Three Kingdoms: Chapter 6

To one person who reads this:
Voila, here's a new chapter. As I've aforementioned most precariously, I changed Ryu's name to Liu. Changes made in previous chapters as well. Again, I'm not one for elegance and revising these days. Patience, s'il vous plaît.

Moving on. Lots of drama in this chapter. Poor Liu. Oh dear. Liu + Drama = Implosion.

Liu hates arithmetics. Anyways, read on as I serve you cherries. *launches tray*



Chapter 6



The Mulberry Village consisted of about two to three hundred houses. The small community was especially alive in springs and autumns, for many travelers stopped by going from north to south and from south to north. However, comings and goings became rare as Huans' unexpected protrusions increased. The streets were almost deserted nowadays, and the castle door that ran into the village were to be firmly bolted at sunset.

It was about time. The sun, a bowl of red amongst the pink clouds, was sinking. The night guards relieved the shift, and commenced their early evening duty. Squeaking slowly, the wooden doors closed, gradually blocking out the view of watercolor red behind the horizon. That's when the guards heard a familiar voice, shouting.

“Sirs, please wait! Don't close the doors just yet!” the figure pleaded sincerely, presently riding on towards the castle doors. They halted. It was none other than Liu Bei from the Mulberry Village.

“Liu Bei! Haven't seen you in a while,” the leader of the guards said.

“Yes, sir. I'm just coming back from the journey,” Liu Bei replied excitedly.

“You must be tired, come on in. If you were a second late, you could have spent the night by the castle doors and have your clothes be dewed by the morning,” the leader hurried him in. Liu Bei stepped inside, and the doors slammed shut. The guards barred it.

“Oh also, your mother came out here every evening to see you returning, but I haven't seen her since a fortnight. Perhaps she is ill, I deem,” the leader said concernedly.

“Is that so?” Liu Bei said in a startled reply, a dark shadow hovering over his features.

“I should go see her quickly,” he said, drawing in the reins.

“Yes, do ride on,” the leader encouraged as Liu Bei vanished around the corner, behind the row of houses whose roofs lay shoulder to shoulder.

“Truly, he's a filial fellow,” he muttered to himself as he resumed his nighttime duties.

* * *

Liu Bei rode on. It was about two kilometers' ride to his house from the gates. Unsophisticated work of houses and humble straw huts he passed, the blades of soft autumn grass rustling under the steed's swift feet. A shadow riding on the wind amidst the twilight, he came to a cluster of scattered houses. The mountain loomed over his head. Most of the homes were built of earthen bricks, each brick carefully crafted and baked out of a strong furnace. Liu Bei's home was the last house before the land joined mountainside. The earthen hue was beginning to match the color of autumn.

In the front lawn of Liu Bei's home, there grew a giant mulberry tree. Ordinary mulberry trees supposedly did not reach such a statue even in their maturity, but only this tree grew so strangely tall. The name “Mulberry Village,” had originated from such an unusual occurrence as well.

Liu Bei's mother sat, her restless hands on a half-finished straw mat. A heap of finished mats and shoes lay in a corner. She was getting a head start for the upcoming days of business, but her mind was occupied with other worries. It had been more than a month since Liu Bei had left, his flat purse dangling by his side. Where was her son? Though now a fully grown adult, he was forever a stumbling toddler in her eyes.

It was when she got up for a short stretch that she heard the slow beating of hooves on the ground. She walked to the window. Visitors were rare these days, except for tax collectors who came to harass her for extra military funds every now and then. Before she even looked out the window, a familiar and pleasant voice called from the door, already burst open.

“Mother!”

She hurried to the doorstep. There he was, her only son, a bit thinner but still looking wholesome and of good cheer.

“Mother, Bei is here. I just got back,” Liu Bei said, his childlike eyes beaming with delight.

“Oh, it's my son!” she said breathlessly and embraced him in joy. The excitement of reunion lit up her lean face. “Thank goodness, you're safe. I couldn't sleep for many nights when I heard that the Huans were in every quarter rampaging about.”

“I'm fine,” Liu Bei said assuringly and added with a concern on his part, “Mother, I heard you weren't feeling well...?”

