DEMI GODS AND SEMI DEVILS Book 2 of 5 (Shrouding Screen In Suzhou) by Jin Yong

A Foreign Man's Vengeance Causes A Hero To Empty His Tears Part 2

Being saved by him, at first everyone in the Beggar Society had felt grateful for that, but now hearing him absolutely deny doing so, they were greatly amazed. Some people thought that for the past several days he had encountered a lot of unforeseen events, as a result his mind was in confusion; some thought that he had really made use of Murong Fu and killed Ma Dayuan, now fearing his evil scheme would be exposed, he bluntly insistently denied that he knew that man with the Murong surname; some thought that he had been conspiring to be the Chief of the Beggar Society again and was setting up some stratagem; there were even more people resolutely believing that he was exerting himself for Khitan by both opposing Western Xia and causing trouble to Great Song. Everyone had a different guess therefore there were all kinds of expressions on the faces of the beggars such as sorry, respectful, grieved, scornful and hostile.

Qiao Feng let out a deep sigh and said: 'Everybody has escaped from dangers so Qiao Feng is leaving now.' As he finished saying he cupped his fist in his hand, turned around and got on the horse. Raising the whip, he galloped away.

Suddenly he heard Elder Xu shout: 'Qiao Feng, leave the Dog Beating Stick behind.' Qiao Feng abruptly reined the horse and said: 'The Dog Beating Stick? In the apricot forest didn't I already hand it over?' Elder Xu said: 'We slipped up and was captured so the Dog Beating Stick fell into the hands of the Western Xia bastards. Now we have ransacked everywhere but still can't find it. Most prolly you've taken it.'

Qiao Feng turned his face skywards and let out a stream of laughs, which sounded sorrowful and disappointed, then said loudly: 'I, Qiao Feng, and the Beggar Society no longer have any connection with each other, what do I take the Dog Beating Stick for? Elder Xu, you've overly undervalued me.' He gave the horse a nip with his legs. It immediately galloped towards the north with its four hooves looking like flying.

When Qiao Feng had been a child he had been loved and raised by his parents. Later, he had been taught martial arts by a Shaolin monk Xuan Ku dashi (dashi = great monk, an honorific title for monks), then he had acknowledged Chief Wang of the Beggar Society as his master. When going in jianghu, even though he had experienced a lot of hardships and dangers, his masters and friends had invariably treated him with genuine sincerity. But for the past two days, a storm had suddenly taken place in the world. A Chief who had all along been renowned, illustrious, sincere, benevolent and righteous was unexpectedly regarded as a traitor to the country who harmed the people, and as a shameless untrustworthy scoundrel. He let the horse go aimlessly as it pleased. His mind was extremely confused: 'If I'm really a Khitan, for the past ten years I've killed not just a few Khitan people and ruined not just a few Khitan schemes, how come I'm not a greatly disloyal man? If my parents were really killed by Han people outside of Yanmen Pass, as I've regarded the murder of my parents as master and for the past thirty years called other people father and mother, how come I'm not a greatly unfilial son? Qiao Feng ah Qiao Feng, you're this disloyal and unfilial, how do you dare to live in the world? If Sir Sanhuai isn't my father then I'm certainly not Qiao Feng either? What's my surname? What's the first name that my natural father gave me? Ha-ha, not only am I disloyal and unfilial, but I also don't have first name and surname.'

He also had another thought: 'However, maybe all of these are due to a very treacherous arch-villain framing me. I, Qiao Feng, am confidently a dazhangfu (t/n: basically means a man of resolve or success), but I've been manipulated by others to the point that my reputation has totally been lost and can't be redeemed. If I packed up and left my responsibilities at this point because of the temporary indignation and from now on became indifferent to the Beggar Society, wouldn't that make the villain's scheme successful? Hum, all in all, I must investigate and make things clear.'

In his mind he planned, the first step was returning to Mt Shaoshi in Henan and asking Sir Sanhuai about my own life and origin, the second step would be entering Shaolin Monastery, visiting my first martial arts enshi (kind master) Xuan Ku dashi and begging him to reveal the truth, these two people had always cherished me very much so they definitely would not hold back anything.

After planning like that he did not feel worried anymore. In the past, as the Chief of the Beggar Society, he had been able to consider the whole country his home when travelling in jianghu. Now, not only could he not go to the branches everywhere for accommodation, in order to avoid causing troubles, wherever he went he did not use roads so that he would not meet former subordinates in the Beggar Society. After going for just two days, the money on his body had been used up therefore he had to sell the horse that he had seized from the Western Xia people for travelling expenses.

One day, he arrived at the foot of Mt Song then went towards Mt Shaoshi. This was the place where he had been staying during his boyhood therefore he was already familiar with the scenery everywhere. Because the Beggar Society was the biggest society in jianghu and Shaolin School was the biggest school in wulin, if the Beggar Society's Chief came to Shaolin, this would bring about all kinds of formalities and extravagances and disturb a great deal of people. Hence ever since he had taken up the post of the Beggar Society's Chief, he had never returned here. Every year he had only sent people to respectfully give his parents and enshi food and clothing, and to inquire after them. At this moment, when he was returning to his old land, thinking that his own origin was very enigmatic and that in two or four hours it would be made clear, even though he was a calm and stable man, he could not refrain from getting anxious.

His old home was located beside a mountain slope on the south side of Mt Shaoshi. Qiao Feng quickly went around the mountain slope. He only saw that there were a straw hat and a teapot put under the big jujube tree beside the vegetable garden. The handle of the teapot had already been broken. Qiao Feng knew that it belonged to his father Qiao Sanhuai. He suddenly felt a burst of warm thoughts in his heart: 'Dad is diligent and thrifty, this broken teapot has been used for several decades but he's still unwilling to throw it away.'

