h.e.l.lo there! 12 here posting on Tranzgeek’s behalf. Thank you for all your kind comments so far. Hope you’ll like how the footnotes have been presented today!

So, our heroine is in a sticky situation indeed. How will Yi Lianshen react to her outburst? Things are about to get dramatic (and surprisingly funny) in this chapter&h.e.l.lip;

Everyone was horrified by her speech, especially Eldest Mistress who kept plucking at her sleeve whom Qin Sang ignored. After standing lost in thought for a while, she turned and went to soak a towel in cold water, then wrung out the water and placed it on Xiaorong’s forehead. Sixth Aunt protested: "It's too cold for her&h.e.l.lip;" but Qin Sang said: "The colder the better, otherwise the fever might damage her brain." Then she readied a basin of warm water and directed Eldest Mistress to remove Xiaorong’s clothes so she could sponge her under her arms and knees. Xiaorong’s breathing was still laboured and her cheeks were still ruddy but she felt slightly less hot to the touch. Sixth Aunt, seeing that these measures had some effect, could not contain her joy. In this fas.h.i.+on, the women took turns to sponge the child down until it was almost dawn. That was when her fever returned.

Sixth Aunt was on the verge of tears again and they all missed the sound of the doors being unlocked. An armed guard ushered in a physician with his medicine box: it was Physician Sun, the family doctor who made frequent house calls to the Yi family. He could not help staring in amazement at the sight of a roomful of people. Sixth Aunt was so relieved to see him that she could only cry. It was Eldest Mistress who led the physician over to check on Xiaorong. Physician Sun sat down to take her pulse whilst the guard stood beside the door; Sixth Aunt merely kept wiping away her tears and Eldest Mistress did not dare say much, only fixing her distressed gaze on the physician.

Physician Sun, having finished his examination, wanted to write a prescription. Normally a brush and ink would always be made ready for him but there was nothing in this room. Qin Sang said to the guard: "Would you please take Physician Sun out so he can write a prescription?" The guard, wholly unsuspecting, turned round to rap on the door and inform the sentry outside but the moment his back was turned, Qin Sang brought a small mahogany stool down hard on his head. He collapsed with a strangled gurgle.

All this had happened so quickly that the other women could only stare whilst the physician was even more dumbfounded. Qin Sang, quite unruffled, hastily took the guard's rifle and said loudly, "Physician Sun, I had a headache the whole of last night and would like you to take my pulse too." As she said this, she motioned with her eyes, indicating that he was to go into the other room.

Since she was pointing the rifle at him, he had no choice but to obey. Qin Sang, holding the rifle with one hand, motioned to the rest of the women to be quiet by putting a finger to her lips. Eldest Mistress covered her own mouth with her hands, Sixth Aunt cradled Xiaorong whilst looking at her aghast and the other women stared round-eyed but dared not say anything.

Once inside the inner room, Qin Sang said to the physician, "I'm sorry, Mr. Sun, but please remove your clothes."

Physician Sun was so taken aback he began to tremble and stammer: "Th-Third&h.e.l.lip; Mis-Mistress&h.e.l.lip; Ww-we&h.e.l.lip; c-c-can't&h.e.l.lip; c-can't&h.e.l.lip;"

Qin Sang said remarkably calmly: "I just want to borrow your clothes so I can try to escape. Whether I can get out of the house is my affair and I promise not to get you into trouble."

Only then did the physician realise he had misunderstood her meaning. He hurriedly undid the b.u.t.tons of his long tunic and handed it to her. At this point, Eldest Mistress came in and stared aghast as she saw what was happening. Qin Sang only said softly: "Da Sao¹, get me a rope quickly!" Eldest Mistress seemed to shake herself awake and rather fl.u.s.tered, said: "There’s no rope&h.e.l.lip; ."

¹’Eldest Sister-in-law’

Qin Sang, rendered resourceful by desperation, said: "Quick, remove your foot bindings."

