Previously
前情
Previously: at the Songhe Tower in the city of Wuxi, the scholar Duan Yu — a young man who knew no martial art at all — fell in with a great hulking stranger drinking alone. They matched bowl for bowl, warmed to each other more with every cup, and swore brotherhood on the spot. When names were exchanged, Duan Yu learned that the man across from him was none other than Qiao Feng, Chief of the Beggars' Sect — the greatest of the realm's brotherhoods, whose members were for the most part beggars of the streets and lanes, and whose reach ran through all the Central Plains. In the jianghu there was a saying that paired the two greatest men of the age: Qiao Feng of the North, Murong of the South — and Qiao Feng's name came first.
话说上一回，无锡城里的松鹤楼上，不会武功的书生段誉遇见一位独坐饮酒的大汉。两人斗酒，越喝越投缘，当场结拜为兄弟；报了姓名，才知道对面这位，正是丐帮帮主乔峰——丐帮是天下第一大帮，帮众多是走街串巷的乞丐，势力遍及中原，帮主便是这一帮之主。中原武林有一句口号，把当世两位人物排在一处：北乔峰，南慕容。乔峰的名字，还排在慕容复的前头。
Leaving the tower, however, Qiao Feng did not go back to his lodgings: he had an assembly to attend. Its place was an apricot grove outside the city of Wuxi, and its occasion was a routine council of the Beggars' Sect. He asked his new sworn brother to come along, and Duan Yu, curious to see what a grand gathering of the realm's greatest brotherhood looked like, went with him.
下了酒楼，乔峰却不回住处，说他还要赶去赴一场聚会。聚会的地点，在无锡城外的一片杏子林里，是丐帮帮中例行的议事。他邀这位新结拜的兄弟同去，段誉也正想看看这天下第一大帮的大会是什么光景，便跟着走了。
On the way from the tower to the Apricot Grove he had depended wholly on his new sworn brother to lead him. And now he was to see a gathering of the realm's greatest brotherhood; besides curiosity, he felt a vague unease — though at the time he did not take it to heart.
下得酒楼往杏子林这一路，全靠这位新结拜的兄长引路。如今要去看这天下第一大帮的聚会，他心里除了好奇，还有一丝说不清的忐忑——只是当时并没有放在心上。
Chapter 1: A Meeting in the Apricot Grove
第一回 无锡城外群雄会 杏子林中帮主来
And so to the water country of Jiangnan, where the waterways run like a net. Once you leave the main road, nothing is left underfoot but channels and field-ridges: creek joins creek, and every turn skirts another village, and a man who does not watch his direction will soon take the wrong way.
且说江南水乡，河道如网。离了官道，脚底下就只剩水路与田埂：河汊一条连着一条，绕过一村又一村，方向稍不留意，便要走上岔路。
Qiao Feng, though, knew every path by heart. He walked neither fast nor slow, taking the bridge where there was a bridge and bending around wherever water barred the way; Duan Yu followed behind and watched him turn left and swing right as though he were walking through his own house.
乔峰却是熟门熟路。他脚步不快不慢，遇桥过桥，遇水绕水；段誉跟在后头，只看着他左一转、右一拐，像在自己家里走路。
"The rivers and creeks crisscrossed; Qiao Feng wound east and west, and Duan Yu followed after."
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, serialized edition 「河港交叉，乔峰东绕西转，段誉跟着」
——《天龙八部》（连载版） The Beggars' Sect styled itself the greatest brotherhood under heaven, its disciples spread to every quarter, each to his own ground; a gathering of several hundred like this came but a few times a year. The Chief's own coming was, of itself, the first order of business.
丐帮号称天下第一大帮，弟子遍布四方，各管各的地面；像这样几百人聚齐的大会，一年也开不了几回。帮主亲自到场，本就是头等大事。
Before long the two came to a stand of trees, and through the leaves came the sound of many voices, close and thick together — several hundred men, at the least. This was the Apricot Grove itself, a stretch of apricot trees whose blossoms had long since fallen; green apricots hung on the boughs, and the leaves were so deep a green they seemed never to thin. The beggars of the Sect sat scattered through the grove, ragged of dress every one, yet seated in perfect order; and at the Chief's coming they should have risen to greet him.
