ed with the truth?” he asked.

“Big apprentice brother, I don’t want to hide the truth from you. I didn’t say the truth because I am just afraid that you might get mad,” Lu Dayou growled.

“So who cut you?” Linghu Chong inquired. He felt quite surprised. Apprentice brothers in Huashan Sword School had always been getting along comfortably well, and had never got into any fights among each other. Did outside enemies come to Huashan to cause trouble?

Lu Dayou explained. “This morning I sparred with junior apprentice brother Lin. He just learned that move Graceful Phoenix. I wasn’t paying enough attention and got a cut on my face.”

“It’s normal for somebody to make a mistake occasionally when apprentice brothers spar each other. Don’t get mad. Apprentice brother Lin probably just learned that move recently and couldn’t control the move too well. You can’t really blame him. But you probably were a bit too careless. That move Graceful Phoenix is a powerful one. You should have treated it more carefully,” Linghu Chong said.

“That’s right. But how would I know that…that chap Lin have learned the Graceful Phoenix after only several months of apprenticeship? It was after my fifth year in Huashan that Master finally permitted you to teach me that move,” Lu Dayou grumbled.

Linghu Chong was slightly surprised. He thought to himself, “Apprentice brother Lin has only been in Huashan Sword School for several months, and now he has already learned the move Graceful Phoenix. He has progressed too fast. If he didn’t have the brain of a super smart genius, then he wouldn’t have a good foundation. To progress this fast is actually detrimental for his later progress. Why did Master teach him this move so early?”

Lu Dayou continued, “When I saw it all of a sudden, I was shocked, that’s how I got cut by him. Little apprentice sister applauded and cheered by the side. She said, ‘Monkey Six, you can’t even beat my student. How are you going to pose as a hero in front me again?’ That chap Lin knew he was wrong and tried to come by and bind up the wound for me, but I kicked him to the ground. Little apprentice sister snapped, ‘Monkey Six, he is trying to be nice to bind up your wound. Are you shamed into anger because you can’t beat him?’ Big apprentice brother, it turned out that little apprentice sister secretly taught him that move.”

Instantly, Linghu Chong’s heart was filled with strong grief. That Graceful Phoenix move was a very difficult one. The five additional techniques had complicated variations, and on top of that, the practitioner also needed to memorize a lot of formulas that went with the techniques. In order to help apprentice brother Lin understand that move, little apprentice sister must have racked her brain out and put in a lot of work. So the reason why she didn’t come up the cliff all those days is because she spent the entire time with apprentice brother Lin. Yue Lingshan was the impatient type. She always had a hard time staying still and hated tasks that would require meticulous cares. She always wanted to be better than others. That was why she was able to gather enough patience when she was learning sword arts herself. But if she were teaching someone else, she would never have taught carefully. But now she actually taught that complicated move Graceful Phoenix to Lin Pingzhi. It wouldn’t be hard to imagine how much she cared about this junior apprentice brother of hers. Only after a while did he finally managed to calm down.

“Why did you go sparring with apprentice brother Lin?” he asked dryly.

“Yesterday when I said those words to you, little apprentice sister wasn’t very happy about it and croaked at me all the way down the cliff. Then early this morning, she dragged me to go sparring with apprentice brother Lin. I didn’t think too much about it and thought that it was just a practice. But who would have expected that little apprentice sister secretly taught several unique moves to the chap Lin. I was caught totally off guard and became a prey of their plot.”

Linghu Chong understood now: When Yue Lingshan and Lin Pingzhi got into an intimate relationship in those past days, since Lu Dayou was very close to me, he couldn’t take it anymore, so he must have spilled out many satirical comments. Linghu Chong wouldn’t be surprised if Lu Dayou had even made trouble and swore at Lin Pingzhi. So he asked.

“You’ve swore at apprentice brother Lin several times already, haven’t you?”

“That dirty shameless sissy. Of course I’d be swearing at him. He got scared of me. Every time I swore at him, he dared not swear back at me and always turned away immediately to avoid me. But I would never have thought…thought that this chap is so vicious. Humph! He can’t get anywhere by himself. If it weren’t because little apprentice sister was behind him, how could he have wounded me?” Lu Dayou grunted.

Linghu Chong couldn’t help but feel a kind of indescribable bitterness in his heart. He suddenly remember the move drawn on the rock wall in the back cave that was created to defeat the move Graceful Phoenix, so he picked up a branch from the ground and was ready to teach that move to Lu Dayou, but then he thought better of it.

