Jin Yong - The Book and The Sword

Huo Qingtong, meanwhile, was examining her map again, looking for a path from the Jade Pool out to the Secret City, when she heard shouts and turned to see Gu running crazily towards her screaming: "Kill me! Kill me!" Shocked and angry, she raised her sword and ran it through his chest. As she pulled the blade out again, a stream of blood spattered her yellow robe and Gu collapsed on the ground. Hahetai knelt over him and tried to stop the blood flow, but it was impossible. Gu gasped in pain.

"Do you have any affairs that need settling, Brother?" Hahetai asked him.

"I just want to touch her hand, then I can die happy," Gu whispered, looking up at Huo Qingtong.

"Mistress!" Hahetai pleaded. "He's about to die. Take pity…" Huo Qingtong turned without a word, and walked away, her face deathly pale. Gu gave a long sigh, and his head fell to one side, dead.

Holding back his tears, Hahetai jumped up and pointed his finger accusingly at Huo Qingtong.

"You're merciless!" he shouted. "I don't blame you for killing him, but you could at least have given him your hand to touch, so that he could die peacefully. What difference would it have made to you?"

"Nonsense! Shut your mouth!" Zhang Jin said angrily.

Hahetai made no reply. He picked up Gu's body and strode away. Yu led over a horse for him.

"Brother Hahetai," he said. "I respect you for being an upright man. Please take this horse."

Hahetai nodded and slung Gu's body over the horse's back. Yu filled a bowl with water and drank half of it, then presented it to the Mongol.

"This water can take the place of wine," he said. Hahetai threw back his head and drained the bowl at one draught, then rode away without looking back.

The heroes started out for the wolf stockade in high spirits, singing and laughing as they went. Master Yuan questioned Chen about the origin of the strange kung fu style he had used, and Chen gave him a detailed account of his discovery.

"What an extraordinary coincidence," Yuan said in delight. "One could never make such a find by purposely looking for it."

After several days travel, they arrived at the stockade and climbed up on to the parapet to look inside. The wolf pack had long since eaten the herd of animals and were now fighting over the carcases of their dead comrades, barking and snapping at each other. The scene was cruelly tragic and even the hardened heroes were shocked. Princess Fragrance could not bear the sight, and went back down to talk with the Muslim guards.

Yu pulled Zhang to the edge of the wall, and began to mumble a prayer: "Oh, spirit of my benevolent teacher, we have today avenged your death." He reached over and took the knife Xu was holding, cut the rope binding Zhang's hands and feet and kicked him off the edge.

Zhang had been seriously injured by Chen's last two blows, but his Inner Strength Kung Fu was profound, and he had basically recovered by the time they reached the stockade. As he fell towards the floor of the stockade, he knew he had no chance of survival, but he still had to fight one last time. The wolves threw themselves at him just before he hit the ground. He grabbed two of the beasts by their necks and whirled them round and round, forcing the others to back off and slowly made his way to the stockade wall.

They knew he would die. Despite their hatred for him, Chen, Luo Bing and the others with weaker stomachs could not bear to watch to the end and walked back down from the parapet.

That evening, after they had set up camp, Chen told Master Yuan about his meetings with the Emperor Qian Long. Yuan was amazed by the twists and turns in the story, and when it was finished, he pulled a small, yellow cloth bundle from his bag.

"Last spring," he said, handing the bag to Chen, "your foster father, Great Helmsman Yu, sent the Twin Knights to see me and asked me to look after this, saying there were two important items inside. They didn't say what they were and I haven't opened the bag to see, but I imagine they must be the evidence the Emperor wants."

Chen opened the bag and and found a small parcel tightly wrapped in three layers of water-proof oil paper. Inside was a tiny box made of redwood. He opened the lid, revealing two plain envelopes yellowed with age. Inside the first envelope was a sheet of paper on which was written: "Master Chen, send someone over with your newborn son for me to see. Yong Di."

Master Yuan read it, but could not grasp it's significance. "What does it mean?" he asked. "Why would your foster father have considered this note to be so important?"

"It's written by the Emperor Yong Zheng," Chen replied.

"How do you know?"

"There were many examples of the Emperor's calligraphy around our home when I was young, so I recognise it easily. But this note was obviously written before he became Emperor. Yong Di was the name he used before he ascended the throne. Also, after he became Emperor, he would not have referred to my father as 'Master'." Yuan nodded.

Chen counted off the months and years on his fingers. "I was born after Yong Zheng became Emperor, and so was my brother. My sister was born at about that time, but this letter says: 'Your newborn son'. This is excellent evidence!"

He opened the second envelope and took out a letter. As soon as he saw the writing, tears sprang to his eyes.

"What is it?" Yuan asked.

"This is my mother's writing," he replied. He wiped away his tears and began to read the letter:

"Dear Brother Yu, our fate has run its course. What more is there to say of my ill-fated life? All I am concerned about now is the troubles I have brought upon you. You are a brave and upright man, but because of me, you have been rejected even by your own martial school. Of my three sons, one is in the depths of the Imperial Palace, one has gone off into the desert, and the one who is left to keep me company is both stupid and wicked. It makes me very sad. My youngest son is very intelligent and has been put under the care of an excellent teacher. I love and miss him, but I am not worried about him.

"My eldest son is playing the role of Manchu Emperor and knows nothing of his origins. Brother Yu, can you enlighten him for me? To prove it, tell him he has a bright red birthmark on his left buttock, and he will have to believe you.

"My strength is gradually failing. Day and night, all I think and dream of is the times we had together when we were young. If Heaven has pity on us, we will meet after death and spend the rest of eternity together as man and wife. (signed) Sister Chaosheng."

Chen was deeply shocked as he read the letter.

"Teacher," he said, his voice quavering. "Is the… the 'Brother Yu' in the letter my foster father?"

"Who else?" Master Yuan replied sombrely. "He and your mother fell in love when they were young, but things did not go as they wished, and they were separated. As a result, he never married."

"Why did my mother want me to go and live with him and treat him as my real father? Could it be…?"

"I was Master Yu's closest friend, but I only know that he broke the regulations of the Shaolin School and was expelled. He would never raise such a humiliating matter himself and it was difficult for others to ask him about it. But he was a good man, and I'm certain he would not have done anything to be ashamed of." He slapped his thigh. "When he was expelled, I felt sure he had been falsely accused and I got together some fighters with the idea of going to Shaolin monastery and demanding an explanation. It nearly created a serious split in the fighting community. But your foster father disagreed strenuously, insisting that the expulsion was his own fault and all he deserved. In the end, I did nothing. But I still don't believe he would have done anything shameful. I don't know what it could have been." His lingering anger was still apparent. "After he was expelled from the Shaolin school, he went and lived as a hermit for several years. Later he founded the Red Flower Society."