Chapter 977 Her Journey (Xinyang VS Xiao Jifan)
Despite being a mother, Princess Xinyang is less experienced in matters of the heart than Gu Jiao. After all, Gu Jiao and Xiao Heng have weathered many storms together for four or five years, spending every day together and whispering sweet nothings to each other.
She knew almost nothing about this.
She used to be unable to fall in love with any man, so she didn't understand what romantic love between men and women really felt like.
Xiao Ji looked at her tense body through the inky night: "Qin Fengwan, are you having another episode?"
"I..." Princess Xinyang clutched her pounding heart. She felt as if her heart was about to jump out of her throat. The closer he got to her and the more he talked to her, the more she felt this way.
Is this a relapse of a medical condition?
It seems to be even more serious than before.
My heart is burning.
Xiao Ji's eyes darkened, and he released his arm from hers, putting a little distance between them.
Princess Xinyang blurted out instinctively, "Don't—"
Touch me!
Get out of here!
Xiao Ji's mind flashed back to almost every time he approached her, and he finally withdrew his fingertips that were resting on her waist.
The body's burning desires gradually cooled down, and the person returned to the loneliness and coldness they had before the battle.
Princess Xinyang sensed his deliberate avoidance, just as he had done on their wedding night when she held a dagger to his chest and said those hurtful things to him.
Did he just think she wanted him to leave?
No.
She took a deep breath and decided to finish what she had just said: "Don't..."
"My lord!"
Suddenly, the voice of a guard rang out outside the tent.
Xiao Ji's eyes sharpened, and he sat up. He lifted the blanket very lightly and quickly, barely letting the cold wind in.
He casually tucked the blanket in, tucking the gap between her and the blanket.
He emerged from the tent, dressed only in thin clothes, and whispered, "What's wrong?"
"Urgent report from the front: the situation has changed, the Dongyi people..."
Upon hearing this, Princess Xinyang could no longer hear what followed, likely at Xiao Ji's behest, as the guards deliberately lowered their voices.
A moment later, Xiao Ji turned around and returned to his tent, where he began to dress and tie his hair.
Princess Xinyang's heart tightened, and she stood up to ask him, "Is there going to be a war?"
"Go to the front lines." Xiao Ji tightened his belt, picked up the armor from the rack and put it on. His movements were swift and decisive, and every word he uttered carried a heroic killing intent.
He always appeared as a dashing and powerful nobleman in her presence; this was the first time she had seen him off to war.
What should a wife do?
Should we dress him in armor, or see him off?
Princess Xinyang looked at the gleaming armor on the shelf, and her fingertips twitched.
He turned around.
She quickly pulled her hand back under the covers: "You light the lamp."
Xiao Ji took the cold helmet and put it on: "I can see."
The sound of cavalrymen assembling could be heard outside the tent, indicating that the situation was extremely urgent.
Xiao Ji, dressed neatly, grabbed a long sword from the shelf and said to Princess Xinyang, "I'll go and call Yu Jin over. Don't leave the camp unless necessary."
After saying this, he quickly left the tent.
Princess Xinyang's words of advice to him to take care were already rising in his throat, but he couldn't utter a single word.
The tent fabric fluttered in the cold wind, and the warmth inside the blankets dissipated rapidly with his departure, leaving the entire tent as cold as an icebox in an instant.
"Set off!"
His sharp and authoritative voice echoed in the cold wind, and five hundred iron cavalrymen braved the blizzard and charged toward the last line of defense in the eastern border of Zhao Kingdom—Donglin Pass—with a death-defying spirit.
"Princess!"
Yu Jin lifted the curtain and entered the tent. She first took out a tinderbox from her bosom and lit the oil lamp on the table.
Then she went to the bedside, looked at Princess Xinyang who was staring blankly at the door, and helped her lie down with heartache: "Don't catch a cold."
“He’s gone,” Princess Xinyang said, stunned.
Yu Jin took off her cloak. She had only walked a few steps when she was covered in snow. She wondered how cold the Marquis and the others must be, traveling through the snow.
She hung up her cloak, sat down by the bed, tucked the blanket around Princess Xinyang, and gently comforted her, "The Marquis is a veteran of countless battles; he will surely return safely."
Princess Xinyang said softly, "I hope so."
...
Xiao Ji was gone for several days.
Princess Xinyang did not reveal her identity, and the little princess of Dongyi probably received instructions from Xiao Ji, but she also never revealed who she was.
Furthermore, the little princess of Dongyi became much more respectful towards her, which must have been something Xiao Ji had specifically instructed her to do before leaving.
