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Treasured Sword, Golden Hairpin, Chapter 1.
from Wang Dulu's Baojian Jinchai.
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CHAPTER ONE
With a silver beard and iron arms, an old escort lives in seclusion.
Amid the beauty of a fragrant spring, a young valiant rescues her father.
Hebei Province (once called Zhili) is cradled on the south by the Yellow River and couched against the Yan Mountains to the north. To the east is the vast Bo Sea, to the west stretched the Taihang Mountains unbroken for hundreds of miles, upon which rested the massive historical remains of the Great Wall, and in the center there lay an expansive plain. The rivers Sha, Hutuo, Yongding and the like flowed through the heart of this expansive plain. Owing to the geographic terrain, it is no wonder that the states of Yan, Zhao and others vied for dominance here, and that Beijing was able to serve as the capital for so many hundreds of years. The people here were of a rustic disposition. They spoke of loyalty and piety, esteemed valiant righteousness, valued words of promise, and treasured martial skill. Hence spoke the Tang Dynasty's Han Wengong, "Yan and Zhao were called in times past the lands of much bravery and valor." Even among the common people, there were high praises of absolute sincerity. These were the customs created wholly by the historical traditions and geographic environment here.
This book tells of the emergence of an old xia from the early Qing Dynasty in the county of Julu in Zhili. This man was surnamed Yu, called Xiongyuan, and his years were over sixty. From childhood on, he had learned a whole body of superhuman martial arts, and when he was eighteen years, he joined the security trade and knocked about Jianghu, traveling as a bodyguard to myriad locales. He had formerly subdued many of Jianghu's bullies, and performed deeds generous and just. The people of Jianghu dubbed him the "Iron-winged Eagle." Then, when he became old, people simply called him the "Old Eagle." The old escort Yu very much liked when people addressed him thus.
The old escort Yu had originally worked for the Taixing Security Firm in Beijing. Because the Taixing Security Firm had one such escort as him, they did over twenty years of good business and were called the best security office in the capital. When he reached his forties, the old escort Yu was no longer willing to rely on the plans of others and so returned to his hometown of Julu and opened the Xiongyuan Security Firm. This security firm of his did not require the use of many escorts, for when they accepted custom, they simply inserted his security flags in front of the wagons and had the men at the escort wagons wear the firm's name. No matter how far they traveled, they never ran into trouble. Because of this, his security office gained the confidence of a number of merchants and so enjoyed over ten years of very good business.
However, there was one instance when the old escort Yu abruptly took a job by himself to Henan that lasted over a month. When he returned from Henan, he dismissed all his cohorts and tore down the placard for his security firm. From then on, he closed his business and never took another escort job. The old escort became an even better natured person than before and did not often leave home easily. Those who more or less knew the old escort Yu all talked to each other about him in private. Some said that something had happened to the old escort Yu's cart out there and he'd suffered a tumble; others said that he must have done something unlawful out there. But in the five or six years since the Xiongyuan Security Firm closed its doors, there was no word of anyone coming to find old escort Yu to request recompense for their security fee, nor did any officials come to arrest him. It was clear that most people had speculated incorrectly.
The old escort Yu's beard was now even whiter than before, but his body was still just as robust as it had been previously. Every day in the early morning, he would take his caged melodious laughingthrush to the teahouse and find acquaintances to chat with. After a little while, he would return home, close his doors and stay inside. The family situation of old escort Yu's home was uncomplicated; there was only his wife, Liu-shi and his daughter Xiulian, living in a few tile-roofed houses he'd built himself.
At this time, old escort Yu the Iron-winged Eagle's reputation had faded to a point where people did not pay as much attention to him. However, there was not one person in town who didn't know his daughter the young lady Yu Xiulian. Because the young lady Yu was in fact born with an excess of beauty, it was said her stature wasn't tall or short, that she was extremely graceful, her face oval, and that her two bright, misty eyes appeared to smile even when she wasn't smiling. The two sides of her small cherry mouth served to enhance her two dimples, and though her feet were a smidgen large, they couldn't cover up the elegant manner of the maiden of sixteen wonderful years.
