"He is Mighty like the Dragon, He is Fierce like the Tiger. I am humble before him. I am a column behind him. The Emperor is the Sun, while I am a Speck of Sand."
The two Princes recited in monotone voices the words that Lâoshi Huang would have them remember. The words praised the eternal Emperor and his wisdom, in numerous flattering ways and was arranged that it could just pass, loosely, in a form of a poem. Yu Long felt it was not half as bad as the one Lâoshi Huang would have them recite about the beauty and grace of her majesty Huàng Hóu. Jie Long faltered as they approached the words fawning the Emperor's manly prowess, a slight twitch at his temple the only other sign of his simmering ire.
"Again!" Huang Kong slapped the writing desk with his bamboo cane causing both boys to involuntarily flinch. The man made any excuse to lengthen this torture he considered teaching.
There were no faults this time and they completed the poem to his satisfaction. "Lâoshi," Yu Long spoke in a small, delicate tone. "These poems cannot be expressed with words, their form and filling leave this humbled one without speech! May we have the honour of knowing the author?" Jie Long's eye twitched slightly once more, but not with anger.
"Ah so you do have some wit about you!" Huang Kong preened. "I was beginning to consider that the Empress was too kind with her words when she spoke of your ignorance! The author, of course, it is I!" His rhino chest puffed outward in pride.
"Truly, a man passes leaves name, swallow passes leaves sound," Jie Long added in a tone of false awe. Lâoshi did not seem to notice.
"That will be all for today," he suddenly announced. "Return to your rooms!"
Despite their initial hopes of having some freedom, their lives had become even more restricted. 'Lamenting over their lack', Lâoshi Huang had connived with the Empress and actually taken residence in the White Orchid Palace, that he might 'teach them better!' In fact, he had claimed the largest rooms in the Palace, to the rear courtyard and had the boys moved into the wings, Yu Long in the East, Jie Long in the West. He ordered their few servants about as if they were his own, then after laying false claims at their doors, had them removed from the Palace. Each maid and eunuch serving the White Orchid Palace now had come from Huang Jia.
Xiao Ping was no exception.
"Feng Chun, master," he had wept pitifully before the man, prostrating on all fours. "This servant made promise to the Princes mother that this one would care for them. How might this servant fulfil his duties when turned out? This one should just fall on his knife and take his life to the spring, but if I do this, how will I ever serve my Princes?"
Feng Chun had no answer for him, his Emperor had placed care of his sons into the hands of the Empress and none of her orders could he rescind. His hands were bound behind his back, he could only try to sneak his people into the White Orchid Palace over time. Fortunately, the Palace guards assigned could not be replaced, even the Emperor had limits on how far he let his Huáng Hòu influence spread.
The two Princes returned to their respective rooms. Lâoshi Huang had decided brothers of their age should not be so close and separated them to further the Empress's designs. Yu Long sat quietly at his small, rickety desk. Ah, his favourite paperweight was gone! He inwardly sighed. It seemed Lâoshi had taken a liking to it and claimed it to further feather his nest. Many things had been stripped from the rooms of the Palace, including the beautifully crafted Go board and it's black and white jade pieces and his mother's favourite folded screen with it's painted heron and bamboos.
A maid entered with his meal and placed it on the desk before him, but did not wait to watch him eat, did not even bow as she entered or left. This was not a bad thing however, he lifted up the undercooked rice and brought it to his nose before placing it on the table. There was also a vegetable dish that did not look very palatable, but it was the soup that concerned him most. He gently sniffed it and winced, he was not wrong. Protecting his nose with long, flowing sleeve, he took the soup to the potted plant he kept in the far corner for just this reason and poured the liquid onto its earth. He then bowed as if in apology to the plant, which was already beginning to wither due to its unusual diet.
He ate a few morsels from the other bowls, choking down the food with the aid of weak tea, then waited for the maid to return and take the dishes back towards the kitchens.
Yu Long had discovered that their food was being poisoned almost immediately from the first dish, the taste had been bitter and unpleasant, even through the oddly strong flavour of the soup. Their fair had never been particularly flavourful, in fact there were less than a handful of times he could recall enjoying the taste of what was to enter his mouth. Such as the roasted pheasant wing one of the cooks had placed aside for his birthday or the candied hawthorn Wu Tian had returned with from a festival in the city. Bland rice, unsalted vegetables and soup was his usual meal, sometimes there were noodles and once in a while an egg. Not of substance for a growing boy, but this is what was normal in the White Orchid Palace.
