Zhu Yu – Side Story: Standing Up For

The autumn breeze whispered as the fragrance of osmanthus flowers wafted through the courtyard.

Four-year-old Xie Zheng practiced thrusting movements with his wooden sword in the courtyard. Despite his aching arms, he continued his relentless practice without pause.

Under the blazing sun, his chubby face flushed red, and fine beads of sweat dotted his forehead. His eyes held a determination and seriousness unbefitting his young age.

Wei Wan sat on a beauty rest chair under the corridor, slowly fanning herself with an ornate fan adorned with blue jade tassels. She spoke somewhat helplessly to Meng Lihua, who sat beside her: “The other day, his father pointed out that his sword techniques weren’t solid enough. These days, except for eating, studying, and sleeping, he spends every free moment practicing with that wooden sword. Such stubborn determination—he’s nothing like me or his father, but rather takes after his uncle.”

Wei Qilin had been assigned to Wei Wan’s household by Wei Yan, making him her family retainer. He had earned great trust under Xie Linshan’s command and had become son-in-law to Meng Suyuan, a veteran general under Xie Linshan, making the Xie and Meng families extremely close.

With Wei Qilin accompanying Xie Linshan on border patrol duties for several months, Wei Wan had invited the pregnant Meng Lihua to stay at her residence for company, sharing conversations and childrearing experiences.

Through their frequent interactions, the two women had become close confidantes.

Meng Lihua laughed at Wei Wan’s words: “The saying that nephews take after their uncles certainly rings true.”

She gently touched her round belly and continued, “This one in my womb is quite lazy, barely moving even at this stage. I think it must be a girl. Though when its father tries to interact with it, it moves so vigorously that he couldn’t sleep for an entire night, worrying what he’d do if it turned out to be a boy.”

Wei Wan couldn’t help but laugh: “General Wei wants a daughter?”

Meng Lihua’s expression turned somewhat helpless: “From the moment he learned I was with child, he started thinking of names. Despite barely knowing his letters, he had his secretaries help him pour through books for days. Then, with a smug look, he told me if it’s a girl, she’ll be called Zhang Yu. He’s already collected several chests of clothing for the child from infancy to their first birthday.”

Wei Wan asked with a smile, “And if it’s a boy?”

Meng Lihua’s expression became rather complicated, “He said boys are sturdy, so we can just call him Iron Ball or Iron Bull for now, and let the child’s maternal grandfather choose a proper name when he’s older.”

Wei Wan hadn’t expected Wei Qilin, who usually appeared so steady and serious, to be like this in private. She leaned against the beauty rest, laughing until tears nearly formed in her eyes, “It seems General Wei truly desires a daughter.”

Her beautiful eyes turned to her young son practicing in the corridor, and she added, “I’ve heard there’s an old wives’ tale that children under five can tell whether a pregnant woman is carrying a boy or girl.”

Meng Lihua asked in surprise, “Is there such a thing?”

Wei Wan smiled, “Shall we try it?” She called out to her son, “Zheng’er, come to Mother.”

Xie Zheng turned his head at her voice, seeing his mother beckoning from the corridor. He put away his wooden sword and approached, “Mother called for me?”

Wei Wan wiped the sweat from his face with a handkerchief, saying gently, “The sun is so strong, aren’t you afraid of getting too hot? Look at how sweaty you are.”

Xie Zheng carelessly wiped his face with his sleeve, saying, “I’m not hot.”

Wei Wan had servants bring him a cup of honey flower tea, then asked, “Zheng’er, would you like a little brother or sister?”

Xie Zheng answered promptly, “No.”

Wei Wan asked, “Why not?”

The young boy furrowed his brows slightly and said, “Crying. Annoying.”

Over the years, many of Xie Linshan’s senior officers had married and started families. Since they often had to go to war, and there were no proper schools in the frontier region, Xie Linshan had arranged for the officers’ school-aged children to receive their early education at the Xie family’s private school to ease their worries.

In the schoolroom, what Xie Zheng heard most were the cries of those little ones, wailing endlessly for half the day without stopping.

He didn’t want a brother or sister at all. If there was a little creature at home constantly screaming at the top of their lungs, he feared he wouldn’t even be able to sleep peacefully.

Wei Wan had only asked casually, not expecting such a response from her child, and couldn’t help but laugh.

