Robe blanche - Chapitre 109
Xuan Ying Kingdom was quiet. After capturing Dingzhou, it did not launch another attack. This calm was somewhat strange, and the army gradually became uneasy.
To stabilize morale, Cui Lang volunteered to go to Dingzhou to investigate the enemy's true intentions and find out what tricks they were playing. Du Zhai refused, but instead turned his attention to Shen Haoyu. Shen Haoyu had previously been in charge of such matters, but after the attack outside Qingzhou, he had turned down many assignments. Judging from Du Zhai's expression, it seemed that Shen Haoyu couldn't refuse this time.
On July 27th, Shen Haoyu divided the thousand soldiers given to him by Du Zhai into ten squads and ordered them to traverse the mountains and forests between Dingzhou, Huizhou and Fengzhou. It didn't matter if the enemy discovered them; as long as they could escape in time and save their lives, that was fine. He himself secretly left with the remaining twenty-odd guards of the Prince of Qing's mansion, but he did not take me and Zinuo with him.
I knew this journey would be fraught with danger, and given my own poor martial arts skills, it was understandable that Shen Haoyu wouldn't take me. But Zinuo was far stronger than me, or rather, far stronger than many of the guards, so it was puzzling that he wouldn't take him either. However, it was probably for the best that Zinuo didn't go, saving me from having to live in constant fear.
The courtyard was empty again, with only Zinuo and Ganlin remaining. Zinuo continued to ask Ganlin for advice every day, and Ganlin generously gave him guidance. I watched from the side, occasionally mimicking his movements, but what I did most was practice archery with Cui Lang. Having neglected it for some time, I had become a bit rusty.
I hadn't seen Cui Lang for over a month, and he seemed to have gotten even darker. The first thing Cui Lang said to me was, "Not many girls get tanned like you." I hate the heat and the sun, but being outside so often, I've ended up being much darker than the average girl.
I grinned and said, "Likewise, just don't treat me like a girl." After leaving Qingzhou with Chen Haoyu, I put on men's clothing again, which wasn't very comfortable. What could I do?
After checking my skills, Cui Lang shook his head repeatedly. I quickly said, "General, I don't need much strength. Just teach me a few dazzling tricks so I can impress people and show off in front of those who have laughed at me. Don't be too strict with me."
Cui Lang sighed, but finally showed me his amazing skill of shooting three arrows at once. Although the three arrows were shot side by side, they hit the target one after the other, each arrow piercing the previous one, and they were stacked together and stuck on the target. I was dumbfounded and it took me a long time to react: "My God!"
However, I knew my own limitations. I wiped the drool from my mouth, changed my form of address, and said, "Master, this is too difficult. Something simpler will do."
Cui Lang then fired three more arrows, one after another, at a rapid pace, and in the end, all three arrows were stacked together and stuck in the target. This one seemed much easier; all he needed to do was practice his aim. With the foundation he had built from shooting down the plums before, it wasn't difficult.
With both sides holding back for the time being, there were no urgent matters in the army. Cui Lang practiced archery with me and was not in a hurry to return to camp.
After practicing for a while, I asked Cui Lang, "Why is it so hard for me to shoot live animals?" I thought back to every time I went hunting in the mountains, other people could shoot them with ease, but I could only aim and still rarely hit them. Last time, I almost lost my life because of it.
Cui Lang laughed and said, "You can't even fully master still things, so how can you shoot at living things? Besides, it's different from shooting at a target. Since the thing is alive, you're not just aiming at its position when you aim, but also predicting where it will move from when you shoot the arrow until it hits it. That's the most important thing."
I understand this principle; it's somewhat similar to the proverb "marking the boat to find the sword." The difficulty lies in how I can predict where things will suddenly veer off course. Cui Lang was unwilling to elaborate on this, only telling me to take it one step at a time. Disheartened, I picked up the arrows and shot them at the target one by one. For me now, hitting the bullseye with an arrow is a piece of cake. I should practice shooting the arrows together.
