Song Chuyi took the medicine Chuan Ping had brought in and applied it to Zhao Yilou’s wounds without the slightest gentleness.
Zhao Yilou’s face darkened. He gritted his teeth, refusing to let out so much as a cry of pain.
“Why did you get into a fight with him?” Song Chuyi asked.
After a long silence, Chuan Ping saw that neither of them was going to answer and was just about to speak when Zhao Yilou shot him a vicious glare. He immediately swallowed his words.
As it happened, the reason Zhao Yilou had fought with Gongzi Fan was that the latter had made a remark: With such a handsome face, wouldn’t it be a terrible waste not to use it to win favor through one’s looks? Someone like you is hardly fit to be a ruler.
No matter how many cutting remarks Zhao Yilou came up with in response to something like that, he still felt that giving the man a good beating would be far more satisfying.
Despite his foppish, powdered-and-perfumed appearance, Gongzi Fan was no weakling. In the blink of an eye, the two had come to blows.
Annoyed by his stubborn temper, Song Chuyi pressed down even harder.
Zhao Yilou drew a sharp breath, but made no move to pull away.
Seeing that the tension between the two seemed to have eased somewhat, Chuan Ping finally dared to interject. “Gongzi Fan has ordered a carriage and horses to be prepared for you, along with several dozen men to escort you back to the State of Wey. I’ll see to it at once.”
Escort was perhaps not quite the right word. Accompany under guard would have been more accurate, but that suited Song Chuyi just fine.
“Thank you for your trouble.” Song Chuyi put down the medicine bottle and cupped her hands in a formal salute.
Chuan Ping hurriedly said that it was no trouble at all before making a swift exit.
Zhao Yilou had spent six years wandering from place to place, enduring every hardship imaginable. He was by no means someone who knew nothing of the ways of the world. Yet if he had a choice, he would rather have none of the wealth and splendor. A life spent braving the elements, sleeping under the open sky, was preferable to one mired in deceit and intrigue. Back then, even managing to eat a piece of half-raw meat once every three or five months had felt like a blessing. Now, despite having meat to eat and fine clothes to wear, he could not help feeling uneasy.
The people around him frightened him far more than a pack of wolves ever could. Their mouths were honeyed, but their bellies hid daggers. Everything they did had an ulterior motive. They gave him food only so they could take even more from him in return.
“You…” Zhao Yilou’s voice caught in his throat. Lowering his eyes, he continued, “Will your journey to Wey this time be dangerous?”
“Dangerous,” Song Chuyi replied with a smile. “Just as dangerous as it is for you here.”
“Take care of yourself,” Zhao Yilou said softly.
Song Chuyi acknowledged this with a quiet response, then reached out to ruffle his silky, slightly cool hair. She gazed intently at the handsome face so close to hers, thinking that by the time they met again, he might well have become a man of incomparable elegance and splendor.
Yilou, live well.
Song Chuyi reached out and drew his head into her arms.
After a long silence, Zhao Yilou muttered, “You haven’t grown at all.”
Song Chuyi knew exactly what he meant. She flicked him smartly on the forehead and chuckled. “What I’ve got is just an added bonus. Whether it grows or not doesn’t make much difference. But if yours doesn’t grow, you’ll have nothing to show for it at all!”
Zhao Yilou pushed her away, frowning. “You’re a scholar. How can you be so vulgar?”
Song Chuyi picked up her cup of water and shot him a sidelong glance. In an unhurried tone, she said, “You were the one who brought it up. I assumed you enjoyed this sort of conversation.”
“Then you’re being rather considerate of me,” Zhao Yilou replied coolly.
He got up and took a small earthenware jar from one of the compartments beneath the table. Taking out something wrapped in silk, he slipped it into Song Chuyi’s bundle.
“What is this?” Song Chuyi leaned closer and reached in to take it out, but Zhao Yilou smacked her hand away. His voice stiff, he said, “It’s meat for White Blade to eat along the way. I prepared it for him.”
Song Chuyi pursed her lips. “I don’t want this ungrateful wolfhound anymore. He likes you so much, you might as well keep him. Take the meat back, too.”
“I’ll trade that piece of meat for him,” Zhao Yilou immediately replied.
