Laughing in the Wind Chapter 1 – Part 5

Lin Pingzhi recounted how he had killed the Sichuan man during the day and how Captain Shi was found dead at the small wineshop. Madam Lin already knew about Bai Er and Captain Zheng’s mysterious deaths. Hearing that Captain Shi had also died under mysterious circumstances, instead of being alarmed Madam Lin was furious. She pounded the table and stood up.

“Husband, how can the Fuwei Armed Escort tolerate such humiliation right at our doorstep? We should gather our men and go to Sichuan to settle this with Qingcheng School. We’ll bring along my father, my elder brother, and younger brothers as well.”

Madam Lin had an explosive temper from childhood. As a maiden, she would draw her dao and wound people at the slightest provocation. Coming from the highly skilled and influential Luoyang Golden Blade Gate,¹ everyone yielded to her out of respect for her father, Wang Yuanba² the Invincible Golden Dao. Even after her son had grown to adulthood, her fiery temperament remained undiminished.

Lin Zhennan said, “We’re still unable to ascertain who the enemy is. I suspect they won’t stop at just cutting down two flagpoles and killing two escort guards…”

Madam Lin interrupted, “What else are they planning?”

Lin Zhennan glanced at his son and Madam Lin understood her husband’s meaning. Her heart began to pound and her face paled.

Lin Pingzhi said, “This matter was caused by me. A true man takes responsibility for his own actions. Your son is not… not afraid.”

Though he claimed to be unfrightened, he was gripped by fear and the tremble in his voice betrayed his inner dread.

Madam Lin said, “Hmph, if they want to touch a single strand of your hair, they’ll have to kill your mother first. The Lin clan’s Fuwei Armed Escort banner has stood for three generations and we’ve never lost an ounce of prestige.”

She turned to Lin Zhennan. “If we can’t settle this score, we might as well not show our faces in the world anymore.”

Lin Zhennan nodded. “I’ll send people throughout the city and beyond to investigate for any unfamiliar jianghu people. I’ll also post extra men to patrol inside and outside the armed escort. You stay here with Pinger and wait for me. Don’t let him wander off.”

Madam Lin said, “Yes, understood.”

Both husband and wife knew the enemy’s next move would target their son. With the enemy in the shadows and while they were exposed, Lin Pingzhi would be in mortal danger the moment he took a single step outside the Fuwei Armed Escort.

Lin Zhennan went to the main hall and summoned the escort guards, assigning each to investigate and patrol. The escort guards had already received word that the Fuwei Armed Escort’s flagpoles had been cut down, a slap in every one of their faces. All bristled with righteous indignation and were already equipped and armed for action. Upon receiving the Escort Chief’s orders, they set out without delay.

Seeing the armed escort united in resisting the enemy together, Lin Zhennan felt somewhat relieved. He returned to the inner hall and said to his son, “Pinger, your mother hasn’t been feeling well these few days, and with a formidable enemy at our gates now, you’ll sleep on the couch outside our room for the next few nights to protect your mother.”

Madam Lin chuckled. “Hah, I need him…”

Halfway through her words, she suddenly realised that her husband wanted their son to protect her as a pretext, but in truth it was to keep their son nearby so they could protect him. This proud and headstrong son of theirs might resent being sheltered under his parents’ wing and challenge the enemy on his own instead, putting himself in grave danger. She quickly changed her tone, “Exactly, Pinger. Mother has been suffering from rheumatism these past few days. My arms and feet feel sore and weak. Your father must oversee the situation and can’t stay with me all day. If enemies invade the inner hall, I’m afraid I might not be able to fend them off.”

Lin Pingzhi said, “I’ll stay with you, Mother.”

That night, Lin Pingzhi slept on the couch outside his parents’ room. Lin Zhennan and his wife left their room door open, weapons placed beside their pillows. They did not even remove their clothes, shoes, or socks, covering themselves with only a thin blanket, ready to leap up and face any enemy at the first sign of alarm.

That night passed peacefully. Just as dawn broke the following morning, a voice called softly from beyond the window, “Young Escort Chief, Young Escort Chief!”

Having slept poorly through the night, Lin Pingzhi was sound asleep at daybreak and did not stir immediately. Lin Zhennan asked, “What is it?”

The person outside replied, “Young Escort Chief’s horse… the horse is dead.”

Lin Pingzhi cherished the white steed, and the groom assigned to its care rushed to report the moment he discovered its death. Hearing this through the drowsy haze, Lin Pingzhi sat bolt upright, and hastened to say, “I shall see for myself.”