走到一片林子跟前，隔着树影就听见里头有人声，密密的一片，少说也聚了几百人。那林子正是杏子林——一片杏树，这时节花事已过，枝头挂着青杏，叶子却绿得化不开。丐帮弟子散坐林中，一个个衣衫褴褛，坐得却齐整；见了帮主到来，本该起身相迎。
But they did not. From the edge of the grove, someone first called out sharply:
可是没有。林子边上先有人扬声喝问了一句：
"Who is sneaking about in the Apricot Grove?"
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, new revised edition 「谁鬼鬼祟祟地躲在杏子林中？」
——《天龙八部》（新修版） The words were brusque, and they cut. At a gathering of one's own brotherhood, when had the phrase "sneaking about" ever been used? Qiao Feng heard it, and something in his heart went cold.
这一声问得生分，也问得刺耳。帮中自家聚会，何曾用过"鬼鬼祟祟"这样的字眼？乔峰听着，心里先凉了一分。
"Qiao Feng's face darkened, and he strode into the grove."
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, revised edition 「乔峰脸一沉，大踏步走进林去」
——《天龙八部》（修订版） The moment he stepped into the grove and swept it with a glance, he saw that this day's gathering was unlike any other. The disciples of the Sect sat crouched or cross-legged, filling the grove to the last corner; many as they were, not one word of idle talk was to be heard. Several hundred pairs of eyes settled upon Qiao Feng together and followed his steps, and the air was drawn tight as a full-drawn bowstring. A stranger entering the grove should have been challenged; yet this time every man merely watched, and no one moved.
他一脚踏进林子，眼光一扫，便看出今日这场会与往常不同。林中弟子或蹲或坐，坐了个满满当当；人虽多，却听不见一句闲话。几百双眼睛一齐落在乔峰身上，跟着他的脚步转，气氛紧得像拉满了的弓弦。生人进林，本该有人上前盘问；可这一回，人人只是看着，谁也不动。
Chapter 2: A Meeting Turns to Mutiny
第二回 一场例会忽生变 四位长老先受擒
Qiao Feng took his stand in the middle of the grove, with Duan Yu half a step behind him. On any other such occasion the Chief would have spoken first, asking after the business of late, and the elders would have answered, each in his turn — so had the Sect's councils gone for decades.
话说乔峰在林中央站定，段誉退在他半步之后。往常这样的场面，该由帮主先开口，问一句近来的事务，众长老分头回话——丐帮的例会，几十年来都是这个规矩。
Yet this day, when Qiao Feng put his question, the grove went dead silent.
可是今日，乔峰问了话，林子里竟是一片死寂。
"Qiao Feng waited a while, and saw that no one spoke."
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, serialized edition 「乔峰等了一会，见无人作声」
——《天龙八部》（连载版） He asked again, and again no one answered. In a grove of several hundred men, the hush was such that one could hear the wind pass through the apricot leaves. Qiao Feng's gaze moved from face to face, and all at once he understood: this day he had not come to conduct business — he had come to be called to account.
他再问一句，还是没人应。几百号人的林子里，静得能听见风穿过杏叶的声音。乔峰的目光从一张脸移到另一张脸，立时明白过来：今日不是来议事，是来算他的账。
The first to speak against him was a helmsman of the Sect named Quan Guanqing — a helmsman being an officer who commanded one district's beggars. He stepped forward and laid the matter bare, every word aimed at the Chief's seat. He asserted flatly that Chief Qiao Feng was no man of Han, but a Khitan; and turning the talk, he dragged in the death of the late Vice-Chief Ma, saying this account, too, must be settled against the Chief.
领头发难的，是帮中一位舵主，名叫全冠清。舵主是丐帮管一处地面的头目；全冠清上前一步，把话挑开，句句都冲着帮主的位子去。他一口咬定：帮主乔峰不是汉人，是契丹人；话头转处，又牵出已故马副帮主的死，说这笔账，也要算在帮主头上。
These words Qiao Feng heard clear and plain. He did not flare up at once; he took up the talk and pressed him question by question — if he was a Khitan, if the Vice-Chief had died at his hand, where was the proof, whence did it come, and who stood behind it. But Quan Guanqing answered by halves and withheld the rest, leaving a tail to every sentence, waiting only to steer the talk elsewhere.
