Zi Nan nodded her head, the expression on her face was terrible to look at and she said in a tragic voice: “Second... Second Prince... once he heard that it was the Emperor who was summoning him to treat the Empress... he immediately... immediately rejected the request in the next breath, and refused to allow your humble servants to say even half a sentence more.” So saying, she hung her head, feeling very ashamed of her failure.
The Empress Dowager gave a cold laugh and said: “Rejected in the next breath? How could it be so simple? The two of you were gone for so long, you must have pleaded long and hard with him and also, you must have endured a lot of blasphemous words from him. As I [1] have said before, he views the lot of us as his enemies, there is no way he would be willing to come forth and treat General Su.”
In an instant, everybody in the house fell into silence again and the ambiance of the room once again became shrouded with despair. Suddenly, they saw that Wanyan Xu had stood up, and he said to Su Yi gently: “Su Su, be at ease and stay here to recuperate, I [2] shall be right back.”
Su Yi clutched at Wanyan Xu to restrain him and with a bitter laugh, he said: “Wanyan Xu, do you think you can keep me in the dark? I know that you want to go and beg that Second Prince, are you afraid that I won’t allow you to go and suffer humiliation at his hands? You really... really know me well, you... in my eyes you... are a hero with an indomitable spirit... even if I have to die... I"ll never let you go and have to endure... endure humiliation at the hands of others. Moreover... this illness... this illness has nearly run its course, even if that Prince is a deity among physicians... I suspect that he would also be unable to cure me, so what’s the point of going there?” Really, his body had already been depleted of all its vitality, therefore although the words he said were steeped in sincere feelings and pa.s.sionate conviction, he could not say them smoothly and had to stop and marshal up his energy at intervals.
Wanyan Xu forced a smile and said: “Su Su, don’t worry so much. I am the Great King of Jin Liao, who would dare to vent their anger on me?” So saying, he gently but firmly dislodged Su Yi"s hand from himself, turning his body away resolutely, he proceeded to leave with his head held high with Zi Liu and Zi Nan following behind. The Empress Dowager saw that there was a single-mindedness in her son"s eyes that she had never seen before and knew that his mind had been made-up. Even if she were to counsel him ten-thousand times, he would remain implacable. Unable to contain her distress, she cried out loudly: “Oh Great King, when all is said and done, what did we actually do wrong? Why are we reduced to having to beg him today? Even if we had wronged him, then why is Xu Er the one who has to bear the consequences?” She then started to weep. Upon witnessing this scene, Su Yi"s heart became even heavier and more than ever, Zi Yan felt that her heart was being fried in oil, never did she expect that her ill-considered actions on that fateful day would eventually create such a difficult situation for her master today.
Going back to Wanyan Xu, accompanied by Zi Liu and Zi Nan, he was now near the residence of Wanyan Xia that was situated by the side of the North Lake. Zi Liu did not wish for her master to suffer humiliation for naught, and therefore, she asked Zi Nan: “Is your information accurate? How did you come to know that he’s a deity among physicians? Don’t let it happen that our King would return in disappointment after making the trip here.”
Zi Nan said: “What I said is absolutely true. I only came to know about this matter not long ago. The Second Prince had a serving girl who had been attending to him for many years. Remember that recently, the number of palace maids on staff was reduced? His serving girl"s parents are old and live far away, because they have no other children, I decided to do her a small favour since it came at no cost to myself and I released her from palace service. But who would have predicted that this servant is deeply attached to her master and she could not quite bring herself to leave. So I promised that if she wanted to come back and visit the Second Prince in future, she just needed to find me and I would arrange it for her. She was very grateful and in the course of our conversation, she mentioned that she had originally been afflicted with tuberculosis and it was the Second Prince who had cured her of it. There was once she vomited half a pail of blood and thought that she was going to die without ever seeing her father and mother ever again, but unexpectedly, the Second Prince brought her back from the brink of death. That"s how I came to know that he was actually in possession of such an exceptional ability. Otherwise, how would I dare to say something like that?”
