Just as Liang Ziwong prepared himself to deal a fatal blow he heard Huang Rong scream, “Old monster! Look here!” Knowing that she was very crafty, he decided not to take any risks. He struck Guo Jing upon the ‘Jianjing’ accupoint so that he was unable to move, before turning his head. He saw the girl advancing slowly and saw that in her hand was a bamboo stick, its green as clear as jade. This froze him in terror. “Hong...” he stammered, stunned, “Clan Master Qigong!”
“Why haven't you released him!” threatened Huang Rong.
At the time he heard someone calling out his blows before he even carried them out, Liang Ziwong was very surprised, but he had not thought that it could be Hong Qigong. Now, with the appearance of the green bamboo stick, he realized that the voice behind the window was indeed the person that he dreaded most in the world. Terrified, he quickly unsealed Guo Jing.
Brandishing the stick, Huang Rong approached him and said severely, “Senior Qigong wants to ask you how you dare to do evil here again? What impudence!”
Liang Ziwong dropped to his knees: “Your servant did not know that Clan Master Qigong was here,” he stuttered. “Even if I had courage, I would never have dared to offend Clan Master Qigong.”
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“Nonetheless, this fellow is very powerful,” Huang Rong said to herself, astonished, “How is it that he is so terrified at just the mention of Hong's name? And why does he call him Clan Master Qigong?” But she didn't allow any of her thoughts to show and assumed a threatening air. “And which punishment do you deserve?”
“I beg you to please say some words in my favor to Grand Master Qigong! Say to him that Liang Ziwong recognizes his great sins and that he implores Clan Master Qigong to spare his life!”
“Say a word in your favor? Why not? But several words, this would be really too much to ask. In the future, you mustn't cause trouble for either of us.”
“Your servant offended you in his ignorance,” Liang Ziwong said. “If you do not think harshly of me, then in the future, I will not dare to do...”
Huang Rong, very proud of herself, smiled and re-entered the inn hand-in- hand with Guo Jing.
They found Hong Qigong sitting at a well-laid table with a knife in his left hand and chopsticks in his right, in the process of treating himself. “Master Qigong,” Huang Rong said, laughing. “He's on his knees and doesn't dare to move even a hair.”
Hong Qigong replied, “Give him a hiding to vent your anger; he certainly won't dare to defend himself."
By the window, Guo Jing saw Liang Ziwong kneeling petrified, with his three disciples behind him, also kneeling, all four looking miserable. He felt pity for them and said, “Senior Qigong, why not forgive him?”
“Little good-for-nothing,” Hong reprimanded. “Someone comes here to trouble you and you aren't capable of defending yourself. Yet you accept the situation and you want to forgive your enemy!
How can you be so foolish, I ask you?” Guo Jing wasn't sure how to reply.
“I'll take care of him,” Huang Rong said, laughing. She took up the bamboo stick and went out of the inn. Liang Ziwong remained kneeling respectfully, his face full of fear.
“Hong Qigong said that if you persist in doing evil,” Huang Rong thundered, “then it is absolutely necessary to cut your throat today! Fortunately for you my Jing ge ge has a good heart and he did not stop pleading your cause, so much so that Qigong finally agreed to spare you.” She wielded the stick and struck him a blow on the buttocks while screaming, “You go in!”
Liang Ziwong spoke to the window, “Clan Master Qigong, I want to see you, to thank you for sparing my life!” Only silence greeted his plea. Liang Ziwong did not dare to rise and continued to kneel humbly. After a short while, Guo Jing came out and waved his hand, Senior Hong is asleep,”
he said in a low voice. “Do not disturb him...” At that, Liang Ziwong got up, shot a hate-filled look at the two young people, and left along with his disciples.
Huang Rong, heart full of joy, re-entered the inn. She saw Hong Qigong lying on the table snoring.
She touched him on the shoulder to awaken him, “Qigong!” she called. “Your precious magic stick has wonderful power. Since you’re not using it, why not give it to me?”
Hong raised his head, yawned and said, “You speak so lightly about it” he said, laughing, “That is the work instrument of your teacher! A beggar without a dog-beating stick, how would that look?”