Because the young lady Yu Xiulian was born into a security escort's family, it was unavoidable that her bearing was straightforward and unlike that of a girl from a literary family who never left the ladies' chambers. Yu Xiulian's family did not employ an old housekeeper or any servant girls, so if she wanted to buy needle and thread, it was always up to her to go out and call upon a street peddler. Thus, it was often that people observed her elegant appearance. Of those who saw her, if they happened to be a young man, there were none who did not become enchanted with her and were not left with an indelible impression of her beauty in their minds. Naturally, there were quite a few local sons from wealthy families and frivolous young men who held wild intentions for the young lady Xiulian. However, they also knew that this young lady's father was the old escort Yu, called the "Iron-winged Eagle," so who would dare provoke the old eagle into spreading his iron wings because they wanted to approach this bunch of fresh flowers? The young lady Xiulian was outstanding of appearance, but her temperament was exceptionally kind, not easily looking upon others with her eyes. Every day, besides doing embroidery with her mother, she also learned martial arts from her father.
It was now the middle of the first month when the old escort's disciple-nephew Yu Tianjie the Golden Dart came unannounced to Julu county from Zhangde prefecture in Henan especially to pay his disciple-uncle a New Year visit. The old escort Yu had him stay in his home for a couple days as the two, uncle and nephew, spoke of much. After Yu Tianjie left, the old escort Yu seemed to be extremely worried, as if there was something important he was unable to speak to his old wife or daughter about. When evening came, he closed the front gate especially tightly, and instructed his old wife and daughter, saying, "From tomorrow on, if someone comes knocking on the door, you are not permitted to open it. You must come tell me first before it can be opened." The young lady Xiulian heard this and was puzzled, asking, "Papa, what do we need to be so careful for?" The old escort Yu seemed to be very anxious, as he said, "No questions, girl!" The young lady Xiulian's father had never spoken to her so sternly before, so she dared not ask any further.
The old escort took down a saber that had been hanging on the wall and unsheathed it with a shink. This saber was made deep blue and the old escort had employed it for over twenty years. The blade had drank the blood of several wicked men, but right now it had already been a good many years since the old escort had last used it. He weighed it in his hand and felt it a little heavy. The old escort couldn't help heaving a deep sigh and said to himself, "I am old after all and can no longer boast of my strength!" Saying this, he couldn't help but think, I was almost fifty before I had a child, and it turned out to be a girl. She's learned a set of martial arts from me, but when all's said and done, she doesn't have a talent for it. If Xiulian had been a boy, would I be so worried? He thought this, feeling the loneliness of old age, and couldn't help sighing again.
His old wife Liu-shi had been with Yu Xiongyuan for half his lifetime and frequently saw her husband laugh to himself or sigh repeatedly, so she didn't pay special mind to the old escort's current behavior. However, the young lady Xiulian was not accustomed to seeing her father so pained, so her young woman's heart became very pained itself. She glanced over at her mother and saw that she was still sitting by the lamp sewing clothes, not asking her father what the matter was. Xiulian couldn't help shedding a few tears. She didn't dare inquire further of her father, but she understood an inkling in her mind. She guessed that her father likely had an enemy somewhere out there who must be coming to take his revenge. Thus, Yu Tianjie must have come the day before yesterday, not particularly to pay her father a New Year visit, but to inform him of news that an enemy was on his way for retribution, so that's why her father was being so cautious and vigilant.
The young lady Xiulian's guesses were more or less on the mark. That night, her father did not end up sleeping well. In the middle of the night, she could still hear her father sighing in his bed, and the saber laid by the old escort's pillow all night. First thing the next morning, the old escort worked through his saber moves in the courtyard, as if he was in training. The young lady Xiulian was inside combing her hair, peering into the courtyard through glass, seeing only the glimmer of the saber, whoosh, whoosh, swirling about the old escort's body. It was exceptional saberwork! However, the old escort trained with the saber but only a quarter hour before pulling in from his saber stance. His face was red and sweat dripped from his head. He was panting heavily and blowing his snow white whiskers about. The young lady Xiulian's tears fell continuously. Looking askance through the mirror, she saw the door screen move as her mother entered the room. The young lady Xiulian quickly used a hand towel to wipe her face and put on some rouge to cover her tear stains.
This day, the old escort didn't go to the teahouse. The laughingthrush hung under the eaves and chirped endlessly, though the old escort seemed not to hear it. He paced the courtyard with his hands behind his back, looking up, as if he was thinking through a very important matter. The old escort was very jumpy, and whenever he heard a sound at the door, he would first go inside to retrieve his saber before he went to open it. The young lady Yu Xiulian was not wearing the wide-sleeved clothes she usually wore, but instead the narrow-sleeved, narrow-lapelled short clothes of blue cloth she wore when practicing martial arts. She would often lift her head and fix her gaze upon the set of double sabers suspended on the wall of her lady's chambers, thinking, When my father's enemy comes, my father needn't take action himself. I must have it out with him, also to let my father know that the aged man he is didn't pass his martial arts to me for nothing!
