Sima Ray covered up everything that happened in the Qi palace well, and only imperial concubines, eunuchs and servant girls knew the truth. Residents in the Royal City merely knew someone plotted a rebellion in the palace, and Prince Ray, who claimed to get lost out of no reason on his way to the Imperial Mausoleum, was the savior. Now, the emperor was seriously ill, so he entrusted Prince Ray to manage the court. Therefore, he had received praise constantly. Only a few innocent veteran officials knew it was Sima Ray himself spreading the praise.
In the whole court, incumbent officials were either newly promoted ones who supported Sima Ray or old ones who joined in his camp long time ago. Meng Hua had been killed when escorting Imperial Concubine Yun, while Prince Ning had no access to court affairs or power, even though people in the Prince Ning’s Mansion were safe now. And in the palace, as Imperial Concubine Rong was in charge of everything, including Emperor Zhaoxuan’s daily life, no one dared to rebel. This meant that the palace was also under the control of Sima Ray.
The trickiest problem for Sima Ray now was the 3,000 soldiers from the Leng Army who had escaped. Their leader was a young man in his twenties whose weapon was a 50-kg-heavy halberd. He carried a woman on his back when he fought, but he still managed to lead the Leng Army to run the layers of blockades the Jinling Army enforced. Sima Ray had heard about him and knew he was Leng Wu, Leng Changxi’s close guard. But it was a pity that Leng Wu didn’t work for him.
Later, Sima Ray learned that Leng Wu just got married not long ago, and his wife was Shang Chunman from the Shang Family. He intended to find this woman to force Leng Wu to give in. But he didn’t find her even after searching every corner in the Royal City. Nevertheless, Sima Ray had a huge ambition of governing the whole country. So for him now, the most important thing was to find Leng Changxi and kill him.
In the Ghost City in North Di, thousand miles away from the Royal City, however, things were different. Summer just kicked a start there. With the rising temperature, the ice on the mountain top melted, forming many streams which later joined in together to become brooks and later a river called the Alxa River. It was a famous Mother River flowing across North Di. It nourished soil and North Di people along the banks. And, the Ghost City stood as the biggest and busiest city for business along the river.
Despite having a scary name, this city was as lively and prosperous as the Royal City in Qi. People from different countries gathered there. On the street, Persian businessmen who had deep-set eyes, Liuli people who wore flamboyant folk costumes and North Di natives all could be seen.
Vendors were touting their products from fur to spices, and people were bargaining with each other there. Suddenly, a tall guy drew everyone’s attention. He wore a piece of local half-sleeve top with his beautiful chest muscle exposed under the wet clothes because of sweat. His tanned skin implied his health and strength. Thin as he looked, he carried 14 bolts of white cloth on his shoulder with every 7 bolts tied up together with the cowhide rope. Those bolts of cloth piled up like a lofty hill, but that man still walked steadily.
A clerk in the ready-made garment shop along the street saw that man and walked to him immediately. “Hello, Da. Honestly, the cloth you sell to us is the best-seller in our shop, so we’re wondering whether your wife can make more. My boss agrees to mark up.”
North Di people usually called a man who was close to them Da. Also, some lowborn people who were given no name at birth would call themselves Da.
That man wore a light smile and declined politely, “Thank you for your care and support. But my wife’s eyes are not good, and she can’t make more. I’m sorry.”
Then, he was ready to leave.
“Mr. Tuoba, please wait.” At this time, the door curtain which separated the hall and the room was pulled back. A charming woman in her thirties walked out gracefully and stopped the man who was out of the shop.
This woman was the shop owner. She was called Ren Sanniang, a native born in the Central Plains, but she ran a booming business in North Di.
That man really stopped. The owner put on a serious look, not showing her charm anymore, and said to him, “Mr. Tuoba, your wife’s eyes haven’t recovered for a long time. And you’re so short of money that you can’t afford to see a good doctor in the Ceiba Alley. I know you’re skilled in martial arts. So I have a piece of advice for you, but I don’t know whether you want to take it.”
Speaking of his wife’s eye problem, this man couldn’t stay calm and immediately became worried and anxious.
“Please feel free to say it.”
Ren Sanniang wore a charming smile and said, “North Di people are strong, and they love to fight. Every summer, they will hold a fight competition to pick out the strongest warrior. As long as you can qualify yourself to the final, you will get enough reward to cure your wife’s eyes. What do you think of this?”