“Me? No... I'm very healthy,” she remarked. It was Liu Bei's turn for a relief.

“Really, the guard said that you didn't frequent the gates as much because you were ill,” Liu Bei said.

“Ah, that's true. Come to think of it, it's been almost two weeks since I've been out there,” the mother smiled gently. “I wasn't sick that I couldn't go out, I just didn't. The money you left to my care before you left, wasn't enough to pay taxes... That's why I stayed home.”

“Why is the house so empty?” Liu Bei asked, glancing over vacant spaces.

“The officials took the furnitures and the beds instead of money. They need a lot more military funds to fight Huans,” she explained.

“They don't even have that much money?” Liu Bei exclaimed in surprise. “What is going to become of this world?” he thought aloud. Smiling ever-so serenely, his mother turned around.

“You must be hungry. Rest a little while I prepare supper,” she said. Lifting up a wooden flooring, she took out a pouch with ingredients for side dishes.¹

“I thought it'd be a trouble if there was nothing when you came back. It was difficult, but I made this ready just in case,” she said.

“I never imagined you were leading such a hardship,” Liu Bei said apologetically. “I will work hard starting tomorrow so you can rest some.”

“This mother is just happy that her son is by her side,” his mother said as she cheerfully continued preparing supper. Watching her rough hands skillfully move over the radish skin, Liu Bei remembered what he went on the journey for.

“Oh, mother. I almost forgot – I have a very special present for you,” Liu Bei said, reaching into his bosom.

“For me?” his mother said in a slightly amused tone.

“Yes, this is for you,” Liu Bei said as he laid the precious porcelain jar on the palms of his hands. His mother stared at it, her features perplexed.

“...?”

“Mother, it's tea. Processed in Luoyang.”

“... tea!” Her eyes widened in disbelief.

“How did you manage to get such an expensive thing?” she questioned, her entire body trembling in fresh shock.

“Mother, don't you worry. I'd saved money little by little this past year. I just wanted to see you delighting. You've been working so hard,” Liu Bei said, reassuring and steadying her shaky hands.

“I truly thank you, Bei,” she said. Overjoyed and touched, her face was soon covered in hot tears. “Oh, you truly are commendable.”

“No– It's nothing,” Liu Bei said, his face shining brighter in modesty.

“All right, let's eat n...” Mother's glance stopped at Liu Bei's side and her words trailed off. Her face was as white as paper.

“Bei! Whose sword are you wearing?”

“This sword? This is mine...” Liu Bei tried to sound indifferent, but he thought he heard something critical in his mother's voice.

“Why are you wearing that? What about the sword that you inherited from your father?” she interrogated, her pale features turning stern.

“To tell you the truth, that...”

“S, surely you couldn't have sold it?” she inquired, pondering the possibilities out loud.

“Mother, to tell you the truth, I was captured by Huans before returning here. When I was knocking on the death's door, this man called Zhang Fei saved me... so I gave him that sword as a sign of my gratitude...” Liu Bei explained but his mother didn't seem to be listening anymore. It seemed that she almost fainted.

“Mother, are you all right?” Liu Bei exclaimed worriedly.

“I, I raised you wrong,” she barely managed to get the words out through her chattering teeth, and stormed out of the house.

“Mother!” Liu Bei ran out after her. She was headed towards the lake.

“Mother, what's wrong?” Liu Bei shouted from behind but she kept running on. It wasn't long before they arrived on the lakeside. His mother stopped and took out the treasured tea jar. With a determination, she aimed for the center of the lake. She threw it without hesitation and the water splashed. Liu Bei was watching with wonder. The ceramic slowly sank, settling in for eternity.

“Mother, why? Why did you throw the tea in?” Liu Bei asked impatiently, momentarily forgetting her doleful eyes and her trembling words.

“Bei, sit down,” his mother demanded, still with her back to Liu Bei, and still covering her eyes from tears. Yet her voice was unmistakably the same as in his distant memories. Back in the younger days, when Liu Bei would do something beyond mischief, his mother would say, “Sit down,” and stare at him for what seemed eternity with those eyes. He preferred to be given a cane. He could endure physical pain. But mother's eyes... Stern, yet with a certain hue of sadness... he could not bare to look at them. It reminded him of the day when the father passed away. Her eyes had the same shadow then.

