Shan Yan said, "Right now the Li Clan is hard-pressed from front and rear, Dugu Clan and Yuwen Clan are dying to have them completely wiped-out. But in this matter nobody could offer any help to them, they could only look at the Li Clan's good luck.”
Shan Yudie said, "Fortunately Li Yuan has several good sons, plus Taiyuan is located upstream of River Fen, between Taihang Mountains [on the border between Hebei and Shanxi] and Yellow River, cradled by the mountain and supported by the river, they are squatting on the world's shoulder, with the Hedong as the foundation. They have elite soldiers and ample provisions. On top of that, Li Yuan, father and sons, bestow benevolence far and wide, making friends with heroes everywhere, their influence continuously expanding; they are not a force of only one battle.”
Shang Ming objected, "But Li Yuan is an indecisive leader, all along he considers himself as the incapable ruler's aunt's cousin. There will come a day where that incapable ruler will weary him to his death. If I were Li Yuan, I would take advantage while the incapable ruler is redeploying his border guards to deal with Du Fuwei in Jiangdu region, and Wagang Army is occupying the Sui's main force at Luoyang, to advance to the capital and take it, to raise his army in rebellion.”
Listening to this, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling's hearts were burning; they both thought, ‘oh, so the current situation is like that', no wonder Li Shimin wanted it so much for his old dad to rebel.
Shan Qing said, "Too bad we are limited by our ancestors' rule that we must not get involved in the Central Plains' affair. Otherwise when we see Shimin, we can lay out the advantages and disadvantages thoroughly to him.”
Madame Dong Ming said indifferently, "If we can see the situation clearly, do you think other people can't? This matter needs not be discussed anymore.”
How could anybody dare to continue the discussion?
After an unbearably awkward silence, Shang Gong suddenly looked at Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling, two boys. While the two boys grew nervous under his gaze that they could not swallow their food, Shang Gong spoke with his hoarse and hard-to-hear-clearly voice, "Who taught you martial art?”
Kou Zhong braced himself and replied, "It was our Niang!”
"Who's your Niang?” Madame Dong Ming asked in astonishment.
Xu Ziling explained, "His Niang is the same as my Niang, other people called her Luocha female.”
Madame Dong Ming said, "Luocha female Fu Junchuo was famous for being vicious and merciless; I did not expect not only she took you as her adopted sons, she even sacrificed herself for you. It can be considered incredible.”
The two boys appeared deeply grieved.
Shang Gong shook his head and said, "That's not right! How long have you been training martial art?”
Kou Zhong counted his fingers and gave him an honest answer, "A bit over a year.”
Shan Qing and the others revealed a shocked look on their faces. Although their fighting skill did not count for anything, but in just over a year of training, they already had this kind of accomplishment that they were able to take Shan Wanjing's palm strike head-on; it was indeed shocking.
Shang Gong was deep in thought for half a day, and then he sighed and said, "If you can avoid experiencing fire deviation, in the future you ought to have superb accomplishment.”
Madame Dong Ming said, "Meixian[1] has inspected their qi circulation method, it is actually very vast without any clear boundary. I don't know where it starts, hence I dispelled the thought of accepting them into our Sect and passing on our skill to them. If Shang Gong has an idea, why not giving them a direction or two?”
Shang Gong only shook his head; he no longer spoke.
Back to their cabin, the two boys felt relieved as if they had just escaped from a trap.
Kou Zhong said in a low voice, "There are too many people ‘who bite the hand that feed them' on earth; just look at Shang Ming, a dog who relies on its master's power, he looked at us with disdain while he is acting as if he is sitting high on a pedestal. Ha! Fortunately this Young Master is broad-minded, can't possibly bicker with him.”
Xu Ziling sneered and said, "If you really don't care about him, you ought not mention it.”
Kou Zhong slapped his forehead and said, "You are right! From now on, we won't talk about this guy.”
Xu Ziling said in distress, "How would we know when Madame and the others leave the ship to see that Li guy?”
Kou Zhong laughed and said, "Isn't that simple? Whenever the ship stops, that's when they leave the ship.”
Xu Ziling said, "Supposing Madame invited Li guy to meet on the ship, won't our dream become an empty dream?”
Kou Zhong was speechless for half a day. Finally he said in low voice, "Let's not worry too much, as long as they congregate in the hall above, we will immediately make our move to steal that stuff. Li guy and his old dad's fate is on our hands.”
Xu Ziling craned his neck to look out the window. After looking around for quite some time, he pulled his head back and said, "Didn't they say Yuwen Clan people want to mount a sneak attack on Dong Ming flagship? How come there's not even a trace of them?”
"You asked me?” Kou Zhong said, "Then whom should I ask? Huh?”
