The tent flap had fallen back down. The firelight from the brazier reflected on the tent fabric in a mass of yellow-orange, and with the trembling of the flames, those light and shadows also undulated like water waves.
Wen Yu’s profile was like carved jade. She stood quietly in place for a while, her lowered long lashes concealing the emotions in her eyes. Finally, she drew up the hood of her cloak again and lifted the flap to leave the large tent.
The two guards outside the door had been quietly waiting for her there, completely unaware of everything that had occurred in the tent. Seeing her come out, they made a “please” gesture again.
Wen Yu didn’t know where Xiao Li had gone, nor did she ask. The cold wind blew a corner of her cloak as she calmly followed the two guards back to the large tent where she was confined.
—
The snow was heavy tonight. The cold wind made even the patrolling armored soldiers shrink their necks and hunch their bodies.
When Song Qin found Xiao Li, he was sitting on a low slope, staring blankly at the camp below with its myriad torches.
Song Qin walked over and said: “Tonight we still need to reward the army’s soldiers. Zheng Hu and the others went to the central command tent to find the Prefecture Lord earlier but couldn’t, never expecting the Prefecture Lord had come here.”
Xiao Li looked back at him and asked: “Do you have wine?”
Song Qin said: “With all your injuries, you absolutely cannot drink more wine.”
Though he said this, he still took out the wine pouch he carried with him and tossed it over.
After Xiao Li caught it, he pulled out the wooden stopper, tilted his head back and took a fierce gulp. Only after raising his hand to wipe away the wine stains at his lips did he say: “Comfortable.”
Song Qin sat down in the wilderness beside him, saying: “I heard Zheng Hu say that Jiang Yu’s concubine is an old acquaintance of the Prefecture Lord?”
Xiao Li did not answer.
Song Qin’s gaze followed Xiao Li’s toward those military tents below that looked like mushroom caps in the vast wind and snow, asking: “Does the Prefecture Lord want to keep her?”
Instead of answering, Xiao Li asked in return: “If it were Elder Sister Mudan, what would Big Brother do?”
The wind was so strong it stung the eyes. Song Qin paused for a moment, then smiled: “If she were willing to follow me, even if there were a thousand difficulties and ten thousand hardships, I’d still have to stake everything to fight for it, wouldn’t I?”
Xiao Li gripped the wine pouch and asked: “What if she’s unwilling?”
Song Qin’s smile then carried more of the composure and weathering of one who had experienced this: “If she had a better place to go, what could I use to keep her?”
Xiao Li fell silent and didn’t speak again for a long time. Just as Song Qin was about to comfort him with a sentence or two, he heard him say: “I’m unwilling to accept this.”
Song Qin then also had nothing more to say for a moment. Finally, not knowing whether he was speaking to Xiao Li or to himself, he said: “Living in this world, eight or nine out of ten things don’t go as we wish. Having a bit of unwillingness to remember might even be good—at least the rest of life won’t be so lonely.”
Xiao Li said: “Has Big Brother already guessed her identity?”
Song Qin said: “Whoever the Prefecture Lord says she is, I’ll acknowledge her as such.”
Xiao Li asked: “When did you guess?”
Song Qin answered: “I became suspicious on the day we captured her.”
He thought about it and spoke in more detail: “That day, the Prefecture Lord kept avoiding suspicion, showing an attitude of not caring about that woman at all. But when we reached the forest ahead, you had people bury and clear away all the female guards’ corpses before Wei Ang arrived, and seeing the carriage fallen by the roadside, you also had people repair it and send it over.”
He said: “Ordinary official women wouldn’t have so many female guards around them, much less a concubine following the army. So I guessed that woman’s identity must be extraordinary. Even if she wasn’t Princess Hanyang, she couldn’t possibly be Jiang Yu’s concubine. I just didn’t know what connection the Prefecture Lord had with her. It wasn’t until a few days ago when I heard Zheng Hu say the Prefecture Lord had a past with her that I suddenly made a guess.”
With the secret he had been carrying known by his closest and most trusted person, Xiao Li felt as if he had finally expelled the heaviest stifled breath pressing on his heart. He asked: “Why didn’t you advise me to hand her over to Marquis Wei?”
Song Qin lowered his eyes and smiled: “The Prefecture Lord just now already asked me using Mudan as an example. If Mudan were in this situation, naturally I also wouldn’t have the heart to expose her identity and hand her over to a political enemy, destroying everything she had painstakingly managed.”
