For an ordinary soldier, the greatest difference between padded armor and the light, sturdy Luminous Armor lay in what was worn beneath: one could wear standard martial attire under Luminous Armor, but beneath the heavy, coarse padded armor, one could usually only wear thin inner garments. Anything more would make movement cumbersome and combat difficult.
A set of general-grade Luminous Armor cost a thousand taels; it could deflect stray arrows from a hundred paces and withstand the slashes of swords at close range. Putting it on or taking it off took nearly fifteen minutes.
A set of a common soldier’s padded armor cost thirty-seven taels and six mace. It offered no respite from the summer heat nor protection from the winter chill; it could not even block the burning gaze currently fixed upon her. Yet, it could be stripped away in an instant.
Her mind was a chaotic mess. Heat crawled up Xiao Nanhui’s spine, and sweat instantly soaked through her inner tunic.
"I... I am sensitive to the cold..."
Her voice was as faint as the buzz of a mosquito, so soft it seemed the wind might carry it away.
After a long silence, that voice finally spoke, unhurried.
"Very well."
Xiao Nanhui let out a long breath of relief, yet she dared not lower her guard.
She looked up and suddenly noticed a small purple-glazed porcelain bowl sitting on the low table before him. It contained medicinal soup that appeared to have already gone cold.
For the first time, she was profoundly grateful for her own quick observation. She spoke rapidly: "The medicine seems to have cooled. I shall call someone to reheat it."
As she spoke, she moved forward to take the bowl.
Her hand was only halfway there when his voice rang out again.
"The medicine is best taken when cooled. Besides... there is no one else here. Why bother with such unnecessary trouble?"
Her hands froze awkwardly in mid-air, leaving her unsure whether to advance or retreat.
"Then please take your medicine, Your Majesty. May I take my leave..."
Before she could finish, Su Wei loosened his grip, and the porcelain spoon fell into the bowl with a sharp clack.
"My right hand is indisposed."
What did that mean? Was he explicitly demanding she wait on him?
Xiao Nanhui stared at the white porcelain spoon, her teeth itching with suppressed frustration.
The man opposite her seemed entirely oblivious. "What? Do you not know how to serve? I heard the Great General’s foster daughter is most capable. Whenever the General was wounded on the battlefield, it was Officer Xiao who tended to him."
Xiao Nanhui forced the throbbing vein at her temple to subside and spoke expressionlessly. "My foster father has always maintained strict military discipline and led by example. During campaigns, his lifestyle and treatment were no different from those of the common soldiers. He was treated exactly as they were."
"Oh?" A light suddenly flickered in his eyes, and his voice took on a hint of amusement. "Is that so?"
She could barely restrain a cold sneer. "It is."
The man’s mood seemed to brighten suddenly. He picked up the spoon with his left hand and finally stopped pestering her.
Xiao Nanhui had just breathed a sigh of relief when he extended his right hand toward her.
"My hand was injured because of you. If you have any desire to atone for your crimes, I shall not hold your crude skills against you."
Wasn't what happened at the traveling palace his own doing? How had it become her fault in the end?
Xiao Nanhui felt her chest tighten with stifled indignation. She glanced at the culprit's fair hand. It looked even whiter than the porcelain spoon, radiating an air of pure, harmless innocence.
But if a blade were to cut through that purity now, one would find that the bone and blood within were entirely black.
Snatching up the medicinal salve nearby, she steeled herself, stepped forward, and knelt by the small table.
"Your Majesty possesses a body of ten thousand gold. Please do not blame me for my clumsy hands."
*Hmph. Since you are thick-skinned and black-hearted, don't blame me for being ruthless.*
Driven by a sudden, inexplicable boldness, she felt an urge to "settle a private grudge under the guise of public duty." She briskly unraveled the cloth strips from his hand, intending to apply the medicine roughly, but her movements halted the moment her gaze fell upon the wound.
Several days had passed, yet the wound she remembered as a spray of scarlet had not smoothed over under the nourishment of premium medicine. Instead, it looked even more hideous, as if something terrifying were trying to break through the pale skin.
Sensing her lack of movement, Su Wei slowly looked up.
"What? Are you frightened?"
She had fought for years and seen countless injuries. She had witnessed bloody scenes by the hundreds, if not thousands. Blades and spears had no eyes; she had seen everything from torn flesh to spilled entrails. A mere knife wound on a palm shouldn't even rank among them.
