Yong Qi’s neck veins bulged as he struggled to refrain himself from slapping Xiao Yan Zi. He glared at the clumsy, butter-fingered hag before him.

Xiao Yan Zi glared back. She too was trying to prevent herself from doing grievous bodily harm to the unreasonable, demanding, spoilt brat before her.

In a clipped tone, Yong Qi said, "Do you just realize what you’ve just bloody done?"

"Yong Qi, we…we’ve been through this a thousand times, ten thousand times. Do we have to go through it all over again?"

"Yes, we will. For every * damned * day we are together." Yong Qi was aware he was shouting.

"Yong Qi! You know that I didn’t do it on purpose!" Xiao Yan Zi tried not to raise her voice. "Can’t we just fix it?"

"Har-De-Har-Har! How very like you! Just fix it and everything’s solved. That easy! Everybody, behold Huan Zhu Ge Ge, She-who-Wrecks-Valuable-Gifts." Yong Qi said bitterly.

"Yong Qi, I’m sorry, I really mean it." Xiao Yan Zi touched his arm gently.

He shook off her hand violently. "I need to have my head examined for marrying a girl * like you *. I wish I had never met * you * at all." Yong Qi spat out each word, his handsome features now ugly and unrecognizable with anger.

Two blotches of red appeared on Xiao Yan Zi’s cheeks. Giving him a look studded with daggers, she clenched her fists so tightly that her knuckles went white. Was this the man she actually loved and wanted to spend the rest of her life with? She hadn’t really meant to drop the vase and she had offered to fix it. And yet Yong Qi was behaving so immaturely. For a crazy instant, she actually considered braining him on the spot.

Fortunately for Yong Qi, Xiao Yan Zi managed to keep her temper in check. In an unexceptionally cool and calm voice, she said, "Your humble wife is not feeling too well now. Huan Zhu Ge Ge bades farewell to Wu Ah Ge." She looked at him coldly, curtsied and exited their bedroom.

Yong Qi had regretted his harsh words the moment they left his mouth. He wanted to call out to her but pride glued his mouth shut and made his tongue feel like lead. Yong Qi could only watch as Xiao Yan Zi walked further and further away from Yu Song Gong.

**********

Xiao Yan Zi stormed into Shu Fang Zai.

"May the Heavens Bless Huan Zhu Ge Ge! May Ge Ge live a thousand years!" Ming Yue, Cai Xia, Xiao Deng Zi and Xiao Zhuo Zi prostrated themselves.

The servants had long ago learnt to guess Huan Zhu Ge Ge’s moods by the sound of her footsteps alone. By the sound of it, she was in an unusually bad temper tonight. If they tried to fuss over her, they would all get a tongue-lashing or worse, have their pay docked for the month. Huan Zhu Ge Ge had made that very clear to them from the beginning. Whenever she was in a particularly nasty mood, she was to be left alone unless she summoned for them. So now, they just remained prostrated, afraid to utter a word lest they incurred Huan Zhu Ge Ge’s wrath.

"I’ll be in my room. Nobody, I mean * nobody *, especially * Wu Ah Ge * is to disturb me." Xiao Yan Zi said curtly. She made Wu Ah Ge sound like something vile.

"Cha!" The servants chorused. They were all thinking the same thing. Another big fight again between Huan Zhu Ge Ge and Wu Ah Ge. Of late, these had been occurring too frequently.

In the privacy of her own room, Xiao Yan Zi was able to let release all the steam that had been building up inside her.

Xiao Yan Zi mimicked Yong Qi’s earlier words. "Marrying a girl * like you *. Hah! I know what you mean by that. A girl who’s illiterate, stupid, useless, reckless, clumsy, ungraceful, uncouth, a good-for-nothing commoner. That’s what you were trying to say, Aisin Gioro Yong Qi, He-Who-is-High-Born-Cultured-and-Refined! Pah!"

She let loose another stream of obscenities, with some Shan Dong swear words thrown in. Gradually, sadness replaced her initial anger. Yong Qi’s right. I’m illiterate, ungraceful, clumsy, coarse, bad-tempered…Xiao Yan Zi mulled over her bad points. She lay on bed, unhappily recalling recent disasters and mishaps, no thanks to her, bumbling foot-in-the-mouth oaf.

First there was the "cultural misunderstanding" with the Korean Ambassador which nearly resulted in an international incident. It was a fortunate thing that Korea was a vassal state of the Qing Empire. Barely, a day later, she accidentally spilt some tea on the visiting Dalai Lama’s Buddhist scriptures. The Dalai Lama was a kindly soul but Lao Fo Ye was not too pleased as the scriptures were a gift for her. A few days later, Xiao Yan Zi threw up her food during a reception dinner for the Siamese ambassador. To be more precise, she threw up * on * the Siamese ambassador.

