“You didn’t do anything wrong.”

The words she had spoken that night, driven by fury and jealousy, she now returned to him intact.

Only then did Xiao Li understand what it meant to have one’s heart twisted in a hundred ways.

The desire in his eyes was like a roaring sea, finally revealing a corner of the iceberg hidden beneath, yet those three words crushed it into endless humiliation, as if his entanglement today was utterly laughable.

Xiao Li’s expression turned ugly. Meeting Wen Yu’s angry gaze, he pressed together his thin lips that were still bleeding, wanting to say something, but a voice from outside the tent called out: “Zhou Jun, the military advisor has urgent matters and is calling for you.”

He responded outward in a cold, deep voice, “I know,” then turned his head slightly, as if he still wanted to continue the earlier conversation with Wen Yu.

But after a pause, he ultimately didn’t speak, turning instead to stride toward the tent exit.

It wasn’t until he lifted the tent flap and left that Wen Yu’s defensive posture finally relaxed.

Her lips still stung sharply. She wiped them twice more with her hand.

When the two servant women hurried into the tent, she had just found another face veil to put on, her slightly disheveled hair bun still unattended.

Seeing her appearance, the two guessed she must have been bullied. Fearing she might despair, yet not daring to ask too many questions, they carefully tried to distract her attention by speaking of other matters.

But Wen Yu said: “I’m fine. You two aunties go about your business.”

Her voice was too calm, and her expression showed not the slightest trace of the grief and grievance a respectable woman should have after being violated. After speaking, she reopened that travel journal, her demeanor cool and detached, as if truly nothing had happened earlier.

For a moment, the two servant women could only exchange glances with each other.

Wen Yu’s gaze fell on the pages, but for a long time she couldn’t absorb a single word.

That Xiao Li would come to interrogate her was not at all surprising.

After all, those garments made of cloud brocade—from the moment they were placed in her hands, she had known the origin of that fabric was no simple matter.

Among all brocades, cloud brocade was the most precious, and among cloud brocade, the makeup-flower pattern was supreme.

As something that previously was supplied only to the palace, her mother had only two bolts, which were rewards bestowed by the Empress Dowager in years past.

What Xiao Li used to sew winter clothing for her was the most precious of the precious—makeup-flower brocade.

Today, when the two servant women inadvertently took that cloud brocade cloak for her, and she happened to encounter the daughter of Wei Qishan coming to this camp, the other party saw the cloak’s fabric and her expression changed. When she pursued the question of where this cloak came from, Wen Yu knew her opportunity to leave this place had arrived.

—That makeup-flower brocade had been bestowed by Wei Qishan.

Wei Qishan intended to recruit Xiao Li as a son-in-law, and that County Princess appeared to be someone who couldn’t tolerate a grain of sand in her eyes. She deliberately said those words as if she had some entanglement with Xiao Li. Given the other party’s proud temperament, upon learning that the person Wei Qishan wanted to arrange a marriage with was someone like this, she would certainly report it to Wei Qishan.

Even if Wei Qishan didn’t believe Xiao Li would be “bewitched” by feminine charms, as a precaution, he would surely order someone to take her away from this army.

And once she left this iron-barrel-like military camp, her people would have plenty of ways to rescue her.

This was Wen Yu’s scheme formulated in that instant after confirming Wei Jiamin’s identity.

Since that night’s conversation ended in discord, she had been unable to figure out what Xiao Li wanted to do.

Both he and Xiao Huiniang had shown her kindness. To frame him as a spy and poison him—she felt even more guilty about this. If there were room for choice, she naturally wouldn’t want to reach a position of complete opposition with Xiao Li.

But the other party refused to accept any of her proposed methods of atonement and reconciliation. He seemed to hate her bitterly, yet he hadn’t turned her over to Wei Qishan, only stubbornly “confining” her.

Whether this stemmed from hate or from his saying one thing while meaning another, when the day came that the truth could no longer be concealed, a good outcome awaited neither of them.

She had played the Wei Jiamin chess piece, using Wei Qishan to force him to hand her over. Whether Xiao Li hated or resented her, it was better than finally having Wei Qishan discover he had privately hidden her.

After all, if the day truly came when they crossed swords, she would leave Xiao Li a way out, but Wei Qishan, upon discovering he had shown disloyalty, would not necessarily do the same.

Moreover, this incident occurred before the envoys from the Liang and Chen camps came to demand her. Wei Qishan would surely have that General Wei who had seen her personally oversee her being sent away, so Xiao Li couldn’t secretly manipulate things and use a substitute to swap her out.

