this letter has implications to the clan, and since Bangzhu and clan elders were not at Luoyang, I dare not delay so I immediately went to Zhengzhou to see Elder Xu and ask him to take charge of this matter. As for what this matter is… Elder Xu, please explain to everyone here.

Elder Xu coughed a few times before speaking, “This matter if spoken out loud involves matters of gratitude and grudges. I foresee that the consequences are very hard to imagine.” Those few sentences conveyed a deep worrisome meaning. He slowly opened a clothe bag from his shoulders, took out the letter, and said “This is the will of Ma Dayuan. Great ancestors, grandfather, and father of Dayuan, many generations have belonged to the Beggar clan, and had been if not clan elders then at least 8 bags members. I knew Ma Dayuan since he was little and are very familiar with handwritings of his. The words on this letter are definitely Ma Dayuan’s handwriting. When Madame Ma handed me this letter, the wax seal on it has not been touched. I was afraid it held important matters and dare not delay it so I opened it immediately without waiting for the other Elders. When opening the letter, the Iron Faced Judge of Mt. Taishan Shan Zheng was there as witness.”

Shan Zheng spoke up, “What he said was true. I was there to visit Elder Xu at that moment when he opened the letter.”

Elder Xu opened the envelop taking out the letter and said, “I examined the letter inside and saw that it was not written by Ma Dayuan and was a little surprised. The beginning of the letter was to: Brother Jiantong, and this is even more weird. Jiantong is the name of Wang Bangzhu – the former Bangzhu of the Beggar Clan. If the person who wrote this letter was not a good friend of his, then they would not addressed him as such. Moreover Wang Bangzhu had passed away for a long time, so who would write a letter to him? At this point I have not yet read what was written in the letter but immediately skipped to the end to see the name on the signature. Upon reading it I was even more surprised. At that point I couldn’t contain myself and exclaimed ‘So it was him!’ Brother Shan was curious and peeked his head over to see and also exclaimed ‘So it was him!’”

Shan Zheng nodded his head hinting that it happened exactly like that.

Zhao Qiansun sneaked in “Mister Shan, what you did was not right. This is a secret letter of the Beggar Clan. You are not a 1 bag member of the clan, nor a 2 bag, nor even a lowly street beggar who goes around asking for food. How come you dared to peek at a secret letter belonging to others?” Everyone there thought that he was like a madman but now he actually made sense. Shan Zheng’s faced turned red and hurriedly said, “I… I only looked at the signature at the end of the letter and not what was actually written in that letter.” Zhao Qiansun replied, “If one stole 1000 gold one is a thief, if one stole 1 copper one is still a thief. The amount of money is different. But stealing a large amount is still stealing and stealing a small amount is still stealing. Sneaking a glance at a letter belonging to others is not an act of a gentlemen. If you are not a gentlemen then you are a shameless person, and a shameless person is someone everyone should look down upon. If you are already a shameless person then you deserved to die.”

Shan Zheng raised his hand to keep his five sons from acting rashly. Just let him talk nonsense and see where this goes. Though he was boiling on the inside, he calmly thought to himself that there was something more to this, and asked himself “This person just met me and he’s already trying to stir up trouble, did he already had grudge with me from the past perchance? In Jianghu there are not many who doesn’t give face to the name Thaishan Shan jia. Why can’t I figure it out?”

Everyone else was waiting for Elder Xu to say the name of the person in the letter to see what kind of person he is that caused Elder Xu and Shan Zheng to both be shocked. While they all were trying to think of this matter, Zhao Qiansun started speaking out of turn with some other nonsense causing many people to stare at him in anger.

Granny Tan suddenly spoke up, “What is everyone looking at? Every word my senior martial brother said was the truth.” Zhao Qiansun saw Granny Tan spoke up for him, felt estactic inside, and said, “Everyone look here, even Lian Xiaojuan agrees, so how can I be in the wrong. Whatever Lian Xiaojuan have said or done in the past had never been wrong.”

But suddenly another but shockingly similar voice to Zhao Qiansun cut in, “That is right. Whatever Lian Xiaojuan says or do has never been wrong. She married Grandpa Tan, and did not married me… she did not married wrong at all!” The person who said that was A’Zhu. Starting at the moment when Zhao Quinsun talked bad about Murong Fu, she was still holding a grudge inside so she couldn’t help herself from making fun of him. Zhao Quinsun after hearing that didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, and fell victim to the specialty of the Murong famly move – turning one’s special move against them. (I don’t know how to translate this idiom Help??)

Immediately there were two faces looking at A’Zhu intimately and full with approval, on there right there was Grandpa Tan’s and on the left there was Shan Zheng.

A person’s shadow flashed and Granny Tan jumped in front of A’Zhu with a raised palm and slapped her hard in the face and piqued “Whether I marry right or wrong, what does it have to do with a lowly servant girl like you?” She raised her hand very fast that even though A’Zhu wanted to dodge it, she couldn’t. Another person even if next to her wouldn’t even be fast enough step in to help. A loud squeak of pain was heard and on the powder white face of A’Zhu there was purple hand print.