Yet she found it glaring, unbearable to look at for even a second longer.
That hand was slender and fair, with well-proportioned bones. It was a hand meant for holding a brush or playing the zither, an existence that should have been far removed from the shadows of blades and the hardships of toil. Now, it was marred, its perfection shattered beyond repair.
She didn't want to look closely, but the scar seemed etched into her vision, impossible to erase. With another glance, she noticed a faint trace of an old injury just below the wound.
It was the mark left by gripping a bowstring too tightly.
"You won't hear the story of the bridge and the shoe today. You are free to mock me, to say the history books exaggerate and that I possess but a hollow reputation."
He truly was malicious. Knowing she felt guilty, he insisted on laying everything bare just to watch her suffer in her predicament.
The frustration in Xiao Nanhui’s heart turned into a sense of grievance. Clearly, she was the one who had suffered the most miserable fate, yet now it felt as though she were the one who owed him.
"I would not dare."
The man snorted coldly. "What would you not dare? I see your courage is quite vast. You certainly had plenty of momentum when you were about to apply the medicine just now."
Her intentions exposed, "Xiao the Bold" grew even more deflated, and her movements slowed.
"I am used to being rough when bandaging myself. My hands lack finesse. Your Majesty promised not to be angry."
"Every camp in Tiancheng is equipped with army physicians. If your hands are clumsy, you could have found someone to do it for you. Why torture yourself?"
She pursed her lips, feeling a flicker of disdain for this Emperor who knew nothing of the world's hardships.
"Intense combat is the norm during war. Even seven or eight physicians per unit aren't enough. If one is trapped somewhere during a sortie, it's common not to return to camp for months. When there isn't even dry grain to eat, where would one find a physician or medicine? Even during a ceasefire in camp, bumps and bruises are inevitable. One cannot trouble others every single time, and if someone is looking for trouble privately, one certainly cannot make a scene..."
She had intended to mention the miserable times Xu Shu had caused her in Subei, but she realized she had said too much. she stopped abruptly, but it seemed a bit too late.
"The second son of Commandant Xu."
"Huh?" Xiao Nanhui’s brain failed to keep up for a moment.
"The one who caused you trouble—was it Xu Zhi’s second son, Xu Shu?"
"Yes..."
Wait, how did he know?
Xiao Nanhui looked up sharply, meeting Su Wei’s knowing gaze.
"Naturally, I have a list of the friendships and feuds among the civil and military officials of the court. What else did you expect?"
She had thought it was because he cared about her situation, so he...
Xiao Nanhui suppressed a self-mocking smile.
Back then, she was merely a minor squad leader. How could she have caught his attention? It was only because of the Marquis’s estate that her every move was monitored.
Yet he knew the Xu family had a grudge against the Marquis’s estate, and that day in the palace hall, he had still played along with their malice. Did he truly care for nothing but the balance of power? Was there no shred of sentiment between sovereign and subject, or... anything else?
The bitterness she had just suppressed surged back into her heart. Her fingertips twitched unconsciously, and the gauze in her hand tightened. The newly healing wound suddenly seeped blood.
The Emperor drew in a sharp breath, his dark brows arching.
"The first person Officer Xiao ever bandaged—is the grass on their grave already three feet high?"
Xiao Nanhui snapped back to reality. Looking down, she was so startled she nearly threw the half-finished gauze at the Emperor’s head.
"Forgive me, Your Majesty! I... I was distracted. Perhaps I should call Manager Shan over..."
"He is very busy. Do you think everyone is as idle as you?"
Su Wei lazily withdrew his hand, seemingly unconcerned about the wound. He tied a knot in the loose gauze with one hand, his movements so deft that Xiao Nanhui was left speechless.
If she didn't know his temperament, she would almost suspect the sovereign had made a sport of teasing her his life's great pleasure.
Ignoring her reaction, he reached out with his other hand to lift the lid of a small, bulbous copper incense burner on the table. At the bottom was an incense seal, mostly burnt away, its original shape unrecognizable.
As Xiao Nanhui watched, her stomach betrayed her with a loud, unceremonious growl.
She had woken up earlier than usual today to wait for Aunt Dai’s medicine and had barely eaten a bite. It was only natural to feel hungry now.
If they were standing in a crowded street, such a sound might have meant nothing. But in this place, where it was so quiet that even the wind could be heard clearly, that stomach growl was like a sudden clap of thunder.
