Vol 1 Chapter 4 (2/2)
Pingting bowed, “I a”
“No need Back when you were still learning with He Xia, you ed as a feenius Back then, we visited the Royal Residence a lot too, and there were many beautiful women but not as clever as you! He Xia, you’re luckier than hed, “Anyway, the third is rather norold I know you don’t like those kinds of things so I’ll just get so-An Ducal Residence”
“Thank you, King!”
“We grew up together, we’re like brothers, so why the politeness?” He Su looked at He Xia fondly and looked at Pingting, as planning to leave “Pingting”
Pingting felt rather tired and she was planning to quietly go back to rest in the carriage Unfortunately, she heard He Su call for her and so she had to answer, “How ?”
She certainly wasn’t pretty, but her voice was charue
He Su quietly stared at her bowed head, thoughts elsewhere
“My King?”
“Eh?” He Su ca, “You may leave”
Pingting quickly left, handing the box to another person, co, “Be careful with it, Master really likes this heavy black thingy” Her learning ability was better than h she did know that this was the Precious Heimo Sword, she disliked weapons herself She always called He Xia’s ‘darlings’ as ‘thingy’s’
Master had returned victorious and the King had given hiet their share
The soldiers filled up exactly twelve tables and the Duke of Jing-An, He Mo, sat at theas he heard the compliments from the crowd
He Xia was drinking a lot of wine too, probably three big bottles in total Pingting could be counted as one of the important main people of her Residence, but she wasn’t present that evening
Her rooting sat inside, she had lit up a la a dark silhouette outside
“Pingting?” He Xia suddenly burst into the room
Pingting put down her needle, raising her eyes and laughed “Why is Master here when there are still so uests?”
“To see you” He Xia took her half-finished Mandarin duck, “They say that no one is perfect, but honestly, I ood with song and poetry, but you can even scheme in war Not to mention your intricate needlework is like a work of heaven”
Pingting giggled, “No one co ords” She took her sewing back and did a few hed
“Pingting, has Father told you?”
“Yeah”
“I only just learnt that ’s frozen smile, so he chose a chair and carefully chose his words “Geez my father, he didn’t even consult me first”
“The Duke told h I’m not a concubine, my current status is much like one He says that everyone in the Residence should be calling me “Madam” apart from Master’s future official wife, the Marquess”
He Xia sa Pingting was slowly opening up and his heart began to hurt “Pingting, do you want to marry me?”
“Do I not suit you?” Pingting whipped her head around, staring intently into He Xia’s eyes
“No way!” He Xia shook his head, suddenly got up and began to pace around the table “I understand For the last few years, we studied and played together, even learned how to fight and deal with horses together, but I’er sister to me If you ’s expressionless face, he tried again, “You’re unlike irls You have your own opinion I just don’t want you to be upset”
After so quietly whispered, “If the Duke wants me to, so what can I do? Master should know that the Duke found Pingting on the roads and looked after her like his own daughter Pingting is extreive it”
“Back then, who said that they wanted to find the best possible husband or else they would rather neverdeath?”She’s usually very clever, so why is she so sappy today? He Xia was already annoyed with Pingting’s
The two people were still discussion when Dongzhuo ran in “Master, please go to the front courtyard The King has given His Order Oh yeah and apparently Pingting has to come too”
He Xia asked, “What does Pingting have to do with this Order?”
“Don’t ask, you’ll knohen you get there”
The three people hurried to the front courtyard
The front courtyard was no longer bustling with activity like before It was very late into the night, and about seventy or eighty percent of the guests had already left The re ones were extre onto the table
Aroyal service clothes stood there When he saw theiven His Order: Pleasethe order, his face broke into a s the Precious Hei said so”
He Xia wondered aloud, “Why, it’s so late, does King want to see us?”
