Wuxia Tale: Hua in Bloom

Trouble

(DAYU)

Watching my son leave on horseback with a wagon behind him carrying his essential things that he will need in entering the Palace Military Base is enough to crush my heart.

My Dao. My only son. Leaving my nest. Too soon.

I think I should really kill that Emperor. How dare he take my son from me?

"Stop, my heart." Captain Wang holding me from behind and putting a hand on top of my fisted right hard woke me from planning a Royal demise. "Stop being angry,"

I turned away from the open window of our room, where I stood to watch my son left the only home he had known for fifteen years, to face my lover. "You will tell me what is happening to Dao inside that base, right?" I asked Captain Wang.

My lover stared at me in suprise at my request. Then he sighed before shaking his head, "I will not spy on our son for you, Dayu. Let Dao go and let him search for his own path."

His answer anger me, "He is still a young boy!"

"He will be a man soon. My heart," Captain Wang held my shoulders, "If you will be like this, why did you agreed with the Emperor to let Dao enter the base? Why?"

I flinched away from his hold, "Because if we said no, it will mean heartache for our daughter."

Captain Wang nodded, "And we made a choice that night in that gambling house. It's Hua's happiness we chose. And I, for one, don't regret that choice. But Dao leaving for the base means we will let him forge his own path. On his own. Without my help or yours..."

"I am his father!" I argued passionately. "You cannot mean to tell me to completely let my son loose."

"You have to, for the time being." Captain Wang gave me a hard stare. "He will be part of the military base now. He will be part of our military family. Our military brotherhood. For a while, Wang Dao will not be a part of our family, until he learned to be part of the military base. To be a soldier like me. That is the rule of our military force."

I gave my lover an incredulous look, "What are you talking about? Dao is my son. He is our family. Our family is his only family..."

"Not if he will be a soldier." Captain Wang cut my protest. "Dayu ah, maybe it is because you were never a soldier or because you hated our kind, but the military has it's own rules that you are unaware about. The military is a brotherhood. In there, we will strip away an individual's identity and handed him a new one. A soldier's identity. Dao will learn to be part of our force. He will learn to be a brother to his comrades. A subordinate to his superiors. He will learn to follow rules and orders. He will abandon his family and name to be part of the military brotherhood. We gave him up to the military. Now we have to let him go,"

"But you are not letting him go," I hotly countered Captain Wang's words.

"Yes, I will. In that base, Dao is not my son but my soldier. I cannot treat him above any other. I cannot show him preferential treatment, that will only put our son in danger. In that base, I am General Wang, Dao's general and superior, not his Baba." Captain Wang explained.

I understand what he is saying. I can grasp the concept of what he is explaining. But what I cannot understand is why he wouldn't tell me what will happen to Dao there.

"Why won't you let me know what is happening to our son inside that base?" I cannot understand that.

"Because giving you information about Dao will mean giving you information about the base and my work. Sensitive informations that are prohibited to a civilian like you. You must be forgetting something, my heart. You are a civilian. A simple citizen. You cannot know the going ons inside the base. That will be treason to the military. Do you want me to commit a crime for you?" Captain Wang said.