WAR PRISONER

War Prisoner Chapter 51

Author: 梨花烟雨(Li Hua Yan Yu) /Lê Hoa Yên Vũ

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War Prisoner Chapter 51

Because Liu Province and other places had been severely impacted by natural disasters, Wanyan Xu had been preoccupied with discussing appropriate countermeasures with his ministers for the past few days and sending officials to the afflicted areas to distribute grain and other forms of disaster-relief. Therefore, he had no time for any respite during the daylight hours, only when night fell could he go to the Garden of Merriment and enjoy some tender moments with Su Yi.

For Wanyan Xu, the day was proceeding as normal and he was reading the memorial that the official he had dispatched to Liu Province had sent by courier which said that the basic arrangements were already in place to provide for the people, there were no cases of people starving to death, etcetera, etcetera and that the Emperor heart should rest easy. Suddenly, he saw Zi Nong come stumbling in on shaky legs, her face was as white as a ghost's, and she didn't pay respects to Wanyan Xu. "Hu Hu..." she panted out, but before proper words could form, two clear lines of tears were streaming down her face.

Wanyan Xu was greatly amazed, these four treasured servants had been with him for many years and all of them had developed the ability to remain calm under the most calamitous circumstances. To see Zi Nong reduced to this state, he knew immediately that something as important as Heaven must have happened. His very first thought was of Su Yi because right after their marriage, Wanyan Xu had assigned Zi Nong to be Su Yi's personal attendant, therefore she was with him for much of the day. Could it be that something had happened to him? When he thought of that possibility, he felt totally aghast. He hurriedly got up from his chair and went to hold up Zi Nong, in a grim voice, he said: "What has happened, you must not panic, slowly tell me [1] everything."

Tears were flowing from Zi Nong's eyes like rain, her sobs made it difficult for her to speak and she could only hand over to Wanyan Xu the piece of paper she had been clutching in her hand.

With unpleasant suspicions filling his heart, he took the paper and opened it to have a look and saw that a short poem was written on it. It read [2]:

A few beats of the night-watch drum, I am startled awake in the room, the candles have gone out, the dawn is cold. My dreams took me to Inner Mongolia, the sound of horses' hooves still ring in my ear. Autumn has come and the geese are travelling south. I can no longer find a path back to my home, but my feelings remain. My wings have been broken, but my spirit is untamed.

My life-long wish, I have spent my youth pursuing, not realising that my hair has grayed. The sentimental moon still shines upon that destroyed country. An old acquaintance is before my eyes, but upon inspection I see that there is no will left in his heart. Looking back at the road I have travelled, I see that although I my clothes have become soiled, the lands remain unchanged.

The handwriting on that note could not possibly be any more familiar to Wanyan Xu, the note had obviously been penned by none other than Su Yi. His heart felt like it had turned into a block of ice, this poem was obviously saying that he should pick up his spirits and regain his vigour, so that he could recover the rivers and lakes of his homeland and restore the Great Qi Empire but no matter how he thought about it, he couldn't imagine that Su Yi would do such a thing. When he looked at Zi Nong again, he saw that she had finally regained a bit of composure that she normally possessed. In a choked voice, she said: "Two hours ago, your humble servant, other palace maids as well as the imperial bodyguards in the Garden of Merriment were poisoned with a sedative drug carried through the air and without exception, we all fell unconscious. When we woke up, Young Master was nowhere to be found; only this document was left on the table. As for what we should do now, I urge Your Majesty to make your decision quickly."