这些话，乔峰听得清清楚楚。他没有立刻发作，只把话头接过来一句句问下去——说他是契丹人、说马副帮主死在他手里，凭据是什么，又从何而来，背后主使的又是谁。可全冠清答一半、留一半，句句都留着尾巴，专等把话头往别处引。
The Khitan were a nomadic people of the north, who had stood off against the Song for many years, and the vendettas between their border folk had piled up layer upon layer. In the mouths of the Central Plains, the word "Khitan" was all but a synonym for "the enemy at the gate."
契丹，是北方的一个游牧民族，与大宋南北对峙了许多年，边民的血仇结了一层又一层。在中原武林嘴里，"契丹"两个字，几乎就是"外敌"的同义语。
Qiao Feng had not held this Chief's seat for a day or two. Over these years he had risked his life for the Sect again and again, and deed after deed of service stood to his name; high and low in the Sect revered him as a god. And for just that reason, this single word, "Khitan," cut deeper than any blade.
乔峰做这个帮主，不是一天两天了。这些年来，他替丐帮出生入死，功劳一桩接着一桩，帮中上下，敬他如神。也正因如此，今日这一句"契丹人"，才比任何一刀都狠。
Qiao Feng bade Quan Guanqing speak plainly. Quan Guanqing would not be the first to say it outright; he only turned his eyes toward several of the Sect's elders. Following his gaze, the crowd understood: Qiao Feng had already seen through the plot, and striking first, had one by one overpowered the four elders who led the rising and bound them where they stood. Quan Guanqing had believed his scheme known to no man; only when he turned, in the midst of his accusation, did he see his four confederates already prisoners.
乔峰要全冠清把话说清楚。全冠清不肯当先说明，只把目光往帮中几位长老身上一引。众人顺着他的目光看去，才明白过来：原来乔峰早已识破这场密谋，先下手为强，把带头闹事的四位长老一个个制住，缚在了当场。全冠清只当自己的谋划神不知鬼不觉，待到发难时一回头，才看见四位同谋都已成了阶下之囚。
"The four elders who had conspired with him — Song, Xi, Chen, and Wu — had all been bound."
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, serialized edition 「同谋的宋奚陈吴四长老均已就缚」
——《天龙八部》（连载版） Elder Song, Elder Xi, Elder Chen, and Wu Changfeng — these four elders had been in league with Quan Guanqing. But Qiao Feng's hand had been quicker; scarce had the upheaval begun before all four were bound where they stood. With these four helpers lost, Quan Guanqing knew in his heart: this fight was already lost.
宋长老、奚长老、陈长老、吴长风——这四位长老，与全冠清本是一路。可乔峰的手比他们更快，这一场变故才起了个头，四人已先被缚在当场。全冠清失了这四个帮手，心里明白：这一仗，是输定了。
Next came one older still in standing: Elder Xu. He was the most senior man in the Sect, and his word carried weight. Arriving, he did not rush to lay hands on anyone; he merely counted out Qiao Feng's crimes one by one — and when he reached the third, it was this: that the Chief was a Khitan.
接着，一位辈分更老的人赶到了：徐长老。他在帮中资历最老，说话有分量。他一到，并不急着动手，只把乔峰的罪状一条一条数出来；数到后面，第三条是：帮主是契丹人。
Having counted so far, the speaker paused, and turned his eyes toward a woman to one side —
数到后来，说话的那个人把话头一顿，眼光向旁边一位妇人瞧去——
"Having said this much, he turned his eyes toward Madam Ma."
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, serialized edition 「他说到这里，眼光向马夫人瞧去」
——《天龙八部》（连载版） That woman was Madam Ma. She was the widow of Ma Dayuan, the Sect's late Vice-Chief — Ma Dayuan had been Qiao Feng's second in command, and had died not long before in a manner no one could explain, a case that to this day had not been closed. That a widowed woman should appear at such an assembly was strange in itself.
那位妇人，是马夫人。她是丐帮已故副帮主马大元的遗孀——马大元生前是乔峰的副手，前些时候死得不明不白，这桩案子到现在还没有了结。今日这场大会，一个孀居的妇人也在场，本就透着古怪。
Another man of weight in the Sect was present as well — Bai Shijing. He and Qiao Feng were deep friends, and this every man in the Sect knew.
