A Song to Drown Rivers

Xishi waits for punishment. Fuchai continues to visit her like nothing is amiss, but then Xishi is summoned to court with no explanation. Zixu brings in Fanli. Xishi attempts to look uninterested even as Fuchai makes her sit on the throne with him. Xishi feels agony watching him and as Fuchai introduces them and tries to goad them both by talking about her beauty, enjoying her company and even kissing her ear. Neither shows any jealousy or sign of knowing the other. Fuchai sees no recognition between them and relaxes slightly. Zixu suddenly stabs Fanli in the chest. Fanli calmly asks why, and Fuchai says he remembered that Fanli had killed lots of Wu. Fanli’s eyes flash Xishi a warning and she stays outwardly calm despite wanting to scream. When the king asks her how he should punish Fanli further, she says whatever pleases the king. Zixu stabs Fanli again, and just when Xishi thinks she can’t handle it, Fuchai declares that he’s bored and that it’s no fun torturing someone who won’t react. He dismisses Fanli, saying to give his regards to Goujian. Xishi thinks she sees something on Fuchai’s face as Fanli leaves that looks like pride.

Fuchai is called to a meeting, and Xishi follows the trail of Fanli’s blood to find him. He assures her that he won’t die, but she tears her sleeve and bandages him anyway. He asks what happened between her and the king. She confesses that she accidentally said Fanli’s name and asks if she can leave with him. He says he’s made a vow to King Goujian and that until her mission is complete, they must honor their promise. He makes her leave before she is caught. She runs, forcing herself not to cry. She goes to Zhengdan’s rooms and finds her dying on the floor. She has been convicted of stealing by General Ma, who testified that he saw her take an expensive dagger. She’s been forced to drink poison. She says she doesn’t regret humiliating him, that it was the best moment of her life when she avenged her father. She dies in Xishi’s arms, and Xishi again vows to destroy the Wu kingdom. When Fuchai arrives in her chambers later, she pretends to be shocked by the news of Zhengdan’s conviction and death, and she forces herself to feign concern for Fuchai’s safety. She notes that in one day, the Yues’ military advisor has been injured and their tribute killed. She is worried what King Goujian will do in retaliation, suggesting that whoever advised this course of action may be intending to stir up trouble between the two kingdoms, indicating Zixu. She sees her words take effect. To drive the point about Zixu home without saying his name, she says she heard she heard a man talking about the State of Chu, Zixu’s home kingdom, and that if the Wu and Yue were fighting, the Chu could take advantage. When Fuchai declares that Zixu is Chu, Xishi pretends not to have known. She distracts Fuchai, saying he needs a break and asking him to take her on a pleasure trip on a boat. They sail the next morning on the river. When a servant accidently trips while carrying boiling water, Fuchai instinctively moves to protect her, getting burned himself. Xishi is moved by this display of selflessness, then horrified at her feelings toward him. She tends to his wounds herself with a remedy from her hometown and makes a show of comforting him. He says he is happy because she is looking at him closely and begs her not to be angry at him. She is struck by his vulnerability and her own treachery, but then she remembers Fanli’s injury. When the waterway ends, she expresses her displeasure, manipulating Fuchai to extend this waterway until it reaches Lake Tai.

Xishi has finished her map along with the newly constructed connecting waterway to Lake Tai. Xiaomin admits that she too had a friend like Zhengdan whom the Yue killed. Xishi feels sick thinking about her betrayal of Xiaomin’s trust. Xiaomin convinces her fiancé, a soldier, to look the other way while Xishi slips outside the palace walls. She goes to a vendor, and they exchange the correct code words. She leaves the map with him, folded like a flower. Later, when she is with Fuchai, she feels emotion when she is kissing him. Though this emotion confuses and upsets her, she allows it to go on, knowing she is about to be interrupted by Zixu. Fuchai is furious at being interrupted and disregards the advisor’s news that there is suspicious movement from the Yue on their border. When he tries to convince Fuchai of the matter’s urgency, Xishi interrupts, saying Zixu has personal reasons for wanting a war. Zixu, becoming angrier and more desperate, insists that they attack the Yue, invoking Fuchai’s father. He declares that Xishi has poisoned the king’s mind. Despite Zixu’s plea, Fuchai grows angrier, accusing Zixu of treason. He gives Zixu his sword with which to take his own life. Zixu asks that his eyes be hung on the city gates so he can watch the Yue invade the capitol. He cuts his own throat but rasps something at Xishi as he dies that sounds like “When the hares have all been caught, the hunting dogs are cooked” (247).

Six months later, Xishi gets a note back with a poem. She interprets the note as a declaration of love from Fanli, remembering how they had studied the poem together, even though Fanli mostly disregarded it. She dreams of Fanli trying to keep her safe by making her leave him and Zhengdan telling her to hurry. Her heart hurts. Fuchai wakes her, concerned. When he asks how he can make her feel better, she realizes that the poem is a coded message: Fanli made her analyze the poem that follows the one she received. In this second poem, a king goes in disguise to an enemy’s banquet and so is unnoticed. The next morning, he attacks from inside the palace. She asks Fuchai to throw a banquet.