Lust had blinded the young man’s wits. He plainly had never imagined that Yudie, a delicate, helpless little creature, would do a thing like that.

There is a knife above the word for lust. (TL Note: the Chinese character for lust, 色, is written with the character for knife, 刀, sitting on top of it. The saying means lust carries a blade over the head of anyone who indulges it.)

The young man paid the price of his own lechery. The scissors went into his belly.

The pain bored into him, and left him startled and furious at once.

He brought his leg up and drove a kick into Yudie’s body.

Bang!!!

Yudie’s slight body struck the dressing table behind her, and bottles and jars came down all over the floor.

Yudie collapsed on the floor. The kick had been no light one, and with the small of her back driven into the dressing table on top of it she could not even get a cry out.

The young man staggered back with his hands over his belly.

When he had his feet again he looked down, set his teeth and pulled the scissors out of his belly, and the blood came out after them.

With one hand over the wound, the young man snarled down at Yudie, who lay on the floor in pain and could not get up. “Cheap bitch. Cheap bitch. You cheap bitch, you dared wound me?”

“I’ll see you dead with nowhere left to bury you.”

The young man took up a candle from beside him and set fire to the bed curtains and the bedding, and then to the window.

The paper on the windows was an oiled paper that kept out rain and wind but caught fire very easily… The bed curtains and the bedding were all things that would burn.

The fire went up at once.

The young man came out into the outer room and heaved the table over against the door with some effort.

Then he ran back, snatched up the wooden box with the notes in it, and stared at Yudie with a snarl on his face. “Cheap bitch. You can wait there and be burned to ashes.”

“Fire! Fire!…”

Terrified screams went up outside.

Every floor of the courtesans’ quarter keeps several big vats standing, always full of water, for putting out fires… because the houses of this world are mostly built of wood, and once a fire starts it must be put out at once or what follows does not bear thinking about.

The people outside were shouting in terror, and some ran to fetch water.

On the second floor, Jiang Daniu and Tian Jiang were drinking.

Hearing that the third floor was on fire, they threw down their cups and came up like madmen.

When they found that it was Yudie’s room burning, their faces changed completely.

The people of the courtesans’ quarter were throwing themselves at the door.

But the door was blocked by the table, and several tries had all failed.

Inside the room the fire was spreading and the smoke rolling up thick.

Yudie tried to get up, but the small of her back hurt so much that she could not rise at all.

“Xiaoxing, wake up… Xiaoxing, Xiaoxing… wake up…”

She was trying to wake Xiaoxing, who had been knocked senseless.

But Xiaoxing did not stir at all.

And she herself took in a few mouthfuls of the thick smoke and was nearly choked into a faint.

With great difficulty she crawled toward the basin of water in the corner.

Because the winter is dry, a great many people keep a basin of water in the room.

Yudie crawled to the basin, wetted her own sleeve and covered her mouth and nose with it… then wetted the other sleeve, crawled with great difficulty across, and covered Xiaoxing’s mouth and nose.

“Xiaoxing, wake up, wake up…”

Yudie understood perfectly well that as she was she could not so much as stand, and that if she wanted to live she had to wake Xiaoxing.

And just then — a bang!

The door came in.

It was Tian Jiang. He was a big man and heavily built, and one wild charge carried the door and the table behind it in together.

Jiang Daniu and Tian Jiang were the first through.

“Miss Yudie, Miss Yudie…”

Jiang Daniu shouted it.

“I’m here, I’m over here…”

Hearing the voice, the two of them ran for the inner room.

The fire had started in the inner room, and it was lucky it had been found in time — the outer room had not caught, though the smoke filled it and choked the breath.

The curtain over the door of the inner room was already alight, and the two of them went through without stopping to think about being burned.

The inner room was thick with smoke by now, and the two of them were nearly choked into a faint.

“Miss Yudie…”

“I’m over here…”

Following the voice, the two of them found Yudie and Xiaoxing without trouble.

Ning Chen finished his business with Geng Jing and went clopping off toward the courtesans’ quarter on Diaochan.

All at once Diaochan stopped and let out a whinny.

Ning Chen went tight all over. That was exactly how Diaochan had behaved during the attempt on him the night before.

Without thinking he took the crossbow off the back of his belt and ran a careful eye around him.

Diaochan put her head down and sniffed at something on the ground.

