Chen and the heroes returned to the boats and ate and
drank to their hearts' content. They had handed out a
crushing defeat to the Imperial Bodyguard, and were in
good spirits.
"Brother Ma," Xu said to the society's Hangzhou
Helmsman. "After such a setback, the Emperor certainly
won't let matters rest. Advise all the brothers in
Hangzhou to be very careful, especially those in the
Manchu ranks."
Ma nodded, finished off his cup of wine and departed
with his son.
Chen also drained his wine cup and sighed as he
watched the broken reflection of the moon floating on
the lake between the lotus lily leaves.
"What date is it today?" he asked Xu, looking up. "We
have been so busy lately, I have completely lost track
of time."
"It's the seventeenth. It was the mid-Autumn festival
the 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 here
for a while. Tomorrow, I have some private business to
attend to, but the day after that we will begin
preparations for rescuing Fourth Brother."
"Would you like anyone to accompany you?" Xu asked.
"No, there's no need. There is no danger. I just want
to be by myself and think about things quietly."
The boats moved over to the shore, and the heroes bade
farewell to Chen. Some of them were already half
drunk, and they joined arms as they walked through the
deserted streets of Hangzhou, singing loudly into the
darkness.
Chen watched them go, then jumped into a small sampan
and skulled the boat out over the mirror-smooth
surface of the lake. The shore receded, and he stowed
the oar and stared up at the moon. The next day was
his mother's birthday. For ten years, he had been away
from 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 all
men, 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 it
in his bag, then strolled towards the eastern gate to
the city. The guard on duty stared at him, then
saluted: he was a Red Flower Society man. Chen nodded
to him.
"Since you are leaving the city, do you need a horse,
Great Helmsman?" the guard asked.
"Yes, thank you," answred Chen. The guard went
jubilantly off and came back a short time later with a
horse. Following behind were two minor officials who
both bowed respectfully before Chen. They felt
fortunate to have had an opportunity to render a
service to the Great Helmsman.
Chen mounted up and galloped off. The horse was fast
and he reached the western gate of Haining city by
noon. It had been ten years since he left his home
town, but everything was still as it had been. Afraid
of meeting someone who would recognise him, he turned
his horse northwards and rode two or three miles
further on. He stopped at a farmhouse and ate lunch,
then lay down to sleep. Having been up the whole
previous night, he slept very deeply.
Noting his gentleman's attire and the fact that he
spoke the local dialect, the farmer and his wife
treated Chen with great courtesy, and killed a chicken
for dinner. Chen questioned them about events of the
past few years and the farmer said: "The Emperor has
ordered that the whole of Haining county be exempt
from taxes for three years. It's all because of his
respect for Minister Chen."
Chen thought about how many years it had been since
his father had passed away, and wondered again why the
Emperor had suddenly begun to bestow such handsome
favours on his family. When he had finished dinner, he
gave three taels of silver to the farmer in thanks and
rode towards his family home in the northwest of the
city.
As he reached the gate of the house, he stopped in
surprise. In the old days, it had been named 'Secluded
Garden', but the old name board had been taken down
and replaced with one which read 'Peaceful Pool
Garden'. The characters were rounded and flowing, and
he recognized the calligraphy as being that of the
Emperor Qian Long himself. perplexed, he leapt over
the wall into the compound. Next to the old house, new
structures had been erected with endless pavilions and
platforms, mansions and chambers.
He passed along a covered walkway towards the Jade
Bracelet Hall, but again found a new name board over
its door inscribed 'Beloved Days Hall', also written
in Qian Long's hand. Chen frowned. The words 'Beloved
Days' referred to the filial affection of children for
their parents. What was the Emperor doing writing such
a thing here?
He emerged from the hall and walked across a zig-zag
bridge with red railings into a thick bamboo grove
towards the 'Fragrant Bamboo Lodge', the former
residence of his mother. This name board had also been
changed, this time to read 'Spring Sunshine Hall'.
Chen sat down on a rock, greatly confused. 'Spring
Sunshine' was a poetic allusion used to describe a
son's gratitude for his mother's love. It had no other
meaning.
