On Chun Sik Sik returning to Cheung’on and the escalating conflicts of
the Li princes. Special thanks to Hannah for providing me excellent ideas that
I now use in the early and latter parts of this chapter. A ‘deleted’ scene link is already here, scroll down below! Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here, Part 3 is here.
-xxx-
Late Autumn, 625
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| Art by Ibuki Satsuki |
Chun Sik Sik had only experienced two autumns in Fusu, but
those two autumns had prepared her for the third autumn. She felt that she
could tell whether the upcoming winter would be harsh or not based on the
autumnal weather patterns. If this year's autumn continued like this, Fusu and
its surrounding regions would experience another harsh winter.
Which begged another question: would Tang refugees come
again to Fusu this autumn or winter? Li Sai Man's letters, faithfully written
and dispatched regularly to her, described his endless fight in the Court to
fix the system, but it might be years before the corrupt system was fixed. The
last letter he had was almost three weeks ago, concerning a partial
investigation team to address the village pilfering during last year's autumn.
The lack of letter afterwards would have her worried, had a Fusu spy not
informed her in front of King Yau that Li Sai Man had been busy with some court
business, but he was safe and sound. Eventually, Sik Sik decided to trust Sai
Man to Heaven. She couldn't afford to sleep in fear every night, that wouldn't
do her good.
With these thoughts in mind, one late autumn night, after
closing the veranda door that connected her private garden to her chamber in
the Fusu Palace, Sik Sik changed into a white long inner garment and retired to
bed. She was about to drift to sleep when she heard a rustling noise outside
the veranda. She opened her eyes and stayed still but alert. The veranda was
not accessible from the outside, hence anyone outside would need to jump from
the roof into the garden first. At this late hour, anyone in that group would
be classified as intruders. Had Sai Man's brothers tracked her whereabouts??
Quickly, Sik Sik retrieved Lok Wan's knife from under her
pillow before stealthily jumping out of her bed. With as little noise as
possible, she retrieved to the wall and sidestepped to the veranda door. She
didn't want to sleep in fear, but that didn't mean she would be reckless. Sai
Man loved her, and if anything happened to her, he'd be devastated. She saw a
tall figure outside peeking through the waxed white paper that made up the
veranda door. With heart beating erratically, she realised that the intruder
was trying to open the door. She felt sick when she realised that the intruder
easily picked the lock. Hence, when the intruder started to slide the door
aside, she raised her knife high into a stance Yau tai-gor had taught her. If
this person wanted to kill or harm her, she wouldn't go down without a fight.
The next things happened too fast for her to register. The
intruder just slid the door halfway when she plunged outside with the knife
thrusted to the intruder. The intruder exclaimed, but he caught Sik Sik's right
hand just in time to prevent the knife from piercing him. Then, having no space
to evade, the intruder rotated on the spot, effectively dismantling her stance
and made her swirl and, by way of momentum, slammed her supine on the veranda
floor. Sik Sik was shocked, but she was
even more surprised when the intruder pinned her to the floor with his own
body, his left hand swiftly dismantling her knife and tossed it into the
garden. She was about to scream when she recognised his scent, and then his
voice.
"Sik Sik! What the hell!
It's me!"
She stopped fighting. She opened her eyes to see Li Sai Man,
only a kiss away from her, pinning her body the way she had always missed for
the good part of the year.
"Sai Man!" She
couldn't believe her eyes. "Why are you here?!"
"What, you don't want me
here?" Sai Man was half amused and half annoyed.
"Why on earth did you not just knock on the door and
call me?! I'd wake up and open it for you!"
"Well, I missed you and
wanted to surprise you. What's wrong with that?!"
"Well, I thought you were
an intruder!"
She was right. He made a face.
"I was trying to be romantic..."
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| Art by Ibuki Satsuki |
That silenced her. A small 'oh' escaped her lips, and Li Sai
Man could swear he saw her blushing. He wanted more than ever to caress her
face, so he did. She sighed as she felt his touch, which made him tense.
Remembering that he was here for more than just a romantic reason, he
reluctantly pulled himself from his wife and helped her up. "Since when
did you learn self-defence?"
"Since I realised that I need to defend myself so
you're not worried about me. Yau tai-gor and his men taught me." Sai Man
nodded gratefully. "Why are you here, Sai Man? Not that I'm not happy to
see you..." The truth is, she felt her spine weakening as she felt his
warmth and savoured his scent again. "I thought you're in Cheung'on?"
"Well, I should...but I have good news for you that I
want to deliver myself..." Sai Man was keenly aware of his wife's sweet
scent, hence his voice trembled when he resumed. "But I also miss you
terribly..."
Sik Sik swore that she could
hear her own heart beating. "I miss you too..."
