If placed in modern times, this would be called a dog-tooth structure – in military theory, it represents the most interdependent relationship where the lips and teeth depend on each other for survival. Once in Africa, among the indigenous tribes, there were twenty-one mysterious tribes hidden in the jungle that had coexisted for over a hundred years. Modern warfare masters had taught courses on this topic, finally concluding that such long-term coexistent phenomena were not due to low productivity or because people loved peace, but because their land division was based on natural resources. This created an extremely strong mutual economic dependence. This relationship was implicit – even when two countries fought fiercely, it wouldn’t show. But as soon as one country became too powerful and another faced extinction, the economy would don giant’s clothes and jump out, using invisible hands to reverse the situation and maintain the balance of power.
The formation of this problem stemmed from hundreds of years of accumulated time, and the conditions required for its formation were extremely harsh. Even in thousands of years of modern history, it had only been discovered in localized areas of Africa. The main reasons were transportation isolation, narrow perspectives of the people, and scarce resources. Qing Xia didn’t know how such a miraculous land distribution system could form over such a vast territory as China. Southern Chu produced iron, Eastern Qi produced salt, Northern Qin produced grain, and Western Chuan’s animal husbandry dominated. As for other major commercial goods related to people’s livelihood – coal, silk, tea, medicinal materials – these were also basically monopolized by individual countries. Merchants from other countries who tried to make achievements in these areas would immediately face erosion and ambush from major merchants. After reaching this conclusion, Qing Xia was almost shocked speechless, her spine turning cold, because such grand schemes and actions would be difficult for even a single country to accomplish. Market economics would never consciously form such a strange situation, so there was only one reason – hidden behind the four countries, there were other masterminds secretly controlling everything.
Qing Xia didn’t know whether her conclusion was correct. After all, this was only based on her analysis of intelligence and modern scientific theory.
Within this lay some crucial elements she couldn’t yet think through clearly. To explain such a phenomenon would require vast amounts of time and sufficient, detailed intelligence. For some unknown reason, Qing Xia suddenly developed a strong interest in all this. She secretly speculated – if there really was such a mysterious giant hand, what kind of identity would this person have?
When a person’s power became strong enough to control the entire continent’s commerce, how simple it would be for them to overturn this world.
The night wind was rather strong. Xi Linchen stood under the mast, adjusting Qing Xia’s cloak and wrapping her tightly, his expression silent with a trace of anger.
Qing Xia still wasn’t quite used to Xi Linchen’s sudden change in attitude toward her recently. She awkwardly brushed away his hand, saying, “Xi Lin, this matter really isn’t your fault. Don’t keep blaming yourself like this.”
“Whether it was caused by me or not, I know in my own heart.” Xi Linchen said indifferently, not even lifting his eyes. Suddenly he took out a dark green brocade pouch from his chest – the pouch was fragrant with rich, deep scent. He handed it to Qing Xia, saying, “This is a medicinal sachet I prepared. Keep it on you at all times. It has the effects of dispelling cold and calming the spirit. You lost too much blood and have heavy cold qi in your body. You need careful nurturing from now on.”
Qing Xia took it and held it to her nose to smell. The scent seemed like orchid but wasn’t orchid, seemed like musk but wasn’t musk – it was extremely fragrant and pleasant. Her eyes lit up as she quickly said, “You said this has the effect of dispelling cold? Could you make another one for me?”
Xi Linchen’s eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at Qing Xia sideways, his brow lightly furrowed, as if trying to dig something out of her words. Without thinking, he turned and walked away.
Qing Xia was startled and grabbed his wrist, saying sternly, “What are you doing? Walking away without saying a word – how have I offended you?”
“Inside this contains half-eyed lotus that my sister dug from the Great Snow Mountains of Bai Ling beyond the pass – it’s the coldest medicinal substance between heaven and earth. It must be refined for a month in the Extreme Fire Abyss of Southern Border, wrapped in solid ice, with the ice changed every two hours to ensure it doesn’t get cooked. To refine this medicine, my sister nearly died several times on the snow mountains and in the earth’s abyss. My medical skills don’t match my brother’s, and my tenacity and obsession don’t match my sister’s. This medicine may be lost to the world from now on.”
Xi Linchen said expressionlessly. Qing Xia was slightly startled, not expecting such a small package of medicine to have such origins. She didn’t know if it was psychological, but holding it in her hand, she actually felt traces of burning heat. After thinking, she handed it back to Xi Linchen, saying gravely, “If that’s the case, then I can’t accept it even more. This is too precious.”
“Compared to your life, nothing is too precious.” Xi Linchen pushed away her hand indifferently, his voice clear and light as he said, “I hope you won’t easily take risks for others in the future, and that you’ll value your own life more.”
Qing Xia knew he was still sulking, so she smiled and said, “I’ve always valued my own life. You’re still young, so naturally I should take care of you.”
