Chapter 736: Let Madam Enjoy Herself

"Cold?"

The Princess reached out and tightened Liu Ruqing's collar for her.

"Not cold." Liu Ruqing smiled.

"How does it feel to come home?" the Princess asked.

"Elder Sister wants the truth?"

"Naturally."

"This is Elder Sister's home. But it stopped being my home a long time ago."

Even though this was Fan City.

Even though the Fan Residence stood right here.

Even though Liu Ruqing had once been a daughter-in-law of the Fan family.

Now... she had long since become Marquis Pingxi's woman.

She did not possess much affection for the Fan family.

Of course, she did not dislike them either.

But if one insisted that returning to old ground should fill her with some overwhelming emotion... there truly was no need.

"Mm. In truth, I'm the same."

The Princess turned and looked out beyond the city wall.

Chu in winter was desolate too.

"I used to think the saying 'a married daughter is water poured out of the basin' sounded rather ridiculous. But after coming back this time, I discovered... there may actually be some truth to it."

Gou Moli stood to one side without saying a word.

Two of Master's women were speaking.

His job was to wait beside them.

Join the conversation?

Did he think his life was too long?

"Elder Sister, is it really appropriate for us to come over like this?" Liu Ruqing asked somewhat worriedly.

Xiong Liqing smiled and gently pinched Liu Ruqing's cheek.

Liu Ruqing blushed and tried to pull away... but did not truly resist.

Clearly, their usual displays of affection could be even more excessive than this.

"You held it in until now before asking?"

"Mm. The moment I heard we could leave the house, I was happy too."

"Exactly. So was I." Xiong Liqing stretched lazily. "And we're even returning to Chu."

This was Fan City.

Once the foundation of the Fan family, it had now gained strengthened walls and become a military stronghold in this region.

After the Prince of Jingnan destroyed Ying Capital, Yan and Chu signed a peace treaty.

The changes everyone focused on were naturally the transfer of Zhennan Pass and the inclusion of Shanggu Commandery within Yan's sphere of influence.

But in truth... by the final stage of that war, the defenders at Zhennan Pass had already reached a point where they had no choice but to withdraw.

Nian Yao could not possibly continue leading hundreds of thousands of Chu troops in a desperate defense along the Zhennan Pass line after their supplies and retreat route had both been completely severed.

And Shanggu Commandery itself had always been poor.

Ever since the days of Situ Lei, it had repeatedly suffered through war.

Its assignment under the Yan-Chu treaty was, fundamentally, a tacit decision by both sides to turn Shanggu Commandery into a contested zone.

A buffer everyone silently left empty.

A future battlefield.

So that clause of the treaty was really only a dignified way for both sides to conclude matters.

The provision that produced genuine additional benefit was another one.

A tract of land around Mount Meng was carved away and assigned to Yan.

That territory... was the Fan family's sphere of influence.

Mount Meng stood behind it.

Both the waterways and mountain roads were difficult.

But at least... they were passable.

And the Fan family had thrown itself behind Yan early, stabbing Chu in the back.

So receiving territory under the postwar treaty was only natural.

While the late Emperor still lived, he had already granted Fan Zhengwen a noble title.

At the same time... he made the office of Prefect hereditary within the Fan family.

It resembled the methods Qian used to govern the southwestern native chieftains.

Grant obedient local chiefs hereditary appointments as County Magistrates or Prefects... and in exchange, obtain their support on the larger political questions.

There was no need to discuss the Fan family's wealth.

And when Marquis Pingxi had been digging up the ancestral graves of Chu nobles... the Fan family helped dispose of and transport a great many things.

They naturally did not dare openly steal Marquis Pingxi's spoils.

But taking their cut along the way... was impossible to avoid.

So the Fan family built city walls.

Recruited soldiers.

Purchased horses.

The former servants of the Qu Clan... had now become the true masters of this region.

On top of that...

Fan Zhengwen had long since sent his legitimate eldest son and his principal wife, née Min, to Yanjing.

He had sent his sister-in-law Liu Ruqing to Marquis Pingxi Residence.

His position... could hardly have been clearer.

He was practically the model example of a perfect collaborator.

"Don't worry. Since Mr. Bei approved it, there won't be a problem. When Husband isn't here, Mr. Bei's word carries weight."

"Mm."

The Blind Man had asked them whether they wanted to return to Chu for a look.

They had agreed.

And so... they came.

Gou Moli had accompanied them.

Naturally, Gou Moli knew this was not really a simple sightseeing trip.

