Xie Shi was taken aback as he felt Yuwen Tong’s pulse. How come Yuwen Tong’s pulse which had been steady and even only a few moments ago had suddenly become so irregular and fluctuant?
Yuwen Tong’s face was pasty, but his eyes were quite clear, the look in them alarmingly inscrutable.
“Sire, you … ” Xie Shi was anxious and wanted to ask Yuwen Tong what seemed to be the problem, but he had just finished the first two words when he felt Yuwen Tong’s pulse slowly stabilize. Astonished, he left his sentence hanging in spite of himself.
Yuwen Tong removed his hand from his chest, carefully folded the letters on the table one by one and put them back into the casket.
Right at this moment, Xie Shi perceived that Yuwen Tong’s pulse changed again. Though the change was not as drastic as the one a moment ago, it shouldn’t be taken lightly. However, Yuwen Tong didn’t appear to be suffering from misery as intense as what he had felt just now. Though his face was still slightly pale, he looked as unhurried as usual but for the faintly veined backs of his hands.
“What is ailing you, Sire?” Xie Shi hastily asked as he jerked out of his trance.
Yuwen Tong put the letters back into the casket one by one and closed the lid before he replied, “My heart.”
Heart? Xie Shi, recalling that a short while ago Yuwen Tong had clapped a hand to his heart, immediately offered to check Yuwen Tong’s cardiac meridian but was turned down.
Xie Shi was confused. “Sire, please allow me to perform an examination.”
Yuwen Tong was looking at the casket with a tender look in his eyes, but his tone was quite steely when he spoke. “That won’t be necessary. I’ve already come to know what the problem is.”
Xie Shi and all the others were baffled as to why Yuwen Tong was still so collected.
“As long as I don’t think of Brother Zhang, I won’t experience any discomfort. Once I think of him, my heart throbs painfully and I have difficulty breathing,” said Yuwen Tong.
Ah? Wh–What kind of symptom was this? From one perspective, it sounded like some kind of illness, but from another, it didn’t sound like a disease at all.
Yao Yi and the others were all somewhat befuddled. Xie Shi was the only one aware that there was indeed something fishy going on. Yuwen Tong’s pulse, pallid face and the veined backs of his hands all indicated that something was wrong. However, even Xie Shi had a frown on his face, for the combination of these symptoms was something he had never seen before.
Gradually, Yao Yi and the others also came to realize the severity of the problem. Having been serving Yuwen Tong since childhood, they knew Yuwen Tong too well to be unaware that no common injury or pain could make Yuwen Tong’s face pale or blue veins stand out on the backs of his hands. Given that Yuwen Tong had mentioned pain and breathing difficulties, he must be in anguish and having problems breathing indeed.
Xie Shi bustled around for another few moments in an attempt to figure out the cause of those symptoms of Yuwen Tong’s, but the result of the examination was the same as that of the one he had performed last night: Yuwen Tong was not under the influence of any poisons, and there was no sign of any Gu worms existing in his body.
The night before he hadn’t found anything because Yuwen Tong hadn’t shown any symptoms, but now Yuwen Tong was showing noticeable symptoms. Why was he still unable to find the cause? This time Xie Shi really began to doubt the medical knowledge he had accumulated since childhood.
It was impossible for Yuwen Tong to stop thinking of Ling Zhang, for nobody could rid themself of the yearning for a reunion with their lover, just like nobody could rid themself of the need for air and water. The throbbing in his heart and his breathing difficulties were only the beginning. After a night, Yuwen Tong discovered that even his temper had been affected by that thing inside his body.
The fight between his army and the Wan army had been in a stalemate for the whole morning. This time, Chen Jing’s men, with the advantage of the defense of the city they were stationed in, managed to withstand the attack from the Great Wen’s army. Morning had passed but Yuwen Tong’s troops hadn’t made any progress in breaching the enemy’s defense, showing a sharp contrast with the fact that they had taken all the cities along the way during their northward advance with unstoppable momentum.
Yuwen Tong furrowed his brows, a sepulchral expression on his face, looking at the teams of his men attacking the city as well as the Wan soldiers clamoring on the opposite side. On this day, the enemies were hurling abuse on the ramparts, which was rather uncharacteristic of them.
“Yuwen Tong, you’re unworthy of your reputation. You couldn’t even take such a small city, yet you have the fond hope of attacking our capital? Ridiculous!”
“Yuwen Tong, you are at the end of your rope. You’re ‘undefeated’ so far only because your men caught us unprepared. Now our reinforcements have arrived. I suggest you people go back to where you came from before we beat the shit out of you!”
“We sued for peace out of goodwill but you turned our offer down. Today we’ll have you know we made that offer only because we wanted to help you save face. Now that you refused to accept it, we’ll drive you out of this place. The city gates you couldn’t batter down on this day are just a beginning. Tomorrow you’ll have to retreat to the southern bank of the Wan River with your tails between your legs!”
At first there was no expletive in their derision and abuse, but gradually the enemy soldiers on the ramparts began to use all kinds of swear words. Troops of the Great Wen were all indignant and only too anxious to tear those people’s mouths, but killing them all seemed an impossible task. Jiang Xi had the archers shoot down the enemy soldiers shouting abuse, but for every one they shot down, two more arose to take his place. All of them were cursing.
Jiang Xi, face dark with rage, tossed a backward glance at Yuwen Tong who was in the command center. The look in Yuwen Tong’s eyes was cold and gave little away, and the expression on his face was so calm as though he was totally unaffected by any of those words. The sight of this allayed Jiang Xi’s anger significantly. He turned his head back to look at those enemy soldiers on the ramparts, let out a sneer, summoned one of his bodyguards and gave him a couple of instructions.