“I’m not a child anymore!” Xi Linchen suddenly brushed away Qing Xia’s hand, lifted his head and said angrily, “I could escape with my life from Chu Li’s Black Guards. He chased and tried to kill me for over eight thousand li, but couldn’t take my life. What could those incompetent, weak-minded bandits of White Deer Fortress do to me? On the contrary, you rashly charged into the enemy camp, fighting a thousand enemies with your strength alone. Knowing it was a dead end, you still pushed forward – isn’t that more foolish than those common soldiers? Just because you’re agile and skilled, you disregard life and death, treating yourself as an indestructible vajra body, naively thinking everything can be easily resolved. Haven’t you considered that no matter how capable you are, you’re still just a mortal? You can handle ten or twenty people, but can you handle hundreds or thousands? The important thing in fighting enemies isn’t just martial skills – many times you need to use your brain too. Do you understand or not?”
Having known Xi Linchen for so long, this was the first time Qing Xia had seen him speak so harshly and severely. She was momentarily stunned. Living to this age, this was the first time someone had said she had no brains. What could she have done in that situation? She didn’t know the full story – someone had seen Xi Linchen heading toward the western slope, and he wasn’t by her side. A powerless youth falling into enemy hands – if she didn’t fight for time to rescue him, should she have carefully planned out a rescue strategy? In the eyes of the White Deer Fortress people, he wasn’t some hostage with noble status – he might have been killed immediately upon capture without saying a word. With no time available, the only option was to fight hard. This was the most practical combat tactic she had learned under military guidance, thoroughly tested in subsequent missions. From her perspective at the time, there was nothing wrong with this approach.
Xi Linchen looked at Qing Xia angrily, his eyes carrying indescribable flames of rage. He suddenly grabbed Qing Xia’s hand, forcefully pulling it against his chest, saying gravely, “I’m telling you – don’t casually trust others, don’t easily take risks for others, don’t disregard your own life for the sake of others. I’m an adult, not a child. Stop always treating me like a child!”
“But,” Qing Xia was slightly startled. Tonight’s Xi Linchen left her somewhat bewildered. She frowned, pondering softly, “Xi Linchen, the person I trust is you. You’re my family, my younger brother. What’s wrong with that?”
“I’m not your younger brother!” Xi Linchen suddenly shouted angrily, his palm burning hot like a ball of fire. His eyes were dark like a pool of stagnant water as he said to Qing Xia word by word, “Xia Qing, I’m from the Xi Lin family. Everyone in my family is already dead. How could I possibly be your younger brother?”
Qing Xia’s face turned pale, the corner of her mouth twitching slightly as she said coldly with self-mockery, “What you mean by saying this – are you telling me to stop being presumptuous? You’re not my younger brother, you have no relationship with me, and I shouldn’t debase myself by standing up for you in the future?”
Xi Linchen’s expression darkened as he said gravely, “If you want to understand it that way, you can.”
“Xi Linchen!” Qing Xia grabbed Xi Linchen’s sleeve, blocking his path, and said sternly, “What exactly are you being stubborn about? Why say these incomprehensible things to me? You secretly passed messages to the White Deer Fortress people, leading to the enemy attack – I know all of this. You’re a man – if you did it, you did it. What’s the big deal!”
Xi Linchen was startled upon hearing this, suddenly lifting his head to look directly into Qing Xia’s eyes, saying in shock, “You know?”
“Do you really think I’m some unworldly woman with no brains?” Qing Xia looked at Xi Linchen sideways with a bitter smile, saying, “When the enemy attacked, Shi Xing was completely useless – not only were the losses heavy, but the grain supplies were also lost. At this time, you, a mere soldier, could protect the grain supplies from loss. Of course this was a great achievement. You needed to find an opportunity to rise rapidly in the military so you could have a chance to kill Chu Li and avenge your Xi Lin family. You needed some people’s attention, and you also wanted to secretly support White Deer Fortress so you could severely damage Southern Chu’s army in the Battle of White Deer Plain. Your brother had personally witnessed the siege battle at Sha Han lands and knew I had a close relationship with Qin Zhiyan, so you dared to boldly rely on my connections to find this escape route of seeking protection from the Qin army. You calculated the timing and environment quite well – you just didn’t calculate that I would risk my life to rescue you. Now you regret it, feel guilty, so you want to become strangers with me and have no more entanglements?”
Xi Linchen’s eyes widened in shock as he said unsteadily, “You… when did you know?”
“From the moment I learned you weren’t dead.” Qing Xia looked straight at him, her eyes flashing with dark light. Her voice was low as she stared intently into Xi Linchen’s eyes, saying gravely, “You knew I was highly skilled and would naturally be able to escape with my life in the chaos of war, but you didn’t consider Ban Bu’er and the others’ safety. In that situation, if I had fled alone, it would have been more than enough, but bringing them would have involved some risk. On the first night, you led my horse to the eastern camp, fed it plenty of fodder, filled the quiver with arrows, and deliberately left an escape route in the east. You did so much preparation – anyone would reach this conclusion with a little thought afterward. Did you really think I would be foolishly deceived by you, knowing nothing at all?”