Sensing something amiss, Lin Zhennan hurried with him to the stables, where they found the lifeless body of the white horse lying on its side without a single mark on its body.

Lin Zhennan asked, “Did you hear the horse neighing in the night? Any disturbances?”

The groom replied, “No.”

Lin Zhennan took his son’s hand. “Do not grieve over it. I’ll have someone find you another fine horse.”

Lin Pingzhi stroked the horse’s corpse, standing dazed as tears coursed down his face.

Suddenly, Scout Chen Qi³ came running over, breathless and frantic. “Escort… Escort Chief, dread… dreadful tidings! The escort captains… the captains have all been taken by evil spirits!”

Lin Zhennan and Lin Pingzhi exclaimed in unison, “What?”

Chen Qi could only repeat, “Dead, all dead!”

Lin Pingzhi demanded, “What do you mean, ‘all dead’?”

He seized the man by the collar and shook him. Chen Qi stammered, “Young… Young Escort Chief… dead.”

Hearing the ominous words “Young Escort Chief dead”, Lin Zhennan felt an indescribable revulsion, yet rebuking the man would only draw more attention. There was a clamour of voices outside. Some said, “Where is the Escort Chief? Quick, report to him.”

Others said, “These evil spirits are so powerful, what… what shall we do?”

Lin Zhennan called out, “I am here. What has happened?”

Two escort guards and three scouts came rushing at the sound of his voice. The lead escort guard said, “Escort Chief, none of the brothers dispatched returned.”

Having heard the commotion, Lin Zhennan had braced himself for more deaths. But he had dispatched twenty-two escort guards and scouts last night to investigate, surely they could not have all perished. He asked urgently, “Has anyone died? Most likely they are still making inquiries and have yet to return.”

The escort guard shook his head. “Seventeen bodies have already been found…”

Lin Zhennan and Lin Pingzhi exclaimed together, “Seventeen bodies?”

The escort guard’s face was a mask of terror. “Right, seventeen in all, among them Captain Fu, Captain Qian, and Captain Shi.⁴ The corpses are laid out in the main hall.”

Without another word, Lin Zhennan strode swiftly to the hall, where he found the tables and chairs had been moved aside, and seventeen corpses lay scattered across the floor.

Though Lin Zhennan had weathered countless storms in his life, the sudden sight of such a scene made his hands tremble violently. His knees weakened, barely able to stand upright. He tried to speak, “Why… why… why…”

His throat was parched and no words would come.

Someone outside the hall said, “Sigh, Captain Gao was always such an honest fellow, who would have thought evil spirits would claim him too?”

Five neighbours appeared, bearing a corpse on a door plank. The middle-aged man at their head spoke, “When I opened my door this morning, I found this man dead in the street. I recognised him as Captain Gao from your esteemed establishment. Thinking it must be the plague or evil curse, we’ve brought him to you.”

Lin Zhennan raised his hand with left palm over his right fist⁵ in gratitude and said, “Many thanks, many thanks.”

To a scout he said, “Give these good neighbours three liang⁶ of silver each. Draw it from the bookkeeper’s.”

Seeing the hall filled with corpses, these neighbours dared not linger. They took the silver, thanked him, and left.

Before long, three more escort guards’ bodies were delivered. Lin Zhennan counted: of the twenty-two dispatched last night, twenty-one corpses lay before him. Only Captain Chu’s body remained unaccounted for, though he expected it was only a matter of time.

He returned to the east wing and drank a cup of hot tea, his mind in turmoil, unable to settle no matter how he tried to calm himself. Walking out to the main gate, he saw that both flagpoles had been cut clean at the base, and his heart grew even more troubled. The enemy had slain over twenty men from the Armed Escort while remaining unseen, without issuing a formal challenge or revealing their identity.

He turned to look at the golden signboard above the main gate that bore the characters “Fuwei Armed Escort”, thinking, The Fuwei Armed Escort has commanded respect throughout the jianghu⁷ for decades. Who would have thought it would fall under my watch.

Suddenly, he heard the clatter of hooves in the street. A horse trotted over with a figure draped across its back. Lin Zhennan’s heart sank with grim certainty. He leapt forward and saw that it was a corpse on the horse’s back. It was Captain Chu. It was evident that the man was killed en route and his body placed on the back of the horse that knew its way home and had found its way back.

Lin Zhennan gave a long sigh, tears rolling down his cheeks onto Captain Chu’s body. He lifted the corpse and carried it into the hall, saying, “Brother Chu, I swear I would avenge you, or I’m no man. It’s just… it’s just, ah, you departed too swiftly, before you could name your killer.”

