Chapter 1: 48 Strongholds Part 1

"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."

Hou Zhao, Jian Yuan Seventeenth Year Spring.

Willow buds sprouted and crabapples bloomed for the first time.

In the 48 Strongholds of Shu Mountain, there are two youths testing their martial arts skills. One of them is a bit older, his frame tall and buff, resembling a small mountain. In his hand is a pike, his tiger-like eyes wide as to not miss any movement or detail. The other youth is merely fourteen-fifteen years old, his frame slim and tall, born with quite a handsome appearance. In his hand is a dagger—just by standing there, he already has the appearance of a refined gongzi (young master).

More and more disciples began to gather around, whispering in each other's ears. A disciple who had joined only recently peered curiously at the handsome youth and asked the one beside him in a small voice: "The shixiong [1] testing with our eldest shixiong, is he powerful?"

The one next to him happened to be an older disciple who had joined earlier and was very kind. Hearing the question, he shook his head and answered in a suspenseful manner: "That person's identity, if no one told you, you would never be able to guess—hey, they made a move, look!" 

The new disciple stood on his toes and craned his head to look, only to see the small-mountain-like eldest shixiong suddenly shout, his pike resembling a poisonous snake leaving its cave, pointing directly towards the face of youth who held the dagger. Yet the youth with the dagger casually slanted his body to the side ever so slightly. His entire person seemed to be moving lazily as he avoided the pike, not willing to spend even a little bit of extra energy. 

The eldest shixiong immediately moved his wrist, stepped forward and added half of his body's strength onto his two hands. With a ring, the pike moved forward, ready to attack.

This move is called "Zhuang Nan Shan" (Knocking Down South Mountain), a move of the "Qian Zhong" (Thousand Bells) Pai (Sect/Faction) in the 48 Strongholds. Hard and forceful, if faced with a weak or scared opponent, this one move could sweep the opponent outside the battle ring.

However, the youth with the dagger did not panic. Moving like the clouds and flowing like water, he inched half a step away, turning the dagger backwards into the palm of his hand. With a bang, the blade of the dagger clashed diagonally with the pike, touching only briefly before sliding away like a swimming fish. The youth with the dagger smiled, shouting softly: "Be careful."

As soon as he spoke, he already slid out two chi [2], the dagger seeming to be growing in his palm. He didn't appear to make any large moves, only flicking his dagger like a snake. With a move as light as a feather—"Wan Zhu Lian" (Rolling Up the Bead Curtain)—he caused his opponent's pike to fall in the blink of an eye.

The new disciple didn't even dare to breathe loudly. He then heard the older disciple beside him continue: "That person is Li Da Gongzi (Li Eldest Young Master), the nephew of the Da Dang Jia of our 48 Strongholds. His techniques were taught hand-by-hand by Da Dang Jia herself, so of course he's powerful. He's the best of our generation."

As he spoke, he gave a thumbs-up to the wide-eyed shidi [1] on the side. Feeling as though he widened his world view, the new disciple looked toward the battle ring, only to see Li Da Gongzi smile warmly, without arrogance, handing the pike back to its owner with both hands: "You let me win, thank you shixiong for your teachings." 

Li Gongzi [3] was refined and respectful, so naturally the one who lost was not argumentative. The tall and buff youth took back his pike, his face a bit red. With a slight nod, he said "I do not dare [to give you teachings]" and left the ring. As soon as he left, another person among the spectators said eagerly: "Li shixiong, I also ask for your teachings!" [4]

The older disciple who was busily explaining to the new disciple spoke again: "Our Li shixiong has great skills and a great personality. Whenever he tests with someone he always stops at a certain point and his speaking is polite as well. If you have trouble understanding anything and you ask him, he will always try his best to help you…"

Someone behind them suddenly disrupted him mid-sentence: "Excuse me."

The two conversing disciples looked back and were shocked. Unexpectedly, the person approaching them was a young girl. She was dressed simplistically in a duanda [5], her long hair secured up high like the hair of males. However, without the accessories around her shoulder and neck, she seemed even more slender and thin. She was extremely fair, with a delicate and cold air around her. 