“Sixth apprentice brother hates that chap Lin so much right now, once he uses this move, he would almost certainly wound Lin Pingzhi severely. Then when Master and Master-Wife look into the incident, the two of us would be severely punished for sure! I can’t do that!” At that thought, he said, “Well, a fall to the pit, a gain in your wit. Just don’t get tricked again next time. We are all apprentice brothers. A small loss in a spar practice is really nothing. Why don’t you take it easy?”

“Sure. But big apprentice brother, I can take it easy. Can you…you take it easy, too?” Lu Dayou rebuffed.

Linghu Chong knew that he meant Yue Lingshan. A great pain came from his heart, and even his face twitched because of the pain.

“Sorry, I…I shouldn’t have said that.” As soon as the words came out, Lu Dayou realized how much damage he has done, so he immediately regretted it.

Linghu Chong held tight Lu Dayou’s hands and said slowly, “You said it right. How can I not care? But…but….” After a long pause, he said, “Sixth apprentice brother, let’s not talk about this anymore.”

“Sure!” Lu Dayou replied. “Big apprentice brother, you have taught me that move Graceful Phoenix before. I just didn’t pay enough attention and fell into that chap’s trap. I’ll practice more dedicatedly with all my heart. I have to let that chap know who’s better, the one taught by big apprentice brother or the one taught by little apprentice sister.”

Linghu Chong let out a sad smile. “The move Graceful Phoenix, alas, it really is nothing,” he said.

Lu Dayou could see the sad expression on Linghu Chong’s face. He figured that Linghu Chong only got so disheartened because little apprentice sister started to treat him coldly, so he dared not to say another word. After the two finished the meal, Lu Dayou cleared away the bowls and chopsticks and then left.

After a slight rest, Linghu Chong lit a torch and went back to the back cave to study those sword art drawings on the rock wall again. At the beginning, all he could think of was still how Yue Lingshan taught Lin Pingzhi sword arts, so he simply could not concentrate on the drawings on the rock wall. All the human forms in simple sketches seemed to have transformed into Yue Lingshan and Lin Pingzhi, one teaching, the other learning, in a very affectionate way. And no matter which direction he looked at, he could always see the handsome face of Lin Pingzhi flashing in front of his eyes again and again. He heaved a long sigh, thinking, “Apprentice brother Lin is ten times more handsome than I am, and he is much younger than me, only one or two years older than little apprentice sister. Of course it is natural for the two to become close.”

Suddenly, a drawing on the rock wall caught his attention. The swordsman in the drawing thrust his sword out, and the way he thrust the sword out and the route of the sword greatly resembled the move of Madam Yue’s – Unrivaled and Unmatched, The Thrust of Ning. Linghu Chong was astounded. He thought, “This move of Master-Wife clearly was created by her. How come it was carved on the rock wall way ahead of time? How could this have happened?”

He looked at the drawing more closely and then found out that the thrust drawn on the rock wall and the move created by Madam Yue were actually quite different. The sword move on the rock wall was bold and vigorous, simple and unadorned, apparently executed by a man. Once the thrust was out, there was only one thrust, not like how Madam Yue’s move had all those extra hidden techniques. But because it was simpler, it was also more swift and fierce. Linghu Chong nodded as he thought aloud, “It’s actually not surprising at all. The sword move created by Master-Wife used an idea that matched with earlier people’s idea. Since both moves came from the basic theory of the Huashan style sword arts, and the two creators had about the same level of Kung Fu and comprehension, of course the creations would have been alike with only minor differences.” Then he realized, “In that case, even Master and Master-Wife didn’t know many of the sword moves drawn here. Didn’t Master learn the entire set of the advanced sword arts of our Huashan Sword School?” The opponent’s staff also thrust out straight with the staff tip aiming right at the sword tip. The staff and the sword made a perfect straight line.

Seeing the straight line made, Linghu Chong cried out loud, “Oh, no!” The torch in his hand fell down to the floor and the cave was instantly covered by complete darkness. He was completely taken by terror and could only murmur, “What do I do? What do I do?”

