The three of them went there own way as if they were strangers, to the east gate. This time it was Chai Feng who left the city first, followed by Wenchang.
Along the west gate public road, a government courier from Xi'an prefecture was riding a horse from the East Spring Relay Station with an arrest warrant, galloping at top speed for the pass gates.
But Wenchang had already handed over his travel permit at the east gate and was busy bullshitting with the inspection guard there.
"Name?" the officer asked.
"Isn't it obvious?" Wenchang said. "Officer, can't you read?"
"You kidding me, buddy? If I couldn't read then how could I check permits? Nonsense! What business are you here on?" The officer was talking to him like a bureaucrat.
"Office, I was right wasn't I? My permit has it written there very clearly, but you still ask me. You definitely can't read, right? Heheh!"
"Don't laugh!"
"Yes, Officer."
"Officer, listen to me recite the words on my travel permit. As you already know, I am from Luoyang in Henan, currently nineteen years of age, roundish face…"
"Get out of here!" the officer derided in jest. Seeing Wenchang shake his head and rack his brains to recite the words like an idiot couldn't help but make him laugh. He handed the travel permit back and said, "Troublemaker! Know it all, you're just a kid still under your mother's care."
Wenchang's travel permit wrote that he was visiting relatives, so the officer called him a kid. Wenchang stuffed the permit into his robe and squinted at the officer, smiling. "Officer, don't you want to have a look at the wanted posters?" He pointed to his own wanted poster on the board, still not ready to leave.
The office laughed. "Kid, you, a wanted criminal? Haha! Then wouldn't the whole world be wanted criminals?"
"Oh! Officer, you will regret it." He mounted his horse.
"Regret! Why?"
"I am a wanted criminal."
"Get outta here!"
"Look again. Don't I look like that notorious bandit, Cai Wenchang?"
The officer started and turned to the tattered wanted poster.
With a pounding of hoofs, Wenchang whipped his horse and galloped off thirty feet, then turned his head back and laughed. "Officer, I told you you would regret it, but you didn't believe me, hahaha! I am none other than the notorious bandit Cai Wenchang. See you later."
The officer had not yet got a good look at the drawing on the poster when the bell from the west gatetower resounded, signalling to shut the gates. He finally got a good look at the picture and exclaimed, "Quick, that fella was the notorious bandit Cai Wenchang. After him, quick!"
By the times troops had mounted up and rode out to give chase, the three of them were already ten miles away on their horses. News that Cai Wenchang was heading east to Louyang spread to Xi'an prefecture and the powerful families of Chang'an heaved a sigh of relief. They no longer had to be on tenterhooks, worrying over their gold and silver.
The public road ran through Hangu Pass straight to Shanzhou before leaving parting from the Yellow River and heading east. After leaving Tong Pass, they made haste, passing by a sea of peach groves, though they had long since flowered, and so with no beautiful scenery to make them linger, they galloped east.
At noon of the third day, they entered Mianchi County, a mountainous area. The road zigzagged around the mountains heading east, and there were many travelers on the road.
They trotted ahead, about the same speed as a horse carriage. Wenchang, on the right, turned to Black Iron Pagoda who was in the middle and said, "Big Bro, are you familiar with this area?"
"Brother, I can close my eyes and tell you where we are."
"What's up ahead?"
In about twenty miles we'll reach King Yu Gully, though the Yu the Great Temple there was burned down twenty years ago. Now it's just a small place to stop and rest. There's a few little local drink stalls set up there.
"We better each lunch then, let's go!"
Chai Feng suddenly turned and said, "There's a little stronghold on the bank of the river there by King Yu Gully. Do you know it, Brother Fan?"
"Haha! That's the hideout of that dark path dude, Black Zombie Nangong Liang. It's a hillside plot, 'bout a hundred acres. To outsiders he appears as a wealthy local landlord, Squire Nangong."
"Brilliant, brilliant. What do you know about this Black Zombie, Brother Fan?"
"He's not controlled by Black Flag Sovereign, but he's a regular visitor of Nine Palace Fortress of Heartbreak Cliff. As for his martial arts, not bad. I, Black Iron Pagoda, have taken three licks of his Skeleton Staff, but the fourth was tough to deal with. But no worries, that guy is a reclusive eccentric. Don't bother him and he won't bother you. Just don't go barging up to his door."
"We'd best pay him a visit," Chai Feng said. "He might look after us in the future."