“I just threw away a cherished treasure which you worked so hard to obtain... Can you understand the heart of this mother?” she said, her voice no longer trembling but collected.

“...”

“I raised you wrong.”

“...”

“How could I face your father and ancestors after death, after raising you to give away the precious sword to a stranger?”

“The fault lies with me,” Liu Bei apologized.

“You are yet to know the reason why I am bitter with you,” she said sternly. Liu Bei thought he saw a flash of tear in her eyes. A slight breeze shook off some discolored leaves onto the lake. The mother's reflection on the water swayed a bit.

“Sword is the soul of a warrior... But you, without knowing, became some poor farmer struggling to make a living in this village,” she said sadly. Her voice faltered a little but she continued, “You don't know this... But our household was far from being related to farming.” Liu Bei listened as he watched the fallen leaves blurring his mother's image on the midnight mirror.

“Both your departed father and grandfather made a living not so rich in this countryside... But their hearts were elsewhere,” she noted in a rather mystic tone. Liu Bei also felt his blood tingle for what reason he could not tell. His mother was still talking.

“... for their ancestors had been of the honorable lineage, being the descendants of Liu Bei Sheng, Prince Jing of Zhongshan, son of Emperor Jing of Han...² the Emperor's lineage that had united the whole land of China under its sway,” she remarked.

Liu Bei felt his heart stop in shock.

“The Emperor's blood runs in your veins... and the sword that you wore gave the seal to your birth,” his mother explained. “Even so, I did not tell you the truth, for many among the Imperial Circle³ are after the throne... If it were to be known that you, who are of the royal lineage, are alive... they might turn upon you,” she said, with her far-gazing eyes.

“That's why... our family hid our identities and begun practicing farming in rural villages. Although we were hardly able to make the both ends meet, we wanted to raise you so to be not ashamed of the Emperor's lineage.” She closed her eyes to rid of the film of tears and continued, “Yet you, you riped into a farmer from the start... and... Bei, did you want to weave mats all your life after giving your sword away to someone else?”

“...”

“Did you think that the tea was more important than your father's sword?”

“...”

“Did you think I would rejoice after receiving such a gift?”

“What foolishness, foolishness!” Mother's frail hand slapped across his shoulders. It was painless, but the grief was tearing both hearts apart. Her fragile strikes continued through her sobbing. The wind whistled and a cricket chirped. She ceased her scanty whipping and stood silently, facing Liu Bei. Her silhouette lingered on the moonlit water. Liu Bei knelt down.

“Mother, I was foolish. A man of small caliber, I have become. I had only dreamed of my and my mother's happiness while farming. From now on, I will only act such that my name, sacred to the Emperor's ancestry, will not be tainted,” Liu Bei promised solemnly.

“Do you understand now? Then go to your father's grave and take a vow on the words you've just uttered,” his mother said sternly.

“Yes, mother,” Liu Bei said, promptly disappearing into darkness. His mother stood there for quite some time, gazing into the shadows beyond the trees. She gulped back tears a couple of times, but it was no use. The sobs began to fall and soon her face was covered in hot tears.

“Bei... I steeled my heart to scold you like this...” she murmured.

“But I can't help but weep... to think of the heart that worked so hard to please this mother with such a gift...” she muttered amidst the tears as her words became barely audible even to the audience of the night. A firefly went out. She knelt by the dock and wept.

The matter remained a secret between the son and the mother. Shards of porcelain later resulted in some dead carps nearby. The crickets chirped on, and the timeless moon shone melancholy silhouettes on the water.

* * *

¹ In Asian cultures, most meals are eaten with a bowl of rice and many side dishes.
² Emperor Jing (188 BC–141 BC) was the sixth emperor of the Han Dynasty from 156 BC to 141 BC. His son Liu Bei Sheng, Prince Jing of Zhongshan, is Liu Bei's ancestor.
³ Just something I made up. Imperial Circle is a collective term for groups of advisers/subordinates that surround and protect the present Emperor. (Although not so much in this story thus far! Har har har.)

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