‘Mr Xu, you would be better off not asking so many questions.’
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Ch. 11.1
As befitted the Tao mansion, the guest room was very comfortably appointed but sleep was the furthest thing from Xu Jianzhang’s mind. In the afternoon, the Tao residence had quietened down abruptly with the guests leaving quickly. Although he had suspected that something had happened, it was not until dusk that he heard about the attempt on Murong Feng’s life. This incident was nothing short of a sensation and although the circular telegram repeatedly stressed that Murong Feng had not actually been injured, the fact that Xu and Chang had been executed resulted in all the high-ranking military officers hastening over to the commander-in-chief’s official residence for a meeting. The womenfolk at the Tao manor were thrown into disarray for some time but finally dispersed gradually. Come evening, the quietness that had fallen over the Tao mansion felt like a completely different world from the bustling atmosphere in the earlier part of the day.
Xu Jianzhang was deeply alarmed upon hearing that such a major incident had occurred, besides which Jingwan had gone to the commander-in-chief’s residence and he had no idea what had befallen her — the burning anxiety had him on edge. Since a guard was accompanying him, he could hardly go around trying to find out what was happening, not to mention that everyone in the Tao manor was completely in the dark¹ as to what was going on: so how could he sleep a wink under such circumstances? He kept lying down and getting up while longing desperately for dawn to come. Just as he was fretting, a guard outside knocked on the door and called out, ‘Mr Xu, Mr Xu.’
His heart gave a leap of delight and, thinking that Jingwan had returned, he hurried to open the door. However the guard informed him, ‘Sixth Marshal would like you to go over.’
Xu Jianzhang gave a start. ‘Sixth Marshal?’
He was taken aback – what did Murong Feng want with an outsider like him at such a critical time? But since the guard kept urging him, he could only follow the former into the car and let himself be driven to the commander-in-chief’s residence.
¹ 一問三不知 yī wèn sān bù zhī. If you’re not reading this chapter at hiding in plain sight, it has been stolen and reproduced by novelscraping sites.
It was nearly going to be dawn and the folks who were hurrying to the morning market were already starting to make themselves heard. An itinerant hawker selling beancurd emerged from a small alley, his carrying pole quivering under its loads, calling out in a sing-song voice, ‘Sweet beancurd, ayyy…’ That ‘ayyy’ was dragged out for a very long time and just as it seemed to be coming to an end in ‘yea’, the tone suddenly went up until Xu Jianzhang, listening to it from a distance, also felt as if his heart were being yanked up by that cry. The car they were in was travelling at a fast speed and shot past several streets until it turned into the heavily guarded compound of the provincial military governor’s residence. The guard ushered him out of the car and directly into a whitewashed building. The big hall was brightly lit with more than ten heavily armed sentries standing guard inside. The latest makes of pistols were holstered at their waists as they stood in precise formation. It was utterly silent all around and he even fancied that he could hear his own heart beating.
The guard led him upstairs where they turned left at the top of the stairs and into an extremely luxurious room, but Xu Jianzhang was too preoccupied to even notice the furnishings. The guard merely said, ‘Please wait here for a while, Mr Xu’ before leaving the room.
So great was his perturbation that it felt like he had been waiting for more than half an hour. The sky outside was already bright and birds could be heard chirping in the trees. Countless doubts and notions were seething in his mind and he kept jumping between thinking about Jingwan and wondering why Murong Feng wanted to see him. Everything was just utterly confusing and there was no clarity at all. After a long time footsteps were finally heard, and as he turned his head saw a man in his thirties. Just as he was speculating about who the stranger could be, the man asked, ‘Are you Mr Xu?’
He nodded in response and that man said, ‘I’m Shen Jiaping, the chief bodyguard to Sixth Marshal. I believe you must have heard a little about what happened today and thus will not take offence.’ He gestured with his chin and two guards behind him stepped forward to search Xu Jianzhang thoroughly before nodding to Shen Jiaping, indicating that they had not found any weapons on him.
