
   The story of XiangFei

   Chapter I:  The Tears of Joy

   XiangFei ('Xiang' means nice smell, 'Fei' means King's wife) was born
around year 1735.  Like any other ancient Chinese story, you need to
have some background on Chinese history in order to understand the story. 

   China has 5 major races:  Han, Man, Meng, Hui and Tibet.  Han is the
majority race, who lives in the area where Yellow river and Long river
run through; Man lives in the north-eastern part of China, just north of
Korea; Meng lives in the north and Hui in the north-west, while Tibet
in the south-west.  In 1644, the Man people conquered mainland and started
to rule China, it is called Qing dynasty (it is purely coincidence that
my NNGS login is also qing, they are two different words with same English
spelling in fact).  By the year 1736, the 4th emperor of Qing was throned.
Let's call him Ron for convenience, he ruled China for 60 years.

    Ron was a strong King, he continued the business of his father and
grandfather and conquered other minority races and expanded China's
territory greatly.  During his era, China was considered the strongest
and the richest nation in the world.

    XiangFei was born to a Hui family, in the north-western part of China.
That part of the land is now called "state of New Territory".  To the south,
there's Tibet highland, north of Tibet is a huge basin, in the basin is a
huge desert, north of the desert is a mountain range, I think it is called
the 'Heavenly Mountains', and there are rivers and grasslands between the
mountain and the desert, that's where XiangFei's tribe lived.  I think the
famous 'Silk Road' also went through that area.  North of the Heavenly
mountains was another basin of smaller size, where lived another Hui tribe
called "Zunger".  North of this basin is Russia.  West of New Territory is
Afghanistan.  To the East, there is the western portion of the GreatWall of
China.  (the correct spelling of Zunger might be: DZungar, not very sure)

    XiangFei's tribe was led by a man called 'younger HeZuMu', let's
call him young Henry for convenience.  His brother elder Henry was leader
of another Hui tribe.  Their religion was the Moslem.  Their people were
really very peaceful in nature.

    When XiangFei was born, a bright shooting star lighted up the night sky,
as it was disappearing behind the Heavenly mountains, there's a dark green
corona around the tip of the mountains.  Shortly after, the morning has
broken, that day, the Sun had never been brighter, and the sky had never been 
bluer; when XiangFei's brother woke up and opened the door, he shouted: 
"Daddy, daddy! come look!"  There it was, a magical sight, thousands, no,
millions of flowers have blossomed overnight on the vast grasslands around 
them, flowers of all types, of all different colors are all smiling in the 
gentle wind, as if to celebrate the birth of XiangFei.

    There was very little information on XiangFei's childhood, we only know
that she was born a peaceful and gentle girl, she wouldn't hurt anything,
and she was always happy, she smiled a lot, she was kind, and of course, 
no human language can adequately describe her beauty... she liked to run around
the hillside, her lovely voice sang the peaceful folk songs, echoed around
the valleys; the snow from the Heavenly mountains melted into small creeks
flowing through XiangFei's village, and you can find her sitting beside it,
using her cute little palms to scoop up that clean and pure liquid from
the heaven, and she would share it with her baby sheep; also, it was said
that XiangFei liked to eat the flowers (I suspect that she is a vegetarian).
And we must not forget that the most important and unique feature of Xiang
was that her body has a natural aroma (I wonder if that came from her
special flower-diet), XiangFei had no need to use any perfume, for her
natural aroma smell much much better than any aritificial stuff.

    Unfortunately, peaceful days won't last forever.  The source of the
problem came from their neighbors.  To the north, the tribe "Zunger" was
aggressive by nature, they were good at combats and fighting.  King Ron's
grandfather has tried to conquer the Zunger, but failed, because it was
too far from the mainland of China, China's army's supply line was stretched
too thin, and the soldiers had no fighting spirits when travelled that far
from homeland.  Besides, Qing's army was not familiar with that part of the
land, so, Ron's grandfatehr had suffered a small defeat and retreated.
On the other hand, Zunger was too small to do anything about the mighty
China. So they signed a peace treaty.  In short, the treaty stated that
Zunger became Qing's subordinate, but Qing would give Zunger 'foreign aids'
and special tax breaks in trades.  So, the bottom line was, Qing suffered
economical loss but maintained some 'face' (honor) (without losing face).

