Twelve men, twenty-three eyes, like twenty-three arrows landed on the two boys. Even the horses puffing white steam from their nostrils were casting their eyes warily on the two boys.
Kou Zhong knew he was in the wrong; laughing apologetically he said, "We mistook you for someone else, would gentlemen be magnanimous and forgive us?”
A short and thin old man by the one-eyed man took out a tobacco pipe from the saddlebag hanging on the horse's belly. Chuckling sinisterly, he said, "Good kid, looking at your dignified manner and handsome faces, you have the appearance of amazing people, yet instead of learning something good, you learned to be low-class thieves who waylay and rob people on their journey. Now that you've seen that we are not to be trifled with, you retreat hastily. Don't you have any shame?”
Other than the one-eyed man, the rest of the men roared in laughter, ridiculing and mocking them to their heart's content.
Kou Zhong was indeed a strange person; although the opposite side was laughing and hurling insults at them, realizing that it was just a misunderstanding, surprisingly he did not take any offence. Smiling, he said, "This Senior is mistaken. What we, two brothers, disdain the most is the conduct of bandits who rob traveling folks. It was just a misunderstanding.”
Another man taunted, "Whether you want to be a bandit or not, it's just a question of eligibility. But just by looking at the saber on your back, which will easily tempt you to be one, I know that you are indeed a low-class thief … Ha …”
Everybody roared in laughter again. Several of them even drew their weapons, ready to fight.
Someone even went as far as shouting toward Xu Ziling, who was still sitting undauntedly on the ground, "You, that kid, you still have not come over here to kneel, begging for forgiveness?”
Xu Ziling rose up slowly. Patting the dust from his clothes, without even looking at the opposite party he said to Kou Zhong, "Let's go!”
While puffing smoke from his pipe, the little old man laughed coldly and said, "You think it's that easy to leave? North of the River, who dares to block our, Flying Horse Ranch's way?”
The other men shouted and cursed at once, while quickly spreading out to surround the two boys, in a way that could be described as ‘operation storm'.
Kou Zhong turned to Xu Ziling and said with a wry smile, "Nothing we can do about it!”
Someone with peculiar voice interrupted, "You got that right! Perhaps we, two low-class thieves, better kneel down to beg for forgiveness! Maybe big masters of Flying Horse Ranch would show us some clemency?”
He was imitating Xu Ziling's accent in responding Kou Zhong's remark, and he was dead on, which, quite naturally, drawing another round of laughter and mockery.
Xu Ziling casually turned his gaze toward the speaker. Turned out he was a young man about 17 or 18 years old, the youngest among the riders, dark-skinned from being under the sun a lot, but his teeth were snow white and neat, so that his cannot-be-considered-good-looking countenance was a lot nicer to look at. This moment he was sticking out his chin and narrowing his eyes in a mocking expression.
Suddenly someone thundered, "Don't be reckless!”
Everybody, including Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling, were stunned.
The speaker was precisely the one-eyed man. This moment he was staring hard and Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling, sizing them up. He said toward the little old man, who was swallowing clouds and blowing out fog from his tobacco pipe, with a heavy voice, "Has Xu Gong [term of respect to address an elderly man] seen any low-class thief, who, under heavy siege, still have calm demeanor, and is still able to talk cool-headedly like them?”
The old man surnamed Xu looked startled, and then he turned his gaze toward the two boys, examining them closely. His eyes showed that he was deep in thought.
The other men did not dare to make any noise. Obviously the one-eyed man was their boss.
The one-eyed man seemed to appreciate the two boys very much; he smiled and said, "I am Flying Horse Ranch's Er Zhishi [second manager; zhishi basically means ‘doing/carrying out matters'] Liu Zongdao. This time due to our Dangjia [chief] entrusted heavy responsibility, we take special care along the way.”
After a short pause, he went on, "Although two gentlemen's clothing is ragged, it is still cannot hide your dignified bearing; I wonder what are gentlemen's honored surnames and great given names? Where are you from? What business do you have here?”
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling could not help having favorable impression toward this man, it's just that naturally they could not reveal their real identity to him. They only wished to perfunctorily pass this encounter and go their separate ways.
Accustomed to inventing crazy nonsense, without even thinking Kou Zhong replied, "Someone who understands reason like Er Zhishi is hard to come by. We, two brothers are from the same village, the Fu family village in Yuhang. His name is Fu Jing, and I am Fu Ning.” [Translator's note: Characters Fu from Fu Junchuo, Jing from Shan Wanjing, and Ning from Li Xiuning.]