Chai Feng had his own reasons for suggesting a visit to Black Zombie Nangong Liang. These past few days the three of them had been together the whole time, so he had not had a chance to send out any messages. And none of the sovereign's men had come looking for him, so he was getting antsy. He had to find an opportunity send word of Wenchang's movements, so he needed to pay a visit to Black Zombie. He might not be under Black Flag Sovereign's thumb, but Black Zombie was on good terms with the sovereign. They were close neighbors and exchanged information with each other freely. Nothing would be more perfect than requesting Black Zombie send a message out for him.
Wenchang, however, shook his head. "No! We're free, independent fugitives. We get by on our own skills. No need to court famous individuals."
Black Iron Pagoda rolled his big eyes and curled his lips. "Me, Black Iron Pagoda, curry favor with those crooked seniors? I'd rather kowtow to some random jackass piece of shit then call on him. Hmph! That guy is cruel and ruthless, without a trace of humanity left in him. He never leaves survivors when he does something. Why would we want to deal with a reprehensible thing like that?"
Chai Feng knew he couldn't push it. If he slipped up and made Wenchang suspicious, all would be in vain. These few days together he had discovered that Black Iron Pagoda was even more formidable than Wenchang. On the outside he pretended to be simple and foolish, but he was actually astute and experienced. His ferocious, candid exterior covered up something secret Chai Feng could not calculate. He absolutely mustn't get careless. This dangerous business he'd gotten himself in was like a sheep wandering into a tiger's den. Success was the only option; there was no room for failure. He was devising a plan to get a message out when Wenchang turned to him and smiled. "Brother Chai, I don't want to hold you up on your important business. You can go your own way at any time, no need to worry about my brother and I's affairs. Everyone has his own aspirations. We all have our own paths to follow. Don't let us keep you."
"Heheh, how could we know about Old Chai's business?" Black Iron Pagoda laughed. "Haha! I doubt he once to get involved in our affairs anyway, right?" His big ox eyes were pinned on Chai Feng.
"Yes I feel the same way, I only wonder, after you two get to Luoyang…"
"Then over to Zhengzhou, and maybe to the southern capital," Wenchang cut in. Then he laughed. His spirits raised, he said, "Brother Chai, can I trouble you to play 'The River Town' and let me put forth my meager talents?"
His face clouded again, now with a far-off kind of look. Talk of free, unrestrained fugitives seemed to have made him pensive. It had been four years since he'd left Cai Family Village. So much had changed since then! From a lad of fifteen he had grown into an experienced, world-weary young man. He'd tasted joy, sorrow, had a brief love affair, and suffered indescribable loneliness. He didn't know what ditch his bones would end up buried in, whose blade would stab him in the heart. Would he ever be able to settle down? Who would be his future companion? The fugitive life of an exile was after all not the end of the road, but the world was so vast, what place was there for an outlaw fed up with life? He could no longer recall his family with nostalgia. Where could his soul return? Everywhere were brambles and thorns, enemies on his tail every step of the way so that it was hard to even find a place to take a rest. The world was vast, but what home did he have to return to? His heart was grieved. For the first time he felt weak.
A twang of strings like pearls on a jade dish rose, like reproducing the sounds of nature. As the song progressed his spirit was shaken. He took out Lightning Bolt and flicked the end of it lightly, the metallic tone resounding through the air. It was a small blade but the sound was clear and it carried far. His singing soared up into the sky, powerful and solemn, mixed with a bleak, fluttery feeling.
"Ten long years separate us, the living and the dead.
I try not to think on it, but how can I forget?
A thousand miles, a lonely grave,
My grief and sorrow can't be said.
If we meet again, some day, our faces will be lost.
My face is covered with lines,
My temples glazed with frost."
He paused in the middle of the strings' melody and Black Iron Pagoda pressed his big hand on Wenchang's shoulder.
"Brother…" Black Iron Pagoda's voice was a bit different now too.
"Last night I had a strange dream, back at home, you and I.
You sitting by the window, face powdered, hair piled high.
No words spoken, just eye to eye,
Just countless lines of tears to cry.
Each year I will think of this, and with a sad heart sigh.
At night under the bright moon,
Your grave mound at Short Pine."[1]
The last words lingered in the air, then a final ping of his dagger blade accompanying the strings before gradually all was silent. The lingering notes seemed to fill the sky.
The three riders arrived at the little rest stop before they realized it.
