"You few, come here for a moment."
Inside the military tent within the Xiongnu encampment in Touman City, Zhou Fugui whispered to Li Qing, Xu Mancang, Xue Wentai, Pan Jian Gui, Bai Ma Wu, Yelihu, Yang Xin Hong, Wu Tian Qi, Wei Xia Zi, Chen Kun Kun, Hong Wei, and others.
The group gathered around Zhou Fugui.
"If you have a chance to escape, then go quickly!" Zhou Fugui instructed in a low voice.
Ever since Zhou Fugui saw that barbarian woman, a chill had run down his spine and his palms had begun to sweat. He had a strong premonition that something bad was about to happen, so he called Li Qing and the others to his side and whispered his instructions.
"What happened? And you, Fugui?" Li Qing asked.
"Don't ask. Once you escape, just keep running south," Zhou Fugui continued to instruct.
The others looked at Zhou Fugui with great concern before nodding.
"General Zhou, why don't we break out of this encirclement and fight our way back to Xuelin City?" Xue Wentai, the barbarian monk from Guanzhong, then said to Zhou Fugui.
Others might not know, but Xue Wentai would never abandon Zhou Fugui. The man who had saved his life twice, and he was to abandon him and flee? Was he even human?
"It's too late..." Zhou Fugui replied with a bitter smile.
At that moment, footsteps could be heard from outside the tent.
Zhou Fugui waved his hand, signaling them to step back. He gripped the heavy sword at his waist and stood at the tent entrance, awaiting the judgment of fate. His mind raced, searching for a way or a means of escape.
But in this brief moment, how could he possibly devise a plan?
Zhou Fugui had schemed and planned countless times, but he had never anticipated an "encounter with an old acquaintance in a foreign land"... If only he had killed that barbarian woman then and there, or captured her to be his maidservant... that would have been far better than the current situation.
On the battlefield, mercy towards the enemy is cruelty to oneself. Zhou Fugui once again understood the weight of this saying.
And this enemy was not limited to men.
"General, my master requests your presence!"
Four people arrived outside the tent. They did not immediately draw their swords and move to capture Zhou Fugui. These four were not fierce generals, but two men and two women, servants. They carried no weapons and, upon entering the tent, politely addressed Zhou Fugui.
The four servants bowed their heads, their expressions exceptionally submissive.
"Oh..." Zhou Fugui nodded upon hearing this. He then unbuckled his heavy sword and handed it to Xu Mancang. After giving everyone a meaningful look, he followed the servants outside.
The servants' respectful demeanor did not mean that Zhou Fugui and the others were out of danger. Perhaps they would feign politeness before resorting to force, setting an ambush of five hundred swordsmen in the tent to take his life, Zhou Fugui mused as he walked. What use were weapons at this point? No matter how skilled Zhou Fugui was, it would only be a matter of dying sooner or later. Therefore, it was better to go empty-handed and leave it to fate.
What kind of death awaited him? Zhou Fugui pondered again. He had heard that the Xiongnu used human heads in their sacrifices to heaven. Was his head somehow special...?
As Zhou Fugui's thoughts drifted, he arrived at the tent of Lin Yue, the concubine of Prince Duoyongjian of the Xiongnu. The four fierce-looking, armored guards at the tent entrance saw that Zhou Fugui was unarmed and merely glanced at him before letting him pass.
"With the sacred morning dew as tea, I offer it for you to first enjoy. In your eyes, I find a serene gaze. My dear one, please sleep soundly, ride the silver bird of dreams and soar across the sky, dreaming of white clouds and the blue expanse..."
Lin Yue's spacious yurt, or rather tent, was framed with precious wood and covered with felt. At the center of the dome was a fire pit with a brazier. Directly in front of the brazier was the tent flap. To the left of the flap were neatly arranged saddles, whips, and other items. The floor was covered with a magnificent Persian carpet. Lin Yue knelt on the carpet, with Prince Bian of the Xiongnu resting his head on her lap. Lin Yue gently stroked the prince's hair, softly singing a Xiongnu folk song, her voice so gentle that Prince Bian drifted into a slumber.
Under the warm, golden lamplight, Lin Yue's unadorned face, free of any makeup, was almost transparently pale. Her skin, post-bath, still held a faint blush. Her dark hair, lustrous from bathing, curled outwards at the ends, forming two large curls around her earlobes. On her fair, rounded earlobes, she wore emerald studs the size of a little finger.
As Lin Yue spoke softly, her face radiated a serene glow, entirely different from the imposing demeanor she had shown Zhou Fugui on the snowfield, as if she could take whatever she pleased.
This made the newly arrived Zhou Fugui stare at her for a few extra moments, almost scrutinizing her, even "lustfully"... It wasn't that Lin Yue was stunningly beautiful, like a celestial maiden. Zhou Fugui had seen many such women... rather, he felt an uncanny sense of familiarity with her, and it wasn't from their encounter on the snowfield.
During the battle on the snowfield, Zhou Fugui had wounded Lin Yue, and he had felt a vague sense of déjà vu then. This was also one of the reasons why Zhou Fugui had shown mercy and not taken her life.
