Ch. 8.1
‘Don’t ask. Flattery got me nowhere this time. Young Mistress flared up the moment she heard a rabbit had been killed and even refused to keep its babies.’
The guard smiled and said, ‘Better not let Master find out otherwise there’ll be another quarrel.’
‘Exactly.’ Pan Jianchi handed the basket of rabbits to a servant girl, saying, ‘Look after them well. In a day or two, Young Mistress might be in a better mood and might take a liking to them again.’
Because of what Qin Sang had said, Zhu Ma had been worried that once Yi Liankai came back, the couple would quarrel again. However, he came back late and even though Qin Sang had to wait for him to have dinner, she didn’t mention the matter to him.
Zhu Ma felt that ever since Yi Liankai had taken up a post in the military, he had become steadier and wasn’t as impetuous as before. Qin Sang too was less disposed to be difficult and sulky so they were at peace and spent their days together in rare harmony.
On this day, it snowed lightly after sunset. Jiang Jingyi, the newly appointed Chairman of Fuzhou Province, had curried favour by sending someone over with several large cuts of deer meat. Qin Sang had an iron grill sent up to the room where she grilled the meat herself and warmed up a bottle of mead.
Zhu Ma knew that deer meat was Yi Liankai’s favourite and seeing Qin Sang prepare the food and wine gratified her immensely. In the past, Master had been unkind to Missy but that was also because Missy’s cold and indifferent attitude had really not given Master any face. At least Missy had finally come to understand that men, well, they did need to be cajoled a little. As long as Missy was willing to exert herself to win Master over, chief commander or not, he would still be putty in Missy’s hands.
Of late, Yi Liankai had been coming home for dinner but tonight was different for even after waiting half the day for him, he was nowhere to be seen.
Seeing that it was already so late, with the wine having been reheated a few times, the iron grill having turned red-hot then cooled before being reheated, Zhu Ma could not help coaxing a little: ‘Missy, you might as well have dinner first. It looks like he’s being kept busy by some urgent official business and he might not even be home until midnight.’
Qin Sang was actually worried about something else but after hearing Zhu Ma’s unsought advice, she was apprehensive that the latter had noticed something amiss.
Since Yi Liankai did come home late sometimes, Qin Sang rather indifferently grilled and ate some pieces of meat. Fearing indigestion, she drank half a cup of wine which warmed her chest.
After finishing a bowl of porridge, she heard the clock outside chime more than eleven times, so she said, ‘It looks like he won’t be home tonight. Clear the dishes and open the windows for some fresh air.’
Since the room was a little smoky from the grilled meat, Zhu Ma opened the window partially. She let out an ‘Ah’ suddenly and said, ‘Such heavy snow.’
Qin Sang walked to the window. She could feel a gust of biting wind blowing in whilst the outside scene was covered in faint silvery light. Under the street lamps, everything was a sea of white from the roofs of the houses to the trees that were also blanketed in snow. Like cotton wool, the snow kept falling steadily.
Qin Sang, previously warmed by the food and wine, could not help sneezing when she felt the cold wind.
Zhu Ma hurriedly closed the window, saying, ‘This night wind is as sharp as a knife. Don’t catch a chill, Missy.’ As she said this, she went to get a blanket to place it over Qin Sang.
Covered by the blanket, Qin Sang lay on the sofa watching them clear the table. She had only intended to rest a while but the room was extremely warm even though it was snowing outside and she dozed off without knowing it.
It was not a deep sleep and after a while someone came in. Thinking it was Zhu Ma, she didn’t open her eyes and murmured, ‘You can all go to bed… I’ll just rest a while more…’
There was no answer but that person reached out and she felt herself being lifted up. She opened her eyes. It was Yi Liankai which caused her to blurt out, ‘Why did you come in without a sound?’
Yi Liankai noted her slightly flushed cheeks and the faint whiff of wine and said teasingly, ‘You drank too much and fell asleep yet you’re blaming me for coming in without a sound?’
‘Who says I drank too much?’ Qin Sang retorted. ‘I kept waiting and waiting for you to come home and have the grilled meat. The wine grew cold so I had half a cup. It’s your fault for not coming back.’
Yi Liankai had actually been in a bad mood. However, upon coming home, he had been greeted by the sight of his wife sleeping under a thin blanket, as lovely as the traditional beauties depicted in paintings¹. That, together with her flirty complaint, had the effect of making his moodiness vanish² and he said, ‘Don’t ask. Something major came up otherwise I would have been home much earlier to have the grilled meat with you.’