"Why has Qian Long placed this name board on my
mother's house?" he wondered. "Even if he is more
stupid than I think, he would not have been so
thoughtless. Could it be he knew I would come back
here and wrote out these name boards in an attempt to
befriend me?"
He tiptoed up the steps, and looked through a window,
into the main room of the lodge. It was arranged
exactly as it had been when his mother was alive, with
redwood furniture, a large carved bed, a clothes chest
inlaid with gold, all as he remembered them from ten
years before. A red candle flickered on the table.
Suddenly, he heard the sound of footsteps from an
adjoining room and an old woman entered. It was his
mother's personal maid, Nanny Huan. The woman had
reared him, and Chen felt closer to her than to any of
the 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 shocked
to speak. In fact, his appearance and manner had
changed so much in the ten years since he had left
that 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 woman
asked, completely confused.
Chen smiled and nodded. She gradually recovered her
senses and vaguely discerned the features of the
mischievous child she had known. Suddenly, she threw
her arms round him and began to sob loudly. Chen
hastily restrained her.
"Stop crying! No-one must know that I've returned," he
said.
"It doesn't matter," she replied. "They've all gone to
the 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 such
matters. "How did my mother die? What illness?" he
asked.
The woman pulled out a handkerchief and wiped her
eyes. "Mistress was very unhappy, I don't know why.
She hadn't had a good meal for days, and she become
ill. It dragged on for more than a week before she
passed away." She began to cry quietly again. "She
kept calling for you. 'Where is Jialuo? Hasn't he come
yet? I want to see Jialuo!' She was shouting like that
for 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 he
had already leapt out through the window.
He knew the path down to the embankment well and was
there in a moment. Looking west, he saw a huge
structure that had not been there before, and decided
it must be the Sea Goddess temple. He ran towards the
main entrance.
Suddenly, he heard the patter of light footsteps and
hid behind a willow tree. Two men dressed in black
clothes emerged from either side of the temple wall,
saluted each other and continued on in opposite
directions around the temple. Chen was mystified. Just
then, two more men appeared dressed the same as the
first pair and followed the same path round the temple
wall. Even more curious, Chen waited for them to
disappear around the corners, then jumped silently up
onto the wall. Another pair passed him down below. He
waited for a while and counted about forty men
constantly circling the temple, all of them alert and
silent, and obviously kung fu experts. Could this be a
religious ceremony, he wondered? Full of curiosity, he
jumped quietly down into the courtyard and crept into
the main temple building to investigate.
Incense smoke curled up from in front of the central
altar as candles flickered and danced. He wondered
which god the altar was dedicated to, but when he
looked up to see, he gasped out loud involuntarily.
The handsome-faced statue was a likeness of his
father.
He spotted an open door to the left and crept over.
Looking out, he saw a long covered walk-way paved with
white flag-stones. He knew that if he went along the
white-stoned path he would easily be spotted, so he
leapt onto the roof of the walkway and flitted
silently down to its end. In front was another altar
hall outside which was written in huge characters:
'The Palace of the Empress of Heaven.' The doors to
the hall were open and he went inside. As he caught
sight of the statue on the central altar, he started
again, even more violently. It's face was that of his
mother.
It was as if he was in a thick fog of bewilderment. He
ran back outside, looking for his mother's grave and
saw a long yellow tent behind the hall. He shrunk into
a corner as a sturdy black-clothed man passed by on
patrol.
The things he had seen that evening beggared the
imagination, and despite the strict guard being kept,
he resolved to get to the heart of the matter. He
crept slowly over to the tent and crawled inside.
He lay absolutely still and listened carefully. There
were no sounds outside, and he concluded that he had
not been discovered. He looked round and saw the vast
tent was completely deserted. The ground had been
carefully flattened and the grass cleanly cut. The
tent was joined to a string of others so that they
formed a long tunnel stretching back from the temple
buildings. Two large lanterns burned brightly in every
tent, and looking down the tunnel, the two rows of
lights stretching away looked like fiery dragons. He
stood up and walked forward, as if in a dream.
