Chapter Thirty-Two: Of Handkerchiefs and Green Ribbons
Simple pieces of silk stir up more trouble than they normally have the right to do.
"Ah…ah…AH-CHOO!"
Zhao Yun blinked, before one arm reflexively went up to wipe at his offended chin and jaw.
"Oh, by the Heavens…I'm so sorry," Xi Tian immediately apologized in a chagrined tone. "Please don't be angry with me, I didn't mean to…I'm so sorry…" She hastily snatched up a fistful of the old, calligraphy-covered handkerchiefs lying around, and wiped her nose with the bunch of crumpled-up linen.
Zhao Yun tried to look annoyed with her, but soon found himself unable to keep up the expression when he saw that she had unwittingly smudged some of the not-yet-dry ink across her face.
"What? What are you laughing at?" Xi Tian sniffed suspiciously, placing both hands on her hips—a gesture which only made her look all the more ridiculous.
"Only this," Zhao Yun replied, softly brushing his fingers against her lips.
Xi Tian's eyebrows flew up in surprise, but before she could misinterpret his actions—and announce her misinterpretation to everybody in the Wu palace as well—Zhao Yun quickly turned his hand over to show her the black smudges now smeared across his skin.
"Oh." Xi Tian pinkened, moaning in a fit of embarrassed realization, "Oh, no! Does it look too terrible? I haven't painted a mustache on myself, have I?"
Zhao Yun chuckled in amusement as he watched her frantically scrub at her nose and mouth, her sleeves a pink blur of motion.
"Let me help you," he offered gallantly, when he caught the miffed pouts she was throwing in his direction, and reached into his shirt to draw out a clean handkerchief.
A peep of rosy silk accidentally slipped out, along with his own plain white linen square. Before Zhao Yun had realized his mistake, Xi Tian's eyes had already zoomed in on the brief flash of color, and she cried out, "Hey, what's that?"
Zhao Yun hurriedly stuffed the rose slip back into the folds of his clothing, backing away from Xi Tian's inquisitive look and coughing unconvincingly, "It's nothing. Nothing at all."
Xi Tian lifted one unbelieving eyebrow.
"It's something, and I know it!" she insisted gleefully. "Was it…was it my old handkerchief? It looked like my handkerchief…the one I gave you on the Chang Jiang…"
She reached out with both hands in an attempt to retrieve the evidence, but Zhao Yun easily maneuvered out of her grasp.
"No fair! I know you have something hidden there, let me see!" Xi Tian huffed with mock anger, running in circles around Zhao Yun as he continued to sidestep her efforts at cornering him.
She finally managed to catch a hold of his shirt, and began ruffling the gold-embroidered material in order to shake loose whatever he might be hiding.
"Orchid, what are you doing?" Zhao Yun blushed, taking both of her hands in his own and folding them at chest-level to stop her in mid-tug.
"Well, if you're not going to tell me…" Xi Tian's voice trailed off.
In an abrupt motion, she grabbed at a corner of the pink cloth. One reckless yank later, the handkerchief was out…along with a good section of Zhao Yun's unsuspecting shirt, as it ripped wide open in the wake of the handmaid's careless jerk.
"Orchid!" a shocked Zhao Yun gasped, just as Xi Tian started to gloat, "I knew it! It is my old handkerchief!"
It took her an additional couple of seconds to notice what else had come off along with her troublemaking handkerchief. When she did, she literally squeaked with mortification, before hiding almost her entire face behind her repossessed square of silk.
"I, ah…I didn't mean to," she apologized with a nervous titter.
Zhao Yun's first reaction was to stand in dumbfounded silence, prompting Xi Tian to dare a hesitant peek over one corner of her handkerchief. She promptly crimsoned at the still-exposed strip of chest and abdomen that greeted her eyes, and resumed hiding her face.
A few seconds passed during which neither of the pair was able to muster a word, until Zhao Yun finally cleared his throat and spoke up, "It's all right, Orchid."
He fumbled about, trying to close the gash in his shirt to the best of his abilities. Xi Tian, however, refused to take any more risks, her handkerchief remaining protectively over her face.
"I'm very, very, very sorry. Let me go to your apartment and bring you back a new shirt immediately, General Zhao," she insisted, her voice a little muffled as she hid behind her shield of embroidered silk.
She turned around, presumably to set off on her task, only to bump blindly into Zhao Yun.
