Chapter Twenty-Eight: River Mist
Unforeseen affairs arise on the sublime green waters.
River mist. It crept gently upon him as he navigated the Chang Jiang, diaphanous and chastely white, weaving an illusion of sailing across a cloud. It spread its hazy cloaks around him, seductively lulling his alert dark eyes into laxness. It was everywhere: in front of him, behind him, around him, entwining his body in its ethereal coolness, gently caressing his face with fine droplets of moisture. The river mist slowly overcame his senses, until he felt at last as if he had stepped into a dream world—a fragile realm devoid of human ideas of time and reality, war and peace, right and wrong.
Yet from the frigidly vestal whiteness there emerged a manifestation of earthly vitality: warm and lively and sensuous, rosy cheeks dimpled with merry laughter. He recognized her at once as she joined him on the ship's deck—her luxuriant raven hair, her charmingly golden eyes…her smiling lips.
Her lips, which slowly took on a vibrant carmine hue, as she moved closer to him. He wanted to tease her about her less-than-impressive dive into the Chang Jiang once upon a time, just to see those lips turn down in a pout.
"Orchid." Her name slipped off his tongue as she took her seat beside him, drawing a lotus out of her hair and impishly tucking it somewhere between the inky tendrils of his ponytail.
Though initially caught off-guard that she should play the same prank twice, he nevertheless recovered soon enough and reached up to weed out the pesky ornamental flower. He could see her lips curve merrily as she giggled at his reaction, not even bothering to hide her mirth. She had the upper hand and she knew it, and he wanted to momentarily sweep her feet—and her confident sass—from under her, so he boldly leaned in and claimed her lips with his own.
At least this time, her surprise wasn't so great as to warrant a second accidental plunge into the river.
"The linked verse incident in Wu caused some tension in the marriage, but it appears that Liu Xuande and Lady Sun have since worked out their differences."
"A small spat can eventually lead to greater quarrels. That was merely the first step. Continue."
"There might also be some disagreement within the Sun-Liu marriage concerning children. For what it's worth, Wu seems to be pressuring Liu Xuande to sire a worthier heir—an heir with Sun blood."
Here, Xiahou Dun paused for a moment, before grudgingly adding, "Also, Xi Gu Niang thanks my lord for her new gold chai."
Cao Cao chuckled as he stroked his goatee and listened to the finish of his most trusted cousin's report.
"She is a sweet child, is she not?" he observed, smiling into his mustache when he saw Xiahou Dun turn his head to hide a tight-lipped scowl.
The one-eyed warrior obviously had little love for the girl who never failed to poke around his empty socket or waste his time with her inane prattling, and had made his feelings known on more than one occasion.
"I have never seen a sillier chatterbox," he remarked in a gruff snarl, causing Cao Cao to chuckle again and concede, "Perhaps, but I can't let my little spy think that Wei is filled with angry men who go around breaking young girls' jewelry."
Xiahou Dun hardly looked amused by Cao Cao's jesting remark, but before he could be troubled with thinking up an appropriate comeback, a new figure strode into the room.
Sima Yi wore a carefully guarded mask over his slyly handsome features, but the brisk pace of his strides betrayed his anxiousness: Some new complication must have arisen, a complication the meticulous strategist had clearly not anticipated.
"General Xiahou." The youthful Wei officer dropped a stiff bow, and his elder had little trouble guessing that his own presence was no longer required.
Turning to his cousin, Xiahou Dun announced, "If my lord no longer needs me, I shall excuse myself."
"Very well," Cao Cao nodded, and Xiahou Dun tactfully took his leave, the heavy blade of his Kirin Fang banging dully against his booted calves as he marched out of the room.
Cao Cao's sentries closed the doors after that man's exit, leaving Sima Yi alone with his lord.
"What's wrong?" the king of Wei demanded neutrally, lifting a disapproving eyebrow toward his tactician's hasty countenance.
"The old man unexpectedly collapsed a few hours ago," Sima Yi revealed in a grim murmur.
While his lord started in surprise at the news, he added confidentially, "He is currently bedridden with what the doctors believe might be the first stages of consumption."
Cao Cao sighed with displeasure, not needing to ask for the name of "the old man."
"Lord Xi." It was a statement rather than a question.
"He is the only one feeble enough to succumb to an illness of that nature in such mild weather," came the clipped reply.
"How did this happen?" Cao Cao started to inquire, before quickly dismissing his concern and instead demanding, "Never mind. How will this affect our plans?"