Eldest Mistress turned scarlet with embarra.s.sment but did not protest. She sat down and swiftly tore off the bindings and gave them to Qin Sang who tied Physician Sun up like a dumpling, then stuffed his mouth with a handkerchief and whispered to Eldest Mistress: "Da Sao, give me the bindings from your other foot."

Eldest Mistress had never before revealed her lotus feet to any male stranger. Seeing Physician Sun staring at her wide-eyed almost made her cry in shame but she didn’t dare disobey Qin Sang and so removed the bindings from her other foot. Qin Sang went back into the other room intending to drag the sentry into the inner room but there were limits to her strength and after dragging him a few steps, she couldn’t move him any farther. It was here that Sixth Aunt put Xiaorong down on the bed and came over to help her, as did Fourth and Fifth Aunt. It was a laborious process but finally by dint of half-dragging and half-carrying, they got him into the inner room. Qin Sang stripped his uniform off and then tied him up tightly with the foot bindings and without looking up, said, "Give me a handkerchief."

Someone handed her one; she saw that it was Sixth Aunt and without any hesitation, stuffed the guard's mouth with it. All that activity had caused her to perspire and she mopped her brow before saying quietly, "We need to decide who will escape with me first."

Sixth Aunt replied in a low voice: "I can’t leave Xiaorong here. Maybe Eldest Mistress should go with you."

Eldest Mistress protested: "Where can I go with my bound feet? It's better if Sixth Aunt goes instead and I stay behind to look after Xiaorong."

Qin Sang said, "This isn’t the time to be giving way to each other — the longer we delay, the more trouble we'll have. Fourth Aunt is the tallest and doesn’t have bound feet; Physician Sun’s clothes will fit her so she’ll leave with me. If we make it out, I’ll definitely think of a way to save you all."

Fourth Aunt acquiesced timidly and they both changed out of their clothes. Qin Sang was too thin and the uniform hung loosely on her. Sixth Aunt merely tightened the belt for her and Eldest Mistress tried not to cry as she said, "Do be careful."

Qin Sang pulled the cap down firmly on her head and carefully tucked every strand of hair under it. Fourth Aunt was pale but still tolerably composed and said, "Let’s go."

Qin Sang held the rifle, lowered her head and tapped on the door. When the door was opened, she stepped outside first. Fourth Aunt was in the long tunic and had the physician's hat drawn well over her face so the guard did not notice anything amiss and carried on locking the door without looking at them. Qin Sang risked a peek around: there were about four or five sentries in the courtyard and all were standing by the windows; no one had noticed them. As they walked through the courtyard, Qin Sang’s heart was hammering wildly. Ordinarily it would take about ten steps to cross the courtyard but today those ten steps felt like a hundred; she was tense and longed to make a run for it but she had to force herself to walk slowly. In this weather she had begun to perspire before they had even reached the moon gate. She heard Fourth Aunt following behind; her footsteps sounded steady but there was a faint noise that puzzled Qin Sang until she realised it was the sound of Fourth Aunt chattering with fright. However she could not turn around to comfort the latter so she braced herself and continued walking. They were drawing nearer to the moon gate before Qin Sang suddenly remembered that they would not be able to leave by the main gate. Her mind turned swiftly and she decided they would make for the kitchens at the back. Her guess was that even though the house had been sealed off, with so many people to feed, there would still be a need for the kitchen servants to go out and buy ingredients which might perhaps offer them a chance of slipping out. But just as they reached the round gateway, they suddenly saw a platoon marching their way led by none other than Yi Lianshen. There was nowhere to hide. Behind her Fourth Aunt turned white and the medicine box slipped from her shoulder to the floor with a clatter.

In that very same instant, Qin Sang unhesitatingly pushed the bolt handle on her rifle but Yi Lianshen's men also did the same and pointed their rifles at both women. Yi Lianshen looked at their clothes, then at their expressions and seemed to be stunned at first. But his expression slowly gave way to amus.e.m.e.nt and he even burst into hearty laughter eventually.