If she continued to endure without acting, when the envoys from the Liang and Chen camps came to demand her, Xiao Li would send out a substitute. Even if the two camps’ envoys didn’t recognize her, Wei Qishan, considering the Northern Wei’s interests, would help Xiao Li “confirm” that the person sent back was indeed her.

At that point, Xiao Li could either confess to Wei Qishan that he had simply taken a fancy to a “concubine of Jiang Yu,” or equivocate with Wei Qishan. For the sake of this fierce general in his hands, Wei Qishan could only let it go without pursuing the matter, and she would truly be trapped by Xiao Li.

But that Xiao Li, in his fury, would do such a thing—this was truly something Wen Yu hadn’t anticipated.

Her lips still burned with a dull ache, as if they truly had been gnawed by a wolf-dog.

The anger in Wen Yu’s eyes deepened. She stared at the book for two breaths, and still unable to read a single word, she raised her hand and closed the pages.

—

Xiao Li spread out a map on the long table. Zhang Huai said: “The scouts discovered the Pei army’s movements outside Pankou Pass. They’re escorting grain and supplies that they’ve plundered from the northern border residents these past days, seemingly transporting them in large quantities toward the southern border.”

Xiao Li asked: “Has all the Pei army’s forces in the northern border completely withdrawn?”

Zhang Huai said: “For several consecutive days, no Pei army has been seen operating within the border.”

Zheng Hu, holding a tea bowl at the side, interjected: “Isn’t this perfect? Although we can’t fight the Pei dogs, we can focus on fighting the barbarians, which also saves us from being pulled in two directions.”

After thinking for a moment, Xiao Li still said: “Have the scouts continue to closely monitor the Pei army’s movements. Patrols in each prefecture’s territory must not be neglected either.”

After Zhang Huai acknowledged this, he glanced at the obvious wound on Xiao Li’s lower lip, seeming somewhat puzzled: “Zhou Jun, what did you eat that bit you?”

Xiao Li had just picked up his tea bowl. He made an “mm” sound and then simply focused on drinking his tea.

But Zhang Huai said: “How did you eat so hastily that you bit your outer lower lip like this?”

Caught off guard, Xiao Li choked and coughed. He set down the tea bowl and covered his mouth with his hand, coughing for quite a while.

Zheng Hu beside him, with a straightforward expression, helped pat his back: “Hey, Second Brother, how did you drink tea so hastily too? Drink slowly, drink slowly.”

Song Qin at the side silently held his tea bowl and took a sip.

When the coughing finally subsided, Xiao Li raised his eyes to look at Zhang Huai. The other party smiled innocuously and changed the subject: “I heard that today the Marquis of Wei’s daughter came to the army camp and caused unpleasantness?”

Today, after Xiao Li left, Zheng Hu and Song Qin continued to supervise the training grounds and hadn’t personally witnessed what happened at the central command tent. But news of Wei Jiamin riding her horse and barging into the military camp’s重地, whipping numerous soldiers, and finally threatening to make those soldiers’ lives pay for her horse had long spread throughout the army.

Zheng Hu immediately wore an expression of bad luck: “She really is a living ancestor who’s been spoiled beyond all bounds. Whipping the soldiers guarding the inner camp wasn’t enough—she wanted their heads too! The Marquis of Wei actually still wants to matchmake for Second Brother. If Second Brother really married her, I’m afraid our camp brothers wouldn’t be enough for her to kill!”

His words had barely fallen when a soldier outside the tent came running urgently to report: “Zhou Jun! Captain Lin’s leg has been trampled and broken by a horse ridden by a general from the military supervisor’s retinue!”

Everyone in the tent was shocked.

Captain Lin was the young officer who had blocked Wei Jiamin this morning.

When Xiao Li, Song Qin, Zhang Huai and the others arrived, they saw him clutching his leg and rolling frantically on the muddy ground where snow had melted, howling in pain.

Wei Pingzin, meanwhile, sat arrogantly on horseback with a group of Wei household guards.

The young officer’s face was already covered in mud from rolling on the ground, his eyes bloodshot. Seeing Xiao Li, he could only painfully call out from his throat: “Zhou Jun…”

Xiao Li’s face was as frosty as ice. He immediately ordered those below: “Quickly fetch a stretcher to carry him to the military physician.”

Someone immediately ran to fetch a stretcher.

Wei Pingzin, sitting high on his horse, showed not a trace of remorse as he smiled and said to Xiao Li: “My man was rushing to deliver a message for me and urged his horse forward. Unexpectedly, this general darted out midway, and he couldn’t rein in the horse, which trampled and injured this general. Take this small sum to help this general recover. I hope Zhou Jun won’t take offense.”

