Chapter Twenty-Seven: Chrysanthemums(1) on the Floor
Happiness slowly drifts down the Great River.
There are few instances when a father has felt such overwhelming happiness as Lord Xi did when he learned the news of his daughter's second engagement. The frail aristocrat was ceremoniously seated in Cao Cao's library, beside the chivalrous young man whom he'd come to respect as a scholar and love as a surrogate son. The same chivalrous young man who was now quietly blushing in his chair, while his plump, kind-faced mother beamed with pride.
"…I myself will act as the go-between and work out the details of this match—that is, if you will allow me the honor," Cao Cao, sitting across from the future in-laws, finished his grand speech with a flourish.
Lord Xi's face literally hurt from smiling so much. Several months earlier, when Cao Cao had promised to look after Xi Tian's marriage prospects, the young girl's father had lived in dread that she might be promised to a general every bit as fearsome as Lu Bu.
Now, as Lord Xi suddenly recalled his unfounded fears, he almost laughed out loud. Jiang Wei couldn't be more different from Lu Bu, and Lord Xi couldn't be happier that this was so. The young warrior-strategist was virtually the personification of the ideal son-in-law: intelligent, polite, well-educated, filial…The Heavens were finally smiling down on the House of Xi after its decade of sorrows.
Lord Xi got out of his chair, knelt down, and impulsively kowtowed before the man responsible for planning this match.
"Words cannot express my gratitude, Your Majesty," he almost wept with joy, and had Cao Cao not rushed forward to raise him, the old gentleman would have kept kowtowing until his forehead bled.
"There is no need for this, Old Sir. I made you a promise that I'd look out for Xi Gu Niang's interests, and, after all, a girl's greatest interest is finding a suitable husband," the Wei king spoke elegantly, sweeping a satisfied look across the room.
The aged Lord Xi looked surprisingly vulnerable as he returned to his chair, shedding tears of joy that were only slightly embittered by the long and tragic years which had led up to this moment. Meanwhile, Jiang Wei remained shyly seated beside his mother, reddening under her merry felicitations and looking more like a little schoolboy than a groom-to-be.
Cao Cao hid a sinister smirk from his audience. They were so innocent and unsuspecting, these people. If he were to bring up the re-conquest of Jingzhou and his need of a recognizable ally the province's people would accept, none of the three sitting before him would have thought to make the connection.
"It's been a month since Shu's return from the South Land," he began in a casual drawl, "and as soon as Xi Gu Niang's mission is complete, I will send one of my best officers to escort her back to Wei for her engagement."
Liu Bei looked down dubiously at his infant son. Swathed in downy, milk-colored sheets, head hidden beneath a too-large hat, and currently being held like one would a chakram, little Liu Chan looked just a tad ridiculous.
So did, for that matter, the child's stepmother. As Liu Bei observed the pair interact—she gingerly trying to rock the baby, he in turn howling in outrage while being rudely jolted up and down—he began to fear for the pair's well-being once mother and son left for their ship.
"Lady, are you sure you want to do this?" he asked, transferring the wailing Liu Chan to his own arms and gently demonstrating the correct way to rock a baby to sleep.
The frazzled Sun Shang Xiang shot her husband a smile of relief, as, in his father's lap, Liu Chan's screams slowly subsided into soft hiccups.
"Well, my mother still won't stop nagging me about grandchildren," she bemoaned ruefully, "and it's getting harder and harder to ignore all her letters."
"You do realize that it's impossible to pass off Liu Chan as your own?" Liu Bei brought up carefully. "It's only been a month since we've come back from Wu…"
Sun Shang Xiang pinkened at the implication of his words.
"Oh, well, he's still her grandson-in-law; maybe he'll be enough to keep her quiet for a while," she predicted boldly.
Liu Bei hardly looked convinced.
"Let me at least send Zilong as your bodyguard," he requested, after a moment's silence.
Sun Shang Xiang rolled her eyes, and hopped off the desk she'd been sitting cross-legged on during their short conversation.
"Xuande, I can easily defend myself against any idiots seeking to capture my ship; I don't need a baby-sitter!" she complained childishly, yanking on his ears as if that would somehow prove her point.
Liu Bei winced; the girl was being unnecessarily forceful, so he gently ducked his head and wriggled out of her vise-like grip.
"Then think of him as my son's baby-sitter and bodyguard," he entreated, and under his pleading gaze, his wife gradually softened.
"Well…he does have the dash through Chang Ban Slope to his credit," she agreed grudgingly, giving his ear one last jerk. "All right, fine. General Zhao may come with me…But that's it; I don't want anybody else tagging along, when I can take perfect care of both myself and Liu Chan!"
And with those words, she wrestled the baby away from its father and resumed juggling it around, as though to prove her point. Liu Bei watched in consternation as the sleeping Liu Chan promptly woke up and resumed crying miserably.
"I'm sending Orchid with Zilong as well," he decided, while the flustered Sun Shang Xiang tried to soothe her stepson by making silly faces at him. "Hopefully, between the three of you, you'll be able to figure out how to safely transport my son across the Chang Jiang and back!"