The "Qian Zhong" Pai, if you describe them nicely, are "bold and righteous", but in actuality they are "blunt and short-sighted". As a result, they received a nickname, called the "Wild Dog Pai". Everyone in this menpai were bald monks—female birds wouldn't even hatch out of eggs, let alone having female disciples. The new disciple, seeing a young girl, particularly a rather beautiful young girl, became dazed, not knowing how to react.

A neighboring shixiong quickly pulled him to the side, speaking respectfully and reverently to the young girl: "Zhou shijie, apologies."

The young girl glanced at him and nodded lightly. Once the others at the scene heard the commotion and saw that it was her, they moved unanimously without speaking and parted a path for her. Li gongzi, who was helping someone with their gongfu (martial arts skills/kungfu), lifted his head and saw her. He instantly gave her a familiar smile, greeting her: "A-Fei [6], do you want to test a few moves?"

The young girl pretended she didn't hear him, acting as if he was air and walked away without acknowledging him. 

"Zhou…A-Fei? Zhou Fei?" The new disciple's gaze subconsciously followed her and he muttered, "She's the…"

"Ah," the shixiong beside him nodded, continuing to remind his new shidi, "Zhou shijie's temper isn't extremely good. If you meet her in the future remember to be respectful…but she doesn't hang out with the likes of us, you're unlikely to have any chances to see her."

For pretty young girls, having a slightly bad temper isn't a major problem, and so the new disciple didn't really listen to his words. In fact, he continued to ask: "Li shixiong is Da Dang Jia's nephew and Zhou shijie is Da Dang Jia's beloved child, so the gongfu they learned must be of the same vein. Just now, shixiong said that Li shixiong was the top of our generation, then is he better than Zhou shijie?"

"You already know that she is Da Dang Jia's beloved child, we're already busy enough looking up to her, who is idle enough to test their skills with her?" The shixiong casually replied. He then quickly turned his attention towards the ring, saying eagerly, "Today's opportunity is rare, I'm also going to ask Li shixiong to teach me a few moves."

The "beloved child" of the Da Dang Jia that they spoke of, Zhou Fei, had just crossed three look-out posts by herself, arriving in the courtyard of the Da Dang Jia of the 48 Strongholds, Li Jinrong. As soon as she entered, she saw Li Jinrong stand with her back towards her, holding a whip as wide as a thumb in her hands.

Zhou Fei's gaze stopped momentarily at the whip in her hands and opened her mouth. Just as she was about to say "Mother", she heard Li Jinrong shout in a cold voice: "Kneel down."

Zhou Fei furrowed her brows, immediately swallowing the word "Mother" into her stomach. Without a word, she walked to the center of the courtyard, lifted up the edge of her clothes and knelt properly. She hadn't even steadied herself before Li Jinrong suddenly turned around and lashed the whip onto her body. Zhou Fei's eyelashes trembled for a slight second, gritting her teeth to prevent the grunt of pain and surprise from escaping. She lifted her head suddenly, glaring at her mother in anger and confusion.

"You shameless thing, kneel properly!" Li Jinrong shouted, "You bully the weak and rely on your position to do so, sure, yet your methods are that low! Did I teach you gongfu just  for you to do stuff like this?"

Zhou Fei's expression did not change, but her tone was extremely sharp, rebutting: "What did I do?"

Each time Li Jinrong remembered the terrible acts this little brat did, her temples would hurt. She pointed at Zhou Fei's nose and cursed: "Heaven/Earth/Ruler/Family/Teacher [7], that Sun Xiansheng [8] was someone I invited to be your teacher. On the first day of studies you dare to disrespect him, in the future once your wings have hardened, are you going to leave your father and mother off to the side as well?"

Zhou Fei argued back without hesitation: "That old thing spoke nonsense in class and hampered students' progress. If I didn't slap him then it's considered light!"

