The heavy rain lasted all night. Next morning, having

washed and combed her hair, Yuanzhi looked out of the

window and saw it was still pouring. Her mother's

maidservant came in.

"Officer Deng says the rain is too heavy and we can't

leave today," she announced.

Icy gusts blew in through a tear in Yuanzhi's window.

She felt bored, particularly as the inn was in such a

desolate area. She walked over to the room occupied by

Master Wen of the Red Flower Society hoping to catch a

glimpse of him, but the door was firmly shut and no

sound came from within. The Zhen Yuan Agency had not

left that morning either, and several of the lead

escorts were lounging about in the dining hall,

chatting. Master Zhang was not among them. A gust of

wind blew from the west and Yuanzhi began to feel

rather cold. She was about to return to her room when

she heard the sound of bells outside the front gate

and a horse galloped in from the rain.

A young scholar dismounted and ran inside. As one

servant led his horse off to be fed, another asked the

scholar if he would be staying at the inn.

"I'll have to get back on the road again soon," he

replied, taking off his raincape. The servant invited

him to take a seat and poured him a cup of tea.

The scholar was tall and slender with a handsome face.

In the border areas, such elegance was a rare sight,

and Yuanzhi could not help but stare at him. The

scholar saw her too and smiled; she flushed and

quickly looked away.

There was the sound of horses outside the inn and four

more men came in. Yuanzhi recognised them as the ones

who had attacked the young woman the day before and

she quickly retired to Lu's room to ask what they

should do.

"Let us go and have a look first," Lu said and the two

peeped into the dining hall through a hole in the

window.

One of the four, a swordsman, summoned a servant,

quietly questioned him for a moment, then said to his

companions: "Those Red Flower Society bastards haven't

left yet. We'll deal with them when we've eaten."

The scholar's expression changed slightly and he began

to observe the four men out of the corner of his eye.

"Shall I help the woman again?" Yuanzhi asked.

"Don't do anything until I tell you," Lu said. He paid

no further attention to the four officers, but

focussed his gaze on the scholar.

Once he had finished eating, the scholar moved his

bench into the corridor leading to the courtyard. He

pulled a flute from the bundle on his back and began

to play a pleasant, lilting melody. Strange to say,

the flute looked as if it was cast from pure gold. The

road they were on was unsafe, and a golden flute

openly displayed by a lone scholar was bound to

attract thieves.

When the four men had finished eating, the swordsman

jumped onto the table and announced in a loud voice:

"We are Yamen officers and we have come to arrest

fugitives of the Red Flower Society. Peaceful citizens

need not be afraid."

He jumped down from and led the others towards the

courtyard. The scholar, still blocking the corridor

and playing the flute, ignored them. The swordsman

approached him. "Don't stand in the way of Yamen

officers," he growled.

The scholar leisurely put down his flute. "The

fugitives you gentlemen wish to arrest: what law have

they broken?" he asked. "Confucius said, 'Do not do

unto others what you would not wish on yourself'. Do

you really have to arrest them?"

The officer with the staff stepped forward. "You stop

your chatter," he shouted. "Get out of the way!"

"Please calm yourself, honourable sir," the scholar

replied. "There's no need to get agitated. Let me be

host. We'll all have a drink and become friends, what

do you say?"

The officer stretched out his hand to push him away,

and the scholar swayed to one side. "Ai-ya," he

exclaimed. "A gentleman uses words, not force."

He fell forward as if over-balancing and put out the

golden flute to steady himself, finding support on a

Yuedao spot on the left thigh of the officer, who

involuntarily knelt down as his leg went limp.

"Ai-ya!" the scholar exclaimed again. "There's no need

for such courtesy." He bowed before the officer.

Those watching could tell the scholar was highly

skilled in the martial arts and Yuanzhi, who had

originally been anxious on his behalf, was overjoyed

to see him using Yuedao kung fu.

"This bastard might be with the Red Flower Society as

well!" cried one of the officers fearfully. The

officer with the paralysed leg collapsed on the floor

and the others pulled him to one side.

