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Promptly Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling modestly express their gratitude.

The beauty looked up at the starry sky. Her tone turned cold as she said, “The old fellow is already dead, isn’t he?”

Xu Ziling nodded sadly.

Shang Xiuxun did not turn around, she had her back against the two boys, as if she did not want them to see her expression. It was quite a while later when she spoke, “Come with me!”

The two boys were greatly surprised; this woman has always been arrogant, difficult, and was always proud of herself; she took credit alone, and alone she bestowed rewards. This invitation was indeed out of keeping with reason. Without much choice, they followed behind her, with belly full of suspicion.

Shang Xiuxun walked slowly in the wilderness. Under the dim light of the stars and the moon, her beautiful hair looked sparkling and dazzling. Her elegant figure exuded with otherworldly, indescribable, and mysterious beauty.

For a long time Shang Xiuxun did not say anything.

Until they came to an area with large rocks strewn along the creek. She stopped, sighed softly, and said, “Sit down!”

“We can stay standing,” Kou Zhong hastily said.

Shang Xiuxun selected a large rock and sat comfortably before saying again, “Sit down!”

Seeing her sitting down, how could the two boys stay polite? Each of them selected a nice flat and smooth rock and sat down.

They could still hear the voices of Liu Zongdao and the others’ conversation in the distance.

Shang Xiuxun said softly, “Do you think I am too harsh? You were asleep and I woke you up to see me.”

Smiling wryly, Kou Zhong said, “You are our big boss, naturally we have to obey your orders.”

“Pfft!” Shang Xiuxun giggled tenderly. She was deep in thought as if she was entranced for half a day, before smiling and said, “This is precisely why I like to talk to you, these two boys; because you treated me as your boss, not like other people who regard me as supreme Changzhu. The most amazing thing is that I know that in a lot of matters you keep me in the dark and deceive me, yet I have no way of grabbing your Achilles’ heel [orig. pain foot].”

The two boys were greatly embarrassed. “In which regards Changzhu thinks we are deceiving you?” Xu Ziling asked.

Shang Xiuxun coquettishly shook her small cicada head; her eyes swept the boys around. Looking up to the sky, she said softly, “I am not too clear myself, but I always feel that you two are not simple at all. Niang used to say that Lu Miaozi was highly intelligent, his natural disposition proud and aloof, had never had any regards toward anybody, hence he had never taught anybody his skill. Ay! A person’s character is not going to change, so why did he have such a high regards on you?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Kou Zhong said, “I am afraid we won’t know the answer unless he is back from the dead!”

Tranquil and calm, Shang Xiuxun said, “Dead men tell no tales! So what did he leave you with? Just before we left, I took a walk over to that small building of his, and that hateful old guy did not leave anything behind!”

Xu Ziling replied heavily, “Mr. Lu’s exquisite gadgets have become funerary objects, everything was buried with him underground.”

Shang Xiuxun’s beautiful eyes gazed deeply into his eyes; she asked indifferently, “So he did not leave anything to you?”

Kou Zhong replied, “Only a few written account of what he learned in all his life. Changzhu wants to look over it?”

Shang Xiuxun shook her head and said, “I don’t want to touch his stuff.”

The two boys breathed a sigh of relief inwardly, both thought, ‘That would be best.’

“Liar!” Shang Xiuxun suddenly said.

The two boys jumped in fright. They thought that if she wanted to do a body search on them, they would leave immediately.

A hint of smile escaped from the corners of Shang Xiuxun’s lips; after staring at the two boys for a few moments, she said calmly, “It does not make any sense. The old guy’s inventions are thousand-gold treasures that Jianghu people find it hard to find. Since he had such a high regards on you, how could he be that stingy? However, I won’t investigate this matter further; or else that old fellow will laugh at me from the Nine Springs [underworld in Chinese mythology] below.”

The two boys breathed a sigh of relief inwardly again, yet their faces did not show the slightest trace.

Shang Xiuxin sighed grimly before saying, “My heart is a bit of a mess, why don’t you two find any interesting things to talk about?”

