Last year I wrote a post about some authors who imitated Gu Long’s signature style. One of those authors was Long Chengfeng 龍乘風. I translated the full first chapter of his novel Snowblade Vagabond《雪刀浪子》 to illustrate his imitation of Gu Long’s writing style. That novel was first published in 1977 and was the first of what would eventually become a 50-novel series.

I’m currently reading the fifth book in the series, The Golden Boat Bloodbath《血洗黃金船》and wanted to share a short excerpt from it. I’ve heard it said that Long Chengfeng’s work captures the form of Gu Long’s work but lacks its spirit. I think that’s a pretty fair assessment. When Long Chengfeng wrote this series he was a young man clearly having fun, and he did a fine job copying many of the tropes and features and effects that made up Gu Long’s signature style. It’s just that his work often feels like it’s lacking something, a certain je ne sais quoi. Still, when Long Chengfeng is at the top of his game he is highly entertaining, and at times he even writes Gu Long so well you could be forgiven for thinking it really was a lost Gu Long novel.

The following excerpt from The Golden Boat Bloodbath is just a simple scene that really shows, in my opinion, how close Long Chengfeng can get to Gu Long. I could easily see this scene in a Gu Long novel. It has the same humor, the same easy, casual voice, and it features eccentric characters which became part of Gu Long’s stock-in-trade. Although I often do find the Snowblade Vagabond series a bit lacking in substance, there’s still enough of scenes like this that keep me reading the series.

If you like Gu Long, take a look at this.

Tang Zhuquan suddenly opened the little carriage window and said to Sima Xue, “Su Shaocang’s injuries might not necessarily have to be cured by that old scoundrel Xu Qiaozhi.”

Sima Xue forced a smile. “His injuries are so extensive, I fear even the people at Healer Valley might not be able to restore him to health.”

Tang Zhuquan narrowed his eyes in mirth. “You know who it was who wounded Su Shaocang?”

Sima Xue was taken aback. “You know?”

Tang Zhuquan smiled and raised the reins. “I don’t know either.”

He drank a big gulp of wine. “But I know who those thirteen sons of turtles who are following us are.”

Sima Xue looked back. Those thirteen strange black-clothed people were indeed on their heels.

Sima Xue gave a derisive laugh. “Those thirteen are like wronged souls, constantly bothering us. If someone is willing to pay 100 taels of silver I guarantee they will die at once under my Righteous Blood Sword.”

Long Chengbi laughed. “Human life is becoming more and more worthless. Thirteen lives for only 100 taels?”

Tang Zhuquan said coldly, “Their lives are not even worth one tael.”

Sima Xue said, “Just who are they actually?”

Tang Zhuquan hmphed. “They’re invalids who just won’t die.”

Long Chengbi’s eyes suddenly lighted up. He knew who those thirteen people were. “You mean to say they are the thirteen patients of Doctor Bad Luck?”

Tang Zhuquan said, “Yep, Doctor Bad Luck was originally called Doctor Bushy Brows. His eyebrows are so long they nearly cover his eyes.”

Long Chengbi continued for him, “But ever since he got tied up with those thirteen patients, Doctor Bushy Brows has become Doctor Bad Luck. Those thirteen patients don’t dare kill him, but he also refuses to completely cure them.”

Tang Zhuquan said, “Those thirteen are masterhands from the Miboluo Cult from the Western Regions. Ten years ago they entered the Central Plains with their skills and killed who knows how many Han people, and they were looking to establish a Miboluo Cult headquarters in the Central Plains.

Sima Xue asked, “What kind of religion is the Miboluo Cult?”

Tang Zhuquan sneered, “’Miboluo’ means ‘snuff out the Han.’”

“Snuff out the Han?” Sima Xue’s complexion changed. “That’s pretty big talk.”

Tang Zhuquan continued, “But seven years ago those thirteen masterhands from the Western Regions contracted a strange ailment.”

Sima Xue said, “Thirteen people all got sick at once?”

Tang Zhuquan said, “Yep, this strange illness was that whatever they ate would not come out the other end.”

Sima Xue said, “I wouldn’t have thought people who talked so big would not even know how to take a shit.”

Long Chengbi loosed a long, drawn-out laugh. “That ailment doesn’t sound all that bad, but if you ate, and everything just stayed in your belly for eight to ten days, it really goes without saying how bad that would feel.”

Tang Zhuquan said, “They contracted that strange ailment and went all over the place trying to cure it, but then they ran into Doctor Bad Luck.”

Long Chengbi said, “They forced Doctor Bushy Brows to treat them, and he did, but he only treated the symptoms and not the root cause, so that every month, more or less, their ailment would flare up again and they would have to go back to Doctor Bushy Brows to get treated again.”

Tang Zhuquan said, “In fact it wasn’t that Doctor Bad Luck didn’t have the skill to cure them, it was just that he didn’t want to cure that evil pack of dholes and wolves lest they run amok in the future and caused more suffering.”

Sima Xue said, “This is pretty interesting. If Doctor Bad Luck were to die, wouldn’t they all just swell up and die?”

After a pause he said, “But I wonder how they contracted that strange ailment?”

Tang Zhuquan suddenly laughed mysteriously and said plainly, “Seven years ago, those thirteen sons of turtles came to Hangzhou and raised a bunch of hell all throughout the city, until they happened upon a drunkard, who by some means or another secretly did something to the food they were eating at the inn. After that, their strange ailment appeared.”

Sima Xue’s eyes lighted up. “Don’t tell me the person who tampered with their food was you?”

Tang Zhuquan laughed. “If not me then who? Hangzhou is my hometown, anybody who wants to cause trouble there had better ask me first!”

Sima Xue said, “Why have they been following me all day long?”

“I’m not ashamed to say,” Tang Zhuquan spat, “that they aren’t following you, they’re following my fat self.”

Sima Xue was dumbstruck.

Tang Zhuquan sneered, “I’ve been following you all this time, and they have been following me, so you thought they were following you. Is it all clear now?”

Sima Xue at long last was clear on that point.

But he still didn’t understand why Tang Zhuquan was following him. Tang Zhuquan rubbed his big belly. “Actually I wasn’t really following you, I was just keeping a good watch over Su Shaocang, making sure he didn’t die, that’s all.”

Sima Xue said, “You have a way to save him?”

Tang Zhuquan shook his head. “I only know how to drink wine, I don’t know how to save anyone.”

But Long Chengbi smiled faintly and said, “Though he doesn’t know how to save anyone, he did arrange for the doctor who best knows how to save people to treat Su Shaocang’s wounds.”

Sima Xue said, “Doctor Bad Luck?”

“Yep, Doctor Bad Luck.” Long Chengbi loosed a long laugh. “And if my guess is correct, he’s right now checked into the only inn in Bountiful Market waiting to treat his fourteenth patient.”