She was the first woman to stay in Xiao Ji's tent, and none of the guards in the camp dared to disrespect her. Even if they did, they couldn't defeat Long Yi.
Xiao Ming lived in this camp, and Princess Xinyang would visit him every day.
She had never cared about him or anyone around him before, and she wasn't even very familiar with his only younger brother, Xiao Ming.
The brothers reportedly have a good relationship.
However, she had no recollection of the specifics of how they interacted.
She knew far too little about him.
"You've arrived." Inside Xiao Ming's tent, the little princess of Dongyi turned around and glanced at Princess Xinyang.
Princess Xinyang approached, her gaze falling on the face that bore a slight resemblance to Xiao Ji, and asked, "How is your father today? Has he woken up?"
The little princess of Dongyi shook her head: "No."
Princess Xinyang spent a few days with her and discovered that she was not a bad person at heart; her unreasonable behavior was just her way of surviving here.
Her situation was awkward; she was Xiao Ming's daughter, but Xiao Ming hadn't had a chance to formally acknowledge her as his daughter.
Xiao Ji was unable to make this decision on behalf of his younger brother, so he did not officially announce her identity to the public.
As an Eastern barbarian who came to negotiate peace, she would be easily bullied if she didn't act arrogantly.
Princess Xinyang asked, "Your mother..."
The little princess of Dongyi chuckled self-deprecatingly and said, “My mother died a long time ago, and I was raised by my aunt. Later, my uncle brought home a man who noticed I looked like someone and asked who my parents were. I don’t know how he investigated, but he found out I was the offspring of your Zhao Kingdom’s General Weiyuan. My aunt sold me to that man, and he took me to see the King of Dongyi. The King of Dongyi then used me to lure your General Weiyuan out. He was poisoned while trying to save me, and what’s laughable is that the King of Dongyi still dared to send me to negotiate peace.”
Princess Xinyang said, "The King of Dongyi hopes that Xiao Ji will kill you to avenge his brother and, incidentally, sow discord between him and Xiao Ming. But Xiao Ji is not that kind of person."
The little princess of Dongyi felt that she had nothing to say about her topic, so she looked at the princess of Xinyang: "Rumor has it that your relationship with the Marquis is not good, but it doesn't seem like it to me. You come to ask about the military reports every day."
"I..." Princess Xinyang's little thoughts were exposed, and she felt a little embarrassed. "I am a princess of Zhao Kingdom, and it is only natural for me to care about military affairs."
The gossip-loving princess of Dongyi was burning brightly: "So you came by imperial decree? Are you really sent by the emperor to monitor Marquis Xuanping?"
Can this girl not speak properly?
Has her relationship with Xiao Ji deteriorated to the point that the Dongyi people have heard of it?
Princess Xinyang was a little angry.
...
News of battles came from Donglin Pass almost every day. The Dongyi people captured the general of Zhao and led the Zhao army into the mountains and forests. They were good at jungle warfare and used the terrain to their advantage to make the Zhao army suffer a lot.
Xiao Jijian took a different approach, avoiding direct combat with them, and instead led Chang Jing to infiltrate the Dongyi army's stronghold, killing the Dongyi's general.
Until the tenth day, various good news kept coming from Donglin Pass.
But on the morning of the eleventh day, a piece of bad news shrouded the entire military camp—Xiao Ji was unfortunately shot by a stray arrow from the Dongyi people while covering the wounded soldiers to return to the camp, and his fate was unknown!
A chill rose from the soles of her feet, and Princess Xinyang felt as if she had fallen into an ice cellar.
Yu Jin looked at her worriedly: "Princess, perhaps the military intelligence is wrong. Don't worry, I'll send someone to inquire—Princess, what are you doing!"
Princess Xinyang stepped out of the tent.
She went straight to the stable, picked out a fine horse, and by the time Yu Jin arrived, she had already mounted it.
Yu Jin grabbed the reins, looking at her in alarm: "Princess... the Marquis instructed you to wait for him at the military camp... please don't act rashly..."
Princess Xinyang was not impulsive. Even when the old Princess Liang came to her with selfish and disgusting intentions, she did not disregard the consequences and throw her away.
But at this moment, she couldn't help but go to him.
She thought, she had found the answer Yu Jin had asked her to find.
But he still didn't know her answer.
She wanted to tell him.
Princess Xinyang's horse disappeared into the vast white world, and Long Yi chased after it like a shadow.
The two arrived at Donglin Pass.
