Chapter 7.2
Yi Liankai himself did not return to the Yi residence because there had been fierce fighting between the Coalition Army and Yi Lianshen’s forces. The walls, the gate and the stone steps were all covered in blood. Bodies were strewn all over the ground: some had not yet stiffened, some had died with their eyes open, while others had missing limbs or, having been hit by shells from the gun-howitzers, were too appalling to look at. Qin Sang, surrounded and supported by the guards Pan Jianchi had brought with him, felt wave after wave of dizziness as she walked through this scene.
So many had died.
She was driven directly to the city defence headquarters and installed in a room there. Shortly after, Zhu Ma and some other servant girls entered the room. She had not seen any of them since her imprisonment at the Yi residence. Zhu Ma came up to hug her and sobbed, ‘My dearest Mistress, I didn’t think I would ever see you again.’
Qin Sang felt as if she had been dreaming: when she awoke, the fighting was already over and life had returned to normal, everything was just as it had been before.
She did not know what the situation was like over at the Yi residence since Pan Jianchi had left after escorting her to this place. The corridor was quiet and two sentries stood guard outside the room so she asked Zhu Ma to call one of them in. The guard was extremely respectful and said, ‘Madam, there’s still the risk of stray bullets in the streets so for safety’s sake, the entire city has been placed under martial law.’
Qin Sang knew that it was useless to become anxious since everything would have to wait until Yi Liankai made his appearance. Zhu Ma was still grumbling incessantly because all their clothes were still at the Yi residence: ‘Not a single outfit to change into and we don’t know if we can even go back to the family home tonight.’
Qin Sang thought of the bodies she had seen on her way out of the residence and felt another wave of fear in her heart. She thought that if she were Yi Liankai, she would likely never want to return to the family home ever again.
After dinner that night, they heard the sound of someone walking in leather boots along the corridor and the sound of gun bolts being pushed back in salute. Soon after, the door was pushed open and Yi Liankai entered. Qin Sang had never seen him in uniform before and felt it to be an entirely foreign sight. Thinner than before and tanned, he seemed almost a stranger. Zhu Ma still bore a grudge against him over the incident on the train and looked unsmilingly at him. Yi Liankai took off his hat and handed it to Pan Jianchi, then glanced at Qin Sang with a smile and remarked, ‘You’re looking quite well.’
After Pan Jianchi and Zhu Ma had left, Qin Sang said tonelessly, ‘Hello, Chief Commander.’
Yi Liankai removed his tall leather boots and slipped into a pair of slippers, saying laughingly, ‘All right, all right, don’t freeze me to death. I know you hate me. I apologise, will that do?’
‘What have you done to Er Ge?’
‘What can I possibly do to him?’ Yi Liankai turned her around by the shoulders and pulled her into a firm hug saying, ‘Why don’t you ask me how I’ve been? You haven’t seen me for some time. Didn’t you miss me at all?’
Qin Sang pushed him away. ‘What was there to miss? Wasn’t that one kick enough for me?’
Yi Liankai didn’t appear angry. In fact, he was all smiles as he said, ‘Well, there was a good reason for that and I had no choice. I’ll apologise to you now or how about you hit me in return? Will that do?’ Usually he was impossibly arrogant, domineering and had scant patience with her such that they were perennially at loggerheads and quarrelled frequently. Yet today he was humbling himself which was so rare and unusual that Qin Sang felt he had become someone else entirely, very different from his old self, although she could not really say what the change was.
Not being in the mood to argue with him, she asked instead, ‘How is Father’s condition exactly? I want to go back and see him, as well as Da Sao and Er Sao who aren’t well. No one is looking after them now and I don’t know how they are.’
‘Father is still unconscious and can’t be moved. There’s a pack of physicians attending to him.’ His tone was dismissive as he added, ‘It won’t be too late even if you visit him tomorrow.’
