A/N- lol, my first chapter as an official adult! Wow, life is so much harder now... waaaah! This fic will keep me my usual silly self :) This chapter turned out a bit long... I got a bit carried away, which isn't necessarily a bad thing! I'm also waiting for my exam results, so I won't be writing a chapter too near that date (next week), or you'll be able to spot my nervousness in my writing XP Haha, I probably won't be able to keep myself away from the computer knowing me! Anyway, enjoy the long chapter, and I'll do more fluff in the next chapter!
Chapter 19- Against the Odds
Waving their fans around swiftly with the grace of a pair of doves, the two Qiaos performed their special welcome dance for the returned young general. Ling Tong simply stood at the entrance to the castle next to Sun Jian watching the two women and their dancers run around in a rainbow of colour. It was certainly a nice welcome to have considering the long and worrying journey.
"Welcome back to the castle Ling Tong!" Xiao squealed as the dance finished and all of the women jumped with their fans. She giggled as Ling Tong and Sun Jian clapped, while some other officers watching from a nearby window cheered and wolf-whistled. It was enough to make the dancers giggle and blush until they could no more!
"Thanks Xiao, it's great to be back!" Tong bowed politely and turned to face Jian. "Really, this is all unnecessary. Just being here is good enough; I don't need a welcome dance or anything special. It is just me after all!"
Chuckling, Sun Jian put his hand on Tong's shoulder. "Even though you have lived her before it's great to see you back! You've been gone a while so of course we're all happy to see you back and well."
"Yeah, thanks. I guess I did miss this place a lot."
Xiao jumped up and down excitedly, still hyped up from the energetic dance. "Did you miss us Tongie?"
Ling Tong smiled. "Of course I did! It wouldn't be the same without you would it?"
The younger Qiao giggled again and twirled on the spot. "We missed you lots and lots Tongie! You've missed loads here, but Da and I will fill you in on all the juicy details of course! Before you know it you won't even know you've been gone!"
"That sounds great!" said Tong as the extra dancers dispersed, leaving just him, Sun Jian and the Qiaos. "I'll have to tell you all about the things I've done while I've been away. Say, is that pirate still here?"
"Ooh he is… you're still mad at him aren't you?" Xiao saw as Tong nodded with an air of solemnity. "We'll make sure that nothing bad happens between you. I'm sure the last thing you need is a fight going on. Maybe you two can learn to become friends?"
"I really doubt that, but we'll see how things go." Ling Tong sighed and remembered the last time he had encountered Gan Ning. A whole load of shouting had gone on between them and it had almost got to the point where weapons were involved. Thankfully Zhou Tai had come between them to sort things out before it got heavy and potentially violent.
Sun Jian led the way into the dining hall where preparations for the evening were being made. "I'm not sure if Gan Ning wants to be enemies with you anymore Tong, I think it's up to you now to smooth things over." He opened the double doors and let the others enter first before stepping in himself. "I don't really want any inside wars this time around, okay?"
Sun Quan signed his name on the registration form and decided to flex his muscles a little bit in a desperate attempt to scare some of his competitors away. His sister and Zhou Tai rolled their eyes at his pathetic display, wondering why on earth they had decided to watch this. So far the bet had been that Quan would lose, either with his hand being so badly crushed or crying so much that the judges would have pity on him. Shang Xiang and Tai had bet mainly on the latter…
"Right!" Quan grinned and walked over to his two spectators. "I just have to wait until it's my turn, so until then I guess I'll watch with you two!"
"Sun Quan, my lord…" Zhou Tai looked in the direction of the other men who were also waiting their turn. "These men are huge… they look like they could give even Huang Gai some competition."
"I can take them on any day!"
"But Brother… you don't stand a chance!"
"The gods are on my side today sis, I can feel it!"
Sun Shang Xiang turned away and sighed. Was her brother a complete idiot? He was just standing thinking that he really could defeat these guys! She knew that Quan wasn't the strongest warrior- the Sun family left the strength all to Sun Ce from the looks of things. The three then watched as the first round got under way.
A large, beefy man walked up to the table and took a seat. He stretched his arms and cracked his fingers, getting ready for the arm wrestling contest. Dangerous would have been an underestimated description of him… He roared and the crowd started to cheer. Even more cheering sounded when his equally bulky opponent approached and took his seat.
"Pfft, I could take them on any day!"
To Zhou Tai's surprise it wasn't Sun Quan who had made that remark, but Sun Shang Xiang, who was folding her arms looking at the men as if she could do better. "Lady Sun, they are men. You are…"
"A woman?"
