Chapter - 35 (35) (1/2)

Once following the road east, west, south and north, there is only a fate of ice, frost, rain and snow

More than two hours later, the sun was slanting to the west; a personal guard came to report that several boats carrying prisoners were heading toward Tong Chi Island. Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted; he sprang up and rushed to the shore. Sure enough, he saw five boats were sailing to the island. Wei Xiaobao ordered the personal guard to shout the question, ”Who are the prisoners?”

The people on the boat shouted back the answer, ”These are the women; the men will come later.”

Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted, ”Shi Lang indeed works reliably.” Focusing his eyes, he tried to look for Fang Yi's beautiful figure. Naturally it would be best if they could capture the old wh0re alive; if they also caught the 'thousand-tender hundred-charm' Madame Hong, so that he could look at her several times a day on the boat, it would be too wonderful for words.

After waiting for a good while, the five boats reached the shore. The Valiant Cavalry Brigade troops cheered; they have captured more than two hundred women. Wei Xiaobao looked at them one by one, he noticed that these women were the young girls of the Scarlet Dragon Gate. They all hung their heads dejectedly, some had tattered clothes, some were injured. But after looking at all of them, Wei Xiaobao did not see Fang Yi at all. Wei Xiaobao was quite disappointed. ”Are there any more women?” he asked.

A zuoling [company commander] replied, ”Reporting to Dutong Daren: there are more coming. We have three teams searching around the Island, it's just that there are too many poisonous snakes, the search was quite slow.”

”Has the Shen Long Jiao's Jiaozhu been captured?” Wei Xiaobao asked, ”How did the battle go?”

The zuoling replied, ”Reporting to Dutong Daren: early in the morning today, thirty battleships approached the shore, while firing the cannon at the same time. Everybody was following Daren's instruction; we fired the cannon three times, and then paused. We only hit empty space on the Island. When the people of the Island went out to fight the enemy, we fired repeatedly. Dutong Daren predicts things like a deity, using this technique, we only need to fire three times, four, five hundred Cult bandits died of the explosion. Afterwards there was a large group of young men who were not afraid of death came charging in, their mouths shouted something like 'Hong Jiaozhu emerge victorious in every battle, he lives as long as Mount Nan …”

Wei Xiaobao shook his head, ”Wrong,” he said, ”It's Hong Jiaozhu will enjoy immortal good fortune forever, his long life the same as the heaven's.”

”Yes, yes,” the zuoling said, ”Turns out Dutong Daren has already had thorough understanding of the Cult bandits, no wonder as soon as we deploy the troops, we make a clean sweep of the enemy. The Cult bandit shout was indeed 'his long life the same as the heaven's'. Lowly officer has spoken incorrectly.”

Wei Xiaobao smiled and asked, ”And then what happened?”

The zuoling said, ”Those young men acted like they were crazy, they charged toward the beach and got into their boats, thinking that they could board our big ship and seize the cannon. We did not pay them any attention; we waited until the several dozen small boats sailed into the ocean, then we fired the cannon. 'Bang, bang, bang', more than thirty small boats sank into the ocean, more than three thousand boys, the Cult bandits, were buried at the bottom of the ocean. At the death's door, those little bandits was still shouting Hong Jiaozhu's long life the same as the heaven's.”

Wei Xiaobao thought, ”You exaggerate military intelligence. Shen Long's young disciples are at most eight, nine hundred people; how can there be more than three thousand boys? Fortunately, killing more enemy means bigger merit, even if you reported four thousand, five thousand, what harm is there in doing that?”

The zuoling continued, ”After the children Cult bandits were gone, there was a large group of people fleeing to the west, they got on the boats and ran away. Following Dutong Daren's directive, our battleships chase after them. Lowly officer led my team searching on the Island. Men and women, we caught about three, four hundred of them. Shi Daren instructed us to send the women Cult bandits to Tong Chi Island first for Dutong Daren to interrogate.”

Wei Xiaobao nodded. Although this battle was a great success, not being able to see Fang Yi, he felt quite uneasy; he wondered if she was killed by the cannon blast. Turning around, he scanned the group of women again. Suddenly he saw a young girl with round face; immediately he remembered that when he was summoned by the Cult Leader to the general assembly the other day, this young girl had said that Wei Xiaobao was Fat Toutuo's son; she also pinched his cheek and kicked his butt. Recalling these past events, his mischievous intention was aroused. Walking toward her, he reached out and pinched her cheek as hard as he could.

The young girl screamed and cursed, ”Dog Tatar, you … you …”

Wei Xiaobao giggled and said, ”Ma, don't you remember your son?”

The girl was greatly surprised. She started at him, and vaguely felt that his face looked familiar; but no matter what she could not remember that this Qing troops' commander was their own Cult's White Dragon Envoy.

”What's your name?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

”Quickly kill me,” the girl said, ”Whatever you want to ask, I won't answer one word.”

”Alright,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”You don't want to talk? Guards!”

”Cha!” several dozen personal guards immediately responded.

Wei Xiaobao said, ”Take this girl down, strip her clothes, her pants, everything, flog her butt a hundred times.”

The personal guards chorused again, ”Cha!” And stepped forward to drag the girl away.

