829 Lies (2/2)
Azheba forced a smile onto his face and looked at the Flame Foal.”I'm honored – that's really a fantastic horse.”
”It is. And Instructor said that she didn't want to ride it because it runs too fast.”
Azheba's facial expression changed. ”No. Tell your Instructor that she must ride Flame Foal tomorrow.”
”But why? We won't be able to catch up with her if she moves too quickly.” Red Bat was very confused about Azheba's concern.
”It's a warhorse and its speed is very easy to control,” Azheba stammered out, struggling to think of an excuse. ”I think that the reason why the Dragon King gave Flame Foal to Instructor-”
”Returned,” Red Bat corrected him. ”The Dragon King gifted it to Instructor long ago.”
”Yeah. No matter what, the Dragon King did that out of his kindness and he would surely want to see Instructor riding the Flame Foal into battle.”
”The Dragon King may not even be able to see that,” Red Bat sighed. ”He's going to be at the right wing, and he probably won't be able to distinguish who's who on the battlefield.”
Unexpectedly, Azheba had completed his task so easily, but he was not happy at all. ”Tell her to ride it anyways. The Dragon King will ask about it after the war.”
”Okay. I'll persuade Instructor to ride the Flame Foal.”
Azheba took his leave.
After having someone put those wine bottles away, Red Bat returned to the tent.
Shangguan Ru was staring blankly at the wooden saber. She hadn't gone to meet the Second Consort. It was just that she didn't want to meet anybody – except for the one who wouldn't come.
”Instructor, Azheba was just here. He brought a couple of jars of good wine and I put them away.” Red Bat had made it one of her duties to impose a restriction on Instructor's drinking.
Shangguan Ru collected herself and smiled. ”It was very nice of him to still have me on his mind.”
There were some words on the tip of Red Bat's tongue, but she swallowed them back with great difficulty. Shangguan Ru then asked, ”If you have something to say, then just say it. Do you still want me to change my weapon?”
”A wooden saber…” Red Bat couldn't think of what use this primitive weapon could have on the battlefield, but this was not what she wanted to say. ”Never mind. Your kung fu skills are superb and you will be fine even if you are weaponless. What I've been pondering over is that Azheba seemed to be a bit off. It seemed like he was very worried that you might be in danger, and he kept asking me to persuade you to riding Flame Foal.”
”Does being kind-hearted count as being a bit off?”
”You didn't see him yourself. Anyway, it was really weird.”
”Forget it. All battles are dangerous. Don't get too far away from me tomorrow, and that goes for both you and the female soldiers.”
Red Bat nodded and then said hesitantly, ”I lied to Azheba about something. Is that alright?”
”About what?” Shangguan Ru was both surprised and interested.
”I said that the Dragon King will be at the right wing.”
”Ha, you think that Azheba was here to fish for information about the Dragon King?”
Red Bat nodded gravely. There were some things that she was not quite proud of, but she had never forgotten the method to speculate at what men were thinking.
”Technically, that wasn't a lie,” Shangguan Ru said seriously. ”Because the Dragon King himself might not have made a final decision yet.”
”The Dragon King will be among the Middle Corps tomorrow.” Red Bat was sure about this, and again, it was because as a woman, she had her unique instincts.
At this moment, Gu Shenwei was in the rightmost camp of the Dragon Army. Together with Long Fanyun and Wu Zongheng, he was deploying troops for tomorrow. Half of the army would stay where they were, and the other half would transfer to the Middle Corps.
The soldiers' morale was very high, and some of them had even volunteered to join the Middle Corps. Dugu Xian had made the following comment about this army: ”This kind of courage is possessed only by those who have never fought any battles before. If some day this courage disappears, I hope that you won't feel disappointed, Dragon King.”
”Dragon King!” Unexpectedly, a bold soldier directly yelled out to Gu Shenwei. ”It's me!”
Gu Shenwei glanced at the soldier and recognized him. He was one of the soldiers who had followed him to welcome the caravan of the Meng family, Xie Dezhi.
”Yes, it's me.” Xie Dezhi was so excited that his voice was quivering. ”My buddies wanted me to tell you we want to join the fight. Please let us join.”
This might not be the kind of courage that Dugu Xian appreciated, but it precisely the kind of bond that Gu Shenwei cherished greatly. ”Do you still remember what the most important thing is on the battlefield?”
”Follow the Dragon King's flag!” Xie Dezhi and a couple of soldiers beside him yelled simultaneously.
”Follow the Dragon King!” more soldiers yelled in unison.
Gu Shenwei had made a decision long ago: he would be on the battlefield himself. This was an inexperienced army. If the Commander-in-chief set a stalwart example to the troops, their immature courage just might generate genuine power.
As Tu Pianpian watched Fan Yongda, who was yelling alongside the soldiers, she curled her lips and remarked, ”This guy's so cocky.” But just like her Martial Nephew, she, too, swelled with long lost passion.