War Prisoner Chapter 26

Su Yi had always been a self-possessed person, so even though his tone was clearly bleak, Wanyan Xu thought that that was only because he had thought of the destruction of his country again. He felt a deep pain in his heart and was unwilling to dwell on the matter himself, choosing instead to engage Su Yi in more idle chat. Su Yi continued wearing a blank expression; evidently he wasn't very interested in the conversation. Since Wanyan Xu had to attend court early the next morning, he said: “It’s getting late, you should have a good rest. I [1] shall come to accompany you again tomorrow.” Having said that, he left the room. To Zi Nong and the other palace maids who were waiting outside he said: "look after him well, I will reward all of you well in future." Zi Liu hurriedly draped a heavy cloak over him, while a few palace maidens and eunuchs prepared lanterns. They escorted him as he returned to his own residence.

Inside, Su Yi watched though the window as Wanyan Xu left; he kept looking until Wanyan Xu's silhouette had completely vanished. When Zi Nong noticed what Su Yi was doing, she could not help but laugh: "Young Master already misses our King? Let me go tell him, I guarantee that he will come back immediately, faster than the eagle flies. I'm afraid you do not know, but the reason the King is afraid to spend his nights here is because he's afraid that he wouldn't be able to control his desires. Ever since you have captured his heart, he hasn't visited his concubines, even those that were formerly favoured by him. He hasn't had an outlet for his desires for so long, naturally he doesn't dare to get too close to you.”

Su Yi gave a bitter laugh and said in frustration: “You are a girl, but you can say such things, aren’t you afraid of being ridiculed by others?"

Only then did Zi Nong feel that she had perhaps spoken a bit rashly. Her face reddened, but she gave a head a toss and said stubbornly: “It's not like that, our Jin Liao is not like Great Qi, we don't follow these antiquated rules. There is nothing wrong with talking a little bit about such things at times.”

Su Yi smilingly said: “Yes, you are great indeed; I wonder who will be the luckless fellow who ends up marrying such a wilful wife. I wonder how you will torture him."

Zi Nong’s face reddened further, stamping her foot, she said: “Young Master is still making fun of me, but what about you?" So saying, she turned and left. Su Yi waited for a long time, but she did not come back. He went out to have a look, but she was nowhere in sight, there were only a dozen or so palace maids who were whispering and joking amongst themselves. So he said: “I am feeling vexed and I wish for some quiet. All of you can leave; Zi Nong will be back soon, she can tend to me by herself." The palace maids hurried to comply. He waited until all of them have left before withdrawing back into the residence. He came to stand in front of a large cabinet, inside were his silver armour and prized sword. However, they were guarded by a large lock, the key to this lock was kept by Zi Nong and it never left her side. By doing so, she had hoped to prevent him from hurting himself, but she had not carefully considered this plan. Granted, the lock was big and heavy, but even so it was hardly enough to stop Su Yi. Concentrating all his force on the palm of his hand, following a "pa" sound, the lock was broken.

Su Yi rapidly opened the cabinet door and took out his silver armour and prized sword. After stroking them for a bit, he suddenly shed the outermost layer of his clothes, replacing it with the silver armour. Grasping his prized sword carefully, he walked to the centre of the building and facing south, he knelt. With tears staining his cheeks, he said: "With the heavens as my witness, although Su Yi has fought many a campaign and partic.i.p.ated in many battles, but I was ultimately unable to preserve these lands for my country. Now, the motherland has been destroyed. Su Yi has shamefully lived until this day, and cannot account to all those soldiers who have sacrificed their lives for our country. I can only beseech that Heaven can understand that I had my difficulties and allow Su Yi to accompany my country in death now.”

After finis.h.i.+ng his speech, Su Yi drew the sword out from its scabbard. The blade glittered like frost and snow, this old friend was as sharp as it had been in the past. Fearing that any further delays would bring upon misfortune, he did not hesitate and brought the blade to rest horizontally across his neck. In a moment, a man of firm and unyielding character would lose his life in the palace of his homeland.

A piercing shriek was suddenly heard: “Young Master, you must not do this!” Before the sentence was complete, like lightning, Zi Nong leapt through the windows into the room. In his fright, Su Yi tightened his grip on the blade and an inch long wound immediately bloomed on his neck. As it turned out, in her panic, Zi Nong was holding onto the sword point in a death grip. Her skill in martial arts was not lesser than Su Yi's, thus Su Yi was unable to cause further harm to himself.

Su Yi's heart was in great turmoil, he knew that if he should fail in killing himself, the consequences were going to be more terrible than he could bear to imagine. He tried to exert more force, but Zi Nong was also holding onto the sword as if for dear life, although blood was flowing freely from her palm to travel along the edge of the blade like a small stream, she did not flinch. She said urgently: “Young Master, please reconsider, it was your humble servant who let you have this silver armour and sword back, if you should use them to end your life, I will be in trouble.” She knew that Su Yi had a soft heart and deliberately chose these words to make an impression on him.

Su Yi did indeed have a moment of hesitation, but then he thought of the consequences of failure. Once Wanyan Xu found out about this, who knew what new methods he would use to threaten Su Yi? Besides, Wanyan Xu wanted to crown Su Yi as his Empress, when that time came, neither Heaven nor Earth would be able to prevent him from suffering a fate worse than death. With a new wave of determination, he gave a frustrated sigh and said: “Miss Zi Nong, Su Yi has been unworthy of your kindness, I can only repay you for this favour in the next lifetime.” Having said that, his left hand moved like a flash of lightning, striking at a few of Zi Nong's acupoints [2]. Zi Nong was only concerned with preventing the blade from sinking into Su Yi's neck, and was totally unprepared to defend against Su Yi's attack, letting him achieve his goal.

Su Yi carefully extracted his prized sword from her hand; when he saw that her hand was still bleeding profusely, he hurriedly retrieved a white handkerchief from the head of the bed and began to wrap up her wounds. He said with guilt: “Su Yi would rather let Miss down before letting my country down. I must beg for Miss to understand my difficulties. Since you have suffered this injury, Wanyan Xu would not blame you for your failure." So saying, he bowed deeply to Zi Nong. Resolutely, he turned back to the table to retrieve the sword that he had placed there while he was tending to Zi Nong, but it was nowhere to be seen.

Su Yi's fright at this was extreme, he felt as if his heart had lodged itself in his throat in a single beat. In total disbelief, he turned to look at Zi Nong, but she was still standing motionless at the same spot. Instead, he heard a voice, as cold as the deep Northern forests, ring out from behind him: “Su Su, what you are looking for... is it this sword?”