xu followed chen's secret markings to kaifeng and metthe heroes at the home of the local society leaderthere. the heroes were very happy to see that he wasall right, and a banquet was held to welcome him. bythis time, zhang jin, 'leopard' wei and xin yan hadall recovered from their wounds. 'melancholy ghost'

shi had not yet returned from the muslim borderregions and the twin knights were still trying to findout what had happened to wen.

xu did not mention anything about lady zhou or zhou qito lord zhou. he was afraid that if questionedclosely, it would be difficult to word his answers.

and anyway, he thought, they will be here within aday. so he only told the heroes about what he hadheard of 'scholar' yu: that he was badly wounded andtravelling with a girl dressed as a boy. theydiscussed the matter for a while but could not thinkwho the girl could be. they were all worried about hissafety, but yu was quick-witted and they wereconfident he would be all right.

early next morning, zhou qi arrived by herself and herfather and the others were delighted to see her. aftergreetings were over, she said quietly to xu: "comewith me. i have something to say to you."he walked slowly after her. he thought she wanted toberate him for leavng them behind, but he was wrong.

"my mother won't come to see my father," zhou qiwhispered. "think of something.""well, ask your father to go to see her," said xu,surprised.

"she still wouldn't be willing to see him. she goes onand on about the death of my brother, saying my fatherhas no conscience."xu thought for a moment. "all right," he said finally.

"i have an idea." he quietly gave her instrucitons.

"will it work?" she asked.

"definitely. you'd better go immediately."xu waited until she had left, then returned to sitwith the other heroes. when the appointed hourarrived, he quietly said to lord zhou: "i understandthe bamboo garden restaurant next to the iron pagodatemple is famous for its excellent wine. let us go andtry it.""good idea! i will be the host," replied zhou, who wasalways interested in wine. "we can all go and drinkour fill.""the eyes and ears of officials are numerous in thiscity. it would not be a good idea for all of us togo," xu replied. "perhaps if just the great helmsmanand i accompanied you, what do you think?""all right," zhou replied. "once again, it is you thatthinks things out most carefully."after speaking to chen, the three went directly to theiron pagoda temple. the bamboo garden was as good asits reputation. the three men talked, ate yellow rivercarp and drank wine until they were drunk.

xu raised his cup to zhou. "i drink to you, lord zhou,in honour of your being reunited today with yourdaughter," he said.

zhou drank a mouthful and sighed.

"you are not happy," xu continued. "is it because irongall manor was burned to the ground?""wealth is not a part of the flesh. such a thing asiron gall manor is not worthy of regret," zhoureplied.

"well then, you must be thinking of your deceasedson?"zhou said nothing but sighed once again.

"seventh brother, let us go," said chen. "i've hadenough wine.

xu ignored him. "why did lady zhou leave home?" heasked.

"she blamed me for killing the child. ah, where couldshe have run to, all alone? she loved him as much asher own life. i have truly failed her. i had nointention of killing him. it was just a slip of thehand in anger. once we have rescued master wen, i willsearch to the farthest ends of the earth to find herand bring her back."as he spoke the door curtain parted and lady zhou andzhou qi walked in.

"i heard what you said," said lady zhou. "i'm glad tosee you're willing to admit your mistake. i'm herenow, so there's no need to go looking for me."zhou was so startled and delighted at the suddenappearance of his wife that he was momentarilyspeechless.

"brother chen, this is my mother," zhou qi said.

"mother, this is great helmsman chen of the red flowersociety." the two greeted each other formally.

"father, what a coincidence this is," the girl added.

"i had heard that the wine here was good and decidedto try it. mother didn't want to come and i had todrag her along. who would have guessed that you wouldbe here too?"they all laughed and drank, zhou qi was exuberantlyhappy, and without thinking, she began to talkelatedly about how lead escort tong had been killedand the death of her brother and the burning of themanor avenged. xu surruptitiously tried to stop her,but she took no notice.

"brother xu was very clever to think of a way to dealwith them," she exclaimed. "after all the lead ecortshad passed out, we jumped in through the window andsaved mother. then he lifted tong up and let me killthat villainous bandit myself."zhou and chen toasted xu.

"you have saved my wife and taken revenge on mybehalf," zhou said to him. "i am eternally gratefulyto you.""how did you two meet up on the way?" chen asked, andxu faltered along for a few sentences trying toexplain.

"damn! damn!" zhou qi thought to herself in distress.

her face flushed and an unintentional movement of herarm knocked her chopsticks and winecup to the ground.

the winecup smashed loudly, increasing herembarrassment.

chen examined both their faces carefully, and whenthey had returned to the residence, he called xu overto one side.