He could see clearly that since the staff and the sword were in a tit-for-tat fight, and the staff is rigid and solid while the sword being flexible, when the two fighters both thrust out with all their strength, the long sword would have no choice but to break from the middle. In this move, both fighters would have continuous energy flow going together with the thrust, and the staff would be taking the advantage of the situation and keep going forward while the energy on the sword would come right back to haunt the swordsman. There was really no way out of it.

A thought suddenly flashed by his mind, “Is there really no way out of it? I guess not. After the sword breaks in half, and when the opponent’s staff jabs by, the swordsman can either drop the broken sword, kneel down with both legs, or he can dive forward to avoid the strike from the staff. But Master and Master-Wife are both well-known sword masters in the Martial World, how could they even consider using such body positions? They would rather die than take on such humiliation. Alas, what a crushing defeat! What a devastating defeat!”

He stood there silently for a good while, and then finally took out the flint stone and lit the torch again. He continued studying the rock wall and saw that the sword moves were getting more and more exquisite and intriguing, especially the last dozens of moves simply fluctuated unpredictably and appeared to be mysterious and profound. But no matter how brilliant each sword move was the opponent’s staff would always have an effective way to counter it. At the end of the Huashan sword move drawings, pictures of the swordsman kneeling on the floor in front of the staff wielding man, heading down, sword being thrown away, were carved on the rock wall. Feelings of anger and rage had slipped away from Linghu Chong’s mind long ago. All there was left was the deep feeling of despair. Although the picture was totally arrogant and harsh, there was no doubt that Huashan style sword art had been completely defeated by him, and the swordsman would never be able to compete with him. It was sadly so very true.

That night, he wandered around the back cave back and forth for countless of circles. He had never been hit with such a devastating strike before in his entire life. He kept thinking, “Huashan Sword School is a member of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance. It is a world-renowned big sword school with great fame in the Martial World. But the Kung Fu of our sword school is actually so pathetic. Among those sword moves drawn on the rock wall, there were at least over a hundred moves that even Master and Master-Wife didn’t know about. Even if I could master the entire most advanced sword moves of the Huashan Sword School, and become way better than my Master, what difference would it make? As long as the opponent knew about the counter moves, even the best and toughest swordsman of Huashan Sword School would still have to throw down his sword and surrender. If he didn’t want to surrender, then the only other choice was to commit suicide.”

He paced up and down, feeling deeply vexed and frustrated. The torch had extinguished a while back. He lit the torch again. Staring at the kneeling and surrendering human shape sketch, he felt more and more annoyed. Raising his sword high, he wanted to chop at the picture, but right before the tip of the sword touched the rock wall, he held it back, thinking, “A true man is open and aboveboard. A win stays a win and a loss stays a loss. Our Huashan Sword School truly has inferior Kung Fu skills. We really have no excuses.” He threw down his sword with a deep sigh.

He went ahead and looked at some other drawings on the rock wall, and not to his surprise, the sword moves of Songshan, Hengshan, Taishan, and Heng-Shan Sword Schools were also completely defeated, and the swordsman sketch always ended up kneeling down to surrender. Linghu Chong had been in Huashan Sword School for a long time and had a good amount of knowledge about many other sword schools. Although he didn’t know the key aspects of the other four member sword schools’ sword moves, he had at least heard about the basic ideas behind them. Every one of the sword moves from the other four member sword schools drawn on the rock wall was truly magnificent, but still, the man in the drawing defeated every one of them.

In his heart, other than terror, some unanswered questions also troubled him. “Fan Song, Zhao He, Zhang Chengfeng, Zhang Chengyun. Who are these people? Where did they come from? Why did they work so hard to carve on the rock wall all those moves that can defeat our Five Mountains Sword Alliance’s sword arts, yet they themselves were so unknown to the Martial World? And how could our Five Mountains Sword Alliance have still maintained such a great fame today?” He faintly felt that the Five Mountains Sword Alliance had been enjoying a quite undeserved and deceiving fame in the Martial World today, or they were just too fortunate. The thousands of masters and apprentices in the five sword schools were only able to survive in the Martial World because luckily the drawings on the rock wall were unknown to the public.

A thought suddenly popped into his mind, “Why don’t I use that sharp axe to chop all those drawings down and leave no trace of it whatsoever, so it would be as if those counter moves had never even existed in the world? Then, for sure, the fame of the Five Mountains Sword Alliance would be saved. I’ll just pretend that I’ve never found this back cave. That’s all.”

