asked another of the bodyguards.
"I"m going to find that daughter of Zhou"s..." Before he could finish, he slumped to the floor. The others all started in fright, but as they jumped up to help him, and one by one, they dropped to the ground unconscious.
Xu prised the window open with sword, then leapt into the room. Zhou Qi hurriedly cut the ropes which bound her mother"s hands. Lady Zhou was speechless at the sight of her beloved daughter: she felt as if she was in a dream.
Xu lifted Tong up. "Mistress Zhou," he said, "Avenge your brother."
With a sweep of her sword, Zhou Qi killed Tong instantly. She raised her sword again to kill the other lead escorts, but Xu stopped her.
"The crimes of the others do not deserve death. Spare them," he said.
She nodded and withdrew her sword. Lady Zhou knew her daughter"s temper, and was surprised at how she obeyed Xu.
Xu searched the bodies of the lead escorts and found several letters which he placed in his gown, planning to examine them later.
The three returned to their room. Xu picked up their knapsacks and left a small silver ingot on the table in payment for the room and the food. Then they went to the stables, led out three horses and galloped off eastwards.
When she realized her daughter was not only travelling with a man but had shared a room with him, Lady Zhou"s suspicions rose even further. Her temper was as explosive as her daughter"s.
"Who is this gentleman?" she asked accusingly. "How come you are with him? You lost your temper with you father and left, didn"t you?"
"It was you that lost your temper and left," Zhou Qi replied. "Mother, I"ll talk to you about this later."
It looked as if an argument was about to start, and Xu quickly tried to mediate.
"It"s all your fault," Zhou Qi told him angrily. "Do you want to make it worse?"
Xu smiled and walked away. Mother and daughter pouted silently, each thinking her own thoughts.
That night, they took lodgings in a farm house, and once they were in bed, mother and daughter together, Zhou Qi finally told her everything that had happened. Lady Zhou kept up a constant bombardment of questions and the two were crying one minute and laughing the next. It was past midnight before they had each given a rough sketch of the events since they parted.
Heartbroken and angry over the death of her son, Lady Zhou had gone to Lanzhou to stay with relatives, but after a few days, she began to feel restless, and left. On reaching Tongguan, he saw the Zhen Yuan Agency"s flag outside the Yuelai Inn. She remembered that the man responsible for her son"s death was a Lead Escort Tong and that evening she had gone to the inn to investigate. She listened to the lead escorts talking, and discovered Tong was among them. Unable to control her anger, she attacked him, but the agency men had the superiority of numbers and she was captured.
The next day on the road, Lady Zhou asked Xu about hisfamily background.
"I am from Shaoxing in Zhejiang province," Xu replied. "When I was twelve, all the members of my family were killed by the authorities. I was the only one who managed to escape."
"Why did they do that?" asked Lady Zhou.
"The magistrate of Shaoxing prefecture liked my sister and wanted her as his concubine. But she had already been promised to someone else, so my father naturally refused to agree. The magistrate then accused my father of being in collusion with bandits and put him and my mother and brother in prison. He told my sister that all she had to do was agree, and my father would be released. My sister"s husband-to-be went to assassinate the magistrate, but he was caught and beaten to death by the guards. When my sister heard, she drowned herself in the river. After that, what chance did the rest of the family have of being spared?"