Chapter 63: Birthday
Today, they had at last crossed several mountains and arrived at an open plain between valleys. Yaoying finally moved back to the carriage, and Ayi knelt on the side to apply medicine to her.
Xie Qing followed the carriage on horseback as usual. The hilt of a knife lifted a corner of the curtain and a small porcelain bottle gradually came into view.
“Princess, this medicine is what I usually use. It is more potent than those ointments you brought; it will hurt when you use it, but it heals faster.”
After saying that, added: “It will not leave scars.”
Yaoying leaned over the table, and took the porcelain bottle. She laughed lightly: “You are quite attentive.”
He usually always had a wood-like cold face, like a stupid person. Unexpectedly, she never thought he would take the initiative to give her medicine.
The knife’s handle was pulled back, and the carriage’s curtain was once again lowered.
Not a moment later, Xie Qing’s voice came: “Princess… today is your birthday.”
Yaoying froze for a moment.
Absent-mindedly, she remembered that when she was small, she went to her older cousin’s hair-pinning ceremony1 and could not leave until it was dark. Li Zhongqian came over to pick her up, and seeing her sleepy eyes, he could not bear to wake her up and carried her back.
She was lying on Li Zhongqian’s back and lost all tiredness, chattering and telling him how lively the banquet was.
Li Zhongqian laughed out loud: “When little seventh turns fifteen, elder brother will also give you a hair-pinning ceremony. It will be even more grand and lively than today’s. All the trees in every street will be full of colored lanterns.”
Yaoying hugged Li Zhongqian’s neck and rubbed against it: “I don’t want a hair-pinning ceremony. As long as aniang and elder brother accompany me, eating a bowl of longevity noodles will be enough.”
At that time, she was carefree and without worries.
She did not expect that when she turned fifteen, even eating a bowl of longevity noodles would become a luxury.
Yaoying was distracted for a long time. It was not until Ayi finished applying the ointment and asked to withdraw that she slowly came back to her senses.
“I completely forgot…” She lifted the car curtain, tilted up her face, and looked at Xie Qing, smiling like a flower, “Ah Qing, you’ve bothered to remember this.”
She had long forgotten what day and night it was.
Xie Qing lowered his head and didn’t look at Yaoying.
“I understand why Princess didn’t bring Chun Ru and them to the Yelu tribe.” He looked at the sand covered with a thin layer of white snow under the horse’s hooves, “If you had brought them here, they would have cried and cried all day long when they saw that Princess had suffered so much.”
Yaoying smiled. Listening to Xie Qing’s tone, he seemed to disdain Chun Ru?
Xie Qing’s fingers clenched the hilt of his sword: “And if they were here… it would be difficult for them to escape the Eldest Prince’s clutches.”
Yaoying’s face slightly sank.
The Eldest Prince was rude and savage. He did not try at all to hide his expression when looking at her. In the end, perhaps it was because he was afraid of his father, Tribal Chief Yelu, but these days, the Eldest Prince did not dare to be disrespectful to her. However, in front of her, he would pull one of the tribe’s female slaves into his tent every day. Not long after, unconcealed noises came from the tent.
The other day, the Eldest Prince even directly approached Yaoying to ask for Tali, which she flatly refused.
The Eldest Prince had narrowed his eyes. Not saying anything, he sneaked to Tali’s tent at nighttime, wanting to do something untoward. Fortunately, Tali was alert and did not let him succeed.
Yaoying swept a glance to the left and right. The ones following by the carriage were her personal soldiers.
She said softly, “Ah Qing, the Eldest Prince is trying to frighten me.”
The delicate Han princess, who had married far away for peace, must have been frightened and panicked when she encountered such a thing before geting married—as long as she was terrified, the Eldest Prince would probably strike.
The veins in Xie Qing’s hand gripping the hilt of his sword were bulging: “Princess, I will go and kill him.”
Yaoying frowned: “Ah Qing… you cannot kill the Eldest Prince.”
The warriors of the Yelu tribe had all grown up on horseback. Skilled in archery and horsemanship, Xie Qing was not a match for the Eldest Prince.
Xie Qing’s face stretched taut: “What if I take the princess and escape?”
Yaoying shook her head: “Ah Qing, we cannot run…”
If she left at this time, she would be breaking the promise. Moreover, Southern Chu’s spies had already penetrated deep into Chang’an. Once she left and the alliance was broken, Southern Chu would certainly incite the Yelu tribe to start a war. When that happened, the people would be in a terrible situation, and the Central Plains would be plunged into war again. Her fate would not be any better than it was now—either she would fall into Southern Chu’s hands and be reduced to a tool for them to start a war, or she would be captured and ravaged by the angry Yelu tribe.
