A Chapter of Beginnings

Yu Jia was the daughter of a farmer and a seamstress – apparently destined for the average, tedious life of a Shu peasant. Nothing much was ever expected of her – she was just a young girl with dark hair and a little too short; easily overlooked.

But fate often makes things happen that would seem impossible, and fate had a lot in store for the fifteen year old Yu Jia – but she didn’t know it yet.

“Ma! Ma! Huang’s let the chickens out again!” Jia yelled, banging open the small wooden door and bursting into the kitchen where her Ma sat quietly on her rocking chair, busily sewing.

Her Ma, Lu Mi, looked up with a tired smile, the corner of her eyes crinkling slightly as a small laugh escaped her lips.

“Be a darling and round them up could you? Your father is at the market trying to sell that cow of his – says she’ll bring a fortune. Mind you, he said that last time.”

Jia laughed, and skipped back outside, cooing to the chickens and shaking some feed on the floor. All of the seven chickens rushed to the food and Jia picked them up one by one to put them back in the coop, humming under her breath.

She looked up as the sound of fast hoof beats thumped past their small farm, spraying a cloud of dust and sand behind them. The horse reared and threw the rider, who landed with a heavy thump on the ground. Jia debated with herself for a moment – it was obvious that the rider was a nobleman…Shaking her head in exasperation, and sure that she was going to regret this later, she hopped with ease over the low fence and walked over to the fallen man.

“Um…hello? Are you okay?”

But hen she recognised the handsome face that started blearily up at her, all sense of the small amount of confidence she had vanished and her eyes widened.

“Oh…” she breathed in awe.

Sun Ce would have sworn loudly, if he wasn’t in so much pain. Now, it wasn’t his fault that he happened to glance at a pretty black haired girl with shining blue eyes and lose concentration was it? He managed a low groan and squeezed his eyes open.

He nearly closed them again when he saw the very girl standing over him with concern on her sun-tanned face – she asked him if he was okay and then her eyes grew large and Ce realise that she must have noticed just who he was.

“Hi – could you help me a sec?” she reached down and grasped both his hands, pulling him to his feet; her strength was quite surprising.

“Are you okay? That was quite a fall.” She asked, bowing her head in respect. Ce thanked her and gritted his teeth when he had the urge to rub the back of his neck, as he did when he was embarrassed. Needless to say, he wasn’t embarrassed very often.

“I’ll take you to see my Ma, she’ll be able to patch you up.”

He snuck another quick glance at her. She was a bit on the short and slim side with sun-browned skin and long black hair in a messy bun. She wore a red strappy top and a pair of brown shorts with scuffed sandals. He frowned slightly as he realised that he always found girls who weren’t noblewomen much more attractive. But then, these less fortunate girls were tougher, stronger and much more interesting. They had more to talk about than what everyone was wearing and who they wanted to marry.

“I’m Yu Jia by the way. My Ma is named Lu Mi and my Pa, Yu Fang is at the market today, so he’s not around. My brother Huang’s probably scarpered off to go and ogle the girls by the lake as usual. He left the chicken coop open again as well. He’s completely useless; totally lazy.”

Sun Ce smiled slightly, half listening as he got a small insight to the lives of normal, everyday people. Jia pushed open a door and walked into what looked like the kitchen. A mature looking woman was sitting on a chair in the corner. It was easy to tell that they were related, the same large expressive blue eyes and dark curls as well as the full lips.

“Ma.” She said, “This is Lord Sun Ce – he fell off of his horse by the farm, quite a rough fall it looked like.”

Sun Ce was immediately reminded of his own mother as Mi jumped off the chair putting her sewing down and grabbing many handfuls of medicines, quickly surveying the various bruises and cuts.

Jia watched as her mother rubbed different oils and creams over the wounds, occasionally coming across long scars. There were some on his arms, his face and Jia imagined he had many more. She itched to ask where he got each one, but she managed to restrain herself.

It was a while before Mi finished fussing over Sun Ce, bringing a smile to Ce and Jia’s faces at her motherly nature.

“Is there anything I can do in return?” he asked sincerely. Mi smiled broadly at Jia before answering.

“If it isn’t too much, Jia has always wanted a tour of the WU palace, and to possibly meet some of the famous soldiers and various warriors her Grandpa always talked about. He was part of Lord Sun Jian’s private guard as a younger man – would that be alright Lord Sun Ce? Jia?”

Sun Ce agreed and they set a date, feeling pleased as he saw the happiness shining in Jia’s disbelieving eyes. Though he knew that there was little he could do to help the peasants, it made him feel good to do some good for a young girl in the harsher ranks of the world.

“Pa!! Pa!!”

Yu Fang looked up, his weathered face breaking into a large grin as his only daughter ran down from the farm and flung herself into his arms.

“You’ll never guess what happened today, Pa – wait…you sold the cow? How much did you get?”

Yu Fang laughed at her incessant questions, wondering what story Jia had to tell him.

“We,” he told her with a smile, “Are going to buy a couple o’ horses – fast, strong ones mind you, not those slow-pokes like the merchants have.”

Jia gasped, her hands flying to her mouth in shock.

“It was that much? Wow, that’s amazing!” Jia said, hugging him once again. They linked arms and walked up to the house. “Well, Lord Sun Ce fell off of his horse outside the farm today…”

It was a good week for the Yu family. They saved a lot of the money; some went on new clothes and some of course on the two horses, one male and one female. Fang was planning on selling the offspring, as young horses fetched an even better price than cows.

However, all good things must come to an end.