Chapter - 86 Fighting Contest to Find a Suitor (3)

"Eldest Shifu," he said to himself, "has given me good advice not to seek trouble. If I ride swiftly at them, those girls will be well obliged to let me pass!"

He lashed his reins, pressed with his thighs, and the red horse sped forward like an arrow. Sword in hand, Guo Jing cried, "Listen, you people! Let me pass! If someone is jostled and falls in the precipice, it won't be my fault!"

In an eye blink, he arrived in front of the four women. They had leapt down from their camels and attempted to seize the bridle of the horse. But, with a whinny, the horse leapt over the camels! Guo Jing had the impression that he was flying in the clouds as he landed behind his opponents, who were just as surprised as him!

Hearing them scream out their anger, he turned and saw the flash of two projectiles flying towards him. This being his first travels in the jianghu, he had taken heed of the prudent recommendations of his masters: worried that the missiles were poisoned, he did not wish to seize them with his bare hand. He waved his leather cap, and gathered them, intercepting their flight.

"Well done!" cried two of the women. "Pretty gongfu!"

Guo Jing dipped his head and saw, inside his cap, two silver darts tipped with extremely sharp fishbones, deadly weapons! He felt disturbed and upset, "There is no ill-will between us," he said to himself. "You covet only my horse and here you are ready to injure me mortally!"

He placed the missiles in his pouch, and fearing to meet the four other women, he loosened his horse's reins. It galloped like the wind and in less than an hour, had covered 80 li. The assailants had to be ambushed more far on the road, but it was passed so quickly than they did not have to have the time to stop it. After a brief rest, he continued on. Before night fell again, he had arrived to Kalgan, sure that he had left behind those following.

Kalgan, the crossroads of commerce between the South and the North, was a small but very lively city, where the trade of the region was centered, especially the fur trade.

Holding his red horse by the reins, Guo Jing glanced right and left with great curiosity. Never had he seen a town of such importance, so that everything appeared strange and novel to him.

Arriving in front of a large restaurant, he felt the pangs of hunger. He tied up his horse in front of the door and went in. Once seated at a table, he ordered a dish of beef, with two pancakes, and being of good appetite, he ate in the Mongol manner, winding the meat in the pancake and taking bites out of it.

While he treated himself, he suddenly heard a tumult at the door of the inn. Fearing for his mount, he rushed to the doorway. The little red horse was quietly eating his fodder, but two inn boys were scolding a young, slender boy, clothed in rags.

Aged about fifteen or sixteen years, on his head he wore an old leather hat with many holes, his face and hands were all dirty, so much so that one could not distinguish his features clearly. He held a big bun in his hand and laughed stupidly, revealing two rows of beautiful white teeth, that seemed out-of-place in comparison with his general appearance. His black, very lively eyes, shone with intensity.

"Hey!" screamed one of the boys. "Get lost!"

"Sure," said the young man, "since you want me to go, I'll go.."

He turned on his heel, but the other inn boy interrupted, "Leave the bun!"

He did so, passed back the bun, but it was spattered with the tracks of dirty fingers and could no longer be sold. The inn boy, furious, launched a blow with his fist, that the other ducked.

Guo Jing felt pity for him, thinking that he had to be hungry, and interposed himself:

"There's no need for violence," he said. "Put that on my account!"

He obtained the bun and gave it to the young man, who took it, but said, "This bun is no good! Poor thing, wait; here, for you!"

He threw the bun to a small skinny dog that started to devour it.

"What a waste!" swore the inn boy, "giving a dog such a good bun!"

Guo Jing was taken aback, for he had believed that the boy had suffered from hunger… He returned to his table to continue his meal. Now, the young man followed him inside the establishment and stayed there, looking at him fixedly. Guo Jing felt a little bothered, then he asked, "Do you want to eat here, too?"

"Gladly so," replied the young man with a laugh. "Exactly, I was bored all alone and I've been looking for a buddy…"

He had a Jiangnan accent, and its familiarity delighted Guo Jing. In fact, his mother was from Lin'an, in Zhejiang province , and the Odd Six all came from Jiaxing: he had therefore, since childhood, been immersed in the accent of the Jiangnan. The young boy seated himself at the table. Guo Jing ordered a cover of more to the waiter. He saw the rags and dirtiness of the new guest, his appearance was not very nice. It was necessary to to call him several times before he brought over a bowl and plate, dragging his feet.

"You take me for a pauper," said the young boy, "unworthy to eat here?"

"Peuh! Even if you serve your finest dishes, who knows whether they might be to my taste!"

"Ah yes?" said the waiter coldly. "We will assuredly follow your orders, sir. The problem is that we don't know if anyone will pay!"

"Whatever the dishes that I order," the boy demanded of Guo Jing, "will you treat me?"

"Of course, of course!" réplied Guo Jing, who then ordered the waiter, "quickly, will you cut up a plate of roast beef and a half plate of mutton liver!"

For him, roast beef and mutton liver constituted the ultimate in delicacies…

"Do you drink wine?" he asked the boy.

"Wait," the other replied. "Don't rush into the meat. Let us begin first with fruit. Eh, waiter! Bring us first four dry fruit, four fresh fruit, two salted sweetened ones, four preserved fruit in honey."

The waiter was shocked, not expecting such orders:

"Which fruit and sweets would you wish, sir?" he enquired.

"In this little establishment, in this pathetic little town," says the boy, "I imagine it's impossible for you to do anything great. Then, one will content oneself with little: the four dry fruit are lichis, longans, jujubes to the steamed and gingkos. For the expenses, you will choose seasonal fruits. For the salted sweetened, perfumed cherries and plums to the filaments of ginger, but I don't know if one can find some here. As for the preserved fruit in honey, you will bring perfumed orangettes to the rose, preserved grapes, fishing lamelles to sugar freezes, and pear slices."

This knowledge of culinary matters impressed the waiter, who no longer dared to act superior.

"There is no fresh fish or fresh shrimp here, to accompany the wine," continued the boy, "so I will be content with eight average… dishes."

"What would you desire, sir?" asked the waiter.

"Of course," said the boy with a sigh. "If one does not explain all the tiniest details, you would be incapable of doing anything! Here are the eight dishes: steamed pheasant, fried ducks feet, a soup of chicken tongues, deer stomach to rice wine, beef ribs with chives, rabbit in filament to the chrysanthemum, thigh of wild boar stir-fried, pork feet in ginger vinegar… I'm choosing simple dishes only, it's not worth speaking of more sophisticated dishes."