Du Ximeng (simplified: 杜希孟, traditional: 杜希孟, pinyin: Dù Xīmèng, jyutping: dou6 hei1 maang6), known as Manor Master Du (杜庄主), is the master of the Du Family Manor on Jade Brush Peak, Wulan Mountain, in Jin Yong’s Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain. He styles himself a magnate of Liaodong. He is the elder cousin who raised Madam Hu, Hu Yidao’s wife, and he is the man Hu Fei comes to the peak to call to account.
Biography
The treasure and the orphan
Du Ximeng had gathered clues that Li Zicheng’s treasure lay near the snowy peak, and he lived on the peak for years searching for it without success. His younger cousin, whom he had raised from childhood, followed Hu Yidao into the treasure cave. There she fought him, came to admire him, and married him. She told Hu Yidao she would not let him take the treasure, because that would wrong her cousin (ch. 10).
After Hu Yidao and his wife died, Ping Asi brought the infant Hu Fei to Du, whose name he had found in Madam Hu’s letter. Du wanted Hu Yidao’s martial arts manual, suspected that the Hus knew the treasure’s secret, and began searching Madam Hu’s keepsakes. Ping Asi fled down the peak that night with the child and the manual, leaving the bundle of keepsakes behind (ch. 10).
After Hu Yidao’s death, Miao Renfeng went to Liaodong to learn about his late rival. There he learned that Du had known Hu Yidao, visited him on Jade Brush Peak, and became his friend. That friendship lasted more than twenty years. A wooden couplet in Miao’s hand, addressed to Du as “Brother Ximeng”, hangs in the manor’s front hall: “Before I came to Liaodong, I boasted myself unmatched under heaven; By chance in Hebei, I at last believe heroes walk the earth” (ch. 2, 8, 9).
The appointment with the Flying Fox
Hu Fei, now called the Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain, set an appointment with Du on the fifteenth day of the third month. He meant to ask why Du had wronged an orphan and to reclaim his mother’s belongings. Du invited helpers, among them Baoshu, Miao Renfeng and Guild Chief Fan, and was away when Hu Fei first came to the peak. His steward said he had gone to Ningguta to fetch Miao Renfeng. When Hu Fei broke in, the steward urged Miao Ruolan to hide in the cellar with the lady of the house (ch. 2, 6, 8, 9).
That night Du returned with Commander Sai of the imperial guard and a crowd of wulin masters, and introduced them to one another in the manor’s east wing. He had agreed to help Commander Sai capture Miao Renfeng. When Miao arrived and asked what Du had taken from the Flying Fox, Du flushed and denied that any heirloom existed. Guild Chief Fan then seized Miao with the Dragon Claw Grasping Hand (ch. 9).
Hu Fei, hidden in the room, burst out and rescued Miao. He seized Du Ximeng and Xuanmingzi by their acupoints and used them as weapons against Commander Sai, then knocked both men senseless. Afterwards Du came limping through the snow and handed Hu Fei his mother’s belongings, saying that nothing was missing. Miao Renfeng, who knew neither that Du was Hu Fei’s mother’s cousin nor who Hu Fei was, reflected that Du was accomplished in letters and arms, a man of wide connections, ruined by a single wrong turn (ch. 9–10).
Personality
To Miao Ruolan he had always seemed gentle, modest and hospitable. Hu Fei calls him false in his benevolence and righteousness, citing his plot against Miao Renfeng. Hu Fei also thinks him slow-witted, since he searched for years without finding the treasure that Hu Yidao found.
Relationships
- Madam Hu (Cousin): he raised her; she married Hu Yidao.
- Hu Fei: his cousin’s son; Du kept the orphan’s keepsakes and is the reason for Hu Fei’s appointment on the peak.
- Miao Renfeng: a friend of more than twenty years, whom he helped Commander Sai trap.