It was only then did Kou Zhong see clearly that the opponent was a middle-aged man that appeared full of confidence, heroic, but also at ease. His nose was especially big, so that his eyes appeared slim, but his eyeballs flickered with very cold rays, that it chilled those who looked at him.
Kou Zhong pulled the iron [see my note in previous chapter] Cui Dong gave him for self-protection. "You dare hurting her?” he angrily roared, while in his heart he was praying that Xu Ziling would not come out of the snow right this moment, otherwise Susu's life would be in danger. An idea popped out in his head, he called out, "Kid, you must also stay where you are. You should not make any move until I say so.”
How could the man know that he was speaking to Xu Ziling, who was buried in the snow? With a cold laugh he said, "You are so scared that you turn mad. Just stop talking, get the Dongming Pai's account book out and give it to me. Otherwise this baby girl will lose her life.”
Kou Zhong signaled Susu with his eyes, telling her not to panic. When he was about to speak, Liu Heita and Zhuge Dewei rushed back. Seeing Susu had fallen into the enemy's hands, they both roared furiously, and then together with Kou Zhong, they formed a triangle with the enemy surrounded in the middle.
"Where is Dong Shu?” Kou Zhong called out.
Liu Heita's eyes flickered fiercely, but surprisingly his expression was heavy and cold. He slowly said, "He had fallen into this thief's evil scheme.”
Kou Zhong was terribly grieved. "Who are you?” he asked, "What enmity do we have against you?”
"I am Yuwen Chengdu,” that man calmly replied, "How could there be no enmity no grudges between you and I? If you are done chatting, I am going to count from one to ten, if you haven't handed the account book over to me, your Jiejie's head will burst open.”
He paused, and then, "Huh? Where is that Xu kid?” he asked.
Everybody shivered inwardly; they knew that among the four top martial art masters of the Yuwen Clan, Yuwen Chengdu's rank was only a tad lower than Yuwen Huaji. Although he might not necessarily be able to defeat their combined power, but they could forget about stopping him either.
Afraid that he might suspect Xu Ziling's whereabouts, Kou Zhong fetched the account book from his pocket and lifted it up high above his head. "Release Su Jie,” he said, "I will toss the account book to you.”
Seeing the account book, Yuwen Chengdu's eyes lit up. Rolling his eyes, he let out a cold snort and said, "If I release her, but then you did not hand the account book to me, won't I suffer heavy losses?”
Kou Zhong mockingly said, "Is your head stuffed with straws? Such a simple matter you failed to understand. Now I am going to withdraw two zhang back but put the account book on the ground. You tell my Jiejie to pick it up and throw it to you. But remember, before my Jiejie picks the book, you must not move even half a step. Otherwise, my two companions will immediately attack you.”
Yuwen Chengdu thought that if that was the case, then could always take the initiative to lay his evil scheme on Susu. Nodding, he said, "So be it. You must not play any trick, otherwise I can send out a palm strike over the empty air to take your Jiejie's life.” While in his heart he had made up his mind that as soon as Susu threw the account book to him, he would kill Susu at the same time, so that Kou Zhong would be grieved and his mind would be a confused mess.
Kou Zhong called out loudly, "You must act according to my order!” Naturally this sentence was directed to Xu Ziling.
By this time Yuwen Chengdu no longer cared to argue with Kou Zhong. Seeing Kou Zhong really put the account book down and backed away, he eagerly pushed Susu forward. "Pick the book and throw it over!” he ordered.
Naturally Susu understood Kou Zhong's plan. With weakened knees, she forced herself to walk toward the account book.
Kou Zhong withdrew about a zhang and a half and stopped; gathering his strength, he waited.
Susu stopped in front of the book. Her knees gave up, she fell sitting down on the snowy ground.
Yuwen Chengdu anxiously called out, "if you want to live, throw the book here!”
Susu was a bit lost; she stared blankly at the book in front of her. Kou Zhong suddenly thundered, "Now!”
Yuwen Chengdu still thought that Kou Zhong ordered Susu to hurry up and pick the account book. Suddenly a wave of snow burst forth from behind him, followed by a violently hot palm strike hitting his back; it was only then did he realize that he had fallen into the enemy's scheme. While spurting a mouthful of blood forward, his palm struck backward; to his surprise, however, he struck empty air. Knowing that the situation was not good, he hastily pulled back and leaped away.
Meanwhile, Kou Zhong already rushed toward Susu. Liu Heita and Zhuge Dewei also soared; one cane and one fan attacked toward Yuwen Chengdu midair.
While his first attack went smoothly, Xu Ziling second move hit empty air. This Yuwen Chengdu was indeed a first-class martial art master; although he was unable to guard against Xu Ziling's palm strike against his back that he was injured and spurted a mouthful of blood, his true qi reacted and shocked Xu Ziling that blood and qi surged, which rendered him unable to pursue.
The three men exchanged blows midair. Yuwen Chengdu screamed miserably. Although he managed to block Zhuge Dewei's iron fan, his left shoulder was hit by the extremely angry Liu Heita's cane that his bone broke and his flesh split, and he was thrown sideways.
