CHAPTER THREE -
smolder
"You're an enigma, y'know that, right?"
"Enigma? That's... a choice word, little one."
Xiaoqiao's lilt giggle bubbling out was the only response within the grassy enclosure, its joy bouncing off of the structured walls and trees. Above the young duo lay the vast rose-stained sky, a gentle summer breeze brushing by and warming any slight chill creeping in from the fainting sun.
"I learned it from your books! It means 'someone who is a puzzle'! Or something like that. Of course, you know what it means, but-" Xiaoqiao's rambling came out in a rush that neither of them was prepared to withstand, and she found herself unable to stop, "I mean, like, uh - you're this Grand Commander of the entire Wu army and the best-friend-forever of Lord Sun Ce and you get to hang out with me, like, literally all of the time - but when it comes to your perfect date night, you choose to visit the palace pandas that you get to see, like, all of the time?"
Now it was Zhou Yu's turn to release the sound of laughter. The very corners of his thin mouth twitched upwards in a soft smile, the tall man moving to wrap a large hand around Xiaoqiao's petite shoulder. He softly tugged her closer to him, twisting her small frame so she was facing the folivorous bears. In a few fluid motions, Zhou Yu had motioned for a servant to approach the young duo, a bushel of bamboo in tow.
Before Xiaoqiao had even noticed this new addition to their date, Zhou Yu had grasped at a singular shoot of bamboo, twisting so that he had passed it off into Xiaoiao's small hands. He wrapped his hands around her own pair, helping her to tightly clasp the vegetation, and moving to present the object to the large bear standing opposite of the fence before them.
"See, the thing about these beautiful, fascinating creatures is that they, themselves, are enigmas. They're said to be a form of one creature, yet act so unlike their relatives that it bewilders scholars across our lands. They're made up of such a complex physical appearance it's absolutely impossible to not see the reference to yin and yang. And their diet is absolutely bewildering-"
Xiaoqiao found herself leaning even further towards the enclosure, excitedly urging the massive creature before her to nibble at her offering of sorts, "So you're, like, super into pandas or something."
"Or something."
It was at that moment that both Xiaoqiao and Zhou Yu found themselves locking eyes and matching smiles. A flicker of understanding passed between the young couple for but a brief moment as perceptive dark orbs held intricate hazel ones.
"Marry me, Xiaoqiao."
A loud clash of metal and liquid crashing onto the wooden floorboards filled the room as another hearty echo of rapturous laughter lifted in the air. From any and all directions, voices of all pitches and emotions sounded, giving way for quite the disorienting experience. An unusual warmth suffocated the confined space, and it took Xiaoqiao a few moments too long to focus on the conversation happening right before her eyes.
"So I look this guy dead in his beady little eyes and tell him-"
Xiaoqiao couldn't quite hear the end of whatever tale Lady Shangxiang was telling; she tried to - she truly did - but the ravenous roar of laughter deafened her before the punchline could even be told. Was it a punchline if it wasn't a joke? Xiaoqiao blinked, finally bringing her gaze upon the older girl sitting beside her.
"Uhm - Lady Sun-"
"Knock that off, Xiaoqiao," Shang Xiang had cut her off before Xiaoqiao's entire question had formed in her own head. What was it with people and cutting her off these days!? "It's Shangxiang. That's it; we're friends. No need to be so formal and all that crap." With a wag of her wrist as if to dismiss the entire nonexistent discussion, Shang Xiang raised her other hand from the wooden table before the young duo. In this one, a poorly molded goblet of sorts lay - and with the motion, a deep red substance splashed onto the aforementioned table. Shang Xiang didn't seem to notice, nor care, and swung the goblet towards Xiaoqiao's own device, "Cheers!"
Again, actions happened before Xiaoqiao could register what was actually occurring. Shangxiang's cup had splashed that same liquid into Xiaoqiao's already full one and in one fell swoop, the princess had tossed her head back and effectively downed the entirety of... whatever possibly remained in her possession.
Offering up a weak laugh, despite yet another cheer from the random group of strangers surrounding them, Xiaoqiao gave up on asking her previous question and raised her own goblet in good faith. Working purely from assuming that Shang Xiang wouldn't intentionally poison herself, let alone both her and Xiaoqiao, the young girl tipped her cup back and clumsily gobbled down a large mouthful of the red liquid.
