Chapter 1 – The Death of a Multi-Millionaire (2/2)
“Although I never believed that you built your own fortune from scratch, I never even imagined that you would be a consummate expert of the martial world. And even more unbelievable was that you are a retired master thief.”
“Why so unbelievable?”
“Because you don’t look it,” replied Qiu Budao. “You’re too ostentatious. You give off no hint that you want to hide from people.”
He continued, “In the past twenty years or so, there have only been a view thieves who have amassed great fortunes and then disappeared. Among them, only four have yet to be caught. And yet, you could not be one of those four. As far as your age, appearance and stature, you don’t match any of their descriptions.”
Sun Jicheng smiled. “As of now you can surely see that my martial arts far exceed yours.”
Qiu Budao conceded this point. Then he said, “Three months ago some people asked me about you! They wanted to know every last detail about your actions and movements!”
“Who are these people?”
“I met them at the gambling hall. They are neither young nor old, and as for their identity, it’s complicated.”
“You don’t know who they are, do you?”
“I don’t.” He thought for a moment, then continued, “They are big spenders, and it seems that they possess some good kung fu, even though they try to hide it. I’ve never heard of anyone with their names in Jianghu before, nor seen anyone like them.” His voice seemed to be filled with a strange dread. “They suddenly appeared, as if they’d arrived from a strange place that no one has ever been to.”
Sun Jicheng’s smile had disappeared; his pupils constricted. He knew that this time, he was dealing with a group of extremely mysterious, extremely fearsome opponents.
“My only hobby in life is gambling,” said Qiu Budao. “I gamble hard and I lose all the time. They didn’t require much of me. Just for me to allow them to place some people in my three squads. So…”
“So you agreed.”
“Yes,” he said. “I agreed. I don’t like being in debt, and they were the only ones who could help me get out.” With effort, he turned his head and stared at Sun Jicheng. “I’m telling the truth.”
“I believe you.”
“Do you know who they are?”
“I don’t.”
“Do they know who you are?”
Sun Jicheng was silent.
Qiu Budao yet again asked, “Just who are you?”
Sun Jicheng stood there silently in the thick, dark night. And then suddenly he laughed.
“I am who I am!” he said with a strange, mysterious smile. “I’m just a person who will die soon. Very soon.”
***
Why would someone like this have to die? How could he die?
Qiu Budao didn’t ask any more questions.
“Come with me,” said Sun Jicheng. “I’m going to take you somewhere.”
“To do what?”
“To see someone.”
“Who?”
“Someone you never imagined you would see. Even when you see him with your own eyes, you still might not believe it.”
Part 5
Who was this person? Why would someone not believe it even if they saw him with their own eyes? Was it a person who shouldn’t be alive? A person who shouldn’t exist?
Qiu Budao couldn’t wrap his mind around it.
Nor could he wrap his mind around any of the things that would happen in the following hour.
It turned out Sun Jicheng led him back to that room of his, the one that no one ever entered.
Gentle and quiet Liu Jin’niang, who had never argued with a single soul, lay there, still dead.
Surprisingly, underneath the beautifully decorated bed were two secret cellars.
One of the cellar rooms was filled with books and the smell of alcohol and food. And a person.
A person Qiu Budao never imagined that he would see. Even though he looked upon this person with his own eyes, he almost didn’t believe.
Because this person was Sun Jicheng. A second Sun Jicheng.
Part 6
Qiu Budao sat down on a bamboo chair in the corner of the cellar, as if he were worried he might collapse.
This person could not be Sun Jicheng. Two Qiu Budaos could not exist in the world, and neither could two Sun Jichengs.
It couldn’t be his brother.
Sun Jicheng had no brothers, and even twins could not look this alike.
The two of them looked exactly the same in every way. Figure, facial features, attire, manner. All the same. When Sun Jicheng stood directly in front of this person, it seemed as if he were standing in front of a mirror.
Who was he? What was his relationship to Sun Jicheng? Why would Sun Jicheng keep him hidden in this place? And why would he bring Qiu Budao here to see him?
Qiu Budao just could not figure it out.
Sun Jicheng seemed to be enjoying the expression on his face. He looked thoroughly pleased.
Finally he could show someone.
With a smile, he said, “I knew the first time you saw him you would be startled out of your skin. The first time I saw him, so was I.”