The girl was so scared that her face was devoid of any color. ”No, don't!” she hastily said, ”I'll talk, I'll talk!”

Wei Xiaobao waved his hand to stop the guards; he smiled and said, ”Alright, what's your name?”

For a few moments the young girl was extremely terrified; only now did she burst into tears. ”I … I am called Yun Sumei,” she said.

”You are Scarlet Dragon Gate disciple, aren't you?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

Yun Sumei nodded. ”Yes,” she said in a low voice.

”In your Scarlet Dragon Gate there is a certain Fang Yi, Miss Fang, who later on joined the White Dragon Gate. Do you know her?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

”I do,” Yun Sumei replied, ”After joining the White Dragon Gate, she was promoted to be a platoon leader.”

”Good for her, she is promoted,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”Where is she now?”

”This morning,” Yun Sumei said, ”When you … when you opened fire, I still saw Fang Jiejie; afterwards … in the chaos that follows, I did not see her anymore.

Hearing that Fang Yi was still on the Island that morning, Wei Xiaobao felt slightly relieved. Thinking that that day you kicked my @ss, today this son of yours was going to return this one kick to you. Thereupon he circled behind her and lifted his leg. He was just about to kick her when outside the tent a personal guard reported, ”Reporting to Dutong Daren: another batch of prisoners arrived.”

Wei Xiaobao was delighted; his leg did not continue. Rushing toward the beach, he saw a small battleship sailed toward the island. He ordered his personal guard to shout, ”Are the prisoners women or men?”

At first, since the distance was still too great, the men on the ship did not hear. A moment later the battleship was close enough that a military officer standing on the bow responded, ”There are men and women.”

Another moment later, Wei Xiaobao was able to see clearly that there were three or four women standing on the bow, he could vaguely recognize one of them as Fang Yi. In his great delight, he rushed to the water until the water reached his knees. Focusing his eyes, while the battleship was several zhang closer, he could see that the woman was indeed Fang Yi.

To say that his delight this time was mild would be a gross understatement. ”Quick, quick, make the ship move faster!” he called out.

Suddenly the battleship shook; unexpectedly it spun around. The sailors on the ship cried out, ”Aiyo, we hit a shoal, we run aground!”

Suddenly Fang Yi's voice was heard, ”Xiaobao, Xiaobao, is that you?”

By this time Wei Xiaobao had already forgotten all about his status as Dutong Daren; he called out, ”Good Jiejie, it's me, Xiaobao is here.”

”Xiaobao,” Fang Yi called out, ”Come quickly and save me. They tie me up. Xiaobao, Xiaobao, come quickly!”

”Don't worry,” Wei Xiaobao replied, ”I am coming to save you.” Jumping into the skiff used to pass on military intelligence, he ordered the sailor, ”Quickly row, quickly row.” The four sailors on the skiff raised the oars and immediately rowed away.

Suddenly someone jumped from the shore into the skiff; it was Shuang'er. ”Xianggong,” she said, ”I am coming with you to take a look.”

Wei Xiaobao was elated. ”Shuang'er,” he said, ”Do you know who she is?”

Shuang'er smiled and said, ”I do. You told me that she is Shaonainai [wife of the young master]. That day I called her 'Shaonainai', but … but this Shaonainai was unwilling to respond.”

Wei Xiaobao laughed. ”She was just bashful at that time,” he said, ”This time you call her, she will definitely respond.”

The battleship was still spinning slowly, the skiff was rowed rapidly toward it. Fang Yi called out, ”Xiaobao, it is really you.” Her voice was brimming with happiness.

”It's me,” Wei Xiaobao called back. He shouted to the military officer standing next to her, ”Quickly remove the Miss' binding.”

”Yes,” the military officer responded. He leaned over to untie the rope on Fang Yi's hands.

Fang Yi opened her arms wide, waiting for Wei Xiaobao to come over. As the two boats getting closer to each other, the military officer on the battleship said, ”Dutong Daren, please be careful.”

Wei Xiaobao leaped up, the military officer reached out to pull him up. As soon as Wei Xiaobao reached the bow, he threw himself into Fang Yi's embrace. ”Good Jiejie,” he said, ”I miss you so much that I feel like dying.” They hugged each other tightly.

Holding Fang Yi's soft body, smelling the fragrant perfume on her body, Wei Xiaobao's mind went blurry, he did not know where he was. The last time he came to Shen Long Island with Fang Yi, it was the first time he began to be interested in the opposite sex; also, he did not understand the matter between men and women too clearly yet. Later on during his journey to Yunnan, he recklessly fooled around with Princess Jianning. This time he was back in Fang Yi's embrace, he could not help but was flushed with excitement [orig. 'face red, ears scarlet'].

Suddenly the hull rocked. Wei Xiaobao was too busy to think about it, he simply held Fang Yi tighter, and even wanted to kiss her lips. Suddenly he felt the back of his neck tightened, someone was grabbing his collar. A sweet and charming voice spoke, ”White Dragon Envoy, how are you? This time you brought people to destroy Shen Long Island, your merit is indeed not small.”

As soon as Wei Xiaobao heard this, he recognized it as Madame Hong's voice; he felt his soul was flying to Heaven. Knowing that the turn of events was far from good, he struggled hard to free himself, but Fang Yi was holding him tight that he was unable to move a single step. And then there was a stab of pain on his waist, someone sealed his acupoint.

