THE SMILING PROUD WANDERER by Jin Yong

Forcing Marriage Part 5

"We're discussing a serious matter here," that granny angrily replied. "Who's joking around with you?"

Linghu Chong thought, "Little martial sister Yilin is beautiful and gentle, and she also has a deep feeling towards me. But my heart has belonged to Yingying a long time ago, so how can I just forget about that? This granny is so unreasonable. A gentleman would rather die than bend." So he said, "Granny, I want to ask you something. What do you think of a man who's not loyal to his lover and plays around with woman all the time?"

"Why do you even need to ask?" that granny questioned. "This sort of person is worse than a pig, a dog. A useless and selfish man."

"You're right," Linghu Chong agreed. "Little martial sister Yilin is beautiful and she treats me very nicely. But why didn't I take her as my wife? It's because I've already had a marriage agreement with another lady a long time ago. This lady treats me so kindly. Alright, Linghu Chong will just give you his body for you to chop up, but I won't disappoint her. If I disappoint her, won't I become the world's number one heartless, perverted and lascivious man? Then Linghu Chong would've taken Monk No Commandment's title of 'world's number one'."

"This lady, she's the devil sect's young lady Ren. She was the one who saved you when you were surrounded by the devil sect here on that day, is that right?" the granny asked.

"That's right," Linghu Chong answered. "You've seen this young lady Ren."

"That's very easy," the granny said. "I'll just ask young lady Ren to dump you, then you can say that she was heartless towards you, not you being heartless towards her. That's settled then."

"She would never dump me," Linghu Chong said. "She's willing to give her life for me, I'm also willing to give my life for her. I'll never be heartless towards her, and she'll never be heartless towards me either."

"I'm afraid matter has come to a head and it's not up to her," that granny said. "Heng-Shan Other Courtyard is full of those stinking men, she can pick any one of them and marry him."

"NONSENSE!" Linghu Chong angrily shouted.

"You're saying I can't do that?" that granny asked as she walked out the door. He heard the door to the next chamber opened, and that granny came back in again. She was carrying a woman with both her hands and legs tied. That woman was Yingying. Linghu Chong was greatly startled, he never expected that Yingying would also fall into this granny's hand. When he saw there was no injury on her body, he felt relieved.

"Yingying," Linghu Chong called out. "You've also come."

Yingying smiled and said, "I've heard everything. You said you'd never be heartless towards me, I'm very happy to hear it."

"In front of me, you're not allowed to say those shameless things!" the granny shouted. "Little miss, do you want a monk or a eunuch?"

Yingying blushed furiously and replied, "Your words are really not good to hear."

"I've thought of this carefully, I want this little kid Linghu Chong to abandon you and marry Yilin," that granny said. "But he has decided that he is not willing."

"Since the moment you open your mouth, this is the most reasonable thing I've heard," Linghu Chong loudly acclaimed.

"So I'll have to back off for a step and give in to this little kid Linghu Chong," that granny said. "I'm going to let him marry both of you. He can become a monk and marry both of you; If he were to become a eunuch, he won't be able to marry at all. But after you're married, you mustn't bully my daughter. Both of you can be on the same level, there's no need to decide who's going to be first or second. You're older by a few years only so Yilin can call you big sister."

"I..." Linghu Chong only managed to utter this word before that granny sealed his speech acupoint. That granny also sealed Yingying's speech acupoint, then she said, "I've already decided everything and I can't allow the two of you to make it go astray. I'm already letting you little monk to take two lovely and beautiful wives, what else is there to say? Hng, that bald No Commandment, how useless! Seeing his daughter getting lovesick but can't do anything. But when I get involved, everything's solved straight away." When she finished speaking, she flew out of the chamber.

Linghu Chong and Yingying were smiling bitterly at each other. They couldn't speak to each other and they also couldn't hold each other's hand. At this time, the morning sun was just beginning to ascend and its light shining in through the window. Linghu Chong squinted his eyes at her. The red candle on the table had not extinguished yet and its flame was still flickering, with its light smoke floating past Yingying's white as jade face, making her looking even more beautiful. He saw her eyes were looking at the razor on the ground, then they shifted towards the bottle and the bandages on the table, while her face was showing a mocking look. It was obvious she was teasing him: 'How dangerous, how dangerous!' But her expression quickly changed and she lowered her head with her whole face blushing red. He knew this kind of matter should not be said out loud, and it shouldn't even be thought of.

Linghu Chong saw her looking lovable and bashful, like she had just been caught red-handed doing something embarrassing. He couldn't help feeling moved and thinking, "If I were free, I'd have gone there and given her a hug and a kiss."

