Chapter 147: "Huai Jin, 'Embrace Jade and Hold Gem'..."
Zheng Hu and Song Qin simultaneously looked up, both sensing something unusual.
Wei Jiamin glanced toward Xiao Li before fiddling with the tassels on her garment, saying somewhat petulantly: "My elder brothers at home have always listened to me. There's no reason for me to start respecting an adopted brother just because there's one more. I won't go!"
Xiao Li's expression remained unchanged, and Wei Qishan showed no intention of scolding his daughter, merely shaking his head with a laugh: "You girl, I've truly spoiled you rotten!"
He looked toward Xiao Li sitting across from him, seeming to want to address him, but if he used "my son," with both Xiao Li and Wei Pingjin present today, it would be unclear whom he was calling. Realizing this, he asked: "Xiao Li, my son, do you have a courtesy name?"
Xiao Li had already regained his composure when Wei Qishan asked his daughter to offer a toast. Now hearing Wei Qishan's question, he remained seated steadily, lowered his gaze for a brief moment, and replied: "Yes."
Wei Qishan became interested and asked with a smile: "Oh? What is your courtesy name, my son?"
Xiao Li said: "Huai Jin, as in 'embrace jade and hold gem' from the idiom."
Wei Qishan was quite surprised and laughed: "Jin means beautiful jade. This is truly an elegant name. Who gave you this courtesy name?"
Amidst the clinking of cups and exchange of toasts throughout the banquet, Xiao Li's thoughts momentarily drifted back to that private room in Fengqing Tower in Yongzhou, where scattered snowflakes fell outside the window and iron horses jingled under the eaves.
The person sitting across from him had said: "My surname is Wen, given name Yu, with the imperial title Han Yang."
"Is it the 'yu' you mentioned before, as in 'A Yu'?"
"The 'yu' from 'embrace jade and hold gem'."
Xiao Li's thumb tightened slightly around the wine cup as he answered Wei Qishan: "It came from an old acquaintance."
Wei Qishan didn't press further about which old acquaintance, merely laughing: "Excellent choice! This name suits my son perfectly!"
The conversation at the banquet turned to other topics. After a round of music performance, Wei Qishan suddenly said: "Speaking of which, there's another happy matter today."
All the generals at the banquet looked over. Wei Qishan laughed with a voice like a great bell: "My son holds deep admiration for the princess, and fortunately has gained her favor. She has agreed to marry my son, and they will be wed shortly."
Congratulations immediately filled the banquet hall. Wang Wanzhen, seated at the head of the table, smiled gracefully, but Wei Pingjin, sitting to Wei Qishan's left, appeared somewhat reluctant.
Later, when facing toasts from the generals, he simply drank himself into complete stupor.
After the banquet concluded, as Zheng Hu was leaving the mansion with Xiao Li and Song Qin, he couldn't help muttering: "That former Jin princess doesn't look unattractive, so why did that Second Young Master Wei seem so unwilling?"
Just as Song Qin was about to warn him about eavesdroppers, Wei Qishan's regular attendant called from behind: "Governor Xiao, please wait!"
Cold sweat instantly broke out on Zheng Hu's back.
Xiao Li and Song Qin maintained normal expressions. After exchanging glances, they turned around to see the Wei residence attendant quickly approaching with two beautiful women.
Upon reaching them, the attendant bowed to Xiao Li and said: "Having heard that Governor Xiao lacks someone to care for your daily needs, the Marquis specially selected two clean courtesans from respectable families for the Governor to take back and serve you."
Both Zheng Hu and Song Qin's expressions changed.Xiao Li seemed equally taken aback by this unexpected turn of events. The tree shadows cast by the lantern light faintly obscured his brow and eyes, while fine snow settled in his hair, lending him an unapproachable, icy demeanor. Yet his words remained measured: "I am honored by the Marquis's generosity, but my late mother's mourning period is not yet over. I vowed at her graveside to observe three years of filial mourning. I must ask the Marquis to rescind this order."
The attendant hastily explained, "Governor Xiao misunderstands. These two maids are merely sent to attend to your daily needs. The rough men in the army are clumsy—how could they match the delicacy of these serving girls? With Your Excellency currently injured, you require more refined care."
