Chapter - 304 Havoc In the Jin Palace (6)

Huang Rong replied, "Exactly, these people talk shamelessly!"

Suddenly someone behind them said, "Humph! What do you two know enough to talk nonsense here?"

They turned around and saw a man dressed as a scholar, roughly 40 years of age, sneering at them. Guo Jing greeted the scholar by cupping his hand and said, "Junior does not understand and would like to ask Mister for advice."

That man replied, "This is the most splendid work of Yu Guobao in the year of Chun Xi. That year Emperor Gao Zong Tai Shang came to drink wine, he saw the work and praised it greatly. That very same day the emperor granted Yu Guobao a government position. This is a scholar's lifelong dream; and the two of you absurdly ridicule it!"

"So because the Emperor saw this screen that the innkeeper covers it with a jade-green muslin?" Huang Rong asked.

That man coldly laughed and said, "How can it be so? Look at the sentence 'Comeback tomorrow carrying the remnant of drunkenness' on the screen. Do you see that this one sentence has two corrected characters?"

Huang Rong and Guo Jing examined closer and found the character 'fu' [carrying up or supporting somebody up] was formerly 'xie' [bringing/carrying along], and the character 'zui' [drunkenness] was actually 'jiu' [wine].

The man then said, "Yu Gaobao originally intended to write 'Comeback tomorrow bringing the remnant of the wine'. The Tai Shang Emperor smiled and said, 'Although this phrase is good, it is rather simple-minded'. Hence he took a brush to correct these two characters. That was truly heaven sent wisdom and farsightedness, purifying iron into gold." He swayed his head and sighed as if he was enjoying incessantly.

Guo Jing listened and became angry. He loudly yelled, "This emperor Gao Zong put Qin Gui in an important position, to harm and kill Master Yue [General Yue Fei]!" His leg flew and kicked the screen, smashing it. He grabbed backward to catch the scholar and push him forward. With a splashing sound the wine spilled everywhere; that man, head up feet down, sank into the wine vat.

Huang Rong loudly applauded and laughed, "I too will make correction on these two sentences; they are, 'Today standing upright spoiling the wine, the gentleman sank into the vat drunk."

The scholar emerged from the wine jar, as wine was dripping from his head, he said, "The oblique tone of 'drunk' does not rhyme well."

Huang Rong replied, "'Wind entering the pine' does not rhyme well. My poem 'Man entering the jar' rhymes better!" She extended her hand and firmly pressed his head down inside the wine jar, then flipped the table over, causing a disorderly burst. Both the customers and the wine shop keeper scrambled out the shop. Guo Jing and Huang Rong rose up; they pounded and smashed all the wine vats, pots and cauldrons. Finally using the '18-Dragon Subduing Palms' Guo Jing exerted all his strength to strike the main pillar of the inn, causing the roof to collapse. For a brief moment, a large restaurant transformed into a ruin made of wood, hardly resembling anything.

Guo Jing and Huang Rong laughed loudly. Holding each other's hand, they walked to the north. Nobody knew where did these couple of mad young man and young woman come from; who dared to pursue?

Guo Jing laughed, "That was a good beating, all the bad air in my chest went away completely."

Huang Rong happily replied, "Whenever we see anything unsightly, we will break it."

Guo Jing replied, "Good!"

Since leaving the Peach Blossom Island, two people went through many unfavorable situations. Although they were reunited, their teacher suffered a serious and difficult to heal injury, making their hearts constantly heavy. This time unexpectedly they had a chance to break up a restaurant; it had helped to vent their frustration. The couple leisurely walked along the lakeshore and saw poems everywhere: on the rocks, on the trees, on the pavilions and on the walls. They were either leisure travelers bidding their farewell, or young men expressing their love.

Guo Jing did not understand the poems, but when he saw the words 'wind', 'flower', 'snow' and 'moon' he sighed and said, "Even if we have a thousand pairs of fists, we can't break them all. Rong'er, you have learned literature and art, what are all these for?"

Huang Rong smiled, "There were some good ones among these poems," she said.

Guo Jing shook his head, "I still think fists and kicks are more useful," he said.

While walking and talking they reached the 'fei lai feng' [flew in peak]. There was a pavilion built on that peak. Above the gateway there were three characters 'cui wei ting' [jade-green small pavilion] in Han Shizong's handwriting. Guo Jing knew Han Shizong's reputation; seeing the handwriting of the general who resisted the Jin army he was delighted. He quickly walked into the pavilion. There was a stone monument inside the pavilion, with a poem engraved on it:

'With the passing years dust has settled on the battle uniforms, especially seeking some fragrant jade-green wine, not enough to only see good mountain and good river, taking advantage of the bright moon light the return of horse hoofs.'

This seemed to be the handwriting of Han Shizhong as well.

"This is a good poem," Guo Jing praised. Actually, he did not know a good poem from the bad, but he thought this poem was Han Shizhong's, also it contained words like 'zheng yi' [battle uniforms] and 'ma ti' [horse hoofs]; so it must be good.

Huang Rong said, "That was Master Yue, Yue Fei's work."

Guo Jing was surprised; he asked, "How do you know?"

Huang Rong replied, "I listened to father's story. In the winter of the eleventh year of Shaoxing, Master Yue died under the hand of Qin Gui. In the spring of the following year, remembering him Han Shizhong built this pavilion and engraved this poem as a memorial. Unfortunately, Qin Gui was highly influential during that period, so he could not openly commensurate Master Yue."

Remembering the previous dynasty's general Guo Jing stretched out his hand and ran his finger along the inscription on the stone. While he was lost in thought suddenly Huang Rong pulled his sleeve and jumped toward the bushes behind the pavilion, pressing his head down. As they were crouching, they heard footsteps of people entering the pavilion. A moment later they heard someone said, "Han Shizhong was naturally a hero. His lady, Liang Hongyu, although came from prostitution, had helped her husband achieve victory by beating drums during the battle. She could be considered a heroine."

Guo Jing found this voice to be somewhat familiar but could not remember who it was. Again another man said, "Yue Fei and Han Shizhong were heroes, but the emperor wanted their deaths and stripped their military leadership. Both Han and Yue must follow the order; obviously the emperor held the power that even heroes like them cannot defy."

Guo Jing listened to the accent and recognized this person as Yang Kang. Guo Jing was unconsciously startled; thinking what was Yang Kang doing here? While still surprised, another broken cymbal-like voice confounded him even more. It was the Western Poison Ouyang Feng. He heard Ouyang Feng said, "Correct, with muddle-headed ruler in reign just like the previous dynasty; it doesn't matter how great a hero is, he is useless."

The first person then said, "But if a wise ruler is on the throne, a great hero like Mr. Ouyang could greatly help him unfold his aspiration."

Listening to these two speaking suddenly Guo Jing remembered that the other one was the enemy who killed his father, the Sixth Prince of the Great Jin, Wanyan Honglie. Even though he had seen Wanyan Honglie's face before, but it was not often he heard his voice, therefore, he was unable to remember for a moment.

The three people talking and laughing, then they left the pavilion. Guo Jing waited until they were gone far then he asked no one in particular, "What do they do in Lin'an? How come Brother Kang is with them?"