Chapter 74

Ye Rui felt that the words “bandits” and her fate were utterly incompatible; every time she ran into them, something always happened.

Watching the snake-saliva poison gas spread with the rain, then seeing the bandit chief’s venomous look as he left, Ye Rui shouted without hesitation, “Retreat! You all go back first; I’ll follow shortly——!”

Lu Yihua knew Ye Rui was worried the soldiers would be contaminated by the poison gas, but Black Devil Forest held far too many dangers. How could Ye Rui possibly chase that bandit chief down alone?!

“This is an order! Lu Yihua, take the troops and withdraw——!”

As soon as she finished speaking, Ye Rui turned and gave chase in the direction the bandit chief had fled. Maybe there would be traps; maybe there would be danger. But Ye Rui couldn’t think about any of that now. She absolutely could not have thirty points of strength deducted from her!

Damn Hu Tu; she’d been screwed over again!

Lu Yihua gritted her teeth, shouted “Retreat,” and hurriedly led the soldiers away from the area filled with snake-saliva poison gas. If they lingered any longer, something would surely go wrong.

Before leaving, she looked back worriedly one last time, praying Ye Rui would be all right, and then swiftly withdrew with the troops.

Rain struck Ye Rui’s face, then splashed away as she ran. She couldn’t even see the road ahead clearly, yet her body moved before her mind did, desperately pursuing that black figure.

At first, everything had gone smoothly. She and Lu Yihua had already formed a pincer attack, and with the bandits trapped in their stronghold, they could catch the turtle in the jar. Ye Rui had specifically ordered that if possible, they should capture them alive and bring them back to the military camp for judgment. Who would have thought the bandit chief would release snake-saliva poison gas, trying to render the Phoenix Army unable to fight.

She had thought he meant to perish together with the Phoenix Army, but those bandits were clearly unaffected by the snake-saliva poison. They must have taken an antidote in advance, or perhaps used inner force to counter the poison gas. Ye Rui had no time to hesitate any longer; she immediately ordered everyone to retreat.

She had never imagined she could be this heroic. If even one person had stayed behind to help her, she wouldn’t be in such a sorry state now. Her armor was soaked through, her hair too; black mud clung to her long boots, and even taking a step felt difficult, as if the earth itself were trying to drag her down.

Still, now that the Phoenix Army had withdrawn, that was a good thing. She could chase down this cunning chief without worry.

Hu Tu: [Why are you running? Isn’t it possible you could use a bow and arrow?]

Ye Rui: [Right! You finally aren’t being muddleheaded!]

Hu Tu: [I told you I’ve leveled up!]

Ye Rui felt she must have been rained into stupidity. How had she forgotten her peerless archery?! Thinking this, she immediately took the Flowing Shadow longbow from her back, nocked an arrow, aimed, and shot——

Whoosh——!

“Ah——! Damn——!”

The man’s lower leg was pierced clean through by the arrow. He cried out in pain and dropped heavily to one knee, landing right in a puddle. Dirty water splashed up hard, striking his young face, and the mud was quickly washed away by the rain streaming down.

“No need to run. You’re not getting away!”

After saying that, Ye Rui drew another arrow and was about to shoot the man’s hand as he reached for his blade, when the man raised both hands and shouted, “I surrender——!”

Then, with a low laugh, he said, “Anyway, you won’t be able to get out of this forest. What does it matter whether I surrender or not?”

Won’t be able to get out?! How could she not get out?!

Ye Rui looked back, then froze. She didn’t even know how long she’d chased the man for, but somehow this chase... had taken her deep into the forest. Her hair stood on end at once; she couldn’t tell whether it was the cold rain or the sight of that endless, pitch-black forest behind her.

“When night falls, the beasts in the forest will come out to feed. By then, we’ll die together, General!”

The man laughed in triumph. He had never planned to leave alive in the first place. Dragging a military commander down with him was no loss!

“What grudge do you even have? First you massacred villages, then you robbed and plundered, and now you want to drag me down with you. What on earth has this world done to you?”

Ye Rui was getting anxious too. She did not want to stay here and become beast food. She had to figure out this man’s intentions first, then talk him into cooperating a little more; that way she could leave this damned forest more smoothly!

“This world was never fair to begin with! So what if we did good deeds? We robbed official grain and gave it to the Qingzhou Army; the common people praised us to the skies. But after we were framed by villains and driven out of the Chaoyang Sect, we became rats crossing the street, shouted at by everyone we met!”

The man struggled to his feet, one hand braced against a tree trunk, and said through the pain, “Our brothers were hunted down by those old fossils from the Chaoyang Sect. With nowhere else to go, we came here. Those villagers knew we were being chased, yet every one of them shut their doors and refused to spare even a mouthful of food, afraid of bringing trouble on themselves.”

