, we have always thought about following her to the Yellow Spring [underworld in Chinese Mythology, equivalent to Hades or Hell]. It's just that we don't have the courage to kill ourselves!”
Kou Zhong interrupted, "Die, after we die, it would be best if whenever you have spare time, you have your subordinates, the generals, to order those foot soldiers to burn some gold and silver paper[2] for us, so that in the Yellow Spring, Niang and us can live comfortably and in style.”
With these two boys messing around with him, Du Fuwei really did not know whether he should laugh or he should cry. "Who said anything about killing you?” he said with a wry smile.
With a straight face Kou Zhong said, "A ruler's words is no joking matter; in that case you can't even harm us.”
Du Fuwei was indeed a wily old fox; he smiled and said, "If you don't hide anything from me, I, Du Fuwei, will keep my promises [orig. one word worth nine sacred tripods[3]]. In the future I definitely won't mistreat you.”
The two boys knew he had fallen into their trap. After exchanging a glance, Kou Zhong said with a sigh, "Die's promise is good enough. Xiao Ling, you may tell him!”
Xu Ziling said, "The entrance to the treasure-trove must be opened in specific way. If Die is willing to swear a heavy oath, guaranteeing that you will not harm even half a hair on our bodies by any method, that you will truly consider us as your sons, then son will tell you the secret.”
Du Fuwei saw a group of men and women just walked in to the restaurant, one of them was an elderly man with an out-of-the-ordinary manner; obviously he was a martial art expert. Du Fuwei nodded and said, "We'll talk about it later. Let's eat!”
Following his gaze, Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong also looked toward the door. Four eyes lit up simultaneously.
The new comers were five in total, one old man and four young people. Each one of them carried either a sword or a saber. The one causing the two boys' eyes to light up was a sixteen or seventeen-year old, budding young girl in the prime of youth, with an exceptionally good-looking countenance.
The old man was short and stout, his bearing looked bold and powerful; as soon as he walked in, his eyes landed squarely on Du Fuwei.
The other three were young men around twenty-year old, their physiques looked heroic and strong, one of them was exceptionally handsome, and taller than the other two. This young man walked side-by-side with the beautiful girl in an intimate manner.
The young girl noticed the two boys, Kou and Xu's marketplace rascal's eyes were sizing her up without blinking, and angry look flitted across her pretty face; she turned her head away in disdain, and pressed closer to the tall and handsome young man's back as they entered the restaurant.
Knowing that they had caught the young girl's attention, the two boys were very excited; they looked at each other and laughed.
Du Fuwei saw everything clearly, but a warm, familiar feeling welled up in his heart.
He was born into a poor family, and since childhood he wasted his time stealing and robbing at the marketplace. He could not even remember how many times he was beaten up because he took liberties with beautiful women.
Later on, after mastering martial art skill, it was his turn to bully other people. But after nearly twenty years of cultivating superior martial art skill and exercising restraint of his sexual desire, he no longer forced himself into a woman. Looking at these two boys' mannerism has evoked his memory.
"Do you want Die to get her as your wife for a few nights?” he asked in low voice.
The two boys jumped in fright. They both shook their hands to refuse. Xu Ziling seriously said, "There is no fun in those who come by coercion; our eyes see but our hands do not move.”
Du Fuwei suddenly started to like these two boys, raising his thumb he said, "Good child!”
The two boys inwardly thought that you curry our favor just to obtain the non-existent secret method to open the treasure-trove! Naturally they did not feel grateful at all. But they still put a happy expression on their face.
Because he saw that the girl was already taken [orig. the flower has a master/owner], plus he was afraid that the girl would provoke disaster from Du Fuwei because of them, Kou Zhong renounced his urge to enjoy the beauty and simply stuffed himself.
"How's Die's martial art skill compared to Yuwen Huagu's?” he asked curiously, "Which one is higher, which one is lower?”
This was the second time Du Fuwei heard him arbitrarily changed Yuwen Huaji's name to ‘Yuwen Huagu'; he was greatly amused. "Being together with you, two kids, I laughed a lot more than I did for the last ten years added together,” he said, "Later on you must not ask this kind of naïve question. I have never met him nor exchange palms with him, how do I know who's superior and who's inferior?”
For the sake of the treasure-trove, he gave this half true and half false answer to entertain them.
Xu Ziling said, "There must be some criteria. For instance, that guy ‘Wu Zun' Bi Xuan [see Book 1 Chapter 5], or ‘San Zhenren' Ning Daoqi [see Book 1 Chapter 6]; how many people have actually exchange palms with them? Yet isn't their rank set up on high?”
With a cold laugh Du Fuwei said, "They are undoubtedly most outstanding martial art masters of this age; but every generation in the rivers and mountains [i.e. country] produces talents. Who could guarantee that they will occupy that position forever?”
Kou Zhong nodded and said, "Die's opinion is very insightful. I wonder how many martial art masters in Jianghu are in the same level as you are?”
Seeing he was putting up a grownup manner in deadly earnest, Du Fuwei was not amused. "Quickly eat!” he snapped.
The two boys were highly interested in the discussion, naturally they were quite put off; without any choice they simply go back to eating with heads down.
Du Fuwei has always been highly authoritative in front of his subordinates. It could be said that no one did not respect him or was afraid of him. Who would have thought that these two boys acted like he was their real Dad? In actuality he did not know how to handle these two boys. His heart softened and he said, "If we are talking about the origin of Wulin's diverse schools and sects, it can roughly divided into north and south, two major systems. It is called ‘southerners put emphasis on simplicity and obtain the essence; northerners delve deeper and exhaust their branch and leaves'. The so-called north and south refers to the north and south of the Great River. South side Wulin always leans toward the esteemed doctrine of metaphysical study [Wei and Jin philosophical school amalgamating Taoist and Confucian ideals], continuing the so-called Central Plains orthodoxy since the Wei [220-265] and Jin [265-420] dynasties. The north side on the other hand, receives heavy influence of extra-territorial Wulin world; the martial art skills branch into thousand schools ten thousand varieties in innumerable succession. It could be said to be very dynamic and fascinating. But at the highest level, each one has its own distinguishing feature, it's hard to say which one is superior, which one is inferior.”
Speaking to this point, he saw, sitting three tables away, the old man's ears were twitching; evidently he was listening to their conversation. In his heart he was a bit wary, since he had already used his inner energy to focus his voice so that it would not spread out. If the opposite side could still hear it, it means this person could be considered a top quality martial art master of the Jianghu.
At other times, Du Fuwei might made his move to try him out, but right now he had an important matter at hand, he was not interested in meddling with any other matters. Therefore, he immediately stopped talking and urged the two boys to eat their fill, and then paid the bill and left.
Patted their belly, Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong followed him out.
As they walked past the girl's table, she suddenly stretched out her foot and with matchless precision placed it right between Xu Ziling's feet, who was the last in line. She exerted her strength and twisted.
Xu Ziling screamed and stumbled onto Kou Zhong' back. The two of them fell down and rolled on the ground like a gourd.
[3] Side note: for more on ‘tripods', please read Jin Yong's Deer and Cauldron, Chapter 1, translated by yours truly.