The Banquet (3)
The arm wrestling match that had broken out of nowhere ended surprisingly anticlimactically.
No sooner had the starting signal dropped than Zhang Fei and Sun Ce threw their strength in at the same time.
CRACK!
"Huh?"
"Eh?"
The table's leg, unable to withstand the combined force of the two of them, had been utterly obliterated.
Zhang Fei and Sun Ce toppled to the floor with a tremendous crash, stared blankly at each other for a moment, then burst out laughing and went right back to drinking.
I could only offer a wry smile as I surveyed the sorry remains of what had once been a table.
Just like the great go match between Zhuge Liang and Sima Yi earlier, it somehow felt like an unusual number of things were ending in draws today.
Looking over at the Zhuge family, the supposed stars of this banquet, I found Zhuge Jin already surrounded by a crowd of officials, busily stacking up connections.
Yep. That modest act of hers really was pure performance all along.
No one, however, stood at the side of Zhuge Liang, who had yet to come of age.
Zhuge Jin, her only family, had no spare moment to tend to the girl sitting alone, what with all the illustrious names clustered around her.
Though from the way she kept stealing glances at Zhuge Liang now and then, it was clearly weighing on her mind....
Well, nothing to be done about it.
I rose from my seat and made my way over to Zhuge Liang.
She sent her gaze toward me as I settled down beside her.
Flustered by that unreadable look, I blurted out an excuse.
"Just looked like you were bored over here, so I came to keep you company."
At my words, Zhuge Liang — who had been studying me with those pale white eyes — broke into a smile.
"Thank you for your kindness."
"I wouldn't go that far."
Out of habit I moved to pour her a drink, then froze dead as I remembered that Zhuge Liang was still a child.
She was laughing at me as she watched.
Pretty, though. I'll give her that.
Zhou Yu, Zhuge Liang, and Xun Yu were all recorded in the official histories as handsome men.
Brilliant minds and good looks on top? Seriously....
Anyway, even at her young age, Zhuge Liang was already remarkably easy on the eyes.
"Hm...."
Scratching at the side of my head awkwardly, I offered, "Would you rather have honey water, or tea? I'll have them bring you whatever you like."
"Then tea, if you please."
"Sure."
I nodded toward Diaochan, and she gave the order to a servant with practiced grace. The man returned in no time with a teapot of steeped leaves.
"Now, what was this called again? I only have it because someone gifted it to me, so my memory's hazy — but I'm told it's one of the specialties from Yunnan way."
Hearing my explanation, Zhuge Liang asked, "Does the Grand General favor tea over wine, then?"
"Hm? I do, as it happens."
In truth, I genuinely did prefer tea to alcohol.
Wine did a better job of lifting the mood, I'll admit — but the aftermath that followed was murder.
"But how did you know that?"
Smiling, Zhuge Liang replied, "I merely wondered, seeing you drink only just short of drunkenness."
"Ah."
I nodded. Fair enough — since the banquet began, I'd barely finished half a jug, spending the whole time working through the side dishes instead.
...Which would mean she's been watching me this entire time?
Nah. Couldn't be.
Surely not from that Zhuge Liang.
The living administrative machine. The strategist whom even Sima Yi herself had hailed as a prodigy without equal under heaven.
Figuring she'd surely caught on by herself, I nodded along vaguely.
Just then, a voice drifted over from beside me.
"What are you doing here?"
That curt, grumbling tone could only belong to one person....
I turned my head, already knowing who I'd find, and sure enough, a girl with violet hair was staring at me.
Sima Yi's gaze swept over my surroundings, and her face crumpled.
"Wow. Look at all the women draped around you. What is this, a show of pride in what a lecher you are?"
......
Okay, that jab came in way too hard out of nowhere.
To be fair, it wasn't an unreasonable thing for Sima Yi to say.
The lineup currently surrounding me was, frankly, dazzling.
There was Diaochan, the beauty rumored to topple kingdoms — and then Seo Yeo and Lü Bu, who had trailed after me the moment I changed seats as though it were the most natural thing in the world.
If someone laid eyes on this scene for the first time, wouldn't they think, 'What is this, some kind of tyrant?'
When I held my tongue with an embarrassed look, Sima Yi let out a sigh and settled down beside me.
"You moved over here because it bothered you, seeing her sit all alone. Am I right?"
"I did."
The subject had been left out of the sentence, but there was no mistaking who she meant.
Sima Yi muttered, "Honestly, being too good a person is a disease of its own...."
......
I reached out a hand, aiming to change the subject.
Sima Yi watched the gesture, her eyes narrowing into an axe-sharp glare.
"And what exactly are you doing?"
"Curious? Then keep watching and find out."
At that, she didn't stop me.
Phew. Thank goodness. I'd been half afraid she'd grab my arm.