"Are you a member of the Red Flower Society?" the

swordsman asked, a slight touch of fear in his voice.

The scholar laughed. "I do indeed. My name is Yu

Yutong. I play but a small role in the society,

ranking only 14th in seniority." He waved the flute at

them. "Don't you recognise me?"

"Ah, you're 'Scholar' Yu!"

"You are too kind," said the scholar. "That is indeed

who I am. You sir, with the flashing sword, face of

cunning and rat-like eyes. You must be the famous

officer from Beijing, Wu Guodong. I'd heard you had

retired. Why are you doing getting involved in this

kind of game?"

Swordsman Wu's blade flicked out, steely yet smooth

and Yu countered with his golden flute, fighting the

three officers simultaneously, working through a

complex series of moves which soon had them completely

flustered. After a moment, Yuanzhi turned to Lu in

surprise.

"That's the Soft Cloud sword style," she said.

Lu nodded. The Soft Cloud sword technique is a secret

style known only to our school, he thought. If this

scholar is a member of the Red Flower Society, then he

must be a pupil of Elder Brother Ma.

The school to which Lu belonged consisted of three

pupils, among whom Lu was placed second. The most

senior was Ma Zhen and the youngest Zhang Zhaozhong,

the Master Zhang with whom Yuanzhi had tangled the

night before. Zhang was highly talented and very

diligent, but he had thrown in his lot with the Manchu

court, and, rising swiftly in seniority, had already

attained the rank of Major in the Imperial Bodyguard.

Lu had long ago severed relations with him.

His guess that Yu was a pupil of Elder Brother Ma Zhen

was correct. Yu came from a respected family in

southern China, and had already passed the first

Imperial Civil Service examination when his father

became involved in a dispute over a burial plot with a

wealthy family. The ensuing law suit forced him into

bankruptcy, and he was imprisoned on a trumped-up

charge and died in jail. Yu left home in anger and met

Ma Zhen, whom he accepted as his teacher, abandoning

his studies in favour of the martial arts. He returned

and killed the rich landlord and then became an

outlaw, and later a member of the Red Flower Society.

He was alert and intelligent, and could speak many

different dialects. On this occasion, he was

travelling on society business to the city of Luoyang

and had been unaware that his fellow society members,

Wen Tailai and his wife, were holed up in the inn.

Hearing the fight, the agency men all came in and

stood to one side watching. Lead Escort Tong noticed a

catapult on the back of one of the officers, and

shouted: "If it was me, I'd leave two to take care of

the bastard while the third used the slingshot on

him."

The officer with the catapult realised Tong was right

and jumped onto a table, readied his weapon and sent a

shower of stones flying towards Yu.

Yu dodged them one by one while parrying the other two

officers. But his opponents gained the upper hand, and

after a few more moves, one of the missiles struck

Yu's cheek and the pain began to slow his movements.

"You might as well give up," Tong called to Yu. "Pull

down your trousers and we'll give you a taste of the

cane."

But Yu did not panic. With a sudden flourish, he drove

his left hand at a Yuedao point on Swordsman Wu's

chest. Wu quickly retreated two steps and Yu thrust

the flute into the stomach of the other officer who

grunted loudly and buckled in agony. Yu moved to

strike him again, but Wu intercepted him.

Fighting back the pain in his stomach, the third

officer moved stealthily up behind Yu as he fought Wu

and raised his Devil's Head knife to smash it down on

Yu's skull. But before he could do so, a throwing

knife plunged into his chest, killing him instantly,

and the Devil's Head Knife clattered to the floor.

Yu turned and saw a woman standing nearby, supporting

herself on the table with her left hand, thje slender

fingers of her right hand clasping another throwing

knife as if it was the stem of a fresh flower. She was

indescribably lovely, and as soon as he saw her, Yu's

spirits rose.

"Kill the Eagle's Claw with the catapult first!", he

shouted. Eagles Claw was their slang for thugs

employed by the Imperial Court.

