When Qiu Xinran regained consciousness, her eyes were covered with a black cloth, her hands and feet were bound, and she couldn’t tell whether it was day or night outside. The surroundings were eerily quiet, with footsteps echoing from far away, interspersed with voices. After a while, four or five people entered. Qiu Xinran’s nerves tensed as she felt someone yank the black cloth from her eyes. Light suddenly flooded in, and she lowered her brow, taking a long moment before she could open her eyes.
She appeared to be confined in some kind of cave. A thin, small man sat in a chair in the middle of the room. He had two small mustaches, gaunt cheeks, wore a small felt cap, and held a pipe in his mouth—he seemed to be the one with the most authority among this group.
The man scanned her up and down and exhaled a puff of white smoke: “You’re Gao Yang’s younger sister?”
After a moment of confusion, Qiu Xinran immediately realized they had mistaken her for Gao Yue. Her mind raced quickly, understanding that they probably intended to use her as leverage, perhaps to threaten Gao Yang. If they discovered now that they had grabbed the wrong person, without this concern they would likely kill her immediately.
Qiu Xinran’s thoughts spun full circle, reaching a conclusion: she absolutely must not let them discover they had kidnapped the wrong person. So she steadied herself and answered evasively: “What do you want?”
Upon hearing this, the man assumed she had tacitly acknowledged her identity, so he continued: “Rest assured, before your elder brother arrives, you’re still of great use to us. But if your brother truly proves heartless, I’m afraid you won’t be able to keep your life.” After saying this, he stood up and instructed his subordinates beside him: “Watch her carefully, don’t let her escape.” The group then rose and left the cave. Qiu Xinran sat on the dry straw, and before long, there was no more sound around her.
Qiu Xinran felt somewhat deflated. Since Xia Xiuyan knew they had captured the wrong person, would he not come? She hung her head dejectedly, returned to the pile of dry straw, lay back, and gazed at the stone ceiling overhead, thinking: Did she owe Xia Xiuyan something in her previous life? If she really died here this time, even as a ghost she would haunt his dreams.
But on second thought, Xia Xiuyan had killed so many people while guarding the border fortress—he probably wouldn’t fear even that. At this thought, she sighed and rolled over.
As the sun was about to set, an unremarkable carriage stopped outside the Mountain God Temple in the city’s outskirts. The coachman impatiently chewed on a grass root in his mouth, glanced at the sky, and just as he thought the person he was waiting for wouldn’t come and was preparing to turn around and leave, he suddenly heard the leisurely sound of horse hooves on the mountain path. He squinted toward the distant mountain road, and before long, he indeed saw two figures riding up the mountain.
The arrivals, one in front and one behind, rode their horses up close. The coachman recognized that the one in front was Gao Yang, and as for the one following behind, his face was covered with a half silver mask—this should be Zhao Rong. When the two approached, he jumped down from the carriage and looked them up and down with displeasure: “Why did two people come?”
Gao Yang sat on his horse, his expression calm and composed: “The note didn’t say how many should come.”
The coachman leaned forward to look behind them, hesitated for a moment, then lifted the carriage curtain to indicate the two should board. This was a modified carriage—all four walls had been sealed up, ensuring that those sitting inside couldn’t see the scenery outside. Sitting in the carriage, Gao Yang felt the bumpy journey, as if they had traveled quite a long stretch of mountain road. The coachman apparently deliberately wanted to confuse those in the carriage about direction and time, so he intentionally took a roundabout route. When the carriage stopped again, the two discovered that outside was an enormous cave.
The cave entrance ahead narrowed, faintly revealing a trace of firelight, and the sound of drums and urgent stringed music could be heard. Two guards outside the cave stepped forward, their gazes unable to hide their hostility, speaking to them in stiff Chinese: “Follow me.” The two followed him around a narrow opening, and the view suddenly opened up before their eyes. They saw a massive spacious stone cave inside, with the surrounding stone walls covered with candle lamps. The ground was covered with dry straw, with a huge velvet carpet in the middle. Several dancing girls in gauze skirts were spinning barefoot on it, while musicians played stringed instruments to the side, creating the illusion that one had arrived at the royal tent of the King of Hulan.
Gao Yang’s gaze passed over the dancing girls in the middle and landed on the table directly south at the back. Yashu rose to greet the honored guests he had invited, as if welcoming long-lost brothers: “Both generals, it has been quite some time since we parted at the Kada Grasslands.”
Gao Yang didn’t buy into this performance, coldly asking: “Cut the nonsense—where’s Qi Kedan?”
Yashu smiled ambiguously: “General Gao’s first words upon arriving here are not to inquire about your younger sister’s safety, but to probe into my king’s whereabouts—this truly surprises me.”
