Peng Lianhu remembered their appointment on the eighth month’s mid-autumn festival in Jiaxing; if the Quan Zhen Seven Masters had this strange man as their helper, they would not be easy to deal with. He could not help but feeling anxious.
Ouyang Feng continued, “This Zhou Xiong was stranded on the sea among a flock of sharks, and I rescued him out. I said this flock of sharks was nothing; without to much effort I can kill every single one of them. Zhou Xiong did not believe me, thus the two of us made a bet. Zhou Xiong, wasn’t what I said true?”
Zhou Botong nodded his head repeatedly, “It was absolutely true. Betting on what, you need to explain to everybody,” he said.
“Exactly!” Ouyang Feng said, “I said that if I lost, I will do whatever you want me to do. If I am not willing to do it, then I must jump into the sea to become fish food. You have said the same thing, is that correct?”
Zhou Botong nodded his head again, “Right, right, that was absolutely correct; and then what happened?” he asked.
“What do you mean ‘what happened’? You have lost!” Ouyang Feng said.
This time Zhou Botong shook his head repeatedly, “Not true, not true!” he said, “It was you who have lost, not me.”
Ouyang Feng was angry, “A real man can distinguish between right and wrong; how can you deny your own words? If I lost, how come you were willing to plunge into the sea to kill yourself?”
Zhou Botong sighed, “That’s true. Originally I also said that the Old Urchin’s fortune was bad so I lost to you; who would have thought that as I went down into the water the Heaven sent something we can regard as a coincidence. Only then did I know that the Old Poison had lost, the Old Urchin had won.”
Together Ouyang Feng, Hong Qigong and Huang Rong asked, “What coincidence?”
Zhou Botong stooped down and with his left hand, grabbed a piece of stick stuck inside the shark’s mouth. He lifted the shark and said, “I met my riding animal. Old Poison, take a look; it was your precious nephew who stuck this wooden stick inside its mouth, wasn’t it?”
It was indeed Ouyang Ke who concocted this wicked plan to prop-up a wooden stick inside the shark’s mouth, so that it would not be able to eat and eventually die of starvation. This, Ouyang Feng had seen with his own eyes. Right now he saw a huge shark with a wooden stick in its mouth; he also saw the wound caused by the hook on the shark’s mouth. Without any doubt this was the very same shark they returned to the sea that day. “So what?” he asked.
Zhou Botong clapped his hands and laughed, “That means you lost! Our bet was you killed every single one of the sharks, but this good fellow was bestowed a good fortune by your nephew, it could not eat the dead sharks, hence could not eat the poison. It was the only shark left alive. So how can’t you say the Old Urchin has won?” He burst out in laughter. Ouyang Feng’s countenance changed, he could not say anything.
Guo Jing delightedly asked, “Big Brother, where were you these past few days? I was so miserable thinking about you.”
Zhou Botong laughed, “I am playing and having fun. Not long after I jumped into the sea, I saw this fellow grasping for breath on the surface, it seemed to be in agony. I said, ‘Old Shark, oh Old Shark, looks like today you and I share the same fate!’ And then I jumped suddenly on the shark’s back. It furiously went down under the water, I had to hold my breath, my both hands holding tightly to its neck and my feet randomly kicked its belly. With great difficulty it went back up to the surface. Without giving me a chance to take two mouthfuls of breathe this fellow dove back underwater. The two of us fought for half a day and finally he became obedient and was willing to listen to what I say; I want it go to the east, it went to the east, I want it to head north, he wouldn’t dare of going south.” While saying those words he gently patted the shark’s head, looking so pleased.
Among those who were present, Huang Rong was the only one who admired and envied him. Her eyes shone and she asked, “I have played in the sea for many years, why hadn’t I thought of this trick? I was so stupid!”
“Look at its mouth full of teeth, they are as sharp as knives,” Zhou Botong said, “If there is no stick in its mouth, do you dare to ride it?”
“You spent the last few days riding on the back of the fish?” Huang Rong asked.
“Certainly,” Zhou Botong replied, “The two of us have a pretty good skill of catching fish. As soon as we saw a fish, we chased it; I sent a fist or a palm to kill it. Out of ten fish, I only ate one and this fellow ate the other nine.”
Huang Rong traced the shark’s belly and asked, “You dumped dead fish into its belly? It did not need its teeth to eat?”
“Oh, he is a good eater,” Zhou Botong answered, “There was a time the two of us chasing an extremely big cuttlefish …”
Two people, one old the other young, were having an animated discussion, totally ignoring everybody else on board the ship. Ouyang Feng groaned inwardly, silently thinking of some ideas to deal with this situation. Suddenly Zhou Botong turned to him and said, “Hey, Old Poison, do you admit defeat?”
Ouyang Feng was the one making the speech earlier; how could he swallow his own words in front of these many people? He was obliged to say, “So what if I lost? Do you think there is anything I can’t do?”
“Hmm,” Zhou Botong said, “I must think of a difficult thing for you to do. Very well, you scolded me just now that I was farting; I want you to fart immediately! Let everybody smell.”
Hearing Zhou Botong only asked Ouyang Feng to break wind for no reason at all Huang Rong was annoyed. Breaking wind at will was naturally not easy for an average person, but with a strong internal energy, it was not difficult to circulate the breathing to the whole body, hence it was an extremely trivial thing to do. She was afraid of Ouyang Feng’s craftiness and of his venomous snake staff; she was afraid he would grab this opportunity and gently broke wind, hence put it all behind without too much trouble. Therefore, hastily she said, “Not good, not good! First you want to tell him to unseal my Shifu’s acupoints, then we can talk again.”
“Look!” Zhou Botong said, “Even a young miss is afraid of your smelly fart. Alright, I’ll let you go this time. I am not going to ask you to do a difficult thing anyway; quickly tend to the Old Beggar’s injury. The Old Beggar’s skill is not under yours; if not of your sneakiness, no way you would be able to injure him. After he is healed, the two of you can fight again. That time let the Old Urchin be the judge.”