The Legend of the Condor Heroes Chapter 26 – Part 4

What had happened was this. When Tolui,¹ Huazheng² and the others heard of Guo Jing’s terrible death they were stricken with grief, and as Yang Kang³ kept declaring that he would avenge his sworn brother, they got on well with him. That night they all lodged at an inn in a small town north of Lin’an,⁴ and Yang Kang meant to go and stab Tolui to death. But the two beggars, the fat one and the thin one, seeing him carry the Guild Chief’s staff of office, guarded him with the utmost care and took turns keeping watch outside his window. Several times Yang Kang was about to make his move, but each time either the fat beggar or the thin one was patrolling the courtyard, weapon in hand. He waited all night without ever getting his chance and had to give it up. The next day he tricked Tolui out of three good horses and rode west with the two beggars.

Tolui and the others, of course, had no idea how close they had come to violent death the night before. They were about to set off north when they saw the pair of white eagles⁵ turn and fly south. They waited half a day, but the eagles did not come back. Tolui knew the white eagles were uncanny birds and must have had a reason for flying south, and as there was no great hurry about the journey north, they waited at the inn for two days. On the third day the eagles suddenly flew back, crying again and again at Huazheng, and with the eagles leading the way Tolui and his party went south once more, only to run into Qiu Qianren⁶ and Ouyang Feng⁷ in the wood by ill luck.

Qiu Qianren, under orders from the Great Jin, was out to set the men of valour of Jiangnan at one another’s throats so that the Jin armies could march south. He was in the wood talking nonsense to Ouyang Feng when he saw that Tolui was a Mongol envoy, and at once he and Ouyang Feng attacked together. Brave as Jebe⁸ and the others were, how could they be a match for the Western Venom? The eagles had flown south in the first place because they had spotted the little red horse,⁹ never knowing that they would lead their masters into disaster instead. Had they not brought Guo Jing and Huang Rong in time, Tolui, Huazheng and their party would have died in that wood without anyone ever knowing how.

Some of all this Huazheng knew, and some of it was a mystery to her too. She held Guo Jing’s hand and chattered on and on. Huang Rong, seeing how close she and Guo Jing seemed, was already somewhat displeased, and since every word Huazheng spoke was Mongolian and she could not understand a single one, she was left an outsider and grew more impatient still.

Huang Yaoshi¹⁰ saw that his daughter looked strange and asked, “Rong-er, who is this barbarian woman?”

Huang Rong said dully, “She’s the bride Jing gege¹¹ has yet to marry.”

Hearing this, Huang Yaoshi could hardly believe his ears, and he pressed her, “What?”

Huang Rong bowed her head and said, “Father, ask him yourself.”

Zhu Cong,¹² standing by, had seen at once that this was trouble. He hurried forward and tactfully explained how Guo Jing had been betrothed to Huazheng in Mongolia some time before.

Huang Yaoshi’s anger was past containing. He looked askance at Guo Jing and said coldly, “So before he came to Peach Blossom Island to ask for her hand, he had already got himself betrothed in Mongolia?”

Zhu Cong said, “We must think of some…some way that will satisfy everyone.”

Huang Yaoshi said harshly, “Rong-er, your father is going to do something, and you are not to stop me.”

Huang Rong said in a trembling voice, “Father, what is it?”

Huang Yaoshi said, “The stinking boy and the hussy, I’ll kill the pair of them! How can my daughter and I let ourselves be so insulted?”

Huang Rong darted forward, caught her father’s right hand and said, “Father, Jing gege says he truly, truly loves me with all his heart. He has never cared a thing for this barbarian woman.”

Huang Yaoshi snorted and said, “So be it, then!” He barked, “Hey, boy, kill this barbarian woman now and show us where your heart lies.”

Never in all his life had Guo Jing faced such a dilemma. His mind was slow at the best of times, and now, hearing Huang Yaoshi’s words, he was utterly at a loss and stood there dumbly, not knowing what to do.