“But Marquis Wei could invite the Prefecture Lord to join the Wei camp without asking about any of the Prefecture Lord’s past in the Liang camp, and even allocated fifteen thousand volunteer troops for the Prefecture Lord to command. This trust and regard also cannot be easily betrayed.”
He paused slightly and said words no different from what Wen Yu had said earlier: “The Prefecture Lord wanting to keep her by your side, neither releasing her back nor handing her over to Marquis Wei—this seems like the most middle-ground approach, but in reality it cuts off paths on both sides. You become enemies with the Liang camp, while with Marquis Wei, it’s no different from betraying him.”
Hearing this, Xiao Li smiled: “Didn’t Big Brother say you wouldn’t advise me?”
Song Qin let the wind and snow pound his face for a while before saying: “If Big Brother were in this situation, perhaps I would make the same choice as you. But right now it’s not Big Brother in this situation. As an elder brother, naturally I still must advise you. A’huan, in this world there are many things we can’t obtain, can’t let go of. Why push yourself to this point? When it’s time to let go, just let go.”
He called Xiao Li by his childhood name, clearly truly advising him in the capacity of an elder brother.
This was already a dead-end situation. Either offend both sides, or only offend one.
But they were already in the Wei camp. By rights, the one they should offend should be the Liang camp.
But the word “love”—once entangled in it, who could easily unravel it?
Since Xiao Li couldn’t steel his heart to hand her over to Wei Qishan, then why not go with the flow and just act as if he had never recognized Wen Yu, letting her return to the Liang camp with Jiang Yu’s concubine’s identity? As long as the Liang and Chen camps weren’t so despicable as to bite them back after rescuing her, then Wei Qishan would never know he had deceived him.
Conversely, if he kept holding onto her, even if he found a substitute to send back, after the Liang camp discovered the deception, how could they let it rest? At that time they would inevitably bring it before Wei Qishan.
Between two evils, naturally choose the lesser.
“Can’t obtain?”
Xiao Li lowered his head and laughed quietly. What he remembered, however, was that earlier scene in the military tent where Wen Yu, in order to get him to release her, was willing to “please” him despite being pregnant—just like when he was surrounded and hunted by hounds and she was captured by hounds and said those words “don’t care.”
The violent energy in his heart suddenly increased. In the bitter cold wind, his eyes revealed a ferocity and dark malevolence: “I insist on forcing it.”
—
After that night, Wen Yu never saw Xiao Li again.
Tao Kui also stopped coming to deliver medicine to her, perhaps having been ordered by Xiao Li not to come.
However, two days later, a tailor suddenly came to measure her size, saying they were making winter clothing for her.
Besides this, she also had several books of supernatural tales and travel records to read.
Within thirty zhang outside her tent there were heavy guards, but within this range, she could also leave the tent to move around and get some air.
But Wen Yu still rarely went out.
That night, everything that could be discussed, she had already discussed with Xiao Li.
Since the other party had no intention whatsoever of changing his mind, if she wanted to leave the northern border, she could only seek another way out.
Wen Yu no longer deliberately inquired about any news concerning Xiao Li. What she used to pass time each day, besides those few books of supernatural tales, was using charcoal to draw a chess grid on the tablecloth, using pebbles and small pieces of broken dead twigs as chess pieces, playing against herself over and over, seeking a way to break the deadlock.
Xiao Li’s military camp was an iron barrel. She couldn’t get out, and her people couldn’t attack in.
She thought she needed an opportunity that would force Xiao Li to hand her over, then she could leave this iron barrel, and the people on the Liang camp’s side could also take action.
On this day, as they were doing embroidery work in the tent as usual, hearing the soldiers’ somewhat excited shouts coming from the distant training ground, the thinner servant woman couldn’t help saying: “Are the military gentlemen in the camp training again?”
The plump servant woman said: “It’s heard that our Prefecture Lord killed barbarians last time and established great merit again. The Marquis rewarded him with a thousand gold pieces. After the Prefecture Lord returned to camp, he distributed eight hundred of them to the soldiers below, and used the remaining two hundred gold for martial competitions at the training ground, rewarding those soldiers who won.”
The thin servant woman couldn’t help clicking her tongue: “A thousand taels of gold scattered out just like that? Our Prefecture Lord is truly willing to part with it.”
