Zhou Qi was furious at his manner, but remembered that

she was appealing for help. "I've come to ask Doctor

Cao to visit a patient," she said, controlling

herself.

"He's not in," said the man. Without another word, he

turned and began to close the door.

Panic-striken, Zhou Qi pulled him out of the doorway

and drew her sword. "Where's he gone to? Quickly!"

"He's gone to Little Rose's," the man replied in a

quavering voice.

Zhou Qi brushed the blade over his face. "What is

Little Rose's?"

The man was frantic with fright. "Your

Excellency...Miss, Little Rose is a prostitute," he

said.

"Prostitutes are bad people. What's he gone to her

place for?" Zhou Qi asked.

The man wanted to laugh at the sight of this girl who

was so ferocious and yet so ignorant of worldly

matters, but he did not dare. "She is a good friend of

our master," he said.

"Lead me there quickly."

With the sword resting on his neck, he dared not

disobey and led her off down the street.

"This is it," he said, pointing to a small house.

"Knock on the door. Tell the doctor to come out."

The man did as she said, and the door was opened by

the Madame of the house.

"This lady wants my master to go to visit a patient,"

the man said. "I told her the master was busy, but she

wouldn't believe me and forced me to come here."

The Madame gave him a look of contempt and slammed the

door.

Zhou Qi rushed forward to stop her, but was too late.

She beat thunderously on the door for a while, but not

a sound came from inside. Absolutely furious, she

kicked the man to the ground.

"Get lost!" she shouted.

The man picked himself up and ran off.

Zhou Qi waited until he had disappeared then leapt

over the wall into the courtyard of the house. She saw

light coming from a room nearby, and stealthily made

her way over towards it. Crouching down, she heard two

men talking. She licked the tip of her finger, then

wet a small part of the window paper and made a hole

in it. Putting her eye to the hole, she saw two men

lying on a couch, talking. One was stout, and the

other thin and tall. A tartishly seductive girl was

pummelling the thin man's thighs. The stout man give a

wave of his hand and the girl stood up.

"I can see you two want to discuss more ways of

creating mischief," she said with a smile. "You ought

to accumulate some good deeds, otherwise you may give

birth to sons without arseholes."

"Damned nonsense," the stout man shouted back with a

laugh. The girl smiled and walked out, locked the

door, then turned and went into an inner hall.

"That must be Little Rose," Zhou Qi thought. "She's

really shameless, but there's some truth in what she

said."

She watched as the stout man pulled out four silver

ingots and placed them on the table.

"Brother Cao," he said. "There's two hundred taels of

silver. We are old business partners, and that's the

old price."

"Master Tang," the thin man replied: "Take these two

packets of medicine, and have a good time. The red

packet you give to the girl, and in less time than it

takes to eat a meal, she will be unconscious to the

world and you can do whatever you like with her. You

don't need me to teach you anything about that, do

you?"

The two men laughed together.

"This black packet you give to the man," Cao

continued. "Tell him it will speed his recovery. Soon

after he takes it, his wounds will begin discharging

blood and he will die. It will appear that his wounds

have simply re-opened and no-one will suspect you.

What do you think of such a ruse?"

"Excellent, excellent," Tang replied.

"So, Master Tang, you have gained both the girl and

the money. Doesn't two hundred taels seem like rather

a small reward for such a service?"

"We are brothers, and I wouldn't try to deceive you,"

the other said. "The girl certainly has a pretty face.

I could hardly restrain myself even when I thought she

was a boy because of the way she was dressed. But

there is nothing much special about the man, except

that he's with the girl, so I cannot allow him to

live."

"Didn't you say he had a flute made out of gold?" Cao

asked. "That flute must weigh several catties alone."

"All right, all right, I'll add another fifty taels,"

Tang said, and pulled out another ingot.

Zhou Qi became angrier and angrier as she listened,

and ran to the door, kicked it open and charged

straight inside. Tang gave a shout and aimed a flying

kick at Zhou Qi's sword wrist. Zhou Qi flipped the

sword over and smoothly cut off his right foot then

thrust the blade into his heart.

The thin man stood to one side, struck dumb with

fright. His whole body shook and his teeth chattered.

Zhou Qi pulled her sword out of Tang's corpse and

wiped the blood off the blade onto his clothes, then

grabbed the thin man.

