Tiancheng’s military was currently divided into four major camps: Subei, Guangyao, Yanchi, and Heiyu. Among them, Heiyu was the most mysterious, while Yanchi was the largest in scale.
Subei consisted of cavalry, swift as the wind; Guangyao specialized in heavy armor, making them indestructible; Heiyu was the elite force, an unstoppable tide. The name "Yanchi" was derived from a type of saber carried by the guards; its blade was wide and long with a slightly upturned tip, resembling the spreading wings of a wild goose. Unlike the Heiyu, who were known for their piercing sharpness, the Yanchi symbolized a broad, reliable strength.
Because of this, Xiao Nanhui had once believed that the lieutenants hailing from the Yanchi Camp would all be easy-going, magnanimous, and kind-hearted people.
Naturally, she no longer harbored such delusions.
At this moment, she stood before a desolate, uninhabited courtyard, leaning against two bare stone pillars as she looked aimlessly at the sky.
"Pardon me, brother, but is this truly the council chamber?"
The Yanchi Camp adjutant who had led her there nodded without a change in expression. "It is."
She looked around once more. "And where are the people attending the council?"
"They just left."
She found it somewhat amusing. "Then where is Lieutenant Ding?"
"Lieutenant Ding is inside brewing medicine. I must trouble the Right General to wait here for a moment."
Brewing medicine? If he was brewing medicine, what urgent matter could possibly require her presence right this instant?
Her expression betrayed her thoughts, and seeing this, the man added another sentence.
"Or, I could go inside and announce your arrival, so the General may wait within."
Rooms used for brewing medicine were usually poorly ventilated, filled with the stifling scent of herbs and steam—hardly a comfortable place to be.
Furthermore, Ding Weixiang was in there.
"I’ll just wait here."
Upon hearing this, the adjutant saluted and withdrew. "Then I shall take my leave."
Xiao Nanhui blinked, but before she could ask anything else, the man vanished as quickly as he had arrived.
She found a broken door plaque to sit on, her eyes fixed on the smoke rising from the dilapidated stone house.
The smoke drifted left and then right with the wind, but it remained continuous, as if an entire team from the Imperial Kitchen was inside preparing a royal banquet.
Half an hour passed, yet there was still no movement from the house.
Xiao Nanhui sighed and stood up. She walked over and pushed open the rickety door with a single palm.
A cloud of dust billowed at her touch, eventually settling over the only person in the room.
Ding Weixiang sat with his back to her, tending to a small stove. Upon the stove sat a ceramic pot no larger than a melon, hissing with steam.
She gave a light cough to announce her presence.
Ding Weixiang did not turn around. He slowly picked up a glass cup soaking in a wooden bucket and ladled a handful of cold water over the scalding ceramic pot. A burst of steam rose, drifting slowly out through the flue.
Her gaze wandered around the bare room, eventually landing on a scrap of paper pinned to the wall.
The paper was wedged into a crack in the stone. Moving closer, she saw Hao Bai’s handwriting—the wild, cursive script he prided himself on. The first part was a long list of medicinal ingredients, numbering about twenty in total. At the end was a final instruction: *Raw thistle is delicate; its medicinal properties are easily lost in boiling water. It must be sealed and simmered over a low flame for two hours. During this time, the lid must not be opened to check or add water. Every fifteen minutes, pour water over the exterior of the ceramic pot to prevent the contents from boiling over, until the leaves have dissolved into the broth.*
No matter how long she had waited outside in the wind and sun, the moment she saw this prescription, she felt her stature shrink by half.
This wasn't a prescription; it was a blatant indictment.
Who was to blame for the Emperor getting hurt while in her care? She was indeed in the wrong.
Steeling herself, she braved the heat and the heavy scent of herbs to step forward, wondering how to offer a sincere apology.
But when she moved to his left, he turned his face to the right. When she shifted to the right, he turned back to the left.