The officer with the catapult turned round

frantically, just in time to see the flash of the

blade as it flew towards him. In desperation, he held

up the catapult to try to stop it, but the knife still

cut into the back of his hand.

"Uncle Wu!" he screamed, "It's too dangerous. Let's

get out of here!"

He jumped off the table and fled. Wu forced Yu back

with two more strokes from his sword, slung the

officer with the paralysed leg over his shoulder, and

rushed for the door to the hall. Instead of chasing

them, Yu raised the flute to his mouth end-on instead

of crosswise, and puffed. A small arrow shot out of

the end which buried itself in the shoulder of the

paralysed officer, who screamed with pain.

Yu turned to the woman. "Where's Brother Wen?" he

asked.

"Come with me," she said. She was wounded in the

thigh, and supported herself with a long door bar.

Meanwhile, as the officers rushed out of the inn, they

collided head-on with a man coming in, and Wu reeled

back several paces. When he saw it was Master Zhang,

his initial anger turned to delight.

"Master Zhang," he cried. "I am useless. One of our

brothers has been killed by the bastards and this one

has been paralysed."

Zhang grunted and lifted the officer up with his left

hand, then squeezed his waist and slapped his thigh,

freeing the blood flow. "Have they escaped?" he asked.

"They're still in the inn."

Zhang grunted again. "They've got guts," he said,

walking into the inn courtyard. "Resisting arrest,

killing an official, then brazenly staying on here."

They led Zhang towards Wen's room, but just as they

reached the door, Yuanzhi slid out of a room nearby

and waved a red knapsack at Zhang.

"Hey, I've stolen it again," she laughed and ran

towards the inn's main gate.

Zhang was startled. "These agency men are truly

useless," he thought. "As soon as I get it back for

them, they lose it again."

He shot after her, determined to teach her a good

lesson. It was still raining, and before long, they

were both soaking wet. Yuanzhi saw him closing in and

ran off along the side of a stream, Zhang following

silently. He increased his pace, closing the distance

between them, then stretched out his hand and caught

hold of her jacket. Greatly frightened, Yuanzhi pulled

away with all her strength, and a piece of cloth tore

out of the back. Her heart pounding, she hurled the

red knapsack into the stream.

"It's yours," she shouted.

Zhang knew how vital General Zhao Wei considered the

Koran to be and immediately leapt into the stream

while Yuanzhi laughed and ran off. As he fished the

knapsack out of the water, he saw it was already

soaked. Frantically, he opened it to see if the Koran

was wet, and then let fly with a stream of coarse

language. There was no Koran in the knapsack, only two

registers from the main desk at the inn. He opened one

and read of money collected from rooms for meals, and

of servants' wages. He groaned at how he had allowed

himself to be cheated and threw the registers and the

knapsack back into the stream. If he took them back

and someone asked about them, he would certainly lose

face.

He returned quickly to the inn and quickly found Lead

Escort Yan with the red knapsack still safely fastened

to his back.

"Where did Wu and the officers go?" he asked.

"They were here a moment ago," Yan replied.

"What damned use is there in the Emperor employing

people like that?" he demanded.

He walked up to Wen's door. "You Red Flower Society

fugitives! Come out immediately!" he shouted. No sound

came from the room. He kicked at the door and found it

slightly ajar.

"They've escaped!" he yelled, and burst into the room

only to find it empty. He noticed a lump under the bed

covers, and flung them off, revealing two of Wu's

officers lying face to face. He prodded his sword

lightly at the back of one of them but there was no

movement. He turned them over and saw they were both

dead. Both their skulls had been smashed in. It was

obviously the work of a master of Internal Strength

kung fu, and his respect for Wen Tailai increased

appreciably. But where was Wu? And in which direction

had Wen and his wife escaped? He called for one of the

servants and interrogated him without obtaining even

half a clue.

But Zhang had guessed wrong: the officers were not

killed by Wen Tailai.
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