The sound of the ship suddenly changed; it slowed down. The two boys tensed up; they had to wait patiently.
That night the sky was clear the weather was nice, the crescent moon was hanging low on the horizon, the night view was enchanting.
Under the moonlight and starlight, the Dong Ming flagship slowly docked onto a small lone island in the middle of the lake, where another big ship had already anchored.
The two boys stuck out their heads out the window to look, and recognized that it was Li Shimin's battleship; they grew even more nervous and their hearts were beating rapidly.
When the Dong Ming flagship has come to a complete stop, the two boys crouched down and pressed their ears on the cabin floor, while channeling their energy to listen carefully.
Unexpectedly the cabin below was silent, as if it was a deserted ghost town.
Right this moment, a sigh rang inside the two boys' eardrum.
The two boys sat up in fright, and they both saw that the other's face was devoid of any color.
"That's Shang Gong's voice,” Kou Zhong said in horror, "Even if he turned into dust I will still recognize it,”
"How could that old fellow's sigh be that loud?” Xu Ziling asked, "It sounded like he was sighing next to our ears.”
Kou Zhong took a deep breath and said, "Let's not worry about it too much. In half the time needed to burn a stick of incense, we will climb down the window to steal, and then use the water to escape.”
The two boys sat back in the chair; waiting with ‘heart alarmed, guts palpitated'.
Suddenly they heard footsteps in the hallway outside, the two boys groaned inwardly. Fortunately nobody came in; very soon the footsteps were getting farther and farther away.
Kou Zhong sprang up and said, "It's time!”
In this frightening moment, someone knocked on their door. While the two boys were groaning incessantly, the ugly maid's voice was heard outside the door, "Come out quickly! Princess wants to see you.”
With bitter face the two boys followed the ugly maid down to lower deck and on to the Princess' study room's door. Without showing any expression the ugly maid pushed the door open and coldly said, "Come in!”
Without any other choice Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling braced themselves and stepped into the room.
Dong Ming Princess Shan Wanjing was back into wearing men's clothes, ready and waiting, sitting in a large chair by the desk, looking calmly straight toward the two boys' faces.
Under her suffocating gaze, the two boys felt as if they were half a head shorter, and were overwhelmed with a feeling of inferiority.
As they stole a glance around, the account book was nowhere to be seen. There was really no word that can describe the two boys' disappointment.
Shan Wanjing said dryly, "The other day I was not in a very good mood, and my hands slipped and injured Xu Gongzi. Right now just consider me apologizing.”
Although her manner was very polite, plus she was apologizing in person, the two boys were able to clearly see that she did not really care about them; she did not even have the courtesy to have them sit down and talk. As if they were only fit to be her underlings who had to stand up deferentially while listening to her bossing people around.
Shan Wanjing coldly sized them up and down several times, before continuing, "Why aren't you speaking?”
Full of anger, Kou Zhong said, "We have nothing to say; if you want to say something, just be our guest and say whatever you want!”
A faint smile escaped from the corner of Shan Wanjing's mouth. Her beautiful eyes penetrated Xu Ziling deeply as she spoke gently, "I can't be considered good to you, but you brought it upon yourselves. Fortunately all these will be over soon; I have arranged a place for you to stay.”
"What?!?” Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong exclaimed hoarsely.
"Don't make much fuss about nothing,” Shan Wanjing said indifferently, "Currently the number of people in Jianghu who have the ability to protect you is indeed not many; Li Clan is one of them. Based on our relationship with the Li Clan, we only need to open our mouth, they will definitely take care of you.”
The two boys called for their mother inwardly; if following her advice they went to the Li guy's ship, would they still have a face to see the Li guy?
Kou Zhong hurriedly said, "Thank you Princess for taking a lot of trouble for us. We are the kind of people who are most afraid of lodging under another person's roof while watching other people's countenance as we conduct ourselves. If Princess thinks that we are not pleasing to your eyes, we will immediately jump into the lake. In this way we are slipping away to everyone's delight and satisfaction, both parties are happy.”
Shan Wanjing's pretty eyes flashed with cold rays as she crossly said, "What are you talking about?”
Xu Ziling was also indignant. "Zhong Shao was so articulate and clear, unexpectedly Princess was not able to hear it clearly?” he asked in astonishment, "We definitely will not live relying on other people's charity; we won't need your so-called benevolence either. We are going back to our room right now to pack, and then will leave immediately. Please!”
Actually, the two boys did not have anything to pack, they just wanted to stall for time. After Madame Dong Ming and the evil woman in front of them left, they would return to look for the account book before leaving.
"Halt!” Shan Wanjing angrily barked.
The two boys jumped in fright; they stared at her hatefully.
