To his great delight, Beautiful Jade's dew-drop eyes

constantly looked over in his direction as she sang.

Qian Long loved demonstrating his talents in art,

calligraphy and poetry and his ministers, not

surprisingly, praised everything he did. But for a

beautiful woman to favour him not because of reverence

for his position as Emperor, but because of his real

worth meant she had recognized his ardour, good looks

and talent. Famous courtesans are truly discerning, he

thought. He immediately ordered He Jia to present

Beautiful Jade with fifty taels of gold.

The boats of all the courtesans were piled up with

gifts, especially those of the Four Beauties. Midnight

approached and the judge began the job of inspecting

the gifts. As with the imperial examinations, not only

the courtesans, but also the spectators on the lake,

were anxious about the outcome.

Qian Long said a few quiet words to He Jia, who nodded

and hurried back to the Yamen. He returned a while

later with a package.

The inspection over, the boats all clustered round the

launch on which the judge sat to hear him announce the

winners.

"The gifts presented to Miss Twin Pagodas are the most

numerous," he announced. There was a roar from the

other boats as some applauded and some groaned.

"Not so fast," someone shouted. "I will present one

hundred taels of gold to Miss Water Lily."

"And I present Miss Lunar Palace with a jade bracelet

and ten pearls," another wealthy gentleman called out.

The crowd saw the green bracelet and the large round

pearls sparkling under the lantern light and knew that

they must be worth well over a hundred taels of gold.

All concluded that Miss Lunar Palace was certain to be

chosen at the Top Candidate for the years.

Suddenly He Jia called out: "Our master has a number

of items he would like to present to Miss Beautiful

Jade!"

A servant carried the package over to the judge, a man

of about forty with a lean, handsome face and a wisp

of moustache. He opened it to find it contained three

scrolls. He turned to the old man on his left and

said: "Master Fan, this is indeed a refined gentleman.

I wonder what treasures he has presented?" He ordered

the servants to unrill the scrolls.

As the first scroll was unrolled, the judge and the

others started in surprise: it was a poem written in

the hand of the famous cillgrapher, Zu Yunning.

"This is extremely valuable," exclaimed the man called

Master Fan. They hurriedly opened the second scroll

and saw it was a painting of flowers on the top of

which was the Imperial vermilion seal of Qian Long.

Yuan Mei was puzzled and turned to ask his colleagues

if they knew who the benefactor was. They looked at

the scrolls and pondered silently.

"Why don't we go over and meet him?" one finally

suggested.

"If we do that, people will accuse us of being

unfair," replied another. "With such treasures as

these two scrolls, the Top Candidate is obviously

Beautiful Jade."

"Let us have a look at the third scroll," suggested a

third.

They unrolled it and saw it was a piece of unsigned

calligraphy.

"Not very graceful," remarked one of the experts. "The

writing style lacks strength."

"Shh! It's written in the Emperor's hand," another

whispered urgently. The others all jumped in fright

and dared not discuss the matter further.

"The judging of the gifts has been completed," Yuan

Mei announced in a loud voice. "The Top Candidate is

Miss Beautiful Jade, second is Miss Lunar Palace,

third is Miss Water Lily."

Applause arose from all corners of the lake.

Beutiful Jade began to sing again, and her tender

voice penetrated Qian Long's bones, making his heart

itch unbearably.

"Go and tell that girl to come over," he said to He

Jia. "And don't say who I am."

The boat glided over to Beautiful Jade's and He Jia

leapt across. After an interval, he returned with a

piece of paper and handed it to Qian Long and said:

"She told me to give this to you."

Qian Long peered at the note under the lamplight and

saw it read: "Tomorrow."

The calligraphy was very poor, but the paper was

heavily scented with a fragrance that made his heart

quiver.

"Why wait until tomorrow? I am here now," he said. But

when he looked up again, he saw Beautiful Jade's boat

was already moving off. As Emperor, the concubines of

the palace tried every trick they could think of to be

favoured by him. When had a woman ever rejected his

advances? But the more she kept him at arms length,

the more he desired her. He hurriedly issued an

Imperial command: "Chase after that boat!"

Qian Long stood silently on the prow, his heart

pursuing the boat ahead. The lights on the lake were

going out but the music had not yet been extinguished.

He indistinctly heard what he thought was the sound of

laughter and soft words from the boat in front.

The distance between the two boats gradually closed.

Suddenly the curtain on the flower boat parted for a

second and a object was flung in the direction of Qian

Long. Bai Zhen lunged forward to intercept it, and as

it hit his hand he noticed the object was not a dart

as he had expected but a red handkerchief with all

four corners knotted together. He quickly presented it

to the Emperor.

Qian Long untied it and inside he found a lotus sweet

and a lily bulb: both were symbols of a well-matched

couple. How could he fail to catch the meaning of such

a romantic message?