Seeing it, Ning Chen swung down out of the saddle and squatted, watching all around him and at the same time looking at the place Diaochan was sniffing.

The moon was very bright that night.

By its light Ning Chen saw clearly that what Diaochan was sniffing was blood.

The blood ran on and into a small alley at the side.

He drew his blade, took the crossbow in his hand and came to the mouth of the alley.

The moonlight did not reach into the alley, and it was black dark inside.

Ning Chen squatted down and looked in… and did not risk going in.

Whoever this was had been wounded himself, so he was certainly not here to kill Ning Chen.

Diaochan’s whinny would only have been the smell of blood.

Ning Chen thought about it and made ready to go.

Going into an alley in the pitch dark on the chance of it was too dangerous.

Keep out of other people’s business, and stay well clear of a fight.

Ning Chen stood up and made ready to go.

But in the instant that he turned, the hair stood up on his back and the cold went down his spine.

A dark figure came out of the alley with a dagger in his hand, driving at Ning Chen’s heart from behind like lightning.

By reflex Ning Chen threw himself forward hard, rolled where he landed, came up with the roll and, without looking, brought the crossbow up on instinct and loosed.

Thuck!!!

The bolt took the man in the thigh.

The man’s body dropped and he pitched forward on his face, and at the same moment a wooden box fell at Ning Chen’s feet.

The man struggled up, and then went stiff all over. Ning Chen’s blade was already at his neck.

“Don’t. I beg you… don’t kill me…”

The man shouted it in terror.

Ning Chen looked him over. The man wore a long gown with the sleeves bound and was handsome in the face, but besides the bolt in his thigh he had a wound in the belly that was still bleeding.

“Who are you? Why did you jump me?”

The man said, shaking as he did it, “A mistake, my lord, a mistake. I thought you were one of the men hunting me.”

“Who are you? Who is hunting you?”

“This small man is a man of the jianghu. I fell foul of enemies and they have hunted me the whole way… This small man took my lord just now for one of the men hunting me.”

Ning Chen narrowed his eyes slightly. This man did not look like a man of the jianghu from any angle.

He knew a few men of the jianghu — Tao Qizhi, and Gu Yichun and the rest of them. What all of them had in common was rough, dark skin and a hard, fierce look about them, which was to say the look of bandits.

Of course, perhaps he had seen too little of the world, and there were smooth-faced pretty boys among the men of the jianghu too.

But one thing Ning Chen was certain of. This man was lying.

He said it was a mistake, that he had taken Ning Chen for one of the men hunting him, and that was pure nonsense… Ning Chen was in a fish-scale coat, which stands out in moonlight more than any other clothing.

The man said my lord in every other breath, which meant he knew the fish-scale coat. He had jumped Ning Chen, failed, and then told him it was a mistake… How could Ning Chen possibly believe that?

There was certainly something wrong with this man.

“My lord, the whole of it is a mistake. I beg my lord to raise his noble hand… There are silver notes in that wooden box. If my lord will only let me go, the notes in the box are all my lord’s.”

Ning Chen grinned wide, turned the blade over and brought the back of it down hard on the man’s neck.

The young man did not even grunt. He went out on the spot and dropped in a heap.

“Fool. If I kill you, or take you, the notes are mine either way.”

Ning Chen went over and forced his mouth open.

He had a horror of poison teeth now.

The first thing he did with a man he had taken was force his mouth open and see whether a poison tooth was hidden in it.

Then Ning Chen’s eyes narrowed to points. This fellow had a poison tooth in his mouth.

And at the same time he felt a stir of excitement.

There might be a good deal to get out of this man.

He tried it, and the poison tooth was not easy to pull out.

Crack!

He put the man’s jaw clean out of its socket.

The young man came to with the pain of it.

Ning Chen brought the hilt of his blade down on the man’s neck and knocked him out again.

Then he went over him and made sure there was nothing dangerous on him… and only then got up, fetched the manacles and irons from the horse’s back, and put them on him.

Ning Chen went to the wooden box, worked the catch open warily with the point of his blade, and then flipped the lid up.

He was afraid there might be a hidden weapon in the box.

But when the lid came up, it was full to the top with silver notes.

Holy shit!!!

He took the notes out and counted them. The largest were ten thousand taels apiece and the smallest a thousand, and together they came to a full hundred thousand.

