Ch.28 When The Full Moon Rises, She Shall Fall

Wu Zhe Yan was leading at the front of the march when he caught the unmistakable flutter of wings coming from somewhere behind him. Suddenly, the soldiers behind him gave a shriek of surprise as a black eagle swooped down from the night sky and landed right atop his horse’s head; completely and haughtily blocking his sight. Dumbfounded, he stared at the eagle who was making itself at home while enjoying a free ride from his horse. Xiao Hei stayed there proudly with its eyes closed, ignoring Wu Zhe Yan.

“Right, you’re as audacious as your master.” Wu Zhe Yan shook his head with an astounded snort as he looked at the eagle that had no intention to move. “Just so you know, I'm only letting you off because Horse seems to like you.”

They continued the march in silence until an idea suddenly entered Wu Zhe Yan’s mind. From what he had seen, this Xiao Hei should also be quite the intelligent animal. Then, perhaps this would work…

“Hey, Bird, I don’t know shit about telegraph code but let me ask you some questions. Tap once for yes, twice for no.” When he saw that the eagle make no attempt to acknowledge his presence, he added, “if you answer me, I’ll give you some dried meat.”

At the mere mention of ‘dried meat’, Xiao Hei’s golden eyes widened in interest.

“Your master, is she really called She Li?” He threw out a testing question.

Two taps. ‘No.’

“Hah, I knew it.” Suddenly finding this to be quite the entertainment, Wu Zhe Yan continued with his second question, “she’s from the Jianghu, isn’t she?”

Two taps again.

“No?” he tilted his head at the unexpected answer. “Then, what? She’s really just a normal civilian that just started working for the Imperial Court?”

Another two taps.

Wu Zhe Yan frowned, “hey, Bird. What do you mean she isn’t from the Jianghu and isn’t a normal civilian as well? Then, who the hell is she? Are you sure you really understood my instructions? Why do you keep giving me nothing but two taps?”

This time, Xiao Hei burst into an angry wave of impatient taps. ‘What do you think, you lowly human! My master is the amazing God of War, of course!’

Unfortunately, Wu Zhe Yan does not understand telegraph code…

~~

The carriage that Shen Tian Ping had chosen might look unremarkable from the outside, but the interior chamber was surprisingly spacious and comfortable. There was even a tea set and a basket of pastries wrapped in a cloth. More importantly, there was enough space to house all her wine while still leaving a generous amount of space for her.

Luo Yue tried making herself comfortable but ended up glaring at the closed curtains. Shen Tian Ping had purposely chosen curtains that were completely impenetrable to light. For a moment, Luo Yue sat there with her fan in her hands, debating if she should just cut them down.

However, even when the moon had risen halfway, Luo Yue still had not acted on her thoughts. Stubborn as she could be, she knew the consequences would not be something she would be able to handle. She loathed riding a carriage more than she hated to be clad in armour, but like Shen Tian Ping had said, she did not have much of a choice either. After all, it was a curse that must be hidden from the eyes of others, a curse that even Xiao Liu was not completely aware of.

As though proving that she indeed did not have much choice in front of her illness, her vision swirled suddenly. When she felt the start of a familiar wave of shock travelling down all her nerves, her heart dropped as she cursed under her breath, ‘it’s early again.’

Her eyes caught the only shaft of moonlight slipping in through the slit between the curtains and the floor. For an instance so short that even if someone had been there, they wouldn’t have known, her eyes seemed to turn bloodshot before they quickly changed back with a blink.

She hurriedly tore her eyes away and scurried away from the moonlight. She held on to her head as a tingling pain seemed to slowly numb her senses. For a while, she did not move, merely quietly taking in the dull pain. Then, it seemed to intensify as the moon completely rose into the sky.

Like a hammer pounding down on a nail, a splitting pain attacked her temples. She closed her eyes, her breaths coming out ragged and laboured. She could hear screams. Pained screams of a few hundred people that had been with her on that night many years ago.

With one hand gripping the table, Luo Yue fumbled through her robes and pulled out the small black bottle that Shen Tian Ping had previously handed to her. With trembling hands, she shook out a tiny brown pill and quickly swallowed it, her actions familiar and swift.

