After two days and nights of being starved, frightenedand angered, Qian Long's resistance was virtually wornaway. On the morning of the third day, a boy appearedand said: "Master Dongfang, our master invites you tocome and talk with him."Qian Long recognized the boy as Chen's attendant, andhe followed him down to the floor below.

　　As he entered, Chen, smiling broadly, advanced togreet him, and bowed. Qian Long returned the bow, andthe two sat down. Xin Yan served some tea.

　　"Bring some titbits to eat," Chen ordered. A momentlater, Xin Yan carried in a tray on which was placedplates of spring rolls, prawns, chicken and ham. Heset out two sets of bowls and chopsticks and pouredwine for them both.

　　"Please forgive me for not being able to see yousooner. I had to go to visit a friend who waswounded," said Chen.

　　"It is nothing.""There is something I wish to talk to you about, butplease eat first," Chen added. He chose a morsel fromeach plate, then put down his chopsticks and watchedQian Long wolf down the food.

　　When he had finished, Qian Long sat back, unspeakablycontented, and raised his tea cup. He looked closelyat the tiny Dragon's Well tea leaves and took aleisurely sip, savouring the feeling of the liquidseeping into his stomach.

　　Chen walked over to the door and pushed it open. "Allthe others are downstairs standing guard. There couldnot be a more convenient place for us to talk. No onewill hear us," he said.

　　Qian Long's expression hardened. "Why did you have mebrought here?" he asked. "What is it you want?"Chen stepped forward and stared into his face.

　　"Do you still not recognize me, brother?" Chen askedafter a moment's silence. The words were soft, thetone intimate, but they hit Qian Long's ears with theforce of a clap of thunder, and he jumped. Anexpression of deep sincerity on his face, Chen slowlyextended his hand and took Qian Long's.

　　"We are blood brothers," he said. "There is no need tocontinue the deception, my brother, I knoweverything."Chen pulled on a chord beside a painting hanging onthe wall and the painting rolled up to reveal amirror. "Take a look at yourself," he said.

　　Qian Long stood up and gazed at himself in the mirror,wearing Chinese clothes: his face contained not theslightest likeness to a Manchu. He looked at Chenstanding beside him, and had to admit that despitetheir difference in age, their faces were similar. Hesighed and sat down.

　　"Brother, we were not aware of the situation before,"said Chen. "We even took up arms against each other.

　　The spirits of father and mother up in heaven musthave been heartbroken. Luckily neither of us was hurtand nothing happened which cannot be rectified."Qian Long felt a rasping dryness in his throat and hisheart beating rapidly. A moment passed. "I asked youto go to Beijing with me to work, but you refused," hesaid finally. Chen turned and gazed out at the greatriver without answering.

　　"With your scholastic abilities," Qian Long continued,"what reason would there be for not promoting you?

　　Such a situation would be of great benefit to ourfamily and to the nation, to both you and I. Why be sodisloyal and unfilial as to continue with thiscriminal course of action?"Chen spun round. "I have never accused you of beingdisloyal or unfilial, or of acting criminally, and yetyou accuse me of these things.""Hah!" replied Qian Long. "It is true that ministersmust be completely loyal to their emperor. But since Iam already emperor, how could I be disloyal?""You are obviously a Chinese and yet you submit to theManchus. Is that loyalty? When our father and motherwere alive, you never attended to them properly. Isthat filial behaviour?"Beads of sweat dripped off Qian Long's forehead. "Atthe time, I did not know," he said quietly. "I firstheard about it when the former leader of your RedFlower Society, Master Yu, visited me last spring.

　　Even now, I'm not sure whether I believe it.""Look at yourself," Chen said. "What resemblance isthere to a Manchu? How can you have any furtherdoubt?"Qian Long brooded in silence.

　　"You are Chinese. The homeland of the Chinese peoplehas fallen into the hands of the Manchus, and youyourself lead them in the oppression of our people. Isthat not disloyal, unfilial and criminal behaviour?"For a moment, Qian Long was at a loss for a reply.

