Xing Cai laid in her bed in an extremely confused state of mind. Liu Shan lay snoring beside her. It was rare for the man to sleep with her, he was usually out and about with other girls or prostitutes. Xing Cai did not care, for she married Liu Shan for the kingdom, not for love.
It had been about two weeks since she had sent Ma Chao away. And she missed him every second of the day. Xing Cai sighed; she did not know what to do or what she was supposed to feel. People had been enquiring about Ma Chao, and he, Liu Shan, decided to make up a lie and told the people Ma Chao had gone back to his homeland to help with some matters. And that he also, did not know when or whether Ma Chao would return. Everyone accepted it. Only I know the truth... thought Xing Cai. She hoped Ma Chao was alright, wherever he was.
Xing Cai turned in her bed. Suddenly, she felt something rise in her throat, and her hand flew to clutch her chest. She sat up and retched, but nothing came out. Liu Shan lay slumbering in the bed as Xing Cai leapt up and fumbled her way through the dark, bumping into things along the way to find the bin. She retched again, and this time, she vomited into the bin. A searing sensation flooded her throat.
Liu Shan stirred. "...Cai?"
Xing Cai was about to answer when she retched again. Liu Shan got up and stumbled towards Xing Cai's general direction.
"Something wrong? Are you all right?"
Xing Cai leant back against a table leg, feeling relieved that the vomiting had stopped. But she had no idea why she had vomited because she had not felt unwell before.
Liu Shan bent down with a yawn and observed Xing Cai silently with the help of the scarce light coming through the window. He stood up a moment later and hurriedly walked towards the door.
"I'll call for a doctor, wait here," said Liu Shan before disappearing. Xing Cai nodded, then placed a hand to her forehead. She frowned. She did not have a fever, or any traces of pain.
Xing Cai slowly stood up when she heard footsteps get louder as they neared her door.
"This way please," said Liu Shan. He and an older man, who Xing Cai assumed was the doctor appeared at the door.
Xing Cai bowed slightly. "Ah, doctor," she greeted. "I was vomiting just then and―"
"No need, your husband has just told me everything," replied the doctor. He moved towards the table in the room. "Sit down, and allow me to read your pulse. I assume that you have stopped vomiting?"
Xing Cai nodded and sat down. The doctor pulled out a wrist cushion which prompted Xing Cai to lay her wrist facing upwards for the doctor to read her pulse.
The doctor placed his fingers on the pulse area on the underside of her wrist and closed his eyes in deep thought. After that, he underwent a series of simple tests which Xing Cai complied to. Liu Shan sat in a plush chair as he observed.
The doctor cleared his throat to signify that his tests had come to an end.
"So is there something wrong with her?" asked Liu Shan.
The doctor turned to him, a serious look on his face before breaking into a smile. "Congratulations, your wife is pregnant!"
Xing Cai sat there with an extremely shocked expression upon her face. Liu Shan looked like that too, before grinning like a little boy.
"Ah, thank you very much, doctor!" said Liu Shan as he stood up and went to shake the doctor's hands. "Thank you for bringing such great news!"
The doctor bowed. "It is my job, Lord Liu Shan. Well, I shall leave you two to celebrate. It is rather late now."
"Ah yes, of course. Shall I order someone to escort you?"
"No thank you, I'll be fine by myself," answered the doctor, and then he left.
And when only Liu Shan and Xing Cai were left in the room, the smile immediately left Liu Shan's face.
"Whose is it?" asked Liu Shan authoritatively.
Xing Cai looked up sharply. "Whose is what?"
"The child, Xing Cai!" shouted Liu Shan.
"What? Of course it is yours!" shouted Xing Cai in reply. It was a complete lie. Despite them being married, the two had still not consummated their marriage. Liu Shan was more interested with other females, and Xing Cai continued to wonder why Liu Shan had been so intent on marrying her.
"I don't recall ever..." Liu Shan left off a bit. "With you..."
"You were very drunk on our marriage night..." said Xing Cai. "You must have been too drunk to remember..." Xing Cai faked a sort of embarrassed action as she looked away with a fake smile.
Liu Shan hesitated as he looked upon his wife. "...Really?"
Xing Cai nodded earnestly. "Would I lie to you, Liu Shan?"
Liu Shan exhaled and the smile reappeared on his face. "So I'm a father now! I have a child, I have an heir!!"
Liu Shan clapped his hands together in joy. "Oh, I'm so happy!"
Xing Cai laughed as Liu Shan gave her a hug.
But everything was a lie.
Later that night, Xing Cai could not sleep at all. The growing baby inside of her, she knew who it belonged to. Ma Chao. She clamped her eyes shut. Oh, what have I gotten myself into, she thought to herself. Being married to Liu Shan, Xing Cai could be called an empress. And there she was, pregnant with another man's child. Ma Chao must not know this. If Ma Chao did, the Xing Cai had absolutely no clue as to what he would do. She felt a sharp pang to her heart; her child would probably never learn of its real father.
