“Brother Senggum, you win.” Temujin said as he bent down, picked up the ring, and placed it in Senggum's hand. Senggum immediately put the ring on one of his fingers and let out a triumphant laugh as he raised his hand to show off his newly won ring. Ong Khan's troops began to cheer in response. Jamuka stayed silent throughout but was frowning heavily. Temujin kept a calm expression on his face. The ‘Four Aces’ bitterly retreated back to their ranks. Disappointed and terribly unhappy about not seeing a man versus leopard fight, Wanyan Hongxi asked Ong Khan for two female slaves and retired to his own ger.
Next morning, Tolui and Guo Jing ran off to play. Hand in hand, they made their way far from the main camp. Suddenly a white rabbit ran by right in front of them. Tolui brought up his little bow and arrow, aimed, shot, and hit the rabbit squarely in the belly. Because he was so young the arrow lacked power, so even though it was a direct hit, it was not immediately fatal and the rabbit scuttled off screeching with the arrow imbedded in it. The two little kids, screaming at the top of their lungs, chased after the rabbit.
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After running for quite a while, the rabbit finally collapsed. The two kids let out a simultaneous cheer and were just about to retrieve the rabbit when seven or eight kids suddenly came pouring out from the woods from one side. One particular kid, who was of about 12 years or so, was quick to recognize the situation and grabbed the rabbit. He pulled the arrow from the rabbit's belly, threw it on the ground, shot a fierce look in Tolui and Guo Jing's direction, before stomping off with the rabbit.
“Hey, I shot that rabbit, why are you taking it?” Tolui shouted. The kid whirled around and came back.
“Who says that you shot it?” He laughed.
“Well, this arrow is mine isn't it?”
The older kid's eyebrows suddenly rose and his eyes bulged out. “This rabbit was my pet, you are lucky I'm not asking you to pay for it!” He shouted back.
“You are lying, this is obviously a wild rabbit.” Tolui shot back.
The kid became even angrier and he walked up and shoved Tolui. “Watch out who you are accusing! My grandpa is the Ong Khan, my dad is Senggum; do you know that? Even if you did shoot this rabbit, I'm taking it anyway; what can you do?”
“My dad is Temujin!” Tolui proudly answered.
“Pei! So what if he's Temujin? Your dad's a coward! He's scared of my grandpa and scared of my dad!” The kid's name was Dukhsh and he was Senggum's only son. After having a daughter, Senggum had to wait several years before finally having a son; after him he had no other offspring.
He had always spoiled his son, letting him bully as he pleased. Temujin, Ong Khan, and Senggum had not met for a long time; even though their sons had met before, this was, for all practical purposes, their first true meeting.
Hearing someone make fun of his father, Tolui was filled with anger and proudly shouted back:
“Says who? My dad's not afraid of anybody!”
“When your mom was kidnapped, it was my grandpa and my dad who went and took her back for your dad. You think I didn't know that? So what's the big deal if I just take this measly little rabbit of yours?” Even in the past, Senggum was envious of Temujin's fame. When they helped Temujin that one time, Senggum made sure to tell everyone about it; even his son had heard it many times.
Temujin had always viewed that event as an incredible embarrassment for himself, he naturally never told Tolui about it. Hearing this at this moment, Tolui was so mad that his face turned purple.
“You’re a liar! I'm going to tell my dad!” He angrily threatened before turning around and walking off.
“Your dad's afraid of my dad, so what if you tell him?” Dukhsh laughed at Tolui. “Last night, when my dad brought out his two leopards, your dad's ‘Four Asses’ were so afraid they couldn't even move!”
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Of the ‘Four Aces’, Boroqul was Tolui's master. Hearing this only made Tolui even angrier. So angry he could barely speak. “My master isn't even afraid of tigers, why would he be afraid of leopards? He just didn't want to fight wild animals.” He finally stuttered out.
Dukhsh took a step forward and suddenly slapped Tolui squarely on his face. “How dare you talk back to me? Aren’t you afraid of me?” He yelled. Tolui was startled as his cheeks instantly turned blood red. He wanted to cry, but would not let himself.
Guo Jing had been seething on the side all this time, but now he could no longer hold back. He suddenly lunged forward and rammed his head squarely into Dukhsh’s stomach. This caught him by surprise and knocked him flat on his back.
