Chapter 87
Xilin hurried back to the inn through the snow, without carrying an umbrella. He crossed the courtyard and walked up the steps, and upon lifting his gaze, he saw Wei Wanyu standing under the eaves. She lifted her eyelids to size him up for a moment, a hint of surprise in her eyes.
The innkeeper was crouched on the ground, meticulously wiping the dust off the railing with a cloth. When he saw Xilin return, he smiled and said, "Sir Chen, you're finally back. The madam has been waiting for you for a long time."
"My wife," Xilin's lips were pressed together, the snow on his shoulders melted into water, seeping into the fabric. "I'm back."
Wei Wanyu looked somewhat uncomfortable, nodded at him, and simply said, "Let's talk inside," before turning and walking into the room. Xilin followed suit, and once the door was closed, Wei Wanyu turned to him.
His face was frozen pale, with a thin layer of snow on his eyebrows.
She hesitated for a moment, picked up a silver pot from the stove and poured him a cup of water.
Xilin knew what she was worried about, brushed off the snow on his shoulders, his voice low and indifferent. "I won't leave secretly until I find the Second Prince for you."
Wei Wanyu didn't know how to respond, she looked up at him and simply said, "Oh." After all, they had only met halfway, and he showed no false pretenses, so she had never been able to trust him.
"I went to the North Mansion this morning," Xilin said.
Wei Wanyu raised her head at the sound of his voice. When she woke up this morning, the room's pallet was already empty, and she thought he had quietly left. She did not expect him to have gone to the North Mansion.
"Is Ziren in the mansion?" she asked.
She had been in Luojia for nearly a month. She had pretended to wait in front of the North Mansion for a long time, but she had never seen Ziren.
She suspected that he was not in Luojia at all.
"I have found out that the Second Prince is stationed at the border military camp all year round and rarely returns to Luojia City," Xilin said, eyes lowered.
"What should we do then?" Wei Wanyu wrinkled her delicate nose.
Xilin glanced at her, his voice low. "Yanchi and Dongli are at war, and the Northern barbarians are likely to attack the border to help Yanchi. At this time, the Second Prince will not easily leave the border camp. If we want to see him, we have to go there."
"It's not possible," Wei Wanyu immediately rejected.
Not to mention that the border camp was more than two hundred li away from Luojia, the defense of the border camp was tighter than that of the North Mansion. Once they arrived at the camp, how could they quietly enter the camp and see Ziren?
"You can give me a token, and I will find a way to deliver it to the military camp to let him see you," he sat down on a chair, picked up the teacup on the small table, and blew away the tea foam on the rim of the cup.
Wei Wanyu was stunned for a moment, then said softly, "I, I'm not afraid of death either."
"Being afraid of death is not embarrassing," Xilin said calmly, lifting his eyelids slightly from the teacup. From the moment he saw her at the Temple of the Wind God, he knew that this person was timid like a mouse.
Wei Wanyu opened her mouth but couldn't refute him. She could only turn her head away, avoiding his scrutinizing gaze. "I just feel that we shouldn't be too hasty," Wei Wanyu thought for a moment and said softly, "Let's discuss this later..."
Before she could finish saying the word "discuss," Xilin suddenly pulled out a dagger from his waist and pressed it against her slim jaw. The man's breath hit her face, like a snow wind, his voice still cold. "Stop talking nonsense, come with me to the border camp, or give me a token and wait here for me. Choose for yourself."
The cold blade pressed against her skin unexpectedly, and in his eyes, there was a faint reflection of Wei Wanyu's panicked expression. She dared not even breathe, stood up straight with a trembling body, and said, "I have lost my guard and have no token on me."
Xilin scanned her from head to toe, his gaze finally falling on her right hand. Wei Wanyu noticed his look and quickly pulled down her sleeve to cover the birthmark on the back of her hand.
But she couldn't escape his scrutiny, and his cold voice sounded in her ear. He spoke in a flat tone, without any fluctuation, "It's simple. Since you have known each other since childhood, he must recognize the birthmark on your hand. I'll take your hand to the border camp."
Wei Wanyu felt like crying and wrinkled her nose in annoyance.
This man was truly detestable. She had disliked him from the first moment they met. He had previously threatened her to pretend to be his wife to deceive others, and now he was threatening her to go to the border camp with him.
He was as cold as ice, often making her furious, yet she couldn't do anything about him.
"Why can't I go by myself?" Wei Wanyu's voice carried a hint of sullenness as she unwillingly spoke.
She surrendered so quickly, which surprised Xilin. This person was really a handful, with a spoiled attitude even while stranded outside, she didn't know how to survive in a refugee camp. After a few days of getting to know her, he realized that she was more stubborn than yielding.
At this moment, with her cheeks puffed up, she looked like a cat caught by the scruff of its neck.
He withdrew the dagger from her, and from his waist, he took out a round pellet, swiftly crushing the outer paper and stuffing the item into her mouth.
Wei Wanyu was caught off guard, looking at him with astonishment at such close proximity.
"Very obedient," Westlin said. "This is your reward."
The sweet and sour taste spread in her throat, and Wei Wanyu belatedly realized that it was a piece of sweet dates candy.
*
The snow-covered night fell quickly, and Fu Yu leaned against the soft pillow on the carriage seat. A charcoal fire burned in the carriage, and the window was only open a crack, making the air stuffy and uncomfortable.
A snowy night with a moon, casting an ethereal light over the land. Fu Yu looked down, gazing at the warm jade token in her palm.