帮中另一位有分量的人物白世镜也在场。他与乔峰交情极深，这一点帮中人人皆知。
Qiao Feng meant to ask, but those who on ordinary days crowded about him now hung their heads one after another. He called over a Seven-Pouch disciple — the pouches a beggar wore marked his rank in the Sect, and the more pouches, the higher one stood — and asked where two of the elders had gone. The disciple hemmed and hawed, saying only that he did not know.
乔峰要问，那些平日围着他转的人却一个个低下头去。他叫过一个七袋弟子——"七袋"是丐帮弟子的品级，袋数越多，地位越高——问他两位长老去了哪里。那弟子支支吾吾，只说不知道。
Duan Yu stood to one side, watching these men turn their faces faster than a page is turned: the warmth of an hour ago was gone, and nothing was left but a grove of cold glances. Only then did he understand what a position his bold Brother Qiao of the wine tower now stood in.
段誉站在一旁，看着这些人变脸变得比翻书还快，先前的热络全没了，只剩下一林子的冷眼。他这才明白，方才酒楼上那位豪气干云的乔大哥，如今站的是怎样一个位置。
Chapter 3: The Old Letter Is Opened
第三回 一纸旧信当众启 半生身世一夜翻
Now to the root of this upheaval. The charges Quan Guanqing had counted out all came down to one sentence: that the Chief was a Khitan. A bare word would not hold; to stand, it needed proof.
单说这一场变故的根本。全冠清数出的罪状，最后都归到同一句话上：帮主是契丹人。空口无凭，这一句要立得住，非得有凭据不可。
The proof was an old letter — one left behind by Wang Jiantong, once Chief of the Beggars' Sect. Wang Jiantong had been Qiao Feng's predecessor, and years before had done a great deed outside Yanmen Pass; afterward he had left this letter behind. This day it was brought into the grove by Elder Xu and those with him, and opened before every eye. Yanmen Pass lies in the north and marks the gateway between the Central Plains and the Khitan lands; within the pass and beyond it lie two different worlds.
凭据是一封旧信——当年丐帮老帮主汪剑通留下的一封旧信。汪剑通是乔峰的前任帮主，多年前在雁门关外做过一桩大事，事后留下这封信。今日这封信由徐长老一行带到林中，当众拆开。雁门关在北方，是中原与契丹之间的一道关口；关内关外，两个天下。
The letter told of an old ambush outside Yanmen Pass. Thirty years before, a band of heroes of the Central Plains, at the call of one they addressed as "Big Brother Leader," had hurried beyond Yanmen Pass and ambushed a party of Khitan. They were sure the Khitan meant to raid the Central Plains; and in that fight, not a few Khitan died.
信里写的是当年雁门关外一场伏击的旧事。三十年前，中原有一批豪杰，听了一位"带头大哥"的号令，赶到雁门关外，伏击一队契丹人。他们认定契丹人要进犯中原，那一战，死了不少契丹人。
That old affair had nothing to do with Qiao Feng — except in one thing. In that fight a Khitan, an infant in his arms, had battled his way out and died doing it; and the infant lived. This letter, and the testimony of others, all said the same thing: the infant who lived was the man before them now. Qiao Feng's own father and mother had died that day outside Yanmen Pass.
那桩旧事，本与乔峰无关；可与它有关的，是另一件事——那一战里，有个契丹人抱着婴儿死战突围，那婴儿活了下来。这封信与旁人的证言，都在说同一件事：活下来的那个婴儿，就是眼前的乔峰。乔峰的生身父母，当年就死在雁门关外那一场伏击里。
The one who came forward to speak was Master Zhiguang, who had seen the Yanmen Pass affair with his own eyes. Before he opened his mouth, men of weight in the Sect threw down a word: that Master Zhiguang was a monk revered throughout the jianghu, and no man this day should do him harm. The words shielded a man on the surface; underneath, they pressed a witness — for once even this monk beyond the world was brought out to testify, the matter admitted no room left to turn.
