Book 4 Chapter 11 - Night Visit to the Pleasure House
Zhai Rang, alone, stood in the middle of the door, staring coldly at the three people.
Susu also felt that Zhai Rang was greatly different from usual; with a trembling voice she called out, "Laoye!”
The two boys let off Susu and stood in front of her, preparing to fight to the death.
Zhai Rang's countenance was back to normal, but it looked like he had aged by several years. With hands behind his back he slowly walked toward a chair, sat down, and spoke with soft voice, "Susu, go inside, I want to speak with your two Didi.”
Obeying him, Susu was about to move, but Kou Zhong pulled her back; he said in heavy voice, "How do we know that you don't have people waiting in the back for Su Jie.”
Seeing Kou Zhong was so rude toward her old master, Susu was so scared that the blood drained from her jade countenance.
With a cold sneer Zhai Rang said, "With just one order from me, do you think you will still be alive? There is no need for me to take you into my consideration.”
Susu implored the two boys in low voice, "Please just listen to Laoye!” Shaking off Kou Zhong's hand, she wobbled inside.
The two boys exchanged some glances, and then both of them sat in front of Zhai Rang.
Zhai Rang sized up the two boys in silence. Suddenly he said, "Who is your Niang?”
Xu Ziling opened his mouth, he coldly replied, "That is our secret.”
Zhai Rang flashed an angry look at first, but then it was as if his anger dissipated. "Forget about it!” he said, "Just now you had the chance, but did not make your move to kill me. No matter how shameless or how despicable, I, Zhai Rang, will not make my second move! Previously I wanted to kill you to shut your mouth, I was indeed had no choice due to a predicament. It's finished! Everything is finished. I wanted to kill you because of my recurrent acute injury, it's Laotian [Heaven] punishing me for repaying kindness with evil, I am the one to blame for inviting trouble for myself!”
Looking at this once all-powerful [orig. ‘rebuking Heaven and Earth'] figure under this ‘all path exhausted, the road ended' situation, the two boys were at a loss.
Xu Ziling said, "Da Longtou is back from great victory; even though Zu Junyan is in cahoots with outsiders, can't Da Longtou give your order and have those renegades' head fall to the ground?”
Zhai Rang shook his head and sighed. He slowly said, "Inside situation really must not be discussed with outsiders. Right now Ol' Zhai only have one request, I wish two gentlemen can stay here ten days longer. After ten days, I will send people to escort you and Susu out.”
"Die!” Zhai Jiao's voice was heard from the door, "You said you wanted to see daughter, why did you sneak up here instead?”
Zhai Rang looked at Wang Ruxin who came with Zhai Jiao, he said, "Notify Duke Mi immediately, I want to have an emergency meeting in Longtou Mansion immediately.”
Everybody was stunned.
Xu Ziling was lying on the bed. Kou Zhong was pacing back and forth in the room. Both had their eyebrows knitted deeply, they were completely baffled. Why did Zhai Rang want to kill them to shut their mouth? According to reason, he ought to be grateful to them for providing him with such useful information.
Xu Ziling slapped the bed and said, "It must be this: the mastermind behind Zu Junyan must be Li Mi, that's why old Zhai is having such a headache.”
Kou Zhong sat on the bed; he mused, "But he does not have to kill us. The guy who plotted against the old Zhai was wearing a mask, and he was hiding inside the trunk to make his move, naturally it was because he was afraid Old Zhai would recognize him. Based on Old Zhai's skill, the number of people who are qualified to plot against him cannot be too many; so who could it be?”
The two boys were severely shaken at the same time; they looked at each other.
Trembling with excitement, Kou Zhong said, "Are you thinking what I am thinking?”
Xu Ziling sat up, his eyes showed a horrorstruck expression, "Must be Li Mi!” he whispered.
Kou Zhong took a deep breath. "This is bad,” he said, "Old Zhai summoned Li Mi to have a meeting, obviously he is going to reveal his last card; won't he bring disaster to us and Su Jie? Speaking about scheming skill, old Zhai is not Li Mi's match, especially now that he is injured so bad that he could not even kill us.”
"It would be best for us to slip away as soon as possible,” Xu Ziling said, "But I know that there is a chance that Su Jie has heard Old Zhai's remark that we are to stay ten more days before we can leave.”
Kou Zhong said, "We'd better go to Daiqing Yuan [see Book 4 Chapter 9] first to get to the bottom of it. When we slip away in the future, it will be a lot more convenient; besides, if we stay ten more days, won't we find out what's going on?”
Xu Ziling said, "But right now we have more martial art masters coming back with that Old Zhai, getting in and out will be very inconvenient.”
Kou Zhong said, "Old Zhai did not say that we cannot stroll down the street. We can just strut down the main gate and test their reaction.”
Xu Ziling sprang up from the bed. They were about to go when from Kou Zhong's adjoining room they heard knocks on the door.
"Who's looking for me?” Kou Zhong whispered, "It's already late.”
