In the main tent of the Northern Qiang army, Wang Yuepi reclined on a soft couch, propping his head up with one hand. The firelight flickered across his face, making his expression inscrutable.
The subordinate generals who had accompanied him stood silently below the dais with their heads bowed, not daring to make a sound. In the center of the tent was a white cloth draped over the vague outline of a person.
Wang Yuepi hummed softly, sitting up slightly. "So just two men... slaughtered your general right in front of my twenty thousand strong cavalry..."
His eyes moved slowly, sweeping across the generals below. Each one he looked at involuntarily trembled, a testament to Wang Yuepi’s harsh discipline.
Wang Yuepi rubbed his face with a large hand and said, "Were those two men immortals that descended from the heavens or something?"
The generals below exchanged glances. Nobody was willing to speak first.
Wang Yuepi slammed his hand on the armrest, producing a loud noise. He glared furiously and roared, "Speak! Up!"
The generals flinched in fear. The one closest to Wang Yuepi gritted his teeth, stepped forward, and said, "Commander Bear, I heard reports from our men... that the two seemed to possess unmatched courage, charging into our ranks with no one able to stop them..."
"No one was able to stop them? Murong Buguan, it seems you’ve lost your nerve!" Wang Yuepi sneered, baring a set of menacing white teeth. "By that account, if those two wanted to storm our camp, could they just take my head as they pleased?"
"No!" Murong Buguan’s face changed drastically. "That was not my intention!" he hurriedly refuted.
Wang Yuepi’s expression grew darker. He stared at Lin Zhongbao's shrouded corpse on the ground for a long time before asking again, "Were those two soldiers of the Ruen Dynasty?"
"No," replied a man on Wang Yuepi’s left. He wore no armor, was slender in build, had a shaved forehead with a braid on the left side, and appeared to be in his early forties. He was unmistakably a pure-blooded Northern Qiang.
Wang Yuepi’s gaze landed on the man, and he smacked his lips before sayign, "Guarjia Aduo, tell me what you know."
Guarjia Aduo stroked the beard on his chin and said slowly, "From what I know, the two were dressed in ordinary clothes. If they were Ruen Dynasty soldiers, why would they go into battle without even donning armor?
"Moreover, one wielded a Tang blade, and the other swung an odd gourd that made whooshing sounds. Such peculiar weapons are hardly standard to regular soldiers."
"A gourd?" Wang Yuepi’s face stiffened, as if recalling an unpleasant memory.
Guarjia Aduo also raised his head at this moment, looking at Wang Yuepi with some puzzlement.
"According to the returning soldiers, the one with the gourd shouted on the battlefield that he knew you, Commander Bear... Do you remember that person?"
Wang Yuepi instinctively rubbed his chest and murmured, "Could it be... that person?"
A glimmer of insight flashed in Guarjia Aduo’s eyes as he pressed further, "Commander, do you indeed know this person? Could you share a bit—"
Wang Yuepi raised his hand to stop Guarjia Aduo from continuing. A flicker of ruthlessness flashed in his eyes.
"Don’t ask what you shouldn’t. Lin Zhongbao has returned to the embrace of the grasslands. Life and death on the battlefield are matters of fate, but this matter cannot be overlooked.
"After this defeat, morale in the camp is low. You all go back and regroup. Next time, I will personally lead the charge and take Liangzhou!"
The generals in the tent all looked up, shocked, at Wang Yuepi. Guarjia Aduo quickly spoke up, "Commander, you must not. The Grand Commander has already ordered us to wait for reinforcements and only harass Liangzhou for the sake of weakening their morale... You would be disobeying orders!"
Wang Yuepi chuckled coldly at Guarjia Aduo.
"If we fail to take the city, it would be disobeying orders. But if I succeed, it becomes a huge military triumph."
Guarjia Aduo felt a chill under Wang Yuepi's hardening gaze. He wanted to speak but didn’t dare to open his mouth again.
"This city commander is so stingy," Xue Qiming grumbled, clutching a cloth bag in his arms as he walked beside Ye Beizhi. "Only gave us a measly hundred taels of silver."