"brother xu, what is your opinion of mistress zhou?"he asked.

"great helmsman," xu replied hurriedly. "please don'tmention what she said in the restaurant to anyone. sheis a good person and has a pure heart, but if otherpeople knew and added a touch of filth, we wouldn'tever be able to face lord zhou again.""i think mistress zhou is an extremely nice persontoo," chen said. "how would you like me to be yourmatch-maker?""that's impossible," said xu, jumping up. "how could ibe good enough for her?""you must not be so modest. you are the 'kungfumastermind', renowned throughout the fightingcommunity. lord zhou always speaks of you with thegreatest respect."xu stood dumbfounded for a second.

"what do you think?" chen repeated.

"great helmsman, you don't know. she doesn't like me.""how do you know?""she said so herself. she said she hated my peculiarways. we have been quarrelling and arguing ever sincewe met."chen laughed. "so you're certain?""great helmaman, there's no point talking about it. wecannot risk being turned down."just then, a servant entered.

"master chen," he said. "lord zhou is outside andwishes to speak to you."chen smiled at xu and walked out of the room. he sawzhou pacing up and down the corridor with his handsbehind his back and quickly went up to him.

"lord zhou, you should have called for me. was itnecessary to come personally?""it's not important," zhou replied, and with a tug onchen's arm, led him into a reception room and satdown.

"i have something on my mind and want to ask yourhelp," he said. "my daugher is nineteen this year. shehas been a good-for-nothing since she was born, butshe is basically a good and sincere person. her faultsare the result of my teaching her something of themartial arts. she has wasted much time and still hasno husband." he hesitated a moment before continuing.

"everyone respects your honourable society's masterxu. i would like to ask you to become a match-makerand arrange for my daughter's betrothal to him. but iam afraid that with her bad temper, she would not begood enough."chen was delighted. "leave this matter completely inmy hands," he said. "you are the taishan mountain andnorth star of the fighting community, lord zhou. it isa great honour for the red flower society that you arewilling to give up your daughter to one of ourbrothers. i will go and see to it immediately."he ran to xu's room and told him the news. xu was sodelighted, his heart beat wildly.

"well," chen said. "are you willing?""why wouldn't i be willing?""i didn't expect that you'd be unwilling," chenreplied with a smile. "but there is something else.

all of lord zhou's three sons are dead, and theyoungest died because of the red flower society. itlooks like the zhou family line is finished. i wonderif you would be willing to make a concession andbecome not only his son-in-law, but his son as well?""you want me to become a member of the zhou family?""yes. the first of your future sons would be surnamedzhou, and the second xu. it would be a small repaymentof our debt to lord zhou."xu agreed. the two went round to zhou's room and alsoasked lady zhou to come over. unaware of what washappening, zhou qi followed her in. as soon as zhousaw the expression on the faces of chen and xu, heknew the matter was decided.

"daughter, go outside," he said with a smile.

"you are trying to deceive me about something," shereplied accusingly. "i won't have it!" but despite herwords, she turned and left.

chen brought up his idea of xu becoming a member ofthe zhou clan, and lady zhou and her husband beamedwith delight.

"we are away from home and i don't have anythingworthy to present to you," zhou said to xu. "but lateri will teach you how to use the iron gallstones."xu was overwhelmed. he had gained both a beautifulwife and a wise teacher, and he knelt down to kowtowin thanks.

as soon as the news leaked out, the other heroes cameto offer their congratulations. that night, a greatbanquet was held to celebrate, but zhou qi hid herselfand refused to come out.

during the drinking, 'melancholy ghost' shi returnedfrom his journey to the muslim regions withmuzhuolun's answer to chen's letter.

chen took the letter. just then, 'crocodile' jiangraced in shouting: "the yellow river's broken it'sbanks!"they clustered round and questioned him on the extentof the disaster.

"the river's already broken through at seven or eightpoints. in many places the roads are completelyimpassable," he replied.

they were all concerned about how the peasants werefaring. furthermore, the twin knights had still notreturned to report on wen's situation.

"brothers, we have already waited here several days,"said chen. "conditions on the road ahead have probablychanged, and i am afraid the floods will have ruinedour plans. what do you all think we should do?""we can't wait any longer," zhang jin called out.

