Chapter 16 - Wonder Monk Wuhua

"Tomorrow morning …" Chu Liuxiang replied, "If I knew where to find you …"

The youngster in black said, "Tomorrow morning, go to Daming Lake to take a stroll. You will see a black horse. You tell the horse three times, 'Take me to see Hei Zhenzhu [lit. black pearl]', and then pull its left ear three times; it will take you to find me. Remember: no more, no less, only three times. Not too light, not to hard even more."

Chu Liuxiang laughed and said, "If I pulled four times? And pulled too hard?"

The youngster in black replied, "Then perhaps it would take you to find a real pearl."

Suddenly he flashed another smile to Chu Liuxiang, turned around, and flew away like a light smoke.

Looking at his disappearing figure, Chu Liuxiang muttered, "Hei Zhenzhu, oh, Hei Zhenzhu, people say that the color of black is ominous, but I do wish that you, this black pearl, would bring me good luck. Right now I really need some good luck …"

Chu Liuxiang looked up to the vast sky full of stars above; he was lost in thought for half a day.

s.h.i.+ning stars have always able to bring tranquility to his mind, to clear his head. Usually, he only needed to lie down on the deck of his boat, and then all the difficult problems would go away.

But tonight, those s.h.i.+ning stars did not seem to be able to help him much. Even after thinking for half a day, his brains was still in a big mess; he could not help smiling ruefully and wondered, "Could it be that the stars here are not the same as the ones on the ocean?"

Finally making up his mind, he returned to the Beggar Clan's fragrant hall.

The main hall was still brightly lit. Chu Liuxiang jumped down, but unexpectedly n.o.body appeared from the dark to ask him the question, "Go up to heaven or go down to Hades."

Chu Liuxiang had no choice but to cough loudly and said, "Is NanGong Xiong here?"

From the main hall immediately someone responded, "Please come in."

The overturned chairs had been tidied up, the broken window had been mended, the roof tiles on the floor had been swept clean. It was as if nothing had happened in the main hall at all.

Such a s.p.a.cious hall, there was only NanGong Ling, one person, sitting in it, but on the table there were several sets of cup and chopsticks, as well as several bottles of wine.

Unexpectedly it was as if NanGong Ling was already waiting for Chu Liuxiang. Seeing Chu Liuxiang stepping through the door, he did not look surprised at all; he merely stood up, cupped his fist, and said with a laugh, "Chu Xiong indeed came to collect my debt of wine. Fortunately Xiaodi has already prepared several bottles of wine; otherwise, Chu Xiong came here, Xiaodi could only escape without a trace."

Chu Liuxiang laughed and said, "You knew I was going to look for you here? You are not surprised the least bit?"

NanGong Ling laughed heartily and said, "When Chu Xiong wants to collect wine debt, who under the heavens would be able to escape? Even if Xiaodi go to hide at the ends of the earth, Chu Xiong will be able to find me; this is also not unusual at all."

Chu Liuxiang also laughed heartily; he said, "That's true; my nose usually has a ailment, wherever there is good wine, I can always smell it, much less so many bottles of top-quality Zhuyeqing [green bamboo leaves, type of wine]."

Amidst his laughter, he sat down. His eyes swept around, he said, "Too bad there is wine without any food; unavoidably I have a feeling that there is small defect in an otherwise perfect situation. You ought to know, to a guy who loves to eat like me, this is simply a mistreatment."

NanGong Ling said, "Originally we did have the dishes, Xiaodi had prepared several fat chicken, a pig's hoof, and also some smoked fish and preserved meat."

"Could it be that chicken, fish and preserved meat know stealth technique?" Chu Liuxiang said, "How come I cannot see them?"

NanGong Ling laughed and said, "Chu Xiong cannot see, simply because just now someone came, and poured all the dishes into the yin [female/negative, as in yin-yang] gutter."

Chu Liuxiang said, "Could it be that this person has a deep hatred, irreconcilable enmity with me?"

NanGong Ling restrained himself from laughing; he said, "He knew that the guest Xiaodi was waiting for was Chu Xiong, so he scolded Xiaodi, saying that Xiaodi was entertaining Chu Xiong with such coa.r.s.e dishes, unavoidably I am mistreating Chu Xiang Shuai's tongue too much."

Smiling wryly, Chu Liuxiang said, "Chu Liuxiang does not eat chicken meat, are you saying I have to drink the northwest wind [idiom: cold and hungry]?"

Suddenly someone said with a laugh, "The toil on the red dust [i.e. world of mortals (Buddhism)] already consumes human being's spiritual nature until there is not much left. If you add fat chicken and fat meat onto it, I'm afraid that the barely remaining spiritual nature would be blinded as well."

A man came floating in from the rear hall, wearing plain clothes and white socks, untainted by even a speck of dust, so that even the smile on his face also appeared out-of-the-dust; unexpectedly it was the 'Wonder Monk' Wuhua.

Chu Liuxiang laughed heartily and said, "Turns out it is you. You, this Wonder Monk, don't touch meat and fish, are you saying I must copy you to become a monk? But even if I became a monk, I would become a wine-and-meat monk; seeing dishes with generous amounts of meat and fish, I will immediately be reluctant to leave the mortal world."

Wuhua laughed indifferently and said, "Eating meat is contemptible; don't you want to try changing your taste?"

Chu Liuxiang appeared delighted; he said, "Are you saying that you are willing to go down to the kitchen?"