Huang Yaoshi said coldly, “You were already betrothed, yet you came to seek my daughter’s hand. How do you explain that?”

The Six Eccentrics of Jiangnan¹³ saw that his face had turned an iron grey, and knew that with a turn of his hand Guo Jing could meet his death. Each of them was quietly on guard, though their skill fell so far short of his that if it really came to a fight they could do nothing.

Guo Jing had never known how to lie. Hearing the question, he answered honestly, “All I want is to spend my life with Rong-er. Without Rong-er I couldn’t go on living.”

Huang Yaoshi’s face softened a little and he said, “Very well, you needn’t kill the woman. But from now on, you are never to see her again.”

Guo Jing pondered and did not answer.

Huang Rong said, “So you must see her, is that it?”

Guo Jing said, “I’ve always thought of her as my own younger sister. If I never saw her, I’d miss her sometimes.”

Huang Rong gave a sweet smile and said, “See whoever you like. I don’t care. I trust you not to really love her. Could I be any less than she is?”

Huang Yaoshi said, “Very well! I am here, this barbarian woman’s brother is here, and your six shifus are here too. Say it plainly, once and for all. The one you mean to marry is my daughter, not this barbarian woman!” Giving way like this, time after time, went sorely against his nature, and he held himself in only for his beloved daughter’s sake. Mei Chaofeng’s¹⁴ death in defence of her shifu had also softened his heart for the moment.

Guo Jing bowed his head in thought. As he did so his eye fell on the golden dao¹⁵ from Genghis Khan and the short jian¹⁶ from Qiu Chuji,¹⁷ both thrust in his belt. He thought, By my father’s dying wish, Yang Kang and I should be good brothers, true unto death. But he is the kind of man he is, so how can that sworn bond hold? And by the dying wish of Uncle Yang Tiexin,¹⁸ I should marry Mu meizi,¹⁹ and of course that cannot be. So the things my elders laid down for me need not always be followed. My marriage to Huazheng meizi²⁰ was arranged by Genghis Khan. Am I to be torn from Rong-er just because of a few words from others?

With that thought his mind was made up, and he raised his head.

By now Tolui had learned from Zhu Cong what Huang Yaoshi and Guo Jing had said to each other. Seeing Guo Jing hesitating and brooding in such a quandary, he knew that Guo Jing truly had no feeling for his younger sister, and anger filled his breast. He drew a wolf-tooth arrow fletched with eagle feathers²¹ from his quiver, held it firmly in both hands and said in a ringing voice, “Guo Jing anda,²² a man who strides the world settles his affairs with a single word! Since you have no feeling for my younger sister, how can the heroic sons and daughters of Genghis Khan go begging to you? Let the bond of brotherhood between us end here! As boys we were friends to the death, and you have saved my father’s life and mine. I keep kindness and grievance apart. Your mother is in the north, and I shall look after her well. If you want to bring her south, I shall send men to escort her, and she will want for nothing. A true man’s word stands like a mountain. You may set your mind at rest.”

With that, there was a crack as he snapped the long arrow in two, and threw it down before the horse.

These words were spoken with iron finality, and Guo Jing was sobered. At once he remembered all the bold things he and Tolui had done together on the great desert as boys, and he thought, He is right. A true man’s word stands like a mountain. I gave my promise to marry Huazheng meizi with my own mouth. If I break my word, what kind of man am I? Even if Island Master Huang kills me today and Rong-er hates me all her life, it cannot be helped.

Then and there he drew himself up and said proudly, “Island Master Huang, my six revered shifus, Tolui anda, and my two shifus Jebe and Boroqul,²³ Guo Jing is no man to break faith or betray honour. I must marry Huazheng meizi.”

He said it once in the Han tongue and once in Mongolian, and there was no one there it did not take by surprise. Tolui, Huazheng and the others were astonished and delighted. The Six Eccentrics of Jiangnan silently praised their disciple as a brave man with a backbone. Huang Yaoshi looked askance and smiled coldly.