Unexpectedly the beautiful Ranch Master was talking to them in an imploring tone; the two boys felt quite overwhelmed by this favor.

Xu Ziling suddenly said, “How about I set up a divinatory diagram to see what is happening to make Changzhu have such a troubled heart.”

Kou Zhong inwardly praised Xu Ziling’s brilliance.

Shang Xiuxun was greatly astonished, “You know divination method?” she asked.

Xu Ziling confidently replied, “Just learned it from Mr. Lu.”

Afraid that she might refuse, he hurriedly raised his hand according to the method Lu Miaozi taught him, showing a form of [divination] six ‘ren’ [not sure what it is, dictionary says ‘ninth of the ten Heavenly Stems’], pinching one finger to another [as in calculating] and then with a serious expression said, “This form of divination is called ‘covering distress’. The reason Changzhu’s heart is in turmoil is simply because the situation is unclear, there are snares along the way.”

Shang Xiuxun was stunned, “Seems like you do have a bit of skill; in just a short seven, eight-day period you managed to learn such a difficult and obscure thing?”

Having a sudden inspiration, Kou Zhong caught on, “Xiao Jing is a genius in divination, and I am a genius in the art of war. Hee!”

Shang Xiuxun said in disdain, “You are a genius in thick-skin-ness; have you look in the mirror lately?”

Kou Zhong laughed aloud and said, “Don’t despise the old fellow’s insight; if you don’t believe me, go ahead and test me.”

Snorting disdainfully, Shang Xiuxun muttered softly and said, “All right! Sun Zi’s [Sun Tzu] Art of War has eight main essentials; recite them for me.”

Remaining calm, Kou Zhong explained, “The book is dead, but the people are alive. So let me analyze the situation Changzhu is facing. Changzhu does not need to have your heart distracted, your thoughts in turmoil just because the situation is unclear.”

Shang Xiuxun stared blankly for half a day; finally she decided to test him for the time being, “Tell me!” she said.

Kou Zhong spoke respectfully, “This time Changzhu is leading your troops toward Jingling, was it because Jingling sent people to ask for your help?”

Shang Xiuxun’s phoenix eyes turned cold; slightly angered, she said, “Was it Fu’er who divulged it to you?”

Xu Ziling was displeased; he said, “Disaster is facing us, Changzhu still haggles over every ounce in such thing as house regulation, Ranch’s rule, those kind of ‘chicken feather, garlic skin’, small matters?”

Shang Xiuxun was taken aback. A strange feeling started to creep up her fragrant heart. The Xu Ziling in her presence did not have the least bit of subordinate-feel at all; unexpectedly she had forgotten to reprimand him.

Calm and unruffled in the midst of chaos, Kou Zhong started his analysis, “This time Jianghuai Army is moving west, their timing could not have been better, obviously they had already planned it well ahead and now making their move ...”

Shang Xiuxun cut him off, “Who told you that Jianghuai Army is threatening Jingling?”

Immensely proud of himself, Kou Zhong said, “If you need somebody to tell you, then you are not a real genius in the art of war. There are a lot of things the eyes don’t see, the ears don’t hear, but the eyes and ears of the heart can figure out.”

After a short pause, he smiled and said, “All along, Jingling’s Duba Village and our Changzhu’s Flying Horse Ranch are the big powers surrounding the fatty meat at the side of the mouth. It’s just that this meat is difficult to swallow, and it’s hard to know where to start! Currently the Four Big Bandits invaded our Ranch, so Du Fuwei seized the opportunity to move his troops to threaten the flank, which is Jingling. If you say that these two things have no relation at all, even if you beat me to death, I will not believe you.”

In Shang Xiuxun’s eyes, the two boys seemed to be transformed into two totally different persons, who were speaking frankly and with assurance, so that she could not help being entranced while listening to them, and momentarily forgot that their lowly position within the Ranch did not afford them the qualifications to talk to her like that.

Frowning, she said, “You are rather familiar with the situation in Jianghu, but how did you guess that Du Fuwei is holding back his troops without moving outside Jingling? Why didn’t he besiege the city and attack violently?” While speaking the last two sentences, the tone of her voice turned stern, her jade countenance appeared to be skeptical.