But this man was really outstanding; he was still able to rouse his qi and landed on the branch of a large tree nearby. Borrowing the momentum, he ricocheted and flew like a bird into the depth of the forest; in a few blinks he disappeared in the darkness.
The pit of Cui Dong's stomach was hit by a palm strike, his sternum fractured and he perished. Everybody was inconsolably grieved; they vowed to avenge this great enmity for Cui Dong. That very night Liu Heita looked for a rather secluded spot on an elevated ground, dug a deep hole, and spread large rocks over the place where he buried Cui Dong, so that hungry wolves would not catch the smell and dig the corpse and eat it.
Recalling that it was because Cui Dong wanted to find a game to be roasted to help her resisting the cold that he went alone and was murdered by Yuwen Chengdu, Susu cried uncontrollably that her tears rained down like pear blossom. Recalling that Cui Dong died because of the account book, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling's grief was inconsolable; but they were also greatly puzzled.
Surprisingly, it was Liu Heita who was open-minded. After kowtowing in front of the grave, he spoke to the tombstone in a loud and clear voice, "Dong Shu, you went a step ahead of us. After Xiao Hei [little black, from Liu Heita's name] takes advantage of this numerous and disorderly world and damn play for a while, a bit later I will go down the spring [i.e. underworld] to find you to play finger-guessing game and drink wine.”
And then he walked over to Susu, who was supported by Kou and Xu, two boys; smiling, he said, "Su Mei, please don't be sad, summer went, winter came [Translator's note: the 'dong' in Cui Dong's name means 'winter'], to be born, to grow old, to get sick and to die, life is nothing more than that." Finished speaking, he preceded the other to leave.
With a grim expression Zhuge Dewei said, "Let's hit the road! If others don't kill me, then I will kill others. After fighting several battles, everything will be clear!"
Hearing that, Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were somewhat comforted. Helping Susu up, they followed the two men continuing their journey toward Yangwu.
By midday, they cut through the mountain and fields toward the official road of Yangwu. They saw the road pas packed with refugees who were leaving Yangwu, pedestrians and carts fighting over the road, the cries of grief shook the heavens, so that the people who were already suffering from the intense cold weather became more miserable and flustered.
Liu Heita and Zhuge Dewei keep their calm in the face of the unexpected; their expression remained aloof as they tried to ask around. They found out that Li Mi recaptured Liyang Storehouse, Wang Shichong led his main force to reinforce the Sui Army, but was defeated by Li Mi. Li Mi then recruited a large number of surrendering Sui soldiers and generals, so that his fame and power was greatly flourishing; he was about to march toward Yangwu; therefore, common people in the neighboring area abandoned their homes to flee.
After hearing this news, Susu was aghast, "Li Mi is coming! We must run away now!" Hearing Li Mi's name, her countenance changed as if she was hearing a tiger was coming.
Liu Heita led them into the woods next to the road to get away from the crowd; he said with a laugh, "If you think these people are running away from Li Mi, you are gravely mistaken. These are peasant families from the rural counties near Yangwu. What they are afraid of is the defeated troops would scatter in all directions and looting the people. Yangwu closed its gate and not allowed them to enter the city, hence they had no choice but to flee for their lives first."
Zhuge Dewei said, "Li Mi is the best at buying the people's heart, chances are he will send grain to relieve the people; how could those common people fear him?"
Frowning, Kou Zhong asked, "If that's the case, won't we be able to enter the city as well?"
Liu Heita had already planned in advance, "Leave this matter to me," he said, "We have several officers of Yangwu who have dealings with us in secret, plus I have an official pass. As long as we are willing to spend a few pennies, bringing in two or three more people inside won't be a problem.”
Zhuge Dewei said, "We also have some connections with the clans and societies in there, if the three of you still insist on going to Jiangdu, we can make some arrangements to have you take a boat. It would definitely be a lot more comfortable than going on foot!”
Xu Ziling said, "What I am afraid the most is Yuwen Chengdu waiting for us there. After all, Yangwu is under the influence of his Yuwen Clan.”
Liu Heita said, "Before entering the city, I can disguise the three of you first, turning you into granpas and grandma. We will also change our appearance to avoid attracting undue attention.”
Zhuge Dewei proposed, "It would be best if we enter the city in two batches, it would be even more foolproof.”
Kou Zhong slapped his thigh and cheered, "I have heard about disguising skill in Jianghu, turns out two gentlemen are experts in it,” he said, "Would it be possible for you to teach us, brothers and sister, a trick or two? It would help us as self-protection skill when we have to escape.”
Liu Heita gladly said, "I only have superficial knowledge on this, Dage is the genuine expert; within our army, he occupies the first place. If you want to learn, you'd better beg him to teach you.”
Zhuge Dewei laughed and said, "Such a trivial trick, there is no need to use so much fuss on me; we all are friends in times of tribulations, to be able to catch your appreciation, you don't know what a privilege that is to me.”
The three people's favorable impression on Zhuge Dewei suddenly enjoyed a great boost. Chatting and laughing, they went against the flow of people leaving Yangwu. Temporarily the grief of Cui Dong's demise was pushed toward the back of their heads; their life force has returned.