The Legend of the Condor Heroes Chapter 32 – Part 6

Amid the clamour, two martial instructors came fighting their way in at the head of a dozen or more retainers, brandishing daos and cudgels. Huang Rong¹ darted forward, all smiles, and in no more than two moves had both instructors on the ground. She snatched a steel dao, whirled it into a ball of white light and made as if to charge. The retainers let out a yell and stumbled and jostled their way out, each trying to be first through the door.

The host, seeing which way the wind blew, was about to slip away when Huang Rong sprang after him, caught him by the beard and raised the dao in her right hand as though to cut him down. The host lost his head entirely. He dropped to his knees and said in a quavering voice, “L… Lady Chief… good… good Miss… If you want gold or silver, I’ll… I’ll bring it out this very moment and present it to you. Only spare this old life of mine…”

Huang Rong laughed, “Who wants your gold? Get up and drink with us.” She hauled him up by his beard with her left hand. The host winced with pain but dared not cry out.

Huang Rong pulled Guo Jing² over and the two of them sat down in the seats of the guests of honour at the centre. Huang Rong called out, “Sit down, everyone. Why aren’t you sitting?” With a flick of her hand she drove a gleaming steel dao into the table. The guests, alarmed and frightened, huddled round the two lower tables, and no one dared sit at the top table. Huang Rong snapped, “You won’t keep me company, is that it? Anyone who doesn’t come over gets butchered first, understand?” At this the crowd surged forward, pushing and shoving, and knocked over seven or eight chairs in the crush. Huang Rong scolded, “You’re not three-year-old children. Can’t you even sit properly?” The guests jostled and squeezed until at last they managed to fill the three tables.

Huang Rong poured herself a cup and drank, then asked the host, “Why are you throwing a banquet? Has someone died in your family? How many?” The host stammered, “This old man was blessed with a child in his later years. Today is the full-month banquet, and I’ve invited a few relatives and neighbours.” Huang Rong laughed. “How lovely. Bring the baby out and let’s have a look.”

The host’s face went the colour of ash. He was terrified Huang Rong might harm the child, but with the dao planted in the table he dared not refuse, and had no choice but to order the wet-nurse to bring the baby out. Huang Rong took the infant, held him up in the candlelight, looked at his little face, then glanced at the host. She tilted her head and said, “He doesn’t look anything like you. I’m afraid he isn’t yours at all.” The host looked mortified. He trembled from head to foot and could only say, “Yes, yes!” No one could tell whether he meant that the child really was his own or that Miss was quite right. The guests found it funny but dared not laugh. Huang Rong took an ingot of gold from her robe and handed it to the wet-nurse, then gave her back the baby. “A small token,” she said. “Call it a first-meeting gift from his granny.” Seeing a girl so young calling herself his granny, and so lavish with her money, everyone stared at everyone else. The host, overjoyed beyond all his hopes, thanked her again and again.

Huang Rong said, “Come, I’ll toast you!” She took a large bowl, filled it with wine, and set it before the host. The host said, “This junior has a weak head for drink. Please forgive me, Auntie.” Having heard Huang Rong call herself his son’s “granny”, he supposed she liked to be thought of as a senior, and so changed “Miss” to “Auntie”. Huang Rong’s fine brows arched. She reached out, seized his beard, and snapped, “Is today a celebration or a funeral? Are you going to drink or not?” The host had no choice but to raise the bowl and gulp it down, glug after glug.

Huang Rong laughed. “That’s it, now we’re enjoying ourselves. Come on, let’s play a drinking game.” If she wanted a drinking game, there would be a drinking game. Who at those tables dared defy her? But the company were all merchants and rich gentry or musty pedants and threadbare scholars, and there was not a man of real learning among them. Each one stammered out some wretched doggerel, and Huang Rong was bored within moments. “Stand aside, all of you!” she ordered. The guests rose to their feet as though reprieved from execution. Then came a great thump. The host had toppled over backwards, chair and all, for the wine had gone to his head and he could hold out no longer.

Huang Rong roared with laughter, then sat with Guo Jing, drinking and talking as though no one else existed. The guests stood and stared, and not until the first watch had passed and Guo Jing had urged her several times did she at last consent to leave.

Back at the inn, Huang Rong asked with a smile, “Jing gege,³ was it fun today?” Guo Jing said, “Wearing people out and frightening them half to death for no reason at all, what was the point?” Huang Rong said, “I only care that I myself feel at ease. Why should I worry about whether others live or die?” Guo Jing was taken aback. Her tone struck him as unusual, though he could not at once grasp the meaning beneath her words.

Suddenly Huang Rong said, “I’m going out for a stroll. Are you coming?” Guo Jing said, “Where would you go at this hour?” Huang Rong said, “I was thinking that baby was rather amusing. Granny will go and fetch him to play with for a few days, and then give him back.” Guo Jing said in alarm, “How can you do that?”

