Battle of Jiancheng - Black Mountain Bandits Subjugation (7)
After enjoying the feast celebrating our victory, where the Sima clan welcomed us with open arms, I entered Sima Yi's room. Not to chat with her, but because Sima Bang had forcibly shoved me in, insisting I spend the night there.
"What's wrong with a husband and wife sharing a room? Nothing at all."
So I entered her room with as much composure as I could muster—not quite boldly, but striving for nonchalance.
"It's neat in here."
"I hardly use it."
Sima Yi's room felt strangely awkward. In my mind, her room was the one back in Jingzhou, but this place was tidy and orderly, like a guest room for a traveler.
"It's the first time I've used my own room since you last visited. I was barely ten when I lived here before, so it's worlds apart from back then."
"A child's room and an adult's are different beasts."
"Yes. And a room for a child is different still."
Sima Yi flashed a meaningful smile and pushed me toward the bed.
"You worked hard today, Master. Must've been tough holding your own in drinking contests with all those generals."
"I'm fine. I won them all anyway."
Cao Ren, Yu Jin, Xu Huang—reputed heavy drinkers in Cao Cao's army, but none could beat me.
With my wife by my side.
Standing before my father-in-law.
Having earned great merit in battle and secured victory.
And in a place where "safety" was guaranteed.
I drowned my body in liquor without a single worry, bested Cao Cao's generals in drink, and ended up being supported by Sima Yi as she led me to her room.
"Um, can you call me that once?"
"What?"
"My lord."
"Heh."
I grabbed Sima Yi's hand and pulled her close. She looked startled, but once I scooped her up and flung us both onto the bed, she said nothing.
"Say whatever you like, my lady."
"...Heehee."
Sima Yi tickled my shoulder with her fingertips and leaned in close. Her breath brushed my skin, carrying the full scent of wine from her lips.
"My lord?"
"What is it, dear?"
"Ah, this won't do. It's making me even more embarrassed."
"Shall I make it more embarrassing, then?"
I pulled her closer and whispered in her ear.
"I love you."
"...You mean that sincerely, right?"
"Of course."
It was embarrassing, and I was borrowing the power of alcohol, but I couldn't hold it back any longer.
"I used to think the world revolved around me. That even if the world crumbled, as long as I survived, it was fine. But things have changed. Now, my world can't exist without you."
"Same for me, Master."
Like I had done, Sima Yi whispered into my ear.
"A girl who fled a thousand li to escape filthy hands could grow into an adult like this only because of you. You made me this way."
"You were already a fine sapling that would have grown on your own, even without me."
"Probably. But you cultivated and shaped me, didn't you? You took a tree trapped in a fence in the Sima lands of Henei, staring at the same scenery day after day, and let it grow wild in the forest."
What would Sima Yi have become if she'd grown up in Henei? She would have gained confidence in her brilliant intellect and believed herself the best in the world. We'd call that arrogance, hubris.
"Meeting Seo Seo taught me how cool a woman skilled with the sword can be. Meeting Pang Tong showed me another woman with a mind like mine. Meeting Advisor Xun You and the other Cao Cao staff made me realize those already in the field had far more experience than me. And above all..."
A swell of emotion.
Sima Yi buried her face in my shoulder. Held in my arms, she relaxed her entire body, melting into me.
"Meeting Zhuge Liang changed how I see the world. There's always a sky above the sky."
"You would have realized it eventually."
"True. But maybe not until I was old and dying. In a position bearing great responsibility for the nation, I might have refused to acknowledge someone smarter than me—someone like Zhuge Liang—and withered away in ugly jealousy."
A soft kiss.
Sima Yi pressed her lips to my collarbone.
"I'm glad I realized it young. If the day comes when I face Zhuge Liang, I'll plan my strategies assuming she's superior to me."
"Fight Zhuge Liang?"
"Who knows what fate holds? We're both wives to one man, but if we end up serving different lords, we might clash. Master."
Sima Yi looked at me seriously.
"Do you think Liu Biao will side with Cao Cao?"
"...No."
Liu Biao wouldn't follow the current Cao Cao.
"He's a man faithful only to his own desires. He wants to become emperor using the Liu name."
"Exactly. Then Jingzhou will naturally plunge into war. Whose side will Zhuge Liang take then? Cao Cao's? After all the chaos she went through in Xuzhou?"
"Who knows."
If Zhuge Liang truly felt for me as Sima Yi did, she had only one choice.
"How could a wife refuse or reject her sky-like husband's decision?"
"......."
Sima Yi blinked in surprise.
"Let me ask the reverse. If I were to serve another lord and told you to resign from Cao Cao's army, what would you do?"