"let's get on to beijing quickly. even if they areholding fourth brother in the heavenly prison, we'llstill get him out."the others voiced their agreement, and it was decidedto start out immediately. they thanked the localsociety chief and headed off eastwards.

while on the road, chen opened and read muzhuolun'sletter. in it, he thanked the red flower society forits warning and said he had called his tribe togetherand was preparing for war, determined to fight theenemy to the end. the mood of the letter wastragically heroic and chen's anxiety showed on hisface.

"did master muzhuolun have anything else to say?" heasked shi.

"he asked after fourth brother. when he heard we hadnot yet rescued him, he expressed great concern.""did you meet master muzhuolun's family?" chen asked.

"i met his wife, son and two daughters. you know theeldest daughter. she asked after your health."chen hesitated. "she didn't say anything other thanthat?" he asked slowly.

shi thought for a second. "just before i left, thereappeared to be something else she wished to say to me,but she asked only about the details of our attempt torescue fourth brother."chen was silent. he put his hand into his gown andfelt the dagger that huo qingtong had given him. theblade was eight inches long, bright and dazzling, andthe handle was entwined with gold thread. judging bythe amount that had been worn away, it was of greatantiquity. huo qingtong had said that a great secretwas supposed to be hidden in the sword. he hadexamined it closely over the past few days, but hadbeen unable to find anything unusual about it. heturned and looked back westwards. the host of starswere shining brightly, and he wondered whether on thegreat flat desert, the same stars were now shining onhuo qingtong.

they travelled all night, and when morning broke, theywere already close to the places where the yellowriver had broken through. the great plain had turnedinto a vast lake. the fields and homes of people inlow-lying areas had long since been submerged. manypeople were camping out in the open on the hilltops.

the heroes made their way round the flood, keeping tothe high ground and heading eastwards. occasionally,they spotted a cluster of corpses bobbing along besidepieces of driftwood. that night, they lodged out inthe open, and the next day had to make a long detour.

zhou qi had been riding with luo bing the whole way,but suddenly she could restrain herself no longer. shespurred her horse on and caught up with xu.

"you're the one with all the ideas," she said. "thinkof a way to save these people."during the two days since they had become engaged, thetwo had been too embarrassed to speak to each other.

now, the first thing zhou qi did when she opened hermouth was to present him with a problem of mammothproportions.

"it's all very well to say that, but how can wepossibly help so many refugees?" he replied.

"why would i come and ask you if i knew of a way?""first thing tomorrow i will tell all the others thatthey are not to call me 'kung fu mastermind' anymore.

then you won't be able to put me on the spot likethis.""when did i ever put you on the spot?" zhou qi askedquickly. "all right, i was wrong. i would be betteroff if i didn't say anything." she pouted silently.

"sister, we are all one family now. we cannot continueto argue like this," xu said. zhou qi ignored him.

"it is i who is in the wrong," he coaxed. "forgive methis time and give me a smile." zhou qi turned herhead away.

"ah, so you won't even smile. you are so bashful infront of your new fiance."she burst into laughter. "you talk such nonsense," shesaid, raising her horse whip.

the road was filled with refugees, dragging their sonsand carrying their daughters, crying and wailing asthey went. suddenly a horseman appeared, gallopingtowards them fast. the road was very narrow and as therider careered from side to side, he knocked a womancarrying a child into the water. but he took nonotice, and continued to gallop on. the heroes wasfurious, and as the rider passed by, 'leopard' weipulled him off his horse and punched him solidly inthe face. the man screamed and spat out a mouthful ofblood and three teeth.

he was a military official.

"you bunch of bandit hooligans," he shouted as hescrambled to his feet. "i am on important officialbusiness. i'll deal with you when i come back." hemounted his horse but zhang jin pulled him off again.

"what important official business?" he roared.

"search him," chen ordered. zhang jin frisked himquickly and found an official document which he handedover.

chen saw the document had a singed corner and achicken's feather stuck to it indicating that it wasan urgent report which the courier would be requiredto travel day and night to deliver. on it's wrapperwas written the words: "extra urgent dispatch forborder pacification general zhao." he broke the sealand took out the document.

the courier went white with fear. "that's a secretmilitary document," he shouted. "aren't you afraid ofexecution?""if anyone's going to be executed, it's you," repliedxin yan with a laugh.

chen saw the letter was from a certain commander incharge of provisions reporting to general zhao thatrations for the great army had reached lanfeng, butthat because of the floods, there might be a delay ofseveral days before they could be delivered.

chen handed the letter to xu. "it has nothing to dowith us," he said.

but as xu read the document an expression of delightfilled his face. "great helmsman," he cried. "this istruly a great treasure delivered to us on a plate.

with this, we can both assist master muzhuolun andsave the refugees."he jumped off his horse and walked over to theofficial and tore the document up in front of him.

