The Legend of the Condor Heroes

The waiter's mouth gaped.

"These eight dishes," he said, "are rather expensive! For the duck feet and the chicken tongue soup, we will require a lot of poultry!"

"This gentleman is paying," responded the boy while pointing at Guo Jing, "do you believe that he does not have the means?"

The waiter saw that Guo Jing carried a sable coat of great value. "Even if you have no means of payment," he said to himself, "this coat will suffice to cover the expenditures!"

Then he demanded, "Are those all?"

"You will also bring," the boy said, "twelve more dishes to accompany the rice and eight different desserts. And it will go on like that…"

The waiter didn't dare to ask details concerning the dishes, fearing the boy would order dishes he could not provide, he went to the kitchen telling to prepare the best.

"Which wine does the gentlemen wish to drink?" he returned to ask. "We have white wine ten years of age. What would you say of two horns to start?"

"Why not?" said the boy. "One continued with…"

A little later the waiter brought fruits and cookies, Guo Jing tasted each plate and marvelled at all those delicious things he had never know. The boy spoke much, telling about the local customs and habits, describing famous characters and famous anecdotes about the country of the South. Guo Jing was fascinated by his refined eloquence and his immense knowledge. Guo Jing's Second Shifu was a well-read man and a great scholar, but Guo Jing, who had devoted all his time and energy to martial arts, had only learned from Zhu Cong, during their rare free time, some basic characters.

It seemed to him now that this young boy was as cultivated as Second Shifu and he was filled with wonder, "I believe, he thought, what seems just a poor beggar was in reality a well-read man of immense culture. The men in China are definitely quite different from those in Mongolia."

Half an hour later, the dishes were ready: it was necessary to join two large tables together to be able to serve them all. The young boy drank very little and ate in the same way, being satisfied with pickings of the less spiced dishes. Suddenly, he called the waiter and thundered, "This rice wine is five years old! How do you dare to serve it with the food?"

"Your palate is really very refined!" the manager came to beg for pardon. "Please excuse us. In fact, our humble establishment did not have it, it was necessary to borrow some from the nearest larger restaurant, The House of Eternal Celebration. In general, one does not find fresh wine in Kalgan."

The young boy made a gesture to return it and resumed his conversation with Guo Jing again, asking him thousand questions about the desert and Mongolia. As his Shifus had reminded him to be discreet, in order not to reveal his identity, he was content to tell anecdotes on hunting for hares and wolves, the shootings of eagles, horse races etc. The boy listened with fascination, applauding the sharpest accounts and often bursting into fresh and childish laughter.

Guo Jing had lived all his life in the desert. He had certainly tied a sincere friendship with Tolui and Huazheng. But Temujin, who loved his youngest son very much, often kept his son near him, so that Tolui didn't have much time to play around. As for Huazheng, she had a strong character and often quarrelled with Guo Jing, who felt reluctant to do everything she wanted. Although they always ended reconciled, the relation wasn't easy. However, everything was different with this young boy: they were conversing during eating and Guo Jing, without knowing why, felt a joy he never experienced before.

Usually he spoke little and expressed himself with difficulty. One really needed to pose him with questions forcing him to answer painfully. Han Xiaoying nicely made fun of him by saying that he was the preferred disciple of Fourth Shifu, because he had adopted Nan Xiren's motto: "silence is golden."

This time, he surprisingly could speak nonstop, not hiding anything of his life, except his martial arts training and what was related to Temujin, telling even all silly things and his stupidities. He spoke glibly and at a certain moment, he forgot himself and seized the left hand of his interlocutor. He was surprised because this hand was soft and smooth, it was flexible and seemed boneless. The boy smiled slightly and bowed his head. Guo Jing realized whereas the boy's face was dark with filth, the skin of his nape had the whiteness of jade. Guo Jing found this a bit strange, but he did not pay further attention.

"Well we've chat for a long time," the boy said, "withdrawing his hand, all are cold now, the dishes and also the rice…"

"Yes," Guo Jing said, "but it is not spoilt, it is still good nevertheless…"

The boy shook his head.

"Then we'll let it warmed up…"

"No," the boy said, "what is warmed up isn't good anymore…"

He called the waiter, ordered him to throw all away and prepare new dishes with fresh ingredients. The manager, cooks and waiters found this attitude quite strange, but they did it readily. The Mongols had a habit of showing extreme hospitability to their guests, and besides, it's the first time of his life Guo Jing handled money, he didn't knew its value at all. But even if he did know, he got along so well with the boy, he felt such a pleasure in the boy's company, he would have spent ten times as much without batting an eye.

The new dishes were served, the boy ate some mouthful and had enough. "You are really an idiot", the waiter inwardly said to Guo Jing, "This little urchin has taken advantage of you."

He brought the check, which amounted to nineteen taels, seventy-four conderins. Guo Jing took a gold ingot, ordered the waiter to change against taels at the money changer, and paid.

When they left the restaurant, the northwind blew violently. The young boy seemed to feel cold. He shivered and said, "I've disturbed you … Now, goodbye."

Seeing the boy dressed not warm enough, Guo Jing felt his heart tightening. He removed his black sable coat and covered the shoulders of the boy:

"Brother," he said, "I got the impression we've known each other forever. Please accept this coat."

He had four gold ingots left, he took two ingots, slipped them into the coat's pocket. Without even thanking, the boy, wearing the sable coat, stepped along heavily.

After walking about ten steps, he turned and saw Guo Jing, holding his horse by its bridle, fixedly looking at him. He understood Guo Jing did not want to separate like that, then he made a gesture with his hand. Guo Jing approached him eagerly and required, "Does worthy brother still need something?"

"I haven't yet asked for the name of my big brother," said the boy smiling.

"Indeed," Guo Jing said laughing, "we forgot about that. My name is Guo and Jing is my first name. And you, brother?"

"My name is Huang and my first name is Rong."

"Where are you bound for?" asked Guo Jing. "If you want to go towards the South, we could travel together, what do you think?"

"I do not go towards the South," Huang Rong said, shaking his head. Then he said suddenly, "Big brother, I'm still hungry…"

"Very well," Guo Jing ardently said. "Let us eat something together."

This time, Huang Rong brought him to the House of Eternal Celebration, the principal restaurant of Kalgan, which decoration accurately imitated the great establishments of the ancient capital of Song, Bianliang. He did not order a feast anymore, but asked only four plates of fine pastry, a pot of longjin tea (famous green tea of the province Zhejiang), and both continued their rambling conversation.