WJ Chapter 110

Peach Blossoms (2)

After that, Ah Ku began dragging Yun Changliu out to play every single day.

The Young Sect Leader sensed something was off, and after pressing him, Ah Ku confessed: he would soon be leaving on a long journey.

It turned out that Guan Muyan had an old friend — also a renowned physician — who, feeling his years weighing upon him and sensing his end drawing near, wished to find someone to pass his lifetime of medical knowledge to. Yun Guyan thus permitted Ah Ku to go and study under him. He would leave the Sect in early spring, with no set date of return.

Yun Changliu was thunderstruck at the news, and naturally loath to part. He and Ah Ku had been companions for years, and he truly could not bear to be separated — yet he could not bring himself to stand in the way of such a wonderful opportunity for Ah Ku. He knew that Ah Ku actually loved the study of medicine; it was only that from childhood, for the sake of keeping him company, Ah Ku had given up so much.

When he counted the remaining days, there were not even two months left.

Yun Changliu was devastated. He simply cast aside all his lessons and followed Ah Ku wherever he wished to go. Yun Guyan raised no objection, seemingly willing to grant these two children one last tender stretch of time together.

In those two months, Ah Ku played with wild abandon.

Even later, when Guan Wujue looked back on it, he felt that he had been almost possessed during that period.

Perhaps, deep in his heart, he still knew what it was to fear death. At the age of twelve, Duanmu Lin had faced the Sect Leader of the Zhuyin Sect without the slightest trace of fear — a gift of a peach orchard wooden house was all it took for him to willingly offer up his own life. But at fifteen, Ah Ku lay sleepless through the night upon learning that his heart’s blood was to be taken, his every thought consumed by a single wish: to live on beside Yun Changliu.

…It was all the Young Sect Leader’s fault. The Young Sect Leader had spoiled him into such a useless, soft-hearted creature.

Both the Ah Ku of those days and the Guan Wujue of many years later thought this, each with considerable indignation.

****

Past the foot of Mount Shenlie, beyond the Red River, lay a small and unremarkable town.

There was nothing particularly special about it — only that come autumn, they said, the lanterns would be hung and the streets would grow lively and festive. Ah Ku had wandered through it on two occasions and often bought things at its market, so he knew the town well enough.

At the southern entrance stood the home of a prosperous family — a merchant of generous temperament who held banquets on every holiday and festival.

On this last day between winter and spring, his eldest daughter was being wed. The wedding invitations had gone out a full month prior, and the wedding feast that day was laid out in grand and glorious style, drawing nearly half the townspeople to share in the celebration.

The two handsome young men who had just come out from Xifeng City mingled in the crowd. Yun Changliu and Ah Ku watched the wedding palanquin draped in red and green as it emerged from the southern end of town and wound its way westward toward the bridegroom’s home.

Gongs and drums rang out on both sides, shaking the heavens. The onlookers laughed and clapped and cheered, the atmosphere overflowing with joy.

“Young Sect Leader has never seen anything like this before, has he?”

In the jostling crowd, Ah Ku had half-encircled Yun Changliu in his arms to shield him from the press of bodies. The posture was somewhat intimate — perfectly suited for murmuring words close to one’s ear. The blue-robed young man smiled and asked, “Can you bear it? If it’s too much, we can step out, you know.”

The Young Sect Leader Changliu shook his head. It was true that this was his first time witnessing a wedding procession. It was a rare thing that Ah Ku had brought him here to see one before his departure. Noisy as it was — genuinely noisy — he still wanted to watch.

The crowd followed the palanquin for roughly a quarter of an hour before coming to a stop in front of the bridegroom’s family home.

The bride stepped out of the palanquin — red veil, red wedding robes, her head shyly bowed, radiant as a spring blossom. Another wave of cheers erupted at once.

People began scattering lucky coins and sweets. Ah Ku stepped forward to offer congratulations and came back with a handful of wedding candy to share with Yun Changliu.

The Young Sect Leader took a piece, placed it in his mouth, and watched the bride for a moment. Then he turned and gave Ah Ku a long, searching look, and said, “If you wore red, you would be very beautiful.”

As they ate their candy and talked in low voices, they heard an elderly woman nearby sighing with feeling, recounting the magnificent wedding procession of ten years past — the story of how the Jiangnan qin-player Lan Ningcai had been wed by the Zhuyin Sect Leader Yun Guyan and taken up to Mount Shenlie.

Ah Ku recognized the old woman; she seemed to run a tavern somewhere, with a few spare rooms that doubled as an inn. Suddenly, a young man nearby spoke up, “Old mother, your words aren’t quite right! That Yun Guyan is a through-and-through villain without a shred of decency — being taken off by someone like that, how could it be anything but wretched? What is there to envy?”

The young man was dressed in a short martial robe and wore a sword at his hip. His air of righteous indignation gave him the look of a hot-blooded young hero of the jianghu. Yet the old woman who ran the tavern only shook her head with an air of mystery, and said:

“Young man, you’ve got it wrong. That Miss Lan went of her own free will — she slipped away from home on her own, all alone, and followed the Zhuyin Sect Leader up Mount Shenlie herself. And besides, the Sect Leader had not yet done any great evil in those days, and he treated his first wife with extraordinary care.”