She buried her head, wanting for the second time to leap from the tower's railing.
She couldn't see the expression of the man opposite her; she only heard his voice.
"It is still early. Keeping an empty stomach will be good for you."
Good? What good?
This was the first time she had heard that being hungry was beneficial.
"Jiangfei has likely delivered those ceremonial swords to your estate. Since you have sincerely fulfilled your promise, I shall allow you to ask three questions today."
The scent of agarwood drifted into her nose, easing the faintness brought on by hunger. Xiao Nanhui steadied herself and rallied her spirits.
"Any question at all?"
"Of course." The Emperor paused with a hint of cunning. "However, whether I answer and how I answer is up to me."
She fought the urge to roll her eyes, pondering how she might use this opportunity to gain some advantage.
But she wasn't stupid. She had many questions—about the Secret Seal, about the Xiao family massacre, about Puhuna—but she knew these questions might not yield answers.
She had wanted to ask why he had summoned her today, but the words died on her tongue. It was a foolish question. If the Emperor wanted to tell her, he would reveal it soon enough; if he didn't, asking would be useless.
Thinking of this, she suddenly felt the three questions were somewhat dull. Losing the motivation to think deeply, she simply asked the most tangential question.
"What exactly is this place?"
The man’s gaze drifted into the distance. Emotions were clearly churning in his eyes, yet his voice remained as calm and cold as ever.
"This tower is called Jingbo Tower. it was my mother’s residence before she passed."
As expected. Unless one was a member of the imperial family, it was impossible to build a pavilion so close to the palace walls, let alone have the Black Feather Camp, who trained the imperial guards, serve as its cover.
But shouldn't an imperial consort live within the palace? Why live outside the walls?
Su Wei withdrew his gaze and glanced at the dazed woman before him.
She was far too easy to read; her emotions and thoughts were written all over her face.
She didn't press him, yet he suddenly felt like speaking.
"Before my mother was married, her name contained the character for 'Mirror.' To win a smile from her, my father did not hesitate to collect the most beautiful bronze mirrors in the world. Yet my mother would not spare them a single glance, remaining unhappy and joyless day after day. Finally, my father ordered this tower built for her—a place where no wind could reach—and had a lake carved out in its center. There is nothing in the lake, only a surface of water as still as a mirror. Thus, the tower was named Jingbo."
Su Wei’s voice paused briefly.
He hadn't spoken of the past in a long time, and he had intended never to speak of it again. Yet for some reason today, these memories seemed to have a will of their own, flowing from his mouth like a hot spring that couldn't be dammed, overflowing from a hidden corner.
"In name, Jingbo Tower was my mother’s place of quiet cultivation. In reality, it was her place of house arrest. After she ascended this tower, she was never able to leave. I was separated from her when I was seven. When I saw her again..." He stopped abruptly, and when he spoke again, his voice was still calm. "When I saw her again, we were separated by the veil of death."
He seemed capable of saying anything in this tone, under any circumstances. In this way, no one could ever discern anything from his joys or sorrows, and no one could ever perceive them.
"Did Your Majesty ever miss your mother?"
She asked the question instinctively. Su Wei’s gaze shifted to her face, his dark pupils locking onto her eyes as if trying to see into the depths of her soul.
"Is this your second question?"
She nodded, not shrinking from the sudden eye contact.
"Yes. If Your Majesty does not wish to answer, you need not."
Su Wei was quiet for a moment, seemingly considering the question seriously. It was a long time before he gave an answer.
"At first, perhaps I did. But later, I rarely thought of her."
How could that be?
Xiao Nanhui’s heart instinctively refused to believe this answer.
How could anyone not miss their own kin? Even an orphan like her often fantasized about the parents she had never met.
She didn't believe him, and he saw it, yet he didn't care.
"When I was young and away from the palace, I had little contact with others, but I often dreamed. In my dreams, all sorts of people would surge toward me like a tide. When I was frightened, my mother would shield me, waving her sleeve to drive them away. Back then, I often couldn't distinguish between reality and dreams, believing she was still by my side. From the day she passed, I stopped dreaming. Slowly, I stopped remembering the scenes from those dreams, and naturally, I stopped thinking of her."
The cry of wild geese drifted from the distance. The sun, emerging after the snow, peeked out from behind the clouds with a golden edge. That bit of gold passed through the carved lintel beneath the brackets, falling into the space between the two of them, illuminating the man’s face for a fleeting moment.
