She gave a captivating smile, and with a slight press from her thighs, the white horse shot forward. The wind whistled by her ears and the trees on either side fell behind her row by row. She rode for over an hour, and the horse still showed no signs of fatigue, his hooves prancing high as he galloped along. Soon, fertile fields began to appear along the side of the road, and she arrived in a large town. She dismounted and went to a restaurant to rest for a while, and in reply to her question, she was told the town was called Sandy Wells, and was more than twenty miles from the place where she had stolen the horse.
The more she looked at the animal, the more she liked it. She fed him hay herself and stroked its coat affectionately. As she did so, she saw a cloth bag hanging from the saddle. Opening it up, she found an Iron Pipa inside.
"So the horse belongs to someone from the Iron Pipa School of Luoyang," she thought. "This could cause some trouble."
She put her hand into the bag again and pulled out twenty or thirty taels of silver coins and a letter inscribed with the words: "To be opened only by Master Han Wenchong. Sealed by Master Wang." The envelope was open, and as she unfolded the letter, she saw it was signed: "Yours sincerely, Weiyang".
She started slightly in surprise. "So the fellow is connected with Wang Weiyang of the Zhen Yuan Bodyguard Agency," she thought. "We still have to get even with them, so stealing this horse could be considered part payment. If I had known earlier, I wouldn"t have given him a gold ingot."
She looked again at the letter and saw it urged Han to meet up as soon as possible with the Zhen Yuan agency"s Yan brothers and assist them in protecting an important item being brought back to Beijing. Then Han was to help escort something to south China. It added that Han should suspend his investigation into whether or not "Guandong Devil" Jiao Wenqi had been killed by the Red Flower Society, and resume it at some future time.
"Jiao Wenqi was also a member of the Iron Pipa School in Luoyang," Luo Bing thought. "It"s rumoured that he was killed by the Red Flower Society, but in fact it was not so. I wonder what the important item is that the Zhen Yuan Agency is escorting? After Fourth Brother is rescued, we can go and collect it together."
Very happy at this thought, she finished her noodles, mounted up and sped off again. The rain continued to fall, sometimes light, sometimes heavy. The horse galloped like the wind, and she lost count of how many horses and carts they overtook.
"This horse is going so fast, if the others ahead are resting for a while, I might miss them altogether by just blinking," she thought.
Just then, someone slipped out from the side of the road and waved. The horse stopped instantly in mid-gallop and backed up several paces. The man bowed before her.
"Mistresss Wen," he said. "The Young Master is here." It was Great Helmsman Chen"s attendant, Xin Yan.
Xin Yan walked over and took the horse"s reins. "Where did you buy such a good horse?" he asked in admiration. "I nearly missed you."
Luo Bing smiled. "Is there any news about Fourth Brother?" she asked.
"The Twin Knights say they have seen him. Everyone"s in there." He pointed to a small, decrepit temple by the side of the road.
"Look after the horse for me," she said. Inside, seated in the temple"s main hall were Chen, the Twin Knights and the other heroes. Seeing her entering, they all stood and warmly welcomed her. Luo Bing bowed before Chen and explained that she had been too impatient to wait for the others, and hoped that he would forgive her.
"Your concern for Fourth Brother is understandable," Chen said. "As to your failure to follow orders, we will discuss a penalty when we have rescued him. Twelfth Brother, please make a note of it." "Melancholy Ghost" Shi nodded.
Luo Bing smiled like a flower and turned to the Twin Knights. "Have you seen Fourth Brother?