She coaxed her son, “Then how about if Aunt Meng has a little brother or sister to play with you? Do you think Aunt Meng is carrying a brother or sister?”

Xie Zheng tilted his head to look at the round belly beneath Aunt Meng’s dress, and answered seriously, “Sister.”

He didn’t know whether it was a boy or girl in the belly, but he felt a sister wouldn’t be as annoying. Unlike Officer Liu’s son who always provoked him, then when beaten, would wail like a slaughtered pig and run home to tattle, which would reach his father’s ears and result in his punishment.

Meng Lihua gently stroked her belly, smiling warmly, “I also hope it’s a girl.”

Wei Wan teased her son, “If it is a sister, would you marry her in the future to be Mother’s daughter-in-law?”

The small child, not yet understanding marriage, just frowned, “Why should she be Mother’s daughter-in-law?”

Both Wei Wan and Meng Lihua were amused by his innocent words.

Wei Wan pinched her son’s slightly pouting cheek and said, “Because Mother likes her.”

Xie Zheng seemed to consider this seriously, then said, “Alright.”

This response made Wei Wan and Meng Lihua laugh even more heartily.

Three months later, Meng Lihua indeed gave birth to a daughter.

When the news reached the Xie residence, Wei Wan was somewhat surprised, then extremely delighted. She prepared many gifts to be sent to the Meng residence in celebration.

Xie Zheng, sitting by the window studying, saw his mother bustling about and suddenly asked, “Mother, did Aunt Meng give birth?”

“Yes, is Zheng’er thinking about his little bride?” Wei Wan continued to tease her son mischievously.

Xie Zheng pressed his lips together, holding his book silently.

That night, however, he took out a blank book from his study desk drawer, ground some ink, and wrote on the first page: “Birth date: Fifth Year of Qinghe, First Month, Eleventh Day—”

It wasn’t until the hundred-day celebration that Xie Zheng formally met the little sister who had spent a full ten months in Aunt Meng’s belly.

In the noisy front hall, a group of women surrounded the swaddled infant, chatting and laughing. Xie Zheng, standing beside his mother, found it thoroughly boring. When he looked up to observe the tiny thing, he discovered she too was rather lazy—though fair and lovely, her eyelids were always half-drooping, appearing ready to fall asleep at any moment, and she didn’t cry no matter who held her.

The women all praised the child for being easy to care for, then began discussing how demanding their children were.

Meng Lihua smiled in response, and seeing her daughter’s lack of energy, assumed the child was sleepy. Unable to leave her female guests, she handed her daughter to the nursemaid to be taken to the side room for sleep.

Xie Zheng thought the little one was lazy, not tired.

Seeing the infant being carried away, he also left the front hall, intending to walk around outside.

The nursemaid noticed him and asked with a smile, “Young Master, did you come to see the little sister? The wind and snow are heavy outside, why not come inside to look?”

Xie Zheng felt refusing would make him appear insincere, so after brief consideration, he stepped into the side room.

The little one had been placed in a cradle and, noticing a stranger enter, simply stared at him with her drowsy eyes.

The nursemaid covered her with a silk blanket and moved aside the tiger-head sachets and rattles from the cradle.

Seeing Xie Zheng standing by the bed, she handed him a rattle and said with a smile, “Young Master can use this to entertain our Miss.”

Xie Zheng remembered when he was three, his mother would use such things to amuse him. He had found the dong-dong-dong sound irritating and would reach for it, wanting his mother to stop shaking it.

Yet the adults, seeing him grab for it, thought he liked it and would shake the rattle even more enthusiastically to entertain him.

That hadn’t been a particularly pleasant experience.

Xie Zheng didn’t take the rattle, saying, “I’ll just look.”

He stared at the little one, and the little one stared back at him.

The nursemaid said, “Our Miss has a good temperament, rarely cries or fusses, just sleeps a bit too much. When Miss falls asleep, Young Master mustn’t disturb her.”

Xie Zheng said, “She’s not sleepy.”

He waved his hand in front of the little one, and perhaps because since birth she had only seen adults, suddenly seeing someone much smaller playing with her, the baby girl in the cradle suddenly grabbed the moving finger in front of her.

Xie Zheng tried to pull free but couldn’t.

Afraid of making this soft little thing cry, he didn’t dare use too much force.

However, the chubby little hand gripping his finger, though soft as milk tofu, had quite some strength and held steady.