Before she finished speaking, Li Jinrong slapped her first: "You want to slap who?"

Li Jinrong was ruthless and Zhou Fei couldn't help but move slightly to the side. Immediately, she felt as if a layer of her face was cut off, her ears buzzing as the tips of her teeth bit her tongue, filling her mouth with the metallic taste of blood. 

"I won't count that the Xiansheng only slightly rebuked you, yet you pushed him on the spot and caused him to fall over. However, you even knocked him out at night, tied him up, took off his clothes, stuffed them into his mouth and hung him up for an entire night, if it weren't for the mountain patrol finding him this morning, would he even still be alive?"

Zhou Fei was just about to explain, yet Li Jinrong only became angrier as she spoke. She lifted her hand and lashed the whip heavily, causing the clothes, skin and flesh on Zhou Fei's back to split into a bloody wound. To do this, the whip even broke.

This time the whip was truly harsh and Zhou Fei's complexion even changed. She stared at Li Jinrong with hatred, forcing a sentence from between her teeth: "If he didn't die, then he got off easy!"

Li Jinrong nearly caused her to fall again when the sound of footsteps could be heard. The approaching person did not conceal the sound of their weak footsteps, appearing to be those of one who did not practice martial arts. As the person walked towards them, some weak coughs accompanied the footsteps.

When the raging Li Da Dang Jia heard those familiar coughs, her expression suddenly relaxed and she took a deep breath, retracting her expression of anger. With some resignation, she turned around and asked the one who approached: "Which brat alarmed you?"

Slowly approaching was a male with a tall figure. He was extremely handsome, though he had a slight air of sickliness around him. He wore a sapphire blue outfit for scholars, causing his cheekbones to appear even more colorless. It was evident that he was not young; however each gesture he made was filled with grace. 

The one approaching was the father of Zhou Fei, Zhou Yitang.

When Zhou Yitang heard that his wife was hitting their child again, he immediately rushed over. Seeing Zhou Fei's wounded back and swollen face, his heart ached and he almost cried. Yet this girl was already wild-natured and hard to discipline so if he blatantly protected her right now, in the future she might be even more reckless and unafraid. Zhou Yitang could only shoot a hidden look towards Li Jinrong as he walked forward and separated the fighting mother and daughter. With a heavy voice, he asked: "What is the matter?"

Zhou Fei is a stubborn donkey—when she was angry, even if her mother whipped her into a spinning top, she would still argue back in opposition. Hearing him speak, she made no sound, lowering her head coldly. Li Jinrong stood on the side and snickered: "I think this little vermin won't cry until she sees the coffin."

Zhou Yitang gestured with his hand and lowered his head, asking Zhou Fei: "I heard that on the first day of studies you got into a conflict with Sun Xiansheng, why is that? What did he teach?"

Expressionless, Zhou Fei continued to kneel, not saying a single word.

Zhou Yitang sighed, asking softly: "Won't you tell Father about it?"

Zhou Fei had some tendencies of accepting softness over hardness [9], so when she heard that question, her impermeable face finally showed signs of being moved. After a while, she grudgingly responded: "The Four Books for Women."

Li Jinrong was dumbstruck.

Zhou Yitang gestured again and said, "Oh, the Four Books for Women—which book of the four was he teaching?"

Zhou Fei replied angrily: "Lessons for Women."

Zhou Yitang looked at Li Jinrong again. Li Jinrong did not expect that she had invited such an unreliable Xiansheng and was momentarily speechless, awkwardly touching her nose. [10]

Lessons for Women was not strange by any means, as most of the ladies of noble families all studied it. However, Zhou Fei was not a noble lady. The 48 Strongholds of Shu Mountain took over the mountain and claimed the land, doing shady business such as fighting and killing—they were the "titled by the emperor himself" main bandits of the Bei (North) Du. To enter a bandit's den and teach the little bandits Lessons for Women? This Sun Xiansheng has quite a way of thinking.

"Come, tell Father about it." Zhou Yitang said to Zhou Fei before turning around and coughing, "Get up first."