Gao Yang’s expression stiffened slightly, but the person behind him slowly spoke: “If you’re using Gao Yue to threaten us into coming, naturally nothing can have happened to her. Why don’t you just directly tell us your intentions?”
Yashu looked over: “General Zhao is indeed composed. However, there’s no rush. You Han people like to discuss matters at the drinking table, and since both of you are guests, I should naturally treat you with fine wine.”
As he spoke, he exchanged a glance with his subordinates beside him and took the lead in sitting down at the table, then raised his hand toward the two who had entered. Gao Yang showed slight hesitation. Seeing the person beside him ponder for a moment before walking to the table and sitting down, only then did he also walk to the adjacent small table and sit down.
Before long, someone truly brought wine and dishes, and two beauties stepped forward to pour wine. Yashu sat at the head seat and was first to drain the wine before him in one gulp, gesturing to the two: “This cup of wine demonstrates the sincerity of my invitation for both generals to come discuss matters.”
Gao Yang didn’t take the bait. Yashu continued holding up his wine cup. The atmosphere congealed for a moment, then the masked man reached out and took a cup from the table. Gao Yang was greatly alarmed and was about to stop him, but he had already drained the wine in the cup.
Yashu laughed heartily, clapping his hands in praise: “General Zhao has such courage.” Gao Yang beside him watched him tensely. After a long while, seeing his expression remained normal and confirming there truly was no poison in the wine, only then did he secretly breathe a sigh of relief in his heart. However, his expression became increasingly unpleasant, and he asked Yashu: “What exactly do you want?”
Yashu signaled his subordinates to refill their wine: “This time entering the capital, I’ve come on behalf of the king to discuss a transaction with the Marquis Dingbei. My king hopes the Marquis Dingbei can help him return to the royal court and go back to his homeland.”
Gao Yang sneered: “Has Qi Kedan gone mad?”
Yashu seemed to have anticipated his reaction, and therefore wasn’t offended by his disrespectful words: “Both of you need not rush to refuse on behalf of the Marquis Dingbei. In this world, there are no absolute enemies. As long as our interests align, both sides can benefit from it.”
“What benefit can you bring us?”
“If I haven’t guessed wrong, the person the Marquis Dingbei has returned to the capital to deal with this time should be none other than Left Chancellor Wu Guangda. Although he has established his own power base in the Northwest, in the court, toppling his opponent is an extremely difficult matter.” He glanced at the two as he said this. Seeing they didn’t interrupt, he knew his guess was correct, so he smiled smugly and said, “But with our help, the situation becomes vastly different. I have in my possession correspondence from years ago with Chancellor Wu. With these alone, he will certainly be able to topple his enemy.”
The man sitting beside Gao Yang said indifferently: “If you have such things, why not use them to threaten Wu Guangda instead of coming to us?”
“The Northwest is now the Marquis Dingbei’s territory. You Han people have a saying: ‘When the birds are gone, the good bow is put away; when the cunning rabbit dies, the hunting dog is cooked.’ My king needs the Marquis Dingbei, and the Marquis Dingbei also needs a royal court watching like a tiger to stabilize his position. My king guarantees that if he returns to the royal court and reclaims his throne, Dayue will still be willing to pay tribute to the Great Li, and will continue to pay the annual silver according to the previously signed agreement, and for a hundred years will absolutely not invade Han territory.”
The other party remained unmoved, his expression indifferent: “If this is the case, why did you go to the restaurant today to arrange a meeting with Wu Guangda?”
Yashu was startled, wondering how he could know about this matter. Then seeing a trace of mockery in his gaze, he realized he had simply been testing him with words. But since he had already revealed this flaw in that brief instant, he could only admit: “We did indeed first seek out Lord Wu, but he still needs time to consider. We’re willing to give the Marquis Dingbei the same opportunity.”
The man leaned back against his chair, his posture relaxed as he chuckled lightly: “Now that you say this, it’s very difficult to believe the sincerity of your words.”
Yashu’s gaze fixed tightly on him, as if struggling internally for quite some time. After pondering for a long while, he made a decision, slowly withdrawing a letter from his bosom: “I have in my hand a secret letter from years ago corresponding with Lord Wu, which can prove my sincerity.”
Gao Yang accepted the secret letter presented by someone the other party sent, opened the letter paper with some skepticism, and found that the handwriting on it was indeed Wu Guangda’s. In addition, there was also a strangely patterned seal stamp on the letter. He passed the letter to the person beside him. The other party took a look, then casually tossed the letter paper aside: “Fake.”
Yashu’s eyelid twitched: “Has General Zhao looked carefully?”
“The seal on this is wrong.” The masked man sighed, then suddenly looked up: “Since we arrived here, you’ve repeatedly used these third-rate petty tricks. It seems there’s nothing worthwhile for us to discuss.”