"Well, the good news is..." he sighed and smiled
at the same time. "It's like this..." He lost his words. She
shouldn't look at him like that.
"Is the good news really
good?" She found it difficult to breathe.
"Very." He now
realised how much he missed her.
"Then, it can wait, can it
not?" She truly missed his touches.
"Well, if I delay it, we'll
have to wait for quite a bit." He almost couldn't breathe.
The autumn night had become unreasonably balmy.
"Well... I think we have the whole night..."
He kissed her.
No. He ravished her lips and forcefully laid her again on
the veranda. Under the crescent autumn moon, the veranda later exploded in
their colourful passion.
-xxx-
Much later, after their passion abated, Sai Man found his
wife resting her head on his chest, her long ebony hair covering both his bare
chest and her bare back. He could see stars from the edge of the veranda roof,
smiling at them. He looked at Sik Sik who was looking at him with glassy eyes.
Then she slowly kissed him again, which made him dizzy, for he was sucked again
into the wild vortex that was only theirs.
 |
| Art from here |
"Sik Sik.... wait..." he reluctantly stopped her
from kissing him. "Wife, if I don't tell you the news now, you won't hear
it till the morning."
"Does it matter...?" She was already snuggling his
neck. He groaned. He missed her terribly, and he could still take more of her,
but he knew she deserved to know about the news.
"It does..." he closed his eyes and, summoning his
strength, he held her at bay despite her clinging onto him like a liana.
"Sik Sik, I found your birth mother and brother."
That stopped her.
"What?"
"Well, more like they found me." He observed her
slowly disentangling herself from him, her look a mixture of confusion and
hope. He got up, took his stunned wife inside the chamber and told her a
miraculous story.
-xxx-
Twenty years ago, upon the death of her husband Cheung-seun
Sing (Zhangsun Sheng), one Lady Gou (Gao) was expelled from the Cheung-seun Manor at Cheung’on by her
step son Cheung-seun On-yip (Zhangsun Anye). Lady Gou and her two children were
forced to take refuge in a small town just outside the Yung Prefecture with her
brother, Mr Gou Gim. Lady Gou had two children with her from her marriage wih
the late Minister Cheung Seun. The first child was a two years old boy named
Mokei, while the second child was baby Blossom, named after the plum blossom
birth mark on her left midriff.
Blossom was just a baby when her mother moved back to the
village. One night, a one year old Blossom was kidnapped by her step brother's
goon. The order was to kidnap both Blossom and her brother Mokei, but Mokei
woke up and made a scene, hence the kidnapper had to flee only with Blossom.
-xxx-
"Are you okay, Sik Sik?" Sai Man looked at his
wife with concern, for Sik Sik just sat on their bed hugging her knees as he
told the story. It was a while before she looked up, her fingers unconsciously
caressing her plum blossom mark.
“How did you, or they, found out that I was Lady Gou’s
daughter? Surely I’m not the only baby with plum blossom birth mark?”
“We pierced the clues ourselves based on what they knew
about the baby and what I know about you,” admitted Sai Man.
Li Sai Man only knew what Sik Sik told him about her life, including
that she, as a baby, was found by a family who was traveling back to eastern
Tang. The only prominent thing she had was a gold bracelet with a plum blossom
stamped on it, hung on her neck with a silk string. Lady Gou informed Sai Man
that she just obtained such a bracelet for baby Blossom a few days prior, but
the bracelet maker thought that the bracelet was for Lady Gou. Hence it was too
big for the baby. But since her baby Blossom seemed to like it, Lady Gou
decided to let her have it for a few days as a toy.
By fitting the stories together, Li Sai Man, Cheung-seun
Mokei and Lady Gou concluded that for some reasons the kidnapper just left
Blossom somewhere. Most likely, on the doorstep of the inn where the Chun family
stayed. Later when the Chun family
adopted the baby they found outside the inn, they gave her the name Sik Sik (惜惜) based on the pitiful state that she was found, and also based on the fact that the Chun couple had always wanted a daughter. Thus, 'Sik Sik' was Blossom's name as she knew it. During a plague that attacked their
village, Mr and Mrs Chun died when Sik Sik was 7 years old, but the little girl
survived. She then lived with Mrs Chun's old aunt in another village where Kong
Fung lived.
Sik Sik asked Sai Man if her birth mother ever searched for
her.
"They did. They searched the area for a month, asking
every inn and person they could find. We don't know how they missed the inn you
were left alone that dawn, but they definitely tried to find you. They even put
some posters with rewards for your return."
"Do you think my...adopted parents... saw the posters
and chose to ignore them?" She whispered almost to herself. "They
always wanted a daughter, that much I knew..."
