Chapter 12 – Great banquet for heroes, Part 7
Yang Guo saw that this procession was extremely strange. He was just about to go and tell them the news of Hong Qigong’s death when suddenly an old beggar leapt up onto a rock and said loudly, “Chief Hong Lao has an order, he told me to tell everyone.” When the clan members heard this they all gave a cheer. They hadn’t had any news from Hong Qigong for over ten years, they all missed him, now they heard that he had news, they all called out in joy.
An old beggar in the crowd called out, “Blessings to Elder Hong Lao!” The crowd all cheered, their voices really shook the earth. Cheer followed after cheer, and only after a while did it cease.
Yang Guo saw that everyone was moved, some even had tears on their faces, he thought, “If a man can achieve respect like this, his life will not be in vain. Look at all these people’s joy, how can I tell them that Hong Qigong has passed away? Never mind the fact that I’m a nobody; if I tell them such news they might not believe me. Once they hear this there’ll be chaos, this isn’t good news anyway, why spoil things for them?” He continued his thought, “If they asked ‘how did Hong Qigong die’, I can’t keep the fact that he was dueling with Godfather from them. The Wu brothers know that I’ve learned the “Toad Stance” from Godfather, what reason have they got not to tell everyone this? There are many beggars here and it would be unavoidable for some of them to be suspicious that I might have helped my Godfather kill Chief Hong Lao. I’ll have no way to argue against hundreds of mouths. After the meeting I will explain everything carefully to Auntie Guo and allow her to tell them the news.” He thought that it was fortunate for him that the old beggar dashed out and allowed him time to think, if he blurted it out, he would have caused himself a lot of trouble.
He heard the old Beggar say, “Half a year ago, I was on the Guangnandong road in the Shao province and met Elder Hong Lao in Xingjun, and drank wine with him. He’s very healthy and his appetite is great; his drinking ability is the same as before and it’s still the only one of its kind.”
The crowd of beggars all cheered with delight again; within the cheers were sounds of laughter. That old beggar interrupted and continued, “Over the last few years, Chief Hong Lao has killed many unscrupulous officials and evil scoundrels who have terrorized our citizens. He said he had heard news that there are five evil bastards called the ‘Five Clowns of the Tibetan Border’ who are following the orders of the Mongols. They have done many evil things in places like Chuandong and Huguang, he said that he was going to take a look himself and if it is true, of course he’s going to take their lives.”
A middle-aged beggar got up and said, “The ‘Five Clowns of the Tibetan Border’, they caused trouble a while back, but they move without a trace, our brothers in Chuandong were not able to find them. Recently, there has been no news of them; Chief Hong Lao must have sorted out this problem.” The beggars and heroes who watched the ceremony all applauded.
Yang Guo was gloomy, “How would you people know that after Chief Hong Lao and my Godfather made the ‘Five Clowns of the Tibetan Border’ into invalids, the two of them left the world not long after.”
The old beggar continued, “Chief Hong Lao said, ‘Right now the world is in a mess, the Mongols are slowly invading southwards, eating into our Song land. Those in our clan must have loyalty in our hearts, swear to kill our enemies and defend against aggressors with all our might.” All the beggars agreed and their spirits soared. The beggar said, “The government is in a mess, corrupt ministers hold the power, and we can’t expect some rotten officials to protect the people and defend the land. They’ll never be able to do this. The foreign aggressors are getting closer, everyone must have the will to protect our country, and Chief Hong Lao ordered me to tell all of our brothers to remember the word ‘loyalty’.”
All the beggar clan members responded; they all called out, “We swear to follow Chief Hong Lao’s orders.”
Yang Guo had never been taught much since he was young and didn’t know how important the word ‘loyalty’ is; he saw the beggars all trembling with justice and righteousness, and he couldn’t stop himself from being touched. He felt that his making fools out of the Beggar Clan members before was wrong.
After the meeting, the clan’s matters were discussed; there was no need for the outsiders to listen and they took their leave.
When evening came, the Lu Manor was filled with lanterns and candles, all glowing brilliantly. There were over two hundred tables all together in the main hall, side halls, back and front halls, and the courtyard; over half of the world’s heroes attended this feast. This ‘Heroes Feast’ is an exceptional event, a once in a lifetime event; if the host didn’t have so many acquaintances who all respected him, it would be difficult for anyone to invite so many heroes of the Wulin world.
