Chapter 31

While Qian Long went hungry, the officialadministration in Hangzhou was turned upside down.

　　News of the Emperor's disappearance¹ had not yet leakedout but the whole city had been searched. All exitsfrom Hangzhou by both land and water were heavilyguarded, and several thousand "suspected bandits" hadbeen arrested until every prison was full. The localofficials were very worried, but they also tookadvantage of the situation to seize rich businessmenand merchants and extort² large sums of money fromthem.

　　Fu Kangan, Commander Li and Bai Zhen jumped about likeants on a hot plate, completely at a loss for what todo.

　　Early on the morning of the third day, Fu Kangancalled a meeting in the provincial³ governor'sresidence. Glum-faced and powerless, they argued aboutwhether or not the Empress should be informed. Butnone of them dared consider the consequences once sucha report had been sent.

　　As they sat gripped by indecision, one of the ImperialBodyguards, named Rui, ran in, his face deathly pale,and whispered into Bai Zhen's ear.

　　Bai Zhen went white and stood up. "How could thishappen?" he demanded. Fu Kangan hurriedly asked whatwas wrong.

　　"The six bodyguards⁴ standing⁵ guard outside theEmperor's bed chamber⁶ have been killed," Rui said. Farfrom being alarmed, Fu was pleased by this news.

　　"Let us go and see," he said. "This event must beconnected with His Majesty's disappearance. We mayeven find some clues."They hurried to the bed chamber that had been setaside in the Governor's residence for Qian Long. Sixcorpses lay at all angles around the room. Some hadhad their eyes gouged⁹ out, some had gaping¹⁰ holes intheir chests: All had died horribly.

　　"These six brothers were good fighters," said BaiZhen. "How could they have been finished off withoutbeing able to even utter a sound?"They stared in open-mouthed horror, incapabale ofdeciphering the scene. Bai Zhen examined the corpse⁸.

　　The assassins had moved so fast, some of the six hadnot even had time to draw their swords.

　　He frowned. "This room is not big enough for a largenumber of people to fight in, so at the very mostthere cannot have been more than two or three ofthem," he said. "Their kung fu must be extraordinary.""Since they already have the Emperor, why should theycome and kill these bodyguards?" asked Commander Li.

　　"From the look of it, last night's assassins and thepeople who kidnapped the Emperor are not the samebunch.""That's right!" exclaimed Fu Kangan. "The assassinscame, planning to kill the Emperor, but found hewasn't there.""I would guess that you are correct," said Bai Zhen.

　　"If the men who killed the bodyguards were from theRed Flower Society, then the Emperor has fallen intosomeone else's hands. But apart from the Red FlowerSociety, who else is there whose kung fu is so good?"The Red Flower Society's fighters were alreadydifficult enough to handle: the sudden appearance ofyet another group of powerful enemies froze his heart.

　　Bending over to look at the corpses⁷ again, Bai Zhennoticed that some of the wounds appeared to have beenmade by the claws and teeth of a dog, and he hurriedlyasked Commander Li to send someone to find somehunting hounds.

　　About two hours later, a soldier appeared with threehunters and six hounds. Bai Zhen ordered the huntersto let their charges sniff¹¹ around the corpses, andafter a second the dogs charged out of the chamber onthe trail of a scent¹². They ran straight to the lakeand barked madly across the water. After a moment,they raced off again along the lake shore to whereQian Long had stepped ashore¹³ following the courtesancontest, then turned towards the city. The streetswere crowded and the scent confused, and the dogs wereforced to slow down, but they continued to headtowards Beautiful Jade's establishment.

　　There should have been troops on guard outside theentrance, but none were to be seen, and as theyentered the courtyard they found a dozen corpses lyingon the ground. The ruthless assassins had not left onebodyguard alive. Some had had their throats ripped outby dogs, which Bai Zhen thought appeared from thewounds to be very large animals, possibly a crossbetween dogs and wolves such as were bred in thenorthwest. Could the assassins have come from there?

　　The dogs sniffed¹⁴ their way around Beautiful Jade'schamber several times, then began scratching andpawing at a certain point on the floor. Bai Zhenordered the soldiers to prise up the floor boards withtheir swords and underneath¹⁵ they found a stone slab¹⁶.

　　"Lift it up!" Bai Zhen ordered urgently. The soldiersheaved the slab up, revealing a deep hole into whichthe dogs immediately leapt. Commander Li and Bai Zhenlooked down at the tunnel glumly¹⁷. The kidnappers¹⁸ hadavoided the heavy guard by coming and going via thetunnel. Full of shame, they led their troops down intothe darkness.

