Flying Dust - Chapter 18

Mo Fei Chen resentfully put his sword back into its scabbard.

The moment he saw Mo Fei Chen fuming with anger’s face, Lu Qingmo raised his eyebrows and smiled, with a slight force of his fingertips. Meng Yu suddenly fell to his knees on the stage, while on the other hand, his opponent’s sword was placed on his neck.

Meng Yu looked dumbfounded at what was happening in front of him. He was obviously sure to win but somehow his left knee was struck by a force so he fell to his knees.

It was not that no one had seen that invisible sword Qi, for example the Palace Master of Xiushui Palace, Liu Feiying and also Wu Liang Chanshi. Liu Feiying smiled but did not say anything, while on the other side, Wu Liang Chanshi nodded his head and said, “Amitabha.”

Mo Fei Chen was no longer interested in watching the rest of the match, so he accompanied Li Du to his room to rest.

Li Du’s injury was not too serious, but it looked scary. When he returned to his room, he sat cross-legged on the bed, exercising his Qi to heal his wounds.

Mo Fei Chen made some tea while he thought to himself that he couldn’t let Meng Yu go, this guy was really too annoying!

After helping Li Du to drink some tea, Mo Fei Chen went to the doctor’s place to get some medicine.

When the tournament was over, Jun Wushuang pushed open the door to Mo Fei Chen’s room and gestured to him to come over with his finger.

“Why are you here? Is the tournament over?” Mo Fei Chen came to the door from Li Du’s bedside.

“It’s over, but since you have gone, you didn’t see the best part.”

“What is it?”

“I punish that Meng Yu for you…’s Li Shi Xiong.” Jun Wushuang winked at him, appearing genuine, but actually devious and bad.

“Of course, you even know how to use invisible sword qi, so isn’t it as easy as crushing an ant to deal with Meng Yu?”

“I picked off his trousers in public and scared those two Shi Mei from the Lianxia Dong who were having a meal with him that day.” Jun Wushuang put his head in front of Mo Fei Chen’s face and tilted his nose, that gesture as if he was going to kiss him.

This old buddy (Lao Xiong) loved to tease people and act ambiguous for his own amusement.

“You deserve to be called Jun Wushuang.” Mo Fei Chen thought for a moment, “Didn’t your Shi Fu not see that you were doing it on purpose?”

“I’m usually a good person, unlike you, so what are your plans for tonight?”

“Hehe, I want to take care of Li Shi Xiong. He still has to drink a set of medicine tonight.” Mo Fei Chen scratched his head.

Jun Wushuang nodded, “That’s right, it’s rare for you to be a good person.”

But Jun Wushuang was wrong, how could Mo Fei Chen be a good person?

It was night time, Mo Fei Chen carried his sword and changed into dark clothes, then left the manor.

This afternoon, when he was helping Li Du cook his medicine, he heard that Meng Yu was going to the Longqing Restaurant with some of his Shi Xiong and Shi Di tonight, supposedly to be a celebration party, but now it was probably going to be a consolation party.

Although Jun Wushuang had made him lose face in front of everyone today, Mo Fei Chen would not be happy and satisfied if he didn’t give the guy a good beating himself.

Longqing Restaurant was said to be the biggest restaurant in the whole Mu Yun town that matched with Meng Yu’s personality of craving for greatness and success.

Mo Fei Chen came to the alleyway at the side of the restaurant, put a black cloth over his face and leapt to one side of Meng Yu’s room’s window.

Good (in a sarcastic tone), not only they’ve been ordering for a long time, they also got a few girls.

But (probably) I’m afraid that with Meng Yu’s personality, he is no longer in the mood to chase after girls.

I must get it done quickly, since I still have to go back and prepare the medicine for Li Shi Xiong!

He pulled out his sword and leapt through the window and thrust his sword at Meng Yu’s throat.

That guy turned pale with fright and the people around him also drew their swords.

What a bunch of fatheads (good for nothing)!

Mo Fei-Chen’s sword was drawn, his figure was like flowing water and two or three swords were picked off by him in one go.

Meng Yu was already in a bad mood so how could he be happy to see Mo Fei Chen picking a fight with him? He then slashed his sword at him. Mo Fei Chen dodged it easily, turned around and slashed him back, revealing his white undergarment.

“Where does this scoundrel come from? Give me your name!”

Mo Fei Chen laughed in his heart, lowered his voice and said, “Your grandfather!”

