'Scholar' Yu and Yuanzhi understood why Xu had sentthem out together to look for Huo Qingtong. Yu wasgreatly moved by Yuanzhi's obvious love for him, andby the fact that she had saved his life several times.

　　But the more infatuated she became, the more he shrankaway from her, for what reasons, he didn't himselfunderstand. As they travelled, she laughed andchattered with him, but he remained cool to heradvances.

　　One day towards noon, they spied a small donkeyhobbling towards them across the desert, its ridernodding from side to side as he snoozed. As they gotcloser, they saw it was a Muslim with a large saucepanslung across his back and a donkey's tail in his righthand. The donkey, they noticed, was tail-less and waswearing an Imperial Guard officer's cap. The riderlooked about forty years of age and had a luxuriantbeard covering his face. When he saw them, he smiledwarmly.

　　Yu knew Huo Qingtong's name was known across thelength and breadth of the desert. "Excuse me," hesaid. "Have you seen Mistress Huo Qingtong?"The man laughed. "Why are you looking for her?" heasked.

　　"There are several bad men after her and we want towarn her. If you see her, could you give her themessage?""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 eatmy donkey, but I stole this hat from them." Yu andYuanzhi 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. Wemust stop the men from finding Mistress Huo Qingtong.

　　Take us to where you met them and we will give yousome silver.""I don't need any silver. But I'll have to ask thedonkey if he's willing to go first," the Muslimreplied. He leant over close to the donkey's ear andmumbled into it for a while, then placed his own earnear the donkey's mouth, and nodded repeatedly. Yu andYuanzhi grinned at his clowning.

　　The man listened intently for a moment and thenfrowned. "This donkey has had a very high opinion ofhimself ever since he got the official cap," he said.

　　"He's rather contemptuous of your horses and doesn'twant to travel with them for fear of losing face."Yuanzhi looked at the skinny, lame animal, it's bodycovered in dirt, and burst out laughing.

　　"You don't believe me?" the Muslim exclaimed. "Wellthen, my donkey shall compete with your horse."Yu and Yuanzhi were riding two of Muzhuolun's besthorses, as superior to the donkey as clouds are frommud.

　　"All right," said Yuanzhi. "When we've won, you mustlead 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 sothat he can show off.""All right," Yuanzhi agreed. "What sort of competitionwill we have?""You can decide."The Muslim seemed absolutely certain of victory andYuanzhi began to feel suspicious. "What's that in yourhand?" she asked.

　　"It's the donkey's tail," he replied, waving it about.

　　"After he started wearing the official cap, he thoughtit didn't go well with his dirty tail, so he decidedhe didn't want it.""Let me have a look," she said.

　　He threw the tail across and she caught it, thenpointed with it at a small sand dune some distanceaway. "We'll race from here to that sand dune," shesaid. "The winner will be the first to get there, yourdonkey or my horse." The man nodded. "You go overthere and be the judge," she added to Yu. He slappedhis horse and galloped off across to the dune.

　　"Go!" Yuanzhi shouted, and with a lash of her whip,her horse leapt forward. After a few hundred feet, sheglanced back and saw the donkey, limping along farbehind. She laughed and spurred her horse on evenfaster. Then all of a sudden a black shape shot pasther. She almost fell off her saddle in shock when shesaw the man had slung the donkey around his shouldersand was running with long strides, already a gooddistance ahead of her. She recovered and tried tocatch him up again, but he ran like the wind andstayed ahead all the way to the finish. Just beforeshe reached the dune, Yuanzhi threw the donkey's tailback the way they had come and shouted: "The horse isfirst!"The Muslim and Yu looked at each other in puzzlement.

　　"Mistress!" the Muslim protested. "We agreed thatwhichever got here first, the donkey or the horse, wasthe winner, isn't that right?"Yuanzhi tidied her hair with her hand. "Yes," shereplied. "But only part of the donkey got here first."The man pulled on his beard. "I don't understand. Whatdo you mean, only part of the donkey?"Yuanzhi pointed to the tail she had thrown far behindthem. "My horse arrived complete, but only a part ofyour donkey made it. His tail didn't."The man laughed heartily. "Yes, you're right!" heexclaimed. "You win. I'll take you to find those fourbad men." He went over and picked the tail up andbrought it back. "You stupid donkey!" he said to theanimal. "Don't think that just because you're wearingan official's cap that you don't need your dirtytail." He leapt onto its back.

