War Prisoner

Because Liu Province and other places had been severely impacted by natural disasters, Wanyan Xu had been preoccupied with discussing appropriate countermeasures with his ministers for the past few days and sending officials to the afflicted areas to distribute grain and other forms of disaster-relief. Therefore, he had no time for any respite during the daylight hours, only when night fell could he go to the Garden of Merriment and enjoy some tender moments with Su Yi.

For Wanyan Xu, the day was proceeding as normal and he was reading the memorial that the official he had dispatched to Liu Province had sent by courier which said that the basic arrangements were already in place to provide for the people, there were no cases of people starving to death, etcetera, etcetera and that the Emperor heart should rest easy. Suddenly, he saw Zi Nong come stumbling in on shaky legs, her face was as white as a ghost's, and she didn't pay respects to Wanyan Xu. "Hu Hu..." she panted out, but before proper words could form, two clear lines of tears were streaming down her face.

Wanyan Xu was greatly amazed, these four treasured servants had been with him for many years and all of them had developed the ability to remain calm under the most calamitous circumstances. To see Zi Nong reduced to this state, he knew immediately that something as important as Heaven must have happened. His very first thought was of Su Yi because right after their marriage, Wanyan Xu had assigned Zi Nong to be Su Yi's personal attendant, therefore she was with him for much of the day. Could it be that something had happened to him? When he thought of that possibility, he felt totally aghast. He hurriedly got up from his chair and went to hold up Zi Nong, in a grim voice, he said: “What has happened, you must not panic, slowly tell me [1] everything.”

Tears were flowing from Zi Nong's eyes like rain, her sobs made it difficult for her to speak and she could only hand over to Wanyan Xu the piece of paper she had been clutching in her hand.

With unpleasant suspicions filling his heart, he took the paper and opened it to have a look and saw that a short poem was written on it. It read [2]:

A few beats of the night-watch drum, I am startled awake in the room, the candles have gone out, the dawn is cold. My dreams took me to Inner Mongolia, the sound of horses’ hooves still ring in my ear. Autumn has come and the geese are travelling south. I can no longer find a path back to my home, but my feelings remain. My wings have been broken, but my spirit is untamed.

My life-long wish, I have spent my youth pursuing, not realising that my hair has grayed. The sentimental moon still shines upon that destroyed country. An old acquaintance is before my eyes, but upon inspection I see that there is no will left in his heart. Looking back at the road I have travelled, I see that although I my clothes have become soiled, the lands remain unchanged.

The handwriting on that note could not possibly be any more familiar to Wanyan Xu, the note had obviously been penned by none other than Su Yi. His heart felt like it had turned into a block of ice, this poem was obviously saying that he should pick up his spirits and regain his vigour, so that he could recover the rivers and lakes of his homeland and restore the Great Qi Empire but no matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t imagine that Su Yi would do such a thing. When he looked at Zi Nong again, he saw that she had finally regained a bit of composure that she normally possessed. In a choked voice, she said: “Two hours ago, your humble servant, other palace maids as well as the imperial bodyguards in the Garden of Merriment were poisoned with a sedative drug carried through the air and without exception, we all fell unconscious. When we woke up, Young Master was nowhere to be found; only this document was left on the table. As for what we should do now, I urge Your Majesty to make your decision quickly.”

Utterly devastated, Wanyan Xu buckled and collapsed onto a chair and the piece of paper slipped from his hands. The expression on his face seemed to be torn between crying and laughing, and he could only mumble: “Good Su Su... You... You must have had a hard time hiding your feelings from me... You have really proven yourself to be a good minister of the Great Qi, and my good Empress... You... You...” He could only stay there and mutter to himself, while Zi Nong could only watch with increasing worry and nervousness. Just as she was at a total loss, she suddenly saw Zi Yan enter into the room. When Zi Yan saw the state the other two people were in, she hurried to put on a surprised demeanour and asked: “What happened?” When she saw that Wanyan Xu was not about to reply, she turned towards Zi Nong, who then finally retold the story of what had happened.

