Book 3 Chapter 9 – Dong Ming Princess

The fast boat left the shore and sped up toward the Dong Ming flagship anchored in the middle of the river. Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were sitting in the bow, the one rowing the boat was another Dong Ming Sect’s Law-protector Fairy, Shan Qing, who was sizing the two boys up with a smile on her face, but did not say anything.

After passing spreads of cattails near the shore and weaving through dense mooring ships and boats, the lanterns of Dong Ming flagship illuminated the boat.

Under the lantern light, they could see that although Shan Qing, whose sleeves were floating in the wind, was only thirty-percent beautiful, this kind of atmosphere kind of accentuate her mysterious side.

Trying to flatter her, Kou Zhong blurted out, “Xianzi Jiejie [fairy sister], you look so pretty!”

Naturally Shan Qing knew that he was kissing her @ss; she smiled and said, “Don’t be loquacious, Madame really hates kids who spout nonsense endlessly. If you provoke her, you won’t feel good at all.”

Displeased, Xu Ziling said, “Don’t think that since you saves us, you can treat us anyway you want … ow!” Kou Zhong elbowed his arm. Immediately he remembered their heavy responsibility toward Li Shimin, and shut his mouth at once.

Naturally Shan Qing did not know the twists and turns in this matter, she moored the boat onto the Dong Ming flagship. After leading the two boys to the ship, immediately she ordered her subordinates to get ready to set sail.

Greatly astounded, Kou Zhong asked, “It’s late, where are we going?”

At this time a young, handsome man in white, leading two middle age men, appeared in front of the three people to welcome the two boys.

Shan Qing said, “Our Dong Ming Pai is divided into two departments, men and women. The women take Shan as our surnames, the men are surnamed Shang. If you join our Sect in the future, you would also change your surname to Shang.”

The young man in white spoke indifferently, “Zaixia Shang Ming.” And then he introduced the two middle age men with majestic appearance, one was Shang Bang, the other Shang Kuitai.

Shan Qing calmly said, “Our women department have four great Law-Protector Fairies, the men also have four Sect-Protector Generals. The other two are Shang Ren and Shang Wannian, who presently are not here.”

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling really wanted to ask Shang Ming’s capacity, but looking at Shang Ming’s cold and indifferent attitude, they quickly swallowed their question back.

Shan Qing ordered the two boys, “You’d better stay in your cabin. Yuwen Clan’s martial art masters have already caught wind of your whereabouts, the situation is extremely dangerous.”

Remembering their big enmity with Yuwen Huaji, the two boys jumped in fright, and obediently followed another man in white into their cabin.

The two boys followed the man toward the passenger deck. The familiar hallway appeared before their eyes. They were hoping the man would take them to the lower deck, but the man continued on to the room at the end of the hallway, pushed the door open and invited them to come in.

“Are two Gongzi hungry?” he asked.

Reminded by him, the two boys’ tummy immediately rumbled thunderously; they nodded their head vigorously.

The man laughed and said, “Two Gongzi please take a rest a bit, I will be back with two baskets of steamed stuffed buns.”

Xu Ziling gratefully asked, “How may we address Dashu [big uncle]?”

“Why don’t you just call me Uncle Liu?” the man replied.

After the man left, the two boys closed the door and went to the window. They could not even describe their feeling.

Xu Ziling said in low voice, “This Dong Ming Pai is so strange, the men all take the same surname, all the women are also surnamed Shan; apparently their organization is very tight. It also seems like they are trying to pull us to become a member; this is really hard to understand.”

With a soft chuckle Kou Zhong said, “Why do you care his mother’s that much? As long as we can steal the account book and jump into the river, we will all go our separate ways. But we must remember not to soak the account book and damage it, then perhaps we could use it to bring harm to Yuwen Huagu. One move, two gains; what can you have against it?”

Xu Ziling replied with a wry smile, “It’s easy for you to say. Anybody in here could beat us senseless at will.”

Sneering, Kou Zhong said, “I am telling you to steal, not to rob or fight. What are you afraid of?”

At this time a young maid came bringing some delicacies; she was not the beautiful maid who took them to see Madame Dong Ming the other day, in term of beauty, she was two notches below.

After the main left, the two boys bent over the table, munching busily. By the time they finished eating and the food still left a rich aftertaste, the huge ship shuddered and started to sail.

Kou Zhong looked out the window and saw that the ship was heading toward the northern channel. “Hey! Why go north instead of west?” he exclaimed, “Going this way we will reach the Weishan Lake soon.”

Xu Ziling pulled him back, “Don’t shout and yell, alright?” he said, “That Madame Dong Ming is so formidable; even Ol’ Die cannot stand against her.”

Kou Zhong sat down on the seat by the window. He drank a cup of hot tea and voiced his agreement, “Since we set sail, naturally she, the Senior, has safely returned.”

Seeing Xu Ziling was still frowning hard, he asked in surprise, “What are you thinking?”

Xu Ziling dejectedly said, “Although we can brandish sabers and play with swords like an expert, our mental cultivation is actually very low. Remember when we were at the casino, only after that Shen woman pressed her hands on our shoulders, we, two fools, knew that she had arrived. How could genuine martial art masters be that useless?”

Kou Zhong agreed. He nodded and said, “We indeed don’t have enough mental cultivation, and don’t have enough Jianghu … hey! Not Jianghu, just don’t have enough martial art master’s experience. Our, two brothers’ days as martial art masters are just too short, most of the days we don’t even remember that we are martial art masters.”

While Xu Ziling was roaring in laughter, there was a knock on the door. The two boys were greatly embarrassed, because even when they were talking about it, they did not detect someone was already at the door.

Kou Zhong cleared his throat and said, “Come in!”