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"Generals!" shouted a messenger who dashed towards the training generals of Shu. He skidded to a stop in front of them, successfully capturing their attention. "The Wei army has advanced and the Prime Minister needs some of you to go and put up a defence right now!" The messenger unfolded a piece of paper in his hand. "The generals that Lord Zhuge Liang has chosen are: Zhao Yun, Ma Dai, Fu Tong, Shamoke, Zhang Bao and Wei Yan. Please get ready and meet up with the Prime Minister at his quarters by noon." The messenger left the note with Zhao Yun, bowed and left.
"So sudden! Have the Wei troops unexpectedly advanced?" asked Zhao Yun as he re-read the note.
Ma Dai nodded. "Yes, they probably have." He nodded to the other five generals who were to set out that day. "Come, let's get ready to defend our kingdom!" They cheered, even the ones who weren't ordered to go fight.
Zhao Yun and the rest laughed when Wei Yan cracked a joke. He wondered how long the battle was going to take.
XXXXXXXXX
Ma Chao paced the room nervously. Zhao Yun was supposed to arrive at the cottage two days ago, but he still had not arrived. Ma Chao, being deprived of any current news did not know that Zhao Yun had been called out to battle.
If Zhao Yun did not arrive with food, Ma Chao would soon run out. He only had two bunches of bak choy and a little bit of pork. He stopped pacing and sat down on a chair. If Zhao Yun still doesn't come by tomorrow, I think I'll have no choice but to go out and buy my own food. Then there would be a risk of someone noticing him and spreading the word that he was still around.
The next day came, and still, Zhao Yun had not come to visit Ma Chao with his fortnightly food. He wondered why Zhao Yun hadn't come, but the most problematic question now was his food. By now, all his food had seriously gone, and Ma Chao was forced to go out and refill his cupboard. He wore his usual Han clothing, then wrapped a black cloak around him to cover his face and highly noticeable golden hair. He examined himself in a small mirror, and when he was satisfied, he remembered to bring his money and walked out of his temporary home.
When he had reached a less populated city, the closest one to where Ma Chao lived, he just stared. It had been so long since he had seen other civilisation than the cottage he was living in. He kind of missed it as well. Ma Chao continued his journey to the markets. Holding bags of vegetables and meat, the last thing that he had to buy was rice. He went to a rice store and ordered the seller there to get him a bag of rice. Already holding many bags of food in his hands, he had trouble grabbing hold of the rice, and a part of his black cloak slipped of his head.
The seller caught the sudden flash of golden coloured hair, despite Ma Chao's furious attempts to cover it up again. "Lord Ma?" asked the seller?
"What?" asked Ma Chao, acting as if he didn't know what the seller was talking about. Unfortunately, the seller went hyperactive and started telling the rest of his colleagues that Ma Chao had bought from their rice store.
"Look, it's Lord Ma Chao!"
"Really?"
"Yeah, I'm sure! He has golden hair. You're Lord Ma Chao aren't you?"
Questions were pelted at him as he fixed his cloak to hide his features. But there was no point, everyone was now shouting "Lord Ma Chao" all over the place. Obviously, towns that were distant from the main city Cheng Du did not have many generals as customers. Ma Chao hastily shoved money into the rice sellers hands, picked up his food and rushed out of the store.
As Ma Chao ran, his cloak decided to defy him again by slipping off, revealing his golden hair to the world. Those that recognised him started saying "Ma Chao" and those that didn't simply pointed at his strange coloured hair and talked between themselves. He lost the crowd as he ran out of the town and back home. He dumped his things onto the floor and slapped a hand to his forehead. Oh god, what am I going to do? News of his existence still in Shu was bound to get out from that town. He growled, and attempted to bury himself in his blankets and go to sleep.
Damn that rice seller.
XXXXXXXXX
Couple days later, Zhao Yun and the rest of the generals returned from the battle, successfully stopping the Wei army's advance and pushing them back into a retreat.
"Hey, General Zhao!" shouted Jiang Wei, getting Zhao Yun's attention. "Apparently Ma Chao has returned from his trip to Xiliang."
"What??" replied Zhao Yun. He was shocked, Ma Chao was not supposed to have done anything until the time was right. "Do you know where he is?"
"No, I haven't. I find it strange that he hasn't come back to Shu first thing. Does he have relatives to visit first?" asked Jiang Wei.
Zhao Yun shook his head. "Sorry, I don't know. I need to go clean up, see you later." He had to get to Ma Chao soon and get all the information from him. After cleaning his weapon, taking a brief shower and change of clothes, Zhao Yun leapt onto his horse and galloped away to his cottage.
"MA CHAO!" shouted Zhao Yun, furiously pounding the front door.
The door was wrenched opened and there stood a depressed looking Ma Chao wearing a scowl on his face. "Finally."