Soon afterwards the knocks moved onto Xu Ziling's door, followed by a sweet voice calling out, "Kou Zhong! Kou Zhong!”
Kou Zhong stared blankly. "It's Chuchu!” he said, "Really bad!” He jumped; first three steps, and then two steps, and finally pulled the door open.
Seeing Kou Zhong, Chuchu's eyebrows rose up in delight; her gaze flitted over Kou Zhong's broad shoulders and she stole a glance toward Xu Ziling as she reached out to grab Kou Zhong's sleeve and pull him out.
It was quite some time later that Kou Zhong returned, red-faced. Wiping his mouth, he said, "The passion is really fierce, she also wanted to pull me into her room. This must not be the first time for her, otherwise she would not be able to teach me how to do things right like just now.”
Xu Ziling was horrified, "Did you really f*ck her?”
"Get lost!” Kou Zhong snapped, "Just kiss on the mouth, and stroking her fragrant shoulders! Our business is more important, let's go!”
Side-by-side the two boys left the courtyard of their living quarters, and walked toward the main gate.
Flakes of snow were falling down from the sky like floating feathers, the moon and the stars did not show their light, the air was thick with an impenetrable feeling of tranquility, they met several mansion guards along the way, but nobody stopped them.
When they reached the plaza in front of the main entrance, Tu Shufang caught up with them from behind. "Where are you going?” he asked.
"The boredom is driving us crazy,” Kou Zhong replied, "We want to go out to have a stroll!”
Tu Shufang cordially joined them, he accompanied them going through the main gate and onto the street. He asked in low voice, "When you see Da Longtou today, what actually happened?”
The two boys did not really know how to answer; hence momentarily they were at a loss for words.
There were very few people on the street; those they encountered were passers-by who curled up shivering while walking hurriedly to get out of the cold winter breeze, in stark contrast to the three men's heavy gaits, giving the impression that they were moving in sluggish, slow-motion steps.
Tu Shufang sighed and said, "Da Longtou is really injured, isn't he?”
The two boys nodded blankly.
Tu Shufang continued, "Did Da Longtou say who was that man who mounted a sneak attack on him?”
Kou Zhong shook his head, "He did not say, but we were guessing it was Li Mi.”
Tu Shufang was severely shaken; he was pondering in silence.
Xu Ziling looked around. Tu Shufang said, "Don't bother, I guarantee nobody dares to follow you. Shen Luoyan does not have that kind of guts.”
Kou Zhong was shocked. "When did that b1tch return?” he asked.
"Just yesterday,” Tu Shufang replied. And then he continued, "I have long suspected Li Mi. His only apprehension is precisely Da Longtou's martial art skill. These last half a year were indeed not good for Da Longtou; not only he had to pretend that he is not injured, he had to fight war on all sides. Were it not for this, Li Mi would have rebelled early on, then it would really be a great loss for Da Longtou.”
Kou Zhong seized this opportunity to ask, "Da Longtou must have determined that the person who wounded him must be Li Mi; he summoned him to have a meeting, was it because he wanted to kill him?”
Tu Shufang shook his head, "Ever since Zhang Xutuo's defeat, they have been on guard against each other. Unless it's a direct confrontation, nobody will be able to take advantage over the other. Ay! Each time Li Mi wins a battle, Da Longtou's position suffers one big shaking, sending us into a situation where we take a complete beating. Most of the high-ranking military officers secretly express their loyalty and devotion to Li Mi only. Now that Da Longtou is injured, we don't have any asset with which we are going to confront Li Mi.”
Xu Ziling said, "In that case, why not urging Da Longtou to avoid the problem by walking away from it? He could go someplace else and lay another foundations; it will definitely be better than staying here, waiting to be slaughtered by others.”
Tu Shufang halted his steps; he let out a wry smile and said, "This matter has to be decided by Da Longtou, we can only do what he commands us to do. I want to go back now, you must not stay out too late.”
Waving his hand, he walked away.
Hearing him, the two boys felt as if their heart was weighed down by lead; absent-mindedly they continued toward the direction of Daiqing Yuan.
Kou Zhong looked up, letting the snowflakes landed on his face, enjoying the feeling of cold ice on his skin. He sighed and said, "The struggle over the world [tian xia] has just begun, internal strife already appeared within the Wagang Army. Looks like Wagang Army is not a good material to vie for the world.”
Xu Ziling said ruefully, "Just in that term ‘vying for the world', naturally everybody will be ‘you fight, I snatch'. The greats will fight over big thing, the small will fight over small thing. Zhong Shao, do you still have the interest to enter the contest?”
Kou Zhong's spirit was shaken. He said, "If the world is won by Li Mi, Ol' Die, those kind of people who are crafty scoundrel by nature, won't common people suffer calamity? Don't you think it would be better if we became the emperor?”
Xu Ziling sneered and said, "There can only be one emperor; you can become one. I am not interested.”
Kou Zhong laughed aloud. When he looked up, he saw the Daiqing Yuan's big courtyard and the golden-lacquered signboard. "We are here!” he happily said.