Cherry Blossom Pavilion – Shan

 

My spine stiffens when I see the zither-player walk onstage and after the first few notes, my suspicions are confirmed.  It’s Jinhai, dressed like a prostitute and playing for the clients of a brothel.  The feelings of rage, frustration and powerlessness which have been building up in me for the past weeks suddenly reach boiling point.

I’ve been feeling like a caged animal ever since the Third Prince’s people picked Shao Ru and me up in the street and transferred us to a mansion in the city and then, secretly, to a country estate, where we’ve been training his private army.  We’ve been treated with respect.  Our accommodation is excellent and they’ve even brought me my horse from his livery stable in the city.  But we might as well be prisoners.  My plans to rescue my sister have been pushed aside by the greater Imperial scheme.  My feelings and intentions don’t count.  Once again, my strings are being pulled for reasons which have nothing to do with me.  We apparently have General Chen to thank for this.  It’s he who recommended us to the Third Prince.  Where the money came from to finance all this is a mystery, until someone lets slip that the Third Prince is in contact with the lords of the southern provinces, with whom the Empire’s currently at war.  There are no two ways about this: it’s treason.  Our heads are on the line yet again. 

Beside me in the private booth, Shao Ru stirs.  “Isn’t that….?”  he says out of the corner of his mouth.

I make a discreet gesture and he shuts up.  We haven’t told the Third Prince that his brother’s still alive.  I have no idea what their relationship is.  We can’t risk there being bad blood between them which would put Jinhai in danger.  We’re here because Yuan Song, whom I’ve not met before this evening, has said there’s someone he wants us to meet.  Shao Ru and I have come into the city with the Third Prince and his military advisor, Wan Ning, all of us disguised as horse traders.  It’s the first time Shao Ru and I have been back since our capture, or recruitment, if you prefer.

I recognize the piece Jinhai’s playing.  It brings back bitter memories of that dinner at Eagle Rock when I was still the commander of a troop.  As the piece ends, I hear the comments, some approving, some salacious, from the people around us as they applaud.  Jinhai starts a second piece, which I don’t recognize.  Halfway through, someone taps me on the shoulder and says there’s a message for me.  I leave the booth and follow the servant to a big conference room, where he leaves me.  The sound of renewed applause reaches even here.  I lay my cloak down on the table and walk to the window to look out.  My feelings are in turmoil.

The door opens and I turn.  He’s there.  He’s beautiful.  Those clothes…..  I hardly know what I’m feeling.  I seize him by the shoulders and blurt something out.  His face changes to one of bewilderment.  A faint scent of perfume from his body reaches me and my breath catches in my throat.   Then the door opens and the others come in.  I can’t let them see him like this.  I grab my cloak and wrap it round his shoulders.  Totally distracted, I’m vaguely aware that the Third Prince has recognized his brother.  He’s angry that we haven’t told him.  Jinhai passes it off, quick-witted as ever.  And of course, immediately realizes what this is all about.  At this dangerous moment, I recover the wits which have temporarily deserted me.  But once again, Jinhai turns aside the danger and everyone relaxes.

“So what’s the plan?” he says.

At a gesture from the Third Prince, Wan Ning begins.  “The latest news is that the army’s packing up to return home.  They’ll be here in about three weeks’ time.  There’s an enormous amount of dissatisfaction because of the Emperor’s policies and many of the officers are disaffected.”

He pauses and Jinhai says, “You want to turn the army?  What are the chances?”

Wan Ning looks a little taken aback, “Er - Your Highness, we feel that the chances are very good.”

“Especially if Third Brother’s presented as an alternative to Yan Rong?”

“Exactly,” says Wan Ning, stroking his moustache.

 “What about the Li family?” Jinhai asks.

“We have a plan.  Before the army returns, we intend to mount an attack on the prison where Sir Li’s being held.”

“And what about Young Lady Li?”

“That’s more difficult,” Wan Ning says, coughing.

I look round the table.  Yuan Song’s strange eyes are fixed on Jinhai, with a look half of lurking admiration and half of amusement.  I know that he’s our main source of intelligence, filling the role that Ma Lingxin held previously, but I don’t trust him.  It’s he who arranged tonight’s charade.  If he wanted to bring Jinhai to meet us, he had no need to do it this way.  Shao Ru’s silent, as he always is at this kind of meeting.  The Third Prince’s eyes are also fixed on Jinhai, as if he doesn’t quite believe what he’s seeing.  Over the last weeks we’ve learned that Yan Jianhong has none of the murderous traits of his Second Brother and is brighter than his ill-fated First Brother.  But he lacks military experience and also, it must be said, the kind of charisma that Jinhai has by the spadeful.

