Stories from Wu

[flemmings]

 Pre-op disquiet manifests itself in compulsive house-cleaning and compulsive fic poking. Poke enough and bits break off.

      Fu Chai is growing impatient. Gou Jian stands silently at meal times and watches him eat. Gou Jian walks silent a pace behind him- with a guard on each side keeping their hands on their swords and their eyes on Gou Jian- and listens to his conversation. Gou Jian's eyes are on him always, dark, silent and watchful. Fu Chai would like to believe this close scrutiny represents an interest on Gou Jian's part, or at least the caution of a prisoner towards the man who can have him killed tomorrow. But he has his doubts.

       For in the evenings Gou Jian converses with him easily, referring to his new servile status just enough to make it seem a sort of joke between them. Gou Jian is a king playing at being a servant.

       And isn't that what I wanted?

       No, not quite. Gou Jian is Fu Chai's prisoner. Fu Chai could kill Gou Jian if he wanted to. Gou Jian should show some awareness of that in his attitude, and he doesn't.

      "There's the pride of the stiff-necked princes of Yue," Wu Zi Xu tells him. "He bears himself as king of Yue still. He'll never submit, Majesty, and you'll never make him submit, either to the facts or to yourself."

      "He bears himself as king of Yue because he is king of Yue," Fu Chai says. "Even you address him as that."

       "To remind him how far he's fallen. A proper man would end his life rather than live with the disgrace of serving his country's enemy."

       "Why do you think I'm the enemy of Yue?"

       "Because Yue is the enemy of your Majesty. They killed your father. Perhaps you had forgotten?"

       Fu Chai ignores the jab. "I remember. They killed my father in Yue. What was my father doing in Yue to be killed there?"

       Wu Zi Xu frowns at him as if he's demented.

       "My father attacked their country. Should the men of Yue have held their hands when the king of Wu crossed their borders? That's not how it's usually done in war."

          "Your Majesty-!"

Fu Chai raises a hand as if conceding a point. "Fine, fine. You say they shouldn't have killed my father when he invaded them because it's wrong to kill invading kings. So there, my lord Chancellor, you have the reason I didn't kill Gou Jian when he invaded us."

          "Where did Your Majesty get these insane notions from? This comes of having Gou Jian by you all the time. He poisons your Majesty with his thoughts--"

          "Do you think so? Cast your mind back a little. It was my father and my brother who wanted war with Yue. I tried to negotiate peace. Where was the enemy of Yue then?"

          Wu Zi Xu takes a deep breath. "Your Majesty tried to deal fairly with traitors, and they betrayed your Majesty. Gou Jian talked of peace to cover his preparations for war. He can't be trusted. He's proved that, again and again. Why will your Majesty not *see* this?"

         "Wu talked peace while we prepared for war as well. We entertained Yue's ambassador- eventually, when you permitted it, Chancellor- and built ourselves a navy in the meantime. What reason did Gou Jian have to trust us? Prince Lei had already used my sister-in-law's flight as an excuse to wring land from them and grind their pride in the dust. Wu is a tiger to Yue. I think we should stop being tigers."

        "Your Majesty has no desire to gain the hegemony for Wu?" Wu Zi Xu asks in a very polite and distinct fashion.

        "Every desire. That's why I want Yue behind me when I head north. Supporting me with men and troops and guarding my back, not turned into a wasteland full of starving people who curse my name-- and ally themselves with any strong man who promises to bring me down. Heaven listens to the wretched and punishes the outrageous, Chancellor."

         Wu Zi Xu clenches his hands. His mouth is tight with anger but he keeps himself from saying whatever it is that agitates him so. Then he lets loose a long breath.

         "Very well, your Majesty. Your Majesty is determined to pursue a phantom. Your old councillor will keep his peace from now on."

         "On this subject, yes, perhaps you should. We'll never agree. However, We wish to hear your advice on another matter."

         "Whichever way I may serve your Majesty," Wu Zi Xu says, making a point of the impatience in his voice.