"Oops." Xi Tian changed directions, but this time collided instead into one of the pillars holding up the small pavilion. A third shift only led her back to bouncing into Zhao Yun.
"Orchid, you silly girl," Zhao Yun laughed affectionately, keeping one hand still clenched around the ripped corners of his shirt as his free hand reached up to remove the handkerchief from Xi Tian's scarlet face.
"Open your eyes," he prodded gently.
One golden eye timidly winked open, followed in due time by its companion when its owner felt reassured that there was no more menacing sight of scandalously exposed skin.
"General Zhao…you, ah…" Unsure of how to delicately put her observation into words, Xi Tian settled for taking her handkerchief and folding it over the bit of still-visible chest that Zhao Yun had failed to cover up. Her hand accidentally grazed the skin of his collarbone, and the brief contact caused both to recoil slightly.
Finally, in an effort to break the bashful silence that followed, Zhao Yun asked in a teasing tone, "Does this mean you're giving your precious handkerchief back to me?"
Xi Tian impertinently wrinkled her nose at him, sassing back, "Just don't ruin it by blowing your nose too much, General!"
She then giggled and ducked out of his half-hearted swipe, bargaining at the same time, "And I get your pretty green hair ribbon in return."
Zhao Yun's face was a mask of confusion.
"My hair ribbon…?" he started to echo, but before he could finish his sentence, Xi Tian had already reached up and begun untying the strip of green brocade keeping his dark bangs at bay.
"It'll look better on me, anyway," the handmaid declared playfully, her fingers weaving in and out of his still-damp hair as she loosened the ribbon from around his forehead.
Zhao Yun surprised her by grasping her hands with his own and helping her in her task, answering her uncertain look with a casual drawl: "Don't look so startled, Orchid. I agree it's a fair exchange—a ribbon for a handkerchief."
Xi Tian smiled and briefly looked away, as the green ribbon finally came loose. She whipped it out of his bangs with a flourish, before pulling her own hair back into a ponytail and using her newly-won brocade to secure it in place.
"Well, General? How do I look?" she asked laughingly, twirling around as if to show off the full effects of her change in style.
"Pretty," Zhao Yun admitted with an obliging smile.
Xi Tian frowned.
"Just pretty?" She pretended to sulk. "Hn, any ordinary handmaid can look 'pretty,' like you've so eloquently said!"
Zhao Yun laughed.
"Don't pout, Orchid. What do you want me to say, then?" he asked lightly.
Xi Tian put a finger to her lips to feign deep consideration, but before she could come up with a reply, one of Zhao Yun's infantrymen came tearing in from the direction of his lord's apartments.
"General Zhao! General Zhao!" the little footsoldier exclaimed breathlessly, his hair matted to his forehead thanks to the autumn rain that was only now beginning to ebb.
Zhao Yun hastily drew away from his handmaid.
"What's the matter?" he asked, discreetly tucking Xi Tian's handkerchief back into the folds of his clothing while his subordinate struggled to catch his breath.
"General Zhao, a lady has just arrived and is currently demanding an interview with you," the young soldier panted out.
"Oh?" Zhao Yun looked confused. A lady…?
"She also said that I make sure to tell you that her name is Lady Dowager Sun," the soldier added helpfully.
"Oh!" Zhao Yun's heart sank.
Lady Dowager Sun, along with her circle of fellow matriarchs, considered themselves to be the pillars of Changshan's genteel society. It was only until Zhao Yun had earned his first drops of fame on the battlefield that he'd begun to feel the extent of these women's power. Dowager Sun and the rest had instantly seen him as Changshan's greatest hero—and thus, a man whose every action and decision must be perfectly fitting of such a title. But he'd been keeping a fairly low profile lately, so what could have stirred the fearsome lady dowager to pack up and rumble over to Wu in order to see him in person…?
Zhao Yun received his answer sooner than he would have liked.
He barely had time to take a step out of the pavilion to receive his guest, when he spotted a stout, over-dressed figure already making its way toward him. Dowager Sun, followed by a consternated handmaid carrying an umbrella over both their heads, plowed indignantly through the garden and barreled toward the hapless Tiger General awaiting her ire.
"Yun Er!" she hollered, in such a manner as to suggest that Zhao Yun had just done all of Changshan an unforgivable wrong. "Yun Er, how could you do this?"