Before Jiang Yuan could even process what was happening, the grip on her neck loosened. Meng Xizhi braced himself to create distance between them, laughing heartily to himself, though the smile didn't reach his eyes. As he laughed, he tapped Jiang Yuan's neck with his fingertips, each tap feeling like a blow to her heart. "This is truly interesting. No wonder your attitude towards me is so strange. But how did Madam Song know my identity?"
“You overestimate me. I only just found out myself.” Jiang Yuan’s fingertips lightly touched the blood jade on his thumb, which was icy cold to the touch. “I just recognize it.”
Meng Xizhi glanced at the crimson bandage around her fingertips and snorted coldly. The blood-red jade slid lightly down her cheek with his movement, the pale skin contrasting beautifully with the crimson. "Guess whether I believe you or not."
"Believe it or not, these are facts." Jiang Yuan dared not say more. Meng Xizhi was meticulous, and the more he said, the more mistakes he would make.
"Okay, I'll take it as you're telling the truth." Meng Xizhi stared at her for a long time before propping himself up and leaning against her.
Taking advantage of the moment, Jiang Yuan used both hands to pull up her skirt and jump off the bed, looking warily at Meng Xizhi, who was propped up on the bed with an ambiguous smile.
She was sizing him up, and he was sizing her up too.
The two were silent for a moment, until Jiang Yuan finally couldn't hold back and spoke first, "Where's Bi Fan?"
Meng Xizhi leaned against the autumn-colored brocade mattress with one leg crossed over his knee, seemingly ignoring her words.
"Don't go too far," Jiang Yuan said angrily.
"Excessive?" Meng Xizhi shifted his position to meet her gaze, scrutinizing her from head to toe. "Not killing you is already the greatest mercy I can show. What right do you have to use the word 'excessive' to me?"
After speaking, he closed his eyes to rest, but his mind was constantly calculating. The news that Yongming had sent out in the past two days was not good. Huo Zidu's swift and decisive purge of the remaining rebels in the court had caused a considerable backlash, and the relationship between the emperor and his ministers was nearing its lowest point.
Given the current situation, he simply didn't have the patience to continue wasting time with Song Yanji at the border. Unexpectedly, Jiang Yuan had presented him with such a wonderful surprise. He naturally didn't intend to keep Bi Fan; he wanted to personally deliver her to Liang's army camp. The commander's wife's personal maid—what a wonderful gift!
"Hehe..." Laughter came from the bed. Jiang Yuan instinctively looked up and met Meng Xizhi's eyes, which were full of inquiry, smugness and rare pleasure.
Bi Fan returned to the Southern Liang army camp a few days later, bound tightly, with several bloody whip marks on his back, and unconscious.
Song Yansi kept the news of Jiang Yuan's disappearance tightly under wraps. All that was known was that Lord Feng's men were attacked on their way back to the city, and that his personal maidservant risked her life to save her mistress and draw away the pursuers. Meanwhile, the lady of the house was so traumatized that she was bedridden.
The atmosphere inside the tent was tense. Fifth Hui sat on the east chair, stroking his goatee with one hand and carefully taking Bi Fan's pulse with the other. "It's nothing, just a superficial injury. It'll be fine in a few days." He then wrote a prescription and threw it to Mu Qing, his attitude quite unpleasant.
Coming to Longdi was not his original intention, and Mu Qing knew that Fifth Master harbored a burning anger in his heart. With bones exposed in the wilderness and no rooster crowing for miles, Fifth Master became famous for curing the local plague as soon as he arrived in Qi'an. He could have opened a clinic in Qi'an, but unexpectedly, he was kidnapped and sent here by Fu Zhengyan.
This is the front line, the battlefield, where people can die at any moment. No one wants to die; even Wu Hui, having lived to this age, would want to live a few more years.