Song Chuyi secretly laughed. The meat was clearly meant for her, yet he refused to admit it. What an awkward, stubborn fellow.
White Blade looked up at the two of them, watching their back-and-forth with delight, completely unaware that his worth had just been set at a single piece of meat.
Zhao Yilou needed White Blade’s company far more than Song Chuyi did. At least she could find ways to amuse herself. Besides, her journey to the State of Wey this time was bound to involve considerable hardship. She might even end up imprisoned, and having White Blade with her would only be inconvenient. So she decided to leave him in Zhao Yilou’s care.
Zhao Yilou had someone bring over three bowls of steaming hot noodle soup and woke Ji Huan. After the three of them had finished eating, they sat together for a while.
Once Chuan Ping had made all the necessary arrangements, Song Chuyi slung the two bundles over her shoulders and left the tent with Ji Huan.
She had not asked Zhao Yilou to see her off. They were bound to part sooner or later, after all. There was little point in dragging out the farewell.
The carriage had not been travelling for long when Song Chuyi suddenly remembered the meat Zhao Yilou had slipped into her bundle. She reached inside and fished it out.
Ji Huan was injured, so Song Chuyi had ordered him to lie down on the couch and rest with his eyes closed. But when he suddenly heard Song Chuyi draw a sharp, quiet breath, he couldn’t help turning his head towards her.
Song Chuyi lifted the object out of its silk wrapping. Its shape was unmistakable. It was actually… a roasted bear’s paw.
She stared at it blankly for a long moment before bringing it to her lips and taking a bite. The instant it touched her tongue, tears came streaming down her face like a burst dam.
Song Chuyi did not know whether Zhao Yilou had often eaten bear’s paw as a child. But the Zhao Yilou she knew valued food as dearly as his own life. He had wrapped this bear’s paw so carefully and hidden it away, clearly treasuring it and being reluctant to eat it himself. And yet he had slipped it to her without the slightest hesitation…
“Sir?” Ji Huan called out, looking utterly perplexed. Bear’s paw was certainly a rare delicacy, but surely it wasn’t worth crying over like this?
Song Chuyi roughly wiped her face with her sleeve. “That bastard Yilou! He took something this precious and made it taste so awful. It’s not even as good as roast chicken!”
“All you have to do is stew it in a cauldron for half an hour,” Ji Huan thought. He had always assumed that she was someone who had seen plenty of the world. How had she suddenly become so utterly unsophisticated?
“Is that so?” Song Chuyi wrapped the bear’s paw back up in its silk cloth and tucked it into her bundle. “Then we’ll cook it tomorrow.”
Ji Huan nodded. He hesitated for a long while before finally asking, “Do you really intend to return to Wey? Judging by the way those soldiers were acting, it seems they’ll show no mercy to anyone who resists. Clearly, the lord is truly furious.”
“I have to go back. Otherwise, what will happen to the Longgu clan? What about Yu?” Song Chuyi silently added to herself, And all those people I’ve taken under my wing. “Don’t worry. I’ve already made some preparations.”
Even if Song Chuyi had chosen to flee, Ji Huan would not have looked down on her. But hearing her say this only made him admire the woman before him even more.
“Sir, you are truly a person of great righteousness!”
As for who had leaked the secret, Song Chuyi was more suspicious of Min Chi. None of the others had any obvious motive, whereas Min Chi certainly did. Once a stratagem of such diplomatic ambition became public knowledge, even if it ultimately failed, the person behind it would inevitably gain considerable renown. For someone like Min Chi, who was obsessed with fame and fortune and would stop at nothing to achieve his ambitions, doing something like this would hardly be surprising…
“Are you really a woman?” Ji Huan couldn’t help asking, looking at her composed expression.
Song Chuyi raised an eyebrow and smiled. “What do you think?”
“I…” Ji Huan had always been an honest man. “I honestly can’t tell…”
“Is there something wrong with your eyes? I’m a woman through and through, and I’ve never pretended otherwise…” She leaned closer and lowered her voice. “I’ve been a woman since the day I was born, a perfectly ordinary woman at that. How could you possibly fail to see something so obvious?”
Ji Huan shook his head. There was not a single thing about her that gave it away.