The plump servant woman was more outgoing. She also often went out to fetch food, medicinal soup and such, becoming familiar with some soldiers, so she gathered more news. She said: “What’s a thousand taels of gold? The Marquis intends to recruit our Prefecture Lord as a son-in-law!”
By the low table, Wen Yu, who was idly flipping through a volume of supernatural tales, paused slightly at the fingertips turning the pages, her black lashes half-lowered like downy crow feathers.
The thin servant woman indeed exclaimed in amazement: “There’s such a thing?”
The plump servant woman said: “I also heard the military gentlemen discussing it while drinking. It’s said that when our Prefecture Lord established merit in Youzhou and went to see the Marquis, the Marquis said he would betroth his daughter to our Prefecture Lord. It’s just a pity that the Prefecture Lord’s late mother is still in the mourning period, so this matter was temporarily shelved. But this time going to the Marquis’s residence, the two actually met at the banquet table, and the Marquis even had the County Princess toast our Prefecture Lord. In my view, this marriage is almost certainly going to be arranged first.”
The thin servant woman worked her needle and thread: “Then this marriage looks quite well-matched. In those story books, aren’t princesses and young ladies all paired with talented scholars or peerless heroes? The County Princess is of imperial blood and jade leaves, and isn’t our Prefecture Lord exactly that peerless hero?”
After speaking, both servant women laughed. Wen Yu listened quietly for a moment, then closed the book.
This small movement immediately silenced the two servant women, who looked toward her: “What’s wrong, Miss?”
To avoid any accidents, after the wind rash on her face healed, Wen Yu had become accustomed to wearing a veil when interacting with these two servant women. At this moment the two couldn’t clearly see what expression was on her face, only feeling that those brows and eyes like distant mountains and autumn waters seemed also covered with a thin layer of mist, cold and distant, preventing anyone from seeing anything inside. Her tone also revealed no emotional fluctuation: “I feel somewhat stifled. I’ll go outside the tent for a turn.”
The two servant women muttered that the sky had been overcast all day, which did make one’s heart feel uncomfortably oppressed. They put down their handiwork and went to fetch the cloak hanging on the tent wall. After hesitating, they took the cloak that the tailor had just finished making and delivered two days ago.
Although Wen Yu didn’t like wearing the two new winter garments the military had made for her, the two servant women saw that the fabric used seemed even better than her original garments. The satin surface was smooth as water, and with a slight shake it seemed to shimmer with rippling flowing light.
When Wen Yu saw the cloak the two were draping over her, her brows furrowed slightly, but thinking she was only going outside the tent for a turn, she said nothing.
There was no snow today, but the wind still blew fiercely. The flags hanging high by the military tent were frozen with ice, hanging motionless from the flagpole, with a string of icicles formed at the flag corners.
Wen Yu walked half a circle around the military tent from a distance. Blown by the cold wind, she coughed lightly twice. The two servant women, fearing she would catch cold, were about to persuade her to go back when sounds of galloping horses came from the distance, along with a young woman’s bright, clear laughter: “Your camp is this large? Where is my brother’s tent?”
Wen Yu followed the sound and looked into the distance, seeing a vigorous fire-red figure on horseback.
The junior officer guarding the camp seemed extremely troubled, blocking the horse: “The Supervisor does not live in the camp. County Princess, the military camp is a重地restricted area and cannot be entered without permission. Please don’t make things difficult for this lowly officer.”
The young woman on horseback said arrogantly: “I came together with Uncle Ang. The guard commander at your front camp personally welcomed us in. What do you mean by entering without permission? When I go to my father’s camp, no one dares block me. What kind of thing are you?”
As she spoke, she viciously jerked the reins. Her jujube-red horse neighed and raised its front hooves high, while the riding crop curved in her hand pointed directly at the blocking officer.
This young officer was encountering for the first time someone like Wei Jiamin whose temperament was even worse than Wei Pingjin’s, who understood nothing of military discipline yet couldn’t be offended. He quickly gave a meaningful look to a soldier beside him.
That soldier understood and immediately ran toward the training ground.
Seeing this scene, Wei Jiamin felt even more displeased. With a flick of her whip, she had already struck the young officer’s face, shouting: “Even if you call your Prefecture Lord over, this County Princess won’t fear him! If Mother hadn’t told me to follow Uncle Ang to check on Brother, do you think I’d care to come to your broken camp?”