Huang Rong was heartbroken. After a long while she stepped forward and looked Huazheng over carefully. She saw that she was strong and sturdy, with bold, upswept brows and large eyes, her face full of heroic spirit, and in spite of herself she heaved a long sigh and said, “Jing gege, I understand now. She is your kind. The two of you are a pair of white eagles on the great desert, and I am only a little swallow under the willow branches of Jiangnan.”

Guo Jing stepped forward, took both her hands and said, “Rong-er, I don’t know whether you’re right or not, but there’s only you in my heart, and you know it. Whatever anyone else says I should or shouldn’t do, even if my body were burned to flying ash, there would still be only you in my heart.”

Her eyes brimming with tears, Huang Rong said, “Then why did you say you would marry her?”

Guo Jing said, “I’m a stupid man. I don’t understand the rights and wrongs of anything. All I know is that a promise once made must never be taken back. But I don’t lie either, and whatever happens, there is only you in my heart. I would sooner die than be parted from you.”

Huang Rong’s mind was in a daze, glad and sad at once. After a moment she gave a faint smile and said, “Jing gege, if we had known it would come to this, wouldn’t it have been better to stay on Mingxia Island²⁴ and never come back?”

Huang Yaoshi’s long brows shot up and he barked, “That’s easily done.” His sleeve flew up and his palm chopped at Huazheng.

Huang Rong knew her father’s mind of old. Seeing the cold light in his eyes, she knew he meant to kill, and before his palm could strike she darted in ahead of it. Afraid of hurting his beloved daughter, Huang Yaoshi checked his palm, and Huang Rong had already caught Huazheng by the arm and pulled her down from her horse.

There was a thud as Huang Yaoshi’s palm landed on the saddle. At first the horse seemed unharmed, but little by little its head drooped and its four legs buckled, until it had curled into a heap, slumped on the ground, and died.

It was a horse of a famous Mongol breed. It did not match a sweat-blood steed²⁵ for spirit, but it was a fine animal all the same, strong in bone and sinew, tall and well fleshed, and Huang Yaoshi had killed it with one lift of his hand. Martial prowess so high was rare indeed. The hearts of Tolui, Zhu Cong and the others pounded, each of them thinking, If that palm had landed on Huazheng, would she still be alive?

Huang Yaoshi had never imagined that his daughter would step in to save Huazheng. He was taken aback for a moment, then understood. If he killed the barbarian woman, Guo Jing was sure to turn against his daughter and become her enemy. Hmph, let him turn on her, then. Was he to be afraid of this boy? But when he looked at his daughter, he saw her face full of bitter grief and yet plainly full of a clinging tenderness that could not bear to part, and a chill ran through his heart. It was the very look his wife had worn as she lay dying. Huang Rong had always been strikingly like her late mother, and that look had driven Huang Yaoshi half mad at the time. Fifteen years had passed, yet every day it was still before his eyes, and now, suddenly, here it was on his daughter’s face. He knew then that her love for Guo Jing had struck deep roots and gone into her very bones, and he thought, This is the wilful, besotted nature she has from her father and mother. Nothing can undo it. He heaved a long sigh and chanted, “And Heaven and Earth are the furnace, and Creation the smith! Yin and Yang are the charcoal, and the myriad things the copper!”²⁶

Huang Rong stood there dazed, and slowly the tears rolled down her cheeks.

Han Baoju²⁷ tugged at Zhu Cong’s coat and whispered, “What’s he chanting?”

Zhu Cong whispered back, “It’s from a piece written by a man surnamed Jia in the Han dynasty. It says that people and all things in this world suffer as if they were put into a great furnace to be smelted.”

Han Baoju spat and said, “With all the skill he’s trained himself up to, what has he got to suffer about?”

Zhu Cong shook his head and did not answer.

Huang Yaoshi said gently, “Rong-er, let’s go home, and never see this boy again.”

Huang Rong said, “No, Father. I still have to go to Yuezhou.²⁸ Shifu told me to go and be Chief of the Beggars’ Guild.”

