Chen and the heroes returned to the boats and ate anddrank to their hearts' content. They had handed out acrushing defeat to the Imperial Bodyguard, and were ingood spirits.

　　"Brother Ma," Xu said to the society's HangzhouHelmsman. "After such a setback, the Emperor certainlywon't let matters rest. Advise all the brothers inHangzhou to be very careful, especially those in theManchu ranks."Ma nodded, finished off his cup of wine and departedwith his son.

　　Chen also drained his wine cup and sighed as hewatched the broken reflection of the moon floating onthe lake between the lotus lily leaves.

　　"What date is it today?" he asked Xu, looking up. "Wehave been so busy lately, I have completely lost trackof time.""It's the seventeenth. It was the mid-Autumn festivalthe day before yesterday. Don't you remember?"Chen was silent for a moment, then said: "Brothers,please go and rest now, all of you. I will stay herefor a while. Tomorrow, I have some private business toattend to, but the day after that we will beginpreparations for rescuing Fourth Brother.""Would you like anyone to accompany you?" Xu asked.

　　"No, there's no need. There is no danger. I just wantto be by myself and think about things quietly."The boats moved over to the shore, and the heroes badefarewell to Chen. Some of them were already halfdrunk, and they joined arms as they walked through thedeserted streets of Hangzhou, singing loudly into thedarkness.

　　Chen watched them go, then jumped into a small sampanand skulled the boat out over the mirror-smoothsurface of the lake. The shore receded, and he stowedthe oar and stared up at the moon. The next day washis mother's birthday. For ten years, he had been awayfrom home, and now that he was back in southern China,his mother was already dead. He thought of her kindly,smiling face and of the common fate that awaits allmen, and tears began to trickle down his face.

　　The first light of day began to spread across the sky.

　　Chen plucked the red flower off his gown and placed itin his bag, then strolled towards the eastern gate tothe city. The guard on duty stared at him, thensaluted: he was a Red Flower Society man. Chen noddedto him.

　　"Since you are leaving the city, do you need a horse,Great Helmsman?" the guard asked.

　　"Yes, thank you," answred Chen. The guard wentjubilantly off and came back a short time later with ahorse. Following behind were two minor officials whoboth bowed respectfully before Chen. They feltfortunate to have had an opportunity to render aservice to the Great Helmsman.

　　Chen mounted up and galloped off. The horse was fastand he reached the western gate of Haining city bynoon. It had been ten years since he left his hometown, but everything was still as it had been. Afraidof meeting someone who would recognise him, he turnedhis horse northwards and rode two or three milesfurther on. He stopped at a farmhouse and ate lunch,then lay down to sleep. Having been up the wholeprevious night, he slept very deeply.

　　Noting his gentleman's attire and the fact that hespoke the local dialect, the farmer and his wifetreated Chen with great courtesy, and killed a chickenfor dinner. Chen questioned them about events of thepast few years and the farmer said: "The Emperor hasordered that the whole of Haining county be exemptfrom taxes for three years. It's all because of hisrespect for Minister Chen."Chen thought about how many years it had been sincehis father had passed away, and wondered again why theEmperor had suddenly begun to bestow such handsomefavours on his family. When he had finished dinner, hegave three taels of silver to the farmer in thanks androde towards his family home in the northwest of thecity.

　　As he reached the gate of the house, he stopped insurprise. In the old days, it had been named 'SecludedGarden', but the old name board had been taken downand replaced with one which read 'Peaceful PoolGarden'. The characters were rounded and flowing, andhe recognized the calligraphy as being that of theEmperor Qian Long himself. perplexed, he leapt overthe wall into the compound. Next to the old house, newstructures had been erected with endless pavilions andplatforms, mansions and chambers.

　　He passed along a covered walkway towards the JadeBracelet Hall, but again found a new name board overits door inscribed 'Beloved Days Hall', also writtenin Qian Long's hand. Chen frowned. The words 'BelovedDays' referred to the filial affection of children fortheir parents. What was the Emperor doing writing sucha thing here?

　　He emerged from the hall and walked across a zig-zagbridge with red railings into a thick bamboo grovetowards the 'Fragrant Bamboo Lodge', the formerresidence of his mother. This name board had also beenchanged, this time to read 'Spring Sunshine Hall'.

　　Chen sat down on a rock, greatly confused. 'SpringSunshine' was a poetic allusion used to describe ason's gratitude for his mother's love. It had no othermeaning.