Yaoying patiently explained to Xie Qing: “We cannot run away now, nor could we. Why must the court ally with the Hu tribes? Why do we have to rely on the Yelu tribe’s cavalry to send troops to recover Liangzhou?”
Xie Qing lifted his head and his gaze fell straight on her face.
Yaoying said, “Because this is their territory.”
The Central Plains empire had completely lost control of Helong and the Western Regions decades ago. WIthout the Hu tribes’ assistance, the Wei army would not even know exactly how many forces were cooped up in Liangzhou. How could they talk about recapturing the territory in one fell swoop?
“Ah Qing, I am currently the princess of Great Wei, the wife that the Yelu Khan will soon welcome. As long as the alliance is still in place, the Eldest Prince will not dare to treat me lightly.”
Her eyes lifted, looking into the distance.
“If we run away, the Eldest Prince will catch us immediately. What would happen to a wrongdoing Wei empire’s Princess that falls into his hands?”
A shiver of wariness rolled over Xie Qing’s body.
The Eldest Prince was being deliberate! He intimidated the princess and frightened her, just waiting for her to make a mistake!
Xie Qing loosened his fingers and tried desperately to suppress the restlessness that had been building for many days.
Yaoying smiled, “Ah Qing, no matter what happens, I will live well.”
After elder brother recovered from his injuries, he would surely come to her.
Until then, she had to live well.
She turned her head and looked to the east. A towering and majestic mountain range in the horizon blocked her view, and behind those mountains was her homeland.
“Sooner or later, we will return to the Central Plains and reunite with our families.”
She was going back.
No matter how hard it would be.
Xie Qing nodded and gripped the hilt of his sword tightly.
No matter where they were, he would protect the princess well.
The procession continued to head west.
A few days later, Yaoying saw a river winding between the desert and the mountains. The river was not yet frozen. Sparse, untidy grass grew along the riverbank, and occasionally you could see some cattle and sheep drinking along the riverside.
Tali told Yaoying, “Follow this river for a few more days, and then we will be able to reach the encampment.”
They filled their watersack at the river bank and followed the river southeast.
The river was the only source of water in the Gobi. The further southeast one went, the more cattle and sheep one could see along the way. Sometimes, you could meet migrating tribes and caravans with camel bells.
When Yaoying heard a bell ringing, she lifted the curtain and looked at the caravan travelling in the cold wind.
Suddenly, her personal soldiers swarmed and surrounded her carriage, guiding her carriage to a hillside.
Tali took one look at the caravan, and a pitying look appeared on her face. She said to the bewildered Yaoying, “Princess, the Eldest Prince is preparing to plunder that caravan.”
Yaoying was silent.
Plundering was the nature of the Yelu tribe. They grew up on horseback; not knowing how to farm or weave, they were born to follow their fathers on the grassland to plunder everything they could: food, people, wealth.
When the carriage reached higher ground, the Eldest Prince turned his horse back and, looking across the crowd at Yaoying hidden behind the carriage’s gauze, slowly pulled out the Tufan scimitar he had seized from a battle.
His eyes looked at Yaoying without blinking, his gaze sharper than a sky full of arrows raining down.
Overbearing. Savage. Cruel. Cold-blooded.
A fierce desire to conquer came over him, mixing with a sizzling and roaring electric current.
A cold shiver rolled over Yaoying’s body, and her hands trembled slightly within her sleeves.
She knew that showing her timid thoughts would only make the Eldest Prince more pleased. Her fingertips dug deep into her soft palms. She steadied her mind and did not move a muscle.
The beautiful face behind the tulle was expressionless; noble and indifferent.
So elegant, so cold.
Like the blooming flower at the summit of a snowy peak, the moon hanging high in the boundless sky.
Because it was distant, out of reach, it was more alluring, more charming. More people could not control the desire and greed to possess her.
He really wanted to tear apart the clothes wrapped around that beautiful body and make this delicate flower bloom in his palm.
Make her cry, make her submit.
Heat spread through his body. The Eldest Prince’s blood was full of energy. Lowering his head to lick the cold blade, he looked as if the thin blade under his tongue was the Han Chinese princess’s smooth-like-mutton-fat skin.
The lust and desire to kill intertwined. He was incomparably rejuvenated, his body shivered twice and he grinned widely.
With the sound of thundering hooves, the Eldest Prince took the lead and ran towards the battlefield with his scimitar raised.
His personal soldiers followed behind him, nineteen of them in a tight formation. Like a bloodthirsty beast opening its fangs, they quickly tore a gaping hole in the front of the merchant caravans.