This unforeseen event happened so suddenly, all along Wei Xiaobao felt it was like a dream; the only thought in his mind was, ”Bad, bad, this little wh0re Fang Yi swindled me again.” However, with his mouth he yelled, ”Guards, guards! Come and help me!”

Fang Yi gently let him go and retreated to the side. Since his acupoint was sealed, Wei Xiaobao was not able to stand, he fell dejectedly in sitting position to the deck. He suddenly noticed that the battleship had hoisted its sail and was sailing rapidly to the north; while the skiff he took earlier had already more than ten zhang away. Vaguely he could hear the officers and soldiers on the beach were shouting and yelling.

He secretly prayed, ”Thank Heaven and thank the Earth, let Shi Lang and Huang Zongbing quickly send boats to intercept, just don't let them fire the cannon.” However, he heard the voices from Tong Chi Island gradually diminished, until finally he could not hear them anymore. Looking at four directions, what he saw was boundless ocean, unexpectedly not a single ship was in sight. Although the ships under his command were numerous, all of them were sent to attack Shen Long Island, some were stationed between Shen Long Island and Tong Chi Island to intercept the enemy. Let's not say that they did not know that their Commander-in-chief was captured; even if they did, they were separated several dozen li away, how could they possibly catch up with him?

Sitting on the cabin's deck he slowly raised his head, and saw several Valiant Cavalry Brigade officers was looking at him with cold laugh on their faces. His brain was muddy; he tried to clear his head, and was able to see clearly. He saw an ugly, fat and round face of Thin Toutuo's, a lean and slim face of Lu Gaoxuan, an extremely long face, almost like a horse's, of Fat Toutuo. He was baffled, ”The short winter melon is tied up behind my command tent; he must be rescued by Lu Gaoxuan and Fat Toutuo. But these two are clearly in Beijing; how can they be here?” Turning his head the other way, he saw the beautiful, sweet and pretty face, which belonged to Madame Hong.

She was looking at Wei Xiaobao while chuckling gently; reaching out, she pinched his cheek and said with a laugh, ”Dutong Daren, you are young yet you are very formidable.”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”Jiaozhu and Madame will enjoy immortal good fortune forever, your long life the same as the heaven's. This time subordinate did not do my job properly, I did not render any merit.”

Madame Hong laughed and said, ”It's very appropriate, nothing is improper. Jiaozhu, the Senior, greatly commended you, saying that you are leading the Qing troops to blast the Shen Long Island's trees and houses to ashes. He, the Senior, has always prophesied with supernatural accuracy, yet this time unexpectedly he was mistaken. He is very full of admiration to you.”

Wei Xiaobao understood the trouble he was in; he knew that his life was in their hands, begging for his life would be useless; thereupon his only chance presently was to make up wild stories and act according to the circumstances. He laughed and said, ”Jiaozhu, the Senior, has the good fortune of always in good health, I long to see him again very much. These days subordinate has always been thinking about Madame; every day I pray that you will grow younger and younger and more good looking, so that when Jiaozhu is in your company, he will enjoy immortal good fortune forever!”

Madame Hong giggled and said, ”You, this little monkey, are still acting recklessly until now, you are still being oily mouthed and smooth talking to me. Tell me, am I growing younger and younger and more beautiful?”

Wei Xiaobao sighed and said, ”Madame, you deceived me so much that I have to suffer like this.”

Madame Hong laughed and said, ”In what matter did I deceive you?”

”Just now the Qing troops captured a group of sisters from the Island,” Wei Xiaobao replied, ”All are Scarlet Dragon Gate's young ladies. And then I was told that there was another boat-load of sisters coming. I stood on the beach to look; I saw Madame, but temporarily could not recognize you. I said to myself, 'Aiyo, since when did the Scarlet Dragon Gate have this kind of young and pretty lady as new member? Is she Madame Jiaozhu's younger sister? Such a beautiful woman, I would have seen her earlier.' Madame, I was so flustered and my heart was in turmoil that I scrambled on to the boat to look at this beautiful girl. Who would have thought that it was you, yourself, Madame.”

Hearing this, Madame Hong let out a peal of laughter, her body was shaking uncontrollably. Although she was wearing Valiant Cavalry Brigade's officer's uniform, the clothes could not conceal her outstandingly graceful figure.

Thin Toutuo lost his patience; he shouted, ”You, lecherous little demon, in front of Madame you still dare to talk rubbish. Let's see if I don't pull your tendon apart and peel you skin!”

”You are such a muddle head,” Wei Xiaobao retorted, ”I don't have any desire to talk rubbish with you.”

”How can I be a muddle head?” Thin Toutuo angrily said, ”You are the muddle head. I pretended to be a corpse floating on the sea, you could not see through my ploy; unexpectedly you rescued me and inquired about the affair of Shen Long Island. I follow Jiaozhu's instruction and talked nonsense to you, yet you accepted it as the truth.”

Wei Xiaobao cursed in his heart, ”Muddle head, muddle head! This fellow, Wei Xiaobao really deserves to die; how could you not think that Thin Toutuo's internal energy is profound, to pretend to be floating corpse is very easy. Yet unexpectedly I believed his words firmly and had no doubt at all; I believed that on the Shen Long Island an internal strife did indeed arise. I did not guard against him at all.” He said, ”I have fallen into Jiaozhu and Madame's scheme; it was not that I am a muddle head.”