"Well, yes… they are a lot stronger than you."
Shang Xiang laughed and pointed at the taller opponent. "He'd die within minutes on the battlefield…"
"How do you know that?"
"Because I'd be the one killing him!"
"Shush you two!" Sun Quan silenced them. "It's starting!"
As soon as a loud bell struck, the first round started. The two men had their elbows on the small table, each hand grasped onto the other tightly. The two men battled, trying to push the opponent's arm over onto the table. The concentration was starting show as the men's faces started to show signs of great strain. It was so intense that the crowd could see veins bulging out from beneath their skin…
The crowd was divided when it came to choosing who to cheer for. Both men were huge and it looked like either could win, and judging by Sun Quan's face he was becoming less confident about his chances of winning. Within minutes the contest was over, with the taller man triumphing over the shorter one, who was now in immense pain and on the brink of bawling his eyes out. The crowd roared as the winner stood up and thrust his arm in the air and the loser walked away to get medical attention from the doctor on hand. His hand looked as if it had been squashed and mangled, and the crowd booed as he was led away.
The Wu trio then watched the next two opponents battle it out, and once again the result was the same as before- one man would be led away with a crushed hand and a face full of tears.
"Still think you can do it Quan?" asked Sun Shang Xiang. Her brother failed to respond as he looked at the other competitors. Was he being a little too over confident?
"Hang on a minute!"
Huang Gai put down the weapon he was polishing (blood stains were difficult to come off so he liked to do it often to keep his rod shiny) and headed over to the door. Someone was knocking quite loudly, and Gai hoped that it wasn't something unimportant. This was the only quiet time he had managed to get all week and he wanted to make the most of it. He grasped the handle and opened the door- he was surprised to see Sun Ce standing there with his hands behind his back rather awkwardly.
"You wanted to see me Lord Sun Ce?"
Ce nodded and looked around nervously. "Yeah… I needed your advice on something. Something very important…"
"Oh?"
"I'm having marriage problems…" Ce said as he looked down at the ground sullenly. "I spoke to Zhou Yu and he said that you could help me."
Huang Gai opened his door wider and Sun Ce entered, still looking sorry for himself. He was never the best at sorting out his problems so Gai felt that he had to help. The two paced towards the small table where Gai had laid his weapon and they each took a seat.
"So you're having some problems? How bad are they?"
"Da's saying that I'm a bad husband, and I do nothing including her! She says I'm too into war and stuff like that…"
"Ah I see…" Huang Gai tried to think of something that might help the poor prince. "How about getting in touch with your feminine side?"
Ce's thoughts immediately went back to the hairclip incident. "Oh no… I'm not going through THAT again!"
The old general chuckled as Ce failed to look impressed. "I don't mean it in that way! I mean by doing things for her, like talking her for walks, writing poetry and cooking for her. Things that would be the opposite of what you do, like going to battle and weapon training."
"Right… so I have to do all of that romance stuff?"
"Exactly, and I know just what you can start off by doing."
"And that is?"
"You know that we're having a dinner for Ling Tong's arrival tonight?" Ce nodded, so Gai continued. "We haven't got any table decorations sorted out. The Qiaos are too busy preparing yet another dance so they can't do the flower arranging. That, Sun Ce, will be your job…"
"What?" Ce looked horrified at the thought of even going near flowers. "Why have I got to do that?"
"You want to impress your wife don't you? Plus it's not hard! I can teach you how to do it, it's simple really…" Huang Gai stood up and waited for the reluctant young lord to do the same. Ce, however, didn't budge. "You'll do this if you want to ever see Da smile again!" He grinned as Ce pouted and stood up and got ready to follow. "It's time to save your marriage!"
Silence filled the air as tension fell. Sun Jian didn't say anything- it seemed that was the same for everyone else who was present at the large table. Glares were just exchanged between the two young rival generals Gan Ning and Ling Tong, and no one dared say anything from the fear of having one of them shout something at them. Xiao Qiao tried her best to put her cheeriest smile on but even the bright sunrays filtering through the library curtains couldn't brighten the mood in the room.
Ling Tong stared evilly at Ning, who was sat directly opposite him. He didn't need to use words to tell the ex-pirate exactly how he felt. Even after the couple of years he had been gone his rage still burned bright. "You murdered my father…" he said quietly, still looking fiercely at Gan Ning.
"Listen kid…" Ning stared back. "I just did my duty. Kill my enemy and protect my allies. As simple as, it doesn't need explaining."
"You don't even have the heart to apologise do you?"
"Apologise? For what? Doing what I was told to do? Do you have to apologise for killing enemy soldiers? No!"