As he spoke, he took out a bulging money pouch from under his cloak. With a flick of his fingers, the pouch fell and landed in the mud.

He had clearly come to avenge his sister for this morning’s arrow that killed her horse.

Zheng Hu was grinding his teeth in hatred and immediately wanted to step forward, but Song Qin pressed down on his shoulder.

All the righteousness army soldiers present also showed indignant expressions, the killing intent in their eyes even surpassing the cold of the wind and snow at this moment.

But Wei Pingzin obviously didn’t think they could do anything to him. Facing their hostility, he only curled the corner of his mouth with slight mockery, clearly treating them as ants beneath his feet.

After saying those words, he turned his horse to leave, but heard Xiao Li ask: “Who rode the horse?”

Wei Pingzin turned his head back. New and old grievances stacked together, he felt this was the first time he had so thoroughly humiliated Xiao Li, and his heart was greatly pleased. He looked at him rather provocatively, then indicated with his eyes for the mustachioed general on his side rear to step forward.

Xiao Li had an impression of this mustachioed general—the other party seemed to be someone who had always followed Wei Pingzin.

He probably felt that with Wei Pingzin’s protection, he had nothing to fear from Xiao Li either. After riding his horse forward, he made an affected show of clasping his fists toward Xiao Li: “My apologies, Zhou Jun Xiao. The roads are slippery with snow, and this general suddenly rushed out from between the tent passages. This humble general didn’t have time to rein in the horse.”

The stretcher hadn’t arrived yet. The young officer was in so much pain that he was banging the back of his head against the ground, his voice hoarse from pain-filled moans, almost without strength to speak. Hearing these words, a pair of eyes still burst with extreme pain and hatred, as if he couldn’t devour the general’s flesh alive—clearly the true situation was not as the general described.

Xiao Li calmly said to the general: “Come here.”

Hearing Xiao Li’s abnormal tone, the general still felt an inexplicable fear in his heart and looked toward Wei Pingzin with his eyes.

This action aroused Wei Pingzin’s hidden anger. His own man appearing afraid of Xiao Li in front of the assembled generals was tantamount to humiliation for him. He said impatiently: “Zhou Jun Xiao is calling you over, so just go.”

Though the general still hesitated, he thought that at worst he’d be whipped by Xiao Li—could the other party actually kill him in front of Wei Pingzin?

Thinking this way, his confidence grew. He rode his horse toward Xiao Li, stopping three paces away. Without dismounting, he feigned respect: “I don’t know why Zhou Jun Xiao summons this humble general… Ahh—”

Before finishing his sentence, he suddenly screamed miserably. Blood immediately gushed like a fountain from his leg. Amid the war horse’s startled neighing as it reared up, his body lost balance and he tumbled headfirst from the horse.

The screams as he rolled on the ground were far more chilling than those of the young officer whose leg had been trampled by the horse: “My leg… my leg… Young Lord, my leg…”

His gaze looked with desolation at his severed leg that had fallen into the mud, but the startled horse trampled wildly, and though Song Qin quickly stepped forward to control the horse, that severed leg was still stomped on several times by the horse’s hooves in the mud—the scene was truly quite bloody.

The general himself felt his stomach turn at the sight. Not far away, Wei Pingzin’s face had long since turned pale as a corpse, nearly retching.

“You… you dare…” He pointed at Xiao Li, about to accuse him, but when his gaze met those cold and fierce eyes, Wei Pingzin felt as if the King of Hell had glanced at him. In an instant, he felt cold from head to toe, his whole body went soft, and his head felt dizzy.

He unconsciously swallowed, unable to get out the rest of his words.

That was an instinctive fear of death.

—Just now, almost no one had seen clearly how Xiao Li had struck. That general had already had a leg severed and fallen to the ground wailing.

Logically, with such fierce blade momentum, after severing the general’s leg, the remaining force should have at minimum disemboweled that horse, but he had restrained it—he hadn’t even left a scratch on the leather straps securing the saddle on that side.

Xiao Li sheathed the long blade in his hand. Crimson blood traces ran along the bright blade edge all the way down to the blade tip, dripping drop by drop into the mud, blooming into a pale rouge color.

When he returned the blade to the personal guard from whom he had drawn it, the other party’s expression was still dazed, obviously not yet having reacted.

Xiao Li glanced at him sideways. Only then did he wake as from a dream and stiffly extend his hand to receive it.