"Perhaps," admitted Sai Man. "But we couldn't
ask them what happened, and we couldn't ask your great aunt as well for she was
also in the dark." He turned her gently to face him. "To me, the most
important thing is that we found your mother and brother. Don't worry..."
he added as she looked unsure. "They are very nice, decent people...and
they're very excited with the prospect of meeting you."
 |
| 'Weeping Plum' by Shirley Isojima |
It was a while before she
whispered, "Where are they now?"
"In an inn just outside the Fusu border. They will
arrive tomorrow. We have just arrived at the inn when your mother realised that
i was beside myself for I really wanted to see you again." Sai Man smiled
as Sik Sik unexpectedly blushed. They weren't exactly gentle just now on the
veranda. "Hence when Lady Gou told me to come to Fusu tonight, I didn't
hesitate to leave her. She's safe with your brother Mokei."
"My brother..." she suddenly remembered something.
"Cheung Seun Mokei...isn't he the young man who helps you these
days?"
Sai Man nodded excitedly, which made Sik Sik happy. A new
trustworthy ally was very important for Li Sai Man who had lost one of his most
important confidants, i.e., Kong Fung. Before the incident with Sik Sik, the
Second Prince had eliminated Kong Fung's Hau Tien Mun to gain the latter's
support. Upon Sik Sik's suggestion, upon arriving at Cheung'on last summer, Sai
Man confessed what he did to the school.
Understandably, Kong Fung flared. He hit Sai Man so many
times and almost delivered a killing strike when the kungfu master realised
that Sik Sik would suffer if Sai Man died on his hands. Kong Fung then left the
capital, swearing that he'd never forget Sai Man's treachery. Sai Man had written
to Sik Sik about Kong Fung leaving, but he spared her the fact that his ribs
almost broke because he didn't dodge when Kong Fung hit him, and that it took
Sai Man a week before his breathing was normal again. He deserved it anyway.
"How strange it is that your new ally turned out to be
my brother..." she wondered at this turn of event.
Sai Man smiled. "I've asked Yau tai-gor to dispatch a
welcoming team for Mokei and your mother. The team was dispatched just before i
came to your room."
"So I'll see them tomorrow..." Sik Sik whispered,
her voice a mixture of hope and fear. "What if... what if they don't like
me?"
"What nonsense! They've loved you the moment i told
them about you. You'll see tomorrow; they're really nice people." When she
still looked doubtful, he clasped her hands with his. "Sik Sik, you’re the
most wonderful person I've ever known. You'll do more than fine tomorrow. And
I'll be here for you, just in case you need me."
She looked at him and, after a
while, smiled.
-xxx-
The meeting Sik Sik dreaded went well. More than well. Lady Gou
and her son arrived at the Palace just before lunch time. After a short
formality, she proceeded to examine the nervous Sik Sik in her room. Sai Man
was there too, for it would be awkward for Sik Sik to suddenly undress her
upper garment, even for a woman who was supposed to be her birth mother. Lady Gou
politely asked if she could examine Sik Sik’s midriff. Upon the young woman’s
nervous nod, the Gou matriarch gently set aside a portion of Sik Sik’s upper
garment. She then knelt to check the plum blossom shape on Sik Sik's left
midriff. Next to her, Li Sai Man fidgeted, for he suddenly remembered that he
was too passionate last night, and hence had left at least one mark on the
birth mark.
Idiot, can't you think?!
Lady Gou rose, looked at Sik Sik who was visibly nervous,
then at Sai Man, who suddenly blushed like a plum blossom.
"Second Prince, couldn't you avoid marking my daughter
last night before I examine her? At least, not marking her on the exact spot?"
Li Sai Man stuttered his
apologies before he saw the twinkling humour in Lady Gou's eyes.
"Lady Gou, you mean -"
She raised a hand to stop him.
"Call me mother-in-law. It's an apt title, don't you think?"
"Mrs Gou..." Sik Sik hesitated. "Mrs Gou, are
you certain that I'm your...daughter? Surely I'm not the only woman with such a
birthmark?"
"Of course. But I am very familiar with the birth mark
of my own daughter. I even asked the jeweler to make the plum blossom on the
bracelet the exact shape of the birth mark." She took a pouch from her
sleeve and opened it. "See...I asked him to make another one after i lost
you... and since he still had the design and the cast, this bracelet is the
exact copy of yours."
On Lady Gou's hand were two identical bracelets with plum
blossom stamps on their surface. Even Sai Man gasped at the identical nature of
the bracelets. Lady Gou had insisted that she kept Sik Sik's bracelet during
the journey to Fusu, and he had relented, although that bracelet was a very
important item for him too.
Sik Sik tentatively touched the bracelets. "I suppose
mine is this one -" she touched one of them. "It looks more worn and
I'm familiar with the subtle patterns of its edges."