Zhao Yun never was one who seemed to have much luck where handmaids were concerned. Previously, Liu Bei had assigned a succession of girls to the young Tiger's quarters so that they might keep his house in order, bring him tea, and perform other similar tasks.
When it became obvious that these bright-eyed minxes were only interested in catching a husband, the Shu king had wisely replaced them with sedate, older servants. Unfortunately, the latter group had proven to be no better, as its members immediately launched a campaign to pitch every single one of their daughters at their hapless bachelor lord.
And now, with Xi Tian…
Zhao Yun looked in dismay at the pools of misty silk strewn over his bed, at the multitude of hair combs and chais littering his desk, at the patches of floor peeking out from beneath a rainbow sea of chrysanthemums which the girl had picked but found no other place to deposit. His ship's quarters hardly looked like an environment befitting a Tiger General. In fact, all it needed was some fragrant incense burning in the corner and a painting of Chang'e on the wall to complete the picture of…well, of a young girl's apartment. No wonder Zhang Fei had laughed so hard upon finding out who Zhao Yun's new handmaid was going to be!
"Tea?" At that moment, said new handmaid entered, carrying a small tray in her hands.
"It wouldn't happen to be pink, would it?" Zhao Yun wagged his eyebrows at her.
Xi Tian stuck out her tongue at him, but her laughing eyes betrayed any indignation she might have tried to feign.
"No, it's green tea, and you're mean," she sulked, wrinkling her nose at him as she set the beverage down on a little stool by his side.
"What I am is the laughingstock of all of Shu," Zhao Yun half-joked, pushing his drink aside as Xi Tian busied herself with picking up some flowers from the floor.
"And I suppose that's my fault?" She turned around, one hand on her hip, the other absently swishing a chrysanthemum back and forth.
Zhao Yun's eyes swept from the deep rose hue of her dress to the showy flowers in her hair, as he pointed out, "Well, you hardly look like the type of attendant a warrior might have."
Xi Tian pouted.
"You mean I'm not mannish enough for your tastes?" she giggled, purposely waving her chrysanthemum in his face so that the petals flicked his nose.
Unknown to them both, a new guest had appeared at the doorway. Seeing Zhao Yun playfully snatch the flower from his companion's hands and threaten to tickle her for her impertinence, the figure paused and smiled to itself, before deciding to hang back by the entrance and see what might happen next.
"Stop! Fine, fine; I promise I'll never say that again, General!" Xi Tian shrieked with laughter, wriggling out of the warrior's grasp and running foolishly around the room.
She finally managed to circle past him and made a beeline for the doors, almost bumping right into the visitor who'd been lingering unseen up till that moment.
"Oh, I'm sorry," she apologized, before dropping a polite curtsey and brushing past the other figure to disappear down the hall.
Zhao Yun leapt up when he recognized the svelte form of his new queen, and in the process nearly knocked over the stool bearing his teacup.
"Lady Sun!"
Sun Shang Xiang laughed merrily and flounced into the room, a mischievous twinkle in her eyes as she teased, "Oh, now I see why you transferred the girl under your command!"
The feisty young queen would have added, "And under yourself sooner or later, I'm sure," but she had a feeling that it was a bit too vulgar, and would probably give the already blushing Zhao Yun a heart attack. Plus, Liu Bei would surely hear of her language in a roundabout way, and then he would have a heart attack as well!
In the end, Sun Shang Xiang had to content herself with adding the less naughty line, "But really, Zilong, aren't you going a bit overboard with all these flowers? She'll drown in a sea of petals before you'll ever have a chance to woo her!"
Zhao Yun coughed discreetly, willing his flaming cheeks to return to their normal color.
"Lady Sun, I don't think this is an appropriate time to be discussing—" he started to stammer.
"Nonsense, we're in the middle of the Chang Jiang, with nothing better to do than discuss your love life," Sun Shang Xiang giggled. "So tell me, Zilong, which debonair playboy taught you to flirt like that? Or was tickling her to death your own bright idea?"
"Lady Sun, please…" Zhao Yun's voice drifted off, unsure of which protest to use.
Sun Shang Xiang cheerfully pretended to not have heard his pleas. Instead, she turned to the hallway and flagged the nearest person passing by.
"Hey, Phoenix," she sang out to her bodyguard, "guess which pretty little flower has caught our very own General Zhao Zilong's heart?"
"Flower, huh?" The young captain stepped inside and smirked. "Well, I haven't been blind this past month, so I would have to say…hmm…the handmaid Orchid!"
"None other," her leader crowed, causing Phoenix's smirk to widen while she observed, "Is that why you were so jealously quick to transfer Orchid from General Huang Gai's unit to your own, General Zhao? Don't tell me you were afraid that the old veteran might sweep her off her feet with his gruff insults and…ah, bull-like prowess!"
And the two girls collapsed into whoops and snickers, while a crimson Zhao Yun shuffled his feet and looked helplessly on.
"Aiya, don't be so embarrassed, Zilong!" Sun Shang Xiang calmed down long enough to wipe away some tears of laughter from her eyes. "We won't tell anyone. Besides, you and Orchid would make an adorable couple!"
Zhao Yun tactfully avoided looking at his queen for the rest of the trip down the river.
1. In the Chinese culture, chrysanthemums are generally thought to represent happiness and cheerfulness.