Guo Jing and Huang Rong accompanied the main guests and sat in the main hall. Huang Rong arranged a place for Yang Guo and he sat at the table next to hers. Guo Fu and the Wu brothers sat quite a distance away.
Guo Fu was surprised at first and thought, “That person doesn’t know martial arts, why did mother give him such a good seat?” She had a sudden thought, and couldn’t stop herself from being alarmed, “Oh no, crap! Father said he was going to betroth me to him, could it be that mother is listening to father?” The more she thought about it the more frightened she became; she remembered how she saw her mother holding Yang Guo’s hand while walking, looking very close. She also thought about how her father and mother respected each other, if her father wants to do this, mother would not disagree. She was worried and angry, she thought, “How can I get married to that little beggar?” She wanted to cry.
Wu Xiuwen happened to speak at this time, “Sister Fu, look at where that punk named Yang is sitting. He counts as a hero?”
Guo Fu forced out, “If you’ve any skill then drive him away!”
The Wu brothers had originally just looked down on him but after hearing Guo Jing saying that he wanted to betroth Guo Fu to him, they made him their enemy.
Wu Xiuwen heard what Guo Fu said and thought, “Why don’t I insult and embarrass him? He’ll be humiliated in front of all these heroes. Master’s wife has always favored those with a strong character, when the one named Yang trips up in public, Master’s wife will not want him to be her son-in-law.” He had just learned the “Solitary Yang Finger” from his Martial Uncle, now was a good time to test it, he said, “Since he wants to pretend that he is a hero, I’ll let him show off and then make him lose face.” He stood up and poured two cups of wine; he went over to Yang Guo and said, “Brother Yang, you must be proud of yourself regarding these last few years. I give you a toast.”
When Yang Guo saw Wu Xiuwen coming towards him, he had seen him glancing over at Guo Fu incessantly and his face had a sly look, showing that he didn’t have any good intentions. He thought, “He’s come over here to give a toast, he must be up to something. But he wouldn’t dare put poison in the wine.” So he stood up and received the wine, he said, “Thank you.” He drank the wine in one gulp.
Just at this moment, Wu Xiuwen stretched out his index finger and touched Yang Guo’s waist. He turned his body to block the view of others, he had sealed Yang Guo’s ‘Laughing Waist’ pressure point, according to his Marshal Uncle, if you use the “Solitary Yang Finger” to seal an enemy’s ‘Laughing Waist’ pressure point, the opponent will laugh and call out. If the pressure point is unsealed, the opponent will keep on laughing without stopping.
Yang Guo had already put his body on guard, how could he fall for the surprise attack? With Yang Guo’s present skills, he would never be ambushed by his opponent’s surprise attack. With Yang Guo’s temper, normally he would not take this ill intent and would definitely counterattack fiercely. If he hadn’t caught Wu Xiuwen out then he would have sealed Wu Xiuwen’s ‘Laughing Waist’ pressure point instead. But after having that conversation with Huang Rong, he was feeling happy and relaxed, he thought, “Although there is some animosity between us, you are still Uncle and Auntie Guo’s disciple, I won’t mess around with you.” He secretly circulated the internal energy that Ouyang Feng had taught him, in a flash all his bodies’ veins circulated the opposite way, all his pressure points changed places, but because he wasn’t upside down and he didn’t have much experience with this type of kung fu. After one inhalation and one exhalation, his body reverted back to normal; he needed to circulate his internal energy again to reverse his veins. But this short period of time it was enough to render Wu Xiuwen’s attack useless.
Wu Xiuwen saw that after touching his pressure point, Yang Guo had a little smile on his face, he was still sitting in his original position and there was no reaction from him. He was surprised and returned to his table. He quietly said, “Brother, how come the kung fu that Martial Uncle taught us doesn’t work?” Wu Xiuwen told him what had just happened.
Wu Dunru chuckled and said, “Your stance must have been wrong or you’ve pointed to the wrong place.”
Wu Xiuwen quickly said, “What’s wrong? Take a look.” He raised his finger and then pointed to his brother’s waist; the appearance, stance and strength were exactly the same as the method that his Martial Uncle taught him.
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