Qin Sang queried: ‘Why are you so indifferent? You didn’t even go back to see how anyone in the family, old or young, is faring and only sent for me alone. If outsiders were to hear of it, what would they think?’
Yi Liankai said with a curl of his lip: ‘Since when has anyone in that family, old or young, treated me as human? I’ve had enough of such treatment and they only have themselves to blame for how things are today. Let’s see who dares to say anything about it.’
Qin Sang was so angry she turned her head away but he only laughed and chucked her under the chin playfully, saying: ‘Still angry? What a bad temper you have! That slap was a show put on for bystanders, you know? But if you’re really angry, why not I let you slap me in return?’
Qin Sang said, ‘Who cares¹ about slapping you?’
Yi Liankai replied teasingly, ‘You may not care about me, but I most certainly care about you!’¹
¹ 稀罕 xīhàn: to cherish something. When used with 誰 shuí, its meaning changes to ‘who cares?’ So Yi Liankai neatly twists Qin Sang’s words. It sounds a lot better and flirtier in Chinese.
Yi Liankai still refused to let Qin Sang return to the Yi residence the next morning so she had no choice but to send Zhu Ma instead to visit Eldest Mistress. She never expected Zhu Ma to return with news as unexpected as it was shocking.
Second Mistress was dead.
Qin Sang could not speak for some time and when she finally did, she asked: ‘What about Er Ge then?’
Yi Lianshen had escaped after all. Apparently he had done so under cover of darkness on that night of fierce fighting. The city had been in chaos but his men had risked life and limb to ensure his escape. However, Yi Lianshen had not taken his legally wedded wife with him whilst fleeing and early on the second day, Second Mistress had committed suicide by drinking cologne. As soon as Qin Sang heard this, she rushed out of the headquarters and back to the Yi residence, heedless of the guards’ attempts to stop her. The Yi family home had already been cleaned: the bodies had been removed and all traces of blood scrubbed clean. Second Mistress was already lying in a coffin and the funeral was being held in the quarters she had lived in. When Qin Sang got there, it was Eldest Mistress who clutched her and cried, ‘Why was Er Mei in such despair? Even if she didn’t want to live, she should have considered her baby… Two lives lost just like that is really a sin… .’
But had it really been despair? Most likely she had been forced to do it. Qin Sang recalled almost calmly how Yi Lianshen had entrusted his wife to her care. Most probably he had suspected that something like this would happen, except he had still been too careless to assume Yi Liankai would not be so ruthless towards a mere woman, much less one who was his own sister-in-law — but Yi Liankai had been bent on complete elimination² after all.
² 斬草除根 zhǎncǎo-chúgēn to cut weeds and eliminate the roots (idiom); to destroy root and branch
She was filled with so much resentment over this matter that she stubbornly refused to speak to Yi Liankai at all. At the same time, she had to go back to the Yi residence daily and help Eldest Mistress to look after Yi Jipei who was still bedridden. Yi Jipei’s stroke had been a severe one and it was fortunate that Yi Lianshen had sent for German doctors there and then to operate on him. Although Yi Jipei had been confined to his bedroom right after that, it had helped his convalescence greatly and he had recovered quite a fair bit of late. Although he still couldn’t talk, he had recovered consciousness and could sometimes open his eyes and recognise the faces he saw. Yi Liankai was busy with military affairs so he hardly went home although he tried to make time to visit Yi Jipei out of filial piety and even engaged a reputable Japanese physician to treat his father.
Qin Sang had been giving Yi Liankai the cold shoulder for many days but when she saw that he had engaged this Japanese physician, she couldn’t tolerate it any further. Her chance came when Yi Liankai came to visit Yi Jipei. Whilst he was still in the reception room, she walked in and said to him: ‘I have something to say to you.’
It had been days since she had spoken to him, let alone in front of other people. In response, Yi Liankai waved the servants out of the room. Pan Jianchi was the last to leave and tactfully closed the door on them then led the rest of the guards far away so that the couple could talk in private. Yi Liankai smiled and asked, ‘Well? Over your tantrum at last?’
