Chapter Twelve: The Reunion with Xi Tian
During the conquest of Jingzhou, a young Tiger General encounters an oddly familiar flower girl.
While Liu Bei vexed over feelings of insecurity at being matched with a bride more than ten years his junior, his three generals occupied themselves with matters on a grander scale. Guan Yu had been sent to capture Changsha, Zhang Fei to subdue Wuling, and Zhao Yun to acquire Guiyang, thus initiating Shu's conquest of the Jingzhou region. The latter two set off on their missions with three thousand soldiers apiece; gallant Guan Yu took a battalion of only five hundred with him, confident he could win Changsha with these.
It was Zhao Yun who first reached his destination: the prosperous Southeastern city of Guiyang. The twenty-four-year-old Tiger General rode authoritatively at the head of his troops on a pure white stallion, resplendent in his silver-and-blue armor, his long dark locks held away from his forehead with a slender strip of green brocade. In front of him towered the imposing city walls which encircled all of Guiyang, behind him stood his soldiers and a number of fluttering flags bearing the character "Zhao."
A roll of drums sounded in the air, before the heavy iron gates of Guiyang's walls slowly creaked open. Out rode that city's defending force—a none too inspiring contingent, seeing as how Cao Cao had gathered all of his best warriors for the failed campaign at Chi Bi.
Zhao Yun brandished his Fierce Dragon spear in the enemy's direction and loosed a war cry of, "Charge!" as he rode out in front of his men to lead the attack.
Two opposing generals came forward to meet his challenge, but in less than five bouts both were easily slain. Seeing this, panic spread across their ranks like vicious wildfire, so that their footsoldiers scattered in a mass of chaos, some retreating into their city, others running over to the Shu side and throwing themselves to the ground in surrender.
Zhao Yun pushed forward, gritting his teeth as he braved a torrent of arrows raining down from the walls. If it meant turning himself into a human target in order to conquer Guiyang, then so be it! Behind him, his army continued to pour into that city like a massive green tidal wave.
As his soldiers swarmed the chaotic streets, Zhao Yun called out a strict command.
"Under no conditions are civilians to be harmed!" he ordered. "Anybody who does so will be executed immediately!"
With their general's words ringing in their ears, the Shu forces charged against the Guiyang forces. As the battle progressed, more and more defending soldiers either surrendered or died, while their superior officers began concerning themselves with escape rather than with holding the city.
Zhao Yun himself plunged his way through where the battle was raging the fiercest, turning aside any challenges with swift ease. A group of teenaged infantrymen, armed with shoddy spears and halberds, attempted to close in on his tall white horse and bring him down, but all he needed to do was give a warning yell and swing his Fierce Dragon in a wide arc. The terrified little conscripts promptly paled and dropped their own weapons, before turning tail and fleeing in a mad scramble.
Within minutes of their departure, an ornate carriage, bearing the white flag of peace on its window, warily approached Zhao Yun. Seated inside was the governor of Guiyang, holding his seal of office in his lap. It had taken the man a while, but he'd eventually come to realize that when confronted with a Tiger of Shu, surrendering was the smartest decision.
Late afternoon settled in, as on the skies above, the sun turned into a giant fireball of raging scarlet. Zhao Yun strode across the streets of Guiyang, a small group of soldiers trailing behind him as he surveyed the city to make sure everything was in order. Everywhere, civilians both young and old came out to bid welcome to the tall and handsome warrior, as reverent murmurs of, "General Zhao," and "Great General," rang out across the air.
Zhao Yun paused in his trek to help up a gray-haired old man who'd been practically kowtowing to the ground, hastily reassuring him, "You needn't go through such troubles to greet a humble officer, sir."
As he uttered those words, a slight faraway movement caught his eye. Glancing up, he saw a vaguely familiar figure idling at a street corner and carrying a bamboo basket filled with vibrant orange tulips. Something about her triggered a spark of recognition in Zhao Yun, and moving past the old man, he began to approach the street she was standing on.
"Orchid?" he called out.
The flower girl reacted as if she didn't recognize that particular name, and simply went about her business. For a moment Zhao Yun paused in mid-step, wondering if he'd simply mistaken her for the same charming handmaid he'd met all those months ago.
But although her hairstyle had since changed, with some raven tresses being gathered into a plaited up-do at the side of her head while most of the rest swept loosely across her back, the vague spark of recognition persisted. Zhao Yun felt certain that, somewhere, he'd once seen a girl with that same face and figure.
He jogged lightly toward the flower girl, calling out once again now that he was sure she was within hearing range, "Orchid?"
She at least acknowledged his presence this time, turning around with a faint rustle of delicate pink silk. Her eyes—colored a familiar soft gold—lit up in recognition as soon as they met his face, and she nearly dropped her tulip basket in her delight as she laughed sunnily in greeting: "General Zhao!"
"I knew it was you, Orchid," Zhao Yun replied warmly.
A smile unwittingly sprang to his lips, when he noticed that, dressed in frosty rose and with her luxuriant hair flowing loose, the girl made a far prettier picture than she did the first time he'd met her.
