Chapter - 412 Being Driven Mad By Unredressed Mongol Injustice (12)

With a bitter smile Song Qingshu said, "My Father does not seek fame and fortune. I only hope he will not kill me; then I will be satisfied."

"How can your father know about the party before it is over?" Chen Youliang said with a smile, "Unless he is a deity who can predict the future. Song Xiongdi, is your foot injured from the fall? Come, we can share the ride. We'll buy another horse in the next town."

Song Qingshu said, "A chunk of ice has bumped my calf because I was in such haste. As bad luck has it, it hit right on my 'zhu bin' [lit. building visitor] acupoint. There is indeed such a coincidence in this world." Because he was so preoccupied by Zhang Bo Longtou and Chen Youliang who were pursuing him, he had never thought that there were people who were plotting against him behind the large rock ahead. He only knew that he was being careless and the piece of ice happened to strike him on his acupoint.

"What bad luck?" Chen Youliang laughed and said, "I'll say it was Song Xiongdi's lucky day, to marry a beautiful woman as your wife. If there was no such strike, we would not be able to overtake you, and then you would be lost in your own confusion. Not only your reputation would be swept away, but you would ruin our major undertaking. If this sweet smelling, tender Miss Zhou become Chen Youliang's possession, wouldn't it be like a phoenix married a crow, a fresh flower stuck into a pile of manure?"

"Hmm," Song Qingshu said, "Chen Dage, it's not that Xiongdi is unable to tell good from bad, and does not believe you …"

Without waiting for him to finish, Chen Youliang cut him off, "You want to see Miss Zhou, don't you? That's easy. At this moment Bangzhu and the elders are in Lulong [a city in Hebei], Miss Zhou is with them. As soon as we get to Lulong, you can see her. When the Mount Wudang task is accomplished, your Gege [elder brother] will hold the wedding celebration for you, to fulfill your greatest desire; and then you will be grateful to your Chen Youliang Dage for the rest of your life. Ha ha, ha ha …!"

"All right," Song Qingshu said, "Let us go to Lulong. Chen Dage, how did Miss Zhou … how did she join our Clan?"

Chen Youliang laughed and said, "That was to Longtou Dage's credit. That day Zhang Bang Longtou and Zhang Bo Longtou went eating and drinking in a restaurant. They saw three strangers who dressed like our Clan disciples, mingled among us. Later, they sent some people to investigate, and unexpectedly found one of them is this lovable and charming Miss Zhou. Zhang Bo Longtou then sent someone to invite her to come with us. Don't worry, Miss Zhou is auspiciously well; not a single strand of her hair is injured."

Zhang Wuji groaned inwardly, "Turned out that we were already detected on the restaurant that day. If only Yifu were not blind, he would certainly raise the alarm. Ay, to think that all along Zhiruo and I were not aware. But I wonder if Yifu is also well?"

However, all throughout the conversation, Chen Youliang did not mention a single word about Xie Xun. He said, "Miss Zhou and you are engaged, Emei and Wudang two Sects will be under the Beggar Clan's command, add to that the Ming Cult; just how powerful can we be? We only need to defeat the Mongolians, and then this beautiful country [orig. jiang1 shan1 – river and mountain], heh, heh, will change its master."

His voice was full of smugness, as if not only the Beggar Clan had already conquered the world, but he, Chen Youliang, had already ascended to the throne, and was sitting comfortably in the imperial courtyard. Zhang Bo Longtou and Song Qingshu followed him laughing 'heh, heh', hollow laughs.

"Let's go," Chen Youliang said, "Song Xiongdi, Mo Qi Xia died around here; the cave where we hid his corpse is not far from this place, is it? You ran to this place and suddenly stumbled, could it be that Mo Qi Xia's spirit showed up? Ha ha, ha ha!" Song Qingshu did not reply. The three of them walked toward the horses and then left that place.

Zhang Wuji waited until they had gone far before he quickly unsealed Song Yuanqiao and the others' acupoints, and then he knelt to the ground and kowtowed over and over again. "Shibo, Shishu," he said, "Nephew was under suspicion and could not explain myself. I have offended you heavily, please punish me."

Song Yuanqiao heaved a deep sigh, tears streaming down from his eyes; he looked up to the sky without saying anything. Yu Lianzhou busily raised Zhang Wuji up and said, "We all have wrongly accused you. It was our own fault. We are as close as a flesh and blood family, let's not talk about this anymore. I just can't believe Qingshu … ay, if we did not hear it with our own ears, who could have believed it?"

Song Yuanqiao pulled his sword out and said, "Turned out Qidi came across Qingshu, that little animal … when he was peeking into Emei heroines' bedroom. We must put our school's internal affair in order. Three Shidi's, Child Wuji, let us pursue them; let me slay that animal with my own hand." Finished speaking, he launched his qing gong and ran to the direction Song Qingshu went.

"Dage, come back!" Zhang Songxi called out, "Everything needs to be considered further."

In his disturbed mind, Song Yuanqiao ignored his call; he kept running with the sword in his hand. Zhang Wuji lifted up his feet to give a chase. Several leaps later, he cut off in front of Song Yuanqiao. Bowing down he said, "Da Shibo, Si Shibo wants to talk to you. Currently, Song Dage is under other's influence; someday, he will come to his senses. If Da Shibo wants to punish him, you don't have to do it right away."

Song Yuanqiao sobbed, "Qidi … Qidi … your big brother has done you wrong." Suddenly he remembered how Zhang Cuishan had killed himself because he felt he had done Yu Daiyan wrong; right at this moment he suddenly understood the depth of his Wu Di's [fifth brother] feeling. Raising up his sword, he slashed it across his own neck.

Zhang Wuji was startled; using the Qian Kun Da Nuo Yi to the fullest, he snatched the sword from Song Yuanqiao's hand. But the blade had already cut the neck, creating a long strip of bloody cut. By this time Yu Lianzhou and the others had already caught up.

"Dage," Zhang Songxi persuaded, "Qingshu is going astray by committing this kind of treason and betraying his own Sect, Wudang people will hold him responsible; but cleaning up our school is a small matter, our country's safety is big. We can't lose sight on the big matter for the sake of a small one."

Song Yuanqiao's eyes grew big; he was angry. "You … you said cleaning up our school is a small matter? I … I fathered this disobedient son …"

"Listening to that Chen Youliang," Zhang Songxi said, "The Beggar Clan wants to borrow Qingshu's hands, scheming to harm our En Shi [benevolent master] and gain control over the major Sects of Wulin world, and conspiring against our country. En Shi's safety and well-being is the number one priority of our Sect; whether the Wulin world and the common people will have disaster or good fortune is even more important. This child Qingshu has done too much injustice; he will get his retribution sooner or later. We still need to discuss important matters."

Song Yuanqiao realized Zhang Songxi was very reasonable, he bitterly put the sword back into its sheathe and said, "My mind is troubled, I'll hear what Si Di has to say."