That morning, while the Red Flower Society heroes were

discussing the situation in their quarters in Twin

Willow Lane, a servant appeared to announced the

arrival of the Emeror's chief bodyguard, Bai Zhen.

Chen went out alone to meet him. Bai Zhen passed on

the Emperor's invitation to all the leading members of

the Red Flower Society to attend a banquet in the Lama

Temple that evening to be hosted by the Emperor

himself. He explained that the banquet was being held

outside the palace in order to avoid raising the

suspicions of the Empress Dowager and the Manchu

nobles. Chen expressed his thanks. He assumed the news

indicated Princess Fragrance had already done what had

to be done and had given in to the Emperor, and felt

an inexpressible mixture of emotions. After having

seen Bai Zhen out, he returned to discuss matters with

the heroes, who were very excited that the Emperor was

keeping his part of the bargain, although they were

also painfully aware of the sacrifice Chen had made to

make it possible.

They passed the rest of the morning in kung fu

training, and Chen showed the others some of what he

had learned inside the White Jade Peak. Just as they

were in the midst of the practice, they heard wailing

and mournful singing outside. At first, they did not

take much notice, but the noise gradually increased in

volume, as if thousands of people were gathering in an

state of extreme grief.

Xin Yan had lived in the desert for a long time and

recognised the song as a Muslim funeral dirge. His

curiosity aroused, he ran out to find out what was

going on, and returned a while later, unsteady on his

feet and ashen-faced. He walked over to Chen.

"Master!" he exclaimed, his voice shaking.

The heroes stopped their kung fu training, and Chen

turned to him. "What is it?" he asked.

"She ... Princess Fragrance is dead!"

The heroes blanched. For Chen, everything went black

and he collapsed to the ground. Priest Wu Chen dropped

his sword and helped him up.

"How did she die?" Luo Bing asked.

"The Muslim I talked to said she stabbed herself to

death while praying in the mosque," Xin Yan replied.

"What else did he say?"

"That the Empress Dowager would not let her body back

into the palace and had it handed over to the mosque.

They are just on their way back from burying her now."

The heroes all cursed the Emperor bitterly for his

cruelty in hounding such a pure, innocent young girl

to her death. Luo Bing broke down and started to cry.

Chen was silent for a while, and then suddenly said to

Prist Wu Chen: "I haven't finished showing you all the

moves yet. Let us continue."

To their amazement, he walked back out into the middle

of the courtyard. Wu Chen decided it would be a good

idea to help distract Chen from his grief, so he

raised his sword and resumed the training session. The

heroes saw Chen's footwork was just as sure as before

and his hands moved with the same skill as if the news

had had absolutely no effect on him, and they began to

quietly discuss it amongst themselves.

"Men have no hearts," Yuanzhi whispered into 'Scholar'

Yu's ear. "He thinks only of his great plans for the

country, and doesn't care at all about the death of

the woman he loved."

Yu said nothing. But he silently praised Chen for his

self-control. If it were me, he thought, I think I

would immediately go insane.

Aware that a great change had come over Chen, Priest

Wu Chen did not dare press him too hard, and in a few

moves, Chen had easily gained the upper hand. As the

Priest retreated, Chen's hand suddenly shot out and

touched his hand. The two leapt apart.

"Good! Excellent!" exclaimed the priest.

"You weren't really trying," Chen replied and laughed.

But before the laugh was finished, he vomited a

mouthful of blood. The heroes rushed forward as one to

help him, but Chen waved them away with a wan smile.

"It's nothing," he said. He walked back into the

house, supporting himself on Xin Yan's shoulders.

Chen slept for more than two hours. Upon waking, he

thought of all the important things he had to do,

including seeing the Emperor that evening, and knew he

had to look after himself. But as soon as he thought

about Princess Fragrance's tragic death the pain was

such that he wanted to end it all. He wondered why she

would suddenly commit suicide after clearly agreeing

to give in to the Emperor. Could it be that she had

changed her mind and decided she could not renounce

her love for him? But she knew this was a matter of no

small significance. He was convinced that something

must have happened, but what? He meditated on the

problem for a while but could come to no conclusion,

so he took out a set of Muslim clothes he had brought

from the northwest and put them on, then blacked his

face with some diluted ink.

"I'm going out," he said to Xin Yan. "I'll be back in

a while." Xin Yan quietly followed him. Chen, who knew

he was simply acting out of loyalty, did not try to

stop him.

The streets were full of people and noise,

intermingled with many carriages and horses, but in

Chen's eyes, all was deserted. He walked into the

mosque on the Avenue of Eternal Peace, went straight

into the main hall, and threw himself down on the

ground to pray. "Wait for me in Heaven," he said

quietly. "I promised you that I would be converted to

the Islamic faith, and I will make sure that you do

not wait in vain."

He raised his head and noticed what looked like an

inscription on the floor about five feet in front of

him. He went forward to investigate and saw it was

several Muslim words etched into the stone with the

point of a knife: "Don't trust the Emperor." There was

some pigment in the grooves of the words, and Chen

started in shock. Looking around, he found a part of

the floor nearby that was slightly darker in colour,

and thought: "Could this be her blood?" He bent down

to smell the patch and caught the tang of fresh blood.