Instantly, Xiaoqiao found her cheeks flushing as she forced a swallow down. The already uncomfortably hot tavern seemed to increase in temperature and Xiaoqiao offered up a weak choke, not expecting the strange sensation dancing down her throat. Taking notice, Shangxiang quirked a thin eyebrow, those wide green eyes zeroing in on Xiaoqiao's awkwardness.
"Wh- That wasn't your first taste of wine ever, was it?"
Xiaoqiao couldn't be sure, but she felt like she recognized a look of bemusement cross Shang Xiang's face. But as soon as Xiaoqiao didn't offer up an immediate denial, Shangxiang's face contorted into an extremely exaggerated expression, "You're tellin' me you've had sex but you haven't had wine?! That's almost criminal!" Shangxiang's mouth had popped open, disbelief written clear as day across her tanned complexion. Xiaoqiao couldn't do much else but return to her new level of comfort - filling her mouth with another gulp of what was supposedly wine.
Truth be told, she wasn't sure what she thought of it - it was... different. Much like seemingly everything else these days. Swallowing again, Xiaoqiao opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. After all, she wasn't sure what Shangxiang expected her to say. An excuse as to why she hadn't had alcohol up until this point in her life? An explanation on how she had somehow been led to believe that wine was a forbidden fruit of sorts - something you only partook in on special occasions?
"Girl, you got frickin' married - that's the prime time to celebrate with your favorite wine. How did you not get obliterated at your own wedding? How did I not notice you not getting obliterated at your own wedding!?" It was eerie how it almost seemed like Shangxiang had read her mind.
Xiaoqiao, finally unable to tell if Shangxiang possessed unforeseen abilities, let out a small laugh, "Apparently I was too busy having sex."
Well, that was weird to say out loud.
Oh, heavens - she hoped Daqiao hadn't overheard her share that personal tidbit of information with someone. Despite knowing that that was absolutely ridiculous, considering Daqiao wasn't even invited out tonight - and also because she would never, ever even entertain the semi-idea of going out to a place like this, even if Lord Sun Ce begged her to - Xiaoqiao felt a small pang of panic grip her.
Another loud clang of metal colliding with floorboards caused Xiaoqiao to jump, despite the umpteenth chorus of cheers and laughter from other patrons occupying the tavern. However, Shangxiang hadn't seemed to notice. Instead, the chestnut-haired girl had leaned forward onto the table, her elbows perching her up somewhat so she could properly turn to focus her entire attention on Xiaoqiao.
"So how was it?" With that same mischievous grin playing upon her thin lips, Shangxiang tilted her head ever so slightly. When Xiaoqiao remained uncharacteristically silent, partly due to not understanding the question, Shangxiang's eyebrows raised upwards in intrigue, "The sex, silly. How is our dear Lord Zhou Yu?"
Xiaoqiao had made another attempt to drink the wine before her as if it would somehow provide the answers Shangxiang was seeking; however, this last question resulted in yet another surprised cough from the young girl.
Shangxiang immediately let out another laugh, resuming her original position of sitting back in her chair, "Relax, Xiaoqiao. I'm just pulling your leg. I don't want to hear about all of that. Zhou Yu is, like, literally my brother. Hard pass on hearing those details," As if it would somehow help ease the tension, Shangxiang placed her arm around Xiaoqiao's small shoulders, "Speaking of, remind me that Ce needs a proper punch in that square head of his for constantly bragging about his own sex life." With that said, Shangxiang retrieved her goblet, tilting it back to down the last of its contents.
Xiaoqiao, again, found herself unable to produce words - or even where to begin with finding those words. "Wait - huh? Lord Sun Ce is -"
"Oh! Oh heavens no - nothing like that!" Shangxiang cut Xiaoqiao off immediately, waving a hand towards the younger girl, "Ce might be an arrogant piece of work, but he's not steppin' out on your sister or anything like that!" The princess' hand continued to wag about - and Xiaoqiao wasn't sure if it was to keep her from speaking up, or just because Shangxiang didn't know what else to do with said hand. "Ce is obsessed with your sister. Obsessed. And I don't mean that in the creepy stalker, I-want-to-wear-your-skin kind of way - like straight-up, hardcore, head-over-heels, forgot-his-own-name, she-says-jump-and-he-says-how-high kind of love. Honestly, I've never seen him like this before - Ce was always a... eh... a bit of a dick when it came to women. But now? Heavens, he's smitten. She's all he talks about. She's all he worries about. She's the only one whose opinion matters most. It's... actually, kind of endearing, y'know? Having your best friend and your soul mate in the same person?"