Li Jinrong had no temper towards him, persuading him softly: "Go back into the house. You haven't fully recovered yet, don't catch the wind."

Zhou Yitang grabbed her hand and squeezed it lightly. Li Jinrong, understanding his intent, reluctantly nodded and said: "Alright then, you two talk. I'll go visit that Sun Xiansheng."

Zhou Fei stood up with difficulty, a layer of cold sweat forming across her forehead. She glared at Li Jinrong, taunting: "Da Dang Jia, proceed slowly." [11]

Just as Li Jinrong's attitude had softened, that dauntless little rascal dared to taunt her, causing her temper to flare up and nearly start another shouting match. Zhou Yitang was afraid that once they started, there would be no end and immediately coughed a "long statement". Li Jinrong's anger was forcefully squashed and instead, she shot knives at Zhou Fei with her gaze. She snickered and stabbed Zhou Fei once with her finger before turning around and walking away with large steps, deciding to remain calm by not having Zhou Fei in her sight.

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后昭 Hou Zhao – the setting

周翡 Zhou Fei – the female protagonist

李瑾容 Li Jinrong – Zhou Fei's mother, the Da Dang Jia (Head) of the 48 Strongholds

周以棠 Zhou Yitang – Zhou Fei's father

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[1] Among those who study traditional arts, you would call those you share a master/sect with as 师_ (shi_). In the blank, you fill in the gender and age; 兄 xiong: older brother, 姐 jie: older sister, 弟 di: younger brother, 妹 mei: younger sister. It does get more complicated when dealing with sects as the status of your master also determines your status, but that's a lot to explain. If you would like to know more, leave a comment and I can explain further!

[2] 'Chi' 尺 is a traditional Chinese unit of length equal to one-third of a meter.

[3] 公子 gong zi is the way young men, typically from a wealthy or powerful family, are addressed. The "Li Da Gongzi" refers to the order of the siblings. 大 da means the eldest (literal: big) and as Li Sheng is the eldest of the Li children, he is Li Da Gongzi.

[4] 'Teachings' can also be translated as 'guidance'. The exact usage differs with context but I went with 'teachings' twice for consistency.

[5] A 'duanda', or 短打, is a type of traditional Chinese clothing. It's commonly worn in this setting by those who practice martial arts as it allows for easy movement compared against the more typical clothing with several layers and wide sleeves. These are the best examples I could find: one, two, and three. They're from a Chinese tv show called "Legend of Fuyao", starring Yang Mi (my favorite actress). The show (and the novel it's based on) shares the same genre of wuxia with Legend of Fei, so there are many similarities. Check it out if you'd like!

[6] The usage of A-_ (阿_) is a way of converting someone's name into a nickname or a closer way of referring to someone.

[7] Heaven/Earth/Ruler/Family/Teacher 天地君亲师: a listing of what/who one should honor, dating from the ancient times.

[8] 先生 xian sheng is a way of addressing middle-aged men or scholars. The teacher, whose last name is Sun, is called Sun Xiansheng. Think "Mister" or "Sir".

[9] This means that she would budge/acquiesce to gentle methods such as talking and not to harsher methods such as being beaten.

[10] Touching one's nose is an action often used/performed in awkward situations, situations where a character is exposed for a small lie, etc. It's extremely common in Chinese writing.

[11] 'Proceed slowly' or 'go slowly' (慢走) is a respectful thing to say when seeing someone out. Here, Zhou Fei uses it sarcastically as she is addressing her mom as 'Da Dang Jia' rather than 'Mother' and seeing her out nicely when that is the opposite of what she is feeling.

As a little extra, I would like to mention that the 匪 Fei in the opening quote is the Fei in the title (see below) and not the 翡 Fei in Zhou Fei's name.

Additionally, each stronghold could be also called 寨 "Zhai" (the original term in the 48 Strongholds, which is called 四十八寨), 门派 "Men Pai", 门 "Men" or 派 "Pai". The last two are just breakdowns of "Men Pai".