“Yay!” Tolui clapped for joy for a moment before grabbing Guo Jing's hand and trying to run away.
“Kill those two boys!” Dukhsh screamed, still on the ground. Dukhsh's companions ran up to the two boys and a fierce fight quickly broke out. Dukhsh picked himself up from the ground and angrily charged into the fray. Dukhsh's gang was older than the boys to begin with and also outnumbered them; they were able to pin down Tolui and Guo Jing very quickly.
“Give up? Give up?” Dukhsh shouted as he continually rained punches onto Guo Jing's back. Guo Jing tried with all his might to get back up, but was weighed down by his foe's weight. At his side, Tolui was also being ganged up on by two kids.
It was at this precarious moment that the sound of horse bells could be heard coming from just over a sand dune as a small group of riders appeared. The leading rider was a short, fat fellow riding on a yellow horse. Seeing the kids fighting in the distance, he let out a little laugh.
“Hah, fighting!” Only when he rode closer for a better look did he realize that it was seven kids bullying two much smaller kids. They’d pinned them down on the ground and were beating them.
The two smaller kids' faces were already full of bruises.
“Shame on you; let them go!” He shouted.
“Piss off!” Dukhsh shouted back. “Do you know who I am? I'll beat up whoever I want to, and you can't do anything about it!” His father was one of the most powerful men in the North, so he was used to bullying everyone and nobody dared to challenge him.
“How dare you act like that? Let go of them!” The rider on the yellow horse yelled back. By this time, the rest of his group had joined him.
“Third Brother, stop meddling in affairs that don't concern us, let's go.” There was a woman in that group.
“Look at them, what kind of fighting is this?” The rider on the yellow horse replied.
These riders were the Seven Freaks of the South. They had followed Duan Tiande all the way north onto the Steppe before losing his trail. These past six years, they had roamed up and down the Steppe in search of Duan Tiande and Li Ping. All seven of them had actually learned Mongolian by this time, but they still could not find any clues as to the whereabouts of Li Ping. The Seven Freaks were all stubborn characters, and very competitive as well, so even if faced with ordeals ten times 100
Eagle Shooting Hero
more difficult and more dangerous than this, they would not concede this bet to Qiu Chuji. Without ever conferring, the seven of them had the same plan, even if they never find Li Ping, they would still search until the eighteen years was up. At that time they would go to Pavilion of the Drunken Immortal in Jiaxing and admit defeat to Qiu Chuji's face. Besides, Qiu Chuji might not find Yang Tiexin's widow either. If neither side could find their widow, then a tie would result and then maybe another challenge would be issued.
“Two against one, we can't allow that.” Han Xiaoying hopped off of her horse and pulled the two kids that were sitting on Tolui's back off of him. Suddenly realizing that all the weight was off of his back Tolui struggled to get up. Dukhsh paused for a moment and Guo Jing took advantage; he flipped his body violently and crawled out from between Dukhsh's legs. The two, having finally freed themselves, immediately tried to run away.
“Go after them!” Dukhsh yelled as he led the rest of his gang in hot pursuit.
Seeing these little Mongolian kids fight reminded the Seven Freaks of all the misadventures that they had together when they were little, causing them to smile quite fondly at the memories.
“It’s time to go. Let's get to the market ahead before it disperses, or else we will miss a chance to ask the people there!” Ke Zhen’E suggested. By this time, Dukhsh's little gang had caught up to Tolui and Guo Jing once again and surrounded them.
“Do you give up?” Dukhsh demanded. Tolui, still looking very angry, did not reply but instead fiercely shook his head.
“Well you asked for it!” The kids converged upon one another yet again.
Suddenly there was a cold flash as a little dagger suddenly materialized in Guo Jing's hand. “You want some of this?”
Li Ping, out of love for her son, had already given him the dagger, that her husband left her, to carry around. She felt that this object was good for warding off evil and had intended that this dagger protect her son from evil spirits. Because of the bullying Guo Jing was receiving, he pulled it out.
Seeing that he had a weapon with him, none of Dukhsh's gang was brave enough to challenge him.
‘Magical Hands Scholar’ Zhu Cong was already on his way when a sudden flash caught his eyes.
The way the dagger reflected the sunlight lit up his heart.