Qin Sang kept her rifle pointed at him and looked daggers at him.

When Yi Lianshen had laughed enough, he clasped his hands behind his back and walked leisurely over to them, observing with a smile: "San Meimei&h.e.l.lip; I never really understood why Lao San² insisted on marrying you back then. Today I finally see why. Who would have dreamed you could be so&h.e.l.lip; interesting! Interesting! Exceedingly so!"

²Casual way of saying ‘Third Brother'

Qin Sang replied coldly: "Believe me, I will shoot you."

Yi Lianshen seemed to notice the rifle in her hands for the first time and said laughingly, "Did Lao San teach you how to shoot? You know, that fellow is mostly a good-for-nothing but is quite a decent shot. I wonder if you’ve managed to learn a trick or two from him." He pointed to himself and said, "I'll just stand right here. Whether you hit me or not, as long as you dare to pull the trigger, all these men you see here will also fire on you. They've followed me for many years and are all expert marksmen. There are more than twenty guns here pointed at you and — I a.s.sure you — if you dare to pull the trigger, that pretty little face of yours will instantly look like a hornet’s nest. I just fear Lao San won’t recognise you by that time."

Qin Sang bit her lower lip hard but did not speak. Behind her, Fourth Aunt had begun crying quietly. Seeing that Qin Sang was ashen but had not begged for mercy and her hands had not the slightest tremor, Yi Lianshen could not help being amused again and asked smilingly, "San Meimei, how did you and Fourth Aunt manage to sneak out of the rooms? Hmm, let me guess: did you perhaps knock unconscious Physician Sun and the guard&h.e.l.lip; tsk tsk tsk&h.e.l.lip; What a neat little move, well done! First you lured the enemy in, then you effected a subst.i.tution, before trying to pa.s.s yourselves off as two men.* Your next step would have been to strut out of here and you would have escaped behind our backs.* San Meimei, out of all the women I’ve seen, you have no equal for capability, daring and cunning. I’ve underestimated you and all the women of this family."

Qin Sang snapped, "You think I'm afraid to shoot you? You think your position is so secure? Lan Po didn’t come back with me. As long as he's free, don’t think you can have everything your own way!"

She had ventured a shot in the dark: if Yi Lianshen had already captured Yi Liankai, then everything was well and truly over&h.e.l.lip; But Yi Lianshen smiled faintly and said, "What a little scold you are. That third brother of mine may have slipped away but with you here, I’m quite confident I’ll see him here again."

Qin Sang was deeply anxious and couldn’t understand what he meant by those words. Trying to guess whether he was lying added to her anxiety. Yi Lianshen merely laughed and said, "You had better put the gun down. If you should hurt yourself, I wouldn’t know how to account for it to San Di³."

³Third Younger Brother

Qin Sang said coldly: "I'll put the gun down only if you let me see the Marshal."

Yi Lianshen replied: "Father is unwell and can’t have visitors."

Qin Sang said, "Stop lying, I know he’s dead."

Yi Lianshen laughed. "San Meimei, you can stop trying to worm information out of me. What's the use of knowing anything when you can’t even leave this courtyard? My advice: be a good girl, go back to the room and wait for that third brother of mine to come home."

*12’s notes: Yi Lianshen uses a series of expressions to describe their escape attempt. Here’s what he said in Chinese:

誘敵深入 yòu dí shēnrù lure the enemy in deep

移花接木 yíhuā jiēmù lit. to graft flowers onto a tree; stealthily subst.i.tute one thing for another

瞞天過海 mán tiān guò hai cross the sea by a trick – practise deception

金蟬脫殼 jīnchán tuō qiào slip out of a predicament like a cicada sloughing its skin; escape by cunning manoeuvring

Translated and edited by 12