CHAPTER 87

The magistrate calls upon the outlaw; Ji Gong cleverly seizes Cloud Dragon Hua

DIAN Guoben himself went forth to welcome the magistrate. When he reached the gate, the number of people in the magistrate’s escort party surprised him. “Welcome, Your Worship,” he greeted him. “This rustic person awaits your visit eagerly. You have come in your sedan chair!”

“I have long wished to make the acquaintance of the famous yuanwai. This is a lucky meeting,” said the magistrate. “There was no need for you to meet us so ceremoniously.”

“Please, Great One, enter,” Dian Guoben said as he ushered in the magistrate. Ji Gong and the rest of the escort party followed. When they entered the courtyard containing the great reception hall, only the magistrate and Ji Gong entered. “Will the Great One sit down?” invited Dian Guoben when they were indoors. The magistrate sat. Dian Guoben also sat and ordered that tea be served. “Today the Great One has been so kind as to come here. Is there anything you desire?”

“We have heard about the yuanwai’s fame and we came to visit,” replied the magistrate. Meanwhile, the monk who had been standing behind the magistrate began to nod his head and open and shut his eyes.

“Perhaps it’s too late at night,” said Dian Guoben. “This great one is tired. Why not go and rest?”

As soon as Ji Gong heard this, he went out of the reception room, making an apology.

To the north of the building was the flower garden. Cloud Dragon was standing at the gate. He had been drinking at a table in the garden, but he had not enjoyed the wine. He kept wondering about the reason for the magistrate’s visit. “There must be another reason for his coming here besides a social visit,” he thought to himself. “Could he be coming to catch me?” As he stood uneasily in the garden looking around, he saw Ji Gong in his black gown. With the monk’s face washed clean, Cloud Dragon did not recognize him. He nodded his head toward him and called over. He was about to ask how many men the magistrate had brought with him and what they were doing.

“Come here, uncle,” said Cloud Dragon.

Ji Gong said nothing. Cloud Dragon thought to himself, “This fellow seems rather stupid. Perhaps he is a deaf mute.”

Ji Gong stepped into the flower garden, pushing back the two doors of the gate as he exclaimed, “Cloud Dragon Hua, this time you cannot run away!”

When Cloud Dragon Hua recognized Ji Gong’s voice, he was more frightened than he ever had been before. “Teacher, why do you want to take me?” he asked.

“I do not actually want to take you. I could have taken you at Ma Jing’s home when you were in the little cellar hiding behind the scroll, and I could have taken you a number of other times, but I didn’t.”

“That’s right,” thought Cloud Dragon, “but why does he want to take me now?”

“Dian Guoben sent a letter to the magistrate and asked us to come and take you,” said the monk.

When Cloud Dragon heard this, he shouted, “That beast with a man’s face, brought up by a dog!”

“You must just recognize your fate,” said the monk as he pointed, and with his hypnotic power left Cloud Dragon paralyzed.

The monk turned about and left the flower garden. He passed the reception hall and went through a gate into the other courtyard, where the escort group was waiting. There he called to Chai Yuanlo and She Jingying to come to the flower garden. When they got there, he said, “I have just caught Cloud Dragon Hua. Take him and lock him in irons.”

Chai and She were overjoyed. All their doubts vanished. This man really was Cloud Dragon Hua. They took their chains and locked them securely around the criminal.

Then Ji Gong went into the building where Cloud Dragon Hua had been staying and came out with the stolen pearl coronet and the jade pendants, which he gave to Headman Chai, saying, “Take these with you. Let us now go to Dian Guoben.”

Dian Guoben had once been the leader of a gang in Four Rivers. After many of his men had proved to be involved in crimes, he escaped and fled to Chuzhou prefecture. He had brought a great deal of silver and with it he was able to purchase a large estate. With his two friends, Yang and Chiu, he had committed many crimes.

Prime Minister Qin’s father had been named Wang, but when a eunuch who was the prime minister at the time adopted him, he naturally took the name of the eunuch and therefore was known as Qin Kui. Prime Minister Qin Kui had a brother named Wang Xien. When Wang Xien came to Chuzhou to collect taxes, Dian Guoben learned that Wang Xien had no interest in antiques or picture scrolls. He cared only for beautiful women.

