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Chapter 2:
Zhu Rong watched as Meng Huo leapt nimbly up onto a waiting elephant. Him and his loyal friend, Wu Tugu were going out to the local market to buy some things that they had run out of. Her husband gave her a broad wave before stomping loudly off into the bushes, Wu Tugu’s mount on his tail. Zhu Rong sighed gently as they left. They would be gone for at least a day and she was in charge of the whole lands of Nanman. After making sure that her husband was definitely out of sight, she ran back to the little bamboo hall, where she had gathered everyone beforehand. They all smiled in excitement as they saw her enter.
“Well guys” she began, after glancing around the room at the tanned, waiting faces. “How about we have that belated party?”
The cheering that came from the Nanman people was deafening.


And we go back to Huang Zhong and Wei Yan who are currently on their way to Shu:

“No fish” Wei Yan muttered mournfully as he searched the empty cloth bag in vain. They were on the way to the Kingdom of Shu, and they had found out a lot of things on their journey. One of which was that it made sense to check how far away a Kingdom was before saddling up and beginning an unknown journey, where all you know is the vague direction of where you are headed. But after Wei Yan had murdered Han Xuan, the two of them had agreed that it would be pointless to wait around and get the blame. They had run straight to the stableyard, saddled up two of the best steeds that the kingdom had, and set off for their destination. All they had had time to pack was a pair of clean clothes each, their weapons, some grains and a dozen fish. They had set up camp every evening when they had felt they had reached their limit for the day. Then, Wei Yan would do a magnificent job making a sort of tent out of twigs and leaves (years of living alone in the outdoors had improved this skill) which was comfortable for the two of them to sleep in. They always made sure to choose places that were not too far from pools of water so that them and the horses could drink whenever they felt like it. Each time a new camp was set up, they would build a campfire and roast the fish on it to eat. Due to the fierce appetite of both the generals, by the third day of travelling, they had found themselves with a fast dwindling amount of fish. By the fourth day, there was none left.
“No fish!” Huang Zhong exclaimed. “Well that is very bad news indeed. I didn’t expect the trip to Shu to leave us with nothing to eat before we had even arrived! I suppose tonight, pal, we shall be eating the grains”.
Wei Yan took Huang Zhong's joke seriously. He shook his head vehemently before answering. “No grains. Grains no nice. We need meat!”
Huang Zhong chuckled at his best friend’s expression. “You’re right, young’un. You lead the way, I’ll be right behind you!”



It’s party time in the Nanman kingdom…

“You know how much I love you don’t you, Queen Zhu Rong?” a very drunken Dong Tu Na wondered as he stumbled to the Queen of Nanman’s side. “I’ve always loved you, ever since King Meng Huo brought you home with him!”
Zhu Rong laughed in response. If there was one thing she had learnt in all her years, it was to humor men when they were drunk. If you though too much into what they were saying, you only ended up complicating things.
The party tonight had turned into a huge success with everyone that was able to stay up coming. The alcohol was a particularly important part for the people, it seemed. Everywhere she turned, Zhu Rong could see people dancing madly with each other, or making out in the corner of the room. The rest of them, like Dong Tu Na, delighted in nothing more than drinking happily and declaring love to everyone they knew. And in Meng You’s case, everyone he saw, whether they were female or otherwise.
The beautiful blond turned around to Gai Hua, whom she had known ever since she was 12 years old. In that time, they had become best of friends, telling each other everything. Hua was the only person in the entire kingdom who knew of Zhu Rong’s wants to explore China. “Hua, do you think I did the right thing arranging this party?”
They both watched as King Mulu stumbled into the food table and sent a whole lot of turkey flying through the air and landing on the floor. He seemed oblivious to the mess he had made until he carried on walking and managed to slip on it.
“Of course you did!” Hua smiled, after they had both stopped laughing a Mulu’s foolishness. “You know how long the people have wanted to have a party for. And not the kind of parties that your husband holds!”
Zhu Rong nodded. Her husband’s parties were always full of musicians and non-alcoholic beverages. Then, he and his most loyal generals would sit around the table and discuss any battleplans for unexpected battles that may lie ahead. Zhu Rong could tell by the expressions on the people, that they were bored stiff. But of course, they didn’t want to complain. It would be rude. But her parties? They were on another level. Everyone seemed to have such a good time and never wanted to leave. The next day, they always ended up asking Zhu Rong when her husband was leaving for a while next, since they all knew that this was the only time she could hold her scandalous soirees. They loved their King to bits, by they had to admit that no one could throw a party like the Queen.