Traveling day and night, Mr. Fifth fell ill with the cold as soon as he arrived in Chaisang. Before he could even recover, he encountered Feng Xiuyuan, who was seriously injured. He had no choice but to carry out his mission, despite his own illness, to save Mr. Fifth from the brink of death. He barely had time to settle in before Xu An rushed him to Longdi. He vomited constantly along the way, and in the end, he had to prescribe medicine for himself while simultaneously administering acupuncture to Song Yanji. Before this matter was even resolved, another young woman arrived.
"Are you alright now?" Fifth Hui blinked her triangular eyes, picked up her medicine box, and took her leave. Before leaving, she didn't forget to complain, "I'm old and sick. These old bones can't take this kind of abuse."
The curtain fell, and Song Yansi, dressed in a long black robe, sat at the table, with only a belt tied around his waist. The toxins in his body had mostly been eliminated, but he had become alarmingly thin in recent days.
Along with Bi Fan, a letter was also sent. He had already read its contents; Jiang Yuan was indeed in Meng Xizhi's hands. The conditions offered by the other side were simple: a ceasefire, nothing more.
"Zhongli." Mu Qing took the letter and frowned as he read it. He had probably heard some rumors about Yongming's affairs. Now that Fifth Master had arrived in Longdi and Song Yanji was in good health, it was the perfect time to press the attack and retake Shuobei.
"Ceasefire." Song Yansi said almost without hesitation.
"No." Mu Qing quickly pressed down his hand that was about to pick up the pen. This was a rare opportunity that couldn't be missed. "The bigger picture is more important."
Song Yansi's hand was stopped midway. He looked up at him, his expression not pleasant. "You want me to exchange my own wife for the victory in Shuobei?"
"She's just a woman, why are you making such a fuss!"
"But she is my wife."
"But you're a general!" Mu Qing had been holding back his anger these past few days. Ever since Jiang Yuan's incident, Song Yanji had been acting strangely. The standoff between the two armies had clearly left Meng Xizhi with a lot of room to maneuver. Now, hearing him say this, he was furious and slammed his fist on the table. "The battlefield isn't a place for you to indulge in romance and act out a love story. Your mission is to protect your country! No matter how important Jiang Yuan is, is she more important than the millions of ordinary people? How many people in Shuobei are waiting for you to rescue them from their suffering and bring them to your bedchamber? Have you ever thought about them?!"
"Finished?" After calmly listening to Mu Qing's roar, Song Yansi lowered his eyelids, his pen tip stained with thick ink, leaving a mark on the clean white paper, the strokes strong and graceful.
"I think it would be better to marry Gu Sijun than her." Mu Qing shook his head, looking at Song Yansi with some disappointment. Both of them had saved his life. "At least, you would be willing to abandon the one surnamed Gu when it comes to matters of principle."
“There are some things you don’t understand, and I can’t explain them to you in detail.” Song Yanji knew all too well that the people on the border were suffering and their bodies were being used for cooking, but… his eyes flickered slightly, and he finally put the ink stain into a bag, pressed hot sealing wax onto the seal, “Don’t blame me.”
In April, the Liang and Wei armies ceased hostilities and each retreated more than twenty li. Meng Xizhi then set off to return to Yongming.
The carriage was filled with the fragrance of magnolia blossoms. Meng Xizhi had changed into a turquoise green belted robe, with a moon-colored belt with auspicious cloud patterns around his waist. His hair was tied up with a jade crown, and his peach blossom eyes were slightly upturned, giving him a refined and elegant appearance.
Jiang Yuan, her hands and feet bound, sat motionless, curled up cross-legged in the corner. With Bi Fan gone and the two armies at peace, she could roughly guess that Meng Xizhi had used her to reach some kind of agreement with Song Yanji. However, she didn't understand why Song Yanji, given his personality, would agree to it.
“I never expected Madam Song to be of such use.” Meng Xizhi’s words were always like a knife.
