Departure
It was an April day. The gra.s.s was tall and nightingales danced in the warm breeze.
A walking stick in one hand and the wall against the other, Lan Bai-Shan struggled to lift his crippled leg and limped forward shakily.
After stepping through the door, he leaned on the doorframe to catch his breath. He raised his eyes to an opium bed in the room.
Commander Ho sat reclining on it. An orderly carried a smoking tray at the foot of the daybed, and at the sight of Lan, he stood up and backed out of the room in silence, his head low and his back bowed.
When he felt he’d regained some of his strength, Lan gritted his teeth and trudged forward, finally advancing close enough to the daybed to collapse flat on his backside.
Commander Ho watched impa.s.sively as Lan took off his shoes and climbed onto the daybed. Once Lan positioned himself against a soft cushion, Commander Ho leaned in and propped his chin against Lan’s shoulder. “Where have you been?
Lan didn’t look at him. “Taking a leak,” he answered coldly.
“Why would you go outside for that, with that leg of yours?”
Lan sneered. “I’m not a new bride, and I don’t need a red chamber pot in the room!”
Commander Ho gazed at Lan’s profile while his nimble yet persistent hand untied Lan’s trousers. Lan merely turned his head away resentfully. “Everything I have, you have on yourself. Don’t you ever get sick of touching me all day?”
Commander Ho had already taken a grasp of Lan’s c.o.c.k. It was soft, like an insignificant little adornment. After a few firm tugs, it would harden somewhat into an unwilling erection.
Commander Ho inclined his head and sniffed lightly at Lan’s face and neck. He held Lan in his arms like an infant, and yanked Lan’s trousers down to his knees.
Lan gave no resistance; his faced remained buried in Commander Ho’s arms. Commander Ho’s hand was tender and cold, reminding him of a snaked coiled around his p.r.i.c.k.
“Still nothing,” Commander Ho said to himself thoughtfully. “Not even with the medication.”
Lan let out an anguished yet contemptuous snort. “If you know you’re useless, then give up what you’re doing. It will bring you nothing but humiliation.”
Commander Ho reached a hand between Lan’s legs, caressing him back and forth. “You know, Bai-Shan, ever since I was in that car to Tientsin with you, I’ve been wanting to”—he smiled and lowered his voice—“f.u.c.k you.”
Lan made no reply.
Commander Ho continued. “After all these years, my long-cherished dream is finally near its realisation, and I refuse to give up now. If I had known I would eventually meet you, I’d spent all those previous years waiting in abstinence.”
“You words make me sick!” said Lan.
“You still have to listen them!”
“You are sick in the mind!”
“You know my sickness has nothing to do with my mind.”
Lan suddenly sat up in a struggle, grasping Commander Ho by the collar. “The whole world should see you like this! You madman!”
Commander Ho raised an eyebrow, his expression still impa.s.sive. “I don’t want them to see, so they won’t. I know it looks disgraceful, so I’ll save it just for your own enjoyment.”
A muscle twitched on Lan’s face. Commander Ho narrowed his eyes, a hint of a smile touching his lips. “Don’t get too excited, think about where your Snow comes from. Without me, you’ll be in living h.e.l.l within a few hours.”
Pausing for a moment, he pulled Lan into an embrace. “You were very charming once. But now that you’re filled with wrath, you aren’t so charming any more. Look now, I’m embracing you, shouldn’t you embrace me back? In fact, you’re not worthy of my unreturned affection. If you insist on gluing your legs together every night, I might toss you out someday.”
Lan flinched slightly, and fell silent. He wasn’t afraid. He just had nothing more to say to Ho Ji-Ch’ing. If he had known it would come to this, he’d never have led the way to the school and abducted the seemingly gentle Seventh Master.
Lan Bai-Shan was no hero. He only had small ambitions, and would be satisfied with acquiring a small bit of wealth and power. But under the combined tyranny of Commander Ho and heroin, Lan had no choice but to obey. One cannot criticise his incompetence. Commander Ho had acted too fast, and struck too ruthlessly.