And we go back to spying on the two runaways, who still haven’t made it to the Kingdom of Shu yet…

“I think we should ask someone” Huang Zhong muttered half to himself, half to Wei Yan, as the two of them overlooked the city that they were about to approach. It looked lovely and from their positions, they could see that it was full of happy looking locals, buying their required items. There was only one problem; this wasn’t the city which overlooked Shu, and therefore, they were still not at their required destination.
“Yes. Go to city and ask. Get food too. Me… hungry!” Wei Yan rubbed his muscular stomach. Huang Zhong turned his horse around towards the hill that would lead them down into the city. Wei Yan followed. As their horses walked, they remained silent, hunger and the lack of a decent bed really beginning to take its toll on them. After around ten minutes, they had reached the bottom of the hill, and the sprawling city that lay after it. From ground level, it looked much bigger and much more packed. They would never be able to get their horses through without a fight. Huang Zhong turned to look at Wei Yan.
“You stay at the hill with the horses. I’ll go into the city, buy some more food and get accurate directions. Understood?”
Wei Yan nodded happily. He much prefered this idea. Going into huge, bustling, loud conurbations wasn’t his idea of a good time. He watched as Huang Zhong gave his bags to him, but kept his bow and arrows. Then, he disappeared into the crowds.

A few hours later…(and we are still with Huang Zhong and Wei Yan)

Wei Yan jumped up as he saw Huang Zhong walking towards him, his hands full with bags. Even from a few meters away, his acute sense of smell could sniff out the scent of fish. His mouth was salivating just thinking about it.
“Well lad, I think I deserve a medal!” a very happy-looking Huang Zhong grinned from behind the cloth bags he was weighed down with. “I managed to get everything we needed and more!” He put the bags onto the grass and gestured for Wei Yan to look through them. Wei Yan didn’t need to be told twice. With swift motions, he had all six bags upturned so that their contents sprawled out onto the ground. Huang Zhong had done a fine job. In the few hours that he had been gone, he had managed to get plenty of fresh fish, oats and grains for the horses and a variety of fruits and vegetables. Wei Yan couldn’t contain his excitement any longer and jumped up and down happily. Huang Zhong laughed and produced two other things that he had been carrying under his arms. One was a large sheet of yellowing paper which was array with dots, circles and pointers. A map.
“The nice chap who gave it to me assured me that we weren’t far away. By this time tomorrow, we should be coming up to the Kingdom gates!”
Wei Yan nodded enthusiastically. Since seeing the food, he had felt a new lease of life wash over him. One more day traveling wouldn’t make too much difference. “What… that?” Wei Yan asked, pointing to the bundle of spiky leaves that the elderly warrior was also carrying.
“This, young’un is the leaves of a yucca plant” Huang Zhong informed him. “The lovely lady who I bought it from told me that it was the perfect thing to get dirt off your body when you are bathing. It also makes you smell nice as well. Apparently they use it all the time in the City of Rome. We should give it a try”.
Wei Yan nodded, although he wasn’t so interesting in the leaves. At the present, the only thing his mind could focus on was food. His stomach suddenly gave a loud grumble and Huang Zhong chuckled.
“Alright, alright!” he smiled. “Let’s get some fish on the fire!”