”Humph,” Thin Toutuo said, ”You are not a muddle head, are you saying that you are smart?”

”Naturally I am very smart,” Wei Xiaobao replied, ”But let me tell you this: even the smartest man in the world, as long as he falls into Jiaozhu and Madame's hands, nobody can escape. This is Jiaozhu and Madame's divine strategy and wonderful calculation, none of their calculations failed, sweeping with irresistible force, a great success …” When he spoke about 'great success' four character [da gong gao cheng], he could not help but casting his glance toward Madame Hong's red-like-cherry small lips, which was slightly trembling.

Madame Hong laughed, exposing a row of spotlessly white fine teeth. ”White Dragon Envoy,” she said, ”You are after all a lot smarter than Thin Toutuo; he will never win arguing against you. Why do you say he is a muddle head?”

”Madame,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”This Thin Toutuo has seen you, a young woman whose beauty is like the immortals. Actually, whoever has seen Madame one time, how could he look at the second woman? I said he is a muddle head because I know that in his heart he always remembers and is anxious for the second woman. Thin Toutuo, who is this woman? Do you want me to say it?”

Thin Toutuo roared; he shouted, ”You cannot say it!”

Wei Xiaobao laughed. ”You don't want me to say it, then I won't,” he said, ”Your Shidi is a lot smarted than you are; ever since he saw Madame, he said that henceforth he will have no interest in looking at the second woman.”

Fat Toutuo's horse face blushed; ”Nonsense,” he muttered, ”How can there be such matter?”

”There isn't?” Wei Xiaobao asked in surprise, ”Are you saying that after you see Madame, you still want to see the second woman?”

Fat Toutuo lowered his head and said, ”Lao Na [old cassock] has left my home, six purifying from defiling illusion, four elements are vanity, since long ago there is no more man-woman affair in my heart.”

”Tsk, tsk, tsk!” Wei Xiaobao clucked his tongue, ”Old Monk recites sutra, but gives lip-service. Your Shige is just the same as you are, he is also a Toutuo; but why does he remember his good friend daily?” While in his heart he said, ”I clearly ordered him and Mr. Lu to stay in Beijing waiting for me, how did they get together with Madame? It's very strange.”

Fat Toutuo said, ”Shige is Shige, I am me, you cannot lump two different matters together.”

”I'll say the two of you are more or less the same,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”Although your Shige is more muddleheaded than you are, but he is comparably more honest than you. However, you two martial brothers have spoiled Jiaozhu and Madame's important matter; indeed your crime is great, your evil extreme.”

”Rubbish!” Fat and Thin, two Toutuo said together, ”How did we spoil Jiaozhu and Madame's important matter?”

Wei Xiaobao laughed coldly, but did not reply. Actually, for the time being he could not find any false accusation to be charged to those two men; however, he needed to lie low first, he had to understand how Fat and Lu, two men could go from Beijing to Shen Long Island before he could fabricate something to accuse them, to rise Madame Hong's suspicion.

He turned his head around to look at the ocean; unexpectedly there was not a single ship to be seen on that vast and boundless ocean. Occasionally he would hear the sound of cannon from a distant, presumably Shi Lang and Regional Commander Huang were still leading the battleships to surround and annihilate the escaping boats from the Divine Dragon Island.

Seeing his twinkling eyes, Lu Gaoxuan said, ”Madame, this man is a big criminal of our Cult. Let's report to Jiaozhu and then throw him into the ocean to feed the ocean dragon.”

Wei Xiaobao was shocked; he mused, ”I, the Little White Dragon, am a western cowrie goods [i.e. a fake]; fake white dragon enters the sea, I will lose my life.”

Madame Hong said, ”Jiaozhu still wants to talk to him.”

”Yes,” Lu Gaoxuan replied. He pushed Wei Xiaobao's back and said, ”Go pay your respect to Jiaozhu!”

Wei Xiaobao secretly groaned, ”In front of Madame, I can still give her graceful words, flowery speech, I can make her roar in laughter. Turns out Jiaozhu is also on board, today if the Little White Dragon did not enter the Palace of the Dragon King, it would be indeed an offense to Heaven and to reason.”

Casting a glance toward Fang Yi, he saw her wooden expression, completely devoid of any emotion. ”Stinky wh0re,” he cursed in his heart, ”Little mother skin!” But in his mouth he said, ”Miss Fang, congratulations!”

”For what?” Fang Yi asked.

Wei Xiaobao laughed and said, ”You have set up great merits for the Cult; didn't Jiaozhu give you promotion?”

”Humph,” Fang Yi snorted, but did not say anything.

Madame Hong said, ”Everybody come in.” Lu Gaoxuan grabbed the back of Wei Xiaobao's neck and carried him into the cabin.

He saw Cult Leader Hong was sitting grandly in the cabin. With his body still hanging in the air, Wei Xiaobao seized the opportunity to say, ”Jiaozhu and Madame will enjoy immortal good fortune forever, your long life the same as the heaven's. Subordinate White Dragon Envoy pays his respect to Jiaozhu and Madame.”