The door opened; a pretty face as beautiful as a flower appeared first to greet, “Gongzi, how are you?” before her beautiful body followed into the room. It was the beautiful maid who took them to see Madame Dong Ming the other day.

The two boys immediately stood up to greet her.

The beautiful maid’s elegant eyes brightened as she cheerfully said, “You have grown tall. Compared to the last time, your expressions are a lot better.”

A friendly feeling welled up in Kou Zhong’s heart; grinning, he said, “Is it because we are wearing rather decent clothes that we appear taller? Plus we now have a couple pennies in our possession, hence we are a bit prouder.”

The pretty maid covered her mouth as she said with a laugh, “Kou Gongzi loves to joke a lot, Xu Gongzi is a lot more proper than you are.”

Kou Zhong broke into laughter, “That is because he has yet to show you his true face!”

Xu Ziling asked in surprise, “Jiejie even know our names and surnames?”

The pretty maid acted as if she suddenly realized that she had talked too much; holding back her smile, she said softly, “Right now all levels of society have been turned upside-down by you. Only the deaf have not heard about your feat and your background. Alright! I am going to take you to see Madame.”

Suddenly she broke into giggle and said, “This time don’t reveal your greedy and corrupt true nature anymore.”

Kou Zhong came over and leaned his face brazenly close to her pretty face and asked, “What is Jiejie’s beautiful name?”

Surprised by this show of intimacy, the pretty maid’s face revealed an angry, but not quite angry, captivating expression. She spoke in low voice, “It’s not a big deal for you to talk flirtatiously like that, but when talking to Madame, you must never make an unreasonable scene. Ay! The one I am most worried about is Miss; her impression on you is down to the dirt.”

Xu Ziling knitted his sword-like eyebrows and said, “We are not going to ask any favor from them, why must we conduct ourselves according to their likes and dislikes?”

The pretty maid sighed and said, “Because I know you are people with true feeling and true nature, that’s why I told you this. In a lot of other things I am bound by our Sect’s rules and cannot tell you. As long as you are a bit more careful, you ought to be able to go through everything safely.”

“What exactly is the danger?” Kou Zhong wondered, “Hey! This time Madame rescued us and brought us back, is it because she want to select a husband for her daughter?”

The pretty maid was shocked, “How could you think that far?” she asked, “The candidate for Princess’ husband has been chosen long ago.”

Kou Zhong giggled and said, “In that case, it must be because she wanted to choose a husband for you, Jiejie.”

The pretty maid blushed beet red; she said angrily, “You keep blabbering nonsense; just see if I am going to ignore you or not.”

Xu Ziling also felt that Kou Zhong was a bit excessive; he frowned and said, “Kou Zhong, can’t you talk with a bit more propriety?”

Kou Zhong shrugged his shoulders and said, “This is called curiosity. Jiejie is so pretty, and I am not yet married; can’t I ask the question?”

Even the pretty maid’s small ears were blushing through and through as she cast an angry glare toward Kou Zhong. But then she bowed her head and said, “I do not really blame him, but I already have a betrothed, it’s just that he has not passed through the doorway [i.e. marry into a family]!”

The two boys were shocked, “He has not passed through the doorway?”

The pretty maid clearly did not wish to continue this conversation. “Come!” she said in low voice, “Follow me to see Madame!” And she preceded them toward the door.

The two boys ran after her. When they got to the door, just before she pushed the door open, the pretty maid halted her steps and said softly, “Remember, my name is Shan Ruyin.”

The two boys went to the same big cabin where they met Madame Dong Ming the other day. The pretty maid Ruyin withdrew after she had them sit down on the chairs facing the bamboo curtain.

The two boys looked at each other while waiting painfully for half a day before Madame Dong Ming’s gentle voice came from the dark area behind the curtain, “We see each other again.”

The two boys respectfully replied, “Madame, how are you?”

Madame Dong Ming was quiet for a moment before speaking, “I was mistaken that day; turns out your skill is not bad at all.”

Kou Zhong modestly replied, “Madame praises us too much. Our skill is not even enough to defend ourselves; it can’t be considered anything.”

Madame Dong Ming spoke indifferently, “Toward such a martial art expert like Du Fuwei, how many people actually dare to speak up to defend themselves? It was only by exploiting all kinds of circumstances, and by deliberately forgetting my intention that I was lucky enough to snatch you from his hands. But time and again you were able to escape from his grip. Just by this fact alone is enough to have your name shook the Jianghu.”

Although hearing such praise, the two boys did not feel anything spectacular, because both times they escaped for their lives, they were relying on crafty tricks and their luck; it had nothing to do with actual skill.

Madame Dong Ming suddenly sighed gloomily and said, “I have a question, and I want you to answer me truthfully.”

The two boys nodded.

“When people were going to attack us sneakily that night, why did you take the risk by sending us warning?” Madame Dong Ming asked.

“We couldn’t just standing by idly and watch,” Xu Ziling nonchalantly replied, “We need to teach those bad eggs a lesson! If we had known Madame is this skillful, we should have let Haisha Bang people fall head over heels.”

Madame Dong Ming spoke indifferently, “By what qualifications did Haisha Bang people dare to provoke us? But their backing is people with great background. The situation that night was actually very disadvantageous to us. Yuwen Clan’s third in command Yuwen Shi personally led their martial art masters to mingle among Haisha Bang people. If they managed to sink our ship, I really don’t know what the consequences would be. That’s why I am really grateful to you.”

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were shocked to learn that there were martial art masters from the Yuwen Clan among those people that night.

Madame Dong Ming calmly said, “One question I wasn’t clear previously was since the two of you made looking for fame and looking for profit as your life objective, why would you want to so something as dangerous as to offend Yuwen Clan? But just now Ziling has given me the most sincere answer, whic