A sudden gust of wind made even Zheng Hu hunch his shoulders against the cold.
The two beauties behind the attendant had slightly open collars revealing delicate collarbones. Their faces grew pale in the bitter wind as they trembled, a pitiable sight that would move any beholder.
Yet Xiao Li showed no sign of yielding. The stray hairs at his forehead stirred by the wind fell across his eyes, and the gaze that peered through his long lashes and disheveled strands grew increasingly frosty: "I am but a coarse man myself, hardly requiring others' care. The thirty thousand righteous army soldiers are my brothers who've shared life and death with me. Having established the Military Regulation against consorting with prostitutes, I must lead by example. If I return with two beauties now, how could I command respect in the army thereafter?"
"I appreciate the Marquis's kind intentions, but I cannot take these women back."
With a cupped-hand salute, he turned and departed with Song Qin and Zheng Hu.
The attendant remained watching until Xiao Li's party had disappeared into the distance before turning back with the two maids.
From the banquet pavilion of the Wei residence, Wei Qishan and his daughter had clearly observed the entire scene from the wooden railings.
Watching Xiao Li refuse the two beauties, he felt both comforted and troubled—comforted by the young man's integrity, yet troubled that he showed no interest in wealth or women, leaving no obvious means to win him over.
As the cold wind carrying fine snow blew in, Wei Qishan pointed at Xiao Li's retreating figure and said to Wei Jiamin standing beside him: "That is the husband I've chosen for you. Upright in character, skilled in strategy and martial arts, possessing the courage of a modern-day Xiang Yu, and a filial son besides—a truly dependable man. If you can wait three years, I'll find a way to arrange your marriage."
Wei Jiamin glanced at Xiao Li's tall, straight-backed figure, recalling the handsome, heroic face she'd seen earlier at the banquet. Lowering her eyes, she continued playing with the tassels on her waist sash, affecting a tone of complete indifference: "Such a crude military brute—Minmin would never fancy him!"
Wei Qishan looked at his daughter's face, which bore sixty percent resemblance to her deceased mother, and found himself unable to summon any anger. He could only shake his head with a mixture of doting and concern, sighing: "With your fearless temperament, if I don't find you a capable husband to protect you, if someday I'm no longer here, you'll surely be bullied."
Hearing this, Wei Jiamin immediately dropped the tassel she was holding and wrapped her arms around Wei Qishan's arm. With slightly reddened eyes, she declared stubbornly: "Then Minmin doesn't want to marry at all! May Father live a hundred years and protect Minmin forever!"
Wei Qishan's shoulders were draped in a heavy cloak, the decades of hardships having left their mark beneath his eyes. His heart softened slightly at his daughter's words. Just as he was about to respond, an exceptionally gentle and respectful voice came from behind: "Greetings to the Marquis, greetings to the County Princess."
Father and daughter turned to see Wang Wanzhen.
Wei Jiamin appeared thoroughly displeased by her presence. After casting her a glance, she snorted coldly and turned her head away.Wei Qishan merely gave Wang Wanzhen a slight nod, signaling for her to rise.
"Young Master has had too much to drink and has already been escorted back," Wang Wanzhen remained slightly bowing, her tone filled with deference.
Wei Qishan nodded and said, "You may leave."
Wang Wanzhen curtsied once more before retreating several steps with flawless etiquette, facing Wei Qishan and his daughter until she reached the corner, where she finally turned to watch her path.
Behind her, Wei Jiamin had already begun voicing grievances on her brother's behalf: "Father, how could you let someone of brother's noble status marry a lowly entertainer as his principal wife?"
Wei Qishan seemed to chide his daughter, but his tone carried no reproach, instead sounding more like an analysis of the situation's pros and cons.
With the Wei family's Shadow Guards lurking in the shadows nearby, Wang Wanzhen dared not linger to listen carefully. She walked away calmly, and the conversation between the father and daughter gradually faded from earshot.
She lowered her gaze to her hands, adorned with deep green jade bracelets beneath her luxurious robes, a faint, mocking smile curling at the corners of her lips.
What a touching scene of familial affection between a devoted father and his filial daughter.
