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Xu Xiong, you are still onto that yin and yang stuff, right? Jaya, Ysabel, HPC, Lao Qianbei, you are welcome. Sky, unfortunately, not yet, but soon ...

Book 6 Chapter 4 - Confidential Matter That Is Not A Secret

Kou Zhong slipped out the window and came back. Dejected, he said, "Those two damn are really cruel, the security is so tight that even a fly can't escape.”

The place they were staying was located in the garden at the southwest corner of Linjiang Palace, to the west and south of the place were open spaces with nowhere to hide. The walls were high with watchtowers everywhere. To the east was a big garden, to the north was about a dozen big bamboo groves with no passable path. Therefore, the only way out was through the garden.

Xu Ziling came back a step earlier, he also managed to obtain clear picture of the situation. Sighing, he said, "The only way is to charge through the high wall, killing our way out. It's just that there is a thirty-zhang open space between the small garden to the high wall, I am afraid before we reach the foot of the wall, we'd be shot dead by the rain of arrows from the watchtower guards, or perhaps we'd be cutoff by the opponent's martial art masters. How's the situation at the flower garden?”

Kou Zhong smiled wryly and replied, "By looking at my expression, you ought to know the situation without having to ask me; there are hidden guards everywhere in the flower garden, plus it is brightly lit, thinking about escaping without the gods know and the ghosts detect is just lunatic ravings. This must be personally arranged by Dugu Sheng to prevent us from escaping.”

And then, with a wolf-viciousness he said, "If we cannot get away from a place like this, it will really damage our reputation as the Yangzhou Two Dragons. Those two damn will despise us even more.”

Xu Xiling mused, "Have it ever occurred to you that even if we manage to get out, we still need to crash our way through the city defense, and then once we are inside the city, it's still unknown whether we will be able to find Su Jie or not.”

Kou Zhong chuckled lightly and said, "Don't worry! Beautiful Shifu will not dare to deceive me; she has already agreed to leave secret marks all around the city, so that we can easily find their location. This is the benefit of using the ‘by hook or by crook' method.”

Xu Ziling was dumbstruck and unable to reply.

Kou Zhong continued his analysis, "The security here seems to be incomparably tight, but we can clearly see that the imperial guards are undisciplined and their morale is low, everybody wants to shirk responsibility or even run away from here. Hey! Just think, if we suddenly gone missing, what would the imperial guards guarding us do?”

Xu Ziling's eyes lit up immediately, "They would think that since Yang Guang ordered Dugu Sheng to keep watch over us, it would mean they are not fulfilling their obligations; it would be strange indeed if Yang Guang did not behead them all. Naturally the entire team will leave their job to join the rank of army deserters.”

Kou Zhong said, "Under normal circumstances, my stratagem might not be useful, but right now their heart is anxious, they have misgivings toward each other, they would not dare to lightly and rashly make indiscriminate action! We still have several sichen until daybreak anyway, we might as well wait for two more sichen, and then when those guards are cold and tired, we will commence our grand plan.”

The end of yin hour [3-5am], early mao hour [5-7am].

‘Whoo! Whoo!' With two signals, one after another two shadows flitted out of the courtyard house where Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling stayed, toward the bamboo groves, while several wind lanterns in the vicinity went out at the same time. Followed by chaotic noise of snapping bamboo branches, which alerted the guards.

Among the Imperial Guards Dugu Sheng dispatched to keep watch over the two boys this time, there was no lack of martial art masters. Immediately about a dozen men flew toward the bamboo groves in pursuit of the two boys, yet they did not even see any shadow of ghost.

Nobody in the Imperial Guards was not familiar with Yang Guang's temperament; they did not dare to ring the bell to sound the alarm, they only split up and searched around. Some even went into the two boys' quarter to take a quick look; after confirming that nobody was inside, they hurriedly joined the search operation outside.

Half a sichen later, several leaders huddled around in discussion. Someone said, "This is awful; does anybody have any plan?”

Another man said, "If we stay here, we will die for sure; if we flee right now, we still have a little chance of surviving. Please forgive Xiaodi for not keeping you company.”

In reality, everybody had the same thought, so as soon as that man spoke up, a hundred or so Imperial Guards scrambled out in confusion, climbing over the wall and disappeared until nobody remained.

