A Cruel Romance

Commander Ho stood at the Command Center’s front doors and stared thoughtfully into the distance.

He was developing a bit of a posture problem these days. His great height and lean build could have cut an impressive figure if he only straightened up properly, but he never did. He always wanted to lean against something, like his bones weren’t solid enough. At the moment, he leaned against the doorframe and tucked his hands inside his black silk sleeves in an attempt to ward off the cold. His trousers and riding boots, though, were immaculate.

Perhaps he’d put on a bit of weight, or perhaps his trousers had the wrong fit. His uniform trousers were stretched taut over his backside where the hem of his padded jacket ended, accentuating a veiled sort of plumpness. Feng Guo-Chung happened to notice this particular trait and stole a long peek at it, snickering internally while his right hand itched to give it a loud slap.

Of course, it was only a thought. There was no chance that he’d put it into to action, unless he had gotten tired of being alive. Feng had just been promoted to the Head of the Adjutant Department, and thanks to Commander Ho’s favouritism, his Adjutant Department had the power to actually raise an army. A wonderful life was just about to begin, and he had quite a lot to live for.

A car appeared around the corner and came slowly to a stop in front of the Command Center. Its door swung open and a burly man leapt out. Once he spotted Commander Ho, he sprang to attention and gave a salute before putting on a smile. “Commander, I’ve got good news. The Chaos from Jinsha have sent their reply.”

At his announcement, Commander Ho straightened. “Let’s speak inside, Colonel Sung.”

Colonel Sung followed Commander Ho inside. Seeing that the room was otherwise unoccupied, he began in a low voice: “The Chaos said as long as we can bring their second son back, they’ll thank us with a hundred thousand silver coins.”

Commander Ho fished out a silver cigarette case from his pocket and took out a cigarette, sticking it between his lips. He pa.s.sed the cigarette case to Colonel Sung, who took one hurriedly and lit a match for Commander Ho.

Commander Ho took a deep drag and gently, blew out a puff of smoke. “Excellent! A large catch on the first job! The men who kidnapped the Chaos’ second son are—“

Colonel Sung was quick to answer. “From Changshan. Have no f.u.c.king respect. Just came strutting into our territory and kidnapped a man. We need to teach them a lesson!”

Biting on his cigarette, Commander Ho smiled and revealed a row of white teeth. “Old Sung, I’m handing this job over to you and giving you command of an artillery battalion. Once those one hundred thousand silver coins are in our pockets, half of them will be yours.

Colonel Sung widened his eyes and gave a whoop, his face lighting up. “Commander... You’re the best! I’ll go a.s.semble my men right away. I’ll be a d.i.c.k if I don’t bring Chao back! Wait for my good news!”

Once he’d sent Colonel Sung on his way, Commander Ho called Feng Guo-Chung over.

“How many men do you have now?” he asked.

“Around five hundred,” Feng answered without a second thought. “Less than five-twenty.”

Commander Ho made his way to him and whacked him on the shoulder. “You idiot! How is it that you can’t raise an army with the all the money I’ve given you?”

Now that Feng was a part of Commander Ho’s inner circle, he dared to give some cheek. “Commander, there still isn’t enough!”

Commander Ho turned around and spat out the half-burnt cigarette, grinding it flat on the floor with his foot. “Moron! Even strangers can bring me money, but look at you! You know only how to hold out your hand and ask for more! Are those five hundred men here for free rations? Send them out and settle a few deals like Sung Chih-Ping. I’ll consider you competent if you bring back a hundred thousand silver coins!”

Feng scratched the back of his head. “Um… I was just an adjutant before. I’ve never done anything like this…”

Commander Ho gave him a light kick in the shin. “f.u.c.k off! Don’t you bulls.h.i.t me!”

Feng laughed awkwardly.

After he’d kicked Feng out, a seemingly idle but actually busy Commander Ho cried out for Hsiao-Shun, who came running out from the inner room. “Chi-yeh.”

Holding his head up, Commander Ho began to unb.u.t.ton his jacket himself. “Get me changed. I’m going out.”