    Without the threat from Qing, Zunger turned his forces against his
weaker neighbors such as XiangFei's tribe.  Of course, Henrys were no match
against Zunger, for the Henrys were very peaceful people.  The result was 
that Zunger applied heavy and unreasonable taxes to the Henrys.  
Also, the younger Henry was kept as a "special guest" in Zunger's headquarters.

    It was around the year 1750, when Zunger finally allowed young Henry
to pay a visit to his homeland, one of the reasons was that Henry was old
enough to get married, he needed to get back home to choose his wife;
also, Henry has always been a model 'prisoner', Zunger was not too worried
that he would escape.  Nevertheless, Zunger still sent 2 generals to
accompany him for the trip.

    Henry was a really nice guy, and those 2 generals, Don and John,
have become his friends too.   Don just recently divorced, his ex-wife
was very 'tough', so Don was happy to be free and he had no desire to
get married again for the moment.  John was happily married, he was a smart
guy and a good general, loyal to his King.  While they were riding toward
the Heavenly mountains, Henry started singing:
    "Oooh, my lovely lady, E--Mar--Balm-er
     your silky hair waving in the gentle wind
     Oooo...
     your lovely smile brighter than the Sun
     OoOooo...
     (well, you got the idea)"
Don started laughing: "hahaha, my friend, are you in love? take my advice,
don't get married, it only ties you up.  trust me."
Henry ignored him and continued singing.
Don got a bit disturbed and said: "who the hell is Emar anyway?"
Henry didn't answer, but his servant replied: "General Don, you don't even
know who EmarBalmer is?  She is the most beautiful girl in this world!"
Don said: "Where is she? is she in your tribe? and what does EmarBalmer mean
anyway?"  Henry said: "Yes, she is.  EmarBalmer means 'good smell'."
Then he explained why people called her that.  Don still didn't believe.
John said: "Haha, Don, I think once you got bitten by a snake, you are now
biased against all the girls. hahaha..."   

    They finally arrived and await for the ceremony of engagement.  The
ceremony is a tradition of Henry's tribe.  It is always held in the night
of the first full moon of the Spring, when all the ready-to-get-married
young boys and girls would gather around in the center of the village,
where they set up a huge campfire, and the most respectful person in
the tribe would announce the engagements of all the boy-girl pairs.
Of course, it was not paired randomly, before the ceremony, any boy/girl
who has agreeed to marry each other would inform that leader and their
parents, so that the job of that leader would be much easier and fair.
The leader would only make the pairing for the remaining boys/girls
who didn't find anyone beforehand themselves.

    The moon finally rises, and the ceremony begins... it went smoothly.
Finally, only 2 girls left... and they are hot pancakes, the leader had
no idea how to pair for them.  One of them was young Henry's cousin, her
husband had died several months ago.  Her name was Miya.  She was also
extremely beautiful, only XiangFei was better than she.  The problem for
the leader was that, people consider her as bad luck, since her husband
died shortly after their marriage.  So, the leader couldn't pair her to
anybody.  The other girl there was XiangFei, she was too beautiful and
many many good boys (including Henry) wanted to marry her, and nobody could
decide (including herself) which boy would be best for her.

    Don and John were the guests of the ceremony, Don didn't believe
how special XiangFei could be until he saw her standing by the campfire...
Don couldn't believe his eyes!  There was the girl, in a very plain and 
simple dress, no makeups, yet, her beauty captured his soul.

    Finally, the leader of the ceremony, after discussed with other
well respected elder people, announced a method to choose XiangFei's
future husband: he asked all the young men who wanted to marry XiangFei
to give him 'something', then, he will put those things in a box and
let XiangFei pick one thing, and the owner of that thing will become
XiangFei's husband.  Under the circumstance, that method seemed to be
the most fair.

    So, all those boys gathered in a tent and gave their stuff to the
leader.  As you might have guessed, among the crowd were many boys came
from those richer families in the tribe, so, in that box were a lot of
precious jewelies, diamonds, rings, neckleses... etc etc.  They wanted
their jewely to attract XiangFei's attention.