Just then there was the sound of hooves.

It was the garrison’s patrol.

Ning Chen put the box away in the cloth bag on the horse’s back.

“Who’s there?”

The garrison men had seen Ning Chen too.

Ning Chen answered, “Ning Chen, silver coat of the Inspectorate.”

The garrison men came closer, and only when they saw the fish-scale coat on him and his face clearly did they put up their bows and blades.

The officer at the head of them bowed over his clasped hands. “So it is Ning the Silver Coat. Forgive me, forgive me.”

“What is Ning the Silver Coat doing here? Miss Yudie is your woman, isn’t she?”

Ning Chen inclined his head slightly. “She is!”

“Ning the Silver Coat had better get to the courtesans’ quarter. There has been a fire at the courtesans’ quarter and Miss Yudie is hurt.”

Ning Chen’s head rang. “A fire? Hurt?”

“Yes. Somebody set it, meaning to burn Miss Yudie to death… We are hunting for the man now. By Miss Yudie’s account she put a pair of scissors into his belly, so he cannot have gone far. Has Ning the Silver Coat seen anyone suspicious?”

Ning Chen’s eyes tightened. A wound in the belly? As neat as that?

Ning Chen pointed at the young man lying senseless. “I have just taken a man, and he has a wound in the belly. Look and see whether it isn’t this one.”

The officer at their head swung down out of the saddle, went over to the senseless young man, squatted and looked him over, and nodded.

“By the look of the wound it was made by scissors right enough. It seems this must be the man.”

Ning Chen’s face went cold, and murder rose in his eyes.

He looked at the officer at their head. “May I ask your honored name? And what post you hold in the garrison?”

“I am He Qun, Captain of a Hundred, Leopard battalion of the garrison.”

“Captain He, I must trouble you to take this man to the Inspectorate and hand him to Geng Jing, Geng the Purple Coat… Tell him there is a poison tooth in the man’s mouth, and have him set a close guard on him. Until I get back to the Inspectorate, nobody is to have any contact with him.”

He Qun bowed over his clasped hands. “Ning the Silver Coat may rest easy. I will see it done.”

Ning Chen fished out a silver note and held it out.

“Ning the Silver Coat, I cannot take this. It is an honor to do anything for you. This silver I—”

“No more talk. Take it, quickly. It is freezing weather. Call it a cup of tea from me for your brothers.” Ning Chen pushed the note into his hand and swung up into the saddle. “I am going to the courtesans’ quarter. Another day I’ll stand your brothers a drink.”

“Hyah!!!”

Ning Chen put his heels into the horse and Diaochan went out like a loosed arrow.

He rode hard the whole way, and came to the courtesans’ quarter.

Because of the fire the guests of the courtesans’ quarter had all fled.

Ning Chen ran the whole way up the stairs.

Seeing Ning Chen, Tian Jiang and Jiang Daniu hurried up to him with shame all over their faces.

“Young Master Ning, this servant deserves to die. We failed to protect Miss Yudie…”

“Talk later. Where is Yudie?”

“In the old madam’s room.”

Ning Chen came to the old madam’s room in long strides.

The old madam was there, and Miss Nanzhi too.

“Where is Yudie? How is she?”

Nanzhi said quickly, “Don’t be anxious yet, Young Master Ning. Yudie is inside, and the doctor has come and is looking at her. Let us not go in and disturb them. Wait a little.”

Ning Chen’s eyes were cold and hard, and he was holding down the anger in him by force. “What happened, exactly?”

Nanzhi said, “By what Yudie says, the man came in your name, saying he was bringing her something. All I know is that Yudie wounded him… What happened exactly, you had better ask Yudie in a little while.”

And just then a man of fifty or so came out, in a long gown, with a goatee.

The old madam asked quickly, “Doctor, how is it? Yudie is all right?”

The doctor shook his head and sighed.

Seeing the doctor like that, every heart in the room sank.

Ning Chen said heavily, “Doctor, Yudie is my woman. What is her condition? Say it plainly.”

The doctor looked at Ning Chen. “The small of her back struck a table, and the sinew and bone have taken serious damage. She is badly hurt… She may never stand again.”

Ning Chen’s head rang, and his mind went blank.

Nanzhi could not keep her eyes from reddening, and began to cry quietly.

(End of Chapter 208)