Book 4 Chapter 1 - Aspiration Higher Than The Sky
Translated by Foxs
When Xu Ziling woke up, the sky was barely brightened; he saw for the first time ever Kou Zhong was already out of bed before he did. He was standing by the cabin window, staring blankly at the darkness outside.
They were in a cabin, which the Li guy arranged for them. In the next room over was precisely the Li Clan's beauty Li Xiuning, the Li guy's captivating younger sister.
Xu Ziling walked over to where Kou Zhong was standing. Kou Zhong sighed and said, "Xiao Ling! I found a sweetheart!”
‘What?” Xu Ziling's voice broke.
"Don't you think Li guy's little sister is very beautiful?” Kou Zhong whispered, "She is easy-mannered and gentle, those eyes are pretty and charming, her breasts are exquisite floating protrusions, her legs, ay! They could lead men to their death. Her cheeks rosy, I am sure those are the cutest cheeks on earth. Her skin soft and smooth like satin brocade, white and pink. Heavens! If I can embrace her naked body every night to bed, I won't think of anything else; because what on earth could be more satisfying than that? When she speaks, her voice and her facial expression make me drunk, and when she occasionally smiles sweetly, and casting your Niang a sidelong glance, Xiao Ling! I am going to die of love.”
Xu Ziling grabbed his shoulder and laughed until he was out of breath. "Do you call that ‘love'?” he asked, "You, this muddled-egg, are just lusting over her.” And then he wondered aloud, "Didn't you say that the more women we have the better? Why is it this time only she one person is enough?”
Kou Zhong said in distress, "Can you not dig up my old scores? When I said those things, I did not even have half a girlfriend, hence I said all those heroic things to console myself. But now I have her, naturally I have to concentrate only on one aspiration. Do you understand?”
Xu Ziling changed into wrapping his arm around Kou Zhong's broad shoulders and said in amazement, "Looks like you are serious.”
"Of course I am serious,” Kou Zhong indignantly said, "Right now Li guy is rushing to Taiyuan to force his old man to revolt. Based on Li Clan's prestige, with Taiyuan as their base of operation, plus with elite soldiers and ample provisions, there is a good chance that he will become the emperor. Since we are going to join a militia anyway, why not rely on that Li guy? Since we have rendered great merit to him, the official position that Li guy is going to bestow us must not be too low.”
Xu Ziling stared blankly for half a day, and then he said in low voice, "Is your heart not dead toward his mother's militia? It would be better for us to concentrate on salt-trafficking business and make money while the world is in chaos. If we have money we can help the people; wouldn't it be better than fighting for life and death for other people?”
Kou Zhong smiled apologetically and said, "Times have changed too. Hey! Just look at that Li guy's righteous manners; how can you compare him to Du Fuwei, Li Mi, those half man half ghost fellows?”
With a bitter laugh Xu Ziling said, "Let's not talk about this right now. At the end of the day, you only want to get close to Li Xiuning. Don't blame me for pouring iced water on your keen interest. Although on the surface this noble family's girl treats us politely, I always feel that she kind of turn us down from a thousand li away. A girl who was born from this kind of respected family like her will always look down on little marketplace ruffians like the two of us.”
This time Kou Zhong wrapped his arm around Xu Ziling's shoulders and said with a giggle, "The first time people meet, of course they are strangers to each other; are you saying that she needs to keep you within a chi of her? There is nothing impossible in this world. To pursue a girl we only need a bit of creativity and smoothness. Later, when that Li guy invites us, two very useful fellows, to join his campaign, remember to leave everything to me.”
Xu Ziling frowned and asked, "So who's going to save Susu Jiejie?”
Evidently Kou Zhong has not thought about this point; he was stunned speechless.
Xu Ziling sighed and said, "You go pursue Miss Xiuning whom you yearn for even in your dreams! Let me take care of Susu Jiejie. But I definitely don't want to join anybody's campaign. Only I need to take that account book back, so that I can avenge Niang.”
While Kou Zhong was as dumb as a wooden chicken, there was a knock on their door.
The two boys followed a maid toward the hall on the upper deck; Li Shimin had arranged a banquet to entertain them. Accompanying them were a handsome young man and a forty-something scholar, tall, thin, natural and unrestrained.
Li Shimin stood up to welcome them, "Kou Xiong, Xu Xiong, please sit down. We are all family.”
The two men also stood up politely and cupped their fists, making the two boys quite flattered.
Li Shimin introduced the middle-aged scholar first, "This is Mr. Pei Ji, his skill ‘wang xing shan' [forgetting-shape fan] can exhaust the world's heroes. He is the deputy supervisor of Jinyang Palace, and my father's chess [qi] mate.”