Upon arriving at Donglin Pass, Yu Jin's guess was confirmed—the person who was hit by the stray arrow was indeed not Marquis Xuanping Xiao Ji, but Chang Jing.
Chang Jing was not seriously injured, only scraped his skin. He and Marquis Xuanping fell into a snow pit in the forest, which led to the misunderstanding earlier.
"Where is Marquis Xuanping?" Princess Xinyang asked Chang Jing in the wounded soldiers' camp.
Chang Jing said sadly, "I don't know. I passed out after falling into the snow pit. When I woke up, he had already carried me back to the wounded soldiers' camp."
Princess Xinyang summoned the garrison commander Zhang Hu and revealed her identity to him: "Take me to the scene."
"Yes!" Zhang Hu clasped his hands in response.
The group arrived at the forest where Marquis Xuanping and Chang Jing had their accident. Strictly speaking, this was not the territory of the Dongyi people. The terrain here was too complicated, and even the Dongyi people, who were skilled in jungle warfare, dared not wander around here.
Zhang Hu said, "Princess, it's dangerous ahead. Let me go check it out."
Princess Xinyang said calmly, "No need."
The group followed the footprints in the snow and searched all the way. When they came to a mountain hollow, Long Yi suddenly lay down, dug around with his hands, and pulled out a waist tag.
It is a token from the Marquis of Xuanping's residence.
Long Yi continued digging and dug out a small hole.
He buried his head in the hole, looked around, and shouted, "Whoosh—whoosh—"
"Long Yi, have you found anything?" Princess Xinyang asked as she walked over.
Long Yi pulled his head out of the hole and said to her, "There's someone down there, injured, and barely breathing."
As he spoke, he handed the token to Princess Xinyang.
Princess Xinyang recognized the item and her eyes lit up. She exclaimed, "It's Xiao Ji's personal belongings! The person below... could it be Xiao Ji?"
"We can't go down," Long Yi said.
Zhang Hu also came over. He knelt down opposite Long Yi and carefully examined the cave. His expression suddenly became serious. He said to the soldiers with shovels who were walking towards them, "Don't come any closer!"
Everyone stopped in their tracks.
Zhang Hu said nervously, "The rocks above this cave are not stable and may crack at any time. If the person below is really the Marquis, he may be crushed to death by the collapsing rocks."
Princess Xinyang looked at the very narrow opening and couldn't understand how a grown person could have fallen in.
"Can the opening be made bigger?" she asked.
Zhang Hu shook his head: "No, it will collapse as soon as we dig. The only way is to see if there is another way out below and let the Marquis go out through that way."
Princess Xinyang clenched her fingers: "What if there's no other way out?"
Zhang Hu said, "Or perhaps the Marquis himself could rush out of this hole."
Princess Xinyang frowned and said, "But Long Yi said his aura was very weak, how could he have come out on his own?"
Zhang Hu whispered, "Then we'll wait until the Marquis has recovered from his injuries..."
Princess Xinyang angrily said, "He's cold and hungry down there, how can he recover from his injuries! He'll freeze to death in just one day!"
Zhang Hu was wronged too. It wasn't that he didn't want to save the Marquis, but the reality was that things were indeed very difficult.
Long Yi plunged his head deeper into the burrow, sticking out his tongue: "Hehehe~"
He couldn't crawl down; his neck was stuck.
Zhang Hu was thinner than him, but he couldn't go down either.
He found the smallest soldier, but he was still several sizes too big.
"You all step aside," Princess Xinyang said.
Everyone was taken aback.
Princess Xinyang slowly and carefully made her way to the cave entrance. She bent down and tried to squeeze in, but her shoulder couldn't fit; it was just a little too big.
When Zhang Hu saw that she actually wanted to go down herself, his expression changed drastically: "Princess! You mustn't! It's too dangerous! Besides, we can't be sure that person is the Marquis! You mustn't put yourself in danger!"
She straightened up and said calmly, "Turn your backs."
Everyone was even more puzzled.
Princess Xinyang raised her hand and began to undress herself.
Zhang Hu quickly covered his eyes and turned around, ordering, "All of you, turn around! Close your eyes!"
The royal princess, who never even easily removed her veil in public, took off her clothes piece by piece behind hundreds of soldiers.
When she was stripped down to only her thin undergarments, her slender frame looked as if it were about to be blown away by the fierce wind.
She was shivering from the cold, her teeth chattering, and she kept shaking.
However, she did not back down. She looked at the dark cave entrance, closed her eyes, and jumped down!
(End of this chapter)
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