The real reason was that...

Qu Peiluo was "about to die."

Qu Peiluo had originally been captured.

Later, Marquis Zheng released him.

With support from the Fan family, Qu Peiluo gathered a number of former Qu Clan prisoners and began rebuilding his position.

Yan and Chu had reached an unspoken understanding that no large-scale official conflict would break out between them.

Under that larger framework...

Qu Peiluo had effectively been fighting a proxy war.

What surprised Marquis Pingxi Residence was that once Qu Peiluo received the Fan family's support, he genuinely managed to create something.

He began by establishing stockades.

Then called back former subordinates.

Then expanded bit by bit.

Several attempts by Chu regular troops to suppress him failed.

Instead... his power continued growing.

Of course, that was partly because Chu had never mobilized troops on a truly large scale.

They feared causing a misunderstanding with Yan.

Which really meant... they feared provoking Marquis Pingxi Residence.

That concern tied their hands.

In short... the Young Master of the Qu Clan... the man who could once have been called Marquis Pingxi's lifelong enemy... after betrayal in love, catastrophe in his family, and defeat in war... had matured.

Had transformed.

According to Fan Zhengwen, Qu Peiluo now commanded forces whose total momentum reached roughly twenty thousand men.

They remained a disorderly mob.

But gathering enough people to create this level of noise was still impressive.

Unfortunately...

Heaven sent unpredictable storms.

Qu Peiluo suffered an assassination attempt.

He was struck by an arrow from hiding.

The wound was supposedly severe enough to put his life in danger.

He sent a letter to the Fan Residence.

And asked them to pass it onward to Marquis Pingxi Residence.

Most of the letter... page after page... was devoted to his one-sided longing for the Princess.

The Blind Man read it.

He did not know whether Master would enjoy reading that letter.

But at minimum... he certainly enjoyed it himself.

Near the end, Qu Peiluo explained how he wished to arrange his forces after his death.

He had chosen one reliable subordinate to succeed him.

But he hoped that man's succession could receive recognition from Marquis Pingxi Residence... and recognition from the Princess.

Only by operating in the name of a Great Chu Princess could these Chu men preserve the dignity of believing they were serving the imperial house rather than acting as dogs for Yan.

A fig leaf... more or less.

Perhaps when Qu Peiluo wrote that letter... even he had not expected... the Princess... would actually come in person.

"Mr. Gou."

The Princess looked toward Gou Moli.

"When do we leave?"

The meeting place stood at a stockade eighty li south of Fan City.

Gou Moli respectfully answered:

"Madam, naturally we wait until Qu Peiluo's people arrive there. Once word reaches us, we leave."

"Good."

That afternoon... the Princess left Fan City in a carriage.

Several hundred guards of the Fan family followed around her.

Liu Ruqing did not come.

She wanted to.

The Princess refused to allow it.

Halfway there... the Princess ordered someone to call Gou Moli over.

Naturally, Gou Moli did not dare enter the carriage.

He sat beside the driver instead, turning sideways to speak through the curtain.

"It isn't that I don't trust Mr. Gou. Nor do I distrust Mr. Bei. But are we really just going there like this?"

If the Princess did not understand the Blind Man's ability and vision... she might genuinely have suspected he was helping his good friend Siniang eliminate her.

But no matter how she thought about it, that was impossible.

Never mind that Mr. Bei was not so stupid or short-sighted.

Even within the inner residence... she had always behaved like a younger sister before Siniang.

"Madam may rest assured. Everything has already been arranged."

Late that night... they reached the outskirts of their destination.

The procession stopped.

Gou Moli sent men ahead to notify the stockade.

Not long afterward... the stockade gate opened.

A group of torch-bearing riders came out.

They stopped before the carriage.

One man dismounted and approached.

"Your Highness the Princess?"

It was Qu Peiluo's voice.

The Princess ordered someone to lift the carriage curtain.

Under the light of the torches... that face had become rough and weathered.

The former Young Master of the Qu Clan... now a traitor and rebel in the eyes of Chu... had long since lost the refinement of his younger days.

Qu Peiluo saw the Princess.

He smiled.

Then knelt before her.

"Qu Peiluo pays respects to Your Highness the Princess."

The Princess said nothing.

Instead... she looked toward Gou Moli beside the carriage.

Gou Moli said nothing either.

The atmosphere abruptly turned cold.

With no other choice, the Princess said:

"You've worked hard."

"It wasn't hard."

Qu Peiluo smiled and shook his head.