Xu Ziling replied nonchalantly, “Besieging the city will be his next move. Du Fuwei ran amuck along the Great River, and he is well versed in the art of war; right now he has the opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, why wouldn’t he use it? Just think, if the Ranch’s main force is already defeated before it reaches Jingling, Changzhu could only retreat and defend the Ranch, and then contacting the towns and villages all round, deploying tight troops formation to resist. If Du Fuwei decided to spread out the battle, it would be more difficult than ascending to the heaven.”

Shang Xiuxun’s tender body trembled slightly; she pondered deeply in silence, while her face showed her deep concentration. Evidently she was moved by what Xu Ziling said.

Kou Zhong spoke heavily, “This time Changzhu leads your troops in a journey, there is a possibility that Du Fuwei might ‘pull a snake from its hole’ [i.e. exposing a malefactor] ...”

Shang Xiuxun stood up suddenly; she said coldly, “You two go back to sleep!”

Finished speaking, she hurried toward Liu Zongdao and the others to discuss the new development.

Chapter 8 - Part 2

When they woke up the next morning, Shang Xiuxun summoned the two boys into her tent. She was accompanied by Big Sister Fu and Xiao Juan. Her countenance heavy, she said, “This time, I consider the two of you have rendered great merit; some other day I will evaluate your merit and bestow rewards. For now, we need to change direction. You two and Fu’er, Juan’er go back to the Ranch with Er Zhishi; understood?”

The two boys groaned inwardly.

Frowning, Kou Zhong said, “Changzhu dispels us, it is really unwise.”

Both Big Sister Fu and Xiao Juan turned pale; they thought that the two boys dared to contradict their Ranch Master, perhaps they did not want to live anymore.

Yet Shang Xiuxun’s reaction was not as intense as they imagined; she was only showing displeasure as she said, “In which regard am I unwise? If you can’t give me a good reason, I guarantee that you will be sorry.”

Kou Zhong calmly said, “Don’t forget that we are ... hey! You know what I mean! You have talents yet you don’t want to use it; that is not a smart decision.”

Astonishingly, Shang Xiuxun did not get angry; she sighed and said, “It’s not that I wasn’t thinking of taking you along, but our journey to Jingling is treacherous and hard to fathom. If something should happen, how am I supposed to take care of you?”

Kou Zhong lowered his voice to make a show that he was taking this matter seriously, “To tell you the truth, the two of us, brothers are actually ‘crouching tigers, hidden dragons’. If something happens, defending ourselves is not a problem. Hey! What are you laughing at?”

Both Big Sister Fu and Xiao Juan were unable to hold themselves; from snickering they burst into big laughter while covering their mouths.

Shang Xiuxun was smiling as well; she said crossly, “Based on your ‘three-legged cat’ martial art skill, what crouching tigers, hidden dragons are you talking about? Just follow my order, I have no time to waste on you.”

Xu Ziling hurriedly said, “Changzhu, please listen to me. We have received Mr. Lu’s instructions, when we meet the Ol’ Die ... hey! I mean, Ol’ Du’s main forces, we could be put to good use ...”

“Rubbish!” Shang Xiuxun snapped, “By the time you use what you learned in a few days to build some mechanism, the city would have been broken and perished.”

With tongue like a reed [i.e. glib tongue], Kou Zhong said, “Changzhu’s reasoning is flawed. Lu Miaozi’s breast was filled with knowledge of this age, one of those happen to be troop disposition. Just like Zhuge Wuhou [i.e. Zhuge Liang of Three Kingdoms] arranged eight troops disposition diagram at the stone quarry, learning this kind of thing depends on talent and not on the learning duration. For example, for example, just by hearing it once, Xiao Jiang already understood the lesson. If you don’t believe me, Changzhu may give him a test.”

Shang Xiuxun, Big Sister Fu and Xiao Juan’s doubtful look fell on Xu Ziling. Without much choice he simply blurted out, “The Heaven is numbered five, the Earth is numbered five, five counted five results in a whole number. Hey! Is it enough?”