“Zhou Jun!” Wei Ang came riding from a distance, his face expressing alarm that could be described as soul-scattered, clearly having just received the news and rushed over.

Originally intending to mediate between the two, but upon seeing the Tongzhou young officer lying on the ground and the Wei camp general who had a leg completely severed, Wei Ang seemed to know he had arrived too late. He froze completely, momentarily not knowing what else to say.

Xiao Li paid no attention to Wei Ang. After returning the blade, he raised his eyes to look at Wei Pingzin. On that young and handsome yet cold face was a dignity and killing intent far exceeding his years: “I will request resignation from the Marquis of Shuobian. Henceforth, if this person dares trespass into my Tongzhou military camp again, it will be treated as an attack on the camp!”

The soldiers below, who had long been holding in a belly full of anger, immediately erupted in gratifying shouts.

Wei Pingzin and his group below were frightened by those tide-like shouts and all retreated several steps on their horses.

But this entire camp was where the righteousness army was stationed. They had nowhere to retreat to, and for a moment, their expressions all showed some alarm.

Wei Ang was also terrified, hastily shouting at Xiao Li: “Zhou Jun, you mustn’t! Zhou Jun, you mustn’t!”

But Xiao Li was unwilling to hear any more from him. As he turned to walk back, he said: “See the guests out.”

The armored soldiers below immediately crossed their halberds to block Wei Ang’s path.

Wei Ang could only watch helplessly as Xiao Li left with his personal guards. The injured righteousness army young officer was being carried on a stretcher by soldiers below, following them.

He turned around dejectedly, looking at the general still clutching his leg and moaning, and at Wei Pingzin who looked as if he had only now realized what trouble he’d caused. He was truly so angry he could barely speak: “Young Lord! What have you done!”

Wei Pingzin’s face showed some embarrassment. He lowered his head for a moment, but soon shouted: “Minmin was treated disrespectfully in his army camp and had her beloved horse shot to death. When she came to me, she cried until her eyes were swollen. What’s wrong with me seeking justice for Minmin?”

Recalling Xiao Li’s actions just now, his heart burned even more. He pointed forcefully in the direction Xiao Li had left and shouted: “That he, surnamed Xiao, dares to say such things clearly shows he has the ambitions of a wolf—he’s long had rebellious intent! I’m going to send a letter to Father, have him send Uncle Yuan or Uncle Liao to lead troops here to arrest this man!”

Those righteousness army soldiers who hadn’t yet dispersed, though they dared not attack them without Xiao Li’s military order, clearly showed even heavier hostility on their faces after hearing Wei Pingzin’s words. Some even spat “Ptui!” at them fiercely.

Wei Pingzin, as if receiving some confirmation, pointed at them and shouted to Wei Ang: “You see, you see!”

The veins on Wei Ang’s forehead were almost throbbing beyond control. He shouted at Wei Pingzin: “Enough!”

These righteousness armies hadn’t yet been completely absorbed into the Wei camp. After several major battles, they all looked to Xiao Li as their leader. Today, the Wei siblings bullied the righteousness army soldiers first, then Xiao Li protected them and, heartbroken, made harsh statements—and Wei Pingzin was forcibly pinning on him a label of having rebellious intent all along.

Who wouldn’t feel disheartened hearing this?

But he no longer had the heart to persuade Wei Pingzin. He turned his head aside in embarrassment and said as if resigned to fate: “…Write a letter to inform the Marquis of this matter.”

—

When Doctor Tao urgently arrived after receiving the news, the young officer had just been carried to the central command tent.

Doctor Tao felt his leg bones while examining his injuries. Though the young officer was biting a wooden stick, he was still in such pain that his face contorted, his body soaked with sweat like wrung cloth. In his agony, he struck the ground with his elbow. Several soldiers nearby helped hold down his limbs together, yet could barely restrain him.

“Bear it, bear it…” Doctor Tao comforted him thus. After finishing his examination of the young man’s injuries throughout his body, his expression was not relaxed. Looking at Xiao Li, he shook his head and said: “The bones have all been crushed. This leg is beyond saving. Most serious is that trampling wound on his chest and abdomen—from the pulse, it’s already caused internal organ damage and bleeding.”

Xiao Li’s face was grim as frost. The other officers in the tent, hearing such a result, showed indignation mixed with particular sympathy.

This was mostly beyond saving.