Liu Zong Dao was emotionally moved; he said, "You made light of traveling a thousand li, what is your purpose?”
Kou Zhong sighed and said, "What else but to find support for our lives by joining a militia, wishing that in the future we can stand out among our peers, and bring honor to our ancestors, so that our parents [Translator's note: the words here indicate that they were paternal cousins] can pass their days in peace and happiness.”
This time, even the old man surnamed Xu believed him. Nodding his head, he said, "Younger generation kids should have high aspiration. Listening to your refined style of conversation, I am sure you have had several books to read?”
Kou Zhong blurted out without thinking, "Old Xu is indeed formidable; just by listening to a couple of words from us you are already very clear about our foundation. In our neighboring village, there was this Kou Laoyezi [polite appellation for an elderly male] who has read intensively the Book of Songs and the Book of History. He is a kind old man, as long as on holidays we delivered two catties of dried meat to him, he was willing to teach us to read, to study all those ‘Four Common Characters of Classical Chinese', ‘Isn't That a Joy?' [quote from Confucius], and so on.”
Being flattered like that, the old man Xu was immediately elated, "Now here's a little boy who is worth teaching! Ha ha!”
The youngest, the smart aleck guy said, "The ones you were waiting for must be that militia you are talking about!”
"It was,” Kou Zhong replied with a forced laugh, "We heard Li Mi's army might be passing by here; who would have thought that it was all of you, Daye.”
Amused, Liu Zongdao smiled and said, "Li Mi is way too busy right now, how could he have time to mind the South? So what did you do for a living?”
Reaching out and grabbing Xu Ziling's shoulders, Kou Zhong said, "We, two brothers, are expert in providing meals for the important generals. All those dumpling oil rice, dumpling oil cake [see Book 1 Chapter 9], ours is the most famous. Ha!”
Liu Zongdao appeared to be slightly moved; after exchanging a glance with the old man Xu, he said, "Seeing that the two of you have spirit and a face of righteousness, I wonder if you are interested to become chefs for our troops and earn money. Our Changzhu [ranch master] loves to eat dumpling oil cake. As long as you can satisfy her taste, I guarantee that several years later you can go back to your hometown in silken robes; won't it surpass earning a living by fighting life and death battle? However, if Changzhu is not satisfied with your craftsmanship, the two gentlemen will have to pack up and go home immediately.”
Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were stunned; both thought that their joke seemed to backfire. While they were about to decline, the old man Xu said with a laugh, "It's very rare that Er Zhishi would make an exception and give you recommendation; your family must have amassed virtue as high as the mountain. Our Flying Horse Ranch's name shakes the area north of the River, even Li Mi came to us to buy war horses and equipment; if you don't believe me, feel free to ask around.”
Kou Zhong's eyes immediately lit up; staring at the old man Xu with his big eyes, he murmured, "War horse?”
One of the riders sneered and said, "Kid, you really have eyes without eyeballs. This time we travel to the frontier, is precisely to get these more than a dozen barbarian horse pedigrees to breed. You get it?”
Sucking a deep breath of air Kou Zhong said, "Liu Zhishi has shown such a high regard to us, two brothers, a benevolence and kindness that is hard to forget even after our teeth fall out; but is it possible for us to discuss this matter in private first?”
Liu Zongdao did not think of anything out of ordinary, "Of course I understand,” he said, "Two Xiao Xiongdi, take your time!”
Kou Zhong hastily pulled Xu Ziling a bit farther up and said, "Since we are not doing anything right now, why not go to their ranch to look around?”
Knitting his brows, Xu Ziling said, "Aren't you forgetting something? Yucheng and the others are waiting for us in Jingling.”
"Just give me ten days,” Kou Zhong asked earnestly, "Consider it we accidentally lose our way!”
Left without any choice, Xu Ziling helplessly agreed.
Kou Zhong's spirit rose up immediately; striding toward Liu Zongdao, he cupped his fist and said, "Thank you very much for Liu Zhishi's guidance!”
The old man Xu gladly replied on his behalf, "No need to mention sentimental words, get on the horse!”
The young man cried out enthusiastically, "Xiao Ning, you can ride with me!”
Xu Ziling was grateful inwardly that these people were not loathsome; otherwise the next ten days would be very difficult to endure.