Huo Qingtong turned and handed the dagger back to

Chen.

Chen nodded. "All right," he said to Fang. "We will

not harm the Emperor. Give the child to me." As he

spoke, he replaced the dagger in its sheath and

stretched out his hands.

"Huh! Who'd believe you?" Fang replied darkly. "I'll

return the child only after you have left the palace."

Chen was furious. "We of the Red Flower Society hold

to our word," he said. "Why would we bother to cheat

an animal like you?"

"That's why I don't believe you."

"All right," Chen countered. "Then you leave the

palace with us." Fang hesitated.

As soon as Qian Long heard Chen say that his life was

spared, he was ecstatic with happiness and didn't care

less what happened to Fang. "Go with them," he said.

"You have gained great merit today. I will naturally

not forget it."

Fang shivered as he heard the Emperor's tone, and

realised that he was talking about honouring him

posthumously. But all he could say was: "Thank you,

Your Highness, for your benevolence." He turned to

Chen. "If I leave the palace with you, what chance

have I got to live?" He wanted Chen to promise to

spare him.

"You've already done enough evil," Chen replied

angrily. "You should have been consigned to Hell long

ago."

Qian Long, worried that other complications could

arise, and that Chen might change his mind, urged Fang

on: "Quickly, leave with them now."

"But I'm afraid that once I've gone, they will try and

harm Your Highness," Fang added.

"So what do you suggest?" Chen asked in exasperation.

"Allow his Imperial Highness to leave first and then I

will accompany you out of the palace."

Chen could see they would have to let him go. "All

right," he said to Qian Long. "Leave."

Qian Long did not concern himself further with the

bearing an Emperor should maintain, and fled for the

door as fast as his feet could carry him. Suddenly,

Chen stretched out his right hand and grabbed him as

he ran past, and boxed his ears sharply with his left

hand --'bang, bang, bang!' the sound ringing out crisp

and clearly. Qian Long's cheeks immediately began to

swell up. The heroes were taken by surprise, and there

was a brief silence before they roared out their

approval.

"Do you still remember that poisonous oath you swore?"

Chen demanded, but Qian Long did not dare to make any

reply. With a contemptuous wave of his hand, Chen

dismissed him, and Qian Long stumbled out of the room

and down the stairs.

"Get the child!" Chen shouted.

'Buddha' Zhao was holding his poisonous darts and

looking out of the window, waiting for the right

moment. As soon as Chen had hold of the child, and

Qian Long appeared down below, he would fire off

several dozen projectiles at the Emperor's body.

Fang, meanwhile, was frantically looking around,

trying to think of some way out for himself. "I want

to see with my own eyes that His Highness is out of

danger before I'll hand over the child," he said,

shuffling slowly towards the nearest window.

"You Turtle! You're already a dead man," snarled one

of the Twin Knights. They shadowed him, waiting for an

opportunity to strike.

Qian Long emerged from the main door of the pavilion,

and the bodyguards waiting down below surged forward.

"You traitor," 'Buddha' Zhao muttered to himself. "You

traitor."

Fang saw the several dozen bodyguards gathered below,

and decided it was better to take a risk than to

simply wait to die where he was. So in a sudden

movement, he embraced the child and threw himself out

of the window.

Taken completely unawares, a cry of surprise went up

from the heroes. One of the Twin Knights flicked out

his Flying Claw and hooked it round Fang's left leg,

then tugged with all his might. Fang's body flew up,

the baby left his hands and the two began to fall.

'Buddha' Zhao crouched down and launched himself like

an arrow out of the window. As he flew through the

air, his head pointing down and his feet up, he

stretched out his left hand and grabbed hold of one of

the child's tiny legs while at the same time throwing

three of his poisonous darts at Fang, hitting him

squarely on the head and chest.

A shout went up from both the heroes in the pavilion

and the bodyguards down below. Zhao steeled himself,

hugged the baby to his chest and landed firmly on his

two feet. The Twin Knights, Lord Zhou and some of the

other heroes jumped down from the pavilion and

surrounded Zhao and the baby to protect them. Zhao

looked down at the child in his arms and saw it

kicking and waving its arms about, chuckling away in

delight. It obviously thought the leap a moment ago

that had almost ended its life had been great fun and

wanted to do it again.