"...The question's so obvious I have nothing to say."
Sima Yi slipped her hands behind my back and hugged me tighter.
"Even if I were locked in a jade prison, I'd escape with all my strength and return to your side, my lord."
"Good. That's how it should be. And Zhuge Liang would do the same. She'd follow me before following your lord."
No matter how well I treat my wives and women, one law never changes. A law unbroken throughout history.
"What woman wouldn't follow her sky-like husband wherever he goes?"
"And if one didn't?"
"Simple."
I hugged Sima Yi fiercely.
"First, I'd hold her so tight she couldn't run. If she still tried to flee, I'd drag her by force. And if she escaped despite that..."
"You'd discard that wench without mercy."
"Exactly."
Sima Yi gazed straight at me and smiled.
"I'll only ever look at you, my lord."
"...I should say the same here, but forgive me."
"Hmph."
Sima Yi pouted and poked my cheek with her index finger.
"Can't you say you only have eyes for me, even just this once?"
"No. Liang's far away now, but she's still my wife."
"She's just a cheeky girl playing at being the principal wife."
"Alcohol's making your tongue loose."
"...Seriously."
Sima Yi puffed her cheeks in a sulk.
"If she didn't look at you the same way I do, I'd have killed her long ago."
"That's extreme."
"I'm serious. Do you know how other women look at you? Sometimes I'm shocked—it's like they're staring at their reflection in water."
"...Is that so?"
"Yes. Every single one. Even those who came with other intentions changed after spending a night talking with you."
Sima Yi turned her head toward the window. The night was still dark, with only the moon hanging silently in the sky.
"Master, promise me. Any woman who doesn't choose you first—discard her without mercy."
"That's a given. It's easy to reclaim my body from a woman who merely took it for a night. But if a woman who captured my heart betrays me..."
I would.
"Exact bloody vengeance with all my power."
"...That's uncharacteristically extreme for you, Master."
"It's a bit trashy, but I had to say it. Borrowing her words, Cao Mengde said: 'I can discard a woman who doesn't look at me, but a woman who does look at me can never discard me.'"
"What? That's totally selfish."
"Didn't you know? I'm a selfish bastard. Amid this world's chaos, I just want to live comfortably with my loved ones."
"Family..."
Sima Yi pulled something from beside the bed. It was the marriage certificate we'd seized as spoils from the battle.
"I'm family too, right?"
"Of course. Did you think otherwise?"
"Then... fill in this blank spot."
Sima Yi pointed to the "my name" section on the certificate.
"I want the real one."
"The real what?"
"The real you, Master. Not Geum Taeyang or Hwang Wol-yeong—the true you."
"......I met you as Geum Taeyang. Why dredge up the past?"
"It's not dredging. That way, you'll be my lord alone."
For a moment, her words stirred something deep in my chest.
"You haven't told anyone else, right? I'll be the only one who knows. I'll seal it in the family vault, never to be opened. So... let me know your true self, the real you."
"...Ha."
Suddenly, my vision blurred.
"You're trying to reclaim a child even his parents abandoned?"
"Yes. I'll be your mother. Well... mother of your child, with the middle part missing. Will you tell me?"
Sima Yi pressed her lips to mine, like stamping a seal.
"...Who are you, truly?"
"I am..."
Tak, tak.
Sima Bang stared down at the family registry for a long while. Among his eight children listed below him, it was time to enter the name of the man betrothed to Sima Yi.
"Hwang Wol-yeong, or Geum Taeyang."
His official name was Hwang Wol-yeong. But he was more widely known by Geum Taeyang—golden hair, sun character—or simply by his courtesy name.
The adopted son of Jingzhou's powerful clans, Huang and Cai.
A scholar at Suyeon Academy and teacher to many literati.
...And the final identity known only to Sima Bang and Sima Yi.
"Lady Yang of the Grand Commander bore a son. The father was a Zhang, one of countless in the world, but..."
For a woman, it was clear: blood from High Ancestor Liu Bang flowed to the son. No need to trace back to King Zhongshan two hundred years ago—just forty years prior, a direct grandson of Emperor Huan.
"Either way, it doesn't matter."
One thing was certain.
Roooaaar—!!
Outside, the festive mood continued. Henei's residents genuinely welcomed Cao Cao's army for driving out the bandits.
"...A hero as my son-in-law."
The man who created this situation was none other than him.
"Marriage is tradition: the woman weds into a better house."
"They called me Zhang Chunhua. That was my name before I was abandoned."
A man's name like Zhang Chunhua?
"Geum Taeyang's better."