‘Father has always hated the Japanese. He always said they were rapacious³ so why are you letting a Japanese physician treat him?’
³ 狼子野心 lángzǐ yěxīn ambition of wild wolves (idiom); rapacious designs
Yi Liankai replied: ‘Father doesn’t know he’s Japanese and besides, he’s a very good physician. Any physician who can cure illnesses is a good one so why split hairs over whether he’s Japanese?’
Qin Sang asked: ‘Just now I heard that physician saying in English that the naval port is going to be leased to Japan. Is it true?’
Yi Liankai had not been angry at first but the moment he heard this, his smile vanished and he said: ‘This is official business. Don’t ask so many questions.’
‘The naval port is national territory. As a citizen of this nation, why can’t I ask questions?’
Yi Liankai smiled grimly. ‘Getting all high and mighty, aren’t you? Who do you think you are? Just because I’ve been indulging you lately, you start being full of yourself. Since when do you have the right to question me about official business? Even if I were to lease the entire province south of the Yangtze to the Japanese, you still wouldn’t have the right to question me…’
Before he could finish speaking, Qin Sang had already raised her hand and given him the hardest slap she could muster but he had taken an instinctive step back so her slap only landed on his ear. However, he had never endured such treatment before and raised his hand to slap her back. Qin Sang refused to duck and raised her chin defiantly instead: ‘Go ahead and slap me… You might as well shoot me now. Why did I marry someone like you…’ Sudden tears rolled down her face as she said, ‘It’s treason, don’t you know that?’
Yi Liankai, beside himself with rage, turned and stormed out of the room without another word. For her part, Qin Sang could only slump against the table and cry inconsolably. From the outset, she had resigned herself to this marriage. Yi Liankai was neither well-read nor talented so she had made more allowances but never had she imagined that he would turn out to be so morally bankrupt. He had absolutely no regard for brotherly ties and had even forced his sister-in-law to commit suicide. Now he was using the country for his own personal gain by leasing the naval port to foreign powers. To be married to such a man was really a fate worse than death.
As she sobbed, she only felt that never in all her life did she feel more hurt than in that moment. Even when she had first been forced to marry him, she had not cried. Back then she had only felt that no matter how hard it was, she would just have to endure but when all it had culminated in was heartache and more heartache, she could not hold back her violent crying. Her tears soaked her sleeves and the lace that pricked her face was cool to the touch, so cool that she felt desolate. She did not know how long she had been crying until someone behind her softly said, ‘Madam.’
She turned her head to look. It was Pan Jianchi. She saw his expression: there seemed to be a flicker of pity in his gaze but also an unreadable expression, as though there was something he wanted to say but couldn’t. Hating Yi Liankai with all her heart now, she felt that Pan Jianchi was as bad as the former⁴ which was why they were birds of a feather.5 That made her even more loath to talk to him so she wiped away her tears and asked coldly, ‘What is it?’
⁴ 一丘之貉 yī qiū zhī hé jackals of the same tribe (idiom); fig. They are all just as bad as each other.
5臭味相投 chòuwèi xiāngtóu be birds of a feather; be two of a kind
‘Master said that you’re not feeling well, so he ordered me to escort you back to the headquarters first for a rest.’
‘I’m not going back. I’m going to stay here.’
Pan Jianchi said, ‘Madam, please go back and rest first. Why make things difficult for your subordinate?’
Qin Sang burst out angrily: ‘You can go and tell that Master of yours that I can no longer live under the same roof with a quisling. I want a divorce and if he doesn’t agree, I’ll go to the courts myself and ask them to annul our marriage!’6
12’s notes: 6 I was very curious about whether she could do it in those times. Probably the author had in mind ‘義绝’, defined as ‘state-mandated annulment of marriage. This applies when one spouse commits a serious crime (variously defined, usually more broadly for the wife) against the other or his/her clan.’ Wikipedia,https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_marriage
Chapter 7.2
Yi Liankai himself did not return to the Yi residence because there had been fierce fighting between the Coalition Army and Yi Lianshen’s forces. The walls, the gate and the stone steps were all covered in blood. Bodies were strewn all over the ground: some had not yet stiffened, some had died with their eyes open, while others had missing limbs or, having been hit by shells from the gun-howitzers, were too appalling to look at. Qin Sang, surrounded and supported by the guards Pan Jianchi had brought with him, felt wave after wave of dizziness as she walked through this scene.