He then saw her slowly lifted her head up and their gazes met. She immediately averted her eyes. The redness in her cheeks was just disappearing when her whole face and ears went crimson again. Linghu Chong thought, "My feelings toward Yingying are definitely firm and unwavering. That evil granny is forcing me to marry little martial sister Yilin so to save myself, I'm forced to go along with her for now. But wait until she release my acupoint and I have a sword in my hand, does she think I'll be afraid of her? Even though this evil granny's fist and kicking martial arts are good, she's still far below Zuo Lengchan and Chief Ren. Her swordplay is definitely not my match. She won only through her light hands and legs, going and leaving without any noise, and ambushing me. If it was a real fight, Yingying will surely beat her, and Great Master No Commandment will also be stronger her."

When he finished with his thought, he looked around and saw Yingying was again looking at him. This time, she didn't become shy. It was obvious she was not thinking of that eunuch matter anymore. He saw her eyes were looking up and the corner of her mouth was turned up smiling. She was smiling at his bald head, so she wasn't thinking of the eunuch matter anymore but now she was laughing at him becoming a monk. Linghu Chong laughed but no sound was coming out. But Yingying was becoming even happier with her smile getting bigger.

Suddenly, she rolled her eyes revealing a crafty expression on her face. Her left eye winked once, twice. Linghu Chong had not understand her meaning when she again winked twice. He thought, "She winked twice, what's her meaning? Ah, that's right, she's laughing at me for taking two wives." He immediately wiped out the smiling expression on his face. With a very solemn expression, he winked once with his left eye. His meaning was: 'I will only take you as wife, my heart is not divided in two.' Yingying slightly shook her head and her left eye winked twice again. Her meaning was: 'Marrying two then it'll be two wives!' Linghu Chong again shook his head and winked his left eye once. He had wanted to shake his head more vigorously to show his determination, but most of his body's acupoints were still sealed so he couldn't use any power. Now, his face was looking angry but he was actually very sincere. Yingying slightly nodded. But when her gaze caught the razor, she again shook her head.

Linghu Chong gazed at her. Yingying's eyes slowly shifted and they were now locking eyes. The two of them were separated by more than ten feet but their four eyes were talking. All of a sudden, their hearts were intertwined and there was no need to speak, they both understood what was inside the other's heart. Whether he married Yilin or not was insignificant. Whether he became a monk or a eunuch was insignificant. Whether the two of them live or die did not matter. With their two hearts becoming one, they were both satisfied. This moment was theirs forever. Even if the sky collapsed or the ground split, this moment would never be taken away or forgotten.

The two of them gazed at each other. Without knowing how much time had passed, they suddenly heard footsteps coming up the stairs. They woke up from their intertwined feelings and unbounded emotion. The crisp and clear voice of a young lady was heard saying, "Mute granny, what are you taking me here?" It was Yilin's voice. They heard her coming in to the other chamber and sat down. That granny was obviously accompanying her but her footsteps could not be heard at all. After some time, they heard that granny slowly said, "Don't call me mute granny, I'm not mute."

Yilin shrieked in alarm. She was extremely confounded and tremblingly said, "You... you... you're not... not mute? You're alright?"

"I was never mute before," that granny said.

"Then... then you were never deaf before, you... you could hear... what I said?" Yilin inquired. She sounded really appalled.

"Child, what are you afraid of?" the granny asked. "Isn't it better that I can hear what you said?"

Linghu Chong heard her tone was gentle and intimate as she talked to her own daughter. At the end, her tender affection towards Yilin was evident.

But Yilin was still frightened as she tremblingly said, "No, no! I'm going now!"

"Sit for a while," that granny implored. "I have something important to talk to you."

"No, I... I don't want to listen," Yilin protested. "You tricked me. I've always thought you couldn't hear. I... I talked to you about those things. You tricked me." Her voice was choking, and she was so worried that she finally cried.

That granny lightly patted her shoulder and softly said, "Good child, don't worry. I wasn't tricking you. I was afraid you'll get sick from keeping all your feelings in, so I let you speak it out so your heart will lighten somewhat. When I arrived at Heng-Shan, I've always disguised myself as a deaf and a mute, and no one knows about it. I wasn't deliberately tricking you."

Yilin sobbed sadly. That granny softly continued, "I have something very good to talk to you, you'll be really happy when you hear it."

"Is it about my dad?" Yilin asked.

"Your dad? Hng, I don't care about him," the granny answered. "It's about your big brother Linghu."

"Don't you mention... mention him," Yilin pleaded. "I'll never mention him to you ever again. I'm going to read the scriptures!"