Lady Gou smiled. "Yes, it is yours." She returned
he bracelet to Sik Sik, who let Sai Man slip it on her wrist. "And you
are...my long lost daughter..."
What followed was tears of joy, which doubled when
Cheung-seun Mokei was finally allowed to enter the chamber. Sai Man accompanied his wife for a while
before excusing himself out. Sik Sik seemed comfortable with the newcomers and
they could use some moments without him.
-xxx-
It's weird to be among one's family again after being
separated since childhood or, in Sik Sik's case, since she was practically a
baby. But Li Sai Man was right; if anyone can do that, it would be Chun Sik
Sik. It's not that Sik Sik was never a dear to anyone, her gentle nature easily
won the hearts of many. Yet, Sik Sik already lost the care of her adopted
parents since she was seven. When she lived with her old great aunt, Sik Sik
was more of a caretaker of her relative than a doted little girl. She grew up
too quickly, becoming too mature for her age. When, as a little girl she
befriended Kong Fung, she became very attached to him for he cared for her a
lot. Yet, as they grew up, Kong Fung grew his ambition to be a great kungfu
master, and hence he slowly detached himself from Sik Sik.
When Cheung Cheut Chan rescued Sik Sik that night from the
thugs, Sik Sik was already deep in her servitude and gratitude attitude that
the first thing she did in the Li Manor a few days later was to clean up the
mansion. She didn't want to receive kindness for free, hence her voluntary
cleaning up the mansion. Although Sik Sik eventually opened up to Cheung Cheut
Chan, Li Sai Man was the only person Sik Sik allowed to pamper her, and that
was quite a while after they started dating.
And now, suddenly she had Lady Gou as her confirmed birth
mother and Cheung-seun Mokei as her confirmed birth brother. Although she
initially felt awkward, she found it rather easy to let them in. By the first
week, she already felt like siblings with the cheerful Mokei. Before the end of
that week, already she leaned on her mother's shoulder as she listened to
stories of her childhood. When they accompanied Li Sai Man back to Cheung'on
two weeks after his arrival, Sik Sik was already feeling comfortable with her
new family. Embracing the approaching winter, they traveled together back to
Tang. The group split just over the border, for Sai Man, accompanied by some of
King Yau’s men, was going directly to Cheung'on, whereas Lady Gou would like to
see Sik Sik's old home town first. They would then travel to Mokei’s childhood
house to meet Mr Gou Gim, Sik Sik's biological uncle, and also to let her see
the house where she used to live in for a few months before her kidnapping.
In her childhood village, Sik Sik introduced her very old
great aunt to Lady Gou, who profusely thanked her for taking care of Sik Sik.
True that the great aunt was too old to properly take care of Sik Sik, but she
did give her love as she could. It was also in that village that Sik Sik met
Kong Fung again, who so happened to be in the village to visit Sik Sik’s old
great aunt.
“I thought Li Sai Man lied about him marrying you,” Kong
Fung said as they warmed their hands inside Sik Sik’s old house. A good
distance away from them, Lady Gou observed them curiously. Sik Sik had told her
about Kong Fung as a part of her past life, but never they thought that they’d
meet him there in the village.
“No, he wasn’t lying.” Sik Sik said earnestly as she warmed
her hands over the fire.
“He did lie in the past,” Kong Fung said, then added
bitterly, “Many times.”
“He regrets his actions, Kong Fung…” Sik Sik turned to study
Kong Fung’s face. He was still angry and resentful. She didn’t blame him. “I
don’t expect you to forgive him right away… What he did to Hau Tien Mun was
very wrong. But he does regret his past actions…”
It was a while before Kong Fung resumed. “You were the only
reason for me not to kill him. So… if he takes care of you, I’ll try to forgive
him one day. Only if he does take care of you.”
“So far, he’s been doing exactly that.” Sik Sik proceeded to
tell Kong Fung the story of her unknown childhood life.
“Huh, so it was his luck that he didn’t kill you, eh??” Clearly,
Kong Fung wasn’t going to let Sai Man go that easily. “Now he can get the
support of the Cheung-seun clan by way of his marriage to you!”
Sik Sik didn’t know that Sai Man told Kong Fung about him
almost killing her. For Sai Man to tell Kong Fung his greatest regret only
meant one thing: that Sai Man truly regretted it. “He beat himself for it for
so long, that I almost couldn’t take it at times. He’s getting better at
forgiving himself now… I think he has forgiven himself, if not almost.”
Kong Fung looked at Sik Sik in the eye. In the past, such a
gaze would weaken Sik Sik’s knees, but now she just returned it with a friendly
gaze.
“He’s very lucky to have you, does he know that?”
She smiled. “He knows that.”