Zhao Qiansun laughed out loud, “This smelly girl deserved her lesson. Who told her to be gossipy about other people’s business.”

A’Zhu with tears running down her cheeks started crying out loud. Grandpa Tan stepped up and stuck his hand into his pocket pulling out a small jade box, opened it, and started spreading ointment onto the face of A’Zhu. Granny Tan slapped her skillfully and quickly, raising her palm and pulling it back in just a single motion. Grandpa Tan applying ointment to her face had to use many different motions but it was even faster than Granny Tan’s slap. A’Zhu didn’t even get a chance to move and the ointment were already on her face, her bruised face suddenly started to heal and feel better. At the same time in her left hand she was holding something. She opened her palm to see a small jade box, seeing that she knew that Granpa Tan just gave her a box of special ointment to treat her injury. A’Zhu, as soon as she started crying had suddenly started smiling.

Elder Xu had no reason to pay attention to Granny Tan bicker with Grandpa Tan, so he lowered his voice and continued, “My brothers! As for the person who wrote this letter, I can not say at this moment. I have been in the Beggar Clan for over 70 years, have retired to live in seclusion for 30 years and no longer have any dealings with business in Jianghu. I don’t have any conflicts with people nor do people have enmities with me. I have lived in this world for a long time, yet I don’t have any children nor do I have any students thus I harbor no hidden bias nor agendas. I am about to say a few words, will you all be able to believe what I say?” The group of beggars all said together, “If we don’t trust Elder Xu then who can we trust?”

Elder Xu turned around and looked at Qiao Feng and asked, “What say you Bangzhu?” Qiao Feng replied, “I have always respected Elder Xu, elder should know this already.”

Elder Xu then continued, “After reading this letter, I felt both hurt and anger in my heart. I had doubts that I am mistaken and erred in my thinking so I immediately showed it to brother Shan Zheng. Everyone must keep in mind that Brother Shan and the person who wrote this letter have always been intimate with each other. He can recognize the handwriting of that person. This matter has important implications so I needed to ask Brother Shan to examine this letter to see if it is true or false.”

Shan Zheng looked forward and stared at Zhao Qiansun implying “Do you have anything more to say?” Zhao Qiansun replied, “If Elder Xu showed the letter to you, then of course you have a right to look at it. However it still doesn’t dismiss the fact that the first time you saw it, it was because you sneaked a peak. No different from a thief swearing in front of Buddha that he will never steal again, and even though he changed his ways, it still doesn’t wash away the fact that he was once a thief.”

Elder Xu, paid no attention to Zhao Qiansun trying to stir up trouble, and continued talking, “Brother Shan! Will Brother Shan please announce to everyone here whether this letter is real or fake?”

Shan Zheng replied, “The person who wrote this letter and I are good friends and have exchanged letters with each other for many years. In my house I still kept many of his old letters, so I led Elder Xu and Madam Ma back to my place to compare them. Not only the handwriting matches, but also the envelop and the wax seal were all of one kind and does not leave any doubt as to who wrote the letter.”

Elder Xu said, “I won’t live for much longer so everything that I do, I must be careful. Especially since this matter has important implications to the Beggar Clan and the reputation and name of a hero, how could I dare be reckless and take liberty of the matter.”

After hearing him say that, everyone turned their faces to look at Qiao Feng, knowing immediately that the hero that he was implying were Qiao Bangzhu himself. With that being said, no one dared to look at him straight in the eyes opting instead to look down at the ground when their eyes meet.

Elder Xu continued, “I knew that the Tan husband and wife living on Mt. Taishan and the person who wrote the letter knew each other for many years, so I payed a visit to Cavern of Flowing Clouds. Grandpa Tan and Granny Tan shared with me everything to confirm this matter. I truly didn’t dare to come straight out and talk about this matter by myself.”

At this time everyone realized that Elder Xu invited the Tan husband and wife and ShanZheng here to testify and serve as witnesses.

Elder Xu then continued, “At that time Granny Tan said that she has ‘a martial brother that can bear first hand witness to this matter. If we can invite him to testify his account then everything can become clear. This person is mister Zhao Qiansun. But this person acts differently and more eccentric than the average person, he won’t accept just anybody’s invitation.’ But he still holds Granny Tan in high regard. As soon as her invitation letter arrives, Zhao Qiansun immediately agreed to come…”

Grandpa Tan suddenly got angry and stared at Granny Tan then asked, “What?? You were the one to ask him to come? Why didn’t you tell me first before you two carried out covert exchanges behind my back?” Granny Tan became angry and shouted back, “What is this ‘covert exchanges’ you mentioned? I wrote a letter and asked Elder Xu to send someone to deliver it. That is the right and honorable thing that I did befitting a wife. You have a perchance for pointless jealousy, if you knew then you will nag incessantly about it bringing down the house, so that’s why I chose not to tell you.” Grandpa Tan replied, “Hiding something from your husband violates the moral ethics of husband and wife, and that is not right!”

