Book 4 Chapter 12 - Disaster's Sudden Arrival
The next day Zhai Rang invited them to have breakfast together, accompanied by Wang Ruxin and Tu Shufang, but Zhai Jiao was not present.
Zhai Rang appeared melancholy. After asking the two boys some everyday life, current situation matters, he silently drank his tea. The other four had no choice but to also keep silent.
Out of the blue, Zhai Rang suddenly asked, "How's the situation over there?”
But Wang Ruxin seemed to understand what he was talking about; he replied, "Yesterday I bumped into Xu Shiji; he said that Duke Mi is thinking about taking Liyang Storehouse. After Luokou is captured, militias from all parts of the country will come to realign their allegiance, so our army's prestige will be even more flourishing.”
Zhai Rang let out a stifled grunt, "Any news from Yang Guang's side?” he asked.
Wang Ruxin said, "Right now Wang Shichong is already in Luoyang, plotting a counterattack plan. This man is a great general of the imperial court, he is also proficient in military strategy and tactics, this time Duke Mi will meet a formidable opponent.”
Kou Zhong asked Tu Shufang in low voice, "What kind of guy is Xu Shiji?”
Tu Shufang replied with a smile, "He and Zu Junyan are known as the Two Valiant of Wagang Army, he is also Shen Luoyan's boyfriend. But until now Shen Luoyan is still unwilling to marry him.”
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were greatly stunned; turned out Shen Luoyan was already taken [orig. famous flower has its owner]. A sour, helpless feeling suddenly floated in their hearts.
Wang Ruxin added, "I heard there is also a Sui government official called Wei Zheng[1], who is in charge of Wuyang County region's ‘Cheng Yuan's Treasure Code'; three days ago he offered the entire set of the Treasure Code to Duke Mi, so that nowadays Li Mi has become the most prestigious figure among the militias.”
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling noticed how Wang Ruxin seemed to be constantly provoking Zhai Rang; inwardly they felt very strange.
Zhai Rang pressed on the table and stood up; turning toward Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling, two people, he softly said, "Come with me to the garden!”
Unable to make any sense of it, the two boys simply followed him to the garden.
Zhai Rang walked ahead of them, with his hands behind his back; he seemed to be deep in thought.
The snow had stopped, but the snow accumulation on the ground reached about a chi deep; icicles were hanging down from the trees. Several servants were busy shoveling the snow; seeing Zhai Rang, they hastily went down on their knees to kowtow.
Zhai Rang went straight toward the small pavilion in the middle of the garden. He looked up to the sky, and with his back still facing the two boys, he said, "Sit down!”
The two boys sat down absentmindedly.
Zhai Rang spoke in heavy voice, "When I heard about you, I immediately sent people to check the events surrounding your past. Only last night they returned to report back to me. I really did not know that your names have already spread all around Jianghu. Evidently there are a lot of things that Li Mi is keeping from me.”
And then he turned around; with eyes burning he looked at the two boys and said, "Do you really know the location of the ‘Duke Yang Treasure'?”
With a bitter laugh Kou Zhong replied, "If we did, we would have gone to get it early on.”
Zhai Rang nodded. "That is reasonable,” he said, "No matter how much Luocha Nu [woman] cherished you, in the end she was still a Korean, it's improbable that she would entrust such matter concerning the rise and fall of her country two a couple of Central Plains people like you.”
In their hearts the two boys cried out, ‘Close shave!' It was best if Zhai Rang thought like that.
Zhai Rang sighed and said, "If I were as young as you are, I would definitely run far away from here. After my internal injury recovered, I would fight for the rivers and mountains again. But now I am already old, I don't have the courage to do it all over again.”
And then he continued, "Were it not for Li Mi's malicious plot against me, today to whom the deer falls [i.e. the one to seize the empire. On side note: Jin Yong explored this idiom in ‘Deer and Cauldron'.] is still unknown.”
Seeing the two boys were not surprised at all, he nodded and said, "You have already guessed that the man hiding inside the trunk who plotted against me was indeed Li Mi.”
The two boys had no choice but to nod.
Zhai Rang breathed out a mouthful of air; he continued, "I can never let the enemy, as well as my own side, that I really suffer internal injury. Even Wang Ruxin thinks that Li Mi's plot against me had failed. That's why he is trying to incite me to kill Li Mi and seize the power back into my hands.”
Xu Ziling was baffled, "Then why did you tell Shen Luoyan that you are giving up the Da Longtou position? Wouldn't it be the same as telling them that you are injured?”
Zhai Rang's countenance changed. "Did you come across Shen Luoyan last night?” he asked.
The two boys narrated what had happened the previous night.