He smiled joyfully.
“At that time, we didn’t look exactly alike. If we stood next to each other, you could still tell the difference between us. But with the help of some strange and ingenious techniques, the situation changed quite a bit.”
He added, “To achieve true perfection, there were a few areas that required special attention.”
Qiu Budao waited for him to continue.
“For example, there isn’t much room for him to move about. When not laying in bed, he will sit and read. In such circumstances, it’s hard to avoid growing a bit of a belly.” He slapped his own belly. “So I had to grow a bit of a belly too.”
“What else?”
“If someone gets no sunlight for years at a time, his skin will become pale and strange looking. So, every day I take him up to my bedroom window to get some sun.”
“So that’s why you never let anyone into your bedroom.” Qiu Budao’s palms continued to sweat.
He now understood everything that had happened up to now.
A horrific conspiracy perfectly planned out by Sun Jicheng was now in motion, and no one in the world could stop it.
Sun Jicheng turned and clapped the person on the shoulder. “Your complexion has been good the past few days. You’ve been sleeping well.”
His “shadow” responded in a meek and feeble voice: “Yes. I’ve slept quite well the past few days.”
Qiu Budao suddenly called out, “No, there’s something wrong.”
“Oh?”
“His voice is completely different than yours.”
Sun Jicheng laughed. “His voice doesn’t need to be the same,” he said casually.
Qiu Budao didn’t bother to ask “why.” He’d spoken up just now only to verify a horrible notion.
After verifying it, his heart sank.
Unfortunately, Sun Jicheng had used some strange technique to seal some of his acupuncture points and drain all of the energy from of his body.
Sun Jicheng seemed to be completely at ease. He suddenly started chatting randomly with his “shadow.” When I first saw you, your complexion was not good at all, as if you hadn’t slept in a very long time.”
“Yes, at that time I hadn’t eaten for three days and nights, and hadn’t even had a chance to close my eyes.”
“Why was that?”
“Because I’d just experienced something tragic beyond compare.” His voice suddenly became very meek and quiet. “My parents, wife, and children were all ruthlessly slaughtered by a great villain.”
“Why didn’t you try to avenge them?”
“Because I am weak, I would never in my life even be able to dream of hurting a hair on that monster’s head.”
“So you wanted to die?”
“Yes.”
“But you didn’t.”
“I didn’t die, because you saved me. You killed the villain and helped me get my revenge.”
“Did I ask for compensation?”
“No,” said the “shadow.” “You just had one requirement: that I wait until the time came for you to die, and then I would give you back the life that I owed you.” He stared at Sun Jicheng, and with an indescribably calm bearing asked, “That time has arrived, hasn’t it?”
“Yes.”
The time had arrived. His life would end soon.
The “shadow” had been expecting this end for some time. Qiu Budao had also figured out what was happening.
—Of course Sun Jicheng hadn’t built up a business from scratch into a fortune. And he actually was not rich businessman, picky about food, in love with doing business.
—He was someone entirely different, a person who for some reason, because he needed to keep his true identity hidden, had brought his ill-gotten hundreds of millions along with hands reeking of blood here, to hide from his foes.
—But he knew that the net of heaven is wide, and none can escape its mesh. [12] His secret would get out eventually, and so he’d already prepared someone to die in his place.
—This person looked exactly like him in every way. Only his voice was different.
—Because by the time others found him, he would be dead, and dead men cannot speak.
***
He did not die in pain, because Sun Jicheng struck him with a mortal fist blow. A fist blow swift, accurate and vicious.
Qiu Budao’s face sank.
Sun Jicheng suddenly asked him, “Did you see which type of fist technique I just used?”
Of course he did. It was exactly the same fist technique that he had just used, that famous consummate skill which he had spent forty bitter years practicing, the Shaolin Lohan Fist.
“Well,” asked Sun Jicheng, “what did you think of it?”
Qiu Budao couldn’t speak, not even a single syllable.
He had trained in this fist technique for forty years, and yet the blow Sun Jicheng had just delivered in terms of energy, skill and efficacy, exceeded his own.
What could he say?
“A fatal blow,” said Sun Jincheng, “inuring the heart directly. That is definitely the killing method that ‘As Stable as Mount Tai’ Qiu Budao would use. So this Sun Jicheng clearly died by your hand, and had nothing to do with anyone else. Everyone will be able to see that clearly.”
