"Ah Jin!"
Su Wan shouted and sat up abruptly.
"Relax, little sister," Chu Mingyao's voice rang in her ears as a warm, moist hand covered her forehead. "He's talking to my husband outside the carriage. Lie down first."
"It's Sister Chu." Su Wan breathed a sigh of relief, lay back down, and opened her eyes.
She lay in a swaying carriage, a ray of sunlight filtering through a gap in the roof. Chu Mingyao sat to her right, washing something in a steaming basin, while she glanced at Meng Ruliu to her left.
"Sister, what happened? Where are we?"
Meng Ruliu took the warm, damp towel Chu Mingyao handed her and placed it on her forehead: "I know you must have a lot of questions. I'm telling you first so you won't worry, everyone is safe. We've already passed Youzhou."
"Where are my younger brother and cousin Xiyue?" Su Wan asked.
“They are in the carriage behind,” Meng Ruliu said. “Yuze also insisted on taking care of you, but the carriage couldn’t fit them all, so they had to ride in another one. My mother and the others also rode in a carriage.”
Chu Mingyao picked up the bowl on the table, scooped a spoonful of mashed potatoes, and held it to Su Wan's lips: "Little sister, have some mashed potatoes."
Smelling the aroma of potatoes, Su Wan realized that she was starving.
She felt she didn't need someone to feed her, and said, "Sister Chu, put it down, I can eat by myself."
Chu Mingyao raised the spoon: "Don't be embarrassed, you've been unconscious all night, talking nonsense. One minute you're talking about treating people, the next you're saying Xiping Pass is dangerous... I was so scared I didn't know what to do, so I opened my mouth."
Su Wan then obediently opened her mouth, ate two bites of mashed potatoes, and asked, "Where is Xiping Pass?"
Meng Ruliu picked up the bowl and said, "Of course it's lost."
Su Wan felt somewhat frustrated; after guarding it for so long, she still lost it.
She sighed and said, "Didn't Ah Jin win?"
Chu Mingyao put down the bowl, took a water bag and put it to her lips: "Our cavalry originally scattered the Southern Chu army. But that Chu Yi was indeed powerful. Even in that chaos, he managed to reorganize the army and retreat back to the main camp to defend. As a result, Wei Shao's army in the east took the opportunity to attack the city. Our Western Rong cavalry is not good at defending cities, so we could only take the people out of the city and retreat."
Su Wan took a couple of sips of water and said, "So that means Wei Shao has occupied Xiping Pass?"
Meng Ruliu said, "Probably, but we'll have to wait for the scouts to investigate before we can be sure."
After eating and drinking some water, Su Wan felt her strength return. She sat up, pulled back the cotton curtain, and looked outside.
In the azure sky, the sun hung high in the southeast, and a long column of cavalry, resembling a dragon, was marching north. Ahead were the Western Rong cavalry, and behind them were the soldiers of Xiping Pass. Most of the Xiping Pass soldiers were wounded, but each had a horse and did not need to walk.
Wei Jingzhuo was riding alongside Danma, the crown prince of the Western Rong, on the right front of the carriage.
Overjoyed, she waved and called out, "Ah Jin, Ah Jin."
Wei Jingzhuo turned around and saw her face leaning out of the carriage window. He rode his horse to the side of the carriage and said gently, "I'm here."
Su Wan tugged at his sleeve: "Stay with me."
Wei Jingzhuo reached out and affectionately patted her head, saying, "Go back to the car and rest first. We'll talk properly when we get there."
"Where are we going?" Su Wan asked.
"Your fiefdom." Wei Jingzhuo patted the back of her hand and spurred his horse to catch up with Danma.
Su Wan was relieved and pulled the cotton curtain back to tuck it in. She said to Chu Mingyao, "Sister Chu, it was you and the Crown Prince who came to save us. Thank you so much."
Chu Mingyao smiled and said, "Sister, you don't need to be so polite. We have actually been paying close attention to the situation at Xiping Pass. We were all very anxious when Wei Shao's army attacked Xiping Pass. But Father made a vow with the Great Jin that he would never invade the Great Jin during his lifetime."
Su Wan remembered; this oath was the result of her healing the Western Rong King Danmoji. No wonder the Western Rong had been so quiet.
Unexpectedly, at the last moment, it was the Western Rong cavalry that came to their rescue.
"Later, my father heard that Wei Shao's army had brought in cannons to attack the city. He said that Xiping Pass was likely to fall. He would rather be a traitor than abandon his savior to death, so he asked my husband to prepare troops. At this time..."
At this point, Chu Mingyao hesitated, seemingly unsure whether she should say it.
Su Wan said, "Sister Chu, what's wrong? Please continue."
Meng Ruliu said to Chu Mingyao, "Just tell your sworn sister. If you don't tell her, she'll keep pestering His Highness to ask anyway."
Chu Mingyao smiled and said to Su Wan, "At this moment, we received a distress call from General Jade Face."
Su Wan exclaimed, "Ah Jin asked you for help?"
Thinking of how Wei Jingzhuo faced the charging Southern Chu army alone last night without panicking, it was clear that he already knew the Western Rong cavalry had arrived.
Honestly, they didn't even tell her beforehand.
She had assumed that, given Wei Jingzhuo's arrogance, he would never stoop to asking the enemy for help. It turned out that while Bai Zhiyi was deploying the powerful cannons to attack the city, Wei Jingzhuo had secretly sent someone to the Western Rong to request assistance.
If Wei Jingzhuo hadn't sought help from the Western Rong, they would all have likely perished when the city fell.
Chu Mingyao continued, "The Emperor of Great Jin has passed away, and no new emperor has been appointed. General Jade Face was originally the Crown Prince of Great Jin. My father said that his request is the request of Great Jin, and immediately ordered my husband to lead 20,000 cavalry to Xiping Pass. I was worried, so I came along too."
Su Wan said gratefully, "Sister Chu, thank goodness you came."
“Don’t even mention it,” Chu Mingyao said. “The night we set off, we heard that the Xiping Pass city wall had been breached by the Shenji cannons. We all thought it was too late to rescue them. But…”
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