² 九霄云外 jiǔxiāo yúnwài: beyond the topmost clouds (idiom); unimaginably far away.
Qin Sang asked casually, ‘What has happened now? Don’t tell me another battle is going to start.’
Yi Liankai frowned and said, ‘I’m worried that it’ll be more troublesome than a battle…’ He did not elaborate and changed the subject, asking, ‘Is there anything else to eat? I haven’t had any dinner and my stomach feels like it’s on fire.’
Qin Sang hurriedly rang for Zhu Ma and told her to have the kitchen prepare some fresh noodles and grill a big bowl of deer meat. She then picked up the tin bottle and heated up the wine herself.
Yi Liankai was naturally pleased and sat down to eat his deer meat and drink several cups of wine. He then had a steaming bowl of noodles, only after which he really felt more relaxed. Having drunk to his heart’s content, he felt warm so he loosened the buttons of his uniform and quoted, ‘“As it looks like snow tonight, how about a drink?”’³
As Qin Sang rarely heard him make such allusions, she couldn’t help laughing and remarked, ‘Now that you’re a commander, even the way you speak is different. You’re more refined now.’
Yi Liankai smiled, lifted his wine cup and had another drink before observing, ‘You used to look down on me before so naturally you found fault with everything I did.’
Qin Sang said: ‘Who would dare look down on you? What a strange thing to say.’
But Yi Liankai grasped her hand and gently stroked the jade bangle she wore, saying, ‘I know very well what you think of me. Xiaosang, you never wanted to marry me from the start.’
Qin Sang did not know how to reply to this. When she saw him looking steadily at her, she could not help saying, ‘Why do you keep saying such things? Whether willingly or not, I married you in the end. As long as you treat me a little better and stop throwing those tantrums of yours…’
Before she could finish her sentence, she suddenly felt a warmth on the back of her hand.
Yi Liankai was kissing the back of her hand.
She hesitated, unsure whether to withdraw her hand but he raised his head and said: ‘Xiaosang, I was too intemperate in the past. Don’t take it to heart. The truth is I felt terrible when I slapped you that day. The way you looked at me made me feel like you would never speak to me again for the rest of my life. Right there and then I wanted to bring you along with me, never mind the consequences. But when I finally reached the Northwestern camp alone, I was thankful… thankful I hadn’t brought you along after all. If things had gone badly and I had died in the fighting, you wouldn’t have been too upset. After all, it was our last time together and I had slapped and kicked you. As long as you remembered that, you wouldn’t be too upset… .’
Qin Sang never dreamed that he would confess such a thing to her. The mead, which he had eagerly had on an empty stomach, was having a strong delayed effect and had made him drunk. He mumbled a few more things before sprawling on the table and falling asleep.
Qin Sang, watching him slumber, felt deeply conflicted but could not articulate what it was that disturbed her so much.
After a while, she prodded him lightly but when he didn’t respond, she placed a blanket over him and watched him sleeping under the lamplight.
Qin Sang sat down slowly on the sofa and thought back to when she had first married him. He had indeed been warm and considerate towards her but unfortunately she had never cared for him and as time passed, that temper of his had not allowed him to suffer such treatment and they had naturally become implacably hostile to each other⁴.
⁴ 針尖對麥芒 zhēnjiān duì màimáng lit. a pin against an awl; diamond cut diamond. Sharply opposed to each other, with neither prepared to give an inch (idiom).
Despite repeatedly saying she didn’t believe Yi Lianshen’s revelations about Fu Rongcai, deep down Qin Sang harboured a seed of doubt which had increased her ill will towards Yi Liankai.
In helping Pan Jianchi steal a look at the code book, she had been motivated by the righteousness of helping her country. But her secondary motive had been more selfish. She had only felt hatred and disgust for Yi Liankai before but just these few words of his tonight made her feel uncomfortable in every way possible.
Watching him sleep there, Qin Sang felt a bit nonplussed: surely she couldn’t let him sleep on the table the whole night, but if she couldn’t wake him up she would just have to go to bed herself.
She had not slept for long when she suddenly heard the telephone ringing. It sounded particularly shrill in the quiet night. Qin Sang was about to get up to answer it but Yi Liankai had also been awakened and with bleary eyes he staggered to the phone, as if he were still half-asleep.
After listening to the call for a few seconds, he merely said, ‘Got it’, before hanging up.
Having done that, he came back to the room to sleep. Qin Sang did not question him. The next morning, he got up early to go to work.
Qin Sang was still able to repress her curiosity and only when the newspapers had been delivered did she find out that something major had indeed happened the day before.
