War Prisoner Chapter 60

Su Yi was startled by the look in his eyes and just as he was about to advise Wanyan Shuo to return to his father, he found that the boy was now staring at him obstinately. In a loud voice, Wanyan Shuo said: “Why? Why did you leave my Imperial Father and me? If you already intended to do so from the very beginning, then why were you so dedicated to teaching me right from wrong? Why are you now telling me to be mindful of my own status and that I should not let my tears fall so easily? I... that I have become like this today, does it have anything to do with you anymore? You... you stopped caring about me the day that you deserted us, isn’t that right? Since you already knew that you would eventually abandon me, why did you ever bother to treat me well? The weaker I become, the more degenerate I am, the more convenient it will be for your hopes of restoring the Empire of the Great Qi, isn’t it? You... you... I hate you.” The little Crown Prince's words rushed out like a torrent, and by the time he finished his outburst, his little face was covered with tears. Suddenly, he brusquely turned his back to Su Yi and said in a loud voice: “I... I will never be put under your spell again and I will not listen to you anymore.” As he said those words, he was already running up the path, away from Su Yi.

Su Yi's heart was wracked with agony. In the beginning, this Wanyan Shuo had aroused both anger and hatred in Su Yi but to his surprise, as he interacted more with him, he found had himself growing to love this child. His intelligence and sharp-wits, which had been so aggravating to Su Yi previously, had secretly become a source of delight and amus.e.m.e.nt instead. But he absolutely did not expect that this little Crown Prince, who had always been so idiosyncratic and arrogant, would also develop such a strong attachment to Su Yi in return. Su Yi had quite plainly forced him to apply himself to his lessons, keeping his nose to the grindstone firmly. While the average child may have even resented the painstaking efforts he took to educate them, it turns out that this imperious Crown Prince was the rare child who could appreciate his good intentions. For a time, he reminisced about the time they had spent together with longing. But when the question that Wanyan Shuo had asked “since you already knew that you would eventually abandon me, why did you ever bother to treat me well” began to ricochet in his mind, he felt his soul breaking and his spirit become dejected, the boundless pain was beyond description.

Gui Lin pulled at him again and just as he was about to drag Su Yi off, suddenly Wanyan Shuo's voice wafted over to them from afar, carried by the autumn wind: “Gui Lin, if you dare to ill-treat him, see how I shall deal with you.” Gui Lin trembled uncontrollably at the threat, and muttered to himself: “This is really strange. He is obviously just a traitor, but somehow the Crown Prince deems him worthy of protection.” Still uncomprehending, he was tugging Su Yi along the path as he was speaking.

A few days rushed by again. On this day, it was already dusk when Su Yi had finished was.h.i.+ng the huge load of laundry he had been a.s.signed. His waist felt like it was going to break, his back was aching and he was totally knackered. From childhood, he had grown up in the household of a minister [1], and as a young man in his early twenties, he had entered government service as an official himself. After that, he had been elevated to the rank of a general. Although he had endured hards.h.i.+p in his years at the border, they had been of a different variety, namely harsh weather --- wind as cutting as knives and frosts as sharp as swords --- and the horrors of b.l.o.o.d.y battles. He had never been made to do hard labour nor had he had to suffer such misery or humiliation. Besides, almost everybody in the palace including the servants, harboured deep hatred towards him for betraying their Emperor and took every opportunity to humiliate him as a form of vengeance. Fortunately, he had a magnanimous nature and could tolerate the rough treatment.

He saw that it was already dusk and the red glow from the west was fading rapidly. He was the only person left in the laundry room, the rest having left for dinner. Seeing that the last piece of laundry had already dried, he sat down and waited in the silence for someone to come and take over his duties. After a long time, two servant girls came back to the laundry room, with disdainful laughs, they said: “Alright, you can go.” Su Yi knew very well that they had deliberately delayed before coming back to relieve him but he did not wish to pursue the matter. As he hobbled out, the sound of the girls' laughter followed him.

With much difficulty, he finally got back to the house. The servants who were in charge of distributing food had long gone, leaving the better part of a whole wotou [2] and the dregs of a bowl of soup for him. He ate them silently. Actually, although he was a slave, he could also have his meals together with the other slaves and the food served to slaves was not normally this meagre or of such poor quality. Just that everybody in the palace now hated him, when they saw that Wanyan Xu did not enquire after Su Yi's living conditions, they took the opportunity to maltreat him. And yet, how was Wanyan Xu to know about these things?

After he had finished the paltry meal, the moon was already s.h.i.+ning brightly in the sky. Su Yi felt disa.s.sociated with his body; somehow it felt like his body no longer belonged to him. Dragging his feet with difficulty, he managed to shuffle over to the bed. Just as he was about to lay himself down, he suddenly heard the sound of familiar footsteps coming from beyond the window. He gave a long sigh, thinking to himself: why would you bother to come? Hurriedly, he laid his body out on the bed, and pretended to be asleep.

From the sound of the footsteps, he could tell that the person had already entered his room but he did not open his eyes. He felt someone sit down by his side and soon after he could feel light caresses on his face. A voice, so familiar and longed-for that Su Yi was in danger of being reduced to tears, gently said: “Aii, you have gotten much thinner.”

Although Su Yi had always known that he could not say that his heart was as hard as iron, but neither did he ever think of himself as being melancholy or overly emotional. But to his surprise, just listening to Wanyan Xu say these words very nearly brought him to the point of breaking down and crying uncontrollably. He hurriedly squeezed his eyes shut more tightly and forced the tears back, but at this minute action, the familiar touch on his face slowed. Wanyan Xu also promptly gave a sigh and said: “Su Su, so you are actually still awake.”

Knowing that he could pretend to be asleep no longer, Su Yi decided that he might as well get up. With a cold look on his face, he said: “Why has the Emperor come here? Don't tell me that you are still reluctant to part with Su Yi? This is indeed laughable. You and I are irreconcilable enemies who cannot live under the same sky, how would I ever have been willing to be your Empress? I find it hard to believe that you would still feel sorrow over my desertion even till this day. You should have expected that this would be the result from the start. If you don't let me die, then I will flee. If you don't let me flee, even then, I will not countenance being the person who shares a bed and pillows with you. Wanyan Xu, I am now suffering punishment, but as a General of the Great Qi, that is the best proof that I preferred death over disloyalty to my country. I'm very happy with this outcome. So why should you obstinately refuse to come to your senses? Ha ha, just look at yourself now, why are you are still concerned over whether I have become thin or not? Are you really the same Wanyan Xu I've heard of, he who is known to be wise, astute and unfeeling? How come you are more mawkish than a woman now?"

The more Su Yi said, the more pain Wanyan Xu felt. He looked at Su Yi and said: “Su Su, you’re right. Your attempts to die, your attempts to flee, are all the actions that would be expected of a blindly loyal courtier. From start to finish, nothing you have done is wrong. The person who is wrong is me [3]... is me.” As he spoke, he rose to his feet. More and more, he felt that he had been asking for humiliation by coming here tonight. Just as he was about to leave with a wounded heart, he heard Su Yi raise his voice and say loudly: “Wait, Wanyan Xu, you once promised me that as long as I continue to live, you would not vent your anger on the populace of the Great Qi. You... You would not go back on your word would you?” By the time he finished speaking these words, Wanyan Xu was standing frozen in his spot, as still as a statue. He slowly turned to face Su Yi again, in his eyes Su Yi could see fathomless hatred and hurt.