My attention’s brought back by Jinhai saying, “Well, yes, the temple’s not likely to be taken by force.  But it might be taken by cunning.”

“Does your Highness have a suggestion?”

“Suppose a person rolls up from the Prime Minister’s office with an official document authorizing the secret transfer of Young Lady Li to a more secure location?  Do you think the nuns would fall for it?”

Wan Ning and Yan Jianhong exchange looks.

“I can arrange the document, if someone can get me an example of the Prime Minister’s handwriting,” Jinhai says, “And I’d need a facsimile of the Prime Minister’s seal.”

“I could do that,” says the Third Prince, looking rather bemused.

Jinhai smiles.  “Then I volunteer to be the official.  I’ll need a carriage and three or four men.  Once we get Young Lady Li out, we can transfer her to a palanquin to muddy the trail.  Then we can bring her to a safe place.”

“My mansion,” says the Third Prince.

“Good idea.  I’ll need Shao Ru to help me.  We’ll have to coordinate with Li Wei's rescue, preferably before the Emperor gets back.  Who’ll be leading the attack on the prison?”

“Commander Liao,” says Wan Ning.

I see Jinhai’s eyelashes cover his eyes for a moment.  Then he looks up again.  “Well, what do you all think?”

“Do you think you can do it?” Yan Jianhong asks.

“I believe so.  I’ve been thinking about it and I reckon it’s the only way.”

“I agree with Jin – with His Highness,” I say, stumbling over the unaccustomed title.

“Well, I’m prepared to give it a try,” Shao Ru says, unexpectedly.  “I trust Young Master Yan."  He grins as two pairs of stern eyes turn towards him and adds, “I mean His Highness.”

“Then let’s do it,” says Yan Jianhong.  “Make your arrangements, Sixth Brother.  We can keep in touch through Master Song.  Let us know when everything’s in place.  I’ll see to the things you asked for.  Is there anything else to discuss?”

He looks round the table.  We all shake our heads.

“Well,” Yuan Song says, standing up, “If any of you wish to sample the facilities of the establishment, everything’s on the house this evening.”

The Third Prince shakes his head impatiently.  Wan Ning also declines, but Shao Ru grins and says, “Could do with a hot bath.”  Jinhai won’t meet my eyes.  I curse the stupidity of my first reaction on seeing him. 

I’m distracted by Yan Jianhong calling me over to the window.  We go into a huddle with Wan Ning.  He’s giving me permission to stay the night in town as long as I’m back at the Prince's mansion by daybreak.  Out of the corner of my eye, I see Shao Ru, with his usual lack of decorum, grab Jinhai round the waist and swing him in the air.  “Good to see you, little bundle,” he says, loud enough for us all to hear.  The Third Prince frowns, but Jinhai laughs and puts his hands on Shao Ru’s shoulders.  They have a short exchange in low voices.  Yuan Song is, I see, an interested observer.

The Third Prince and his adviser take their leave.  Shao Ru goes out too, with a wink and a wave of his hand.  Yuan Song says, “Young Master Zhao, I promised you a meeting.  Please follow me.”

He leads us to a secluded courtyard, opens a door and invites us to enter.  As we go in, he closes the door quietly behind us.  It’s one of the Pavilion’s private apartments, for important guests who don’t wish to be disturbed or overheard.  The furnishings are luxurious. 

Jinhai slips the cloak off his shoulders and drapes it over the back of a chair.  “You don’t seem very pleased to see me,” he says quietly.

I walk into the room and stop by the bed, struggling with my feelings.   My voice is hoarse.  “Jinhai, I’m sorry.  I’m really sorry.”

There’s a short silence.  Then he says in the same quiet voice,” What for?”

I sit heavily on the bed and put my head in my hands.  “When I left you in Qiu City, I swore to myself that I’d never leave you alone again.  But I did.  I abandoned you to come back here and it was all for nothing.  My sister’s still in prison, we’re both embroiled in an Imperial dogfight and now I find you’re obliged to play the zither in a brothel just to get to see me.  There hasn’t been a day when I haven’t felt guilt and remorse.  I don’t know how to ask you to forgive me.”

