“This vest can actually be enhanced with some lethal mechanisms, you can figure it out yourself,” Feiyu said. “I need to get it on you quickly – once you’re wearing it, you’ll be my person.”

Tie Ci ignored him. Hearing some faint sounds from the cave below, she reached back to her waist and took out a pouch, handing it to Feiyu.

Now it was Feiyu’s turn to be surprised as he asked, “For me?”

Tie Ci smiled, shook her head, and said, “No, for you to look at, to see how good my craftsmanship is.”

Feiyu snorted with laughter, took the pouch, opened it, and said in surprise, “An iron fan?”

Inside the pouch was a fan, entirely bright and clear, two sizes smaller than ordinary fans. Though it was a men’s folding fan, its size was similar to women’s face-covering round fans, and its edges were rounded, somewhat like those Western decorative fans for ladies.

Feiyu’s face darkened, seriously suspecting that someone was secretly mocking his cross-dressing skills.

“This craftsmanship doesn’t seem that great,” he said, turning the folding fan over and over. The folding fan was polished very smoothly, with no fan surface – just fan ribs connected together, without any carved patterns. But the special luminescence of the material itself gave the folding fan a naturally exquisite and gorgeous feel, making additional carving superfluous. The edges of the outermost fan ribs were rounded, and the fan’s edge was lace-like with wave patterns, appearing completely harmless.

However, Feiyu somehow pressed something, and a fan rib suddenly shot out with a thud, embedding itself in a crack in a nearby stone.

Cold light flashed under the sun.

Only then did Feiyu discover that the tips of the inner fan ribs were extremely thin – if they pierced someone, it would leave a flat wound.

Tie Ci took back the fan and flicked her wrist with force. The wave-shaped edge of the fan suddenly broke apart, transforming into several boomerangs that spun whistling in a circle overhead. Wherever they passed, fierce winds swept by, and earth clods split with cracks as if cut by knives.

“This outer layer consists of boomerangs that need to be thrown with skillful force. The inner fan ribs can be shot out by pressing the mechanism at the base of the handle.”

There were also holes drilled in the handle for hanging it on one’s back.

“You made this?” Feiyu was very surprised.

If his protective vest required time and effort, this fan required intricate design and handiwork. He had seen her jade brush – that brush was ever-changing and complexly designed. And like the fan, it was very deceptive. Hung on the body, anyone would see it as just an ornament.

“I don’t have such skills. I have a senior martial brother who’s good at this – well, not my second senior brother. My jade brush was designed by him, and he also designed this fan for me, but I never found good materials to make it. That time in Ziyang, when I cracked the abyssal iron case, the Regional Governor of Haiyu rewarded me with an abyssal iron weapon. Since I don’t normally use swords and such, I simply melted it down and asked people to help find skilled craftsmen to make most of the components. The remaining connection and polishing work was what I did myself.”

Previously, from those confiscated abyssal iron items, she had selected one weapon, melted it down, and given it to Xia Houchun, asking him to find craftsmen when he returned to the capital to deliver messages. The main components were made, and Xia Houchun brought them back to her.

The later mechanism setup and fan rib connections were done by herself.

She noticed that Feiyu rarely carried specialized weapons, not knowing if it was like her – inconvenient to carry swords everywhere.

Making something custom for him was an idea she’d had for a long time.

Choosing a fan, this flashy ornament suitable for both men and women, was quite fitting for him.

Feiyu played with the fan, obviously reluctant to put it down. Tie Ci asked, “Does it look good?”

“Not bad.”

“Then give it back to me.”

“Stop being coy, if I really gave it back you’d cry.” Feiyu reached up and cut off a section from the cord tying her hair, threaded it through the hole drilled in the fan handle, and hung it at his waist.

Tie Ci touched her hair and pressed her lips together without saying anything.

She didn’t like wearing hairpins much, often tying her hair in a high ponytail with a cord like her martial siblings.

This tradition was set by Master. One New Year, she had gathered her disciples in the capital, lined them up to kneel before her, tying a red hair ribbon on each of their heads while singing: “Other girls have flowers to wear, but Daddy has little money and can’t buy them, so I’ll buy a foot of red ribbon to tie up for my Xier.”

She was still young then and found it quite fun, even moved by Master’s rare tenderness.

Later, after hearing “The White-Haired Girl,” she realized that having any tender feelings toward Master was a misplaced human emotion.

But the occasional habit of tying hair with cords remained.

Now seeing that section of blue hair ribbon swaying at his waist with the fan, she felt inexplicably itchy all over her scalp.

Neither spoke for a moment, standing face to face. Dawn light shot through the scattered stones and broken walls, with faint dust motes floating in the hazy beams, automatically coating everyone with a soft glow.

Such light, scenery, and atmosphere made one suddenly want to say something.

Feiyu across from her, stroking the smooth fan at his waist, also seemed about to speak, just clearing his throat.