"Your wound?" the Princess asked.

Qu Peiluo looked surprised.

"Naturally... it's fake."

The Princess froze.

Then... looked toward Gou Moli again.

Gou Moli stepped forward and asked Qu Peiluo:

"Have they arrived?"

"They have."

"Have you chosen?"

"Do I have another path to choose?" Qu Peiluo asked in return.

Gou Moli was only slightly taller than Xue San.

To an ordinary person, he was still short.

But Qu Peiluo was kneeling.

So Gou Moli could study his face and eyes very clearly.

The Savage King reached out and gently stroked Qu Peiluo's face.

Qu Peiluo continued smiling.

"In truth... you and I are very similar," Gou Moli said.

"Are we?"

"Yes."

"So..."

"So you should be proud."

To have the Savage King admit that you were becoming increasingly like him... was indeed a compliment.

"Enter the stockade," Gou Moli said. "Put their minds at ease."

"There will be danger."

Qu Peiluo raised his head again and looked toward the Princess.

Gou Moli sighed.

That look in Qu Peiluo's eyes... was very much like the way Gou Moli himself had once stared at those embroidered shoes.

After a moment...

Gou Moli looked at the Princess inside the carriage.

"Madam, shall we enter?"

"How large is the catch?"

The Princess asked.

Xiong Liqing did not ask whether it was dangerous.

At a time like this... asking how dangerous it was would have lacked style.

Yes.

As the Marquis's woman... she had long since absorbed the particular air of Marquis Pingxi Residence.

"Madam, when you fish, the better the bait, the larger the fish you can catch."

Xiong Liqing did not ask some foolish question like how dare you compare me to bait.

Instead... she nodded with visible excitement.

"Then let's enter."

The Princess's carriage entered the stockade.

Once inside...

Qu Peiluo immediately became "injured" again.

And then... "critically ill."

The Princess began receiving some of the "great generals" under Qu Peiluo.

She rewarded them with gold and silver.

Made promises for the future.

That night passed peacefully.

The second day passed peacefully too.

On the third day... shouts of killing erupted inside the stockade.

The men within split apart and began slaughtering one another.

The Princess was no longer in the residence where she had originally stayed.

She and Gou Moli had taken position on the stockade wall long beforehand.

Below...

Qu Peiluo led one group against his own former subordinates.

The man leading the opposing side... was the very subordinate who had earlier received the Princess's promises and was supposedly meant to succeed Qu Peiluo.

The Princess wore sable fur.

Against the winter landscape, she looked like something painted against snow.

She was not some beauty capable of toppling states with one glance.

But she was unquestionably the sort of woman who only became more pleasing the longer one looked.

"I heard Qu Peiluo say the Emperor of Yan seems to be near the end," the Princess said.

Gou Moli nodded.

"Master's letter mentioned it too. He should be close."

"When the time comes, who will become the new Yan Emperor?"

"Madam, in truth, whoever becomes the new Yan Emperor won't make much difference to Marquis Pingxi Residence. Whoever takes the throne will have to treat our residence even more politely."

"That's true."

"By the same logic, the Fan family has no road backward anymore. Even if the Sixth Prince does not ascend the throne, the Fan family can only continue standing firmly on Great Yan's side. No. They'll stand even more firmly on our Marquis residence's side."

"Mr. Gou is right."

The killing below intensified.

The entire stockade divided into two camps.

Men who had once called one another brothers... now swung sabers without mercy.

Outside... things were even more interesting.

Because the Princess and Gou Moli stood atop the stockade wall, they could clearly see two separate groups fighting beyond the walls as well.

Gou Moli explained:

"Qu Peiluo managed to grow this quickly over the past year for two reasons. One was support from the Fan family. The other... was deliberate tolerance from Chu. Phoenix Nest agents planted plenty of sand inside Qu Peiluo's ranks."

"Everyone knew?" the Princess asked.

Gou Moli nodded.

"This was unavoidable. Third Master once trained a group of people too, but Marquis Pingxi Residence still does not possess the foundation of an entire state. Besides... we couldn't genuinely send our own men over to help Qu Peiluo control his roots. Master's decision to release Qu Peiluo was only an idle move on the board. Since the piece unexpectedly grew strong... we might as well reach over and pick the fruit."

"I miss Husband."

Gou Moli did not dare respond to that sentence.

The Princess reached out and touched the stockade wall.

"So I was brought here to lure all of them into moving?"

"Yes. Originally, their target may have been Fan Zhengwen coming here to negotiate."

