Chapter 188
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“Who are you?” Humiliated, He Xiao shouted.
The woman did not even look at him, and merely smiled at the other lady who was approaching her, asking, “You are Chu Qiao?”
Chu Qiao nodded. She saw that the intruder was a lady with beautiful eyes and tender skin. Her eyes were warm and her expression was gentle. At first glance, one could mistake her pristine white skin for snow, and her pitch black eyes as the night sky. On her face, there was a tinge of handsomeness as she observed Chu Qiao with impunity. Yet, what attracted Chu Qiao the most was not her looks, but the cape that she wore. If she remembered correctly, this cape was worn by Zhuge Yue the day before. Seeing that, Chu Qiao frowned.
“My master requested me to hand this to you.” It was the Canhong Sword. Chu Qiao took it and thanked her. “Thank you. May I ask for your name?”
“My surname is Meng. I believe we will meet again soon. Farewell.” Having said that, the lady pulled on the reins of her horse, and the horse quickly turned around and galloped off, leaving the enraged Commander He Xiao rooted to the ground.
“Master, who was that woman?”
Those guarding Chu Qiao were all elites of Southwest Emissary’s Garrison, and were all trustworthy soldiers. Chu Qiao did not hide anything, and answered him calmly, “I believe she is General Meng Feng, who has become famous in recent battles.”
“Meng Feng? Meng Tian’s granddaughter?”
Chu Qiao did not speak, and merely pulled out the Canhong Sword from the scabbard. She could almost see a reflection of her iris on the polished blade. It had already been two years since she last saw this sword, and she had already gotten used to the touch of the Moon Shatterer Sword in the past two years.
Ge Qi quietly asked, “She is the granddaughter of Meng Tian? But she did not look like it. To be frank, I think she looks like Lady Baisheng.”
“Do not let her hear that!” He Xiao quickly explained, “She was adopted by General Meng Tian, and had been groomed as a man since young. She even studied at Shang Wu Hall along with the other boys of the Meng Family. After Zhuge Yue was promoted to Chief Commandant, she was a.s.signed as his subordinate. In the last half year, she was particularly active on the frontlines. Why did she suddenly appear here? Master, should we head up to find out more? There may be some conspiracy here.”
Chu Qiao did not reply, and merely continued to observe the sword. Only after He Xiao had called out a few times did she finally respond. Calmly, she instructed, “It would be best if everyone pretended that nothing had happened today.” Upon hearing that, people all understood something, and they continued on their journey.
At this time, Meng Feng had already caught up to Zhuge Yue and the others who were in disguise. Removing her cape discreetly, she handed it to Zhuge Yue’s servant. After changing back to her usual attire, she casually walked over to Zhuge Yue, and informed him, “The item has been delivered.”
Zhuge Yue acted as though he had not heard anything, and merely walked off. Meng Feng smiled as she looked on at his figure. In her mind, she started to a.n.a.lyze his thoughts. Usually, there would be two cases when a person walked away before waiting for the other person to finish talking. The first would be when he was not in the least bit interested; the second would be when he was afraid that his thoughts could be discerned by others. Looking at this cla.s.smate of her’s from Shang Wu Hall, she started to whistle casually in amus.e.m.e.nt. What Chief Commandant Zhuge was thinking was something that everyone could tell!
“This trip was totally worth it,” she mused to herself.
After three days, Chu Qiao finally reached the Yan Bei camp that was set up along the Xuekui River. By the time the rations had been unloaded, the sun had already set. After eating dinner, Chu Qiao chatted with her comrades, and returned to her tent.
After one year, Pingan had grown much taller, and was already a big boy. Smiling, he started to boil water for her, and kept talking about his experiences. He was full of hospitality.
Yan Xun was not in the army. By now, there was a fort that was built along the Xuekui River. Named Longyin Pa.s.s, it was merely separated by a river from the Yanming Pa.s.s. The bulk of the Yan Bei forces were gathered at the Longyin Pa.s.s, and Yan Xun had already settled the bulk of his camp into the fort. Only occasionally would he visit the nearby camps.
After travelling on the snowy plains for many days, it had been a long time since she last took a bath. Lying in the bathtub, Chu Qiao felt like she could fall asleep. Unfortunately, she still had paperwork to settle, and could only take a quick bath before dragging her tired body in front of the desk to start reading.
The night dragged on, and even the air smelled like the army. With the flames shining onto Chu Qiao’s face, the contours of her delicate face were projected onto the side of the tent as a shadow. From the outside, one could see a clear and beautiful outline. It had been over a year since she had last seen Yan Xun. In the past year, apart from formal communication, they had barely talked to each other. Even their occasional letters were written in a formal tone.
Sometime back, an old lady suddenly headed to Hui Hui Mountains and looked for Chu Qiao. Upon seeing her, the old lady gave her a ton of things from Yan Xun, and kept singing praises about Chu Qiao. Only after speaking to the old lady for a long while did Chu Qiao finally understand that the old lady was there to act as a therapist for her and Yan Xun. To require someone to act as a therapist was such an amusing development. After living together all their lives and depending on each other, they needed a third party to act as a therapist. Their relationship had reached a point where they needed a therapist.
