The Book and The Sword - Yong Jin - Страница 112

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Yu had been greatly impressed by the Muslim's immense strength that allowed him to run faster than a horse even with the donkey slung over his shoulders. He knew he must be a martial arts master and bowed before him.

"If you just tell us which direction to go, we will go and find them ourselves," he said respectfully. "We don't wish to trouble you, sir."

"But I lost," the Muslim replied, smiling. "How can I back out now?" He turned the donkey round and shouted: "Follow me!"

They travelled on. Yu asked the man for his name, but he simply smiled and answered with more crazy jokes. The lame donkey walked very slowly, and after half a day they had covered only ten miles. They saw riders approaching from behind, and 'Mastermind' Xu and Zhou Qi galloped up. Yu introduced them saying: "This gentleman is taking us to find the Three Devils." Xu dismounted and bowed.

The Muslim simply smiled in response. "Your wife should be resting more," he said to Xu. "What's she doing, racing about like this?"

Xu stared at him, not understanding. Zhou Qi, however, blushed red, and galloped on ahead.

The Muslim was very familiar with the roads and paths of the desert, and towards evening, he led them to a small village. As they approached, they saw that a Manchu military unit had also just descended on the village. The Muslims were fleeing in all directions dragging their children after them.

"Most of the Manchu forces have already been exterminated, and the remnants have been surrounded, so where did these come from?" Xu wondered aloud.

A group of about twenty Muslims dashed towards them with a dozen soldiers on their heels, shouting and brandishing their swords. When the Muslims caught sight of the man on the donkey, they began to call out his name ecstatically: "Afanti! Afanti! Save us!"

"Everyone flee!" Afanti shouted. He raised his whip and galloped off into the desert with the Muslims and Manchu troops following behind.

After a while, several of the Muslim women fell behind and were captured by the soldiers. Zhou Qi could not bear to leave them, and she drew her sword and whirled her horse round. She charged the Manchu troops and with a swish of her blade, cut off half the head of one of them. The other soldiers surrounded her, and Xu and the others galloped up to rescue her. Suddenly, Zhou Qi felt a wave of nausea and as one of the soldiers leapt forward to grab her, she vomited all over his face. He frantically tried to wipe the mess off, and Zhou Qi killed him with her sword. Her legs and arms became rubbery and she swayed unsteadily. Xu rushed over to support her.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

Yu and Yuanzhi had by now killed or chased away the rest of the soldiers. Xu caught one of the fleeing troops and interrogated him about where the column had come from. The soldier threw himself down on the ground and begged for mercy, gabbling incoherently. Finally they extracted from him the fact that he was attached to a relief force coming from the east. Xu chose two strong young men from amongst the group of Muslims and sent them off immediately to inform Muzhuolun, so he would be prepared. He gave the soldier a kick on the behind and shouted "Go to hell!" The soldier scampered away.

Xu turned back to his wife. "Are you all right?" he asked. "What's the matter?"

Zhou Qi blushed and turned her head away.

"The cow is going to calve," Afanti said.

"How do you know?" Xu asked, surprised.

"It's strange. The bull didn't know the cow was going to calve, but the donkey did."

They all laughed, then countinued on their way. As evening approached, they stopped and set up tents for the night.

"How many months gone are you?" Xu quietly asked his wife. "How is it that I didn't know?"

"How would my stupid bull know?" Zhou Qi replied, smiling. After a moment she added: "If we have a boy, then he will be surnamed Zhou. Father and mother will die of happiness! Just so long as he's not as crafty as you."

"You must be careful from now on," said Xu. "No more sword-fighting." She nodded.

The next morning, Afanti said to Xu: "Your wife can stay at my home while we go and look for those men. It's another ten miles further on. I have a very beautiful wife there…"

"Really?" Yuanzhi interrupted. "I must meet her. Why would she like a bearded fellow like you?"

"Aha, that's a secret," Afanti laughed.

They arrived in a village and Afanti led them to his house. Raising his saucepan, he began to bang it loudly, and a woman in her thirties came out to greet him. Her features were indeed beautiful and her skin white and delicate. They could tell she was overjoyed to see Afanti, but from her mouth issued a stream of curses: "Where the hell have you been, Whiskers? Do you still remember who I am after all this time?"

"Enough of your noise," Afanti replied with a smile. "Haven't I come back? Bring something out for me to eat. Your Whiskers is starving to death."

"Aren't you satisfied just looking at my lovely face?" The wife countered, also smiling.

"That's very true, your beautiful face is a great delicacy, but if I had some bread or something to go with it, it would be even better."

She reached over and gave his ear a sharp twist. "I won't allow you to go out again," she said. She went back inside, and re-appeared soon after with piles of bread, water-melon, honey and lamb. Yuanzhi didn't understand a word Afanti and his wife said to each other, but she could see from their teasing that they loved each other dearly, and felt desolate.

While they ate lunch, two people walked into the house, one a young boy and the other a labourer.

"Master Hu says that you should return the saucepan that you borrowed from him," the boy said.

Afanti glanced at Zhou Qi and smiled. "You tell Master Hu that the saucepan is pregnant and will soon give birth to a baby saucepan, and cannot be moved at the moment."

The boy looked puzzled, but he turned and left.

"What are you here for?" Afanti asked the labourer.

"Last year, I went to an inn in the village and ate a chicken. Before I left I asked the innkeeper for the bill, but he said: 'We'll settle it next time, there's no rush.' I thought at the time that he was being nice so I thanked him and left. Two months later, I went back to pay, and he started counting his fingers and mumbling away as if he was trying to calculate a very complicated account. I said: 'How much was that chicken? All you have to do is tell me!' The innkeeper waved his hand and told me to be quiet."

"A chicken, even if it was the biggest fat chicken, would not be more than a hundred copper pieces," said Afanti's wife.

"That's what I thought too," said the labourer. "But after he had been figuring for a long time, he said twelve taels of silver!"

"Ai-ya!" exclaimed Afanti's wife. "How could a chicken be so expensive? You could buy several hundred chickens with twelve taels of silver."

"Yes, that's what I said. But the innkeeper said: 'There's no mistake. If you had not eaten my chicken, how many eggs would that chicken have laid? And how many of those eggs would have become little chicks? And when those little chicks grew, how many eggs would they have laid…?" The longer he calculated, the higher the price became and finally he said: "Twelve taels of silver is actually very cheap!" Naturally, I refused to give him the money so he dragged me over to see Master Hu for him to settle the dispute. Master Hu listened to the innkeeper and told me to pay up. He said that if I didn't settle the account quickly, the eggs would become even more chickens and I wouldn't have a hope. Afanti, tell me who is right."

Just then, the boy returned.

"Master Hu says how could a saucepan be pregnant? He doesn't believe you and says you must return the saucepan to him immediately."

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