They parted ways as friends at the gate of the village. Kong
Fung said he’d go to Fusu just to talk to Yau tai-gor (perhaps to cross-check
the facts that Sik Sik told him); Sik Sik let him go. She knew that Yau tai-gor
wouldn’t tell a deviated story, for what she and Sai Man had been telling Kong
Fung was just the truth.
Just as the Central Plain welcomed winter, Sik Sik, Lady Gou
and Cheung-seun Mokei resumed the journey to Cheung’on. The unexpectedly mild
beginning of winter aided their journey. They arrived at Gou Gim’s mansion
about a month after they left Fusu. Uncle Gou Gim was very happy to see his missing
niece had grown into a beautiful woman, married to such an inspiring young man
like Li Sai Man. Although Mr Gou Gim was not a man of high rank, he declared
from now on to support Li Sai Man in his quest for the throne, for he realized
that Sai Man’s quest was based on his desire to help the people of Tang.
-xxx-
Early December 625
Despite the cold winter night, Li Gin Sing's party was as
extravagant as usual that Li Sai Man regretted confirming his attendance the
moment he stepped into the Crown Prince Palace. Yet, his brother extended the
invitation, and considering the recent ‘discussions’ he had in the Court with
his brothers, Sai Man thought that a peace laurel must be extended for the
country to prosper. Li Ching point blank voiced his objection, but since the
Second Prince had decided to come, the Counsellor had no choice but to follow
suit.
Li Sai Man entered the Palace garden into a throng of
invitees. The early winter night was cold, but the many guests and the torches
created quite a pleasant temperature for a gathering. Just behind the entrance,
Third Prince Li Yuen Gat (Li Yuanji, 李元吉) flashed his flamboyant but insincere smile
at Li Sai Man. The Second Prince nodded and greeted his brother back with as
much courtesy as he could muster before following the Third Prince to greet the
Crown Prince.
Behind the Third Prince, stood Man Ching Ping and Cheung-seun On-yip (Zhangsun Anye,
the very half-brother of Sik Sik and Cheung-seun Mokei). Man Ching Ping looked stoic and distance as always, while Cheung-seun On-yip looked as if he was
just swallowing a big bug. His spies must have realized that Lady Gou was
visiting Sai Man recently, and that she, Cheung-seun Mokei and Li Sai Man were
away for the good part of the month. It was ironic that the Cheung-seun
brothers split fraction like the Li princes, with On-yip siding with the Crown
Prince and Third Prince, while Mokei siding with Li Sai Man. At times, Sai Man
was feeling blue about it, but he knew he couldn’t do anything to change
On-yip’s mind. A person who cast away his half siblings would easily be bought
by gold, and that was exactly what his royal brothers offered On-yip.
Upon learning that the Crown Prince was busy entertaining
the Silla Ambassador, Li Sai Man waited for a while on the main balcony amidst
the many invitees. He caught the glimpse of a very familiar face nearby,
leaning on the balcony railing. A beautiful, but sad face of Tao Chiu Yi. Sai
Man caught her eyes. He subtly nodded and smiled at her. He wanted to come to
her and asked how she was, but he knew it would bring trouble.
After Tao Chiu Yi helped Li Sai Man escaping Cheung'on with
Sik Sik, the former found herself in a very uncomfortable position. She kept
herself guarded, not allowing any man, even his father the Royal Uncle Tau to
talk her into lowering her guard. Chiu Yi knew what her father wanted: since
she couldn't marry Li Sai Man, then Crown Prince Li Gin Sing (Li Jiancheng)
would be the obvious choice. Poor Chiu Yi could only held her father's ambition
at bay for so long, though. Prince Tao knew that Chiu Yi was a filial daughter,
hence he drank a poison that made him sick (but not lethal) and threatened his
own daughter that he'd die if she didn't yield and marry the Crown Prince.
Tearfully, Chiu Yi agreed on the horrid matrimony, but she wasn't going to give
up that easily. She sneaked some very sharp hair pins and almost killed herself
when the Crown Prince started to bed her after the ceremony. When the Crown
Prince dismantled her defence, she almost bit her own tongue to kill herself.
The Crown Prince finally yielded and stopped touching his bride. Ever since, Chiu
Yi became just one of his concubines who he paraded around. Chiu Yi couldn't
care less. She was already grateful that she wasn't married to the Third
Prince, for Li Yuen Gat wouldn't even blink if she bit her tongue. He'd just
deflower her as he wished despite her bleeding to death, unable to speak.
Tao Chiu Yi related all these to Li Sai Man through a secret
letter she sneaked into Cheung Cheut Chan's hand during a very brief visit of
the palace ladies to the Empress' Estate. Sai Man's blood boiled when he read
the letter, but he could not reply at all. He did have some opportunities to
catch a glimpse of Chiu Yi during some court visits. He would nod and smile at
her. She knew that he had received her letter, she knew that he was sorry for
her trouble. Chiu Yi didn't ask Li Sai Man to rescue her to marry her later.
