he demanded.
"Little brother," Tong said. "Tell me where the three visitors who came to your house today are hiding and I"ll give you this to buy sweets with." He took out a silver ingot and presented it to the boy.
The boy made a face at him. "Who do you think I am? Do you think any member of the Zhou family of Iron Gall manor would want your stinking money?"
Zhang studied the child"s face and guessed he knew where Wen was hidden. "Just you wait until we find them," he warned. "We will behead not only your father, but you and your mother as well."
The boy raised his eyebrows. "I"m not afraid of you, so why would my father be afraid of you?" he replied.
Suddenly, Tong noticed the boy was wearing a pearl bracelet on his left wrist and recognised it immediately as Luo Bing"s.
"Those pearls on your wrist. They belong to one of the visitors," he said. "You must have stolen them from her."
Why should I steal?" the boy replied angrily. "She gave them to me."
Tong laughed. "All right. She gave them to you. Well, where is she?"
"Why should I tell you?"
"Stop chattering with the child," Zhang interrupted. "They wouldn"t let a child in on the great affairs of the Manor. He would certainly have been shooed away before they hid the three guests in their secret place."
As he hoped, the child rose to the bait. "How would you know?" he shouted.
Meng was becoming anxious. "Let"s go inside, little brother," he said.
Zhang seized the opportunity. "Yes, go away little boy. You don"t know anything."
The boy could stand it no longer. "I know!" he shouted. "They"re in the garden, in the pavilion!"
Meng was greatly alarmed. "Little brother, what nonsense are you talking? Go inside quickly!"
As soon as the words were out, the boy knew he had made a mess of everything. He flew indoors, panic-stricken and on the verge of tears.
Zhang could see that the pavilion, wide and empty with red-painted railings around its sides, provided no hiding place. He leapt onto one of the railings and looked up into the roof, but saw no sign of a hiding-place. He jumped down again and stood silently, deep in thought. Then he had an idea.
"Master Meng," he smiled. "My kung fu is unsophisticated, but I have some clumsy strength. Let us have a competition."
"I wouldn"t dare to be so presumptuous," Meng replied. "With weapons or without, I leave the choice to you."
Zhang laughed loudly. "There"s no need for fighting, it would injure this amiable atmosphere. No, I suggest we take turns at trying to lift this stone table. I hope you won"t laugh at me if I can"t."
Meng started in fright. "No, it"s...it"s not a good..." he stuttered.
The others were surprised at Zhang"s desire to engage Meng in a test of strength, and they watched intently as he pushed up his sleeves and grasped one of the round legs of the stone table with his right hand. He shouted the word "Lift!", and raised the 400-odd pound table off the ground using just the one hand.
They applauded him for his strength, but the shouts of applause quickly changed to calls of surprise as they noticed the iron plate that had been exposed.
The officers lifted up the plate and saw Wen in the hole beneath them, but none dared to go down and arrest him. They couldn"t use darts either as they had been ordered to capture him alive, so all they could do was stand at the entrance to the cellar, weapons in hand, shouting at him.
"We"ve been betrayed by Iron Gall Manor," Wen said quietly to Luo Bing. "We are husband and wife, and I want you to promise me one thing."
"What"s that?"