Jin Wuniang’s arms possessed tremendous strength, but the constables had bound him with ordinary hemp rope. Another man might have needed some effort to escape. Jin Wuniang only flexed lightly, and the rope split in two.
He sat on a cold, hard earthen platform inside a small cell at one corner of the jail. Keeping his movements hidden, he broke the last cords around his hands.
The guard outside the bars turned and saw him standing free.
He drew his saber at once. “You filthy criminal—”
Jin Wuniang stepped forward like an arrow. His left hand caught the back of the saber blade where it came close to the cell. The weapon froze as if trapped in an iron clamp.
The guard pulled and pushed, but he could neither withdraw the saber nor drive it forward. It no longer seemed to belong to him. Fear of the dark-faced youth’s strength overwhelmed him so completely that he forgot to release the hilt.
Jin Wuniang used the saber to drag the man close. He thrust his right arm between the thick wooden bars, seized the screaming guard by his topknot, and jerked with all his strength.
The man’s head tore from his body.
He released a single inhuman scream. Blood burst from his neck like a fountain, then all sound ended.
Jin Wuniang laughed. He snapped two bars as thick as serving bowls from the cell and strode out carrying them.
More than a dozen guards had gathered outside. They surrounded him with raised sabers as if facing an army, but not one dared move. A moment earlier, none had dared save the man trapped in Jin Wuniang’s hand either.
“Do you mean to stop me?”
Jin Wuniang swept them with an arrogant glance and snorted.
The guards looked at one another. Pale-faced, they shifted aside and opened a path toward the jail entrance. Yet they remained loyal enough to block the corridor leading deeper inside.
“Let me see what treasures you cowards are hiding so carefully.”
Jin Wuniang rested both heavy wooden bars across his shoulder. Like a victorious stronghold chief returning from battle, he advanced with an exaggerated swagger.
An old guard of more than fifty stepped forward, his expression grave.
“Please wait, honored sir. If you want to leave, we will escort you out. But if you go farther inside, you will offend the grand chancellor.”
Jin Wuniang cleared his throat, tilted his head, and spat against the wall.
Another guard, a strong middle-aged man, said, “Do neither the grand chancellor nor Her Highness matter to you? However great your skill, can you compare with the Linhu raiders? They invaded our borders many times. Yet under the divine might of the grand chancellor and Her Highness, even they bowed their heads and retreated a thousand miles.”
Rage exploded inside Jin Wuniang.
“Will you move or not? Anyone who refuses will die!”
The guards shouted together, “The bastard means to break prisoners out! Attack him together!”
They charged with hardened steel sabers.
Jin Wuniang swung the thick bars in both hands. A light touch shattered bone and tore muscle. A heavier blow killed a man on the spot and left little of the body whole. He scattered them as easily as a stone tower crushing rabbits.
After disposing of the guards, Jin Wuniang charged into the deepest part of the jail.
Only a great bronze bell stood inside the final cell.
The sight made his eyes burn with fury.
Princess Fang had designed this device several years earlier for transporting dangerous prisoners. It was a true bell, thick, solid, and clear-toned, with room for three or four people inside. But its purpose was far from ordinary.
No matter how loudly a prisoner screamed, nothing could be heard outside. The bell trapped every sound. Voices from outside could not enter either.
Air holes allowed the prisoners to breathe, but iron chains constantly scraped across the outer surface. Inside, the grinding and shrieking became a hundred times louder. After ten minutes, even a man made of iron would be confused and half deaf.
The bell’s inner walls were round and smooth, leaving no edge against which a prisoner could easily kill himself. If he tried to smash his head against the metal and failed to die, the sound of his own blows would leave him bleeding from every opening and barely alive.
A linked chain lock secured the bell to the ground. It had no key. Ninety-nine loops, one inside another from large to small, bound the bell as tightly as a puzzle.
The lock itself was made from rare iron that had fallen from the sky. Anyone who knew the method could open it. Anyone who did not might struggle until death and never free the people inside.
