When he arrived at the prison he saw a group of guards patrolling and keeping a close watch. Guo Jing waited a time but found no way to get in as they had the first time. He went around to the back of the building and waited for a guard patrol to go past. Then he leaped lightly onto the roof of the building wall, then quietly into the courtyard within. Leaning against a wall he listened for the presence of soldiers. When he was sure that the coast was clear he whispered quietly “Elder Mu, I've come to help you get out of here.”
Mu Yi was shocked. “Kind Sir, who are you?” he asked.
Guo Jing replied, “Junior's name is Guo Jing.”
Mu Yi vaguely heard the name Guo Jing, but after the events of the past day and being weak from injuries, it didn’t register at first. Then the two words 'Guo Jing' hit his brain like a thunderclap.
With a trembling voice he asked, “What? Guo Jing? Your...your...surname is Guo?”
Guo Jing replied, “Yes, junior is the one who fought with the young prince earlier today in front of the arena.”
Mu Yi asked, “What is your father's name?”
“My late father's name was Xiaotian.” When Guo Jing was young he didn't know his father’s name.
It was only later after Zhu Cong taught him to read that he was able to learn his father's name.
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Mu Yi's eyes filled with tears. He raised his head and said softly, “Heaven, oh Heaven!” He reached his hands through the bars and tightly held Guo Jing’s hand.
Guo Jing could feel Mu Yi's hands trembling and at the same time felt tears dropping onto his hand.
He thought to himself, “Elder Mu is very grateful that I’ve come to rescue them.”
He quietly whispered, “I have a sharp knife which I am going to use to cut away the lock and then both of you can come out. Earlier I heard the young prince talking. I know he is trying to deceive you, please don't trust him!”
Mu Yi however asked, “Your mother…is her surname Li? Has she passed away or is she still alive?”
“Oh!” Guo Jing asked surprised, “How do you know my mother’s surname? My mother is in Mongolia.”
Mu Yi became even more excited when he heard this. He continued holding Guo Jing's hand.
Guo Jing said, “Let my hand go so that I can cut off the lock.”
Mu Yi held Guo Jing's hand as if it were the most precious treasure in the world. He was afraid if he let it go he would lose Guo Jing so he continued to hold fast, sighing, “You...you have grown up into such a big man. Ai! I only have to close my eyes and I can see your father, now long departed from this world.”
“You knew my father?”
“Your father was my sworn brother. We swore to help our fellow countrymen.” At this point his throat became choked with emotion and he was unable to continue. When Guo Jing heard this, he found his eyes becoming moist with tears as well.
Mu Yi was in fact Yang Tiexin. During the battle with the government soldiers he suffered a deep spear wound in his back. He managed to cling to a horse and was carried for several li before he finally lost consciousness and fell off into a clump of bushes. The next morning, when he awoke, he crawled to a nearby farmer’s hut where he remained for over a month recovering. By then he could struggle out of bed with the aid of a walking stick. The village nearby was called Lotus Pond village and was only about fourteen to sixteen li [7-8 kilometers /4-5 miles] from his own Ox Village.
Luckily the farmer’s family was very kind and took care of him as he slowly recovered. However he was worried about his wife and wanted to go back and look for her in Ox Village. Since he was afraid that government soldiers might still be there searching for him, he waited until midnight before returning to his old house to look around.
When he arrived there he saw the door ajar which made him fear that the worst had happened. He pushed it open and walked in. He looked around and saw things were very much as they were the night that they had to flee. There were some half finished clothes that his wife, Bao Xiruo, had left lying on the bed. On the wall, where his two family spears usually hung, one was missing, probably taken by one of the soldiers that night. That left one, looking as if, like himself, it too had had lost its partner/wife. Apart from that, nothing else was disturbed and everything was covered by a thick layer of dust...
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When he went over to his sworn brother’s house, it too was much the same as the night they left. He thought about the old wine seller Qu San with his incredible martial arts skills and wondered if he might be able to help him find his sworn brother's family and his wife. However, when he went to the wine shop he found it was locked up and no one was there. Yang Tiexin (now disguised as Mu Yi) made inquiries amongst his acquaintances in Ox Village but they all said that after the soldiers had left there had been no news of Guo or Yang.