The two walked under the eaves along the street, avoiding most of the rain.
Ye Beizhi glanced sideways at the cloth bag in Xue Qiming’s arms. Rain had splashed onto it, faintly revealing the familiar angular shapes beneath.
"Does it feel hot in your hands?" Ye Beizhi asked softly.
Xue Qiming laughed heartily. "Since when is silver ever too hot to hold? No matter how hot it is, I’ll never let go!"
Ye Beizhi sighed. "That silver comes at a price."
Xue Qiming dismissed Ye Beizhi's concern nonchalantly. "So what if there's a price."
Ye Beizhi opened his mouth but said nothing, looking as if he wanted to speak but refrained. In the end, he just shook his head.
"Hey..." Xue Qiming opened the cloth bag slightly, allowing a brief glimmer of silver to spill out. He pulled out a silver ingot and handed it to Ye Beizhi. "I know what you’re thinking... you’re afraid that if we take this silver, that official will call on us every time there’s a battle, right?"
Ye Beizhi put the silver back into the bag and pointed at Xue Qiming. "You took the silver, not us."
"Pfft. Fine, then don’t take it." Xue Qiming pursed his lips. "You’re so stubborn. Can’t you think outside the box? Even without this silver, we still have to fight Northern QIang for as long as Forsaken Phoenix takes to brew the medicine. This silver is just a bonus. There's no reason not to take it."
Ye Beizhi thought for a moment but couldn’t find a way to argue against that logic.
The two arrived back at the inn as they talked.
Ye Beizhi took off his straw hat, shook off a few stubborn raindrops under the eaves, and hung it by the door. Xue Qiming, holding the bag, stepped forward and knocked on the door. "Open up, open up!"
Footsteps sounded from inside, and soon the door opened. Xue Niang peeked her head out. Seeing it was them, she opened the door fully.
"Where have you been?" Xue Niang asked, staring at Xue Qiming’s bloodied appearance.
"Just out for a stroll with him," Xue Qiming said, pointing at Ye Beizhi.
Xue Niang was about to ask more, but Xue Qiming suddenly grinned at her and pulled a silver ingot from the bag. "Here, take it!"
Xue Niang took the silver, scrutinized it for a long moment to confirm it was real, then looked up and questioned Xue Qiming, "Tell me, where did this come from?"
Xue Qiming winked at her. "I picked it up on our walk."
Xue Niang pursed her lips, clearly not believing his excuse, but she still tucked the silver into her pocket without reservation.
Ye Beizhi walked past the two into the inn and found Chi Nanwei and Fang Dingwu standing inside. They clearly came down after hearing the knock.
Ye Beizhi paused briefly, then nodded at Chi Nanwei.
Chi Nanwei stared at Ye Beizhi’s clothes that were nearly soaked in blood. "Where did you go?" she asked.
"Ah..." Ye Beizhi hesitated, glanced back at Xue Qiming, and replied somewhat awkwardly, "Went out... for a walk..."
Fang Dingwu burst out laughing and pointed at Xue Niang. "Brother Ye, do you think we’re kids who are so easily fooled?"
"I’m not that easy to fool either," Xue Niang snapped coldly, her gaze sharp as she stared at Xue Qiming.
"Ha... ha..." Xue Qiming looked up at the ceiling, laughing awkwardly.
Chi Nanwei fixed her gaze unwaveringly on Ye Beizhi, making him feel extremely uncomfortable.
"Where did you go?" Chi Nanwei asked again.
Ye Beizhi instinctively avoided her gaze and mumbled, "Outside the city..."
"What if you hadn’t?"
Ye Beizhi paused, hesitating before replying, "If we hadn’t... we’d be dead."
"Dead..." Chi Nanwei took a deep breath.
Hearing the shift in her tone, Ye Beizhi looked up and saw that Chi Nanwei’s eyes were already brimming with tears.
"If you were dead..." Chi Nanwei gently closed her eyes, and glistening tears overflowed, falling to the ground and shattering like a plum blossom.
"What would I do with myself?"