Huang Rong was delighted. From the corner of her eye, she glanced at Guo Jing, who looked totally unaware of the implications held by this one-word title of “Jing’er”. “Dad,” she said, “let’s go to the palace first and bring teacher out.”
At this point, Guo Jing confessed to his teachers about Huang Yaoshi assenting to the marriage on Peachblossom Island, as well as the situation with Hong Qigong accepting him as a disciple. A pleased Ke Zhen’e said: “You’ve somehow set things up so that you can call The Divine Nine-Fingered Beggar your teacher, and you’ve duped the Master of Peachblossom Island into letting you marry his beloved daughter. We’re more than happy with it; where’s the sense in refusing? It’s just that the Mongolian Khan…” Recalling that Genghis Khan had granted Guo Jing the title ‘Prince Consort of the Golden Blade’, this was now something of an awkward matter which, if brought up, would surely provoke Huang Yaoshi into fury. For a moment, he wondered how he could mention it.
Suddenly, there was a creak as the main door was pushed open; in came Sha Gu laughing, holding a piece of yellow vellum twisted into the shape of a monkey.
“Sister,” she said to Huang Rong, “are you done eating watermelons? Oldie asked me to give you this monkey to play with.”
Huang Rong, assuming Sha Gu was just being silly and thinking nothing of it, reached out and took the paper monkey. Sha Gu added: “Hairy oldie says don’t get angry; he’ll definitely find teacher for you.” When Huang Rong heard that she was obviously talking about Zhou Botong, she looked at the monkey and saw that there were words written on the paper. Hurrying to unravel it, the following was revealed in a crooked scrawl over the surface:
Old Beggar was nowhere I looked,
Old Urchin was ever so good.
Huang Rong gave a worried gasp. “How come he didn’t see teacher?” she said.
Huang Yaoshi muttered to himself for a while. “Old Urchin might be deranged,” he said, finally, “but his martial arts are terrific. As long as Qigong’s still alive, he can surely rescue him. More immediately, the Beggar Gang are facing a big problem.”
“What problem?” asked Huang Rong.
Huang Yaoshi replied: “The bamboo stick the old beggar gave you was taken away by Yang Kang. Although that brat’s martial arts aren’t great, he’s still a nasty scoundrel; even such a person as Ouyang Ke died by his hand. Now he’s got hold of the bamboo stick, he’ll definitely go stirring up a storm, to make trouble for the Beggar Gang. We ought to catch up with him and retrieve it, or else the old beggar’s brethren are going to suffer generations of serious hardship – and you, as chief, won’t be reflected in glory.”
Normally, the Beggar Gang being in trouble wouldn’t prey on Huang Yaoshi’s mind in the slightest; on the contrary, he’d rejoice in their disaster and take pleasure in their ruin, seeing it as a great spectacle of fun. But now that his beloved daughter had become the Chief of the Beggar Gang, how could he still keep his hands in his sleeves?
One after the other, the Six Freaks nodded their heads. “But he’s already been gone for days,” said Guo Jing. “I’m worried catching up will be hard.”
Han Baoju pointed out: “Your Little Red horse is here – just when you could use it!”
Delighted, Guo Jing rushed out the door and made a whistle to summon it. Seeing its owner, the red horse bounded and galloped over, brushing up close against him and neighing incessantly with excitement.
“Rong’er,” said Huang Yaoshi, “you and Jing’er hurry and grab that bamboo stick. This red horse goes at a speedy pace; I expect you’ll soon catch up.”
Having said this, he noticed a smiling Sha Gu standing by the side, with an expression exactly like that of Qu Lingfeng, his own disciple. A thought occurred to him. “Are you called ‘Qu’?” he asked her.
Sha Gu laughed and shook her head. “Don’t know,” she said. Huang Yaoshi had long been aware that his disciple Qu Lingfeng had a daughter, and calculated that her age also appeared to fit.
“Dad,” said Huang Rong, “come and look!” Leading him by the hand, she went into the secret room.
Huang Yaoshi, seeing that the separated arrangement of the secret room was completely in a pattern he himself had originated, felt that it was surely the work of Qu Lingfeng.
“Dad,” said Huang Rong, “take a look at the things in that iron chest. If you can figure out what they are, I guess that makes you an expert!”
But Huang Yaoshi ignored the iron chest. Going over to the southwest corner and lifting up the sideboard at the foot of the wall, he revealed a cavity. Reaching inside, he pinched out a scroll of paper and right away leaped out of the secret room. Huang Rong hastily followed him out. Coming up behind her father, she saw the scroll unfolded in his hands, the paper’s surface covered in dust and its edges browned and broken. Written on it, in crooked handwriting, were a few rows of words:
Addressed most respectfully to venerable senior Master Huang of
Peachblossom Island:
Disciple has acquired, from within the palace, assorted calligraphy,
paintings, and other artefacts, which he wishes to present for Master’s
appreciation.
Disciple respectfully refers to ‘Master’, not daring the presumption
to utter ‘beneficient teacher’ – even if, in disciple’s dreams, he still utters
‘beneficient teacher’ yet.
Misfortune has had it that disciple was encircled by palace guards,
and is survived by a daughter…
The writing having reached the word “daughter”, there was nothing further – except for a few splattered marks which could faintly be discerned as bloodstains.
At the time of Huang Rong’s birth, all the disciples had already suffered expulsion from Peachblossom Island, and Qu Lingfeng had suffered it the earliest. Huang Rong, knowing that each person under the tutelage of her father had been a terrific individual, couldn’t help feeling alarmed at seeing today this report left behind by Qu Lingfeng.
By now, Huang Yaoshi had already understood the heart of it. He knew that, after Qu Lingfeng had been expelled from his teaching, he had agonised hard over gaining readmittance to the school of Peachblossom Island. Recalling that Huang Yaoshi was fond of treasures, antiques, and samples from the work of famous painters, he had taken the risk of going to the imperial palace and committing robbery. This had gone favourably for a few times, but in the end, he had been discovered by the imperial guards. After a fierce fight, he had sustained a serious wound; returning home to write his final will, he must have struggled to finish it because of the seriousness of his injury. When, not long after, the master guardsman came in in pursuit, both sides ended up dying right here.
Huang Yaoshi was already remorseful after having seen Lu Chengfeng that last time. Now, with the recent death of Mei Chaofeng and the sight of such dedication from Qu Lingfeng, he felt even more guilt. Turning his head and spotting the grinning Sha Gu standing behind him, he had a thought. “Did your father teach you how to fight?” he asked, in a stern voice.