There were six small taverns there and many carriages and horses. Everyone turned to look at the three loudly dressed riders.
They reined in their horses in front of a small tavern. In front an open gazebo was set up with eight large tables, seven of them already occupied. At the table on the far right sat a man and two girls. The man was around forty with a square face and a three-tufted beard. The girls were around fifteen or sixteen, pretty as a painting, their faces powdered and cheeks rouged. One girl's hair was done up in three coils, the other's was piled up high. One look and it was clear they were mistress and servant. They were dressed in neat clothes that accentuated their delicate curves, quite eye-catching. They all sat looking outward with pleasantly surprised looks on their faces. The girl with the tricoiled hair had a sword and a silk bag. She was perhaps more than she seemed.
At the table opposite, four intrepid middle-aged men sat, all wearing black sheepskin caps and black sheepskin jackets. All carried weapons on their belts. The four of them shifted their eyes from the two girls to the three newcomers.
The three newcomers didn't dismount, as if they were unaware that they were at the rest stop. Wenchang put away his dagger, his face wrought with a wry smile.
Chai Feng strummed his pipa absently, then put it away in his bag, the corners of his eyes welling with tears. He said in a low, far away voice, "I don't know when I will be able to return home. Last night in my dream I was already back there, my little wife holding my child, standing by the dresser, staring at me silently… Ahh! We've been apart for three long years." He suddenly lowered his face into his hand and did not look up for some time.
Black Iron Pagoda reached out and put his hand on his shoulder and said faintly, "Brother Chai, go home. Your wife is standing by the door waiting for you, how can you bear to wander around the jianghu? Your wife is your responsibility, there's no reason good enough for it. You won't have peace of mind until you've comforted your wife and child."
Wenchang shook his head with a bitter smile. "Brother Chai, pardon me, it's none of my business and I don't mean anything by it, as we're not close, so forgive me for being blunt, but you ought to listen to Big Brother Fan. Otherwise you're not being fair to your wife, and also not fair to yourself."
"Brother, let's stop here for a bit," Black Iron Pagoda declared.
Chai Feng swallowed, apparently with some difficulty, and wiped his tears with his sleeve, then silently got down from his horse and led it over to the hitching post.
Black Iron Pagoda tied the reins and opened his throat, "Waiter, feed our horses, but no need to unsaddle them. Just loosen the straps is enough."
There was an empty table and the three of them made their way to it, ignoring the crowd of people. After a brief moment of emotion they had regained their bold air of jianghu bandits.
Once seated, Black Iron Pagoda called to the waiter, "Ten catties of kaoliang wine and a big plate of jerky, donkey meat if you have it, but chicken is okay too. Cut it in big slices, then prepare some paomo bread stew, with thick stock."
"Good heavens!" someone cried in a low voice. "These guys are gonna eat the whole shop!"
Black Iron Pagoda rolled his big ox eyes and turned and stuck his massive thumb out, nearly booping the nose of the man who had said that. "Schmuck, you eat like a sickly cat. A cup of wine and a plate of salted vegetables is enough to fill your shrivelled belly. What are you fussing about, shut your damn mouth."
The guy trembled with fright and ducked away from the thumb. "Alight! It's okay, it's okay."
"And if it's not okay, so what? You're lookin' for a fuckin' beating you keep sticking your nose where it don't belong."
The four men at the table opposite the two girls seemed to want to show off their heroism. They smiled at each other and one with big jug ears stood up and doffed his hood and, arms akimbo, he sauntered deliberately over to Wenchang and the others. He stopped at their table and smirked, but said nothing.
Wenchang looked at Black Iron Pagoda, completely ignoring the man. Their food and drink arrived and they seemed to have an understanding among each other as they poured and drained a big bowl of wine each, then began stuffing their faces with meat, as if they didn't even see the man standing at their table.
The atmosphere became tense. The guests at two tables hurriedly paid their bills and scampered out.
The waiter realized things were about to turn south, so he quickly sent a man into the woods, behind which lay a stream called Millet Creek. There was a canoe ferry there and on the opposite bank was Nangong Stronghold with its back to the hills and facing the water, which was not far off.
The man stood there by the table for a while, and when no one paid him any attention his expression stiffened and he became more and more embarrassed.
1. This part and the first part sung by Wenchang is a famous lyric poem by Song dynasty poet Su Shi, to the tune of "The River Town". The translation, of course, is my own.