"I really want to go and bathe," Princess Fragrance replied. She stared out at the cool water once again. "Wouldn"t it be nice if the three of us could live here together forever!" she said softly.
Huo Qingtong"s heart jumped. She blushed, and quickly turned her head away towards the White Jade Peak.
A long time passed and still Chen did not emerge. Princess Fragrance took off her leather boots and put her feet in the water. Resting her head on her sister"s lap, she gazed up at the white clouds in the sky and slowly fell asleep.
** 3 **
"Scholar" Yu and Yuanzhi understood why Xu had sent them out together to look for Huo Qingtong. Yu was greatly moved by Yuanzhi"s obvious love for him, and by the fact that she had saved his life several times. But the more infatuated she became, the more he shrank away from her, for what reasons, he didn"t himself understand. As they travelled, she laughed and chattered with him, but he remained cool to her advances.
One day towards noon, they spied a small donkey hobbling towards them across the desert, its rider nodding from side to side as he snoozed. As they got closer, they saw it was a Muslim with a large saucepan slung across his back and a donkey"s tail in his right hand. The donkey, they noticed, was tail-less and was wearing an Imperial Guard officer"s cap. The rider looked about forty years of age and had a luxuriant beard covering his face. When he saw them, he smiled warmly.
Yu knew Huo Qingtong"s name was known across the length and breadth of the desert. "Excuse me," he said. "Have you seen Mistress Huo Qingtong?"
The man laughed. "Why are you looking for her?" he asked.
"There are several bad men after her and we want to warn her. If you see her, could you give her the message?"
"All right. What sort of bad men?"
"Two are big Chinese, and the third is a Mongol," Yuanzhi answered.
The man nodded. "Yes, they are bad. They wanted to eat my donkey, but I stole this hat from them." Yu and Yuanzhi glanced at each other.
"There was someone else with them?" Yu asked.
"The man wearing this cap. But who are you?"
"We are friends of Master Muzhuolun," Yu replied. We must stop the men from finding Mistress Huo Qingtong. Take us to where you met them and we will give you some silver."
"I don"t need any silver. But I"ll have to ask the donkey if he"s willing to go first," the Muslim replied. He leant over close to the donkey"s ear and mumbled into it for a while, then placed his own ear near the donkey"s mouth, and nodded repeatedly. Yu and Yuanzhi grinned at his clowning.
The man listened intently for a moment and then frowned. "This donkey has had a very high opinion of himself ever since he got the official cap," he said. "He"s rather contemptuous of your horses and doesn"t want to travel with them for fear of losing face."
Yuanzhi looked at the skinny, lame animal, it"s body covered in dirt, and burst out laughing.
"You don"t believe me?" the Muslim exclaimed. "Well then, my donkey shall compete with your horse."
Yu and Yuanzhi were riding two of Muzhuolun"s best horses, as superior to the donkey as clouds are from mud.
"All right," said Yuanzhi. "When we"ve won, you must lead us to find the three bad men."
"It"s four, not three. But what happens if you lose?"
"Whatever you say."
"If you lose, you have to wash the donkey clean so that he can show off."
"All right," Yuanzhi agreed. "What sort of competition will we have?"