Father and daughter, they spent the next dozen or so days alert in this way with nothing happening at all, even less so a stranger coming to find the old security escort Yu. It wasn't until then that the young lady Xiulian became at ease, though she worried that her father might have gone a little crazy. Perhaps there hadn't been anything that caused the aged man to become so paranoid. There may not have been something in his past that had driven him do something shameful and made him act this way now. By this point, seeing that nothing had happened, everything about the old escort's manner returned to how it had been before. Every morning he would carry his laughingthrush's cage to the teahouse as before, and at home he talked and laughed with his old wife and daughter as before. It seemed as if there was no more fear in his heart.
A month and more passed by and it was now Qingming in the third month. According to custom, every family had to go to their ancestral tomb to burn paper offerings and sweep the tomb. The old escort Yu had one of this men from before by the name of Third Cui the Terrestrial Ghost come to look after his home. The old escort Yu hired a mule wagon, and with the young lady Xiulian and her mother sitting inside and him straddling the wagon shaft, the wagon came out of their lane and followed the main street toward the north gate. As they rode on the main street, they passed by acquaintances who saw paper offerings, paper money, ingots and the like, hanging from the wagon, and bowed a greeting to the old escort Yu, saying, "Old uncle Yu, are you going to the tomb to burn paper offerings?" The old escort Yu sat smiling and nodding on the wagon, saying, "Exactly!" At the same time, the passersby would of course find it hard not to peer inside the carriage. The town's stunning beauty, the young lady Yu was wearing pink clothes as she sat inside, appearing like the peach blossoms that opened up in this third month.
When they came out of the north gate, they followed the wagon track to the east. The ancestral grave of the Yu clan was about sixteen miles of road northeast from the north gate, so it was a long ride in the mule wagon. At this time, wild wheat stalks sprouted green everywhere, and the peach blossoms by the village cottages were smiling at people. Little yellow butterflies and white ones danced amid the wild grass and wildflowers, and the warm easterly wind stroked people's faces and hands. The young lady Xiulian called out from inside the wagon with her tender voice, "Papa, look! The wheat sprouts have grown so tall already!" Old escort Yu agreed completely, "They really have! There will definitely be a great harvest this year." As he said so, he gazed at the countless tombs twisting their way between the wheat fields. Some of the tombs were piled with already burned paper ash, while others had people wearing mourning clothes crying next to them. The old escort Yu stroked his white beard as it was blown about by the spring wind, and felt an indescribable melancholy, as if he felt he was already sixty-some years of age and feared that in a few years, he would be at his eternal rest under the earth! At this moment, the young lady Xiulian's internal reflections were unlike those of her father. Her heart was overflowing with happiness at the newly dangling green willows, the freshly blooming peach blossoms and the fragrant wildflowers growing everywhere. The old married woman was like a wooden figure. She sat in the innermost part of the wagon, not looking at or thinking about anything, hoping only to hurry to the gravesite so they could finish burning the paper offerings and return home, where she could then take apart and wash her lined clothing.
The wagon traveled until the first hour of the afternoon before arriving at the gravesite. In the past, the Yu family had always been people who made their living by the martial arts, though none were personages of renown, so not only were there no stelae erected atop the gravesite, there wasn't even a tree planted anywhere. Xiulian and her mother stepped out of the wagon, and the old escort Yu brought them to kowtow and burn offerings before every grave. They then went to the nearby home of the person who looked after the graves to rest a while, drinking a bit of tea and eating some simple refreshments, before getting onto the wagon and heading back.
The wagon drove five or six miles and they could already see the Julu county north gate towers in the distance. Just then four riders approached them from the front, the first of which was a young man atop a black horse, with over twenty years, large eyes and a purple-red face. When he came before the old escort Yu's wagon, he hollered, "Come down, come down!" The old master Yu's expression had already turned by now, as the four men all dismounted their horses, each of them drawing a bright saber of their own. The one with the purple-red face sneered at the old security escort Yu, "Today I can consider my father's great grievance avenged!" So saying, they advanced together to pull old escort Yu from the wagon.
The old escort Yu had not thought he would encounter this now with his wife and daughter here and no weapon in his hand. What was there to do? He was about to say a few things to them when the young lady Xiulian leaned out of the wagon and waved her hand at the four men, urgently saying, "Before you act, I ask you, why are you doing this?" The four men looked the young lady Xiulian over and said to old escort Yu, "Hey! So you have this pretty a daughter, eh?" The old escort Yu protected Xiulian and angrily rebuked the four men, "You step back first and I'll come off the wagon. Then you can cut and kill as you like!"
