Zixi and the girl took their weapons and slowly walked to the window to peep who was coming.
"Lord Ejun, we are looking for you!" a man shouted from outside.
Zixi shouted back and asked. "Who are you?"
"Lord Ejun, it's me, Gan Mao!" Said the man. "My men and I have been looking for you in these past few months!"
"Gan Mao! Is that you?" Zixi asked excitedly, and he spontaneously came out from the silt house to see if it was Gan Mao who was coming.
Gan Mao and the other men kneeled and greeted Zixi said, "Lord Ejun, we come to bring you out from this forest!"
Zixi sighed, and he got down to the ground and raised Gan Mao asked, "Gan Mao, how did you find me here?"
Gan Mao told him how he and his men had heard from his guard that Zixi and his men were ambushed, and Zixi probably was in Yue forest territory. Gan Mao sent out some people to find out where Zixi was and just located his position around a half month earlier.
"Lord, it's still not safe for you to go back to Chu State. But you can't stay here either. We plan to bring you to Zheng or Xu State! We will gather our strength, till the day when you can return and get the throne back from that treacherous!"
Zixi smiled bitterly and asked, " If I have to live on the run, then I prefer to live here. I have a peaceful life here in these past few months."
"Don't you want to take revenge for your wife and children?"
Zixi closed his eyes. He could have guessed what happened to them.
"Your sons were killed, while your wife….is now a concubine of your second brother!" Gan Mao said.
Zixi sighed and closed his eyes, "As long as she could live. Perhaps, being a king's concubine is not too bad!"
As they were talking, the barbarian girl came out slowly with her bamboo spear. She was worried if the men would harm her man. Therefore, she was very alert.
"Yue Maiden, they won't harm us!" Zixi said and stretched his hand to clutch her hand. "Don't worry. They won't harm us!" Zixi smiled at Gan Mao and said, "Look at my Yue wife! Isn't she lovely?"
Gan Mao looked at the girl and said, "Lord, she's beautiful! But she's a barbarian Yue girl! How could she deserve to be your woman? Even to wash your feet, she's undeserved!"
Zixi shook his head, "I'm no longer a prince! And although she's a barbarian Yue, she's very kind to me. Without her help, I would not be able to live until this day!"
"Lord, it will be embarrassing if you bring her along with you! What will those dukes or marquesses in Zheng or Xu say if they see you bring a barbarian wife?"
"My second brother killed his own nephew. He took a throne from his own father's grandson. And we still call ourselves a civilized people?" Zixi asked.
Gan Mao didn't know how to answer him.
"My second brother took my wife and killed my son! Do you think that he deserves to be called a human? We always call Yue people as a barbarian! But this girl, she only killed when she's threatened. She only kills for survival. She loots, but she only takes what she needs," Zixi said. He laughed and said, "But civilized people like us, kill others because of greed!"
"My Lord, but you are the son of King Gong of Chu. You can't stay here forever. Besides, there are so many people at the court who are supporting you. They're loyal to you. What you have to do right now is to flee temporarily from Chu, and when the time is right, you should return and claim your throne!"
"I don't want to leave this place, Gan Mao!" Zixi said firmly. "There's nothing good to be born in a royal family. It's a curse for me that I had to live as a Chu royal family! I prefer to stay here and live like a barbarian with my wife here!"
Gan Mao kept on persuading Zixi, while Zixi also persisted. Gan Mao decided to concede.
Although the girl didn't understand their languages, yet somehow, she could feel that those men were trying to take away her husband from her. She cried and wept and hugged Zixi and didn't want to let him go.
At night, Gan Mao and his men prepared food for them. And when they had their food, the girl still didn't want to let her hands off from his hand.
"Yue Maiden, they will not harm us! Release my hands, and let's eat!" Zixi gently said to the girl.
The girl reluctantly released her hands and started to eat.
Gan Mao, who brought some wine, poured some wine for Zixi and the girl. It was the first time for the girl to drink wine. She quickly got drunk and slept on his embrace while her hands were clutching his side.
That night, Zixi was sleeping under the deerskin blanket. He had convinced Gan Mao that he didn't want to leave that place. Gan Mao agreed and said that he would leave the next day.
