Chapter 1: 48 Strongholds Part 2

Only once Li Da Dang Jia left did Zhou Yitang gently ask his daughter: "Does it hurt?"

Once she heard that question, Zhou Fei was immediately filled with grievances yet she still did not budge, wiping her face before replying rigidly: "I'm not dead yet."

"What a temper, just like your mother." Zhou Yitang sighed and patted the back of her head before suddenly speaking: "Twenty years ago, corrupt officer Cao Zhongkun of the Bei (North) Du seized the throne. That year, twelve civil and military officers risked death to escort the young prince out of the palace and down south. With the chasm as a boundary, they established today's Nan (South) Chao Hou Zhao. Since then, the North and the South have been under the scourge of war for many consecutive years, with their governments as tyrannical as a tiger."

This troublesome habit of Zhou Yitang was unlikely to be changed. Even in an idle chat, he needed to mention a bunch of random topics before entering the main idea. Hearing him talk about history out of nowhere, Zhou Fei did not interrupt him as she was used to it and listened expressionlessly.

"Opposers from all around arose in protest—unfortunately, they were no match against the fake Bei Du. Among those people, some died and some hid in Shu Mountain, seeking refuge from your [maternal] grandfather. As such, fake emperor Cao-thief entered Shu Mountain with an army, thus labeling our 48 Strongholds as 'bandits'. When he heard about Cao-thief's supposed 'imperial edict' [1], your [maternal] grandfather—a hero of his time—laughed and ordered the 48 Strongholds flag to be erected, proclaiming himself as the 'Zhan Shan Wang' (Occupying Mountain King), deciding to turn the label 'Bandits' into reality." Zhou Yitang paused, turning around to look at Zhou Fei, saying softly, "The reason why I'm telling you about these past events is to tell you, even if there's a 'Fei' (匪, "Bandit") above your head, the blood that runs through your body remains the blood of heroes, not of those who rob and steal. Do not cause the downfall of the heroic name of the previous generations."

He was often sick, causing him to speak in a soft voice and preventing his words from sounding strict. However, to Zhou Fei, his last sentence hit far harder than any of Li Jinrong's whip lashes.

Zhou Yitang took a breath and continued, asking: "What did the Xiansheng teach?"

This Sun Xiansheng is a pedantic scholar, convicted because he couldn't control his mouth—the essays where he cursed out fake emperor Cao could supposedly form volumes—and was hunted down by the fake officials. Luckily, in his early years he had made some connections with a few people in the Jiang Hu [2] and was escorted to the 48 Strongholds. Li Jinrong saw that he could not do any heavy work at all and decided to let him stay as a teacher. She wasn't asking for any zhuangyuan [3], she only wanted the younger disciples to learn to read so that if they go travelling in the future, they would at least know how to write a letter.

Zhou Fei was taught by Zhou Yitang himself at a young age. While she had a "famous teacher", she did not pay much attention when studying. Last winter, Zhou Yitang caught a cold and was sick until early spring. Since he didn't have much energy to supervise her, Li Jinrong, afraid that she would go out and cause mischief, decided to force her to listen to the old Xiansheng's teachings. Who knew that trouble could arise out of simple listening.

Zhou Fei lowered her head. After a long while, she reluctantly replied: "Once I heard him say 'San zhe covers the ways of women, the classics of etiquette' and whatever, I left."

Zhou Yitang nodded and said: "Oh, so you didn't hear much—I ask you, what three things do the 'ways' refer to?"

Zhou Fei muttered: "Who the hell would know?"

"Rude remarks." Zhou Yitang glared at her for a moment before saying, "Must be weak and humble, must be studious and hard-working, must continue to honor the ancestors—the ways of women are these three things."

Not expecting him to have known these fallacies, Zhou Fei wrinkled her brow and said: "In today's world, those who rule are cruel and evil people; if you are not bold and daring, you'd undoubtedly suffer, unable to control your fate—weak and humble my lantern!"

She said it with such seriousness, as if she had personal experience, that Zhou Yitang was dumbfounded for a moment before chuckling: "You xiao yatou (little girl), as someone who hasn't even left Shu Mountain, you dare to talk about the world? And in such a matter-of-fact way…where'd you hear it?"

"You said it," Zhou Fei said confidently, "You said it once when you were drunk, I remember each exact word."

