DEMI GODS AND SEMI DEVILS Book 2 of 5 (Shrouding Screen In Suzhou) by Jin Yong

Old Gratitude, Past Grievances Part 3

Zhiguang said, "That monk from Shaolin was asked by Brother Leader to teach you martial arts and guide you since childhood to keep you from walking down the wrong path. Regarding this matter, Brother Leader, Wang Bangzhu, and I had many disputes. I wanted you to live the life of a common person, as farmer, and did not want you to learn martial arts to keep you away from being involved with the grudges and enmities of Jianghu. Brother Leader said that if we do that then we will be doing another wrong to your parents. So to make amends we must take care of you and develop you into a great hero."

Qiao Feng said, "All you... all you seniors, why do you feel you will be doing wrong to my parents? People of Han and people of Khitan have been fighting and harming each other for a long time. It is a common thing. There is nothing to be regretful about."

Zhiguang sighed and said, "The stone writing outside of Yanmen Guan Pass to this day still has not faded. Why don't you go and see it. Brother Leader had already made up his mind and Wang Bangzhu went along with it. There was no way I by myself can win the argument. Only when you were sixteen years old did Wang Bangzhu received you as his disciple. After that there were many chances to get along together. Your natural talent is outstanding and progressed furiously. There was no way an average person can keep up with you. Of course if Brother Leader and Wang Bangzhu were not behind the scenes helping out, you would not be where you are today."

Qiao Feng lowered his head to ponder. Thinking back on his life, he had faced numerous difficulties but each and every time his bad luck had turned into good. He had not faced much pain or hardships. He had met with many lucky opportunities in life. It came even without asking for it. For a long time he had thought that it was all due to his luck. But after listening to Reverend Zhiguang he realized he had a secret benefactor helping him all those years and he was ignorant of it. In his head he was stunned and asked himself, "If what the Reverend said was true then I am a Khitan and not a Han? Wang Bangzhu is not my kind teacher but the culprit who killed my father, killed my mother. The senior who helped me out in secret, he did not do it with pure intentions but probably only wanted to make reprimands to relief him of his guilty conscience. No! No! That can't be right! Khitan people are evil and ruthless dogs. They are the mortal enemies of our Han people. How can I be one of those savages?"

Zhiguang continued: 'Chief Wang was very wary of you at first, but later, seeing you make fast progress in learning martial arts, behave generously and chivalrously, treat people with clemency, treat him with great respect and prudence, and act to his liking in every aspect, he gradually became really fond of you. Afterward, as you made more contributions and gained more prestige, from the people at the top to the people at the bottom of the Beggar Society, each and every one honored and submitted to you, even outsiders also knew that the upcoming Chief of the Beggar Society would be no one but you. However Chief Wang had still been undecided about you all along because you're a Khitan. He tested you with three difficult problems, you got them done one by one, but only after you'd achieved seven feats did he entrust the Dog Beating Stick to you. In the Taishan convention that year, after you defeated nine strong enemies of the Beggar Society in succession, he then all the more resolutely installed you as the Chief of the Beggar Society. As far as laona (老衲 – old kasaya, a term a Buddhist monk calls himself with) know, for the past several hundred years, there has never been another Chief of the Beggar Society who had to go through so many hardships like you did.'

Qiao Feng lowered his head and said: 'I only thought that enshi (恩师 – kind master) Chief Wang intended to train me, making me undergo many hardships so that I'd be able to take on important missions, but it turns out... but it turns out...' Saying to here, in his heart he already almost believed that it was true.

Zhiguang said: 'I only know as far as here. After you had started to serve as the Chief of the Beggar Society, seeing rumors in jianghu all having it that you acted heroically and valued justice, benefited the common people, behaved without partiality, reorganized the Beggar Society and made it thrive, inwardly I felt happy for you. Also, hearing that you'd several times ruined vicious schemes of Khitan people and killed some of their notable figures, I thought that, in that way, our previous fear of nourishing a viper in our own bosoms had become almost as groundless as the fear of the Qi people (杞人之忧 – the fear [of the sky collapsing] of the Qi people – referring to groundless fears). This incident should never have been mentioned, but somehow someone uncovered it? This is unlikely to be any good to the Beggar Society or Chief Qiao yourself.' Saying to here, he let out a deep sigh. There was a sorrowful expression on his face.

Elder Xu said: 'Zhiguang dashi (大师 – great monk), thank you very much for relating past events making everyone feel as if they were personally on the scene. This letter...' He raised that letter with his hand and continued: 'was written by that leading hero to Chief Wang. In the letter he made every effort to dissuade Chief Wang from handing over the Chief of the Beggar Society position to Chief Qiao. Chief Qiao, you may as well have a look at it.' When he finished saying, he held out the letter.

Zhiguang said: 'Let me take a look first, to see if it's truly the original letter.' When he finished saying, he received and held the letter in his hands, read it one time and said: 'Correct, this is really the leading big brother's original handwriting.' Once finishing saying, he slightly transferred power into his left-hand fingers to torn off the foot of the letter where there was the sender's name then put it in his mouth. With a bending of his tongue it was already swallowed into his stomach.

When Zhiguang torn the letter he had taken several steps towards the bonfire, thus he was a bit further apart from Qiao Feng. Moreover, he was putting the letter paper close to his eyes as if there was insufficient light and he could not see clearly, therefore when he torn off and put the bottom part of the letter in his mouth, the letter paper were just several cun (寸 – Chinese inch ~ 3.33 cm) away from his lips. Qiao Feng could never have expected this old monk of noble character and high prestige to use this cunning trick. With a roar of anger, he struck out with his left palm hitting the monk's acupuncture points from a distance. His right hand immediately grabbed the letter, but it was still a bit too late, as the signature at the foot of the letter had already been swallowed by the monk down his throat. Qiao Feng struck out another palm to unblock his acupuncture points and angrily asked: 'You... What are you doing?'