    Don finally woke up from his stare at XiangFei, and he heard the
announcement of the method.  So, he rushed to the tent, and yelled: "I want
to participate too!  I want to participate!!!"   John held him back and
said: "Calm down, Don, you are not a Moslem, you are not allowed to marry
her."  Don yelled again: "I WILL become a Moslem if she choose me!!  I swear
to God I will become a Moslem!"  The leader said: "OK, we take your words
for it.  But you must change your religion had you been chosen."  With that,
Don took out a neckles and put it in the box.  That neckles worth millions,
you can see rubies, saphires, emeralds...all kinds of precious stones make up
that shining neckles.  Don smiled, in the box, his neckles was the most
visible thing.

    And then, everybody looked at young Henry.  Henry didn't like the method
much, because he loved XiangFei very much, but because he was held hostage
in the Zunger for years, he didn't get much chance to let XiangFei to know
him; he was afraid that XiangFei would pick other people's stuff.  But he
also didn't want to overrule the method, because he is not a dictator type.
So, finally, he took out his short sword (which was tied onto his boot) and
put it in the box.  The handle of the sword was already a little rusty,
it was dark and dull, you wouldn't recognize it among all those shining
jewelies.  We had no idea to this date that, why Henry didn't put in a better
thing.

    The box was presented to Xiang, she looked at it carefully, she distaste
all those expensive stones, for her soul was made of flowers, made of the
snow and made of the stars; the only thing attracted her was that sword,
she could feel that the wind the rain and the Sun had melted into that 
sword, and she picked it up without hesitation.  The crowd was eager to 
find out who's the owner of the sword, when they saw Henry slowly walked 
toward her, they cheered!  Oh, how happy they were!  
They chanted: it's Ala the God's will!

    XiangFei removed the casing of the sword and pointed the sword at the sky,
although the casing was dark and dull, the balde was still shining as new;
the reflection of the fire and the moonlight from the blade was in
everybody's eyes, it silented the crowd, and XiangFei faced Henry and said
clearly with her angel's voice: "By the Moon, by the stars, by the fire; 
with this sword, we'd wed."  The crowd cheered again, and tears welled in
everybody's eyes.

    Don couldn't believe what had happened, but he had to acknowledge the
defeat.  He went forward and picked up his neckles and walked toward Henry,
he said: congratulations, my friend, please accept this neckles as my gift
for your wedding.  Henry was not a small-minded man, and he gladly accepted
it and put it around XiangFei's neck.  

    They all thought that the peace and happy days would begin.  But noone
guessed what would come next.  After Don and John returned to Zunger, an
internal political struggle began, Don launched a coup and got rid of the
King, Don became the King and John had to escape.  Don was also not satisfied
with the situation of being Qing's subordinate nation, so he started to rebel.
He also wanted to tax the Henrys more in order to satisfy his thirst for
power and wealth.  Henry and XiangFei went to Don's capital to plea for
better treatments.  Don treated them with a state banquet, during the dinner,
Don pretended that he was drunk, and when XiangFei was proposing a toast,
he grabbed her hand and said some nasty words, XiangFei was furious and
took off the neckles and threw it back at Don and left for home with Henry.
Since then, those two tribe nations were practically at war.

    John was in exile at the Henry's, so they gathered together and discussed
how to handle this strong enemy of Don; the conclusion was that they are of
no match against Don, they needed the help from Qing.  So, John suggested
that he would make a trip to Pekin (Beijing), the capital of Qing, to plea
to Emperor Ron; but he needed to take with him some special gifts for the
emperor.  Finally, they let John took a cargo of gold and many horses
and Miss Miya to Pekin.

    The first time Miya met Ron, Miya had no idea about all those diplomatic
formalities, she just stood there in front of Ron and said hello.  John was
very anxious and tried to singal her to kneel down in front of the emperor.
Ron laughed and didn't mind her lack of formalities.  Ron was especially
happy about the beauty of Miya, and after Miya became one of his 1000 wifes,
Ron agreed to lend 10,000 troop to John to fight for him.  In Ron's mind,
he had always wanted to accomplish what his grandfather had failed to achieve
-- conquer the north-west.  And, that was a golden opportunity falling down
from heaven.  Ron ceased the opportunity, besides, he also got a beautiful
Miya, he was laughing from the bottom of his heart!

    Ron soon found out that Miya was the best wife he has ever had, her
beauty was unmatched by anyone, even the official Queen.

