After listening to Beautiful Jade sing for a while anddrinking a few cups of wine, Qian Long had begun tofeel a little sleepy.
Beautiful Jade smiled. "Would you like to lie down?"she asked. He nodded in answer, and she helped himtake off his clothes and boots, led him over to thebed and covered him with the bed clothes.
"I'll just go out for a second, then come back toyou," she said. Feeling lulled and drowsy from thescented pillow and sheets, Qian Long heard a faintsound in front of the bed.
"You mischievous girl," he said with a smile. "What'sthe hold up?"The curtain opened and a head appeared. Under thecandlelight Qian Long could see it had a pock-markedface, and thick sideburns, very different fromBeautiful Jade's fair features. He rubbed his eyes indisbelief and looked again just as the intruder placeda shining dagger by his neck and said quietly inCantonese: "Damn your ancestors, you bastard Emperor,make one sound and I'll use this."Qian Long's lust dissipated in a flash as if he hadbeen doused with a bucket of iced water. The man saidnothing more, but stuffed a handkerchief into QianLong's mouth, then rolled him up tightly in theeiderdown and carried him off.
Unable to move or make a sound, Qian Long's eyesstared at the blackness and felt himself being carrieddown a flight of steps. His nose caught the mustysmell of mud and dank humidity, then after a moment,he felt himself being carried upwards again. Herealized the man must have emerged from a hiddentunnel in the room.
He felt himself being shaken and heard the sound ofwheels starting to move, and knew he was in acarriage. In his terror, he wondered who had kidnappedhim and where they were taking him.
The carriage travelled for a long time. After a whilethe road became uneven, and the carriage shook andbumped about, indicating they had left the city.
Finally they stopped, and Qian Long felt himselflifted out of the carriage and carried upwards, onestep after another endlessly until he thought theymust be ascending a high peak. He was so frightened,his whole body quaked, and surrounded by darknessinside the quilt, he almost began to cry.
Finally, he was put down with a bump. He waitedquietly, not daring to speak, but a long while passedwithout anything happening. He slowly pushed aside thequilt in which he was wrapped and looked out to findeverything in total darkness. He fancied he could hearthe sound of waves breaking a long way off, andconcentating he also heard the wind rippling throughfir trees and the clear, steady chime of a brass bell.
The wind became stronger and stronger, gustingangrily, and he thought he felt the structure he wasin rocking slightly. Even more afraid, he moved as ifto stand up.
"If you want to live, don't move," a deep voice closeby growled. Qian Long jumped in fright and stayed asstill as he could.
Gradually, the wind subsided and it began to growlight until he could see he was in a small room.
Having climbed for so long to reach it, he wondered ifit was a house on the peak of a mountain. He heard aseries of snuffling noises, and listening carefully,realised the guards were eating noodles. From thesound of it there were two of them, chewing greatmouthfuls with relish. Having been awake all night, hefelt hungry and his appetite sharpened as the smell ofthe noodles wafted over to him.
The two finished eating. One of the guards walked overand placed a full bowl of prawn and eel noodle soupabout five feet from his head.
"Is that for me?" Qian Long wondered to himself. Butthe guards said nothing, and despite his hunger he didnot dare to open his mouth to ask.
"That bowl of noodles is for you," one of the guardsfinally said. "There's no poison in it."Qian Long was overjoyed. He sat up to get the bowl,but a wave of cold struck his body and he rememberedthat he was naked. He hastily lay down again andwrapped himself in the quilt. How could he stand up infront of strangers without a stitch on?
"Damn your ancestors, so you're afraid of poison areyou?" one of the guards said. "All right, I'll eat itto show you." He picked up the bowl and guzzled itscontents down.
Qian Long looked at his scar-covered face in fright.
"I am not wearing anything," he said. "Please get mesome clothing."Even though he said please, his words still smacked ofan Imperial order. The man grunted. "I don't havetime," he replied. It was 'Melancholy Ghost' Shi.
Qian Long's anger surged up, but remembering his lifewas in their hands, he swallowed his Imperial pride.
"Are you Red Flower Society men?" he asked. "I want tosee your leader, Chen.""You had our Brother Wen treated so badly, his body isa mass of wounds. The Great Helmsman is busy finding adoctor to help heal him. He has no time to see you,"Shi replied. "Maybe when Brother Wen has recovered,we'll think about it."Qian Long wondered how many months or years it mighttake for Wen to recover.
"And if Brother Wen doesn't recover," said the otherguard, 'Iron Pagoda' Yang, "that's it for you. A lifefor a life."Qian Long pretended he hadn't heard.
The two guards began talking at once, cursing theManchu invaders for seizing the lands of the Chinesepeople, and the officials and landlords for the waythey oppressed the common folk. Qian Long was shockedby the hatred evident in every word. At noon, twoother guards arrived to relieve them, and as the newpair ate, they discussed the sadistic ways in whichmagistrates punished and tortured honest citizens,describing in great detail how slivers of bamboo wereforced under finger nails, buttocks branded withred-hot iron bars and bodies stretched on racks.
"When we have seized all these corrupt officials,"said one, "we'll give them a taste of their ownmedicine.""First we have to deal with their leader," replied theother.
To Qian Long, that day seemed as long as a year.
Towards evening, the Twin Knights took over. First,they drank in dour silence. Then, when they wereslightly drunk, they began discussing the cruel andunusual methods used by the fighting community to takevengeance on enemies: how Black Tiger Kao had oncebeen arrested, and later went back and gouged out theeyes of the official responsible; how White Horse Tanhad avenged his brother's death by burying alive themurderer's family.
Hungry and frightened, Qian Long covered his ears, butevery word still found its way in. The twins displayedgreat staying-power, and talked until morning, cursingthe "Turtles" an untold number of times. Thecandlelight flickering on the Twin Knights' featuresmade them look like living ghosts, and Qian Long wasunable to close his eyes once during the night.
The next morning, 'Buddha' Zhao and 'Leopard' Weicame. Qian Long looked at the kindly face of Zhao andthe handsome face of Wei, very different from thedemon-like guards they replaced and he relaxedslightly. But his hunger was becoming too much tobear.
"I want to see your leader, Chen," he said to Zhao.
"Please pass on the message for me.""The Great Helmsman is busy today," Zhao replied.
"Maybe in a few days time."Qian Long wondered if he would still be alive after afew more days of such treatment. "Well, please get mesomething to eat first to ease my hunger.""All right," replied Zhao. "His Imperial Highnesswants a banquet," he shouted at the top of his voice.
"Make preparations quickly!" Wei bowed and left.
Qian Long was overjoyed. "Get a set of clothing forme," he said.
"His Imperial Highness wants some clothes! Bring agown for him quickly!" Zhao bawled out again.
"You're a good man," said Qian Long. "What's yourname? I will reward you well later." Zhao smiledslightly but did not answer. Qian Long suddenlyrecogized him. "Ah, now I remember," he said. "You'rethe one who is so good at Dart Kung Fu."Meng brought a set of clothing in and placed it on thequilt. Qian Long sat up, then saw it was a suit ofchinese clothes in the style of the Ming dynasty whichthe Manchus had overthrown. He hesitated.
"That's the only set of clothes we have," Zhao said.
"Wear them or not, as you like."Qian Long considered the situation. How could he, asthe Emperor of the Manchu dynasty, wear a set of Mingdynasty chinese clothes? But if he didn't putsomet............