“Since when have I been stingy? If you don’t believe me, I’ll have the boat burned for you to see.”
After making some hand signals, four deaf and mute servants lighted some torches and rushed to the boat to burn it.
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Zhou Botong suddenly sat on the ground, flailing his hands and feet, pulling his hair and beard and bawling loudly. Seeing him acting like that startled every one. Guo Jing was the only one who really knew his temperament so he was just fascinated. Zhou Botong pulled his beard and rolled around on the ground, “I want to ride on the new boat; I want to ride the new boat.” Huang Rong quickly moved forward to stop the four servants.
Hong Qigong smiled, “Brother Yao,” he said, “For all of my life the Old Beggar has been ill-fated.
Let me accompany the Old Urchin on this ill-fated boat. We can use poison to combat poison. Let us see whether the Old Beggar’s unlucky aura wins, or if your ill-fated boat prevails.”
“Brother Qi, I thought you were going to stay on the island for several days,” Huang Yaoshi said,
“Why such a hurry to leave?”
“Within a few days the world’s big beggars, medium-sized beggars, and little beggars will gather at Yueyang in Hunan province. They will look to the Old Beggar to appoint a new leader. Should the Old Beggar meet a calamity and return to heaven before appointing a successor, who will lead the world’s beggars? That’s why the Old Beggar has to go, whether he wants it or not. Your brother truly appreciates Brother Yao’s generosity. When your daughter and son-in-law get married, I will come back to disturb the wedding.”
Huang Yaoshi sighed, “Brother Qi, you are truly an ardent man; you dedicate your life toiling for others, like a horse that never stops galloping.”
Hong Qigong laughed, “The Old Beggar never rides a horse and my feet can’t be compared to a horse’s hoofs. Aiyo! Something’s wrong! You are indirectly scolding me by saying that my feet are hoofs; wouldn’t that mean you are saying I am a horse?”
Huang Rong laughed, “Shifu, you said it yourself, my father didn’t scold you.”
“Of course, a Shifu will always be inferior to a father,” Hong Qigong said, “Just for that I am going to take a Mistress Old Beggar and we’ll have a baby girl beggar for you to look after.”
Huang Rong clapped her hands, “That’s great! I will have a little beggar martial sister to play with.
Won’t that be fun?”
Ouyang Ke stole a glance at her; in the bright sunlight she looked so beautiful with her pink cheeks like a spring flower and as colorful as the rosy-colored clouds at dawn. He couldn’t help but feel crazy about her. However, from her, his thoughts went to Guo Jing and his pulse quickened.
Knowing she only had eyes for Guo Jing, his anger rose and he swore in his heart, “There will come a day when I will kill this stinky kid.”
Hong Qigong held out his hand to help Zhou Botong onto the boat as he said, “Botong, I will accompany you on this new boat. Old Heretic Huang is so weird and we shouldn’t pay any attention to him.”
Zhou Botong was delighted, “Old Beggar, you are a very kind man, what do you say we become sworn brothers?”
Hong Qigong had not yet answered before Guo Jing interrupted, “Big Brother Zhou, you and I have become sworn brothers so how could you take my master as your sworn brother as well?”
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Zhou Botong laughed, “What’s the problem? If your father-in-law is kind enough and lets me ride on this new boat, I might be so happy as to take him as my sworn brother too.”
“What about me?” Huang Rong laughed.
Zhou Botong squinted his eyes, “I am not too keen to take on a baby girl; if I look at pretty women too much, they turn into trash.” Taking Hong Qigong’s arm he walked to the boat.
Huang Yaoshi quickly blocked their way, stretching both arms and saying, “Old Huang does not dare to take advantage of others. Riding on this boat will bring more harm than good. Gentlemen, you don’t need to prove your courage, it is well known on the Central Plains.”
Hong Qigong laughed heartily, “You have repeatedly warned us; even if the Old Beggar returns to heaven due to seasickness I will still appreciate Brother Yao’s friendship.” Although he said those things jokingly, in his heart he was quite wary since Huang Yaoshi had twice tried to stop them from boarding the boat. He knew something was wrong with that boat, but Zhou Botong was insistent on going aboard. He’d seen with his own eyes how stubborn Zhou Botong was. If something really went wrong, Zhou Botong could not possibly face the danger alone with his internal injury and all. That was the reason he made up his mind to go with Zhou Botong.