Chen pushed their hostage Commander Fu to the window

and shouted: "Do you want him to live?"

Qian Long, once more under the protection of his

bodyguards, caught sight of Fu in the torchlight.

"Stop! Stop everything!" he shouted. The guards turned

and waited for his directions.

Fu was in fact Qian Long's illegitimate son. The

Emperor's first wife was the elder sister of a senior

minister, whose beautiful wife Qian Long had spotted

when she came to the palace one evening to pay her

respects to the Empress and he had had illicit

relations with her which resulted in the birth of Fu.

Qian Long had many sons, but for some perverse reason

he loved this illegitimate one more than all the rest.

The great physical likeness between Fu and Chen was

therefore the result of the fact that they were uncle

and nephew.

Chen knew nothing of this, but was aware that the

Emperor doted on Fu. He and the other heroes escorted

their hostage downstairs. Zhou Qi ran over to Zhao and

took the baby from him, almost crazy with happiness.

On one side, were the Red Flower Society heroes and

the Shaolin monks, on the other, the mass of palace

guards and Imperial bodyguards. Commander Li could see

his forces vastly outnumbered the enemy, but he also

knew how the Emperor felt about Fu.

"Great Helmsman Chen," he shouted. "Let Commander Fu

go and we will allow you to leave the city

peacefully."

"What does the Emperor say?" Chen shouted back.

Qian Long's cheeks were painful and swollen like

over-ripe peaches as a result of Chen's blows, but

seeing his beloved son in the hands of the enemy, he

could only wave his hand and say: "You can go, you can

go."

"Commander Fu will see us out of the city," Chen said,

then looked straight at Qian Long and announced in a

loud voice: "All the common people under Heaven would

be happy to eat your flesh and make a bed out of your

skin. If you live another hundred years, may they be

one hundred years of fear-filled days and tormented,

sleepless nights!" He turned to the heroes. "Let us

go," he said.

The heroes pushed Fu forward and made their way

towards the palace gate, carrying with them the bodies

of the Twin Eagles and Zhang Jin. The Manchu guards

stared at them fixedly as they passed, but did not

dare to stop them.

Soon after the heroes passed out of the palace, they

spotted two horsemen galloping after them, one of whom

was Commander Li.

"Great Helmsman Chen!" he called as they drew near.

"There is something I wish to discuss with you."

The heroes reined in their horses and waited for Li

and his lieutenant, Deng Tunan, to catch up.

"His Highness says that if you allow Commander Fu to

return safely, he will agree to anything," Li said.

Chen's eyebrows shot up. "Huh! Who would believe a

cursed word the Emperor said any more?"

"Please, Master Chen. I ask you to express your wishes

so that I can return to report."

"All right," Chen said. "Firstly, I want the Emperor

to rebuild the Shaolin Monastery with his own funds,

making the golden statues of Buddha even larger than

before. The court and government must never harrass

the monastery again."

"That is easy to arrange," said Li.

"Secondly, the Emperor must not increase the military

burden on the common people in the Muslim areas and

all the Muslims taken prisoner must be released."

"That is not difficult either."

"Thirdly, the Emperor must not bear a grudge against

the Red Flower Society or seize any of its members no

matter where they may be." Commander Li was silent.

"Huh! If you really did try to seize any of us, do you

think we would be afraid? Did not Master Wen here

spend some time as a guest in your own military

headquarters?"

"All right. I will rashly agree," Li said finally.

"Exactly one year from today, if all three demands

have been fully met, Commander Fu will be released."

"All right. We will so arrange things," replied Li and

turned to Fu. "Commander Fu. Great Helmsman Chen's

word is very precious. Please do not worry. His

Highness will certainly issue orders to see that all

three requests are met. I will not allow a moment to

pass without thinking of your safety, and will make

sure everything is done as quickly as possible in the

hope that Master Chen may see fit to release you

early."

Fu said nothing.

Chen suddenly remembered how they had seen Bai Zhen

and Commander Li's forces had mysteriously attacked

the Banner troops guarding the Hall of Tranquillity in

the Lama Temple. He did not understand the

circumstances of the incident but knew it must involve

a very dark secret. He decided to scare Li a little.