Dian Guoben purchased an exquisitely beautiful young virgin named Jade Orchid for three thousand silver pieces. He had the girl brought before him and told her, “Jade Orchid, I am thinking of using you to make contact with powerful people. I would like to give you in marriage to the brother of Prime Minister Qin, but I don’t know how you would feel about this.”

Jade Orchid answered, “I will do whatever the yuanwai wishes.”

“Tomorrow I shall invite Wang Xien to dinner. Put on a simple gown and come into the reception hall, pretending that you need to speak to me. Make sure that he sees you. If he asks about you afterward, I will say that you are my younger sister living here under my protection. Then, if he wishes, I will give you to him in marriage. You will be a rich woman. And I will become a powerful person with connections to the prime minister.”

Jade Orchid agreed to this plan.

The next day Dian Guoben invited Wang Xien to dinner. He accepted the invitation. While they were drinking and talking together, Jade Orchid, very nicely dressed in a simple gown, came to the doorway of the room and asked, “Is the yuanwai here?” Just as she raised the bamboo curtain and looked into the room, she exclaimed, “Oh! There is a guest in this room! Those maids never told me!” She looked at Wang Xien and then quickly looked away and left.

“Who is that person, Dian Yuanwai?” asked Wang Xien.

“That is my younger sister,” replied Dian Guoben. “Her husband died less than a month ago. Now she is staying here with me.”

“Why doesn’t the yuanwai give her to me?” asked Wang Xien. “She could be my concubine.”

“It would not be proper for me. I can hardly give her to you,” replied Dian Guoben.

Wang Xien said nothing more about the matter. He finished eating, said goodbye, left, and went back to the house where he was staying. There he said to one of his people. “I have never seen such a beautiful woman as that sister of Dian Guoben! I would like to have her!”

“Let me go and talk with him,” said the man. “I will tell him of your wishes and no doubt he will be willing.”

“Good!” exclaimed Wang Xien. “If you succeed, I will give you two hundred pieces of silver.”

“I will go, then,” said the man. As soon as he arrived at Dian Guoben’s house and said that Wang Xien begged for his sister, Dian Guoben agreed to the arrangement.

After Wang Xien and Jade Orchid were married, Dian gave Wang Xien a letter saying that the prefect was unsuitable for his office. Wang Xien gave it to the prime minister when he next saw him. The prime minister promptly recalled the prefect and sent a new man in his place.

The new prefect did not suit Dian Guoben either, and he sent off a second letter to the prime minister. When Prime Minister Qin read it, he said to his brother, “What about this relative of yours? I changed the prefect once! Doesn’t any prefect satisfy him?”

Wang Xien wrote to Dian Guoben telling of his disappointment and advising him to watch and report any improper acts of the prefect. At this point, Dien Guoben decided to send the Crane’s Eye to hang the man’s head in the prefect’s courtyard, thinking that the prefect would be frightened.

While Dian Guoben was talking with the magistrate, he suddenly realized that something was going on in the courtyard outside. When he looked out and saw the two headmen with Cloud Dragon Hua in chains, he was enraged! “How do you dare to pretend you are making a social call while you are really pursuing a case?” he demanded springing to his feet.

He was about to attack the magistrate when Ji Gong stunned him and had him put in chains as well. When the other two outlaws heard the noise, they came rushing in with swords drawn, only to receive the same treatment as Dian Guoben.

At the magistrate’s order, the party quickly returned to the yamen, where His Honor had a notice posted that court would be in session. In a short time at least twenty people came in with complaints against Dian Guoben, accusing him of theft, abduction of women, and other crimes, all of which were very serious.

Then the magistrate sent someone to call Ji Gong to the yamen to join him for a drink of wine. Afterward, the prisoners were interrogated and their confessions were written down, which the magistrate had wanted Ji Gong to hear. The prisoners were on view for all to see while the court waited for Ji Gong to appear before proceeding. Everyone knew that Ji Gong from the Monastery of the Soul’s Retreat had taken Cloud Dragon, Dian Guoben, and the three so-called Honorable Men—the first, the second, and the third.

The clamor aroused two river pirates. Who would have thought that two river pirates would hear about Cloud Dragon Hua’s capture? These two were also among the men of the Greenwood. One was named Jiao Liang, the Golden-Faced Ghost. The other was Ho Jing, the Death-Decree Ghost. These two had just returned from the north and were passing through Linan when they heard the news. The two did not even know what crimes he had committed. “Since we know of this,” said Jiao, “we must do something about it.”