出来说话的是智光大师，一位当年雁门关一役的亲历者。他开口之前，帮中有分量的人先撂下一句：智光大师是江湖上人人敬仰的老僧，今日谁也不许伤他性命。这一句，表面是护人，底下是逼供——连这位方外之人都请出来作证，这件事便再没有转圜的余地了。
He told the old story passage by passage, his voice never raised, and yet every word of it fell upon Qiao Feng like a hammer.
他把旧事一段一段讲出来，声音不高，字字却都像锤子，敲在乔峰身上。
Some would not believe it. The Khitan had an old custom: a man had a wolf's head tattooed upon his breast. To prove the matter true or false, a single look would serve. And so a man came near to Qiao Feng, looked at his chest —
有人不肯信。契丹人有个旧俗：男子胸前刺一个狼头作记。要验真伪，当众一看便知。于是有人走近乔峰，向他胸口一看——
"looked at his chest, and gave a startled cry of 'Ah!'"
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, revised edition 「向他胸口一看，"啊"的一声惊呼」
——《天龙八部》（修订版） There on his chest, sure enough, was a wolf's head tattooed in dark blue-green, jaws open, teeth bared. The whole grove fell still at once. That one look left men with even less to say than the letter had.
那胸前果然刺着一个青郁郁的狼头，张口露牙。满林的人一下子都静了。这一眼，比那一封信还让人无话可说。
Qiao Feng himself would not take it so easily. He brought up the man who had raised him from a child, Qiao Sanhuai — his foster father, the man whose house he had grown up in, whose surname "Qiao" he had borne all his life — and turned that "Qiao" back upon them: if it were so, then what was Qiao Sanhuai?
乔峰自己也不肯就这么认下。他提起自小把他养大的父亲乔三槐——乔三槐是他的养父，他从小姓乔、叫乔峰，是吃乔三槐家的饭长大的——拿这个"乔"字反问众人：既然如此，乔三槐又算什么？
To press the old matter further there were other witnesses. Among those who knew of that fight was one called Zhao Qiansun, who could testify. The letter further named two men: one was "Chief Wang," and the other was the "Big Brother Leader" who had given the order. Who this Big Brother Leader was, for the moment no one could say plainly. That thread is buried here for now.
旧事要再查，还有别的证人。当年那一役的知情人里，有个叫赵钱孙的，可以作证。信上还提到两个名字，一个是"汪帮主"，另一个，是那位发号施令的"带头大哥"。至于这"带头大哥"是谁，一时无人说得明白。这条线索，先埋在这里。
When Master Zhiguang's tale was done, Quan Guanqing and Elder Xu held letter, tattoo, and witness; the three strands twined into one: Qiao Feng was a Khitan, and the charge held. A rush of hot blood surged up in Qiao Feng's breast, and there, before them all, he owned the words as his own.
智光的旧事讲完，全冠清与徐长老手上有信、有刺青、有人证，三条并成一条：乔峰是契丹人，这一条坐实了。乔峰胸中一股热血直冲上来，当场把这句话认了下来。
With that one admission, half a lifetime's identity turned over. A moment before he had been Qiao Feng of the North, first among the heroes of the Central Plains; from this moment he was Qiao Feng the Khitan.
一句话认下，半生的身世便翻了个个儿。方才还是中原武林的北乔峰，这一刻起，成了契丹人乔峰。
The whole grove fell silent first, and then began to whisper. Men who a moment before had said "Chief" with every breath now looked at him with different eyes — yesterday they had revered him as a god, today they shrank from him as from a snake. Duan Yu stood in the crowd, watching the brother he had just sworn to being pressed layer by layer into the middle of the grove, more wretched at heart than he could say, and yet unable to put in a single word.
满林的人，先是一静，随后便窃窃私语起来。方才还口口声声"帮主"的人，这会儿看他的眼神已经变了——昨日敬他如神，今日避他如蛇。段誉站在人堆里，看着这位刚结拜的大哥被人一层层逼到林中央，心里说不出的难受，却一句也插不上。
Note: Khitan and Han
旁注 · 契丹与汉
Chapter 4: Under the Beggars' Law
第四回 帮规难违四老待死 法刀在手帮主自当
Now that the identity was out, what pressed next was punishment. The Beggars' Sect had its own law: a disciple guilty of a grave crime, if he owned it of himself, was to end his own life, and no other hand might do it for him. The four elders bound in the grove were to be dealt with by exactly this rule.