Zi Yan went forward and picked up the piece of paper, after giving it a quick perusal, the expression on her face changed and in a loud voice, she called out: “Come, attendants.” Immediately, two little eunuchs stepped into the room, ready to receive orders. She calmly instructed them: “Summon General Yu Cang here for an audience with His Majesty.”

The little eunuchs left to carry out her instructions, while Zi Nong said urgently: “Zi Yan, what are you doing? Why summon General Yu? The less people that know of the Empress Consort's disappearance the better, so why spread the news to other people. Besides, His Majesty has not given us his commands yet.”

Zi Yan gave a cold laugh and said: “You have served His Majesty for so many years and should know better, but I see that you must have been befuddled by Su Yi as well, or else you would not have become so useless when faced with such a critical matter. That Su Yi obviously still harbours untoward intentions in his heart, he merely bided his time and used the days he spent with His Majesty to bewitch him, after lulling His Majesty into having a false sense of security he meticulously schemed with his accomplices to execute a plan of escape by coordinating offensives both inside and outside the palace. In the end he didn't even say anything to His Majesty in his parting letter. He only used this poem to express his feelings of desolation and humiliation after being captured and to declare his ambition of recovering the lands of the Great Qi. Why do you still expect such a heartless and unfeeling person to live up to your fantasies?”

So saying, she turned to Wanyan Xu and said: “Your humble servant once warned Your Majesty that setting up such a faithful and unchanging man as Empress is very wrong. Nonetheless, Your Majesty could not be dissuaded and proceeded with your plans anyway because you were obsessed with him. Although the events of today proved that your humble servant had been right, Your Majesty does not send out people to hunt for him, but only sits here to grieve and agonize over him, these... how could these be the actions of Zi Yan's master, the maverick who dared to defy the whole word, the eminent ruler of Jin Liao, Great King Wanyan Xu who led his people to avenge the defeats we had previously suffered on the battlefield?”

“Zi Yan...” Zi Nong had anxiously shouted at her several times in warning, but how could such efforts deter her from speaking further?

They suddenly saw Wanyan Xu lift his head up slowly, after giving a bitter laugh, he said: “Good, that was well-said. You are really worthy of being the handmaiden of I, Wanyan Xu.” So saying he took from Zi Yan's hands the poem that Su Yi had left, stoking the smooth paper fervently with both his hands and muttered: “Su Su, I have fallen in love with you whole-heartedly, I have treated you with sincerity, if I could gouge my heart out so that you could take a look for yourself, I would. Whether this land is called Jin Liao, or even if it is to be called Great Qi, it still belongs to the two of us, and it belongs to all the citizens of Jin Liao and Great Qi who live under Heaven. I had thought that you have finally understood this truth and had slowly managed to untangle the knot you carried in your heart, but how was I to know that in the end, I still misjudged you.”

“Last time, you took advantage of my trust in you to attempt to die as a martyr for your country, this time you again took advantage of my trust to escape from the palace and try to restore the Great Qi. Don't tell me that you can face me calmly on the battlefield in a bitter fight to the end, will you be satisfied only when one of us is dead? Why do you have to ruthlessly trample on my devoted heart, crushing it to smithereens under your heel? When you treat me like this, do you not feel even a little bit of pain in your heart? Not even a little bit of pain?”

As Zi Nong listened to his words, she lost control of her feelings and had began to sob early on. On the other hand, Zi Yan's face was devoid of all expression. Suddenly a voice was heard from outside, announcing: “General Yu Cang begs an audience.” Wanyan Xu lightly touched the corners of his eyes with his fingertips before raising his head, the tumultuous waves of emotions having been banished from his face. After casting a glance at Zi Yan and Zi Nong, he said lowly: “Let him proceed in.”

