1.6 AuYeung LaiSan - General SzeTo

General Szeto's POV

Before arriving at the Imperial Scholar's residence that day...

"We have delayed this long enough," mom said while slamming her chopsticks on the table. We were in the dining area of the post house*. Everyone who was enjoying their afternoon meals, all turned to look.

"Dearest, you must not be so loud," as my dad tried to coax my mom, "after all, our son is the General of the Southern border, you must leave him some face!"

"What General?" Slapping the table once again and speaking even louder, "To me he is always my son, a very disobedient son, that will not even choose a wife and give me grandchildren!"

"But isn't that why we took this trip out here with him to do," my father said in the gentlest voice.

I always cringe when I hear him talk to mom this way. It is this behavior that has made mom more and more unreasonable. Having being doted on, she has become most spoiled.

Having heard enough and I wanted to get out of there already, as more and more onlookers were now whispering. I stood and told them, "We will go to the Imperial Scholar's residence after you finish your meal. I will be waiting for you in my room."

"Good, now that is my good son" mom cooed. Then she snarkily added, "You should have said that ten days ago when we arrived. Not waiting till the last minute when we are almost having to return to the south." She then added as she gave my dad a pouty look, "Right husband?" while she grabbed onto his arm.

I just rolled my eyes at them.

Dad chimed in with a big smile on his face, while his eyes where glued to my mom, "Miss AuYeung is such a good match for you, DongAn. Jiang mama(an endearing term, not really a mother), the matchmaker has said that she had looked at thousands of eligible maidens' eight characters and young Miss AuYeung is best suited. With your union it will bring great prosperity to both families."

"Yes, yes, yes. You have said that over a dozen times since even before we started this trip. Enough!" I grunted and stormed off.

While I walked away, I couldn't help but recalled the situation since we arrived, have I been avoiding it? I walked up the one flight of wooden stairs heading back to the room, absentmindedly following the handrail and rounding the corner.

Truly, I think I am not opposed to the idea of being engaged to the youngest daughter of Imperial Scholar AuYeung. I have seen her portrait, and she is a beauty. Those almond shaped, clear chestnuts eyes in the portrait was what caught my attention as I unwinded the scroll. I just stopped when I saw them, dazed as if they were speaking to me. Only after a moment did I finally come back and unraveled the rest of the scroll. I found that those eyes were perfectly fitting for her heart shaped face, tiny straight nose and full cherry lips.

I had asked that Jiang mama tell me more, to recall her meeting with the young Miss. She was described as being good natured, even though coming from a large family and being the only daughter. I hoped that was true and she was not like those other good-for-nothing,spoiled brats that mom had tried to push on me throughout the years. Always making me go to parties with her to meet her friends' daughters. Not one has ever given me a good impression, they all remind me too much of my mom. Really too much trouble. How would life be if I had two women that behaved like my mother in the house. Life would be miserable.

I really hoped when I meet LaiSan she will be as Jiang mama has said. I did agree to this proposal because Jiang mama told us about her interests and hobbies.

She was different from the typical well-off families' daughters by being not just good in martial arts, but also an expert in chess, utilizing her well versed battle strategies to beat her opponents, very intriguing combination indeed.

She was also well versed in literature, but as the daughter of the Imperial Scholar how could she not be. She is said to have no interest is the regular female arts like embroidery, dance and music but is said to not be lacking in feminine charm. So actually I found myself quite intrigued with this Miss AuYeung and actually had a bit of anticipation when coming to the capital this time. After all having to live most of the year in the harsh southern border. How could this General's wife be a delicate flower?

It was just that I had been so busy with work, I just didn't feel that this personal matter should take precedence over matters of the court and the safety of the people. That was why I have delayed it day after day. Who knew mom would get so impatient and actually made a scene in the dining area to force me to go today. Humph, oh well, we were planning on returning to the southern border in two days so really we shouldn't delay this any longer anyways.

I reached the sleeping quarters and I pushed open the wooden doors lined with a simple double rectangular paper design in the center, right at eye level.

These door designs always reminded me of when we made paper kites to fly on windy days. They are the same design, a rectangle, maybe a diamond, with two sticks in the middle for support. My older sisters and I used to love flying them on windy days in the big courtyard. A smile uncontrollably appeared on my face as I reminisced about simpler times with my family. It quickly disappeared as the thought of how quiet that big house is now, it was just me and my parents. Everyone else now had their own families and were no longer home. Only twice or three times a year does the whole family comes home, only during New Years and my parents birthdays.