"You're a heartless bastard and I should've killed you when I had the chance!"
Sun Jian sighed as Lu Xun and Lu Meng's joint efforts managed to restrain the angry Ling Tong. The problem has resurfaced and now there was a mini war going on. This was just what he was trying to avoid. Thankfully he could leave Lu Meng to sort Ling Tong out. He still needed to have a word with Lu Xun, but he would lose his cool too easily. Not the best impression to give on such an important day… not that the good impression had been ruined with the disappearance of his children and Zhou Tai. It was the last time he trusted Sun Shang Xiang's promises again!
"Looooooooseeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer! Go home to your mother!"
"Lady Sun, don't taunt the competitors."
Sun Shang Xiang giggled as yet another strong competitor got distracted from her calling and lost the round. The man gave Shang Xiang a death glare before sulking off to a nearby corner. Zhou Tai had warned her about her behaviour, she was destroying the ego and prides of many men by making them lose. They were all after her now…
"Hehe, I'm sorry Tai, but it's so much fun! You should give it a go!"
"No thank you."
"Suits you then… is Quan ready yet?" She looked in the direction that Tai pointed to, and watched as her brother took his seat at the table. He looked terrified, as if he knew the end was coming. It was painful seeing a man that scared. The crowd's cheers couldn't install even the slightest bit of confidence in Sun Quan. They almost laughed as Quan's competitor approached.
The huge man must've been around 7 feet tall, because that was what he looked like next to Quan who was sitting down. His boots made a loud thud sound on the soft ground, and the spectators looked on waiting for the round to start. It would certainly be an interesting one, even if it was quick. Quan looked behind him at Zhou Tai and Sun Shang Xiang- his sister made a "thumbs up" signal to him, and Tai didn't do or say anything. After gulping, he turned to face his opponent, shocked to discover that the large man had taken to baring his jagged yellow teeth to try and frighten him.
"Get ready men!" the judge called, and Quan reluctantly went to take the man's hand, only to find that the man was ready to grab hold of his and squeeze his bulky fingers around the prince's comparatively tiny hand. Quan found that the man's skin was rough and hard, and it was just like touching a dry rock. "One the count of one, two, three… START!"
As soon as the count had ended Quan felt the hand around his clench, trapping his in a fearsome grip. He couldn't fight back, his muscles were too crushed to do anything! He tried to push his arm but it wouldn't budge, the man was too strong. He then realised that he had been wrong to wear extra clothes for the contest, as he now began to sweat buckets underneath the numerous robes.
"Ooh Zhou Tai, I don't think he's going to win!" Sun Shang Xiang exclaimed from the side. "Er… Zhou Tai?" She looked to her side and realised that he had disappeared from next to where she stood. She looked around for a sign of the mysterious general but he couldn't be seen. She looked back to where her brother was competing and couldn't believe what she had seen.
Wooden splinters flew everywhere as the chair that Zhou Tai was holding shattered over the large opponent's head. Zhou Tai was left holding the remaining chair legs as he stood behind the now temporarily stunned man. He took one brief look at the shocked spectators before dropping the chair, running to Quan's side and using one strong arm to carry him away.
Shang Xiang's eyes were wide open and her jaw had dropped- Tai had just attacked the man? Unable to think she blinked, only to find that Tai had dashed straight past her and scooped her up in his other arm. He ran, carrying both Suns, as fast as he could and away to where they had left the horses.
"Tai..." said Quan as he looked at the ground from where he was slung over Tai's shoulder. "You… saved me…" Tai said nothing as he was concentrating more on getting the two Suns out of danger.
Shang Xiang still couldn't get the image of Zhou Tai smashing a chair over the huge man's head. "Wow Tai, I didn't know you had that in you!" She turned her head to her brother. "It's a good thing he saved your skin."
"Yeah… but why did you do it Zhou Tai?"
Zhou Tai took a sharp detour and ran into a woody area out of sight. "It's hard to see my lord cry…"
"I did not cry!" Quan pouted as his sister started to giggle. "Ok, maybe a little tear, but that was it! I swear it was!"
"If you hadn't sweated so much then maybe more tears would have come out of your eyes!" Shang had to hold on to Tai's shoulder in case she rolled off of him from laughing too much. She paused to wipe a tear from her eye. "I still can't believe you did that Tai!"
Zhou Tai shrugged under the weight of the pair, and continued running. In the distance he could hear someone screaming and shouting… looking behind him he could see a seven foot tall man… the same one he had attacked with the chair. He increased his pace as he tried to get away- even Zhou Tai doubted his chances with him!