"Oh wow-"
"But you must know - duh, you're married! And to Zhou Yu! And he's great - one of the very few men my father trusted with not only his army but also his sons - and that says a lot about a man." Shangxiang wagged a finger at Xiaoqiao like she was telling her something incredibly important, but Xiaoqiao wasn't sure if she could keep up anymore. And, to be quite fair, she wasn't sure if Shangxiang was keeping up anymore, either.
However, the one thing that did stick out to her was when Shangxiang mentioned Daqiao and Lord Sun Ce's relationship. Truly, it did sound idealistic. It sounded wonderful, to be quite honest - minus the apparent "bragging" that Lord Sun Ce did in regard to their intimacy. Even though she knew she shouldn't have, Xiaoqiao found herself wondering if Zhou Yu ever spoke about her... to anyone. He must've, right? After all, as Shangxiang pointed out several times, they were married. The entire kingdom was in attendance at their wedding due to Zhou Yu's standing with the ruling family. But that didn't necessarily mean he spoke to people about her - good or bad.
"Well, well, well - I see somebody's on the prowl for their next victim!"
An eerily familiar raspy voice raised above the organized chaos of the general crowd surrounding the scene. Instantly, both young girls directed their attention to the source - one with a slopped smirk of sorts, the other with a mild hint of panic sweeping across her face.
"You best be talking 'bout yourself, Gan Ning!" Another hearty laugh escaped Shangxiang's lips as she spoke, the young princess stealing another swig from her goblet. Wait - how was there still more in that thing!? Did someone get her another one when Xiaoqiao wasn't looking? What was this place?! Despite Xiaoqiao's inner turmoil, the scenes continued to unfold before her - the aforementioned Gan Ning descending upon the table with a crooked grin.
"Yeah, yeah - I'm not the one leavin' a trail of broken hearts all that way back to the palace and givin' your brother a fuckin' coronary or any shit like that," Gan Ning's own sloppily molded goblet sloshed about, his own dark red wine splashing onto the floorboards. Even so, he reached out to grab at the chair directly across from Shangxiang, despite another gentleman already sitting there, "Scram!"
With a quick yank, Gan Ning had essentially forced the man out of the seat, pulling the item back towards his own body. As the much smaller patron scurried to his feet, Gan Ning plopped his figure onto the wooden seat, swinging back a large gulp of whatever was left in his goblet.
It was at this point that Xiaoqiao took in the sight of two other figures approaching the table. As the other patrons who were originally joining her and Shangxiang made haste to be literally anywhere else but Gan Ning's immediate view, these two made themselves comfortable by filling the now vacant seats.
"Ling Tong, Lu Xun - please tell me you're not buying what your boy is trying to sell here. He is infinitely worse than I am when it comes to public relations." Shangxiang threw in a large roll of her eyes as if to further prove how ridiculous the notion was. Xiaoqiao found herself studying the new members of their supposed group for the evening - this Ling Tong fellow casually leaning back in his chair between Shangxiang and Gan Ning at the head of the table, and Lu Xun sitting perched upright directly across from Xiaoqiao. For some reason she couldn't put her finger on, Lu Xun seemed even more rigid in his movements than usual, and she could catch his eyes frequently surveying the room.
Ling Tong let out a small chuckle, raising his cup at Shangxiang, "He's not wrong, but he's not right. You do have a tendency to lure the civilians back towards the palace after a night out. Gan Ning at least has the decency to keep them at bay out here, at their place, in the alleyways, beside their cattle, in the vegetable fields-" Ling Tong moved his wrist around as if to say "so on and so forth". This earned a solid round of laughter from Shangxiang and Gan Ning - and Xiaoqiao could swear she saw the smallest of smiles pull at Lu Xun's lips. Her own pink mouth curved upwards - partly from sort of starting to feel relaxed despite the ominous presence sitting across the table, and partly from not wanting everyone else to think she didn't get the joke.