He moves so fast that he’s in front of me before I know it.  Again I catch the faint trace of scent from his body.  Bending, he puts his hands on my shoulders.  His bare chest is no distance from my face.  “There’s nothing to forgive.  It was an impossible choice.  You'd be feeling equally guilty if you'd stayed.  And it’s not your fault you got mixed up with my brother’s intrigues.  And coming here to meet you was my choice.  I’d have done a lot more than play the zither to find you.  The important thing is that we’re here together now.”

I seize him with both arms and pull him towards me so that he’s standing between my thighs and my face is pressed to his body.  I feel his hand in my hair, gently stroking. We stay like that for a long moment.  I become aware that his garments are very flimsy.  The ties that hold his robe together are right under my nose.  I loosen them and the robe slips off his body with a whisper of soft fabric.  I pull the drawstring of the gauzy trousers and they float down around his ankles.  My hands slide down his spine to the curves of haunch and hip.  His whole body shudders.  He leans forward and murmurs two words in my ear.

What’s left of my self-restraint snaps all in an instant.  I whisk him onto the bed, naked except for his jewelry.  I’m still dressed, but I can’t wait, the urge to make him mine again is too strong.  My lips and hands quarter every inch of his body, re-familiarizing myself with his scent and taste.  There are jars of lubricating stuff by the bed – this is a brothel after all.  My slippery fingers slide into him, he gasps those two words again, driving me crazy.  Then I lock into him, holding his wrists in their jeweled shackles down on the bed, and do what he wants.

Later, we whisper the loving words which should have been the first things we said to one another.  But it doesn’t matter now.  I look at him lying in the crook of my arm, wondering how this person can mean so much to me.  He looks happy.  We’ve tried to get the jewelry off, but in the candlelight the clasps defeat us, so it has to stay.

“Since when did you start talking dirty?” I ask, my mouth in his hair.

He chuckles. ‘Don’t you remember our first night?”

“That wasn’t you talking, it was Shao Ru.”

“It must be the surroundings then.  And the get-up.  I look like a tart.  Yuan Song chose the outfit.  I didn’t get much of a say.”

“I might have a word with Master Yuan Song tomorrow.”

“Not worth it.  He’s mischievous, but not malicious.  He was amusing himself.”

“At your expense.”

“He kept his promise.”

“I suppose so.”

He sighs and snuggles closer.  “Seeing my brother was a surprise.  But I should have known.  He’s survived by camouflaging himself all these years.”

“Did you get on with him back then, in the Palace?”

“Didn’t see much of him, especially in the last few years.  But we got on as children.  He’ll make a good Emperor.  He’s steady.”

“Assuming these crazy plans work out.”

“Does it have to be you leading the attack on the prison?” 

“It’s not as dangerous as it sounds.  The prison’s run by the regular military, not the Imperial Guard.  The really difficult thing will be getting the army to turn.  We’ll have to attack the Palace, and the Imperial Guard will probably fight to the death, just like the Tibetans, since most of them owe allegiance to Xu Yating.  But that’s for another day.”

He rolls away from me and lies face down, idly stretching his arms above his head.  I look at the beautiful curves of his back and hips.  My hand reaches out almost involuntarily and strokes all down his spine.

“Mmmm, nice,” he murmurs, “Keep doing that.”

“Your plan to get my sister out – it’s risky.”

“I’ve thought about it endlessly and that seems to be the only way.  Ahhhh.”

My fingers slip round and down where it’s hot and damp and soft.   Jinhai makes a stifled sound and moves invitingly.  I can’t resist.  I pull his hips up, nudge his knees apart and press in, gently but so deeply that he utters one of those soft cries that I love so much.  His waist’s so narrow that I feel I could snap him in half with my two hands.  After the weeks of abstinence, I feel I never want to stop.  I wish we could go on doing this for ever.

However we’re only human.  But we don’t sleep for a long while, talking in soft voices about what’s happened to us since we parted.  It’s not unexpected, but still a deep sorrow to hear about Yao Yuhan’s death.

“He was a good man,” I say.

“He was like another father to me,” Jinhai says, “Yao Lin’s turning out just like him.”

He tells me about the disappointing uncle and about the legacy of debt left to the Lei family by the Zhongs.  I fill him in about the meeting with the Third Prince and the subsequent events.

“I have to go back tomorrow,” I say, “But I’ll get away when I can so we can meet.”

He sighs and holds me even closer.  And eventually, we sleep.