He went in to the narrow pathway, picked up the axe, and came back by the rock wall. But after staring at those exquisite and brilliant moves for a good while, he simply could not raise the axe to chop at the drawings. He stood there and pondered upon the decision back and forth. Finally, he said to himself loudly, “I, Linghu Chong, will never do such shameless and undignified things!”

All of a sudden, he remembered about the masked man in green robe. “That man has such excellent sword skills. He probably had something to do with the drawings in the cave. Who is he? Who is he?”

He stepped back to the front cave and pondered upon the question for half a day, then went back again to the back cave to study the drawings on the rock wall. He went back and forth between the front and the back cave until it was getting late in the day.

Sounds of footsteps came, and it was Yue Lingshan who came with the meal basket in her hand. Linghu Chong was overjoyed. He rushed by the edge of the cliff to greet. “Little apprentice sister!” His voice trembled from joy.

Yue Lingshan didn’t answer. She climbed up the cliff and threw the meal basket on to the big rock heavily. Without even looking at Linghu Chong, she turned around and started walking away.

“Little apprentice sister, little apprentice sister, what’s the matter?” Linghu Chong called out in despair.

Yue Lingshan gave a snort and then leapt off the cliff onto the path going back. And no matter how Linghu Chong called her again and again, she never answered or even looked back.

With thoughts surging through his mind, Linghu Chong didn’t know what to do. He opened the meal basket and found one bowl of rice and two bowls of vegetarian dishes, without the small calabash of wine. He stared at them blankly, lost in thought. For several times he had wanted to start eating, but each time after the first bite, he would feel bitterness in his mouth and totally lose his appetite. He finally gave up, thinking, “If little apprentice sister is mad at me, why did she bring the food up for me herself? If she is not mad at me, why didn’t she say a word and didn’t even cast a glance at me? Is sixth apprentice brother sick so she had to bring food up? But if sixth apprentice brother can’t bring food up, fifth, seventh, eighth apprentice brothers or any other person can do it. Why did little apprentice sister come by herself?” He pondered hard upon the question and completely forgot about the sword moves on the rock wall in the back cave.

At dusk the next day, Yue Lingshan brought food up again. As same as the day before, she didn’t look at Linghu Chong or say anything to him at all. On her way down the cliff, she even started singing Fujian folk songs loudly. Linghu Chong felt like someone was stabbing him hard in the heart. He thought to himself, “So she came to annoy me intentionally.”

At dusk the day after, again, Yue Lingshan threw the meal basket on the big rock and immediately turned around and left. Linghu Chong could not hold it any longer and called out, “Little apprentice sister, please stop. I need to talk to you.”

“Speak out, please.” Yue Lingshan turned around. Her face looked as if it was covered by a layer of frost. There was no trace of a smile at all.

“You…you…you….” Seeing the expression on Yue Lingshan’s face, Linghu Chong stammered.

“What about me?” Yue Lingshan demanded.

“I…I….” On normal days, he was the unrestrained and unconventional type, and would have been clever and fluent, but now he was completely lost in words.

“If you don’t have anything to say, I am leaving,” Yue Lingshan said as she turned around to leave.

Linghu Chong was greatly worried, thinking that once she had left, she wouldn’t be back until dusk the next day, and if he couldn’t get an answer out of her today, how could he ever endure the anxiety for another night? And judging from the look on her face, maybe she wouldn’t even come the next day, and it wouldn’t be surprising that she might not come for an entire month. In the moment of desperation, he reached out and grabbed onto her left sleeve.

“Let go of me!” Yue Lingshan snapped, as she pulled back hard. With a tearing sound, the sleeve was tore off completely and half of her left shoulder was exposed. Greatly nettled and embarrassed, Yue Lingshan didn’t even know how to place her exposed shoulder and arm. As a martial arts student, Yue Lingshan didn’t bother with small matters as much as an average girl, but when a potion of her shoulder and her arm suddenly became exposed, she found herself in a very awkward position.

“How…how dare you!” she yelled.

“Little apprentice sister, sor…sorry, I…I didn’t mean to do that.” Linghu Chong explained hurriedly.

Yue Lingshan placed her right sleeve on her left shoulder to cover it up. “What exactly are you trying to say?” she ranted.

“I just don’t understand,” Linghu Chong said, “why are you treating me like this? If I really somehow offended you, little apprentice sister, you…you…can just draw your sword and stab me a dozen times or something, and I’ll die with no grievance.”