He went to Red Plum village to ask about his wife at his father-in –law’s house only to find that his father-in-law had died of shock shortly after hearing the news of the soldiers attack. Yang Tiexin wanted to cry, but had no tears left to shed. Dejected, he returned to Lotus Pond village and the farmer's family who had cared for him.
However, as the saying goes, ‘Troubles never visit in isolation’. An epidemic of plague had broken out and one by one the farmer's family was stricken. After only a few days six of them died leaving only a newborn baby girl alive. Yang Tiexin was duty bound to care for her so he made her his adopted daughter and took her with him on his quest to find Li Ping and Bao Xiruo. Since one was halfway to the northern steppe and the other already in the north what chance did he have of finding them?
Yang Tiexin didn't dare use his real name since he was a wanted man hunted by government soldiers. So he 'split' the character of his surname, ‘Yang’ in half and used the left side to form the new character ‘Mu’ for his assumed surname and the right half to form the character ‘Yi’ for his personal name.
[Translators Note: The character "Yang" is made up of the character "Mu" or wood and "Yang" for the sound. The whole character actually means Poplar Tree as well as being a surname. The "Mu"
of his assumed name actually means solemn and has another part of a character on the right side.
The "Yang" character is pronounced as "Yi" by itself and means "Change" as well as other meanings. This is coincidently the same "Yi" as the "Yi Jing" or "I Ching" - classic of changes. I'm sure there are quite a few allusions in this simple name change from which those who know Chinese history and culture well could have hours of fun analyzing. Also it is a common fact that when a man is forced to alter his name he is reluctant to lose touch with the original name, so the name Yang Tiexin choose is not in keeping with custom. Anyway - on with the story!]
After ten years of fruitless searching the ‘Rivers and Lakes’ region [Jianghu] his adopted daughter Mu Nianci had grown like a flower into a lovely young woman. Yang Tiexin thought that his wife had likely died at the hands of marauding soldiers by now. But he still held out the hope that heaven was not blind to the sufferings of man, and that Guo Xiaotian's wife had given birth to a son (Guo Jing) who was alive. As soon as Mu Nianci was of marriageable age he stuck his spear into the ground, erected a banner proclaiming a competition to win the hand of his daughter and waited with the hope that Guo Jing would one day come and win her hand in marriage, thus fulfilling his hope and pledge to become the father-in-law of his sworn brother's son.
Although many tried, no Guo Jing was among them; after the better part of a year, his hope of finding Guo Jing began to fade. Now he would have to be content to find any man of good character and martial ability to marry his adopted daughter. Then, suddenly, on this one day, they encountered embarrassment at the hands of Wanyan Kang, help from a heroic stranger and by nightfall to find out that the heroic stranger is none other than Guo Jing. How could he help but be overwhelmed with emotion?
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Meanwhile, Mu Nianci began to grow impatient listening to them talk about the past. She wanted Guo Jing to help them escape first and then, when they were safe, talk over old times at leisure.
Then she had a sudden thought, “If we leave now, I will never see 'him' again!” As soon as the thought came to her, she hurriedly pushed it aside. Guo Jing was also thinking that getting everybody out was the most important thing so he slowly raised his golden knife ready to strike the lock and cut it open.
Suddenly a glint of light appeared under the door and the sound of many footsteps could be heard approaching. Guo Jing quickly slipped behind a door just as the prison doors were pushed open and in marched several people. Through the crack in the door Guo Jing could see the person in front was a bodyguard carrying a lantern. Behind him was the Prince’s Consort, Wanyan Kang's mother.
She asked the bodyguard, “Are these two the people whom the young prince imprisoned?”
The bodyguard replied, “Yes.” confirming it was them.
She then ordered the guard on duty, “Release them immediately.”
The bodyguard hesitated, reluctant to obey the order so she said, “If the young prince asks why you released them, tell him I ordered it; now quickly open the lock and free them!”