Xiao Rong left the main tent. Just as he lifted the tent flap, he heard faint voices outside. The people speaking sensed the movement behind them and all turned their heads together.

Yu Shaoxie and Gao Xunzhi were muttering to each other about something unknown. When they saw Xiao Rong come out, they both showed identical looks of surprise.

“Ah Rong?”

“Rong’er?”

Immediately after, they realized what it meant for Xiao Rong to come out so unexpectedly. Gao Xunzhi hurriedly asked, “The King—?”

Before he could finish asking, Xiao Rong already nodded faintly and said to him, “He’s awake. Chancellor, go in quickly, in case something else happens inside.”

With that, he stepped off in one direction. Gao Xunzhi paused for a moment, but had no time to ask where he was going. He quickly lifted the tent flap and went in to check, while Yu Shaoxie shook his head like a rattle-drum. Torn, he looked at the main tent, then at the now distant Xiao Rong, and in the end, chased after Xiao Rong.

…

Inside the King’s tent, Gao Xunzhi finally understood why Xiao Rong had told him to go in quickly.

It was because Qu Yunmie, that stubborn mule, was actually struggling to get out of bed.

Every movement he made cost him two breaths. When he had been shot by an arrow, he had pulled it out himself. Although the soldiers had seen his injury, they couldn’t get close to him at the time. In the end, he had torn a path through the densely packed enemies—who had gathered like sharks smelling blood—and escaped alive by himself.

The Xianbei had come prepared. They had given their troops a death order: disregard everything else but leave Qu Yunmie’s life on that battlefield. Though the arrow wound above his collarbone had nearly killed him, that didn’t mean it was his only injury.

The Xianbei had been dead set on killing him. No matter how powerful Qu Yunmie was, he couldn’t escape unscathed from thousands of vicious enemies.

Even though Xiao Rong had said Qu Yunmie would wake up, Gao Xunzhi had been uneasy every day he hadn’t. Now that he saw Qu Yunmie open his eyes and move again, Gao Xunzhi went completely quiet. It felt like his heart had finally fallen, though not quite to the ground—just hanging there, wobbling, not shattering.

Pushing down his emotions, Gao Xunzhi pressed his lips together and quickly walked to Qu Yunmie’s side. He scolded, “What are you doing?! Get back in bed!”

Qu Yunmie frowned. He didn’t look at Gao Xunzhi but at the direction of the tent flap. “Xiao Rong left. I’m going to find him.”

Gao Xunzhi was exasperated. “In your state, how are you going to find him?”

Qu Yunmie said, “Why wouldn’t I be able to? My legs aren’t broken.”

As he spoke, he tried to get up. Gao Xunzhi gritted his teeth, glaring as Qu Yunmie shakily stood. Suddenly, he said coldly, “If you want to drive Xiao Rong away in anger, then go ahead and find him.”

Qu Yunmie froze mid-step and turned to Gao Xunzhi. The latter sneered. “Maybe I said it wrong—you know Xiao Rong better than I do. You won’t make him angry to death, but you will drive him away. From your behavior, you should already know how big a mess you’ve made. If you truly know you were wrong, then understand this: Xiao Rong doesn’t need your explanation right now. He just needs you to recover properly.”

Qu Yunmie stayed silent for a long time before slowly sitting back down.

He half-lay on the bed again. Gao Xunzhi came over with a cold face and pulled the blanket over him. Halfway through—

He heard Qu Yunmie say, “I wasn’t wrong.”

Gao Xunzhi’s hand paused. He looked up to see Qu Yunmie with his eyes downcast. His words were as hard as ever, but his face was even paler than when he had been unconscious.

Qu Yunmie said, not knowing if it was to someone else or himself, “I broke my promise, but I wasn’t wrong.”

After a long silence, Gao Xunzhi acted like he hadn’t heard anything. He quietly finished tucking in the blanket, and then neither of them spoke again.

＊

Xiao Rong had been there for two days, but he had stayed in Qu Yunmie’s tent the entire time and still didn’t know where his own tent was.

He had walked out quickly, but once outside, he stood in the middle, bewildered—he had no idea where to go.

In the end, Yu Shaoxie took him back to his own tent and pointed outside. “That’s the place Jian Qiao arranged for you. Everything’s in there. Go sleep for a bit—you look like a corpse about to be buried.”

Xiao Rong sat on the mat and took the teacup Yu Shaoxie handed him. Holding it slowly, he said, “Some people are alive, but they’re already dead.”

Smack—Yu Shaoxie hit him on the head. “What nonsense are you saying!”

“Cough cough—”

Xiao Rong and Yu Shaoxie turned around together. Yu Shaoxie said nothing, but Xiao Rong was surprised. “Yu Shaocheng, why are you here?”

He then saw the thick white bandages wrapped around Yu Shaocheng’s neck. Xiao Rong was astonished. “You were hit by a poisoned arrow too?”

In the same place, no less.

Yu Shaocheng: “…”

He coughed twice, then weakly explained, “I was injured and can’t return to the battlefield for now, so I’m staying here with my brother to recover.”

Yu Shaoxie added with a blank face, “After the King broke out of the siege, he soon fell off his horse. It was Shaocheng who saved him. During the chaos, he was accidentally cut by the King’s spear—that’s why he’s bandaged up.”