But how could these four obey him? One with a yellow face swung his sword at old escort Yu’s head. The young lady Xiulian quickly jumped off of the wagon and caught the man’s hand with the blade in it, stealing the saber over into her own. Whoosh, whoosh, she brandished the saber a couple times, forcing the four men to withdraw a couple steps. The old escort Yu called out from the wagon, “Xiulian, give me that saber!” But there was no way the three still with weapons in their hands would allow Xiulian to pass hers to her father, so they brandished their sabers and advanced on Xiulian. The young lady Xiulian swung her saber as if it was flying and in five or six moves, she cut the fat one in the back. He fell to the ground with a yelp. As the young lady Xiulian held her own with the other two, the old escort Yu jumped off the wagon as well and took the saber from the injured fat man. He brandished his saber and approached. He battled with the two men while urgently saying, “Xiulian, step back!” But the young lady Xiulian’s glimmering and dancing saber was pressing on the man with the purple-red face, so why would she want to withdraw!
Old escort Yu was fighting with one with a black beard, but that man was no match for the old escort Yu, so he turned and ran. The man with the purple-red face was now all alone, his single saber against the old escort Yu and his daughter. His martial arts were quite good, but not enough to claim victory. Many travelers had now gathered at the side of the road, calling out, “Hey hey! If they go any further, it may become deadly!” However the glare from their sabers twisted around, confusing everyone’s eyes so that no one dared step forward to intervene.
The three sabers fought through another dozen or so exchanges. At that moment, a young man suddenly ran to them from the crowd with sword in hand and separated the closely clashing sabers of old master Yu, his daughter and the purple-faced man, saying, “Stop fighting! Stop fighting! If there is a problem, let me know what it is.” The purple-faced man was relieved that such a person had come between them. He withdrew his saber stance, stepped a few paces back, and gasped for air. His face resembled a seared eggplant, both black and purple. The driver poked his head out of the wagon, while Madame Yu remained trembling. The two thugs who had fled came back to lift up their cohort from the ground who’d suffered Yu Xiulian’s saber.
Twenty or thirty of the other travelers drew closer to them. One of them recognized old escort Yu and said, “Uncle Yu and the young miss must be shaken!” Another said, “Let’s tie up these bandits and take them to the yamen!” Old escort Yu cupped his hands at the crowd in gratitude and said, “No need to tie them up. They aren’t bandits, but men who have a grievance with me. It is better for foes to let go of enmity than to feed it. Ask them, if they do not wish to take this to court, then let them go.” Supporting the injured one, the three men picked up two of the sabers and led their horses away to the north without saying a word.
Some of the people gathered here departed after a glance at Yu Xiulian. Others asked old escort Yu about the grudge those men had against him. And still others showered praised onto the young lady Xiulian for her exceptional martial arts. The sword-wielding young man who had intervened just now also asked the old escort Yu of the reason he was fighting with those men. The old escort replied to the young man, “I made my living as a security escort and traversed Jianghu for most of my life. It was unavoidable that I would make enemies, so what happened today was a result of that. We are fortunate that your eminent self broke up the fight. Otherwise, lives would have been lost. In truth, I am not afraid of the courts, but I am old now, and having one less thing to worry about is always better than having one more.” So saying, he told his daughter to thank the crowd. The young lady Xiulian put her two hands in front of her chest and bowed to those gathered, and then got back into the wagon. Old escort Yu cupped his fist toward the crowd as well, and subsequently straddled the wagon shaft. The driver shook his whip and they set off. The other travelers and the young man went their own ways as well.
After the old escort Yu’s wagon entered town and arrived back at their home, old escort Yu told her daughter to first help her mother down from the wagon and then to open the gate and go inside. Old escort Yu paid the wagon fare and followed them in with the two taken sabers in hand. Third Cui met them and said, “Old uncle has returned!” Old escort Yu nodded and said, “We have. You must be tired from watching our home! Why don’t you go now and tell Sun Zhengli to come?” Third Cui assented and looked over the two sabers in the old escort’s hands before leaving.