“You are the big apprentice brother, how dare us to offend you, not mentioning stabbing you a dozen times?” Yue Lingshan sneered. “We are your junior apprentice brother and sister. As long as you don’t discipline us with punishment, we’d be thanking Heavens already.”

“I’ve been thinking very hard, but I still can’t figure out how I offended my apprentice sister,” Linghu Chong said.

“You can’t figure it out? Didn’t you figure out how to have Monkey Six complain to Dad and Mom?” Yue Lingshan said furiously.

“I had Monkey Six complain to Master and Master-Wife? Complain…complain about you?” Linghu Chong asked in great surprise.

“You knew Dad and Mom love me dearly and it would be useless to complain about me. How clever of you to complain about…complain about…humph! Why are you still pretending? Don’t you know what you did?”

It only took Linghu Chong an instant to guess what really happened, but that only brought more bitterness. “Master and Master-Wife found out about Lu Dayou’s wound from his sparring with apprentice brother Lin and punished apprentice brother Lin, didn’t they?” he asked, but in his heart, he thought, “Because Master and Master-Wife punished apprentice brother Lin, you actually become this mad at me?”

“It was only an accident in a sword spar between apprentice brothers. He didn’t do it intentionally. But Dad sided with Monkey Six and gave Little Lin a good scolding, saying that Little Lin didn’t have enough skills and shouldn’t have learned the kind of moves like Graceful Phoenix. He banned me from teaching him sword skills. Fine, you won! But…but…I…I’ll never pay attention to you again! Never ever ever!”

The phrase “never ever ever” was something Yue Lingshan used quite often when she joked with Linghu Chong in normal days. When she had said it before, she would always be casting a sideway glance at him with a big grin on her face. But this time she looked so serious and sincere, and from the way she said it, it seemed as if she really was determined to end her relationship with him.

Linghu Chong took a step forward and said, “Little apprentice sister, I….” He had wanted to say, “I really didn’t ask sixth apprentice brother to complain to Master and Master-Wife.” But then he thought, “I didn’t do it. I have a clear conscience. Why should I beg pity from you?” So after the word “I”, he stopped abruptly.

“You what?” Yue Lingshan asked.

“I nothing.” Linghu Chong shook his head. “I just thought, even though Master and Master-Wife banned you from teaching apprentice brother Lin sword arts, that’s nothing major, why did you get so mad at me?”

Yue Lingshan blushed. “I am mad at you! I am mad at you! You’ve got ill will in your heart. You figured that since I can’t teach apprentice brother Lin sword arts anymore, I would be your company everyday. Humph, I’ll never pay attention to you again! Never ever ever!” She stomped her foot on the ground heavily and then stormed off.

This time Linghu Chong dared not to pull her clothes again. With a stomach full of grievance and bitterness, he heard her loud and clear singing the Fujian folk song again. He walked to the edge of the cliff and looked down, only seeing her slim receding figure turning around the shoulder of the peak. Vaguely, he could see her left arm and shoulder still covered by her right sleeve. He became worried.

“I tore her sleeve off. If she runs to Master and Master-Wife to complain, the respectful Master and Master-Wife might think that I was taking liberties with her, then…then…what’s going to happen? If this gets spread around, even the bunch of apprentice brothers and sisters would look down on me.”

But then he reconsidered, “I wasn’t taking liberties with her. What do I care how others would think of it?” But when he thought that she got so mad at him just because she couldn’t teach Lin Pingzhi sword skills anymore, he couldn’t help but feel great sorrow.

At the beginning, he was still able to comfort himself by thinking, “Little apprentice sister is young and playful. Since I am meditating on the cliff, and there is no one else who would chat with her and play with her, she just wanted apprentice brother Lin, who happened to be about the same age as her, to be her companion. She doesn’t have any other thoughts.” But then after reconsideration, he thought, “I grew up together with her. That’s a much deeper relationship and affection. Apprentice brother Lin has only been on Mount Huashan for several months, but she has treated us so differently, so out of ordinance.” At that thought, he felt even more bitterness.

That night, he paced up and down, from the cave to the edge of the cliff, then back from the edge of the cliff to the cave, again and again, for thousands of times, and the same the next day. All he could think of was Yue Lingshan. The drawings on the rock wall in the back cave and that man in the green robe who showed up that night were all completely forgotten from his mind.