Suddenly a dark thing burst out of the cave, the creature mumbling as it spoke: “Are you alright, are you alright, why so long…”

Tie Ci looked closely and realized it was Yang Yixiu with a coffin lid on his head.

Having waited too long below, he couldn’t stand it and came up to check.

Discovering corpses everywhere above, he was startled, but after another look confirmed they were all dead, he called for the people below to come up.

Now the two couldn’t say anything meaningful. Feiyu glared at Yang Yixiu and walked away. Yang Yixiu blinked innocently at him.

After Feiyu left, he turned and gave Rong Pu, who was climbing up behind him, a smile seeking credit.

But Rong Pu’s gaze fell on Feiyu’s waist, where a small fan was swaying back and forth, reflecting sunlight blindingly.

Feiyu deliberately took a detour to walk past him.

Rong Pu looked away.

After a while, Feiyu walked past him again with large strides, the fan at his waist swinging and hitting a soldier.

The soldier, busy observing the corpses on the ground, didn’t notice. Feiyu walked past dejected, twisted his body, and bumped into Colonel Yu.

Colonel Yu was about to say something when his attention was caught by the fan. “This fan is quite unique.”

“Good-looking, right?” Feiyu immediately picked up the fan to show him. “Look at this material, this design, this polishing, this thoughtfulness!”

“Mm, yes, it’s quite nice. Who gave it to you?”

Feiyu smiled, patted Colonel Yu’s shoulder, and said, “Guess?”

Colonel Yu looked at him with amusement, then glanced at Tie Ci, about to speak when Rong Pu called from over there: “Colonel, come look at this.”

Colonel Yu hurried over.

Feiyu’s showing off failed.

He wasn’t angry though, glanced at Rong Pu, and followed to see Rong Pu pulling some herbs from a corpse’s belt – the very herbs they had discovered were greatly reduced in quantity.

Rong Pu was discussing the origins of this Western Rong team with Colonel Yu, pointing to white marks on their fingers: “These Western Rong soldiers might be of good background.”

“How can you tell?”

“See the marks on their fingers? Western Rong people like wearing jewelry, especially on their fingers, but this is limited to wealthy households with assets – slaves and commoners don’t have the right. These people have traces of wearing jewelry on their hands and ears, indicating good backgrounds. Among more than ten soldiers, eight wore jewelry, showing the entire army is of noble birth. In Western Rong, only one army has such composition.”

Tie Ci walked over and said, “The Royal Army.”

Rong Pu hummed in agreement.

Feiyu stood aside laughing: “How would a delicate weakling like you know?”

But Rong Pu refused to answer this question, turning to Tie Ci: “The Royal Army has always only been stationed in the royal city, protecting the Western Rong King, never stepping foot outside the royal city. Why would they come to the harsh climate of Hanli Khan?”

Tie Ci glanced at Rong Pu, understanding in her heart that he knew this probably because Huyin had told him. When she first met Huyin, her fingers were ostentatiously adorned with five or six rings. In Western Rong, rings were considered beautiful when colorful and ostentatious, but after becoming familiar, she never saw Huyin wear them again.

Tie Ci also felt this Western Rong team had various contradictions – clearly not of low birth, with curved sabers, weapons, and belt styles all quite refined, yet their behavior and dress were like fallen bandits wandering the martial world. So had something major happened in the Western Rong royal city?

Colonel Yu came over and quietly discussed with her for a few moments, also agreeing to Tie Ci’s proposal to disguise themselves and infiltrate Western Rong. However, their soldiers numbered thirty while the enemy only had fifteen – they could only select half to go.

There wasn’t much opportunity for further examination and selection. Tie Ci picked out the soldiers who had shown more stability in the cave, along with several from her academy, and was about to instruct them to change into Western Rong soldiers’ clothing when Rong Pu silently stepped forward and stripped the clothes from a corpse of similar height.

Tie Ci frowned: “This journey is dangerous, how can you…”

“I am a physician, someone who can save lives. Any team should not refuse my participation,” Rong Pu calmly interrupted her refusal, turning to ask Colonel Yu, “Don’t you think so?”

Colonel Yu glanced at Tie Ci, hesitated, then said, “Young Master, your status is precious…”

Rong Pu said, “This is my own choice. I’ll send my servant back later to explain the situation.”

His tone was mild but his attitude resolute. Colonel Yu was already persuaded by his words – after all, leaving Da Qian to carry out reconnaissance missions meant facing unknown dangers, and having a physician along would provide many more chances of survival. He glanced at Tie Ci again and finally said, “Then we’ll trouble you, Young Master.”

Colonel Yu held the highest military rank in the team, and since he had decided, Tie Ci couldn’t say much.

In the past, Feiyu would probably have made some sharp remarks, but now he stretched out his legs and sat to one side, endlessly fiddling with his little fan. Having consciously secured his position as the principal wife, he felt he should be magnanimous and need not bother with those seductive wenches.

After all, as long as I live, you are all eunuchs.

Author’s Note: I originally wanted to call this chapter “Iron Fan Princess.”