    In the mean time, John led the troops back to his homeland, because John
knew where the weakness of Zunger's defense very well, very quickly, they
captured Don and sent him to Pekin for Ron.

    Surprise to everyone, Ron didn't kill Don, on the contrary, he offered Don
a position in the government.  One day, Ron mentioned to Don that how pretty
Miya was, Don said: "Your majesty, you must be kidding me, you should know
there's another lady who is 1000000 times prettier than Miya."  Ron went back
to his palace and asked Miya about XiangFei, and Miya was very honest to tell
Ron the truth: "Yes, my Lord, I am very honored that you think I am the
prettiest lady you have seen, but I must admit, that XiangFei is the
most beautiful lady in the whole universe."   From that moment on, Ron was
determined to capture XiangFei...


   The story of XiangFei, Chapter II:  The Tears of Sadness


   The problem in front of Ron was that, he needed to find an excuse to
attack the Henrys nation before he can capture XiangFei.  But the Henrys
were peaceful nations, they were not trouble makers for Qing, thus, there
was no justifiable reasons to attack them.   Without a good reason, Ron
couldn't send troops to that faraway land, otherwise, a defeat would
weaken his leadership and even a victory wouldn't bring honors to him.

   Now, let's see what has happened to John.  After he defeated Don,
he became the King of his nation, and he naively thought that the matter
has settled.  He then decided that he'd prepare a big thank-you gift to
Ron and send Qing's 10000 soldier back.  So, he summoned the ambassador
of Qing who was also the leader of Qing's troop, Mr. Chen, to his office
and expressed his desire.  Of course, that's against Ron's will, and
Mr. Chen knew it well.  So, Chen and the troops refused to leave.  Only
then, John realized that what a big trouble he had brought to himself,
he invited an ugly wolf entered his home, and now the wolf won't go!

   Moreover, to pour gasoline into the fire, Mr. Chen's attitude toward
John became viscious, Chen treated John as servants, giving John unreasonable
orders with bad manners.  After a while, John couldn't stand it anymore,
so he captured Chen and cut his head off, and Qing's troops fled back
to a castle on the western end of the GreatWall.

   Ron soon got the news and he was so happy that he finally got the chance
he was looking for, so he summoned a cabinet meeting, and ordered General
Zhao to direct 50,000 troops to conquer Zunger.  General Zhao was very
happy to take the mission, because at that time, there was no war anywhere,
and it was very hard for a general to get any promotion without battles,
it was a golden opportunity for Zhao to become rich and famous.

   After Zhao left, Ron soon ordered his craftsmen to start building a
huge new palace, located at the western side of Pekin, it was a tall
building, after it's built, Ron named it the "Moon palace", and he sent
12 servants to maintain the building.

   Zhao finally reached the western end of the GreatWall, he took a break
and let his soldiers rest for few days before launching his attack.  That
night, in his private room, he took out an envelope that Ron handed to him 
personally as he was leaving Pekin.  Sealed in the envelope was a top-secret
order from Ron, it said: "make sure that there won't be any future
resistance from Zunger.  also, if the Henrys rebel against Qing, 
make sure to leave XiangFei alive."

   After reading the secret order, Zhao was puzzled... it was easy to
carry out the first part of the order, but what exactly the 2nd part meant?
Everybody knew that the Henrys were peaceful, and there was no reason for
them to rebel.  If that's the case, why Ron said "if the Henrys rebel"???
There was virtually no chance for that to happen, why a smart emperor like
Ron would write such a sentence in such an important top-secret order???!!!
Zhao read the order once, twice and again and again, finally, an evil smile 
creep up at the corner of his mouth, he finally understood what Ron wanted!
Then he put the order and the envelope on top of the candle fire, and
it turned into ashes, it's indeed a secret only known to Ron and Zhao.

   Zhao then proceeded by sending a special envoy to meet with the young
Henry, the envoy consisted of 3 people.  The young Henry, together with
XiangFei and her brother met with them in a private meeting room.  In the
meeting, Zhao's envoy brought up some very unreasonable orders to Henry,
one of them was that Henrys must abandon their religion of Moslem, it was
something that even a peaceful man like Henry couldn't accept, he was
furious and told the envoy: "if that's your ultimatum, then I have no
choice but to declare war against Qing!  because to us Moslems, our religion
is more important than our lifes!"  With that, the meeting broke, and
Henry ordered his people to prepare for war.