Xie Zheng found it curious, so he left his finger there and even pinched her plump hand back.

The little one seemed quite delighted, kicking her legs and reaching out with her other arm, breaking into a smile.

The nursemaid beside them laughed, “Our Miss likes Young Master!”

The next moment, however, the tiny thing in the cradle directly put Xie Zheng’s finger in her mouth.

Xie Zheng’s expression changed immediately. He forcefully pulled his hand away and, looking at the drool on his fingertip, went straight to the washbasin with a stern face.

The little one in the cradle, either frightened or bereft of her toy, suddenly burst into loud wails. Her crying wasn’t the typical high-pitched infant cry but rather forceful and quite resonant.

The nursemaid couldn’t console her with either the rattle or the tiger-head sachet, even carrying her around the room brought no results.

Xie Zheng, having just washed his finger clean, looked at the little one with a stern face, finally surrendering and walking over to put that finger back in the little one’s mouth.

The little one truly stopped crying then, tears still hanging on her long lashes as she began sucking his finger vigorously.

Xie Zheng was first startled, then looked at the nursemaid: “She’s hungry.”

The nursemaid was also surprised, “Madam fed Miss less than half an hour ago, she shouldn’t be hungry so soon.”

Though saying this, she still sent someone to the kitchen to warm some goat’s milk.

When Meng Lihua occasionally felt unwell and couldn’t nurse the child, they would temporarily feed her warm goat’s milk.

With so many guests today, the nursemaid knew Meng Lihua likely couldn’t get away, so she decided to soothe the baby with goat’s milk first.

The maid quickly returned with a bowl of warmed milk, and the nursemaid used a spoon to offer a little to the child’s mouth. She indeed released the finger to chase after the spoon.

The nursemaid exclaimed in surprise, “Miss is hungry!”

She fed the child nearly half a bowl with the spoon before the little one turned away from it, unwilling to drink more.

The nursemaid wiped the little one’s mouth with a silk cloth, smiling, “A good appetite is good, it means she’ll grow strong and sturdy. Miss’s little hands and feet may be small, but they’re quite strong.”

The milk-fed baby in the cradle, perhaps knowing the adult was teasing her, obligingly kicked at the silk coverlet and waved her chubby little hands.

Xie Zheng thought this time the child was truly sleepy—those fat paws waved with less and less energy, and her eyelids were slowly closing.

Eat and sleep—he thought this baby was lazy.

Though when she cried, it wasn’t quite as annoying as he’d expected.

That day when he returned home, Xie Zheng wrote another page in his little book: “Greedy for food, greedy for sleep, lazy.”

After a pause, he added one more line: “Quite easy to care for—”

Time flew swiftly, and in the blink of an eye, Xie Zheng was eleven.

Children of ordinary officials his age would be urged to take the student examinations, spending several years to obtain student status, then continue advancing.

Scholar, Provincial Graduate, Metropolitan Graduate—each major hurdle lay clearly before them.

Xie Zheng was destined for a military career and didn’t need to take the imperial examinations, but Xie Linshan was still quite strict about his studies.

Fortunately, he had been studious from a young age, and the academy’s teachers only had praise for him. There were no great scholars in the frontier region, so Xie Linshan had discussed with Wei Wan about either sending him to the Luyan Academy or returning him to the capital to continue his studies at the Imperial Academy for two years.

Xie Zheng didn’t particularly care about this—anywhere was the same to him. At age ten, he had already taken a few guards and spent months on horseback, traveling along the Great Yin Dynasty’s northern border defense line, worrying his mother to tears. When he finally returned looking like a mud monkey, before he could even eat a bite, his father punished him by making him kneel in the ancestral hall.

Over the years, he had been disciplined by his father numerous times for various mischiefs, big and small.

His father often told his mother that the boy had too many ideas of his own, with an untameable wild spirit, and once he could sit tall in a saddle, they would throw him into the military camp for tempering.

Xie Zheng wanted to go to the military camp now. Though life there was harsh, it offered a kind of boundless freedom.

However, he was still too young, and if he went to the military now, everyone would only see him as Xie Linshan’s son.

Not wanting to rely on this identity, Xie Zheng wished to carve out his path. He would have to wait another two years until he was as tall as the ordinary soldiers before he could conceal his identity and start from the bottom ranks.

