The BeiYue ambushers were quickly killed by Great Chu’s supporting soldiers. The place reeked of blood, remnant limbs and severed bodies scattered all over the battlefield, some were of BeiYues, some others of Great Chu’s. Just like hell on earth. The guards mourned as they saw their deceased companions, the female members of Su Wang Mansion almost vomited as they trembled and shivered, huddling in together, looking extremely terrified.
However, these things weren’t really what made them afraid. What made them even more terrified is——
“Wang-, Wang Ye…”
Ru Lan was trembling as she looked at the suddenly-appearing Chu Baning. She didn’t even have the chance to be happy before noticing the expression on the man’s face, just a glance made her face change as if terrified from seeing a ghost. She almost thought that the man in front of her might just be someone with the same face as their Wang ye. His present expression had frightened the people present….. How could Wang ye show such an expression of shock and fury? This is too unscientific! And also too frightening.
Ru Lan: >__< Wang ye, no need to show us such a cold face ah. It’s really not us acting recklessly ah, we were also being forced to!
When Ru Lan noticed that Ah Nan had fainted, she panicked and couldn’t care less about Chu Baning’s expression. She was about to anxiously say something when she felt her embrace get lighter. She suddenly found that the person in her arms had already been moved to Chu Baning’s embrace.
Chu Baning gently caressed that thin face, the wound on her forehead shouldn’t have ever been there. She was still unconscious at this moment, giving him no time to interrogate her on why she suddenly appeared here without rhyme or reason. His heart and eyes were filled with only the young lady in his arms.
“What’s wrong with Wang fei?”
The cold and firm words were like icicles heavily smashed Ru Lan’s heart, making her feel as if she was doused with cold water on a snowy mountain in winter, shivering all over from the cold. But she didn’t dare to slack off and hurriedly replied, “Wang-, Wang Ye, Wang fei has a high fever and has to be sent to the doctor quickly…… Al-, Also, Wang fei’s forehead was wounded when she fell off the carriage just now……”
Ru Lan was unable to finish her words. Because her family’s Wang ye has already pulled off the black cloak on his body with lightning speed and wrapped it around the still unconscious Wang fei. Then, he carried Wang fei onto his horse quickly and left, not even saying anything.
“Ai ya, Wang ye, where are you going…..” Wen Liang, dressed in a flamboyant and eye-catching1The RAW actually used 很风骚很高调 (very “Feng sao” and “high profile/eye catching/bold”). Feng sao here actually refers to someone who dresses provocatively and flamboyantly (actually Feng sao is sometimes translated as coquettish or flirtatious). Wen Lian is indeed often described as “coquettish” is various words :”) white clothes, hurriedly shouted. It’s just that his face still carries that usual frivolous smile of his, making people feel that he wasn’t really worried.
From afar, Chu Baning’s voice could be heard amidst the wind, “Zi xiu, I leave the rest to you, I’m going first……”
Seeing Chu Baning left like this, leaving such a mess behind, Wen Liang let out a sigh, resigning himself to bad luck.
Wen Liang, from the start to finish, had understood nothing. Why did he suddenly have the impulse to lead the group of people, the ones who were going to hunt in the mountain forest near the city while also investigating the presence of bold BeiYue people who dared to sneak into these mountain woods to rob the common people’s foodstuff. Yet the result was that they ran into the Su Wang fei, who should be and supposed to be in the capital. Not only did they run into her, the person was even harmed. He was really afraid of how Chu Baning, that conservative and nit-picky person, would torment people when he got provoked.
Recently, the war between Great Chu and BeiYue has entered a stalemate, with BeiYue people stationed only a thousand Li2A Li is 500m, so a thousand Li is about 500 km away from Tongcheng, waiting for the opportunity to make a move. Initially, both sides should have run out of food when winter arrived. However, Great Chu’s imperial court’s grain arrived at Tongcheng half a month ago, solving the urgent issue of Great Chu’s army and raising their morale. But the BeiYue army wasn’t as lucky, there hasn’t been any news from BeiYue royal court, causing the troops stationed away from Tongcheng to start feeling flustered.
What kind of war were they fighting in? What they were fighting was the war of attrition! How can they fight when they are starving and without grains? Could it be that they were letting a group of starving and exhausted soldiers rush over straight ahead and offer their own necks for the enemy, like watermelon on a ridge?
Therefore, the BeiYue army, no longer able to wait for the royal court’s grain support, came up with the idea to fight Great Chu. So they began to divide some of their soldiers into smaller teams, crossing from Tiandie mountain’s steep peak and arduous journey to the territory of Great Chu. They then disguised themselves and hid in the mountain forest, ambushing the passing Great Chu’s commoners and caravans. This move by the BeiYue could be said to be very clever. Not only could it alleviate the BeiYue army’s starving problem, steadying the army’s morale, but also managed to kill many of the enemy’s civilians and loot them of their supplies. Killing two birds with one stone.
After Great Chu military received this news from the spy over there, the genius military counselor, Wen Liang, who was in the Tongcheng military camp, suggested for them to also send some people to go hunting in the mountain forest everyday. Not only would it add some wild game for the soldiers, they could also conveniently investigate whether there is an invasion by the BeiYue people. If they found them, they absolutely must beat them up until they pissed their pants in terror. See then whether they still have the guts to come here with such despicable intentions and have the audacity to invade Great Chu.