Meng Yu was even more furious as he swung his sword toward him, “My grandfather already died a long time ago!”

But in terms of swordsmanship, he was not an opponent for Mo Fei Chen. In a matter of seconds, he was terribly teased and made fun of. Mo Fei Chen remembered that he had kicked Li Du today and injured him.He was so furious that he swung past Meng Yu. He got close to him and slammed his sword hilt into his shoulder three times.This time, Meng Yu couldn’t hold his sword so when he saw that Mo Fei Chen didn’t plan to stop, he had no choice but to flee in defeat.

Mo Fei Chen used the Wind Rider’s step as he followed behind him leisurely.

“My good grandson, you haven’t paid for your drink yet!”

Meng Yu looked back at him and ingots of silver flew over and smashed Mo Fei Chen’s head, “I already paid for the tip!”

Damn it! How dare you use silver as a hidden weapon!

Mo Fei Chen had thought that to end it here but who knew that this guy had the impudence to hit his forehead with a big bag of silver!

If this could be tolerated, then what could be called intolerable?

Mo Fei Chen swept his sword across the river so Meng Yu changed direction, running through an alleyway, before him was the Cheng River of Mu Yun Town.

He ran like mad along the river bank, followed closely by Mo Fei Chen on the back.

After running a few hundred metres, a boat drifted along the riverbank and the excellent singing of a woman came faintly.

Meng Yu flew to the gaily-painted pleasure-boat and landed on it after stepping on the surface of the water two or three times.

“You want to run? Child—— I, your grandfather is coming!”

Mo Fei Chen only stepped a bit on the surface of the river bank before then he lightly got on the deck and with a twist of his sword, Meng Yu had to flee to the decorated pleasure boat with his hands covering his head.

The ship’s cabin was nicely decorated, a man appeared to be sitting at a table, holding a singing-girl in his arms and another woman was dancing in front of him.

Meng Yu’s intrusion into the cabin scared that dancing-girl.

This useless thing only knew how to move around the woman. Mo Fei Chen stabbed him left and right, but he couldn’t hit him, so his heart became more and more frustrated.

“You son of a bitch! You are a tortoise! I’m not going to be your grandfather!” Mo Fei Chen shouted, pulling the dancing girl away from him, but when Meng Yu picked up a bottle of wine and smashed it at Mo Fei Chen.

Mo Fei Chen pulled out his sword and slashed it, spilling the wine all over the place. Meng Yu turned around and wanted to run away, Mo Fei Chen picked up another bottle of wine and threw it at him, hitting him directly on the back of his waist. He fell into the river as he grunted in pain.

Mo Fei Chen leapt out of the cabin and saw Meng Yu swimming towards the river bank with great effort, he couldn’t help but laugh heartily, to his heart’s content, “Ha ha, I told you to use silver as a hidden weapon. I told you to hit me with a wine bottle!”

“One should enjoy his success to the most, lest he would only hold a golden but empty cup under the moon.”

A voice as mellow and thick as wine rang out from the cabin.

Mo Fei Chen was stunned. This poem of Li Bai should only be known to him…except for that day when he made a toast…

As he turned around blankly and dumbfounded, Mo Fei Chen saw a certain someone dressed in white leaning on the porch. The top of his eyebrows were slightly raised and his smile was like light ink spreading around on the paper.

“Lu…Lu…Lu…Lu…”

“It’s indeed me, Lu Mou1[Mou is the old way to say oneself or to refer to himself, usually followed by the surname],” Lu Qingmo walked over and reached out to pull the cloth off Mo Fei Chen’s face, “I knew it was you, I would never get it (your voice) wrong.”

Mo Fei Chen swallowed his saliva, “This disciple, Mo Fei Chen, has disturbed this Senior’s good mood…”

“Disciple? Senior?” Lu Qingmo revealed a wicked smile, his evil smile was not like Jun Wushuang’s kind of bad, but adding more of a playful kind of feeling, “I do not remember accepting you as my disciple nor do I remember being old enough to be called ‘Senior’.”

