turned yourself into a lackey of the Tartars, helping them to keep us Chinese enslaved. And instead of feeling ashamed, you seem to be proud of it. Well, I for my part am ashamed to be your friend.' He rose abruptly to his feet. 'Hush!' said Wu. 'If anyone were to hear you talking like this, it would be more than your life is worth.' 'I'm treating you still as a friend,' said Zha, 'and christian louboutin shoes sale telling you what is for your own good. If you don't want to listen, you can always kill me. I haven't the strength to truss a chicken, so you won't meet louboutin uk with much resistance.' 'I'm listening, ' said Wu. 'I want to hear what you have to say.' 'The military forces of this whole province are under your command, ' said Zha. 'There will never be a better opportunity for a rising. At a good clear call from above, patriots everywhere in the Empire will rise up to join you. Then even if you don't Louboutin UK succeed, the Tartars will have had a nasty shock, and with this last glorious stand you will have made worthy use of the wonderful strength and courage you are endowed with.' Wu poured out a whole bowlful of wine and drained it at a single draught. That was bravely said.' He grasped his gown in the middle and gave it a jerk. There was a loud rending sound as it split open down the front, exposing his great chest, covered with a mat of long black hairs. Then he parted the hair with his fingers so that Zha could see the two lines of small characters tattooed on his skin: (By Heaven my father and Earth my mother) *. e~" (I will overthrow the Qing and restore the Ming) Zha was both startled and delighted. 'What. . . what. . . what is this?' The General covered up his chest again. 'I was full of admiration, listening to what you said just now, ' he said. 'In order to show me where my duty lies, you spoke from the heart, knowing that you did so at the risk of your own life and the lives of everyone you hold dear. I used to be a member of the Beggars Guild; I am now Red Banner Master of the Obedience Lodge of the Triad Society; and I am under oath to give my life if necessary in the cause of overthrowing the Tartars and restoring the Ming.' Zha now understood the significance of the tattooed characters. 'I see, ' he said. 'So you are "in the Cao camp, but your heart is with the Han". I'm afraid I said some very offensive things to you just now. I hope you will forgive me.' By 'in the Cao camp' he was referring to an episode in the famous historical novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms when the great warrior Guan Yu found himself similarly situated. To be compared with the God of War was hugely flattering. Wu modestly declined the compliment. 'But what is the Beggars Guild?' Zha asked him. 'And what is this Triad Society?' 'Let's have another cup first, ' said Wu. 'It will take me a while to explain.' They drank, and Wu began. Beggars and Triads There's been a Beggars Guild since the days of the Song dynasty. Ever since that time they have been a part of the outlaw world, part of the Brotherhood of River and Lake. Members of the christian louboutin london Guild have got to make their living by begging. Even if a rich man joins, he has to share out all his possessions and live by begging from that time onwards. The Guild has a Master; under him there are four Elders; and under the Elders there are Eve Guardians, one for each of the Five Directions: front, back, right, left, and centre. I was a Guardian of the Left and my standing in the Guild was that of an Eight Bag member. Quite a high one. But then I had a disagreement with an Elder called Sun and got into a fight with him; and being drunk at the time, I hit him too hard and hurt him badly. Well, disrespect to a senior is a breach of Guild regulations for a start, but wounding an Elder is even more serious. So there was a council of the Master and the Elders and I was expelled from the Guild. That time you saw me outside your house and invited me in for a drink, I'd only just been expelled and I was feeling very low. That you should have seen fit to treat me as a friend at a time like that did a lot to raise my spirits.' 'I see, ' said Zha. The year after that, in the spring, when we met for the second time beside West Lake, ' continued Wu, 'you treated me just as if I were an equal. You told me I was a "very remarkable man" and you said you would like to have me as a friend. I did a lot of hard thinking during the days that followed. I'd been thrown out of the Beggars Guild; my Brothers all despised me; every single day I was stinking drunk; I was a hopeless case; at the rate I was going, I'd be dead within a few years. Then I thought to myself, if this Mr Zha tells me I'm a remarkable man, surely I should at least make an effort? Surely there must be some sort of future for me? Well, not long after that the Manchu army shoes christian louboutin came south and, in a fit of enthusiasm, without really thinking what I was doing, I volunteered. I was a good soldier. I distinguished myself. Of course, that meant that I killed a lot of my own people. When I think cheap christian louboutin of it now, I feel very ashamed.' Zha looked grave. 'It was very wrong of you. Even if they wouldn't have you in the Beggars Guild, you could have gone travelling as a loner or you could have settled down and become a family man. Why did you have to join the Manchu army? It was the worst choice you could have made.' 'I'm not a clever man, ' said Wu, 'and at that time I didn't have you to advise me. I made a lot of mistakes. I did some really terrible things.' Zha nodded. 'As long as you know they were mistakes, ' he said, 'it isn't too late to redeem them.' Wu continued. Then the Manchus took over the whole of China and I became a Military Governor. Two years ago an assassin broke into my bedroom one night and tried to stab me; but he wasn't a match for me and I overpowered him and made him my prisoner. When I lit the lamp to have a good look at him, I saw it was the Elder called Sun from the Beggars Guild, the one I'd once wounded in a fight. He started yelling curses at me. He said I was vile and shameless, that I'd chosen of my own free will to do the dirty work of foreigners, and a lot else besides. It got worse as he went on. And every word he said went straight to my heart. You see, I'd sometimes thought those things myself. I knew perfectly well that what I was doing was wrong. Sometimes in the early hours, when I was alone with my own conscience, I felt so ashamed. Only the things I thought myself weren't nearly as straight to the point as the things that Sun was saying. So I just sighed and set him free. "What you say is true, Elder," I said. "You'd better go now." He looked very surprised; but anyway, he slipped out the window and went.' 'That's something you did that wasn't a mistake,' said Zha. 'At that time there were a lot of anti-Manchu patriots locked up in the prison-block of the Military Governor's Yamen,' said Wu. 'Firs