Before Zi Liu could respond, Wanyan Xu already said with great joy: “Half a pail of blood... if that’s the case, Su Su can surely be saved.” Zi Liu gave a sigh and said: “Master, have a care and don"t rejoice too soon. The Second Prince hates the Empress Dowager and you as if you were his sworn enemies. Even if we are able to enlist his aid in saving Young Master"s life, I"m afraid that you will not escape his wrath lightly.”
But Wanyan Xu only said: “Doesn’t matter, doesn’t matter. As long as he is willing to save Su Su, even if he wants me to ingest a slow-acting poison, I will be resigned to it.” As they were speaking, they reached the side of the North Lake. By this time, the sky was showing the first glimmer of dawn, the faint light illuminating the lonely little house that was built there.
Zi Liu went up and knocked on the door, saying in a loud voice: “The Emperor has arrived. Prepare...” Before she could finish, she had been cut off by Wanyan Xu. He smiled bitterly and said: “We have come here today to beg him, if I still put on airs and graces and insist on my prerogatives as the Emperor, will it not just stoke his anger?” For the sake of saving the one he loved, this enamoured Emperor was actually willing to abandon the great authority he held as the supreme ruler of all under Heaven.
After a good long while, the door creaked open with a "zhi ya" sound and an elegant face looked out at them. When the owner of that face saw that it was Zi Liu and Zi Nan, he gave a yawn and said: “Oh, it’s the two of you again. Don’t tell me that you are still unwilling to give up? Oh yes, which one of you just shouted out something? Emperor something, did the Emperor come here?" With that said, he turned his gaze towards Wanyan Xu, after eyeballing him from top to bottom for a while, he said: “Sorry, I don"t know you. If you are the Emperor, in theory I should call you my elder brother, but in reality the two of us don"t share even the slightest bit of consanguinity. Do we, Emperor? Wanyan... oh, it’s been too long, I have forgotten your name. But for the Emperor to deign to grace this little prison where I am being held captive with his exalted presence, there must be an important matter at hand. Is it that you all have been dwelling on this for more than twenty-nine years, and the more you think, the more you feel that you cannot suffer that I, the shame of your Imperial Family, should continue to exist in this world and now you have come to kill me?” His words poured out like water from a burst dam and he did not give anybody else any chance to interrupt him. His words were full of resentment and lugubriosity; in both speech and manner, he was far removed from the Prince who Su Yi had encountered previously, who had such a dispa.s.sionate and refined bearing. As he said the last sentence, he pulled the door wide open and after straightening the old clothes he was wearing, he said blandly: “That being the case, I"ll let you have my little life.”
Wanyan Xu looked at him, this so-called younger brother who had been born as the result of his Mother Concubine"s adulterous affair with another man. Thus, he had always been considered to be the shame of the Jin Liao Royal Family. Although the two of them were ostensibly brothers, they were not related by blood at all. Now that Wanyan Xu saw him, he could see that he was hiding his grief and indignation behind a calm facade that was as placid as water. In his own heart, he began to feel some disgust at the way Wanyan Xia had been treated, thinking to himself: in the end, he was also an innocent party. Ever since he had met Su Yi, he had been influenced by him and was no longer as overbearing as he used to be. Among other things, he had learned how to be sympathetic to others.
But at this point, he could only sigh and say: “That’s right, I am the Emperor. I have come because the Empress is seriously ill, the Imperial Physician and Zi Liu have run out of options in fighting the disease. I have heard that my worthy little brother is a surpa.s.sing physician and have come specially to request his aid in the hopes that he can put to use the miraculous hands of a healer he possesses and bring the Empress back from the brink of death.” His words were almost pleading, and harboured no traces of imperial pretension but Wanyan Xia only continued to stare at him coldly and inscrutably, so that none of them could guess what he had to say.