Only then did Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling crawled out from the under the bed. The former laughed and said, "While there is still time, let's get some of Zhen Sao's steamed stuffed buns!” [See Book 1 Chapter 1 on Sister-in-law Zhen.]

By the time Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong entering the city via the secret passage, i.e. the water sewer, the sky was starting to brighten. Returning to their former haunts, everything seemed to be familiar, but also seemed to be unusually strange. There was an indescribable inspiration in their heart.

"Last time Yuwen Huaji used hunting dogs to follow our trail, he should find this secret entrance; why didn't he have his men to block it then?” Kou Zhong wondered.

Xu Ziling was applying his internal energy to dry his drenched clothes, "Perhaps he wanted to keep this secret passage for his own needs!” he blurted out.

Kou Zhong gave him a push and said with a laugh, "Why bother applying your internal energy? Let's go to Chen's old clothing store and steal two sets of clothes! Giving that penny-pincher some heartburn is a good thing.”

The two boys laughed heartily, feeling very pleased with themselves; taking advantage before the sky was not quite bright, they leaped onto the roof of a commoner's house, like an old horse who know the way home, they flew over houses and building, enjoying the cold wind against their face, rushing toward Chen's old clothing store in the eastern part of the city.

Since they were counting their chickens before they were hatched, unexpectedly it fell through.

When they arrived, they found out that Chen's old clothing store, as well as about a dozen other stores nearby, had been completely converted into Sui army lodging house.

Kou Zhong heaved a sigh and said, "These troops are like locusts who devoured Yangzhou until it is riddled with gaping wounds and cuts and bruises all over. Ay! Zhen Sao is so pretty, I do hope those thief soldiers did not take a fancy on her.”

Without saying a word, Xu Ziling swept across a side alley toward the marketplace.

Sure enough, Sister-in-law Zhen's steamed bun stall was gone; on its place was a fruit and vegetable stall. The market was still bustling with noise and excitement, but the people they were bumping into were unfamiliar faces with out-of-the-area accent.

Xu Ziling grabbed the fruit and vegetable stall owner and asked, "Where did that auntie who used to sell steamed buns [orig. baozi - stuffed steamed buns and mantou - plain steamed buns] go?”

The owner let out a bitter sigh and said, "Of course she is gone! Only people with nowhere to go like me would stay here waiting to die. But if my merchandise is robbed clean again, tomorrow I am going to try rushing out the city gate.”

An old man, the over of the next stall said, "Is Sire asking about the Old Feng? Are you their relatives?”

Kou Zhong hastily replied, "We are his nephews.”

The old man shook his head and sighed, "Their steamed buns are too famous. As soon as His Highness arrived in Jiangdu, they were enlisted as cook in the Palace. Afterwards nobody knew what happened to them.”

Xu Ziling clenched his fists, turned around and walked away.

Kou Zhong ran after him; he followed him turning to the left and swerving to the right in the midst of the tide of people in the marketplace. "Where are you going?” he shouted.

"I want to rescue Zhen Sao out of that place,” Xu Ziling indignantly replied.

Kou Zhong grabbed his arm, "Calm down!” he said, "Have you forgotten the moon in the well?”

Xu Ziling was shaken and stopped abruptly. Immediately the people behind them pushed them forward and said, "Don't block the way.”

The two boys hastily squeezed their way out of the marketplace. Leaving that noisy overcrowded place, their head cleared out somewhat.

Kou Zhong proposed to treat their ailing tummy first.

They went to a nearby restaurant and sat down. After absent-mindedly stuffed several kinds of steamed buns into their stomach, Kou Zhong said, "No matter what you want to do, I will support you, but you must not be hot-headed; first of all, we need to solve the problem of Su Jie, and then we can have a free hand in going all out.”

He sighed and went on, "The Great Sui is really finished, the world has turned into a terrible mess, if nobody took the initiative to unify the world, I don't know how much more misery the people on the street will have to suffer. One bad Tujue man fight his way into the Central Plains, we, Han people, will fall under the harsh rule of foreign power. Only if you are willing to help me will we be able to rise in building the rivers and mountains [i.e. country] and, as much as possible, do some good things for the innocent people.”