Shen Jiaping requested, ‘Please come with me, Mr Xu,’ then turned and began walking out. Xu Jianzhang followed him and finally had to ask, ‘Is my friend, Miss Yin, here?’
Shen Jiaping neither slowed down nor turned his face round as he answered, ‘Mr Xu, Miss Yin wants to see you. She has sustained a very serious bullet injury.’ This news was a bolt from the blue and a stunned Xu Jianzhang halted where he was before recovering himself and, finding that he had fallen some way behind, hastened after Shen Jiaping.
This time he was led into a Western-style suite which gave him a dazzling² impression with its opulent furnishings. Some people were standing with their arms at their sides in the sitting room and it was so quiet that even the ticking of a clock hanging on the wall was audible.
² 金壁辉煌 jīnbìhuīhuáng. Translation belongs to theresanother(DOT)wordpress(DOT)com.
Shen Jiaping pushed open the door of the bedroom himself. Only a small bedroom lamp had been turned on and the light it gave off was very muted and gentle. Xu Jianzhang was suddenly seized by fear, the shadow covering his heart becoming more and more definite and spreading ever further. The carpeting under his feet was a good three to four inches thick and once his feet sank into it, it felt as though his heels had sunk into sand, so soft that he could not exert any strength and he had trouble taking every step while his heart also felt as if it were teetering precariously. His eyes had already fallen on a luxurious Western-style four-poster bed, its engraved gilt headboard and bed curtains. The curtains, sheer and white like soft clouds, were fringed with numerous golden tassels that wound round the bed.
Underneath the down quilt lay a petite outline.
His heart gave a sudden leap as he blurted out, ‘Jingwan.’
She was deathly pale and he dazedly watched her weak breathing. The nurse beside her gestured to him urgently and he felt a stabbing pain in his heart. Someone brought him a chair, but it did not even occur to him to sit down. His eyes were glued to Jingwan’s face as he asked the nurse, ‘How is she?’
The nurse only replied, ‘It’s very serious.’
He then asked, ‘How was she hurt?’
The nurse made an evasive sound as Shen Jiaping interjected with a dry chuckle, ‘Mr Xu, you would be better off not asking so many questions.’
Xu Jianzhang felt a jolt of alarm and had no choice but to bite back all the questions that had risen to his lips.
He had no idea how long he sat there. Velvet curtains that had been gathered and secured with golden hooks hung thickly at the windows. Pale sunlight streamed in, so faint it was more like the fading glow of sunset while Jingwan just lay there like a sleeping infant oblivious to everything.
Xu Jianzhang continued to sit there feeling stiffness gradually spread all over his limbs, but his mind seemed incapable of processing any thought. The bedroom was extremely spacious: in the eastern portion stood a rosewood shelf, above which was hung an extremely long sabre. The leather scabbard encasing it was set with precious stones and the bottom was adorned with apricot-coloured tassels. It was a magnificent and clearly famous sabre. Some other precious swords of varying lengths were also placed above the shelf. On another side stood a low chest of drawers on which were scattered some cigars and cigarette cases. Xu Jianzhang’s dull gaze took in the coat rack in front of the bed. A man’s military uniform was hanging on it; a leather belt with an empty leather pistol holster still attached to it was casually draped across the foot of the rack. He noticed that even though it was a standard military uniform, the golden tassels hanging from the shoulder pads signified that it belonged to Murong Feng and no one else.
A servant came to call him for lunch but his gut felt like it was stuffed with stones and so weighed down that he had no appetite, thus he only shook his head in refusal. The room was very quiet: the silence broken by an occasional moan from Jingwan, the sound of the nurses walking to and fro as they took her temperature, gave her injections and mopped the perspiration off her. He sat there, praying that she would regain consciousness soon but there was a frisson of apprehension deep in his heart, as though he were afraid of some unknown thing. The servant came again to urge him to take dinner — a whole day had already passed just like that, so fast and yet so slow.