So many had died.
She was driven directly to the city defence headquarters and installed in a room there. Shortly after, Zhu Ma and some other servant girls entered the room. She had not seen any of them since her imprisonment at the Yi residence. Zhu Ma came up to hug her and sobbed, ‘My dearest Mistress, I didn’t think I would ever see you again.’
Qin Sang felt as if she had been dreaming: when she awoke, the fighting was already over and life had returned to normal, everything was just as it had been before.
She did not know what the situation was like over at the Yi residence since Pan Jianchi had left after escorting her to this place. The corridor was quiet and two sentries stood guard outside the room so she asked Zhu Ma to call one of them in. The guard was extremely respectful and said, ‘Madam, there’s still the risk of stray bullets in the streets so for safety’s sake, the entire city has been placed under martial law.’
Qin Sang knew that it was useless to become anxious since everything would have to wait until Yi Liankai made his appearance. Zhu Ma was still grumbling incessantly because all their clothes were still at the Yi residence: ‘Not a single outfit to change into and we don’t know if we can even go back to the family home tonight.’
Qin Sang thought of the bodies she had seen on her way out of the residence and felt another wave of fear in her heart. She thought that if she were Yi Liankai, she would likely never want to return to the family home ever again.
After dinner that night, they heard the sound of someone walking in leather boots along the corridor and the sound of gun bolts being pushed back in salute. Soon after, the door was pushed open and Yi Liankai entered. Qin Sang had never seen him in uniform before and felt it to be an entirely foreign sight. Thinner than before and tanned, he seemed almost a stranger. Zhu Ma still bore a grudge against him over the incident on the train and looked unsmilingly at him. Yi Liankai took off his hat and handed it to Pan Jianchi, then glanced at Qin Sang with a smile and remarked, ‘You’re looking quite well.’
After Pan Jianchi and Zhu Ma had left, Qin Sang said tonelessly, ‘Hello, Chief Commander.’
Yi Liankai removed his tall leather boots and slipped into a pair of slippers, saying laughingly, ‘All right, all right, don’t freeze me to death. I know you hate me. I apologise, will that do?’
‘What have you done to Er Ge?’
‘What can I possibly do to him?’ Yi Liankai turned her around by the shoulders and pulled her into a firm hug saying, ‘Why don’t you ask me how I’ve been? You haven’t seen me for some time. Didn’t you miss me at all?’
Qin Sang pushed him away. ‘What was there to miss? Wasn’t that one kick enough for me?’
Yi Liankai didn’t appear angry. In fact, he was all smiles as he said, ‘Well, there was a good reason for that and I had no choice. I’ll apologise to you now or how about you hit me in return? Will that do?’ Usually he was impossibly arrogant, domineering and had scant patience with her such that they were perennially at loggerheads and quarrelled frequently. Yet today he was humbling himself which was so rare and unusual that Qin Sang felt he had become someone else entirely, very different from his old self, although she could not really say what the change was.
Not being in the mood to argue with him, she asked instead, ‘How is Father’s condition exactly? I want to go back and see him, as well as Da Sao and Er Sao who aren’t well. No one is looking after them now and I don’t know how they are.’
‘Father is still unconscious and can’t be moved. There’s a pack of physicians attending to him.’ His tone was dismissive as he added, ‘It won’t be too late even if you visit him tomorrow.’