The Southern Regions of 3rd Century China, a.k.a. Nanman…

Zhu Rong woke up with a throbbing headache as the sun glared through the windows. She sat up and rubbed her blue eyes sleepily. Slowly, the memory of last night’s antics finally came back to her. She remebered a large party, lots of dancing and drinking. A great deal of drinking.
“Morning sleeping beauty!” Hua grinned down at her, looking annoyingly bright and non-hungover. “So you finally rise do you?”
“Urgh!” Zhu Rong mumbled, slowly managing to sit herself up, although her head was banging constantly. “What time is it?” she asked.
“It’s just gone 11:30am. And if I’m not very much mistaken, your husband and Wu Tugu are nearing home. And I have absolutely no idea what he’ll say if he sees you looking like this”.
Zhu Rong forced herself to stand up and smoothed her ruffled bed hair away from her face. The moment she was upright, she could see the room spinning under her. She sat back down on the bed quickly, one hand covering her aching forehead. “C-Can’t get up. I feel too ill” she moaned.
She felt Hua’s weight on the bed beside her. Soon her own hand was replaced by Hua’s, who was rubbing soothing circles across it. After a while, she heard Hua giggling. “What’s funny?”
“Well… I guess this awful headache you have is a lesson. Don’t drink so much alcohol when your unsuspecting husband is coming back the next day!”
“Mmm. Well I definitely won’t be making that mistake again” Zhu Rong mumbled. “If I don’t recover before he comes home, you could just tell him that I have a mild case of influenza. Don’t you think?”
“Well you could. But I think I have a better idea” Hua said. “My grandma can make this amazing remedy that gets rid of any kind of headache quickly. I’m sure it will work for someone who has had to much to drink. How about I pop down the valley to visit her and get her to make some for you. You know she won’t mind”.
“Oh Hua, you are a lifesaver!” Zhu Rong smiled. “Thank you ever so much”.
Hua shrugged matter-of-factly. “No problem. I’ll go now. I won’t be long. Lie down until I come back. And don’t worry about last night’s mess. Meng You, Dalai Dongzhu and I cleaned it up early this morning”.
“Thank you again!” Zhu Rong exclaimed. “If I was male, I would definitely marry you!” All she could hear in reply were Hua’s giggles as she retreated out the door.




We meet up with Huang Zhong and Wei Yan again, still on their way to Shu. Not far to go now…

Wei Yan and Huang Zhong trotted their horses along the river that bordered the land they were currently on. The early morning breeze was delicious on both their aching bodies as they rode. According to the map, they were around an hour away from the Shu Kingdom now. It had been refreshing to see the numbers gradually get shorter as they ventured on. And now, before the morning was done, they would be at the castle. The nerves were beginning to kick in now in both the warriors as they thought of what would happen when they actually arrived at the palace. They had stupidly not thought of this before, instead saying aloud about the good times they would have in Shu and pushing the wary thoughts into the back of their minds. But, there was no going back now. As they carried on riding in virtual silence, they came across a huge, level, grassy field. For the first time in a while, both the generals looked at one another.
“Should we?” Huang Zhong asked. Wei Yan didn’t answer, instead kicking his horse to full speed across the meadow. Huang Zhong was close on his heels, urging his war horse on. it felt so good to let everything go and just run for a while. All they could feel was the wind in their hair and the thundering of hooves on the turf. In no time at all, they had reached the end of the seemingly large field, and slowed their horses to a brisk walk. The mounts were breathing hard from their exhilirating run, and were whickering softly, their long manes and tails waving gently in the late morning breeze.
“Well that was fun wasn’t it chappy?” Huang Zhong drawled, using one hand to shield his eyes from the rapidly rising sun. “That really made our journey that little bit better. Now, after that, however long it takes, I don’t think it’ll be so-“ he was interrupted by Wei Yan clearing his throat loudly.
“Look!” was all he said. Huang Zhong gazed up at where his friend was pointing. He gasped.
“Well strike me down with a Huang’s Bow. It’s the Shu Kingdom!”