Here is the end of Chapter 10, and the end of Book 3. Say, can I ask how many of you:
1. Follow this thread from Book 1 Chapter 1, but have not read Grundle's original thread?
3. Follow this thread, but not reading it; i.e. you are waiting for me to catch up to start reading.
I am just curious. This is not a demand, your answer will not affect my work at all ... Plus, I am asking you, my regular readers; if you don't usually post, don't bother answering. You won't get extra point for doing so. Again, I am just curious. By the way, Book 4 Chapters 1 and 2 are relatively shorter that these last three chapters, so I hope by next week you'll start reading Book 4 Chapter 3.
This moment, the two boys' interest was not so much on the account book but on their own destiny.
Speaking to this point, Shang Gong was still using a low voice, as if he was afraid others might hear him, which gave them hope.
Shang Gong casually tossed the account book onto the desk, while showing the first ever smile they saw since he came in, "Your innate character cannot be considered bad, you have not lost your innocence. Sometimes when I was listening to you, I could not help laughing.”
‘Beating the snake following the stick' [see Book 3 Chapter 3] Kou Zhong said in low voice, "Shang Gong, is it possible for you to let us, two brothers, off this time?”
Shang Gong shook his head and said, "Public is public, personal is personal [fyi, the ‘gong' of Shang Gong also means ‘public' or ‘common']. Our Dong Ming Pai's most serious statutes, in all my life, since I was young, I have never deviate even half a step from it; how can I, at the last segment of my life, falter from it for the sake of you, two little kids? But when Madame returns, I can speak a couple of good words on your behalf. Now kneel down in front of Laofu.”
The two boys simultaneously thought about Dong Ming Princess; they both thought that warriors can be killed but never humiliated, so their hands instantly moved toward the hilt of their sabers.
Shang Gong shook his head and sighed, "If it were ten years in the future, Laofu really cannot guarantee whether this weary old body would be able to withstand your two boys' joint attack, but right now your weight simply falls too short. Come!”
The two boys exchanged glances; they knew that they had reached a situation where there was no more leeway. So they drew their sabers and attacked.
Shang Gong's face revealed a shocked look; but still calm and unhurried he raised both sleeves to generate two streams of powerful qi, meeting the two lightning fast saber hacking down on him.
Based on his status, naturally his victory had to be neat and tidy. If he had to alert the others before they could subdue these two boys, his face would suffer a huge setback.
‘Bang! Bang!' with two muffled explosions Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling felt the palm of their hands exploded, their sabers were flung away, while their entire body was jolted, sending them tumbling backwards, and it felt like their internal organs were about to burst.
While the two boys were groaning inwardly for their terrible situation, Shang Gong suddenly let out a painful grunt and staggered sideways.
The two boys were at a loss; suddenly a human figure clad in black leaped in through the window and while he was still in the air, the shadow attacked Shang Gong left and right with a pair of daggers about a chi long in each hand, each move was never far away from Shang Gong's vital points; extremely accurate, vicious and ruthless.
In the blink of an eye Shang Gong, who was already injured by the sneak attack, has already exchanged more than ten moves against the enemy.
Meanwhile the two boys recovered from their panic and dropped themselves down on the floor to get away from the scuffle. They saw that in the spacious study room, the man in black moved like a ghost, they only saw his shadow like wisps of smoke floating above and all around Shang Gong, unfolding astonishing attacks like the tidal waves of Yangtze River or Yellow River toward Shang Gong, who, very soon, was falling into disadvantageous position, without giving Shang Gong the least bit of opportunity to catch his breath.
By this time the two boys' vision was much better than before, they could tell that this man's skill was not inferior in any respect to Du Fuwei's.
While they were contemplating whether they should call for reinforcement, Shang Gong let out an earth-shattering roar as he forcibly extricated himself from the enemy's sword net. ‘Bang!' he crashed onto the cabin wall and into the adjacent room.
Obviously that man was not interested in Shang Gong. Lightning fast he flew toward the desk, grabbed the account book, and without even casting a glance toward the two boys he leaped out of the window.
This moment sound of footsteps and people shouting and yelling were getting closer. The two boys yelled and sprang up, and then with all their strength they jumped out the window into the lake below.
‘Splosh!' the two boys dove deep into the icy-cold water. They were trying desperately to distance themselves from Dong Ming flagship, when suddenly they felt something was not right, and their backs were grabbed from behind, while at the same time a stream of true qi penetrated their back, consecutively sealing a dozen or so major acupoints on their bodies.
The man apparently thought that he has immobilized them; he grabbed their arms instead, and dragged them along under water at an astonishing speed. It was only after covering more than ten zhang distance that they surfaced.
Shouts were still occasionally heard from the Dong Ming flagship, which was thrown into total chaos. The man let out a cold laugh, and then grabbing the two boys' collar, he moved his two legs to swim really fast like a fish.
Meanwhile the fantastic true qi inside the two boys' body spontaneously surged on and opened the sealed acupoints. While they were contemplating whether they should make their move, the man cursed under his breath, "Reckless bunch!”
The two boys opened their eyes a little to peek, and saw a dozen or so fast boats were speeding up like artillery shells in their direction. When the man dragged the two boys back into the water, they knew their chance has come. Kou Zhong lightly nudged Xu Ziling, and then together they exerted everything they had into their elbows, striking the man's flank and his belly, respectively.