“I guess I know” Theto the King about how noisy the Jing-An Ducal Residence would be this evening I don’t knohat exactly the Queen said, but the King started talking about how he used to see Sir practising swords, whose intelligence is so i at one side”
“Ah, the King sure likes praising us today”
“Yes, yes, yes, so you see, the King’s praises, made the Queen feel curious to see Sir sword dance, acco is very devoted to the Queen, so he sent an Order, to take you two to their Residence” The h it’s very late, the , which will be followed by sunrise later”
He Xia nodded, “I see” He turned back to Pingting, “Since the Queen wants to hear you play qin, bring our best qin”
Pingting went inside and not long later, she hurried back with her qin She had also put on a chiffon cloth over a part of her face
He Xia took five other servants, including Pingting and Dongzhuo No one took the carriage, they were each on their own horse All of the shops had long closed for the day No lights were on, everyone ell asleep The only sound that night was the steady beat of hooves, thundering on the stone pavement
Seeing thethe way slowly, not far ahead, Pingting leaned towards heris going to make his move”
“Yeah, I don’t have a good feeling either” He Xia looked at the er himself, all of his companions are top assassins”
“King wants Master to bring the Precious Heimo Sword but it isn’t stated clearly on the Order He sent a er instead…this must be a trap” The horses’ steps were slow and hesitant, as if sensing danger Pingting reached out to pat the horse reassuringly, while saying, “I’ in the Precious Heimo Sword into the Royal Residence and then create chaos, so that His Majesty can frame Master for betrayal when royal military comes to back up”
He Xia looked around, “His soldiers are standing beside the footpath as well If we attempt to escape, they’ll definitely attack”
Dongzhuo was beside thee of his seat, lowered his voice and muttered, “Yup, there’s a murderous aura here” He had also been with He Xia for a while, so he could sense when danger was approaching
The other servants were alert, keeping a close eye on their surroundings
They were still only halfway there, but they knew that if He Su really was planning to fra the Royal Residence meant certain death
“What should we do?” asked He Xia
Pingting nodded slightly, “Well, I told the Duke about h there are lots of people living in the Jing-An Ducal Residence, they should all be able to escape the capital city under the cover of dark As for us…” She opened her pal five ink-black marbles
Whatever that meant, He Xia himself knew
“Okay!” Still speaking quietly, He Xia and Pingting nodded at each other
“The Mister in front of us…please stop for a while” Pingting’s high-pitched voice rang out
Thecalculated the right tis in her hand Sparks of fire shot out with a booer’s
Clang! The Precious Heimo Sas unsheathed
“The King wants to hurt an official! Fight our way out!” Dongzhuo yelled
As expected, more soldiers appeared on the two sides of the road
The sky was filled with cries of battle
“KILL!”
“GO! DON’T LET ANY OF THEM GET AWAY!”
“The King has given his Order: CAPTURE HE XIA AND THAT GIRL ALIVE!!”
Pingting raised her head and noted that there weren’t hed in relief
That’s how it should be The House of Jing-An has been thesoldiers to assassinate theht counterattack and attack his Royal Residence instead?
“KILL!”
The ht were all excellent warriors who’d survived hundreds of battles, except for Pingting herself It wasn’t long before they ed to break out of the enemy’s encirclement
“The House of Jing-An has rebelled!”
“The King plotted against His Majesty’s loyal official! The King plotted against His Majesty’s loyal official!”
“The House of Jing-An rebelled!”
“The House of Jing-An must be destroyed!”
The cries of hters’ faces yet both sides were still screa for war
Pingting couldn’t fight and usually hid behind He Xia At the ht boer the chaos, the -An Ducal Residence could escape
She’d already run out of boates Everyone was covered in blood and Dongzhuo had been cut twice, though his injuries weren’t life-threatening
Leaving the city gates behind, it was like the battle had ended Only the coarse breathing of the war horses could be heard in the cold night
Pingting looked into the distance and then she pointed at a pillar of flaun to ht he’d be able to capture us, so he didn’t send many people to our Residence”
He Xia followed her finger, finding hi the direction of his ho about his father, so he turned his horse around “Pingting, wait outside We’ll check on Father and we’ll be back soon”
Pingting knew she couldn’t fight and wouldn’t be of much use anyway She jumped from the horse and said, “I’ll o”
He Xia nodded, “Okay” He led Dongzhuo and the others back inside the city
Pingting watched these fa and an evil one at that, but he only dare uses selected people’s loyalty The ar, until the chaos is cleared and understood With a neutral ar-An Ducal Residence should be able to escape without too much difficulty
What exactly He Su would do the nextwas unimportant as her people would have safely escaped by then
She checked her thoughts at least three ti for the mountain cliffs where they promised to meet
The cliff o miles away It would have been quite easy if she was on a horse, but it was a little more difficult on foot by herself
Pingting walked on for a little longer and far away, she could see the sky changing to a grey-white colour behind the mountain ahead She took a fewnoise……
Translation Notes
King’s Order: When the King can’t say so’s Order” on a piece of yellow cloth A er takes it and reads it out to the recipient(s) on behalf of the King The recipient(s) of the Order must obey whatever is written on it, or he/she may be punished for treason