11
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Yang Yuhuan
"Huan Fei!" She was here.
"Fa Guanmei!" Also here.
"Lian Changmi!" A shy one...but also here.
"Yang Yuhuan!"
I was tempted not to answer, to simply make them believe that I wasn't here and find a way to escape.
The thought died as soon as it had begun. For one, I was the tallest girl there, slipping out would not be an easy task. I was also dressed in that blasted white hufu, like every other new maid in the palace. I would not be able to leave unnoticed.
I gave up on the idea and sighed. "Here...Guniang."
There were sixteen of us, lined up four in each row and facing the woman whom we were to call Madam. She was no more than ten years my elder, a melancholy face with a stoic posture that showed each of the new maids her superiority.
I couldn't care less.
I had been bound to stand out, I didn't expect it to be so soon
Holding my breath and standing upright, I moved as gracefully as I could between the still bowing girls until I had reached the front of the first row. "Shi Guniang."
The woman stared down at me, not because she was taller, but because she stood almost menacingly above us on the top of the steps leading to our future chambers. "Where are you from? Whose family do you belong to?"
I was tempted to say that I was a Zhao, that was what I had brought myself to believe for so long...but.
"My guardian is my uncle Yang Xuanjiao, an official of Luoyang."
"Have you no parents?" I hesitated. "No Mistress."
The eunuch who watched over us shot me a shaded glance I chose to ignore. "How old are you?"
"Fourteen."
The woman nodded once, her eyes never trailing off me as she now addressed us all. "Get ready for bed...your new lives begin tomorrow, use this night to say goodbye to all you ever knew."
"Yes...xie xie Guniang."
...
Li Xiao
"If I didn't know any better, I would say that you're nervous Ah-Xiao."
My grip on the horse's reins tightened as we continued down the streets of Luoyang. It had been only a week since we had left, and now we were back, this time without Brother Jin or Li Mei-Xiang.
Just Wuji and myself.
We were simply here to fetch the beggar-girl, and the rest of the Zhao.
The marriage was to occur in Chang'An after all. Just the mere thought of it made me tense significantly, and that seemed not to escape Wuji's notice. "Any tighter and it might dissolve in your hands Ah-Xiao."
"Shut up Wuji."
Wuji scoffed with pretend indignation before chuckling to himself, only managing to irritate me all the more. "Is there something funny I don't know about?"
When I received no answer, I pulled on the reins and turned to glare at my cousin once the horse halted. "What, no response?"
Wuji shrugged. "You told me to shut up." I only rolled my eyes at that. "Sometimes Wuji...just, sometimes."
"Sometimes what? You wish you could cut out my tongue? Wring my neck? Send me as a prisoner to the Khitans?" Despite my mood, I laughed at that. "Something along those lines."
We fell back into silence as we continued our journey towards the Qi Zhao Liang manor.
We couldn't travel nearly as fast as I had hoped; the poor servants had enough trouble keeping up the pace we were at now with the sedan on their shoulders.
The wedding sedan.
She was to come back to Chang'An in it, and the fact made my melancholy return. My glower resettled on my face as I stare onward.
"She doesn't hate you Ah-Xiao, on the contrary I would say."
I huffed unbelievingly at that. Beggar-girl had a weird way of expressing her emotions, even weirder than myself. "You would be the one to know, it seemed that she was more entranced with you and so much more keen on getting me to marry her eldest sister instead." Wuji stroked the mane of his horse softly, all playfulness gone from his voice. "Then why are you marrying her?" I sighed.
"I don't want her sister, I want her. Only problem there would be the fact that she hates me."
Wuji smirked without amusement before speaking once more. "You never finished telling me what had been said in that conversation with her...after you asked her who she really was." I lifted my shoulders in a shrug. "She asked to be excused, almost as if she couldn't bear the thought of being in the same room as me."
"And yet, you spoke with her again and again. And yet, the more you found out about her, the more you wanted her."
