THE SMILING PROUD WANDERER by Jin Yong

Eavesdropping Part 5

"Master Yu? He was so terrible, he...he frightens me; I don't...don't want to see him again," the girl exclaimed. Her voice was trembling slightly, and seemed to still have fear in it.

"Master Yu was frightening? Did you see him kill people?" Lu Dayou asked.

The girl shrank and did not answer the question.

"On the day our Master received the letter from Master Yu, he was so angry that he inflicted those harsh punishments on big apprentice brother and sixth apprentice brother. The next day he wrote a letter and told me to send it to Mount Qingcheng...," the old man said.

"So that was what you were doing that day when you left in such a hurry. You were actually heading to Mount Qingcheng," several apprentices cried out.

"Yep," the old man nodded, "at that time Master told me to not mention it to any fellow apprentices to avoid additional incidents."

"What additional incidents? The respectful Master was just being careful. Things the Master asks us to do of course are things with good reasoning behind them. Who would agree otherwise?" Lu Dayou stated.

"What do you know?" The tall apprentice cut in. "If second apprentice brother had told you about it, you would surely have passed the message on to big apprentice brother. Although big apprentice brother wouldn't disobey Master's orders, it is very possible he would find some unusual ways to make trouble for the Qingcheng Sword School."

"Third apprentice brother is right," the old man agreed. "Big apprentice brother has many friends in the Martial World. If he really wants something done, he doesn't necessarily have to do it himself. Master told me that the letter contained all kinds of apologetic words to Master Yu, saying that his wayward apprentice was too ill-mannered; how he found the acts reprehensible; how he should have expelled the apprentice from the school, but if he did so, everyone in the Martial World would think that conflict existed between your respectful school and our school, which wouldn't be a good thing; now he had those two wayward apprentices...." He gave Lu Dayou a glance at these words.

"So I am a wayward apprentice, as well!" Lu Dayou was displeased.

"Is placing you at the same level as big apprentice brother a disgrace for you?" the girl asked.

Lu Dayou immediately became very happy. "You're right! Get me some wine, get me some wine!" he yelled.

The teashop only had tea for sale, not wine. The waiter rushed to the table and said, "Ha you all, our teashop only has Dragon Well, Dongting Spring, Puer, Iron Buddha. Ha you all, we don't sell wine, you all." The people of the Hengyang and Hengshan region had their own special accent, and this waiter was no exception.

"Ha you all! So ha your alls shop doesn't sell wine? Then I won't drink ha your alls wine. Ha you all!" Lu Dayou mimicked.

"Sure, sure, ha you all!" the waiter answered. He then filled all the teapots with boiled water.

The old man continued, "Master said in the letter that he had already had the two wayward apprentices harshly punished; he would have made the two go to Mount Qingcheng themselves to offer a humble apology, but the two wayward apprentices were hurt so badly from their punishment, they could not even walk; that's why he sent his second apprentice Lao Denuo to take the rebuke in their stead; this incident was solely caused by the wayward apprentices, he hopes Master Yu does not take too much offense for the sake of the good relationship between the Qingcheng Sword School and the Huashan Sword School; when they meet in the future, he would apologize to Master Yu personally."