　　"And now I have fallen into your hands," he finallysaid, haughtily. "If you are going to kill me, thenkill me. There is no point wasting words.""But we made a pact on the embankment at Haining thatwe would never do anything to hurt one other," Chenreplied softly. "How can I go back on my word? Andanyway, now that we know we are blood brothers, wehave even less reason to do each other harm." A teartrickled unbidden down his cheek.

　　"Well, what do you want me to do? Do you want to forceme to abdicate?""No," said Chen, wiping his eyes. "You can continue tobe emperor. But as the wise, enlightened founder of anew dynasty.""Founder of a new dynasty?" Qian Long echoed insurprise.

　　"Yes. You will be a Chinese emperor, not an emperor ofthe Manchus."Qian Long suddenly understood. "So you want me todrive out the Manchus?" he said.

　　"Yes, you will be emperor just the same, but insteadof being regarded as a criminal and cursed by futuregenerations, why not establish an outstanding andrejuvenating dynasty that will last?"Chen saw from Qian Long's expression that his wordswere having the desired effect.

　　"Being the emperor you are at present, you are simplybasking in the glory of the former Manchu rulers," hecontinued. "What is so special about that? Look atthat man."Qian Long went over to the window and looked down inthe direction Chen was pointing, and saw a peasant inthe distance hoeing the ground.

　　"If that man had been born in the Imperial Palace andyou had been born in his farm house, he would beemperor, and you would have no choice but to hoe thefield."Qian Long started at the novelty of the idea.

　　"A man is born into the world and his life is gone ina flash," said Chen. "If you achieve nothingworthwhile, you decay and rot like grass and treeswithout leaving a trace behind. The emperors of thepast who established their own noble dynasties weretruly great men. Even a Tartar such as Genghis Khancould also be considered to be outstanding."Every word stabbed deep into Qian Long's heart. If, hethought, if I really do as he says and throw theManchus out and restore the Chinese homelands, I wouldtruly be the founder of a dynasty and a man of greaterachievements than any emperor before me.

　　Just as he was considering an answer, he heard thesound of dogs barking in the distance. Seeing Chenfrown slightly, he looked out and spied four massivehounds galloping towards the pagoda with two figuresfollowing.

　　In the wink of an eye, they reached the base of thepagoda and there was a sharp challenge from below.

　　Qian Long and Chen, in the second-highest storey ofthe thirteen-storey pavilion could not hear distinctlywhat was said, but they saw the two new-comers andtheir dogs charge into the pavilion. A moment later,there was a loud whistle indicating danger.

　　Seeing help had arrived, Qian Long was overjoyed. Chenlooked around carefully, but could see no other signsof movement: the two intruders were alone.

　　He heard the shouts of youngsters mingling with thebarks and growls of the dogs, indicating Zhou Qi andXin Yan on the second floor were doing battle with theanimals. All of a sudden, there were two screams, andtwo swords were hurled out of the window. Just then,'Crocodile' Jiang wielding his mighty iron oar chasedthe four dogs out of the pagoda and began beating themmercilessly. Someone on the sixth floor and gave anear-splitting whistle. The four dogs turned and racedaway.

　　Noting the intruders had reached the sixth floor, Chenrealised it meant Twelfth Brother, Ninth Brother andEighth Brother had been unable to stop them. Hegroaned inwardly.

　　Suddenly, he saw 'Mastermind' Xu leap out of theseventh floor window onto the narrow roof pursued by atiny old woman with a head of white hair and a swordslung over her back.

　　"Watch the dart!" Xu yelled with a wave of his hand,and his opponent hastily withdrew. But it had beenmerely a feint, and Xu took advantage of the trick toescape round the corner.

　　The old woman chased after him.

　　"Watch out!" Xu yelled.

　　"You bastard monkey," the old woman cursed. "You can'tfool your grandma again."She made a grab for him, but this time, it was nofeint: a piece of tile Xu had picked up from the roofhurtled towards her. Unable to avoid it, the old womanblocked the tile with her hand and it shattered. TheTwin Knights, standing guard on the eighth floor,appeared to be fully occupied dealing with the oldwoman's partner, for they gave Xu no help. Xu's kungfu was no match for the old woman's, and after a fewmoves, he was forced to dodge out of the way again.

