Crimson garments, an extravagant crown heavily encrusted with luminous oriental pearls, a table piled high with a huge variety of ornaments and pendants crafted out of the finest jade with a pure, delicate white colour. Wanyan Xu looked at the dazzling array of wedding paraphernalia and felt truly jubilant. Su Su, the person he had yearned for day and night, would officially be his wife in both name and deed after tonight [1] in addition to becoming the first male Empress of Jin Liao in history.
“Have all the preparations been completed over at Su Su’s residence?” He asked Zi Liu, only for a big smile to grace the face of his trusted and dear servant as she said: “Of course they are complete, and the table there is equally loaded with precious items, your Majesty need not be fret.”
Wanyan Xu also gave a smile and said: “I [2] also know that that is a pointless question, but my heart feels too excited, so excited that I don’t know what to do with myself. Zi Liu, in my whole life, this is the first time I have felt like this. How can I describe it, although I am nearly delirious with joy, I am also feeling helplessly nervous. Ever since I started to mature and understand my place in the world, I have experienced many momentous events. I have never experienced the crowning of an Empress but it probably cannot be considered as pivotal as my ascension to the throne or moving the capital, right? But I was able to handle those events with meticulous care, and they pa.s.sed without causing me much emotional turbulence. This... this night...”
Zi Liu watched as Wanyan Xu paced around the floor in circles. Clearly written on his face, which normally betrayed no hint of his emotions, was unequivocal joy and exuberance. Also uncharacteristic for him, he was rambling on and on. Zi Liu couldn’t help but laughingly interrupt: “Your Majesty is right, you have been through so many important events, how is it that today you are unable to remain calm? Young Master will be your Empress by tomorrow...” Upon that mention, she saw that a wide smile had immediately blossomed on her Master"s face, and she helplessly shook her head, thinking to herself: he’s happy to this extent, seems like nothing I say will have any effect.
Wanyan Xu rubbed his hands together and suddenly said: “Zi Liu, what do you think Su Su is doing now?”
Zi Liu smiled but abstained from answering, thinking in her heart: What’s he doing? Does that really need to be asked? Of course he is resenting you, it is even possible that he hasn’t given up and is trying to think of ways to escape this marriage. But of course, she did not dare to say these words aloud, seeing that her Master was so excited, she could not say such things that would surely dampen his mood and hurt his feelings.
On the other hand, Wanyan Xu did not really need for her to reply, looking in the direction of Su Yi’s residence, he saw that it was already blazing with light, and murmured, seemingly to himself: “Su Su must also have been unable to fall asleep last night.” After staring for a long while, he suddenly turned to Zi Liu and said: “Let’s go, accompany me to Su Su’s place for a while, I wish to see him.”
This gave Zi Liu an almighty fright, she thought: Young Master is more than likely in a grand rage now, if the King goes there in his current state of excitement, it might aggravate Young Master further and he might take his anger out on His Majesty. She hurried to advise Wanyan Xu: “There is no need for Your Majesty to be impatient, tomorrow night you will both retreat together into the bridal room filled with ornamental candles. According to the customs of Great Qi, the bride and groom should not see each other the day before the wedding. You only have to bear with it a while longer, it should not be so difficult to do.”
Wanyan Xu cheerfully replied: “I am not from Great Qi, this rule doesn’t apply to me. I don"t know why, but I wish to see him now, and I cannot wait any longer." So saying, he did not wait for Zi Liu to attend to him, but haphazardly draped a coat over himself and walked out. Zi Liu found the situation cause for both worry and mirth, but hurried to follow Wanyan Xu.
Unfortunately Zi Liu"s guess turned out to be correct; Su Yi was indeed surveying the clothes and accessories that had filled his room with displeasure. Using a mixture of persuasion and coercion, Zi Nong had forced him to memorize all the rules and procedures of the ceremony that would be held on the morrow. The persuasion had taken the form of a thousand coaxes and ten-thousand pleas, while coercion consisted of attacking that one fatal weakness of Su Yi"s. Therefore, although Su Yi was impatient, he also took it seriously; afraid that should he commit a gaffe tomorrow and cause Wanyan Xu to be embarra.s.sed, the ones who would have to suffer for his crime would be his "jailed" friends and their relatives.
At the moment, the little Crown Prince Wanyan Shuo was also present as Su Yi had not been in the mood to force him to leave. But fortunately, this time the little boy had reigned in his normally caustic tongue, and did not say a word. Although it must be said that even if the boy had chosen to make his usual provocative remarks, Su Yi did not have the energy to argue with him.
When Zi Nong suddenly saw Wanyan Xu, accompanied by Zi Liu, approaching with casual steps, she hurried to greet and welcome him. Laughing, she said: “Your humble servant was just thinking that since it is the Great King, he will surely be able to contain his excitement, but Your Majesty has come anyway." The four personal attendants had served Wanyan Xu ever since their childhood, therefore the relationship between them and Wanyan Xu did not have the same degree of formality as that of other servants and their masters.
When Wanyan Xu saw that Wanyan Shuo was also present, he smiled and said: “Why have you come all the way here? And you are well-behaved today, when I was in the courtyard, I could not hear your voice. That is rare indeed.”
Wanyan Shuo giggled and said: “Royal Father, I was just thinking, if I have half his dedication when it comes to learning rules, the person holding the position of Royal Tutor would not need to be changed so frequently. I heard that I made the previous tutor so angry that he vomited blood, and you had to bestow upon him a lot of valuable supplements and restoratives. What a waste!"
After giving a “humph!”, Wanyan Xu said: “It’s good that you know this. I really don’t know about you. If you can change, it would be like the sun rising from the west.” So saying he walked near to Su Yi and accompanying his words with a smile he said: “Su Su, you are preparing for the ceremony so carefully, I am really touched."
Su Yi turned away from him, seemingly intent on ignoring him. After giving a couple of "humph!"s, he said: “Don’t mistake my intentions, I"m only doing this for the sake of the poor people in your dungeons."
Wanyan Xu had still not come out of his blissful haze, when he was just about to question Su Yi, Zi Liu hurried to interject: “Young Master is right, if Young Master becomes the Empress tomorrow without a hitch, the people being held in jail would naturally be released.” Only then did Wanyan Xu recover his senses, with a start, he realized that he must have really hurt Su Yi"s heart by employing such methods to compel his cooperation. He was momentarily lost for words, thus n.o.body spoke and the room fell silent.
Wanyan Shuo suddenly gave a big yawn and said: “It’s already the fourth watch, I want to go back and sleep, tomorrow will be a busy day.” He gave a wicked smile before addressing his father: “Royal Father, You should also go take a rest. Tomorrow, during the daylight hours there would naturally be no idle time to rest. If you run out of energy, the wedding night will be frittered away, what a pity that would be!” After saying that, he giggled as he left for his own residence. Su Yi was both embarra.s.sed and enraged, but he could do nothing about it. Conversely, Wanyan Xu perked up. The two men spent the night like this, and before too long, the marble white colour of the dawn sky began to spread from the east, followed by the red sun slowly showing its face from between the peaks of the mountains.