20 Nothing in the Snow Mountain (1/2)
Chapter 20: Nothing in the Snow Mountain
Translator: TransnEditor: Transn
Hua Shanyue stared at the forest around him and noticed that there were many corpses from both sides. Seeing the blood and other evidence of the fierce fight, he picked up a thin hiltless mini-sword, and he finally realized how brutal the assassin was last night. The color drained from his face with this realization.
He gave his subordinate the hint to get the horses ready and said, ”Your Highness, the following support troop is already on its way. We should leave as soon as possible.”
Princess Lee Yu nodded in agreement and got ready under the protection of the armored cavalries.
Then Hua Shanyue glanced at Ning Que and gave him a cold and emotionless look, the look that was so emotionless it made the others feel cold. He was trying to guess the real relationship between this young soldier and the princess. However, no matter how hard he tried to find a clue, he could not see any potential threats from the young soldier. Therefore, his vision became more and more indifferent.
The indifference in his vision actually consisted of multiple probabilities, of which Ning Que was fully aware. While looking at his back, Ning Que remembered the previous warmth and gentleness in his eyes. Ning Que knew that he would not do any harm to the princess and that he was just overprotective.
Honestly, the Young general's drastic love for the princess had nothing to do with low-ranking soldiers like Ning Que. However, Ning Que really disliked Hua Shanyue's indifferent attitude expressed by his cold glances. He knew that most of this indifference represented a strong power to support the conduction of a culling operation at any time, but it also represented scorn.
Ning Que did not like him, so he stood up and smiled at the princess, who was about to mount a horse. With his jaw raised, Ning Que said, ”Your Highness, in fact, I have been trying to say something to you since we were in City of Wei...”
Hua Shanyue suddenly looked back at the pretty princess sitting on the white horse. Frowning she turned around and stared silently at the young soldier standing by the bonfire. She seemed to be blaming him, but at last, she said softly, ”Tell me when we return to Chang'an.”
Hua Shanyue asked the head of the bodyguards about the situation, in a whisper, before setting out. Hua Shanyue got a general understanding of what the princess had gone through since her entry and Ning Que's performance in dealing with the assassination attempt. He remained silent for a while and then walked over to Ning Que. He then said without emotion, ”You made a great contribution this time. We'll award you after we're back to Chang'an... Good job, boy.”
Ning Que took Sangsang to their shabby tent and began to pack it up.
Sangsang fastened the big black umbrella to her own back with difficulty. Then she suddenly turned her head up towards Ning Que and asked, with her eyebrows furrowed, ”Young master, did you say 'you have something to say' on purpose just now?”
”Yes,” Ning Que replied casually as he cleaned the coagulated blood from his blade. ”The guy named Hua Shanyue is so hypocritical and boring that I don't like him. So, I look only to irritate him.”
”Young master, what're you going to tell the princess?” Sangsang stopped what she was doing and asked curiously.
”I don't know.” Ning Que pushed his sword into its sheath and shrugged his shoulders. He said, ”After all, I can't say some stupid words, like 'I have fallen in love with you since the first time we met in City of Wei' or 'I have been crazy about you'...”
”But, Senior Captain Hua may think that way, and so may the princess...”
”Idiots think in an idiots' way. I'm not surprised about that,” Ning Que answered.
The little handmaiden looked into his eyes and said sincerely, ”Don't you think that you're a bit of a rascal sometimes?”
Ning Que bowed his head slightly, agreeing with her silently.
Sangsang shook her head. After a few seconds, she looked to him again and asked, ”Young master, are all the people in the world, besides you, idiots in your opinion?”
Ning Que thought carefully while he was fastening his sheath. After a long time, he answered seriously, ”That isn't my problem. The fact is that there will always be many idiots doing stupid things in the world. Specially-privileged people like Hua Shanyue aren't supposed to be regarded as an idiot. However, as he actually believes he's in love, he's, in fact, an idiot.”
Sangsang pointed at herself with her finger and asked seriously, ”So, am I also an idiot in your eyes?”
Ning Que looked at her little black face and replied seriously. ”You aren't an idiot, you're just stupid.”
Before the group left through the entryway of the Northern Mountain, an incident happened.
Some of the Gushan Commander's cavalries stayed behind to observe the site. The assassins who dared to try and murder the Tang princess definitely would not have left any clues. Therefore, they did not stay to find evidence, but to protect the corpses. When the support troop arrived, all the corpses would be moved back to Chang'an and buried. This was a rule of the Tang army—did not leave a companion behind under any circumstances.
They carefully lined up their soldiers' corpses in the forest. On the contrary, the enemies' corpses were left where they had fallen, waiting to be burned into ash. However, they hesitated when they were going to burn the corpse of a middle-aged scholar in turquoise robe. They knew that he was a Great Sword Master, so they were not sure if they should show him respect corresponding to his status.
Hua Shanyue slightly frowned and decided to bury this Great Sword Master. However, at this time, Lv Qingchen whispered to him. ”The man has already fallen into diabolism.”
Upon hearing that, the young general's face suddenly turned cold. He looked down at the corpse again, this time without any respect in his eyes. He waved his hand with unabashed disdain like he was driving away a fly. He then said, ”Throw it in the fire and burn it with the rest.”
...
...
They went through the Northern Mountain Road from its southern foot that morning and converged with the support troop by noon. Under the strong protection of hundreds of the elite cavalry soldiers, the Tang's Fourth Princess, Lee Yu, and her followers continued to move towards Chang'an. By this point, nobody would threaten her, whether they had come from the Tang or one of the other empires.
The days following the assassination attempt, Lee Yu and the little prince of the Tribe of Savages stayed in the carriage, refraining from appearing publically.
Even though there were hundreds of calvaries, the surviving bodyguards and grassland barbarians continued to protect the princess around the carriage, regardless of their wounds. The elder Lv Qingchen was in the second carriage. The heavily wounded bodyguards and barbarians were in the following carriages. Ning Que and his little handmaiden Sangsang were sitting on their own shabby carriage, far behind the others.
At the border of the Gushan Commandery, all of the heavily armored cavalries changed into their light armor, increasing their travel speed significantly. While the solid carriages at the front could follow and keep up, Ning Que's carriage could only barely keep up.
A cavalry dropped back to their carriage and scolded them angrily. ”You're moving too slow, speed up!”
Just like before, after they had left City of Wei during the spring, Ning Que appeared to be sleeping on the shaft of the carriage again. It appeared that he would likely fall off at any moment and that he was entirely dependent on Sangsang to laboriously hold him up. While being scolded by the cavalry, he just glanced at them without saying a word.