Suddenly he heard the rustle of clothing in front and
quickly hid to one side. After a moment, he continued
forward again and spotted a man seated in front of two
graves at the end of the tunnel. The graves were those
of his mother and father. He was about to run forward
and prostrate himself when the man stood up, gazed at
the graves for a while, then knelt down and bowed
several times. Chen saw the man's back shaking as if
he was crying.
Faced with such a scene, all of Chen's suspicions
disappeared. This man was either a relative or one of
his father's former subordinates. He walked quietly
over and tapped the man on his shoulder.
"Please get up," he said.
The man jumped in fright, but did not turn round.
"Who is it?" he shouted harshly.
"I have also come to pay my respects," Chen replied.
He knelt before the graves and began to cry
uncontrollably.
"Mother, father," he sobbed. "I have come too late. I
will never see you again."
The man gasped and Chen turned to find it was none
other than the Emperor, Qian Long.
"What...what are you doing here in the middle of the
night?" Qian Long asked in surprise.
"Today is the anniversary of my mother's birth," Chen
replied. "I have come to pay my respects to her. And
you?"
Qian Long ignored the question. "You...you are the son
of Chen Shiguan?" he exclaimed incredulously.
"Yes. Didn't you know?"
Qian Long shook his head.
In the past few years, Qian Long had been bestowing
extraordinary favours on the Chen family of Haining,
and although some of his ministers were aware that the
new leader of the Red Flower Society was a son of
Minister Chen, none dared to mention it because of the
Emperor's unpredictable temper.
Chen wondered why on earth the Emperor would come
secretly to kneel and cry before the grave of a former
minister. It was completely inexplicable.
Qian Long took Chen's hand. "You must think it
strange, seeing me here paying my respects in the
middle of the night," he said. "Your father and I had
great affection for each other, so I took advantage of
this visit to the south to offer my thanks to him."
Chen made a sound, half believing, half not.
"If word of this should get out, it would be extremely
inconvenient," Qian Long continued. "Can you give me
your word that you will not reveal it to anyone?"
Chen was deeply moved by Qian Long's reverence for his
own mother and father. "Don't worry," he replied. "I
will not mention this evening to anyone."
Qian Long immediately breathed easier. The two men
shook hands, one the Emperor of China, the other the
leader of the country's largest secret society. They
were silent for a while, each with his own thoughts.
Far off, they heard a low roar like thunder.
"The tide is coming in," said Chen. "Let us go to the
embankment and watch. It has been ten years since I
saw it."
"All right," replied Qian Long, still holding Chen's
hand. They walked out of the tent.
The guards outside the tent spotted the two as they
emerged and rushed forward to wait on the Emperor,
wondering how his companion could have entered the
tent without them being aware of it. Then Bodyguard
Bai Zhen and the other officers noticed that it was
the Great Helmsman of the Red Flower Society, and they
shook with fear. One of the guards led the Emperor's
horse across to him.
"Take my horse," Qian Long said to Chen. The guards
hurriedly lead over another horse and the two rode out
of the temple gate.
The roar of the ocean filled their ears and they gazed
out at the pale moonlight reflecting off it in silvery
shades.
Qian Long stared at the waves for a long time, then
said: "Fate seems determined to throw us together.
Tomorrow, I will return to Hangzhou, and after three
more days there, will continue back to Beijing. Why
don't you come with me? It would be best if you were
always by my side. Seeing you is like seeing your
father."
Chen was surprised by the warmth of his words.
"You excel in both scholarship and the martial arts,"
Qian Long continued. "It would be easy to promote you
to your father's former post, which would be ten
thousand times better than hiding yourself away in the
underworld."
"I am extremely grateful to you for your goodwill,"
Chen said. "But if I coveted great wealth, I would not
have left home in the first place."
"Why did you leave? Why did you insist on mixing in
the underworld instead of doing what a nobleman
should? Was it that you couldn't get on with your
father and brother?"
"No, it wasn't that. It was the wish of my mother. My
father and elder brother knew nothing of it. They have
spent a lot of time and effort looking for me."
"Your mother told you to leave home? That is truly
strange. Why did she do that?"
Chen hung his head. "It was the result of a tragedy
she suffered. I am not too clear about it either."
