It wasn’t long before news spread that the late Prime Minister’s wife and daughter were staying in the temple. Such news attracted the good and the bad, and among the latter was a group of bandits led by a man named Sun Feihu, nicknamed the Flying Tiger, with a troop of five thousand men that plundered and pillaged wherever they pleased. Hearing of the beauty of the young Miss Cui, he became intent on capturing her and making her his wife. With this in mind, he and his men surrounded the temple.
The monks were in a state of extreme agitation, having never been in such precarious circumstances before. Sun Feihu had his soldiers shout into the temple that if Yingying was not handed over within three days, they would set fire to the temple and kill everyone inside.
At a loss, the abbot informed Madame Cui of the demand, and the two of them hurried to Yingying’s room to discuss their next move. Still reflecting on that day’s meeting with Zhang Sheng, Yingying was beside herself and had scarcely eaten or drank anything all day. All she could think of was the sonorous voice and pleasing smile of that handsome young scholar. As she was silently repeating Zhang Sheng’s poem in her mind, Hongniang interrupted by informing her that her mother and the abbot had come to see her.
Yingying bowed in greeting to the abbot. Not yet informed of the situation outside, she was a little surprised by the grim expression on his face and that of her mother.
“Have you not heard that Sun Feihu has the monastery besieged with his five thousand men?” her mother asked. “He wants to take you by force and make you mistress of his lair! My dear child, what shall we do?”
The news sent Yingying into a stupor. For days, she’d been thinking about Zhang Sheng and their potential love, and had not paid the least attention to external events. Now, her mother’s words made her feel as if the sky was crashing down and the earth rupturing open. She threw herself into her mother’s arms.
“Now we have nowhere to go and nobody to depend on! What can I do?” she cried out.
Helpless, Madame Cui could do nothing but grieve in sorrow at their lamentable fate. Mother and daughter clung tightly to each other, tears flowing down their cheeks.
“As there is no other choice, you must hand me over to the bandits. I will sacrifice my body in order to save all the others,” Yingying declared.
“I’m more than sixty now and death means nothing to me. But how can I lose my precious only child? You’re so young and not yet married, how can I bear to see you fall into the hands of those terrible bandits, disgracing both your father and our family?” Madame Cui cried out.
The abbot intervened, “Let me go and ask the monks and laymen of the temple and see if they have any ideas on what we can do.”
Yingying was resolute and declared, “Just hand me over to the bandits. This is the only way to guarantee the safety of my mother and those in the temple, as well as protect my father’s coffin from desecration. There is no other way. However, I will never surrender my purity or disgrace my ancestors. Never! After I kill myself, you may hand my dead body over to the bandits. After I’m dead, it would be useless for them to harm you. If your life could be saved then my death will be worthwhile.”
Hearing these heartbreaking words from her daughter, Madame Cui wailed in misery.
Yingying continued, “Since my mother cannot bear to be separated from me, there is only one other way out. If anyone in the temple, monk or layman, can repel the bandits in any way, I will be presented as his wife and he will receive a handsome dowry. I would rather marry an unknown hero than a gangster like Sun Feihu.”
Reluctantly, Madame Cui regarded it as a sensible plan. Thought it wouldn’t be an ideally matched marriage, anyone would be better than Sun Feihu. She then asked the abbot to assemble everyone in the temple, and once they had gathered she declared that whoever could defeat the bandits would have her daughter as his wife.
Nobody said a word, until Zhang Sheng stepped forward and declared, “I know how to repel the bandits.”
Yingying, seeing the bravery of the young scholar she had fallen in love, prayed that he could save her from the catastrophe. Madame Cui recognized this young man as the one who had offered incense to his parents, and asked him what solution he had in mind.
Before he replied, Zhang Sheng asked, “Madame, did you really mean what you have just said?”
“Yes, as I have already related to the abbot, whosoever can repel the bandits will have Yingying as his wife,” she answered.
“Fine. As long as you mean it, I am going to tell you my plan on how to defeat the bandits.”
Zhang Sheng first asked Hongniang to accompany Yingying back to her room before he discussed his plan with Madame Cui and the abbot. Madame Cui’s impatience to hear all the details was evident.
Zhang Sheng began, “First of all, my plan will require the abbot’s help.”
“I’m no warrior. Better find someone else to help you with this plan,” the abbot said.