The old escort closed the gate himself and buttressed it with a large rock, before going inside. The young lady Xiulian quickly poured her father some tea. Madame Yu asked what on earth was going on? Why were those four men so nasty? Old escort Yu heaved a very long sigh and said, “Let me rest a moment, and then I’ll tell you!” He leaned the two sabers against the wall and sat down into a chair, all the while catching his breath. Xiulian only wanted to hear from her father where those thugs had come from and asked, “Father, why don’t you drink some tea?” The old escort accepted the teacup his daughter handed to him and took a gulp, and then looked at the young lady Xiulian and said, “It was lucky that you were with me today, or else I would have fallen to my enemies’ malice!” Hearing her father’s commendation of her, the young lady Xiulian thought back to the pressing danger of that situation and felt apprehension. Tears fell from her eyes. The old escort never cried, but at this moment he couldn’t help shedding a few old tears. He sighed again and said to his daughter, “Six years ago, when you were already eleven years old, you may not remember, but I took a trip to Henan. When I returned, I shuttered my security firm and closed up shop. The deep enmity I hold with those men was sowed then!” When he said this, his tears started flowing like a gushing spring and he continued bleakly, “You have a Second Uncle He…”
He motioned over to his elderly wife who was beside the table wiping her own tears and said, “Your mother’s met him before. His name is He Feilong the Precious Saber. When we were young, we’d been the best of friends. At that time he and I were both security escorts in Beijing. I was at the Taixing Security Firm and he was the Bao’an Security Firm. When we weren’t working, we drank together, we talked together, just as if we were brothers. Although his martial arts were outstanding and his character was pretty good, he was a bit too lustful and he would often seduce women from good families. I urged him to stop, but he didn’t listen. Later, he came to know a married woman, and while in the midst of a rivalry over her, he killed a man. Fortunately for him I gave him thirty taels of silver to help him escape Beijing and flee to Henan. I’d heard he was a bandit for a few years out there, and then I wasn’t sure where he made his fortune, but he changed his name to He Wenliang and acquired an estate in Weihui with a wife and son. There was no contact between us. Then six years ago, I accepted a contract. The juren Hu from Xinhe had been appointed magistrate of Wuzhi county in Henan, so I assigned two of my men to carry my banner and protect the juren Hu and his wife as he traveled to take up his post. Who could have imagined that while they were in Weihui, He Feilong raided the juren Hu in league with mountain bandits? Neither money nor luggage were stolen, just the juren Hu’s twenty year old wife, taken to a shrine in the mountains and not released until three days later. When my men returned and reported back to me, I was furious and went personally to Weihui to confront He Feilong. I initially spoke to him of the friendship we’d had forty years ago, but when I spoke sternly to him, he unexpectedly turned on me and became very hostile. A fight erupted between us, and before I knew it, I’d cut him down with my saber!”
When he spoke of this, the old escort Yu became very sad. The young lady Xiulian was captivated. Madame Yu thought back to the He Feilong she’d met forty years ago when she and her husband were living in Beijing. At the time, Hu Feilong had been around twenty years old, with a fair complexion and large eyes, always wearing satin clothes. He’d called her sister-in-law and spent every day with her husband. When he fell on the wrong side of the law, he disappeared without a trace. He would have been nearly sixty now, were it not for the fact that her husband killed him six years ago!
Old escort Yu continued, “After I killed He Feilong, his family didn’t dare bring up charges with the authorities because there had been bandits involved. As the juren Hu’s wife had been dishonored, he did not wish to publicize it, so the matter remained private! Aside from my nephew Yu Tianjie and the men who escorted the wagon, no one else knows the particulars of this situation. When I returned home, I felt terrible inside. First, because something had happened to one of my caravans on the road. Even if only a few knew about it, I was too ashamed to keep my Security Firm open. Second, because He Feilong had been a good friend for many years. Though he’d been corrupted later, committing that unconscionable act and turning against me, it was I who struck and killed an old friend of fifty-some years. Even thinking back now, I cannot help but feel sorrow over it. That’s why I closed up my security firm and withdrew from Jianghu.
“After five or six years, I’d nearly forgotten about it. But then two months ago, when Yu Tianjie was here for his new year visit, he suddenly told me that He Feilong’s two sons were now grown. One was called He Sanhu the Iron Tower, and the other was He Qihu the Purple-faced Ghost. There was also his son-in-law Zhang Yujin the Golden Spear and his daughter He Jian’e the She-devil. In the years since, they have all learned some astounding martial arts. Now they have a mind to take revenge. Someone heard them say that sometime in the next three months, they were to come to Julu to kill me. After Yu Tianjie left, I immediately took precautions, but no enemies came looking for me, so I became careless. Who could have thought this would have happened during a tomb visit to burn paper!”