His impatience was evident in his tone, and he stood up with clear intent to leave. Yashu hadn’t expected him to turn hostile so quickly: “Wait!” With this low shout, the dozens of Dayue subordinates standing in the cave all stepped forward at once, drawing their swords and surrounding the two in the middle.
The dancing girls spinning in the very center and the musicians playing music were so frightened by this sudden turn of events that they scattered like birds to the side. Without the lively drums and stringed music, the cave fell so silent one could hear a pin drop, the atmosphere tense and ready to snap. Gao Yang also stood up: “You want to fight?”
“I sincerely invited both of you over, treated you with fine wine and delicious food, and spoke to you in good faith. Since both of you are so disrespectful, you can’t blame me for resorting to this inferior strategy.”
Gao Yang snorted coldly: “Fine words, but what can you do by detaining us?”
“I invited the general here in your sister’s name, wanting the general to act as an intermediary to convey our sincerity to the Marquis Dingbei. But it now seems there’s no need for that.” His pair of eyes fixed tightly on the masked man beside Gao Yang, faintly revealing a trace of cold, sinister intent. “Since the Marquis Dingbei has already graced us with his presence, why continue to hide and conceal yourself, not daring to show your true face?”
The masked man pretended not to understand: “What do you mean?”
“We kidnapped General Gao’s younger sister. Logically, you two are both subordinates of the Marquis Dingbei, yet after he entered the room, he deferred to you in everything. This led me to guess that the identity of the person under the mask is not insignificant. Furthermore, just now you recognized at a glance that the seal on this paper is fake, which means you must have seen the real one at some point. Thinking it over, only seven years ago when our people infiltrated the traveling palace were they carrying a secret letter. After he died, the secret letter disappeared without a trace—if anyone saw it, it could only have been during that incident. Given all this, your identity naturally becomes self-evident.”
Hearing this, Gao Yang realized the slip had come from his side, showing three parts embarrassment on his face as he looked at the person beside him with an apologetic expression. Xia Xiuyan didn’t care. Seeing his identity had already been exposed, he no longer deliberately concealed it and said matter-of-factly: “Do you think that with just these people you can forcibly keep me here?”
Yashu smiled coldly: “The Marquis has peerless martial skills and can take someone’s head even among a thousand troops and ten thousand horses—how would I dare underestimate you? So I’ve long been prepared.”
Hearing him say this, Gao Yang’s expression changed, only now discovering that somehow, more than half the strength in his body had been lost—he couldn’t summon any energy. Xia Xiuyan naturally also noticed this point. His gaze swept across the table: “You applied poison to the letter paper?”
The wine and water served earlier were merely to lower their guard. At the appropriate time, he produced the secret letter, calculating that even if they were somewhat on guard, they would still accept the letter to examine it carefully. Having fought each other at the frontier for several years, they understood each other very well. Xia Xiuyan anticipated that he wouldn’t poison something as obvious as the wine, and he was also certain that even knowing the secret letter was false, Xia Xiuyan would still open it to look.
The poison was applied to the letter. Gao Yang was the first to open the letter, so the drug’s effects dispersed faster and more obviously in his body. Seeing his face turn pale, Yashu couldn’t help feeling somewhat smug. He stroked the mustache on his lip, narrowing his eyes: “Since both of you have now clearly seen the situation, it seems we can now sit down and have a proper talk.”
The masked man remained silent. After a while, he laughed lightly with mockery: “You’re the one who can’t see the situation clearly. You couldn’t really think that I would come alone to this appointment completely unprepared?”
Yashu’s expression changed slightly. All around was utter silence—only the faint crackling sound of lamp wicks could be heard. Wind blew through the stone cave, and the crowd in the cave gradually began to realize something strange—it was too quiet. Outside shouldn’t be this quiet.
Yashu stared intently at the masked man before him, his face darkening: “You deliberately stalled for time so your people could reach this place?”
“You were too arrogant,” the man slowly drew the sword at his waist. “Do you think Qi Kedan is still the wolf of the grasslands? Here, he’s nothing but a stray dog that’s lost its home.” These words enraged everyone in the room. Thinking that their companions might have already fallen into an ambush outside, the group of men who had drawn their swords to surround them wished they could immediately step forward and hack the two into mincemeat. Only Yashu could barely maintain his composure. His gaze darkened, his tone slightly heavy: “My subordinates confirmed that absolutely no one followed along the way.”
Xia Xiuyan scoffed lightly: “So that’s why I say you’re too arrogant. Just because they didn’t follow the carriage doesn’t mean I couldn’t find this place?” After saying this, his brow and eyes suddenly turned cold again. “Go bring the person you kidnapped over. Next, we can discuss the real business.”