Because Liu Province and other places had been severely impacted by natural disasters, Wanyan Xu had been preoccupied with discussing appropriate countermeasures with his ministers for the past few days and sending officials to the afflicted areas to distribute grain and other forms of disaster-relief. Therefore, he had no time for any respite during the daylight hours, only when night fell could he go to the Garden of Merriment and enjoy some tender moments with Su Yi.

For Wanyan Xu, the day was proceeding as normal and he was reading the memorial that the official he had dispatched to Liu Province had sent by courier which said that the basic arrangements were already in place to provide for the people, there were no cases of people starving to death, etcetera, etcetera and that the Emperor heart should rest easy. Suddenly, he saw Zi Nong come stumbling in on shaky legs, her face was as white as a ghost's, and she didn't pay respects to Wanyan Xu. "Hu Hu..." she panted out, but before proper words could form, two clear lines of tears were streaming down her face.

Wanyan Xu was greatly amazed, these four treasured servants had been with him for many years and all of them had developed the ability to remain calm under the most calamitous circumstances. To see Zi Nong reduced to this state, he knew immediately that something as important as Heaven must have happened. His very first thought was of Su Yi because right after their marriage, Wanyan Xu had assigned Zi Nong to be Su Yi's personal attendant, therefore she was with him for much of the day. Could it be that something had happened to him? When he thought of that possibility, he felt totally aghast. He hurriedly got up from his chair and went to hold up Zi Nong, in a grim voice, he said: “What has happened, you must not panic, slowly tell me [1] everything.”

Tears were flowing from Zi Nong's eyes like rain, her sobs made it difficult for her to speak and she could only hand over to Wanyan Xu the piece of paper she had been clutching in her hand.

With unpleasant suspicions filling his heart, he took the paper and opened it to have a look and saw that a short poem was written on it. It read [2]:

A few beats of the night-watch drum, I am startled awake in the room, the candles have gone out, the dawn is cold. My dreams took me to Inner Mongolia, the sound of horses’ hooves still ring in my ear. Autumn has come and the geese are travelling south. I can no longer find a path back to my home, but my feelings remain. My wings have been broken, but my spirit is untamed.

My life-long wish, I have spent my youth pursuing, not realising that my hair has grayed. The sentimental moon still shines upon that destroyed country. An old acquaintance is before my eyes, but upon inspection I see that there is no will left in his heart. Looking back at the road I have travelled, I see that although I my clothes have become soiled, the lands remain unchanged.

The handwriting on that note could not possibly be any more familiar to Wanyan Xu, the note had obviously been penned by none other than Su Yi. His heart felt like it had turned into a block of ice, this poem was obviously saying that he should pick up his spirits and regain his vigour, so that he could recover the rivers and lakes of his homeland and restore the Great Qi Empire but no matter how he thought about it, he couldn’t imagine that Su Yi would do such a thing. When he looked at Zi Nong again, he saw that she had finally regained a bit of composure that she normally possessed. In a choked voice, she said: “Two hours ago, your humble servant, other palace maids as well as the imperial bodyguards in the Garden of Merriment were poisoned with a sedative drug carried through the air and without exception, we all fell unconscious. When we woke up, Young Master was nowhere to be found; only this document was left on the table. As for what we should do now, I urge Your Majesty to make your decision quickly.”

Utterly devastated, Wanyan Xu buckled and collapsed onto a chair and the piece of paper slipped from his hands. The expression on his face seemed to be torn between crying and laughing, and he could only mumble: “Good Su Su... You... You must have had a hard time hiding your feelings from me... You have really proven yourself to be a good minister of the Great Qi, and my good Empress... You... You...” He could only stay there and mutter to himself, while Zi Nong could only watch with increasing worry and nervousness. Just as she was at a total loss, she suddenly saw Zi Yan enter into the room. When Zi Yan saw the state the other two people were in, she hurried to put on a surprised demeanour and asked: “What happened?” When she saw that Wanyan Xu was not about to reply, she turned towards Zi Nong, who then finally retold the story of what had happened.