These noble-born individuals, raised with silver spoons in their mouths from birth, could never understand how a lowly entertainer like her had once fought stray dogs for a mere meal in her earlier years.
She liked her current surname and this name.
After all, she had been nameless for a long time. It was only after joining the opera troupe that the troupe leader gave her the stage name Mei Yun.
Mei Yun, Wanzhen.
Of course, Wanzhen was the more elegant name.
Wang Wanzhen smiled as she glanced back at the brightly lit Wei mansion in the distance, her eyes burning with an ambition akin to a beggar receiving a steamed bun or a stranded fish finding fresh water—a desperate, fervent desire.
She, a person from the mud, also wanted to climb to the positions those nobles had grown tired of, just to see what it was like.
—
Xiao Li, leading the troops sent to reinforce Yanle Mountain, traveled for two days and returned to the camp by nightfall on the second day.
Over the past few days, whenever Tao Kui delivered medicine to Wen Yu, she had asked if Xiao Li had returned to the military camp. As soon as Xiao Li arrived tonight and discreetly sent his guards to fetch wound medicine from Doctor Tao, Tao Kui immediately went to inform Wen Yu.
During these days, after learning the general troop distribution of the entire camp from Tao Kui, Wen Yu had given up any hope that the Liang Camp might find a way to rescue her.
This military camp of tens of thousands had been fortified by Xiao Li into an impenetrable fortress. Even if the other Liang troops, who had split off to divert pursuers, knew she had been captured and tried to turn back to save her, they could only stare helplessly at this camp, which still housed several thousand soldiers even after sending reinforcements to Yanle Mountain.
According to what Xiao Li had said that day, even if envoys from the Liang and Chen camps came to negotiate her release, he would not let her go.
If she wanted to leave this place, she would have to talk to Xiao Li properly again.
Therefore, after Tao Kui came to deliver the news, she said, "I would like to see your Lord. Could you pass on the message for me?"
Tao Kui immediately agreed, and as he left the military tent, his mountain-like frame even seemed to sway with a hint of joyful excitement.
Xiao Li's central command tent was not far from the tent where Wen Yu was held under house arrest. When Tao Kui jogged over to inform him of her request, the guards were using a dagger sterilized over a brazier and doused with strong liquor to scrape the rotting flesh from Xiao Li's back.The knife wound on his back had a large surface area. Having drunk alcohol at the victory banquet that day, then braved the wind and snow on the return journey, and finally being confined for two full days, the surrounding flesh had already begun to fester and rot.
Upon hearing Tao Kui's words, he endured the pain of having the decayed flesh scraped away, his forehead beaded with fine sweat, his face as pale as fresh snow. Yet his expression remained calm to the point of indifference, his eyes sharp and fierce. Not a single groan of pain escaped him; he only said, "Let her come."
By the time the guards outside summoned Wen Yu, the decayed flesh on Xiao Li's back had been mostly scraped away by his aide. After wiping away the excess blood with a cloth, the aide poured a strong hemostatic powder all over the gruesome, gaping wound.
As soon as Wen Yu entered the tent, she was met with an especially pungent smell of blood. Seeing the blood-soaked bandages piled on the ground, her brow unconsciously furrowed.
"What do you need me for?" Xiao Li's voice, devoid of inflection, came from above. It was slightly hoarse from the pain.
Wen Yu did not speak immediately.
Xiao Li seemed to understand her concern. Taking the bandages the aide was about to wrap around his back, he said to him, "Leave us."
Once the aide tactfully withdrew, Xiao Li began bandaging himself and said to Wen Yu, "There's no one else. You may speak now."
His expression was extremely cold, but the pallor of his face betrayed him. The strong hemostatic powder seared into the raw, mangled flesh of the wound like oil frying over a fierce fire. His bare, sturdy upper body, illuminated by the firelight, was slowly dampened with sweat from the pain.
Wen Yu still did not utter a word. She silently watched him for a moment, then stepped onto the carpeted platform in the tent and took hold of the bandage in his hand with her slender, pale fingers.
Xiao Li looked up at her. Beneath his sweat-beaded eyelids, his wolf-like, hawk-like eyes still held a fierce intensity from enduring the pain.
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