Chapter 42

Mournful dirges¹ played as the Muslims dug deeptrenches and buried the bodies of the fallen warriorsupright and facing west. Puzzled, Chen asked one ofthe nearby soldiers why the dead were buried in thisway.

　　"Because we believe in Islam," the soldier replied.

　　"If the body is buried upright, then the spirit willascend to the heavenly kingdom. They face west becausethat is the direction of sacred Mecca."When the burials were finished, Muzhuolun led theentire army in prayer to thank Allah for helping³ themachieve such a great victory. Then a great cheer wentup from the ranks and the commanders of all the unitswent before Huo Qingtong and presented their sabres toher in respect.

　　"Inflicting such a crushing defeat on the Manchus alsodoes us a great service," 'Leopard⁴' Wei remarked toXu, but Xu was deep in thought.

　　"The Emperor made a pact⁵ with us, yet he didn'twithdraw his forces," he said. "Could it be that heintentionally sent his troops into the desert to bedestroyed?""I have no faith in this Emperor," said Wen. "Howcould he know Mistress Huo Qingtong would win sodecisively? What's more, I doubt if he sent ZhangZhaozhong out here for any good purpose."As the heroes talked, they noticed Chen gazing at HuoQingtong in concern. She was seated to one side, herface as white as a sheet, with a wild look in hereyes. Luo Bing went over to talk to her and as HuoQingtong stood up to greet her, she swayed unsteadily.

　　Luo Bing caught hold of her.

　　"Sister, what's wrong?" she asked. Huo Qingtong saidnothing, but fought to control her breathing. PrincessFragrance, Muzhuolun, Chen and the others ran over.

　　Princess Fragrance⁶ led her into a tent and laid herdown on a carpet.

　　Muzhuolun knew his daughter was exhausted⁷ after thebattle which she had both directed and taken part inalongside the other warriors². She had also had to bearthe suspicions of her own commanders. But he wasafraid that the thing affecting her most was therelationship between Chen and her sister. Unable tothink of anything to say to comfort her, he sighed andleft the tent. He went for a walk round the camp, andfrom all sides heard nothing but praise for HuoQingtong's brilliant strategy.

　　That night, he slept badly, worrying about hisdaughter. Early the next day before the sky was light,he went over to her tent to see how she was, but foundher tent was empty. He hurriedly asked the guardoutside what had happened to her.

　　"Mistress Huo Qingtong left about two hours ago," theguard replied.

　　"Where did she go?""I don't know, Lord. She told me to give you thisletter." Muzhuolun grabbed it and tore it open.

　　Inside, in Huo Qingtong's delicate hand, was written:

　　"Father, the war is now over. All that is necessary isto tighten⁸ the encirclement and the remaining Manchusoldiers will be annhilated in a few days, (signed)your daughter.""Which direction did she go?" he asked. The guardpointed east.

　　Muzhuolun found a horse and galloped⁹ off immediatelyin pursuit. He rode for an hour into the depths of theflat desert where it was possible to see several milesin all directions, but found no sign of any livingbeing. Afraid that she may have changed direction, hedecided the only thing to do was to return to thecamp. Half way back, he met Princess Fragrance, Chenand the other heroes who were all anxious about hersafety. Once back in camp, Muzhuolun sent units out tothe north, south, east and west to search. By evening,three units had returned without finding anything,while the fourth brought back a young Chinese youthdressed in black clothes.

　　'Scholar' Yu stared at the youth in shock: it was LiYuanzhi dressed as usual in boy's clothes.

　　"What are you doing here?" he asked, hurrying up tomeet her.

　　"I came to find you, and happened to run into them,"she replied, very happy to see him again.

　　Princess Fragrance was frantic¹⁰ with worry about herlost sister. "What can have happened to her?" sheasked Chen. "What can we do?""I will go and find her," he replied. "Come what may,I`ll convince her to come back.""I'll go with you," she said at once.

　　Chen nodded. "All right. Go and ask your father.""You all do just as you like anyway," Muzhuolunreplied angrily, stamping his foot. Princess Fragrancelooked up at her father and saw how bloodshot his eyeswere. She took his hand and squeezed it.

　　Yuanzhi ignored the others, and bombarded Yu withquestions about what had happened to him since theyhad parted.

　　"That's the boy your sister likes," Chen said toPrincess Fragrance, pointing at Yuanzhi. "He willcertainly be able to convince her to come back.""Really? Why has she never told me? She's toohorrible!" the Princess replied. She walked overtowards Yuanzhi to get a closer look. Muzhuolun, whowas equally curious, did the same.

　　Yuanzhi had met Muzhuolun previously¹¹ and she bowedbefore him in greeting. Then she saw PrincessFragrance and was immediately struck speechless by herextraordinary beauty. Princess Fragrance smiled atChen and said: "Tell this gentleman that we are verypleased to see him, and ask him to come with us tohelp find my sister."Only now did Chen greet Yuanzhi. "Why are you here,Brother?" he asked. "How have you been since we lastmet?"Yuanzhi blushed and laughed. She glanced at Yu,wanting him to explain.

　　"Great Helmsman, this is Master Lu's pupil," Yu said.

　　"I know, we've met several times."Yu smiled. "She is therefore my martial¹² sister.""What?" Chen exclaimed in surprise.

　　"She likes wearing boy's clothes when she travels."Chen looked closely at Yuanzhi and noticed for thefirst time how delicate her eyebrows¹³ were, and howsmall her mouth, not at all like a man's. Because ofthe relationship with Huo Qingtong, Chen had neverlooked closely at her before, but now he stared inshock.

