Chapter 54

When Chen had gone, Qian Long dismissed the eunuchsand opened the small box. He read the Emperor YongZheng's note and the letter written by his naturalmother, which said correctly that he had a redbirthmark on his left buttock. He sighed. There couldno longer be any doubt about his true origins. Heordered a eunuch to bring him a brazier and threw thedocuments one by one into the fire. As the flamesleapt up, he began to feel more at ease, and on animpulse, threw the small wooden box into the flames aswell, filling the room with heat and smoke.

　　He stared for a moment at the jade vases on the table,then said to the eunuch: "Send her up." The eunuchdisappeared, and returned on his knees to report:

　　"Your slave deserves to die. The lady refuses tocome."Qian Long laughed shortly and glanced at the jadevases again. Then he stood up and went downstairs. Twoeunuchs followed carrying the vase.

　　One floor down, a maid servant pulled aside a curtainand Qian Long walked through into a room full of freshflowers. Two other maids servants took the vases fromthe eunuchs and carefully placed them on a table.

　　A girl wearing a white gown was sitting facing thewall. With a wave of his hand, Qian Long dismissed themaid servants from the room. He had just opened hismouth to speak when the door curtains parted and twobodyguards came in and stood quietly by the entrance.

　　"What are you doing here? Get out," he said angrily.

　　"Your slaves have orders from the Empress Dowager toprotect Your Highness," said one of the bodyguards.

　　"I'm fine. What do I need protection for?""The Empress Dowager knows she ... that the lady isnot ... that she is strong-willed, and is afraid thatshe will inflict injury on Your Highness's preciousself."Qian Long glanced down at his bandaged hand, andshouted: "There's no need. Get out!"The two bodyguards kowtowed frantically but did notretire. He knew that no matter what, they would notdare to disobey the Empress Dowager's orders, so hetook no further notice of them, and turned back toface the girl in the white gown.

　　"Turn round, I have something to say," he said in theMuslim tongue. The girl took no notice. In her handwas a dagger. She gripped it even tighter.

　　Qian Long sighed. "Look at what is on the table," hesaid. The girl ignored him for a moment, but finallyher curiosity got the better of her. She glanced roundand saw the pair of jade vases, and at the samemoment, the Emperor and the bodyguards were dazzled bythe sight of her beauty: it was Princess Fragrance.

　　She had been captured by General Zhao Wei's army andsent to Beijing under special guard to the Emperor.

　　Qian Long thought it would be more interesting to beable to talk to the girl directly, so he called for ateacher to teach him the Muslim tongue. He was anintelligent man and studied diligently, and after afew months he could talk in a halting fashion.

　　But Princess Fragrance was already tightly bound toChen. Furthermore, Qian Long had been responsible forthe death of her father, making her even more adamentin her refusal of his advances. Several times she hadbeen forced almost to the point of suicide, but eachtime she thought of Chen and restrained herself.

　　"I will be just like I was when surrounded by thewolves," she thought. "That large wolf wanted to eatme, but my knight finally saved me."Qian Long watched her becoming more haggard day byday. He was afraid she would die of melancholy, so hecalled for the capital's best craftsmen and had thePrecious Moon Pavilion built for her to live in.

　　But Princess Fragrance took not the slightest notice.

　　The priceless treasures used to decorate the pavilionwere ignored, except for the murals covering thewalls. They depicted scenes of the Muslims areas, andshe stared at them glassy-eyed, reliving over and overthe carefree happiness of the days when she and Chenhad been together.

　　Sometimes Qian Long spied on her secretly and saw herstaring into distance, the trace of a smile playingaround her lips. One day he could resist it no longerand he stretched out his hand to grasp her arm. Therewas a flash of a dagger, and only Princess Fragrance'signorance of kung fu and his own sprightliness savedhim. But his left hand had been cut and in a momentwas covered in blood. He was so scared by the incidentthat from that moment on, he did not dare to riskannoying her again. When the Emperess Dowager heard ofthe matter, she ordered the eunuchs to take the daggeroff her, but Princess Fragrance pointed it at herchest whenever anyone came near her and threatened tocommit suicide. So Qian Long ordered them to stay awayfrom her and not to interfere.

　　Princess Fragrance was also afraid they would putsomething in her food or drink, so apart from freshfruit she had peeled herself, she would touch nothing.

　　Qian Long had a Muslim-style bath constructed for her,but she refused to use it, and after many days of notbathing, her body's fragrance became even morepronounced. Originally naive and ignorant of worldlyaffairs, she became increasingly strong andknowledgeable as the weeks went past as a result ofher exposure to the evil people who populated thepalace.

　　As soon as she spotted the vases, she started in shockand quickly turned back to face the wall, gripping thehilt of the dagger tightly and wondering what QianLong was up to.

