EASTERN HERETIC, WESTERN POISON (Book 2 of Legend Of The Condor Heroes)

Repentance Of The Haughty Dragon Part 1

Huang Rong burst out laughing:

" By the greatest good chance, I prepared a "Beggar's Chicken" and here it has entered the majestic belly of the ancestor of the beggars! It's a true honor!"

The beggar burst out laughing:

"Little girl, you are quite brave!"

He withdrew from his pocket several gilded projectiles:

" Yesterday," he explained, " I saw several individuals brawling... The missiles which one of them launched shone like gold. I was the one who benefited from it, I took some of them. In fact, inside, it is cheap metal, but outside, to look good, it is genuine gold. Hold, little urchin, take them and have fun. Where necessary, you can draw some funds from them."

Guo Jing shook his head:

"We regard you as a friend, and when one invites a friend to eat, one does not accept gifts in payment!"

In doing so he honored the rules of hospitality of the Mongols.

The beggar, feeling thwarted, scraped his head:

" Then, I am also embarrassed! I have no trouble begging for scraps from people, but today, you provided me such a good chicken! Such a benefit, that I cannot return it, that..."

"Why speak about benefit and repayment, for such a small chicken?" Guo Jing said. " And, to be honest, we stole this chicken too..."

" We took this chicken in passing," confirmed Huang Rong, you ate it while you passed here, very well done..."

The beggar still burst of laughing:

"You two," said he, " funny enough, I like you well. Good, if you have a wish to formulate, tell it to me."

Guo Jing, understanding that he proposed to help them, which again infringed the rules of hospitality, shook his head again. But Huang Rong intervened:

" In fact, this "Beggar's Chicken" is really not a great thing, I have other small favourite dishes, that I would readily make for you to taste. Why won't you come with us?"

" Splendid!" exclaimed the beggar, enchanted. "Splendid!"

" What is your honorable name?" asked Guo Jing.

" My name is Hong, the beggar. And as I am the seventh in my fraternity, you can call me "Qi Gong" ("The Seventh Elder")."

"It is indeed him!" Huang Rong said. " The Divine Beggar with the nine fingers! But it seems to be younger than the Taoist Master Qiu, how could he be a contemporary of the master of the Quanzhen Seven? Hmm...actually, my dad himself isn't old, but yet he is a peer of Qi Gong! That must be explained by the incompetence of these seven old Taoists, who wasted their time! " She always held some resentment against Qiu Chuji for his having wanted to force Guo Jing to marry Mu Nianci.

They went towards the South and arrived in a small town, where they took a room in an inn.

" I'll go to the market," said Huang Rong. "You men, it's better for you to rest a little."

" She...isn't she your little wife? asked Qi Gong of Guo Jing while watching her depart with a smile.

The young man reddened, not daring to agree nor to disagree. Qi Gong burst of laughing, and started to drowse on a chair. More than one and a half hours later, Huang Rong returned finally and settled in the kitchen. Guo Jing wanted to help her but the girl closed the door while laughing. Another half an hour passed. Qi Gong yawned, stretched, and inhaled deeply:

" That smells jolly good," he said. " But what could that be, well? It's odd..."

He stretched his neck, trying to look through the door of the kitchen. Looking at him, both impatient and greedy, Guo Jing could not stop himself from secretly laughing. Delicate aromas emerged from the kitchen, but Huang Rong remained always invisible.