Qin Sang queried: ‘Why are you so indifferent? You didn’t even go back to see how anyone in the family, old or young, is faring and only sent for me alone. If outsiders were to hear of it, what would they think?’
Yi Liankai said with a curl of his lip: ‘Since when has anyone in that family, old or young, treated me as human? I’ve had enough of such treatment and they only have themselves to blame for how things are today. Let’s see who dares to say anything about it.’
Qin Sang was so angry she turned her head away but he only laughed and chucked her under the chin playfully, saying: ‘Still angry? What a bad temper you have! That slap was a show put on for bystanders, you know? But if you’re really angry, why not I let you slap me in return?’
Qin Sang said, ‘Who cares¹ about slapping you?’
Yi Liankai replied teasingly, ‘You may not care about me, but I most certainly care about you!’¹
¹ 稀罕 xīhàn: to cherish something. When used with 誰 shuí, its meaning changes to ‘who cares?’ So Yi Liankai neatly twists Qin Sang’s words. It sounds a lot better and flirtier in Chinese.
Yi Liankai still refused to let Qin Sang return to the Yi residence the next morning so she had no choice but to send Zhu Ma instead to visit Eldest Mistress. She never expected Zhu Ma to return with news as unexpected as it was shocking.
Second Mistress was dead.
Qin Sang could not speak for some time and when she finally did, she asked: ‘What about Er Ge then?’
Yi Lianshen had escaped after all. Apparently he had done so under cover of darkness on that night of fierce fighting. The city had been in chaos but his men had risked life and limb to ensure his escape. However, Yi Lianshen had not taken his legally wedded wife with him whilst fleeing and early on the second day, Second Mistress had committed suicide by drinking cologne. As soon as Qin Sang heard this, she rushed out of the headquarters and back to the Yi residence, heedless of the guards’ attempts to stop her. The Yi family home had already been cleaned: the bodies had been removed and all traces of blood scrubbed clean. Second Mistress was already lying in a coffin and the funeral was being held in the quarters she had lived in. When Qin Sang got there, it was Eldest Mistress who clutched her and cried, ‘Why was Er Mei in such despair? Even if she didn’t want to live, she should have considered her baby… Two lives lost just like that is really a sin… .’
But had it really been despair? Most likely she had been forced to do it. Qin Sang recalled almost calmly how Yi Lianshen had entrusted his wife to her care. Most probably he had suspected that something like this would happen, except he had still been too careless to assume Yi Liankai would not be so ruthless towards a mere woman, much less one who was his own sister-in-law — but Yi Liankai had been bent on complete elimination² after all.
² 斬草除根 zhǎncǎo-chúgēn to cut weeds and eliminate the roots (idiom); to destroy root and branch
She was filled with so much resentment over this matter that she stubbornly refused to speak to Yi Liankai at all. At the same time, she had to go back to the Yi residence daily and help Eldest Mistress to look after Yi Jipei who was still bedridden. Yi Jipei’s stroke had been a severe one and it was fortunate that Yi Lianshen had sent for German doctors there and then to operate on him. Although Yi Jipei had been confined to his bedroom right after that, it had helped his convalescence greatly and he had recovered quite a fair bit of late. Although he still couldn’t talk, he had recovered consciousness and could sometimes open his eyes and recognise the faces he saw. Yi Liankai was busy with military affairs so he hardly went home although he tried to make time to visit Yi Jipei out of filial piety and even engaged a reputable Japanese physician to treat his father.
Qin Sang had been giving Yi Liankai the cold shoulder for many days but when she saw that he had engaged this Japanese physician, she couldn’t tolerate it any further. Her chance came when Yi Liankai came to visit Yi Jipei. Whilst he was still in the reception room, she walked in and said to him: ‘I have something to say to you.’
It had been days since she had spoken to him, let alone in front of other people. In response, Yi Liankai waved the servants out of the room. Pan Jianchi was the last to leave and tactfully closed the door on them then led the rest of the guards far away so that the couple could talk in private. Yi Liankai smiled and asked, ‘Well? Over your tantrum at last?’
