Jade Brush Peak

Jade Brush Peak

Contents

Jade Brush Peak (simplified: 玉笔峰, traditional: 玉筆峰, pinyin: Yùbǐ Fēng, jyutping: juk6 bat1 fung1) was a sheer snow peak on Wulan Mountain in Liaodong, beyond the Pass (ch. 8). Its summit could be reached only by a basket hauled on a rope and winch, and on it stood the manor of Du Ximeng (ch. 2, 3). The map to Li Zicheng’s Treasure placed the treasure behind the peak (ch. 8). On the fifteenth day of the third month of the forty-fifth year of the Qianlong reign, the treasure hunters, Hu Fei, Miao Renfeng and Commander Sai’s imperial guards all came to the peak, and the present-day action of Flying Fox of the Snowy Mountain takes place on and around it that day (ch. 1, 9).

Overview

The peak

The peak was not especially tall, but it rose among the surrounding mountains like the shaft of a writing brush, so steep that even a monkey would have found it hard to climb, and snow covered it from foot to summit. It was far higher than it looked from a distance, and its sides fell sheer. At its foot lay a great forest of pines, many of them centuries old, which took half a shichen to cross (ch. 2). Three ancient pines grew at the cliff edge on the summit (ch. 8).

In summer, when the ice and snow melted, steep paths allowed a climber to go up and down on foot, with difficulty. In winter and early spring there was no way up or down except the rope; Baoshu reckoned it would be three months before the snow melted (ch. 3).

The rope and winch

Visitors announced themselves with a signal rocket that trailed blue smoke. From the summit a large bamboo basket, big enough for three, slid down on a bamboo rope. Beside the cliff edge stood three great winches linked by bamboo ropes, worked by a dozen or more strong men, which raised and lowered the basket; the climb took about as long as it takes to drink a cup of tea (ch. 2). This single long rope was the only way off the peak (ch. 3).

The manor kept white pigeons to carry messages between the summit and the foot of the peak (ch. 6). Provisions were fetched from below by a steward. When the rope was destroyed, the manor held food for some twenty days, and the steward who had gone down to buy more was not due back for two days (ch. 3).

Du Ximeng’s manor

The manor was a very large stone house standing among snow-laden pines. A long corridor led to the front hall, which was heated by a charcoal brazier in each corner. On its wall hung a wooden couplet carved after Miao Renfeng’s handwriting and addressed to “Brother Ximeng”, flanking a painting of peonies against a snow mountain (ch. 2). The manor also had an east wing furnished for guests, its walls lined with books (ch. 8, 9); a granary and kitchen (ch. 5); the private quarters of the Matriarch, Du’s wife; and a secret room in a cellar where she could hide (ch. 6). Every servant and maid in the manor knew martial arts (ch. 2).

The manor’s steward spoke of it as Jade Brush Peak Manor (玉笔山庄) (ch. 3); others called it the Du Family Manor (杜家庄) (ch. 8, 9).

The treasure cave

The map hidden in Miao Ruolan’s phoenix-head pearl hairpin showed a sheer peak, drawn with the three pines at its edge, and was inscribed “Behind Jade Brush Peak, Wulan Mountain, Liaodong” (辽东乌兰山玉笔峰后) (ch. 8). From the summit, the treasure hunters saw two small ridges below, one running from south-west to north-east, the other from south to north, meeting at a low, round knoll. The ridges matched the two dragons carved on the scabbard of Li Zicheng’s Treasured Dao, and the knoll sat where the carving’s ruby lay. On foot the knoll was some twenty li from the peak (ch. 8).

The knoll was pitted with shallow holes hidden under the snow. Beneath the ruby an arrow was carved, pointing north-north-east to a small circle; pacing out the bearing from the knoll’s summit, Baoshu fell through into a long, winding tunnel lined with ice that had never thawed. At its end two round boulders, one on top of the other, frozen together, blocked the way. When the ice between them was melted with fire, the boulder could be turned aside like a door. Beyond lay an immense cavern heaped with gold bricks, silver ingots, pearls and precious stones, all sealed in clear ice. A wall of ice divided it in two, and behind it stood the bodies of Miao Renfeng’s father and Tian Anbao, preserved by the cold (ch. 8). Once the boulder was rolled back into place, there was room for only one person to stand behind it, with nothing to grip, and the meltwater soon froze again; no one inside could get out without help from outside (ch. 10).

History

Du Ximeng and the treasure

Du Ximeng found clues that Li Zicheng’s treasure lay near the snow peak, and so lived on it for years searching, without success (ch. 10). Baoshu guessed as much when he saw the map, reasoning that no one would otherwise build a manor in such a cold and inaccessible place (ch. 8).

Miao Renfeng’s father and Tian Anbao set off beyond the Pass together and never returned; they had found the cave and killed each other there (ch. 5, 8). Searching for them, Hu Yidao found the cave before Du did. Du’s cousin, who later became Madam Hu, followed him inside and fought him, and there they fell in love. Because she would not let him wrong her cousin by taking the treasure, Hu Yidao left it untouched and sealed an account of his choice in the cave (ch. 10).

More than twenty years before the events of the novel, Miao Renfeng came to the manor while seeking out Hu Yidao’s friends, and his friendship with Du began (ch. 9). Ping Asi brought the infant Hu Fei to Du, but fled down the peak by night with the child when Du began searching Madam Hu’s keepsakes (ch. 10).

The day of the appointment

Hu Fei had arranged to meet Du Ximeng on the peak on the fifteenth day of the third month (ch. 9). Du was away; his steward said he had gone to Ningguta to fetch Miao Renfeng (ch. 2). Baoshu brought up the parties fighting over the iron box: men of the Tianlong School, Yinma Creek Stockade and the Pingtong Armed Escort (ch. 1–2). Hu Fei’s two child servants delivered his card and fought them in the front hall, and Miao Ruolan arrived with her household (ch. 2–3). Ping Asi then blew up the winches and the rope and threw the manor’s food over the cliff, meaning to starve everyone on the peak, Baoshu above all (ch. 3, 5).

The manor’s pigeons brought a new line up from below, and a thick rope was tied to two large pines at the cliff edge. Hu Fei climbed it, saving Cao Yunqi from a fall on the way, spoke with Miao Ruolan in the front hall and left with Ping Asi (ch. 6). The treasure hunters took the map from Miao Ruolan’s hairpin, climbed down the rope and found the cave (ch. 8).

That night Du Ximeng returned with Commander Sai, Guild Chief Fan and a crowd of wulin masters, and in the east wing they seized Miao Renfeng. Hu Fei, hiding in the room, rescued him (ch. 9). Hu Fei carried Miao Ruolan down the rope, and later sealed the treasure hunters in the cave with the boulder (ch. 10). Miao Renfeng led Hu Fei up a neighbouring peak, less lofty than Jade Brush Peak but no less dangerous, to fight him, and the novel ends there (ch. 10).

Inhabitants

Residents

  • Du Ximeng: master of the manor, known as a magnate of Liaodong (ch. 9).
  • The Matriarch: Du Ximeng’s wife (ch. 2, 6).
  • Steward Yu (于管家): the long-necked steward, once a capable jianghu fighter, who used a purple-gold dao (ch. 2, 3).

Visitors

See also

Related articles