Breaking the bell by force was impossible. The shock would kill the prisoners before the bronze cracked. Worse, the sound would travel for miles and guide every pursuer straight to the jail.
Jin Wuniang walked around it three times, unable to think of a solution.
Zhang Hua entered dressed as a graceful young woman. He stepped through pools of blood as lightly as a lotus leaf moving in the wind.
“You still are not finished?”
Then he saw the bell and stared.
“How? He acted in such haste. How did he remember to borrow this from the Ministry of Justice?”
Jin Wuniang folded his arms and crouched on an earthen platform.
“He prepared it especially for me!”
Zhang Hua approached. He removed the white silk sash from his waist and drew a thin sheet of silk from inside it. After spreading the silk on the ground, he crouched beside the chains that rose around half the bell like an jeweled net.
His slender hands began separating the links with careful, clever movements.
Jin Wuniang was delighted. He waited until Zhang Hua paused for breath before daring to ask, “How do you know how to open this thing?”
Zhang Hua wiped a thin layer of sweat from his brow and smiled.
“I borrowed it from the Ministry of Justice last month. I became curious, secretly memorized the solution, and have not forgotten it yet.”
Jin Wuniang almost bowed in worship before his brother’s habit of memorizing everything he saw. Instead, he crouched nearby and barely dared to breathe.
Zhang Hua moved around the bell, releasing each of the ninety-nine linked loops with controlled force. When the last fell away, he collapsed to the ground.
“Lift the bell.”
Now it was Jin Wuniang’s turn.
He raised the enormous bell. Chen Liang and Wang Qian were inside, clinging tightly to each other with their eyes closed as they waited in foolish silence.
Jin Wuniang laughed loudly. “You thought the old traitor had come, didn’t you?”
Chen Liang and Wang Qian answered together, “Thank you, worthy brothers, for saving our lives. We will remember this until our teeth fall out.”
They hurried to their feet and stretched their stiff bodies. Then they helped Zhang Hua up, collected the silk sheet and linked lock, and left with Jin Wuniang.
When the four emerged from the jail, the main street was overflowing with life.
People sold wine and meals. Stalls offered wonton noodles, roasted young chickens, sliced meat, flatbread with tea eggs, strings of fried dough, pan-fried buns, and mung-bean porridge. Some drank tea. Some hurried to banquets. Some chewed ham and garlic.
There was food to eat and entertainment to watch. Robbers prowled while beggars held out bowls. Swindlers deceived, kidnappers lured, and unseen fingers stole from unwatched pockets. Singers performed for meals and demanded five coins for every song. Cart pushers sweated while wealthy men ordered servants to fan them.
Street sellers shouted until their breath failed. Beggars called upon lords and ladies to show kindness. Some people gossiped. Others argued nonsense. Drunkards lay in the road pretending they had simply chosen to rest.
There were men with ruined noses, shameless scoundrels, gamblers pressed against walls after losing everything, and empty-pursed travelers sighing over their luck. Examination candidates took rooms and recited essays until the listeners grew dizzy. Idlers wandered outside the county offices with nothing better to see.
The street could not have been livelier.
At the inn entrance, the four brothers turned into a side alley to find Princess Fang in her poor monk disguise.
They found her lying lazily with her head on a young beggar’s lap. She held the palm of a poor middle-aged man and told his fortune.
“You and your son remind this monk of an old saying: a young horse finds the road too narrow, while a great bird spreads its wings and finds the sky too low. You were once honest, ordinary people, but confusion led you to do something you should not have done. Let this monk calculate… You acted for profit and trusted a petty person. Ah, beneath heaven, one need not fear the absence of good events. One must fear the absence of good people.”
The poor man became excited.
“Everything you said is right, Master! People think I have always been a beggar, but eight years ago I was the chief steward of a wealthy household. Greed confused me. I borrowed money from my master’s family to start a business. I lost everything and became a beggar. I am too ashamed to go home. What should I do now?”