“I am not Madam Song.” Jiang Yuan wished she could shut him up immediately, secretly resenting him, but she didn’t show it on her face. “Madam Song is safe and sound in Liang Kingdom now.”
"Tsk tsk tsk... Song Yansi is really lucky. Even in this situation, there are still people who care about the Song family's reputation." Meng Xizhi poured a cup of tea, and then poured one for Jiang Yuan and brought it to her lips. "Would you like some this time?"
Jiang Yuan nodded, but her hand, poised to take the cup, suddenly froze in mid-air as she remembered the last time. Meng Xizhi had done the same thing; the moment her fingertips touched the cup, he, for some unknown reason, displeased her and smashed it, declaring that if she disliked him, she could simply say so, leaving Jiang Yuan utterly bewildered. In the end, Jiang Yuan was the one who suffered, going two whole days without a single drop of water. She even suspected that Meng Xizhi was deliberately trying to kill her.
Jiang Yuan remained silent, staring blankly at his hand holding the cup for a moment before lowering her head and taking a few sips from his hand. Her fine hair covered her cheeks, making her look quite compliant.
"That's more like it." Meng Xizhi was satisfied with her reaction, his voice tinged with laughter. "Women should be like indoor flowers, not too prickly." He paused and added, "Since you're not Madam Song, how should I address you?"
Jiang Yuan didn't want to talk to him anymore, and said sullenly, "Whatever."
"Then let's call her Yuan Yuan." The two words came out of Meng Xizhi's mouth with an inexplicable ambiguity.
Jiang Yuan instinctively wanted to retort, but she swallowed the words back. A true man can bend and stretch; she needed to find a way to survive first. This time, she couldn't let it be like her previous life. Yongming's water prison was bone-chillingly cold and eerily quiet.
"Where are you taking me?" Jiang Yuan shook her head, indicating that she didn't want to drink anymore.
Meng Xizhi glanced at the cup. The snow-white cup was stained with a faint trace of lip rouge, like red plum blossoms in the snow. He frowned in disgust, casually tossing the cup Jiang Yuan had used out of the car before turning his head to meet her eyes with a smile, "Where does Yuan Yuan want to go?"
“I once helped the Marquis, and even though my current situation is awkward, the Marquis wouldn’t repay kindness with enmity and throw me into prison, would he?” Ignoring Meng Xizhi’s actions just now, Jiang Yuan only wanted to fight for the best interests of herself.
Jiang Yuan's eyes gleamed slightly, and his words carried a hint of unsure, making Meng Xizhi burst into laughter. His cheerful laughter carried outside the carriage, causing Meng Xuesheng on horseback to repeatedly turn back, looking on with suspicion.
Jiang Yuan didn't know what she had done to offend him again. Meng Xizhi's unpredictable temper made him truly unfathomable to her.
“Yuan Yuan is very clever.” Knowing how to bargain with him, Meng Xizhi pinched her chin with two fingers, met her somewhat wary expression, and shook his head with a smile, “It’s just a pity that she is a woman from Nanliang.”
Thug, bastard, lecher! Jiang Yuan struggled to break free from his grip, quickly shrinking back under his gaze, hiding herself in a small corner, her eyelids drooping to conceal all her contempt.
After that, she tried to avoid communicating with him and didn't know how many days had passed until Xuesheng came to report that she had followed Meng Xizhi's carriage to Yongming, the capital of Wei.
The silence within Yongming City was eerily profound. Meng Xizhi seemed to have grown accustomed to this quiet. Jiang Yuan suspiciously lifted the curtain, revealing a tiny crack. Outside the carriage, the common people stood quietly with their heads bowed on both sides of the street, leaving ample space for the carriage and horses. The rustling of armor was exceptionally clear in the stillness.
"What are you looking at?" Meng Xizhi glanced in the direction of her gaze, then lost interest.
