“Jiema Agu!” A child’s clear voice suddenly rang out. Looking around, one could see a maroon pony racing swiftly across a vast white snowy plain. On the horse’s back sat two children dressed in cotton fur coats. The older one was only fifteen or sixteen, with a row of small braids tied at the ends with red tassels, sturdy like a little colt from the grasslands. The younger one was only eleven or twelve, wearing a fur hat with cheeks flushed red from the cold—the previous shout had come from his mouth.
“Jiema Agu!” The two children swiftly galloped to the foot of a snowy slope, then quickly jumped down from their horse and began climbing up the slope using both hands and feet.
Snow had just fallen this morning, making the ground soft. Stepping on it, one would quickly sink deep into the snow. Though the older child had longer arms and legs, he was also heavier. With each step he took, he would sink in and then struggle to pull his foot out, only to sink in again. Moving this way, he was actually slower than the younger one.
The younger child ran upward laughing. Despite his age, his movements were very agile. In no time, he had climbed up the snowy slope and shouted loudly toward a distant tent: “Jiema Agu, Mama sent me to call you for dinner!”
The tent curtain trembled for a moment, and soon a petite woman with bright eyes and white teeth emerged. She wore a fur hat that covered both ears, revealing only a thin, small face. Her eyes were as clear as autumn water, yet revealed a trace of stubborn resilience. She smiled and opened her arms, embracing the child who rushed over, patting his shoulder with her thick gloves and laughing: “Banbu’er, is your mama’s illness better?”
“It’s better!” Banbu’er smiled brilliantly, revealing two small canine teeth, and said with a laugh: “Thanks to Jiema Agu’s medicine, so Mama wants to invite Jiema Agu to eat roe deer meat.”
“Roe deer.” The woman paused, saying: “Did Xudalie go hunting in the mountains again?”
“Yes,” Banbu’er replied: “The New Year is coming soon, and big brother said we need to stock up on New Year goods.”
The woman frowned slightly, saying: “Recently, people from the Mulian tribe have been coming here to freeload. Xudalie should be more careful.”
“Don’t worry,” Banbu’er smiled proudly. “Xudalie is a strong leopard, and the Mulian tribe people are all cunning wolves. No matter how cunning wolves are, they can’t beat leopards.”
“Hehe,” the woman laughed heartily, taking Banbu’er’s gloved little hand and saying: “You know wolves are cunning too—it’s still better to be careful.”
“Jiema Agu!” The older child, having struggled for quite a while, finally climbed up the snowy slope and shouted loudly from afar: “Come to my house! Mama and the others are all waiting!”
“Alright! Wait for me!” the woman shouted back, turned and entered the tent, taking out a small red flag with two large Chinese characters written in black ink. Banbu’er hadn’t attended school and had only learned a few Chinese characters from the woman. Seeing the flag, he read haltingly: “Sun… moon…”
“It’s Xia Qing,” the woman said irritably, turning back. “You’re quite lazy—you only read the parts you recognize.”
“Jiema Agu, you still haven’t found your big brother?” the older child asked while brushing snow off his body as he ran over.
The woman paused, then suddenly laughed after a moment: “Not yet, but if I wait slowly, I’ll eventually find him.”
“Let’s go!” Planting the flag on the tent, the bright red banner stood out conspicuously against the white snow. The woman went behind the tent, led out a horse, climbed on, and said to Banbu’er: “Banbu’er, want to ride with me?”
“Yes!” Banbu’er quickly called out: “I’d rather go with you than with that Nakduo—he rides so slowly!”
The child called Nakduo became furious, his eyebrows raised high as he shouted: “I’m slow? I can catch wolves while riding—am I slow at riding?”
“Bah! Dead wolf!” Though young, Banbu’er was sharp-tongued. The woman laughed listening to the two children argue, suddenly cracked her whip, and in no time disappeared across the white snowy plain.
This woman was Qing Xia.
That day, after leaving Chu Li’s northern camp, she rode swiftly across the Western Black Wasteland, searching for Xi Linyu for three days and three nights until she finally collapsed from exhaustion. When she awoke, torrential rain was pouring down, her horse had run away, and while starving, she encountered an attack from a wolf pack and nearly became their meal. Fortunately, she met bandits from the wasteland and escaped disaster.
Speaking of which, this was Qing Xia’s first time meeting the bandits of the Western Black Wasteland. Previously, Prince Qin’s faction had impersonated these bandits to assassinate Qin Zhiyan, and later Chu Li had used the name of Western Black bandits, disguising Imperial Guards to devastate the eight great families. This showed how formidable the reputation of Western Black Wasteland bandits was across the entire continent. But precisely because of this, they were repeatedly used by others and bore enormous blame.
