The Book and The Sword (56 page)

"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:

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.

J
in Yong, originally named Louis Cha, was born in Haining County (near Hangzhou) in 1924. As a well-known journalist, litterateur, and scholar in China, he has done great achievements throughout his life.

Jin Yong is an outstanding media figure in China. He used to work as a journalist, translator, and editor for news papers in Shanghaiand the Hong Kong SAR (Special Administrative Region). In 1959 he initiated several newspapers in Hong Kong, Malaysia, and Singapore.

As the President and the Director of the Board of the Ming Bao from 1959 to 1993, Jin Yong continually wrote editorials both in Chinese and English. Due to his excellent work, Jin Yong was awarded the title of OBE (Officer of the Order of the British Empire) in 1981.

Apart from his work in the press sector, Jin Yong has shown great enthusiasm for social community in Hong Kong. From the 1970s to the 1980s, he served in the Independent Commission Against Corruption as well as the Law Reform Commission of Hong Kong. He also actively participated in the drafting of the Basic Law in Hong Kong. In order to show gratitude to his contributions, the Hong Kong SAR Government awarded Jin Yong the GBM (Grand Bauhinia Medal) in 2001. In the same year, a small planet discovered by the Beijing Astronomical Observatory was named after him.

Jin Yong is also the most famous writer of martial arts novels in China, and dozens of his novels have become all-time bestsellers, with some of them being translated into English, Japanese, French, Malaysian, and Korean and so on. Meanwhile, most of his novels have been adapted into other forms, reaching a global audience through TV serials, radio programs, and stage performances.

Not confining himself to novel writing, Jin Yong used to work as a playwright and director in the Hong Kong Great Wall Film Company. He produced dozens of film scripts, among which Peerless Beautiful Woman was awarded the Golden Prize by the People's Republic of China's Ministry of Culture. In addition to producing novels and film scripts, Jin Yong has written a great number of essays and reviews on films and plays.

The last but not the least important part of Jin Yong's achievements are his outstanding academic researches, including law, history, and Buddhism. He established and chaired the Louis Cha Academic Fund in Hong Kong University.

From the 1980s till today, Jin Yong has successfully won doctorate degrees in several universities including the Hong Kong University, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the Open University of Hong Kong, the University of British Columbia in Canada, and the USTC in Japan. He was also invited to be the Honorable Professor in several universities in Hong Kong, Canada, Mainland China, and Taiwan Province.

The last but not the least important part of Jin Yong's achievements are his outstanding academic researches, including law, history, and Buddhism. He established and chaired the Louis Cha Academic Fund in Hong Kong University.

From the 1980s till today, Jin Yong has successfully won doctorate degrees in several universities including the Hong Kong University, the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, the Open University of Hong Kong, the University of British Columbia in Canada, and the USTC in Japan. He was also invited to be the Honorable Professor in several universities in Hong Kong, Canada, Mainland China, and Taiwan Province.

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