The afternoon sun was hanging high up in the sky, radiating warm rays of light onto the lands. There was not even a trace of wind in the air; a day of warmth had finally been ushered in to break the monotony of this exceptionally cold winter.
In the Imperial Gardens Su Yi, bundled up in a luxurious coat made of fox fur, was sitting in a pavilion together with Wanyan Xu and his son. Around the pavilion were dozens of plum trees, their blossoms were still in full bloom and were incomparably beautiful with their brilliant colour. Several lovely palace maids were playing and joking among the plum trees, adding a touch of refinement and a thread of fun to the scene.
Wanyan Xu broke a small cake into two halves; ferrying one of them to the side of Su Yi"s mouth, he smiled and said: “This cake is extremely soft and light, I [1] ordered the Imperial Kitchen to prepare it specially for you. Although I don"t dare to let you eat too much, I think just a little bit would do no harm.” He looked on as Su Yi finished eating the morsel and saw that there were a few crumbs clinging to the corner of his mouth. His heart was moved and was gripped by a sudden impulse. He had leaned over was just about to plant a kiss there, when he saw that his lover was blushing. Pushing him away, Su Yi lightly scolded him: “Even in front of children, you are so improper.”
Only then did he remember his son. Turning his head for a look, he saw that Wanyan Shuo was looking in their direction with two wide eyes. The boy"s gaze was flashing with an expression of excitement and he was staring at Wanyan Xu unblinkingly. Wanyan Xu couldn"t help but feel great embarra.s.sment in his heart; he busied himself with deliberately serious expression and after giving a few coughs, he said: “Shuo Er, have you completed your homework?”
“I’ve completed it.” Very solemnly, Wanyan Shuo nodded his head and said: “Mother Empress has checked my work before we came here and also praised me for being clever. He even marvelled that I could actually learn the substance of so much content in such a short period of time and said that this was unfortunate because it left him with no excuse to keep me in the study.” When he finished speaking, Su Yi"s face had turned an even deeper shade of red, against his expectations, his little mutterings to himself had been overheard by this little devil.
It seems that having a son that was too bright could be a troublesome matter indeed. Wanyan Xu felt his head beginning to ache as he was thinking. Even more than his beloved, he wished to be able to keep Wanyan Shuo locked up in the study room. As he was wracking his brains trying to think of a way to get the boy to leave, Wanyan Shuo had already approached the two men with an air of mystery.
Leaning over, he whispered conspiratorially: “Imperial Father, Mother Empress don’t be like this, just take it as I’m not here.” So saying, he hid a smile behind his sleeve and asked his Imperial Father: “Ah, Imperial Father, I know what you wanted to do just now, but can you really lick everything clean in a short time?” When he saw that Wanyan Xu was looking at him with uncomprehending eyes, he said, in a calm and easy-going way: “Aiya, I mean the dregs of the cake around Mother Empress"s mouth, how many times will you have to lick before you can remove all of them?” When he saw that Su Yi had ducked his head down quickly and even his ears had turned red, his mood was even more elevated and he started laughing loudly.
As if the little imp was demanding his life, his old dad suddenly said in a strangled, outraged voice: “You... I will have you immediately go and study how to critique and evaluate pet.i.tions! Now! Or you can go and play somewhere else; in short, you are not to stay here and play the fool. If you don"t leave within the next minute, beware that I don"t pulverise you to dust, so that even the dregs of your bones will leave no traces.”
“Imperial Father, you can say such things without even a slight change to your expression, is it really true that after one has been the Emperor for a long time, one"s skin would become thicker and thicker? I merely asked an innocent question, and you started to treat your son this way. You even managed to come up with these highfalutin and pompous reasons, just who is playing the fool?”
Taking advantage of the fact that his Mother Empress was at his side, Wanyan Shuo used him for cover and continued to complain with a bold manner, as if he had been wronged. Oh, it had obviously been Imperial Father who was in the wrong, all he did was to ask a question, but his Imperial Father had actually cruelly trampled all over his attempt to be studious. His little mouth pursed up in a pout, he said: “Imperial Father, then you shall have to feed me a cake too, I will leave after you have fed me. You don’t have to worry, I will be fine no matter how much I eat, so you can pick out an especially large piece to feed to me.”
“You... I will have you go and play this very second. I will have the Imperial Kitchens send you a basket full of cakes later. Or else I will turn you into a cake right here.” Wanyan Xu said fiercely as he put on the demeanour of a strict father. Humph, this little thing was definitely doing this intentionally. He stewed in his thoughts, not believing that with his son"s intelligence, the boy would fail to understand what the action of feeding each other cakes represented between Su Su and himself.
“Mother Empress, Imperial Father is bullying me, Mother Empress must stand up for me.” If he would be willing to listen to instructions obediently, then Wanyan Shuo would be undeserving of his moniker as the little devil. Judging the hour and sizing up the situation, the little devil quickly found and took up position in the most favourable terrain to use against his father --- he hid himself within Su Yi"s arms, antagonizing Wanyan Xu to the point where his teeth began to itch. True to his expectations, he soon heard his beloved say with a bit of displeasure: “Wanyan, you are still a father after all, why treat your own son so harshly.”
“Harsh? I... I am going to vomit blood because of him soon.” Finally, he had enough of being jealous of his own son. Extending a long arm to fish for Wanyan Shuo, he managed to pull him over. Just as he was going to give him an extended scolding, he suddenly heard a pleasant voice saying: “Vomit blood? Are you going to vomit blood too? That’s just nice, this time round, I can definitely achieve my goal to look on without lifting a finger.” Following that, Wanyan Xia slowly walked into the pavilion with a little servant girl following at his back holding onto a box of food, on top of which was a small lidded teacup. He gave Su Yi a glance and said blandly: “This decoction is not easy to brew, therefore I did not leave its preparation to the hands of others. Drink it down quickly, it will do your illness a world of good.”
When Wanyan Shuo saw Wanyan Xia, with a "shua" sound, his gaze had began to gleam [2]. He jumped out of Su Yi’s embrace and said: “Second Uncle, you have arrived? Come, let’s go and play.”
Wanyan Xia took fright at his words, and stumbled back a couple of steps and held out his hands as if to ward him off. Just when he was about to open his mouth to decline, he saw that Wanyan Xu"s eyes had also brightened. With a hearty laugh, he said: “Ah, Xia Er you have come at just the right time. Quickly bring this little pest of a child away to play.”
Wanyan Xia"s face turned black and he said resentfully: “The two of you want to get intimate, and I know that you find Shuo Er"s presence here to be too obtrusive but do you really need to make me become the sacrificial lamb? It"s not as if you do not know how much he messed with me the last time.” Although his lips were saying these words, he still caught hold of Wanyan Shuo"s hand with his own. He sighed helplessly and said: “Ah, what a little devil you really are.” As he said this, he was leading the boy away.