Zi Yan went forward and picked up the piece of paper, after giving it a quick perusal, the expression on her face changed and in a loud voice, she called out: “Come, attendants.” Immediately, two little eunuchs stepped into the room, ready to receive orders. She calmly instructed them: “Summon General Yu Cang here for an audience with His Majesty.”

The little eunuchs left to carry out her instructions, while Zi Nong said urgently: “Zi Yan, what are you doing? Why summon General Yu? The less people that know of the Empress Consort's disappearance the better, so why spread the news to other people. Besides, His Majesty has not given us his commands yet.”

Zi Yan gave a cold laugh and said: “You have served His Majesty for so many years and should know better, but I see that you must have been befuddled by Su Yi as well, or else you would not have become so useless when faced with such a critical matter. That Su Yi obviously still harbours untoward intentions in his heart, he merely bided his time and used the days he spent with His Majesty to bewitch him, after lulling His Majesty into having a false sense of security he meticulously schemed with his accomplices to execute a plan of escape by coordinating offensives both inside and outside the palace. In the end he didn't even say anything to His Majesty in his parting letter. He only used this poem to express his feelings of desolation and humiliation after being captured and to declare his ambition of recovering the lands of the Great Qi. Why do you still expect such a heartless and unfeeling person to live up to your fantasies?”

So saying, she turned to Wanyan Xu and said: “Your humble servant once warned Your Majesty that setting up such a faithful and unchanging man as Empress is very wrong. Nonetheless, Your Majesty could not be dissuaded and proceeded with your plans anyway because you were obsessed with him. Although the events of today proved that your humble servant had been right, Your Majesty does not send out people to hunt for him, but only sits here to grieve and agonize over him, these... how could these be the actions of Zi Yan's master, the maverick who dared to defy the whole word, the eminent ruler of Jin Liao, Great King Wanyan Xu who led his people to avenge the defeats we had previously suffered on the battlefield?”

“Zi Yan...” Zi Nong had anxiously shouted at her several times in warning, but how could such efforts deter her from speaking further?

They suddenly saw Wanyan Xu lift his head up slowly, after giving a bitter laugh, he said: “Good, that was well-said. You are really worthy of being the handmaiden of I, Wanyan Xu.” So saying he took from Zi Yan's hands the poem that Su Yi had left, stoking the smooth paper fervently with both his hands and muttered: “Su Su, I have fallen in love with you whole-heartedly, I have treated you with sincerity, if I could gouge my heart out so that you could take a look for yourself, I would. Whether this land is called Jin Liao, or even if it is to be called Great Qi, it still belongs to the two of us, and it belongs to all the citizens of Jin Liao and Great Qi who live under Heaven. I had thought that you have finally understood this truth and had slowly managed to untangle the knot you carried in your heart, but how was I to know that in the end, I still misjudged you.”

“Last time, you took advantage of my trust in you to attempt to die as a martyr for your country, this time you again took advantage of my trust to escape from the palace and try to restore the Great Qi. Don't tell me that you can face me calmly on the battlefield in a bitter fight to the end, will you be satisfied only when one of us is dead? Why do you have to ruthlessly trample on my devoted heart, crushing it to smithereens under your heel? When you treat me like this, do you not feel even a little bit of pain in your heart? Not even a little bit of pain?”

As Zi Nong listened to his words, she lost control of her feelings and had began to sob early on. On the other hand, Zi Yan's face was devoid of all expression. Suddenly a voice was heard from outside, announcing: “General Yu Cang begs an audience.” Wanyan Xu lightly touched the corners of his eyes with his fingertips before raising his head, the tumultuous waves of emotions having been banished from his face. After casting a glance at Zi Yan and Zi Nong, he said lowly: “Let him proceed in.”