Pei Ji looked at the two boys indifferently, and said modestly, "Nephew Shimin praises me too much; it's just a lame-hand duck-feet skill, how can it be something worth considering? Not to mention exhausting the world's heroes.”
And then he turned toward the handsome young man and said with a laugh, "Speaking about martial art skill, we must move aside for nephew Chai Shao's brilliance and prestige.”
The one called Chai Shao promptly declined modestly.
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling noticed Chai Shao's splendid sword and beautiful clothes, his imposing manner and elegance, which was only slightly inferior to Li Shimin's bold poise and some kind of hard-to-describe great general's air. But since they already had favorable impression toward him, the two boys hurriedly expressed some courteous words.
However, all along Chai Shao carried a bit of haughtiness toward the two boys, unlike the Li guy who treated them warmly.
Pei Ji was treating them only as younger generation juniors who happened to render a great merit. After they sat down, he only chatted with Li and Chai, two people, and no longer paid any attention to the two boys.
The two boys were accustomed to be looked down like that, so they did not care much, but focusing their attention to dealing with the delicacies and gourmet foods on the table.
In Li Shimin's mind, naturally Pei Ji and Chai Shao were more important than Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling, but he did not neglect hospitality; he personally picked two pieces of deep-fried dough cake and gave it to the two boys, while saying with a laugh, "This is called Steamed Hu Cake [hu is generic term for non-Han people], it has lamb and scallion stuffing, salted fermented beans sauce and sesame seed, simmered in salt; very delicious.”
The two boys had never tasted any Hu cake, which was popular in the north; they ate with relish.
This moment Chai Shao said, "This time Uncle has no choice but to raise arms. And if he does, he will have to take Guanzhong first. My only concern is the two elite troops of Qu Tutong at Puguan and Song Laosheng's guarding Huoyi. It seems that Uncle is not without apprehension.”
Pei Ji said, "Qu Tutong and Song Laosheng are indeed worrisome, but the one I am worried about is Tujue people; their power is stronger day by day. On the east Khitan, Shiwei, on the west Tuyuhun, Gaochang, and other countries are submitting themselves to them. Moreover, those who raise army in the north like Liu Wuzhou, Guo Zihe, Liang Shidou and the others, none does not rely on the Tujue for their existence. When we march toward Guanzhong, what we fear the most is sustaining the Tujue, Liu Wuzhou and the others mounting a sneak attack from behind.”
Li Shimin was already prepared a plan, "That is not a problem,” he said, "If we don't have enough power, we can use strategy. The one thing I am most worried right now is that Die will still be indecisive; I am afraid we will just sit and waste a good opportunity.”
Pei Ji patted his chest to vow, "Leave this matter to me, Pei Ji. As long as Wenjing and I persuade him a little more, and seeing the critical situation in front of our eyes, how can your Die have any other choice?”
Li Shimin nodded his head delightedly. Turning toward Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling he said, "This time it is all due to the two gentlemen. Were it not for the account book got stolen, I am afraid it will still be difficult to create this kind of situation. The most wonderful thing is that that incapable ruler happens to go to Jiangdu to deal with Du Fuwei. This is a one in a million chance.”
The two boys looked at each other; it was only then did they know that the emperor guy finally visited their native place of Jiangdu, Yangzhou.
Right this moment there was the tinkling of girdle ornaments; without turning their heads, the two boys already captured Li Xiuning's beautiful image in their minds, momentarily they could only stare blankly.
She was wearing a Hu hat [see my note above on ‘hu'] that was as round as a bowl, with silkscreen hanging down all around its edge, the top of the hat was garnished with pearl and green jade. It was a unique style; not only it was gorgeous, it was also brimming with faintly discernible mysterious beauty.
The clothes she wore was totally different from the Central Plains and the southern style with its broad overlap and big sleeves, hers had big turndown collar and narrow sleeves, which was similar to the clothes those Hu women, which they saw at Pengcheng, wore; only the material was finer.
This kind of clothes not only highlighted women's exquisite curves, it was also much more convenient in term of mobility.
The first to stand up was Chai Shao. This guy's eyes lit up; with fiery enthusiasm he cheerfully said, "Finally Ning Mei is here, Yuxiong [me, older brother] has been waiting till my heart nearly burned into coal.”
It was as if Li Xiuning did not see other people; she smiled sweetly at Chai Shao, and moved her tender body to Chai Shao's side, allowing him to lightly support her fragrant shoulder and help her to sit. Only then did she greet her older brother and Pei Ji. Lastly she acknowledged Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling.
Kou Zhong felt like he had just struck by lightning, as he watched the intimacy between Chai Shao and Li Xiuning in shock; his face turned ash grey.