        "I want Gou Jian alive. A number of people want him dead. Which do you think would be most effective- issuing a proclamation that no one is to lift a hand against him and his, on pain of death? Or bringing his generals back to guard him?" 

         Wu Zi Xu's lips lengthen. He looks at Fu Chai's genial expression with a banked fury that makes Fu Chai smile more broadly. The Chancellor pauses, cocks his head and regards his king.

         "Bring his generals back," Wu Zi Xu says, "and keep them by him. With them under guard in turn, of course."

         It's Fu Chai's turn for thin lipped anger. But he nods and waves dismissal, and when his chancellor has gone, gets up and paces.

        Of course he understands Wu Zi Xu's thoughts. He grew up in the great man's shadow. Of course he can't make Gou Jian out so easily. The two of them are still strangers. For a moment he wishes he could change them over- be as familiar with Gou Jian's thinking as he is with Wu Zi Xu's and have that deep mind at work in his service. And play chess with the Chancellor and try to read Wu Zi Xu's purposes therefrom.

      And then wonders, with a stab of disquiet, whether he doesn't do that very thing. The chancellor has always kept things from him, and his reasons for doing so never ring quite right in Fu Chai's ears. Gou Jian is his enemy, open and declared, whom Fu Chai thinks might turn into something else. Wu Zi Xu is his councillor, the faithful servant and friend of Wu-- but not, Fu Chai begins to think,  always or necessarily the faithful servant and friend of Fu Chai.

Comments

[incandescens]

I very much enjoyed reading that. There's a real sense of potential there, and of things that could be.

(And I was watching some of the series today, and wondered -- is one of Wen Zhong's strengths the ability to show other people what they could be and persuade them to live up to that? To sell Bo Pi on the idea that he could be a great man, to offer Fu Chai the image of himself as a great and virtuous king . . . and in that case, what might the story have been if Fu Chai had had Wen Zhong beside him, rather than Bo Pi or WZX?)

(Also, practically stood up and cheered at Wen Zhong's denunciation of Fu Chai.)

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Yes sort of, but with a slight difference in nuance. It's not an ideal he's pointing them towards but the ideal image of themselves that they have and want others to believe. Clearest with Fu Chai: he wants to be thought a virtuous ruling-Under-Heaven monarch, and allows Gou Jian to stay alive to demonstrate how merciful the king of Wu is to the defeated. You see the problem here: Fu Chai's righteousness is only surface appearance, because he can't be bothered to keep track of what's happening to his prisoner, and in fact becomes quite prepared to kill him at need.

Wen Zhong however speaks to the image Fu cHai has presented. 'You call yourself a righteous king but you're nothing of the sort. You broke your word and here's the proof.' Fu Chai has to amend matters to save face. So I see Wen Zhong saying 'Live up to your image', not 'Be what you would like to seem.' I don't think he expects Fu Chai ever to /be/ a virtuous king.

What he does with Bo Pi is, amusingly, what Bo Pi does with Fu Chai- tells him he is what he wants people to think he is. Of course bo Pi swallows it: it's his version of reality. 'You're a man of talent and WZX is envious of you' isn't, to my mind, something Wen Zhong believes or ever would believe. Bo Pi's talents aren't anywhere near WZX's and Wen Zhong must know it.

I wish Wen Zhong were actually pushing these people towards virtue as an absolute, but I don't think he is. He's promoting behaviour that will help Yue. Even with Gou Jian, whom he fights at risk of his neck: he doesn't want virtue from his king, he wants his king to stop his mad course towards an impossible war. I don't think Wen Zhong would have lasted long at the side of the autocrat Fu Chai, any more than he lasted with the weak and vacillating king of Chu, for the same reasons: he'd tell these kings things they didn't want to hear. To date, only Gou Jian's big enough to take that in stride.

[incandescens]

Mm -- true. Still fun to watch, though.

And Wen Zhong is being one of my favourite characters of all series.

[mvrdrk.livejournal.com]

Me too! He's adorkable! I like Fan Li's mom, too!

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

paleaswater said a long time back that no one on the Chinese bbs had a bad word to say about Wen Zhong. The fen have their various favourites and their various boo-hisses, and can do pro and con on all the charas, but Wen Zhong seems to have charmed the world.

