Su Yi got a shock. Stunned, he raised his head and said: “Wanyan, what has gotten into you?” Before his voice had even faded, Wanyan Xu had grabbed him into his embrace and was continually planting kisses all over his face. His eyes were lit up from within and were flashing with excitement. In a loud voice he cried out: “Su Su did you hear that? The rabbit’s broken leg has lengthened, the broken leg lengthened.”
“Yes, I did hear that.” Su Yi was feeling puzzled; his lover had always been fond of hunting and had never been partial to small animals, it was exceeding strange that he would get this excited over a poor little rabbit. With a start, Su Yi suddenly came to a realisation and he looked straight at Wanyan Xu and said: “You... you are saying... the rabbit’s broken leg...” Even he, the one who was never expressive when receiving honour or disgrace, could not help a tidal wave from surging up in his heart at this news. If he wasn’t for the fact that he was already in Wanyan Xu’s embrace, he could not say if he would still be able to stand up.
“That’s right, Su Su” Wanyan Xu looked back at him joyously, by the light of the sun, Su Yi could see that his eyes had become overlaid by a layer of watery mist. At this news, this dictatorial man whose status was second to none was actually choking up with emotion at this moment and he said: “Su Su, your leg... your leg... at last... k eke, at such a happy moment, why do I [1]... why instead... aii, let’s not speak of that, let’s go to Xia Er’s place to take a look instead.” Although he said but a few simple lines, Su Yi well understood that encompa.s.sed within them were profound hopes and deep feelings.
In the past ten or so days, Wanyan Xu had put his heart and soul into taking care of him. Even when it came to mundane tasks like pouring out his tea, delivering water for his washing up, wiping his body or feeding him medicine he refused to have other people attend to Su Yi. At night, he would lie down by Su Yi"s side, watching over him as he fell asleep. Su Yi had lost count of how many times he had awoken from his dreams to see that a pair of deep eyes --- full of sorrow and remorse --- was looking fixedly upon his broken leg in a gently and loving manner. Every time this happened, he would quickly close his own eyes and feign sleep, because he knew that Wanyan Xu would not wish for Si Yi to see him looking so helpless. Su Yi understood that this broken leg had become a painful burden that his lover will have to carry for the rest of their lives. As long as Su Yi still appeared in front of him, that guilt will never vanish and that bleeding wound in his heart would never be able to heal. He did not wish for Wanyan Xu to be like this but at the same time he also fully understood that he could do nothing about it. When faced with that leg, the power of words would pale in comparison and all of his attempts to persuade Wanyan Xu that he should not blame himself would fail.
But now, to think that they actually heard such an unexpected piece of news, perhaps there was a chance that the last dark cloud that between him and Wanyan Xu could finally be fully dissipated, so that there will be no traces of it left in their lives. How could this not make Su Yi almost delirious with joy? Their eyes met, and they both shared a laugh. Without the need for any more words, both of them were confident that the other knew what they were thinking. Wanyan Xu lovingly planted a smooch on his lips, before saying softly: “Let’s go to Xia Er’s place right now.”
“Hey... wait... wait for me.” Wanyan Shuo lagged behind them, panting hard and out of breath. That atrocious Imperial Father, he had actually employed his Qinggong [2] for maximum speed. Humph humph, he treated Mother Empress so well but he did not even have a word of thanks for himself, who had come all the way to disclose this information to them. As he was complaining, he was stepping out of the plum tree grove. By this time, the two people had gone so far that they appeared to be a mere black speck on the horizon. He pursed his lips in disgruntlement, and decided that he might as well give up on chasing after them. As he rested to even out his breathing, out of the corner of his eye he saw a figure flash past, when he took a closer look, he found that it was none other than Zi Yan.
“Where are the Emperor and the Empress?” When she saw that Wanyan Shuo was the only person there, she could not help but to be surprised. She had been told clearly that the Emperor and Empress would be here.
“They ran off to have a look at the rabbit.” Wanyan Shuo snapped out ungraciously. When he saw that Zi Yan was looking at him with a questioning gaze, he simply decided to pick out a large stone and sat himself down on it before explaining patiently: “Second uncle has developed a medicine that can mend broken legs, Imperial Father and Mother Empress have gone over to his place to have a look. Were you looking for them for a particular reason?”
Zi Yan shook her head and said: “No reason, I just came to wait on them.” She turned and was just about to leave when she suddenly heard Wanyan Ship say in a low voice: “Stop right there.” After that, that little Crown Prince slowly paced to stand in front of her. Looking directly into her eyes, he said calmly: “Mother Empress was framed, you... did you partic.i.p.ate it in? Otherwise how would you know of that secret buried between the lines of prose? That was only a minute detail, if someone is not personally invested in the matter, they would definitely not be able to spot the clue. That being the case, then why did you help him to reverse the verdict on his guilt? If you had recognised that you were on the wrong path and wished to make amends, then why did you have me claim the credit for this discovery, wouldn"t it be better for you if you could atone for your crimes by a meritorious act?”
Zi Yan gave a slight smile and said: “Your Highness the Crown Prince, as for this secret, it is enough that you and I are the only people who know of it. Your humble servant did it for the Emperor. Whether it was the act of framing the Empress or the act of saving the Empress, my actions were always calculated to benefit His Majesty. As for trying to redeem myself through meritorious deeds...” Here, she gave a cold laugh before continuing: “A crime is a crime, there is no reason that redemption should be an option. A person must bear the consequences of his own actions, since I am guilty, I shall receive my punishment. I already said that I saved the Empress for the sake of His Majesty, if I were to use this deed as a justification for the reduction of my punishment then not only will other people look down on me, even I will also sneer at myself.” She looked at Wanyan Shuo again and bowed before saying: “Your Highness, if there are no other matters, your humble servant shall take her leave.”
Wanyan Shuo nodded and she left. His eyes followed the retreating figure of this female attendant as she left with a head held high. Suddenly, a feeling of deep veneration for her began to well up in his heart. Without judging whether her conduct and deeds were right or wrong, but with regards to this display of pride and the gumption to a.s.sume responsibility for her actions, he felt that these qualities were worthy of applause.
He stood up happily and continued to walk towards Wanyan Xia"s place of residence while musing to himself: “The affairs of the mortal realm are strange indeed. Mother Empress is such a good person; when he sees people with such valiant character who are unafraid of death, he will try even harder to save them. Oh Imperial Father, I know that you have always been scrupulous in separating public concerns from private interests but when you are faced with Empress Mother, your defences are really puny to the point of being pitiful. Ha ha ha, seems like there will be good show to watch soon.” As he got to the later parts of his speech, the little devil had begun to take joy in calamity and delight in disaster. In antic.i.p.ation of the impending fireworks, he had begun to laugh merrily with his face upturned to the sky.