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"A little too late is much too late."
Disclaimer: I own nothing from Pirates Of The Caribbean or Mr. (Jin Rong) Louis Cha's novels.
Word – Meaning – Pronunciation
Huang Rong – 1st chapter
Chapter 3: The Blacksmiths' Workshop
Jack Sparrow was running for his life, reputation, and piracy. Reaching a market square, he bumped into a man with a huge girth that wobbled about. That man toppled over a lean-to stall which fell on the stall keeper, who knocked over all the baskets of his wares. A huge basket of oranges, potatoes, tomatoes and apples teetered on the edge of the table.
"Sorry, mate." He said quickly and rushed past. A small squad of military men ran towards them, but not before the huge basket of fruits and vegetables fell over the edge on which the seven men stumbled and dirtied their uniforms on.
Jack saw his chance to lose them. Quickly he rushed into the nearest shop, which just happened to be Mr. Brown's blacksmith workshop.
From a rooftop above, Huang Rong saw everything happening. She quickly pulled her hood lower, jumped down from the roof and crept into the workshop.
As she went in, she took a quick survey of the situation. A snore emanated from the back as the red-bandana-ed man went to explore the back, placing his hat on the anvil. Huang Rong looked up. There were some rafter beams. Quickly, she leapt up two metres and landed on the highest beam. Her black clothing helped her blend into the shadows.
She waited for about a minute. The man walked back into the main room, a hammer in his hand. He tried to smash the chains that shackled his hands together. It didn't work. Looking around, the man spotted a strange contraption that would definitely snap the shackles right apart, no two ways about it.
A donkey was the source of power. It was a very quiet one, but the man heated one of the blacksmiths' tools and branded the poor animal.
The man sluggishly slung his chains over and the metal wheel broke it.
Snap!
The noise was loud, but not as loud as the sound of the door slowly opening. Huang Rong looked back to where the man had been but he was hiding, leaving his hat sitting on the anvil.
The person who walked through the door was young and handsome. His skin was pale, unlike the tan of the other man. He was younger than her, at least, as she was 28. She then noticed his hair. It was so short! In China, the shorter your hair, the less happier you were. (Even the men) She had planned on cutting her hair, but had decided to revile all men.
She sat there thinking for a while, thinking about her home, the god, the battle, and most of all, her dead husband...
A thud awoke her from her daydreams. The white man had lodged his sword through the bolt, blocking the way out.
"That is a very clever trick. But once again, you are between me and my way out. And this time, you have no weapon." The tanned man jumped down from the block, his black hair jangling with trinkets and ornaments.
The white man looked around and grabbed the heated tool that had been used to brand the donkey. The poor donkey took one look at it and fled, walking round and round and round.
Huang Rong sat there studying their fighting for a while, amazed. It was completely different from all the ideas of Chinese kungfu. Bold, brash strokes, nearly always using their weapons only, just flabbergasting.
A little grin appeared on her face, and she took a small bottle from her robe pocket, putting the solution inside into her gloved hand.
"Who makes all – " that was as far as Jack got to before the was a tiny whooshing sound and something struck his unprotected hand. "OW!" It started itching like crazy.
Will swung his sword at the pirate's stomach. "These? I do, and I practice with them three hours a day! – Hey!" something splatted on his cheekbone.
Huang Rong couldn't suppress herself. She guffawed in a very unladylike way.
Both men stopped fighting. "Who's there?" shouted Will.
"Didn't you learn any manners, whelp? That voice was clearly a woman's." Jack turned on Will as if scolding him.
"Now...Ms., Mrs. or whatever, would you please come and get this gooey, yellowy sticky stuff off us!" He started scratching the spot.
Huang Rong sighed, and pulled her hood down again. "Alright, game's over, boyos. I'm coming down in style!"
Using her qing-gong once more, she jumped to the lowest rafter, kicked off a beam and somersaulted down onto the anvil and looked like she was lying on a bed, head propped up on her hand but with only her elbow supporting her.
Both men stared at the hooded figure, looking very perplexed. Then they stared itching again.
Huang Rong stood up properly, wiped both drops of the stuff off of them and ate it all up.
"Hmm...There's nought like a tad o' honey for late breakfast! Go on, continue fighting, I want to see how a couple o' babies like you fight." She said coolly.
Jack was about to lunge at her in anger when Will blocked the blow and they started fighting again.
The fight was closely observed by Huang Rong. The principles of swordmanship was completely unused.
It got to the point where Jack pointed his pistol at Will.
"You cheated." Glared Will.
"Pirate." Jack said. Huang Rong grinned inwardly. She would have done that if she had been in his place.
The jammed door shook and rattled. They all looked at it.
"Please move!" grunted Jack, a note of desperation creeping into his voice.
"No! I cannot just stand aside and let you escape!"
"This shot was not meant for you." Huang Rong stared at the strange piece of metal in Jack's hands. It was obviously some sort of threat. He was about to pull the trigger when Huang Rong grabbed the thing.
"OI!" a loud shout came from behind her as she kicked open the door and crashed into a whole squadron of Navy soldiers. A well aimed sword-hilt crashed into the back of her head and knocked her out.
Then there was nothing.