The Legend of the Condor Heroes – Chapter 25

The more Mu Nianci listened to him, the more displeased she became. “The defeat of the Jins is precisely what we are earnestly wished for,” she said with a stern voice, “Yet you actually feel sorry for them. Humph, what if the fall of Jin country is the present disaster? Is the Jin country your country? This … this …”

“Why are we talking about other people’s business?” Yang Kang cut her off, “I have been bitterly missing you since you left me.” Slowly he went over to grab her right hand. Mu Nianci could hear the tenderness in his voice, her heart softened; she let him pull her hand gently, without struggling she followed him, her face was slightly blushing.

Yang Kang’s left arm was about to embrace her shoulder when suddenly they heard bird cries high in the air; it was very loud and clear. They looked up and saw a pair of big white eagles spreading their wings flying across the sky. Yang Kang had seen this pair of eagles that day when Wanyan Honglie led a team of soldiers to pursue and kill Tuolei, and he knew that later on Huang Rong took the eagles away. “How did the white eagles come to this place?” he thought. He pulled Mu Nianci’s hand and hurriedly walked outside. He saw the pair of eagles fly in circles overhead, while a young girl was sitting on a steed’s back by the big tree outside; she was looking at a distance. That young girl was wearing a pair of leather boots, with a horse whip in her hand. She was wearing Mongolian attire, with a long bow on her back and a quiver full of arrows hanging on her waist.

The eagles circled overhead for a while, then they flew along the road. A moment later they flew back. And then sound of hoof beats was heard coming from the road, a number of horse riders came speeding by.

Yang Kang thought, “Apparently this pair of eagles is to lead the way so that these people can meet with this Mongolian girl.” He saw dust rose on the road and three riders were coming fast toward them. A swishing sound was heard, an arrow shot out to the air, coming this direction. The Mongolian girl extracted a long arrow from her quiver, drew her bow and shot the arrow to the air. As the three riders heard the arrow, they called out in delight, and rushed their horses even faster.

That young girl urged her steed forward to approach the riders. As they were about three ‘zhang’s apart from each other, the girl and one of the rider shouted and jumped from their saddles toward each other; their hands met in the air and together they landed on the ground.

Yang Kang was secretly startled, “The Mongolians are very proficient in riding and shooting techniques; even a young girl has this kind of ability. Is it a wonder that the Jins are defeated?”

Inside the secret room Guo Jing and Huang Rong also heard the birds’ cry and the hoof beats coming near. After a moment they also heard several people talking and walking toward the inn. Guo Jing was pleasantly surprised, “How did she come over here? This is wonderful!” he thought.

Turned out the Mongolian girl was his fiancée, Huazheng; and the other three were Tuolei, Jebeh and Borchu. Huang Rong did not understand one word of Huazheng’s babbling of talking and laughing in Mongolians; while Guo Jing’s face turned green one moment and white another moment. His delight was replaced with anxiety. “My heart has already had Rong’er, so I can’t marry her. But she has looked for me here. How can I break my promise? What should I do?” he thought in his heart.

With a low voice Huang Rong asked, “Jing Gege, who is this girl? What are they saying? Aren’t you feeling well?”

Several times Guo Jing had meant to tell Huang Rong everything once and for all, but always each time the words were already on his lips, each time he swallowed them back. Now that Huang Rong asked him, he could not hide anymore. “She is the Mongolian’s Great Khan, Genghis Khan’s daughter. She is my fiancée.”

Huang Rong was shocked; tears started welling up her eyes. “You … you have a fiancée?” she asked, “Why have you never told me?”

That day when Qiu Chuji and the Six Freaks of Jiangnan discussed Guo Jing’s engagement in the inn at the capital, the Six Freaks of Jiangnan did mention that Genghis Khan had betrothed his beloved daughter to Guo Jing, but at that time Huang Rong had not arrived outside the window yet; therefore, she had not heard about it and all this time she was not aware about this engagement.

Guo Jing said, “Now and then I wanted to tell you, but I was afraid you won’t be happy. Sometimes I did not remember this matter.”

“She is your fiancée, how can you not remember?” Huang Rong asked.

Guo Jing was at a loss. “I don’t know,” he said, “In my heart I always regard her as my sister; we are like brother and sister. I don’t even want to marry her.”

Huang Rong raised her eyebrows in delight, “Why?” she asked.

Guo Jing replied, “The Great Khan decided this matter for me. At that time I was not unhappy, but I was not happy either. I only thought that the Great Khan’s decision must be right. But now, Rong’er, how can I leave you to marry another?”

“What should we do then?” Huang Rong asked.

“I don’t know,” Guo Jing replied.

Huang Rong sighed and said, “As long as in your heart you are forever good to me, I don’t care if you marry her.” But a moment later she said, “However, if you marry her, I won’t like another woman to be with you all day. Perhaps one day I won’t be able to control my temper and make a hole in her chest with a sword, and then you will hate me. Enough talking about this, why don’t you listen to them and tell me what they say.”

Guo Jing pressed his ear to the small hole and heard Tuolei and Huazheng talk about what happened after they parted. It turned out that after Huang Rong and Guo Jing went down to the sea, the white eagles flew around in the wind and the rain looking for their masters. There was no place on the ocean for them to set their feet on, so they had to fly back to the mainland. They remembered their old home in the north, hence they flew to find their other master.

Huazheng was astonished to see the white eagles came back. She saw a piece of cloth tied on the eagle’s foot, with some Chinese characters carved on it. She took the cloth to some Han people in the army to translate. Turned out they were the ‘in danger’ two characters. Huazheng was concerned, so she went south immediately to investigate. By this time Genghis Khan was busy supervising the military expedition against the Jins; day after day the Mongolians engaged the Jins in fierce battles both inside and outside the Great Wall, so nobody stopped her when she expressed her intention to go to the south.

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