"what are you going to do now?" he asked. "isn'tlosing a military document a capital offence? if youwant to live, it would be best to run."the official was startled and angry, but he saw thetruth of xu's words. he took off his military uniform,threw it in the water, then ran off, melding into themass of refugees.

"steal the provisions and hand them out as disasterrelief, and we can kill two birds with one stone,"chen said, nodding. "the only problem is that theprovisions for the great army are bound to be heavilyguarded, and we are few in number. what ideas do youhave, brother xu?"xu whispered a few words in his ear, and chen noddedin agreement.

"good, we'll do it that way," he said, and ordered theheroes to disguise themselves and disperse.

their instructions were to spread rumours.

the next morning, tens of thousands of refugeessuddenly descended on lanfeng. when the countymagistrate, wang dao, saw the extraordinary situation,he ordered his officers to seize several refugees andquestion them. they all said they had heard therewould be a distribution of relief money and provisionsin the city that day. wang immediately ordered thecity gates to be barred, but by then, a huge crowd ofrefugees had already gathered inside with many moreoutside. wang sent someone to announce to the crowdthat there would be no distribution of relief, but thecrowds continued to grow. beginning to feel nervous,he went personally to see the provisions commandersun, who was stationed in the stone buddha temple inthe eastern part of the city. he asked if some of thecommander's troops could be assigned to help controlthe situation in the city.

"i have my orders from general zhao," sun replied.

"any slip-up, no matter how small, before theseprovisions reach the great army will be a capitaloffence. it is not that i am unwilling to help, but myresponsibilities are heavy. please forgive me, masterwang."wang pleaded with him, but sun was adament. back onthe streets, he saw the refugees creating an uproareverywhere.

night fell, and fires started simultaneously inseveral parts of the city. magistrate wang hurriedlydispatched men to put them out, and in the confusion,an officer ran in to report.

"master! there's trouble," he cried. "the west gatehas been forced by the refugees and thousands more arestreaming into the city."wang could only rant in despair, completely at a lossfor what to do.

"prepare a horse!" he shouted frantically, and led hisguards towards the western part of the city. butbefore they had gone half a street, they found the waycompletely blocked by refugees. he heard someone inthe midst of the crowd shout: "the food and money areto be distributed at the stone buddha temple! everyoneto the stone buddha temple!" the refugees surgedforward.

wang could see the way was impassible. he decidedthere was nothing for it but to go to the stone buddhatemple and seek refuge there. when he arrived, thetemple gate was already tightly shut, but the guardrecognized him and let him in. outside, the refugeeshad already surrounded the temple. someone in thecrowd shouted: "all the relief cash and food issued bythe court have been swallowed by the dog officials.

hand out the cash and food! hand out the cash andfood!"the mass of the refugees took up the chant and theirroar rattled the roof tiles.

wang shook uncontrollably. "rebels!" he bellowed.

"rebels!"for a military official, commander sun was quitebrave. he ordered his soldiers to place a ladder nextto the wall and climbed up on top.

"those of you who are peaceful citizens, leave thecity quickly and do not put faith in rumours," heshouted. "if you do not leave, we will be forced tofire on you with arrows."the two officers led a group of archers onto the topof the wall and a roar of defiance went up from thecrowd.

"fire!" shouted sun. a wave of arrows shot out and adozen or more refugees fell to the ground. the crowdturned and fled in panic and the cries of women andchildren could be heard as the refugees trampled eachother.

sun laughed out loud. but before the laugh ended,someone in the crowd threw two stones at him, one ofwhich hit his cheek. he felt a sharp pain and rubbedthe spot only to find his hand covered in blood.

"fire! fire!" he ordered in a great rage. the archersshot out another wave of arrows and another dozenrefugees were hit.

suddenly, two tall, thin men leapt up onto the wall,grabbed several of the archers and threw them to theground. incensed by the way they had been fired on,the refugees surged back and began beating the archersviciously.

the red flower society heroes in the crowd weregreatly surprised by the sudden re-appearance of thetwin knights. more of them jumped up onto the wall andinto the temple courtyard, and a moment later, thetemple gates opened and 'crocodile' jiang ran out.