Another voice pushed its way in from the crowd. “I also heard that back then, Yun Guyan went alone to the Yulin Hall to break off an engagement on this Miss Lan’s behalf. Lin Wuyue naturally refused — his youngest daughter was at stake — but Yun Guyan fought his way out of Yulin Hall with nothing but a Dragon-Chasing Whip. Say what you will, there was real courage in that — a ruthless hero, that one.”

Yun Changliu stood listening quietly nearby, blinking slowly, his fingers lightly grazing the half-piece of white jade pendant at his waist.

He knew that Yun Guyan’s reputation in the jianghu was not a good one — through rumor heaped upon rumor, he had been firmly placed among the ranks of the great villains. So when the young man hurled his insults, the Young Sect Leader let it pass without reaction. But now he found himself thinking of the mother he had never met.

…He remembered that his father had once told him: his mother’s family had been ordinary, and her parents had not treated her particularly well. When they discovered she had connections to the Zhuyin Sect, they flew into a fury — yet, unwilling to lose the considerable income she brought in from playing the qin and singing in the pleasure quarters, they could not bring themselves to drive her out.

In the end, it was Lan Ningcai who left them first, of her own accord.

She sold her beloved qin to pay for the road, and set off carrying nothing but a piece of white jade her grandmother had given her in childhood — that jade she took as her own dowry — walking all the way from the south of Jiangnan to the foot of Mount Shenlie in the uttermost north.

That journey took three months. When her travel money ran dry, she sang and performed along the way to earn more. They said she encountered ruffians and scoundrels who harassed her on the road…who were later chopped to pieces by Yun Guyan and thrown into the mountains for the wolves.

“That year, it was right in my little establishment that this Miss Lan rested on her way. Oh, what a start she gave me — such a plainly dressed, penniless girl, no family, no parents, no brothers, no matchmaker or bridal attendant, no dowry or palanquin, and she meant to walk on her own two feet all the way up Mount Shenlie to find her sweetheart!”

The crowd gathered around and listened, rapt. The old woman smiled, the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes and mouth all deepening with the expression, a look of fond remembrance crossing her face as she continued to tell the story of those long-ago days:

“The next morning, the girl was about to set off for Mount Shenlie. I couldn’t help but run out after her to try to talk her out of it — but nothing I said would move her. We walked along talking until we reached the edge of town, and then — I looked up, and the two of us were both struck dumb.”

“Can you guess what we saw? Sometime in the night, without anyone knowing, the dirt road leading out of town had been carpeted with red silk, stretching up the mountain path until it disappeared from sight. A great crimson wedding palanquin carried by eight men stood waiting at the edge of town. A procession of sword-bearing riders flanked it on both sides — every one of them with a fierce, killing air about them, and yet every last one of them dressed in red wedding clothes with a great red flower pinned to their chest…Hah, I tell you, the sight was downright absurd!”

“And yet the whole town was too frightened to laugh. Then, all at once, that entire company of red-robed wedding attendants swept off their horses and knelt down together — and with one voice they cried out to that plainly dressed girl at my side: We welcome our Lady home!“

“I, useless old thing that I am, had long since gone stiff with shock. Miss Lan just turned and smiled at me, bright as you please, and said: Oh my, it seems my husband has come to fetch me.”

“Then that group of Zhuyin Sect members parted, and the legendary Zhuyin Sect Leader came walking through them with long strides — and I tell you, this is no boast, I have kept this little tavern of mine for over forty years, and I have seen all manner of men, but never in my life had I seen a man so handsome — the Sect Leader walked forward, let out a great laugh, and swept his good girl up high into his arms.”

“And after that — the people standing at the edge of town watched with their own eyes as the Sect Leader carried Miss Lan into the wedding palanquin, and dozens of musicians played a joyful processional all the way up the mountain, while the town itself received no small amount of the Zhuyin Sect’s generous tips. That day, many a young girl trailed behind the palanquin with flushed cheeks and shining eyes, peeking after it as it went — and every one of them was wildly, secretly envious.”

“But what a pity. What a pity.”

At last, the old woman let out a long, quiet sigh.

The ending of the story needed no telling. The sigh was for a love too deep to last long, the pity for a beauty whose life burned out too soon. The Zhuyin Sect Leader and his beloved had been so devoted to one another, and yet they had only been together for less than two years before Lan Ningcai perished by another’s hand — this was no secret in the jianghu.