Xiao Nanhui stared blankly, unsure if she was drawn to that face or that beam of light.
For some reason, she felt his words just now were precious. So precious that she imprinted them, along with the surrounding scenery, into the depths of her mind. She wanted to hide them away, yet she didn't know where to put them.
She used to feel he was shrouded in a mist that wouldn't dissipate, like a snow-capped mountain on the far northern plateau, perpetually veiled by clouds. Now, the mist seemed to have thinned slightly. She suddenly realized the mountain was right before her eyes—so close that she felt a sense of trepidation, not daring to measure it.
"My mother’s clan bore the compound surname Zhongli. But since her passing, there are no longer any members of the Zhongli clan in this world. Do you know why?"
She shook her head blankly, then suddenly realized something.
Zhongli Jing. That name seemed to be his mother’s name.
"Because after my father married my mother, he slaughtered her entire clan. He did not even spare the infants in their cradles."
The world only said the Emperor’s birth mother was a beautiful but ill-omened madwoman, yet no one ever mentioned why she had gone mad.
Unable to hide her shock, she knocked over a medicine bottle by her elbow and hurriedly set it upright.
The man opposite her didn't move. He only stared fixedly at her reaction, his voice sounding as if he were asking a question, yet also as if he were talking to himself.
"Tell me, would such a mother truly love my father?"
*Of course not.*
A voice cried out in her heart.
No one would love an enemy who slaughtered their kin and siblings. This was the common logic of the world.
However, there was only one thing in this world that could not be measured by so-called common logic, and that was human emotion.
She thought of Bai Yun, who had betrayed and murdered the Xiao family. Even with a sea of blood and vengeance between them, Xiao Zhun still couldn't bring himself to kill her.
She thought of herself that day in the palace hall—lost, humiliated, and tormented.
And he had sat upon the throne, knowing full well the Xu father and son were sowing discord, yet he had used the situation to push her to a dead end. Because of his verbal decree, she would never be able to hold a bow again in this lifetime.
By all rights, she should hate him, loathe him, and want to kill him the moment they met.
But she didn't.
A complex web of emotions was intertwined within her, as contradictory as her first impression of him, impossible to untangle.
"Your Majesty still owes me one last question." She took a deep breath and lowered her head, her heartbeat echoing in her ears. "That day, on the cliffs of the Heaven's Chasm at the Tianmu River... why did Your Majesty save me?"
The air grew still for a moment. He didn't answer, but instead asked a question of his own.
"That day, in the great hall of the Jiaosong Traveling Palace... why did you take the blame upon yourself?"
"That was because..."
That was because she could not stand by and watch Xiao Zhun die.
Even though she already knew his heart did not belong to her, she could not bear to see him suffer, to be cast down into the dust.
Her voice caught in the back of her throat; she couldn't go on.
Though many days had passed and the wound on her shoulder had scarred over, she still couldn't face that emotion.
"You need not speak the answer. You only need to understand one thing."
His voice drew closer. His breath brushed against her eyelashes, like something drifting down.
"Your answer is my answer."
In this sentence, he did not refer to himself with the imperial "I."
This made his tone seem much lighter than usual, yet the profound meaning within those words felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.
She felt as if the high mountain before her were collapsing toward her. She had no way to dodge, no way to retreat. She would eventually be buried beneath that rapidly expanding shadow, merging with it until the heavens and earth split apart thousands of years later, only then finding freedom.
A gust of wind blew through, and the last bit of incense powder in the burner was consumed. The blue smoke, however, did not break, winding between the two of them like untraceable threads of emotion.
Just as she was about to buckle under the weight of the oppression and hesitation in her heart, he finally stood up.
"The time has come. Let us go. There is a place we must visit."
***
**Glossary**
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
--- | --- | ---
光要甲 | Luminous Armor | A high-grade, expensive set of armor used by generals.
布衣甲 | Padded Armor | Standard, inexpensive cloth or padded armor for common soldiers.
静波楼 | Jingbo Tower | "Quiet Wave Tower," the residence of the Emperor's late mother.
钟离 | Zhongli | A compound surname; the clan of the Emperor's mother.
天堑崖 | Heaven's Chasm Cliff | A steep cliff at the Tianmu River.
班剑 | Ban-jian | Ceremonial swords granted by the Emperor as a mark of high honor.