Before he even realized what he was thinking, a rather puzzling answer met his words, when she told him, "Oh, I'm afraid I'm not selling any orchids today, General, but you like tulips just as well, don't you?"
Zhao Yun could only gape at her in astonishment.
"What do you mean? Isn't Orchid your name?" Or perhaps she was the one called Firelight, he silently mused.
Xi Tian started to give him a confused look...until she remembered that awful maid's outfit of coarse hemp cloth. Memory flashed across her suddenly-white face like lightning, while the flower basket dropped from her hands and clattered onto the street, scattering dainty petals everywhere. Zhao Yun bent down to solicitously retrieve the tulips for her, while she tried in vain to hide her embarrassed blush behind her silky pink handkerchief.
"Of course it's my name," Xi Tian tried to repair the damage her indiscretion had done. "Tulip...ah, I mean, Orchid! That's what everybody calls me—Orchid—since I, um, tend to the vegetable garden—I mean, the flower garden!"
Then, in an effort to shift the attention away from her blunder, she asked, "What are you doing in Guiyang, General Zhao?"
"I've just won this city for the Shu kingdom," came the plain answer.
Then, Zhao Yun lifted one eyebrow questioningly in the nineteen-year-old's direction, returning, "What are you doing in Guiyang?"
Hearing those words, Xi Tian dropped her eyelids to the ground.
"I had to get away," she replied softly. "Soon after you left, a Wei search party arrived at Refuge Park, with an edict for my Pa—I mean, my lord's arrest for harboring an officer of the rebel forces."
Zhao Yun felt a surge of guilt upon hearing her story.
"I had no idea..." His voice trailed off. "If I'd known how much trouble I would cause, I never would have dared even think of seeking shelter from your master."
"It's not your fault, General Zhao. How could you have known Wei would find out?" Xi Tian hastened to reassure him. "However, when the Wei troops brought our household to Xuchang to determine our punishments, Cao Cao...he...I guess that old villain found me pretty, for he declared that he would pardon my family if I stayed behind in his Bronze Bird Tower. But I couldn't stand the thought of being one amongst the hundreds of Cao Cao's concubines, so I ran away as soon as I heard that my family had been granted amnesty and were allowed to leave the capital."
Here, she lowered her head and blinked rapidly, while Zhao Yun gazed down at her with pity in his eyes.
"I...Orchid...Sorry," he apologized helplessly.
Before he could indulge in too much remorse, though, Xi Tian unexpectedly flung herself into his arms—scratching her nose on the hard metal of his armor in the process—and cried, "Oh, thank the Heavens you're here; I'm grateful to finally see a familiar face!"
Zhao Yun uncharacteristically blushed, not sure of what he was supposed to do when pretty girls leapt, weeping, into his arms. In the end, he only managed a weak pat on top of Xi Tian's raven head.
"Orchid," he spoke in his kindest voice, "do you have anywhere else you can go to? Perhaps your old master..."
Xi Tian sniffed and looked up at him, hiding part of her face behind her handkerchief as though out of timidity (but really only to cover up the unsightly red scratch on her nose!)
"How can I go back to him when I don't even know where he has fled to?" she asked helplessly. "No, I've got nobody and nowhere to go...except to Cao Cao and his Bronze Bird Tower."
She dropped her eyelashes to the ground between them as she added hopefully, "If General Zhao knows somebody I could go to...Perhaps this unworthy girl can work as a handmaid for the great general's lady?"
Zhao Yun turned bright red at her words, while behind him, his soldiers began to snicker rather irreverently, much to his annoyance.
He coughed, cleared his throat, and shuffled around for something to say, before finally mumbling, "Ah...I have no wife."
Xi Tian softly cried, "Oh!" and hid further behind her handkerchief, as if mortified by her own bold assumption.
"But," Zhao Yun suddenly spoke up, "I know somebody who soon will."
With Changsha's fall at the hands of Guan Yu, the Shu conquest of Jingzhou was complete.
In addition to gaining a new province, Liu Bei was tremendously pleased when his Second Brother also brought along two bold warriors with him: Huang Zhong, an aged veteran whose unmatched prowess with the bow and arrow would soon earn him the title of the fourth Tiger General, and Wei Yan, a rather brutish-looking man of few words and an aloof demeanor which immediately earned him the wary distrust of Zhuge Liang.
Nevertheless, the mood at the Shu camp was a festive one, its newest victories and acquisitions being celebrated with wine and music.
It was this triumphant atmosphere that Zhao Yun slowly rode into, significantly later than his fellow officers. Liu Bei, hounded by his two sworn brothers' merciless teasings and jokes about his upcoming nuptials, was the first one to notice the youngest Shu general's presence.
He leapt up, grateful for the distraction of Zhao Yun's arrival, and asked good-naturedly, "Zilong, what took you so long to arrive?"
In response, Zhao Yun quietly leapt off his horse.
Sitting on the saddle behind him was Xi Tian, who offered a pleasant smile to all the curious eyes fixed on her.