Granny Tan not in the mood to argue more, took her palm and punched him in the middle of his face. Grandpa Tan, although his martial arts are higher than his wife, didn’t block nor did he dodge, just stood still for his wife to hit him. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out a small box to rub ointment onto his face to stop the swelling. The person who struck was fast, but the person who applied ointment was even faster. The anger of this husband and wife caused everyone to find it ridiculous.

Zhao Qiansun seeing this, gave a long sigh and in a sad hurt voice said, “So that’s how it is. So that’s how it is. So regretful. If I had known sooner then in the past I would have allowed her to slap me around a few times. Not a difficult thing to do.” His voice was full of regret.

Granny Tan replied in an equally regretful voice, “Who told you to hit me back when I hit you in the past? You never once yielded to me.”

Zhao Qiansun looked up in a dumb looking stupor, started to reminiscence the old times about a certain martial sister with a volatile temper. A misstep around her and one would be on defense all day. Every time he got hit for a nonsense reason, he could not endure nor yield so back and forth they go thus killing any chance for love before it had a chance to mature. Now seeing Grandpa Tan withstood her beating without a sound, he was finally enlightened, and now repent bitterly with a heart full of grief. Over the past few decades, he was bitter at his martial sister for choosing another man, thinking it was due to some significant reason, but who would have thought that his rival’s only advantage was that he was willing to serve as her whipping post. “Oy, if I only I had known back then, I would let her hit me more then she would be satisfied.”

Elder Xu spoke up, “Mister Zhao Qiansun!! Please give some input and say to everyone whether the contents of this letter is true or false.”

Zhao Qiansun, still lost in his thought, muttered, “I am such an idiot, at that time why couldn’t I figure it out? Studying martial arts are for beating enemies, beating evil, beating lowlife bastards, who would have thought to use it for beating a loved one, beating the person of your dreams. If being beaten was love, being scolded was love, being slapped around was love, then what was such a big deal that I couldn’t endure it back then.”

Everyone seeing him so infatuated found it slightly touching yet also ridiculous. The Beggar Clan is facing an important matter that needs to be resolved. Elder Xu had invited this person from afar to testify, but who knew this person turned out to be a love struck fool, can what he has to say be taken seriously?

Elder Xu reminded him, “Mister Zhao Qiansun, we all asked you here so you can talk about what is in this letter.”

Zhao Qiansun replied, “Oh right, right, elder is asking about the matter in the letter right? That letter though short, is full of meaning: 40 years ago we were fellow students, the memories still fresh. Every time little sister thinks back, I start missing those days. Although martial brother’s head is now gray, your smiling face is no different from years past…” Elder Xu was asking about the letter Ma Dayuan left behind, but he actually recited Granny Tan’s letter that he memorized by heart.

Elder Xu was speechless and not knowing what to do, turned to Granny Tan and said, “Madam Tan! Madam please ask him to cooperate.”

Granny Tan witnessed Zhao Qiansun unexpectedly take an ordinary letter of hers and recited it fluently by heart, knew in her soul that he must have read that letter forward and back many times. She was very touched and sweetly said, “Martial brother! Martial brother please talk about the situation at that time.”

Zhao Qiansun replied, “I remembered that scene like it was still in front of my eyes, the memories of it were like it happened yesterday. Martial sister had combed your hair into two braids, each one tied by a red string. That day Shifu taught us the move Stealing Dragon Switching Phoenix….”

Granny Tan slowly shook her head and said, “Martial brother, Elder Xu is not asking about our past. Martial brother once had participated in the bloody battle at Shi Guqian (Quarry Stone Valley) outside Yanmen Guan Pass. Martial brother please tell everyone what the situation was like at that time.”

Zhao Qiansun shakely said, “Outside Yanmen Guan Pass? At Quarry Stone Valley… I… I….” His complexion suddenly changed color. He suddenly turned towards the southwest direction where there wasn’t a single soul and started running away. His lightness skill was strong and fast. He ran all the way into the forest and it would be hard for anyone to catch him so everyone started to yell “Mister Zhao Qiansun! Don’t run! Please come back!” Zhao Qiansun paid gave no heed and ran even harder.

Suddenly there was a loud ringing voice, “Martial brother’s head is now gray, your smiling face is now crooked, different from years past…” Zhao Qiansun immediately halted, turned around and asked, “Who said that?” That other person continued, “If it is not so then why upon seeing Grandpa Tan do you feet inferior, turn tail and run away?” Everyone looked to see who spoke, and it was Quan Guanqing.

Zhao Qiansun angrily yelled back, “Who felt inferior? His kungfu is only good for standing there to take punishment and not hit back. How is that better than me?”

All of a sudden on the other side of the forest an old man’s voice was heard, “Taking punishment but not dishing it back is the hardest kungfu to learn under heaven. It is not a simple, no?”