As he looked at the big jujube tree he also recalled that in his childhood every time jujubes had been ripe father had always held his small hand then knocked jujubes from the tree together with him. The red ripe jujubes had been so plump that their skin had been cracked. They had been both sweet and juicy. Ever since he had left his old land, he had never tasted such delicious jujubes again. Qiao Feng thought: 'Even if they aren't my real parents, in this life, it's hard for me to repay this kindness of nurturing. No matter what my real origin is, I definitely won't change what I've addressed them as.'

He went to and stopped before the three-room earthen house, only seeing a bamboo mat on which there were full of vegetables spread for sunning outside of it and a mother hen which was leading a flock of chicks pecking food in the grass. He could not help beaming: 'Tonight mom will surely kill chicken and prepare a meal to treat the son that she hasn't seen for a long time.' He called out: 'Dad! Mom! This son has returned.'

He called a few times but did not hear any reply. He thought: 'Ah, that's right, the two oldsters' ears have been deaf and can't hear.' He pushed the door open and strode into the house. Inside the main room, such things as wooden table, wooden bench, plow, harrow and hoe did not look very different than they had been when he had left home, but he saw no one.

Qiao Feng called several more times: 'Dad! Mom!', but still, he did not hear any reply. He felt a bit surprised and talked to himself: 'Where have they gone?' When he stuck his head in the bedroom, he could not help jumping out of his skin because he saw Qiao Sanhuai and his wife lying motionlessly on the ground.

Qiao Feng hurriedly jumped into the room. First he helped his mother sit up only to find that her breathing had already stopped, but her body was still a little bit warm, obviously she had been dead for less than two hours. Next, when he carried his father, he noticed the same things. Being both panicky and grieved, Qiao Feng carried the corpse of his father and ran out of the house. After examining it carefully in the sunshine, he discovered that all the ribs in his chest had been broken. It was clear that he had been stricken dead by the palm force of a martial arts expert. He looked at the corpse of his mother again and found that she had died in the same way. Qiao Feng was confused: 'My dad and mom are faithful generous honest peasants. Why could some martial arts expert use such a cruel means to murder them? Certainly it was because of me.'

He examined carefully the three rooms inside the house, as well as the area in front of it, the area behind it, and the roof to know what kind of man the murderer was. But the murderer did not leave behind even a single footprint. Qiao Feng's face was covered with tears. The more he thought, the sadder he became. He could not help bursting out crying.

When he had cried for just a short while, suddenly he heard someone say at his back: 'What a pity, what a pity. We've come late by a step.' Qiao Feng immediately turned around and saw four middle-aged monks dressed in clothes of Shaolin Monastery. Even though Qiao Feng had learned martial arts of Shaolin School, Xuan Ku dashi, the person who had taught him martial arts, had come to his house directly every night to teach him, therefore he did not know any monk of Shaolin Monastery. Now he was feeling miserable, hence even though he had seen the strangers, for the moment it was hard for him to hold back his tears.

A rather tall monk with a completely furious look loudly said: 'Qiao Feng, you're really lower than pigs and dogs. Even if Qiao Sanhuai and his wife aren't your real parents, the kindness of bringing you up for more than ten years is no trivial matter. How could you have the heart to murder them?' Qiao Feng sobbed: 'I returned home just a moment ago. Seeing that my parents have been murdered I only wanna find out who the killer is to revenge my parents. Dashi, how could you say so?' That monk said furiously: 'The cruel heart of Khitan people is hard to change. You've really acted like an animal! You killed your foster parents with your own hands, what a pity we came to help too late. Surnamed Qiao, if you wanna go to Mt Shaoshi to act wildly, you're still this far short of that.' As he finished saying, he threw a palm attack towards Qiao Feng's chest, creating a 'hu' sound.

When Qiao Feng was about to dodge, he heard the sound of wind gently moving at his back. He knew that someone was launching a sneak attack at the back. Unwilling to fight these Shaolin monks without clear reasons like this, he made a pressing with his left foot and gently leaped out for one zhang (3.333 m). As expected, a kick of another Shaolin monk missed him and hit the air.

Seeing that he had dodged so easily like this, the four Shaolin monks all had an astonished look on their faces. That tall and big monk scolded: 'Your martial arts are good. So what? You think that having killed your foster parents you can hide your origin? Too bad you're a descendant of the evil Khitan race. This has spread in wulin for a long time. Who in jianghu doesn't know about it? Committing this severe betrayal, you've only increased the amount of your sins.' Another monk scolded: 'First you killed Ma Dayuan, next you killed Qiao Sanhuai and his wife, humph humph, how can these scandals be hidden?'

Even though Qiao Feng heard the two monks revile him so, he was only grieved and did not have the slightest feeling of anger. All his life he had faced important matters, decided important doubtful cases and met not just a few difficult affairs, therefore at this moment he was very capable of repressing his anger. He cupped his fist in his hand in salute and said: 'May I ask, what are the religious names of the four dashi's'? Are you eminent monks of Shaolin Monastery?'

A monk with a medium height who had the most pleasant temperament said: 'We all are Shaolin disciples. Alas, your foster father and mother were faithful and generous all their lives, but they ended up being repaid this miserably. Qiao Feng, you Khitan people have acted too savagely.'

Qiao Feng thought: 'They're already unwilling to reveal their religious names. It's no use asking them more. That tall monk said they had come to help too late so they must have come here to help after receiving a message. But who secretly let them know? Who predicted that my parents were going to encounter dangers?' He then said: 'The four of you are charitable and descended from the mountain to save my parents. What a pity you were a tad late...'