Book 4 Chapter 2 – Enlightenment By The Well

More than ten li from where Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling disembarked, in the second story of a restaurant at the downtown area of Dongping County, the two boys ordered food and drink, and went eating and drinking as much as they liked.

On parting, Li Shimin presented them a substantial amount of money. Naturally Kou Zhong was not shy to accept it; therefore, they instantly became high-spirited and set to work to spend it.

Xu Ziling pressed his hand down on the wine pot and persuaded Kou Zhong, “Enough drinking, you are about to pass out.”

Kou Zhong brushed his hand away and poured his own drink, “Just let me be drunk this his mother’s time! I guarantee I won’t drink anymore after this.”

Xu Ziling was displeased, “Didn’t you say you have come to realization? And now you want to drown your sorrow in wine; what kind of hero is that?”

Kou Zhong squinted and cast a sidelong glance to Xu Ziling; brushing his hand aside, he squeaked and said, “This is called wine of celebration! Celebrating my, Zhong Shao’s first time learning to love and fell in love with a big-headed Buddha. Ha! I am going to get drunk for her granny’s sake only once, in the future I will make her regret that she did not marry me. What kind of ‘thing’ that Chai guy anyway to have the cheek to look down on me? Come! Bottoms up!”

Xu Ziling was at a loss. Seeing that there were only a handful of people in the restaurant and they were all looking at them, he had no choice but to clink his cup to Kou Zhong’s, but he stayed silent.

Kou Zhong was already drunk; he crouched on the table and mumbled, “Alright, now it’s enough. Let us now go to the pleasure house next door, we’ll pick a girl who is a hundred times, a thousand times prettier than she; let’s see if I cannot live without her.”

Xu Ziling seized the opportunity to settle the bill, and forcefully pulled him up and helped him down the stairs, while going along with him, “Go! We’ll visit a low-grade brothel.”

Half of Kou Zhong immediately perked up; he said, “Don’t lie to me, one world two brothers, you must take me to the pleasure house, and must pick the cutest girl for me.”

When the two boys stepped out onto the street, it was early evening when the lanterns were first lit; the main street ought to be bustling with activities, yet it was as quiet as the ghost area. Under the autumn breeze, only one or two people were outside, walking briskly; it was indeed a desolate scene.

Xu Ziling smiled wryly and said, “Looks like you are still clear-headed!”

Kou Zhong’s countenance changed, “Turns out you do not have any intention to take me to the pleasure house; can you still be considered my brother?”

Xu Ziling forced himself to respond, “Did I promise you that?”

Kou Zhong suddenly flung Xu Ziling’s arm away; staggering to the sidewalk he squatted and stooped down, ‘wah!’ he vomited the content of his stomach.

Xu Ziling rushed forward, squatted alongside him, grabbed his shoulder, and with his other hand he rubbed Kou Zhong’s back. His heart was aching that he felt like crying.

He had never seen Kou Zhong this unhappy.

After vomiting all the yucky, gooey yellowish sour liquid from his stomach, Kou Zhong hung his head and while gasping for breath he said, “Xiao Ling! I am so miserable!”

Xu Ziling sighed and said, “Your love life has only just begun, yet you are so miserable like this. If after Li Xiuning and you pledge undying love to each other, and then she changes her affection, shifts her love; won’t you kill yourself then?”

Kou Zhong shook his head, “You don’t understand,” he said, “Last night when you and Li guy were studying the account book, she and I had a very congenial conversation; she was showing a lot of concerns over me.” And then he became distressed, “But now that I think about it, she was just probing our background on Li guy’s behalf. From the beginning to the very end, she had never had me, Kou Zhong, in her heart.”

Xu Ziling dejectedly said, “You should have known that those people from upper class, influential family would never show respect for us, lowly, nameless errand boys! Didn’t you bring trouble on yourself this time?”

Clearly Kou Zhong was a lot more sober now, his tiger eyes flickered as he spoke in deep voice, “Good brother, don’t worry! After I recover, I won’t be that easy to fall in love with any women.”

Xu Ziling probed him further, “You still want to go to a brothel?”

Kou Zhong shook his head sadly. Letting Xu Ziling helped him up, he said, “Let’s find an inn to spend the night. Tomorrow morning we will immediately go to Xingyang. After finding Susu Jie, we’ll … ha!”

Xu Ziling was helping him walking along the street. “What’s so funny?” he asked in bewilderment.

Kou Zhong held on to his shoulders. The more he thought, the more he was amused. “All in all, Laotianye did not treat us too shabbily. At the very least we have had a glimpse into superior martial art realm, we even completed the first level Niang was talking about. Our money purse has enough silver, and at least we know that ‘Duke Yang Treasure’ is somewhere near Yuema Bridge in the Capital. Moreover, we obtained the account book that will really make Yuwen Huagu to transform his bones [reminder: ‘huagu’ means transforming bones]; yet I am still weeping endlessly for a woman. I really did not make any progress.”

Xu Ziling was delighted. “Now that is my good brother,” he said, “But do you still want to be the emperor?”