　　He sighed. "When I first saw your image on the vases,I was certain that such a person could not exist inthis world," he said. "But now I have seen you, I knowthat the greatest of craftsmen could not capture a tenthousandth of your beauty."Princess Fragrance ignored him.

　　"If you continue to worry like this all day, you aregoing to become ill," he continued. "Do you miss yourhome? Go and look out of the window." He ordered thebodyguards to open the window shutters.

　　Seeing the two bodyguards and Qian Long standing nearthe window, Princess Fragrance harrumphed and turnedaway. Qian Long understood and walked to the otherside of the room and ordered the bodyguards to do thesame. Only then did Princess Fragrance slowly walkover to the window and look outside. She saw theexpanse of sand and the Muslim tents and her hearttwisted in pain. Two tears rolled slowly down hercheeks, and she picked up one of the vases on thetable and threw it with all her strength at QianLong's head.

　　One of the bodyguards shot forward and intercepted thevase, but it slipped from his grasp and shattered onthe floor just as the second vase came flying afterthe first. The other bodyguard tried to catch it, butit slipped through his hands and smashed beside thefirst vase.

　　Afraid that she would try some other way of harmingthe Emperor, the bodyguards sprang across the room ather. Princess Fragrance immediately turned her daggerround and put it to her throat.

　　"Stop!" Qian Long shouted frantically, and thebodyguards halted in the tracks. Princess Fragranceretreated several steps, and as she did there was aclinking sound as something fell from her dress to theground. The bodyguards were afraid it was some kind ofweapon and quickly picked it up. Seeing it was a pieceof jade, they handed it to the Emperor.

　　Qian Long took hold of it, and his face drained ofcolour. He recognised it instantly as the piece ofwarm jade he had given to Chen on the breakwater atHaining. When he had presented it, he had told Chen togive it to the lady of his heart as an expression oflove.

　　"Do you know him?" he asked, flustered. He paused fora second, then said: "Where did this piece of jadecome from?"Princess Fragrance put out her hand. "Give it back tome," she said.

　　Qian Long's jealousy flared. "Tell me who gave it toyou and I will return it.""My husband gave it to me."Qian Long was greatly surprised by this reply.

　　"Are you married already?""I have not married him in body yet, but my heart haslong been married to him," she answered proudly. "Heis the kindest and bravest person in the world. I knowhe will rescue me from you. He is not afraid of youand neither am I, even though you are Emperor.""I know the man you are talking about," he said, hisvoice full of hatred. "He is the Great Helmsman of theRed Flower Society, Chen Jialuo. He is just a banditleader. What is so special about him?"Princess Fragrance's heart leapt for joy at the soundof Chen's name and her face lit up.

　　"So you know of him too. It would be better if you letme go."Qian Long looked up and happened to catch a glimpse ofhis own face in a dressing table mirror. He thought ofChen, his features handsome and cultured, equallyversed in scholarship and the martial arts and knew hewas no match for him. Full of jealousy and hatred, hethrew the jade piece at his image and smashed both itand the mirror, covering the floor in broken glass.

　　Princess Fragrance rushed forward to pick up the jade,which was unharmed, and wiped it lovingly, making QianLong even more angry. With a stamp of his foot, hestormed out of the room and down the stairs.

　　He went to the quiet study where he usually read andwrote poetry, and spotted a half-written poem on thedesk entitled 'The Precious Moon Pavilion': "The FairyPrincess is in the Pavilion, A vision from the Son ofHeaven's dreams of former days."Now, in a flash of anger, he ripped the poem up, andthen sat in silence for a long time.

　　Slowly, his temper cooled, and he thought: "I am theSon of Heaven, I am all-powerful. So it finally comesout that this barbarian girl's stubbornness is theresult of interference by Chen Jialuo. His appeal tome to drive the Manchus out of China is a good idea,but if things do not go as planned, not only will theaffair end in failure, but could end my life as well.

　　I've been debating this matter for months now, unableto come to a decision. What should I do?"And another thought rushed to the fore: "I can dowhatever I like already, and if this affair issuccessful, it could mean I would be controlled bythese people. Can I allow myself to become a puppet?

　　Why abandon concrete assets for the sake of improvingmy reputation? This Muslim girl thinks of nothing buthim. All right, we'll settle these two matterstogether."He told a eunuch to call for Bai Zhen who appearedshortly afterwards. "Station four top-rankingbodyguards on each floor of the Precious Moon Pavilionand another twenty outside," he ordered. "There mustbe no slip-ups of any kind." Bai Zhen bowed. "And callfor Chen Jialuo again. I have important business todiscuss with him. Tell him to come alone."