Huang Rong gave a laugh and was already out of the door, vaulting over the wall. Guo Jing chased after her, caught her by the arm, and pleaded, “Rong-er,⁴ you’ve been having fun long enough. Isn’t it enough?” Huang Rong stopped and said, “Of course it isn’t enough!” She paused, then went on, “I only enjoy myself when you’re with me. In a few days you’ll be leaving me. You’ll go and keep that Princess Huazheng company, and she certainly won’t let you come and see me again. Every day I spend with you is one day fewer. I want to make every day count for two days, three days, four days. I can never have enough of days like these. Jing gege, when I refuse to sleep at night and drag you into silly talk, do you understand now? You won’t try to stop me again, will you?”

Guo Jing held her hand, full of tenderness and love, and said, “Rong-er, I was born slow-witted. I never understood what you feel for me. I… I… I can’t leave you…” He could not finish the sentence.

Huang Rong smiled faintly. “When I was small, Father taught me to recite ci poems. They were all about sorrow and regret. I thought he was mourning my mother, who passed away, and so he loved those verses. Only today do I understand that in this world, joy and happiness last only a moment, while sorrow and trouble last a lifetime.”

Above the willow-tips a slender crescent moon hung in the sky. The night was cool as water, and a gentle breeze stirred their clothes. Guo Jing had always been slow of heart. He knew Huang Rong loved him deeply, but he had never known that once the root of love takes hold, it can torment a person so. Hearing her words now, he recalled everything she had done these past days, and thought, I’m a rough, plain man. When Rong-er and I part, I’ll miss her and think of her often, but I’ll manage to bear it. But what about her? Alone on Peach Blossom Island, with only her father for company, won’t she be lonely? Then he thought, And one day her father will die. Then she’ll have only a few mute servants to keep her company. That little mind of hers is forever brooding and turning things over. Won’t it be the death of her? The thought sent an involuntary shudder through him. He took her hands in both of his, gazed raptly at her face and said, “Rong-er, even if the sky falls, I’ll stay with you on Peach Blossom Island for my whole life!”

Huang Rong trembled. She raised her head and asked in a shaking voice, “You… what did you say?” Guo Jing said, “I won’t trouble myself about Genghis Khan or Princess Huazheng any more. For the whole of my life, I’ll stay only with you.” Huang Rong gave a low cry and threw herself into his arms. Guo Jing folded her close. The matter had tormented him all along, and now that he had suddenly cast care aside and decided regardless of all else, his heart felt light and free. They held each other and for a time forgot the world beyond.

After a long while Huang Rong said softly, “What about your mother?” Guo Jing said, “I’ll bring her to live on Peach Blossom Island.” Huang Rong said, “Aren’t you afraid of your shifu⁵ Jebe,⁶ your sworn brother Tolui⁷ and the rest?” Guo Jing said, “They have been deeply kind to me. But my heart cannot be split in two.” Huang Rong said, “And your six shifus from Jiangnan? And Daoist Elder Ma⁸ and Daoist Elder Qiu,⁹ what will they say?” Guo Jing sighed. “They’ll certainly be angry with me. But I’ll go to them slowly and beg their forgiveness. Rong-er, you can’t leave me, and I can’t leave you either.”

Huang Rong laughed. “I’ve got an idea. We’ll hide on Peach Blossom Island and never come out. Father’s arrangements on the island are wonderfully intricate. Even if they track us down, they won’t be able to find you to scold you.”

Guo Jing thought that plan was hardly sound, and was about to suggest something better, when he heard the sound of footsteps some hundred-odd feet away. Two night-travellers were racing from south to north with qinggong,¹⁰ and he faintly heard one of them say, “The Old Wild Child¹¹ has already fallen for Big Brother Peng’s¹² trick. There’s nothing to fear from him. Let’s hurry.”

Footnotes

1. 黄蓉 — Huáng Róng. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

2. 郭靖 — Guō Jìng. His name meaning “to pacify”; paired with Yang Kang’s 康 it recalls the Jingkang Shame of 1127. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

4. 蓉儿 — Róng’ér. Literally little Rong, 儿 being an affectionate diminutive. ↩

5. 师父 — shīfù. Teacher responsible for technical instruction and moral guidance. Shī means teacher. Fù means father. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

7. 拖雷 — Tuōléi. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

8. 马钰 — Mǎ Yù. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 丘处机 — Qiū Chǔjī. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

10. 轻功 — qīnggōng. The martial art of body lightness. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

11. 老顽童 — lǎo wántóng. Literally old wild child. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

12. 彭连虎 — Péng Liánhǔ. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