　　Yu had been greatly impressed by the Muslim's immensestrength that allowed him to run faster than a horseeven with the donkey slung over his shoulders. He knewhe must be a martial arts master and bowed before him.

　　"If you just tell us which direction to go, we will goand find them ourselves," he said respectfully. "Wedon't wish to trouble you, sir.""But I lost," the Muslim replied, smiling. "How can Iback out now?" He turned the donkey round and shouted:

　　"Follow me!"They travelled on. Yu asked the man for his name, buthe simply smiled and answered with more crazy jokes.

　　The lame donkey walked very slowly, and after half aday they had covered only ten miles. They saw ridersapproaching from behind, and 'Mastermind' Xu and ZhouQi galloped up. Yu introduced them saying: "Thisgentleman is taking us to find the Three Devils." Xudismounted and bowed.

　　The Muslim simply smiled in response. "Your wifeshould be resting more," he said to Xu. "What's shedoing, racing about like this?"Xu stared at him, not understanding. Zhou Qi, however,blushed red, and galloped on ahead.

　　The Muslim was very familiar with the roads and pathsof the desert, and towards evening, he led them to asmall village. As they approached, they saw that aManchu military unit had also just descended on thevillage. The Muslims were fleeing in all directionsdragging their children after them.

　　"Most of the Manchu forces have already beenexterminated, and the remnants have been surrounded,so where did these come from?" Xu wondered aloud.

　　A group of about twenty Muslims dashed towards themwith a dozen soldiers on their heels, shouting andbrandishing their swords. When the Muslims caughtsight of the man on the donkey, they began to call outhis name ecstatically: "Afanti! Afanti! Save us!""Everyone flee!" Afanti shouted. He raised his whipand galloped off into the desert with the Muslims andManchu troops following behind.

　　After a while, several of the Muslim women fell behindand were captured by the soldiers. Zhou Qi could notbear to leave them, and she drew her sword and whirledher horse round. She charged the Manchu troops andwith a swish of her blade, cut off half the head ofone of them. The other soldiers surrounded her, and Xuand the others galloped up to rescue her. Suddenly,Zhou Qi felt a wave of nausea and as one of thesoldiers leapt forward to grab her, she vomited allover his face. He frantically tried to wipe the messoff, and Zhou Qi killed him with her sword. Her legsand arms became rubbery and she swayed unsteadily. Xurushed over to support her.

　　"What's the matter?" he asked.

　　Yu and Yuanzhi had by now killed or chased away therest of the soldiers. Xu caught one of the fleeingtroops and interrogated him about where the column hadcome from. The soldier threw himself down on theground and begged for mercy, gabbling incoherently.

　　Finally they extracted from him the fact that he wasattached to a relief force coming from the east. Xuchose two strong young men from amongst the group ofMuslims and sent them off immediately to informMuzhuolun, so he would be prepared. He gave thesoldier a kick on the behind and shouted "Go to hell!"The soldier scampered away.

　　Xu turned back to his wife. "Are you all right?" heasked. "What's the matter?"Zhou Qi blushed and turned her head away.

　　"The cow is going to calve," Afanti said.

　　"How do you know?" Xu asked, surprised.

　　"It's strange. The bull didn't know the cow was goingto calve, but the donkey did."They all laughed, then countinued on their way. Asevening approached, they stopped and set up tents forthe night.

　　"How many months gone are you?" Xu quietly asked hiswife. "How is it that I didn't know?""How would my stupid bull know?" Zhou Qi replied,smiling. After a moment she added: "If we have a boy,then he will be surnamed Zhou. Father and mother willdie of happiness! Just so long as he's not as craftyas you.""You must be careful from now on," said Xu. "No moresword-fighting." She nodded.