Six days later, Shen Haoyu and his group returned. Fortunately, no one was missing, but everyone seemed exhausted. Shen Haoyu didn't rest much after returning and hurriedly went to the General's Mansion, not returning until very late. I quietly asked Song Zhixuan what had happened. Song Zhixuan said that a large iron mine had been discovered in the deep mountains outside Dingzhou City, and the Xuan Ying army was secretly mining it to forge weapons.
Is that really all there is to it? Aren't they afraid of being captured from Huizhou and besieged in Dingzhou? Or are they using this as bait to lure the main army to attack Huizhou, so they can take advantage of the situation? Or are they sending the main army to attack Dingzhou?
Whichever choice is made, it seems somewhat dangerous for Fengzhou. Given their comparable strength, could they really afford to rashly divide their forces and repeat the mistakes of Xuan Ying?
The matter was eventually suppressed. The Iron Army in Fengzhou remained inactive, pretending not to know about the situation in Dingzhou, and quietly waited for reinforcements to arrive. Anyway, it was already the end of July, and there were only a few days left until August.
After a few more days of leisure, not only me, but most people were also idle. Several high-ranking generals, including Shen Zexuan and Cui Lang, often came to Shen Haoyu to ask for tea. Naturally, they drank the jasmine tea that Shen Tingxuan had given them. It seemed that they were slowly starting to help Shen Tingxuan open up the market. However, every time Shen Haoyu saw them come, he would frown unhappily, as if he was very reluctant to part with the tea leaves. Finally, after a few days, Shen Haoyu's tea supply was almost gone.
"Don't you have a box too? Give me some more." Shen Haoyu came to me and said, clearly asking me for something, but he didn't have any sense of being a beggar. His tone was arrogant, as if I was obligated to give it to him.
I simply refused to give it to them, and besides, I didn't have any left. "Sorry, I don't have any more," I said smugly.
"It's impossible that you finished it all," Shen Haoyu questioned. "You're not just trying to avoid giving it to me, are you? Don't forget, you're mine..."
“The people are yours, and the things are yours, right?” I interrupted Shen Haoyu. It was so unoriginal. He always said the same few lines. I was tired of hearing it even if he wasn’t. “However, it’s true that it’s gone. I sold it when I was in Qingzhou.”
Shen Haoyu glared at him: "Who did you sell it to?"
"Think about it, Zinuo and I are broke. We've been living in Qingzhou for so long, and luckily the landlord loves tea, so we naturally sold it to him." Youlan, I wonder if you lost out by using that box of tea as payment for our accommodation.
Shen Haoyu was disheartened and left in a huff, muttering as he went, "I should have known better than to listen to you and not brew it for others."
On August 11th, 100,000 reinforcements arrived in Fengzhou, along with a new round of supplies. The Iron Army's pockets were bulging again, making me feel that war is truly a losing proposition. So much manpower, resources, money, and food are wasted, and what good are a few cities if there are no mountains of gold and silver inside? Yet so many people are still happy to do it.
To my surprise, another official escorting provisions came to see me. When I got to the main hall, it was Lord Li again. This time, without waiting for Shen Haoyu to introduce me, he directly had someone hand over the goods to me. It seems that even though we hadn't spoken, we were already acquainted.
Without a doubt, it must have been Shen Tingxuan who sent it again. This time, in addition to the package, there was also a large rectangular wooden box. I reached out and took it, thanked Lord Li, and then turned to leave.
Back in the room, I first opened the wooden box. Inside lay a delicate silver bow. I ran my hand over it; the faint patterns gave the bow a slightly rough, yet pleasantly comfortable feel. I took the bow out of the box and drew the string. It was very elastic, and the bow itself was quite light—much better than any bow I had used before.
Shen Tingxuan is so thoughtful; knowing I was practicing archery, he sent me this bow.