Captain Chu had no exceptional standing within the Armed Escort and shared no special bond with Lin Zhennan. Lin was just too overwhelmed and could not help but weep tears filled with fury rather than grief.

He saw Madam Lin standing at the entrance of the hall, her golden dao⁸ cradled in her left arm as she pointed her right at the sky through the courtyard, railing at the heavens, “Wretched mangy bandits! You only dare to strike from the shadows. If you’re real heroes, you’d come to the Fuwei Armed Escort and face us in honest combat! Sneaking about like rats, who amongst the wulin⁹ would stand for that?”

“My dear, did you see anything?” Lin Zhennan asked softly as he laid Captain Chu’s body on the ground.

Madam Lin called out, “I saw nothing! These mangy bandits fear the seventy-two forms of our Lin clan’s Evil-Warding Swordplay!”¹⁰

Gripping the dao handle with her right hand, she swept it in a circle through the air and shouted, “They also fear the golden dao I wield!”

Suddenly, mocking laughter sounded from the corner of the roof. With a sharp hiss, a hidden weapon shot downward and struck the flat of the golden dao soundly. Madam Lin’s arm went numb, she lost her grip, and the dao flew from her hand and tumbled into the courtyard.

With a sharp cry, cold flashed as Lin Zhennan drew his jian, pushing off powerfully with his feet and leapt to the rooftop. He executed the move Sweeping Away Demon Hordes,¹¹ his jian tip scattering like flying petals as he thrust toward where the hidden weapon had been launched. Having endured such profound frustration without once glimpsing his foe, he poured his lifelong skill into this strike, holding nothing back. Yet his jian met only emptiness. There was not a soul in sight at the corner of the roof. He crouched and sprang to the east wing’s roof, but still found no trace of the enemy.

Madam Lin and Lin Pingzhi came up to provide support with weapons in hand. Madam Lin flew into a towering rage, screaming, “You cur! Come out and fight to the death if you dare! What kind of shameless mongrels are you to sneak about like this?”

She rounded on her husband, “Did the cur escape? What did they look like?”

Lin Zhennan shook his head and said quietly, “Do not alarm the others.”

The three searched the rooftops once more before leaping down into the courtyard. Lin Zhennan asked in a low voice, “What hidden weapon struck your golden dao?”

Madam Lin cursed, “That cur! I know not!”

They searched the courtyard but found no hidden weapon, only countless tiny brick fragments scattered beneath an osmanthus tree. It was clear the enemy knocked the golden dao from Madam Lin’s hand with a small piece of brick.

Madam Lin had been cursing “cur” and “stinking bastards”, but the sight of these fine brick fragments transformed her fury to dread. She stood frozen for a long moment before walking into the side chamber without a word. Once her husband and son had entered, she shut the door behind them and whispered, “The enemy’s martial prowess is formidable. We are no match for them. What then shall… shall…”

Footnotes

1. 金刀门 — Jīndāo Mén. Literally Golden Blade Gate. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 王元霸 — Wáng Yuánbà. His name meaning “Wang Tyrant of the Primordial”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 陈七 — Chén Qī. Literally Chen Seven. Common way to refer to someone by their surname followed by their position in the family or household. ↩

4. 施 — Shī. Different character from the earlier Captain Shi (史 — Shǐ). ↩

5. 拱手 — gǒngshǒu. Literally cupped hand. Traditional gesture of respect, greeting, or politeness, where one hand is placed over the other or clasped together. ↩

6. 两 — liǎng. Unit of weight, one-sixteenth of a jin, and the unit silver money was reckoned in. Never “tael”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 江湖 — jiānghú. Literally rivers and lakes. Itinerant world beyond settled society and official reach, holding not only martial artists but the trades that travel with them, including pedlars, physicians, fortune-tellers, entertainers, boatmen, beggars, outlaws and the like. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

8. 刀 — dāo. Single-edged blade, one of the fundamental weapons in Chinese martial arts. Often confused with sabre. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 武林 — wǔlín. Literally martial forest. Those who actually practise, teach or study martial arts. Wulin sits inside the jianghu and is narrower than it: every member of the wulin belongs to the jianghu, but a pedlar or physician of the jianghu who never trained is no part of the wulin. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

10. 辟邪剑法 — Bìxié jiàn fǎ. Literally evil-warding swordplay. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

11. 扫荡群魔 — Sǎo dàng qún mó. Literally sweeping away demon hordes. Sword technique from Evil-Warding Swordplay. ↩