却说身份一揭破，按下去的就是处置。丐帮自有帮规：帮中弟子犯了重罪，若是自家认罪，须得自行了断，不许旁人代手。今日被缚在当场的四位长老，正要依这一条办事。
One of them spoke up boldly, asking for a blade —
有人昂然开口讨刀——
"'Give me a blade. By the Beggars' law, we shall end it ourselves.'"
— Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, revised edition 「刀来，依照帮规，咱们自行了断便是。」
——《天龙八部》（修订版） The four elders stood smiling where they were, not resisting at all, as though they had long since thought the matter through — Xi Shanhe, Wu Changfeng, Elder Song, Elder Chen: with the blade about to be put into their hands, they looked as if they awaited nothing out of the ordinary. Every man understood: Quan Guanqing wanted the Chief's seat, and the four elders' "ending it themselves" was to put a full stop to the coup; before the blade reached their hands, the words handed over first were "the Sect's law."
四位长老含笑站在当场，毫不反抗，像是早已把这件事想通了——奚山河、吴长风、宋长老、陈长老，眼看着刀要递到手里，竟像在等一件寻常事。众人心里清楚：全冠清要的是帮主之位，四长老这一"自行了断"，便是替这一场政变画个句号；刀还没递到手里，先递过来的是"帮规"两个字。
Qiao Feng knew well that these four had meant well by their own lights — they had thrown in with Quan Guanqing to take the Chief's seat out of his hands, each for his own reckoning, and none of them had wished him dead. Seeing the four about to spill their blood on the spot, Qiao Feng could not stand by.
乔峰明知这四人是出于一片好心——他们跟着全冠清闹这一场，图的是把帮主的位子从他手里拿开，各人有各人的盘算，却都不曾想要他的命。眼看四人就要血溅当场，乔峰不能不出手。
He had risen to Chief by the Sect's law, and if he would save these four now, the way must also be found within the law. Qiao Feng took up a blade of punishment — the blade of the Sect's own executions, heavy with the name of its law — walked to where Quan Guanqing stood, and spoke the matter plain: guilty as the four were, the affair had begun with him, their Chief, and so this share of the guilt belonged by right to the Chief to bear.
他做到帮主，凭的是帮规，如今要救这四人，也只能从帮规里找路。乔峰取过一柄法刀——法刀是帮中行刑的刀，沾过帮规两个字的分量——走到全冠清身前，把话说明：犯帮规的虽是这四人，可事情由他这个帮主而起，这一份罪责，理当由帮主来担。
At the critical moment Bai Shijing cried out to hold them, and asked what the Chief would have done. But that one cry could not stay the fire already burning through the grove.
事到紧要处，白世镜曾出声拦了一下，问帮主有何吩咐。可这一声，拦不住满林子里已经烧起来的火。
In his dignity as Chief, Qiao Feng took the four men's guilt upon himself before the whole grove. Lifting the blade of punishment, he stabbed himself — one cut for Elder Song, another for Elder Xi, and one each for Elder Chen and Wu Changfeng: four cuts, every one in his own flesh. The blood ran down the blade and soaked half his gown. He would not let the four elders die this day, and he would not let the Sect's law come apart; to keep both, the only thing he had to offer was himself.
乔峰以帮主之尊，当众替这四人领下罪责。他提起法刀，一刀下去，替宋长老受；又一刀，替奚长老受；陈长老、吴长风，也各挨了他一刀——四刀，都插在他自己身上。血顺着刀口往下淌，染透了半边衣衫。他既不肯让四位长老死在这一日，也不肯让帮规就此散了架——两条都要顾，能拿出来的，只有身上这一份。
Just how that reckoning went, every man in the Sect saw with his own eyes. And so the lives of the four elders were bought back by their Chief from under the edge of the blade. When the crowd looked at Qiao Feng again, their faces changed once more: the men who had exposed his birth were still there — but there were also those willing to stand between him and death.
