"But you promised him that you would be a good emperor," Princess Fragrance protested. "How can you renege on your promise?"
"I will do whatever I want," he roared. "No-one can tell me what to do." All his pent up anger from the humiliating audience with the Dowager spilled out.
His words struck Princess Fragrance like a fist-blow to the chest. "So the Emperor is going to cheat him," she thought in anguish. "If only we had known earlier, I wouldn't have had to come back here." She almost fainted at the shock of it.
Seeing her face suddenly go pale, Qian Long immediately regretted being so coarse. "If you will treat me well," he said, "I will naturally not harm him. In fact, I will make him a senior official and allow him to become rich and powerful."
But Princess Fragrance was not listening. She was trying to work out a way of letting Chen know of the Emperor's deceitfullness, so that he wouldn't fall into a trap. She frowned deep in thought, her expression adding to the beauty of her face, and Qian Long stared at her, mesmerized.
"Everyone in the palace is a servant of the Emperor," she thought. "So who can deliver a letter for me? There's only one way to do it."
"So you promise not to harm him?" she said.
Qian Long was delighted. "I promise, I promise," he replied immediately. There was not the slightest touch of sincerity in his voice, and Princess Fragrance glanced at him in hatred.
"Early tomorrow, I want to go to a mosque," she said evenly. "I will only do as you say after I have prayed to Allah."
Qian Long smiled. "All right," he replied. "But there is to be no more delay after tomorrow."
Princess Fragrance watched him leave, laughing as he went, then found a pen and paper and wrote out a letter to Chen warning him of the Emperor's intentions, and telling him that the plan to overthrow the Manchus was just a dream. She urged him to quickly devise away to rescue her. When she had finished, she wrapped the letter in a blank sheet of paper and wrote on it in the Moslem script: "Please deliver speedily to the Great Helmsman of the Red Flower Society, Chen Jialuo." She knew the respect all Muslims had for her father and sister, and the way in which they worshipped her herself, and felt certain that if she just had a chance to pass the letter on to any Muslim in the mosque, they would certainly find a way to deliver it.
Having written the letter, her heart felt much easier. She was certain Chen was capable of anything and would easily find a way to rescue her. At that point, a sense of indescribable warmth and sweetness swept over her, and tired out from the day's exertions, she fell fast asleep.
Through the mists of slumber, she became aware of bells chiming around the palace, and opened her eyes to find the sky was already growing light. Hurriedly, she arose and washed herself, then combed her hair. The maid servants went to look after her knew she would allow no-one near her and watched from a distance. She carefully secreted the letter in her sleeve and then left the pavilion. Eunuchs were already waiting outside with a palanquin and took her to the mosque on the West Avenue of Eternal Peace while bodyguards crowded round both before and aft.
Seeing the round dome of the mosque as she descended from the palanqin, she felt both happiness and anguish. She walked through the mosque's entrance with head bowed and noticed two men walking on either side of her. They were dressed as Muslims, and she was about to pass the letter to one of them, then stopped herself. His features and manner were not at all those of her people. She glanced at the other man and saw he was the same.
"Were you sent by the Emperor to guard me?" she asked quietly in the Muslim tongue. Both men nodded, not understanding what she had said.
Disappointed, she turned round and saw there were another eight palace guards dressed as Muslims behind her, and that all the real Muslims were being kept at a safe distance. She walked over to the chief Imam of the mosque and said: "Please make sure this letter is delivered no matter what happens." The Imam started in shock as Princess Fragrance pushed the letter into his hand. A guard rushed forward and snatched the letter away and gave the Imam a heavy push on the chest, causing him to stumble and almost fall. The other worshippers looked at each other in surprise, wondering what was going on.
"What do you people think you're doing?" the Imam demanded angrily.
"Mind your own business," the guard hissed at him. "We are from the palace."
Severely frightened, the Imam did not dare to say another word, and turned to lead the gathering in prayer.
Princess Fragrance knelt down with the others and tears welled out of her eyes like water from a spring. In the midst of her pain and sorrow only one thought remained: "How can I warn him to be on his guard? I must let him know even if I die doing it, but how?"
"By dying!" The realisation streaked across her brain like a flash of lightning. "If I die here, word will get out and he will hear of it. That's it. There's no other way!"
Then the Prophet's words sounded in her ears like thunder: "Those who take their own life will fall into the eternal fires and will never escape." She was not afraid of death, and believed that people who died could ascend to Paradise and be re-united with their loved ones for eternity. But with suicide, there was nothing to look forward to but never-ending pain!
A violent shiver ran through her and she suddenly felt extremely cold. She listened for a moment to the congregation reciting the scriptures.
For a true religious believer there is nothing more terrible than the consignment of the soul to eternal Hell, but she could see no other way. Love overcame the greatest fear of all.
"Most sacred and Holy Allah," she whispered. "It is not that I don't believe you care for me. But there is no other way except by using my own blood."
She took the dagger out of her sleeve and on the stone in front of her, carved out the words "Don't trust the Emperor." Then she lightly called out the word "Brother!" and thrust the blade into the purest, most beautiful breast in this world.
8
That morning, while the Red Flower Society heroes were discussing the situation in their quarters in Twin Willow Lane, a servant appeared to announced the arrival of the Emeror's chief bodyguard, Bai Zhen. Chen went out alone to meet him. Bai Zhen passed on the Emperor's invitation to all the leading members of the Red Flower Society to attend a banquet in the Lama Temple that evening to be hosted by the Emperor himself. He explained that the banquet was being held outside the palace in order to avoid raising the suspicions of the Empress Dowager and the Manchu nobles. Chen expressed his thanks. He assumed the news indicated Princess Fragrance had already done what had to be done and had given in to the Emperor, and felt an inexpressible mixture of emotions. After having seen Bai Zhen out, he returned to discuss matters with the heroes, who were very excited that the Emperor was keeping his part of the bargain, although they were also painfully aware of the sacrifice Chen had made to make it possible.
They passed the rest of the morning in kung fu training, and Chen showed the others some of what he had learned inside the White Jade Peak. Just as they were in the midst of the practice, they heard wailing and mournful singing outside. At first, they did not take much notice, but the noise gradually increased in volume, as if thousands of people were gathering in an state of extreme grief.
Xin Yan had lived in the desert for a long time and recognised the song as a Muslim funeral dirge. His curiosity aroused, he ran out to find out what was going on, and returned a while later, unsteady on his feet and ashen-faced. He walked over to Chen. "Master!" he exclaimed, his voice shaking.