Vol 1 Chapter 6 (1/2)
Chapter 6: Tipsy
I wake up late so by the time I return to Luo Yu House the girls are practicing dance under the tutelage of Li Yan. Hong Gu mutters that if I didn’t show up soon, she’d be reporting a missing person to the authorities. We watch the dance, with Li Yan occasionally offering pointers, but her every gesture is as arresting as ever. I discuss with Hong Gu how Li Yan’s dance appears to incorporate a foreign flavor, like she’s taken the pa.s.sion of the Xi Yu dancers and fluidly added it to her movements. But her performance doesn’t have the flirty seductiveness of those dances, managing to be captivating and feminine while she remains pure and seemingly untouchable.
Li Yan asks if I’ve gotten the gold card to go ahead. I don’t answer her but turn to Hong Gu, asking her to collect data on all the dance houses that will be divested. I plan to buy four of them. We have enough money for two, and I will find a way to get the rest. Hong Gu rushes off to do my bidding. Li Yan smiles “Slowly and surely, with preparation and patience. You call me your kindred spirit, but now I don’t think I even deserve that. As long as you want to, every single dancing house in Chang An will be under your control.”
I laugh and murmur “I’m the one who ought to wipe away some sweat. The dancing houses in Chang An are likely not even within your sights.”
Initially she thought my intention behind the performance was to enter the Palace, but now it’s clear I just want to run a successful business. While girls in this industry want to one day leave, I appear to be just fine being in it. What are my intentions?
I respond “It’s not as complicated as you think. I’m just someone without any ties, and no desire for power or wealth. Unless the power and wealth can make me happy, then gold and silver mountains mean less to me than a full moon in the desert. My actions are well calculated and I will do anything to achieve my goal, but the ultimate reason is that I want to make myself happy, and make the person I care about happy. If Chang An isn’t fun anymore, perhaps one day I will grow tired and run back to Xi Yu.”
Li Yan looks at me “You are someone without any constraints. Like an eagle in the sky. You ought be be flying in a place like Xi Yu, Chang An is likely not suitable for you.” I ask if she’s been to Xi Yu, but she hasn’t and has only heard her father describe it.
Suddenly Hong Gu comes running in to inform us that Princess Pinyyang’s servant come by with word that the Princess is on her way. I get dragged out to change, wondering if I’m supposed to welcome her at the door with a kneel and a bow, chanting “long live your highness.” I tell Li Yan to have Master Li prepare as well.
I am seated and everyone crowds around to primp me, which is akin to torture with the pulling and the tugging, then affixing a hair piece to add more volume. Hong Gu goes to ask all the guests to leave, telling them the Princess is coming. I stop her, telling her not to reveal the Princess is coming and just give everyone back their money. I don’t want to start bandying about the Princess’ name already.
My eyes start to cross at the sight of all the silk and jewels being placed on me, leading me to wonder if everything of value Hong Gu owns is on my body right now. I tell her to stop, but she makes me exchange my ear bobs for a jewel encrusted waterfall earring. She tells me that a woman’s entire appearance is of value. I run away to wait for the Princess, not wanting to be tormented any more. Standing at the door, I antic.i.p.ate meeting the woman responsible for the rise to prominence of the Wei family and the Emperor stripping Empress Chao of her t.i.tle [The Emperor stripped his first wife Empress Chao of her Empress t.i.tle to hand it over to his new love Wei Zhi Fu, making her Empress Wei. Wei Zhi Fu is the sister to the Great General Wei, who also happens to be the Princess Pingyang’s husband. This makes Huo Qu Bing nephew to the Emperor, Empress, Princess, and Prince Consort.]
The Princess arrives, and her servants appear pleased to see how I’m dressed to welcome their highness. I escort the Princess in after she informs us that she is here to watch the performance. I ask if she wants to see the entire thing since it’s quite long, and she asks us to put on the best scenes. Li Yan Nian arrives and bows simply and respectfully to the Princess.
Qiu Xiang and Fang Ru, under the accompaniment of Li Yan Nian’s lute, enact scenes where the princess is sending her general off to war. His stirring music, plus the emotional performances of Fang Ru and Qiu Xiang on stage, cause the room to be silent and even the servants of the princess are red-rimmed. Before the song is even finished, suddenly the door opens and the Princess’ servant says “Young master Huo requests an audience with the Princess.” Before his words fall Huo Qu Bing is already walking boldly into the room.
The Princess laughs “You’re still so impatient, if your uncle (Great General Wei) saw you right now, he will surely lecture you.” Huo Qu Bing bows to the Princess and goes to sit beside her “He says what he wants, I do what I want. If I get annoyed, then I’ll just avoid him.”
“Avoid him? How long has it been since you’ve paid your respects to your uncle? I recall you coming by around New Year’s to greet us, but since then you show up only when your uncle isn’t around. It’s almost been half a year, and we’re all a family, you…..”
Huo Qu Bing hurriedly says “My dear Princess Auntie, can you please just let your dear nephew off the hook this time. When I enter the Palace, I get lectured to by Empress Wei, so why is even my kind Princess Auntie lecturing me now as well. Maybe in the future I won’t visit the Princess’ Estate anymore.”