Kou Zhong was silent for half a day. Finally he said seriously, “We are starting to think sensibly, hence we’ll have to look at other people’s countenance to conduct ourselves, this way we will enjoy our lives. Whether I still want to be the emperor, I dare not say, but in short, I do not want to accept our inferior status. What do other people have that we don’t have?”

Xu Ziling agreed, “We are not inferior to anybody,” he said.

Kou Zhong chuckled, “So let’s do some great undertaking, so that Niang’s spirit in heaven will be gratified. In the future, no one will dare to consider us as ‘not a thing’.”

Hearing this, Xu Ziling’s heroic spirit soared. He broke into singing, a song that was popular at that time, “I am an honorable young master [gongzi], in all my life I always love talent.”

Kou Zhong continued the next line, “When thinking about dedicating myself to the service of my country, I pull out my sword and raise a heroic cry.”

The two boys marched bravely forward following the rhythm, while singing in chorus, “Galloping fast westward to Dingling Pass, going up north to Chanyu Plateau. Climbing the mountain looking ahead for a thousand li, recalling the past, the heart is happy and carefree. Who has not forgotten the disaster will be erased into dust.”

The singing echoed along the deserted street. At last Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling’s life of hiding to the east and escaping to the west was over, they were now free to be themselves and do the matters that they liked.

The two boys came across a well; they sat down by the well’s fence.

Kou Zhong craned his neck to look into the well; seeing the water at the bottom of the well reflecting the bright moon hanging high up in the sky, he laughed and said, “Now this is called the universe [qiankun] inside the well. It is deeper and more unmeasurable than Ol’ Die’s ‘xiu li qiankun’ [universe inside the sleeve].”

Following his lead, Xu Ziling also looked into the well. He laughed bitterly and said, “I don’t know what happened in this Dongping County; all inns are fully booked, but the streets are clear and empty. Hey!”

Kou Zhong was puzzled, “You are looking at the bright moon inside the well; why make so much fuss about nothing?”

Xu Ziling appeared to be deep in thought, his tiger eyes lit up, “I seemed to have just grabbed an important point, but it’s so hard to explain.”

Kou Zhong stared blankly for half a day, and then he looked into the reflection inside the well again. As it turns out, a cloud was passing by, so that the moon appeared to be suddenly hidden. Suddenly he also felt something indescribable at the bottom of his heart.

Xu Ziling spoke as if he was in a dream, “Didn’t Niang say that her Shifu often said that everyone has sufficient resources within himself? This well is self-sufficient. The water inside the well is just like the treasure-trove within human body; it can be used and can be changed into anything. Like this moment for example, it creates the bright moon in the well. Are you saying that is not the real moon? The fact is, real or fake, it’s hard to distinguish. Whatever you think it is, it will appear exactly like that.”

Kou Zhong’s pair of big eyes brightened; he slapped the well’s fence and said, “Well said! Watch this!” He randomly picked a pebble and tossed it into the well.

‘Splash!’ The bright moon turned into rippling, wavy lights, and it was quite a while later that the water returned to its previous state.

“I understand now!” Xu Ziling shouted gleefully, “This is indeed some kind of formidable mental cultivation. When I was facing the enemy in the past, at the beginning I could still be calm, just like the clear water inside the well reflecting everything in the surrounding area. But once the fighting started, I was fuming with rage and everything was immediately forgotten.”

Kou Zhong sighed and said, “You have not been thorough enough. Just like when we saw Ol’ Die, we immediately turned into a mouse seeing a cat. Same thing happened last time we were facing Shang Gong. If we could overcome our panic and maintain the same calmness we can usually achieve during practice, we could become like the clear water in the well, able to reflect everything in the surrounding area. This is completely different from our condition before.”

Xu Ziling leaned over and pressed his cheek against the ice-cold edge of the well; he sighed and said, “I am awfully happy! If I can excel in this kind of no-victory no-defeat, no-demand no-desire, and forever-will-not-be-tempted realm just like the bright moon in the well, I would be willing to have my life shortened by ten years.”

Kou Zhong wanted to say something, but sound of footsteps roused the two boys up. Turning their heads toward the direction of the footsteps they saw two men wearing swords on their waists were coming toward the well. One of them, a man wearing grey clothes, shouted, “Kids, don’t block the well, Laozi wants to drink some water.”

Kou Zhong laughed and said, “Let the kids serve Daye [big master]!”

The two boys worked hands and feet to lower the bucket and get the clear water up. Without any trace of politeness the two big men received the bucket and drank.

The other man said, “Kids are well-behaved. It’s late, what are you doing here?”

Xu Ziling replied, “We have nothing to do, so we are just chatting idly here. May I ask where are two Dashu [big uncles] going?”

The man in grey stared coldly at him, and then said with a cold laugh, “So what if I tell you? Do you have enough qualifications to go?” Finished speaking he and his companion simply left.

The two boys looked at each other; they had no idea what he was talking about [orig. 丈八金剛