Her fingers which were digging into her skin were already deep enough to draw blood, and yet, even as she waited and waited, huddled at a corner of the chamber, the pain did not seem to subside even a little. She shook out a handful more of those brown pills and swallowed them too.

Outside the carriage, the march seemed to have stopped as the army decided to camp outside and rest for the night. Their movements and conversations only made Luo Yue more desperate to keep her voice down. After all, even the most impenetrable of armour would break from a single crack. If anyone, especially that mad dog outside, were to find out that the God of War had a weakness like this… She took out her handkerchief and bit down on it, trying to drown out her voice.

Sweat dripped down from her forehead. No one would have been able to imagine that the God of War who was known to be invincible and the mightiest of warriors in all the 4 kingdoms could also look so… vulnerable.

As though a thousand rats were trying to bore their way out from inside her head, the scurrying noise inside her head slowly began to drown out her consciousness as the night went on.

~~

The next morning, despite what she had said, Luo Yue did not leave the carriage until the sun was well up into the sky. Shen Tian Ping had lifted the window curtains at the crack of dawn. Seeing that his master was resting with a bamboo hat covering her face, he had guessed that she must have been up all night fighting her illness. He had let the curtains fall again and motioned for Xiao Liu to go inside and cover her with a blanket.

In the afternoon, Luo Yue finally moved. She opened her eyes with a soft groan and then reached to pour herself a small cup of wine.

“Lady, are you awake?” Xiao Liu’s voice could be heard from outside the door curtains. “We’ve just stopped for the horses to-... Are you drinking again?!”

“Where’s Tian Ping?”

“Ping’ge said he’s bringing the horses to the river to get some water. Is there something you need from him, Lady?”

“Just let him know I want another bottle of my medicines upon his return.”

“Understood.”

Somewhere in the distance under the shelter of a tree, Qi turned toward Wu Zhe Yan. “Lord, why do you keep looking there? You’re not thinking of fighting the strategist again, are you?”

“Qi, don’t you think I’ve become a bit too tolerant these days? I’ve been thinking and I don’t remember ever being this patient with someone,” Wu Zhe Yan mused.

‘Tolerant? Patient? If Lady She Li were any less capable in martial arts, she would have died a few times already!’ Qi wanted to retort but held it in. Instead, he replied hopefully, “perhaps it’s because my Lord is a benevolent master who does not wish to see his poor subordinate get scolded for failure to hold back my Lord from slaying the strategist that the Court has sent.”

Said ‘benevolent master’ turned back to look at him with an arched eyebrow. Qi hurriedly added, “of course, this subordinate remains equally grateful even if that is not the case. As long as my Lord pities me enough to bestow upon me a bonus salary for the scolding…”

Wu Zhe Yan laughed as he took a sip from his leather flask. “Forget it, I’ll tolerate her a little longer.”

“For me?” Qi felt immensely touched.

“No. Because I promised to pay her back with better quality alcohol. A man never breaks his promise.”

“… thank you, Lord.”

“I said it’s not because of you.”

“It’s okay. This subordinate understands that you’re just acting cold on the outside. There’s no need to spell everything out. I completely understand.”

“…”

Wu Zhe Yan couldn’t be bothered to continue talking to this block of wall. He had noticed that someone had finally lifted the window curtains of a certain carriage with a fan. He got on his horse and then rode towards the unmoving carriage.

“G-…General!” Xiao Liu who had still been talking to Luo Yue stopped the moment he saw Wu Zhe Yan coming from behind.

Wu Zhe Yan came up to the window where Luo Yue was biting on a pastry while looking at the view. Well, she was still enjoying the view after a terrible night up till the moment Wu Zhe Yan decided to ride up to her.

Then, the familiar black horse entered her sight.

“Chen Lian!” she brightened up upon seeing the handsome horse.

“…” Wu Zhe Yan stared down at the lady from atop his horse, subconsciously analysing that she must not have gotten a good sleep from how pale her complexion was. He frowned, “hey, kitty. Do you usually greet the horse before you greet its rider?”

Luo Yue deadpanned, “no, I don’t usually greet the rider.”