– Drink it, darling, – sang the monk in a sweet voice giving the pills to the woman. – Do drink it and let us play "cloud and rain" once more! Why are you in so dark a mood?!
– Give me peace, you indefatigable! – the woman tried to wave her hand negatively at the pestering lover but failed. – I'm almost spent!
– Don't you worry my sweet bun! – Baby Snake heard. – You should know better than anybody: we the golden-headed arkhats [15] are resourceful! Swallow but two grains of the Spring pills and you'll become able for the delights of love till sunrise!
The woman answered something but Cai the Baby Snake didn't hear her words: they were drowned in a sudden sound of many feet tramping behind the fence.
In a moment the latch locking the gate was torn off by a strong blow from the other side and the gate itself flung wide open; a dozen of guards rushed into the yard. They were as shaven-headed as the owner of the very efficient "spring pills" but much larger in size – real giants arousing esteem and awe, able to cut a horse into halves with a single thrust of halberds they were armed with. It was the patriarch himself who choose them and whom they obeyed.
In the past the patriarch Meng Zhang, formerly a brigand, replaced with such "iron men" the Emperors' garrison in Shaolin; during the years of his power he succeeded to raise both the glory and the wealth of the cloister significantly. In general, the main task of the heroic guards was to ensure that nobody could leave Shaolin boundaries without permission, but the "iron men" were also used to make round-up in the servants' settlement where some beauties were always ready to open their doors for the reverend fathers.
The monk courting the plump woman seemed to understand perfectly well what did the sudden noise in the yard mean. Being an experienced man indeed, the golden-headed arkhat did not lose any time in vain: naked as he was he jumped out of the window and ran headlong around the house striving to reach the back door. But the guards appeared to be defter, they all stood in his way and one of the moral guardians struck the fornicator across his back with the halberd shaft. But this blow of justice missed its goal for the saint father ducked hastily and when he rose again he had a big basket in his hands – a good basket made of willow twigs, very convenient for carrying fish from the market or linen for washing. However, the basket could be also applied for other, less peaceful, tasks: its bottom hit rather sensitively the face of the nearest guard and in a moment its hard edge struck another "iron man"'s stomach. The latter uttered a guttural sound and stooped demonstrating thus the sheer relativity of his nickname; the monk abandoned him trying to apply his awful basket to all remaining guards in order to reach the salutary back door by any means.
The plump beauty was watching the scene from the window; she almost choked with a pill and a frightened cry when a large blade had nearly cut away some part of her unlucky lover's body – she could not discern in the melee whether it was his hand very important for fighting or some other body member resembling a clenched fist and much more important for the favorite entertainment of the holy father. But the monk strained his body better than his lady had done when playing "cloud and rain", and the halberd fell down missing him. Moreover, two other halberds crisscrossed with a clang just over the shaven monk's head, the basket hit successfully someone's feet, and the guard fell down with a squeak at the same time knocking down one of his companions.
Both of them jumped up immediately pouring forth a flow of curses and were ready to resume fighting; but at that moment some rhythmical tapping at the gate made all combatants stand still better than the thunder and lightnings of the Jasper Lord should do it were it his will to come to the place in his heavenly bronze chariot.
A small demon was standing near the opened gate.
At least, one could think that only a demon should have such a face. His mouth was like a narrow black slot twisted in the most incredible way, his right cheek was composed of interlaced seams and scars, his nose was mutilated by a double fracture and eyes were hardly visible between the heavy eyelids and wide oedemata below. He had a large wooden disk pressed under his elbow.
The small demon went slowly to the guards and the guilty monk who leant at the fence, put his disk down at the latter's feet and stretched his hand commandingly.
The monk gave him his basket without saying a word. The monster rotated it in his fingers, threw it into the air several times and deftly caught it again by the handle, then made some steps along the waiting men, as if deep in thought.
– Old Ghao is looking at the see, – the muffled words went out of the awful mouth.
The basket made an intricate loop over the demon's head.
– Old Ghao wants to catch a wily fish, – the basket rushed up but stopped halfway, flew off the monster's hand, turned upside down, then it was grasped by his foot and finally seized.
The guards picked up their halberds and watched this performance shaking their heads in sheer astonishment.
– Old Ghao plays with the wind, – the demon began to jump adroitly on one foot, from time to time sitting down for a moment and turning the basket around him.
All of a sudden, as unexpectedly as he has begun his play, he stopped, threw the basket to the naked monk and went away to the gate, not forgetting to take up his disk.
– Reverend Feng! – shouted the lascivious monk. – Please, wait a little! I beg you, show me the trick once more! Reverend Feng!..
He ran to the gate after the demon.
The guards didn't even move to stop him.
...When the invaders have finally left the yard, the plump woman shut the window; but in a minute she opened it again and looked out: it seemed to her that some shadow passed by her house. But there was nobody there.
For safety's sake the woman looked up. There was of course some place above the window just up to the eaves but it was not enough for any creature larger than a swallow, and the worthy woman was not afraid of swallows.
If she were told that this swallow was Cai the Baby Snake, she would be very surprised indeed.
The great teacher Sunzi was the author of many wise sayings which should be constantly quoted by anybody who wants to deserve the name of a strategist, and one of his sayings was such:
– Subtlety! Subtlety is the thing you need! There are no such affairs in which you would not use scouts.
The honest family that has given birth to our friend Cai the Baby Snake agreed completely with this piece of wisdom quite proved during the long centuries. For the professional scouts of the Cai family participated in almost all famous events giving food for long chatter in marketplaces and taverns. Baby Snake’s great-grandfather had contributed much to the success of Zhu Yunzhang, leader of the rebelled "red kerchiefs", who managed to take Beijing in incredibly short time, – afterwards it was explained by the activity of spirits wishing to help the future monarch and founder of the new dynasty; old Cai used to giggle for all remaining years of his inconspicuous life remembering how he had once spent three days hiding in a cesspool at the outskirts of the future Northern Capital [16] .