With a miserable laugh, the man’s blood kept flowing down his leg, mixing with the rain as it slid from his trouser leg and soaked into the soil. “We wanted to make an honest living, wanted to find some hard labor to support ourselves. But the Chaoyang Sect wouldn’t let us go. If they couldn’t beat us, they’d say we were thieves. No one dared hire us. We had no way out, so this is what it became...”

He coughed twice, his gaze fierce as he glared at Ye Rui and snapped, “They deserve the famine they got. Since Heaven and Earth are unjust, then we’ll be unjust too. They were going to starve anyway, so I might as well cut them down cleanly. At least the grain I steal can still keep me alive——!”

Rain kept falling in a steady sheet, yet it could not drown out the accusations in the man’s roar. Ye Rui listened with one eye going dark after another and muttered a low, shaken, “Absolutely insane.” Then she said, “Whatever the reason, I’m taking you back to the camp for judgment.”

Right now she could not care who was right or wrong. She would get back first and talk later. She absolutely could not keep staying in this forest!

The man sneered. “You think you can get out?”

“I can!”

Ye Rui shouted it, whether to steady her resolve or bolster her courage; probably both.

She had Hu Tu. She would definitely get out, as long as Hu Tu’s navigation hadn’t malfunctioned; as long as she could avoid the beasts’ tracks, everything would be fine!

Ye Rui struck a point on the man to seal his inner force. The man did not resist. He believed Ye Rui would not get out anyway, so he let her do as she pleased; it didn’t matter even if his hands were tightly bound.

And so, Ye Rui dragged along a man who could only limp, and under Hu Tu’s navigation tried to leave Black Devil Forest. The man was not very cooperative, and with his injured leg plus the heavy rain making the mountain path treacherous, Ye Rui grew more and more exhausted. Running inner force to keep warm while also using more strength to get back was truly no easy thing.

This time, Ye Rui truly believed Hu Tu had leveled up. This time it hadn’t led her onto pig-shit on the mountain, and it really did help her avoid the beasts’ tracks. Just as night fell, they made it out of Black Devil Forest. Along the way they staggered and stumbled, bumping and scraping themselves here and there. She had even wanted to scold the man for not trying harder, only to find he had already fainted from pain.

That was what it meant for bad luck to pile on bad luck. Fortunately, she had still gotten out of Black Devil Forest in the end.

But then she thought of having to cross one more mountain before reaching the military camp, and Ye Rui truly could not do it. Still, Heaven had closed one door and pinched her head, but it had left her a window. Her little flower, Lu Yihua, had turned back. Just like that, under Lu Yihua’s escort, she returned to the camp, arriving two hours after the main force.

At the camp gate, Ye Rui finally ran out of strength and collapsed, lying over the horse’s back. Everyone hurried forward to catch her so she wouldn’t fall, while the man was taken to the prison.

Ye Rui had many abrasions on her body and was icy cold. The military physician immediately warmed her by the fire, changed her clothes, and applied medicine before her body gradually warmed up.

Lu Yihua did not know why Ye Rui would still insist on bringing that bandit chief back alive under such extreme circumstances. Since she did not want the man to die, she must have had her reasons, so Lu Yihua would not let him die.

“Take care of that man. Don’t let him die.”

“Yes.”

After the military physician respectfully agreed, he hurried toward the dungeon. Lu Yihua still had to report to Zhang Tingluo. After finishing her report, she found Pang Niu and Xiao Yu outside the quarters and became curious. “Why are you outside? What if Ye Rui wakes up?”

Pang Niu grinned mischievously. “That one’s inside taking care of her already.”

Xiao Yu chimed in as well. “You didn’t see it; when that one came, her eyes were all red. She was terrified. Of course we knew enough to leave on our own.”

After saying that, Xiao Yu also glanced toward Yin Yue and Gong Yinzhi standing not far away, then added, “If we didn’t come out, those two would’ve kicked us out anyway.”

Lu Yihua looked at the two of them, then said, “Then let’s go find Liu Ting and have a chat. Stop standing around.”

“Sure!”

The three of them left like that, while inside the room everything remained quiet. A single lamp flame flickered restlessly, casting the figure in the room in unstable light.

Xie Tinglan sat by the edge of the hard bed, looking at the person sleeping soundly on it. The worry that had been hanging over her finally eased. She sat there for a long time, motionless except for the rise and fall of her breathing, her mind filled entirely with everything Mu Xue had said just now.