Lu Gaoxuan put him down. Fang Yi and the others bowed together and chorused, ”Jiaozhu will enjoy immortal good fortune forever, your long life the same as the heaven's.” Although they also wanted to win Madame Hong's favor, but they were accustomed to say these words, they did not have the thicker face to add the three characters 'Madame Hong' [Hong Fu Ren].

Wei Xiaobao noticed that Cult Leader Hong's eyes were gazing at the ocean outside the cabin, as if he did not hear anything. He also noticed that there were four men standing by his side, namely, Scarlet Dragon Envoy Priest Wugen, Yellow Dragon Envoy Yin Jin, Blue Dragon Envoy Xu Xueting, and Black Dragon Envoy Zhang Danyue. Wei Xiaobao had a sudden inspiration. Turning toward Thin Toutuo he shouted, ”You, this fellow blindly fabricated rumor, saying that Jiaozhu and Madame were in danger. Disregarding everything I rushed over to save their honorable selves; who would have known that Jiaozhu and Madame are not in the least bit of trouble? Why did you say that these several Zhangmenshi were revolting?”

”What did you say?” Cult Leader Hong coldly asked.

Wei Xiaobao said, ”Subordinate received Jiaozhu and Madame's order to infiltrate the Imperial Palace. I obtained two sutras, and later on I went to Yunnan, Wu Sangui Ping Xi Wang's mansion, and obtained three more.”

Cult Leader Hong raised his eyebrows slightly. ”You obtained five sutras? Where are they?” he asked.

”The two I obtained in the Imperial Palace,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”Subordinate has already sent Lu Gaoxuan to present them to Jiaozhu and Madame. Jiaozhu and Madame said that subordinate handled this matter reliably, and sent Lu Gaoxuan to bestow the immortal medicine.”

Cult Leader Hong nodded. Wei Xiaobao continued, ”The three copies that subordinate obtained in Yunnan, I keep it in a very secure place in Beijing, and ordered Fat Toutuo and Lu Gaoxuan to guard …”

Fat Toutuo and Lu Gaoxuan's countenances immediately changed greatly, ”Did … did not,” they said, ”How can there be such thing? Jiaozhu, you Senior should not listen to this boy's nonsense.”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”Altogether there are eight copies of sutra. Subordinate has found the trail, I am optimistic to get my hands on the other three. I was prepared that as soon as I obtained the rest, I will present them all together to Shen Long Island. After obtaining those three copies, subordinate was afraid someone might steal them; for that reason I hid them inside the wall. I ordered Lu Gaoxuan and Fat Toutuo to keep an eye on them. Lu Gaoxuan, Fat Toutuo, I ordered you to guard inside the house, you must not come out, why did you come here? If the treasured sutra is lost, we will spoil Jiaozhu and Madame's important matter; who would bear this heavy responsibility?”

Fat and Lu, two people looked at each other in dismay, they were at a loss. After a while, Lu Gaoxuan was able to open his mouth, ”You did not say anything about sutra inside the wall; how could we know?”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”The matter that Jiaozhu and Madame entrusted to me, the more secretive it is the better. One more person knows about it, the danger of the secret being revealed will increase by one part. To be frank with you, I do not trust the two of you too much. Every day I wake up I always recite aloud, 'Jiaozhu and Madame will enjoy immortal good fortune forever, your long life the same as the heaven's.' Every day before I eat, every day before I sleep, I always recite one time. But ever since the two of you left Shen Long Island, you have never praised Jiaozhu's extensive magical power, 'raw bird fish soup' [niao sheng yu tang].” He did not know that the phrase 'yao shun yu tang' was only applicable to be used in singing praises to the Emperor. But although he said it, nobody else understood his meaning anyway.

Lu Gaoxuan and Fat Toutuo's faces alternated between green and white; they both were secretly shocked. After they left Shen Long Island, they indeed had never recited 'Jiaozhu and Madame will enjoy immortal good fortune forever, your long life the same as the heaven's'; they did not expect that this boy would use it against them. But when did this boy ever recite it?

Lu Gaoxuan said, ”You have committed a monstrous crime, yet at this time still uttering graceful words, flowery speech, desiring to win Jiaozhu and Madame's favor so that they would spare your life. Humph, this time the casualties among our brothers on the Island, young and old, are serious. Jiaozhu's dozens of year's painstaking effort in establishing the Cult, everything is destroyed in your hands. You still think of escaping alive? Dream on!”

”You are greatly mistaken,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”As we throw our lives to be Jiaozhu and Madame's subordinates, early on our lives already did not belong to us anymore. Whatever Jiaozhu and Madame send us to do, everybody ought to do it with loyalty and dedication, ten thousand deaths should not prevent us. Jiaozhu and Madame want us to die, then we will die; Jiaozhu and Madame want us to live, then we will live. If you want to make decisions for yourself, that means you are not 'heart is dead, no plans for anything new' enough toward Jiaozhu and Madame, you are not displaying utter loyalty enough toward Jiaozhu and Madame.”

Hearing his speech, Hong Jiaozhu stroke his beard and nodded slowly. Turning to Fat and Lu, two people, he said, ”You said that White Dragon Envoy led the navy to do some harmful business toward our Cult; what did actually happen?”