Xu Ziling said, "Your thought seems to be too beautiful and too far for me. Now is not the time to discuss this matter; we slipped away like this, do you think Dugu Sheng will be willing to let us go? It would be best if we could find our Su Jie as soon as possible.”

Kou Zhong grabbed a couple of meat steamed buns, stood up and said, "You are in charge of buying us two new sets of clean clothes, I will go look for secret markings; we will meet again at the eastern end of Duke Ma Alley later.”

Xu Ziling looked at him and said, "Why not go together? If something happened, we can look after each other better.”

"The two of us together is too conspicuous,” Kou Zhong replied, "Plus it would be easier for our old acquaintances to recognize us. Going separately is a bit safer.”

Xu Ziling had no choice but to let him go.

Kou Zhong went strutting down the street; from time to time he came across Sui troops, womenfolk was nearly extinct from the street, only older ones remained. Merely from this fact it was clear why so many people wanted to leave Yangzhou.

In the mind of the people, Sui troops were more frightening than any rebel force.

Suddenly someone called out, "Zhong Shao!”

Kou Zhong jumped in fright. Turning toward the voice, he saw someone hiding in an alley, beckoning him to come.

Kou Zhong hesitated for half a day, but he finally came over. A young, robust-looking man, who was a bit older than he was, with dark skin and sturdy build, who seemed to know one or two stances of martial art, grabbed his shoulders and said, "It is really you! At first I wasn't sure. Hey! You seem to live well!”

This man was called Gui Xiliang, he used to hang around the same crowd with Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling. When they were younger, they even had several bouts with another gang together, but all ended in defeat. However, the relationship among these several boys could not be considered bad.

Kou Zhong noticed that he was wearing Zhuhua Bang [bamboo flower gang] uniform, there were even three bamboo leaves embroidered on the lapel of his robe. "Since when did you become a Xiangzhu [fragrant master]?” he asked in astonishment, "You did not climb over a lot of other people's heads, I hope?”

Gui Xiliang replied, "It was entirely due to Bangzhu showing favor to me, by receiving me as his disciple; ay!”

Kou Zhong pulled him toward the other end of the alley, he was puzzled, "It was a good thing, right? Why are you sighing?”

Gui Xiliang said, "Such a big deal, and you did not know? Where have you been hiding these past couple of years? Where is Xiao Ling?”

"Answer my question first,” Kou Zhong said.

Gui Xiliang let out a muted snort and said, "Whatever I say, I am the Xiangzhu, why should I answer your question first?”

Kou Zhong laughed and said, "So you want to be the Laoda [the oldest, i.e. ‘the boss']? In that case, I'll let you be you! These past couple of years Xiao Ling and I went mingling in the Jianghu. Du Fuwei, Zhai Rang, and the others have shook hands with us and drank wine together. Ha! Your turn to speak.”

Evidently Gui Xiliang thought he was bragging; clicking his tongue, he said, "You, this little demon, look more thick and solid than I am, it's a pity just like before, you did not make any progress. Ay! Do you know that two months ago Bangzhu was beaten to death by the men sent by that muddleheaded ruler? It was simply because he refused to hand over Yu Ling from the Tianxian Lou and sent her away instead.”

Kou Zhong raised his thumb and praised, "Good man!”

With a bitter laugh Gui Xiliang said, "A dead good man is fart useless. Now most of the people in our gang have scattered away, leaving only about a hundred men. We hope that when Du Fuwei, or perhaps Li Zitong come to attack, we can be their contact on the inside so that we can avenge Bangzhu, the Senior.”

Kou Zhong's eyes lit up; lowering his voice, he asked, "Have you elected new Bangzhu?”

Gui Xiliang sighed and said, "Elect what ghost Bangzhu? Right now we are like a sheet of loose sand, we are only waiting for the muddleheaded ruler's death, and then we'll hold an assembly in Danyang, to look at the possibility of electing the new Bangzhu.”

Meanwhile they have reached the end of the alley, ahead was another big street. Gui Xiliang halted his steps and said, "I shall not come out to the light. Do you remember that guy, Xing Rong's house? I am hiding in there.”

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