　　"Why has Qian Long placed this name board on mymother's house?" he wondered. "Even if he is morestupid than I think, he would not have been sothoughtless. Could it be he knew I would come backhere and wrote out these name boards in an attempt tobefriend me?"He tiptoed up the steps, and looked through a window,into the main room of the lodge. It was arrangedexactly as it had been when his mother was alive, withredwood furniture, a large carved bed, a clothes chestinlaid with gold, all as he remembered them from tenyears before. A red candle flickered on the table.

　　Suddenly, he heard the sound of footsteps from anadjoining room and an old woman entered. It was hismother's personal maid, Nanny Huan. The woman hadreared him, and Chen felt closer to her than to any ofthe other servants.

　　He jumped into the room and hugged the old woman.

　　Greatly frightened, she opened her mouth to scream,but Chen covered it with his hand and whispered:

　　"Don't shout, it's me." She stared at him, too shockedto speak. In fact, his appearance and manner hadchanged so much in the ten years since he had leftthat she did not know who he was.

　　"It's me, Jialuo. Don't you recognize me?" he asked.

　　"You....you are Jialuo? You've come back?" the womanasked, completely confused.

　　Chen smiled and nodded. She gradually recovered hersenses and vaguely discerned the features of themischievous child she had known. Suddenly, she threwher arms round him and began to sob loudly. Chenhastily restrained her.

　　"Stop crying! No-one must know that I've returned," hesaid.

　　"It doesn't matter," she replied. "They've all gone tothe new section. There's no-one else here.""What new section?""Of the mansion. It was built earlier this year.

　　Heaven knows what it cost, or what it's for."Chen knew she had little understanding of suchmatters. "How did my mother die? What illness?" heasked.

　　The woman pulled out a handkerchief and wiped hereyes. "Mistress was very unhappy, I don't know why.

　　She hadn't had a good meal for days, and she becomeill. It dragged on for more than a week before shepassed away." She began to cry quietly again. "Shekept calling for you. 'Where is Jialuo? Hasn't he comeyet? I want to see Jialuo!' She was shouting like thatfor two days before she died."Chen began to weep too. "Where is her grave?""Behind the new Sea Goddess temple," she replied.

　　"Sea Goddess temple?" Chen echoed.

　　"Yes, they built that in the spring too. It's huge,right on the sea embankment.""I'm going to have a look. I'll be back in a while,"he said.

　　"No...no, you can't!" She interrupted hastily, but hehad already leapt out through the window.

　　He knew the path down to the embankment well and wasthere in a moment. Looking west, he saw a hugestructure that had not been there before, and decidedit must be the Sea Goddess temple. He ran towards themain entrance.

　　Suddenly, he heard the patter of light footsteps andhid behind a willow tree. Two men dressed in blackclothes emerged from either side of the temple wall,saluted each other and continued on in oppositedirections around the temple. Chen was mystified. Justthen, two more men appeared dressed the same as thefirst pair and followed the same path round the templewall. Even more curious, Chen waited for them todisappear around the corners, then jumped silently uponto the wall. Another pair passed him down below. Hewaited for a while and counted about forty menconstantly circling the temple, all of them alert andsilent, and obviously kung fu experts. Could this be areligious ceremony, he wondered? Full of curiosity, hejumped quietly down into the courtyard and crept intothe main temple building to investigate.

　　Incense smoke curled up from in front of the centralaltar as candles flickered and danced. He wonderedwhich god the altar was dedicated to, but when helooked up to see, he gasped out loud involuntarily.

　　The handsome-faced statue was a likeness of hisfather.

　　He spotted an open door to the left and crept over.

　　Looking out, he saw a long covered walk-way paved withwhite flag-stones. He knew that if he went along thewhite-stoned path he would easily be spotted, so heleapt onto the roof of the walkway and flittedsilently down to its end. In front was another altarhall outside which was written in huge characters:

　　'The Palace of the Empress of Heaven.' The doors tothe hall were open and he went inside. As he caughtsight of the statue on the central altar, he startedagain, even more violently. It's face was that of hismother.

　　It was as if he was in a thick fog of bewilderment. Heran back outside, looking for his mother's grave andsaw a long yellow tent behind the hall. He shrunk intoa corner as a sturdy black-clothed man passed by onpatrol.

　　The things he had seen that evening beggared theimagination, and despite the strict guard being kept,he resolved to get to the heart of the matter. Hecrept slowly over to the tent and crawled inside.

　　He lay absolutely still and listened carefully. Therewere n............