Lu Gaoxuan caught the displeased tone in the Cult Leader's voice; he hastily said, ”Reporting to Jiaozhu: the two of us received the order to keep a close watch over the White Dragon Envoy, to be very careful toward his every movement, to be in constant alert; we did not dare to have the least bit of negligence. The day the Emperor promoted his official position, Navy Tidu [local commander] Shi Lang came to pay him a visit. Subordinates, two people listened to their discussion closely. We have reported this matter to Jiaozhu. Not many days later, the White Dragon Envoy went to take Shi Lang on an official business, but he wanted him to pretend to be a lowly official in the Valiant Cavalry Brigade, plus he did not want subordinate and Fat Toutuo to accompany him. In my heart subordinate was very suspicious.”

Wei Xiaobao said in his heart, ”Good; turned out Jiaozhu sent the two of you to spy on me.”

He heard Lu Gaoxuan continued, ”Several days earlier, subordinate searched the wastepaper basket in White Dragon Envoy's room to find out what's going on; I found a lot of torn scrap papers. When I pieced them together, I saw that it was actually names of places in Liaodong, written in Manchurian and Han characters. The White Dragon Envoy is illiterate, even more, he did not know Manchurian script; naturally these names of places were written by the Emperor for him. Later on I also found out that in this journey, he is to bring many cannon. The two of us subordinates talked it over, and came to the conclusion that White Dragon Envoy received the Emperor's order to travel to Liaodong region, accompanied by high-ranking naval officers, and to bring cannon; naturally he did not have any favorable intention toward our Cult. Therefore, as soon as the White Dragon Envoy left the Capital, subordinates two people rode on fast horses, we travelled day and night to hurry back to the Shen Long Island to report. Madame still said that White Dragon Envoy is devoted and loyal, he could not possibly do this. Who would have thought that one may know a person for a long time without understanding his true nature? This White Dragon Envoy has the heart of wolf and the lungs of dogs [i.e. cruel and unscrupulous]; he failed to live up to Jiaozhu's trust.”

Wei Xiaobao sighed; he shook his head and said, ”Mr. Lu, you think you are intelligent and competent, but how can you reach ten-thousandth of Jiaozhu and Madame's intelligence? Let me tell you: you are wrong. Only Jiaozhu and Madame are eternally right.”

Lu Gaoxuan angrily said, ”You speak non …” As soon as those words came out of his mouth, he knew he had committed a blunder. Although he did not continue, everybody knew that after the word 'non', the next word must be 'sense'.

”Did you say I spoke nonsense [orig. 'hu shuo']?” Wei Xiaobao asked, ”I said you are wrong, only Jiaozhu and Madame are eternally right. You are not convinced? Could it be that Jiaozhu and Madame are eternally wrong, and only you, Mr. Lu is eternally right?”

Lu Gaoxuan's face turned beet-red. ”That's not what I mean,” he said, ”It was you who said it, I didn't say it.”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”Jiaozhu and Madame said that I, the White Dragon Envoy am loyal and devoted, and can't possibly defect. The two Seniors predict like deities, how could they be wrong? Let me tell you, the Emperor sent me to bring naval cannon and go to Liaodong, we said we are going to Changbai Mountain to offer sacrifice, but actually … actually … humph, what do you know?” While his mind was racing, ”What should I say, the Emperor sent me to do what?”

”So?” Hong Jiaozhu asked, ”The Emperor sent you to do what?”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”This matter is actually top secret, no matter what I cannot say it; once it leaks, the Emperor would want my head. But since Jiaozhu asked, in subordinate's heart, Jiaozhu and Madame are a hundred times higher than the Emperor; he is 'ten-thousand years', you are 'million-years'. He is 'long live, long, long live', you are 'hundred times longer live'. Jiaozhu wants me to say, naturally I cannot conceal it.” While thinking, ”How should I say it so that Jiaozhu and Madame will be convinced?”

Listening to Wei Xiaobao's wave of flattery, Hong Jiaozhu did not have the slightest suspicion; he twirled his moustache with a slight smile on his face. Looking happy and content, he slowly nodded.

Wei Xiaobao continued, ”Reporting to Jiaozhu and Madame: by his side, the Emperor has two red-haired foreigners. These two men, one is called Tang Ruowang, the other Nan Huairen. They were bestowed official position as supervisors of the Imperial Observatory.”

Hong Jiaozhu said, ”This name Tang Ruowang, I have heard about it. I heard he understands astronomy, geography, yin and yang calculation, and such science.”

”Tsk, tsk, tsk,” Wei Xiaobao clucked his tongue in praise, ”Jiaozhu did not go out, yet you know the matter of the world. After much calculation, this Tang Ruowang has calculated that on the north there is a Luocha Country, who is planning to do some harmful things to the Great Qing.”

Hong Jiaozhu's eyebrows rose up. ”And then what happened?” he asked.

Wei Xiaobao had heard the big beard Mongolian Hantiemo mentioned that Wu Sangui was colluding with Luocha Country and Divine Dragon Cult. Wu Sangui was in the far away Yunnan, he could not use him to his advantage; however, Luocha Country was next to Liaodong region. Sure enough, at the mention of the three words 'Luocha Country' [luo cha guo] Hong Jiaozhu's expression changed at once. Wei Xiaobao knew that this subject fit the opposite party's concern; he was greatly delighted.

