Chasing Jade (Zhu Yu)

The mountain wind rustled the treetops, and the man before her slightly lowered his head to gaze at her. The distance between them was less than half a foot, so close that even their breaths were audible when they spoke.

Fan Changyu looked at the man whose entire demeanor exuded a fierce aura and instinctively sensed danger. The grip he had on her shoulders was painfully tight. She tried to struggle free, but not only did she fail, his hold only tightened further, making her bones ache faintly.

Frowning, she said, "What nonsense are you talking about?"

Xie Zheng asked coldly, "Aren't you heading to Jizhou to join the army?"

Fan Changyu replied, "I am going to enlist, but not for the reasons you think."

Xie Zheng, pushed to his limit, let out a bitter laugh. "If it's not what I think, then why were you afraid to let me know? Why sneak away without a word?"

Changyu looked into his fierce, bloodshot eyes and felt a pang of guilt. Leaving without a word had indeed been inconsiderate, but there were some things she simply didn’t know how to say to his face.

She pressed her lips together and murmured, "I'm sorry."

Xie Zheng stared at the girl who was always so honest—who couldn’t even lie—and for a moment, he felt the urge to strangle her. His hands trembled as they clutched her shoulders, his expression twisted as he pulled her into his embrace, not wanting her to see the even more terrifying look in his eyes.

Through gritted teeth, he hissed, "Fan Changyu, you should’ve stabbed me twice before leaving—left me too wounded to even chase after you."

Black rage churned in his chest. The deep-seated fear, as if he were the only person left in the world, seeped from the marrow of his bones, creeping into his flesh and blood, making his arms around her convulse uncontrollably.

All his pride, all his toughness—shattered like thin ice under the sun.

Why wouldn’t she stay with him?

Why did no one ever want him?

That woman back then, and now her too.

He was tearing down every barrier between them, one by one.

Yet she still didn’t want him!

He had carved out his heart and laid it bare for her, and she had scorned it!

For a moment, Xie Zheng felt like he wasn’t himself anymore—because he couldn’t control his own body. He watched as his head lowered, as he sank his teeth into Changyu’s shoulder through her clothes.

Changyu gasped in pain, but his jaw only clamped down harder. His phoenix eyes darkened with a bloody haze, his arms locking around her like iron bands, refusing to yield no matter how she struggled—like a wolf savaging its dying prey.

"Have you lost your mind?" Changyu snapped through the pain.

Finally, he released her. His lips were stained with blood, but his face was pale as he looked down at her and whispered, "Fan Changyu, why can’t you just love me?"

The words sounded less like a question and more like a plea.

The faint breeze stirred the disheveled strands of hair falling over his forehead.

In that moment, his expression was more vulnerable than she had ever seen.

Changyu’s anger faltered. The Xie Zheng she knew had always been proud—when had he ever been brought so low? Her heart softened, and she sighed. "How could I not love you?"

She reached up to stroke his hair, her gaze gentle yet firm. "If I didn’t love you, I wouldn’t have come looking for you. I wouldn’t have feared your death and gone to the battlefield in your place."Her hand rested on his head, and the hostility in him dissipated by half. He stared at her blankly for a moment before curling his lips in self-mockery: "The person you like is the Yan Zheng you imagined."

Fan Changyu hadn't expected him to suddenly become stubborn either. She said, "When you were Yan Zheng, I liked you. Now that you're Xie Zheng, I still like you."

"If you had nothing, I'd raise pigs to support you. You're much more capable than me, so I'm learning to become stronger too—that's why I joined the army."

Xie Zheng was utterly stunned, his dark eyes fixed on her in a daze. His lashes, thick and curled like crow feathers, appeared soft and fuzzy under the sunlight. His coldly refined face unexpectedly revealed a hint of docility.

Like a child who had never received candy before, suddenly given a piece—his first reaction wasn't joy but shock and bewilderment.

After a long pause, he scrutinized her and asked, "Are you just coaxing me?"

Fan Changyu was exasperated, but seeing him like this, she couldn't help but feel a pang of heartache.

She had always thought of him as heaven's favored one, able to have whatever he desired. But at this moment, it suddenly struck her that what he truly possessed might be pitifully little.

So every loss felt like it was being torn from his flesh, capable of taking half his life.

She said, "I'm not coaxing you. I'm just telling you that I like you, whether you're Yan Zheng or Xie Zheng."

"I rejected you before because I thought we wouldn't have a good outcome together. When you were Yan Zheng, our worries were just about daily necessities. You could copy books and write Eight-legged essays to earn money, and I could slaughter pigs and sell pork to make a living. Whatever difficulties we faced, we could support each other and overcome them."

"But when you're the Wu'an Marquis, I wouldn't know how to help you with any trouble you encounter. I wouldn't understand what you're busy with or worried about. My mother said that for a married couple to last a lifetime, they must understand and support each other. Those who end up resenting each other are often those who exhaust their past affection before they finish adapting to each other."

"What I wanted was a clean break. But you told me we'd watch the sunrise at Yanshan together someday, go hunting in Huizhou. You feared I'd be bullied, so you asked Old Mr. Tao to take me in as his foster daughter. I'm not made of stone—I feel sad too, and reluctant to let go."

"I don't know if I'll regret choosing this path in the future, but at least right now, I'm willing to take this gamble."

She looked at him earnestly: "I will become someone like you, standing openly and honorably by your side."

Under the blazing sun, not a single ray of light entered Xie Zheng's pitch-black eyes—only Fan Changyu's reflection, as if a pool of ink were about to swallow her whole.

He pulled her tightly into his arms, his voice low and hoarse: "No matter what identity you stand by me with, it will always be open and honorable."