Soft footsteps sounded outside the door and a woman’s gentle voice was heard asking, ‘How is Miss Yin?’
An amah outside answered, ‘She hasn’t woken up yet.’ Following that, the door was pushed open and upon turning his head, he saw a gorgeously dressed lady who looked to be in her thirties.
Lan Qin hastily said to that lady, ‘This is Master Xu, Miss Yin’s cousin.’
Lan Qin then told him, ‘This is our Fourth Madam.’
He had always heard of this famous Fourth Madam and knew that she had been Murong Chen’s favourite concubine. He had also heard that she was in charge of the household at the Murong residence since Murong Feng was still single, so he instantly stood up and greeted her ‘Fourth Madam’ with great courtesy.
Fourth Madam, who had used to accompany Murong Chen on various occasions, had an open manner despite being a traditional woman so she held out her hand while saying, ‘A pleasure to meet you, Master Xu.’ Then she added with a sigh, ‘What a sad thing to happen to Jingwan.’
Xu Jianzhang, who was already feeling distressed, felt his heart ache when he heard her say this.
Fourth Madam added, ‘Heaven helps the worthy, so please don’t worry yourself too much.’ She then asked, ‘You haven’t had anything to eat, I take it?’ She hailed an attendant outside and said reprovingly, ‘You lot are getting more and more undisciplined. There’s a guest here — why didn’t you invite him to take his meal at the back of the house?’
Xu Jianzhang hastily interposed, ‘Oh, they did a few times very early on, but I had no appetite so I didn’t go. Besides, I’ve already imposed too much on your hospitality as it is.’
Fourth Madam replied smilingly, ‘Biǎo Shàoye, you’re not an outsider so why be a stranger? Our Sixth Marshal hasn’t been able to spare any time as he has been very busy these past two days, so I hope you won’t take offence. Treat this as your own home, Biǎo Shàoye, and just let the servants know if there’s anything you need.’
She kept addressing him as ‘Biǎo Shàoye’ (Lit. Mr Cousin), causing all of Xu Jianzhang’s doubts to swell up like a bubble, poised to burst at the slightest touch.
Fourth Madam then pointed out, ‘You still have to eat, no matter what. I’m sure that Jingwan wouldn’t want you to see you going hungry when she wakes up.’
Unable to refuse her repeated invitations, he thus stood up and went out to take his meal.
³ 食不知味 shíbùzhīwèi. Please consider reading from theresanother(DOT)wordpress(DOT)com rather than from novelscraping sites.
The servants were nothing backward in their attentions despite his lack of relish³. The end of the meal was Western-style with dessert and coffee being served, but these held no appeal and he merely took two sips of his coffee before going back to see how Jingwan was. The lights all around had been turned on so that the way back to the building was brightly lit. Shen Jiaping was standing in the corridor and gave a slight start upon seeing him, but Xu Jianzhang did not think anything of it. The former followed him in, knocked on the bedroom door and called out, ‘Sixth Marshal, Master Xu has returned,’ before opening the door.
Murong Feng was presently standing by a window talking to a doctor and turned his head when he heard them enter. Although Xu Jianzhang had been to Chengzhou many times, he had never seen Murong Feng before this and could not help being rather startled by this unexpected encounter. The latter only appeared slightly more tanned than his photos in the newspapers and while his features were youthful, his composed demeanour made him appear mature for his age.
Xu Jianzhang thus had to greet him, which Murong Feng acknowledged by inclining his head briefly. He then turned away and continued conversing in Russian with the doctor. After a while, the doctor accompanied Murong Feng as he walked to the foot of the bed where they stood talking in low voices. Xu Jianzhang guessed that they were talking about Jingwan’s condition, but as he couldn’t understand a single word it felt as though his presence there were wholly superfluous.
(Approx. 2259 words)
12’s notes:
Edited after post was published.
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Translated and edited by 12
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