The flower boat reached the bank, and Beautiful Jade

stepped off and into a small horse-drawn carriage. She

looked out of the carriage window and smiled

seductively at Qian Long, then released the carriage

curtain.

"Hey! Wait a moment, don't go!" He Jia yelled, but the

driver took no notice and with a clatter of horses'

hooves, the carriage moved off south.

"Get another carriage quickly!" He Jia called. The

bodyguards soon found a carriage and forced its

occupants out. Qian Long stepped inside and it raced

off after the other carriage.

Bodyguard Bai Zhen saw they were heading towards the

prosperous district of the city, and decided

everything was all right: the Emperor had obviously

decided to spend the night at the home of the

courtesan. But having seen her only a few days before

with the Red Flower Society men, he had to take

precautions against a trap. He quickly ordered Rui

Dalin to bring extra men to help protect the Emperor.

Beautiful Jade's carriage passed along several

streets, then turned into an alley and stopped in

front of a pair of black-painted gates. An attendant

on the carriage jumped down and knocked on them just

as Qian Long was descending from his carriage. With a

long squeak, the gates were opened, and an old woman

came out, pulled aside the carriage curtain and

greeted Beautiful Jade. She stepped out of the

carriage and, seeing Qian Long standing to one side,

hurried over to greet him.

"Aiya, Master Dongfang," she said. "Thank you so much

for your gifts just now. Please come in and have some

tea." Qian Long smiled and walked through the gates.

One of the bodyguards rushed in ahead of the Emperor,

his hand on the hilt of his sword, checking for

assassins or perhaps a customer of the prostitute who

would wish to protest that he was first.

Beyond the gates was a courtyard. A wave of flowery

fragrance assailed their noses and tree shadows danced

on the ground around two cinnamon bushes which were in

full bloom. Qian Long followed Beautiful Jade into a

small, elegantly-decorated chamber lit by two tall,

red candles.

A maid brought in wine and food. Qian Long looked at

the plates of delicacies, including marinated chicken

and Thousand-Year-Old eggs, and marvelled at how

exquisite they were compared to the heavy food he was

served in the Imperial palace. The maid strained two

cups of aged, deeply-fragrant rice wine.

Beautiful Jade took a sip and smiled. "Master

Dongfang, how can I ever thank you?" she said.

Qian Long raised his cup and drained it in one

draught. "Sing a song first," he said, also smiling.

"We will discuss at our leisure how you can thank me."

Beautiful Jade picked up a pipa and began to play

softly.

While the Emperor drank and enjoyed himself inside,

Commander-in-Chief Li arrived with a detachment of

troops and encircled the alley with ring after ring of

guards. His officers searched every nearby house

thoroughly, leaving only Beautiful Jade's room

untouched. Bai Zhen ordered a group of guardsmen to

patrol the roof tops with bows and arrows at the

ready. Countless men have been to brothels over the

centuries, but Qian Long's visit was surely the most

imposing and awe-inspiring visit of all.

The guards and soldiers were kept busy the whole

night, but dawn finally broke without anything

untoward having happened. The sun rose, and He Jia

tiptoed over to Beautiful Jade's bed-chamber to peek

through a crack in the window. He spied Qian Long's

boots lying by the bed and retreated. Eight o'clock

passed, nine o'clock and ten o'clock and still there

was no sign of the Emperor rising. Becoming anxious,

He Jia returned to the window and called quietly:

"Master, would you like some breakfast?" He called

several times, but there was no response.

He went to the door and gave it a push, but it was

barred from inside. "Master!" he called out loudly.

Still no answer from the room. He Jia was very

concerned, but he didn't dare break the door down.

Instead, he went to discuss the situation with

Commander Li and Bai Zhen.

"Why don't we tell the old house woman to go and knock

on the door with some breakfast. His Highness won't be

offended," suggested Li.

"An excellent idea, Commander," Bai Zhen said.

The three went off to look for the old woman, but

found the whole establishment was deserted. Greatly

alarmed at the situation, they began banging

frantically on Beautiful Jade's door.

"Force it open!" ordered Li. Bai Zhen put both of his

palms on the door, and with a sight push, snapped the

door bar.

He Jia went in first and carefully pulled apart the

bed curtains to find the bed clothes in disarray but

absolutely no sign of Qian Long or Beautiful Jade. He

fainted to the floor in fright.

Bai Zhen hastily called in some guards and searched

the establishment, but they failed to find so much as

half a clue. How could the Emperor have disappeared

when the guard they had mounted was so tight that not

even a sparrow could have escaped without being

noticed? Bai Zhen toured round the room once more

looking for a secret door, but he knocked and banged

for a long time without finding anything suspicious.

The Imperial Guard Commander Fu Kangan and the

provincial governor arrived having received news of

Qian Long's disappearance, and they all gathered in

the middle of Beautiful Jade's boudoir, pale

frightened and completely at a loss for what to do.
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