Though everyone knew these bandits, no matter how arrogant, hadn’t gone mad enough to attack Qin princes or assault Chu military camps, appearances still had to be maintained. Thus, the unfortunate bandits were simultaneously hunted frantically by both Qin and Chu armies. When Qing Xia encountered them, this originally powerful bandit group of over three thousand had been reduced to fewer than one hundred.
Well-fed thoughts turn lustful—after eating wolf meat, these men set their sights on the delicate young woman they had just rescued. Such intentions naturally wouldn’t succeed. After Qing Xia gave them a thorough beating, the force-respecting men all became devoted followers, begging her to lead them out of pursuit by Northern Qin and Southern Chu to find somewhere to survive.
After being pestered shamelessly for many days, Qing Xia finally led the bandits away from the Western Black Wasteland. Though they encountered several waves of Chu troops along the way, under Qing Xia’s maneuvering, not only did they suffer no losses, but they left the Chu army battered and bruised. The Western Black bandits had been slaughtered by both armies’ forces without cause, suffering heavy casualties, each harboring pent-up anger. Seeing Qing Xia was young and female yet agile and clever, with thorough knowledge of Chu military forces, the men became completely convinced and followed her across the Western Black Wasteland, carefully crossed Northern Qin territory, taking a month to reach Bailing Prefecture at Qin’s northernmost border.
Bailing Prefecture was located at Qin’s northern edge, less than thirty li from Qin’s northern border garrison, but had always been a lawless territory. The terrain here was complex, situated at the junction of Northern Qin and Xichuan armies. From Xichuan’s Flame Emperor City, a fast horse could reach here in less than half a day, while further north lay Xiongnu territory.
Though the population wasn’t large, it gathered various ethnic groups—Xiongnu, Semu people, Quanrong, Mulian people, Qin people, Xichuan people, and merchants from Eastern Qi and Southern Chu collecting ginseng and sable fur. In short, it was a mixed place with many foreigners—an easy place to survive.
Qing Xia had previously arranged a two-month meeting with Yang Feng here. During her time commanding the Black Guard, she had searched the world for Yang Feng without results. Now it seemed that since Chu Li had concealed several major battles from her, the true command of the Black Guard remained in Chu Li’s hands. If he didn’t want Qing Xia to find Yang Feng, the Black Guard naturally couldn’t investigate anything. Someone like Chu Li, who didn’t trust even the utterly loyal Xi Lin family, how could he trust Yang Feng, who had already betrayed him once?
Thus, Qing Xia settled in Bailing Prefecture. The Western Black bandits couldn’t change their nature—arriving here, they quickly connected with the bandits and robbers beyond the passes. Qing Xia didn’t demand these men follow her eating radishes and pickles as good people, so she let them be.
In these chaotic times, every kind of business had people doing it. If they didn’t rob and pillage, others would naturally fill the gap. However, because Qing Xia lived here, the bandits actually stopped harassing Bailing Prefecture, which was good for the local people. Out of sight, out of mind—Qing Xia didn’t care where these fellows ran off to rob and plunder.
Banbu’er’s family was a hunter household Qing Xia had met here. Banbu’er’s father was a drunkard who always fooled around in the prefecture, rarely returning home. The woman of the house was hardworking and honest, raising four children alone.
The eldest son was called Xudalie, a famous hunter in Bailing Prefecture who could shoot passing mice from a hundred li away in the dark by sound alone. The young man was in his early twenties, handsome, and the object of local girls’ affections. Every morning his doorway would be piled with courtship offerings of tea flowers—quite famous indeed. The second son, Nakduo, was only fifteen but very sturdy, taller than seventeen or eighteen-year-olds, with a fiery temper and stubborn as a bull when aroused. The third was Banbu’er, only thirteen but very clever. The fourth was a girl, only five, who spent all day clinging to her brothers. Now she had a new target, spending all day clinging to Qing Xia without respite.
She had lived here for two months now. Over forty days had passed since the two-month deadline. Qing Xia patiently built a house on the snowy slope, wanting to wait longer for Yang Feng. She considered that if something happened on the road causing delays, it would be at most two months. If Yang Feng didn’t come after another month, she would have to go to Southern Chu’s capital again, sneak into the palace to gather information from Concubine Dan. After all, of the three groups that originally captured her and Yang Feng, neither Chu Li nor Wusi Mei’er had gained anything. If something happened to Yang Feng, this account could only be settled with Zhu Danchen.
“Nakduo, Banbu’er, you’re back!” A hearty voice suddenly rang out as a fine horse charged over like a whirlwind. The young man on the horse was tall and handsome with bright eyes, his features slightly resembling northern barbarians but with black eyes.