　　"I was completely wrong about Mistress Huo Qingtong,"he thought. "She told me to go and ask Master Lu abouthis pupil and I never did. Could she have left thecamp because of me? And then there's her sister wholoves me deeply."Luo Bing could see how Yuanzhi felt towards Yu and shehoped that with such a beautiful girl in love withhim, he could release himself from the self-torture ofhis adoration¹⁴ of herself. But he looked as desolateand unhappy as ever.

　　"Where is Sister Huo Qingtong?" Yuanzhi asked. "I havesomething important to tell her.""She's gone. We're looking for her now," Luo Bingreplied.

　　"She went out by herself?"Luo Bing nodded.

　　"Where did she go?" Yuanzhi asked urgently.

　　"She left the camp heading east, but whether or notshe changed direction, we don't know.""Oh, no!" Yuanzhi exclaimed, stamping her foot. Theyasked her what was wrong. "The Three Guandong Devilsare looking for Sister Huo Qingtong to get theirrevenge on her. You know that already. But I met themon the road. They're behind me. If she is headingeast, she might run into them.""We don't have a moment to lose," said Chen. "I willgo and find her.""Don't underestimate the Three Devils," Xu warned. "Itwould be better if several of us went. Great HelmsmanChen should go first with Princess Fragrance. MistressLi, you also know her, but it would be too dangerousfor you to go alone. Perhaps Brother Yu could go withyou. My wife and I can go and search too, while theothers remain here at the camp to watch for ZhangZhaozhong.""Fine!" said Chen. He borrowed Luo Bing's white horseand he and Princess Frangrance galloped off with theothers not far behind.

　　At about noon that day, Wen and the other heroes werechatting with Muzhuolun in his tent when a guardrushed in to report that the Manchu general Herda hadescaped and the four soldiers guarding him had beenkilled. They hurried over, and found a dagger¹⁵ stuck inthe chest of one of the dead soldiers with a noteattached to it which read: "To the heroes of the RedFlower Society from Zhang Zhaozhong".

　　Wen angrily screwed the piece of paper up into a ball.

　　"Master Muzhuolun," he said. "You maintain theencirclement of the Manchus, and we'll go and findthis traitor¹⁶ Zhang Zhaozhong." Muzhuolun nodded, andWen led the other heroes off into the desert,following the tracks of the Manchu horses.

1 dirges   

n.挽歌( dirge的名词复数 )；忧伤的歌，哀歌

参考例句：

• The radio played dirges all day long. 广播电台整天都在播放哀乐。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• It was as if the Night sang dirges with clenched teeth. 那仿佛是夜神正在那儿咬牙切齿地唱挽歌。 来自辞典例句

2 warriors   

武士，勇士，战士( warrior的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• I like reading the stories ofancient warriors. 我喜欢读有关古代武士的故事。
• The warriors speared the man to death. 武士们把那个男子戳死了。

3 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

4 leopard   

n.豹

参考例句：

• I saw a man in a leopard skin yesterday.我昨天看见一个穿着豹皮的男人。
• The leopard's skin is marked with black spots.豹皮上有黑色斑点。

5 pact   

n.合同，条约，公约，协定

参考例句：

• The two opposition parties made an electoral pact.那两个反对党订了一个有关选举的协定。
• The trade pact between those two countries came to an end.那两国的通商协定宣告结束。

6 fragrance   

n.芬芳，香味，香气

参考例句：

• The apple blossoms filled the air with their fragrance.苹果花使空气充满香味。
• The fragrance of lavender filled the room.房间里充满了薰衣草的香味。

7 exhausted   

adj.极其疲惫的，精疲力尽的

参考例句：

• It was a long haul home and we arrived exhausted.搬运回家的这段路程特别长，到家时我们已筋疲力尽。
• Jenny was exhausted by the hustle of city life.珍妮被城市生活的忙乱弄得筋疲力尽。

8 tighten   

v.(使)变紧；(使)绷紧

参考例句：

• Turn the screw to the right to tighten it.向右转动螺钉把它拧紧。
• Some countries tighten monetary policy to avoid inflation.一些国家实行紧缩银根的货币政策，以避免通货膨胀。

9 galloped   

（使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事

参考例句：

• Jo galloped across the field towards him. 乔骑马穿过田野向他奔去。
• The children galloped home as soon as the class was over. 孩子们一下课便飞奔回家了。

10 frantic   

adj.狂乱的，错乱的，激昂的

参考例句：

• I've had a frantic rush to get my work done.我急急忙忙地赶完工作。
• He made frantic dash for the departing train.他发疯似地冲向正开出的火车。

11 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

12 martial   

adj.战争的，军事的，尚武的，威武的

参考例句：

• The sound of martial music is always inspiring.军乐声总是鼓舞人心的。
• The officer was convicted of desertion at a court martial.这名军官在军事法庭上被判犯了擅离职守罪。

13 eyebrows   

眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Eyebrows stop sweat from coming down into the eyes. 眉毛挡住汗水使其不能流进眼睛。
• His eyebrows project noticeably. 他的眉毛特别突出。

14 adoration   

n.爱慕，崇拜

参考例句：

• He gazed at her with pure adoration.他一往情深地注视着她。
• The old lady fell down in adoration before Buddhist images.那老太太在佛像面前顶礼膜拜。

15 dagger   

n.匕首，短剑，剑号

参考例句：

• The bad news is a dagger to his heart.这条坏消息刺痛了他的心。
• The murderer thrust a dagger into her heart.凶手将匕首刺进她的心脏。

16 traitor   

n.叛徒，卖国贼

参考例句：

• The traitor was finally found out and put in prison.那个卖国贼终于被人发现并被监禁了起来。
• He was sold out by a traitor and arrested.他被叛徒出卖而被捕了。