The crowd murmured and sighed among themselves, and gradually the sad old story was set aside, and before long the congratulations and joyful noise started up again. It seemed the wedding ceremony had begun; the officiant’s voice rang out: “Kneel! First incense offering — second incense offering — third incense offering!“

When the incense offerings were complete, the voice came again:

“First bow to Heaven and Earth! Second bow to the parents! Husband and wife bow to each other!“

Ah Ku pulled the still-dazed Yun Changliu over for a better view of the wedding hall. The bride and groom, both dressed in brilliant red, knelt and kowtowed. They bowed to Heaven and Earth, bowed to their parents, then turned and bowed to each other. The groom’s face glowed with happiness, while the bride kept her head lowered in shy confusion.

After all the bowing was done, when they rose, the groom seemed so overcome with joy that he could not restrain himself — he reached over and lifted the red veil just the tiniest bit, and pressed a kiss to the bride’s red lips.

The watching townspeople broke into warm, indulgent laughter at the bridegroom’s boldness and guileless ardor. Yun Changliu let out a very small gasp — he had never seen anything like this — and could not help but stare, wide-eyed and unblinking. Without realizing it, his heart began to pound violently, and a feeling he had never known before rolled through him like a wave of heat, flooding every part of him.

Ah Ku watched him in amused silence. The Young Sect Leader’s breathing was slightly unsteady, his cheeks flushed hot. He stole a quick sidelong glance at Ah Ku, then hurriedly looked away again, flustered.

Yun Changliu thought in private confusion: what was the matter with him?

Why did looking at Ah Ku always set his heart into such a panic?

He thought further: it seemed that people who loved each other would kiss each other on the lips like that…he was so fond of Ah Ku — he wondered if perhaps he could do the same?

He wondered if Ah Ku would be willing.

While Yun Changliu wrestled quietly with these thoughts, he did not realize that his cheeks, ordinarily as clear and pale as white jade, had gradually been kindling into a burning red.

Ah Ku quietly turned his gaze to Yun Changliu. His dark, ink-black eyes were deep and still, and the smile at the corner of his lips slowly faded.

— He had no idea that this person was actually plotting against him. He simply assumed that the Young Sect Leader Changliu, encountering worldly love for the first time, was merely feeling shy.

Not far away, the officiant’s voice rang out in a great shout: “Escort the newlyweds to the bridal chamber!“

At that very instant, something cold flickered through the depths of Ah Ku’s eyes.

He felt that he had harbored a wicked thought.

He wanted to keep his little Young Sect Leader close — to claim all of his warmth for himself alone — to never let him wed, to never let him fall for any woman…or any man either, for that matter.

The moment this thought arose, Ah Ku felt that he was truly despicable: Yun Changliu was going to be Sect Leader one day. How could he have no wife and children?

If he used the Young Sect Leader’s inexperience and naivety to lead him astray, the sin would be no small one…

But in the very next instant, Ah Ku comforted himself: didn’t Yun Changliu have a younger brother? The continuation of the Yun family line didn’t necessarily have to fall on the Young Sect Leader’s shoulders.

…Then he thought about it a little more, and could only smile bitterly at himself. What a jumbled mess this was. In a few days he would have his heart’s blood taken. Wishful thinking was all well and good, but he had to survive first before any of it mattered.

Suddenly, his sleeve was tugged. Yun Changliu asked him quietly. “After they’ve entered the ‘bridal chamber’ — what happens then?”

Ah Ku considered for a moment, then answered with great solemnity. “The newlyweds drink wine from interlinked cups. The groom lifts the bride’s veil. Friends and family come to tease and revel. And in the evening, the groom holds the bride and they sleep together.”

Yun Changliu gave a slow nod, but inwardly his thoughts were turning busily.

He found these wedding rites genuinely remarkable — all of it things he had never heard of before. Except for the very last part.

…Holding each other to sleep — well, he and Ah Ku often held each other when they slept. At least that much he understood.

The newlyweds had already retired to their chamber, and that lively spectacle had come to its end.

Both families were still seeing their guests off one by one, offering thanks. The watching townspeople chatted and laughed as they gradually began to disperse.

But Ah Ku did not move. He raised his head slightly, and all at once noticed that several peach trees not far away had burst into soft pink blossoms. Winter had ended. Spring was truly just around the corner.

Ah Ku suddenly turned around and said to Yun Changliu, in an even tone, “Young Sect Leader, today you have seen what a wedding looks like. To perform these rites of marriage is to be joined as husband and wife for the rest of one’s life. What do you think of it?”

“…A lifetime together?” The Young Sect Leader Changliu seemed to be thinking of something — those clear, bright eyes of his shone faintly, and he repeated the words in a low voice. “Husband and wife…to be bound together for an entire lifetime…”

In the next instant, a rare expression of open, joyful delight spread across the Young Sect Leader’s features. He spoke each word with great deliberateness:

“I think…it is wonderful!”

“…?”

The color drained from Ah Ku’s face.

Gazing at the Young Sect Leader’s bright and beautiful smile, a very bad premonition began crawling coldly up his spine.

He heard Yun Changliu say, with great solemnity, “Lín’er — let us be wed!”

“We shall go home today and inform Father, and the wedding can be held tomorrow. We shall both wear red, kneel before Heaven and Earth, drink from interlinked cups, and be bound together for the rest of our lives!”