The Sima Yi of the original history — the woman who personally commanded armies and demonstrated the very pinnacle of mobile warfare — was, for a girl who hadn't even undergone her coming-of-age ceremony yet, frighteningly strong.
The ideal human being, forged when civil official and military commander fused into one. That would be Sima Yi, wouldn't it.
...Not that I was losing any contest of strength to her, mind you.
What would I even be, if I lost an arm wrestle to a child who wasn't yet an adult?
I couldn't speak for the day she reached her full growth, but for now, my strength was the greater.
While Sima Yi quietly observed my antics, I reached out and undid the ribbon-shaped ornaments tied at either side of her headband.
The cords fixed to the band didn't come sliding down even with the knots undone, but it was more than enough to draw a reaction out of her.
Sima Yi's eyes narrowed further still. "What exactly was that?"
"Just playing a little prank."
"Haah. You are not a little child, so what in the world—"
Spitting out that curt scolding I would, oddly enough, find myself missing, she deftly retied the cords with both hands.
I watched her work, and the moment she finished the last knot, I shot my hand out and undid the ribbon on the other side.
......
Sima Yi froze mid-motion, then turned a truly horrifying glare on me.
Yep. She's furious.
I shot to my feet in an instant.
"Now then, you children play nice and get to know each other."
"Excuse me?"
"Well, off I go."
Before she could unleash a scathing retort, I bolted from my seat.
Sima Yi stared after me as I fled from her, her expression one of pure disbelief.
To think a man like that is the first pillar of our entire faction....
Sighing, Sima Yi retied the cords of her headband that Jeong Reung had undone.
If anyone else had pulled that, she'd have ground their hand into paste.
No — she'd have swatted the hand away before the ribbon was ever touched.
He had clearly believed himself quick, but every motion had been laid perfectly bare before Sima Yi's eyes.
The Grand General, who had seemed to vanish into the distance with his entourage in tow, had apparently circled back to the head seat and resumed watching them.
And judging by that look in his eyes, he seemed to be fretting that the two of them might tear into each other.
What on earth am I to do with that hopelessly kind man?
Sima Yi felt a genuine twinge of worry.
Having retied the ribbons with practiced ease, headband never once removed, she turned her head.
There sat the white-haired girl, lips still curved in a smile every bit as irritating now that she was conscious of Jeong Reung's gaze.
Face to face with Zhuge Liang, Sima Yi asked, "How long do you intend to sit there grinning like that?"
"Mmm.... Until my lord stops looking this way?"
With Jeong Reung now out of earshot, Zhuge Liang's speech had shed a layer of formality as she answered.
Sima Yi put on a show of wide-eyed shock. "Good heavens. And what exactly do you call yourself, addressing the Grand General as 'my lord' already?"
"If not 'my lord,' what would you have me call the man who carries this nation on his back?"
The substance of their exchange was vicious, but to any observer the two looked the picture of warmth — Sima Yi wearing her usual curt expression, Zhuge Liang smiling with a pleasant arc at the corners of her eyes.
"To spare no effort in repaying the one person who saw your worth — that is the most basic virtue of any scholar."
Having done nothing but swat Sima Yi's words back at her until now, Zhuge Liang finally went on the offensive, her tone laced with thorns.
"Oh — my apologies. Was loyalty too difficult a concept for one who has never known it?"
Just then, a drunk kicked up a ruckus across the banquet hall, and the Grand General's gaze flicked elsewhere for a moment.
Not a heartbeat later, Zhuge Liang's expression went cold as frost.
"Wolf-like Glare."
......
"Tell me — what business does a traitor with the face of a wolf and a jackal have lingering at my lord's side?"
"...Ha."
Her expression every bit as frigid as Zhuge Liang's, Sima Yi sneered back. "Well, well. Someone's studied a little physiognomy, I see."
"Is physiognomy all you take me for? I read dreams as well, and divining the future from the motions of the heavens is hardly beyond me."
As Zhuge Liang preened, Sima Yi cut her down. "What, is your dream to spread out a mat in the middle of the market square?"
"And as I recall, you've studied astrology yourself.... Quite the case of spitting in your own face, no?"
Two children not yet of age waged their war of nerves, neither yielding so much as an inch.
Zhang Jue, who had in no way intended to eavesdrop, found the conversation drifting into her ears all the same, and smiled wryly.
Those who could read the heavens were vanishingly rare.
Yet those two faced the celestial order as if it were the most natural thing in the world, plumbing the will of heaven itself — she could not even begin to imagine the measure of such talent.
Zhang Jue turned her gaze to the night sky beyond the window.
'...More stars have gathered near the Grand General again.'
Their light was still faint for now — but two stars that would one day blaze with brilliance were circling close about the Grand General.
At the riveting sight, Zhang Jue set down her tea and watched the heavens for a long while.