Hearing that, Zhou Yitang's smiling expression faded. For a moment, his expression was extremely complex, his gaze seeming to look past the tops of the many mountains of the 48 Strongholds, landing in the center of the 36 prefectures of the vast, endless Jiu Zhou. [4] After a long while, he finally said: "Even though I'm the one who said that, it's not necessarily true. You're the only daughter I have, so naturally I would hope that you are safe and sound. Even if you are a follower of eagles and wolves, that would be better than being a cow or sheep that anyone can slaughter."

Zhou Fei raised her eyebrows, pretending she understood.

"I don't mean that I want you to be a bad person." Zhou Yitang said almost self-mockingly, "It's just that as parents, we always want our children to be smart, others' dumb; ours' strong, others' weak—these are your father's thoughts. Old Sun Xiansheng…he has no ties with you. When typical males see females, they want all females to be high in morals and beauty; willing to serve their husbands and in-laws; weak, humble, kind and caring; not asking for anything in return—these are a male's selfish thoughts."

Zhou Fei understood his words this time, immediately saying: "Tch! I beat him lightly."

Zhou Yitang smiled, continuing: "With his old age, from fleeing for his life when he was sent into exile and escaping by a hairbreadth to now having his family broken up and killed, leaving him all by himself and resorting to becoming a bandit—would he not understand the concept of 'the weak cannot survive'? It's just that nowadays, towards you children, the old Xiansheng just wants to turn away from reality, using these long-broken old rules to continue a pipe dream…these are the old Xiansheng's self-pitying, yearning-for-the-former-times thoughts. They're just a little pedantic. When listening to others, even if it is about volumes of fallacies, there's no need to leave immediately. 'Having no reason' isn't necessarily not a way of reasoning."

Zhou Fei was slightly confused by his words but also unwilling to accept his point. However, she couldn't think of any words of argument.

"Additionally, Sun Xiansheng is of old age and he's a bit muddle-headed. Arguing with him was something you should not have done in the first place." Zhou Yitang's tone changed, saying, "Not to mention you attacked him, hanging him on a tree…"

Zhou Fei immediately cried out: "I only pushed him once—I didn't take off his clothes in the middle of the night, that kind of morally lacking thing is something Li Sheng that bastard would do! What basis does Li Jinrong have to say my methods are low? Her nephew's methods are the ones that are actually low!"

Zhou Yitang asked curiously: "Then why didn't you tell her that just now?"

Zhou Fei ran out of words, "hmph"-ing heavily instead. The more Li Jinrong beat her, the more she was going to act in opposition—she wasn't even willing to explain.

Li Sheng is the son of Zhou Fei's Second (maternal) Uncle, older than her by a few days. Having lost his father at a young age, he and his younger sister Li Yan were raised by Li Jinrong's side. Among the youth in the Li Stronghold, most were mediocre in ability with the exceptions of Zhou Fei and Li Sheng. As a result, the two grew up as rivals, always competing against each other…however that was what outsiders believed.

In reality, Zhou Fei didn't feel like she had anything against Li Sheng. In fact, she even went out of her way to avoid him. Zhou Fei could remember events from long ago; at the age where adults would not conceal what they were saying, she could already more or less remember a few major events. These major events include her mother dislocating her joint while clumsily washing her—it didn't actually hurt that much—and then [her mother] crying from fright as she reattached it. They also include her father becoming sick during a dark and dreary winter and nearly dying; at that time, Chu Daifu (Doctor), who hadn't grown a white beard yet, walked out of the room expressionlessly and said to her mother: "You should take the child to him so he can take a look. In the case he won't recover, at least he'll be at ease."

As well as the revolt between the three Stronghold leaders…

That day, the mountain was filled with the sound of screams. In the space around her, the scent of blood seemed to be permanently stuck in the air. Zhou Fei remembered being tightly muffled in someone's arms. That person's arms were very broad, but his scent was somewhat unpleasant—likely someone who didn't enjoy being clean. He took her to where Zhou Yitang was and the moment she grasped her father's icy hands, Zhou Fei heard a loud noise from behind her. She suddenly turned her head, only to see a steel knife in the back of the one who had brought her to safety. He had been bleeding this whole time, his blood already beginning to coagulate.

Zhou Yitang did not cover her eyes, letting her watch blatantly. Ten years later, Zhou Fei would no longer remember that person's face, yet she would never forget that bleeding back.

That person was her Second (maternal) Uncle—Li Sheng's father.

