On the twenty-ninth day of the twelfth lunar month, all the necessary goods that would be used in the celebration of the New Year in the palace were already in place. On the thirtieth day, snow had been falling since early morning. When Wanyan Xu visited the Empress Dowager to pay his respects, the two were both in high spirits. Wanyan Xu gave a sigh and said: “The previous monarch of Qi was dissolute and tyrannical, such a great country was afflicted with all ills under his rule. Although I [1] have reduced taxes and duties to ease the suffering of the people, they still need a period of time before they can recover the quality of life that they enjoyed under the reign of his predecessor. A timely snow [2] has fallen today, if the following year brings good weather and harvests, then the people will be able to make an almost complete recovery by this time next year.”
The Empress Dowager nodded her head and said: “That’s just what I was about to say.” She then turned her head towards Concubine Yin and the rest and said: “Later today will be the night of New Year"s Eve [3]; because this is the first New Year we would be spending in this new capital, we are afraid that people will especially miss the familiar lands of Jin Liao today. Therefore my Imperial Son and I [4] decided that we might as well invite all the high officials and their kin into the palace to spend the New Year. That way the monarch and courtiers can make merry together; not only will the atmosphere be more lively but the melancholy feelings of homesickness can be avoided. All of you concubines should also make ready, you can take the opportunity to enjoy yourselves tonight.” Concubine Yin and her cohorts nodded and agreed, and showered the idea with much praise.
When the courtiers arrived in the palace, everywhere they turned, their eyes were met with beauty and splendour, not to mention, there was endless amus.e.m.e.nts and entertainment for their enjoyment. However, we shall not speak more on that. Instead, we shall go back to Su Yi. Because the laundry service had rushed to finish washing all the clothes before the twenty-eighth of the twelfth lunar month, there was nothing else to be done in the laundry room. Therefore, Su Yi had been dispatched to other places to a.s.sist in other tasks for two days. Although it could be said that there were numerous staff in the palace; regrettably, before the New Year, there were many things to be done and the organisation had become chaotic. Therefore, during these two days, Su Yi was considerably more fatigued by his work than he usually was. After he had finally gotten back to his room the previous night, he had started to feel deeply uncomfortable in his gut. He felt faintly nauseous, and had no desire to eat anything at all. When hit by hunger pangs, he merely broke off bits from the wotou and grazed lightly. The medicine that that strange Prince had given to him had run out long ago; sometimes when the pains flared up, he had no alternative but to grit his teeth and endure them, even when he his forehead was covered with cold sweat.
Today, the thirtieth day of the twelfth lunar month, Su Yi woke up early and saw that a heavy snow was descending from the heavens, and the palace grounds seemed to have been transformed into a world composed of silver ice and white snow. This was a good omen, and everybody in the palace was happy except for Su Yi. He did not understand why, but a trace of dismay was born in his heart. He silently stared out at the picturesque scene for a while, just when he was about to get dressed and get out of bed, his gut gave a sharp twist and he was overtaken by a wave of nausea. Before he knew what happened, he had spit a large mouthful of blood onto the floor! Only then did his body feel somewhat more comfortable.
Su Yi wasn"t bothered; he simply got up and found some earth [5] to cover the traces of blood. After he had gotten drenched during the rainstorm months ago, he had developed the symptom of vomiting blood a few days later and it had persisted till now. Although the Prince had warned him to pay attention to his dietary habits, someone in Su Yi"s situation had little say in the food that was allocated to him. Therefore, he could only endure this hardship silently; whenever he vomited blood, all he could do was to rest for a while on the bed, and it would go away after he skipped a few meals. Fortunately, besides his spitting out a few small mouthfuls of blood occasionally, there were no further symptoms and his illness did not seem to be worsening.
But today, he suddenly felt that it was no long such a simple matter as before. Even as evening fell, his appet.i.te had still not returned and his stomach was still roiling. The pain was becoming ever more unbearable, the nausea felt heavier and heavier, his head was spinning, his vision was getting cloudy and his body felt totally sapped of any strength. Even his footsteps were weak and laborious. He was a pract.i.tioner of martial arts and as such, he had always paid particular attention to the firmness of his step but somehow, he simply was unable to achieve that today. He looked at the blanket of timely snow that covered everything as far as his eyes could see, the whiteness was piercing to his eyes and the foreboding feeling in his heart grew even stronger rapidly.