"Are you Doctor Cao?" she shouted. The man's legs

folded and he fell to his knees.

"Please...miss...spare my life..."

"Who wants your life? Get up."

Cao shakily stood up, but his knees were still

rubbery, and he had to kneel down again. Zhou Qi put

the five silver ingots and two packets of medicine on

the table into her pocket.

"Out," she ordered.

She told him to fetch his horse, and the two mounted

up and galloped out of the town. In less than two

hours, they arrived at the old woman's hut. Zhou Qi

ran to Xu and found him still unconscious. In the

candlelight, she could see his whole face was bright

red and knew he had a terrible fever. She dragged Cao

over.

"My, er, brother here has been wounded. Cure him

quickly," she ordered.

Hearing that he was expected to give medical

treatment, Cao's fears eased slightly. He looked at

Xu's complexion and took his pulse, then undid the

bandage round his shoulder and looked at the wound. He

shook his head.

"The master is deficient in both blood and breath," he

said. "His body heat is rising..."

"Who wants to hear all that?" Zhou Qi interrupted him.

"You just cure him quickly. If you don't, you can

forget about ever leaving here."

"I'll go to the town to get some medicine," Cao said.

"Without medicine I cannot do anything."

Xu awoke and he lay listening to the two talking.

"Huh, do you think I'm a three-year-old child?" Zhou

Qi demanded. "You make out the prescription and I'll

go and buy the medicine."

Cao had no alternative. "Well, please bring me a pen

and paper, Miss," he said.

But where was pen and paper to be found in such a poor

hut in such a desolate place? Zhou Qi frowned, at a

loss for what to do.

"The master's condition will not allow delay," said

Cao with an air of complacency. "It would be best if

you let me return to the town to get the medicine."

"Sister," Xu said, "Take a small piece of firewood and

burn it to charcoal, then let him write on a piece of

rough paper. If that can't be done, you could write on

a piece of wood."

"What a good idea!" Zhou Qi exclaimed happily, and

burnt up a piece of firewood as he had said. The old

woman searched out a piece of yellow paper originally

meant to be burnt in worship of Buddha, and Cao made

out the prescription. When he had finished, Zhou Qi

found a length of grass rope and tied his hands behind

his back, bound his legs together and put him on the

floor next to Xu.

"I'm going to the town to buy medicine," she told the

old woman as she placed Xu's sword beside his pillow.

If this dog doctor tries to escape, wake up my brother

and he can kill him."

Zhou Qi rode back to the town and found a medicine

shop. She shouted for the shop-keeper to open up and

got him to fill the prescription, which was for more

that ten different types of medicine.

The sky was growing light. She saw village militiamen

patrolling the streets and guessed that the murder at

Little Rose's had been discovered. She shrank into a

corner and waited until they had passed before

galloping off.

As soon as she had returned to the old woman's hut,

she hastily brewed up the medicine then poured it into

a rough bowl and took it over to Xu. She shook him

awake and told him to drink the medicine.

Xu was extremely moved at the sight of her face

covered with sweat and ash and her hair filled with

twigs and grass. He knew she was the daughter of a

rich family and would never before have had to do this

sort of work. He sat up and took the bowl from her and

passed it over to Cao.

"You drink two mouthfuls," he said. Cao hesitated

slightly and Zhou Qi realised Xu's meaning.

"Yes, yes," she said. "He must drink some first. You

don't know how evil this man is," she added to Xu.

Cao opened his mouth and drank two mouthfuls.

"Rest for a while, sister," said Xu. "I'll wait a

while before drinking the medicine."

"Yes," said Zhou Qi. "Let's see if he dies first. If

he dies, you mustn't drink the medicine."

She moved the oil lamp next to Cao's face and watched

him with her big, black, unblinking eyes to see

whether he would die or not.

"We doctors have the best interest of our patients at

heart. Why would I want to harm him?" Cao said,

smiling bitterly.

"That secret discussion you had with that man Tang

about harming some girl and getting hold of someone

else's golden flute, I heard it all," Zhou Qi said

angrily. "Do you deny it?"

Xu's ears pricked up at the mention of a golden flute

and he quickly asked her about it. Zhou Qi related the

conversation she had heard, and how she had killed a

man at Little Rose's.