Huang Yaoshi made a ‘humph’ sound and said, “You two gentlemen are experts in martial arts; I am sure you would be able to turn bad luck into good. Old Huang worries too much. You, the boy named Guo, you are going with them.”
Guo Jing was startled. When he became Huang Yaoshi’s son-in-law he was called ‘Jing’er’ but now Huang Yaoshi suddenly changed the way he called him; moreover, his expression was so stern.
Looking at Huang Yaoshi he said, “Father-in-law …”
“Who’s your Father-in-law?” Huang Yaoshi cut him off with a harsh voice, “You are a greedy lying boy! If you ever set foot on Peach Blossom Island again, even half a step, don’t blame Old Huang for being ruthless.” Reaching backwards he grabbed a servant’s collar and shouted, “This is your example!” The deaf and mute servant’s tongue had been cut out, so only a low deep gurgling was heard from his throat as his body flew into the sea. His internal organs had been crushed by Huang Yaoshi’s palm. He dropped to the sea and in an instant disappeared without a trace among the waves.
The other deaf and mute servants were extremely terrified and they all knelt down at once. All were originally criminals and Huang Yaoshi had investigated their backgrounds carefully before capturing them one by one and taking them to the island. He cut out their tongues and pierced their ear drums, making them his slaves. He once said, “Old Huang is not a gentleman, so Jianghu people call me the Eastern Heretic. Naturally I don’t like gentlemen as my companions and I prefer wicked people to be my servants. The more wicked they are, the more I like them.” Seeing that servant, even though he deserved to be condemned, struck by his palm and thrown out into the sea without any reason, had shaken everyone. They could not help but sigh inwardly, “The Old Heretic Huang is really wicked.”
Guo Jing was frightened; he also knelt down on the ground.
“What did he do to offend you?” Hong Qigong asked.
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Huang Yaoshi did not answer his question, instead, he sternly asked Guo Jing, “Did you or did you not give the second volume of the ‘Nine Yin Manual’ to Zhou Botong?”
“I did give something to Big Brother Zhou, but I really did not know it was the manual,” Guo Jing said, “If I’d known …”
“What do you mean you didn’t know?” Zhou Botong interrupted. He was always ignorant as to what was serious and what was not. The more other people were upset, the more he wanted to play practical jokes on them. Without waiting for Guo Jing to explain he said, “You said it yourself, that you took that manual from Mei Chaofeng and said you were lucky that old man Huang Yaoshi didn’t know. You also said that after you mastered the manual, you will become the number one martial arts expert in the world.”
Guo Jing was stupefied. “Big Brother, I … when did I say that?” he said with a trembling voice.
Zhou Botong’s eyes glittered and with a stern voice he said, “You certainly did say that.”
The fact that Guo Jing was able to recite the book was well-known to those present; whether he knew it was the ‘Nine Yin Manual’ or not, nobody cared. Now that Zhou Botong had confirmed it, Huang Yaoshi was very, very angry. Why would he think Zhou Botong was only joking? He forgot that Zhou Botong was childish and always liked to make jokes, while Guo Jing was naïve and unable to tell lies. He was so wild with rage that he was afraid he would rip Guo Jing apart and thus smear his own reputation; so instead he raised his hands in respect towards Zhou Botong, Hong Qigong and Ouyang Feng, saying, “Please forgive me!” Pulling Huang Rong’s hand he turned around and walked away.
Huang Rong still wanted to have a few words with Guo Jing. “Jing ge ge …” she called; but she was pulled by her father and in a blink of an eye they had traveled dozens of feet, disappearing into the forest.
Zhou Botong burst out in laughter, but stopped abruptly because his chest hurt. Finally he chuckled and said, “The Old Heretic Huang has fallen into my trap. I spoke nonsense to deceive him and he took it seriously. Amusing…very amusing!”
Hong Qigong was taken aback. “Then Jing’er really didn’t know beforehand?” he asked.
Zhou Botong laughed, “Of course he didn’t know! He thought the ‘Nine Yin’ martial arts were evil; had he known, he wouldn’t have wanted to learn it with me. Brother, you memorized the manual really well didn’t you? Even if you want to forget it, you can’t, can you?” He held his stomach and burst out into laughter again and didn’t care if it hurt his chest, so his expression was really distorted.