That young officer quickly covered his nose bleeding from the whip and lowered his head, saying: “I wouldn’t dare.”
Wei Jiamin had probably never been provoked like this before. She turned her horse as if to leave, but just when the officer and the group of soldiers blocking the way were about to respectfully see her off, she suddenly dug her heels hard into the horse’s belly and charged straight through: “You won’t let this County Princess in? Then today this County Princess absolutely must enter!”
The officer and the group of soldiers below were completely unprepared. Borrowing the horse’s momentum, she rammed through horizontally. The officer reacted quickly and barely dodged, but countless soldiers below were sent flying.
The officer could only grit his teeth and say: “Shoot the horse down!”
The crossbowmen quickly came forward with arrows, aiming at the jujube-red horse under Wei Jiamin.
Wei Jiamin was furious: “You dare!”
Her words had just fallen when the jujube-red horse’s hind leg was already hit by an arrow and fell to the ground. Wei Jiamin was thrown face-first into snow, but fortunately wasn’t injured. After getting up and looking at her jujube-red horse that wouldn’t stop whinnying pitifully, her eyes immediately reddened: “My jujube-red horse!”
She swiftly drew the sword at her waist, crying and shouting as she charged at the officer: “I’m going to kill you!”
The officer didn’t dare draw his sword to fight her, only dodging constantly. The swollen whip mark on his face was obvious as he said: “This lowly officer is only following military regulations.”
Wei Jiamin swung her sword chasing and slashing at him wildly: “Bullshit military regulations! That was the sixteenth birthday gift Father gave me. You lowly thing, even ten of your lives couldn’t equal my jujube-red horse! I’ll have Father exterminate your nine generations of kin!”
The officer’s face showed hidden anger, but in the end he didn’t dare argue back a single sentence. All the way dodging Wei Jiamin’s slashing, while retreating he didn’t pay attention to his surroundings and was forced near the military tent where Wen Yu was detained.
Outside that military tent, a dark mass of over a hundred sharp-armed soldiers surrounded it, very conspicuous.
Wei Jiamin was facing that direction. What was originally an inadvertent glance, when she noticed Wen Yu and the cloak she wore, her expression suddenly changed drastically. She suddenly pointed her sword at Wen Yu, demanding of the officer: “Who is she? Doesn’t your Prefecture Lord forbid women in the military?”
The officer answered truthfully: “That is Jiang Yu’s concubine.”
After hearing this answer, Wei Jiamin’s gaze still fixated deadly on the cloud brocade cloak Wen Yu wore. She walked a few steps closer to Wen Yu. After the armored soldiers surrounding the perimeter crossed their weapons to block her path, barely suppressing her anger, she commanded Wen Yu: “You come here!”
The two servant women saw Wei Jiamin holding a sword and were very frightened in their hearts, supporting Wen Yu and wanting her to retreat back into the tent first. Unexpectedly, Wen Yu actually took two steps toward Wei Jiamin. Across a distance of two zhang, she calmly and good-naturedly allowed the other to examine her.
After confirming at close range the pattern of the cloud brocade used in Wen Yu’s cloak, Wei Jiamin’s hand gripping the sword whitened several degrees. She coldly questioned Wen Yu: “Where did you get this cloud brocade cloak?”
Wen Yu’s habitually cold eyes lifted slightly, but at this moment carried a hint of wanting to speak but stopping: “Thanks to the Prefecture Lord’s favor, it was bestowed.”
Wei Jiamin felt as if she had been severely humiliated. Her gaze swept over Wen Yu’s abdomen, her expression as if she had swallowed a fly: “Aren’t you a pregnant woman? How disgusting!”
She sheathed her sword and walked back with her head down.
The two servant women looked at each other in dismay, then looked at Wen Yu. Wen Yu’s expression remained calm as always. She turned around: “The wind is a bit strong. Let’s go back.”
Both servant women were stunned. Only after Wen Yu had walked half a zhang away did they lift their feet to follow.
In the distance, more people came running urgently. Wen Yu had no mind to look further. Under her half-lowered long lashes overflowed cold, frosty intent.
The opportunity she wanted had come far faster than she had anticipated.
She should be able to leave here very soon.
With that County Princess’s strong-willed temperament, even if she had no feelings for Xiao Li, she probably couldn’t accept Xiao Li being so “unclear and ambiguous” with her like this.