“What trouble are you fellows talking about?” asked Lu Da.
The men said, “We are afraid there will be trouble because of the cawing of those crows.”
“Where do you get that idea from?” asked Lu Da.
A servant laughed and replied, “The crows build their nests in a willow tree just outside the garden, and every evening they clamor there.”
Some said they would get a ladder, and destroy the nests. Lu Da was now merry with wine, and they all went outside to look at the nests. The Green Grass Snake said he would climb up the tree, but Lu Da took off his gown, and seizing the tree with both hands he made a mighty heave and uprooted the willow tree. The vagabonds were astounded, and kneeling down they worshiped him. They said, “Reverend, you are not a mortal man, but must be a living Buddha. If you had not the strength to lift ten million jin in weight you could not have done this.”
“That is only a small affair. Wait till tomorrow, when you can see me do some military exercises with my sword.”
It was evening before they all departed. The next day they were quite submissive in spirit due to what they had seen. They brought wine and meat for Lu Da, and watched him at his exercises. After they had done this for some time Lu Da decided to give them a banquet, and ordered his gardeners to go into the town and buy various kinds of fruit and wine, kill a pig and a sheep. At that time the weather was warm it being the end of the fourth lunar month, so Lu Da had mats spread under the ash tree, and there the vagabonds sat down. They were served with big bowls of wine, and large pieces of meat, and were told to eat as much as they wanted. During the feast they said, “Reverend, for several days we have seen you exercising, but we have not noticed you using your staff, and we should like to see you do that now.”
Lu Da agreed, and going indoors, brought out his monk staff, seventy inches in length, and weighed sixty-two jin. When they saw this huge weapon they were startled, and said, “If a man had not the strength of a buffalo in both arms he could not use that.” But Lu Da whirled it round with great ease, making it whistle in the air. On seeing this the men applauded.
Lu Da was quite in high spirit and did this display in good form. He noticed an official watching him through a break in the garden wall, so he ceased his exercises. The official wore blue gauze silk, folded in a knot on his head; round his head was a string of pearls to which were attached two white jade tablets at the back of his head; his military gown was of thin green silk decorated with a flower design; his belt was embroidered like the marks on the back of a tortoise; suspended from it were two otters’ tails, and it had a silver buckle; his black shoes were of court fashion with tips turned up; in his hand he held a fan made of Sichuan paper. His face was like a leopard’s, with big round eyes and a heavy beard. He was nine feet tall and seemed to be thirty-five years of age. He called out, “This is an extraordinary master, and uses his weapon well.”
The vagabonds answered, “As this Drill Instructor approves, Lu Da must be very good.”
“Who is that army officer?” asked Lu Da.
“He is the Drill Inspector of the Imperial Guards, and is named Lin Chong.”
“Why don’t you ask him to come inside?” asked Lu Da. But just then the onlooker jumped over the broken wall, and met Lu Da under the ash tree, where they sat down.
After the usual courtesies as to names, Lu Da said that he had met Lin Chong’s father at the Eastern Capital. Lin Chong was much pleased, and insisted upon making Lu Da his sworn elder brother. He then informed Lu Da that he had come with his wife to worship at the Yue Temple nearby. As he saw Lu Da exercising, so he told his maidservant, Jin Er, to go with his wife to the temple, and he would wait there for them. Lu Da ordered his servants to bring wine for the guest, and when the latter had partaken three cups, he saw the servant with a red face hurrying towards the broken wall and calling, “Master! come at once! Your wife has trouble with a man in the temple.”
Lin Chong quickly inquired where they were, and Jin Er replied, “She was just at the bottom of the Wu Yue Pavilion in the temple when a cheeky fellow stopped her, and would not let her go.”
Lin Chong hurriedly said to Lu Da, “Please excuse me, sir; I will come back very soon.” He ran towards the broken wall and jumping over, hastened to the Yue Temple followed by the maid. Upon reaching the Wu Yue Pavillion, he saw several men with bows, blowpipes, and sticks covered with lime for catching birds, standing inside the railings. On the staircase to the upper chamber was a young man, preventing his wife to proceed, and saying to her, “Come with me upstairs as I have something to say to you.”
Lin Chong’s wife blushingly replied, “How dare you speak to me in this way, in broad daylight?”
Lin Chong hurried forward, caught hold of the man, and pulled him away, saying; “You should be severely punished for molesting a respectable woman like this.” He was on the point of hitting him, when he recognized him as Master Gao, the adopted son of the Marshal of the Imperial Guard, Gao Qiu.
Now sometime before Gao Qiu having no child of his own, had adopted his cousin, and was very fond of him, but Master Gao used the influence of this official for the sole purpose of debauching the people’s wives. The people at the court were afraid of his power, and dared not oppose him; nevertheless, they nicknamed him “Heavenly King of Pleasure.”
When Lin Chong saw who it was, he became cautious. Master Gao saw that he was restraining himself, and not knowing that the woman was Lin Chong’s wife, asked, “Why do you interfere in my affair? You are going too far!”
Men standing round saw the danger of a row, and came forward saying, “Drill Instructor, please excuse him for if he had known that she was your wife he would not have intruded.”
But Lin Chong’s anger had not entirely subsided, and he glared at Master Gao, who left the temple and rode off.
Just then Lu Da arrived, armed with his monk staff, and accompanied by the vagabonds, and said he had come to fight for Lin Chong.
Lin Chong explained what had occurred, and said that he had let Master Gao off this time as he did not wish to annoy Gao Qiu. He referred to the old saying, “Fear not the authorities, except those that have authority over you.”
“You are afraid of the Marshal of the Imperial Guard,” said Lu Da, “but I am not. If I had met that young rascal I would have given him three hundred blows with my staff.”
Lin Chong saw that Lu Da was drunk so he said, “What you say is all right. These men persuaded me to let him off.”
“If you have any further trouble please tell me, and I will help you,” said Lu Da. They then all departed, but Lin Chong was rather troubled in his mind.
Master Gao was infatuated with the wife of Lin Chong, but had submitted to Lin Chong’s interference, and led his followers away, but as he returned to his official residence he was in low spirits. During the next few days his followers kept out of his way as they found him upset, and quite unable to attend to business. But one man, an idler named Fu An, nicknamed “Stinking Dickhead,” understood his master, and waited upon him. One day as Master Gao was sitting idly in the library he entered and remarked, “You are not looking well these last few days, and there must be something worrying you.”
“And don’t you know the reason?”
“I think I can guess what it is,” replied Fu An. “You are thinking of the wife of Lin Chong. Am I right?”
Master Gao laughed, “You have guessed correctly, but I have no means of getting her.”
“There is no difficulty. You are afraid of Lin Chong because he is a hero, and therefore you dare not belittle him. But never mind that, because he is in your employ,