Ode to gallantry, p.63
Ode to Gallantry, page 63
Shi Qing and Min Rou had not listened about this matter from their son and were really surprised.
Min Rou asked: "Son; is this matter true?"
The entire Guangdong crowd also looked towards Shi Potian to listen the truth about this matter.
Bei Haishi said: "We always had this knowledge that Bangzhu is surnamed Shi but if you break the words then …. (…some play of word again regarding characters in Zhong Yu and Shi Potian). Are you sure master Shi that he is your son?
Min Rou said: "this is my son and he has learned the principle of admitting mistakes?" Although she was usually polite and courteous but when Bei Haishi implied that Shi Potian was not their son than she couldn’t help herself and spoke in an angry voice.
Shi Qing saw that it’s pretty difficult to argue with Bei Haishi as he keeps on changing the original matter so it will be better to come straight to the point. He said: "Master Bei, I think there is a conspiracy going on here in your esteemed sect and my son is a ignorant youth is been a victim of it. Actually it’s really is a clever strategy to borrow his poor life to save your own lives. You people are afraid that your sect will get an invitation from envoys of command of reward and punishment that is why you have made my son your sect leader, Am I not correct?"
Shi Qing came straight to the point and spoke frankly. In his heart Bei Haishi was raged but tried to keep his calm. His face also changed its color and he coughed several times. He smiled bitterly for some time, buying some time so he can say something in reply.
Suddenly they heard a loud voice of someone laughing and heard a voice: "Everybody is waiting for an invitation from island of heroes? Good, very good, we are here!"
Everyone in the hall stood up suddenly as they saw two people coming in. One person was fat and the other one thin, their clothing and personal adornments were magnificent and expensive. These two people arrived and everyone was taken aback by their sudden intrusion.
Shi Potian saw these two people and was very happy in his heart and called out: "Eldest brother, second brother. I haven’t seen you for such a long time, how are you?"
Shi Qing couple has once listened to him mention about these two people and how he swore brotherhood with both these people but when he pronounced "eldest brother and second brother" they were really startled.
Shi Qing said: "So you two have come. I was explaining some things about the clan of eternal happiness. I think you people have come at the right time."
At this time Shi Potian had arrived in front of both people and held his hand and talked to them really intimately.
Zhang San smiled and said: "Brother, so you are the sect leader of this clan of eternal happiness, I am afraid it’s not true isn’t it?"
Min Rou thought that her child's life and death were hanging in balance and she couldn’t restrain herself and said politely immediately: "Yes! The sect leader of clan of eternal happiness is Situ Bangzhu but they have deceived my child to keep off this disaster. Please consider this matter seriously."
Zhang San asked to Li Si: "Second brother, what do you say?"
Li Si kept a sad expression on his face and said: "We have to invite the most deserving person."
Zhang San chuckled and said: "Yes, we three people have sworn brotherhood and have sworn to share the happiness and the sorrows. This clan of eternal happiness wants to keep off the disaster, now this is an interesting situation?"
All the various masters in the hall saw the skill with which Zhang San and Li Si entered the hall and instantly knew that their martial art skill was much higher. Also these two people have shaken the martial art realm for past thirty years and their presence was really imposing. Everyone lost the color of their face as they witnessed them personally. Bei Haishi and Bai Wanjian were also respected martial art exponents but still they also couldn’t restrain the thumping of their heart. However as they listened the talk between them they were really unsure about Shi Potian and their relation.
Zhang San also said: "We two brothers' follow orders to ask people to invite them to the island of heroes but we have good intention in our heart. I don’t know why people are not willing to accept our invitation. If someone refuses us then we get extremely disappointed. It’s not that we invite only the big and reputed sect leaders. We invite the leaders from big sects and small sect both. This is very good, is very good, is very good!"
He said continually these three words "is very good" and looked around.
He looked towards the Guangdong people and saw Lu Zhengping, Fan Yifei, Feng Liang and Gao San Niangzi and knew that these people too are really scared.