She was finally happy that Sai Man was happily married to Chun Sik Sik. No...Chiu
Yi asked for the rescue for she couldn't live like this. She'd rather die. She
was actually considering some ways of committing suicide when she heard of Li
Sai Man's return to Cheung'on. Ever since, Chiu Yi stopped trying to die.
Instead, she became alert and observed her husband's behaviours secretly. The
Crown Prince would make a mistake one day, and she'd report that mistake to Sai
Man.
Chiu Yi caught Sai Man's concerned look. She smiled. She had
composed some pointers about the Crown Prince, written in codes so that no one
but her knew about it. She'd sneak the notes to Sai Man as soon as she could.
But not tonight. Tonight, she was just an uninterested concubine. She heard the
familiar giggles of her fellow concubines and realised that the Crown Prince
was approaching he balcony. True, a moment later, the Crown Prince greeted his
Yi-gor. Sai Man politely replied, forcing himself to look detached although the
stoned-faced Tao Chiu Yi was being groped around by the Crown Prince in front
of him.
And so the party continued. Li Sai Man, Li Ching and other
eminent guests were escorted into the main dining hall. Forcing himself to
smile at lame jokes, Sai Man counted the number of wine cups he had to swallow
before it was polite to excuse himself. He was grateful when the food arrived,
for he was concerned that he'd blurt out his honest opinion about his royal
brothers during the party. After all, in
vino veritas...
A silver tray of exquisite dishes was presented before him.
Sai Man wasn't hungry, but he'd rather eat than drown himself in wine. He
absentmindedly glanced at the dishes when he unexpectedly smiled. Among the
dishes was a braised deer and eggplant dish. Someone must have tipped his royal
brothers of his favourite dish, though the deer was an improvised part. He
immediately filled his bowl with rice and the braised dish and ate it. The dish
was delicious, but the one Sik Sik made was better.
Sik Sik...He received her last letter she sent secretly a
week ago, informing him that his wife and in-laws should arrive in the next few
days. The winter weather had been unexpectedly fine, hence they were likely to
meet that target. Despite his original concerns that his wife and in-laws were
embracing the early winter weather to reach Cheung'on, Li Sai Man actually
wished for them to arrive quickly. He longed to hug his wife again. He wanted
to tell her of all the court struggles, including his latest attempt to make
the riches pay for taxes (so far the Court had been so relaxed about the tax
for the riches, yet so severely punishing the poor who couldn't even eat
properly, let alone pay tax). She'd listen attentively, she'd know what to say
to soothe him from all the Court woes.
Coincidentally (or not?), it was the exact topic that his
sam-gor suddenly introduced during the dinner. Sai Man exchanged glances with
Li Ching. Was the Third Prince serious in discussing the tax reform proposal
during dinner, in front of the Silla Ambassador? Sai Man considered his words
carefully when he replied to the Ambassador's questions. He was about to
explain his in-depth calculation of how pro-poor tax strategy would benefit
Tang when one of his men approached Li Ching and whispered something to the
Counsellor. Li Ching in return swiftly informed Li Sai Man happy news: that
Chun Sik Sik just reached the Chin Manor.
Sai Man's heart missed a beat when he realised his wife was
already in the Capital. He made a lame excuse about his mother-in-law being
ill, hence in need of his attention, before immediately left the Crown Prince's
Manor. He failed to see the Crown and Third Princes exchanging conspiratory
glances, but Li Ching and Tao Chiu Yi saw it from two different perspectives.
-xxx-
"Sik Sik!" Sai Man ran inside his house just as
snow gently fell. He recognised her voice, his nostril detected her scent, and
before both knew it, they were already in each other's arms. Ignoring decorum,
he lifted her, spun her around, and kissed her in front of his mother-in-law
(who sighed happily) and brother-in-law (who immediately studied the floor
fastidiously).
"Sai Man, put her down," Lady Gou pretended to
reprimand her favourite son (in-law). "She's tired from a long journey,
you'll tire her more if you don't put her down!"
"Mother!" Sik Sik blushed as Sai Man laughed and
put her down. "I'm fine. You're the one who needs the rest."
"Yes, Mother," Sai Man still grinned as he held
his wife very close to him. "I have missed your daughter so much, surely
you forgive my mishap?"
"Oh, who am I to argue with you two..." Lady Gou
smiled with twinkles in her eyes. "Sai Man, this wife of yours, she
couldn't take our slow pace and kept asking us to be faster! I kept telling her
that she needed to slow down due to her condition, but all the more reason -
she said - that she wanted to meet you as soon as possible."
