Beautiful Jade took a sip and smiled. "Master Dongfang, how can I ever thank you?" she said.
Qian Long raised his cup and drained it in one draught. "Sing a song first," he said, also smiling. "We will discuss at our leisure how you can thank me."
Beautiful Jade picked up a pipa and began to play softly.
While the Emperor drank and enjoyed himself inside, Commander-in-Chief Li arrived with a detachment of troops and encircled the alley with ring after ring of guards. His officers searched every nearby house thoroughly, leaving only Beautiful Jade's room untouched. Bai Zhen ordered a group of guardsmen to patrol the roof tops with bows and arrows at the ready. Countless men have been to brothels over the centuries, but Qian Long's visit was surely the most imposing and awe-inspiring visit of all.
The guards and soldiers were kept busy the whole night, but dawn finally broke without anything untoward having happened. The sun rose, and He Jia tiptoed over to Beautiful Jade's bed-chamber to peek through a crack in the window. He spied Qian Long's boots lying by the bed and retreated. Eight o'clock passed, nine o'clock and ten o'clock and still there was no sign of the Emperor rising. Becoming anxious, He Jia returned to the window and called quietly: "Master, would you like some breakfast?" He called several times, but there was no response.
He went to the door and gave it a push, but it was barred from inside. "Master!" he called out loudly. Still no answer from the room. He Jia was very concerned, but he didn't dare break the door down. Instead, he went to discuss the situation with Commander Li and Bai Zhen.
"Why don't we tell the old house woman to go and knock on the door with some breakfast. His Highness won't be offended," suggested Li.
"An excellent idea, Commander," Bai Zhen said.
The three went off to look for the old woman, but found the whole establishment was deserted. Greatly alarmed at the situation, they began banging frantically on Beautiful Jade's door.
"Force it open!" ordered Li. Bai Zhen put both of his palms on the door, and with a sight push, snapped the door bar.
He Jia went in first and carefully pulled apart the bed curtains to find the bed clothes in disarray but absolutely no sign of Qian Long or Beautiful Jade. He fainted to the floor in fright.
Bai Zhen hastily called in some guards and searched the establishment, but they failed to find so much as half a clue. How could the Emperor have disappeared when the guard they had mounted was so tight that not even a sparrow could have escaped without being noticed? Bai Zhen toured round the room once more looking for a secret door, but he knocked and banged for a long time without finding anything suspicious. The Imperial Guard Commander Fu Kangan and the provincial governor arrived having received news of Qian Long's disappearance, and they all gathered in the middle of Beautiful Jade's boudoir, pale frightened and completely at a loss for what to do.
6
After listening to Beautiful Jade sing for a while and drinking a few cups of wine, Qian Long had begun to feel a little sleepy.
Beautiful Jade smiled. "Would you like to lie down?" she asked. He nodded in answer, and she helped him take off his clothes and boots, led him over to the bed and covered him with the bed clothes.
"I'll just go out for a second, then come back to you," she said. Feeling lulled and drowsy from the scented pillow and sheets, Qian Long heard a faint sound in front of the bed.
"You mischievous girl," he said with a smile. "What's the hold up?"
The curtain opened and a head appeared. Under the candlelight Qian Long could see it had a pock-marked face, and thick sideburns, very different from Beautiful Jade's fair features. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief and looked again just as the intruder placed a shining dagger by his neck and said quietly in Cantonese: "Damn your ancestors, you bastard Emperor, make one sound and I'll use this."
Qian Long's lust dissipated in a flash as if he had been doused with a bucket of iced water. The man said nothing more, but stuffed a handkerchief into Qian Long's mouth, then rolled him up tightly in the eiderdown and carried him off.
Unable to move or make a sound, Qian Long's eyes stared at the blackness and felt himself being carried down a flight of steps. His nose caught the musty smell of mud and dank humidity, then after a moment, he felt himself being carried upwards again. He realized the man must have emerged from a hidden tunnel in the room.
He felt himself being shaken and heard the sound of wheels starting to move, and knew he was in a carriage. In his terror, he wondered who had kidnapped him and where they were taking him.
The carriage travelled for a long time. After a while the road became uneven, and the carriage shook and bumped about, indicating they had left the city. Finally they stopped, and Qian Long felt himself lifted out of the carriage and carried upwards, one step after another endlessly until he thought they must be ascending a high peak. He was so frightened, his whole body quaked, and surrounded by darkness inside the quilt, he almost began to cry.
Finally, he was put down with a bump. He waited quietly, not daring to speak, but a long while passed without anything happening. He slowly pushed aside the quilt in which he was wrapped and looked out to find everything in total darkness. He fancied he could hear the sound of waves breaking a long way off, and concentating he also heard the wind rippling through fir trees and the clear, steady chime of a brass bell. The wind became stronger and stronger, gusting angrily, and he thought he felt the structure he was in rocking slightly. Even more afraid, he moved as if to stand up.
"If you want to live, don't move," a deep voice close by growled. Qian Long jumped in fright and stayed as still as he could.
Gradually, the wind subsided and it began to grow light until he could see he was in a small room. Having climbed for so long to reach it, he wondered if it was a house on the peak of a mountain. He heard a series of snuffling noises, and listening carefully, realised the guards were eating noodles. From the sound of it there were two of them, chewing great mouthfuls with relish. Having been awake all night, he felt hungry and his appetite sharpened as the smell of the noodles wafted over to him.
The two finished eating. One of the guards walked over and placed a full bowl of prawn and eel noodle soup about five feet from his head.
"Is that for me?" Qian Long wondered to himself. But the guards said nothing, and despite his hunger he did not dare to open his mouth to ask.
"That bowl of noodles is for you," one of the guards finally said. "There's no poison in it."
Qian Long was overjoyed. He sat up to get the bowl, but a wave of cold struck his body and he remembered that he was naked. He hastily lay down again and wrapped himself in the quilt. How could he stand up in front of strangers without a stitch on?
"Damn your ancestors, so you're afraid of poison are you?" one of the guards said. "All right, I'll eat it to show you." He picked up the bowl and guzzled its contents down.
Qian Long looked at his scar-covered face in fright. "I am not wearing anything," he said. "Please get me some clothing."
Even though he said please, his words still smacked of an Imperial order. The man grunted. "I don't have time," he replied. It was 'Melancholy Ghost' Shi.
Qian Long's anger surged up, but remembering his life was in their hands, he swallowed his Imperial pride.
"Are you Red Flower Society men?" he asked. "I want to see your leader, Chen."
"You had our Brother Wen treated so badly, his body is a mass of wounds. The Great Helmsman is busy finding a doctor to help heal him. He has no time to see you," Shi replied. "Maybe when Brother Wen has recovered, we'll think about it."