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Huang Rong continued to tap it while simpering, “You have such powerful kung fu! People even fear the sound of your voice. Why would you need this stick?”
“You conniving imp!” Hong said, laughing. “Quickly, prepare some dishes for me and I'll explain it for you presently...” Huang Rong obeyed and quickly went into the kitchen to prepare three small dishes.
With his right hand holding a wine cup and his left squeezing the bone of a ham that he slowly gnawed, Qigong began: “The proverb says ‘That which resembles itself assembles itself’. The lowly have to form a clan; the outlaws of the highway who rob the passersby form a clan, we others that freely pass our lives begging food leftovers also form a clan...”
“I understand,” Huang Rong exclaimed while clapping her hands. “That old man Liang called you
‘Clan Master Qigong’, are you the chief of the beggars!”
“Precisely. As we wander, and someone sets the dogs on us, if we did not group together in a band, how could we survive? The ordinary citizens, in the north of the country, are for the moment under the authority of the Jin; in the south, they are under the authority of the Song emperor; but every beggar in the country...”
“Whether they be in the south or the north,” interrupted Huang Rong, “are under your authority!”
“Eh, yes!” Qigong agreed with a smile. “This bamboo stick and this gourd have been passed on from generation to generation, since the end of the Tang dynasty. In other words, it has passed on from one leader of the Beggar Clan to the next. For we beggars, this is like the jade seal of the little emperor.”
“Just as well you didn't give it to me,” Huang Rong said, sticking out her tongue.
“Why not?” he replied.
“If every beggar in the country came to find me to sort out their affairs, that would be a catastrophe!”
“You are right,” Qigong sighed. “Since I am lax and of a lazy nature, the weight of being Clan Master of the Beggar Clan is too heavy for my shoulders. Since I can't find a person to whom I can entrust it, I’ll have to bear with...”
“So that's why old Liang fears you so much. If all the beggars in the country came after him, he would be in big trouble. If each one dropped a louse in his collar, that would trouble him until the end of his days!” Hong Qigong and Guo Jing burst out laughing.
“No,” the old beggar said at last, “it’s not just for that; he's also afraid of me.”
“Why is that?” she said.
“Nearly twenty years ago, he was committing an evil deed when I fell upon him...”
“What evil deed?”
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“That old monster,” Qigong hesitantly said, “believed a section of the adage: ‘Gather the yin to nourish the yang...’ He had obtained for himself several virgins and he violated their bodies, supposedly to obtain immortality.”
“What's that, ‘to violate the body’?” Huang Rong asked. The girl, whose mother had died in childbirth, had been raised and taught by her father. After the treachery and escape of Chen Xuanfeng and of Mei Chaofeng, Huang Yaoshi, furious, had crippled his other disciples and they had all fled. No others remained on Peach Blossom Island other than some mute servants. Because of this, no one had spoken to the girl of the things that happened between men and women. Since then, she had met Guo Jing and she felt a joy and an incredible softness in his company. When she was separated from him even for a moment, a feeling of melancholy and an unbearable solitude overcame her. She believed that being husband and wife meant nothing more than never parting from each other; that was why for so long now she had considered Guo Jing as her husband, without knowing the nature of conjugal relations. Her question therefore put Qigong in great difficulty.
“To violate the body of the virgins,” the girl insisted, “is to kill them?”
“No,” Hong responded, “when a woman undergoes such an outrage, this is sometimes more painful than death itself. The proverb says: ‘To be dishonored is grave, to die of hunger is nothing’. That says well what I want to say...”
Huang Rong did not understand. “Does that mean to cut the ears or the nose with a knife?”
“Pah!” Qigong said, bothered, “not at all! Little imp, you better ask your mother when you get back home...”
“My mother is dead...”
“Ah!” said the beggar. “Then you will understand after your wedding night with our silly young fellow!”
Huang Rong reddened, understanding at last that it was a matter of shameful things. She said softly,
“If you do not want to explain... Therefore, you fell on the old monster in the process of committing this evil deed…this was in past then?”