The man doubled up in pain, automatically his grabs on the two boys loosened, while he spurted a mouthful of fresh blood.
Kou Zhong already knew that the man had the account book wrapped in a waterproof oil cloth bundle and tied it on his waist; he seized this opportunity to reach out and snatch the bundle away.
Xu Ziling sent a follow-up punch toward the man's face, but the man was indeed highly skilled; unexpectedly he was able to endure the pain and evaded the punch.
The two boys did not dare to pursue; desperately they dove down to the bottom of the lake first before swimming away with all their strength toward the isolated island.
This was the brilliance of their plan; evading the martial art expert's pursuit was by no means, not an easy task, but no matter how powerful the expert was, he would not dare to return to where Li Clan and Dong Ming Sect people were. The most ingenious thing was that Dong Ming Sect people would search the nearby body of water, but they would never suspect that the two boys would return to the island instead.
This moment the two boys looked exactly like fish in the water, in no time at all they already reached the bottom of Li Shimin's big ship.
Floating up to the surface, they saw Dong Ming flagship was brightly lit, but Li Shimin's ship was in total blackout, quiet, with no visible movement. Kou Zhong whispered, "I hope Li guy's people don't mistake us for thieves.”
"Go up!” Xu Ziling said, "I was so shaken by that old fellow that I feel like my tender bones are falling apart!”
After suffering untold hardships, finally the mission was accomplished. Now they could take Li guy's money with clear conscience. The excitement in their heart was certainly hard to describe.
Moreover, they bravely snatched this account book away from that mysterious martial art expert, hence it lessened the guilty feeling of being little thief, and considerably cleared their conscience.
Once again they put their climbing-wall experience to work. When they passed Li Shimin's sister's cabin, recalling that gentle and pleasant-to-the-ear voice, Kou Zhong could not refrain himself from looking in.
Completely caught off-guard, a dagger suddenly shot out, as fast as lightning, toward his throat. Kou Zhong was so scared that he nearly fell down. Not daring to move a finger, he froze on the spot, while still hanging outside the window.
A half-delighted, half-angry, extremely beautiful pair of eyes appeared about a chi away from Kou Zhong's nose, coldly scrutinizing him.
By this time Xu Ziling already climbed onto his side and gave him a little push, indicating that he should not stop here; Xu Ziling was completely oblivious that Kou Zhong might lose his life at any time.
This lovely young woman, whose beauty was comparable to Dong Ming Princess, said in low voice, "Who are you?”
With strained breathing, Kou Zhong replied, "I am Kou Zhong, Li …”
The beauty withdrew her dagger and cried out softly, "Why haven't you come in? If somebody saw you, we will be in big trouble.”
Kou Zhong was greatly delighted, he called Xu Ziling and still dripping wet, together they crawled into the girl's room.
The first thing Kou Zhong did was taking out the bundle and opened the oilcloth. The account book was staring back at them.
The two boys cheered in chorus.
The beauty clearly knew about their deal with Li Shimin. Picking up the account book, she flipped the pages for a moment, and then delightedly said, "This is it. The two of you wait here for a moment, let me see if Er Ge has returned or not.”
After smiling sweetly, she went out the door.
The two boys went over to the rear cabin wall and sat down on the floor, feeling once again like decent human beings.
Kou Zhong sighed and said, "This girl is so beautiful. If I had known, I would have asked for her and not for money.”
Xu Ziling laughed and said, "This time I'll let you have her; next time we encounter this kind of sweet girl, it will be my turn.”
Kou Zhong smiled wryly and said, "Yours, mine, have you thought about what kind of things are we? She is a thousand-catty gold [i.e. precious daughter], born into respected family, a large and influential clan; when will we have our turn?”
Xu Ziling dispiritedly said, "Zhong Shao, since when did you become so modest? Didn't you often say that we will be Wulin masters in the future? You also said that we will be bestowed the title marquis and promoted to be generals? Why so discouraged all of a sudden?”
Kou Zhong sighed and said, "We can say what we want, but compared to that unlucky martial art master just now, our martial art skill is far too inferior. He was caught completely off guard when we attacked, yet he merely threw up a bird's mouthful of blood and that's it. And then that old fellow surnamed Shang also said that before ten years, eight years, our martial art skill's not worth showing. That's right, we must remember to ask that Li guy for two more sabers; without sabers, we can't even fight.”
"Not at all,” Xu Ziling said, "Otherwise, we can forget learning and understanding punching and kicking skill. No saber, just use our hands. We can still execute the Bloody Battle Ten-style taught by Li Dage.”
After waiting painfully for the time needed to burn an incense stick, Li Shimin's beautiful sister returned. It was only then did the two boys notice that she was wearing beautiful pastel-colored dress, her figure sweet, fair and graceful, her manner dignified and elegant, making other people unable to criticize.
Seeing the two boys were sitting on the floor like beggars, the beauty was greatly displeased, "Why are you sitting on the floor? Still won't stand up?”
Feeling extremely foolish, the two boys stood up.
The door opened, Li Shimin rushed in. Ignoring their drenched bodies, he hugged them tightly. "Success!” his voice trembled with emotion, "Just now Madame Dong Ming personally wrote a letter, telling me to immediately go to Taiyuan and hand it over to Die. If our Li family obtain the world [tian xia] in the future, we certainly won't treat two gentlemen meagerly.”