这一段处置，帮中人各个看在眼里。四长老的性命，就这样被帮主从刀口下换了下来。众人再看乔峰时，神色又变了变——今日揭他身世的人还在，肯替他挡死的人，却也有。
Chapter 5: The Staff in the Earth
第五回 打狗棒插入林中土 丐帮主别了帮内人
Of the Chief's emblem we cannot speak without the Dog-Beating Staff. This staff is the token of the Chief of the Beggars' Sect: when a new Chief takes office, the old Chief by custom hands him this staff with his own hand; and within the Sect it is also called the "Staff of Witness" — to see the staff is to see the Chief. With the staff in hand, a Chief's seat can stand.
说到帮主的信物，就绕不开那根打狗棒。打狗棒是丐帮帮主的凭证：新帮主就任，照例须由旧帮主把这根棒子亲手交到他手上；帮中又管它叫"见棒"，见棒如见帮主。棒子在手，帮主之位才站得住。
This day's gathering could not be brought to a close. Qiao Feng made matters plain before the whole Sect. His first words called out to his brothers of the Sect; and the sense of them was this: that if any man still held to the least old feeling for him, Qiao Feng, let that man hear him out.
今日这一场会，散得下不去了。乔峰把话向全帮交代明白。他开口第一句，唤的是帮中众位兄弟；话里的意思，是若还有人念着他乔某人的一点旧情，便请听他把话说完。
Yet no words could mend a matter already settled. What Quan Guanqing wanted was the Chief's seat; what Elder Xu and the rest wanted was an accounting; and the two together came to a single sentence: Qiao Feng could no longer be their Chief.
可这些话，救不了一个已经定下的局。全冠清要的是帮主之位，徐长老与众人要的是一个交代，两下合起来，便是一句话：乔峰不能再做这个帮主。
Qiao Feng said no more. Glancing aside, he saw the Dog-Beating Staff still standing at his side; and he did not quarrel further over any seat, nor look again at the faces around him, but simply bent, took up the staff, and with a turn thrust it into the earth of the grove.
乔峰不再多说。他一斜眼，看见那根打狗棒还立在自己身边，便不再去争什么位子，也不再去看众人的脸色，只是弯下腰去，握住那根棒子，反手插进了林中的泥地里。
The staff once in the earth, he had handed it over. This staff had been with him many years; on the day he took office, the old Chief had placed it in his hand with his own hand, and now he planted it back in the grove, which was to give back along with it all the standing of those years, the Chief's seat, and every word of command. The beggars looked at it standing there, and every man understood what it meant; and for a while not one of them made a sound.
棒子一插进土里，就是交了出去。这根棒子跟了他多年，上任那天，是旧帮主亲手交到他手里的；如今他把它插还林中，等于把自己这些年的名分，连同帮主之位、一身号令，一并还了回去。群丐看着它立在那里，人人心里都明白这是什么意思，一时竟没有一个人出声。
Qiao Feng turned and walked out of the Apricot Grove. Duan Yu was still pressed in among the crowd and could not follow him at once. He did not walk fast; each step was a step, and at the edge of the grove he did not look back after all — for looking back would have been of no use: the staff stood in the earth, and no turn of his hand could pull it back, and the looks in those men's eyes could not be turned back by a word or two. Behind him stood several hundred brothers of former days; before him lay a road with no home at its end.
乔峰转过身，走出杏子林。段誉还挤在人群里，一时没能跟上。他走得并不快，一步是一步，走到林边，终究没有回头——回头也没有用：那根棒子插在土里，不是他随手能拔回来的；那些人看他的眼神，也不是一两句话扳得回来的。身后是几百个旧日的兄弟，身前是一条没有归处的路。
Note: Qiao Feng and Xiao Feng
旁注 · 乔峰与萧峰
Chapter 6: Poison Without a Sound
第六回 杏花未谢风波起 毒雾无声众尽迷
Setting Qiao Feng's road aside, we turn to the men in the grove. The storm in the Apricot Grove had not yet settled when, from beyond the trees, another party arrived.
按下乔峰去路，且说林中众人。杏子林的这一场风波还没落地，林子外头，又来了一拨人。
These were no men of the Central Plains. They came from the kingdom of Western Xia to the west, and they were the warriors of the Western Xia's First-Rank Hall — a place where that kingdom gathered masters of the martial arts, to do its business in the jianghu. Their leader was named Helian Tieshu, honored with the title General Who Conquers the East, a great commander of the Western Xia armies.