That old lady came in the name of matchmaking, but actually her job was merely to inform her. A stream of bridal gifts filled Chu Qiao’s room, and running out of s.p.a.ce to place them, Chu Qiao eventually had to fill the corridor and the courtyard. Everything was rare goods, ranging from pearls that were as large as a child’s fist, to a coral reef that was as tall as an adult. From silk clothes that where so thin and light that one could send them flying with a soft blow, to shoes carved out of premium jade. There were also ruby earrings, rainbow colored porcelain, and even luxury goods from the far West, etc. It was as though all of the rare goods of the world had been brought before her eyes. In addition, Yan Xun had announced that he would build a palace atop Luori Mountain called Nada Palace as her residence. At that time, Chu Qiao found out in the northern dialects, “Nada” meant “true love”.
With all the luxury that one could imagine of placed before her eyes, she should have felt touched, or even cried tears of joy and appreciation. Yet, she was not jubilant in even the slightest. She sat on a vine chair. Her fingertips were pale and cold. If it had been a year ago, perhaps she would jump in joy. She kept feeling that all these presents was merely Yan Xun’s efforts to reconcile and make up with her.
Yan Xun had changed so much that she could no longer recognize him. Many times she questioned the meaning of her actions. Even if Yan Xun won, it was merely the replacement of the Zhao Family by the Yan Family, which was the normal shifting of dynasties like any other nation. Whatever she had envisioned was now headed in a path that she had not desired. Yet she kept lying to those kind civilians, convincing them to enter the army, encouraging them to rebuild their homes, inspiring them to fight with courage. These civilians gave their all, and many even sacrificed their lives, fighting on the battlefield while wholeheartedly believing that they would leave behind a better era for their children. But ultimately, they would merely die in vain. These naive civilians were unknowingly fighting a war that was irrelevant to them. Everytime she started thinking about this, Chu Qiao felt that she was a complete a.s.sh*le. She had been a liar through and through.
Leaning on her desk, she placed her forehead on the pages. She felt a bit tired. The candlelight flickered in the darkness, occasionally lighting up brightly for a short moment before returning to its usual brightness. Everything was so quiet, and she almost fell asleep.
Yan Xun stood before her tent for quite a while. Upon knowing that Chu Qiao would be arriving, he rode his horse, and with merely 20 bodyguards, he returned to this main encampment. In the current circ.u.mstances, such an act was irrational as there were too many people who wanted him dead—the Xia Empire, the Quan Rong people, and even some Yan Bei people who merely appeared to be loyal to him. Yet, his desire to meet her was too strong, so strong that he threw all cautions to the wind. But standing before her tent, he dared not enter.
The King of Yan Bei that had shocked the world. One who dared to bring the elites of his troops deep into the Xia Empire when Yan Bei itself was at risk of being conquered, turned into a coward who dared not even enter a small tent.
According to Grandma Yin, AhChu had cried out in joy upon hearing the news of their marriage, and kneeled down on the ground crying words of thanks. He knew that Grandma Yin was merely trying to make him happy. How could AhChu cry in front of others? How could AhChu kneel on the ground to show thanks? Yan Xun could almost imagine what AhChu would be like when she heard everything. She must have sat there emotionlessly, quietly, while the old lady kept talking. And at the end of the old lady’s monologue, she would just say, “Alright.”
That was what most likely happened.
In Yan Xun’s imagination, while Chu Qiao listened to the old lady blabbering, beside her there were be doc.u.ments laid out in the open, and a cup of tea that had already turned cold. She would be wearing a casual cotton shirt with her long hair loosely hanging by her side. She would be completely unfazed, as though everything was none of her business. Even though that was their marriage, it was their marriage that they had fantasized about, even back in Zhen Huang.
Yan Xun did not know what went wrong. Perhaps he did, but he did not want to face it. He thought that he still believed in AhChu. He knew that even if everyone were to betray him in the world, AhChu would not. But precisely because of that, he did not want her to remain in the army, and did not want her to be overly attached to the Southwest Emissary’s Garrison. The world was constantly changing. Even if one did not intend to, there would always be people and things that would push one onto a certain path. Yan Xun was afraid that there would be a day that he would stand on the opposing sides of her. When each of them had their own group of supporters, they would have no choice but to fight each other.
AhChu was an excellent strategist, but she was not an excellent politician. She would never know the dark side of politics. What he desired would result in rivers of blood and mountains of corpses. He did not regret doing all that, as everything was voluntary. No one had forced him to do as such, and in fact, he had actually enjoyed the process of killing. The hatred and resentment that had built up over the years had been gnawing at his heart, and the humiliation he had faced those years haunted him in his sleep. Yet, he only wished that as he did all this, she would not be there to see him rear his ugly side. He wished that she would not judge him with her eyes, and eventually hate him. Perhaps she would feel angry now, but time would heal all wounds. He would use his entire life to make up with her, to explain to her.
Yan Xun confidently smiled. When he held the whole world in his hands, she would understand what he had done today was right.
The frail shadow that had been projected onto the tent was so clear that he could tell which part was her eyes, which part was her hand. With the silvery moonlight bathing his figure, his black overcoat seemed ever so depressing. The man’s figure seemed so solemn in the barren white background, along with the singing of Yan Bei folk songs by some warriors in the distance.
Slowly, Yan Xun stretched out his hand. Illuminated by the moonlight, a grey shadow appeared on the tent. Yan Xun’s hand was raised up, as his shadow drew near. Finally, the grey shadow touched the black shadow. It touched the nose, the face, and the forehead. The shadows showed the contours of the lady’s figure, and a her lover’s hands.