"everyone come and get some food," he shouted,beckoning to the refugees. but the soldiers were manyand the refugees did not dare to press in too close.

commander sun's great sword danced as he foughtdesperately along the top of the wall, retreatingsteadily. suddenly, his arms went numb, and his swordclattered to the ground at the foot of the wall.

someone forced his hands behind his back, and he feltan icy coldness on his neck.

"you turtle!" the man behind him shouted. "order thetroops to throw down their weapons and retreat insidethe temple!"sun hesitated for a second and he felt a sharp pain onhis neck as the man lightly moved his sword, breakingthrough a layer of skin. not daring to disobeyfurther, sun shouted out the order. seeing theircommanding officer had been captured, the soldiers didas they were ordered and retired inside the temple asthe refugees roared their approval.

great helmsman chen walked into the main hall of thetemple and saw the altar piled high with bags of foodand cash. 'melancholy ghost' shi pulled countymagistrate wang in for chen to dispose of.

"are you in charge of this county?" chen asked.

"y-yes...your majesty," wang replied in a quaveringvoice.

chen laughed. "do i look like a king?" he asked.

"i deserved to die. i spoke incorrectly. what is yourhonourable name, sir?"chen smiled slightly and ignored the question. "sinceyou are an official, you must have some scholarship inyou," he said. "i will give you the first line of acouplet for you to match." he lightly waved his fan.

"if you are able to match it, your life will bespared. if you cannot, then i will not be so polite."the refugees gathered round, forming a circle ofthousands of eyes all focussed on wang's face.

"now listen," said chen. "the first line is: 'how longmust we live for the yellow river to be clear of mud?

rather ask if officialdom can be cleared ofcorruption.'"wang's face was covered in sweat. he was a competentscholar, but in the midst of his fear, he could thinkof nothing.

"sir," he finally said. "your first line is toodifficult. i...i cannot match it.""that's all right," chen replied. "let me ask youplainly. which would be easier: to clear up the yellowriver or officialdom?"wang suddenly had an idea. "i consider that if allofficialdom were clear, then the yellow river would beclear too," he said.

chen laughed. "well said. i shall spare your life.

call together your guards and distribute the money andfood to the refugees. oh, and commander sun, you canhelp too."the refugees cheered thunderously for the red flowersociety heroes. as they filed past to collect the foodand money, they jeered and laughed at sun and wang,who pretended not to notice.

"brothers and sisters, listen!" chen called out. "ifthe authorities should send people to investigate, youcan say it was the commander and county magistrate whopersonally made the distribution."the refugees shouted their approval.

the heroes supervised the operation late into thenight until all the food and cash had beendistributed.

"brothers!" xu then shouted to the refugees. "take thesoldiers' weapons and hide them in your homes. if thedog officials know what's good for them, they'll leaveyou alone, but if they should come after you, you canfight them."strong men came forward and collected up the swordsand spears that had been discarded by the soldiers.

chen walked out of the temple with commander sun andthe other heroes as the refugees roared their thanks.

they mounted their horses and rode out of the city.

after travelling a few miles, chen pushed sun off hishorse.

"commander, thank you for your help," he said. "thenext time you escort provisions, be sure to write tome." he laughed and saluted, then galloped off in acloud of dust with the other heroes.

"do you have any news of fourth brother?" chen askedthe twin knights after they had ridden on a littleway.

"we found a message left by brother yu which said hewas being taken to hangzhou," one of them replied.

chen was greatly surprised. "why is he being sent tohangzhou and not beijing?" he asked. "i thought theemperor wanted to question him personally.""we thought it strange too. but brother yu alwayshandles things very carefully. it's certain to bereliable information."chen told the others to dismount, and they sat roundin a circle and discussed the situation.

"since brother wen is being sent to hangzhou, weshould head south and try to work out some way ofsaving him," xu said. "hangzhou is our territory. thepower of the court is not as great there as inbeijing, so it should be easier to rescue him. but weshould still send someone to beijing to see if thereis any news, just in case."the others agreed. chen looked over at shi. "i wonderif i can trouble you to go once more, twelfthbrother," he said.

"all right," shi replied. he headed off northwardsalone towards beijing while the other heroes rodesouth.

chen enquired further of the twin knights about yu'smovements, but they said they had no furtherinformation. they had returned to report as soon asthey had seen the markings. passing through lanfeng,they had come across the refugees and met up with theother heroes.

"with the provisions gone, sister huo qingtong and herpeople should have no trouble beating the great army,"zhou qi said.

"that girl's sword style wasn't bad, and she was anice person too," added priest wu chen. "she deservesour help. i hope she does beat them. it would besomething everyone could rejoice at."