After a few rounds of this, her temper flared. "Did Lieutenant Ding catch a chill in his neck while sleeping last night? Why does your face keep tilting the other way?"
Ding Weixiang’s movements stiffened, but he continued to ignore her.
"I imagine you are angry with me because His Majesty was injured. It was indeed my fault, but had you been there, you would have understood how perilous our situation was. To have made it out alive is a blessing among misfortunes..."
With a *crack*, the glass cup in Ding Weixiang’s hand shattered into shards. He let out a cold snort.
"I have guarded my master for ten years, and he has never so much as pricked a finger. I entrusted him to you for only a few days, and you actually let him bleed!"
His words cut to the quick, and she had no way to defend herself.
She couldn't exactly say: *It was your master who insisted on lunging forward to block that arrow.*
Xiao Nanhui lowered her head. "How about you stab me once, and we’ll call it even?"
The air fell silent, save for the bubbling of the ceramic pot on the stove.
After an unknown amount of time, Ding Weixiang finally stood up.
Just as she thought he was actually going to draw his blade, she saw him carefully use a cloth to pad his grip. He filtered the contents of the pot through a silk mesh, pouring it into a jade flask.
The dark hue of the medicinal broth showed faintly through the white, delicate body of the flask. She swallowed hard as she stared at the black liquid.
Why did this stuff look a bit like... the "Great Restorative Soup" Du Juan brewed for her every month to replenish her blood?
"Deliver it yourself."
Suddenly, the jade flask was thrust into her hands. Perhaps because the jade itself was naturally cool, it felt only lukewarm to the touch.
However, her guilty conscience made the object feel as though it were burning hot.
"This isn't quite right. You worked so hard, spending so much effort to brew this. How could I possibly steal the credit..."
Ding Weixiang’s usually stoic face turned red at a visible speed.
Just as Xiao Nanhui almost thought he harbored a secret crush on her and was feeling shy, a roar fueled by his inner qi blasted right into her face, nearly taking the top of her head off.
"Do you think I want to?!"
***
If you don't want to, then you don't want to. Is there any need for such shouting?
Xiao Nanhui shifted the torch to her other hand, holding the jade flask with the first.
The stone steps in this dark secret passage were heavily worn. With no other light source, the path seemed to have no end.
Fifteen minutes ago, she had finally realized from Ding Weixiang’s teeth-gritted explanation that it wasn't him who had summoned her, but the Emperor, who had only regained consciousness today.
The news of the Emperor’s awakening did not seem to have been widely broadcast within the Tiancheng army. Or rather, the several days of crisis when he had gone missing following the enemy raid on the day of the light snow was a fact unknown to most.
Though this hidden chapter of history was brief, its significance was profound. Yet, for reasons everyone understood, even the historians who would eventually record these events would never allow her name to appear in the chronicles.
Thinking back to when she had risked her life to accept this mission to the south, she wondered what kind of reward she would receive in the end. Her fear was that she would only be granted gold and silver, while the merit and fame she truly desired would remain out of reach.
Sighing, she peered at the path ahead and then looked back at the darkness behind her.
This secret passage was hidden beneath the dilapidated stone house where Ding Weixiang had been brewing medicine. It appeared to be a dungeon used by Prefect Sun to hold private prisoners, but it was much deeper than the place where she had been interrogated.
It seemed the "council chamber" wasn't necessarily a lie; it just wasn't above ground.
After another few dozen steps, a faint firelight finally appeared ahead. As the passage turned at its end, a stone chamber large enough to hold a hundred people appeared before her.
The grooves in the surrounding stone bricks suggested that the walls had once been covered with torture implements, but now they were empty. This made the person sitting on the stone chair in the center appear exceptionally prominent.
"Your servant, Xiao Nanhui, pays respects to Your Majesty."
Su Wei did not rise. The collar of his fur robe was fastened tightly, making his face appear even leaner than before.