The young officer released the wooden stick he’d been biting. He stared fixedly at the tent roof, his eyes red and swollen from crying, and hot tears rolled from the corners of his eyes once more. He seemed to have so much unwillingness, but he only looked toward Xiao Li and said somewhat chokingly: “I’m sorry… Zhou Jun, this humble general has caused you trouble…”

Xiao Li walked over, half-crouched down, and grasped his mud-covered hand that hung over the side of the stretcher, saying to him: “You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Hearing Xiao Li say this, the young officer seemed to want to cry but, because he was in too much pain, could only make faint gasping sounds.

Xiao Li asked him: “Your name is Lin An, isn’t it? I remember you—you’re my Western Camp Captain. I have a younger brother who’s also called Xiao An. Who else is there in your family?”

Tears welled in the young officer’s eyes. He answered haltingly: “My mother, and a twelve-year-old younger brother, a five-year-old younger sister…”

Xiao Li wiped away his tears and said: “From now on, they are also my mother, my younger brother and sister. I’ll look after them for you. Focus on recovering.”

The young officer’s tears flowed even more heavily. Drawing shallow breaths, he responded that he would.

When the soldiers below carried him to the wounded soldiers’ camp, before Doctor Tao left, Xiao Li said: “If he can’t pull through, please give him more anesthetic powder so he won’t be in so much pain before he goes.”

Doctor Tao understood. He nodded silently.

After Doctor Tao left, Zhang Huai asked: “Does Zhou Jun truly plan to break away from the Wei camp over this?”

Before Xiao Li could speak, Zheng Hu’s eyes had already reddened with anger. He heavily slapped the table: “What else? Should we continue to suffer this indignity? Look at Captain Lin! Did the Wei family’s young lord treat us as human beings?”

Zhang Huai said: “I know that today’s matter has made all the generals extremely angry, and the soldiers below also have fury in their hearts. But the more it’s like this, the more we cannot act on impulse—we need to consider longer-term interests.”

Zheng Hu said angrily: “At a time like this, what damn interests are there to consider!”

Zhang Huai knew this was just his temperament. Understanding he was at the height of his anger, he didn’t argue with him, only looking at Xiao Li: “Today’s fault lies with the Wei siblings. This behavior not only breaks the hearts of us in Tongzhou’s army but also breaks the hearts of the other righteousness armies. Today the Wei family could do this to us—in the future, they could do the same to other righteousness armies.”

“This act has inadvertently helped us unite all the righteousness armies together. But Zhou Jun has always cared for the soldiers below, never letting them suffer indignities at the hands of the Wei camp’s direct forces. Based on Captain Lin’s tragic encounter alone, it’s not enough to make those righteousness armies risk becoming enemies of the Northern Wei and completely turn toward us. The Marquis of Shuobian values Zhou Jun, true, but he also fears Zhou Jun growing too powerful, which is why he planted the thorn Wei Ang to stay embedded in our army, monitoring Zhou Jun’s every move. Right now is precisely when we can negotiate terms with the Marquis of Wei!”

Seeing that Xiao Li still hadn’t spoken, Zhang Huai continued persuading: “To break from the Wei camp—the timing hasn’t arrived yet. Our current situation is exactly like the Liang camp’s situation several months ago. That Princess Hanyang of the Liang camp is truly a capable person. After the two soul-crushing battles at Majialiang and Wayaobao, while still bearing the infamy of usurping the kingdom spread by Pei Song, she could still maintain her composure, go hold King Chen Ting accountable, and negotiate terms, finally obtaining the Chen Kingdom’s regency authority and leading the Chen army back to fight in Liang territory. Why don’t we also seize on the Wei siblings’ mistake and make the Wei camp yield?”

He looked around at everyone in the tent: “The two crucial border defense battles in the northern territory—it was Zhou Jun who led the brothers through life-and-death struggles to win them. That other fifteen thousand righteousness army troops were also trained single-handedly by Zhou Jun. Are all of you truly willing to have us risk life and limb like this only to make wedding clothes for the Wei camp? If we leave now and the Northern Wei is unwilling to let the tiger return to the mountain, if the two armies cross swords, those who will die in our army won’t be limited to just one fine son like Captain Lin!”

The officers in the tent all showed expressions of unwillingness and indignation. Zheng Hu also sulkily turned his head aside.

Only then did Zhang Huai bow to Xiao Li: “Huai earnestly requests that Zhou Jun observe the Marquis of Shuobian’s response after learning of this matter before making a final decision.”

—

**Author’s Note:**

[Mini Theater]

Student Xiao Huan: I want to rebel.

Zhang Huai: No! You don’t!

Student Xiao Huan: I’m learning from Wei Qishan.

Zhang Huai: Don’t! Learn from your Princess instead!