Destiny beyond the Gobi Desert
Diocesan Girls’ School, Poon Ho Kiu Allie, Fiction: Group 3
F
or seventy years, my people have been humiliated by the Xiongnu Tribe. My forefathers
had extended their generosity in resorting to arranged marriages and sending gifts to
them, yet they continued to raid my people in the North and cause great damage. Now
that our country’s military is fully recovered, I shall end the time of great suffering
at all costs. Since you volunteered, I, Emperor Wu of Han, appoint you as an imperial envoy to
establish ties between China and the many kingdoms beyond the Gobi Desert, so as to conquer the
Xiongnu once and for all. Now rise, diplomat Zhang Qian, and may your ancestors bless you in
your mission. The fate of China now rests in your hands.”
Every day for the past year, she has been gazing out of her tent at the golden sand and silver
clouds, anticipating a galloping horse to cut through the deadly silence of the desert.
Several times the thought of her husband lost to the vast desert forever crossed her mind. But
she has faith in him.
Sumei’s husband is a Han. He volunteered to venture into her tribe, which was enemy
territory, to establish ties with foreign countries for his nation. He was captured and imprisoned
by Chanyu, the leader of her tribe, for ten years, until the day he escaped under the deadly
clutches of Chanyu, and continued with his mission.
His loyalty and courage is simply admirable. Yet deep in her heart, she knows that it is
because of this loyalty that her husband is forever bound to his nation, and this somehow leaves
a lingering ache in her heart. For this means that he will choose his country over his wife and
son. No matter how much he loves her, it won’t be enough to make him stay. And she’s not brave
enough to leave.
They have shared ten years of married life together. She still remembers the day she met him,
the day when he opened her eyes to the world.
She was seventeen. Girls in the Xiongnu Tribe marry at fifteen.
Sumei had the qualities of an ideal Xiongnu girl: submissive, delicate and petite. Her
embroidery was excellent. She could dance, sing and play the reed pipe. And she was nowhere
near ugly.
Not a single warrior of her tribe had asked for her hand in marriage.
Girls in her tribe serve only one purpose: to bring honour to her family by marrying a man of
immense wealth or high social status. Naturally, Sumei was brought up to fulfil this purpose. As
long as she remained single, she was bringing shame upon the family, and she was desperate to
regain her family’s honour.
Father talked about his work as a government official every night at dinner, and on that
fateful day, he mentioned a man from Han caught trespassing their territory.
“
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