Fan Changyu said, "What I'm seeking is the confidence to walk alongside you all the way. This confidence doesn't come from how deeply you feel for me, but from myself. Even a falcon as powerful as it is can't carry another falcon in flight, can it?"

Xie Zheng understood the meaning behind her words, but precisely because he did, his thin lips pressed even tighter. Straightening up, he said, "The battlefield is no child's play. The slightest misstep could cost your life. Even with the courage to face ten thousand foes alone, accidents can still happen. I won't let you take such risks."The battlefield could bring military merits, but beneath the yellow sand lay countless bleached bones.

Fan Changyu looked at him and said, "I'm afraid of death too. I can't bear to leave Ning Niang, and I can't bear to leave you. But if I don't take this path myself, someone might force me into danger later. I still remember those two assassination attempts back in Lin'an Town—I never knew my enemy was someone with such overwhelming power. You almost lost your life to him once."

"Rather than being treated like a fragile vase, carefully protected only to shatter the moment I fall, I'd rather forge myself into unbreakable steel. I told you—I want to stand beside you. That enemy is mine as well. For the sake of avenging my parents, this is what I must do. I love you, but I can't spend the rest of my life depending on you. Otherwise, I wouldn't be myself anymore."

Xie Zheng couldn't refute her words. In the end, he relented: "Wouldn't staying with the Yanzhou Army be enough?"

Fan Changyu replied, "That wouldn't be any different from staying on the mountain."

The two locked eyes—one pair of phoenix eyes restrained and silent, the other pair of almond-shaped eyes clear and bright.

Finally, Xie Zheng conceded: "Fine. You can join the army in Jizhou, but you must take Xie Wu and Xie Qi with you."

Fan Changyu knew this was the furthest he would compromise. She nodded, then added, "Take me back now. Otherwise, Old Mr. Tao and Ning Niang will be waiting anxiously."

She still wasn’t used to calling Grand Tutor Tao her adoptive father. As she turned to walk toward the black horse grazing nearby, a hand caught hers.

Puzzled, she glanced at him. "Yan Zheng?"

Dappled sunlight filtered through the leaves, casting mottled patterns on the young man’s hair and his jade-like face.

His dark eyes held hers, silent yet seemingly demanding something wordlessly.

Fan Changyu didn’t understand and asked again, "What’s wrong?"

Slowly, he said, "You said you loved me."

For a moment, she was stunned. Meeting his gaze and recalling what he had done to her before, she suddenly grasped his meaning.

He had done this to her many times, but it was her first time initiating it.

Unlike the last time when he was ill—when he kissed her eyelids and she, in her naivety, pecked his forehead in return—this time, she understood what it meant. Even before doing anything, just being stared at by him made her heart race wildly, as if a little deer had leaped into her chest.

She had never seen how others kissed, but whenever Xie Zheng kissed her, he simply pressed down without hesitation.

So whether to close her eyes or not wasn’t something Fan Changyu even considered.

Though tall for a woman, Xie Zheng still towered over her by half a head.

Her face tense, she rose onto her toes and quickly brushed her lips against his well-shaped ones.

Unlike the swollen, aching sensation she usually felt after Xie Zheng kissed her, Fan Changyu was surprised to find his lips unexpectedly soft.

Then why had her mouth hurt so much before?

Could it have been because he bit her?

The thought flashed through her mind, and Fan Changyu seized the opportunity for revenge—the bite mark on her shoulder still ached. Without hesitation, she nipped his lip in return.

It wasn’t hard, but she clearly felt the man before her pause in his breathing.

Knowing when to stop, Fan Changyu quickly pulled back. "Alright, let’s go back now..."Xie Zheng also seemed momentarily dazed, his expression blank for a second as his long, dark lashes fluttered slightly. With his naturally striking yet ascetic features, combined with years on the battlefield and high-ranking status, he usually exuded an intimidating air of authority that made people hesitate to meet his gaze.

This rare display of vulnerability softened his usual sharp dominance, making his breathtaking beauty even more pronounced. Fan Changyu felt her heart skip two rapid beats.

How could a man be this good-looking?

Xie Zheng raised a hand to touch the spot on his lower lip where Changyu had bitten him, then glanced at her with an unreadable expression, as if lost in thought. He brought his fingers to his lips and let out a sharp whistle. The black horse grazing in the distance immediately galloped back.

After mounting, he extended a hand toward Changyu. When she took it, he pulled her up effortlessly onto the horse behind him.

Changyu asked curiously, "That whistle can summon a Gyrfalcon—can it also command horses?"

As she spoke, she glanced at the finger he had just used to whistle and noticed a faint scar encircling it, as if from some old injury. It resembled a bite mark, but worse.

The man behind her answered, "Different lengths and pitches convey different commands."

The rest of the journey passed mostly in silence. Changyu occasionally asked him a question or two, but his replies were brief, as if his mind were elsewhere.

Only when the rear of the Jizhou army came into view on the gentle slope ahead did Xie Zheng suddenly rein in his horse.

Changyu assumed he was worried about drawing too much attention by delivering her directly to the troops and moved to dismount—but his hand tightened around her arm.

Puzzled, she turned to find his dark eyes fixed on her again. He was so close that the slightest tilt of his head would bring their lips together, yet he didn’t move an inch closer.

His intention couldn’t have been clearer.

Changyu swallowed dryly. As she leaned in to kiss him, she couldn’t help thinking—why did this man have such a dog-like temper? Even when he wanted to be kissed, he’d stubbornly refuse to say it outright. And if she didn’t comply, he’d probably sulk in an instant.