When he looked at Gao San Niangzi, he stared her for a moment and said grinningly:"Is very good!"
Fan Yifei guessed that he has now noticed them so they will also get the invitation now.
Zhang San again said "is very good" a couple of times and thought that its good that he met these people here or he has to climb several mountains and have to cross numerous rivers to find them.
Gao San Niangzi said loudly: "You are staring at me continually and saying "is very good", what does that mean?"
Zhang San laughed and said: "what other meaning can ‘is very good ’ have? If I say ‘is very good ‘than obviously it means that I am appreciating something and that’s it."
Gao San Niangzi shouted: "You must kill then kill; this old lady will not accept your bronze medals!" She moved her right hand and with a whistling sound, two short knives moved towards Zhang San.
The people were startled and couldn’t understand why she was attacking despite no formal invitation. In fact they never expected that she wasn’t afraid of these two envoys of ‘Command of reward and punishment’.
Actually although Gao San Niangzi was hot tempered, but she didn’t made this move without thinking. She knew that once these two people are here so obviously they will be invited to island of heroes and they can’t refuse and this disaster can’t be avoided now but she thought that if all the people in the hall unite against the common enemy then they have a chance. She thought that if clan of eternal happiness, the Guangdong sects, the Snow mountain sect, Old silver halberd Yang Guang and Shi couple all unite then they can defeat them just by the virtue of overwhelming numerical strength.
Shi Potian called out: "Elder brother, careful!"
Zhang San said with a smile: "It is not in the way!" as he had already wielded his sleeves lightly and the two bronze medals flew from his sleeve in the direction of those short knives. The two bronze medals collided with the short knives but still maintained their direction and hit Gao San Niangzi on her out-stretched hands.
The bronze medals were traveling at great speed. As soon as Gao San Niangzi got hit she felt as if entire upper body was hit by thousands of pins. Her hands felt numb and started shaking with pain. She lowered her head and tried to breathe but felt as if he was sucking icy cold air. She felt as if these bronze medals are sucking life out of her body.
She had already listened that if people accept the invitation than they are rewarded but if they refused then are punished harshly. She tried to hold those two bronze medals and tried to consent that she was accepting the invitation but she couldn’t move her body.
She said with a dry humor: "Ha, he wants me to.....I ......I will go to the island of heroes….and will eat ....that meat gruel..." Her sound was barely audible and extremely bitter and astringent and other people found it really uncomfortable.
Zhang San was still grinning, he said: "master Bei, you are running this sect and deceiving my brother to pretend to be the leader of this sect. He is an upright honest person and was swindled unavoidably. I and Elder brother Li Si are honest people. If we have to invite the sect leader than how can we invite someone else? If I invited some other person by mistake then what kind of a huge joke will we be? Zhang San and Li Si will lose their face in the martial art realm. This why we investigated this matter really carefully, and have poured huge effort and then only we came here. Brother, do we ask the Bangzhu to come down and accept the invitation?"
Li Si said: "Good, ask him to come down."
He puts out his hand to hold two round stools and threw them at the roof.
They heard a loud sound as the roof dislodge and a big hole appeared immediately. The silt fell numerously and people scattered here and there to avoid the falling debris.
Suddenly the group of people moved aside as if by prior agreement when unexpectedly a person fell in the hall from the roof. This person curled up in same place.
Li Si pointed his left hand index finger towards that person and with a shoo sound; he unblocked the acu-point of that person. That person slowly moved and stood up; he puts out his hand to rub his eyes and looked in all directions.
However the people called out in alarm with one voice, some said: "He, he!"
Some said: "What's wrong ......How ......?"
Some said: "Strange ......it really is!"
The people saw that Li Si Ling unblocked the acu-points of that person from a distance without even touching it. This was a profound martial art. No one has ever witnessed such type of thing or even heard about it. They were panic-stricken endlessly but then they saw another Shi Potian standing in front of them, wearing nice fine silks, his cloths were truly magnificent but had a shocked expression in his face.
Then only they heard him saying in surprise: "You .....Who are you?"
