Ganmatsu

New Year’s Day is the occasion on which Xuande and Lady Sun escape Wu by using a public act of filial devotion as cover. The holiday gathering turns ritual into practical deception: the queen mother, moved by Xuande’s supposed desire to honor his ancestors, gives the couple permission to leave, allowing them to join Zhao Zilong and his men and make their way north.

The escape takes shape

Xuande’s departure follows a period of delay in Nanxu. Sun Quan has furnished the palace with landscaped gardens, musicians, and rich gifts of gold, jade, and silk, and Xuande has become so absorbed in this comfortable life that thoughts of returning to Jingzhou have faded. Zhao Zilong and his men also spend their time in entertainments, but as the months pass Zhao remembers Kong Ming’s instruction to open the second of the three embroidered bags when the time comes.

The message inside changes the urgency of the situation: Cao Cao is advancing with five hundred thousand men to take Jingzhou, and Kong Ming wants Xuande to return immediately. Xuande nevertheless hesitates, saying he will discuss the matter with his wife. Zhao warns that Lady Sun is bound to be told not to go, and urges an immediate departure. The warning exposes the obstacle: Xuande cannot simply announce his plans without risking that Sun Quan’s household will prevent the couple from leaving.

A festival provides the cover

Lady Sun devises a way around that obstacle. At the New Year sacrifices, she will tell her mother that Xuande wishes to pay respects to his ancestors, and that they will go to the river to pray. Xuande responds by kneeling and promising never to forget her help, while insisting that the plan remain secret. He then instructs Zhao Zilong to be ready on the main road on New Year’s Day.

On the day itself, Sun Quan hosts a large celebration. Lady Sun and Xuande appear before the queen mother and kowtow. Lady Sun explains that Xuande’s parents and ancestors are buried in Zhuo County, that he has been grieved by his inability to visit them, and that he wishes to face north at the river in prayer. The account presents the departure as an act of filial piety rather than flight. The queen mother is deeply moved and gives permission for Lady Sun to accompany him, judging that this is fitting even though Lady Sun never met her parents-in-law.

From ceremony to departure

Once they have received permission, the couple kowtow again and leave. Lady Sun travels in her carriage while Xuande rides beside her; they meet Zhao Zilong and his men and set off as fast as they can. The ceremony thus supplies not merely an excuse but the decisive opening that allows the escape to proceed in the queen mother’s presence and with her approval.

The episode turns the meaning of a family observance inside out. The queen mother’s belief in Xuande’s filial purpose makes the disguise persuasive, while Lady Sun’s participation transforms her from a part of the household that could detain him into his partner in leaving it. New Year’s Day marks the reversal of Xuande’s comfortable delay: the warning about Jingzhou becomes an actual departure, carried out under the protection of the very custom that makes the deception credible.