"The Chen family has been distinguished for many
generations. During the last three hundred years
alone, more than two hundred members of the family
have passed the Imperial examinations, three have
served as prime ministers and eleven as other senior
officials. The number is extraordinary. Your father
was an honest and hard-working man. He often used to
plead before my father on behalf of the common people,
crying as he did so. My father used to laugh and say:
'Chen Shiguan was sobbing again today. I suppose I'll
have to agree to what he says.'"
Hearing of his father's conduct as an official, Chen
was at once saddened and pleased. "He cried before the
Emperor and I steal military grain," he thought. "Our
methods are different but our aim is the same."
They stood and watched the tide thunder in.
"I would like to give you a piece of advice," Qian
Long said.
"Please do."
"The actions of the Red Flower Society have come very
close to rebellion. Past behaviour I can ignore, but
you must not disregard the law in such a way again."
"All we do is for the country and the common people,"
Chen replied.
Qian Long sighed. "What a pity," he said. After a
moment, he added: "As a result of our meeting tonight,
I promise that when we destroy the Red Flower Society,
you will be spared."
"In that case, if you should fall into the hands of
the Red Flower Society, we will not harm you either."
Qian Long laughed. "You refuse to give an inch, even
before the Emperor. All right, it's been said now. Let
us join fists and swear that from today onwards
neither shall harm the other."
The two men stretched out their arms and touched fists
three times.
"With such a strong tide, if the sea embankment is not
renovated, the homes and graves of the common people
will sooner or later be inundated," Qian Long said. "I
must see that my officials arrange for it to be
reconstructed."
"That is the act of a ruler who loves his subjects,"
Chen replied. "The common people will be very
grateful."
Qian Long nodded. "Your father performed great
services for the Empire. I could not bear to see his
grave swallowed by the sea."
He took Chen's hand and started to walk along the
embankment with him. The guards wanted to follow, but
he waved them back.
"I gather from your expression that you are still
unhappy," he said as they strolled along. "Apart from
thoughts of your parents, what other problem do you
have? You may be unwilling to become an official, but
if you have any requests, I will do my best to comply
with them."
Chen was silent for a moment. "There is one
thing...but I doubt if you would agree."
"Any request you make will be granted."
"Really?"
"I never joke."
"Then I ask you to release my sworn brother, Wen
Tailai."
Qian Long started in surprise. He had not guessed that
this would be the request. For a moment, he was at a
loss.
"How has Master Wen offended you?" Chen asked.
"I cannot release him, but since I have promised, I
cannot go back on my word. I tell you what: I won't
kill him."
"Then we have no choice but to rescue him by force,"
replied Chen. "I asked you to release him not because
we are unable to rescue him, but simply to avoid
injuring our friendship."
Qian Long had witnessed the might of the Red Flower
Society, and he knew this was no empty boast.
"I appreciate your good intentions," he said. "But I
tell you honestly, I cannot allow this man out of my
grasp. If you insist on trying to rescue him, then I
will kill him three days from now."
Chen's blood boiled. "If you kill Master Wen, you will
never eat or sleep easy again," he threatened.
"And if I don't kill him, I will never eat or sleep
easy either."
"If that is true, then even being Emperor cannot
compare with the carefree life that I lead."
"How old are you?" Qian Long asked.
"Twenty five."
"I am not jealous of your carefree life, but I am
jealous of your youth. But it is of no consequence. No
matter what one's achievements, everyone still returns
to dust when their time is up."
The two strolled on for a time.
"How many wives do you have?" Qian Long asked. Without
waiting for an answer, he plucked a piece of jade off
his gown and offered it to Chen, saying: "This is a
priceless treasure. Give it to your wife."
Chen did not take it. "I have not married yet," he
said.
Qian Long laughed. "You always set your sights too
high. Give it to the lady of your heart as a wedding
present, then."
Chen accepted the stone. The jade shone with a pale
glow under the moonlight and he found it slightly warm
to the touch. He realized it was a piece of
incalculably valuable "warm jade". He placed the jade
in his pocket. "Thank you for the present," he said.
"We will meet again." He saluted with his fists,
mounted his horse and started off.
Qian Long waved goodbye to him. "Look after yourself!"
he shouted. |