Xu asked Cao: "Who is the person with the Golden

flute? And who is the girl who was dressed as a boy?"

Zhou Qi drew her sword and stood by him threateningly.

"If you don't tell us everything you know, I'll run

you through with my sword immediately," she told him.

"I...I'll tell you," said Cao, absolutely terrified.

"Yesterday Master Tang came to see me and said that

two people had asked to take lodgings at his home. He

said one was very badly wounded and the other was a

pretty youngster. At first he was unwilling to take

them in, but seeing how extraordinarily beautiful the

youngster was, he let them stay for one night. He

noticed the youngster's voice and manner were just

like a girl's. Also, the youngster wasn't willing to

share a room with the other, so he concluded it must

be a girl dressed in boy's clothes."

"So you sold him some poison," Zhou Qi said.

"I deserve to die," replied Cao.

"What was the man like?" Xu asked.

"Master Tang asked me to examine him. He was about

twenty-three or four, dressed as a scholar, and had

sword and club wounds in seven or eight places."

"Were the wounds serious?" asked Xu.

"Very serious. But they were all external wounds. He

wasn't wounded on any fatal points."

Xu saw he would not gain much by continuing the

questioning and gingerly raised the bowl of medicine.

But his hands shook and some of the medicine slopped

out. Zhou Qi took the bowl from him and raised it to

his mouth. He drank the brew down as she held the

bowl, then thanked her.

"These two bandits are not brother and sister," Cao

thought as he watched. "Whoever heard of a brother

saying thank you to his sister?"

After drinking the medicine, Xu slept for a while, his

whole body sweating profusely, and towards evening,

the sickness began to recede. The next day, Xu was

more than half recovered and he was able to get up.

After another day, he decided he could just about

manage to ride a horse.

"That man with the golden flute is Fourteenth

Brother," he said to Zhou Qi. "I wonder why he should

seek lodgings with such a man? But seeing as you've

already killed Tang, they shouldn't have had too much

trouble. But I'm still a little worried. Let's go

tonight and see what the situation is."

"Fourteenth Brother?" Zhou Qi asked.

"'Scholar' Yu. He was also at Iron Gall Manor. You've

seen him before."

"Oh, if I had known it was him I would have brought

him along with me, then the two of you could have

convalesced together."

Xu smiled. "But who could this girl dressed in boy's

clothing be?" he wondered, mystified.

That evening, Zhou Qi gave the old woman two of the

silver ingots and she accepted them with effusive

blessings and thanks. Zhou Qi then pulled Cao up, and

with a swish of her blade, cut off his right ear.

"I'm only sparing your worthless life because you

cured my brother," she shouted. "If I ever catch you

doing evil again,I'll stick my sword straight into

your heart."

"We'll visit you again in three months time, to check

up," Xu warned.

"You ride his horse and we'll leave," Zhou Qi said to

Xu. The two mounted up and galloped off towards

Wenguang town.

"Why did you say we would be coming back in three

months' time?" Zhou Qi asked.

"I was just deceiving the doctor so that he wouldn't

give the old woman any trouble," Xu replied.

Zhou Qi nodded and they continued on for a while.

"Why are you always so crafty with people?" she

suddenly asked. "I don't like it."

"You don't realise how many evil people there are in

the world," he said after a long silence. "When

dealing with friends, love and justice should always

come first, of course. But when dealing with bad

people, you must be very careful otherwise you will be

tricked and will suffer."

"My father say it's better to suffer yourself than to

cheat other people," Zhou Qi said.

"That is what makes your father the great man that he

is," replied Xu.

"Well, why don't you imitate my father?"

"Lord Zhou is benevolent and generous by nature. I am

afraid that such a perverse person as myself would

never be able to emulate him."

"That's what I dislike most about you: your perverse

temper. My father says that if you treat others well,

they will also naturally treat you well in return."

Xu didn't reply.

The two waited until it was dark before entering the

town. They found Tang's residence and climbed over the

wall toinvestigate. Xu caught a watchman and,

threatening him with a knife, asked him about

'Scholar' Yu's whereabouts. The watchman said the two

lodgers had left during the confusion after Doctor Cao

had killed Master Tang at Little Rose's.

"We'll chase after them," Zhou Qi said.
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