Alone in her room, Princess Fang ordered meatballs stewed until tender and a pork elbow braised until soft. She studied her monk’s disguise in the mirror, then grabbed the food with both hands and ate messily, smearing grease across her face.
She found it somewhat disgusting. Several years of comfort and luxury had made it difficult to return to such a filthy way of life.
When the inn worker came to collect the dishes, she pressed her palms together.
“May the Buddha bless you. Good patron, this poor monk has a small request. Might you grant it?”
The worker looked down on this meat-eating monk and secretly laughed at her strange form of address. Still, he kept a broad smile on his face.
“Just tell me what you need, Master.”
Princess Fang said, “This poor monk offended the White Tiger Star today. I must cover my face with incense ash and pig fat so I can hide from its divine sight. If this inn has an incense burner for the God of Wealth or the Goddess of Mercy, please wrap up some ash for me. No third person must hear of this.”
“We worship only Lord Guan here, not the Buddha. Would that incense ash still be useful to you?”
Princess Fang thought, *Why would I care which god it came from? Ash is ash.*
She smiled and pressed her palms together again. “Even better. Lord Guan’s loyalty and righteousness are unmatched through all the ages. Nothing drives away evil more effectively.”
The worker agreed, then carried away the plates with a crooked smile. He returned soon afterward with a large paper package.
“The manager was replacing the incense ash, so I asked for some. Use as much as you like, Master.”
Princess Fang pulled several copper coins from her sleeve. Someone had tucked half a string of cash into her clothes for emergencies while preparing her disguise.
She offered the coins with her oily hand. The worker looked at the greasy black fingers and filthy money but did not dare take them directly. He held out a cleaning rag instead.
“Set them here, Master. I do not need protection from evil, so please do not cover me in oil. The manager would scold me.”
Princess Fang waited until he left. Then she opened the package, buried her grease-covered face in the incense ash, and rubbed it in with both hands.
The pale ash turned black and sticky when it mixed with animal fat. The combined smell of incense and pork grease was impossible to describe and worse to endure.
Working slowly and skillfully, she spread the oily mud over her face, behind her ears, down her neck, and across her upper chest. She became dark, ugly, greasy, and foul-smelling.
That was much safer.
A disguise without a smell was not a proper disguise. At least she had not used rotting kitchen slop.
Jin Wuniang lay across the rafters, staring in amazement. He had watched the entire transformation.
Princess Fang had begun with a freshly cleaned face of striking beauty, a newly shaved head tinged blue by the roots, pale skin, and a graceful figure. Now she was a dark, stinking monk with an oily, wrinkled face. When she smiled, a bright green piece of scallion showed on her front tooth.
Zhang Hua returned after finding Chen Liang and Wang Qian missing, uncertain whether they were alive. He rushed in to ask Princess Fang what to do, only to see a strange monk and smell pork fat and onion.
He drew his sword. “Monk, you entered the wrong room.”
Princess Fang said nothing. She only grinned.
Before Zhang Hua could threaten her again, Jin Wuniang dropped from the rafters.
“She redid her face,” he whispered.
Zhang Hua lifted the monk’s ragged, greasy patchwork robe. He examined the wound he had studied so carefully before, then nodded.
“Eldest and Second Brother are missing. We do not know whether they are alive. Everyone else was poisoned. There are no signs that the brothers struggled or fought. No one cleaned the place, but it is still very orderly.”
Princess Fang answered calmly, “We must rescue them. Both of you go. Do not waste time arranging clever formations or plans. Strike straight at the center, bring them out, and leave as fast as possible.”
Jin Wuniang said, “I can go alone. Tenth Lady should remain to protect Mother. Someone must stay with you.”
“Carry me to a group of beggars beside the street. I often posed as a beggar or poor monk in the past. I can imitate them well.”
Princess Fang pulled the remaining string of coins from her sleeve and pushed handful after handful into Zhang Hua’s palm.
“If you meet him, use these coins as concealed weapons. There is no hidden message in that. I only need you to return alive.”
Zhang Hua said nothing more. He knew they had no choice.
Jin Wuniang whispered, “Mother, you have suffered.”
Princess Fang kept six large copper coins for herself and tucked them into her robe.
“I survived hard years before. You two are different. Tenth Lady once quarreled with a man while hunting because someone forgot to pack ground chili. Remember this: if Chen Liang and Wang Qian are beyond saving, leave their bodies where he keeps them.”
Zhang Hua asked quietly, “What if they are crippled?”
Princess Fang gave a tired smile. “One cripple in this family is enough. Little Jin, obey every order Zhang Hua gives during the rescue.”
She took Zhang Hua’s hand and squeezed it hard. A rational, cold light appeared in her eyes. Zhang Hua understood and squeezed back.
Jin Wuniang spoke with his usual blunt honesty. “Mother! You cannot abandon people just because they are no longer useful!”
Zhang Hua quickly explained, “Mother means that if we cannot save them, we should not let our brothers suffer longer.”
Princess Fang frowned.
“I will give you the same instruction about me. If I can no longer think or communicate, do not leave me confused for the rest of my life. If a Fang cannot speak, she can still write. If she cannot see, she can still listen. But if poison destroys my mind beyond healing, then whoever is present should kill Imperial Princess Fang.”
Zhang Hua immediately changed the subject. “Mother, where should I look for the brothers? There was no message and no address.”
“The local county offices. You may also need to enter the jail. Since I am alive, he does not dare use his private forces openly. Several people among my followers are secretly loyal to him. Several among his followers are also my brothers. Do not waste time finding the person who poisoned the others. The poisoner is one of the bodies.”