He peeled off the black silk jacket and put on his uniform and coat. February in Chengde was still quite cold, and despite the lack of recent snowfall, the frost that coated the ground from evening to dawn wasn’t that different from snow. From a heat conservation perspective, he’d rather go out in his quilted jacket, but since he was still a young man, he should groom himself accordingly.

Lan Bai-Shan had told him so countless times, and he only took it to heart after Lan died. The truth was, the utterance had little actual significance, but as he happened to remember it, he couldn’t help following its advice.

Stepping through the front gates, he put on his gloves and tugged his service cap down. It was still better than nothing when it came to warding off the frigid wind.

He got on his car and went for an inspection at the barracks. It wasn’t that he “loved his soldiers like sons”—his main objective was still personnel management.

Since he’d been forced to join the army at the age of eighteen, although he was a commander-in-chief in name and had held even larger t.i.tles back in Hsian, the number of soldiers actually under his command was next to nil. Things were different now. Although he couldn’t claim much authority among the Garrison Army, it was still better than before when his power was built completely on an empty foundation. Now? There was at most some disobedience among his subordinates.

As to his subordinates, he had to discipline them, cajole them, and make sure they behaved. But n.o.body was foolish enough to be charmed by a few sweet words, and in order to make them his willing followers, he had to throw out some tangible benefits.

Commander Ho didn’t own and gold mines, and “benefits” weren’t going to turn up out of the blue, so after he a.s.sumed office, he’d worked hard to bring about reforms and proceeded to raise an army of bandits in broad daylight. As Commander Ho’s personal bandits, these men were able to rob and kidnap freely within Jehol—mostly within the Garrison’s Army’s jurisdiction—and the ransom they earned would be Commander Ho’s to distribute.

Commander Ho not only took up plundering himself, he encouraged everyone to follow suit. It was as if he had some grudge against Jehol.

Yet when Nikaido urged him to head out to battle, he suddenly developed an ardent love for these lands— he refused to leave no matter what.

Nikaido eventually had enough and lost his temper, and pointed a finger at Commander Ho as he screamed at him in j.a.panese.

Next to him, the interpreter’s face also twisted in anger: “Commander Ho, the Headquarters are very displeased with your behavior! You shall pay for your obstinacy!”

Commander Ho went up to him and leaned in, his face pale from the cold. Softly, he breathed out the following words: “Go f.u.c.k yourself, little j.a.p.”

Then he ordered his men to lock up the furious Nikaido.

Bai Su-Ch’en said nothing when he learned that Commander Ho had turned on the j.a.panese.

He, too, hated the j.a.panese, especially the Arimitsu brothers! He considered himself the biggest victim in this whole affair. From Arimitsu Kiyoshi to Arimitsu Tsutomu, they were silently doing all they could to use him! By the end of it, they even sent him to Chengde with his nephew! Heavens knew how somebody who’d been a law-abiding citizen for the majority his life could be dragged into this political conspiracy!

The Arimitsu Brothers…didn’t treat him like this at first!

He found it all very perplexing. From boy to man, he had studied at school, gone abroad, come back home, become an interpreter at the trading company, reached a high position… And now?

He stared at the soldiers standing guard in the courtyard, feeling bewildered and confused.

The small furnace next to the door glowed a weak red. Bai took a long nap on the burning brick bed and woke up at around three, his lips dry and his tongue parched. He moved lazily to the floor and put on his shoes, and sitting down at the table, he lifted the teapot and poured himself a cup of strong, bitter tea.

There were a couple of knocks at the door and a heavily armed soldier boy came in. He saluted Bai and cried: “Reporting to Sir Uncle! The Commander wants to notify you that he doesn’t know when he’ll be back tonight, so you can go ahead and have dinner!”

Bai nodded. “All right.”

“Does Sir Uncle have any other instruction?” hollered the boy very seriously.

“No. You may leave.”

The boy saluted again, “Yes! Sir Uncle!” and ran off.

From Bai-san at the trading company to Sir Uncle at the garrison army. Bai gulped down the strong tea and felt like he was dreaming.