Xiao Rong: “…”

He paused and said, “Sorry. No one told me in the past couple of days.”

Yu Shaoxie gave him another blank look.

No one told you? More like no one dared tell you.

These two days, Xiao Rong had stayed by Qu Yunmie’s side, cold as ice. People tried to reason with him at first, but he ignored them—or maybe he really didn’t hear them. Eventually, everyone fell silent and just prayed Qu Yunmie would wake up soon.

Not one of them was easy to deal with.

Xiao Rong had undergone a drastic personality change—he looked ready to kill someone. Yu Shaocheng, on the other hand, saw an opening and took it. His wound wasn’t even that bad, but with all the attention on the King, no one had time to deal with him. So he quietly moved all his belongings into his brother’s tent.

Still, compared to his own brother, this not-biological younger brother of his was even more troublesome.

Sighing internally, Yu Shaoxie said to Yu Shaocheng. “Shaocheng, the King has awakened. Go inform the other generals, so they won’t worry.”

Yu Shaocheng didn’t answer. He looked at Xiao Rong, then at Yu Shaoxie.

Yu Shaoxie said, “Still not going?”

Yu Shaocheng had no choice but to say, “Oh,” and left.

After he was gone, Yu Shaoxie looked at Xiao Rong again. His tone was much gentler than before. “Shaocheng is fine. He just wants some attention, like when he was little. On the battlefield, after handing the King over to General Jian, he returned with troops and snatched Chieftain Lady Qu’s remains from the watchtower. That’s why the army has stayed barely in control. If the Xianbei still had those bones, the situation would be much worse.”

Xiao Rong listened quietly and nodded. “General Yu is loyal and didn’t betray the King’s trust.”

Yu Shaoxie looked at him silently.

After long consideration, he finally asked, “Rong, are you alright?”

Xiao Rong blinked, as if confused. “Why wouldn’t I be?”

The more like this he was, the more uneasy Yu Shaoxie felt. Nervous, he licked his lips and said, “Yes, the King acted recklessly, but it was the Xianbei who were truly vile. They dug up his parents’ graves—anyone would lose control. If you’re angry, let it out. No one will blame you. We’re angry too.”

Xiao Rong looked at him. His expression changed subtly—so subtly that Yu Shaoxie couldn’t name it. In that moment, the calm and ease vanished from Xiao Rong’s face. He looked just like he had before Qu Yunmie woke up.

Xiao Rong said, “I’m not the same as you all.”

Yu Shaoxie blinked. “I know—you and the King are closer.”

Xiao Rong shook his head. “That’s not it.”

Yu Shaoxie blinked again. “You mean you’re more loyal to the King?”

Xiao Rong still shook his head.

Yu Shaoxie froze. He couldn’t help lowering his voice to probe. “Then… are you saying you knew in advance that the King would be in danger?”

Xiao Rong chuckled softly. “Stop guessing. You won’t get it.”

Yu Shaoxie pressed his lips together and indeed stopped guessing—because it was pointless. The matters between Xiao Rong and Qu Yunmie weren’t things he could interfere in. He was just worried.

“Young Rong, I joined the Northern Army before you. Maybe you don’t see the change, but I watched you turn the King from a brute into who he is now. The humiliation of one’s parents is something no one can tolerate. You can blame him, be mad at him, but don’t give up on him. The army can’t do without either of you. I really don’t want to see the two of you fall apart because of the Xianbei’s schemes.”

Xiao Rong said, “Don’t worry. We won’t.”

Yu Shaoxie looked at him doubtfully. “Really?”

Xiao Rong smiled. “Yes, really.”

A quarter of an hour later, Xiao Rong left and went to his tent to sleep. Not long after he lay down, Jian Qiao came out from the King’s tent with a basin of dirty water, dumped it casually, then quickly walked toward Yu Shaoxie.

On the other side, Zhang Biezhi also sneaked out.

The three of them gathered. Jian Qiao anxiously asked Yu Shaoxie. “How is it?”

Zhang Biezhi looked just as tense.

Under their nervous and expectant gazes, Yu Shaoxie shook his head heavily. “Not good. He’s very angry. Stay away from both of them, especially when they’re together.”

Jian Qiao: “…”

Zhang Biezhi nodded silently. “Makes sense. Mister Xiao has a bad temper and holds grudges. The King is in for a rough time.”

Jian Qiao looked at him but couldn’t argue, so he turned to Yu Shaoxie again. “But… if they really start fighting, won’t something happen?”

Yu Shaoxie listened to Jian Qiao’s words and laughed directly. “Let’s hope it turns out like you said, and they actually start fighting. Fighting is a good thing — the real fear is if they don’t fight at all. Just think about it: if, after the King recovers and Young Master Rong still refuses to forgive him, what would that scene look like?”

Jian Qiao imagined it for a moment, and then his whole face turned bitter.

Zhang Biezhi didn’t follow along. Instead, he looked at Yu Shaoxie with confusion and asked, “Forgive the King? What did the King do wrong that he needs Mister Xiao’s forgiveness? The way you put it, it’s like the King did something that let Mister Xiao down.”

As soon as he said this, the other two froze.

Uh… he had a point.

Yet for some reason, they all felt the word “forgive” was actually quite fitting and unanimously, they believed the other party — the King — likely felt the same way.

……

 

Edited by: Antiope

 

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