Chapter 78: Finally Reaching the Western Regions
Yaoying’s stomach rumbled with hunger, her body getting weaker by the day. Xie Qing handed his long sword to the others and carried her on his back.
A few days later, they finally saw the familiar mountain range that stretched across the banks of the Great River1 in the horizon.
The soldiers rushed up the hillside, “Once we see those mountains that look like steamed buns, we’re almost at Liangzhou! Just one more day and we will be over that mountain! We’ve escaped!”
Yaoying, leaning on Xie Qing’s back, raised her head in a daze.
She could go home now?
She could be reunited with Elder Brother?
She was trembling all over. But before she could say anything, several sharp whistles suddenly came from the clouds, and a huge snow-white falcon revealed itself, swooping down from high in the sky.
Yaoying’s face was deathly white.
As the white falcon’s wings streaked midair, the earth beneath them suddenly trembled, and hoof beats came from behind them.
Yaoying turned around.
Dust swirled in waves above the open plains. On the horizon, the red sun was slowly descending, the sky scarlet as blood. Hundreds of sturdy and strong warriors in black battle armor rode their horses, like a black torrent, carrying a mighty aura that engulfed everything, and pounced on Yaoying and her group.
The personal soldiers were stupefied.
The ranks of hundreds of people were like lightning, speeding up to them in no time.
The man at the front of the ranks had thick muscles, tall and strong. Wearing a loose felt cap and a black gilt brocade robe and holding a huge longbow, his pale golden eyes shone with an almost beast-like coldness in the twilight.
He stopped not far from Yaoying, the corners of his lips raised up.
“Seventh Princess, I didn’t think you could survive so many days.”
Yaoying closed her eyes and shuddered lightly.
She recalled a legend among the Northern Rong people. Their method of taming falcons was to torment them2.
Haidu Aling was an expert at tormenting falcons.
He had found her long ago, and had been following her around, watching her starve, watching her suffer, and then appeared at the moment she thought she could return home, ruthlessly killing her hope of returning East.
One moment, she saw hope. The next, she was plunged into the darkest despair. How could she not be broken?
Haidu Aling was taming her.
She had nowhere to run.
Xie Qing put down Yaoying, took his own saber, unsheathed it, and stood in front of Yaoying.
The other personal soldiers also silently drew their sabers.
Haidu Aling had a playful smile at the corner of his mouth and did not move, seemingly not putting Xie Qing in his eyes at all.
Xie Qing stood in front of Yaoying, holding his own sword in his hand, his face calm.
It was as if he was not facing an invincible army.
They were only a handful of men. They were drained, dizzy with hunger.
The other side was strong and full of energy.
They were attempting the impossible; without a doubt, about to die.
But so what?
Xie Qing vowed word for word: “I wish to follow qiniang and protect her. Neither separated worlds apart nor ten thousand deaths will stop me.”
Not the Li family’s Seventh Princess, not Jingnan’s little qiniang.
Just his little qiniang.
He looked back at Yaoying.
“Qiniang, do you recognize me?”
Yaoying, with tears in her eyes, smiled lightly, “Ah Qing, I recognized long ago.”
Xie Qing nodded, still expressionless: “I will die as myself. Although I, Xie Qing niang, am of a woman’s body, I can still uphold the will of my ancestors and die to protect qiniang. Xie Qing niang dies without regret.”
No remorse either.
She, in the face of the aggressive Northern Rong army, raised her long sword.
The other personal soldiers were dumbfounded, then exposed ‘sure enough’ expressions. They looked at each other and laughed: “In the old days, there was Hua Mulan. Now, there is Xie Qing niang. To fight alongside you, we can brag to our brothers in the ground after we die.”
“What a pity, I did not take advantage of the opportunity to make a move on you before…”
“You dare to move your hand on her? With that physique of hers, a single slap could kill you!”
They gasped weakly, using all their strength to continue breathing, blocking Li Yaoying, in no way backing off.
In the twilight, their tall backs were resolute and upright, just like the continuous hills behind Yaoying.
These ordinary people, just because of a promise, guarded her until now.
They saw her as the object of their allegiance and laid down their lives for her.
She also wanted to return their loyalty.
Yaoying stood behind Xie Qing and the others, smiling and wiping the corners of her eyes.
Haidu Aling narrowed his eyes, lifted the huge longbow, pulled back his arm, and the longbow gathered full strength.
Yaoying knew that the battle was over as soon as it started.
They did not even have a chance to struggle.
She dried her tears and put her pale hand on Xie Qing’s shoulder.
Xie Qing turned back.
“Ah Qing, we have to live, live well.”
She looked at Haidu Aling, who was riding on the back of a horse in the distance, with a steady gaze.
“As long as we can survive, we will surely have the day when we return to the Central Plains.”
Realizing what Yaoying was going to do, Xie Qing clutched her hand and roared out, “No!”
Yaoying looked to the others, “Stop her.”
The personal soldiers looked at each other.
Yaoying struggled to free herself from Xie Qing’s hand and brushed away the hair at her temples, “I am your princess. Right now, I order you to stop Xie Qing. Are you going to disobey orders?”
The soldiers’ faces shook, and after struggling for a while, glistening tears fell from their eyes. They cupped their fists and answered.
Xie Qing’s eyes flew open, roaring and lunging forward, “No! Qiniang, come back!”
The soldiers blocked before her, firmly holding her in place.
Xie Qing drew her sword and slashed wildly. The soldiers had no choice but to take the sword out of her hand and push her to the ground, holding her arms and legs down to prevent her from budging.
Yaoying smiled faintly at Xie Qing, her tone soft: “Ah Qing, I’m all right.”
The current Haidu Aling was still young, not the monarch who would conquer countless nations in the future. He had his weaknesses and enemies who made him fearful.
She could always find a chance to escape.
If you stay in the green hills, you would have no worries about firewood3.
Yaoying slowly walked out from behind the guards and stood in front of all of them, facing Haidu Aling.
“I’ll go with you.”
The cold wind blew her messy dress and long hair. Even after days of tormenting traveling and looking haggard, she was still noble and beautiful, like a flower blooming in the snow at the summit of a mountain.
Haidu Aling lifted his eyebrows. The white falcon landed on his arm and gripped his fingertips.
The corner of his mouth hooked up.
The process of taming this Han Chinese princess was so enjoyable, even more so than the previous feeling of conquest when tormenting the falcon.