WAR PRISONER

War Prisoner Chapter 69

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

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War Prisoner Chapter 69

A few young maids lifted the curtains and showed them into the hall. After Su Yi had paid his respects, he stood to the side and said calmly: "To send for Su Yi today, I wonder what instructions the Empress Dowager has for me." With his unyielding-to-the-death character, naturally he would refuse to refer to himself as a slave. The Empress Dowager did not quibble over this, instead she looked him up and down, sizing him up. In her heart she could not help but to feel some grudging respect for him, thinking: no wonder Imperial Son is still obsessed with him to this day, and even Shuo Er is no exception. Indeed, he has an exceptionally distinguished bearing. Just from looking at him here and now, even with his present status, he is still neither servile nor overbearing; not resentful or combative. Doubtlessly, these concubines cannot compare with him in terms of character.

Therefore, she said: I have not summoned you for anything else, just that I [1] have heard from my Imperial Son that you are very proficient in playing the flute. Therefore I wished to hear your music for myself. I wonder if General Su would be willing to play a tune for me?" She had developed some goodwill towards Su Yi, therefore a smile began to grace her face as she spoke to him. She even referred to him as "General Su", implicitly acknowledging that he had a noble character that would never admit defeat and was worthy of respect.　

Su Yi quickly raised his head; he had never expected that this Empress Dowager of Jin Liao would be so magnanimous. After he had been crowned as the Empress, he had not had much opportunity to interact with the Empress Dowager, since she tended not to venture out from her palace very often and also, she had not required that he visit her to pay his respects daily. At this moment, his heart was filled with gratitude and he said sincerely: "Su Yi is unworthy of being thus honoured by receiving such lavish praise from the Empress Dowager and the Emperor, and wishes only to comply. Only, I have not played this song for a very long time. Also, the tune is simple and unpolished, I am afraid that it would cause offence to your sacred ears." As he was saying this, his heart was feeling bewildered --- he had never, not once, played the flute since he had been taken prisoner, so how did Wanyan Xu know that he had that ability? 　

The Empress Dowager smiled and said: "General Su is too modest." Having said that, she promptly ordered someone to go and fetch a flute but Wanyan Xu said: "Mother Empress, that would not be necessary, I [2] have already ordered Zi Nong to fetch one." Su Yi felt even yet more amazed. A while later, Zi Nong returned; in her hands, she was holding a flute crafted of black bamboo. When Su Yi took a closer look, he grew even more shocked and was in danger of weeping. Zi Nong approached him and presenting the flute to Su Yi with both hands, she said: "When Young Master was captured, all your material possessions were given to Zi Nong to preserve. There has been no wear and tear on them. General Su, please test the sound and see if the sound this flute produces is the same as you remember from days past."

Su Yi took a look at Zi Nong, before he had to avert his gaze. In his heart a hundred different sensations were churning, and simultaneously, strong emotions were surging up violently. Su Yi did not speak further, holding the flute horizontally across his lips, he started to play. In an instant, wisps of musical notes wafted from the space between the side of his lips and fingertips, quiet yet evocative, like whispered secrets on an otherwise silent night. In that melody, hard-to-describe passions were faintly discernible, hidden through a veil of mist. Love and hate lingered in the tones, beguiling all who heard it. After Su Yi had played for a while, without exception, everybody in that room was totally enthralled. They felt like the music was slowly entering their body through their ears, and was slowly winding its way through to their tendons and organs. Just as they were absorbed in this feeling, suddenly the tune took a turn. The tempo and pitch picked up, reverberating throughout the hall. The tune now took on the flavour of Bai Juyi's [3] line "a silver bottle is smashed and water gushes forth, armoured horsemen rush forth onto the battlefield with the clang of a thousand weapons", it was like claps of thunder and whipping winds rolling in from the Heavens. Yet another turn, and the impression became one of a homeless drifter enduring the winds and rains, then sweet and mild emotions and thoughts, then love and hate without reason, and finally of clouds dispersing and rain ceasing, leaving a few strands of residual hate and love to remain entangled, fluttering in the wind with no anchor to rely on. At the finish, all was quiet.