putting aside thoughts of home, chen rode back to thesociety's mansion near hangzhou where he foundeveryone gathered around 'melancholy ghost' shi whohad just arrived from beijing. shi immediately brokefree from the group and bowed before chen.

"i found out in beijing that the emperor had comesouth, and travelled day and night to get here to tellyou only to find that the brothers had not only seenhim, but had clashed with his men as well," he said.

"you've had a hard trip, twelfth brother," repliedchen. "did you hear any other news while you werethere?""once i heard about the emperor, i disregardedeverything else," shi said.

chen noticed his haggard look and guessed he was wornout after the hard ride. "go and get a good sleep.

we'll talk again later," he said.

shi bowed and walked off. as he passed luo bing, hesaid: "that white horse of yours is very fast. butdon't worry, i took good care of him...oh," he stoppedagain. "i also saw the horse's former owner, hanwenchong, on the road.""what? did he want his horse back?""he didn't see me. i came across him in an inn inyangzhou with several lead escorts from the zhen yuanbodyguard agency. i heard them cursing our red flowersociety, so i went across and eaves-dropped. theycalled us low and vulgar, and said we had killed thatfellow tong zhaohe."'mastermind' xu and zhou qi smiled at each other.

"what is the zhen yuan agency up to this time?" xuasked.

"i gathered that they were escorting a consignment oftreasures presented by the emperor to the chen familyof haining." he turned to chen. "it was for yourfamily, great helmsman, so i told the local societyleader to quietly make sure it was delivered safely.""thank you," chen replied, smiling. "for once we canwork together with the zhen yuan agency.""the head of the agency is with them, which is anindication of the importance they attach to theconsignment."chen and the others gasped at the news that the northchina earth-shaker wang weiyang was escorting theconsignment personally.

"wang hasn't escorted a consignment for more than tenyears," said lord zhou. "great helmsman, your familyobviously has great prestige.""i thought it strange too," added shi. "but later iheard that apart from the valuables for the greathelmsman's family, they were also carrying a pair ofjade vases.""jade vases?" chen asked.

"yes, treasures from the muslim regions. the muslimsscored a victory over general zhao wei's army, butwith the manchu forces so powerful, they can't holdout for much longer. so they have sent the vases as apeace offering."the heroes excitedly asked shi for details of themuslims' victory.

"i heard that general zhao wei's troops starved forseveral days as a result of us stealing their rations,and finally had to retreat. the muslims organised anambush on the road and killed two or three thousand ofthem." the heroes clapped and laughed.

"the manchu army finally received more supplies," shicontinued. "it began to advance again, but i didn'thear any further news. when the muslim envoys arrivedin beijing, the court officials didn't dare to make adecision, and sent him and the vases down south forthe emperor to dispose of.""the vases won't make any difference," chen said. "nomatter what valuable treasures they send, he willnever agree to peace.""i heard the agency men say that if peace was agreedto, the vases would be kept. if not, they will have tobe returned, so it is vital that they not be damagedin any way."chen glanced at xu, and the two walked away from themain group into a side chamber.

"brother xu, last night i saw the emperor. he saidthat he would be returning to beijing in three days'

time, and that before he left he intended to killfourth brother.""then we'd better start making arrangements to savehim immediately," xu replied.

"the emperor is probably not back in hangzhou yet, andmost of their top fighters are with him, so it shouldbe relatively easy to rescue him if we move fast.""the emperor isn't in hangzhou?"chen told him about their meeting in haining. xufiddled meditatively with the pens and paper on thetabletop in front of them.

"the only plan i can see at the moment is to steal thejade vases," xu said finally. "since the emperor hasalready sent a huge army out west, he is certain to beunwilling to talk peace, which means he will have toreturn the vases. if he is unable to, his word willlose all credibility, and the emperor, as we know, isobsessed with his own prestige.""once we have the jade vases, we can go to him and saythat if he touches one hair on fourth brother's head,we will smash them," chen added.