   The old man who hosted XiangFei's engagement ceremony brought a suit
of armor to her and said: "When I was young, I wore this armor in several
battles.  It has protected me well.  Now I give it to you, may Ala and the
force be with you."

   In the mean time, general Zhao started marching toward Zunger basin,
however, he disliked the slow movement of his foot-soldiers, so he led
2500 horse riders rushed toward the Fort of Golden River; unfortunately,
he underestimated the fighting powers of his enemy, he also underestimated
the importance of proceeding-with-caution in an unfamiliar land.  Soon,
he and his troops got lost in the desert, his men and horses were tired,
lucky for them, before the last drop of water ran out, they found a small
village, but they still had no idea where they were.  To their astonishments
the next day, they woke up only to find out that they have been surrounded
by Zunger and Henry's army!

   Zhao's out numbered, but their enemy did not attack, they only surrounded
him, hoping that the hunger would force Zhao to resign.  Zhao had hoped that
his other 47,500 soldiers would eventually find him, but he didn't know
that he was already 250 miles off his planned course. Finally, before
the food was about to run out, he assembled his troops and asked for 8
volunteers, he told them, ride your horses as fast as you can to 8 different 
directions, hopefully, one of you would escape the enemy line.  
Lucky for Zhao, one of the riders did indeed escaped and reached his main force.

   The table was turned when Zhao joined with his main force.  They first
chased Zunger's army back to their homeland, and killed John and all his
soldiers, then they burnt the villages and killed all the men and women
of Zunger.  Zhao has carried out Ron's secret order to the letter.  In that
massacre, thousands of people were killed, the rivers to the north of the
Heavenly Mountains were all reddened by human blood.

   After that, Zhao soon surrounded Henry and his people by the foothill
of the Heavenly Mountains.  To his surprise, Henry and XiangFei and their
people put up a stubborn defence.  So, Zhao sent in some secret agents and
spread rumors: "it's all young Henry's fault to drag you into this war,
Qing had never asked you to abandon your religion, emperor Ron has promised
that you guys can keep your religion and your style of living...etc etc"
Soon, Henry couldn't control his soldiers and his defense was collapsing.
Then Zhao sent in another message: "Qing's troops will retreat as soon as
you brought young Henry's head to general Zhao, then, you can all go home."

   The result was pretty clear now, Henry's resistance has totally collapsed
and his people had turned to against him.  They thought he was a liar.
Only XiangFei and her brother knew the truth, for they were in that meeting
too, but noone would believe them either, they said: "XiangFei is his wife,
of course she would say nice things about Henry."  It was very sad...

   The day came, all Henry's generals came to his tent, although they did
not say a word, Henry knew what they wanted.  Henry said his final words:
"If my head could bring peace to this land, I'll be glad to offer it to you.
Please take care of yourselves, my friends, may Ala our God bless your souls"
Then he took out his sword and slid his own throat.  Someone quickly chopped
his head off in order to end his pain and suffering.  The sky suddenly
was covered with black clouds, and the rain poured down on them; severe
thunderstorm shook the Heavenly Mountains, and strong wind blew the tents
off... as if Ala were in anger...

   XiangFei heard the sad news and ran back to Henry's headless body in that
pouring rain, she sat in the ground holding the body of her beloved husband,
the raindrops hit her armor, making a strange sound, her tears ran down her
face only to mix with the tears from the heaven, her hair was wet, her boots
covered with mud, but her eyes still shine as stars, however, her smile
has foreverly disappeared from her face... the blood flew out of
Henry's heck, it mixed with the rain and drained down into his beloved
soil of the Heavenly mountains.  Noone, nobody dared to watch that sight,
because even a brief glance, you will be shocked by XiangFei's anger and
pain, you will feel the same pain, as if your lungs were torn apart
and your heart were sliced into small pieces...

   General Zhao arrived, he quickly ordered XiangFei be sent to Pekin,
XiangFei stood up, lifted up her head and stared at the mighty general!
At the same time, a thunder roared behind her, the lightening shook the
Heavenly Mountaints, the wind blew her hair waving in the rain, and her
eyes, as cold as the snow, as shining as the stars, looked at the general!
General Zhao had to take one step back in order to keep his balance, he
also had to turn his back, he wouldn't dare to face her...