Even when the army was still under the Old Marshal, heroin had been strictly forbidden. From the generals to the grunts, opium and morphine were tolerated, but Snow was never to be touched—because it was too expensive, and poverty often lead to thoughts of rebellion. The same logic applied to Lan. If Lan had been an opium addict, it wouldn’t be a problem, and he’d simply have to be careful with money; but heroin…
There was no way to come off it, and it was extremely costly. Because of heroin, Lan would never be able to leave Commander Ho.
- : -
After stripping Lan, Commander Ho removed his own clothing. Just like Li had fantasized, Commander Ho looked much better nude. His porcelain body was white as snow, almost blinding to the eye. His naked form was a resplendent view.
He forced Lan on all fours, and gripping Lan by the waist, he pushed forward for all he was worth. After two or three thrusts, he suddenly closed his eyes. His body trembled in light spasms.
s.e.m.e.n streamed out uncontrollably, and wetted Lan between his legs.
Lan barked out a scornful laugh.
Commander Ho followed suit. He gave Lan a slap on the a.s.s and pressed a finger against his opening. With s.e.m.e.n acting as lubricant, it slipped in easily.
He pushed in a few times, then added another finger.
Lan turned his face around. “What are you doing?”
Commander Ho c.o.c.ked his head, and forced a third finger in. “f.u.c.king you.”
Lan scowled. “It hurts.”
Commander Ho wore a sneer on his face, like a smile frozen at the corner of his lips. “Who cares. I might as well f.u.c.k you to death!”
Commander Ho didn’t plan to spend all his time on Lan. As the weather got warmer, his heart thawed with it—Chao Chen-Sheng had sent for him from Hsian.
Chao had founded the provincial garrison army of Shansi, and appointed himself the commander-in-chief. He invited Commander Ho to take up the role of deputy commander, so the two families could join as one, and together make history. Commander Ho had never considered working this closely with Chao, but it didn’t matter, for he could use an opportunity to get out of Luyang.
Although a trip to Hsian wouldn’t really cover “thousands of miles”, it was something close. Commander Ho studied a large map on the wall, and decided to make the first stop at the prosperous county-town of Guanghua, where he could have access to the railroad and take a train.
Commander Ho drew out the route, tossed away the pencil and walked up to Lan. “What do you think?”
Lan was sitting by the wall, his uniforms neat and his back straight. His hair was cut short, and looked decidedly sharp. He looked up to the curved line Commander Ho drew on the map, and hesitated slightly. “We’ll have to cover hundreds of miles in the mountains if we depart from Guanghua. It might not be safe.”
“The mountains?” Commander Ho laughed. “Are you worried about uneven roads? Trains can’t turn over.”
Lan shook his head. “What I meant was, there might be bandits in the mountains.”
Commander c.o.c.ked his head and looked at him, an absent smile on his face. “Bandits?”
“The rest of the army can’t advance at the same rate as the train,” Lan explained. “And when…”
Before he could finish, Commander Ho caught up. “No bandit will have that sort of audacity,” he a.s.serted with certainty. “They’re nothing more than desperate men trying to stay alive, and would pillage a few county-towns at most. They’ll never dare to even consider robbing us, unless they’ve lost their minds.”
Lan considered this, and thought that it did make some sense. “That’s true,” he nodded.
When they realised they were finally about to leave these barren and secluded lands, the Twenty-Third Army went wild with hysteria. The exact symptoms were as follows: they slaughtered every man they came across, and raped every woman they saw. When it came to the thatched cottages that were left behind, they lit them up and burnt them to the ground. Once they went to Hsian, they would have to be extra cautious, so before they take their leave, they would celebrate in a final revelry in this G.o.d-forsaken land!
Commander Ho had never restrained his subordinates much when it came to these matters, and since it was a special time and all, he was especially liberal. During the last two months of the Twenty-Third Army’s occupation of the area, no numbers recorded exactly how many had died. Summer approached rapidly, and in the steaming June heat, the Twenty-Third Army withdrew contently from the stench-filled land of rotting bodies, and marched on to Guanghua triumphantly.