"exactly! even if we can't exchange the vases forfourth brother, we can at least postpone things for afew days which will also be of benefit to mastermuzhuolun and his muslims.""all right," said chen. "then we attack this northchina earth-shaker, wang weiyang."wang weiyang was sixty-nine years old. the zhen yuanbodyguard agency, which he had built up with his ownhands, had prospered in north china for more thanthirty years in spite of strong and sometimes violentopposition, and there was a saying in the fightingcommunity: 'it is better to bump into the devil thaninto old wang.' he planned to retire the followingyear in the expectation of living to a venerable oldage, but when the agency was entrusted with the taskof escorting the jade vases to the emperor, he decidedto accompany the consignment personally. in light ofthe diplomatic sensitivity of the mission, he did notdare to be neglectful. from each of his agencybranches, he detailed six top fighters, while thecourt also supplied four imperial bodyguards andtwenty imperial guardsmen to accompany the muslimenvoy on his journey south. precautions along the waywere most strict, and there had been no incidents ofany kind.

noon was approaching as they arrived at a town lessthan three miles from hangzhou. the agency men wentinto the largest restaurant and ordered food, and werejubilantly discussing how they planned to celebrateonce they got to hangzhou when a horse neighedoutside.

lead escort han pricked up his ears and ran out tofind his own beloved white steed walking slowly pastwith a heavy load of firewood on its back. he tried tograb the reins, but the peasant with the horse gavethe animal a rap on the rump and it cantered off downthe street. unwilling to give up, han ran after them.

once outside the town, the horse turned off the roadand galloped into the trees with han following as bestas he could.

"brother han's gone crazy thinking about that whitehorse of his," said another of the lead escorts with asmile. "every time he sees a horse on the road witheven a couple of white hairs, he has to chase after itto see if it's his. when he gets home tomorrow andsees his old lady's snow-white skin, i expect he'llprobably think she's his horse and immediatelyjump..."the others exploded into laughter.

just then, one of the waiters suddenly called out:

"master liang, please sit over here."a man with the appearance of a rich merchant enteredwith four servants behind him, one of them carrying awater pipe. he seated himself at a table and a waiterhurried round pouring him a cup of tea and chattering:

"try this dragon's well tea, master liang. it's madewith fresh spring water brought in only yesterday."liang grunted and said in a voice thick with theaccent of hanzhou: "bring me a few slices of meat, abowl of eel soup and three catties of the best ricewine."the waiter bowed and a moment later, the fragrance ofhot wine assailed their noses as he returned with alarge flask.

"what is brother han doing away so long?" master wangweiyang asked.

suddenly the main door of the restaurant was kickedopen, and a dwarf shuffled in followed by a girl and astrong young man, all three dressed in rough clothes.

the dwarf bowed in all four directions and announced:

"i am a humble travelling player who can do a fewtricks to make you laugh. if you are impressed, pleasemake a contribution. if you are not, please accept myapologies."he picked up a teacup from a table and covered it withhis tattered cap. "change!" he shouted, and whiskedthe cap away: the cup had disappeared. he waved thecap around to show that the cup was not inside.

intrigued, master liang stood up and walked over toget a closer look.

"may i borrow your snuff box, sir?" the dwarf askedhim. liang laughed and handed the snuff box over. thedwarf placed it in his cap and made it disappear inthe same way.

"that snuff box is very precious," one of liang'sservants warned. "don't damage it now."the dwarf smiled. "please look in your pocket, sir,"he replied. the servant felt around in his coat pocketand pulled out the snuff box.

liang and his servants were amazed, and so were thelead escorts and imperial guardsmen. all crowded roundto watch the dwarf's conjuring. liang pulled a jadering off his left hand and handed it to him saying:

"make this disappear too."the dwarf put the ring on the table, covered it withhis cap and blew on it.

"alter east and transpose west, topsy-turvy like therest!" he shouted and whipped away the cap. the ringhad disappeared. the onlookers gasped.

"please feel in your pocket, master," the dwarf said,and liang pulled the ring out and stared at it insurprise.

"excellent, excellent!" he cried.

several dozen people had entered the restaurant bythis time, to see what was going on, including anumber of army officers.

"what's so special about a trick like that?" one ofthe officers said. "let's see if you dare to make thisdisappear." he slapped an official document down onthe table and the onlookers saw it was marked "urgentdispatch for master wang, beijing military bureau",underneath which was written "zhejiang provincialcommander-in-chief li".

"please don't be offended, sir," the dwarf replied. "imay earn my living in a rather casual way, but i wouldnever dare to touch an urgent official dispatch.""what does it matter?" liang said to the dwarf. "it'sjust a game. go on, make it disappear." he turned tohis servants. "give me five taels of silver," he said.

one of the servants pulled an ingot of silver from abag and handed it to liang who placed it on the table.

"if you make the dispatch disappear, this silver ingotis yours," he said to the dwarf.

the dwarf looked at the ingot, then turned and held awhispered conversation with the girl.