In a second, he was overcome with grief and he threw

himself on the ground, sobbing.

After crying for a while, he felt someone tap him

lightly on his shoulder. He leapt to his feet ready to

fight, then started in surprise: it was Huo Qingtong,

dressed as a Muslim boy.

She had arrived that day with the Twin Eagles in the

hope of rescuing Princess Frangrance, but had heard

almost immediately that her sister was dead. She had

come to the mosque to pray for her.

Chen noticed two palace guards enter the mosque, and

with a tug on Huo Qingtong's sleeve, pulled her down

to the ground where they prostrated themselves in

prayer.

The guards walked over. "Get up!" they barked. Chen

and Huo Qingtong did as they were told and walked over

to a window. Behind them, they heard the sound of

hammering as the guards used implements to prise up

the flagstone on which Princess Fragrance's message

was engraved. They carried the stone out of the mosque

and rode away.

"What was that?" Huo Qingtong asked.

"If I had been one step late I would have missed the

warning she wrote in her own blood and sacrifed her

life for."

"What warning?"

"There are too many eyes and ears here," Chen replied.

"Let's kneel down on the floor again and I'll tell

you." So they prostrated themselves again and Chen

gave her a brief account of all that had happened.

"How could you be stupid as to trust the Emperor?" Huo

Qingtong declared angrily.

Chen was mortified with shame. "I thought that because

he is Chinese, and also my blood brother...." he

began.

"And what if he is Chinese? Do you mean to say Chinese

are incapable of doing bad? And what use is he going

to have for brotherly love, as Emperor?"

"I am responsible for her death," Chen sobbed. "I...I

can't bear not to follow her immediately."

Huo Qingtong saw how heartbroken he was and felt she

had been too hard on him. "What you did was for the

good of the common people," she said softly to comfort

him. "You can't be blamed." After a moment's silence,

she asked: "Are you going to go to the banquet in the

Lama Temple this evening?"

Chen gritted his teeth in rage. "The Emperor will be

there, so I'll assassinate him and avenge her death."

"Yes," Huo Qingtong agreed. "And also avenge my father

and brother, and all the people of my tribe."

"How did you manage to escape when the Manchu troops

attacked?" he asked.

"I was very sick at the time, but luckily I had my

troop of bodyguards with me who managed to get me out

and took me to my teacher's home," she replied.

Chen sighed. "Your sister said that even if it meant

travelling to the ends of the earth, we had to find

you." The tears began to stream down Huo Qingtong's

face.

They walked out of the mosque and Xin Yan came up to

meet them. He was astonished to see Huo Qingtong with

Chen.

"Mistress! How are you?" he exclaimed. "I've been

thinking of you."

"Well thank you," she replied. "You've grown a lot

since I last saw you."

They returned to Twin Willow Lane to find the Twin

Eagles of Tianshan in the middle of a heated argument

with the heroes. Chen swallowed his tears and told

them of the blood-stained words he had seen in the

mosque. Bald Vulture slapped the table.

"Didn't I tell you?" he demanded. "Of course that

Emperor means us harm. The girl must have obtained

some definite proof of it in the palace before she

would give her life to let us know." The others

agreed.

"When we go to the banquet this evening, we won't be

able to carry swords, so everyone prepare daggers or

darts," said Chen. "The food and drink may be poisoned

so don't allow anything to touch your lips. We have to

kill the Emperor tonight for the sake of revenge but

we must also plan our escape route."

"None of us will be able to live in central China

again," said Bald Vulture. "We should all go to the

Muslim regions."

The heroes had long lived in the south of China, and

the idea of leaving their home was not easy to accept.

But the Emperor was evil and dangerous and bitterly

hated by all of them, and everyone was willing to do

what was necessary.

Chen ordered 'Leopard' Wei to go to the west gate of

the city with several of the heroes and to kill the

guards at the right moment to allow them all to

escape. He then ordered Xin Yan to arrange for horses

to be waiting outside the Lama Temple. Turning to Yu,

he told him to immediately inform all the Red Flower

Society's members in Beijing and all other provinces

to go to ground to avoid being arrested.

The arrangements complete, Chen turned to the Twin

Eagles and Master Lu. "I would like to ask you three

elders for suggestions on how the assassination should

be carried out," he said.

"Isn't it simple?" replied Bald Vulture. "I go up and

grab his neck and give it a good twist. That should

finish him."

Lu smiled. "I'm afraid you won't get close enough to

grab his neck with all the bodyguards he is bound to

have around him."

"It would be better if Third Brother attacks him with

poisonous darts," suggested Priest Wu Chen. "Even if

just one hits the target, that will be enough."

Lu turned to Luo Bing. "You could dip your throwing

knives into some poison too, and I could do the same

with my Golden Needles," he said.

Luo Bing nodded. "If we all loose our weapons at once,

a few at least will hit him no matter how many

bodyguards he has," she said.

Chen watched the heroes as they dipped their various

weapons into a pot of bubbling poison on the stove,

and thought uncomfortably about how the Emperor was

born of the same mother as himself. But then he

remembered his cruelty and deviousness and his rage

burned up again. He drew his dagger and placed it for

a moment in the pot of poison along with the others.
关键字:书剑恩仇录
生词表: