Now, Zhao Bin, watching from the darkness, saw the man go in with his saber drawn to kill the master and his servant. Shaking with fright, the young gentleman knelt on the floor and begged, “Grand sir, please calm your thunderous anger and let me explain.” The old servant knelt too. “What’s the story with you two, master and man?” said the stalwart. “Out with it, quick!” The old steward said, “Since you ask, sir: my master’s name is Xu Zhiping, and his family comes from Jian’an County. The old master, his father, was Xu Zhankui, a close friend of Han Dianyuan, the steward of the gardens here at Chancellor Qin’s mansion. Han Dianyuan has a daughter the same age as my young master. Of his own free will he offered her to my young master in marriage, and the betrothal gifts were sent when they were small. Later the old master passed away, and our house was struck by a fire from heaven that burned the family’s great fortune till not a tile was left. So I came here with my young master to seek help from the family he was to marry into. When Han Dianyuan saw our ragged clothes, he began to think of breaking off the match; he scorns the poor and loves the rich. To all appearances he took us in, and he had my young master study here in the garden. Who would have thought he’d send you, sir, to do away with us?” The stalwart with the saber heard him out. “So that’s how it is. I truly didn’t know.” As he spoke, he took the hundred taels of silver from his breast. “I give it to the two of you. Take it and run for your lives, quick. Find somewhere to stay, apply yourself to your books and wait for the year of the great examination1, so you can go and win yourself an official career. You can’t stay here. I’m afraid he’ll still try to harm you.” Outside, Zhao Bin heard this and said, “Nicely done!” He was a straightforward sort. Forgetting that he was eavesdropping, he felt so pleased that the words were out before he knew it. Hearing someone speak outside, the stalwart sprang out and swung his saber straight down at Zhao Bin’s head. Zhao Bin parried quickly with his kitchen cleaver, and the two of them traded a few passes. A thought struck Zhao Bin: how come his saber moves are the same as mine? The stalwart was puzzled too. He leapt quickly out of the fight and pointed with his saber. “Hold your hand a moment! What’s your name? Where do you live? Who taught you this saber play? What are you doing here?” “My name is Zhao Bin,” said Zhao Bin, “and people call me Pick-It-from-a-Pocket (Tannang Quwu). If you know how dangerous I am, you won’t come asking to die.” At this the stalwart flung his saber down. “So it’s you, my worthy brother! This is the flood washing away the Dragon King’s temple2: one family that doesn’t know its own.” “Who are you?” said Zhao Bin. “My name is Yin Shixiong,” said the stalwart. “Worthy brother, you’ve forgotten your elder brother.” Zhao Bin thought, “When I was eight or nine, Yin Shixiong was training under my father. That was more than ten years ago.” Only then did Zhao Bin tuck away his kitchen cleaver and hurry over to salute him, and the two talked of all that had passed since they parted. “When I came back from escorting goods3 on the East Road,” Yin Shixiong said, “I heard that our master’s wife and you had come to the capital, so I came looking for you, but I never found you. I fell ill at the Sanshun Inn with a sore on my leg, and there I met this garden steward, Han Dianyuan. He owns the Sanshun Inn. He had me treated, brought me into the garden and nursed me back to health. Today he gave me a hundred taels of silver to kill his enemy. When I got here and asked, I found out what this was all about. Worthy brother, what are you doing here?” Zhao Bin told him briefly what had happened since they parted, and that today he had come on Ji Gong’s orders to steal the Celestial Master’s talisman of the Five Thunders and Eight Trigrams. “Lucky for you that you ran into me today,” said Yin Shixiong. “If you hadn’t, you’d never have got that talisman. First help me get Xu Zhiping and his servant away, and then I’ll help you steal it.”

Only then did the two of them go into the room. “Pack up quickly and run for your lives,” they told Xu Zhiping. “This hundred in silver is yours for the journey.” Xu Zhiping asked Yin Shixiong’s name, and the old servant, Xu Fu, kowtowed to him. “Thank you, my benefactor.” They hurriedly packed up the zither, the sword and the book chest4. “Benefactor Yin,” said Xu Fu, “it’s the dead of night. Where are the two of us to go? This is the capital, with watchmen and night patrols everywhere. They’ll take us in. What are we to do?” Yin Shixiong saw the sense of this. “Younger Brother Zhao,” he said, “you have somewhere to put them. Take the two of them there, and tomorrow we’ll find them an inn.” “Elder Brother Yin, wait here a little,” said Zhao Bin. “You two, master and servant, come with me.” He led the two of them out through the side gate of the garden. Zhao Bin had meant to take them to his own home, but they had barely left the garden gate and gone a short way when he saw someone standing in front of them. It was Ji Gong.

When Zhao Bin saw him, he said, “Master, you’ve come? Good. These two, master and servant, are in such and such a fix.” “Good,” said Ji Gong. “This is just what I came for. I was drinking with them in the study, said I was stepping out to relieve myself, and came here. Hurry off and do my business. Hand these two over to me.” Xu Zhiping took a look and saw a ragged monk. “How should I address this reverend monk?” he asked at once. “This is Elder Ji Gong of Lingyin Temple,” said Zhao Bin. At this Xu Zhiping quickly bowed. Ji Gong took the two of them to Li Guoyuan’s house, told Xu Fu to set his load down in the courtyard, and led them into the study. Zhao Wenhui and Li Guoyuan were in the middle of their wine. Seeing Ji Gong bring in a young scholar and an old servant, they stood up at once. “Master, where have you brought these two from?” The monk told them Xu Zhiping’s story, and Li Guoyuan understood. “Lend him a few rooms,” the monk said, “and let him study here. If anything goes wrong, this monk will answer for it.” Li Guoyuan saw how refined Xu Zhiping was. “Master, so be it.” He hurried to offer them seats, and they all drank together. At the third watch5 they heard a shout from outside: “This god is here!6 Elder Ji Gong, hear me: this god has stolen the Celestial Master’s talisman of the Five Thunders and Eight Trigrams and brought it to you.”

Ji Gong hurried out. On the roof were Zhao Bin and Yin Shixiong. What had happened was this. Once Zhao Bin had handed Xu Zhiping and his servant over to the monk to take away, he went back to the garden, found Yin Shixiong, and the two of them made for the Getian Tower. The Getian Tower was twenty-five bays wide, its floor broad and spacious. They lit a fire-stick7 to see by, and there in the middle was the hanging shrine. Yin Shixiong climbed up and saw a hardwood case on top of it. He opened it and looked: it was the Celestial Master’s talisman of the Five Thunders and Eight Trigrams. “Got it, Brother,” said Zhao Bin. “Let’s go, the pair of us.” “If we just leave,” said Yin Shixiong, “there’ll be big trouble.” “What trouble?” said Zhao Bin. “Think about it,” said Yin Shixiong. “He’s the chancellor of the realm. If he loses his family heirloom, won’t he demand it back from the local officials? Then the officials will dig to the bottom of it, and all sorts of trouble is bound to be dragged out. Better to cut the grass and pull up the roots for him!” With that he took out his tinder and set fire to the window lattices of the Getian Tower. The two of them leapt out of the tower. The blaze flared up, golden snakes darting every which way, fierce flames leaping into the sky. What did it look like? There is a verse of praise to prove it:

The two of them had long since shot out over the wall. Using their art of flying over eaves and running along walls, they came to the roof of the main hall of the Li residence and shouted, “This god has come!” Ji Gong came out and took the talisman from them. Then he took a little yellow bag and put in five hundred coppers, a censer full of rice and five bowls of offering cakes9. “Old Wei10,” the monk said, “take these away with you. This is the family’s thank-offering.” Up above, Zhao Bin took them and cried, “This god departs!” Then he went home with Yin Shixiong to see his mother, and of that no more. Our story turns to the monk. He took the Celestial Master’s talisman of the Five Thunders and Eight Trigrams inside and opened it to look. It was the right one. Li Guoyuan quickly sent a trustworthy servant to take it to his sworn elder brother, Li Chunshan. They went on drinking all night. At daybreak Ji Gong took his leave. Li Guoyuan wanted to give him gold and silver, but Ji Gong said, “If you want to thank me—” and he whispered thus and thus in his ear, “—this monk will take it kindly. Look after Xu Zhiping well while he studies.” Li Guoyuan agreed. Ji Gong took his leave. He was walking along when he saw someone planted in front of him, dressed as a household servant. “Ji Gong, where are you off to?” “Who’s that?” said the monk. “My master who owns the inn has had forty strokes of the rod,” said the servant, “and he’s badly hurt. I hear you have wonderful elixirs, sir. Please come and treat him.” “Who’s your master?” said the monk. “Han Dianyuan, who runs the Sanshun Inn,” said the servant. “He’s steward of the gardens at Chancellor Qin’s mansion. Last night the Getian Tower in the garden caught fire, and Chancellor Qin was furious. He said Han Dianyuan had been careless and gave him forty strokes of the heavy rod. Now he’s in pain he can hardly bear.” At this the monk went with him to the Sanshun Inn. As he came into the counting room, he saw Han Dianyuan lying there, groaning without stop. Several of the inn’s men were trying to comfort him. When they saw the monk come in, they all said, “There, this master has wonderful elixirs. Reverend Master, have mercy!” The monk laughed and pointed at him. “No wonder drug can cure a sickness of sin; Heaven is quick to repay a cruel heart.” Hearing this, Han Dianyuan gave a start. “This monk really is something,” he thought. “Last night I sent Yin Shixiong to kill Xu Zhiping, my daughter’s intended, and his servant, and he never came back. The two of them are gone, and for no reason the Getian Tower catches fire.” Then he said, “Holy monk, save me! I’ve gone against my conscience!” “If I cure you,” said the monk, “will you give your daughter to Xu Zhiping or not?” “If I get well,” said Han Dianyuan, “I’ll gladly find Xu Zhiping and give him my daughter, and never go back on it. Chancellor Qin has already thrown me out. I’d never dare have second thoughts about this again. If I do, may Heaven strike me down and Earth destroy me.” The monk gave him a piece of medicine to eat, and at once the pain of the beating stopped. The monk told him to go to Li Guoyuan’s house to fetch Xu Zhiping, and Han Dianyuan nodded. The monk left the Sanshun Inn and walked on. Ahead he saw a ring of people, three deep inside and three deep outside, packed so tight that no one could move, and a cloud of grievance rising to the sky. The monk worked it out by his inner light. “Oh dear! Amitabha! How can this monk not look into this?” Truly, one affair is not yet over when another comes along. He quickly parted the crowd and squeezed in to look, and there was a strange turn of events to startle anyone.

To learn what happened next, read the next chapter.