"Fan Zhengwen would have come?"

"Fan Zhengwen is extremely ambitious. He would not willingly abandon an opportunity like this. He would have accepted the risk. Besides... Madam came too, didn't you?"

"True."

"So once they confirmed Madam was here as well, they would lose control and jump out together. And perhaps... not only them."

As he spoke...

Chu military banners appeared in the distance.

A formation of Chu troops... marching in disciplined ranks... was slowly advancing toward them.

Once the men outside the stockade who remained loyal to Qu Peiluo saw that... their morale immediately withered.

Signs of collapse began to appear.

But the Princess and Gou Moli atop the stockade wall showed no panic at all.

"I'm curious about one thing."

"Madam, please ask."

"Qu Peiluo. Has he genuinely submitted to Husband?"

"Before he saw Madam that night, perhaps he was cooperating with them in putting on a performance. Maybe he wanted to use his own counterintelligence scheme to prove, in the end, that he, Qu Peiluo, had never truly betrayed his country and defected to the enemy. That he still cared about Great Chu. Perhaps he wanted to wash away a little of the humiliation attached to his name. Whether outsiders believed him or not would not matter. He himself... would feel a little better. He told us his ranks had been mixed with a great deal of sand. But wasn't that sand also the result of what he himself willingly tolerated?"

"Oh?"

"People change."

"I'm not naive enough to believe he changed because of me."

"Actually... it's possible," Gou Moli said.

The Princess looked at him.

Gou Moli bowed slightly.

"A man's thoughts can be grasped. But never completely guessed. Especially when he knows... we are trying to guess them."

"Husband was willing to let me come out and do something because he was afraid I was too bored at home. But I know perfectly well... Husband would never allow me to accomplish things in that way."

"Madam may rest assured. We would never allow it either. Master's reputation stands above everything. Of course... once you begin doing things, it is impossible not to become entangled in some responsibility. Rumors will inevitably arise from shadows and traces."

"I understand."

There was one more thought Gou Moli did not say aloud.

That night... when he looked at Qu Peiluo... he had felt Qu Peiluo might actually prefer becoming the kind of man who, in a fury for a beauty, turned his back on everything.

That did not mean Qu Peiluo loved the Princess deeply.

Before her marriage, the two had met only twice.

How could there possibly have been some love unto death?

But if the histories someday wrote him that way... perhaps it would let him feel better.

"Can Qu Peiluo still be used afterward?"

"Madam should know who I am."

"I do."

The Princess nodded.

"If even I can be used... what does Qu Peiluo amount to?"

"Mm."

"After this, the Fan family's sphere of influence can finally spread outward completely. It will no longer be confined to Fan City and the Mount Meng region. Qu Peiluo's men can combine more effectively with the Fan family's strength. Chu's arrangements here will end like drawing water with a bamboo basket. At the same time... the local situation will become completely rotten from Chu's perspective. The purpose is simple. When Yan and Chu begin another national war in the future, the flames of war will not immediately reach Fan City. The Fan family will possess enough time and room to maneuver while waiting for support from Marquis Pingxi Residence. This nail... is finally hammered firmly into place."

"Mr. Gou, are you truly certain my imperial brother won't suffer this loss and then launch a major campaign?"

"Master once said... His Majesty the Emperor of Chu is even better at lying low than a man surnamed Gou."

"Heh."

Outside... once more than three thousand Chu regular troops appeared, the fighting beyond the stockade gradually became one-sided.

But then... from the north... came the synchronized thunder of hooves.

A formation of elite eastern Jin cavalry in superb armor appeared at a measured pace.

Their movements carried one unified rhythm.

Great Yan's Black Dragon Banner... and Marquis Pingxi Residence's own Double-Headed Eagle Banner... snapped in the wind.

There were not many of them either.

Everyone was restraining themselves.

By silent agreement... this contested region was still merely a place for small clashes.

The only difference was... the other side had three thousand Chu infantry.

This side... had three thousand iron cavalry.

And the man personally commanding them... was Liang Cheng.

The Princess looked surprised.

"General Liang actually came himself?"

She understood Liang Cheng's status within Marquis Pingxi Residence perfectly well.

Her husband had effectively handed more than half his military authority to that man.

Gou Moli nodded.

"In truth, Mr. Bei sent Master a letter in the capital beforehand."

"Husband knew I came to Chu?"

"Yes."

"What did Husband say in his reply?"

"Master's reply was: 'Let Madam... enjoy herself.'"

[End of Chapter 736]