She had indeed been so frightened she lost all calm. After leaving the capital city, her emotions had been restrained all along; she had restrained the joy of seeing Ye Rui again, restrained her overflowing longing for Ye Rui. But the emotions that had been suppressed for so long exploded the instant she learned Ye Rui was in trouble, like a beast bursting from its cage and even injuring herself in the process.

Mu Xue was right. She understood she should not have been so impulsive. But there was no helping it. When emotions were allowed to run wild, there really was no helping it.

She only wanted to go to Ye Rui’s side, wanted desperately to be by her side no matter what. But what could she even do once she got there?

Mu Xue was right; she was of no real use.

She had gone mad. Truly mad.

Right then, Ye Rui gave a soft “mmph,” and Xie Tinglan moved at once. Her neck was stiff with soreness, but seeing that Ye Rui was about to wake, she no longer felt the discomfort in her body.

Ye Rui slowly opened her eyes. Her red lips parted; she wanted water, wanted food. She had been woken by hunger! But the moment she opened her eyes, she saw a great beauty sitting by her bedside, looking at her with concern, the unguarded tenderness in her gaze spilling right out.

“What do you want?”

Xie Tinglan’s voice was gentle as water, like the fine rain of Jiangnan, yet it always carried a bit of dampness that made Ye Rui stir awake in fragments.

So a person’s voice could be like Jiangnan rain; so soft and hazy, yet with a trace of moisture that seeped into one’s heart.

“I... I’m hungry. And thirsty.”

Xie Tinglan immediately got up after hearing that, but Ye Rui grabbed her hand. The moment their hands met, Ye Rui realized for the first time that her own body temperature was even colder than Xie Tinglan’s. Remembering how miserable she had looked after being soaked in rain all the way back, Ye Rui couldn’t help shivering.

It was as if the pain of rain striking her body was still lingering.

Right... when she had dragged that man back just now, in order to stay awake, she seemed to have done something very stupid...

Hu Tu: [Yes, that’s right. While dragging him along, you were loudly singing “Two Tigers.”]

Ye Rui: [...Stop talking.]

Hu Tu: [And you were off-key, too.]

Ye Rui: [Stop talking! Old memories are attacking me again!]

Not just off-key; Ye Rui remembered that she had sung very loudly. The beasts probably didn’t even want to eat her after hearing it, afraid it would lower their intelligence.

“What’s wrong?”

Seeing Ye Rui’s aggrieved expression, like she was about to cry, Xie Tinglan’s heart instantly softened into clouds and mist high in the heavens. She sat back down and asked in a soft voice, “Are you still uncomfortable anywhere?”

“No, no. I just want something hot.”

Ye Rui bit her lip and held back tears. A great general who could bravely kill enemies on the battlefield had loudly sung “Two Tigers”; that was just too embarrassing. She remembered that after Lu Yihua carried her back, she had still been half-conscious on the horse’s back, muttering “Two Tigers” over and over. It was mortifying!!

“All right, wait a moment.”

Xie Tinglan went out for a short while and returned very quickly. In her hand was a pot of hot tea, which she poured into a cup, then helped Ye Rui sit up and brought it to her lips.

Ye Rui’s lips were chilled pale and purple. Even after drinking a few mouthfuls of hot tea, there was no visible improvement; she looked as if some mountain goblin had drained the life out of her. Ye Rui held the cup in both hands and secretly tried to circulate her inner force, only to realize that her energy was nearly exhausted and could no longer be used.

Too hard. What would she do if she had to fight in the rain in the future?

Ye Rui had stopped shivering, but she still felt a coldness radiating from inside her body, stiffening even her hands and feet; even her wounds no longer seemed to hurt.

Xie Tinglan hesitated for a long while before resting both hands lightly over Ye Rui’s. Ye Rui looked at her in a daze but did not refuse. Only then did Xie Tinglan grow bolder, tightening her hold on Ye Rui’s hands and rubbing them gently.

“Before, it was always you warming my hands. I never thought I’d have a day when I could warm yours.”

Xie Tinglan’s body temperature was not especially high, but it was more than enough to warm Ye Rui’s hands now. Ye Rui did not refuse. Perhaps when a person is sick, they are especially vulnerable. She did not have the strength to push Xie Tinglan away, and could only quietly feel the rare warmth from her hands.

“Has your poison... not relapsed?”

Ye Rui’s voice was a little hoarse, probably from singing.

“No. That was medicine bought with your life; how could it relapse?”

Xie Tinglan gave a bitter smile. Thinking of all the items that had been arranged on her desk that day, her chest turned sour and tight, and her throat felt constricted, as if someone were gripping it.

“Don’t make it sound so dramatic. It wasn’t with my life.”

