TMBM Chapter 138: Departure
In the afternoon, Xie Peng returned from outside the city and told Yaoying that the city had indeed begun to prepare for the Begging Winter Festival. The major government offices were sweeping the courtyards, setting up a stage for the music and dance performances. The musicians and singers hired by the Hu merchants from the Qiuci region had also arrived. Recently, the post station inns outside the city have been full of people who came to take part in the Begging Winter Festival.
Yaoying had doubts in her heart. One day, when she visited Ashina Bisha before her departure, she said tentatively, “I heard that the Begging Winter Festival is coming up soon. The regent is from the Royal Court, so I think he should also reunite with his family and friends. Why don’t we postpone for a few days and wait until after the Begging Winter Festival to depart.”
Bisha froze for a moment and shook his head with a bitter smile, “If it were up to me… I would accompany the princess to Gaochang, and it would be best to postpone it for another month.”
Unfortunately, Tumoruga did not agree.
He looked melancholy, lost in thought for a moment. A vague emotion lightly drifted across his turquoise eyes. It took some time for him to snap back to his senses. He smiled and said, “The regent has no relatives and no friends. He has never attended the Begging Winter Festival. The departure date has already been set, the princess does not need to be worried by this.”
Yaoying remembered the way the attendant shivered when he mentioned Sultan Gu.
To the attendant, the devil-like regent was not present at the Begging Winter Festival, which allowed the people of the city to celebrate the festival to their heart’s content.
Sultan Gu never showed up at the festival. Maybe he didn’t want to scare people?
Yaoying thought for a while, but she put this matter aside for the time being. Her eyes fell on Bisha’s leg and asked, “Was it Haidu Aling’s doing?”
Bisha returned with an injury and was immediately taken in by Princess Chima to the Princess Residence to personally nurse back to health. Aware of Princess Chima’s taboo, she could not find the opportunity to ask Bisha until today when Bisha moved back to live in his own house.
“It wasn’t him who did it.” Bisha looked cold, “It was his personal soldiers.”
He leaned back on the couch and said slowly, “After I arrived at Northern Rong, I saw Haidu Aling lying in his tent pretending every day. He urged several princes to examine his wounds. After seeing his lrg, the youngest prince vomited. The second prince took a dagger to scrape off the rotten flesh of his wounds. Each and every cut practically scraped to his bones. He didn’t even blink an eye.”
Yaoying frowned: “Could it be that his wounds are real?”
Bisha shook his head, “No. His injury was just a minor one.”
Yaoying drew a cold breath.
Haidu Aling’s wound was only minor. He deliberately did not treat it in time, and let it putrefy and grow maggots, making others mistakenly believe his whole leg was ruined. The second prince took a knife and scraped off his skin and flesh, yet he did not react at all—this was a tactic used to confuse the princes!
This man was really deep-scheming. He could go so far as to be this ruthless to himself. No wonder Wakhan Khan and his several sons were fooled by him.
Bisha sighed: “Haidu Aling is worthy of being the first warrior of the Northern Rong, able to endure what ordinary people cannot. If you had not warned me, I would have believed that his leg was truly ruined! I remembered your advice and watched his tent day and night, and finally found some oversights. I was about to make him ‘make it real’ as you said, but I didn’t expect him to be prepared. I did not succeed at attacking him, and in my haste to get away, I was stabbed by his personal soldiers.”
Speaking of which, the corners of his mouth quirked up and he raised his eyebrows at Yaoying.
“But I did not let Haidu Aling be complacent for too long. The second prince and I cooperated in creating a diversion and then attacked his tent. The second prince did not hold back in the least, intending to put him to death. Initially, Haidu Aling did not want to expose himself. Then, seeing that the assassins sent were all skilled, he also became anxious. At the moment between life and death, he jumped to the ground to dodge, just in time for the second prince to see. “
Yaoying finally knew the story. She and Bisha shared a look with a smile.
Now that the second prince was suspicious of Haidu Aling, Haidu Aling’s plan was a failure.
Bisha rubbed his leg and said proudly, “Haidu Aling suffered for nothing, but I didn’t suffer this wound for nothing!”
Yaoying eyes bent as she said to him with a smile and cusped hands, “General has achieved a great feat. Yaoying admires it very much!”
In preparation for the trip, she changed into lightweight travel clothes, wearing a deer-patterned narrow-sleeved brocade robe with hems lined in pearls with her braided hair draped over her shoulders. A brocade belt circled her waist, revealing her exquisite body posture and skin as soft and tender as snow. With a smile in her eyes, the corners slightly curved, they looked bright and beautiful gazing at him.