I sat at the round table, on the cylinder stool and poured myself some tea, and I think it may not be a bad idea to have children running around the house, it would definitely make things livelier at home.

As I was fantasizing about the future, my mom came barreling in, screamed something at my dad about some jade bracelets and why he did know where they were or even whether they had brought it with them. She rushed into the room and opened the big chest filled with gifts for the AuYeungs and started digging for the small wooden box that supposedly contained the items she was so agitated about. Having found it and opened it to check that nothing had happened to it, she gently placed it back in the chest.

"These purple jade bracelets were very rare, I had bought them when your oldest sister had gotten married in JingAn province, I gave each of your sisters a set, these two are for my daughter in-law." she said as she tried to explain her recent neurotic behavior.

"Okay, are you ready time go now?" I asked.

"Yes, but it is still early, so I probably can stop by the jewelry shops to buy a little bit more?" she asked excitedly. She cupped her hands together, a bright smile face on her face and eyes full of anticipation, while awaiting the inevitable "yes" from my father.

But I spoke first, "Mom, I think you really have prepared enough" as I pointed at the already heavy chest, "you haven't even met her yet" I said exasperated. "You've spent so much but you don't even know if I would like her or if we would actually propose the marriage."

Then came the cringe worthy attack my mother was so skilled at, "Husband, your son is so stingy," my mother cooed. Again grabbing at my father's arms, and with her eyes, telling him that she was being bullied, almost begging him to intervene.

My dad looked down at my mom, smiled and stroked her face with the back of his hand then helped, the suddenly weakened madam take a seat, then poured her a cup of tea. When she was situated, he said, "Son, why do you argue, could you not afford a small little extra trinket for you future wife? Even if we ended up not exchanging betrothal gifts, would it kill you to give the AuYeungs a little present. Was that little money going to affect your livelihood and make you go hungry? If you really do not have, I could always loan you some."

I rolled my eyes, they have once again ganged up on their son, making hard to not just give in. "Okay, let's just get going," I said defeated.

Mom smiled and suddenly full of energy again and happily jumps up to get ready.

I just sighed and walked outside to ask the servants to carry the chest out with us.

When I was done giving instructions, the happy couple came walking out. As always she was hanging on his arm.

I just rolled my eyes again and walk ahead of them. Really, couldn't they be a bit more dignified. I walked quickly, as not to hear my parent's discussion of what else to buy Miss AuYeung.

One thing I was sure of, if and I get a wife, I would have to try hard to make sure she doesn't hang out with mom too much. I couldn't have mom influence her, that would be disastrous.

We walked for a bit and suddenly, I heard my mom yell, "DongAn, come back, look at this with me."

I sighed and sulkingly, I headed back to the store I just passed. It was a jewelry store, nothing special, as I glance over the selection, I did not find anything in particular that sparked my fancy. I was about to tell my mom that we should get going but she yelps with excitement and rushes over to a corner, dragging my father with her. She points at the hair decoration and asks the owner to assist her in putting it on.

What she had chosen was a hair pin that holds and decorates hair buns. It is adorned with mother-of-pearl flakes, made to resemble peach blossoms petals. I must have to admit, on my mom, that decoration did look wonderful. Even though being in her early forties, my mother still had the beauty of a twenty year old. She still had smooth porcelain skin and the only indication of her age is the tiny crows feet near her eyes when she smiles.

The decoration she had chosen was more fitting for her than an unmarried young woman like Miss AuYeung, as they wore their hair down. Only after marriage do women tie up their hair in updos. It is a symbol of a married and unavailable woman.

I sighed and took a seat as I waited for mom to choose what she wanted. I knew when she got so excited about buying another present for Miss AuYeung, it was just an excuse for her to do more shopping for herself.

My mind drifted off to think about some work matters, when suddenly a loud bang caught my attention.

There were two men at the entrance of the store, and one of them had just dropped a large box and the contents spilled out a bit. So they stopped to pick it all up.

"Please hurry doctor, madam is quite worried. Young Miss just suddenly fell ill," the short plump middle aged man said.

"Yes, yes. I am going as fast as I can," as the elderly gentleman continued to place the bottles and medical tools back in his box, he said, "Miss AuYeung had always been very healthy, what brought on this sudden illness?"

"We do not know. I did hear the servant girl say that the Young Miss was practicing kung fu when she fainted." the middle-aged man said.

"On such a hot day, no wonder," the elderly gentleman paused to latch the box, "probably heat stroke."

"We had thought it was heat stroke as well, but the first physician that we called said there were no such sign of heat stroke." the middle-aged man said.