After Ye Rui spoke, she was just about to take a sip of hot tea when Xie Tinglan held her back. She looked up at her. Under the dim yellow candlelight, Xie Tinglan’s eyes carried a layer of golden shimmer; in the depths of those dark pupils seemed to hide many words, all of them turning into a softened gaze that fell on Ye Rui.

Her heart... thudded wildly. Ye Rui felt her breathing stall; all of it seemed to be held there by a single glance from Xie Tinglan.

“Enlisting and going to war is, by nature, gambling with one’s life; how is that not exchanging life for life?”

Ye Rui quickly withdrew her gaze, even forgetting to drink the tea, and said softly, “I can never win an argument with you.”

Xie Tinglan was right. Being a soldier really did mean risking one’s life at every step, walking side by side with death.

Ye Rui did not want to think back on it again. Aside from “Two Tigers,” what she had thought of in that extreme situation was Xie Tinglan.

She thought of Xie Tinglan stepping onto that thorn-covered road at the age of twelve, carving out a bloody path through a den of wolves and tigers, and Ye Rui managed to take a few more steps.

She thought of Xie Tinglan dragging a sick body through fourteen years, and Ye Rui took a few more steps.

She thought of Xie Tinglan entering the fray as a woman, using her intelligence to contend with the scholars, her methods to remove dissidents, and Ye Rui took a few more steps.

Later, Ye Rui thought of that day before the carriage, when she was stained with Zhuang Linglong’s blood. Xie Tinglan had seen it and looked worried and frightened; before she could even finish speaking, Xie Tinglan had fainted. Ye Rui then took a few more steps.

She did not want to see Xie Tinglan make that expression again; frightened, fragile, helpless, as if she had been bullied badly.

She forced herself to return to the camp, and the thing she thought about most was still Xie Tinglan: her smile, her ruthlessness, her wolfish remarks, and that single tear at the corner of her eye when she was moved. They were all demons she could not get past.

At the moment she lost consciousness completely, Ye Rui thought that the biggest lie of her life was probably saying she had let go of Xie Tinglan.

“Xie Tinglan, I can only become your weakness and your obstacle. Rather than forcing you into a dilemma, it’d be better to let me go and do what you want.”

Ye Rui could not let go of Xie Tinglan, but she also could not endure a love with no answer, a love constrained at every turn. She knew everything Xie Tinglan did had reasons and logic, but she was only flesh and blood; she would hurt too.

Rather than being restrained and tormented like this, why not let go? Let this long, damp stretch of feeling become a downpour at last, and drown that heart that was already half-dead.

“You came to find me; could it be that you want to continue this kind of ambiguous affection, one that can’t make promises and can’t give answers?”

Ye Rui looked at the stubbornness in Xie Tinglan’s eyes and thought she would back down. But Xie Tinglan remained unusually steadfast, like the vast mountain range of Canglong standing far off on the grasslands; time had aged it into a quiet, unwavering deity guarding its own domain.

“Xie Tinglan, think carefully. I’m already tired of this kind of...”

Before Ye Rui could finish, Xie Tinglan lightly pressed a long finger against her pale lips and said in a low voice, “Since I could come here, of course I’ve already thought it through.”

Xie Tinglan was bright with joy. The corners of her eyes curved slightly, and even her brows were touched with delight. She knew that as long as Ye Rui was willing to speak openly about their relationship, then she had a chance.

“Your heart shines like a pearl of jade; I am willing to pledge my whole life to it. Ye Rui, this is my heart and my promise.”

Xie Tinglan spoke very gently. This was not some stirring oath between mountains and seas; it was a promise that could wear through stone by constant dripping. As long as a lifetime was, that was how long this promise would be.

Ye Rui’s gaze trembled. She thought back to that night, to the pleasure she had found in despair, to the way her fingertips traced longing while also speaking of parting. The line “Your heart shines like a pearl of jade” had fully expressed Xie Tinglan’s place in her heart.

It was irreplaceable moonlight, coldly illuminating her lonely heart.

She looked at Xie Tinglan’s earnest eyes and wavered between believing and not believing. In the end, she sighed and said, “Xie Tinglan.”

She called her name, but there was a long silence afterward. Xie Tinglan was not in a hurry; she waited patiently, listened patiently.

“Just talking is cheap; that’s all fake showmanship.”

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Author’s note: The inspiration for “Two Tigers” really was from a true story. Thanks, sis, hahaha!

My sister used to go to a certain island here with friends and try riding bicycles around the island like everyone else. She ended up utterly exhausted. On one uphill stretch she really couldn’t pedal anymore, so she got off and pushed the bike up while singing “Two Tigers” to distract herself from how tired she was. Anyway, when I heard about it, I was laughing myself to death.