After hearing her father detail the entire story of his feud with the He family, the young lady Xiulian comforted him, saying, “Father, you need not worry after the events of today. The skills of his son and son-in-law were no greater than that. They were beaten away by us and must be afraid of us now. They wouldn’t dare come back to bother you, father. “ The old escort Yu shook his head and sighed, “That’s but a child’s understanding! Two of the four who stood in the way of our wagon were likely He Feilong’s sons. I am not afraid of them. The one I am worried about is Zhang Yujin the Golden Spear.”
The young lady Xiulian asked quickly, “What kind of man is Zhang Yujin?” Old escort Yu said, “I’ve never met him before, but these few years, I’ve heard others say that his martial arts were exceptional and his spear yet unrivaled. He is a man of thirty-some years. I could not have imagined that he would marry He Feilong’s daughter. To hear Yu Tianjie say it, Zhang Yujin hates me down to the bone and curses me as unrighteous. Sooner or later, he will come to find me and avenge his father-in-law.” After hearing her father’s words, the young lady Xiulian could not help but scoff with a look of anger upon her delicate face. She said to her father, “Worry not, father. If Zhang Yujin comes, let me ward him off. Whether it is Zhang Yujin himself, or several dozen of them, I will not let them harm even one whisker of yours!”
Hearing these words from his daughter, the old escort Yu couldn’t help but smile. He had ordinarily not paid much attention to his daughter’s martial arts, thinking that no matter how good a girl’s saber or fist work was, she would not be able to surpass a man who was bigger and stronger than her. However, today he watched Xiulian snatch a saber away unarmed and take on four fools with her power, even wounding one of them. Her movements were agile, her saberwork was proficient, and she was brave in battle. She had exceeded all expectation, and he could see that having a son was not necessarily better than having a daughter. Now hearing his daughter’s impassioned and courageous talk soothed his heart a bit. He nodded and said, “Alright. I won’t worry. After all, they seek vengeance. No matter where I hide, they will come in pursuit. While we are living here now, we must be a bit careful every day. Who knows what other tricks they might have to deal with me? If that Zhang Yujin the Golden Spear comes, perhaps the two of us will be enough to turn him away.”
Seeing her father seeming to feel a little relief, the young lady Xiulian happily continued talking to him about other matters. Madame Yu busied herself with preparing dinner.
After their meal, Third Cui the Terrestrial Ghost brought Sun Zhengli over. Sun Zhengli was over thirty years old, tall of stature, with extraordinary strength. Both his fists and his kicks were great, which is why people gave him the designation of “Five-taloned Hawk.” He had originally worked under the old escort Yu and done many things for the old escort. Old escort Yu had often shown him some martial arts, and so Sun Zhengli always called old escort Yu his master. Today, Sun Zhengli was teaching fists at Moneybags Liu’s home when Third Cui the Terrestrial Ghost came to find him, telling him that old escort Yu was calling for him today, so Sun Zhengli the Five-taloned Hawk went to go see old escort Yu with Third Cui after finishing dinner.
Because of what occurred today, old escort Yu could no longer keep secret the matter of his enemies, so he repeated the story of how he became enemies with He Feilong’s sons He Sanhu and He Qihu, and Zhang Yujin the Golden Spear. And then he said, “I’m old now, and my spirit and strength have diminished. Xiulian has learned some exceptional martial arts, but when all is said and done, she’s still a girl. Not to mention, she has long been promised to another family. If something were to happen to her, it would be difficult to face them. So I’ve invited you here to help me.”
Sun Zhengli the Five-taloned Hawk pounded his chest and said, “Worry not, master. Leave it to me! I am teaching two disciples at the Liu household, but when I am finished teaching, I will be available. From today on, I will stay with you. Regardless if it is day or night, if some reckless Jianghu nobodies come, neither master nor young miss need mind it. I will beat them until they are scared witless!” Old escort Yu knew that Sun Zhengli was not boasting. In recent years, his martial arts had become quite good, so he nodded, “Good. You and Third Cui should both bring your bedding here and stay in the outer quarters.”
Sun Zhengli and Third Cui brought their bedding over and resided in two of the westerns rooms of the Yu household’s outer quarters. Thus, besides leaving for a moment to teach fists at the Liu household, Sun Zhengli stayed at the Yu household. He had polished a saber until it was bright as snow and made three or four circuits around the residence and on top of the roofs every night, but two or three days passed in succession without anything happening.