Ch. 8.1
‘Don’t ask. Flattery got me nowhere this time. Young Mistress flared up the moment she heard a rabbit had been killed and even refused to keep its babies.’
The guard smiled and said, ‘Better not let Master find out otherwise there’ll be another quarrel.’
‘Exactly.’ Pan Jianchi handed the basket of rabbits to a servant girl, saying, ‘Look after them well. In a day or two, Young Mistress might be in a better mood and might take a liking to them again.’
Because of what Qin Sang had said, Zhu Ma had been worried that once Yi Liankai came back, the couple would quarrel again. However, he came back late and even though Qin Sang had to wait for him to have dinner, she didn’t mention the matter to him.
Zhu Ma felt that ever since Yi Liankai had taken up a post in the military, he had become steadier and wasn’t as impetuous as before. Qin Sang too was less disposed to be difficult and sulky so they were at peace and spent their days together in rare harmony.
On this day, it snowed lightly after sunset. Jiang Jingyi, the newly appointed Chairman of Fuzhou Province, had curried favour by sending someone over with several large cuts of deer meat. Qin Sang had an iron grill sent up to the room where she grilled the meat herself and warmed up a bottle of mead.
Zhu Ma knew that deer meat was Yi Liankai’s favourite and seeing Qin Sang prepare the food and wine gratified her immensely. In the past, Master had been unkind to Missy but that was also because Missy’s cold and indifferent attitude had really not given Master any face. At least Missy had finally come to understand that men, well, they did need to be cajoled a little. As long as Missy was willing to exert herself to win Master over, chief commander or not, he would still be putty in Missy’s hands.
Of late, Yi Liankai had been coming home for dinner but tonight was different for even after waiting half the day for him, he was nowhere to be seen.
Seeing that it was already so late, with the wine having been reheated a few times, the iron grill having turned red-hot then cooled before being reheated, Zhu Ma could not help coaxing a little: ‘Missy, you might as well have dinner first. It looks like he’s being kept busy by some urgent official business and he might not even be home until midnight.’
Qin Sang was actually worried about something else but after hearing Zhu Ma’s unsought advice, she was apprehensive that the latter had noticed something amiss.
Since Yi Liankai did come home late sometimes, Qin Sang rather indifferently grilled and ate some pieces of meat. Fearing indigestion, she drank half a cup of wine which warmed her chest.
After finishing a bowl of porridge, she heard the clock outside chime more than eleven times, so she said, ‘It looks like he won’t be home tonight. Clear the dishes and open the windows for some fresh air.’
Since the room was a little smoky from the grilled meat, Zhu Ma opened the window partially. She let out an ‘Ah’ suddenly and said, ‘Such heavy snow.’
Qin Sang walked to the window. She could feel a gust of biting wind blowing in whilst the outside scene was covered in faint silvery light. Under the street lamps, everything was a sea of white from the roofs of the houses to the trees that were also blanketed in snow. Like cotton wool, the snow kept falling steadily.
Qin Sang, previously warmed by the food and wine, could not help sneezing when she felt the cold wind.
Zhu Ma hurriedly closed the window, saying, ‘This night wind is as sharp as a knife. Don’t catch a chill, Missy.’ As she said this, she went to get a blanket to place it over Qin Sang.
Covered by the blanket, Qin Sang lay on the sofa watching them clear the table. She had only intended to rest a while but the room was extremely warm even though it was snowing outside and she dozed off without knowing it.
It was not a deep sleep and after a while someone came in. Thinking it was Zhu Ma, she didn’t open her eyes and murmured, ‘You can all go to bed… I’ll just rest a while more…’
There was no answer but that person reached out and she felt herself being lifted up. She opened her eyes. It was Yi Liankai which caused her to blurt out, ‘Why did you come in without a sound?’
Yi Liankai noted her slightly flushed cheeks and the faint whiff of wine and said teasingly, ‘You drank too much and fell asleep yet you’re blaming me for coming in without a sound?’
‘Who says I drank too much?’ Qin Sang retorted. ‘I kept waiting and waiting for you to come home and have the grilled meat. The wine grew cold so I had half a cup. It’s your fault for not coming back.’
Yi Liankai had actually been in a bad mood. However, upon coming home, he had been greeted by the sight of his wife sleeping under a thin blanket, as lovely as the traditional beauties depicted in paintings¹. That, together with her flirty complaint, had the effect of making his moodiness vanish² and he said, ‘Don’t ask. Something major came up otherwise I would have been home much earlier to have the grilled meat with you.’