"Yeah, yeah - anyway - Lianshi, you're lookin' flatter these days," Gan Ning steadily steered the conversation away from himself, those narrow hazel orbs of his zeroing in on Xiaoqiao. A thick eyebrow raised upwards as if to further question the young girl sitting there, even as Xiaoqiao felt a familiar heat rise to her cheeks.
"Keep it in your pants, Ning. I heard all about your crash course sexual harassment seminar yesterday," Shangxiang gave another wide roll of her eyes, sticking her hand towards Gan Ning's face, "Xiaoqiao was looking for something fun to do. I was looking for a friend for the night who wouldn't lecture me in the morning - it's a win, win. So don't be a dick."
"Speaking of yesterday," Lu Xun had finally piped up from beside Gan Ning. His own dark eyes flickered between Gan Ning and Xiaoqiao as he perched forward, resting his elbows on the table, "Anything you want to say to Lady Xiaoqiao?"
This question earned a smug smirk from Ling Tong across the way, which he craftily hid behind a tactful sip of wine. Shangxiang continued to bore her gaze into Gan Ning, for once remaining quiet and a thin line replacing the former smile across her face. Xiaoqiao's cheeks continued to burn - and despite not particularly wanting to, she lifted her glass to inhale another sip of wine. Swallowing quickly, she mumbled awkwardly, "It's fine- I mean-"
"Don't go gettin' any ideas now - I ain't apologizin' for givin' you no compliment." Gan Ning's gaze narrowed at Xiaoqiao the second he heard her speak up, "But I s'pose it was the wrong way to go about it. Or whatever. Let me get you a drink and we'll be square." With that said and done, Gan Ning lazily tossed his head back, downing the remainder of whatever was in his own goblet, then pushed himself up from his chair with a loud thud. As he turned to leave, he caught sight of Ling Tong's giddy snickers and immediately barked out an audible, "Shut up!" before stomping away.
"I'll get the next round for the rest of us," Ling Tong announced to no one in particular, making a move to mirror Gan Ning's previous actions. Shangxiang placed a hand on Xiaoqiao's shoulder, moving to a vertical base, as well.
"I'll make sure Ning gets you an actual drink from the actual bar and not from some poor sap he bullied at another table," the princess offered up a small nod of confirmation and also retreated from the table.
Ensuring that they were gone, Lu Xun finally focused his entire attention on Xiaoqiao sitting across from him, "I know it's not much, but that's Gan Ning for I'm sorry. At least for now; I'll keep working to get you an actual apology."
A soft smile pulled against Xiaoqiao's lips, but she shook her head, "I'm not sure I want to even know what a real apology from him is, to be honest. I think I'm good with... whatever that was. But thank you, Lu Xun." Xiaoqiao shifted in her seat slightly. With the three other members of their supposed group now gone, she had quickly remembered just how rambunctious the actual atmosphere around them was. More shouting, more cheering, more clangs and clatters-
"How are you doing, if you don't mind me asking? I don't mean to pry," Lu Xun's voice had infiltrated the air again after another beat, causing Xiaoqiao to zero back in on the conversation at hand. Her head tilted to the side ever so slightly, wide eyes blinking in question, "With Master Zhou Yu's abrupt leave and all. Are you okay?"
Oh.
Xiaoqiao's face contorted slightly as if she had to physically focus on what Lu Xun was asking her. Perhaps it was the foreign atmosphere distracting her from her own thoughts, or perhaps it was the copious amounts of strange red wine she'd unintentionally inhaled, but it truly did take her a moment to piece together the prior events of today. Zhou Yu was gone. And he hadn't said goodbye.
Xiaoqiao's face fell - that smile completely wiped clean, instead replaced with a crestfallen frown of sorts. Her eyes blinked furiously for a moment, the memory finally coming to the forefront of her thoughts.