The curtain was gently closed, and Jiang Yuan said, "I just felt that the city was too quiet, so I was a little curious." Based on her memories of Song Yanji's several returns to Lin'an, the people should have been excited and lively, even if they didn't raise their arms and shout excitedly, instead of being eerily quiet like this.
“It used to be noisy, but I used a little trick and it all quieted down.” Meng Xizhi said calmly, but it stirred up quite a ripple in Jiang Yuan’s ears.
Petty tricks? What petty tricks could silence so many people so completely?
Chapter 34 Just a Pawn
"Master, we've arrived." Meng Xuesheng's voice rang out from outside the carriage as soon as it came to a stop.
The thick curtains were lifted from both sides, and the footstool was already securely placed on one side of the carriage. This was Jiang Yuan's first time visiting the Marquis of Ansui's residence. The mansion faced south, with stone lions standing in front of the gate to ward off evil spirits and bring good fortune. The vermilion gate had nine door studs in each direction, and the double phoenix door knockers gleamed with golden light.
Before Jiang Yuan could finish looking around, a veiled hat was thrown on her head, and then she was dragged out of the carriage like a sack of potatoes by her arm.
"My lord." The man, carrying Jiang Yuan on his back, was burly and clearly a trained fighter. "Where should I put him?"
In front of everyone, Jiang Yuan was ashamed to death as a stranger was being carried on her shoulder like a piece of merchandise. Her face under the veil was flushed red. Through the thin veil covering her face, she glared fiercely at Meng Xizhi and gave him two sharp looks. But when her eyes swept over the woman beside him, there was a moment of shock.
The woman's skin was as white as snow, her eyebrows were like curved willow branches, her eyes were full of affection, and her lips were slightly upturned without smiling, with a touch of rouge. Her green, high-waisted ruqun (a type of traditional Chinese dress) was embroidered with light-colored forsythia and embracing branches, and she wore a moon-white long robe with thunder and cloud patterns on it. A pale yellow ribbon hung gently down from her chest, and her whole person was as gentle as the spring breeze in March.
Beautiful women are always unforgettable, especially stunning beauties. Take, for example, Green Jade, the Queen of Wei, whom she only met once in her previous life.
Now that Jiang Yuan has been given a second chance at life, seeing her standing smiling beside Meng Xizhi, tugging at his sleeve, her mind went completely blank. She felt as if she had learned a huge secret in advance.
Years later, the history books of the State of Wei will contain this record: "On the day of heavy snow, the King of Wei died. Soon after, the Queen of Wei and her son succeeded to the throne, and the reign title was Qi'an."
Carrying a child, whose child?
Lüqiong seemed to have noticed her as well, and smiled, "Cousin, who is this?"
“She walked right into our trap, so you can pick a place for her to stay.” Meng Xi glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, then took Lü Qiong’s hand. He couldn’t help but frown as soon as he touched her hand. “It’s already April, why is it still so cold?”
"You know it's an old problem, it's nothing serious." Lü Qiong smiled gently as she accompanied him into the mansion. Just before leaving, she turned around and her eyes met Jiang Yuan's. She then gave her a sweet smile that warmed the surrounding scenery.
Jiang Yuan was assigned to the west wing of Duoyue Courtyard that very night.
It must be said that living in the same courtyard as Meng Xizhi's group of beauties was a huge challenge. Unlike Song Yanji's concubines, this courtyard was truly inhabited by Meng Xizhi's people. He was indeed fond of beautiful women and revelry every night. The constant laughter and chatter of the women in the courtyard kept Jiang Yuan awake all night.
Three days later, she finally couldn't bear it any longer and found Lüqiong with dark circles under her eyes.
"What's wrong? Are you not comfortable at Duoyue Courtyard?" Lüqiong had someone pour tea and personally served it to Jiang Yuan. She was beautiful, with particularly captivating eyes; even the peonies in the courtyard paled in comparison to her every smile and frown.