At dusk, it was Lu Dayou who brought the food up. He set the food on the rock and filled the bowls with rice. “Big apprentice brother, let’s eat,” he said.

Linghu Chong merely answered a slight snort as he picked up the bowl and the chopsticks. He placed some food in his mouth but had no appetite whatsoever. After casting a glance down the cliff, he slowly set down his bowl.

“Big apprentice brother, you don’t look too good. Are you feeling alright?” Lu Dayou asked.

“It’s nothing.” Linghu Chong shook his head.

“I picked those mushrooms for you yesterday. Have some and see how they taste?” Lu Dayou suggested.

Not having the heart to go against Lu Dayou’s good will, Linghu Chong ate two mushrooms. “Very good,” he said. Actually, the mushrooms were quite tasty, but he didn’t even notice.

“Big apprentice brother, I’ve got good news for you!” Lu Dayou said with a grin. “Starting from yesterday, Master and Master-Wife banned Little Lin from learning sword arts with little apprentice sister.”

“You couldn’t beat apprentice brother Lin in a sword fight, that’s why you complained to Master and Master-Wife, didn’t you?” Linghu Chong said coldly.

Lu Dayou jumped onto his feet. “Who said that I couldn’t beat him? I…I was doing it for….” He suddenly stopped.

Linghu Chong knew very well that even though Lin Pingzhi wounded Lu Dayou with a move of Graceful Phoenix by surprise, Lu Dayou still had been in the school much longer, and Lin Pingzhi would be no match for him. The reason he complained to Master and Master-Wife was really for Linghu Chong’s sake. He suddenly came upon a thought, “So all the apprentice brothers and sisters were pitying me in their hearts. They all know that little apprentice sister is breaking up with me. Only because sixth apprentice brother is close to me, he managed to do something about it. Humph, a true man does not need pity from others!”

All of a sudden, he jumped up like a mad man. Picking up the bowls and the plates, he threw them off the cliff one by one, shouting, “Who asked you to poke around? Who asked you to poke around?”

Lu Dayou was shocked. He had always respected and admired the big apprentice brother, and had no idea that Linghu Chong would be provoked into such an outrage. Flurried, he kept stepping back, murmuring, “Big apprentice brother, big…apprentice brother.”

After throwing all the bowls and dishes into the deep valley, Linghu Chong didn’t feel any better, so he randomly picked up one rock after another and kept throwing them into the deep valley.

“Big apprentice brother, it’s my fault. Why…why don’t you give me a beating,” Lu Dayou said.

Linghu Chong was just about to throw a rock when he heard Lu Dayou’s words. He turned around and asked in a stern voice, “Why is it your fault?”

Lu Dayou took another step back in fear and murmured, “I…I…I don’t know!”

Linghu Chong heaved a deep sigh. He threw the rock in his hand far away and then grabbed Lu Dayou’s hands. “Sixth apprentice brother, I am sorry. I am just depressed myself. It has nothing to do with you.”

Lu Dayou let out a breath of relief. “Let me get down and bring up some food again,” he suggested.

“No, don’t bother. I don’t feel like eating.” Linghu Chong shook his head.

Seeing the food in yesterday’s meal basket still untouched, Lu Dayou became worried. “Big apprentice brother, you didn’t eat yesterday either, did you?” he asked.

“Don’t worry about it. I just don’t have good appetites these days.” Linghu Chong forced out a smile.

Lu Dayou dared not to argue, but the next day when it was still early in the afternoon, he had already brought food up the cliff. He thought, “I’ve managed to get a big calabash of good wine today together with two delicious dishes. I’ll have to get big apprentice brother to eat some more.” But after he climbed up the cliff, he found Linghu Chong sleeping on the rock in the cave, looking very wan and sallow.

“Big apprentice brother, see what this is?” Slightly shocked, he said, as he swayed the wine-calabash in front of Linghu Chong. After he opened the lid, the entire cave was soon filled with the wonderful scent of wine.

Linghu Chong took the calabash and drank half of the wine in just one breath. “The wine is not bad!” he praised.

“Let me fill your bowl with rice,” Lu Dayou said happily.

“Nah. I don’t feel like eating.” Linghu Chong objected.

“How about just one bowl?” Lu Dayou suggested, as he filled the bowl full with rice.

Not having the heart to go against Lu Dayou’s good will, Linghu Chong had to agree. “Ok, I wil