Book 8 Chapter 2 - The Fish in the Net
By dusk, darkness gradually descended upon the sky.
From behind the high wall of Chun Zai Lou came the melodious sound of birdsong. After looking to the left and right and saw no one, Kou Zhong hurriedly responded with birdsong.
Xu Ziling looked down over the wall, and then together they ran to an alley some distance away. Halting his steps, Xu Ziling reported, "Everything is in order and ready. According to plan, I put five strings of heavenly silkworm fishing line on the designated treetops inside the courtyard. How's the situation at your side?”
"Naturally there is no problem,” Kou Zhong replied proudly, "We are going back to the restaurant this morning, eat a little something, and then we'll proceed according to plan.”
In the noisy restaurant, most customers were Jianghu people, the topic of the conversation did not depart from Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling's feud with Dongming Princess at the Chun Zai Lou the previous night.
Kou Zhong perked up his ears to eavesdrop for a moment; radiant with delight, he said, "Turns out our reputation in Jianghu is so resounding!”
Xu Ziling replied in very low voice, "We'll talk about it after tonight!”
Kou Zhong nodded. "This is my weakness,” he admitted, "I am very easy to be so pleased that I lose my sense of measure. Right! I wonder where are Fengshi Han and the stinky princess hiding? If they are hiding in a small room together, the stinky princess' chastity cannot be guaranteed.”
Xu Ziling nonchalantly said, "You still have time to think about such thing? I am more worried about Song Yuzhi did not have the opportunity to leave town!”
Kou Zhong was speechless for half a day. Finally he sighed and said, "It seems like you really don't care about Shan Wanjing; otherwise, after hearing me saying that, how can your expression be as natural as before.”
Xu Ziling laughed and swore at him, "Good kid! Unexpectedly you are harboring the intention to sound me out. Time is running out, let's go!”
The two boys paid their bill and went down the stairs. As they stepped out into the street, their countenance changed.
Because they saw the big and round moon was just showing its immortal beauty at the eastern horizon, and for tens of thousands li above the sky was without a cloud. The moon bathed Jiujiang with its radiant light. It was a completely different night to the cloudy and dark night of the previous day.
"Damn it!” Kou Zhong blurted out, "In this kind of bright moon night, as soon as someone looks up to admire the full moon, we are finished!”
"Too many ears,” Xu Ziling hissed, "Let's go someplace else and talk.”
A moment later the two boys jumped over the wall into the courtyard of a large residential building. They shed off their outer disguise clothes and scraped the powder and paste off of their faces to reveal their real identity. Inside, they were wearing black skintight night walker suit.
Kou Zhong fetched his broadsword and whip, which he had hidden in this place earlier. After putting it on, he smiled wryly and said, "This is called ‘man proposes but God disposes'. How would we know the moon would come out so quickly?”
"No use complaining,” Xu Ziling said, "We'll look at the situation first, if it is impossible, we'll have no choice but to slip away via the waterway.”
Jumping high and crouching low, the two boys returned to the roof of the restaurant they had just left, and cast their gaze toward Chun Zai Lou in the distance, to observe the situation carefully.
Kou Zhong was greatly surprised, "That's strange! How come I don't see anything like ‘both covert and undercover officers keeping watch'? Could it be that Ren Shaoming is afraid of death and did not show up? Xiao Ling, what's your feeling?”
The rear courtyard of Chun Zai Lou was dedicated to serve VIPs only. All ten buildings in this courtyard were brightly lit, with a faint sound of strings and woodwind instruments coming through. Because it was still early, only maids and servants were occasionally seen moving about.
Xu Ziling took a deep breath and replied, "I have an uneasy feeling.”
Kou Zhong stared blankly for half a day; finally he said in low voice, "Shall we beat the gong to recall the troops?”
Xu Ziling slowly shook his head. His tiger eyes shot sharp gleam that Kou Zhong has never seen before. He said calmly, "If we shrink back on approaching the battlefield without knowing what is true and what is false, this matter will stay as a scar in our heart and mind that will be difficult to mend! It will prevent us from ever reaching the pinnacle of the martial art realm, it will also represent our fear of death.”