He washed his hands in a silver basin and then dried them with a snow-white cloth. He suddenly sighed. “Although, they might wonder what motive you had to kill Liu Jin’niang.”
“Liu Jin’niang?” cried Qiu Budao. “I killed her too?”
“Absolutely,” said Sun Jicheng, sounding surprised. “Don’t tell me you didn’t notice the necklace used to strangle her. Who’s necklace was it again?”
Qiu Budao was seized with terror.
Because of everything that had happened, his mind was in chaos. Up to now, he hadn’t been able to see everything clearly. The necklace with the emerald pendants was actually his, something left behind by his deceased wife. He’d kept it for so long, not willing to part with it even during his worst episodes of gambling loss.
He didn’t look at it often, because the memories it dredged up were sweet, yet too sorrowful. He didn’t even want to touch it.
“How did you get that?”
“I have my ways.” Sun Jicheng smiled. “At least a hundred of them, actually.”
Anyone would have to concede that a person like Sun Jicheng would have ways to get just about anything he wanted.
“Why is it me who killed them?”
“You have your reasons.”
Sun Jicheng continued, “There are probably at least a hundred reasons why a man might kill a woman and another man. Even if you can’t think of one, others will come up with their own ideas for you.”
He laughed. “They will probably all come up with unique ideas. If you ask 50 people, they will probably come up with 100 different versions. Thankfully, whatever ideas they have don’t really affect you.
Qiu Budao stared at him for a long time, and then, one word at a time, said, “I understand what you mean.”
“You should,” said Sun Jincheng. “Sun Jicheng is already dead, as is Liu Jin’niang. You don’t have much longer to live, either.” Coolly, he continued, “I guarantee that others will figure out a reason for your death. So I’ve already prepared a glass of poisoned alcohol for you.”
Part 7
So now, Sun Jicheng was dead.
No one imagined that he would die, but he truly had died.
On the evening of April 15th he, along with his most trusted bodyguard squad leader Qiu Budao and his tender, secret lover Liu Jin’niang, all died together in a secret cellar.
Of course, there were many rumors regarding their deaths. But regardless of what they said, it didn’t affect Sun Jicheng
Because now, Sun Jicheng was dead.
***
Late in the night on April 15th, he left behind the city of Jinan as well his successful businesses and his hundreds of millions in wealth. Like a man discarding a mistress he’d grown tired of, he seemed to carry with him no nostalgia or tenderness.
***
When a multi-millionaire dies like this, is it possible for him to be resurrected?
**
[1] Considering the story takes place in Ancient China, the months listed in the book would assumably be based on the Lunar calendar not the Gregorian calendar, but for sake of simplicity I will use the Gregorian calendar names.
[2] Sun Jicheng’s Chinese name is 孙济城 sūn jì chéng.
[3] Liu Jinniang’s Chinese name is 柳金娘 liǔ jīn niáng.
[4] The tea from Wuyi mountains is relatively famous. I remember hearing about this when I used to live in Chinatown.
[5] Jinan is the capital of Shandong province. It is a coastal city that has been an administrative and economic center for thousands of years.
[6] “General Who Attacks the West” is actually one of the ranks achieved by historical General Huang Zhong, who worked for Liu Bei during the Three Kingdoms Period. However, based on later information in the story, it would seem the story doesn’t take place during that time period.
[7] What I’m translating as “over 400 miles” is written as 1,300 li in the original Chinese.
[8] What I’m translating as South China is literally referring to an area of South China covering Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, and Hainan as well as modern northern Vietnam.
[9] These are all different types of alcohol, some of them very famous. Chu Ye Qing is a type of fenjiu or perhaps made from bamboo. I couldn’t find any articles about it. Maotai is probably the most famous baijiu in China. Daqu is another type of baijiu Nu’er Hong is a type of baijiu, and if I remember correctly was mentioned in 7 Killers. Mei Kuei Lu is a type of rose-flavored baijiu The other two I was unable to find what exactly they are. Maybe Gu Long made them up, or maybe they are rare or obscure?
[10] Wu Daozi was a famous artist who lived during the Tang dynasty.
[11] Wang Xizhi is one of the most famous calligraphers of all time. He lived during the Jin dynasty.
[12] Yes this is the same quote from 7 Killers.