Now, Zheng Xiong, the Iron-Faced Heavenly King, led the three sedan chairs straight for the Genshan Gate, his heart in his mouth the whole way. Just as he reached the Genshan Gate, he saw that the gate was shut, and four officers came out of the gate guardhouse. Of these four officers, one was surnamed Wang, one Ma, one Wei and one Zhao, and all four of them already knew Zheng Xiong. Zheng Xiong had always loved making friends and knew everybody; from dukes and marquises at the top down to common folk at the bottom, a great many people knew him. Today the four officers on duty took one look and said, “Why, it’s Master Zheng! Who’s in the chairs? Where are you off to?” “My womenfolk are in the chairs,” said Zheng Xiong. “Today is a day for the offerings, and I’m going out of the city to visit the graves. Would you gentlemen kindly open the gate? I need to get out.” When the four officers heard this, they said, “Master Zheng, today isn’t like other days. Ordinarily the gate isn’t shut at all, and people come and go as they please. But today there are orders from the Capital Garrison Headquarters: all thirteen gates, by water and by land, are shut tight, to catch the robber Dou Yongheng, who broke jail and fled. This is a serious business. If your chairs are going out of the city, we’ll have to lift the curtains and take a look. We’ve always been on good terms, it’s true, but official business is official business.”

“That’s not right, gentlemen,” said Zheng Xiong. “I’m Zheng, and you all know more or less who I am. I’ve never had dealings with bad characters. Would my chairs be hiding a spy? There’s nobody in these chairs but women and children. If you want to look, it’s hardly decent out here on the main street.” “Master Zheng, you’re a sensible man,” said the officers. “We’re doing official business, and this is a weighty matter; we can’t take the responsibility. If you want to go out and won’t let us look, and we let you through anyway, what do we do when the next people come along? If we let you out and nobody else, wouldn’t that be playing favorites?” “Since you gentlemen won’t let me out without looking,” said Zheng Xiong, “I won’t go. I’ll go home.” While the four officers were arguing it out with Zheng Xiong, who would have thought that a runner from Fengshan Street would come hurrying up and say, “Our Lord Bai sent me to bring word to you gentlemen: on no account let these three sedan chairs out of the city. First they were carried out of Yang Meng and Chen Xiao’s house on East Street and carried to Zheng Xiong’s house. Our officer wanted to search, and then Zheng Xiong brought them out again. There must be something behind it.” When the four officers heard this, they said, “Zheng Xiong, whether you let us look or not, we’re going to look.” “I can’t have young women showing their faces in the street,” said Zheng Xiong. “I won’t go. I’ll just go back home, that’s all.” “If you go back,” said the officers, “we still have to look.” “Now that’s not right, gentlemen,” said Zheng Xiong. “When I was going out of the city, you wanted to look because you were afraid I’d take a spy out. If I’m going back home, why do you still want to look?” “Zheng Xiong,” said the officers, “who’s in these three chairs of yours?” As it happened, Zhou Kun was in the first chair, Dou Yongheng in the second and Madam Zhou in the third. “In the first chair is my humble wife,” said Zheng Xiong, “in the second my niece and in the third my sister’s daughter. They’re all young wives and girls.” “Is Dou Yongheng in there?” said the officers. “I don’t even know Dou Yongheng,” said Zheng Xiong. “Where would any Dou Yongheng come from?” “If there’s no Dou Yongheng,” said the officers, “then there’s no harm in our having a look.” “You’re being utterly unreasonable,” said Zheng Xiong. “You’re just throwing your official weight around.”

Just as they were talking, flip-flop, flip-flop, along came Ji Gong from over that way. It turned out that the monk, from the main hall of the Capital Garrison Headquarters, had been invited away to Chancellor Qin’s mansion by the Chancellor’s stewards. As soon as Chancellor Qin saw him, he hurried to offer him a seat. “Holy monk,” he said, “what was it all about? How did Lu Bingwen of the Criminal Court dare to put you in chains and haul you off?” “Since Your Excellency asks this monk,” said the monk, “it was a wrong done me that I couldn’t clear up. Yesterday our temple took on a third-day rite1. The family gave us a pot of cold rice and told us to throw in a hungry-ghost rite for nothing2. When the five of us monks had finished chanting, the family wouldn’t pay, said the presiding monk had a bad voice, and wanted to beat us monks besides. They beat all four of the others; the only one they didn’t beat was me. I went to the Criminal Court to bring a complaint against them, and who’d have thought the Criminal Court wouldn’t listen to reason? He put me in chains and dragged me off. And when we got into the hall, Lord Lu went mad: he let the great robber Dou Yongheng, the Black-Faced Bear, go free.” When Chancellor Qin heard this, he said, “At Baisha Ridge, Dou Yongheng robbed the army’s pay silver on the road and killed the officer escorting it, a crime no better than rebellion. I have already reported it to His Majesty and asked for his name to be marked for execution3. How can he have let him go?” “He’s been let go already,” said the monk. “If Your Excellency doesn’t believe me, send someone to find out.” “Very well,” said Chancellor Qin. “If he has let him go, we’ll see what he does when His Majesty’s ruling comes down. If he really lets this case drop, he’s just asking to be impeached. For the moment it’s not for me to deal with him. Holy monk, stay and drink some wine with me.” “Fine,” said the monk. Chancellor Qin at once sent people to wipe down the table and set out the wine.