His current studies at the academy were merely passing the time.

One day after classes, someone called out to him: “Brother Xie, help me with something.”

Xie Zheng lazily lifted his eyelids to look at the fellow who had grown in height but not in wisdom.

The person who stopped him was Liu Xuan, the son of Commander Liu.

Speaking of which, Commander Liu had originally served under his uncle, but after his uncle remained in the capital as a civil official, he had been transferred to the Xie family army.

Liu Xuan had always been a troublemaker, becoming the academy’s little tyrant. In earlier years, seeing that Xie Zheng wasn’t afraid of him like others, he had caused trouble for Xie Zheng several times, but each time ended up being beaten black and blue, taken home by his parents with a face full of tears and snot.

Though rough, he cared greatly about-face, and after being beaten enough times, he had willfully appointed himself as Xie Zheng’s lackey.

Xie Zheng knew he must have caused trouble again and coldly replied, “No time.”

Liu Xuan grew anxious and quickly followed, saying, “Brother Xie, I’m only coming to you because I’m truly out of options. My little brother was beaten up, his eyes are still black and blue after several days. My mother warned me not to cause trouble. But just now, my little brother came to me crying again, saying he was beaten again, with a nosebleed that soaked an entire handkerchief. How can someone bully him like this?”

“When I asked who beat him, he hemmed and hawed, saying the person had connections to the Xie family and wouldn’t tell me the truth. I figure it must be some reckless fool throwing the Xie family’s name around to act tyrannically at the academy!”

Xie Zheng had initially not wanted to get involved, as any trouble might reach Xie Linshan’s ears and result in punishment for him.

Hearing this, however, he lazily raised an eyebrow and said, “Let’s take a look.”

He disliked actively seeking trouble, but if someone was using the Xie family name to bully students at the academy, he had to intervene.

They found Liu Xuan’s eight-year-old brother and asked him to lead them to identify who had beaten him, but the child clutched his clothes and refused. First said the other party was from the Xie family and he feared retaliation, then after Liu Xuan pointed to Xie Zheng saying an Xie family member was right here, the child claimed the person would have left by this time.

Liu Xuan angrily kicked his brother’s bottom: “How did I end up with such a cowardly brother?”

He simply went to his brother’s classroom, kicking open the door like a bully and shouting: “Who here claims to be a Xie family relative and beat my brother?”

His brother, who had been dragged along, hearing these words, nearly hung his head to the ground. His nose was still bleeding, but he no longer cared to wipe it, his face burning red with embarrassment.

The students in this classroom were all seven or eight years old.

Hearing these words, they first looked at each other, then seeing Liu Xuan’s threatening manner, the timid ones pointed toward a small girl by the window, who was seriously copying texts with a writing brush, her brows slightly furrowed as if struggling with something.

Zhang Yu had become frustrated with her writing brush.

The rabbit hair brush tip was too soft—when she wrote lightly, the teacher said her characters lacked strength and often punished her to rewrite them; when she pressed harder, the brush tip split and a page could only fit a few thick characters.

When Liu Xuan’s kick and shout startled the child in front of her, causing them to bump her desk, an ugly ink stain marred the page of characters she had painstakingly written.

Zhang Yu stared at that ink stain for a long while before turning her darkened little face toward the person who had kicked open the door and shouted.

Behind that person, leaning against the corridor railing, was a youth in a russet archer’s robe, about eleven or thirteen years old, with handsome features and an air of nobility.

Xie Zheng was already tall for his age, and among this group of little ones, he stood out even more distinctly.

When Liu Xuan had led him to this classroom of little ones, he had already had a bad feeling, and now seeing the Meng family’s daughter, his eyelid twitched violently.

He never would have imagined that the one who had beaten Liu Xuan’s brother would be that little girl.

Liu Xuan was stunned as well. The little girl looked sweet, even half a head shorter than his brother—how could she have beaten Liu Cheng black and blue?

He immediately shouted at the child who had pointed: “What are you pointing at? Do you want me to—”

But that little girl, who looked as proper as a porcelain doll, suddenly spoke up: “I did it.”

Liu Xuan’s words caught in his throat.

Looking at the girl who was a full half-head shorter than his brother, he immediately gave his brother a hard knock on the head, saying fiercely: “Didn’t you say the one who beat you was a bigger, rougher boy? Lying to make me lose face along with you, huh?”