Zixi was pondering if he had made the right decision or not. He heard his wife's soft breath, and he knew that he had made the right decision. He loved this girl.
Although she's not an elegant Chu noblewoman, yet she had a pure heart that he had never seen in anyone before.
He just slumbered for a moment while suddenly he heard something strange. Zixi opened his eyes and woke up to check what's going on. There's no one nor beast around the house.
He returned to his bed and found out that Yue Maiden had opened up her bright eyes and smiled at him, saying something. She hugged him, unwilling to let him go. Zixi laughed and hugged her back.
Zixi suddenly thought of clouds and rain***, And he started to kiss her passionately.
The two of them became inseparable;
Yearning for beauty, longing after flowers,
Be preferred the Yue beauty rather than the Chu royalty
***cloud and rain: making love
Just before dawn, Zixi felt strong hands grabbed his hands and muzzled his mouth. The girl who was sleeping was alerted and awoken. She screamed and spontaneously grabbed anything around her and used them to attack those men who tried to kidnap her husband.
Zixi struggled to get free, but he's all alone while two strong men were holding his hands and feet and carrying him away. Another two men were dealing with Yue Maiden.
Yue Maiden screamed and started to cry as she saw that those men were taking away her husband.
"Ejun, Ejun!" Yue Maiden cried and screamed and tried to chase the men who took away her husband.
Gan Mao didn't want to hurt that girl, but the girl took her bamboo spear and about to attack Gan Mao. He had to knock off her head to make her unconscious.
Zixi, who saw his wife was being knocked off, used all of his strength to free himself. He managed to be free and ran away to help his wife when suddenly another soldier knocked him off.
Zixi regained his consciousness only a few hours later. He's on a boat. They had already left the land of Yue for hours. Zixi's tears started to flow. He knew that he might not be able to meet his wife again forever.
===========
Zixi wiped his tears. He had returned to the real world. Once again, in the same river, he's on the run and had to flee from a rebellion done by his brother.
Then he heard a song :
What evening is this evening that I could roam on this little boat?
What day is today that I could be in the same boat with the prince?
My heart is perturbed since I know that he is the prince
Hills have their trees. Trees have their branches. ****
My heart lives for your heart, but you just don't know it.
NOTE: This poem is not the complete song of the original poem.
**** Hills have their trees. Trees have their branches: some experts interpret this part as an expression to say that everyone has his/her own status/ community. Something similar to 'birds of the same feathers flocks together' in English.
It was a beautiful song, sang by a beautiful voice. Vaguely, Zixi felt familiar with the voice. But whose voice, he could not remember.
"Lang Tan, what's the meaning of the song?" Zixi asked his guard who knew Yue language.
Lang Tan translated the song meaning.
Zixi knitted his eyebrows and said, "How does the boatman know that I'm a prince?"
Zixi walked closer to the boatman and observed the boatman's face. The boatman looked uneasy and lowered his head while Zixi became more and more curious.
"Lang Tan, please translate for me!" Zixi said. Lang Tan complied with his request.
"Why did you sing that song?" Zixi asked. Lang Tan translated his words and told the Yue boatman to answer. "Do you know who I am?" Zixi asked.
The boatman raised his head and looked at Zixi and nodded his head. "I know who you are. And I have been waiting for you for eleven years!" Lang Tan translated the boatman's answer.
Hearing that word, Zixi was so much disturbed, and he hurriedly asked again, "Who are you, what's your name?"
The boatman slowly took out a piece of embroidered cloth from his pocket and gave it to Lord Ejun Zixi and said, "I have been waiting for my Ejun for eleven years. And finally, today I could see him again. Even now, if I have to die, then I will die peacefully!"
Zixi examined the cloth and recognized it as a piece of cloth from his outer robe. There's a faint bloodstain on it. Zixi recognized that cloth. It was the cloth he used to wipe her body when he had her for the first time that day.
"Yue Maiden! Is it you?" Zixi disbelieved what he saw.
"It's me, my lord-husband!" the boatman said in a low voice.
Zixi moved closer to examine the boatman.
Apparently, the boatman was a woman who disguised as a man. She had her hair cut very short, just like the Yue man did, but without tattoos on her face. He recognized her face: her beautiful bright eyes and cute ruby lips.