Jiang Yuan smiled politely twice, knowing in his heart that the woman in front of him was the future Queen of David. Until Jiang Yuan died, her position was as solid as a rock, firmly serving as the only female ruler of the country. In this respect, she was much more capable than him.
"Not really, it's just that it's very noisy, and I can't sleep well at night."
“Everyone in that courtyard is very easy to get along with.” Lü Qiong covered her mouth with her sleeve and took a sip of tea, a very beautiful smile curving her lips. “The other courtyards are all occupied by concubines whom my cousin has given a title to. Miss, your current status is special, so it’s really not appropriate for you to live there.”
The implication was that she was being treated as one of Meng Xizhi's people. Jiang Yuan quickly clarified, "Madam Zhuang, you misunderstand. I have no connection with Young Master Meng. I'm just here to ask for a quiet place, the back room is fine too."
The back room was where the maids and servants lived. Once she moved in, she would never see Meng Xizhi again.
Lü Qiong thought to herself, but her smile remained unchanged. "I can't make this decision myself; I have to ask my cousin."
"Then I'll have to trouble you, Madam." Jiang Yuan didn't believe a word of Lü Qiong's words.
It's strange, but the girls in the backyard all respectfully call Lü Qiong "Madam Zhuang Ji," which means that she is still Huo Zidu's concubine, but now she lives in the An Sui Marquis's mansion and controls the entire backyard under the guise of a cousin.
Jiang Yuan didn't understand what had happened. How could the monarch of Wei allow his wife to live in another man's residence? It was unacceptable, let alone cousins, even if they were siblings.
Having said that much, Jiang Yuan put aside his questions and, unwilling to continue the conversation, rose to take his leave.
After Tao Cui saw Jiang Yuan off, she quickly walked up to Lü Qiong as usual and said, "Madam, she has left."
"They actually came to me for help." Green Jade looked out the window, her eyes still gentle. She slightly raised her little finger, took a sip of tea, and said, "I just don't know if they're sincere or just playing hard to get. Have you found out their identities?"
“No.” Tao Cui shook her head. “I asked a few questions indirectly, but even Tang De’s side kept their mouths shut.”
“If even Tangde won’t tell us…” Lüqiong gently closed her eyes, and Taocui raised her hand to carefully massage her shoulders. She listened as Lüqiong said, “Then don’t ask. I don’t want to create a rift between me and my cousin over this matter.”
"So, what she just said about telling the Marquis?"
“Of course.” Her white fingertips touched the plum blossom-shaped lacquered table, and Lü Qiong’s expression remained unchanged. “My cousin trusts me simply because I tell him everything.” She had never lied to him or hidden anything from him, let alone a woman.
Lü Qiong acted quickly, and within a few days Jiang Yuan changed his residence. This move did indeed bring him a peaceful night's sleep, but it also brought him the wrath of Meng Xizhi.
The night breeze was pleasant. She had just finished bathing when she saw Meng Xizhi sitting brazenly in her room. On the table was a Ru kiln beauty vase, filled with fresh flowers and plants, which he casually tossed aside. Jiang Yuan stared at Meng Xizhi warily. "What are you doing in my room?"
"Your room?" He picked up a walnut and put it in his mouth, then looked up at Jiang Yuan, whose hair was slightly damp. She was indeed beautiful, standing there obediently in the misty water, but unfortunately her eyes were too sharp. Meng Xizhi shifted his gaze back to the tea in his cup and said sarcastically, "The entire Marquis's mansion is mine, so where is your room?"
"Alright, then I'll ask it another way." Jiang Yuan quickly grabbed a thick robe from the side and wrapped himself up tightly before speaking, "It's getting late, what brings you here, young marquis?"
"Let's see how you're doing since you left the Moon-Snatching Academy."
"Not bad, thank you for your concern, Lord Marquis." Jiang Yuan didn't dare to chase him away, nor did she dare to get too close to him. After looking around, she moved a stool by the door and sat down, keeping a good distance from him.