Zhang San said with a smile: "Shi Bangzhu, you were hiding in a Yangzhou brothel, for several months now, lucky to be in such a boundless love. Master Bei and rest of them looked for you everywhere and couldn’t found you so they asked someone else to pretend as the Bangzhu of this sect but you can’t hide the truth from the envoys of ‘Command of reward and punishment’. We are inviting you to come to island of heroes and eat Eight meat gruel. Are you accepting our invitation?"
As he said these words he took out two bronze medals from his sleeve and held it his hand.
That person got really scared, he drew back a couple of steps, flutters and said: "I ......I won’t go. How can I go?"
Shi Potian said: "Elder brother, this ......what is this matter about?"
Zhang San said with a smile: "Brother, do you know this person who has the same face as yours? This person is the sect leader of the clan of the eternal happiness. When this person went in to hiding than the clan was desperate to get someone who can accept our invitation so they presented you as their Bangzhu while this person was hiding quietly. Master Bei has no other alternative, so he deceived you to replace him and presented you as their sect leader, but your eldest brother and second brother has clutched this person, so you won’t have to be the Bangzhu for this clan. Now you can’t blame us, isn’t it?"
Shi Potian shook his head and looked steadily at that person, thought something for a long time and said: "Mother, father, Dingdang, master Bei, I ......I have already told you several times that but you won’t believe me. He, he ......He is the real one."
Min Rou rushes ahead one step, fluttered and said: "You ......Are you Yu’er?"
That person nodded and said: "Mother, father, I am here."
Bai Wanjian stepped one step and asked: "Do you also recognize me?"
That person lowered his head and said: "Bai Shishu.....fellow disciples …I recognize you all"
Bai Wanjian sneered and said: "We too are here."
Bei Haishi knits his brows and said: "These two people have similar appearances, their height and age is also same, but one is the Bangzhu of the clan of eternal happiness. I won’t be able to recognize the real one. This seriously is a big world, every thing is possible, and it’s really strange… You ......You are Shi Bangzhu, isn’t it?"
That person nodded.
Bei Haishi said: "Recently, Bangzhu suddenly disappeared? We looked for him everywhere. Afterwards some people saw this ......this youth, and said that he is on the skyscraping cliff, so we then went there to invite him, coughed ......Cannot think truly ......Coughs ......it’s actually a long story."
The hall suddenly went silent and the people looked at Shi Potian, then take a look at Shi Zhong Yu, two people have quite a similar appearances but if you put them side by side than they were greatly different too. Shi Potian had a slightly dark complexion, his eyebrow were thick, and was inferior to Shi Bangzhu in looks. Shi Bangzhu was extremely handsome person but obviously these were subtle details and not that easy to distinguish. Min Rou looked at both of them and couldn’t restrain herself from crying.
Bai Wanjian said: "Appearance may be the same but the sword scar on his leg, how can they be same, I think there is some serious misunderstanding here."
Dingdang also can’t restrain herself and said: "This person is false. Elder brother also had a scar on his left shoulder as well......"
Shi Qing was also suspecting these matters for some time so he said: "My child in his childhood once had injury on his buttock by a concealed weapon." He pointed towards Shi Potian and said: "This person has this injury scar on his buttocks. We have verified it once."
Now everyone was looking at Shi Potian and their mind filled with suspicion that who really this person is?
Zhang San said with a smile: "I already told you that these people has fabricated a story to make my brother Shi Bangzhu. Obviously to support their story they might have made those scars on his body when he was suffering from that grave sickness. We all know how good a physician ‘Bring back from death’ master Bei Haishi is?"
He went near the Shi Bangzhu suddenly and grabbed his dress at his shoulder and left leg. In a moment there were three holes in that person’s dress, at his shoulder, left leg and left buttock and revealed his snow white flesh. There were clearly three scars as mentioned by Shi Qing, Dingdang and Bai Wanjian.
The people called out: "Ohhh" as they were astonished with the essence of Zhang San’s martial art technique. He grasped him with such convenience and cut the holes in his dress but without injuring him. They saw that his scars were similar to one they saw on Shi Potian earlier when Bai Wanjian came.
