Chapter 4:
Breakthrough
“A CITIZEN IS NOT GUILTY of his own accord, but if he carries the jade, he will be found guilty. You must hand over the jade seal, immediately.”
“You’re kidding, right…?”
“Do you know how long I’ve been waiting here for you? You think I’m joking? Neither of you should have come back; things would be fine if you hadn’t come back! Yuan Shu hates the Sun family’s guts!”
“My dad sent me to put this all to rest. I shall not hand him the imperial jade seal. I can guarantee he won’t be able to get it, so it’ll be easy to—”
“Put this all to rest? What a joke! You think Yuan Shu will listen to you? You think that if he caught you, he wouldn’t have you searched?!”
“Zhou Gongjin, I didn’t expect this. Can’t you say something nice?!”
“Here I was, worried to death about you. Who do you think you are?!”
“You… Stop! Zhou Gongjin! You’d treat the person who saved your life like this?!”
“You guys…stop fighting!” Sun Quan shouted. “I’m going to get Mom!”
Zhou Yu’s fingers twisted around Sun Ce’s lapels as he shoved him up against a pillar. He growled through gritted teeth, “Do you know how precarious your situation is…?”
“Shut up!” Sun Ce roared, flying into a rage. “To rise up against me now, you’re— Zhou Yu!”
Sun Ce harshly shoved Zhou Yu aside. Seeing things weren’t improving, Sun Quan turned and ran. As their fists found each other, Zhou Yu and Sun Ce began to scuffle right there in the garden.
A sudden realization hit Sun Ce: He had no reason to be fighting Zhou Yu.
“You’ve gone mad!” he shouted. As he tried to scramble away, he said, “I’m not fighting you anymore!”
Zhou Yu yanked Sun Ce back a few times, trying to hold him in place, but Sun Ce dragged himself away every time. Unable to hold himself back, Zhou Yu wrenched Sun Ce’s belt forward and then kicked him from behind.
With a splash, Sun Ce fell into the pond. He slapped about in the water a few times, bedraggled, before rising to his feet.
“I see now! You’ve come to get your revenge!”
Zhou Yu didn’t speak. He simply stood on the bank, watching. The scene had alerted quite a few onlookers, and even the Lady of Wu had noticed. From a distance away, she chided Sun Ce, “Ce-er! What are you doing?”
Zhou Yu continued to stare at Sun Ce without offering a hand. Sun Ce groped around in his robes, only to find something was missing. Zhou Yu raised his eyebrows, and it abruptly occurred to Sun Ce what the other man had done.
Finally, Zhou Yu reached out a hand and tugged Sun Ce out of the water. He turned his head back and glanced at the pond, but he didn’t say anything more.
✦ ✦ ✦
In Zhou Yu’s room two hours later, the light smoke of incense wafted through the air, its light dully illuminating the two men within. Zhou Yu sat at the desk, reading a book, while Sun Ce soaked in the bathtub. He released a sigh of great exhaustion.
Zhou Yu dismissed the serving women outside the room. “No need to wait on us any longer.”
“Yes, Lord Officer of the Records.”
As the serving women left, they shut the doors. It was only then that Zhou Yu put down his book and came over to wash Sun Ce’s back. Sun Ce’s sculpted, powerful muscles were exposed above the rim of the bathtub, gathering drops from his soaking wet hair.
“Since you’re here, how long are you prepared to stay in Shouchun?” he asked.
“I’m leaving after we celebrate on the fifteenth of the first month,” Sun Ce replied lazily. “My dad had me—”
Zhou Yu dipped his finger in the water, and on Sun Ce’s naked shoulder, he wrote: The walls have ears.
Sun Ce’s nape and back were dotted with water droplets and sweat. Since it was winter, steam rose from the hot water, condensation dewing on their eyebrows and lashes.
Sun Ce continued, “He had me come here for approval on sending the Changsha Army out after the new year to besiege Chang’an…”
“Ah,” Zhou Yu responded mildly. “Then hopefully you rest well over these next few days.”
Sun Ce raised his eyes to look at the eaves. The corner of a robe flashed past. He moved his hand to rest in front of him while Zhou Yu squeezed out the green juice of honey locust pods to wash his back with. Sun Ce gave the back of Zhou Yu’s hand a gentle pat; he could rest easy.
Zhou Yu rolled up his sleeves, taking a seat in the corridor outside as he scrubbed away the mud on Sun Ce’s martial boots. With a splash, Sun Ce climbed out of the tub, standing buck naked in the doorway.
“Put some clothes on!” Zhou Yu shouted, infuriated.
He rose to go beat up Sun Ce, but Sun Ce quickly and agilely nabbed his robe, shrugged it on with a few quick motions, and fled.
✦ ✦ ✦
That night, Sun Ce took Zhou Yu to formally pay their respects to the Lady of Wu. Zhou Yu knew Yuan Shu was suspicious of him; his intimate scuffle with Sun Ce immediately upon his return was like telling Yuan Shu he answered to the Sun family.
This was equivalent to strapping himself to the Sun family’s sinking ship, but there was some benefit—it served as a slight warning. No matter what, Sun Jian and Sun Ce had an ally in Great General Yuan Shu’s household able to carry out tasks for them. Whatever means Yuan Shu could use against Sun Ce could not be too brazen.
The topics of conversation between Sun Ce, his mother, and his little brother Sun Quan were limited: how the winter chill had set in, how Sun Ce’s health was, how much he ate usually, and if he was in any trouble, as well as anything relating to the troops. As for the jade seal or Yuan Shu, neither matter was brought up. At this moment, the jade seal sat, submerged, in the pond outside the small side courtyard where Madame Sun resided. Zhou Yu had used the fight as cover, so none had seen his concealed actions; no one knew it was there.
Late that night, Sun Ce and Zhou Yu passed through the corridor to return to their rooms. Their wooden clogs quietly clacked against the hallway floor. A crescent moon appeared over the distant mountains. Sun Ce sensed hidden eyes all around them, watching their every move.
“After the Shangyuan Festival is over, let’s leave together,” Sun Ce suggested.
“Where to?” Zhou Yu asked. “Changsha?”
Sun Ce thought before responding. “Wu Commandery.”
“I feel that Shouchun’s pretty good, actually.”
With a grin, Sun Ce lifted Zhou Yu in an embrace.
“Put me down!” Zhou Yu protested. “How do you think this looks?”
One tall, sturdy man hugging another through the corridor… Zhou Yu was happy but embarrassed.
“Do you know how our Changsha Army drafts strong men for military service?” Sun Ce said. “Well, it can’t be helped. You didn’t join up…” He continued, “First they pick you up, like this. Then they truss you and toss you onto the back of a horse…”
“Let go of me, Sun Bofu!” Zhou Yu shouted.
Just as Sun Ce was invested in teasing him, they heard the sounds of several people walking from the other end of the corridor. The two hurried to separate themselves. A lantern in the leader’s hand lit up a little less than half of the corridor.
“Zhugong.” Zhou Yu hurried to make his greeting.
“Mm.” Yuan Shu’s face was impassive.
When Sun Ce raised his eyes, he saw quite a few people collected there—Yuan Shu, Yuan Shao, Yang Hong, and several advisors and generals under Yuan Shu’s command. They all stood in the corridor.
“Uncle,” Sun Ce greeted him.
Yuan Shao smiled. “You two have such a good relationship. How nice.”