There was also a letter in the box. Opening it, I learned that the bow was a sixteenth birthday gift he had prepared for me. Compared to the expensive, useless birthday gifts he had given me before, this bow was quite practical. The letter also mentioned that the flower tea was selling very well. As I had suggested, it had been graded; even the ordinary tea cost ten taels of silver for one tael, while the high-grade tea had no upper limit. The tin boxes used to hold the tea were sold separately as works of art, and customers were allowed to return them for recycling, saving considerable costs. In addition to jasmine tea, he had consulted the imperial physician and prepared several other healthy flower teas, which were slowly being put on the market, though no new tea could be produced this year. He also earnestly instructed me that on the battlefield, swords and spears are ruthless, and military situations change rapidly, so I must be careful and stay by Gan Lin's side as much as possible. Sigh, even Gan Lin knew about it.
Looking at the date of the letter, it was July 25th, but the letter didn't mention his son at all, which made me very curious. I wonder if the little guy looks like him or Mu Hanyan.
I opened the package again. Inside, as usual, were tea leaves, but this time there were four boxes. Two of them were specifically for Shen Haoyu and Shen Zexuan. I pursed my lips, took them out, and set them aside. Opening the other two boxes, one had the familiar scent of jasmine, and the other a faint fragrance of violet. How lovely. The oil paper package also contained some food, but this time the small porcelain bottle held some commonly used medicines for treating typhoid fever, dysentery, and clearing heat and detoxifying. I carefully put them away, feeling incredibly fortunate.
After tidying up the things Shen Tingxuan had sent, she carefully hung the silver bow by her bedside and sat down at the table to write crookedly. In the letter, she inquired about Shen Zhengyu's situation and sincerely thanked Shen Tingxuan for the gifts. Then she folded the letter and took two boxes of tea to find Shen Haoyu, but on the way, she encountered Shen Haoyu walking towards her.
"Where are you rushing off to?" Shen Haoyu asked abruptly.
I quickly presented the tea box to Shen Haoyu: "I'm bringing you some tea."
Shen Haoyu finally smiled, and when he saw the two boxes in my hand, his eyes narrowed even more. I quickly said, "One of the boxes was meant to be given to the Third Prince by the Second Prince." They are brothers, you can't just take it by force, can you?
Shen Haoyu's face darkened, and he snatched a box of tea from my hand, spitting out, "Is it him who wanted to give this to me, or you?"
I glared at Shen Haoyu. That heartless guy! Didn't I share half of the two boxes of tea I had the first time with you? What's the big deal now? Seeing that Shen Haoyu had also gotten the tea, I ignored him and walked around to Shen Zexuan's courtyard. On the way, I was thinking about what I could give Shen Zhengyu. After all, he was practically my nephew or cousin.
Thinking of this, I couldn't help but turn back. I had neither money to buy expensive gifts nor skillful hands to embroider something like a doll's dress or a small sachet. So I could only keep thinking of what toys I could give him.
Reaching the attic, they found Zinuo and began whispering to her. Soon after, Zinuo took the blueprints and went out. Zinuo then returned upstairs with the tea box, intending to deliver the gift for Shen Zhengyu to Shen Zexuan together.
Do not lean against the west railing to lock in the clear autumn. Chapter 093
Chapter word count: 3396 Update time: 09-08-31 11:00
The next morning, I was practicing archery with my newly acquired silver bow against a makeshift target I'd made in the yard when Zinuo came over with a Rubik's Cube made of wood. I quickly put away my bow and went to meet her.
"Did the Second Prince send this?" Zi Nuo asked, glancing at my bow with undisguised amazement in her eyes.
I nodded and generously handed it to Zinuo: "It's very handy and easy to use. If you like it, you can play with it too."
Zi Nuo scoffed, "I'm not like you. I'll just focus on mastering swordsmanship and won't be distracted by learning archery."
I awkwardly put the bow away and slung it over my shoulder. Zinuo handed me the Rubik's Cube, took it, and tried turning it around. Although it wasn't made of plastic, it was pretty good. The surface was polished very smoothly, and nine numbers were written on each of the six sides (not Arabic numerals, of course), with different colors of paint on it. It really looked like a Rubik's Cube.