Because of that event, Li Jinrong was always biased towards Li Sheng and Li Yan—small, day-to-day things like food and clothing were yielded to Li Yan, which didn't matter much. She was the youngest, the little sister, so that was only logical. In their childhood, when the three of them caused mischief, they were actually the ideas of Li Sheng; however, the one who was thrown under the bus and punished was always the renown "beloved child" of the Da Dang Jia: Zhou Fei. Even this didn't matter, she wasn't completely innocent either.

Once they were older and all learning martial arts under Li Jinrong, Zhou Fei never heard even a single "decent" from Li Jinrong. Li Sheng, on the other hand, received all sorts of rewards from Li Jinrong even if he had only won over her once in a while.

That wasn't the only case; there were many other times like those. Basically, those two were biological children of the Li family, Zhou Fei was picked up from elsewhere. [5]

Occasionally, Zhou Fei would feel extremely wronged; however, deep inside she knew the reason for the bias and once she thought about her Second Uncle, she would let it go. As she got older, she learned to lose on purpose. No matter how much effort she put into practicing in her own time, on the surface, she no longer fought with Li Sheng for the top. Whether in practice or in competition, she would tracelessly use less power, maintaining the appearance that the two of them were more or less on the same level.

It wasn't that she had some deep understanding of what was right and proper; rather, for a young girl in her teens, this method gave Zhou Fei a superiority complex of "I know I'm more skilled than you, I'm just letting you win". Every time she looked at her cousin from this perspective of being a fool, the little satisfaction that she received was enough to compensate for the injustice she felt. Of course, other than that, she also wanted to be at odds with Li Jinrong—as no matter what happens, she'll never be able to get a "good" from the Da Dang Jia, so she might as well give up.

Zhou Fei was not someone with a good temper. Towards Li Sheng, she believed that she was already as "nice" as she possibly could. Yet that brat really overdid it this time!

At the 48 Strongholds, as long as your gongfu (martial arts skills/kungfu) is solid and your methods are resolute, then you're doing great. Most people were born in the wild, barely able to read any characters at all, and so did not care about those details. However, a young girl of thirteen-fourteen years of age could still understand that there is a difference between males and females. The more Zhou Fei thought about Li Sheng framing her as the one who took off that old man's clothes, the more she became angry.

After leaving Zhou Yitang's place, she returned to her room, cleaned herself up and changed clothes. She loosened up her shoulders and after making sure that nothing was out of place, she grabbed the zhai-bei chang dao [6] that she kept propped up beside the door and with a murderous air, she went to get even with Li Sheng.

—

李晟 Li Sheng – Zhou Fei's older cousin, the son of her second maternal uncle

李妍 Li Yan – Zhou Fei's younger cousin, the daughter of her second maternal uncle

曹仲昆 Cao Zhongkun – the corrupt Prime Minister of Bei Du who seized the throne

北都 Bei Du – the kingdom in the north

南朝 Nan Chao – the newly formed kingdom in the south by the escaped officials and the young prince

—

[1] 圣旨 sheng zhi (imperial edict): the edict signifies the emperor's wishes and commands and is written on a scroll.

[2] 状元 zhuang yuan: Number One Scholar. This is the title conferred on the top-ranking candidate in the highest imperial examination.

[3] 江湖 jiang hu: literally translates to "rivers and lakes" but is the name of the brotherhood of outsiders (people who did not live in official cities or deal with the imperial court) that existed in ancient China. This website says it best: "It is the counterculture society of workers who made their living with the skill of their own two hands: craftsmen, beggars, thieves, street performers, fortune tellers, wandering healers, and many martial artists." It goes into more detail about the Jiang Hu and I would definitely recommend reading that page. It's not that long but gives a lot of background into the setting of this story.

[4] 九州 Jiu Zhou: another (more ancient) name for China. In other words, it means China.

[5] Typically, biological children are treated better than adopted children and that is the analogy that is being used here. The use of 'picked up' essentially means 'adopted'.

[6] 窄背长刀 (zhai bei chang dao) is essentially a type of changdao—a two-handed, single-edged Chinese sword. I'm not quite sure how the name for it would be translated but here's a break down of the meaning: 窄 zhai means narrow; 背 bei means back, but in this context it is referring to the dull edge of the blade, the 刀背 dao bei (刀 dao means knife); and 长刀 chang dao is, as mentioned earlier, a two-handed, single-edged Chinese sword. There's actually a forum where users were discussing what Zhou Fei's zhai-bei changdao would look like that includes pictures of potential candidates. Unfortunately, it's in Chinese but you can still look at the pictures for reference. Most people think the third picture is the best representation and I agree.