The man looked down a bit and replied, “I haven’t practiced martial arts for a long time, and I may not be able to enter the final.”
“You must be joking. Last time when gangsters made trouble for me in my shop, you easily beat them up.” Ren Sanniang laughed heartily but stopped when she saw that man’s serious look. “In fact, you don’t have to make it to the final. Now, many princes are recruiting people to fight for them in the competition. If you can win for them, this is also a great honor. You don’t need to directly sign up for the competition. How about trying to work for princes? If you are in, you will get salary every month. Stay frugal and you can also save money to cure your wife.”
The man was hesitant and said, “I will think about it.” Then he walked away fast. Ren Sanniang shouted behind him, “Mr. Tuoba, be quick. Tomorrow is the last day for Wanyan Ba, the Grand Prince, to recruit his warriors. If you miss it, you won’t be able to sign up.”
The man walked so fast, and it was unclear whether he heard what Ren Sanniang said. He turned and turned until he walked into a quiet alley at the end of which a clean courtyard stood. In it, there were planted sweet potatoes and luffa vines entangled on the poplar branch. The soil was fresh, and it seemed that these vegetables were newly planted. Under the vines, a woman in plain color sat there to embroider a mandarin duck painting. She was very skilled but embroidered slowly. Because of her eye problem, every stitch was not easy.
Hearing the crack of the opening door, she looked to that direction immediately. Her eyes were covered with the white silk, but she had a keen sense of hearing and smell. She could even recognize people just by smell.
“Changxi?” Qin Yunuan wore costumes that North Di women wore and also braided her smooth and silky hair like them with several braids bound together at the back of her head. This gave her a different kind of beauty.
And Mr. Tuoba, who Ren Sanniang shouted at in the market, was Leng Changxi.
Worried about Qin Yunuan, Leng Changxi walked to her and held her hands. “I have told you not to work so hard.”
“I have nothing to do. I do this just because I’m too bored.” Qin Yunuan stroked his face and asked, “What does Ren Sanniang think of our cloth? Does she like it?”
“She really loves it.” Leng Changxi lowered his head and looked a bit gloomy. “But, I think, maybe it’s time for us to leave here.”
“Why?” Qin Yunuan put her hand on Leng Changxi’s mouth corner, and she felt he hung his lip, which meant he was not happy. “We’ve been here for just two weeks. This is a good place, right? How about leaving after we save enough money to travel to West Xia?”
“It’ll be late if we leave then.” Leng Changxi raised his voice and continued, “And given your eye problem, we can’t ride fast.”
Qin Yunuan lowered her head and asked, “Do you think I’m your burden?”
“I’m not meant that.” Leng Changxi stood up and turned back to her. He turned his head around and finally confessed to her. “Do you still remember that I helped Ren Sanniang to drive away gangsters? I didn’t restrain myself then, so they know I’m skilled in martial arts. Luckily only residents saw that. But if some cautious people saw and recognized that the martial arts I practiced originated from the Central Plains, I would bring more trouble to you.”
Qin Yunuan turned her head to where Leng Changxi stood and said nothing. Later, Leng Changxi continued and told her everything about the fight competition Ren Sanniang mentioned. He shook his head. “Do you remember the hunting incident? It’s been proved to be planned by Sima Ray and Wanyan Ba, the Grand Prince in North Di. That Ren Sanniang asks me to sign up for the competition is equal to asking me to expose myself to my enemy. I know I’m not the First General of Qi anymore. Now I care about nothing except for protecting you and curing your eyes.”
Qin Yunuan already sensed that Leng Changxi became extremely insecure and unconfident after being betrayed by Shang Xianhua in the fire. He was distressed. In their journey, what he thought about was just to conceal that he was a skilled martial artist and live every day safely without being recognized. The fiercest tiger on the prairie now hid his paws to pretend to be a sheep. This was not real Leng Changxi. Qin Yunuan frowned. She understood that people would inevitably get a bit mentally distorted after suffering a lot, but she really hoped that he could go through this quickly.
“In fact, hiding from enemies doesn’t mean we have to stay away from them as far as possible.” Qin Yunuan guided him slowly. “The most dangerous place is actually the safest one. A great hermit can live in a boisterous place without being affected. Changxi, you know more about military strategies than me, but I know more about human than you.”
“You mean?”
Qin Yunuan picked up the needle to embroider again and wore a bright smile. “Let’s go to bed early today. Tomorrow, I will go with you to sign up for the warrior qualification test the Grand Prince organizes.”