　　Qian Long watched with pleasure as the two new-comersfought their way up, but Chen also seemed strangelyunconcerned. He pulled a chair to the window so thathe could sit and observe the battle. There were onlytwo of them, he thought. In the end, they could notovercome all the Red Flower Society's fighters.

　　Then he heard the sound of more dogs barking in thedistance intermingled with shouting and gallopinghorses.

　　Footsteps sounded on the stairs and Xin Yan raced in.

　　"The guards outside report that more than two thousandManchu troops are approaching, heading straight forus," he told Chen, using the Red Flower Society'ssecret language.

　　Chen nodded and Xin Yan raced back downstairs. QianLong did not understand what Xin Yan had said, butseeing Chen's anxious expression, he knew it wasunwelcome news. He looked into the distance andspotted amongst the maple trees a white flag on whichwas written one large word: "Li". Overjoyed, herealized Commander Li had come to save him.

　　Chen leaned out of the window and shouted: "BrotherMa, retreat into the pagoda and prepare the bows andarrows!"Suddenly the old woman rushed into the room with theheroes close behind. Lord Zhou attacked her with hisgreat sword while Chen pulled Qian Long into a corner.

　　Xu motioned some of the others to guard the windows,and Chen shouted: "Throw down your sword and we'llspare you!"The old woman could see she was surrounded, but shecontinued to fight, completely unafraid.

　　"I've seen her sword style somewhere before, I'msure," Zhou Qi said to Xu.

　　"Yes, I thought it was familiar too," he replied.

　　The old woman forced Lord Zhou back a pace, thenshouted at Qian Long: "Are you the emperor?""Yes, I'm the emperor," he replied hastily. "Are allthe rescue forces here?" The woman leapt onto thetable, then with her sword pointing straight out, flewat him like a great bird, thrusting the blade at hisheart. The heroes had assumed she was one of QianLong's underlings come to rescue him, and were caughtcompletely unaware by this fast move. But Chen, whowas standing by Qian Long's side, thrust his fingersat a Yuedao point on the old woman's arm. Her bladeslowed, giving Chen time to draw his dagger and placeit in the way of the sword. The two blades clashed,then both retreated two paces. Chen pulled Qian Longback and placed himself in front of him, then saluted.

　　"What is your honourable name, Madame," he asked.

　　"Where did that dagger of yours come from?" shereplied.

　　Chen was surprised by the question. "A friend gave itto me," he said.

　　"What friend?" the woman demanded. "You are a servantof the Emperor. Why would she give it to you? What isyour relationship with Master Yuan, the Strange Knightof the Heavenly Pool?""He is my teacher," said Chen, answering the lastquestion first.

　　"So that's it," the woman said. "Your teacher may bepeculiar, but he's an upright gentleman. How could youhave dishonoured him by becoming a running dog of theManchus?""This is our Great Helmsman, Master Chen," 'IronPagoda' Yang shouted. "Don't talk such nonsense."The old woman's face took on a puzzled expression.

　　"Are you the Red Flower Society?" she asked.

　　"Correct," said Yang.

　　She turned on Chen. "Have you surrendered to theManchus?" she screeched in rage.

　　"The Red Flower Society is just and upright. How couldwe bend our knees before the Manchu court?" hereplied. "Please sit down, madame. Let us discuss thiscalmly."Her expression softened slightly. "Where did yourdagger come from?" she asked again.

　　Having seen her kung fu style, and hearing herquestions, Chen had already almost solved the puzzle.

　　"It was given to me by a Muslim friend," he said. Theexchange of presents between boys and girls was not anordinary thing, and Chen was unhappy about discussingthe matter in front of everyone.

　　"Do you know Huo Qingtong?" the old woman demanded.

　　Chen nodded.

　　"It was Sister Huo Qingtong who gave it to him," ZhouQi interjected. "Do you know her? If you do, we're allon the same side!""She is my pupil," the old woman said. "Since you saywe are all on the same side, what are you doinghelping the Emperor, and stopping me from killinghim?""We caught the............