”When the young emperor heard this,” he continued, ”He was immediately being cautious and worried. He immediately asked Tang Ruowang to calculate the auspicious day, to quickly offer sacrifice. Tang Ruowang presented a memorial to the Emperor: 'Let your minister go back and look at the heavens at night, calculate yin and yang during the day, and calculate everything carefully.' Several days later, he came back to present a memorial: Luocha Country's dragon vein is in Liaodong, on something like 'hu tamade' [shout his mother/crying 'damn it'] mountain, and some 'ama'er' [amah] river.”

Hong Antong had lived in Liaodong for a long time, he was very familiar with local mountain and river. Hearing Wei Xiaobao's explanation, he turned to Madame Hong and said with a laugh, ”Madame, did you hear this boy said some amusing things? He changed Huma'erwoji Mountain to 'hu tamade' mountain and Amur River [amu'er] to 'ama'er' river. Ha ha, ha ha …!” Madame Hong also squealed in laughter.

”Yes, yes,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”There is nothing that Jiaozhu did not know, there is no place you did not understand; subordinate greatly admires you. That foreign red-haired demon also said a lot other things, which subordinate could never remember. The young Emperor then wrote everything down in Manchurian and Han scripts, and handed it to me. But subordinate is illiterate, these 'hu tamade' mountain and 'ama'er' river, I can never remember.”

Hong Jiaozhu burst into a 'hee hee' laughter. He turned his head, and shot a sidelong glance toward Lu Gaoxuan, his gaze was harsh. Lu Gaoxuan and Fat Toutuo groaned inwardly.

Wei Xiaobao said, ”That Tang Ruowang said that we must quickly manufacture ten red-haired cannon, and transport them to Liaodong via the ocean, and aimed them at that whatever river and whatever mountain and fire two hundred times to destroy the Luocha Country's dragon vein; and hereafter for the next two hundred years the Great Qing will have peace and security without any trouble. It is called 'one cannon shoot guarantees one year of peace and security'. The young Emperor said, 'In that case, if we fire one thousand cannon, won't we have one thousand years of peace and security?' Tang Ruowang replied, 'On the contrary, too much cannon fire will not work'. He also said something like 'mysteries of heaven must not be revealed', yellow way and black way

[41], and some other gibberish for half a day. Subordinate did not understand even half a word; listening to them I was bored to death.”

Hong Jiaozhu nodded. He said, ”That Tang Ruowang authored the book 'Great Qing Constitution Period Calendar'; there is indeed only two hundred years. Apparently the Manchurian Qing destiny will last at most for two hundred years.”

Wei Xiaobao knew that there is a trick in lying; all the little details must be comprehensive, furthermore, they must be completely verifiable. Only in the significant juncture he could talk a bit of rubbish. He learned this technique from when he was still living in brothel. By lucky coincidence, Hong Antong was a very learned man; he knew the content of Tang Ruowang's 'Great Qing Constitution Period Calendar'. Hence Wei Xiaobao's lie was unexpectedly fit together with the truth.

Madame Hong said, ”In that case, the young Emperor is sending you to Liaodong to fire the cannon?”

Wei Xiaobao pretended to be amazed. ”Uh,” he exclaimed, ”How did Madame know?”

Madame Hong laughed and said, ”I'll say that what you said is not a complete truth. The young Emperor is sending you to Liaodong; how did you end up at Shen Long Island?”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”That foreigner said: Luocha people's dragon vein is an ocean dragon; for this reason these ten cannon must be transported by the ocean. When the cannon are aimed at the dragon's mouth, and after careful calculation of the best time, waiting for the right time when it just about to take water from the ocean, the cannon will be immediately fired. The dragon's body will be seriously injured, and it will not be able to move. If the cannon are fired from land, the dragon will eat one cannon and immediately fly to the sky. One cannon guarantees one year of peace and safety, next year we must comeback and fire another one; that would be very troublesome. He said that our cannon must be transported by the ocean, taking the long way around, so that we won't alert the dragon vein.”

From the beginning, when fengshui and divination are mentioned, people always pay particular attention to 'dragon vein'. But when talking about terrains that look like a dragon, it is not a real 'dragon'. Therefore, the dragon vein could be alerted and flee to the sky and so on was entirely Wei Xiaobao's fabrication. When Hong Antong heard this, he could not help feeling half believing and half doubting.

Seeing his changed countenance, Wei Xiaobao realized that he was not too convinced; thereupon he busily said, ”That foreign demon can speak Chinese; he drew quite a few pictures to show to the young Emperor. He took several measurements, drew a circle here, a line there, explaining how the dragon vein could flee. Subordinate was too stupid, I did not understand the least bit. But actually the young Emperor was listening with keen interest.”

Hong Antong nodded; he thought that when foreigners practice fengshui, they must have different technique, which was superior to Chinese fengshui.