He was right. In our visit, I found out just how much she loved lilies, how much they reminded her of her mother. Her favorite color was the blue color of the sky, it reminded her of her name. Zhen-Ting and her were nearly unseperable after they began living together. She loved children, could tell stories for hours, was the only one of her sisters learning any form of martial arts, never got along with her Second Eldest sister (not a surprise), and more and more...
Wuji kept going.
"And yet...you're still marrying her. Li Xiao, either you're a fool who forces himself on a young woman or a man who realized somewhere that it was all a façade that she had put up to push you away...I'd like to say the latter, and you?"
The horses slowed down as we once again reached the steps of the entrance of the manor. I looked up at the doors and frowned to myself. "I guess I'll be finding out soon enough, won't I Wuji?"
...
Tang Zhen-Ting
I stood at the end of the line and bowed, forcing my eyes to stay downwards as the General and his cousin entered the main hall. The only time I glanced upwards for a moment was to look at Jiayi...only to find him staring at me carefully. I didn't bother to look away after that.
There was a eunuch who had accompanied them, one who seemed to be from the palace.
"Before we get to anything else...Zhao Ren Yi, receive the imperial edict."
And we bowed to the ground in kou tou as he read.
"It is with great pleasure that I received the news that my nephew Li Xiao had found a bride from the esteemed daughters of Zhao Ren Yi. I am sure that Zhao Jiayi of Luoyang will be a great asset to my precious general and beloved nephew as both a wife and a comrade in his life. Therefore, after the evaluations of the imperial matchmaker, she will be brought back to Chang'An and the wedding date will be set. I have also sent some wedding gifts for the Zhao family. I hope that Zhao Jiayi's transition into being a Li will be a swift and sweet one."
My forehead touched the ground as I bowed three times before getting up to my feet, rising to see Jiayi still on her knees and staring at the open doors of the hall.
The others were too busy gushing over the row of eunuchs bringing in gifts, the general spoke quietly with Uncle Zhao, and Li Wuji...
Was somewhere.
I sighed deeply and walked towards Jiayi, reaching down to grasp her shoulders and nearly startling her as she looked up at me. "Jie-jie...get up." She did slowly, turning in a circle to survey everything around her before she inhaled quietly, her voice a mere whisper as she spoke. "I'm no longer going to be Zhao, I'll be a Li now."
I nodded. "And an in-law to the great and blessed Wansui." She laughed breathily. "You aren't helping me Huazhi." I lifted my shoulders into a shrug. "I never claimed to be trying. Come, it's time to greet your husband."
Yang Yuhuan
"Tian Gong, Su Wukong...anything, just tell us a story."
I sighed deeply and pulled my new covers closer to my chest, basking in the comfort of my bed as my now fellow maids pushed closer to crowd around me. Since hearing that I was a Yang and of the rumors of our storytelling mastery, girl after girl had come and pestered me to allow them into the chambers I shared with Huan Fei so that they could hear a tale before going to sleep.
Huan Fei, who had unsuccessfully hidden her eagerness behind a cold look, said yes...
And now there they were, silently sitting stuffed and trying not to arouse the keen attention of their Miss.
"Alright...I'll tell you one, but this isn't a legend, it's a true story."
Fa Guanmei spoke up. "On what?"
"Listen first, ask questions later...where I am from, in the Eastern capital Luoyang Dongdu, many merchants and tradesmen from countries and kingdoms far and near came to our ports. One of our main visitors were those of the Umayyad Empire."
"Umayyad...where is that?"
"Far in the west, in the desert lands...now, these citizens of Umayyad's lands were of no small stature, and of no little beauty. The women were fair, not in skin but in countenance, strong yet graceful, hair like raven's feathers and smooth as a horse's mane. A figure of an hourglass that hypnotized men with every movement."
"And what of the men?"
I paused, leaning back against the wall near my bed as I thought for a moment.
The image of Tang...no, Zhao Liangjie entered my mind, and I couldn't help the steady smile that came to my lips. He was said to resemble his father so much.