Yong Qi had been patient all this while but the last straw came when she dropped a priceless vase that came from a far off land to the west of the Great Qing Empire, called Yi-Da-Li (Italy). Yong Qi had spent much time and money in obtaining this vase, a present meant for Huang Ah Ma. He had to get one of the Jesuit missionaries working in the Imperial Astronomy and Calendar Department to write to craftsmen they knew in Italy, with the specifications he had in mine. It was not that straight forward as the designs he had in mind were a tricky piece of work for the Italian craftsmen who had yet to work with Oriental motifs.

After countless rejected pieces, months of waiting (and plenty of greased palms), the finished vase finally arrived at Yu Song Gong in a heavy oak wood box covered with intricately carved European motifs. As Yong Qi was out, Xiao Yan Zi had received the box from the Jesuit missionary, whose name was such a mouthful. Ka-Si-Ti-Gun or something like that.

Xiao Yan Zi also had been helping Yong Qi throughout this time in procuring the vase for Huang Ah Ma (and played a part in rejecting some of the earlier works). She examined the vase, hoping this vase would be the perfect present for Huang Ah Ma. The earlier works had been rejected because they were too large, too small, too mundane, too garish…

However, as she admired the dragon motifs on the vase, Xiao Yan Zi knew that this was the vase they had both been waiting for. Yong Qi would agree with her, she knew it. Huang Ah Ma would be as "happy as a mouse" when they presented it to him on his birthday. Although her Manchu vocabulary was rather limited, Xiao Yan Zi could make out "Peace and Long Life". Written in Han was "A Country With Qian Long, No Pests in the Rice Fields" (Guo You Qian Long, Gu Bu Sheng Chong) on the vase. Xiao Yan Zi grinned to herself.

Xiao Yan Zi didn’t know why she had chose to feel sick that very moment. It was unfortunate that the vase was still in her hands. It was even more unfortunate that the vase slipped from her hands when Yong Qi stepped into their room.

She tried not to relive what happen after that. But Yong Qi’s earlier words kept booming in her ears. "A girl like you!" Yong Qi’s expression of anger and disgust was etched painfully into her memory. What little self-confidence she had left now was starting to disintegrate.

The first tear drop that fell was soon followed by a river.

*********

"Belldandy, you’ve got an assignment waiting for you." Skuld called as soon as she saw her older sister.

Belldandy, Goddess First Class, Second Category and Unlimited, enquired. "And what’s the nature of the assigment?"

"You’re suppose to save a mortal by the name of ah… here you are." A clipboard appeared in a small puff of smoke in Skuld’s hand. " Xiao Yan Zi. Age twenty one. Timeline : Twenty Sixth Year of Qian Long."

"Twenty Sixth Year of Qian Long? That’s Seventeen Sixty-One A.D. I thought that would be under Urd’s care." Belldandy was in charge of The Present Timeline whereas Skuld was in charge of the Future Realm. Urd, the eldest amongst them oversaw the Past.

Urd came into the Relief Goddess Office, yawning. "I was going to but I’ve been too tired lately. Besides, this is a very delicate matter. And delicate matters is what you do best, dear sister." She looked imploringly at Belldandy.

Belldandy sighed inwardly. Most likely, Urd had been partying hard all night and had somehow persuaded God-sama to hand this assignment to her. However, she nodded her head, indicating that she would accept the assignment.

"I suggest you watch these VCDs then you’ll know more about the person you’re going to save." Urd snapped her fingers and a box of VCDs with Huan Zhu Ge Ge I and II in Chinese emblazoned on them appeared in midair and floated into Belldandy’s hands.

Picking up a VCD, Skuld scrutinized it carefully and looked at her shrewdly. "That explains why you’ve been so tired lately! You’ve been watching the VCDs, not just once but over and over again."

"I was just getting information about the subject!" Urd looked defensive. "God-sama handed me this assignment first so I watched all the VCDs. After watching it, I felt that I wasn’t the right person for the job."

Belldandy examined a VCD. "The parts that are quite worn are parts about…Qian Long? But I thought you said the assignment was about Xiao Yan Zi."

Skuld laughed. "Urd, are you having designs on Qian Long? You’ll have to queue up. He’s got over forty concubines and consorts."

"I admire men with power and wealth. And besides, he’s soooooooooo sexy." Urd batted her eyelashes and ran her fingers through her fine white hair. " He wouldn’t be able to resist my charms." She wiggled her bottom seductively.

"Ugh!" Skuld facefaulted.

Belldandy said nothing but walked of the room with the VCDs. She had a mortal to save.