Princess Fang twisted her mouth and rolled her eyes as she muttered mysteriously for a long while.
“Lamp oil spent, the water clock runs clear. At the first rooster’s cry, ease will come of itself.”
The poor man looked uneasy. “What does that mean?”
“Do not dream of making a great fortune. Work honestly at whatever you can do. Earn enough to care for your son. Rise early, sleep late, live simply, and work hard. Your days will slowly improve. Within three years at most and six months at least, your circumstances will change greatly. One day, you will be a chief steward again.”
As soon as she released his hand, another thin young beggar thrust his palm forward.
“Master, please read mine!”
Chen Liang and Wang Qian pushed through the beggars and bent before her.
“Holy Master, your disciples have a request.”
Princess Fang spoke as if receiving a divine message. “This poor monk just counted upon his fingers and knew you two were due to arrive. Excellent, excellent. This monk also happens to be hungry.”
Chen Liang bowed respectfully. “Give me your hand, Holy Master. Your disciple will help you leave.”
Chen Liang and Wang Qian lifted her between them and carried her away. The beggars waved behind them.
“Travel safely, Master! This disciple will obey your teaching!”
“Master, you still have not read my fortune!”
“Master, every word was true!”
Princess Fang looked back and grinned.
“Those whose lives improve must buy this monk a meal when next we meet. Those whose fortunes remain unread may wait until fate brings us together again.”
They carried her into a carriage. Zhang Hua climbed inside and changed back into boys’ clothing.
He smiled at Princess Fang. “Mother, your divine calculations were remarkable!”
Princess Fang made herself comfortable with her head on a sack of white rice. A little life had returned to her face.
“Many years ago, while my mother still lived, she taught me how to pose as a fortune-telling priestess and scout wealthy homes before a robbery. I never became a bandit, but once, when I was badly wounded and had no money left, fortune-telling fed me for a month.”
“Teach me when we have time, Mother.”
Princess Fang scratched her neck.
“I made you memorize the Clever-Link Divination and study the Book of Changes, the Classic of Physiognomy, Purple Star Astrology, and the Jade Hairpin Record. That is more than enough for deceiving people. The amount you study is not important. What matters is reading people accurately and leading them into revealing information.
“Even my predictions for the Empress Dowager are always correct. In truth, I cannot remember all those changes, stars, and signs. I only watch expressions and behavior. It is much like a physician’s method of looking, listening, asking, and feeling the pulse.”
She scratched her neck again.
Suddenly, Jin Wuniang shouted from outside the carriage, “Fourth Brother, hold Mother!”
Something struck the carriage roof. Then there was silence.
Princess Fang knew that the destruction of her energy center had weakened her eyes and ears until they were worse than an ordinary person’s. No matter what happened outside, she could not identify it. She looked instead at Zhang Hua, who held her securely.
His face had gone whiter than a corpse.
Then Chen Liang and Wang Qian shouted together, “Jin Wu!”
At the same moment, a crash shook heaven and earth. Something of enormous weight had struck the ground.
Through a gap in the curtain, Princess Fang saw that the carriage had already passed beyond the city wall.
She understood.
“He dropped the great gate barrier, didn’t he?”
Zhang Hua’s lips trembled. “Yes.”
People said Jin Wuniang’s arms held the strength of a thousand pounds. But how could any person truly possess such strength?
The gate barrier was called a thousand-pound barrier, yet its real weight was far greater.
Princess Fang sighed and silently turned her face toward the dark corner of the carriage.
The little spark that had returned to her eyes became cold ash again.
She understood. No explanation or further question was needed.
She understood Jin Wuniang’s likely fate, the danger facing the whole party, and every layer of her husband’s plan.
Zhang Hua understood too.
If he had failed to open the linked lock, their two elder brothers would still be in the grand chancellor’s hands. At the gate, the heavy barrier would then have forced Jin Wuniang to sacrifice himself.
Layer by layer, the grand chancellor was stripping away everyone around Princess Fang until she stood alone.
For him, it was effortless.