Dingdang went ahead to Shi Bangzhu and asked: "You ......You ......really are Elder brother Shi?"
That person smiled bitterly and said: "Dingdang, you don’t recognize me. I have not seen you for such a long time; I am suffering such heartache. You actually made me feel as if I am in seventh heaven. You don’t recognize me still I won’t forget you even if we are separated for hundred years…thousand years….forever."
Dingdang listened to his words and knew that he in fact is his lover and started sobbing and said: "You ......You are really are my elder brother Shi. He ......this hateful swindler, He can’t even say simple cordial words? I was deceived by him!"
As she said these words to Shi Bangzhu, she reached with her hand and clasped his hand and held him tightly, he showed a faint smile to her. Dingdang felt as if a nice spring breeze was flowing and felt extremely happy.
Shi Potian stepped forward two steps and said: "Dingdang, I already told you several times that I am not your elder brother Shi, you .....You never believed me?"
Suddenly he heard a sound and his face was burning near his cheek.
Dingdang slapped him and said: "You are a swindler, oh, oh!" As she said these words she felt a deep agonizing pain in her palm. As she slapped Shi Potian, she also received an injury because of his higher internal energy. She shook her palm with extreme pain.
Shi Potian said: "You ......You are feeling pain in your palm?"
Dingdang gets more angry and said: "You are such a swindler; I don’t want to see your face!"
Shi Potian felt dejected and muttered: "I ......I intentionally did not deceive you."
Dingdang said angrily: "if it wasn’t intentional what it was? Your shoulder scar was fabricated and you didn’t tell about it, did you?"
Shi Potian shook his head saying: "I did not know!"
She stamped her foot and said: "Swindler, swindler, you get out of the way!" Her face flushed red.
Shi Potian got really sad and teardrops rolled from his eyes. He couldn’t restrain himself and drew back.
Shi Qing turned his head towards Bei Haishi and asked: "Master Bei, this ......this young man, where did you found him? It’s really hard to plant someone as a sect leader of such a reputable sect. In the martial arts realm there are so many friends and acquaintance but still you managed to do it. Please explain so we actually know what happened."
Bei Haishi said: "This person has a similar facial appearance as Shi Bangzhu and they look entirely alike. You manor master Shi Qing and lady Min Rou are the parents of Shi Bangzhu but you didn’t distinguish then as a bystander I have to admit my mistakes, actually it wonder we didn’t managed to recognize him?"
Shi Qing nodded in front of everyone but still had doubts in his mind but didn’t say anything.
Min Rou said: "My husbands and I have not met my son for many years, he has grown up a lot and it’s not easy to identify. However you master Bei are with him for so many years now, you meeting him on daily basis but still you didn’t recognize. You are a very astute person master Bei; I don’t think you have admitted your mistake yet."
Bei Haishi coughs several times, forced a smile and said: "This ......This also not necessarily true."
That day in the skyscraping cliff when he saw Shi Potian, he knew at the first glance that this person was not Shi Bangzhu but his looks at quite similar to him. He was looking for Shi Bangzhu everywhere but apparently he was not able to find him. Suddenly a he got an idea to plant this person as the Bangzhu. Shi Potian was really ignorant and easy to manipulate but he cannot acknowledge these thing in front of everyone so he said: "Shi Bangzhu took over the leadership of the clan of eternal happiness by defeating Situ Bangzhu in front of entire sect. You people are saying that I planted him as sect leader. I don’t understand this word "planted"…how does this comes in to picture?"
Shi ZhongYu said: "Master Bei, if the matter has come to this point then, no need to conceal anything. That day I offended you in the Huai’An mansion. You said you will forgive my life and won’t say about this matter to anyone and asked me join the clan of eternal happiness. You asked me to ask Situ Bangzhu in the presence of everyone, why he compelled He Xiangzhu to commit suicide, to ask him why he is not willing to meet the envoys of command of reward and punishment."