Kou Zhong heaved a heavy sigh, breathing out the heroic pride that was surging wildly in his heart. "Well said!” he said huskily, "Even if the enemy is spreading out the net waiting for us brothers to fall into it, we still want to penetrate deep into the tiger cave to stroke Ren Shaoming's tiger whisker. This is called treading various deathly places to come back to life later.”
Looking at the brook flowing toward the Chun Zai Lou, Xu Ziling said, "This river runs through Chun Zai Lou's rear courtyard. Anybody with discerning eyes would know that this is a shortcut to sneak into Chun Zai Lou, hence we must not use water route to get in.”
Kou Zhong sighed and said, "Question is: will Ren Shaoming come? If he is coming, the Chun Yuan and its surrounding area will be packed with martial art masters, so we cannot enter from the air either. It leaves us only the land route, and this way it will be very difficult to avoid falling into a heavy siege, which will force us to fight will all our might and will have death as the conclusion.”
Xu Ziling smiled and said, "Can you see the fishing like installed horizontally between those two trees?”
Kou Zhong turned his gaze twenty zhang away toward the empty space spanning the top of two old banyan trees outside Chun Zai Lou's rear courtyard. Due to the trees reflecting the moonlight, even after sending enough qi to his eyes, he still found it difficult to see the fishing line that he has personally tied on there. Thereupon he shook his head in satisfaction.
Xu Ziling said, "I have conducted an experiment: as long as you jump straight up and reach any spot approximately one zhang away from the line, you could barely see the line reflecting the light, and thus you can accurately grasp the line's position.”
Delighted, Kou Zhong said, "If we were using pitch-black rope, under this kind of moonlight, it would be difficult to hide it from other people's eyes.”
Calmly Xu Ziling said, "We must change our plan; we must be sure that Ren Shaoming has arrived at the Chun Yuan before we break through Chun Yuan with ten-thousand jun [1 jun ~ 30 catties] lightning bolt force. If with one strike we fail to hit the target, we will have to leave immediately by means of the fishing lines installed in many places. This act will definitely be outside the enemy's expectation, so that they can't even touch the corner of our garment.”
The two of them carefully studied the route and method to break through into the garden, before they finally hid themselves and took turn in surveying the Chun Yuan's situation, while waiting quietly for the ‘Green Dragon' Ren Shaoming's honored self to make his appearance.
While watching the Chun Zai Lou from afar, which was gradually staring to get busier, Kou Zhong said softly, "Ever since we started, we always wanted to go to Luoyang, but until today we haven't been able to go. This time, after returning to Baling, we must immediately go north, I wonder if we can make a detour to Luoyang?”
Xu Ziling was lying down on the side of the roof opposite to Chun Zai Lou, where the moonlight could not reach, and was counting the stars in the sky. Hearing Kou Zhong, he sighed and said, "Don't overestimate our luck too much; moreover, He Clan's jade annulus involves martial art masters Buddhist nuns of the Ci Hang Jing Zhai [see Book 1 Chapter 7]. If you are not careful, you may have to bag your food before you finish eating. At that time please do not implicate me, your little brother.”
Kou Zhong said in distress, "You guessed it again. Can't you pretend you are a bit dumber?”
And then he sighed and went on, "I'll say Song Yuzhi's impression on you is much better than her impression on me. Hey! Are you interested? She is in no way inferior to Shan Wanjing or Shen Luoyan.”
Xu Ziling irately replied, "Don't you remember her Die already betroth her to someone else?”
Kou Zhong sneered and said, "Laozi don't believe it a bit, everything under the heavens can be changed, much less mere verbal engagement? Strange thing is, she must be over eighteen already, why hasn't she passed through the doorway [i.e. getting married]? There must be a problem somewhere.”
Xu Ziling said indifferently, "You can do whatever you want to do, why make so many excuses?”
"My Niang!” Kou Zhong suddenly exclaimed softly, "Ren Shaoming is here.”