Ballad of the Desert

Chapter 9: Heart Song [2]

"Is your hand hurt?" Huo Qu Bing asks me. I shake my head and put my left hand behind my back.

Huo Qu Bing shakes out his ermine cloak and sighs "What a shame. I just got this a few days ago from the Emperor, and wore it for the first time today." I had wanted to say I would buy him a new one, but knowing its a reward from the Emperor, I closed my mouth. He gave me a few looks and draped the cloak on me "Even though it's ruined, it's still better than your skirt filled with holes left and right."

I startled "What are you doing on the street?"

He explained "I went to wish uncle and the Princess a happy new year. Why are you on the street by yourself. And from the looks of it, you've been here quite a long time. Your hair has flecks of icy frost on the tips." He used his hands his lightly brush my hair tips and carefully removed the icy frost.

I didn't answer and looked around, where was I? How did I end up walking around half of Chang An? He studied me carefully "Why are you so forlorn during the New Year? Come with me!"

Before I can object, he's pulled me on the carriage, and since my energy is spent and right now I don't care anymore, I let him pull me along. He sees me sitting there in silence and he doesn't talk either, only the sound of the carriage wheels crunching over the street surround us.

A while later, he says "I know what tune you played. I hummed a few bars and the Emperor overheard me, asking me which girl played "Yue Ren Ge" (The Song of the Yue Person) for me. I stupidly asked why a man couldn't play it?"

I tempered a smile from the corner of my mouth.

He continued "The Chu and the Yue kingdoms were close but did not speak the same language. When the Chu king passed through Yue on a boat, the Yue girl who was rowing his boat fancied him. But since they couldn't communicate, she sang this song. The Chu king understood her intentions and happily took her home with him." explaining a story that happened over a hundred years ago.

Because it was a beautiful encounter that had a happy ending, a lot of girls want to emulate the Yue girl, seeking one's own happiness. But not everyone succeeds. I don't want to hear this story so I cut him off "Where are you taking me?"

He looked at me before smiling brilliantly "Taking you to hear men sing."

Huo Qu Bing takes me to the Yu Lin Army base outside the city. When Liu Che first assumed the throne, he assembled the Yue Lin Army with the best young men warriors from all regions. He was not allowed to use power, so he pretended to be a useless playboy and had the Yu Lin solders split into the Han and the Xiong Nu teams ostensibly to play pretend war games, but really it was to train them. Now the Yu Lin Army is the Han dynasty's most elite fighting unit. Even though it is the New Year, the base has an aura of danger and fighting essence. Until we enter the mess hall does it feel like the New Year. The door is open and men are inside roasting meat over the fire and drinking merrily.

Huo Qu Bing came from the Yu Lin Army, so of course he is still very close to everyone inside. A well-dressed man saw Huo Qu Bing "You have a great nose, the venison is just done roasting and you show up." I look over and recognize Li Gan.

Huo Qu Bing just takes me to sit down at a spot that has been opened up for us. No one blinks an eye to see me, as if my presence is perfectly normal, or perhaps its that anything Huo Qu Bing does is perfectly normal. A bowl is placed before me and wine poured.

Hup Qu Bing picks up his bowl and toasts everyone, who laughs and Li Gan says "At least you don't hem and haw, knowing that you are late so you take your punishment" and pours him another bowl. In moments Huo Qu Bing has downed three bowls of wine.