he whispered.
"Do something, quick," she hissed. "My mother"s in there. They"ve got her tied up."
Xu was startled. "Back to the room quickly and we"ll discuss it there," he said.
They returned to the room.
"What is there to discuss?" demanded Zhou Qi desperately. "They"ve captured my mother."
"Control yourself. I will rescue her for you," Xu replied. "How many people were there in the room?"
"About six or seven."
Xu hung his head, deep in thought.
"What are you afraid of?" Zhou Qi asked. "If you won"t do it, I"ll go by myself."
"I"m not afraid. I"m thinking of a way to save your mother and kill that fellow at the same time. It would be best if we did the two things together."
Just then, footsteps passed by the door, and they heard a man muttering: "Midnight and these lead escorts are still at it. What are they doing drinking at this time? Damn their mothers! May the blessed Buddha make sure they meet up with robbers on the road."
Suddenly, Xu had an idea. "That Doctor Cao gave you two packets of medicine, didn"t he?" he said to Zhou Qi. "Give me the one he said would make you unconscious, quickly."
Zhou Qi gave him the packet. "What are you going to do?" she asked. Xu didn"t answer, but opened the window and jumped out with Zhou Qi close behind.
They ran along the corridor. Suddenly Xu whispered: "Get down, don"t move."
Zhou Qi wondered what trick he was up to. A moment passed, then suddenly they saw a flicker of light as the servant came back towards them carrying a candlestick and a tray. Xu picked a pebble off the ground and threw it, extinguishing the candle.
The servant started in surprise. "This is damn ridiculous," he cursed. "There"s no wind at all, and yet the candle goes out."
He put down the tray and turned to relight the candle. While his back was turned, Xu darted out, and in a flash, he had tipped the medicine into the two pots of wine on the tray and slipped away without the servant noticing.
"Let"s go and wait outside their room," he said to Zhou Qi.
They made their way round to the exterior of the lead escort"s room and settled down to wait. Xu looked in through the hole in the window covering and saw a middle-aged woman seated on the floor with her hands tied behind her back. There were several men sitting around her, including Master Han, the white horse"s former owner, and Lead Escorts Qian and Tong. They were engaged in a lively discussion.
"When people talked of Iron Gall Manor, they always said it was impregnable as if it had walls of iron," Tong was saying. "But with just my one torch, it was razed to the ground. Ha ha!"
Outside the window, Xu shook his hand at Zhou Qi, afraid that she would have a fit of rage.
"Old Tong, stop bragging," Han replied. "I"ve met Zhou and I doubt if all of us together could beat him. If he ever comes looking for you, you"ll be in a pretty situation!"
"But look!" replied Taong. "We must have a lucky star, otherwise how could Zhou"s old woman manage to find us? With her in our hands, how would he dare to do anything to us?"
Just then, the servant entered with the wine and food, and the bodyguards immediately began eating and drinking heartily. Han was quiet and dispirited and Tong continually urged him to drink the wine, saying "Brother Han, even heroes are helpless when they"re outnumbered. Next time, we"ll take the Red Flower Society one to one and see who"s the better."
"And who are you going to take on, old Tong?"