"Tell the Emperor that we know everything about the

Hall of Tranquillity affair," he said. "If he is

treacherous again, it would not be beneficial."

Li started in surprise and hastily assented.

"Commander Li, we will take our leave of you," Chen

continued and saluted with his fists. "When you are

promoted and become rich, take care not to oppress the

common people."

Li saluted in reply. "I would not dare," he said.

Yuanzhi and Yu dismounted and walked over to Li and

knelt down in front of him. Li realised sorrowfully

that he would never see his daughter again.

"Look after yourself, child," he said quietly. He

stretched out his hand and stroked her hair, then

turned his horse round and rode back to the palace.

Yuanzhi began to cry as Yu helped her onto her horse.

The heroes galloped to the city gate where 'Pagoda'

Yang and 'Leopard' Wei were waiting for them. Fu

ordered the city gate to be opened. The huge bell in

the bell tower above sounded, ringing out the start of

the fourth watch.

As they passed out of the city, the heroes saw an

expanse of reeds beside the city moat flailing about

in the pale moonlight. A bit further on, they came

upon a graveyard, and noticed a crowd of people there

wailing and singing a Muslim funeral dirge. Chen and

Huo Qinging rode over to investigate.

"Who are you mourning for?" they asked the crowd.

An old Muslim man raised his head, his face coursed

with tears, and said: "Princess Fragrance."

"Princess Fragrance is buried here?" Chen asked.

The old man pointed at a new grave, the yellow mud on

which was not yet dry. "There," he replied.

Huo Qingtong began to cry. "We cannot allow her to

remain buried here," she said.

"You're right," Chen replied. "She loved that Jade

Pool in the heart of the White Jade Peak, and said how

much she would like to live there forever. Let us take

her remains and bury them there."

"Yes, I agree," Huo Qingtong said, swallowing her

tears.

"Who are you?" the old man enquired courteously.

"I am Princess Fragrance's sister," Huo Qingtong

replied.

"Ah!" another of the Muslim suddenly shouted to the

other mourners. "It's Mistress Huo Qingtong!"

"Let us open up her grave," she said, and Chen and the

heroes started work helped by several of the Muslims.

They shifted the earth as fast as they could and in a

moment, had uncovered the stone slab placed over the

grave. They lifted the slab up and a perfumed

fragrance emerged. But when they looked inside, they

found the grave was empty.

Chen took a burning torch from one of the mourners and

held it over the grave opening. On the floor was a

small pool of blood and the piece of jade that he

himself had given her.

"We brought Princess Fragrance's remains here and

buried them ourselves," said the Muslims. "We have not

left this spot since. How could her body have

disappeared?"

"She was so wondrously beautiful. Perhaps she was a

spirit that descended to earth," Luo Bing suggested.

"Now she has returned to Heaven. Don't be distressed."

Chen bent down into the grave and picked up the piece

of jade. Suddenly, he began to cry, the tears running

down his face like rain. She was so beautiful, so

pure. Perhaps she was a spirit.

The people sighed and covered up the grave once more,

and as they finished the work, a large jade-coloured

butterfly appeared and began dancing to and fro above

the pile of earth.

Chen turned to the old man. "I will write a few words.

Please ask a master carver to erect a stone engraved

with the inscription on this spot," he said.

The old man nodded, and Xin Yan gave him ten taels of

silver to cover the cost. Then he took writing

implements from his bag and handed them to Chen.

Chen raised his writing brush and wrote: "Fragrant

Tomb" in large characters. Then after a moment's

thought, he wrote:

"Vast, vast sadness,

Boundless, boundless loss.

The song has ended,

The moon has been snatched away

In the midst of the mournful city

There is a patriot's blood.

Patriotism is sometimes exhausted

Blood sometimes runs dry

But the thread of your fragrant spirit has not been

snapped!

Is it not so?

You have become a butterfly."

The heroes stood for a long time in silence. Only when

the eastern sky was already light did they mount up

and ride off westwards.

THE END

• 6小时掌握学英语的秘诀！——点击看答案
• 专治男女记不住单词的秘密