Before the snowfield, Zhou Fugui certainly did not know Lin Yue, but he had a faint feeling of familiarity, as if he had known her in a past life.
"Master, the General has arrived," a female servant tiptoed forward and gently said to Lin Yue.
The servant's voice was kept extremely low, for fear of waking Prince Bian, who had already fallen asleep.
"Take him down, and be careful not to wake him," Lin Yue nodded. She picked up Prince Bian and handed him to the female servant, speaking softly.
The female servant knelt on the ground, holding Prince Bian, and withdrew with the other three servants. Only Lin Yue and Zhou Fugui remained in the tent.
"Who is he to you?" It seemed there were no five hundred swordsmen hidden in the tent... Zhou Fugui felt more at ease. He glanced at the frail Prince Bian and asked.
Should he capture her now and take her hostage? Zhou Fugui secretly pondered.
He would first deflect and then, taking her by surprise, capture this Xiongnu woman.
"He is my life," Lin Yue replied softly, looking at Zhou Fugui.
"Your child?" Zhou Fugui asked again.
"My husband!" Lin Yue's face flushed with a rosy glow, then quickly returned to calm as she answered indifferently.
"Hus...band...?" Zhou Fugui heard this and turned to look outside the tent, then turned back to Lin Yue and asked in surprise.
This "little brat" was her husband? Zhou Fugui thought to himself, he would never believe it. Could it be a child bride?
Could such a young "little brat" perform marital duties? The more Zhou Fugui thought about it, the more lewd his thoughts became.
In reality, Prince Bian was not that young, but merely underdeveloped and small in stature.
"He is Prince Bian of our Great Xiongnu..." Lin Yue said, her gaze sweeping over Zhou Fugui's face. "What are you doing here?"
Lin Yue was grateful for Zhou Fugui's life-saving kindness, and she also had a faint feeling of familiarity with him. Therefore, although Zhou Fugui was clearly a Yan person, and she was almost certain he was a Yan spy, she had not reported him to the Great Chanyu Duoyongjian and had instead summoned him to her tent.
"Oh, Prince Bian? Then should I call you Princess Consort or Great Rouge?" Zhou Fugui asked.
"As you wish..." Lin Yue stood up, walked in front of Zhou Fugui, and said, "Let's stop beating around the bush. Who are you? Why are you here?"
Zhou Fugui was tall and powerfully built. Speaking to him while he was seated exerted a strong sense of pressure. When she stood up, although still shorter than him, Lin Yue felt much better.
"The Great Princess Consort of the Xiongnu..." Zhou Fugui replied after some thought. "I am a person from the Great Yan Kingdom. I presume you understand now?"
"Mm, a Yan person," Lin Yue nodded. "Do you know the consequences for a Yan person coming here?"
"Nothing more than death!" Zhou Fugui said with a laugh. "However, Great Princess Consort of the Xiongnu, you cannot just arbitrarily condemn someone, can you? You won't just strike down and execute without asking for clarification, will you?"
"Of course, I must ask for clarification, otherwise I wouldn't have invited you here," Lin Yue nodded. "Who are you? Why are you here? Speak quickly, or else... the consequences, I believe you are aware of them."
"May I sit down to talk?" Zhou Fugui pointed to the Persian carpet.
After two days and two nights of ceaseless activity, Zhou Fugui had barely slept and was utterly exhausted.
They can kill me or not, but I will at least be comfortable before I die, Zhou Fugui thought to himself.
A Yan spy on the verge of death asking to sit? Lin Yue was speechless. She had never encountered such a thick-skinned person before and could only nod.
Lin Yue had seen fierce men, despicable and shameless wretches, and heroic figures, but never someone so lazy and shameless.
His face must be thicker than the Great Wall, Lin Yue mused.
"Great Princess Consort of the Xiongnu..." Zhou Fugui, having received Lin Yue's permission, unceremoniously plopped down onto the Persian carpet and said, "I am a condemned criminal from Yan. Do you know what a condemned criminal is?"
"How could I not know what a condemned criminal is? It's someone who deserves to die," Lin Yue replied impatiently.
"Why should condemned criminals deserve to die? What kind of logic is that? Condemned criminals can also be wrongly accused! Great Princess Consort of the Xiongnu, your statement is biased!" Zhou Fugui said indignantly.
"What is biased? You... are you going to speak or not? If you don't speak, then come here..." Zhou Fugui was rambling on, deflecting and delaying, clearly trying to stall for time. Lin Yue said angrily.
"Wait, wait, I'll speak..." Zhou Fugui hastily replied. "I was a condemned criminal, banished to the border. Upon arriving at the border, that old scoundrel drove us outside Xuelin City to suffer hunger and cold..."
"Old scoundrel? Which old scoundrel?" Lin Yue interrupted Zhou Fugui's words, asking in surprise.
"The Great Governor of the Border, Hu Yan Sheng," Zhou Fugui replied.
Great Governor of the Border Hu Yan Sheng? Old scoundrel? Lin Yue almost burst out laughing upon hearing this.
Someone who had once held such a noble position was now being called an old scoundrel by him? Lin Yue chuckled inwardly, and felt a bit angry as well.