² 九霄云外 jiǔxiāo yúnwài: beyond the topmost clouds (idiom); unimaginably far away.
Qin Sang asked casually, ‘What has happened now? Don’t tell me another battle is going to start.’
Yi Liankai frowned and said, ‘I’m worried that it’ll be more troublesome than a battle…’ He did not elaborate and changed the subject, asking, ‘Is there anything else to eat? I haven’t had any dinner and my stomach feels like it’s on fire.’
Qin Sang hurriedly rang for Zhu Ma and told her to have the kitchen prepare some fresh noodles and grill a big bowl of deer meat. She then picked up the tin bottle and heated up the wine herself.
Yi Liankai was naturally pleased and sat down to eat his deer meat and drink several cups of wine. He then had a steaming bowl of noodles, only after which he really felt more relaxed. Having drunk to his heart’s content, he felt warm so he loosened the buttons of his uniform and quoted, ‘“As it looks like snow tonight, how about a drink?”’³
As Qin Sang rarely heard him make such allusions, she couldn’t help laughing and remarked, ‘Now that you’re a commander, even the way you speak is different. You’re more refined now.’
Yi Liankai smiled, lifted his wine cup and had another drink before observing, ‘You used to look down on me before so naturally you found fault with everything I did.’
Qin Sang said: ‘Who would dare look down on you? What a strange thing to say.’
But Yi Liankai grasped her hand and gently stroked the jade bangle she wore, saying, ‘I know very well what you think of me. Xiaosang, you never wanted to marry me from the start.’
Qin Sang did not know how to reply to this. When she saw him looking steadily at her, she could not help saying, ‘Why do you keep saying such things? Whether willingly or not, I married you in the end. As long as you treat me a little better and stop throwing those tantrums of yours…’
Before she could finish her sentence, she suddenly felt a warmth on the back of her hand.
Yi Liankai was kissing the back of her hand.
She hesitated, unsure whether to withdraw her hand but he raised his head and said: ‘Xiaosang, I was too intemperate in the past. Don’t take it to heart. The truth is I felt terrible when I slapped you that day. The way you looked at me made me feel like you would never speak to me again for the rest of my life. Right there and then I wanted to bring you along with me, never mind the consequences. But when I finally reached the Northwestern camp alone, I was thankful… thankful I hadn’t brought you along after all. If things had gone badly and I had died in the fighting, you wouldn’t have been too upset. After all, it was our last time together and I had slapped and kicked you. As long as you remembered that, you wouldn’t be too upset… .’
Qin Sang never dreamed that he would confess such a thing to her. The mead, which he had eagerly had on an empty stomach, was having a strong delayed effect and had made him drunk. He mumbled a few more things before sprawling on the table and falling asleep.
Qin Sang, watching him slumber, felt deeply conflicted but could not articulate what it was that disturbed her so much.
After a while, she prodded him lightly but when he didn’t respond, she placed a blanket over him and watched him sleeping under the lamplight.
Qin Sang sat down slowly on the sofa and thought back to when she had first married him. He had indeed been warm and considerate towards her but unfortunately she had never cared for him and as time passed, that temper of his had not allowed him to suffer such treatment and they had naturally become implacably hostile to each other⁴.
⁴ 針尖對麥芒 zhēnjiān duì màimáng lit. a pin against an awl; diamond cut diamond. Sharply opposed to each other, with neither prepared to give an inch (idiom).
Despite repeatedly saying she didn’t believe Yi Lianshen’s revelations about Fu Rongcai, deep down Qin Sang harboured a seed of doubt which had increased her ill will towards Yi Liankai.
In helping Pan Jianchi steal a look at the code book, she had been motivated by the righteousness of helping her country. But her secondary motive had been more selfish. She had only felt hatred and disgust for Yi Liankai before but just these few words of his tonight made her feel uncomfortable in every way possible.
Watching him sleep there, Qin Sang felt a bit nonplussed: surely she couldn’t let him sleep on the table the whole night, but if she couldn’t wake him up she would just have to go to bed herself.
She had not slept for long when she suddenly heard the telephone ringing. It sounded particularly shrill in the quiet night. Qin Sang was about to get up to answer it but Yi Liankai had also been awakened and with bleary eyes he staggered to the phone, as if he were still half-asleep.
After listening to the call for a few seconds, he merely said, ‘Got it’, before hanging up.
Having done that, he came back to the room to sleep. Qin Sang did not question him. The next morning, he got up early to go to work.
Qin Sang was still able to repress her curiosity and only when the newspapers had been delivered did she find out that something major had indeed happened the day before.