Zhiguang smiled and said: 'Chief Qiao, once you have become aware of who you are, perhaps you will want to seek revenge for the murders of your parents. Chief Wang already passed away so there's no need to mention him. But laona don't want to let you know the name of this leading big brother. Laona also participated in the ambush against your father and mother that year, laona shall expiate all the crimes by myself, if you want to kill me or cut me to pieces, please do not hesitate to do so.'

Seeing Zhiguang lower his eyes and droop his eyebrows, looking merciful and stately, even though Qiao Feng was very sad and angry, he could not help having a feeling of respect for the monk. He then said: 'Whether this matter is true or fake, at the moment I still don't know. Even if I wanna kill you, there's no hurry to do so now.' When he finished saying, he gave Zhao Qiansun a sidelong look.

Zhao Qiansun shrugged his shoulders as if he was totally unconcerned about it and said: 'That's right, me included as well, you must give me my share of this debt. Just kill me whenever you like.'

Grandpa Tan loudly said: 'Chief Qiao, everything should be considered carefully. Don't act recklessly. If you incited the Hu Han conflict (Hu - 胡 – referring to minority people in northern and western China in feudal times), every person of exceptional ability in the Central Plains would become your enemy.' Even though Zhao Qiansun was Grandpa Tan's love rival, at that time he still raised his voice in support of him.

Qiao Feng let out a cold laugh, feeling utterly confused and not knowing how to reply. He then had a look at the letter in the firelight, only seeing it read: 'My elder brother Jianran (剑髯 – sword beard/whiskers – Wang Jiantong's nickname), after several nights of discussion, your idea of handing over your position has always been unchanged. However, after thinking about it carefully for several days, I still believe that it is inadvisable. Brother Qiao is a man of extraordinary talents. He has made many great contributions and behaved himself courageously and righteously. Not only is he the outstanding figure in the Begger Society, but in the whole of wulin in the Divine Land (神州 – China's old name) there are only a very few people who can come close to him. If this talent inherits your position, it is only natural to expect that the prestige of the Beggar Society will expand at some time in the future.'

Reading up to here, Qiao Feng felt that this senior held himself in extremely high esteem, so in his heart he was very grateful to him for that. He continued reading:

'But there's not a day that I don't think about the bloody battle at Yanmen pass and the shocking situations at that time. This child doesn't belong to our ethnic group, his father and mother died because of both of us. In the future if he doesn't know about his origin then there'd be no problem. Otherwise, not only will the Beggar Society be destroyed in his hands, wulin in the Central Plains will also have to face a massive catastrophe. At the present time, the people whose wits and martial arts can rival those of that child are extremely rare. It's not an outsider's job to interfere in the Beggar Society's important internal affairs, but our friendship is far beyond what is usual, moreover, the involvement of this matter is too huge, please give it careful consideration.' The signature at the foot of it had already been torn off by Zhiguang.

After reading the letter, Qiao Feng stood in stunned silence. Seeing that, Elder Xu held out another letter paper and said: 'This is Chief Wang's personal letter, you should recognize his handwriting.'

Qiao Feng received it. He only saw the letter paper read:

'Instructions to Vice-Chief Ma of the Beggar Society, the Elder of Merit Propagation, the Elder of Rule Enforcement, and the other Elders: If Qiao Feng has any deed that is pro-Liao (辽 – a rival empire of Song) and anti-Han, and helps Khitan fight against Great Song (宋 – a Chinese dynasty), the whole Society must join forces to kill him, and make no mistake. Poisoning and assassination can both be applied. The killer will get credit for and not be guilty of doing so. Wang Jiantong personally penned.'

The date written at the end of the letter was: 'Great Song, the 6th Yuanfeng year, the seventh day of the fifth month.' Qiao Feng remembered clearly that it had been the day he had taken over the Chief of the Beggar Society position.

Qiao Feng knew without doubt that these several rows of words were really enshi Wang Jiantong's handwriting, thus, he was no longer uncertain about his origin. However, recalling that enshi had always acted like a kind father, being strict in teaching but also very affectionate, Qiao Feng found it hard to believe that he had secretly written and left behind this order on the day he (Qiao Feng) had taken over the Chief of the Begger Society position. He felt heartbroken. Tears streamed down his face, drop by drop falling on the instructions of Chief Wang.

Elder Xu slowly said: 'Chief Qiao, please don't blame us for being disrespectful. Originally only Vice-Chief Ma knew about these instructions of Chief Wang. He kept them very carefully and never told anyone about them. In the past several years you behaved straightforwardly, and didn't have any action that was pro-Liao and anti-Song and helped Khitan to oppress Han people, so Chief Wang's instructions were naturally of no use. It wasn't until the tragic death of Vice-Chief Ma that Madam Ma found out about this order. At first, everyone suspected that Vice-Chief Ma was killed by Murong gongzi (公子 – young nobleman) of Gusu, if you settled this score for brother Dayuan then there'd be no need to expose your origin. Laoxiu (老朽 – old senile – a term that old men call themselves modestly) thought about this again and again, because of the big picture I wanted to destroy the letter and Chief Wang's order, but... but...' Saying to here, he looked at Madam Ma, and said: 'Firstly, because Madam Ma earnestly wants to avenge her husband's death, it's impossible to just let the wrongs that brother Dayuan suffered remain unsolved or let him die with an eternal grievance. Secondly, Chief Qiao supported Hu people, a conduct that has really endangered our Society...'

Qiao Feng asked: 'I supported Hu people? Where did you get this from?'