Eleven years ago, she was merely a fifteen-year-old girl, and now she's a mature young woman. Eleven years ago, he was a handsome twenty-two years old prince. And now, he's a thirty-three years old man with a beard and a broken spirit. In the end, both of them recognized each other from their eyes. There's love in their eyes.
Zixi spontaneously took off his embroidered robe and draped it on her shoulder and said, "Yue Maiden, I'm sorry that I have let you down!"
Yue Maiden cried, and Zixi embraced her and said, "Yue Maiden, please forgive me!"
"My lord, please don't leave me again!" She said. "For eleven years, I've been waiting for you here in the river," she broke into tears.
"In the bank of this river was the last time I saw you. Since our separation, I have suffered thousands of pains on your account. My tears have run dry for you till I cry no more!" Zixi said with a choked voice, tried to hold his emotion.
Lang Tan, who had to translate their conversations, was also moved into tears.
"If this time you have to leave me again, then you better take my life," Yue Maiden said.
"I've never wanted to leave you! For eleven years, never a single day that I'm not missing you!" Zixi said. "But right now, I'm on the run. If I bring you with me, it will only bring you into danger!"
"My lord, and what's the point of my life if I have to lose you again?"
"Yue Maiden, if you are willing…then start from now on, we will never be separated again!"
"Wherever you go, I will follow you!" Yue Maiden said.
Zixi clutched her hands and said, "In the end, what I need in my life is only love. And to be able to love and to be loved by you is my greatest fortune in life!"
Yue Maiden smiled. It was such a beautiful smile that as if Zixi's burden all were lifted.
Unfortunately, their happiness didn't last too long. They heard some noises., and from afar, they saw some boats with Chu soldiers inside. The soldiers were hunting Lord Ejun Zixi.
"Lord, my families are all dead because of this rebellion. I have no purpose in my life anymore. But you, my Lord, you have that Yue Maiden as your new purpose. Therefore, it is better if you and she abandon this boat and go into the deep forest. Don't ever return to Chu State! This country is very evil. Even the Yue barbarian is not as ruthless as the Chu rulers!" Lang Tan said.
"You are right! Let's abandon this boat and go inside the forest. They will find difficulties in finding us there!" Zixi said.
"No, my Lord! They will not stop until they find your dead body to be brought to Qiji!"
Zixi sighed.
"While you are abandoning this boat, I will keep on sailing to divert their attention. They will chase this boat instead of looking for you inside the forest!" Lang Tan said.
"I can not let you sacrifice for me!" Zixi said. "We will leave this boat together and go with her to the Yue village!"
Lang Tan smiled and said something in Yue language to Yue Maiden. The girl looked aghast, and while shedding her tears, she took off Lord Ejun's embroidered robe and handed it to Lang Tan.
Zixi saw it, and he became suspicious and asked, "Lang Tan, what are you doing?"
Before he got the answer, Yue Maiden took Zixi's hand, hugged him tightly, and plunged their bodies into the river.
Lang Tan, moved by the love of Yue Maiden to Zixi, preferred to sacrifice his life to save his master's and his woman. He used Zixi's embroidered robe to disguise himself as Zixi.
When the boats of Chu soldiers were approaching, Lang Tan laughed and shouted said, "Today I, Lord Ejun Zixi, prefer to die under my sword rather than be killed!" He slowly stood on the edge of the boat and used his sword to cut off his head.
Lang Tan's head rolled down and fell into the river. The river current was pretty swift and carried his head away from the boat.
The commander of the Chu soldier who saw the event sighed and said, "I had heard that Lord Ejun was a very handsome man. But now he's dead, and even his head could not be found! Let's take his body and used his robe as identification to the king!"
The commander of the Chu soldier brought the headless body to be presented as Lord Ejun Zixi to Prince Qiji. Qiji recognized the robe on the headless body as Zixi's robe.
Qiji sighed, and at the same time, relieved. All of his brothers had died. Now he's the one and the only ultimate king of Chu. A few days later, he was crowned, and he's known as King Ping of Chu.
NOTE:
Historical records only mentioned that Ejun Zixi committed suicide when he found out that the Third Prince Zigan rebellion had failed. Yet there's no timeline on when or how he died.