Zhao Yun went in after Ma Chao and shut the door behind him. "What happened?"
"Well, seeing as someone never came to─"
"I couldn't get to you because I was ordered to defend against an oncoming Wei army!" shouted Zhao Yun.
"Oh..." muttered Ma Chao. "Anyway, I did not have any more food, so I had to go out into town to buy something and then...word got out."
Zhao Yun sighed. "So much for hiding." He looked at Ma Chao with a pained expression. "What will happen to Cai?"
"I know…I mean, I don't know, and that's the problem. Will Liu Shan punish her?" asked Ma Chao. Both men were worried about the same woman, but were on the same side.
"Maybe…" started Zhao Yun, feeling slightly selfish, as if he only cared for Xing Cai, and not for Ma Chao. "You should go to her, since your both… in trouble."
XXXXXXXXX
"They say Ma Chao has 'returned' from his little trip," said Liu Shan coldly as he walked into Xing Cai's room. "Explain."
"What?!" Xing Cai started, then hesitated a little before speaking. "I…am sorry."
"What do you mean, you're sorry?" he shouted.
"I…thought I killed him…then I tied him to a rock and threw him into a lake…I thought he would be dead for sure but…"
Liu Shan looked at her suspiciously. "Really now? Or did set him free because you still love him?"
Xing Cai was surprised; Liu Shan had guessed accurately. She steeled herself before looking up. "What do you mean, my lord? I do not love him! I overestimated myself by thinking I could kill him with one strike. I am sorry, I have failed you," she lied.
Liu Shan continued to stare at her through narrowed eyes. "Indeed you have failed me. Whatever the reason though, I am very disappointed in you, Xing Cai."
Xing Cai surveyed the floor beneath her silently.
"I think," said Liu Shan as he looked her up and down. "Some form of punishment is necessary."
She looked up abruptly, her eyes widened as she looked upon Liu Shan's cold menacing face. But Xing Cai had done the wrong thing and disobeyed Liu Shan. She bit her lip and bowed slightly.
"Whatever this punishment is, I will take it."
XXXXXXXXX
Xing Cai heard a rustle outside on her balcony. She frowned. Who was it? She stepped towards the balcony and pulled apart the curtains. And gasped.
"Ma Chao!" she whispered. Her hand was on the door, but she hesitated, wondering whether or not to open it. The best choice was to send Ma Chao away, but she did not know what her heart wanted and she clenched the handle indecisively. Why did you have to come back? Why do you have to make me choose? She took a deep breath and wrenched the door open, the night air sweeping into the room. "Why are you here?" whispered Xing Cai as Ma Chao stepped in.
"To see you again…are you alright?" asked Ma Chao.
Xing Cai stared at him and frowned. "You idiot."
Ma Chao seemed to take this as some kind of compliment and smiled. "I know. An idiot in love. With you."
Xing Cai looked away, but could not stop the slight smile appearing on her face.
"Does Liu Shan know that I'm still alive?"
Xing Cai nodded and gripped her own arm.
"I'm sorry," muttered Ma Chao.
"No, I should be," replied Xing Cai. She swivelled around to face him. "So why are you here?"
"Since Liu Shan knows about my existence, let's leave together!" said Ma Chao happily. He moved towards her to hold Xing Cai's hands. "We could just leave and spend the rest of life together without worrying too much."
Xing Cai winced where Ma Chao was holding her hands, but instantly wished she never did so.
"What's wrong?" asked Ma Chao.
Xing Cai bit her lip and shook her head. "Nothing's wrong."
Ma Chao noticed Xing Cai glance at her arms and he pushed up her sleeves to find bruises and scratches along her arm.
Ma Chao looked horrified at the wounds. "Who...what..." Then it struck him. "...Liu Shan?"
Xing Cai pulled away from his grasp. "Just go. Please. We can't just run away. We all have responsibilities and work to fulfil. And I..." She shut her eyes, wavering between whether or not to use her final weapon. A lie. "I am pregnant with Liu Shan's child."
Ma Chao blinked and stared at the woman in front of him who was afraid of meeting his eyes. "…Oh…I see then." He let go of her hands and stepped backwards a bit, wondering what to do. "So―"
Ma Chao was cut off by a loud crash through the door to Xing Cai's room.
"MA CHAO!" came a cold snarling voice, the voice attempting to restrain the hidden rage beneath.
Ma Chao stepped in front of Xing Cai in an attempt to protect her from whoever it was. She tried to pull Ma Chao away. There was no mistaking, she knew who it was.
Liu Shan appeared from the shadows, flanked by two guards. His expression was livid and furious as he glared at Ma Chao, his chubby cheeks flaring red and his fists clenched tightly.
"You won't be getting out of here as a free man, Ma Chao."
A/N: I feel sad. I'm very lame. Please review and give me criticism like 'this is corny' if you really think that. Seriously.
Thank you for reading. Review review review~~~