   XiangFei demanded a reason for her trip to Pekin, he couldn't give one.
He only said that if she refuses to go, all her people will suffer the same
fate as the Zungers.  She was angry at her own people, for they have betray
her husband, but still, her love for them has overcome any hatred.  To avoid
another massacer and bloodshed, XiangFei agreed to go.

   She used her own hands dug a grave and burried her husband by the
hillside.  Zhao sent Hui people back to their homeland, he had several
thousand soldiers left in the capital city of Hui to maintain control
of the new state (state of New Territory).  Then Zho and his army, together
with XiangFei, her brother, her servant Mary and several hundreds of Hui
people, started making the trip to Pekin.  The year was 1759.


   The story of XiangFei, Chapter III: The Tears of Honor

   Zhao's conquering of north-west was a major victory for the dynasty,
so when he arrived at the suburb of Pekin, a lot of high level government
officials were already waiting there to congratulate him.  Most of them
said to him that he will be promoted immediately.  It's pretty much a
guarantee.  Among the officials, there was a special person, his name was
Mr. Fu, although nobody dared to say it in open, but it was a well known
'secret' that Fu was Ron's son (except his mother was not Ron's wife),
so, even though Fu was not a very high ranking officer, everybody was
very friendly to him.

   As soon as Fu met with general Zhao, he urgently asked: "where is she?
where is she?"  Zhao thought that XiangFei's capture was a top secret
between Ron and him, so, he wouldn't dare to say a word.  Fu laughed:
"Hahahaha, general Zhao, it is allright, don't worry.  It is not a secret
anymore, everybody in the palace knew about it already.  Hahaha, now, let
me meet with her please?"   That's a hot potato to Zhao, he said: "we can't
just go in there, uh, she is .... a very special lady.... she won't meet
with anyone who doesn't have a good reason.  Tell me, why do you want to
see her?"   Fu told him that Ron's mother sent him to take a look first.
Zhao immediately understood why.... because everybody heard about XiangFei,
obviously the words have leaked to QueenMother's ears, she is of course
curious about how XiangFei looked; but she couldn't send any of Ron's
official sons or wifes to come, that would be a violation of palace 
regulations, so the only person who can do the job is Fu -- who is her
real grandson without a title of grandson, thus he is free from regulations.

   So Zhao told Fu to pretend to be an officer from the State Department
to come to arrange the procedure for XiangFei to meet with the emperor.
And XiangFei agreed to meet with Fu.   Fu, just like any other man,
was stunned when he saw her the first time, he became speechless, stood
there like a dummy.  The meeting soon adjourned and Fu ran back to tell
QueenMother the big news.

   Soon, Zhao was promoted to the position of Chief of Staff, plus a big
bonus and an increase in salary.  While XiangFei was sent to the Moon palace
accompanied by Mary and 12 other servants prepared by Ron.  Ron had ordered
the servants to learn Hui's languages and wear Hui's traditional cloth,
besides, the servants were trained to cook Hui's traditional food.
XiangFei's brother was assigned a position in the government, and shortly
after, he was married to a lady doctor.  The other Hui people came with
XiangFei were placed in houses nearby the Moon palace.

   The 2nd day of XiangFei's arrival, Ron went to the Moon palace to
see his new treasure.  He was all smiles, his spirit was high, his eyes
were on the top of his head, so very proud.  He went up to the top floor
where XiangFei lived, XiangFei was standing in front of the window,
Ron walked close to her and as he was going to hold her, she quickly
turned around with the short sword in her right hand!  The sword has
accompany her since her engagement night.  Ron was stunned!  XiangFei
calmly said: "Don't come near me! one more step and you will be dead!
I agreed to come to Pekin such that my people could return to their
homeland, but you have absolutely no right to see me and I have 
no obligation to meet with you!  Now, get out of here!"