‘Father has always hated the Japanese. He always said they were rapacious³ so why are you letting a Japanese physician treat him?’
³ 狼子野心 lángzǐ yěxīn ambition of wild wolves (idiom); rapacious designs
Yi Liankai replied: ‘Father doesn’t know he’s Japanese and besides, he’s a very good physician. Any physician who can cure illnesses is a good one so why split hairs over whether he’s Japanese?’
Qin Sang asked: ‘Just now I heard that physician saying in English that the naval port is going to be leased to Japan. Is it true?’
Yi Liankai had not been angry at first but the moment he heard this, his smile vanished and he said: ‘This is official business. Don’t ask so many questions.’
‘The naval port is national territory. As a citizen of this nation, why can’t I ask questions?’
Yi Liankai smiled grimly. ‘Getting all high and mighty, aren’t you? Who do you think you are? Just because I’ve been indulging you lately, you start being full of yourself. Since when do you have the right to question me about official business? Even if I were to lease the entire province south of the Yangtze to the Japanese, you still wouldn’t have the right to question me…’
Before he could finish speaking, Qin Sang had already raised her hand and given him the hardest slap she could muster but he had taken an instinctive step back so her slap only landed on his ear. However, he had never endured such treatment before and raised his hand to slap her back. Qin Sang refused to duck and raised her chin defiantly instead: ‘Go ahead and slap me… You might as well shoot me now. Why did I marry someone like you…’ Sudden tears rolled down her face as she said, ‘It’s treason, don’t you know that?’
Yi Liankai, beside himself with rage, turned and stormed out of the room without another word. For her part, Qin Sang could only slump against the table and cry inconsolably. From the outset, she had resigned herself to this marriage. Yi Liankai was neither well-read nor talented so she had made more allowances but never had she imagined that he would turn out to be so morally bankrupt. He had absolutely no regard for brotherly ties and had even forced his sister-in-law to commit suicide. Now he was using the country for his own personal gain by leasing the naval port to foreign powers. To be married to such a man was really a fate worse than death.
As she sobbed, she only felt that never in all her life did she feel more hurt than in that moment. Even when she had first been forced to marry him, she had not cried. Back then she had only felt that no matter how hard it was, she would just have to endure but when all it had culminated in was heartache and more heartache, she could not hold back her violent crying. Her tears soaked her sleeves and the lace that pricked her face was cool to the touch, so cool that she felt desolate. She did not know how long she had been crying until someone behind her softly said, ‘Madam.’
She turned her head to look. It was Pan Jianchi. She saw his expression: there seemed to be a flicker of pity in his gaze but also an unreadable expression, as though there was something he wanted to say but couldn’t. Hating Yi Liankai with all her heart now, she felt that Pan Jianchi was as bad as the former⁴ which was why they were birds of a feather.5 That made her even more loath to talk to him so she wiped away her tears and asked coldly, ‘What is it?’
⁴ 一丘之貉 yī qiū zhī hé jackals of the same tribe (idiom); fig. They are all just as bad as each other.
5臭味相投 chòuwèi xiāngtóu be birds of a feather; be two of a kind
‘Master said that you’re not feeling well, so he ordered me to escort you back to the headquarters first for a rest.’
‘I’m not going back. I’m going to stay here.’
Pan Jianchi said, ‘Madam, please go back and rest first. Why make things difficult for your subordinate?’
Qin Sang burst out angrily: ‘You can go and tell that Master of yours that I can no longer live under the same roof with a quisling. I want a divorce and if he doesn’t agree, I’ll go to the courts myself and ask them to annul our marriage!’6
12’s notes: 6 I was very curious about whether she could do it in those times. Probably the author had in mind ‘義绝’, defined as ‘state-mandated annulment of marriage. This applies when one spouse commits a serious crime (variously defined, usually more broadly for the wife) against the other or his/her clan.’ Wikipedia,https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_marriage