Zhai Rang's countenance turned incredibly ugly. He sighed and said, "You have fallen into her trap, basically there is no such thing. She intentionally said that because she knows the current close relationship between you and me, so she was testing your reaction. Supposing you did not show any sign of surprise, it would authenticate that I really suffer internal injury.”
Stunned, the two boys looked at each other, their mind was in turmoil.
Zhai Rang recovered his composure, "Don't blame yourselves,” he said lightly, "First of all, it was due to your lack of experience, secondly, Shen Luoyan is as crafty as a fox. All we have to do right now is to think of a way to remedy the situation.”
Xu Ziling apologetically said, "We have implicated Da Longtou!”
Kou Zhong was overwhelmed with guilty feeling that he nearly wanted to kill himself. Slapping the stone table, he said, "We shouldn't have slipped out.”
Zhai Rang sat down across the table from them, with an extremely solemn expression he said, "We must beat them at their own game; let's get the throne out, hopefully it can buy us some time.”
After a short pause, he continued, "Right now Ol' Zhai has something I'd like to entrust to you; I wish for you to take Jiao'er to a certain place, then I will have no fear of trouble in the rear, and will have free hand in dealing with Li Mi.”
The two boys felt big headache; dealing with this hard-to-please Zhai Jiao, a short time already felt like forever, how would dealing with her for a prolonged period of time feel like?
Kou Zhong sighed and said, "Shen Luoyan hates us the most; just before leaving last night she said that she guarantees we won't be able to leave the city. Da Longtou is asking the wrong person.”
Zhai Rang was staring blankly for half a day. Finally he murmured, "Who in the world does not want to catch you, yet you are still able to live free and easy. It's a clear sign that you do have some abilities.”
Hastily Xu Ziling declined modestly, "That is because the opponents did not really want to kill us. Besides, all those times it was only the two of us, naturally making our escape were a lot easier.”
Zhai Rang nodded his agreement, "In that case,” he said, "I'll have to make different arrangement to send off Jiao'er. Do you want me to send Susu along?”
The two boys hurriedly replied, "That won't be necessary!”
Zhai Rang smiled wryly and said, "It was because I spoiled her, nowadays everybody is afraid of Jiao'er. Only she and Susu happen to be especially good to each other. Ay!”
Remembering that Zhai Rang let Susu to accompany Wang Bodang, the two boys did not feel particularly sympathetic toward his laments.
Zhai Rang continued pouring out his heart to the two boys, "When you reach to where I am, you will know that you'll have to do a lot of things against your will. It was because I am not as ruthless as Li Mi that today I came to this plight.”
The two boys did not know how to comfort him.
Zhai Rang suddenly took off the dragon-engraved ring from his left middle finger. Stuffing it into Kou Zhong's hand, he said, "Jiao'er will leave today, and tomorrow it will be your turn. One more day Li Mi has not returned, one more day the city of Xiangyang remains in my control.”
Kou Zhong looked down to examine the ring in his palm; he was confused, "This is …”
Zhai Rang's voice was heavy, "I don't have any face to ask you to help me. But in order not to let my men suspect that I am a coward, I can only go to outsiders like the two of you to do it.”
Xu Ziling said, "Whatever errands Da Longtou wants us to do, there is no harm in telling us.”
Zhai Rang said, "Supposing my delaying tactic succeeded, I want you to take this ring to Leshou and look for Dou Jiande. In terms of talent, wisdom and martial art skill, this man is above me, plus he has a deep friendship with me. You can truthfully tell him my situation. What comes next, just leave it to him to handle.”
Kou Zhong received the ring, and resolutely said, "Such a trivial thing, we can certainly do it for Da Longtou.”
Zhai Rang suddenly revealed a cold and ruthless smile as he said in low voice, "He is ruthless, I won't hold on to righteousness. I only need to spill a bit of secret to Wang Shichong, I guarantee that'll teach Li Mi a lesson in suffering defeats. And then the legend that he emerged victorious in every battle will collapse.”
Hearing that, Kou and Xu felt a chill crept in their heart.
Although right now they were standing on Zhai Rang's side, they did not dare to give compliment toward the way he conducts himself or his method.
Zhai Rang also seemed to realize that he had committed a faux pas. "You may go back now,” he said, "I still want to sit here and think about how to arrange for your departure. I will let you know later.”
The two boys breathed a sigh of relief and withdrew in haste.
Li Mi may come back any minute, they went to Tu Shufang; Kou Zhong asked for a long saber, but Xu Ziling wanted to use short halberd. They both thought that starting now, even going to sleep they had to have their weapons in their bosom.
[1] Wei Zheng (580-643), Tang politician and historian, notorious as a critic and editor of the History of Sui Dynasty.