The Princess shook her head at him and resumed watching the performance. Immediately Huo Qu Bing’s expression turned from the warm Spring to the dead of Winter and he turned to stare at me, checking me out from top to bottom with his icy eyes. Finally he pined my eyes to his. I pretended not to notice. He kept staring at me only until the performance finished and Fang Ru, Qiu Xiang, and Li Yan Nian arrive to kneel before the Princess.
The Princess compliments them on a great performance, but she does not want this performance to ever be put on again. Everyone’s color disappears from their faces, and I hurry to kneel before the Princess, ready to accept her orders. She smiles, knowing this performance was so well thought out, and I was quite brave.
Huo Qu Bing stands up and walks over to me, kneeling down right next to me and cutting off what the Princess was saying “Qu Bing needs to beg forgiveness from the Princess.” Even though he said beg forgiveness, but his face has an expression of not a care. The Princess smiles in shock “What did you do wrong? You guys go check if the sun will be setting in the East today” as she gestures to her servants.
“This is a long story, and it starts when Qu Bing first met this Ms Jin…..” As Huo Qu Bing talked, his hands grabbed mine from underneath our robes.
The Han dynasty attire style mandates wide and large sleeves. Kneeling down next to each other, our sleeves overlapped, which allowed him now to do this without detection, When I realized what he was doing, he already reached my fingers. I immediately used my middle finger to poke his nerve. He was smiling and talking to the Princess, but his reaction was immediate and he avoided my middle finger and managed to grab my entire hand until it was in his grasp.
He seemed pleased and shot me a sideways glance. He gave my hand a squeeze and I raised my head to look at the Princess. She was listening to a very nervous part of the story and staring intently at Huo Qu Bing. It was like she was being pursued by the desert thieves, her life in the balance.
I relaxed my strength and my hand softened in his grasp. His words slightly slowed down and he gave me a head lowered questioning look. I kept my head lowered and didn’t move. Slowly I used my strength to use my nail to poke the center of his palm. Thanks to Hong Gu, three of my nails are in the style of long and alluring. He wrinkled his brow. I let out a tiny smile. Let’s see how long you can endure this.
“…..so we were lost in the desert with not enough supplies, so we were doomed……AY YA!” He suddenly yelped. Because the Princess was listening so intently, his sudden yelp caused her to almost jump out of her seat. I was also startled that my hand shook and I quickly looked at the Princess, afraid to use anymore strength.
The Princess worriedly asked “What happened?” Huo Qu Bing continued to hold my hand tightly without releasing it “It felt like an evil hard-hearted scorpion bit me.” The Princess wanted to get up and I quickly explained this room was thoroughly cleaned for her arrival and there was no possibility of any animal being inside.
The Princess looked scared and disbelieving, so I shot Huo Qu Bing a look, asking him to smooth this over, and gave him a tiny pinch on the hand. Huo Qu Bing laughed “Oh, it appears that I accidentally poked myself.” The Princess relaxed and said “You’re so touchy feeling, not sure who you resemble. So what happened next?”
He continued to tell the story, but I was a bellyful of anger. I wanted to do it again, but the second my nails moved, he yelled out “Deadly snake!” I quickly retracted my nails. The Princess quizzically asked “What?” He said in all seriousness “In the desert there are deadly snakes, deadly ants, deadly bees, all of which like to bit people. But if you yell out they won’t dare to bit anymore.” She looked confused but nodded her head. He continued his story and I decided to give up. In this situation I ought to let him win and do what he wants. He relaxed his grip on me and was just lightly holding my hand.
When he finished, the Princess asked me “So you are saying that she ch.o.r.eographed this performance just to get your attention?” He replied “Indeed so” and then shot me a look with was filled with warning and intensity. His hand also tightened on mine. It truly hurt and I quickly replied “Your humble citizen, I was too daring and bold, will the Princess please punish me.” His eyes grew gentle and his grasp relaxed. He asked the Princess “Everything happened because of Qu Bing, so will Princes Auntie please forgive Qu Bing this once.”
The Princess looked at him, and then looked at me, and then she smiled. “Fine, get up now! I never intended to berate Jin Yu, and I can’t control what’s going on between you two. You didn’t have to busy yourself doing this, though I did enjoy hearing the story. And this is the first time I’ve heard of a human living with wolves.”
Huo Qu Bing looked confident as he explained to the Princess that there are lots of stories in the recorded annals of humans communicating with animals. The Princess laughed “Oh yes, your uncle’s trusty war horse appears to understand your uncle. When your uncle has time he even personally washes the horse down and talks to it like an old friend. Your uncle seems to spend more time with it than with me.”
I tried pulling my hand back, and this time he didn’t resist, only giving me a small squeeze before letting go. I bow in grat.i.tude to the Princess and he also gets up and gives her a bow. He sits down next to the Princess again and she looks at him “Last year you said you were going hunting in the mountains, when in truth you went to Xi Yu. If your uncle found out, what’ll happen?”