After waking up, Nick found a slip of paper in the bedroom. Printed on it was a strangely shaped symbol: a lotus flower engraved with pictographs. He could not yet make out those characters, but the paper bore the following words:
The Central Plains people are numerous, and the Celestial Dynasty is prosperous and flourishing,
Many lands bow their heads before the Central Plains people, and countless people pay them tribute.
The Manchus used trickery to seize our Central Plains. If this hatred goes unavenged, we shall disgrace our ancestors.
Recruit soldiers and buy horses; rise up in rebellion.
Organize an army, take up weapons, and wipe out the Manchus!
After reading those words, Nick immediately had a premonition. If he kept such a paper on him, even for only a few minutes, it might bring about his death. Yet when he looked around, the doors and windows were tightly shut. Where had this paper come from?
Nick hurriedly put the paper away, got dressed, and intended to find the priest. However, the priest was absent. After asking the servants, he learned that he had gone to Macau.
Next, he wanted to find the admiral, but just as he was about to leave the hospital, he ran into the provincial graduate. Nick therefore brought him to his room.
"Do you recognize this?" The painter Nick dipped a finger in water and drew a lotus.
"Of course. A lotus." The provincial graduate's expression remained unchanged. "It is Buddhism's sacred flower, but now it has become a symbol of rebellion."
"Why?"
"Do you remember He Shen and Grand Secretary He?" the provincial graduate shouted.
"I remember. You took the imperial examinations in the same year."
With a disdainful expression, the provincial graduate explained the whole matter.
According to the Great Qing Legal