"After braving death and surviving such a narrow escape, is this the only thing General Xiao has to say to Us?"
Previously, she had felt an impulse to see if he was well, but now that he asked, she found herself at a loss for words.
After a moment’s thought, she said stiffly, "Is Your Majesty well?"
"Well enough," he replied, his tone flat, seemingly dissatisfied with such a bland inquiry. "Though Our chest is quite painful."
Chest pain? He said his chest hurt?
How was she supposed to answer that?
*Yes, my Emperor. You were shot through the chest with an arrow; it is only natural that it hurts.*
Her tongue felt tied, and she felt her eyebrow twitching. "Your Majesty possesses the body of a True Dragon and is blessed with great fortune; you will surely be fine. I only wonder why Your Majesty has summoned me..."
"Do you not have something to give Us?"
Belatedly remembering the jade flask in her hand, she hurried forward to present it.
"The medicine was brewed by Lieutenant Ding. I dare not take the credit."
Slender fingers pulled back the lid of the jade flask. A pungent herbal scent filled the stone chamber, but he didn't seem to smell it at all. Without blinking, he drained the broth in the flask in one go.
"Our original intention was for you to brew the medicine, but it seems he was unwilling after all and insisted on doing it himself."
Xiao Nanhui began to feel a bit grateful for Ding Weixiang’s insistence on doing everything personally.
"I am clumsy and feared I would ruin the ingredients. I also know that I failed in my duty to protect you and deserve punishment. If Your Majesty has any commands, Xiao Nanhui will not hesitate even at the cost of ten thousand deaths..."
"Regarding what happened this time, aside from the two of us, only Weixiang knows the details. In the future, there is no need to mention it to anyone else. Do you understand?"
She stiffened, a layer of cold sweat suddenly breaking out over her body.
This was no longer a simple matter of whether she had fulfilled her duty.
She knew the Emperor’s secret. If he wanted to kill her, it would be perfectly justifiable. And if Ding Weixiang were the one to do it, she would likely have no chance of winning.
Pitifully, she had slept for three days and nights with a head full of mush, never once considering this layer of danger. When Ding Weixiang came for her, she had actually thought it was just a personal grudge over serving tea and medicine.
What was wrong with her? Had the few days spent with the Emperor made her view him as one of her own, completely forgetting that he was a monarch of high standing who could not tolerate any flaws?
"I understand," she answered, her voice somewhat raspy.
He did not speak, but looked at her deeply. For a moment, his expression held a trace of helplessness and perhaps a hint of amusement, before finally returning to calm.
"We summoned you for another matter as well."
As he spoke, he turned a stone bead beside the chair. A dull rumbling sound echoed as one wall of the stone chamber slowly sank, revealing a pool of bottomless black water.
She jumped in surprise, only then realizing there was another person in the stone chamber.
Previously, this person had been submerged in the water, seemingly devoid of life, which was why she hadn't sensed a third presence at all.
After a splash, a bloated face emerged from the black water. Wet hair clung to the face, which was covered in small, jagged wounds.
After struggling to recognize the features, Xiao Nanhui was struck with shock.
He was... still alive?
"An Lü, we meet again."
***
Chinese | English | Notes/Explanation
--- | --- | ---
肃北营 | Subei Camp | One of the four major military camps of Tiancheng; specialized in cavalry.
光要营 | Guangyao Camp | One of the four major military camps of Tiancheng; specialized in heavy armor.
雁翅营 | Yanchi Camp | One of the four major military camps of Tiancheng; known for its "Wild Goose Wing" sabers.
黑羽营 | Heiyu Camp | One of the four major military camps of Tiancheng; an elite force.
扶风校尉 | Fufeng Captain | A military rank/title within the Yanchi Camp.
佐军 | Adjutant | A subordinate military officer or aide.
生蓟 | Raw Thistle | A medicinal herb mentioned in the prescription.
安律 | An Lü | A character revealed as a prisoner in the dungeon.