"The Umayyad men? Tall, dark, rugged and strong. Broad shoulders and eyes flashing with the untamed spirit as wild as their stallions. Hair as beautiful as that of women...exceptional-."
Giggles interrupted me; Huan Mei leaned forward in amusement. "Are you sure this isn't someone you are thinking of...don't forget that we're the great Wansui's women as of now."
I shook myself slightly and glared at each of the girls. "Comments later...now back to the story."
"Now the great and mighty T'ang was tightly allied with the Umayyad by trade, and because of this, many high-up and wealthy men came to these shores as guest...princes and warriors alike."
"But there was one warrior above the rest, more handsome then most and who won battles like none other for his kingdom...he too, found himself on the shores of Luoyang...and he never returned home. While walking through the streets of our eastern capital as the guest of our great Wansui; a young and eager maid ran away from her master and crossed paths with this warrior."
"What was the warrior's name?"
"Akbaru Alinejad ...but in our language; the blessed Wansui gave him the surname of Tang."
Some of the girls gasped. "You mean the great Tang Huixia of the Persians....you're telling us a story about him?'
I smiled to myself and nodded. Huan Mei frowned in confusion. "How would you know a story of this? His past was a mystery."
I set my hands on my lap smugly. "Of course, I would know...Tang Zhen-Ting and Zhao Liangjie, his children, were my childhood friends."
Zhao Jiayi
"You confuse me...I'm sure I've told you that before."
My small wolf pup's ears perked upward and a small growl escaped him, I only jumped at the familiar voice. General Li Xiao, my betrothed. Bowing slightly, I didn't wait for him to acknowledge the formality before rising back upright. "Huixia."
"Beggar-girl, one moment you're the bold beggar-girl, the next you act as if you're too shy for your own good."
I smiled at that.
If he wanted to see that same beggar girl he had first met, I would show him her.
I would show him myself. "You never really answered my question that day Huixia." He raised a brow at me. "What question was that?"
I pulled out a silver weight from my pocket and set it on the table between us where I sat. "Am I worth this or more?"
Amusement flashed in his eyes as he approached me slowly. "So now you're back?"
I shrugged lightly. "Curiosity is the reason, nothing else."
He shook his head before sitting across from me and picking up the weight. "If you were only this much in worth you would be a rather cheap one indeed. Even the most common of the entertainers at a brothel in Chang'An are worth more than this."
"You would know." He grinned at that.
My breath hitched at his grin. "Should I not? I am a General in Chang'An. Whether I go in or not, my paths are bound to cross with one entertainer at least." I pursed my bottom lip at that. "Oh, and if you should be married, would your paths continue to cross?"
I gasped as his hand reached out and grasped my own, tightening as I tried to pull away.
He stared at me carefully. "No, never again...since I'll be the one to tell you that my betrothed is worth far more than silver and gold weights in a brothel. You would sell yourself short if even the blessed Wansui were to pay for you with the crown on his head. That's how much you are worth Ah-Yi."
I couldn't respond. "Are you mad at me?"
"Pardon?"
"Are you mad at me, for making it seem as though I was after your sister."
I wiped my free hand against the cotton of my dress and inhaled deeply. "I am confused...you made it seem as though you were really interested in her. Well, now that I think of it...maybe not."
"It was the only way you would speak to me without running out, and you were quite good company at that. I never wanted your sister Jiayi. You wanted her to be married so badly that you nearly shoved the idea down my throat, and as good and kind and beautiful of a maiden as she might be, she wouldn't be the one able to live as my wife. She wouldn't be the one I wanted to live as my wife...this was my only way to show you."
I was speechless, all humor escaping me as the bashful Jiayi he had grown frustrated with quickly resurfaced. I could not even meet his gaze.
And he sighed. "And there she goes...beggar-girl is gone once more."
He let go of my hand and rose, turning to walk away only after he said one more thing.
"I hope she'll come one day to stay."
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Jiayi is a confusing character...hmm.
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