He said, ”One day the young Emperor ordered the Imperial Observatory to select a yellow way propitious day, he issued an imperial decree sending me to Changbai Mountain to offer sacrifice to the Heaven. There was a Fujian Navy Tidu Shilang, who surrendered from Taiwan, came over. He said that even Zheng Chenggong had suffered defeat under his hands. This man is adept at firing cannon from the ship. The young Emperor sent him to go with me. He warned repeatedly ten million times that this affair must be kept in the strictest confidence; if it is leaked out, this important matter will be spoiled, maybe the Luocha Country would send seagoing ships to intercept. We were to go out to sea from Tianjin, going around the longer distance, to quietly go to Liaodong. Who would have thought that yesterday afternoon we saw a lot of floating corpses on the sea; some were fake, and among the fakes was this Thin Toutuo. With good intention I rescued him. He said the situation was freakily and desperately serious; the fighting on the Shen Long Island has turning the sky and the earth upside down, Hong Jiaozhu has sent someone to murder Blue Dragon Envoy Xu Xueting.”

”False!” Thin Toutuon yelled, ”I did not say Jiaozhu murdered Blue Dragon Envoy!”

Madame Hong's beautiful eyes glowered at him. ”Thin Toutuo,” she said, ”In front of Jiaozhu, do not shout and quarrel.”

”Yes,” Thin Toutuo said.

”You said that the Blue Dragon Envoy was murdered, didn't you?” Wei Xiaobao asked.

”Yes,” Thin Toutuo replied, ”It was Jiaozhu who instructed me to deceive you like that.”

”Jiaozhu told you to play a joke on me; that is possible,” Wei Xiaobao said, ”But you said that in order to take revenge, Jiaozhu has murdered Blue Dragon Envoy and Scarlet Dragon Envoy. Jiaozhu puts the common good above everything with no regard for personal interests, he has great kindness and great righteousness, there is no way he would bear grudges toward his subordinates!”

For each sentence that he said, Thin Toutuo yelled one word, ”False!”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”You said that in order to take revenge, Jiaozhu has murdered Blue Dragon Envoy and Scarlet Dragon Envoy!”

Thin Toutuo said, ”False! I did not say that.”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”Jiaozhu puts the common good above everything with no regard for personal interests.”

Thin Toutuo said, ”False!”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”He has great kindness and great righteousness!”

Thin Toutuo shouted, ”False!”

Wei Xiaobao said, ”There is no way he would bear grudges toward his subordinates.”

Thin Toutuo said, ”False!”

Lu Gaoxuan knew that Thin Toutuo was hot-tempered and naïve, he had already set foot in Wei Xiaobao's trap; he did not stop yelling 'False!', each time he shouted that, Jiaozhu's countenance turned one degree uglier. Lu Gaoxuan was afraid that if Thin Toutuo continued yelling, the Cult Leader might lose his temper, it would be beyond redemption; therefore, he tugged Thin Toutuo's sleeve and said, ”Just listen to him reporting to Jiaozhu, don't interrupt his train of thought.”

”This boy spouts nonsense,” Thin Toutuo said, ”Are you saying that I should let him continue endlessly?”

”Jiaozhu is intelligent and wise,” Lu Gaoxuan said, ”There is nothing he did not know, nothing he did not understand, you don't have to worry, naturally Jiaozhu understands clearly.”

Thin Toutuo said, ”Humph! That may not necessarily …” As soon as he said those words, his mouth stayed open but nothing came out of it; his entire face looked terrified.

Wei Xiaobao's pair of eyes was gazing fixedly at him; suddenly he made faces. Both of them were short, but Thin Toutuo was shorter. When he made faces, Wei Xiaobao was looking down, hence nobody else saw it, but Thin Toutuo could see it clearly. Immediately his temper flared, but he was afraid to enrage the Cult Leader, hence he struggled hard to curb it. His expression looked awkward. In that instant the cabin was quiet, save for Thin Toutuo's labored breathing.

After quite a while, Hong Jiaozhu asked Wei Xiaobao, ”What else did he say?”

Wei Xiaobao replied, ”Reporting to Jiaozhu: he also said that Jiaozhu stirred up trouble, inciting disharmony between the Scarlet Dragon Gate and Blue Dragon Gate …”

”I didn't say that …” Thin Toutuo called out.

Hong Jiaozhu glowered at him; he spoke harshly, ”Can't you shut your beak for me? You squawk one more time, I am going to split you, this short winter melon, into two damn sections.”

Thin Toutuo's face bulged purple; Lu Gaoxuan and Fat Toutuo were also overwhelmed with shock that their faces turned white. Everybody knew that Cult Leader Hong was very reserved; ordinarily, whether he was happy or angry, he would not show it on his face. It was very seldom that he spoke roughly or threw a fit. That he cursed Thin Toutuo harshly like that, he must be extremely angry.

Wei Xiaobao was greatly delighted; he thought that since Thin Toutuo could not open his mouth anymore, whatever Wei Xiaobao said, he could not refute at all. Thereupon he said, ”Jiaozhu, please stop being angry. This Thin Toutuo did not say anything that dishonor Jiaozhu; he only said that Jiaozhu was narrow-minded. Last time everybody plotted rebellion but failed, that important matter was spoiled by subordinate, one child; everybody was indignant, but Jiaozhu wanted to seize the chance to take revenge. He said that Jiaozhu was sending someone named He Sheng to do the deed. This man was Priest Wugen's head disciple. Your disciple actually did not know if there is indeed someone by that name in our Cult.”