Shan Wanjing's silky breasts moved up and down rapidly. The fact was that even she herself did not understand why it was very easy for her to get angry at Xu Ziling; it was so not like her usual calm and cold nature.
After half-a-day of awkward silence, Shan Wanjing calmed down. She heaved a deep sigh and her voice became gentle, "How about this? We'll ask Li Clan people to give you a ride. After you reach a safe place, you may go as you wish. Perhaps you still don't know it, but that incapable ruler has issued a strict order to obtain the ‘Secret to Long Life' in your possession at all cost.”
For the first time ever there was a genuine concern over their safety in her voice. However, since they already had prejudice against her, naturally the two boys did not feel it; besides, they would not accept it anyway.
Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, "If that's the case, we can't climb onto Li Clan's big ship even more. After all, Li Clan is one of the Emperor's son's hunting dog; how would we know they won't see profit and forget morality, and sell us, the two brothers?”
Toward Kou Zhong, this beautiful Princess obviously had much higher tolerance. She smiled and said, "Don't underestimate other people. When you see Li Shimin, you will see such a real hero that makes other people willing to commit themselves to him cheerfully. Not to worry, I can guarantee in the name of Dong Ming Pai that such thing will never happen.”
While she was speaking about Li Shimin, her bright, lively beautiful eyes were constantly looking at Xu Ziling; her eyes were saying that compared to Li Shimin, you, Xu Ziling, are far too inferior.
But Xu Ziling did not have the slightest idea; in his usual natural and unrestrained manner he shrugged his shoulders and said, "Whether he is a real hero or a fake hero, we are accustomed to carefree life, and have no interest in clinging onto the hero Princess thinks so highly of.”
Kou Zhong remembered that Madame Dong Ming once told them that they ought to learn through experience in Jianghu; he had a brainwave, "Princess' idea, I am afraid you have not received Madame's approval, have you?”
Swj's countenance turned cold again; brushing her sleeve away she said, "Get lost! By the time I am back, don't let me see your face again. You want to deliver your life, just go to hell!”
The two boys felt as if they had just received the Emperor's pardon; they withdrew from the room in great delight.
Having much experience climbing down the wall, the two boys scaled down the wall without any mishaps toward the study room's window.
The study room light has been extinguished; it was completely quiet. Not daring to hesitate, they craned their neck first to make sure nobody was inside before slipping in through the window; soon they were inside the study room.
Following the technique taught by Ol' Chen, the two of them split up and methodically combed the study room until nothing was overlooked.
After being busy for half a sichen [i.e. an hour], they have scoured every cun of the room, yet they still could not find the account book.
The two boys sat slumping on the floor, so disappointed that they almost cried.
If they could obtain the account book, not only they would do that Li guy a big favor, they would probably be able to implicate Yuwen Huagu and had him, along with his entire family, executed unto the third generation.
But now everything was lost.
The account book was simply not in the study room.
Kou Zhong painfully said, "That woman [derogatory] must have brought that thing to settle the account with that Li guy. It's over. The hardest thing for me is that we must leave immediately, otherwise, that evil woman would toss us out to the water like throwing garbage.”
Xu Ziling dejectedly said, "If we want to go, the sooner the better!”
Shang Gong's voice, which was as easy to recognize as if it was the exclusive signboard above his head, rang again in the two boys' eardrums.
How could the two boys not realize that disaster was imminent? They sprang up and were about to jump into the lake through the window when Shang Gong, as nimble as a wild cat, leaped inside from outside the window. The senile old man was completely gone.
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling's only way out was blocked by him; they could neither advance nor retreat, and were in an extremely difficult situation.
Shang Gong raised his left hand and laughed softly as he said, "Are you looking for this account book? Come and get it if you have the ability!”
The two boys were dumbstruck; they could only stare with mouth agape at the precious account book in his left hand. Naturally they did not dare to make their move to snatch it away.
Shang Gong said nonchalantly, "Madame entrusted this responsibility to me, the old man. Naturally Laofu [old man, referring to self] must not disappoint her. These days Laofu has been watching you. Listening to your conversation, I even gave you a warning, but your thief character is hard to change, making Laofu very disappointed.”
With a bitter laugh Kou Zhong said, "We received a request from a friend …”
Shang Gong coldly cut him off, "Laofu don't give your reason a , I only know that this account book concerns our Dong Ming Pai's reputation. It's just that were it not for the two of you making such a big fuss over it, we would not know that such an account book could become the root of great turmoil. When Madame is back, Laofu will ask Madame to destroy it, so that nobody will be able to exploit it as a fighting instrument.”
[1] Meixian, lit. beautiful immortal. At first I thought Shan Mei Xian was her nickname, but from this passage, apparently ‘Meixian' was her given name, surnamed Shan.