"What condition?" Sai Man was suddenly gripped
with fear such that he felt sick. Fighting a sudden urge to throw up, he
grabbed Sik Sik's arms and urgently asked her again. "What condition?! Are
you okay, Sik Sik?!" He dragged her towards the nearby brazier.
"Come, come here by the fire! I've told you not to over exert
yourself!"
Sik Sik smiled. She gently grabbed Sai Man's hand and
directed him to her stomach. "I'm fine, Sai Man. Mother is just worried
because I'm-"
She never got to finish her sentence because her husband
suddenly turned green and collapsed in her arms, foams formed in his mouth, his
body convulsed as if he was experiencing seizures. Sik Sik screamed and caught
him before he hit the floor. As Li Sai Man's consciousness drifted out, he
realised one thing:
I'm going to die. And my wife is pregnant...and my
child will be fatherless...
-xxx-
Turned out, Li Sai Man didn't die that night. His house
doctor immediately administered a general poison antidote. The Second Prince
was unconscious for a few hours, during which Sik Sik and Li Lok Wan (summoned
from her own manor) accompanied him with trepidation. An occasion that was
supposed to be a happy one, for Lok Wan hadn't seen Sik Sik for years, turned
sombre due to the unexpected incident.
Past midnight, a sweat-drenched Sai Man woke up and threw up
his dinner, lunch and breakfast at Sik Sik who wouldn't leave his side except
for a privy break. Sik Sik cleaned his discharge and force-fed him water to
replace his lost liquid. The amount of discharge Sai Man threw up was alarming;
his face was as pale as sheet, his lips a hue of blue-green, his skin so cold.
Sik Sik force-fed him another dose of general antidote; she didn’t sleep at all
that night.
Later, Sai Man fainted for three days. Since Sik Sik was
adamant to stay with Sai Man despite her pregnancy, Li Lok Wan, Lady Gou and
Cheung Cheut Chan took turns to assist her. Li Ching and Cheung-seun Mokei
reassigned themselves to fetching doctors to rescue Sai Man. An unexpected help
came from Tao Chiu Yi who bribed the Crown Prince house doctor. From the
doctor, she found out that the Crown and Third Princes indeed used a particular
poison to contaminate Li Sai Man's meals. Sik Sik's arrival prevented Sai Man
from finishing his meal, hence he didn't digest the whole poison. This
information enabled Sai Man's personal doctor to concoct a specific antidote.
Just an hour after it was administered, the Prince of Chin woke up. He had
survived the poisoning, but he was definitely bed-ridden for the whole
fortnight. Sik Sik, Lady Gou and Cheung Cheut Chan were the only people
handling Sai Man's food preparation until he was getting better.
-xxx-
If anything good came out of the poisoning incident, it was
that Emperor Li Yuen unexpectedly showed his concerns and remorse of the incident.
Li Sai Man and his aides couldn't truly tell whether the Emperor knew that the
Crown and Third Princes poisoned the Second Prince. However, the fact that the
Emperor himself sent his main Eunuch to see Sai Man during his recuperation and
that Sai Man was summoned to the Palace for a gentle chat once the Second
Prince was able to leave his house were enough evidence of the Emperor's change
of heart. Perhaps the old Emperor finally realised that he’d been raising a
wrong heir, an heir cruel enough to poison his own brother to succeed the
Throne.
 |
| Source |
Chun Sik Sik, or as some would call her the Princess of Chin
these days, were quite instrumental in maintaining the Emperor's growing favour
to Li Sai Man. She didn't plan it, but perhaps it was once again her natural
charm that won the hidden fatherly heart of Emperor Li Yuen. During Li Sai Man’s
unexpected friendly audience with his father, Sik Sik was waiting for him outside
the meeting hall when the Emperor saw her. Some normal pleasantries were
exchanged in a short time, but it was apparent that the Emperor had grown to
appreciate Sik Sik. Understanding his father's nature, Li Sai Man was naturally
worried that the Emperor would take an unnatural fancy at Sik Sik. Thus, upon
receiving an unexpected dinner invitation from the Emperor, with trepidation
Sai Man accompanied his pregnant wife to his father's Palace. To his immense
relief, the Emperor displayed an unprecedented fatherly attitude towards Sik
Sik the whole night. He sincerely asked about her health and the health of the
baby she was carrying, and he advised Li Sai Man to take care of his precious
petite wife, such that Sai Man and Lok Wan (who was also invited) exchanged
surreptitious surprise glances. A week later, the Emperor caught cold. Sik Sik
had an initiative to send some of her herb stocks, which somehow aided in
helping the Emperor getting better. Ever since, Sik Sik was the Emperor's
favourite daughter-in-law.
 |
| Source |
"Don't bother about those rumours," Sai Man
caressed Sik Sik's gentle but sad face after she sat on the swing one fine
spring afternoon. "I know your heart. We all know your golden heart."