The child covered his head, nose still bleeding, and burst into tears: “I couldn’t beat her, and you kept asking, so I lied…”

Liu Xuan gave him another knock: “You know it’s shameful to lose to a little girl, but lying isn’t shameful?”

His brother just covered his head and cried, no longer speaking.

Standing outside, Xie Zheng asked: “Why did she beat you?”

The child stammered and wouldn’t say.

Zhang Yu glared at Xie Zheng, seeming to understand that he had come to back up Liu Xuan and his brother, and said: “He pulled my hair and smeared ink on my books, so I beat him every time I saw him.”

Liu Xuan’s expression changed, and he gave his brother another slap: “You good-for-nothing, you dare come back and lie after bullying a girl?”

Xie Zheng saw Zhang Yu’s hair bun clearly messed up on one side, and his brows unconsciously furrowed. He lowered his gaze to the child: “This is my sister.”

The child was already frightened silly, staring at Xie Zheng with tears in his eyes.

Liu Xuan’s anger also froze, and he stiffly asked Xie Zheng: “When did Madam Xie give you a sister?”

Xie Zheng didn’t answer, only looking at the child: “Apologize.”

The child, crying with snot and tears, said to Zhang Yu: “I’m sorry… I’ll never dare do it again…”

Xie Zheng walked over and half-crouched beside Zhang Yu’s desk, asking: “Do you accept his apology?”

Zhang Yu pressed her lips together and stared at him, her baby-fat face full of displeasure: “Did you come to scold me on their behalf?”

Xie Zheng now only wanted to throw that fool Liu Xuan under a horse’s hooves. He gave Liu Xuan a look, and Liu Xuan very sensibly led all the little ones out of the classroom before he said: “I didn’t know they were talking about you…”

Zhang Yu’s small face was stern as she interrupted him: “You’re bullying people with them at the academy! I’m going to tell Uncle Xie!”

Xie Zheng held his forehead: “That’s not how you use that phrase.”

Zhang Yu glared at him angrily.

Xie Zheng had no choice but to continue speaking gently: “It’s not what you think. Don’t tell my father about today.”

Zhang Yu said: “You’re acting guilty!”

Xie Zheng’s head was about to burst, hearing her words he didn’t know whether to be angry or amused: “You’ve learned quite a few phrases from your studies. Today was just a misunderstanding. How about I take you to Xu’s shop to buy braised pork?”

Zhang Yu humphed and turned her face away.

Xie Zheng made another concession: “I’ll buy you Tang’s lotus cakes too.”

The snow-white little girl finally pointed at the ink-stained paper on the desk, her big black eyes looking at him: “I still have to rewrite the assignment the teacher gave…”

Xie Zheng knew this was coming and sighed: “I’ll help you write it.”

After leaving the academy, they bought a pile of lotus cakes, candied hawthorn strings, and osmanthus candy before heading to Xu’s restaurant.

Zhang Yu hugged the freshly cooked braised pork, her mouth oily as she ate, while Xie Zheng resigned himself to copying her texts beside her.

Before leaving, seeing her hair bun loosened on one side, and fearing Meng Lihua would ask about her hair and bring up how Liu Xuan had tricked him, he spent quite a while trying to fix her hair back into a bun.

However, being inexperienced, he only managed to make an awkward-looking ponytail.

Zhang Yu touched it and said: “Ugly.”

Xie Zheng was almost out of patience and pinched her face saying: “This is my first time doing someone’s hair, it’s not bad. Have you ever seen any man who knows how to do hair?”

Zhang Yu retorted: “My father does it very well.”

Xie Zheng snorted lightly: “Your father has a daughter, I don’t have a daughter, why should I practice doing hair?”

Zhang Yu thought about it and realized he had a point.

When Xie Zheng was sending her home and they were almost at the door, he didn’t forget to instruct: “Remember to keep today’s events secret, or no more braised pork for you.”

Zhang Yu waved at him, “I remember, I remember.”

He was silent for a moment, then added: “If anyone at the academy bullies you again, tell me.”

Zhang Yu asked in confusion: “Why should I tell you?”

Xie Zheng roughly ruffled her hair: “So I can help you get even.”

Zhang Yu very sincerely replied: “But I already beat them up.”

“…”

The young man pinched her cheeks: “Even if you beat them up, still tell me.”