Chapter - 368 East And West are Forever APart Like Orion And Antares (2) (2/2)
The three Persian escorts only stayed at the BrightnessPeak overnight; they took their leave the very next day. Since then, this glamorous Persian girl, Taj-kis lived at the BrightnessPeak.”
”Laoye Zi,” Zhao Min said with a laugh, ”At that time you were also mesmerized by this glamorous Persian woman, were you not? Come on, don't be shy; admit it honestly.”
”No!” Xie Xun shook his head, ”At that time I was a newlywed; I loved my wife dearly, and she was pregnant. How could I think about another woman?”
”Oy,” Zhai Min muttered, silently scolding herself for making an indiscreet remark. She knew that Xie Xun's wife and son were killed by Cheng Kun. This time she inadvertently brought it up, she knew she would unavoidably bring grief to Xie Xun's heart; hastily she said, ”That's right, that's right! No wonder Mrs. Han said that when she married Yin Ye Xian Sheng [Mr. Silver Leaf], everybody on the BrightnessPeak opposed her, except Yang Jiaozhu and you, who treated her very well. I bet Jiaozhu's wife was not only beautiful, but also an expert in martial arts, so she won over her husband's heart.”
”Yang Jiaozhu was generous, brave and chivalrous,” Xie Xun said, ”Taj-kis' age was appropriate to be his daughter. Besides, the Persian Central Cult has entrusted her to him, so Yang Jiaozhu always treated her with utmost respect; definitely he did not have any inappropriate thoughts against her. Mrs. Jiaozhu was my Shifu's shimei [martial (younger) sister], she was my Shigu [martial aunt]. Yang Jiaozhu loved his wife very much.”
Cheng Kun had killed his entire family; Xie Xun bore a long and deep hatred toward him but when mentioning Cheng Kun's name, Xie Xun said it lightly, as if he was mentioning other people's name.
Zhao Min asked, ”I heard when he was young, Ku Toutuo Fan Yao was a very handsome man. Did he fall in love with Taj-kis?”
Xie Xun nodded; ”It was love at first sight,” he said, ”Later on it became a kind of infatuation written-in-his-heart and engraved-on-his-bone. In fact, I am afraid I seldom find a man whose heart was not moved by Taj-kis' beauty. But the Ming Cult' religious law is strict; everybody maintained self-control and propriety. In the end, only bachelors dared to show their admiration toward Taj-kis. Who would have thought that Taj-kis's heart was as cold as ice; she was also a no-nonsense, unpretentious kind of person. Whoever revealed even a slight cordiality toward her would receive her harsh reprove; to the point of humiliating him so that he would fall from his honored position. My Shigu, Madame Jiaozhu, wanted to be the matchmaker between her and Fan Yao. Taj-kis flatly declined. Later on, she went as far as swore publicly, with a sword horizontally across her body, saying that she would never get married, and that she would rather die if anybody forced her. Because of this, everybody's heart also turned cold towards her.
One day about half a year later, somebody from LingSheIsland came to the BrightnessPeak. He said his surname was Han, given name Qianye [lit. thousand leaves], a son of Yang Jiaozhu's enemy of the former days. He came to avenge his father. Admittedly, nobody thought this youngster surnamed Han's appearance was astonishing. Seeing his surprising boldness in coming to the BrightnessPeak to challenge Yang Jiaozhu, everybody burst out in laughter. But Yang Jiaozhu's expression was serious; he received him as an honored guest and prepared a banquet to welcome him.
After the feast, Yang Jiaozhu explained to the brethrens how in the past due to a misunderstanding he had seriously injured this lad's father using the 'da jiu tian shou' [great nine heavenly hands] that his father fell on his knees and was unable to stand back up. At that time the father said that he was going to avenge this enmity; only realizing his martial art skill would not advance anymore, he promised that he would send his son or his daughter.
Yang Jiaozhu said that whomever he would send, whether a son or a daughter, Yang Jiaozhu would yield to him or her for three stances. That man replied that he would not expect Yang Jiaozhu to yield, but he would ask that if they were to have a martial art duel, to have his son or daughter choose the method on how they would fight. At that time Yang Jiaozhu gave his consent.
A dozen or so years had passed; Yang Jiaozhu had already set this matter aside from his mind. Who would have thought that the man surnamed Han did indeed send his son to seek revenge. Everybody thought that it would be well if he did not come; but once he came, nothing good would happen to him [善者不来,来者不善 -'shan zhe bu lai, lai zhe bu shan']. This man dared to come alone to the BrightnessPeak, he must have had an astonishing skill. But Yang Jiaozhu's martial art skill was very high; it could be said that nobody in this present age could be compared to him. Other than Wudang Pai's Zhang Sanfeng Zhenren [lit. real/true man, a term of respect to address a Taoist priest], nobody would be able to take his one stance or half a form. How old could this man surnamed Han be? Yang Jiaozhu did not have anything to be worried about even if he was three times or five times his age. We were anxious only over how they were going to have their duel.