He gently caressed Sik Sik's bulging stomach. "Stressing out isn't good
for you. Concubine Cheung was just jealous that Fu-wong liked you like his own
daughter, thus she spread the gossips." Concubine Cheung was one
particularly jealous concubine of the Emperor. Sai Man never liked her, but now
he definitely despised her for spreading gossips about Sik Sik.
"As long as you trust me...I'll be fine..." Sik
Sik finally smiled. Later, she laughed when Sai Man started to swing her.
-xxx-
Yet, Li Sai Man would later learn the danger of gossips,
despite it being far from truth. As the Court started in Spring 626, he pushed
forward his tax reform campaign with the goal to have the riches, including the
royalties, pay taxes (with a much larger percentage than what the peasants
currently paid) and the poor exempted from paying tax. Contrary to the previous
year, the Emperor was somehow more willing to listen to his suggestions. This
unexpected development encouraged Sai Man's camp, yet at the same time, it set
the alarm on the Crown Prince camp. The Third Prince actually had an unrequited
passion with Concubine Cheung, thus the Concubine regularly fed him news in the
hope that she'd be in his favour when the Throne changed hands. By early summer
626, Concubine Cheung was deep in delusion that she herself believed her own
rumours that Sik Sik had become the Emperor's favourite through immoral means.
She also believed that Sik Sik was instrumental in making Emperor Yuen opening
up to Li Sai Man's tax reform, although in reality, Sik Sik only occasionally
discussed the tax reform proposal with Sai Man and his aides. These streams of
gossips finally made the Crown and Third Princes believed that the Princess of
Chin was crucial in stopping the tax reform proposal.
One fine early summer evening, Li Sai Man was having a
dinner meeting at Li Ching's place, attended also by Cheung-seun Mokei and
other aides. The Court would hold its final hearing session in two days about
the tax reform proposal, and so far Sai Man was confident that his proposal
would be accepted. Suddenly, urgent footsteps were heard outside the dining
hall. Heads turned to the door as an old woman hastily ran into the dining
hall, her hair in disarray, bruises on her face. Upon seeing her, Sai Man's
heart missed a beat.
"Nanny Hung! What happened? Why are you here?!"
Nanny Hung was Li Sai Man's nanny when he was little. Always
doting on Sai Man, she did not hesitate to join his household once he invited
her last winter to watch over Sik Sik. Yet, this time, the nanny didn't come as
a happy news bearer.
"Second Prince, Milord! Please forgive me! A masked man
entered Princess Sik Sik's chamber while she was resting just now. I came just
as he disactivated her, but he hit me effortlessly!"
Blood drained from Sai Man's face. "Where is my wife
now?"
"Taken away, Milord! Taken away!" Nanny Hung crumbled
into tears. "He took the Princess away! Oh, and her belly is so large now!
What will become of her?!"
Li Sai Man had to hold onto the table, for he suddenly felt
as if the Earth was swallowing him. His blood boiled as he observed Nanny
Hung's bruises. Whoever kidnapped Sik Sik must pay for this, by blood if
necessary.
Author’s Notes:
I did warn you about
how long it could take for me to correct Sai Man’s course of action, right? Even
if he didn’t kill Sik Sik that day, the couple would still have to go through a
long process before I can naturally merge their story with history.
In order to satisfy my
desire (and also the desire of many fans) that LSM and CSS were finally
together, to me I needed to link the fictional Sik Sik to an existing
historical figure. History (or her-story?) helped me through Empress Zhangsun (長孫皇后).
According to Wikipedia (of which sources are, e.g., Peterson 2000’s ‘Notable
women of China: Shang dynasty to the early twentieth century’), Empress
Zhangsun, the consort of the real Li Sai Man (Li Shi Min) was known as the “Civil,
Virtuous, Serene and Holy Empress” and was “frugal and humble, taking only the
supplies that she needed without living luxuriously”. On a request to add
utensils in the Eastern Palace where her son lived, Empress Zhangsun’s said, “For
the crown prince, what counts is his morality and his good name. There is no
need to worry about insufficient utensils.” (Peterson,
2000).
To me, these attributes
scream “Chun Sik Sik” out loud. Hence, I have no qualm in ‘using’ the noble Empress
as a persona for Chun Sik Sik.
The next chapter is
hopefully the final one, which will cover the Xuanwu (Yuen Mou) Gate Incident (2
July 626). Bingham 1950 (“Li Shih-min’s Coup in A.D. 626. I: The Climax of
Princely Rivalry”) stated that Li Sai Man was likely poisoned more than five
months before the Xuanwu Gate Incident. Thus I made the poisoning of LSM (and
also Sik Sik’s arrival) in late 625.
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