Kou Zhong added interest to the story, “This is called the five whole troop-dispositions of the Heaven and the Earth, it could give rise to changes and battles of supernatural beings, even if the opponent has magnificent army with thousands of men and horses, as we enter the troops disposition, we could ... ha ha ... as if entering the fog.”

Half-believing, half-doubting, Shang Xiuxun said, “If you two changed into Taoist robe, you can become two novice Taoist demon.”

Big Sister Fu and Xiao Juan saw the two boys’ awkward manner as they were being ridiculed and scolded, and could only endure with bitter smile.

Seeing one stratagem failed, Kou Zhong executed a different plan, “Changzhu is sending us back to the Ranch, simply because you are afraid our little lives cannot be guaranteed; therefore, I will perform another divination. This divination ... oh ... this divination is called ‘absolute guarantee’, meaning it will guarantee our two little lives, guaranteeing that not a single strand of our hair will be harmed.”

Shang Xiuxun sneered and said, “Since when did you change from a military genius to a divination genius?”

Kou Zhong’s serious expression did not change; upright and unafraid, he said, “This is the simplest and most fundamental divination skill; it relies on sincerity and upright intention. The heart as the basis, the calculation is employed; the so-called joining the Heaven and the Earth in reliance of the calculation. Great spread out is numbered fifty, starting from one to equip five. Small spread out becomes ten, hence the great spread out becomes fifty-five. Based on these arguments, the divination is as accurate as the deities.”

He was an extremely intelligent person; although he had little interest in divination, but listening to Lu Miaozi and Xu Ziling’s discussion, he learned a little bit of superficial knowledge. That plus his bragging skill, in the end he was able to provide clear and logical explanation.

Shang Xiuxun pondered for half a day; she said coldly, “Why are you so eager to go to Jingling? You don’t seem to care even for your own lives?”

Thinking fast, Xu Ziling replied solemnly, “Because when Mr. Lu saw that we want to study for practical applications, and that we want to strive our hardest for the Ranch.”

Kou Zhong added, “Before his death, he also said that we do not have the appearance of those who would be short-lived, and that our good fortune is profound, therefore, we can have a free hand in tempering ourselves in a great undertaking.”

The two boys were accustomed to echo one another. Listening to them, Shang Xiuxun’s jade countenance was slightly moved. She asked, “Can your divination foresee good and bad luck?”

His countenance did not change at all, Kou Zhong said, “That is only natural. Whatever you want to know, let Xiao Jing calculate with his fingers, and everything will be all right.”

In his heart, Xu Ziling could not wait to box Kou Zhong a little bit, but on the surface he had no choice but to put on the air of the number one divination expert in the world, naturally accompanied by a smile and a nod of his head.

Shang Xiuxun seemed to go through a very strenuous effort to convince herself; she said listlessly, “Very well! I’ll let you stay to give it a try. Good or bad, you only have that old fellow to blame for mistakenly scrutinizing your facial features. After you become ghosts, don’t blame me for not giving you sufficient warning.”

※ ※ ※

And thus they continued their journey.

The original group heading for Jingling consisted of twenty-eight people has now become twenty people, which was divided further into four groups, each group adopted different route, with several rendezvous points in towns and villages along the way, to pull wool over people’s eyes.

It was unclear whether Shang Xiuxun wanted to rely on their divination ability, or she simply loved to listen to their bullsh1t, or perhaps she wanted to personally protect them, but she had Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong in her team, along with Liang Zhi, Wu Yan, plus the two senior martial art masters Shang Peng and Shang He; hence this group had the greatest power.

This group of seven people embarked on their journey in disguise; Shang Xiuxun was wearing men’s clothing. Shang Peng and Shang He sat in the carriage, with Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling still acted as the drivers. Liang Zhi and Wu Yan became the family warriors who rode behind the carriage to protect them.

By that afternoon the group cut into the official road leading to the big city of Xiangyang, northwest of Jingling.

Gradually the road became busier with men and horses. Traveling merchants tend to stay together as a group, as they relied on numbers to provide strength. Only Jianghu characters would dare to come and go alone, or perhaps traveling as small group of two or three people.