I like Fan Li's mom too, but there's a certain badness of fit there. She wants him to be the king's counsellor he has the ability to be, and ignores the fact he has no inclination for it.

[i-am-zan.livejournal.com]

She wants him to be the king's counsellor he has the ability to be, and ignores the fact he has no inclination for it.

This is (I feel) a very Asian thing. Even in this day and age, not as much but it still persists.

[mvrdrk.livejournal.com]

The whole living up to your abilities in spite of your inclinations is a world wide mother problem, I'd guess. I agree on it being a very Asian thing.

I wonder if the whole 'follow your bliss' style of choosing a profession is a modern phenomena? We put a lot of emphasis on happiness that I didn't see in my grandparents.

I was waxing enthusiastic over the college freshman course set of Chinese history, art, music, literature, language, and quarter abroad in China and my sister had to point out it's a perfect course set for me, not my math and science child. Sigh. So the child is looking at, um, math and science, and I'm quietly lamenting that I'm not the one going off to college.

[i-am-zan.livejournal.com]

So the child is looking at, um, math and science, and I'm quietly lamenting that I'm not the one going off to college.

The local school curriculum these days aims to build a more 'rounded' child. So there is more emphasis onsubjects like language, literature and the arts ... but one still gets the underlying message that the sciences and engineering is "where the money's at!!" ^_~ Such is life on the LRD!

Still wished I was going to college too! ^__^

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

and I'm quietly lamenting that I'm not the one going off to college.

I really think you should. Follow your bliss has its points. It only began when enough Americans became prosperous enough to be able to afford to follow their bliss. Before that the norm was a life time of unrewarding toil, and your reward in Heaven. China doesn't even give you the reward in Heaven.

[mvrdrk.livejournal.com]

LOL! Indeed, in China you came back around and got to do it all over again.

[mvrdrk.livejournal.com]

I wonder if western audiences will have the same reaction to Wen Zhong.

I haven't seen enough of Fan Li's mom to know, other than first impressions are very good. Maybe I have a thing for demanding mothers.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

I can't see why westerners wouldn't find him charming. We're always looking for moral certainties, and Wen Zhong has more of what looks like morality to us than anyone else there. He's also eccentric enough to tickle our taste for individualism.

But of course he's *old*, or rather, middle-aged, which will tell against him with sections of the fannish population.

[i-am-zan.livejournal.com]

I'm happy to read the results of your calming activities.

Thinking of you and many hugs.

A wonderful read and clears up a few things for me! Thank you. ^__^

Whilst it is good they have it on the box now, I wish the timing is better for it. 2:30 while 4:30 on a Saturday afternoon is either hitting near madness time in our house or just past it in which case if I do remember to watch , I tend to crash out! ^__^ halfway!

Rest well post op ok! *hugs*

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

2:30 to 4:30? How many episodes do you get at a time? The DVD ones are 45 minutes long, so unless LRD has an irritating number of commercials it must be 2 and change?

[i-am-zan.livejournal.com]

we do get two episodes back to back..and yes a ridiculous amount of advertisement. It is worse if its a show/programme that is hugely popular which I imagine The Great Revival is!

I'm like blink blink, "we just had commercials three minutes ago." Grrr! Hence the falling asleep I think.

But do take care and I've said before, rest well post op!

[rasetsunyo.livejournal.com]

Fu Chai standing up to WZX, yessss thank you.

[feliciter.livejournal.com]

Fu-Chai WZX interaction is love (or not. but this is exactly what I've been waiting to see, thankyou!)

Good luck for the op and get lots of rest afterward!

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

I must tell myself this is AU and Fu Chai is going to be the person I want him to be, not the one he's so lamentably failing to be in the series just now. WZX however will probably remain WZX.

[flemmings.livejournal.com]

Fu Chai standing up to WZX, **yessss** thank you.

Utter wish fulfillment. Make him stand up to WZX at this point and you're OOC. Of course, I've forgotten how it was that they fell out once and for all in series.