THE SMILING PROUD WANDERER by Jin Yong

Grief Part 3

"You play the zither, I play the flute. We'll slowly practise it part by part."

Linghu Chong smiled. "But it's a pity it's a flute and not a se. Zither and se are very harmonious together and it would've been wonderful."

(Translator's note: Se is similar to zither. Se has 25 strings while zither has 7 strings.)

Yingying's face turned red and she replied, "These last few days, I haven't heard you speaking any satirical remarks and I thought you've changed. But you're still the same."

Linghu Chong made a face at her. He knew Yingying was very shy. Even though they were in a secluded valley and there were only the two of them there, she never allowed him to speak indecently. He was afraid if he jested a bit more, she would ignore him for the rest of the day so he quickly went near her to look at the music score. After listening to her explanations, he started to play his part. Playing the zither wasn't an easy matter; added to that, the song 'Smiling Proud Wanderer' was very profound with a lot of complicated changes, so this made the playing even more difficult. But Linghu Chong was bright, and he was also being directed by a master. Additionally, he had also improved a lot in his zither playing from the time he started studying it at Bamboo Lane in Luoyang since he had been practising it every chance he got. Even though it was hard for them to be harmonious in the beginning, slowly, they finally managed to play well together. Even though their playing couldn't be as wonderful as that of Liu and Qu, there was a hint of a rhythm in their playing. Within the next ten days, the two of them became very close to playing the zither and flute together harmoniously. This calm surrounding of this green valley separated them from the world, and gradually they came to forget everything about the fierce fighting in Jianghu. Both of them felt if they could spend the rest of their lives in that green valley, and not be drawn into the killings in Wulin, then they would be very happy.

One afternoon, after Linghu Chong and Yingying had been playing together for more than an hour, Linghu Chong's internal energy was suddenly disturbed and his mind not tranquil. He made a few mistakes and his heart became more worried which made his fingering method became even more chaotic. Yingying asked, "Are you tired? Rest for a while before continuing."

"I'm tired but not tired. I don't know what's wrong. I feel a bit agitated. I'm going to go pick some peaches. We'll practise again at night."

"Alright, don't go too far."

Linghu Chong knew there were a lot of wild peach trees southeast of the valley, which would have ripened by now. He passed through the bushes and went for around eight to nine li before arriving at the grove of wild peach trees. He leapt up and picked two peaches. The second time he leapt, he picked three peaches. He saw the peaches were quite ripe and there were already a lot of peaches on the ground which had fallen from the trees. In the next few days, all the peaches might have fallen down and become rotten on the ground. He quickly picked dozens more, and he thought, "After we eat these peaches, we'll spread the seeds all over the valley. Then in a few years time, there'll be peach trees everywhere. Wouldn't that be wonderful?"

Then he suddenly thought of the Peach Valley Six Fairies, "With peach trees growing everywhere in this valley, wouldn't this be called a Peach Valley? Then will Yingying and I become the Peach Valley Two Fairies? Later on, we'll have six children, wouldn't they become Little Peach Valley Six Fairies? If those Little Peach Valley Six Fairies talk like the old Peach Valley Six Fairies, wouldn't that be troublesome?"

He was just about to laugh thinking about this when he suddenly heard a sound from somewhere far amongst the trees. Linghu Chong immediately hid himself in the tall grass. He thought, "My mouth's getting tired of eating frogs and fruits. That sound must be some kind of a beast. Yingying will be very happy if I can catch an antelope or a deer." He had not finished thinking when he heard the sound of footsteps. It was the sound of two people walking. Linghu Chong started. "How can there be people in this valley? They must've come here because of Yingying and me."

Then he heard the voice of an elder saying, "You're not wrong? Yue Buqun will definitely come here?"

Linghu Chong was even more confounded. He thought, "They're chasing my master? Who are these people?"

Another person with a low and deep voice said, "Fragrant Master Shi has already asked around. Yue Buqun's daughter and son-in-law suddenly went missing, and we couldn't find a single trace of them in any market, town, pier, or river. They must've hidden themselves in a nearby valley to look after their injuries. Sooner or later, Yue Buqun will come here to look for them."

Linghu Chong's heart ached as he thought, "So they know little martial sister was injured, but they don't know she's already dead. A lot of people must be looking for her whereabouts, especially Master and Master-Wife. If not for this valley being completely secluded, they would've searched this place a long time ago."

That elder then said, "If you didn't guess wrong, then Yue Buqun would come here sooner or later. Let's setup an ambush at the entrance of this valley."

The person with the low and deep voice said, "If Yue Buqun doesn't come, then we can lead him here after we setup the ambush."

That elder clapped twice and said, "This plan is wonderful. Brother Xue, I never thought you have so many ideas."

That person surnamed Xue replied, "Elder Ge said it well. Subordinate hopes that you'll be able to promote me. If Elder has anything for me to do, I'll do it with all my heart and power to repay Elder's kindness."