Liang Zhi fell behind a little bit, and then he came to report to Shang Xiuxun, “Subordinate has inquired of people who come from Xiangyang, I heard that the city is under the control of one Qian Duguan, a local warrior. This person is adept in using a pair of sabers, and has proclaimed himself the hegemon of Xiangyang. Anybody who spares no effort in his account will have no problem with the authority. But the entrance duty into the city is considerably high, so the traveling merchants are grumbling.”

Shang Xiuxun said, “In front of Xiangyang’s gate, just before entering the city early tomorrow morning, we must board a boat going down to Jingling. Although we will have to spend another day of traveling time, we will make the enemies unclear of our course of journey. It is still very worthwhile.”

Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling suddenly understood that Shang Xiuxun accepted their advice and thus playing some tricks on their route to Jingling.

Shang Peng’s voice came from the carriage, “It would be better if Laofu go ahead of you to Xiangyang to make arrangement about the boat. In this time of chaos all over the world, sometimes huge amount of money may not necessarily be able to hire a big boat to carry men and horses.”

Shang Xiuxun said, “Peng Lao, please don’t worry, Xiuxun has already sent Xu Yang and Luo Fang to travel at double speed to hurry to Xiangyang to handle this very same matter!”

“Changzhu is very thorough!” Shang Peng praised.

When Liang Zhi was about to speak up, rapid hoof beats came from behind. Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling were about to look back, Liang Zhi shouted in displeasure, “Don’t be meddlesome, quickly get the cart to the side.”

The two boys were startled by his order, they hastily brought the cart to one side of the road.

A group of more than thirty people, who looked like outlaws and fugitives of Jianghu, galloped fast past them; every one of them looked at this group to size them up.

One of them, a young man who appeared to be their leader, said, “Do they look like it?”

Another fat man replied, “Not quite!”

And then, like a tornado they disappeared around the bend ahead.

Xu Ziling and Kou Zhong wiped the cold sweats on their foreheads. Turned out the two men speaking were the ‘Gold and Silver Spear’ Ling Feng and the ‘Fat Demon’ Jin Bo [See Book 9 Chapter 3]. The other day when they were hiding underneath the ruble, they heard the voices of these two men, hence they immediately recognized them. Later on they wanted to pursue these men to test their skill, but came across Liu Zongdao and his men, and ended up hired as chefs at the Flying Horse Ranch. It was quite a surprise to come across these men again in here.

Fortunately the men did not recognize the two boys; otherwise they would be in terrible trouble.

What were they doing going to Xiangyang?

“Who are these people?” Liang Zhi wondered aloud.

Shang Xiuxun suddenly said, “Xiao Jing! Do your divination for me, see if you can find out what they are up to?”

Xu Ziling helplessly ‘pinched his fingers in calculation’, and said, “They are looking for two men, full of fierce fighting spirit and animosity.”

“Ah!” Wu Yan exclaimed, “They must be Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling. These two men have turned the southern skies upside down, and they have the secret of ‘Duke Yang’s Treasure’. Every body wants to capture them.”

Liang Zhi nodded and said, “Fu Zhishi is right. But since these two were able to assassinate Ren Shaoming in the midst of magnificent army with thousands of men and horses, how could they be easy target? Those men are simply overestimating their own capabilities.”

Shang Xiuxun asked in heavy voice, “How old are Kou Zhong and Xu Ziling? Do you know what they look like?”

Wu Yan replied, “They made their debut several years ago, so perhaps they are around thirty! I’ve heard people say that they look pretty thick and solid like an ox, their faces and eyes sinister, with just one look you’ll know that they are not of the benevolent type.”

While on one hand the two boys cursed him in their hearts, on the other hand they were quite grateful to Wu Yan.

Shang Xiuxun was silent for half a day before giving out her order, “Let’s hurry on!”

Knowing the danger has passed, the two boys breathed a sigh of relief.

‘Crack!’

The whip gently struck the horses’ bottom, the carriage once again proceed speedily along the official road.