"I'm sure he'll be back soon," The young girl finally mustered up, though she had long given up on making eye contact with the only person who had had the decency to ask how she was feeling. Feeling childish for the abrupt mood change, Xiaoqiao clasped her hands around her cup, "He's busy doing what's best for our kingdom - it'd be wrong of me to be upset with him for acting so selflessly, right? Besides, now I get to hang out with you guys!" Locking in a forced smile, Xiaoqiao raised her cup up, tilting it towards Lu Xun, "Cheers - to Lord Zhou Yu!"
Lu Xun hesitated for a moment too long, the young boy cautiously reading into Xiaoqiao's sequence of emotions and actions. However, he did eventually relent, raising his cup to match hers, "To Master Zhou Yu."
As both parties partook in another swig of wine - one noticeably larger than the other - a loud racket of screaming overtook the immediate scene. Before either party could react, Gan Ning had presented himself before the pair. The large, gruff man produced a noticeably large glass bottle and two smaller saucers, placing the items directly before Xiaoqiao, even as the shouting voices across the room continued to hurl obscenities in his direction.
"What did-"
"Don't worry about it. Cheers, Not-Lianshi," With a lackadaisical bow, Gan Ning whirled on the heel of his boot, "I said shut up - I'm coming back, you old hag! Who do I gotta fu-"
Thankfully, Gan Ning had descended back away from the scene before the rest of his words could poison Xiaoqiao's ears. The pirate had begun marching back towards the bar where an exasperated barkeep was still shouting in his direction. Xiaoqiao could see Shangxiang standing there, seemingly half egging on the woman and dramatically pointing at Gan Ning and half attempting to disengage the situation by wagging a goblet in the air. A few feet further away, Ling Tong was also trying to get the woman's attention - seemingly by taking the more polite route of waiting to place his order.
Lu Xun shook his head, slightly shrinking down in his seat, "Well, at least you know it came from the bar." His chin jutted in the direction of the new items sitting pretty before Xiaoqiao. This actually earned a half laugh from the young girl, who was finally tearing her gaze away from the trio causing a ruckus across the room.
"I still don't know how much I trust it. You try it first."
"No - I'm good."
"Come on - you won't have to worry about getting me an apology if you do!"
"What? Why is he just let off the hook, but I have to do the work!?"
"Because you got me in trouble with Lord Zhou Yu yesterday, dummy."
"I apologized for that!"
"Yeah, but now my husband's gone, probably forever, and he didn't say bye and it might sorta kinda possibly be your sort of fault because you made me make him mad!"
"What kind of logic is that!?"
"Good logic."
"I don't... even... I don't even know where to begin with telling you how inaccurate that is."
"Come on! Pretty please?!"
"Ugh - fine!"
"Yay!"
Giddily grinning, Xiaoqiao shoved the glass bottle and a saucer in Lu Xun's direction. The young man heaved out a sigh, moving to tilt the bottle so the clear liquid could pour into the saucer. Once he reached a sufficient level, he repeated his actions with the other saucer. Gingerly, he pushed the one towards Xiaoqiao's direction, "You attempted to break my nose twice yesterday; by your logic, it's only fair we do this together."
Xiaoqiao curiously stared at Lu Xun, as if considering the offer quite literally on the table. Her gaze shifted from Lu Xun's face to the clear liquid sitting before her and then back up toward Lu Xun. Her own version of a sigh sounded about and Xiaoqiao wrapped her fingers around her device, "Fine. On the count of three..."
"Deal," Lu Xun chimed in, repeating her actions, "One-"
"Three!"
Without warning and, technically unprompted, Xiaoqiao lifted the saucer up to her pink lips, tilting her head back and spilling the clear liquid into her mouth. She forced herself to swallow it as quickly as she could but immediately regretted this decision. All at once, a searing burning pain scratched at her throat, clinging to every nook and cranny inside the young girl's mouth. Xiaoqao sputtered out a cough of surprise, moving a fist to her mouth to keep her insides, well, inside.
"Lu Xun - I'm gonna break your nose again!" She squeaked out in between coughs, the unbelievable burning continuing to radiate from inside her core.
"Woah - Not-Lianshi's got a bit of a fiery side to her. I dig it." Gan Ning's voice broke through the chaos that was the insufferable heat inside Xiaoqiao's head. She forced open her eyes, taking in the scene of Lu Xun quite literally mirroring her exact actions - the poor boy also looking a bit lost with what to do with his mouth and limbs. This resulted in a bark of laughter from the returning Gan Ning, which only echoed as Ling Tong and Shangxiang took their former places, as well.