Soon the army of the Great Wen started shouting abuse back at the enemies, each voice louder than the last, each sentence more insulting than the last.
“Hear this, you sons of bitches on the ramparts! Your country’s days are numbered! Chen Jing put you on the ramparts to be targets for our arrows because he knew he’s fighting a losing fight! He’s using you to buy himself more time! He’s fled already, yet you fools are still here daydreaming of winning!”
“Chen Jing wet his pants from his fear of us some time ago, and there would never be a better time for him to flee than this day, but he won’t be able to delay his death for long. When we get to your capital city, Chen Jing and your monarch will both be dead!”
“You are just a bunch of cowards and wusses who couldn’t even defend your own country! All you are fit to do is scream abuse. Even rats in the sewer have bigger balls than you do!”
…
All Jiang Xi’s men had some kung fu skills, and their howls of derision drowned out the abuse of the enemy soldiers on the ramparts. This, coupled with the thunderous beat of war drums and the sound of the war flag whipping around its pole, boosted the soldiers’ morale, and they started attacking the city with greater ferocity.
Yuwen Tong, though standing there with a poker-face, was actually feeling as though a fire were burning inside him. A few moments ago, before Jiang Xi had some men snap back, he had felt as if something were weighing his heart down, as if someone were churning his heart with a knife, pain and fury frantically sweeping over him in waves.
Almost immediately, he came to realize that this kind of mood was uncharacteristic of him.
For a military commander, winning or losing a battle is a common occurrence, not to mention that his army had just failed to make any progress in breaching the enemy’s defense after attacking for the whole morning. It was no big deal. What Chen Jing relied on was just a special advantage of this city – the wide moat around it. Chen Jing had had his men position a lot of pointed bamboo poles in the moat. Yuwen Tong’s soldiers had had to remove those bamboo poles first braving a rain of arrows, which had cost the army some time and the lives of many men.
However, when Yuwen Tong had heard the abuse of the enemy soldiers on the ramparts, the words he would normally ignore without feeling anything particular had actually roused his anger which had surged uncontrollably inside him. This had instantly put him on the alert. It was as if something was forcibly manipulating his mood, forcing him to get angry, to lose his cool.
Having sensed that something was wrong, Yuwen Tong didn’t utter a word, subduing the knifelike pain in his heart and the rage bubbling in him. The attack was being carried out as planned, but this kind of situation was not good. What was happening to him was only the beginning. There were many more fights ahead of him, and there was no guarantee that all his decisions would be absolutely unaffected by his emotion.
Yuwen Tong closed his eyes and felt something heaving frantically in his chest where his heart was. There was indeed something in there.
Chen Jing, who uncharacteristically had his men hurl abuse during the fight, had clearly made preparations some time ago and was putting out feelers. As things stood, it was unmistakable that there had been something fishy about the visit of that Wan envoy. What kind of method the enemy had adopted was a mystery to him, but he had indeed fallen prey to their trick.
At the thought that Ling Zhang would soon arrive, the rage inside Yuwen Tong which he had been able to hold at bay a moment ago flared up almost in an instant. The throbbing in his heart had turned into an agony so insupportable as though countless ants were gnawing at his heart.
Yuwen Tong’s eyes instantaneously became scarlet but soon, exercising all his self-restraint, he managed to have them return to normal. Nobody noticed these details, except for Yao Yi and Xie Shi who were standing beside him.
Xie Shi immediately offered to use his acupuncture skills to help Yuwen Tong recover himself, but Yuwen Tong refused to let him do that. “I got this. Some of the enemies on the opposite side are watching. If you do that, they’ll be able to confirm I’ve fallen victim to their trick.”
Xie Shi immediately stopped, but he still suggested apprehensively, “Maybe you should go back to the encampment first, Sire.”
Yuwen Tong shook his head. “I can’t do that.”
Xie Shi and Yao Yi exchanged a glance, both of them appearing quite concerned.
…
The attack stopped shortly after noon. This time around Chen Jing had invested a lot in the defense. He had had his men splash oil over the vertical surface of the ramparts, making it slippery and thus difficult to climb up. Also, if the enemy ignite the oil, the ramparts would be instantly turned into a sea of flames and the casualties would be quite heavy. Xiao Jiangyue, who had been directing the troops at the front, decided to withdraw the army and suspend the attack.
When the army of the Great Wen retreated, someone on the ramparts stared fixedly at the horse-drawn carriage Yuwen Tong was in, the look in his eyes laden with hate.
Yuwen Tong, after returning to the encampment, immediately went back to his tent, sat down and started performing Qi circulation in an effort to recover himself.
Xie Shi, Yao Yi and some others were standing guard around the tent, keeping their eyes peeled, not allowing anybody to enter. Xiao Jiangyue, Yuwen Jin and the others, all of whom had no idea what was going on, began to worry.
At this time, Ling Zhang had exited Jifang City. Between him and Yuwen Tong was now only one city, the suburbs of which were a battlefield where two armies had fought not long ago. An army of the Wan Kingdom was stationed in it.
Presently it was impossible for him to cross the city to get to the encampment of Yuwen Tong’s army. He had to detour around it.
Ling Zhang felt his heartbeat quicken as he approached the encampment. As he had to cover his tracks and had been on the run all the time, it had been several days since the last time he had received a message from Yuwen Tong. He wondered how Yuwen Tong had been doing.
He had received a letter Mr. Mu had written in reply to him. Mr. Mu had departed from the capital city and was on his way to the Wan Kingdom. Considering the time of his departure, he probably had arrived in Shengzhou by now.
