THE SMILING PROUD WANDERER by Jin Yong

Eavesdropping Part 1

[The old huqin player walked slowly in front of the short fat man andlooked him up and down. "What do you want, old man?" the short fat man demandedin annoyance. "You are talking nonsense!" The old man shook his head and thenturned around and walked away. Infuriated, the short fat man stuck his hand outto grab the old man by his scruff.]

Lin Pingzhi wanted more than anything to get up and fight Fang Renzhi and Yu Renhao to the death, but with several of his pressure points sealed, he was unable to move his lower body at all. He would become a complete invalid, if they were to cut the nerves and tendons of his limbs and thread him through the collarbone, and he would rather die fighting, than go through all that pain.

Suddenly, screams sounded from the back kitchen. "Ah...Ah...!" It was a long cry filled with pain, and it was the voice of Jia Renda. Fang Renzhi and Yu Renhao both jumped up with their swords drawn and dashed into the kitchen immediately. A shadow flashed by the door, and a person glided in silently, then grabbed Lin Pingzhi by the collar and picked him up. Lin Pingzhi cried out in surprise when he took a glimpse at the pox-covered face of his rescuer: the face that belonged to the ugly wine-selling girl, who had caused all the trouble in the beginning.

The ugly girl dragged him all the way out the front door. Arriving at the big tree, where the horses were reined, she grabbed him by the back with her left hand and lifted him up on horseback. With Lin Pingzhi still in a state of shock, the girl pulled out a sword, and swung it swiftly. The blade flashed and the rein was cut free. She prodded the thigh of the horse with her sword; feeling pain, the horse let out an angry neigh, and then pounded madly into the woods.

"Mom! Dad!" Lin Pingzhi shouted. Worrying about his parents and not wanting to run away by himself, he gave a hard push against the back of the horse and fell off. After quite some rolling on the ground, he found himself deep in some tall bushes. The horse did not stop and soon disappeared into the woods.

Holding onto a branch, Lin Pingzhi tried to stand up, only finding that his legs had little strength to support him. After raising himself up about a foot, he fell back into the bushes. His waist and backside were tremendously sore. The pain must have come from bumping into rocks and tree roots after he fell from the horse.

Shouting and pounding footsteps came louder and louder from behind, and moments later, someone rushed by him. Lin Pingzhi lay motionless in the bushes. He could hear the loud clashes of weapons nearby. Several people had started a fierce fight. Quietly, he stuck his head out and watched from the bushes. One group of fighters consisted of Fang Renzhi and Yu Renhao of the Qingcheng Sword School. Opposing them were the ugly girl and a man with his face concealed behind a black cloth. Most of his hair was gray, so it was obvious that he was an old man. It didn't take Lin Pingzhi much time to conclude that he was the ugly girl's grandfather, old man Sa.

"I thought those two were also from the Qingcheng Sword School," Lin Pingzhi pondered, "but it turned out that the girl rescued me.... Oh! If I had only known that they both were masters of Kung Fu, I wouldn't have risked playing the hero and causing all this trouble for no reason." Then he thought, "Since they are all so busy fighting right now, this is the perfect opportunity for me to rescue my Father and Mother." But the pressure point at his back was still sealed, and his body just wouldn't cooperate.

"Who...who are you? How did you learn the sword skills of the Qingcheng Sword School?" Fang Renzhi cried out in disbelief.

The old man didn't answer. Suddenly, with several blazing flashes, Fang Renzhi's sword flew into the air. Fang Renzhi immediately jumped backward and Yu Renhao rushed forward to block the attacks. The old man kept pressing with lightning fast moves.