   Mary came rushing in and knelled down in front of XiangFei, she cried:
"Lady Xiang, please put down your sword, he is the Emperor after all."
XiangFei said: "He has murdered thousands of Zunger people and hundreds
of our people, he is worse than an animal!"  Ron finally put his minds
back together, and was able to say something: "It's ok, it's ok, don't
be like that, I just want to take a look at you, nothing else.  I just
want to be your friend, that's all.  I am leaving now."  Even in the
situation like that, he was able to appreciate the beauty of XiangFei,
however, he didn't dare to look straight into her eyes.  There was something
in her eyes that was so pure, clean and noble, which made him feel like
a dirty old man.  In front of XiangFei, even an Emperor of a mighty
dynasty felt like a worthless childish foolish and ugly person.

   From that day on, Ron would still went to the Moon palace, but he
wouldn't dare to go close to her, he would just sitting on a chair
at one end of the room, and just read a book or something, while
XiangFei was in the other end of the room doing her own things.  But
even like that, Ron was satisfied, he thought that it was his honor
to be with her in the same place.  Of course, he couldn't sat there
forever, when he was not in the Moon palace, he was constantly thinking
of her.  Everybody could tell that Ron has changed.

   Naturally, Ron's wifes were all talking about XiangFei, one day,
in front of the official Queen, several other wifes chatted, one said:
"heehee, man are all alike, our emporer is the same, for a man, a woman
outside of the house is better than the wife inside his house, and a woman
stolen from other man is more exciting than a woman outside the house,
and a woman whom he can't touch is even better than the woman he stole.
heehee."   another wife said: "my sister Queen, we really should be mad
at Ron, you see, he sent 12 servants to serve XiangFei, that's the same
number of servants as you get, isn't it?!  XiangFei isn't even his wife!
that's against the regulations!  We should report this to the QueenMother!"
As you can imaging, the Queen was getting jealous.

   But the only thing on Ron's mind was how to make XiangFei happy.  He is
dying to see her smile.  Another thing bothers Ron was that he couldn't
stay in the Moon palace all the time, that means he couldn't see her all
the time.  One day, he suddenly got an idea to solve this problem, he
quickly ordered the painter of the palace to come to see him.

   This painter was a famous person, his art works are still considered
priceless treasures of the Chinese people and they are well kept in the
national museum.  Let's call him Steven.  He was a Catholic priest born
in Italy.  He travelled to China to learn the Chinese culture, and Ron
liked him very much, so he kept Steven in the palace and offered him
a job there.   That day, Ron told Steven to paint lady XiangFei, such that
when Ron was not with her, he could still see her.

   And Steven went to see XiangFei.  XiangFei soon found out that Steven's
a foreigner and a priest.  She suddenly felt that he was the only person
in this foreign country whom she can talk to.  Soon they established a
strange father-daughterly relationship, even though one is a Moslem lady
the other is a Catholic priest.  With someone there to talk to, XiangFei
felt much less lonely than before.  She let Steven paint her in her armor,
in her traditional Hui cloth.  The Queen and QueenMother also saw the
paintings, and they began to understand why Ron was acting like that.

   Since Steven was the only person XiangFei talked to, Ron often asked
him what XiangFei was thinking and how to make her happy.  Steven suggested
that the reason that XiangFei was unhappy was that she missed her homeland
very much, so he suggested Ron to build a Hui style village completed with
a huge Moslem church near the Moon palace.  Such that XiangFei could see
the village from her room, and the Hui people lived in Pekin will have a
better place to live.  Ron ordered the building to begin immediately.

   All the things Ron had done for XiangFei had an effect on her, she
thougth perhaps Ron was not that bad after all.  He has done everything
he could for her people.  So, she agreed to go on a hunting trip with Ron.
And later, Steven made a painting out of his memory about the trip.
(All these paintings are still well kept till today in China's museum,
 in the paintings, XiangFei has no smile, and she did not wear Qing-style
 dress.)

   But the trip and the building of Hui village had an ill effect on
other Hui people lived in Pekin, they thought that XiangFei has agreed
to be Ron's wife.  They considered that to be the greatest shame to their
nation.  So, when the village and the church was built, they refused
to move in, that day, when XiangFei was standing in front of the window,
she saw her people gathered below and booed at her.   She was heart-broken.

   Ron had ordered a huge celebration for the completion of the Moslem
church, in that banquet, Ron was totally drunk.  That night, he went to
the Moon palace, since he was totally drunk, he couldn't help himself
but revealed the secret about how he had planned all along on provoking
the rebellance of XiangFei's husband, only to find an excuse to capture
her in order to make her his wife.

