The Legend of the Condor Heroes Chapter 9 – Part 8

In eighteen years in the prince’s estate, Bao Xiruo’s¹ face had changed little, but Yang Tiexin² had been roaming the jianghu,³ worn by wind and frost, and he had long since ceased to look like the young man of the old days. So when they met again that day, Bao Xiruo had not recognised the man before her as her former husband. Yet through all the years apart each had longed for the other, and every word and gesture of that night of disaster had haunted their dreams and stayed with them twice as clear.

Yang Tiexin made no reply. He walked to the plank table and pulled open the drawer. Inside lay several sets of men’s blue cloth shirts and trousers, exactly like those he used to wear. He took out one of the shirts and draped it over his shoulders.

“I’ve clothes enough!” he said. “You’re not strong, and you’re with child. Rest more, and don’t make me any more clothes.”

These were the very words he had spoken eighteen years ago, on that night when he had seen Bao Xiruo sewing a new shirt for him while heavy with child.

She rushed to Yang Tiexin’s side and pushed back his sleeve, and there on his left arm, sure enough, was a scar. Shock and joy flooded through her together. But for eighteen years she had been certain her husband was long dead, so if he had come back now, it must be his ghost appearing to her. At once she clasped him tight and wept.

“You… take me with you, quickly… I’ll go to the underworld with you. I’m not afraid of ghosts. I’ll gladly be a ghost, so long as I’m with you.”

Yang Tiexin held his wife, and two lines of hot tears ran down his face. After a long while he spoke.

“Do I look like a ghost to you?”

Bao Xiruo held him tight. “Man or ghost, I’ll never let you go.” She paused, then went on, “Brother Tie, can it be that you didn’t die? Are you really still alive? Then… then…”

Yang Tiexin was about to answer when Wanyan Kang’s⁴ voice came from outside the window.

“Mother, why are you sad again? Who are you talking to?”

Bao Xiruo started. “I’m all right. I’m going to sleep now.”

But Wanyan Kang had clearly heard a man’s voice in the room. Growing suspicious, he went round to the door and knocked softly.

“Mother, I have something to tell you.”

“Tell me tomorrow,” said Bao Xiruo. “I’m very tired just now.”

When his mother would not open the door, Wanyan Kang grew more suspicious than ever, thinking she must be shielding Guo Jing.⁵

“Just a few words and I’ll go.”

Yang Tiexin knew he was set on coming in. He went to the window to climb out, but when he pushed it, he found it had been fastened from outside. In her alarm Bao Xiruo thought the only thing was to keep it from her son for the moment, and since the room was small, with nowhere to hide, she pointed at the plank cupboard. Reunited with his beloved wife after so much misfortune, Yang Tiexin would not be parted from her again. He pulled open the cupboard door to get in.

The moment the door swung open, all three in the room started in alarm. Bao Xiruo caught sight of Guo Jing and could not suppress a cry.

Hearing his mother cry out, Wanyan Kang was more worried than ever, afraid that someone meant her harm, and he slammed his shoulder against the door. Guo Jing pulled Yang Tiexin into the cupboard and shut the door. The next moment the bolt snapped, the door flew open and Wanyan Kang burst in. He saw that his mother’s face was pale and her cheeks wet with tears, yet there was no one else in the room. Very puzzled, he asked quickly, “Mother, what’s happened?”

Bao Xiruo collected herself. “Nothing. I’m just not feeling very well.”

Wanyan Kang went to his mother and nestled against her.

“Mother, I won’t fool about any more. Don’t be sad. It’s all my fault.”

“Yes. Off you go now. I want to sleep.”

Wanyan Kang felt his mother trembling.

“Mother, nobody’s come in, have they?”

Bao Xiruo started. “Who?”

“Spies have got into the estate.”

“Have they? Go to bed now, quickly. Don’t you worry about such things.”

“Those guards are a useless lot. Get some rest, Mother.”

He was about to go when he noticed the corner of a man’s robe showing at the crack of the cupboard door. His suspicions flared, but without a flicker he sat down, poured himself a cup of tea and sipped it slowly, turning it over in his mind. He thought, There’s someone hiding in the cupboard. I wonder whether Mother knows? After a few sips he got up and strolled about the room.

“Mother, was my spearwork good yesterday?”

“Next time, don’t you dare use your position to bully people.”

“What position? I fought that oaf on real skill, fist for fist and spear for spear.”

As he spoke he took the iron spear⁶ down from the wall, flicked it out and drew it back, and with a flurry of its red tassel he drove it hard at the cupboard door in the move Rousing Phoenix, Soaring Dragon.⁷ Had it gone straight in, Guo Jing and Yang Tiexin, never thinking to defend themselves, would have lost their lives without knowing why. Bao Xiruo was frantic. She cried out, and at once fainted away.