"i have found some more courage," he finally said. hecovered the document with his cap and shouted "change!

change!" his hand pointed to left and right, up anddown, and settled on the leather case that containedthe jade vases. "in! in! go into the case!" he roared.

he picked up the cap, and the document had indeeddisappeared.

"he's got quite a talent, this turtle," the officercommented. the dwarf bowed before master liang.

"thank you for your contribution," he said, thenpicked up the ingot and handed it to the girl standingbehind him. the crowd clapped in approval.

"all right, now give me the dispatch back," said theofficer.

the dwarf smiled. "it's in the leather case. pleaseopen it and look," he replied. all the agency menjumped in shock as he spoke. the case was sealed withthe imperial seal, and none dared to break it open.

the officer went over and felt the case with his hand.

"excuse me, my man," said wang weiyang. "that is atreasure belonging to the imperial court. it cannot betouched.""you must be joking," the officer replied andcontinued to feel the case.

"who's joking with you? back off a bit!" one of theimperial guardsmen warned.

"yes sir," the officer said. "but please return thedispatch to me, sir.""enough of your tricks!" the guardsman shouted at thedwarf. "give him back the dispatch, quickly!""it's in the leather case. if you don't believe me,open it and see," said the dwarf.

the officer flew into a rage and punched him on theshoulder. "hand it over!" he roared.

the dwarf put on a sorrowful expression. "i dare notdeceive you," he said. "the dispatch is inside theleather case, but i cannot spirit it out again!"master liang walked over to the imperial guardsman.

"what is your honourable surname, sir?" he askedpolitely.

"my surname is lin.""master lin, these marketplace scoundrels have nosense of propriety. please take a hand in this matterand return the dispatch to him.""this case is the property of the emperor," linreplied. "who would dare to open it without theemperor's permission?"master liang frowned, as if in a quandary.

"if you don't return that dispatch to me, you will beguilty of delaying important government business whichis a capital offence," said the officer. "what do yousay brothers?"seated around the room were another dozen or so armyofficers and men who began to edge towards lin.

wang weiyang, with his decades of experience, feltthere was something strange about the scene. heguessed that the dwarf was the key to the affair andstretched out his hand to grab his arm. the dwarfshrank away, crying: "master, master, have mercy onme!"wang noted the dwarf's agility and became even moresuspicious. he was just about to chase after him whenthe military men began brawling with the lead escortsand imperial guardsmen. he clutched the leather caseto his chest and a lead escort stood guard on eitherside of him. the guardsman lin pulled out his daggerand slammed into the table.

"enough of this!" he roared. "back off, all of you!"the army officer drew his sword. "if you don't returnthe document, i'll finish you off even if i die doingit!" he shouted. "brothers! all together!"he lunged forward and clashed with lin. the otherarmymen drew their weapons and charged into the frayand a great battle ensued. guardsman lin was one ofthe best fighters in the imperial guard, but after afew strokes he found this lowly army officer gainingthe upper hand.

wang weiyang shouted repeatedly for them all to stopbut no-one listened. in the midst of the confusion,another group suddenly surged in through the door andsomeone commanded: "seize the trouble-makers!"the army men all stopped where they were. guardsmanlin took a deep breath and saw that a young officialhad entered surrounded by several dozen soldiers. heand immediately recognized the man as the emperor'sfavorite, fu kangan, who held the posts of militarygovernor of manchuria, commander-in-chief of the ninegates of beijing as well as commander of the imperialguard. lin hastily pushed his way forward and greetedfu as the other imperial guardsmen bowed before him.

"what's going here?" the official asked.

"they started making trouble, commander," lin replied,and gave an account of what had occurred.

"and where is the magician?" the official asked. thedwarf, who had hidden himself in a far corner, nowcame forward.

"this is a very strange business," the official said.

"you will all come with me to hangzhou. i wish toconduct a thorough investigation.""yes, sir. a wise decision, sir," said lin.

"let us go," the official said, then walked outsideand remounted his horse. the soldiers under hiscommand gathered together the agency men, the armyofficer that had started the trouble and even themuslim envoy and herded them out after him.

"master fu," said lin to the official. "this is thehead of the zhen yuan bodyguard agency, wang weiyang."wang went over and bowed in greeting, but the officialmerely glanced at him once from head to foot andgrunted. "let's go," he said.

the column of men entered hangzhou city and made itsway to a huge private residence by the west lake.

"this must be where the commander is staying," wangthought to himself. "being the emperor's favorite,it's not surprising he has such a strong force of menwith him."they entered the rear hall of the residence. "pleasebe seated," the official said to guardsman lin, andcontinued on into an inner chamber by himself.

a short while later, an imperial guard officer cameout and escorted the army officer who had started thetrouble, the conjuring dwarf, master liang and hisservants inside.

