During the eighteen years at the palace, her face had not changed much at all. Yang Tiexin's face though had undergone changes from the hardships he’d encountered on the road searching for her.
Now, when they’d met again, she could not at first recognize her former husband. After all these years of mutual longing to be together again, this night with so much danger made it seem as if they were in a dream.
Yang Tiexin didn't reply, he just walked over to the table and pulled open a drawer. Inside, he saw a couple of sets of a man's blue coats exactly the same as the ones he used to wear. He picked one up saying, “I have enough coats to wear. You are tired and should rest now that you are pregnant. No need to make more clothes for me.” These words were the same ones spoken by him to her eighteen years earlier when she was pregnant.
Bao Xiruo rushed over to his side and grabbed his sleeve. When she pulled it up she saw an old scar. A mix of surprise and joy suddenly enveloped her. For the past eighteen years she had thought her husband dead and now to recognize him standing before her was like seeing a ghost coming back to life. She immediately hugged him, holding him tightly and crying, “Quickly! Quickly take me with you. Let us leave here now. I will show you a secret gateway where we can slip away unseen. I am not afraid of ghosts. I would rather become a ghost and be together with you than part with you again.”
Yang Tiexin held his wife as warm tears rolled down his cheeks. After a long while his asked gently, “Do you think that I am a ghost?”
“I don't care if you are a man or a ghost, I wont let go of you again.” she sobbed. “How is it that you are still alive? After all these years I can't believe that you are still alive. Where...what..”
Yang Tiexin was about to reply when Wanyan Kang's voice suddenly called from just outside the window, “Mother, why are you crying? Who are you talking to?”
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Bao Xiruo had a fright. “It's nothing,” she called out, “I was just dreaming.”
Wanyan Kang had clearly heard the sound of a man's voice talking inside the room. He immediately became suspicious and walked around to the door, knocking gently saying, “Mother, I would like to have a word with you.”
“Tomorrow,” She replied, “Let's talk tomorrow. I'm very tired now and want to sleep.”
When Wanyan Kang heard that his mother was not willing to open the door, his suspicions only increased. “I just want to have a few words then I'll go.”
Yang Tiexin knew that Wanyan Kang was intent on coming in, so he went over to the window with the intention of making a quick get away. He tried to push open the shutter, but to his surprise he found that it wouldn't budge. Someone had locked it from the outside! Bao Xiruo was in a panic.
She thought she would play for time and keep talking while Yang Tiexin found a place to hide. She hurriedly pointed to the wardrobe and motioned for her husband to hide inside. Imagine their surprise when they opened the door and found Guo Jing there! Bao Xiruo couldn't help but let out a little scream.
When Wanyan Kang heard this he became extremely worried. He thought someone was trying to harm his mother so he began trying to break open the door with his shoulder. There was no time to lose; Guo Jing grabbed Yang Tiexin and pulled him into the wardrobe and closed the door just as the wooden bar on the bedroom door gave a loud crack and flew open. Wanyan Kang rushed in. He saw his mother's face was pale with fear and her cheeks were wet with tears; but apart from her, there was no one else in the room.
“Mother, what's wrong? What’s been going on?” he asked anxiously.
Bao Xiruo made an effort to compose herself before saying, “Nothing. I’m just not feeling well.”
Wanyan Kang rushed over to her and said, “Mother, I promise I won’t be doing anything stupid again. Please don't be worried. I've been a bad son to make you so worried.”
“OK.” She said in a comforting way, “I'm feeling so tired. Please let me go to bed. I'm very tired and want to sleep.”
But Wanyan Kang heard a wavering in her voice and asked, “Mother, are you sure that no one has been here recently?”
“Who?” she asked.
“Recently a couple of bandits entered the palace.”
“Really?” She replied. “You really should be going off to bed too. Don't let these things concern you.”
Wanyan Kang said, “Yeah, I'm sure the guards, even though they’re a useless bunch, will be able to take care of them. You need not worry. Please have some rest.”
