Sharing a Pavilion With You
Chapter 129: Win Me a Lantern?

Chapter 129: Win Me a Lantern?

[Suggested song for this Chapter - Voilà sung by Emma Kok]

"It’s Commander Bai and Wang Zhaojun," Meili heard the chatter ripple through the crowd.

Bai Li stood in the centre of the now decimated dance troop, looking left and right for the next threat.

The performers scrambled about on their hands and knees collecting up their heads.

"It’s alright Li," said Meili gently. "I’m fine. He was just a little over-enthusiastic. No harm done."

"Of course there’s harm done! He touched your face! I could have his hand for that!"

"There’s no call for taking his hand, Li. Come on," she dragged him away from the dancers, handing one of the startled men his missing big head as they went. "Sorry," she mouthed to him, and he bowed at her, looking fearfully at Commander Bai as he took the head from his woman.

As they strolled further down the street past the lantern stalls, he took her hand, despite the fact they were in public and there was every chance word would get back to the palace.

"I feel safer this way," he told her. "Your pretty face attracts trouble wherever you go. I see now why your parents always made you wear a veil. I’m starting to think it might be a good idea..."

"Li," she protested. "Don’t you think you might be overreacting slightly?"

"No! I think I’ve been very forbearing. Another man would have shed blood over those insults!"

She thought his over-the-top jealous response was very cute, but she didn’t want him to hurt anyone defending her honour.

"Win me a lantern, Li?" she asked, trying to distract him.

"You want one of them?" he asked doubtfully, pointing at the lanterns at a stall where you shot arrows in order to win a lantern prize.

"Yes, that one," she smiled, pointing to a lantern on the top row with two rabbits hanging from a single stick. "That’s you and me."

"I’m hardly a rabbit, Meili," he pretended to be offended.

Now he was successfully distracted, she thought happily.

"Win me the tiger as well then," she challenged him.

Bai Li stepped to the front of the crowd, which parted to let the well-known Commander take up the bow and arrow.

The stall keeper was quaking in his boots when he saw the military man. His equipment was specially warped to make the shots impossible except by purest luck.

"W...welcome Sir," he said uncertainly. "Do you want a turn? Why not let the young lady take a turn instead?"

"Certainly not! I must win a lantern for her, not the other way around," he growled at the man, immediately suspecting him of tampering with his equipment.

The Commander picked up the bow and arrow and the stall keeper’s face drained of blood.

Bai Li immediately saw that the bow had been altered. He sighted the target and adjusted his aim accordingly.

His arrow sang through the air, piercing the bullseye, and the crowd cheered, for no one else had managed that feat tonight.

The stall keeper wiped his brow with relief.

"Which lantern prize would you like, Commander?" he asked eagerly.

Bai Li put down the bow and pointed up at the double rabbit lantern, handing it proudly to Meili.

She held up the sweet lantern and looked at the rabbits’ adorable faces, the gentle light of the lanterns casting a soft glow on her own beautiful face.

The stall keeper was struck dumb as he gazed on this lovely scene. Bai Li poked the man firmly in the chest, bringing him back to his senses and forcing him to avert his eyes.

"Another go," Bai Li ordered.

"Y...yes Commander," the man stammered, frightened to be caught staring at the Commander’s woman, but less concerned about the shooting now that he knew the Commander could compensate for the bow’s warp.

The next shot also hit the bullseye, quivering alongside his first shot, and the crowd cheered even more loudly.

"That one," Bai Li pointed at the tiger lantern.

"Hooray! Thank you, Li," Mieli clapped her hands with delight, holding the tiger lantern aloft to admire it.

Bai Li was loaded up with the lanterns as Meili trotted enthusiastically down towards the lake, drawn by the floating lanterns which covered its surface.

He felt a bit silly holding a bunny rabbit lantern, which was attracting him strange looks, but he would do anything for his Meili, including looking unmanly.

When they reached the lake’s edge, Meili unconsciously took his hand as she gazed at the beauty of the dark lake, lit by the moon and the water lily shaped floating lanterns.

"It’s so beautiful, Li," she sighed. "Let’s both make a wish."

He nodded and left her briefly to buy two of the floating water lilies.

Meili wrote on her lantern, ’I wish Bai Li will come home safely from the north’.

She set the lantern free to float on the water, giving it a gentle push where it joined hundreds of others.

’I wish to marry Mei Meili,’ Bai Li wrote on his lantern, giving it some extra help so that it floated out further and faster than the other lanterns.

"Don’t tell me your wish, or it might not come true," she said to him, watching Li’s lantern sail out alone.

"Okay," he said mildly, "although you already know what I wish for... I’m afraid I need to go now, Meili," he said regretfully.

"I know, Li," she said without reproaching him. "It’s already precious to me that you’ve spent so long here with me tonight when you leave on your campaign tomorrow."

"Will you see me off?" he asked her, with uncharacteristic hesitance.

"Of course I must!" she cried. "Take this with you Li," she handed him the jade pendant she had bought for him. "I also made you these gloves to keep you warm in the north."

She shyly handed him a beautiful pair of leather gloves that were lined with fur inside the leather. He could tell that they were made with love, and he planned to treasure them, not ruin them by wearing them on the campaign. He nodded his thanks, clearly touched.

"Make sure you wear them," she said. "It’s okay if they get torn or bloody. Just write to me and tell me and I’ll make you another pair."

It was like she could tell what he was thinking... a smile tugged at his lips.

He handed Meili the fan he had bought earlier, and her eyes lit with delight that he’d noticed what she liked and purchased it for her.

"I also had this made for you," he handed her a beautiful box with a mother of pearl rabbit design inlaid into ivory.