in less than a day, they had passed lanzhou. two daysfurther on, xu discovered markings on the road left bychen saying that everyone should meet in kaifeng. zhouqi was delighted to hear that the main group was allright. she had been very worried about her father, butshe now relaxed and drank some wine to celebrate. thewound on xu's shoulder had by now closed and he wasfully recovered. they chatted as they travelled. xutold her stories of the fighting community andexplained all its taboos and rules. she took it all ineagerly.

"why didn't you talk about these things before,instead of always quarrelling with me?" she asked.

that day they arrived at tongguan, a gateway townbetween central china and the northwest, and searchedfor lodgings. they heard that the old yuelai inn wasthe best, but when they got there, they were toldthere was only one room left.

zhou qi was impressed with how refined and polite xuhad been towards her, a real gentleman. but now,suddenly faced with the prospect of having to share aroom with him, she was both embarrassed andsuspicious.

as soon as they were in the room, xu barred the door.

zhou qi's face went bright red and she was just aboutto speak when xu hurriedly silenced her with a wave ofhis hand.

"did you see that zhen yuan bodyguard agency scoundreljust now?" he whispered.

"what?" said zhou qi, startled. "you mean the one wholed the others round to capture master wen and causedthe death of my brother?""i only caught a glimpse of him so i can't beabsolutely sure. i was afraid he would see us, whichis why i rushed us into the room. we'll go andinvestigate in a while."the servant came in with some hot tea and asked ifthey wanted anything to eat. xu ordered a few dishes,then said:

"several eminent gentlemen from the zhen yuanbodyguard agency are also staying here, i think?""yes," replied the servant. "whenever they passthrough tongguan, they always give us their custom."xu waited for the servant to leave. "that lead escorttong is the ringleader and chief troublemaker," hesaid. "we'll finish him off tonight and properlyavenge your brother and master wen."zhou qi thought once again of her brother's tragicdeath and the burning of iron gall manor, and heranger surged.

"lie down for a while and rest," said xu, seeing herimpatience. "we can wait until nightfall before makingour move and still have plenty of time."he sat down at the table and settled himself for sleepwithout so much as glancing further in zhou qi'sdirection. zhou qi had no option but to suppress heranger. she sat down on the kang and tried to rest. thetime dragged by until the second bell struck, one hourto midnight, and she decided she could control herselfno longer.

"let's go," she said, drawing her sword.

"there are many of them, and some may be goodfighters," xu whispered. "let us investigate first.

we'll think of some way to lure tong out, then dealwith him alone."zhou qi nodded.

they went into the courtyard and saw a lamp shining ina room on the eastern side. they walked stealthilyover. zhou qi found a rip in the window paper andlooked through while xu stood behind her keeping alook out. suddenly, she stood up and kicked out at thewindow. xu started in fright, and shot in front ofher, blocking her way. zhou qi hurriedly retracted herleg as it was about to strike xu's chest, andoverbalanced. he knelt down close to her.

"what is it?" he whispered.

"do something, quick," she hissed. "my mother's inthere. they've got her tied up."xu was startled. "back to the room quickly and we'lldiscuss it there," he said.

they returned to the room.

"what is there to discuss?" demanded zhou qidesperately. "they've captured my mother.""control yourself. i will rescue her for you," xureplied. "how many people were there in the room?""about six or seven."xu hung his head, deep in thought.

"what are you afraid of?" zhou qi asked. "if you won'tdo it, i'll go by myself.""i'm not afraid. i'm thinking of a way to save yourmother and kill that fellow at the same time. it wouldbe best if we did the two things together."just then, footsteps passed by the door, and theyheard a man muttering: "midnight and these leadescorts are still at it. what are they doing drinkingat this time? damn their mothers! may the blessedbuddha make sure they meet up with robbers on theroad."suddenly, xu had an idea. "that doctor cao gave youtwo packets of medicine, didn't he?" he said to zhouqi. "give me the one he said would make youunconscious, quickly."zhou qi gave him the packet. "what are you going todo?" she asked. xu didn't answer, but opened thewindow and jumped out with zhou qi close behind.

they ran along the corridor. suddenly xu whispered:

"get down, don't move."zhou qi wondered what trick he was up to. a momentpassed, then suddenly they saw a flicker of light asthe servant came back towards them carrying acandlestick and a tray. xu picked a pebble off theground and threw it, extinguishing the candle.

the servant started in surprise. "this is damnridiculous," he cursed. "there's no wind at all, andyet the candle goes out."he put down the tray and turned to relight the candle.

while his back was turned, xu darted out, and in aflash, he had tipped the medicine into the two pots ofwine on the tray and slipped away without the servantnoticing.