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He was just on the point of leaving when he noticed the corner of a man's robe sticking out from a crack in the wardrobe door. Now he knew that something strange really was going on. He didn't say anything but instead sat down at the table and poured himself a cup of tea which he began to drink slowly while he mulled over what to do. “A man is hiding in the wardrobe, but I don't know if my mother knows this or not.” He took a few more sips of tea before standing up and slowly walking over to the wall where the spear was hanging. “Mother, what did you think of your son's spear skills that your saw earlier today.”
“I have already told you that I don't like you using your skills to bully other people.” Bao Xiruo said in a disapproving tone.
Wanyan Kang replied in a hurt tone, “Bully people? I was merely competing one to one in a fair competition with that stupid boy.” He then grabbed the spear off the wall and playfully tried a few strokes. The red tassel on the spear danced about as he executed the 'Rising Phoenix Soaring Dragon' strike aiming straight at the wardrobe. If this stroke went through the wardrobe, Yang Tiexin and Guo Jing, who could not see what was happening, would have no hope of fending off the attack. They would be dead for certain. Seeing this Bao Xiruo immediately fainted!
Wanyan Kang stopped short with his strike. Seeing his mother’s reaction he immediately knew that she knew about the man hiding in the wardrobe. Propping the spear beside him, he lifted his mother up, but watched the wardrobe for any signs of movement all the while.
Slowly Bao Xiruo regained consciousness and when she saw the wardrobe still intact with no spear hole she immediately felt immense relief. Having undergone so many extreme highs and lows of emotions over the past hour she felt very weak all over.
Wanyan Kang was very angry, “Mother, am I your son or not?” he demanded.
“Of course you are my son. Why do you ask?"
“Well then, why do you keep so many things secret from me?”
Bao Xiruo thought to herself, “I must tell him about today's events and let him be reunited with his true father. After that I will take my life since I have lost my virtue and thus deeply wronged my husband. In this life I can never be reunited with my husband Tiexin...” At this thought she again burst into tears which now flowed freely.
When Wanyan Kang saw his mother acting so strangely today he didn't know what to think. Finally Bao Xiruo said, “Please take a seat and listen to what I have to say very carefully.” Wanyan Kang sat down as told but he stayed near the spear and continued to watch the wardrobe.
Bao Xiruo asked, “Do you see the four characters written on the spear?”
“When I was a small boy I asked you about those characters, but you refused to tell me what 'Yang Tiexin' meant.”
“Well now I am going to tell you what they mean.”
Yang Tiexin hiding in the wardrobe could clearly hear every word that was being said between the mother and son. Having an impulsive nature he thought to himself, “She is a Prince’s Consort now.
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How could she possibly want to live with me again in a shabby hut in the wilds as a villager’s wife?
She is about to reveal my identity; could she actually be planning to have her son kill me?”
He heard her continue, “This spear is originally from a place call Ox Village in Jiangnan near the Song city of Lin’an. I sent men on a journey far away to fetch this for me. That plough, this table, lamp, bed, wardrobe, everything in this room was brought here from Ox Village."
Wanyan Kang interrupted, “I really don't understand why you insist on living in the shabby old shack. I can get you the most beautiful furnishings but you always refuse!”
“You say that this place is shabby. But to me it is better than the most intricately decorated palace!
Child, you are not fortunate. You have never lived with your true mother and father in such a shabby place.”
When Yang Tiexin heard this he felt a sudden wave of emotion and could not keep himself from shedding tears.
Wanyan Kang laughed, “Mother, the more you talk the stranger you become. How can father possibly live in this place?”
Bao Xiruo sighed: “Your poor father wandered all over the country for eighteen years living among the Jianghu [rivers and lakes]. He never had the opportunity to live peacefully in this house for even a day.
When Wanyan Kang heard this, his eyes opened wide and asked in a trembling voice, “Mother, what are you saying?”
Bao Xiruo asked in a sharp voice, “Who do you think your real father is?”
Wanyan Kang, mystified, said, “My father is the great Jin Prince Zhao. Mother…why are you asking me this?”
Bao Xiruo stood up and took the spear, cradled it in her arms, and with tears flowing again, said.