As he was lost in his thoughts, he suddenly heard an acerbic voice near. It said: “What? Don"t tell me you also wish to celebrate the New Year today? The people in the front buildings are so busy that they are about to collapse and you are still standing here instead of going over to help?” He raised his head for a look, and found that it was the big girl from the laundry service, Ai Er. Like Su Yi, she had also been transferred to help out at the front halls because there were no more tasks to be done in the laundry room. She was feeling harried by the seemingly endless tasks when she suddenly pa.s.sed this way and came upon Su Yi. When she saw Su Yi, there was no way that she would not immediately enlist his service.
Su Yi had no other choice but to endure the pain in his body and follow her to the palace halls and rooms one after another. He could see that in the large --- it could comfortably accommodate a few hundred people --- reception hall at the ground floor of the Garden of Merriment, mult.i.tudes of silhouettes were milling about and he could hear continual sounds of laughter and happy voices. Palace maids and eunuchs were going back and forth from the hall in an endless cycle, sending up platters of exquisite hors d"oeuvres and tea. At this point, Su Yi was in so much pain that the sweat was dripping off him like rain, but there was nothing he could do but force himself to endure it as he helped with the delivery of boxes and replenishing oil in the lamps. Because he deliberately performed his tasks in a dark corner, and because Wanyan Xu and the other people at the banquet had no expectations that he would be present, his presence remained unnoticed by the revellers.
With much difficulty, he managed to endure his suffering into nightfall. By then the weather had turned very warm, there was no trace of wind at all and the snow had gradually stopped falling. At this time, dinner was being served and courses of food and wine were being carried into the big hall. Su Yi saw that there was no place for him to extend a helping hand, and searched out a quiet corner. Looking around, he saw that there was n.o.body around in all four directions. By then, his legs refused to support him any longer. With a groan of "aii", he sank down into a squatting position. He had been busy for the whole day, and had not even had the time to take a sip of tea. At this moment, his stomach was rumbling with hunger and his pain and nausea grew steadily worse. In the end, he again spit out two large mouthfuls of blood but this time, he did not feel any relief nor was there any improvement in his condition. This situation was really vastly different from what he had experienced in the past.
Su Yi attentively gazed at the traces of blood in silence for a long while before suddenly giving a long exhale. Speaking to himself, he sighed: “Could it be that this New Year"s Eve night, just when it should be time to reunite with family, will be the time that I, Su Yi, will depart from this world forever?” Upon the thought that he would never again see that handsome face that was so full of military bearing, how he would never again feel even the slightest bit of his tender love or hatred, Su Yi at once felt a pain in his heart that was akin to having it twisted around a blade. He looked towards the lovely hall. At the moment, it was brightly lit but no matter how hard Su Yi tried, he could not see the figure that he had dreamed of every day and every night.
He managed to shift forwards a few steps, thinking in his heart: if Heaven has pity on me, Su Yi, then please let me have a glance before I go. Even if I can only take one look from afar, my reluctance to leave this mortal world would also be lessened. Once he thought of what would become of Wanyan Xu and his son after Su Yi"s own pa.s.sing, his heart was filled to the brim with worries that he could not set aside. But there was also nothing he could do about it; he could only console himself, thinking in his heart: no matter what feelings they might have, how can any emotion withstand the erosion of time and the pa.s.sing of years? Even if they experience heartache now, they would be fine after a year or so.
He did his utmost to search for that figure with his eyes but suddenly, he heard an anxious voice say: “Hey, the person over there, come over quickly and give us a hand.” He turned back, to be met with the sight of four men carrying a disk that was as big as a chariot wheel. On the disk was a huge roasted sheep [6] and they were heading in the direction of the reception hall. One of the men among them was wearing an intense look of pain on his face, and rushed towards Su Yi, saying: “Quickly, come and replace me. My stomach is aching badly, I have to go and relieve myself at once.” Su Yi hesitated for a moment, but in that short span of time, that man had already relinquished his post and left the large dish to the care of his three companions. Without any further explanation, he came to Su Yi and dragged him over to them before leaving hastily. Su Yi had no alternative but to endure his pain and the four of them carried the sheep in the direction of the reception hall. But he kept his head bowed, for fear of being recognised by the crowd. Waves of nausea were rising in his larynx, which he forcefully suppressed with his chi after much difficulty.