CHAPTER 55

Cloud Dragon makes a false accusation; Yang Ming is wounded by a poisoned dart

JUST as Hua Yun Long approached the two young men he had poisoned with a knife in his hand, he heard a voice behind him say, “Dear Brother Hua, who are those men you are about to kill?” He turned his head and saw approaching him a tall, handsome man of middle age who nevertheless seemed much younger. He was slender, muscular, and filled with energy. His bright eyes especially gave him a look of compassionate intelligence. He was dressed in clothing appropriate to a man of action, rugged clothing made from fine quality silk. This was none other than Yang Ming, a man respected by men of the Greenwood throughout the region for his character, kindness, and generosity.

Cloud Dragon was thinking to himself, “This is most inconvenient. I had not wanted to be connected with their deaths.” Aloud he said, “I had to use the poisoned darts to defend myself. Now I am thinking of ending their suffering.”

“But when I described the poisoned darts to you, I never thought that you would use such things. It is wrong to use such weapons on another human being.” Yang Ming stepped forward to look at the two men. “Who are they?” he asked.

Then, as Yang Ming recognized them, Cloud Dragon said, “Lei Ming is, in fact, a desperate robber who stole the pearl coronet from the house of the prime minister. He killed a man in a restaurant in Linan because he became angry with him. Lei Ming also tried to abduct a young nun from a nunnery outside Linan. When she resisted, he killed her. This other fellow, Chen Liang, is his accomplice. They don’t deserve to live.”

Yang Ming had walked forward and was looking at Chen Liang and Lei Ming. Cloud Dragon Hua was behind Yang Ming, who suddenly felt the sharp iron head of a dart enter his upper arm. Cloud Dragon had thrown it. Yang Ming fell to the ground.

There was another man with Yang Ming whom Cloud Dragon Hua had not noticed, an old man named Kang Deyuan. He now stepped forward and said, “If you are going to kill him, please kill me as well. My wife died long ago, and the daughter who had been my only happiness for many years has been taken from me. I no longer wish to live. This kind gentleman said that he might be able to find her and told me to come along with him. Now there is no hope for me, and I am ready to die with him. If you kill me, there will be no witness to your crimes.”

For a moment Cloud Dragon Hua was ready to do as Kang Deyuan wished, but then he hesitated. Killing the old man seemed disgusting to him. Just then he heard a soft rustling sound, like a continued sighing, as though someone were brushing the grass with his straw sandals and his cloak. It was Ji Gong.