   Ah, that pain and sadness came back to XiangFei's heart!  All those
innocent people had died only because she was too beautiful!  The saddest
thing was that her husband's death was a planned cold-blooded murder by Ron.
I couldn't find a proper word to describe how angry she was at that moment.
Ron then proceeded to grab XiangFei, XiangFei took out
the sword and Ron stopped.  Without a word, she turned the blade toward
herself and push it toward her heart!  Mary came to the rescue, she jumped
in the air and pushed the sword away at the last moment.  The sword missed
XiangFei's heart but still, it cut into her left arm.

   Her white Hui cloth was redden by her blood, she was fainted and collapsed
in the pool of her own blood.  Ron was now fully awake, he quickly ordered
the guards to get XiangFei's sister-in-law (the doctor) to the palace.
After several hours of ER treatments, XiangFei's life was finally saved.

   Her brother was on her bedside when she woke up.  When she saw him,
her tears fell... she said to her brother: "Please tell my people, that
I did not betray them, I am not Ron's wife.  I am innocent.  This
blood is my witness.!"   Her brother gathered all the Hui people in the
city, and showed them the bloody shirt, he explained everything to them,
including what happened in that meeting set-up by Zhao.  Her people finally
believed she was telling the truth.  And they realized that all this time,
even though they have betrayed her husband, she has forgiven them and
has always been caring for them.  They decided to move into the village,
and live close by the Moon palace.

   What happened in the Moon palace soon leaked into QueenMother's ears,
and it shocked the QueenMother.  She quickly summoned Ron to her living room
and expressed her anger: "My emperor son, how come you become so stupid!
don't you remember you are the Emperor, don't you remember your 
responsibilities?!!  do you want the history book to judge you as an
idiot??!!  what if she didn't hurt herself and instead killed you?!
do you realize the severeness of the consequences?!!  Look! you are a
middle-aged King, why still act like a childish teenager?!!"

   Ron couldn't say a word, he knew his mother was right.

   QueenMother pushed on: "Tell me, what do you plan to do about it??!!"

   Ron muttered out some words: "Mom, I... I... I don't know.  I couldn't
live without her, I couldn't function without seeing her."

   QueenMother sighed: "Wake up!! My son!!  Forget about that woman!
She is no good for you!   Now, speak after me -- I will not step into
the Moon palace anymore."

   Ron said: "I will not step into the Moon palace anymore."

   QueenMother said: "An Emperor is not allowed to take back the words
he said.   Remember what you have said just now.  Now, go, have some rest."

   But the following night, Ron sneaked into the palace to watch XiangFei
for one more time.  QueenMother's spy soon reported to her.  She knew she
had to do something decisive.  The official Queen knew what her motherinlaw
was thinking, and she suggested that they should act quickly, because
if they don't do something about it, sooner or later, something bad is
going to happen to the dynasty.

   So they summoned XiangFei to QueenMother's palace, and QueenMother
reasoned to her that they could not keep her alive.  To their surprise,
XiangFei thanked them and said that it was what she wanted too.  She then
told the QueenMother about the whole story and the truth about what had
happened, then she asked QueenMother to send her people back to 
their homeland and bury her along side her husband's grave.
QueenMother was very touched by what XiangFei said to her, the Queen
observed the facial expressions of the QueenMother and was afriad that
the QueenMother might change her mind.  So, she quickly ordered:
"Guard!  Do your job now."  And she threw down a 5' long white silky scarf.

   The guards wrapped the scarf around XiangFei's neck, and 5 minutes later,
she left this ugly world, finally, she joined her husband in the heaven.

   Ron rushed into the palace only to find that he was too late to save
XiangFei.  Sadness swept over him ever since, and he could no longer 
concentrate on his leadership, he was constantly thinking of her until 
his death. The Qing dynasty had peaked in power during the first half of 
Ron's leadership, and we saw the dynasty declined and corrupted during 
the latter half of his leadership (or lack of), and Qing's never able to 
recover since.

   Hui people in Pekin was led by XiangFei's brother back to the
New Territory, and they burried her next to her husband's grave,
at the foothill of the Heavenly Mountains.   In every Spring, people
saw a very special kind of pretty flower covering her grave, and you
can smell its lovely fragance in the gentle wind blowing by the
Heavenly Mountains.

-the end-