The Empire was experiencing famine. Drought, pests, skirmishes in the West, bandits, but mostly poor administration over the past few generations had led to this. Now the best of what was sent to the Palace fed only the Emperor and Empress and occasionally a favoured Concubine. Ministers had long resigned to returning to their own homes for meals, this Emperor did not throw banquets. He disliked having to face plain faced or worse ugly people.
Night fell and a eunuch entered, helped him change into his night clothes and saw him tucked within his bed. Since he had returned to his room, not one word had he uttered.
No maid nor eunuch stayed in his room, the maids were expected to serve Lâoshi personally and the eunuchs were too lazy. Again Yu Long did not see this as a bad thing. He stripped off these clothes and found the black stained peasant clothes beneath his bed, where he had also hidden his bow. It turned out Yu Long's talents shined greatly with this weapon, even as Jie Long's sword steadily sharpened. The boy then leapt out of his window, before climbing up the Palace wall using pieces of metal that just happened to be embedded there and onto the roof. Swift and light of foot, the shadow of a boy ran effortlessly across the yellow tiles, leaping to the roof of the rear rooms before pausing and finally coming to a halt above Lâoshi's room. There was a lot of sounds coming from the little man's room, Yu Long wrinkled his nose in distaste before running to meet his brother in the West wing.
One shadow became two and the Princes quietly absconded from the White Orchid Palace. Avoiding Palace Guards was a challenge that had evolved into a game, causing distraction with stones, becoming one with swaying trees and hiding behind statues. In truth, the guards knew, but chose to look the other way. Their duty was to the Empire, not to entertain the Empress and her chosen pawns. Their goal was the kitchens, but not the servant kitchens that would see to poison them, but those that placed food on the table of Huáng Hòu.
The cooks and maids had already retired to their rooms or moved on to perform other duties, the territory remained unguarded.
"Do we need rice?"
"Ah look, fresh leek! Not too much mind!"
"Is there a small stem of ginger?"
"They won't miss such a small amount of salt.."
"Look, a new ladle, seems they finally missed the old one."
"They had three, what is the loss of one to them?"
Little whispers leaked from the room, but the eunuch that passed simply paused at the doors in guard. He followed Feng Chun.
*****
Jie Long rubbed his slightly swollen stomach with a satisfied smile upon his small, round face. "Ah, Yu Long," he murmured with content, "how do you create food that tastes like it is gifted of the heavens with so little?"
"Practice," Yu Long muttered, replacing the flagstones that hid the ashes of their humble fire within the room beside Yu Long's. He passed Jie Long the chipped bowls, spoons and bronze ding, all of which had been purloined from the servants kitchens. "Wash them well."
"Of course," Jie Long swiftly leapt from the bedroom window, making his way to the well. "And don't forget to pray to the Gods that The Living God of the Heartlands looks after Mother!" He said on his way out. Yu Long also went to a well, the one besides the abandoned Water Lotus Palace. Huang Lei He had moved to the Yin Palace, which was connected to the Emperor's Yáng Palace by the Yinyang Hall. In the well, he carefully lowered the remains of the bloodless rabbit he had killed just outside the Imperial Grounds. That was fortunate, they rarely caught anything when they hunted, but they continued to try most nights to supplement what they stole.
He returned to his room and slipped into his night clothes. This was not the life of a Prince. Had Jie Long been born without him, he might already be docile caught in the trap of the poison placed in their food. It was not a poison that would kill them, just make them subservient, but worse timid and unable to function before crowds as time passed. But then Yu Long remembered that Jie Long was the golden child, surely the world would not make him so useless that he could not cause the changes that he was destined to. Ah well, best keep holding hands with this golden thigh, they will help each other escape this pit.
Translations;
a man passes leaves name, swallow passes leaves sound a person's reputation is remembered. Jie Long is suggesting Huang Kong will leave a reputation for bad poetry!
Huang Jia term that refers to the Huang Family or Household.
Bronze ding is a type cooking vessel, designed to sit above fires and cook meat.
Author's note; I am aware that you guys are probably wondering where the other Lead is, as he hasn't shown up as yet, but I promise there is a reason for that! Please bear with me!