“Then … I won’t bother you, Lu…Great Warrior2(Da Xia= chivalrous hero)…”

“I don’t remember ever being a ‘chivalrous person’ either.” Lu Qingmo turned his face slightly to the other side. The contours of his features became more pronounced overnight. The high mountain and flowing waters3[Mo Fei Chen means that such a talented person like Lu Qingmo is just like this.  Originally; 高山流水: Literally mean lofty mountains and flowing water;  fig. intimate and understanding friend (a reference or a classical allusion to an anecdote of the two great friends Bo Ya (伯牙) and Zhong Ziqi (钟子期), so when zhong ziqi heard him play, he could tell where the latter’s ambition lay: his lofty aims, his aspirations, etc. but how rarely one could meet people like zhong ziqi) — referring to the harsh reality that talent and ability can rarely meet [find] people who can really appreciate them. ]—was just like that.

“Lu Gong Zi?” Mo Fei Chen tilted his head, this form of address was weird.

“Lu Qingmo.” Lu Qingmo put one hand on Mo Fei Chen’s shoulder and led him into the cabin.

Mo Fei Chen was patted by him to sit down on a chair, while the two beautiful women began to clear the table, taking away the wine jars that had just been overturned and taking out the new one.

Mo Fei Chen was at a loss and didn’t know what he should do at first but soon afterwards he was relieved.

“So I call you Lu Xiong (Brother Lu)?”

Lu Qingmo looked at him, his lip line parted in a cool or indifferent smile. It was different from the playfulness of his earlier smile, Mo Fei Chen could see that this time he was really smiling, “I’ve been a wonder around for a long time, at the most earlier time, people called me Lu Shi Di, then it become Lu Zhao Xia, after that people called me the Manor Leader Wen’s Shi Di. Besides that, the most weird one is that I was called the ‘Dang Xiao Jian’. Dang Xiao Sword is the name of my sword but it’s not my name. You are the first person to call me Lu Xiong.”

“He he, it doesn’t matter what other people call you, as long as you know people are calling you. Like my fellow Shi Xiong, they call me Mo Shi Di when they are in a good mood, but most of them call me ‘lazy monkey’ or ‘bold and vigorous monkey’, I answer them all the same.”

Lu Qingmo poured a cup of wine for Mo Fei Chen, “After you recited that poem that day, did you still want to say something?”

“Will Lu Xiong be angry if I say it?”

“Naturally not.”

“There are two kinds of people who are natural and unrestrained (潇洒). One is really dashing and the other one is natural and unrestrained because he has no other choice but to be like that.” Mo Fei Chen raised his eyes to look at Lu Qing Mo whose eyes for this moment were likened to a lake that rippled gently, “You have something in your heart and you can’t let it go. If you can’t let go, how can you be happy? If you can’t be happy, how can you thoroughly enjoy yourself?”

Lu Qingmo smiled, “How do you know I have something on my mind?”

“If you didn’t care about all the guests at the manor, why when Manor Leader Wen invited you to come, you would still come? If you were not interested in the sparring between the young disciples, why did you come to watch?” Mo Fei Chen said slowly.

Lu Qingmo’s finger touched the space between his eyebrows brow and smiled softly, “Your eyes are too clean, not suitable for Jiang Hu.”

Mo Fei Chen lifted his hand to clip some food and stuffed it into his mouth, “I don’t want to stay in Jiang Hu either.”

“He he,” Lu Qingmo touched the wine cup in front of Mo Fei Chen, “When you were fighting Meng Yu just now, I could see that your sword skills were outstanding among your peers. You will become a man of great talent in the future so why don’t you want to enter Jiang Hu?”

“People laugh at me for being crazy but I laugh at others for not being able to see through it, for being unable to see the graves of the great heroes in the five mountains where there are no flowers or wine and yet it can only be used as fields for farming.” 4[别人笑我忒疯癫，我笑他人看不穿； 不见五陵豪杰墓，无花无酒锄作田 Others laugh at me for being too crazy, I laugh at people’s inability to see through the world. Don’t you see those heroes who were once brilliant yet now there are no tombs. It can only be used as fields for farming. It quoted from : Song of Peach Blossom Cottage by Tang Yin 桃花庵歌 By 唐寅 桃花坞里桃花庵，桃花庵里桃花仙； 桃花仙人种桃树，又摘桃花换酒钱。 酒醒只在花前坐，酒醉还来花下眠； 半醒半醉日复日，花落花开年复年。 但愿老死花酒间，不愿鞠躬车马前； 车尘马足富者趣，酒盏花枝贫者缘。 若将富贵比贫者，一在平地一在天； 若将贫贱比车马，你得驱驰我得闲。 别人笑我忒疯癫，我笑他人看不穿； 不见五陵豪杰墓，无花无酒锄作田！ The translation of the poem;  In the Peach Blossom Land there is a peach blossom plot; A peach blossom lover lives in Peach Blossom Cot. The peach blossom lover plants peach trees in days fine; He sells his peach blossoms for money to buy wine. When he is not drunk, he would sit before the flowers; He would lie beneath them to spend his drunken hours. From day to day half-drunk, half-sober he’d appear; The peach flowers blossom and fall from year to year. I would grow old and die among flowers and wine. Rather than bow before the steed and fine carriage. The rich may love their dust-raising carriages and bowers; The poor only enjoy their cups of wine and flowers. If you compare the poor with the rich low and high, You’ll find the one on earth, the other in the sky. If you compare the poor with the carriage and steed, The poor have leisure while the rich gallop with speed. Others may pity me so foolish and so mad; I laugh at them because they can’t see through are sad. Can you find where the tombs of gallant heroes stand? Without flowers or wine they turn into ploughland.]Mo Fei Chen picked up the cup of wine and took a small sip of it.

