Wanyan Xu and the Empress Dowager were pointing out particularly impressive specimens of lotus flowers in the pond to each other and joking light-heartedly at the same time when Su Yi blundered into them. Both of them were stunned upon the chance encounter, but soon after, the surprise gave way to a wave of sorrow that surged up from the bottom of their hearts. They could only stare dumbly at each other for a spell, as all the attendants bowed their heads and averted their eyes at the awkwardness of the situation, not even daring to breathe too loudly. A heavy pall of silence descended, though the garden was a large venue, if a pin had dropped anywhere the sound it would produce would have been audible. The Empress Dowager just watched them with cold eyes, but she did not speak.
After an indeterminate amount of time passed, Wanyan Xu managed to force himself to recover his senses. "Hai..." he sighed and turned to speak to the Empress Dowager: “Mother Empress, it's not very interesting to just keep looking at the lotus flowers, how about we go boating on the lake? There are gentle waves today, it will be quite fun.” Having said that, without sparing Su Yi even a single glance more, he bade Zi Nong to go to Madam Jia and instruct her to ready the boat. Wanyan Xu was wearing a smile on his face, and his steps were steady and even. He presented a convincing image that he had not been affected in the slightest by Su Yi, and only he knew just how deeply he had been shaken --- in his heart was a singular taste of bitterness that could not be adequately described with words.
Su Yi could only look on helplessly as Wanyan Xu brushed past Su Yi with an air of forced gaiety. He felt like his chest was being crushed under a large boulder, but at the same time he also felt like it had been stuffed full of cotton, so that his whole body felt like it had been suffocated and there was no room for even a breath of air. He struggled desperately to maintain control over himself, if he did not, he was afraid that he would throw all caution to the wind and fling himself into the embrace of that man and tell him about all the injustice he had had to suffer.
Su Yi was still frozen to the spot, still struggling with his internal turmoil, but Gui Lin had grown impatient. Tugging at Su Yi's sleeve, in a tone that suggested that he was both mystified and cynical, he said: “What’s up? Why are you still looking there? Aren't you supposed to be hard and unyielding? Didn't you disdain being the Empress of our Jin Liao Empire? Why do you look at our Emperor in such a soulful and caring fashion now? Are you hoping that the Emperor will fall under your spell again, so that you can trick him another time? Ha ha, how you do underestimate our Emperor. There are many handsome men and beautiful women in the world who will be only too willing to take your place by his side, do you really think that only you, Su Yi, will do for him?” So saying, he ill-temperedly grabbed Su Yi and dragged him along.
Since one of Su Yi's legs was now lame, he already had difficulty walking. With that tug from Gui Lin, he immediately stumbled for a few steps. Only then did he recover the ability to think coherently, thinking in his heart: that’s right, what am I looking at him for? That person... does not belong to me anymore... he stopped belonging to me long ago, at the very moment I chose to save the lives of those literati. Su Yi oh Su Yi, it was your own decision to sacrifice him, all the longing and nostalgia you feel now, is just a form of punishment and mockery that you deserve.
The two contingents proceeded on their separate ways, and gradually drew further and further apart. What nobody noticed was that among the crowd, Wanyan Shuo kept looking back over his shoulder at Su Yi. But since the Empress Dowager --- Wanyan Shuo know that she was not sympathetic towards Su Yi at all --- was present, and also because he was afraid of causing his Imperial Father more distress, he had forced himself to put on a façade of indifference in front of Su Yi. Later, as his party began to leave for the boat-house, he began to lag behind, taking advantage of the times when nobody was paying attention to him to look back at Su Yi. When he saw that Su Yi and Gui Lin were also beginning to leave, he could bear it no longer and gave an alarmed cry of "AH!", which he prompted tried to stifle by clamping his hand over his mouth. In his large eyes, two large watery beads began to form, but he stubbornly refused to let them fall.
However, his exclamation had been heard by the Empress Dowager and Wanyan Xu, who turned back to investigate. Wanyan Shuo looked at his Imperial Father tearfully, but he refused to say anything. After a long time, he pointed to Su Yi's retreating figure, which would soon disappear completely from view, with a trembling finger.
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