And thus, is what happened today.
But who knew that Su Wang fei, who should have been in the capital as she enjoyed her wealth and status, would have had such bad luck and ran into the BeiYue people lurking here. Moreover, these BeiYue people had just come from Tiandie Valley and were starving. When they saw this group of people only having 30 guards but having several carriages, they considered this group as a fat sheep, making the BeiYue people excited.
And today, Wenliang happened to have an impulse and gathered the soldiers who wanted to go wild and eat meat. Then he happened to see Chu Baning in General Zhao’s tent who was in the midst of discussing the war situation inference with General Zhao. Therefore, Wen Liang resolutely dragged Chu Baning over to hunt together under the rotten reason of “we have been too idle these past days, we should loosen our muscles and bones lest we age too quickly”.
Wen Liang thought, if he knew that they would run into the unlucky Su Wang fei today, no matter what he said he wouldn’t be able to drag that evil star to come out. Doesn’t that mean this is self-inflicted?
Wen Liang ordered the soldiers to clean up the battlefield, then walked up to Ru Lan, seeing the pitiful maid still trembling as she sat on the ground. He inwardly sighed disappointedly, Chu Baning still didn’t understand how to pity and cherish the jade3Jades usually refers to women, basically it means to be nicer to women ah. With a friendly and amiable smile, he said, “You are Su Wang fei’s close maidservant, your name is Ru-, what Ru was it again…..” Wen Liang remembered he had seen this girl when he went to Su Wang Mansion back then. At that time, he heard Ah Nan ordering her to do some things, he didn’t pay attention to remember this maid’s name then.
“Replying to Lord Wen, this servant’s name is Ru Lan.” Ru Lan replied respectfully.
“Oh, so it’s Ru Lan! Alright, Miss Ru Lan, can you tell this lord how your Wang fei could be here? It couldn’t be that she was following Chu Niangzi’s example and went on a long journey to meet her husband?” Wen Liang covered his mouth in surprise, his bright starry eyes twinkling. “Ai ya, it turns out Su Wang fei is also such a person. Zi Xiu truly admires her!”
Ru Lan furrowed her brows, looking at Wen Liang with some dissatisfaction. Right this moment, Wen Liang was squatting in front of her as he said some sarcastic words, truly inconsistent with his graceful bearing and extraordinary temperament. That extraordinarily handsome face showing such an expression, truly incite people’s impulsive desire to stab him to death. Now Ru Lan thoroughly understood why her family’s Wang fei had disliked Wen Liang so much. This girl4Reminder that the “girl” (丫) here refers to a person in a derogatory way is really not a good person, she really wanted to spit on that handsome face the wealthy ladies at the capital liked.
Ru Cui, who had run over and helped Ru Lan up, loudly and clearly said to Wen Liang, “Lord Wen’s words aren’t right. Our Wang fei came here under orders, not thrown away like garbage by the elders. Lord Wen must have yet to know, the Empress Dowager really favored our Wang fei, but because she was worried for Wang ye, she issued an imperial decree to let Wang fei come here and attend to Wang ye, so that Wang ye wouldn’t have to worry about anything else and able to dedicate all his focus on handling the nation’s affairs. It is said that behind a successful man is a woman silently supporting him. If there isn’t one, the successful man will quickly turn into an old geezer.”
“…………”
Wen Liang’s mouth corner twitched slightly. Why is this girl’s speech advice so unpleasant? Could it be she was implying that he was thrown away here like garbage by his old man? Also, mocking this lord for not having a woman silently supporting behind him, and would quickly turn into an old geezer? But looking at this girl’s respectful, submissive, and docile appearance, she doesn’t seem to be sarcastic.
Wen Liang was a bit conflicted, unsure of whether Ru Cui was indeed stupid or faking stupid. However, he also noticed that Ru Lan seemed to have some difficulty moving. It seems like her feet might have sprained when she was thrown out from the carriage just now. So he let the Momos of Su Wang Mansion come and support her onto the carriage. Then, he went towards the group of soldiers who were clearing up the battlefield.
Ru Cui ran after him, bowed to Wen Liang and asked him worriedly, “Lord Wen, Wang ye and Wang fei…”
“Don’t worry, your Wang ye has taken Wang fei to enter the city and find a doctor. The horse Wang ye was riding on is his favorite horse that can travel a thousand li a day, its speed is also the fastest in the army. At most it would take them 30 minutes to reach the city,” Wen Liang comforted with a smile. He rubbed his chin and then muttered to himself again, “Who knows maybe Wang ye would scare the soldiers guarding the gate silly. Ai ya, Being able to see Wang ye’s expression change, truly rare ah. Why should I stay here and do such things…..”
Wen Liang chattered away as he walked, leaving Ru Cui frowning alone.
Translator’s note:
Hi, everyone. Updates will be a sporadic from now, Chinese New Year is approaching and I have got a lot of things to do :”) Thanks for reading!
Maria Lian On CFRFGC Chapter 104