Bisha suddenly felt his face warm. Shifting his line of sight, he looked at the bright beam of light reflected through the front of the window ledge and said: “Princess… the Regent is eccentric and does not like women to be close to him. When you travel with him, be more lenient with him.”
Yaoying nodded: “I will not disturb the Regent.”
Bisha gave an ‘en’.
On the third day, the team set out.
The night before, Yaoying hesitated over whether to say goodbye to Tumoroga, but a monk informed her that Roga was in seclusion and would not see anyone. Thus, she had to forget it.
As the first rays of sun began to peek through the rose-colored clouds gathered in the dawning sky, Yaoying and her personal soldiers, accompanied by Yuanjue, left the Buddhist temple, traveling along the same road they took when they entered the city.
In front of the cliff, they could hear the clamorous sound of people. It was almost time for the Begging Winter Festival, and the various herdsmen from the hundreds of miles radius were rushing to the Holy City. Thus, the market was crowded with people.
Yaoying asked Yuanjue, “Don’t we have to wait for the Regent?”
Yuanjue said, “The Regent is not in the city. We will go directly to Sha City and meet him there.”
The weather was gradually cooling down. In the daytime, it was not as blisteringly hot as it was in the middle of summer, so they got up early and rushed, stopping to set up camp and rest at the hottest part of the day then continuing their journey in the afternoon. After several days of nonstop journeying, they reached Sha City.
The group stopped at a post station to replenish their water supply when several hawk cries suddenly came from overhead.
Yaoying lifted her head, her veil whipping in the wind.
A magnificent goshawk soared over their heads, spread its huge wings, and flew towards a sand dune in the distance.
Yuanjue stared for some time before he whispered, “The Regent is here.”
Yaoying followed the direction his finger was pointing. The sun was setting in the west. A man on a horse stood on the hill, shoulders draped in the light of the sunset. The tall figure against the light made it so that they could not see his appearance. However, that majestic aura like an arrow pulled taut on a bowstring must be, without a doubt, Sultan Gu.
She wanted to go forward to meet him, but remembering Bisha’s reminder, she stayed put.
They filled their water pouches and rode toward Sultan Gu.
When they got closer, Yaoying’s eyes fell on Sultan Gu’s face, and found that he was wearing a ghost mask on his frightening face.
Out on the road, he did have to cover up, otherwise, it would be too eye-catching.
But why did he choose a ghost face mask?
Compared with his face, this mask was more frightening…
Thoughts wandering, Yaoying’s grip on the reins in her hands slightly loosened. Her mount suddenly sped up, darting forward, dust and sand flying.
The crowd has been rushing for several days, leaving them exhausted. No one had yet reacted, but Yaoying flew forward like an arrow released from a bow.
The wind whistled in her ears as anxious shouts sounded from behind her. Yaoying’s heart filled with nerves but she composed herself, threw herself down and hugged the horse’s back, tightened the reins. She reached out and patted the horse’s neck to calm the mount.
The black horse snorted a few times, slowing down.
Yaoying breathed a sigh of relief and slowly sat up, gently strangling the reins.
A cool line of sight fell on her.
Yaoying lifted her head and glanced sheepishly at Sultan Gu. The hem of his dark-colored robe was covered with sand and dirt, which was splattered on him when her mount was frightened and rushed over.
It was so hot during the day. Everyone changed into white robes, but he was always dressed head to toe in black. Wasn’t he afraid of the heat?
Yaoying could not help but smile and said, “Regent, I trust that you’ve been well?”
Sultan Gu did not make a sound.
Yaoying looked at his turquoise eyes, which were not covered by the mask, and said, “Last time the Regent saved me, I have not yet thanked you in person. Has the Regent recovered from his injuries?”
The young girl’s tone was sincere, without a trace of fear, her voice soft and sweet.
Sultan Gu drove his horse half a horse length forward and extended his hand toward Yaoying without saying a word.
Yaoying stared blankly.
Sultan Gu did not say anything. Leaning over, long fingers hooked her stirrup’s woven rope, untangling the golden yellow leaves.
Illuminated by the light of the setting sun, there was a shallow scratch on the horse’s back.
Yaoying understood: it turned out that the mount was frightened because it was stung by the golden leaves.
She looked at the side of Sultan Gu’s face. Feeling that the ghost face mask on his face was not so ugly, she said softly, “Many thanks, Regent.”
Eyes lowered, Sultan Gu put down the straightened-out rope.
Horse’s hooves clattered. A few people including Yuanjue chased them over.
Sultan Gu pivoted his horse and turned around, galloping down the hill. The sunset’s light seemed to spotlight his receding figure.
The group of people followed silently.