"We will have to bring Xi Gu Niang back to Xuchang as soon as possible," Sima Yi decided reluctantly. "It may be months before Lord Xi passes on, or it may be mere days. In either case, he must first publicly give his blessings for the match with Boyue, and the girl, like a good filial daughter, must be seen by his side at all times. If the wasted old fool dies before he can do even this, it will surely diminish the legitimacy of the Xi-Jiang union in the eyes of Jingzhou's citizens."
Cao Cao considered these ominous words for several seconds. A heavy silence fell on the room, before the ruler of Wei sighed and instructed his strategist, "Zhongda, see if you can catch up to General Xiahou. I have a message I want you to deliver to him."
Sima Yi bowed respectfully: "I am listening, my lord."
"Tell my cousin not to unsaddle his horse just yet, as he'll have some hard riding ahead of him."
Where had he gotten the courage—nay, the audacity—to draw the handmaid into his arms and kiss her?
He didn't know how he came to be so reckless, didn't know why he so unthinkingly surrendered to his sudden illogical yearning to possess her, didn't know where this yearning had come from or why…why she didn't resist.
Perhaps he would never know.
All he knew was that, hidden from prying eyes by this too-ephemeral river mist, he could transcend all conventions of reason and logic. That, if he didn't seize this opportunity now, it would inevitably trickle from his grasp, never to be recovered. That the girl's velvety lips against his own heated mouth only stoked his desire, rather than soothe its flames. He kissed her as if he wanted to transfer his fire to her yielding body and let it consume her innocent soul, his covetous mouth drawing from her tiny sighs against his hot breath.
Tomorrow, there would be repercussions for his rash decision. Tomorrow, there would be guilt over his inappropriate conduct with his little Orchid. But tonight, embraced on all sides by the seductive river mist, there was only the sensation of his lips upon hers, the sounds of her soft moans, the sight of her flushed cheeks and invitingly alabaster skin.
He slowly kissed a trail down her neck and shoulders as they sank to the floor together. His searing lips left near-visible marks on her pale skin as he moved on to her collarbone, to her heaving chest and the gentle rise of her breasts…
Zhao Yun woke up with a start. The enticing carmine lips and hazy white mist faded, before slowly vanishing into the shadows of his familiar ship quarters. He was sitting up in his narrow bed, a twisted cotton sheet pooling around his lap. His disheveled hair was matted to the back of his neck, his forehead was slick with sweat, and his muscular frame was clothed only in the unflatteringly plain pair of hempen pants he'd worn to bed. Yes, he was certainly going to woo a fair maiden in this get-up!
Sun Shang Xiang's teasing words replayed through his tired mind: "You and Orchid would make such an adorable couple!" Zhao Yun buried his face into his palms as he remembered the wicked observations, all of them about his affectionate relationship with a certain handmaid, that the new queen of Shu had delighted in torturing him with over the past few days. Her inappropriate jokes must have been responsible for this equally inappropriate dream! Yes, that must be it…
"I see you're awake." Xi Tian appeared at the doorway, struggling with the weight of a basin of water she was balancing in her arms.
Zhao Yun almost hit his head on the overhanging wooden beams when he heard her familiar voice, only to recover and almost fall off his bed when he sensed her beginning to approach him.
"Ah…yes." When he could finally bring himself to look at her without recalling his dream, he noticed her pinken slightly and avert her eyes as she stood at the foot of his bed.
It took a while for him to remember that he was only half-dressed. Zhao Yun coughed in embarrassment, before hastily removing the cotton sheet from his lap and flinging it over his unclothed torso and chest. Then he realized how lightly-colored was the material his pants were made of, crimsoned, and hastily returned the sheet to its original position.
"Would you mind leaving for five minutes?" he started to request, figuring he could find a decently clean shirt and throw it on in that time.
Xi Tian smirked at the uncomfortable tone in his voice.
"Don't you want to at least wash your face first, or are you going to greet Lady Sun in all your sweaty glory?" she teased laughingly, as she bent to set the basin down on a little table by his bed.
Zhao Yun crimsoned even further when he observed up-close the redness of her lips and the exposed creamy skin of her neck—those same lips and neck that he'd ravished so short a while ago, even if it only had been in a faraway land of mists and illusions.
"General Zhao, are you feeling well?" Xi Tian's innocent question broke into his thoughts. "Your face is so flushed and your eyes look so strange and unfocused…"
"I'm fine," he hastily interrupted her analysis, while inwardly despairing at Sun Shang Xiang for putting all those scandalous ideas into his head.
He could see that it was going to be a rough journey to and back from Wu. Not only would he have to avoid looking at his queen throughout the length of the trip, but now, he would be unable to meet the eyes of his handmaid as well!