"let's go and wait outside their room," he said tozhou qi.

they made their way round to the exterior of the leadescort's room and settled down to wait. xu looked inthrough the hole in the window covering and saw amiddle-aged woman seated on the floor with her handstied behind her back. there were several men sittingaround her, including master han, the white horse'sformer owner, and lead escorts qian and tong. theywere engaged in a lively discussion.

"when people talked of iron gall manor, they alwayssaid it was impregnable as if it had walls of iron,"tong was saying. "but with just my one torch, it wasrazed to the ground. ha ha!"outside the window, xu shook his hand at zhou qi,afraid that she would have a fit of rage.

"old tong, stop bragging," han replied. "i've met zhouand i doubt if all of us together could beat him. ifhe ever comes looking for you, you'll be in a prettysituation!""but look!" replied taong. "we must have a lucky star,otherwise how could zhou's old woman manage to findus? with her in our hands, how would he dare to doanything to us?"just then, the servant entered with the wine and food,and the bodyguards immediately began eating anddrinking heartily. han was quiet and dispirited andtong continually urged him to drink the wine, saying"brother han, even heroes are helpless when they'reoutnumbered. next time, we'll take the red flowersociety one to one and see who's the better.""and who are you going to take on, old tong?" askedanother of the bodyguards.

"i'm going to find that daughter of zhou's..." beforehe could finish, he slumped to the floor. the othersall started in fright, but as they jumped up to helphim, and one by one, they dropped to the groundunconscious.

xu prised the window open with sword, then leapt intothe room. zhou qi hurriedly cut the ropes which boundher mother's hands. lady zhou was speechless at thesight of her beloved daughter: she felt as if she wasin a dream.

xu lifted tong up. "mistress zhou," he said, "avengeyour brother."with a sweep of her sword, zhou qi killed tonginstantly. she raised her sword again to kill theother lead escorts, but xu stopped her.

"the crimes of the others do not deserve death. sparethem," he said.

she nodded and withdrew her sword. lady zhou knew herdaughter's temper, and was surprised at how she obeyedxu.

xu searched the bodies of the lead escorts and foundseveral letters which he placed in his gown, planningto examine them later.

the three returned to their room. xu picked up theirknapsacks and left a small silver ingot on the tablein payment for the room and the food. then they wentto the stables, led out three horses and galloped offeastwards.

when she realized her daughter was not only travellingwith a man but had shared a room with him, lady zhou'ssuspicions rose even further. her temper was asexplosive as her daughter's.

"who is this gentleman?" she asked accusingly. "howcome you are with him? you lost your temper with youfather and left, didn't you?""it was you that lost your temper and left," zhou qireplied. "mother, i'll talk to you about this later."it looked as if an argument was about to start, and xuquickly tried to mediate.

"it's all your fault," zhou qi told him angrily. "doyou want to make it worse?"xu smiled and walked away. mother and daughter poutedsilently, each thinking her own thoughts.

that night, they took lodgings in a farm house, andonce they were in bed, mother and daughter together,zhou qi finally told her everything that had happened.

lady zhou kept up a constant bombardment of questionsand the two were crying one minute and laughing thenext. it was past midnight before they had each givena rough sketch of the events since they parted.

heartbroken and angry over the death of her son, ladyzhou had gone to lanzhou to stay with relatives, butafter a few days, she began to feel restless, andleft. on reaching tongguan, he saw the zhen yuanagency's flag outside the yuelai inn. she rememberedthat the man responsible for her son's death was alead escort tong and that evening she had gone to theinn to investigate. she listened to the lead escortstalking, and discovered tong was among them. unable tocontrol her anger, she attacked him, but the agencymen had the superiority of numbers and she wascaptured.

the next day on the road, lady zhou asked xu abouthisfamily background.