　　The next morning, Afanti said to Xu: "Your wife canstay at my home while we go and look for those men.

　　It's another ten miles further on. I have a verybeautiful wife there ...""Really?" Yuanzhi interrupted. "I must meet her. Whywould she like a bearded fellow like you?""Aha, that's a secret," Afanti laughed.

　　They arrived in a village and Afanti led them to hishouse. Raising his saucepan, he began to bang itloudly, and a woman in her thirties came out to greethim. Her features were indeed beautiful and her skinwhite and delicate. They could tell she was overjoyedto see Afanti, but from her mouth issued a stream ofcurses: "Where the hell have you been, Whiskers? Doyou still remember who I am after all this time?""Enough of your noise," Afanti replied with a smile.

　　"Haven't I come back? Bring something out for me toeat. Your Whiskers is starving to death.""Aren't you satisfied just looking at my lovely face?"The wife countered, also smiling.

　　"That's very true, your beautiful face is a greatdelicacy, but if I had some bread or something to gowith it, it would be even better."She reached over and gave his ear a sharp twist. "Iwon't allow you to go out again," she said. She wentback inside, and re-appeared soon after with piles ofbread, water-melon, honey and lamb. Yuanzhi didn'tunderstand a word Afanti and his wife said to eachother, but she could see from their teasing that theyloved each other dearly, and felt desolate.

　　While they ate lunch, two people walked into thehouse, one a young boy and the other a labourer.

　　"Master Hu says that you should return the saucepanthat you borrowed from him," the boy said.

　　Afanti glanced at Zhou Qi and smiled. "You tell MasterHu that the saucepan is pregnant and will soon givebirth to a baby saucepan, and cannot be moved at themoment."The boy looked puzzled, but he turned and left.

　　"What are you here for?" Afanti asked the labourer.

　　"Last year, I went to an inn in the village and ate achicken. Before I left I asked the innkeeper for thebill, but he said: 'We'll settle it next time, there'sno rush.' I thought at the time that he was being niceso I thanked him and left. Two months later, I wentback to pay, and he started counting his fingers andmumbling away as if he was trying to calculate a verycomplicated account. I said: 'How much was thatchicken? All you have to do is tell me!' The innkeeperwaved his hand and told me to be quiet.""A chicken, even if it was the biggest fat chicken,would not be more than a hundred copper pieces," saidAfanti's wife.

　　"That's what I thought too," said the labourer. "Butafter he had been figuring for a long time, he saidtwelve taels of silver!""Ai-ya!" exclaimed Afanti's wife. "How could a chickenbe so expensive? You could buy several hundredchickens with twelve taels of silver.""Yes, that's what I said. But the innkeeper said:

　　'There's no mistake. If you had not eaten my chicken,how many eggs would that chicken have laid? And howmany of those eggs would have become little chicks?

　　And when those little chicks grew, how many eggs wouldthey have laid...?" The longer he calculated, thehigher the price became and finally he said: "Twelvetaels of silver is actually very cheap!" Naturally, Irefused to give him the money so he dragged me over tosee Master Hu for him to settle the dispute. Master Hulistened to the innkeeper and told me to pay up. Hesaid that if I didn't settle the account quickly, theeggs would become even more chickens and I wouldn'thave a hope. Afanti, tell me who is right."Just then, the boy returned.

　　"Master Hu says how could a saucepan be pregnant? Hedoesn't believe you and says you must return thesaucepan to him immediately."Afanti went into the kitchen and brought out a smallsaucepan which he gave to the boy. "This is clearlythe son of a saucepan," he said. "You give it toMaster Hu."Uncertain whether to believe him or not, the boy tookthe small saucepan and left.

　　Afanti turned to the labourer and said: "You tellMaster Hu you want to hold a meeting to settle thematter.""But if I lose, I'll have to give him twenty-fourtaels of silver, won't I?""Don't worry," said Afanti, "You can't lose."After an hour or so, the labourer returned and said:

　　"Uncle Afanti, Master Hu had already called themeeting, and the deliberation has begun. Please come.""I'm busy at the moment," Afanti replied. "Come backin a little while." He sat laughing and chatting withhis wife and the others. The labourer was extremelyanxious and pleaded with him and finally Afanti got upand accompanied him to the meeting.