"i was getting a bit worried during that brawl," saidone of the lead escorts. "there was something funnyabout those army men. i thought they might try todamage the jade vases.""yes, their kung fu was surprisingly good for armyofficers," guardsman lin replied. "it's luckycommander fu turned up or we may have had sometrouble.""commander fu's inner strength kung fu is superb,"said wang weiyang. "it's very unusual for such asenior nobleman to be so accomplished in the martialarts.""what?" said lin. "commander fu's kung fu is good? howdo you know?""you can see it in his eyes."as they were talking, an officer came out. "wangweiyang of the zhen yuan bodyguard agency, come withme," he said. wang stood up and followed him out.

they passed through two courtyards and into anotherhall in which sat commander fu kangan on a dais. hehad changed into an official gown with a huge plume inhis cap, and the imposing atmosphere was enhanced bythe long official desk in front of him and the manyimperial guardsmen standing on either side.

as he walked in, two officers shouted in unison:

"kneel!" wang did as he was told.

"so you're wang weiyang, are you?" fu said shortly.

"i am sir," said wang.

"i hear you have the nickname 'north china earthshaker'.""that is just what some of my friends call me.""both the emperor and i live in beijing," fu saidcoldly. "are you suggesting you can shake us off ourfeet too?"wang felt a sudden wave of fear. he hastily kowtowedand said: "this humble person would not dare. i willimmediately do away with the nickname.""such insolence!" fu roared. "take him away!"two soldiers marched up and led him off, and wang, inspite of his kung fu skills, did not dare to resist.

the imperial guardsmen and lead escorts were broughtin one after the other, and one after another theywere taken away and thrown manacled into the dungeons.

finally, an army officer marched up to fu's tablecarrying the leather box in both hands, knelt down onone knee and raised it above his head in presentation,saying: "commander fu, here are the jade vases."fu laughed out loud, and stepped down off the dais.

the dwarf and the others kneeling on the ground alsostood up and began laughing.

"seventh brother," fu said to the dwarf. "you trulydeserve the nickname kung fu mastermind!"the conjuring dwarf was in fact 'mastermind' xu, whilethe hangzhou helmsman, master ma, had played the partof master liang. chen had taken the role of hisdouble, the emperor's favorite, fu kangan, and thetwin knights and some of the other heroes had playedthe trouble-making army officers. xu had rememberedthat han wenchong would be able to recognize theheroes and so had arranged for him to be lured awayusing the white horse as bait into the forest where hehad been seized.

chen broke the seal on the leather box and lifted thelid. inside were a pair of jade vases about one footin height. on each was drawn the picture of abeautiful girl dressed in muslim clothes, her hairplaited in a long queue. the girl was stunninglyattractive with bewitching eyes and cherry-red lipsthat almost seemed to move. she looked as if she wasabout to walk out of the picture.

everyone gathered round and voiced their admirationfor the vases.

"when i saw huo qingtong, i thought she was certainlythe most beautiful girl under heaven," added luo bing.

"but this girl is even more lovely.""it's just a picture," zhou qi protested. "you don'tthink there's really anyone that beautiful, do you?""i don't think the artist could have invented such aface," luo bing replied.

"let's bring the muslim envoy in and ask him," xusuggested.

as he entered, the envoy bowed respectfully beforechen, in the belief that he was a senior courtofficial.

"you have had a long hard journey, sir," said chen.

"what is your name?""my name is kaibiexing. may i ask your name?"chen smiled but did not reply.

"this is general li, commander-in-chief of zhejiangprovince," said xu.

the others stared at him in surprise, wondering whathe had in mind.

"i trust master muzhuolun is well?" chen said to theenvoy.

"thank you for asking, commander. our leader is verywell.""i wonder if you could tell me, sir, who is thisbeautiful girl on the vases? is it a real person, ordid the artist draw it from his own imagination?""the vases originally belonged to master muzhuolun'sdaughter. the girl in the picture is her.""is she huo qingtong's elder or younger sister?" zhouqi asked.

the envoy was surprised. "do you know her, miss?""i have met her," she replied.

chen wanted to ask about how huo qingtong was, butstopped himself. "please go and rest now," he said tothe envoy. "we will talk again later."the envoy bowed. "thank you, commander. where shallthe vases be kept?""we have other arrangements," said chen.

the envoy was led away.