Lu Qingmo laughed out loud, his laughter voice was magnetic, as if the air also trembled slightly with it, “Good, good …we two people who don’t care about Jiang Hu, are going to drink this one cup of wine today.”

Mo Fei Chen also raised his cup, responding to him, “So it’s just one cup of drink instead of several cups of drink?”

The result of this drink, drink until dawn, only then he went back.

As soon as Mo Fei Chen pushed open the door, he saw Li Du sitting on the bed with a dark face. Mo Fei Chen screamed in his heart, ‘Oh no, the medicine was supposedly given to Li Shi Xiong last night…!’

“Humph, you still know how to come back! I don’t know if I die, do you still have the conscience or not to come and burn the incense for me?”

Translator’s note:

As previously mentioned, this part of “One should enjoy his success to the most, lest he would only hold a golden but empty cup under the moon.” is quoted from Li Bai’s poem.

If you interested in reading the poem, here it is:

[ 李白 – 將進酒

*Li Bai – Please Drink Up

中文原文﹕

君不見、

黃河之水天上來，

奔流到海不復回？

君不見、

高堂明鏡悲白髮，

朝如青絲暮成雪？

人生得意須盡歡，

莫使金樽空對月。

天生我材必有用，

千金散盡還復來。

烹羊宰牛且為樂，

會須一飲三百杯。

岑夫子，丹丘生，

將進酒，杯莫停。

與君歌一曲，

請君為我側耳聽：

鐘鼓饌玉不足貴，

但願長醉不願醒。

古來聖賢皆寂寞，

惟有飲者留其名。

陳王昔時宴平樂，

斗酒十千恣讙謔。

主人何為言少錢？

徑須沽取對君酌。

五花馬，千金裘，

呼兒將出換美酒，

與爾同銷萬古愁。

英文翻譯 / English Translation﹕

Do you not see

The waters of the Yellow River come pouring from the sky,

Rushing towards the sea and never coming back?

Do you not see

Our elders’ grievance over grey hair when they a mirror look into,

That was once ebony, now white as snow in their twilight years?

We should fully enjoy ourselves when we feel pleased,

Let not golden chalices mirror the moon without spirits.

There has to be a way and a purpose for a being like me,

The riches I’ve spent shall one day be reacquired.

Butcher and cook lamb and beef for a happy feast,

Whenever there is an opportunity, have three hundred sips of liquor at least.

Master Cen, Danqiu, my friend,

Please drink up, let not your chalice lay neglected.

Let me sing you a song,

Please lend a ear and listen as I sing:

A grand banquet with an orchestra is not as precious as it seems,

How I wish for intoxication and how I wish from which I never wake.

Throughout time sages and men of virtue have only the company of solitude,

Only those who drink leave behind a reputation next to their name.

Duke Chen of Wei gave a banquet at the Temple of Joy and Peace,

Providing pecks of wine at ten thousand pence each for all to indulge freely.

Being a host why would I excuse myself claiming lack of means?

I’d readily buy however much required to drink to our hearts’ content.

A steed with vivid shades of hair, a fur coat worthy of a thousand gold pieces,

In exchange for more great wine I’ll have my son pawn these,

To share with you in smoothing away our millennia of sorrow, gloom and grief.]

I can imagined that;

Jun Wushuang : “I punish that Meng Yu for you,…. ” (try to flirt and impress Mo Fei Chen, so in another word, give me a kiss as a reward. )

Mo Fei Chen: Not impressed at all and ignored him.