Zhang Hua and Jin Wuniang dragged the monk out of the inn. They dropped her carelessly against a wall not far away, then walked off without looking back.
Only a short time after they left, a squad of constables entered the inn. They searched briefly, then came back outside.
The leader was a handsome middle-aged man with refined features. His constable’s uniform fit poorly. After one careful look through the inn, he stepped into the street.
Princess Fang gathered the tiny trace of inner energy that remained and adjusted her muscles, making herself look like a drooling monk with a twisted mouth and unfocused eyes.
The head constable approached her while the innkeeper followed him with deep bows. He stopped three paces away and spoke kindly to the dirty monk slumped against the wall with a brick for a pillow.
“Master, which temple do you call home, and what is your name?”
Princess Fang opened cloudy eyes that seemed barely able to see. Tears streamed from them because she had secretly flicked a speck of incense ash beneath each lid. Her eyes now trembled and watered naturally. She twisted her mouth and showed the scallion stuck to her tooth.
“Thish poor monk ish… a wandering monk. Tan Ming.”
The head constable nodded faintly while thinking, *What is this creature trying to say?*
He studied the monk from head to toe.
*Impossible. The report must be wrong. Her Highness always loved cleanliness. She dug a spring in her garden so she could bathe twice a day. Even twenty years ago, at her poorest, she was a neat young woman despite having patches upon patches. When she pretended to be a beggar, she belonged to the clean-clothes kind. If she became a monk, she would still be spotless.*
Princess Fang felt no emotion as she faced her disguised husband. With her mouth twisted and tears flowing, she continued to mumble.
“Thish monk hash practiced hardship for decades. I wash going to visit Mount Lingyan. I passed the capital and fell ill.”
He nodded, remaining patient and gentle. “Why did those two people throw you outside?”
Princess Fang knew exactly how to mislead him.
“I do not know. Maybe thish monk wash no longer useful.”
The man felt a shock.
*Could it be that Her Highness did not escape the capital under the protection of Chen Liang, Wang Qian, Jin Wuniang, and Zhang Hua? Impossible. The blade made a terrible wound. She could not flee alone.*
*Perhaps she never left the capital. She does have an extremely secret place where she once recovered from injuries. Only she knows its location. Could she be there? Were the Her Highness protected by Chen Liang and Wang Qian and the women on all six routes merely decoys?*
Then he reconsidered.
*Everything I knew before came from investigation. These new thoughts began with what this monk told me. I may have been led into a trap.*
He stepped closer and reached for Princess Fang’s cheek. The feeling beneath his fingers would tell him whether she wore a disguise.
Princess Fang grinned and lifted her face, inviting him to touch it.
His hand gained nothing except a coating of black, filthy, sticky grease.
This monk wore no false face.
Meanwhile, Zhang Hua and Jin Wuniang galloped toward the county offices several streets away. Guards stopped them before they reached the gate and demanded their purpose.
Zhang Hua’s hair was covered with pins and ornaments. Silk and satin covered his body. He replied in a delicate voice, “I demand to see the wise magistrate! I want him to judge this hooligan!”
The clerk saw a wealthy and beautiful young lady who seemed somewhat foolish. Beside her sat a dark, slow-looking boy in plain clothing.
*If I deliver this pretty, pale, sweet-smelling girl to the magistrate, who knows how richly he will reward me?*
He immediately said, “Young lady, please come through the rear entrance. Men, seize that obvious hooligan and throw him into jail!”
Jin Wuniang stretched his neck and shouted like a fool, “You cannot do this! You are framing an innocent man! That is my wife!”
Zhang Hua gave him a delicate glance, stamped one foot, and huffed.
“Who is your wife? I am the eldest daughter of a respectable family!”
The clerk cried, “Gag him! Hurry and stop his shouting!”
Then he turned back to Zhang Hua, all smiles. “This way, young lady. Please, come inside.”
Pretending to be a foolish beauty, Zhang Hua hid a short sword in his sleeve and entered the county offices with a cheerful smile.
Jin Wuniang struggled for show. The guards twisted his arms behind him, bound him from shoulders to wrists, and stuffed a sour, stinking walnut into his mouth. With the hands that possessed the strength of a thousand pounds tied behind him, he was shoved into the jail.
The moment he crossed its entrance, he sensed that something was wrong.
Secret joy rose in his heart.
The other clerks continued clearing people from the nearby streets. Among themselves, they wondered what their magistrate—a former soldier and bandit—would do to the beautiful young woman.
What could anyone do to Zhang Hua, their Tenth Lady?
One flash of his sword left the magistrate smiling in death on the floor.
Zhang Hua twisted his slender body and ran through the offices in apparent panic, pretending to flee from the lustful magistrate pursuing him.
In truth, the magistrate had not intended to assault the girl. He had planned to present such a rare beauty to the grand chancellor in exchange for promotion and rank.
There were few people inside the county offices. Those who saw Zhang Hua running either laughed or looked at him with pity. They believed the magistrate was enjoying his favorite game of cat and mouse with a courtesan, so no one interfered.
Only one secluded room was locked. Zhang Hua split the lock with his sword and found two young women weeping inside.
Their troubles were not his concern. He had no time to help them. The magistrate was dead, and the grand chancellor was in the city. The grand chancellor, not Zhang Hua, could deal with the matter.
After searching twice more and finding no sign of a prisoner, Zhang Hua leaped over the wall and ran straight toward the jail.