来的不是中原武林中人。这些人来自西边的西夏国，是西夏一品堂的武人。一品堂是西夏收罗武林高手的一处所在，专替西夏办江湖上的事。领头的名叫赫连铁树，官封征东大将军，是西夏军中的一员大将。
While both sides stood locked in place, the men of Western Xia did not close to fight; they simply released one thing: a colorless, odorless mist of medicine called Beisu Qingfeng. The mist spread on the wind, and a man who breathed it went soft in every limb and numb in hands and feet, and all his martial skill drained away.
两下正僵在当场，西夏的人也不上来缠斗，只是放出了一样东西：一蓬无色无味的药雾，名唤"悲酥清风"。这药雾随风散开，人一闻到，浑身酸软，手脚发麻，一身的功夫便使不出来了。
In that mist the beggars of the Sect went down in swaths. The several hundred who a moment before had stood in perfect order now lay strewn through the Apricot Grove, unable even to draw a blade. Duan Yu was no more spared than the rest, and went down with them, unable to stir.
丐帮众人在这药雾里成片地倒了下去。方才还站得整整齐齐的几百号人，转眼就横倒在杏子林中，连剑都拔不出来。段誉也未能幸免，跟着倒在地上动弹不得。
The men of the First-Rank Hall stood in the grove, betraying nothing. They need not draw a blade, need not lift a hand — several hundred of the Beggars' Sect could not so much as stand, and with Qiao Feng gone the Sect had no head to lead it. In all that Apricot Grove, those left standing could be counted on the fingers.
一品堂的人站在林中，不动声色。他们不必拔刀，也不必出手——丐帮几百号人，此刻连站都站不起来；乔峰一去，帮中更没了主事的人。这一片杏子林里，还站着的人屈指可数。
Whether the men of the First-Rank Hall had come here by long design, or had merely blundered onto this infighting, could not yet be told.
西夏一品堂的人马出现在此，是早有谋划，还是恰好撞上这一场内乱，此时还看不分明。
A dead silence lay over the Apricot Grove, with nothing left in it but the fallen men and the visitors from the west; and Qiao Feng, though he had left the grove, could no longer belong to either side.
杏子林里一片死寂，只余下躺倒的众人，与立在当中的西边来客——而乔峰虽已离林，这一边、那一边，他终究都回不去了。
The moment Qiao Feng left the Apricot Grove, heaven was wide and earth was broad, and yet there was no place left for him to return to. The Dog-Beating Staff still stood in the earth; the old letter was still gripped in other hands; and even Duan Yu, the brother who had matched bowls with him and sworn brotherhood but an hour before, lay fallen in the grove and could give him no help. Broad as the world was, the men willing to speak a word for him could scarce be counted. There was but one thing he meant to do: to learn the truth of his birth, and to find out who he truly was. And this road, it seemed, was one he must walk alone.
乔峰一走出杏子林，天大地大，竟没有一个可以回去的地方了。林中那根打狗棒还插在土里，那一封旧信还攥在别人手上；连方才与他斗酒结拜的兄弟段誉，也倒在杏子林里，一时帮不上他。天下虽大，肯替他说话的，竟数不出几个。他此去要做的，只有一件事——把身世查清楚，弄明白自己究竟是谁。这一条路，看来注定要他一个人走下去了。
Yet the road had scarce begun before a blood case was pinned upon him — word ran through the jianghu that Qiao Feng had killed. Friends of former days became, overnight, men who wanted his life. Next time, three hundred old friends will set out a banquet at Juxian Manor and wait for his life: one bowl of parting wine drunk down, all former friendship wiped clean — and then, to arms.
可这条路才刚开头，一桩血案就先扣到了他头上——江湖上人人传说，乔峰杀了人。旧日的朋友，一夜之间都成了要他性命的人。下一回，三百位旧日朋友在聚贤庄摆下酒席，等的就是他的命：一碗绝交酒下肚，往日交情一笔勾销，动手吧。
To know what happened next, hear the next chapter: Juxian Manor: A Bowl of Parting Wine.
欲知后事如何，且听下回《聚贤庄：一碗断义酒》。