"Oh, Ning - you left them alone with the Baijiu!? That's cruel."
"In my defense, I didn't tell them to drink it." Gan Ning's hands immediately raised upwards in an act of innocence, even as a crooked toothy smirk flashed across his tanned complexion. Now it was Ling Tong's turn to roll his eyes.
"That's like handing Shangxiang a bow and arrow and expecting her not to start challenging every man who tries to undress her with his eyes. You're the devil, man." Ling Tong's head shook as Gan Ning produced three more saucers, the pirate haughtily waving off the other man.
"Yeah, yeah - anyway -" Gan Ning took it upon himself to fill all five saucers with the supposed Baijiu he had produced earlier. "Cheers to Not-Lianshi for not throwing up or bitching about tonight and finally coming out with us. And cheers to me, because, well, fuck the lot of you. You're welcome." Gan Ning raised his saucer in the air for a half second as the others around the table grabbed at their own devices. Shangxiang and Ling Tong wasted no time in following Gan Ning's actions - the three of them downing the clear liquid without any hesitation or internal conflict written across their faces.
Xiaoqiao and Lu Xun raised their own saucers very briefly, a very understandable hesitation in their movements to follow suit. Xiaoqiao found herself staring directly at Lu Xun's face, matching his gaze. She couldn't remember the last time she had done something stupid for the sake of doing something stupid - even if it hurt - and especially not with someone else in tow. Nor could she remember just being with people and not obsessing over what was going on in their heads. As chaotic and strange as this night was, she found herself enjoying this moment, right here and right now. Yes, her heart still ached with the way Zhou Yu had abruptly left - and yes, she still missed him so dearly - but for right now? She was content.
Her face lifting in good spirit, Xiaoqiao raised her saucer to cheer Lu Xun, and with no words needing to be exchanged, they both finally followed suit with the others in their presence.
She was okay.
Two bodies; one being. Together, but separate, they fell.
One flat against the cushioned surface beneath them, the other shrunk into a curl in the nook of the other's figure. A silence that seemed unimaginable just moments prior clung in the heavy air above and between them, choking the atmosphere within this exact time stamp, freezing the picturesque memory. Wide, vacant brown orbs belonging to the larger figure continued to bore straight ahead into the darkness sifting in from the open windows. The smaller figure kept her flushed cheek pressed silently against the loud thumping of the man's bare chest, allowing her diminutive figure to rise and fall with his breaths.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Xiaoqiao finally forced her eyes open, choking down the scratchy breath she wasn't aware she was holding within her own chest, "Wow."
For the first time in what seemed like forever, Xiaoqiao found herself at an almost complete loss for words. She wanted to break the tension in the room, be the first to say something - anything - but nothing was coming to her mind nor her tongue.
"Now that we are married, you will never have to worry about anything ever again."
Zhou Yu's low voice cut through the quiet in such a hum that it almost took Xiaoqiao a moment to process that he was even speaking. She slowly blinked as his words came to life inside of her mind and she finally ventured a soft nod.
"And since sis and Lord Sun Ce were also wed today, that kind of makes us even more of a little family than we already were!"
She wasn't sure why that was her immediate response; but since it was already in her mind, the sheer thought that she wasn't alone in this strange new land did make her feel relatively better. It wasn't that she was regretting her decision to marry Zhou Yu; it was simply an adjustment she hadn't been anticipating being so exhausting. In the tales told by everyone she had ever spoken to, it had all sounded so simple; girl and boy fall in love, girl and boy get married, girl and boy live happily ever after.
They left out the part where the girl's father wouldn't be around to attend said wedding. Or that said wedding required the girl to uproot the entire life she had built for herself. Or that the girl would have to consummate said marriage after spending the entire ceremony and reception in what already felt like a stranger's skin.
Or that all of this would happen within three months' time.
"I will never let any harm come upon you."
Xiaoqiao's once-inquisitive eyes shut again, the girl snuggling deeper into her husband's large, lean form. She let out another breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding in and finally allowed a smile to flash across her rouged lips.
She believed her husband.