HEAVEN SWORD DRAGON SABRE Book 2 of 2

The Bride's Pale Arms Tore The Red Dress Part 2

Han Lin'er was very angry; "The flying daggers shooter has gone for long, what can this useless bunch do? They massacred innocent people to vent off their anger instead," he said.

"Han Dage, hold your voice!" Zhou Zhiruo hissed, "We are here to watch the 'Great Tour of Imperial City', not to create 'Great Trouble in the Imperial City'." [Translator's note: play of words here, 'Da You Huang Cheng' against 'Da Nao Huang Cheng']

"Yes," Han Lin'er said; he did not dare to open his mouth anymore.

The chaos only lasted a few moments; the sound of music quickly followed, other groups marched by one by one: acrobats who swallow knife and spit fire from their mouths, and various western region entertainers, which sent the crowd cheering and clapping again, quickly put the bloody incidents on the street out of their minds. Next came group by group of puppeteers, jugglers, performers balancing plates over sticks and all kinds of acrobatic acts. After these groups came large parade floats pulled by beautiful steeds. On each float there were handsome men and beautiful women dressed as characters of the classical stories, such as 'Journey to the West' [orig. Tang Sancang went to western sky to fetch the scripture], 'Emperor Tang Ming Touring the Moon Palace', 'Li Cunxiao Beat the Tiger', 'Liu Guanzhang Fought Lu Bu Three Times', 'Zhang Shengyue Gathered the Hawks', and so on; legendary battles and wonderful accomplishments, presented with the best of workmanship.

Zhang Wuji and the others, all three people, grew in poor rural environment; they had never seen this kind of bustling festive atmosphere. They sighed inwardly, thinking today their horizons were broadened.

On each float there was an embroidered silk banner, with inscriptions such as 'Humble Presentation of so-and-so, the Prefect of Hu Guang [Hubei and Hunan provinces]', or 'Respectfully Presented by so-and-so, the Governor of Jiangsu and Zhejiang'. As the procession passed by, the official who presented the float became progressively higher in rank; the float itself became progressively fancier, the men and women playing the characters were now wearing pearls and bright jewels, the hairpins and necklaces were also made of precious jadeite and precious stones. First, the Mongolian princes, dukes, and chancellors wanted to curry favor from the Emperor; second, they also wanted to flaunt their prosperity; therefore, no expense was spared in the building and the adornment of the float.

Amidst the melodious sound of string and woodwind instruments, a float with the 'Liu Zhiyuan's Chronicle of the White Rabbit' theme passed by. Suddenly the cheerful melody changed into an awkward melody of old tune; the plain banner on the float read 'Zhou Gong banished Guan Cai'. On the float there was a middle-age man with a tablet in his hands [this is the tablet held by officials during imperial audience], he was playing the role of Zhou Gong. On his side sat a small child wearing an Emperor clothes, he was playing the part of the Emperor. Guan Shu and Cai Shu were standing on the side, whispering to each other and pointing their fingers to Zhou Gong. This float was followed by another float with 'Wang Mang's Hypocritical Act of Generosity'. The man on this float wore a very thick white face-powder, with gold and silver in his hands, pretending to give generously to poor people. Following these two floats was a cart with white banners on all four sides, with these writings on them, 'When Zhou Gong feared the days of rumor, Wang Mang enjoyed being praised as a polite and modest scholar. If both of them died at that time, their loyalty and talent would be hidden for eternity.'

Zhang Wuji's heart was stirred; he mused, "The right and wrong, black and white, in this world is really not easy to know. Zhou Gong was a great sage, but when he banished Guan Shu and Cai Shu, everyone said he was scheming to usurp the throne. Wang Mang was a great traitor, but when at first he bought the people's hearts, there wasn't anybody in this world who did not sing praises to him. I heard these two stories on the Bing Huo [ice and fire] Island from Yifu. This is the so-called 'the distant road tries the horse's strength, the course of time proves the man's heart'. A man's real character cannot be recognized in just a dawn-to-dusk period." Further, he thought, "These two floats are different than the rest of them. They obviously carry a profound meaning. The man who prepared them must have a character of scholarly knowledge." And then he silently recited that poem twice in his mind.