"Okay I am ready, let's continue on our way" he says as he check again that the box was locked.

They left and I thought that I had better give them time, maybe she would be fine by early evening. By their conversation, I wasn't too concerned, it seems like a small matter. But it did seem that Miss AuYeung needed to rest a bit more, and our visit would disturb her. I even thought to postpone it to tomorrow, but I know mom will never go for that.

What I can do is postpone the visit for a few hours. I decided not to tell my parents about what I had just heard, just yet. As they would go rushing to the AuYeung manor at this moment if they knew.

So I'll just let them take their time in choosing since we now have some time. We ended up going to over a dozen stores, for not just jewelry, but for clothing and silks and pottery and even stopped by the flower shop. We ended up having so much stuff that I asked my parents to first return to the post house to put down the unnecessary items that we were not bringing to the AuYeung residence. They glanced back at the haul that the servants were now carrying, and they also felt it was a good idea.

So whilst heading back, I told my parents about what I heard from earlier and expressed my view on what occurred. It is not too common but they said that they agreed with my decision and that I was very considerate this time.

So after we dropped off all the other stuff, we headed out once again for the AuYeung residence. I saw that mom was not carrying anything new, so I had to heckle her a bit, "So what did you end up buying for your future daughter in-law?"

Without missing a beat, she dug into her sleeve pocket and pulls out a small pair of dew drop pearl earrings. She lifts them up to my face and says, "These."

"Really mom, after hours of shopping you got her a pair of pearl earrings." I start laughing and really don't know what else to say to her, except a sarcastic, "Okay."

"What is wrong with them?" she pouts and places them back in her sleeve pocket.

"Nothing, they are very nice." as I smiled down at her. I was about a foot taller than my father and about two feet taller than my mom. So she often complaint that she would get a neck kink when speaking with me.

"Good!" she huffed.

The second walk to the AuYeung residence was smooth and without issues.

As we arrived at the entrance we saw that we were not their only guest. There were two other carriages waiting outside.

We knocked and the guard announced our arrival to the housekeeper, who came to bring us into the Receiving Hall. The servants came to serve us tea as the housekeeper goes to inform the Imperial Scholar of our arrival.

Not long later, the Imperial Scholar arrived and with him is a little girl. We stood to give our greetings and I slightly lift up my head and I notice she is wearing the Phoenix robe. This young girl was not Miss AuYeung but the Princess.

I lead my parents in a grander salute and I heard the Princess asking us to please rise and that there was no need for such a grand salute. Due to my status as the General, I am allowed to I lift my head all the way to look at Imperial Scholar and the Princess. My parents being civilians, continued to have their gaze lowered.

I met the Princess's eyes and said a statement of thanks. She seemed to be dazed, as her gaze never left me, I felt quite uncomfortable but I am not one to shy away, so I continued my stance. She hadn't asked us to sit and we couldn't do so before the owner of the residence, who was now also waiting for her to say something. Quite the awkward situation.

Luckily after a few more moments, the maid in the back of her, coughs and she seems to come out of whatever trance she was in. I saw her eyes clear up as she flashed a shy smile to the Imperial Scholar.

The Imperial Scholar, now took the initiative and asked us to please be at ease and to take a seat. When we were all seated the Imperial Scholar asked the reason for our visit and my father started talking and brought out the two red sheet of paper that had both mine and the young Miss' eight characters, the one that Jiang mama had written her assessment of our compatibility and handed it over to the Imperial Scholar who examined it for a long while. Finally addressing me he told me that his daughter is still unconscious and still no one knew what had happened.

A wave of disappointment engulfed me and I felt like I wanted to at least see Miss Au Yeung, but I knew it was not appropriate. So I could only ask that the Imperial Scholar to please accept the gifts that I had brought as a show my sincerity to the proposal and to ask that he kept us informed of her progress.

I did not want to take up too much of his time, I was sure he was also quite worried about his daughter. We decided to excuse ourselves. I bowed to the Princess and the Imperial Scholar and the housekeeper led us out of the manor.

We returned to the post house and that night, mom expressed her concern and asked if maybe we should not bring up the engagement again with the AuYeungs and maybe we should select another girl.

Somehow her words made me feel uncomfortable, an ache in my chest got stronger the more the discussion continued. Finally, I could not take it anymore and I left to return to my own room to sleep. But sleep evaded me that night, there was an ache in my chest, and I just could not shake the ominous feeling that something big was about to happen.

*Post house is the ancient version of a motel with a communal dining area, especially for government officials or visiting dignitaries.