Wuhua sighed and said, "Playing Qin, one must have someone who understands music, delicious food must also have someone who knows flavor. Were it not for you, whose tongue has been cultivated since you are little on how to distinguish good or bad taste, why would Pinseng be willing to touch the smoke and fire?"

Chu Liuxiang laughed and said, "If you have smoke and fire on you, do you want us to dredge the food directly from the pot?"

NanGong Ling laughed and said, "This is also strange; no matter where Wuhua Das.h.i.+ [grand master, a term of respect to address a Buddhist monk] is coming from, he always seems to be ten times cleaner than us. Apparently the dirt and dust of the mundane world cannot contaminate him. Perhaps the saying 'Celestial Lady scattering the flower, rubbing the flower without being contaminated' is just like this!"

Pouring the wine till the cups were full, he toasted, "Fortunately, wine is one thing that has the purest nature; otherwise, if Das.h.i.+ did not even drink wine, how could we all endure!"

Chu Liuxiang laughed toward Wuhua and said, "If 'three people drink wine, but only you do not drink', I will really admire you."

These three men's wine capacity was really scary; if there was a fourth person on the side watching them drinking, he would have thought that the wine bottles were filled with water.

Two bottles of wine already went down their belly, but the faces of all three of them remained the same.

Chu Liuxiang suddenly said, "It is said that there is one man in Jianghu whose wine capacity is supposedly without equal, he is able to drink a thousand cups without getting drunk. One day he drank three hundred bowls of 'Ergoutou' [sorghum liquor) from outside the Pa.s.s in succession; unexpectedly he was still able to stand and walk back home."

"Oh?" NanGong Ling said, "Is there such man? Who is he?"

Chu Liuxiang said, "It's the 'King of the Desert' Zha Muge."

As he spoke, he carefully watched NanGong Ling's expression.

But NanGong Ling simply laughed aloud and said, "They say it was three hundred bowls, but actually, able to drink half of that would be pretty good. Of all the drinkers in the world, not one does not exaggerate his own wine capacity a little bit. In Xiaodi's opinion, he might not necessarily be able to drink more than you and I."

Chu Liuxiang's eyes were burning brightly, "Have you ever seen him?" he asked, "Have you ever had a drink with him?"

NanGong Ling smiled and said, "Too bad Xiaodi has never seen him. Otherwise, I really want to decide who's the better drinker, he or I."

Chu Liuxiang stroked his nose and muttered, "I am afraid you won't have such opportunity."

NanGong Ling laughed and said, "As long as he is not dead, there will always be an opportunity."

Chu Liuxiang put down his cup and spoke word-by-word, "Who said he is not dead?"

"Is he dead?" NanGong Ling asked, "When did he die? How come n.o.body in Jianghu knows?"

"How do you know that n.o.body in Jianghu knows about his death?" Chu Liuxiang asked.

Smiling, Wuhua interrupted, "The Beggar Clan's information network is fast and abundant. If there is anybody in Jianghu knows about this information, how could the Beggar Clan's Bangzhu do not know?"

Chu Liuxiang sighed and said, "That's right. There is indeed n.o.body in Jianghu who knows about this information, only because I have hidden his corpse, intentionally preventing others from finding out about his death."

Staring at him, NanGong Ling asked, "But why?"

Chu Liuxiang's eyes flickered; he said slowly, "Because the killer created a diversion in order to make Jianghu people think that they were fighting each other and died together. Not only that, they all died. If I did not hide their bodies and prevented this news from leaking out, the culprit would be unfettered and beyond the law. Why should I let him off so easily?"

NanGong Ling nodded and said, "That's right. With what Chu Xiong did, the people of their school, their relatives, would not know that they are dead. Presumably they would do everything within their power to find out their whereabouts, then the culprit could forget about pa.s.sing his days in peace and quiet."

Wuhua smiled and said, "Pinseng always said, when the bad guys encountered Chu Xiang Shuai, they must have committed too much sins in their previous life."

Fixing his gaze on NanGong Ling, Chu Liuxiang asked, "Would you help me find the real culprit?"

NanGong Ling laughed and replied, "Chu Xiong must not forget, the Beggar Clan disciples have the reputation to be too inquisitive about other people's business; although still inferior to Chu Xiang Shuai, the difference is not too much."

"In that case," Chu Liuxiang said, "Could you tell me, where is Ren Lao Bangzhu's madam this moment?"

Astonished, NanGong Ling said, "Are you saying Madame Ren is related to this matter?"

Chu Liuxiang said, "The hidden reason behind this, you may find out in the future, but now you only need to tell me where Madame Ren is, then you are already doing me the biggest favor."

His eyes were still fixed on NanGong Ling, but he said with a big laughter, "If you are unwilling to tell me, I am afraid I will think that you are deliberately covering up the culprit. If I talked rubbish, I am afraid you, as the Beggar Clan's Bangzhu, will find it unbearable."

Wuhua smiled and said, "Chu Xiong's most adorable trait is that sometimes he will raise h.e.l.l like a little child."

NanGong Ling sighed and said, "After Ren Lao Bangzhu died, Madame Ren vowed to remain unmarried. In my capacity as Beggar Clan disciple, Xiaodi actually cannot take an outside to disturb her."

And then he slightly paused his speech, turned toward Chu Liuxiang, laughed, and said, "Yet although Xiaodi is not afraid of anybody else, seeing Chu Xiong, I am actually quite helpless."