This morning, when she parted ways with Li Yicheng in the snow, he gave her this jade token. The token was made of creamy white jade, plain and unadorned, with only a white jade lily flower bead hanging at the top, and the character "cheng" engraved on the face.
He said that there were only three jade tokens in the world: one lotus token, one lily token, and one peony token.
Belonging to the current emperor, the Crown Prince, and him.
This was his command token.
Fu Yu absentmindedly traced the character on the jade token and hung it back around her neck.
The snow-covered plain was devoid of pedestrians, with only a group of riders visible behind distant hills.
"Have they arrived?" In the shadow cast by the hill, a pair of eyes peered at the slowly advancing carriage.
"Yes."
Another hoarse voice spoke, "The Second Prince was captured by the Northern barbarians in Wusi City because of her. Now she is pregnant. If she dies because of the Crown Prince at this moment, the Second Prince will surely be furious."
"Furious is good," the person smirked coldly, sinisterly. "If Li Yicheng truly values this woman, then this is a perfect opportunity to turn brothers against each other. Let's turn the Second Prince's good deeds into a funeral."
Snowflakes fell on the silver armor, and the riders who were hidden in the shadows galloped out.
The sound of iron hooves on snow was heavy, and the vanguard officer almost instinctively placed his hand on his sword at his waist as he looked up to see dozens of figures clad in iron armor riding towards them in the snowy field.
"Who goes there?!" The vanguard officer remained calm.
The leader of the iron guards had a rough voice and said, "I am Zheng Shu of the Eastern Palace Panlong Camp. His Highness has been informed that the Concubine is pregnant, and the North is not suitable for pregnancy. It is His Highness's special command for us to bring the Concubine back to the palace to give birth."
"If it is His Highness's command, where is the decree?" the vanguard officer asked.
The iron guard took out a jade token from his pocket. "Issued by His Highness, the Prince's command token, the Panlong Jade Token, is here."
As if to dispel any doubt, the iron guard tossed the jade token forward. The vanguard officer caught it steadily, and in the moonlight, he saw that his Second Prince also had a similar command token.
"Have you seen it clearly?" the iron guard said coldly. "If you have, we will take the Concubine with us."
"We are under orders from the Second Prince to escort the Concubine to the Northern Palace," the vanguard officer replied bluntly. "If you want to take the Concubine, please go to the border camp to meet the Second Prince and take her from there. Otherwise, I regret that I cannot comply."
"How dare you?!" The iron guard scolded sternly. "Do you dare defy orders? Can the Second Prince's command override His Highness the Crown Prince? Do you want to provoke a conflict?"
The vanguard officer, who had followed Li Yicheng for many years and harbored resentment for the cold treatment he had received, responded, "If you want to find fault, you will always find an excuse! No matter what you say, I am under the command of the Second Prince to protect the Concubine, and I will not hand her over to anyone else."
The iron guard did not intend to say more and raised his chin, and the people behind him brandished their weapons. Trained assassins made every move deadly, and their numbers far exceeded those of the escort team.
Amidst the swirling snowflakes, the sound of clashing blades echoed continuously.
One by one, the members of the escort team fell, and the vanguard officer was injured on the shoulder, stumbling and falling in the snow. Taking advantage of the distraction of the iron guard, he managed to climb onto a horse's back, galloping towards the border camp in the moonlight.
"To make them turn against each other, someone has to go back and report, let him take Li Wenjian's command token back," the hoarse-voiced man squinted, looking at the lone carriage standing out in the snow.
A sly, eerie smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "If this woman dies, their brothers will surely turn against each other."
He walked towards the carriage with a raised blade, the tip dripping blood. As he reached the carriage, he lifted the heavy curtain, but his pupils suddenly widened.
As the onlookers watched the empty carriage, one person hurried to the back, pushed open the movable backboard, and exclaimed, "This carriage can open from both ends!"
The leader gritted his teeth. "She is pregnant. She couldn't have run far. Split up and pursue."
*
Pian'er slept in Wei Wanyu's arms, tense and motionless. The sound of wind and snow could be clearly heard through the carriage walls. With each step she took away from Luo Jia, towards the border camp, she felt like she was walking on a knife's edge.
A sudden halt of the carriage echoed with a sigh.
Wei Wanyu lunged forward, hitting the narrow carriage wall. She protected the sleeping Pian'er with one hand and touched her forehead with the other, then angrily kicked the wall where Xilin was leaning.
"Someone is being chased," Xilin uncertainly added, "It seems to be a woman."
Wei Wanyu rolled up the curtain slightly and looked outside, indeed seeing a woman running in the snow, with two armored pursuers behind her. Suddenly, the woman was thrust at by one of them with a sword. She widened her eyes, but saw the woman agilely dodge the attack. However, she stumbled for a moment, almost falling.
Wei Wanyu's heart was in her throat, her face pale, breathing tight.
"Quick, let's go."
"Don't come out."
Voices inside and outside the carriage simultaneously urged.
Wei Wanyu hesitated for a moment, then grabbed the curtain, gave Xilin a glare, ready to scold him for meddling, but saw Xilin shoot her a disdainful look. His lips moved quickly, and then he swiftly drew his sword from the horse's head like a flash of green lightning.
It wasn't until the clash of blades rang out, and the sound of someone screaming, that she realized the man had just called her a coward.
âââ
Author's Note:
Sorry, I went to book a hotel for my wedding today, so I couldn't update. I promise I will tomorrow (fist clenched).