1 disappearance   

n.消失，消散，失踪

参考例句：

• He was hard put to it to explain her disappearance.他难以说明她为什么不见了。
• Her disappearance gave rise to the wildest rumours.她失踪一事引起了各种流言蜚语。

2 extort   

v.勒索，敲诈，强要

参考例句：

• The blackmailer tried to extort a large sum of money from him.勒索者企图向他勒索一大笔钱。
• They absolutely must not harm the people or extort money from them.严格禁止坑害勒索群众。

3 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

4 bodyguards   

n.保镖，卫士，警卫员( bodyguard的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Brooks came to Jim's office accompanied—like always—by his two bodyguards. 和往常一样，在两名保镖的陪同下，布鲁克斯去吉姆的办公室。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Three of his bodyguards were injured in the attack. 在这次袭击事件中，他有3名保镖受了伤。 来自辞典例句

5 standing   

n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的

参考例句：

• After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
• They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。

6 chamber   

n.房间，寝室；会议厅；议院；会所

参考例句：

• For many,the dentist's surgery remains a torture chamber.对许多人来说，牙医的治疗室一直是间受刑室。
• The chamber was ablaze with light.会议厅里灯火辉煌。

7 corpses   

n.死尸，尸体( corpse的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The living soldiers put corpses together and burned them. 活着的战士把尸体放在一起烧了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Overhead, grayish-white clouds covered the sky, piling up heavily like decaying corpses. 天上罩满了灰白的薄云，同腐烂的尸体似的沉沉的盖在那里。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说

8 corpse   

n.尸体，死尸

参考例句：

• What she saw was just an unfeeling corpse.她见到的只是一具全无感觉的尸体。
• The corpse was preserved from decay by embalming.尸体用香料涂抹以防腐烂。

9 gouged   

v.凿( gouge的过去式和过去分词 )；乱要价；（在…中）抠出…；挖出…

参考例句：

• The lion's claws had gouged a wound in the horse's side. 狮爪在马身一侧抓了一道深口。
• The lovers gouged out their names on the tree. 情人们把他们的名字刻在树上。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

10 gaping   

adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大

参考例句：

• Ahead of them was a gaping abyss. 他们前面是一个巨大的深渊。
• The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 sniff   

vi.嗅…味道；抽鼻涕；对嗤之以鼻，蔑视

参考例句：

• The police used dogs to sniff out the criminals in their hiding - place.警察使用警犬查出了罪犯的藏身地点。
• When Munchie meets a dog on the beach, they sniff each other for a while.当麦奇在海滩上碰到另一条狗的时候，他们会彼此嗅一会儿。

12 scent   

n.气味，香味，香水，线索，嗅觉；v.嗅，发觉

参考例句：

• The air was filled with the scent of lilac.空气中弥漫着丁香花的芬芳。
• The flowers give off a heady scent at night.这些花晚上散发出醉人的芳香。

13 ashore   

adv.在(向)岸上，上岸

参考例句：

• The children got ashore before the tide came in.涨潮前，孩子们就上岸了。
• He laid hold of the rope and pulled the boat ashore.他抓住绳子拉船靠岸。

14 sniffed   

v.以鼻吸气，嗅，闻( sniff的过去式和过去分词 )；抽鼻子（尤指哭泣、患感冒等时出声地用鼻子吸气）；抱怨，不以为然地说

参考例句：

• When Jenney had stopped crying she sniffed and dried her eyes. 珍妮停止了哭泣，吸了吸鼻子，擦干了眼泪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The dog sniffed suspiciously at the stranger. 狗疑惑地嗅着那个陌生人。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 underneath   

adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面

参考例句：

• Working underneath the car is always a messy job.在汽车底下工作是件脏活。
• She wore a coat with a dress underneath.她穿着一件大衣，里面套着一条连衣裙。

16 slab   

n.平板，厚的切片；v.切成厚板，以平板盖上

参考例句：

• This heavy slab of oak now stood between the bomb and Hitler.这时笨重的橡木厚板就横在炸弹和希特勒之间了。
• The monument consists of two vertical pillars supporting a horizontal slab.这座纪念碑由两根垂直的柱体构成，它们共同支撑着一块平板。

17 glumly   

adv.忧郁地，闷闷不乐地；阴郁地

参考例句：

• He stared at it glumly, and soon became lost in thought. 他惘然沉入了瞑想。 来自子夜部分
• The President sat glumly rubbing his upper molar, saying nothing. 总统愁眉苦脸地坐在那里，磨着他的上牙，一句话也没有说。 来自辞典例句

18 kidnappers   

n.拐子，绑匪( kidnapper的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They were freed yesterday by their kidnappers unharmed. 他们昨天被绑架者释放了，没有受到伤害。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The kidnappers had threatened to behead all four unless their jailed comrades were released. 帮匪们曾经威胁说如果印度方面不释放他们的同伙，他们就要将这四名人质全部斩首。 来自《简明英汉词典》