But before the point of the spear reached the cupboard door, Wanyan Kang had already pulled it back. He thought, So Mother knows there’s someone in the cupboard. He stood the spear beside him, helped his mother up and kept his eyes on the cupboard, watching for any movement.

When Bao Xiruo slowly came round and saw that the cupboard door was whole and unpierced, she was overjoyed and relieved, but swinging so suddenly between terror and joy had been too much for her. Her whole body was limp, without a scrap of strength.

Wanyan Kang was hurt and angry.

“Mother, am I your own son or not?”

“Of course you are. Why do you ask?”

“Then why do you keep so many things from me?”

Bao Xiruo’s thoughts were in turmoil. She thought, After what has happened today, I must tell him plainly and let father and son meet. And then I shall make an end of myself. I have lost my chastity and made a terrible mistake, and in this life I can never be with Brother Tie again. At the thought her tears fell like rain.

Seeing his mother so unlike herself that day, Wanyan Kang did not know what to think.

Bao Xiruo said, “Sit down properly and listen carefully to what I say.”

Wanyan Kang sat down as he was told, but he still held the iron spear in his hand, and his eyes never left the cupboard door.

“Look at the spear,” said Bao Xiruo. “What are the four characters on it?”

Wanyan Kang said, “I asked you when I was little, Mother, and you wouldn’t tell me who this Yang Tiexin was.”

“Now I’m going to tell you.”

Hiding in the cupboard, Yang Tiexin heard every word that passed between mother and son, and his heart pounded. He thought, She has the rank of a Princess Consort now. How could she go back to a rough man from the wilds like me? If she gives me away, can it be that she means her son to kill me?

He heard Bao Xiruo say, “This iron spear was at Niu Family Village⁸ in Lin’an Prefecture,⁹ the capital of the Great Song in Jiangnan, and I sent men a thousand li and more to fetch it. That half a ploughshare on the wall, and the table, the stools, the cupboard and the bed in this house, every one of them was brought here from Niu Family Village.”

Wanyan Kang said, “I’ve never understood why you insist on living in this shabby old place, Mother. Whenever I bring you some furniture, you never want it.”

“You call this place shabby?” said Bao Xiruo. “I think it far better than all the painted beams and carved rafters of the estate! My child, you were not so blessed as to live in this shabby place with your own father and mother.”

At this Yang Tiexin was shaken to the core, and his tears came pattering down.

Wanyan Kang laughed. “Mother, the more you say, the stranger it grows. How could Father live here?”

Bao Xiruo sighed. “Poor man, for eighteen years he has wandered east and west, adrift in the jianghu. How could he ever live peacefully in this house again, even for half a day?”

Wanyan Kang’s eyes widened.

“Mother, what are you saying?” he said, his voice shaking.

Bao Xiruo’s voice grew sharp. “Do you know who your real father is?”

Wanyan Kang was more puzzled still.

“My father is Prince Zhao of the Great Jin, of course. Mother, why ask such a thing?”

Bao Xiruo stood up and clasped the iron spear, her tears falling like rain.

“Child, you didn’t know, and I can’t blame you for that. This… this is the iron spear your own father used in the old days…” She pointed at the name on the spear. “This is your own father’s name!”

Wanyan Kang trembled.

“Mother, you’re not in your right mind. I’ll send for the imperial physician.”

“Confused? Me? Do you think you’re a Jurchen of the Great Jin? You’re Han! Your name isn’t Wanyan Kang. Your surname is Yang, and you are Yang Kang!”

Wanyan Kang was utterly bewildered, and he felt an anger he could not put into words. He turned away.

“I’ll go and get Father.”

“Your father is right here!” said Bao Xiruo.

Bao Xiruo strode to the cupboard and pulled open the door. She took Yang Tiexin by the hand and led him out.

Footnotes

1. 包惜弱 — Bāo Xīruò. Her name meaning “cherishing the weak”. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

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

3. 江湖 — jiānghú. Literally rivers and lakes. The world of martial artists, outside mainstream society. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

4. 完颜康 — Wányán Kāng. See Wuxia Wiki (spoiler). ↩

5. 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. ↩

6. 铁枪 — tiě qiāng. Yang Tiexin’s iron spear, the Yang family’s hereditary weapon. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

7. 起凤腾蛟 — Qǐ Fèng Téng Jiāo. Literally rising phoenix, soaring jiao dragon. A thrust made with the spear or the jian. ↩

8. 牛家村 — Niújiā Cūn. Literally Niu Family Village. A village outside Lin’an. See Wuxia Wiki. ↩

9. 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. ↩