Huang Yaoshi smiled faintly and said, “Being head of a pack of beggars is a great nuisance, and no fun at all.”

Huang Rong said, “I promised my shifu I would do it.”

Huang Yaoshi sighed and said, “Then try it for a few days, and if you really find it too dirty, hand it on to someone else straight away. Will you see this boy again, after this?”

Huang Rong glanced at Guo Jing and saw him gazing at her, his eyes overflowing with love and boundless tenderness. She turned back to her father and said, “Father, if he marries someone else, then I’ll marry someone else too. There’s only me in his heart, so there’s only him in mine.”

Huang Yaoshi said, “Ha, a daughter of Peach Blossom Island must never come off the loser. That’s not bad at all. But what if the man you marry won’t let you be close to him?”

Huang Rong said, “Hmph. Who dares stop me? I am your daughter.”

Huang Yaoshi said, “Silly child, your father will be dead in a few years.”

Huang Rong’s eyes filled with tears and she said, “Father, when he treats me like this, do you think I can live long myself?”

Huang Yaoshi said, “Then why do you stay with this heartless boy?”

Huang Rong said, “Every extra day I have with him is one more day of happiness.” As she said it, her face was unbearably sad and tender.

Footnotes

1. 拖雷 — Tuōléi. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 华筝 — Huázhēng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

3. 杨康 — Yáng Kāng. His name meaning “well-being”; paired with Guo Jing’s 靖 it recalls the Jingkang Shame of 1127. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 临安 — Lín’ān. Capital of Southern Song Dynasty (1127-1276) known for its cultural refinement and West Lake scenery. Modern day Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province. See Wikipedia. ↩

5. 白雕 — bái diāo. The pair of white eagles Guo Jing raises on the steppe. 雕 is eagle in prose; the book title keeps Condor. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

6. 裘千仞 — Qiú Qiānrèn. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 欧阳锋 — Ōuyáng Fēng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

8. 哲别 — Zhébié. Literally spear and divine archer, in Mongolian. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 小红马 — xiǎo hóng mǎ. The red horse Guo Jing tames on the steppe, a sweat-blood steed. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

10. 黄药师 — Huáng Yàoshī. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

11. 靖哥哥 — Jìng gēge. Literally elder brother Jing. ↩

12. 朱聪 — Zhū Cōng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

13. 江南六怪 — Jiāngnán Liù Guài. Literally six eccentrics of Jiangnan. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

14. 梅超风 — Méi Chāofēng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

15. 金刀 — jīndāo. The golden dao Genghis Khan bestows on Guo Jing. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

16. 剑 — jiàn. A straight, double-edged blade. ↩

17. 丘处机 — Qiū Chǔjī. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

18. 杨铁心 — Yáng Tiěxīn. His name meaning “iron heart”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

19. 穆念慈 — Mù Niàncí. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

20. 妹子 — mèizi. The colloquial form of 妹妹, little sister; after a name it marks affection, not kinship. ↩

21. 狼牙雕翎 — lángyá diāo líng. Literally wolf-tooth eagle feather. An arrow with a wolf-tooth head, fletched with eagle feathers. ↩

22. 安答 — āndá. The Mongol word for a sworn brother, bound by oath before Heaven. ↩

23. 博尔忽 — Bó’ěrhū. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

24. 明霞岛 — Míngxiá Dǎo. Literally island of bright rosy clouds. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

25. 汗血宝马 — hànxuè bǎomǎ. A legendary breed of the Western Regions, said to sweat blood at the gallop. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

26. 鵩鸟赋 — Fúniǎo Fù. “Rhapsody on the Owl”, by the Han poet Jia Yi (200—168 BCE), a meditation on fate and change. The lines quoted come from it. ↩

27. 韩宝驹 — Hán Bǎojū. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

28. 岳州 — Yuèzhōu. A prefecture on Dongting Lake, modern Yueyang in Hunan. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