Linghu Chong felt disappointed as he thought, "So they're Yingying's subordinates from the Sun Moon Sect. It's best if they go far away from here and don't disturb Yingying and me." He also thought, "At this time, Master's martial art has advanced greatly. Even though there are many of them, they're still not Master's match. No one in Wulin is capable of matching Master's skill and intelligence. With only their intelligence, how can they even hope to ambush Master? This is called 'playing with axe in front of Lu Ban'."

Suddenly, three clapping sound was heard from somewhere far. That person surnamed Xue said, "Elder Du has also arrived."

Elder Ge also clapped for three times. The sound of footsteps was heard as four people hurried to come to them. Two of these people had very heavy footsteps and as they got nearer, Linghu Chong thought they were carrying something.

Elder Ge happily said, "Elder Du, did you capture the Yue family's little girl? You've done a great achievement."

A person laughed loudly and said, "It's from the Yue family, but it's the big girl, not the little one."

Elder Ge gasped in surprise, sounding like he was surprised and happy at the same time. "How... How... You captured Yue Buqun's wife?"

Linghu Chong was greatly surprised and he immediately wished to go out to help, but he recalled that he wasn't carrying a sword with him. With no sword in his hand, his martial art was just ordinary. This made him really worried. He then heard Elder Du said, "You're not convinced?"

Elder Ge replied, "Madam Yue's swordplay is good. How did Brother Du manage to capture her? Ah, you must've used the confusion poison."

Elder Du laughed, "This lady arrived in a restaurant absent-mindedly and just drank her bowl of tea without thinking. Other people said Yue Buqun's wife, Ning Zhongze, is great, but actually she's nothing."

Linghu Chong got angry and secretly thought, "My Master-Wife heard her beloved daughter was injured and missing, but she couldn't find her after dozens of days of searching. Of course her mind would be in chaos. This is her cherished daughter we're talking about! How can you call her nothing? I'm going to kill each one of you with my sword for insulting my Master-Wife." He then thought, "How can I snatch a sword? If no sword, then a sabre will do." Then he heard Elder Ge said, "Since we have already captured Yue Buqun's wife, things are going well. Brother Du, the plan right now is how do we lead Yue Buqun here?"

"What do we do after we lead him here?" Elder Du questioned.

Elder Ge hesitated before saying, "We'll use this lady as hostage and force him to abandon his sword. I expect the Yue Buqun husband and wife would have deep feelings toward each other, so he wouldn't dare to defy us."

"What Brother Ge said was very reasonable. But I'm afraid if Yue Buqun's heart is very violent, and the feelings between him and his wife aren't deep, then things might get a little thorny for us," Elder Du reasoned.

"This... This... En, Brother Xue, what do you think?" Elder Ge said.

That person surnamed Xue said, "In front of two elders, it's not subordinate's place to speak out...."

He only said till here when there was another three clapping sound coming from the west. Elder Du said, "Elder Bao has arrived." In a short time, two people flew in from the west and their footsteps were really quick.

Elder Ge said, "Elder Mo has also arrived."

Linghu Chong quietly called out in misery, "Hearing their footsteps, it seems that these two people's martial arts are even higher than Du and Ge. How can I save Master-Wife with only my bare hand?" He then heard Elder Du and Ge called out together, "Brother Mo and Bao have arrived, this is really good."

Elder Ge also said, "Brother Du has done a great service by capturing Yue Buqun's wife."

An elder happily said, "Wonderful, wonderful! The two of you have worked hard."

Elder Ge said, "That's Elder Du's accomplishment."

That elder replied, "We all received Chief's order to handle this thing. No matter who did it, we'll all get a share of Chief's good fortune."

This elder's voice sounded quite familiar to Linghu Chong's ears. He thought, "Could it be that I've seen him on Dark Wood Cliff before?" He then exerted his qi to listen to their conversation, but he didn't dare stick his head out to have a look. All of the elders from the Devil Sect had high martial art, so if he moved even slightly, then he might immediately be discovered by them.

Elder Ge said, "Brother Bao and Mo, Brother Du and I were just discussing how we were going to entice Yue Buqun to come here, so that we can capture him and take him to Dark Wood Cliff."

The other elder said, "What plan did you come up with?"

Elder Ge answered, "We haven't thought of a good plan yet. Brother Bao and Mo must be able to come up with a good plan."

The first elder said, "When the five mountains sword schools were fighting at the place of worship place over the leadership, Yue Buqun blinded both of Zuo Lengchan's eyes and his power shook the entire Mount Songshan. After that, no one else from the five mountains sword schools dared to challenge him. I heard this person has obtained the real Evil Resisting Sword Art from the Lin family and he's now completely different from before. We must think of all possibilities and we mustn't look down on him."

Elder Du said, "That's right. Even if the four of us cooperate, it's still not certain if we'll be able to win against him."

Elder Mo said, "Brother Bao, you've already decided on a plan, please share it with us."

That Elder Bao said, "Even though I've thought of a plan, it's nothing wonderful. I'm afraid the three of you will laugh at it."

Elder Mo, Ge, and Du said together, "Brother Bao is our sect's brain trust. The plan you thought of must be really good."