"i am from shaoxing in zhejiang province," xu replied.

"when i was twelve, all the members of my family werekilled by the authorities. i was the only one whomanaged to escape.""why did they do that?" asked lady zhou.

"the magistrate of shaoxing prefecture liked my sisterand wanted her as his concubine. but she had alreadybeen promised to someone else, so my father naturallyrefused to agree. the magistrate then accused myfather of being in collusion with bandits and put himand my mother and brother in prison. he told my sisterthat all she had to do was agree, and my father wouldbe released. my sister's husband-to-be went toassassinate the magistrate, but he was caught andbeaten to death by the guards. when my sister heard,she drowned herself in the river. after that, whatchance did the rest of the family have of beingspared?""did you get revenge?" zhou qi asked.

"when i had grown up and had learned the martial arts,i went back to look for the magistrate, but he hadbeen promoted and transferred somewhere else. in thelast few years, i've been everywhere looking for him,but i've never had any news."lady zhou also asked him if he was married, and saidthat having travelled about so much, he must surelyhave seen some girl he liked?

"he's too cunning. no girl would want him," zhou qisaid with a laugh.

"enough of your remarks, young lady," lady zhouscolded her.

"you want to become his match-maker, don't you?" zhouqi said with a smile. "which girl are you thinking of?

one of your relatives in lanzhou?"when they lodged at an inn that night, lady zhou spokeplainly to her daughter.

"a virgin like yourself, travelling together with ayoung man and staying in the same room! how do youexpect to ever be able to marry anyone else?" shesaid.

"he was wounded," zhou qi replied angrily. "did i dowrong to save him? he may be full of cunning tricksbut he has been very gentlemanly towards me allalong.""you know that, and so does he. i believe you, andyour father would believe you too. but how are otherpeople going to believe it? if your husband eversuspected, you would never be able to face him again.

that is the difficulty we women have.""well then, i shall never marry," shouted zhou qi.

"shh! master xu is just in the next room." lady zhousaid. "it would be very embarrassing if he shouldhear.""why should i be afraid? i haven't done anythingwrong. why do you want to deceive him?"when they arose next morning, a servant brought aletter to them.

"master xu next door told me to give this to yourladyships," he said. "the master said he had someaffairs to attend to and had to go on ahead. he rodeout early this morning."zhou qi snatched the letter from him.

"dear lady zhou and mistress zhou," it said. "mistresszhou qi saved my life when i was wounded and i am verygrateful to her. you are now reunited and can makeyour way from here to kaifeng, which is not far.

please do not be offended that i have gone on ahead. iwill naturally never forget how mistress zhou savedme, but please rest assured that i will never mentiona word of it to anyone. yours, xu."zhou qi finished reading and stood dumbfounded for asecond. then she threw the letter away and lay backdown on the kang. lady zhou told her to get up andeat, but she took no notice.

"my daughter, we are not in iron gall manor now," ladyzhou said. "what are you losing your temper for?" zhouqi still took no notice.

"you're angry at him for leaving, aren't you?" ladyzhou said.

"he did it for my sake. why should i blame him?" zhouqi replied angrily. she turned over and covered herhead with the coverlet.

"then why do you blame me?" asked lady zhou.

zhou qi suddenly sat up.

"he must have heard what you said last night. he wasafraid other people would gossip and make itimpossible for me to marry, so he left. but why worryabout whether i'll marry or not? i refuse to marryanyone. i refuse to marry anyone!"lady zhou saw she was crying as she spoke, andrealized that she had fallen in love with xu. she hadunwittingly revealed her feelings without fullyunderstanding them herself.

"you are the only daughter i have," lady zhoucomforted her. "do you think i don't love you? when weget to kaifeng i'll speak to your father and get himto take charge of this matter so that you can bebetrothed to master xu. don't worry yourself. yourmother will see to everything.""who said i wanted to marry him?" zhou qi repliedhurriedly. "the next time i see someone dying in frontof me, i won't do anything to save him, not theslightest thing."