Perhaps it was because he had slept too much in the afternoon, although he had laid down on the brick bed in the evening, his eyes were bright with sleeplessness. He wasn’t sure how late it was when he heard the sudden sound of footsteps outside, and hurriedly, he turned away from the door and dragged the covers over the lower half of his face.

Commander Ho came in with a waft of cold air. He switched on the lights and removed his hat and gloves as he made his way to brick bed, craning his neck for a look at Bai. “Little Uncle,” he said.

Little Uncle was asleep.

He chuckled.

So the j.a.panese had thrown him a honeypot. That suited him perfectly well, since he could toss their trick right back at them.

He’d came to realise that he’d never had any luck when he threw himself at others. Yet once things went sour, he’d easily get his way—wasn’t Bai Su-Ch’en lying in his bed at this very moment?

It could thus be concluded that all men were base by nature!

Not concerning himself with whether Bai was awake, Commander Ho had Hsiao-Shun bring him hot water for his bedtime wash-up. The warm water splashed into the metal tub, which he knocked over with a clang by accident. The tea Hsiao-Shun served was too hot, so he smashed the teacup and smacked Hsiao-Shun on the head. Caught off guard, Hsiao-Shun gave a startled yelp.

It was quite boisterous in the room, and sensing that his charade was about to fail, Bai turned over and opened his eyes. “You’re back?”

Still damp, Commander Ho climbed onto the brick bed and slipped under the covers next to Bai. “You’re so warm, Little Uncle! I was freezing to death outside.”

Hsiao-Shun switched off the lights and left in silence, a tub and bucket in each hand and a towel over his shoulder. Bai cradled Commander Ho and forced himself to imagine that the man in his arms was only his nephew, Little Ch’i-Bao. As an uncle, he ought to be holding his nephew. It was normal, it was perfectly normal.

His nephew unb.u.t.toned his pajama shirt and rubbed his icy face slowly against his chest. “Little Uncle…” Commander Ho whined. “Touch me.”

“Go to sleep,” Bai said in a soft voice.

Commander Ho shifted under the covers and stripped himself, naked as the day he was born. He reached for Bai’s hand and pressed it unceremoniously between his legs.

Bai felt his hand touch the semi-erect manhood. Giving it a few tugs, he felt a sudden and uncontrollable surge of disgust.

He yanked his hand away and turned his back to Commander Ho. “Go to sleep.”

Commander Ho said nothing. He grabbed his pajamas and dressed himself again under the covers.

Then he sat up. Without warning, he grabbed Bai by the arm and pulled him to the edge of the bed, and kicked him to the ground.

Taken by surprise, a bewildered Bai found himself sprawling to the floor. His knees and elbows collided against the concrete and he cried out in pain.

Commander Ho’s voice emerged above the brick bed. “What is it? You find it disgusting? Don’t want to do it? Fine! Go ask your j.a.panese daddies to take you back! Do you know why Arimitsu Tsutomu sent you here? So you can sleep with me!” At this, he gave a sneer. “What a family you’ve got. The sister served the father, the brother serves the son. You’ve got two generations of Hos covered!”

Bai stood up in the darkness. “What did you say? My sister was your birth mother!”

“Birth mother? So what? I call you uncle only for the sake of our childhood friendship. Do you really think you’re a big deal?”

Bai trembled in anger. “If that’s how it is, let me go back!”

“Back where? Now you’re having regrets? When you colluded with the j.a.panese against me, did you consider where you’d end up today?”

Bai couldn’t deny Commander Ho’s accusations. He did work with the j.a.panese against Commander Ho, but it wasn’t with any ill intent. He never thought that being the commander-in-chief of the garrison army was any cause for misery, and due to Arimitsu’s being president, he wasn’t in a place to withhold help.

They both fell silent.

Commander Ho suddenly parted his lips, his voice a dreamy whisper. “Jehol was Papa’s land of fortune, and it will be my land of fortune. Since a life of seclusion and leisure eludes me, I might as well untie my hands and do something big!”

All typos and mistakes are mine!