　　Xu and the others went along too to see the fun, andthey found seven or eight hundred people gathered inthe centre of the village. A fat man wearing anembroidered fur-lined gown sat in the middle, and theydecided he must be Master Hu. The crowd had becomevery restless waiting for Afanti.

　　"Afanti," called Master Hu. "This labourer says you'regoing to speak for him. Why are you so late?"Afanti bowed before him. "I'm sorry, but I had someimportant business to attend to," he said.

　　"How could it be more important than settling thisdispute?" Master Hu replied.

　　"It was much more important," said Afanti. "Tomorrow,I am going to plant some wheat, but I had not yetfried the seeds or eaten them. I fried them threetimes and it took me a long time to finish them up.""Nonsense!" roared Master Hu. "How can you plant seedsthat you have eaten?"The crowd laughed heartily, but Afanti just strokedhis large beard and smiled. After a while, the hubbubdied down, and he said: "You say that wheat seeds thathave been eaten cannot be planted. Well, how can thechicken that the labourer ate lay any eggs?"The crowd thought for a second, and then cried out:

　　"Yes, that's right, how can a chicken that's beeneaten lay eggs?" Everyone began shouting and laughingand lifted Afanti up onto their shoulders.

　　Seeing the crowd's reaction, Master Hu had noalternative but to announce: "The labourer should payone hundred copper pieces to the innkeeper in returnfor the chicken he ate."The labourer happily handed over the string of coppercoins to the innkeeper. "I wouldn't dare to eat on ofyour chickens again," he said.

　　The innkeeper took the money and walked silently away.

　　The crowd of Muslims laughed at him and some smallchildren threw stones at his back.

　　Master Hu walked up to Afanti. "The saucepan I lent toyou gave birth to a son. That's very good. When willit be giving birth again?"An expression of deep sadness appeared on Afanti'sface. "Master Hu," he said. "Your saucepan is dead.""How can a saucepan die?" Master Hu replied angrily.

　　"If a saucepan can give birth to a son, of course itcan die.""You charlatan," cried Master Hu. "You just don't wantto return my saucepan.""All right," Afanti shouted back. "We'll let everyonedecide."But Master Hu remembered how he had accepted the smallsaucepan, and decided he had lost enough face. Hewaved his hand to indicate he had had enough andwalked off through the crowd.

　　Afanti was extremely pleased with himself for havingmanaged to cheat Master Hu, himself a master atcheating the poor, and he threw back his head androared with laughter. Suddenly, a voice behind himsaid: "Well Whiskers, what ridiculousness are you upto now?"Afanti turned and saw it was the Strange Knight of theHeavenly Pool, Master Yuan. He jumped up happily andgrabbed Yuan's arm.

　　"Aha! So you're here. Come and see my wife," he said.

　　"What's so special about your wife that you keepshowing her off like a monkey would a jewel ..."Before Yuan could finish, Xu and Yu came forward andkowtowed before him.

　　"Enough, enough, there's no need to kowtow. I'm notyour teacher," Yuan protested. "Where is your MasterChen?""The Great Helmsman came on ahead of us..." Xu began.

　　Suddenly, he noticed the Twin Eagles of Tianshan, BaldVulture and Madame Guan, behind Yuan and bowed tothem. He was surprised to see Madame Guan was ridingChen's white horse.

　　"Where did you find that horse?" he asked.

　　"We found him running free in the desert. It took thethree of us quite a while to catch him," she said.

　　Xu was shocked. "Could the Great Helmsman be indanger? We had better go and find him," he said.

　　They finished lunch quickly and bade farewell to ZhouQi. Afanti's wife, was furious that he was leavingagain after only a few hours at home, and grabbed hisbeard, wailing and screaming as she did so. Afantilaughed and tried to comfort her.

　　"I`ve found a young lady to keep you company," hesaid. "In fact, there's a bab............