I spoke to Huo Yuangang in the Japanese language, which the girl couldn't understand. She stared at him pitifully until he came over, bent down, and helped her up from the ground. Only then did she smile with relief and whisper, "Brother Huo."
I looked away, watching indifferently as Huo Yuangang helped the little girl quietly walk into the night outside the tent.
The stars dot the clouds in the sky, and the moonlight should disappear as night falls.
Huo Yuangang thinks I am compassionate, but I never felt that I saved that girl. Everyone's life and death are predestined and inevitable; what cannot be escaped is destined to be escaped.
It's like I let that little girl go, but I never expected that I would see her again when the State of Qi was destroyed.
two,
Appearing as a captive presented to the noble sons of Japan, she entered the tent in single file with other beautiful young women of similar age while I was drinking half a cup of tea. I smiled to myself, what a coincidence.
She was probably so frightened she was about to cry, cowering behind the other women but unable to hide her captivating charm. A string of tiny tears clung to her wide-open eyes.
People had already recognized her, and the whispers inside the tent couldn't be suppressed.
I calmly finished my drink and, amidst the suspicious gazes of the crowd, said nonchalantly, "I let her escape, but I didn't expect to see her here."
One of the men in the room chuckled awkwardly and said, "Since it belongs to the King, then let's keep it for the King."
I casually placed the empty wine glass back on the table and nodded nonchalantly.
She huddled in a corner of the tent in terror, the last trace of color draining from her face the moment I lifted the curtain and stepped in. Her lips were pale as she stared intently behind me, but the person she longed to see never came.
I walked up to her without saying a word. She looked at me with despair, a despair that shouldn't be an expression of someone her age.
I looked down at her calmly: "Everyone thinks you're my woman." I gave her a deep look. "Me, or those men outside the tent, you choose."
She stopped struggling when I kissed her cold lips. Her struggles—for her country, her identity, her age—were futile, and she could not escape even for a moment until I completely possessed her.
In the deep of night, I slept beside her, yet I could hear every movement she made. Her body trembled slightly from crying, a suppressed lament for the future echoing in the darkness.
Also, she unconsciously called out Huo Yuangang's name.
Listening to her crying, I thought to myself, she's actually quite pitiful.
The next day was the day the Japanese troops were to return to their city. She let the maid apply the most fashionable makeup in Japan, until the maid led her to me. She lowered her head listlessly, without even a smile.
As they approached Dapo Lake on their return journey, she suddenly jumped off the carriage, pushed aside the astonished guards, lifted her skirt, and hurried towards the lake. Before anyone could react, she had already leaped into the lake.
By the time I arrived after receiving the news, the girl had already been rescued from the lake. Huo Yuangang carried her, wading through the water, and slowly walked up to me.
But how could he not notice that she was wrapped in his battle robe? A hint of desolation appeared on his usually cold face, and a fleeting pity crossed his eyes as he looked down at her in his arms.
Huo Yuangang respectfully handed her back to me. I bent down and picked her up, and just before turning to leave, Huo Yuangang finally couldn't help but whisper to my retreating figure, "Your Majesty, there are some things I don't know whether I should say..."
I stopped and turned around to look at him: "If you shouldn't say something, then don't say it."
Huo Yuangang trembled slightly, and under my gaze, he lowered his head little by little, his voice trembling as he said, "Miss Feng is a pitiful person." He looked up at me, somewhat reluctant, "After all, she was once a princess..."
A breeze swept past outside the tent; it was already autumn, and a few raindrops fell from the azure sky. I slowly lowered my head, leaned down, and stared into his eyes, asking, "Tell me, who is she?"
Huo Yuangang seemed surprised by my sudden outburst and trembled slightly, but that didn't stop me from finding her name in such a long sentence. "Princess of Qi," he looked up at me, his expression more one of incomprehension and confusion, "Feng Qing."
In the gentle March breeze, I carried her slowly back, back, past the whistling spring wind, past the neighing warhorses. I listened to her nestled in my arms, her sobs turning into deep weeping.
In my entire life, I've never seen anyone hold so many tears in their eyes. They cried so much I couldn't do anything about it. I wondered how it could be such a coincidence, yet I felt utterly hopeless.
three,
I saw her for the second time in the Kingdom of Japan, half a month later. She had grown a little taller and much thinner, but the fear and avoidance in her eyes when she looked at me remained unchanged, tinged with embarrassment. She was escorted to my bedchamber by the eunuchs for a rather interesting charge: sneaking out of the palace.
I tossed aside the scroll in my hand, looked down at the girl below who was still struggling despite her bound hands and feet, and smiled: "Don't you know that you can't go out freely after midnight in Daying?"
Her head was bowed, her hands were bound behind her back, and even her calves were tightly bound by the dutiful guards. When she looked up at me at the sound of my voice, she was filled with resentment and anger, and at that moment she seemed like a child, especially when she glared at me.
I smiled silently and slowly walked up to her. Without a word, I untied the ropes binding her. Her face suddenly flushed red, whether from shame or anger, I couldn't tell. She struggled to look up at me: "Let me go."
I ignored her and continued what I was doing. Amid her continued resistance and obstruction, I glanced at her indifferently: "Don't worry, I won't do anything to you like this." She paused, but quickly began another round of struggle. I held her slender arms down and chuckled, "If you keep going like this, I might just do something to you?"
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