Mo Sang – CH 259

Chapter 259. A Sunny Day

Gu Xi woke up, saw Chu Xing, and was able to handle official business.

Chu Xing’s face, which had been tense for two whole days, finally broke into a smile, and he began to curse loudly.

Advisor Zuo breathed a sigh of relief, and without fail, at noon, he faced the sun, shaking his hands and opening his mouth wide to inhale the midday sunlight for health and body conditioning.

The entire camp seemed to have been swept away by a gust of wind, revealing a clear blue sky.

Meng Yanqing, Dong Chao, and the others squatted in a row by the tent, looking at the central command tent. Their brows, furrowed for two days, finally relaxed.

Seeing Li Sangrou emerge from the central command tent, yawning and instructing Da Chang that she wanted to get a good night’s sleep and not to be disturbed, Hei Ma immediately perked up, grabbed Da Chang, and solemnly declared that he wanted to eat dumplings; he had wanted them since the day he returned.

Meng Yanqing followed him in, agreeing that they really should have dumplings, and enthusiastically suggested, “I heard there’s plenty of wild game in these mountains. How about we go up now and catch a couple of wild boars to make dumpling filling?”

“And some pheasant, for soup. If there are any deer or muntjac, get some too. The Boss can have a barbecue tonight. We also need to catch a few fish,” Da Chang said with a smile.

“Do not worry about the fish; I will take care of that!” Mazha patted Meng Yanqing, quickly taking over the task.

“Alright!” Meng Yanqing agreed with a smile, turned around, stood in the middle of about ten tents, and called out who was going hunting. The Yunmeng Guards, who had been idly chatting by the tents, swarmed forward.

……………………

Gu Xi, seriously injured and ill, had limited energy. After seeing Chu Xing and reading two or three of the most urgent military reports, beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.

Ji-Xiang hurriedly helped him lie down. After resting for a while, he brought him a bowl of chicken porridge mixed with lotus seeds and lily bulbs. While feeding Gu Xi, he smiled and said, “The Boss has personally prepared all of Master’s food and soup these past few days. This chicken porridge was also prepared by the Boss this morning. She instructed me to serve half a bowl around the hour of Wu¹ so Master could have something to eat.”

“Where is Lady Li?” Gu Xi asked after eating slowly.

“Master has been unconscious for the past two days and three nights. The Boss has stayed by his side the whole time, barely closing her eyes. Just now, when the Boss went out, I heard her tell Master Chang that she wanted to get a good night’s sleep and asked Master Chang and the others not to disturb her,” Ji-Xiang replied with a smile.

Gu Xi slowly hummed in agreement, leaned back into the soft cushions, and closed his eyes.

……………………

Li Sangrou slept until the sun was setting. Stepping out of her tent, she saw a row of racks outside, laden with cleaned wild boar, muntjac, gazelles, pheasants, fresh fish, and several horse tortoises.

Beside the racks, several Old Yunmeng guards stood with their legs apart, knives in hand, chopping meat into minced meat with a clanging sound. Nearby, some squatted, some sat, each with their own tasks: peeling onions and garlic, washing vegetables, kneading dough, starting a fire, boiling water, and washing pots…

Li Sangrou glanced at Da Chang, who was directing the operation, her eyebrows raised.

If it were not for the heat, she would have thought it was almost New Year’s.

“Boss, you are awake! Did they disturb you? I was just saying they were chopping too loudly!” Hei Ma suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

“What kind of filling?” Li Sangrou asked, pointing to the person chopping.

“Wild boar meat!” Meng Yanqing, kneading dough, answered loudly. “I will prepare the filling. Chop some scallions and ginger, and Xiao Lu, fry some Sichuan peppercorn oil,” Li Sangrou said, rolling up her sleeves.

After preparing the meat filling, twenty or thirty Yunmeng guards lined up in two rows to make dumplings.

Li Sangrou scooped the pork bones from the large pot into a basin and had several people gather around to remove the meat from the bones. She then threw in whole pheasants, sheep bones, four or five horse hooves, and various dried mushrooms found in the camp and continued cooking. Turning around, she began marinating large chunks of sheep and muntjac meat, preparing to roast them.

Chuantiao and Mazha had caught too many fish. Following Li Sangrou’s instructions, they cleaned the fish, rubbed them with salt, gutted them, and hung them up one by one.

They would marinate them overnight to be roasted the next morning.

After wrapping the dumplings, Li Sangrou took out the pheasant, goat bones, and horseshoe crab bones. She deboned them, put the meat back in, boiled it briefly, sprinkled it with cilantro and green garlic, and the savory broth was ready.

Over at Da Chang’s place, the thin and thick rice porridge was also cooked.

Dong Chao and the others started boiling water to cook the dumplings. Da Chang smashed cucumbers, shredded them, and mixed them with the deboned meat in three or four bowls.

Hei Ma and the others set up the grill and placed large chunks of marinated meat on it.

“Dumplings! You cannot eat dumplings without wine! I have some good wine!” Chu Xing returned from patrolling the camp, smelled the aroma, rushed over, glanced at the food, and immediately declared, “No, we cannot do without wine! I have some!”

“Look, over there on that flagpole, those are red stripes, right? Can we drink? Your commander is in the central command tent.” Li Sangrou pointed to the flagpole next to the central command tent. Two red stripes fluttered along the edge of the long commander’s flag.

Hanging red meant the entire army was ready for battle at any moment; drinking was absolutely forbidden.

“I said I have wine; I did not say I’d drink it. How dare I?

I will not drink. I am giving it to you guys to drink. You are not, you know, ha, right?” Chu Xing licked his lips, looking from the fragrant pot of salty soup to the sizzling meat on the grill.

“There’s a Sang character flag hanging over there. We do not dare drink either. Call your Advisor Zuo over for dinner. Only eat, no drink.” Li Sangrou glanced speechlessly at Chu Xing’s drooling face.

“The Boss is absolutely right! Absolutely right! Old Zuo!” “Chu Xing shouted at the top of his lungs, not caring whether Advisor Zuo could hear him or not; he had already rushed towards the barbecue.

After the first batch of dumplings was cooked, Li Sangrou ladled out about ten dumplings and a bowl of pheasant and bone broth, asking Hei Ma to take them to Gu Xi.

She then ladled out another bowl of dumplings and asked Datou and Xiao Lu to take them to Ru-Yi and the others.

……………………

Inside the central command tent, Gu Xi slowly ate his dumplings and drank his soup, listening intently to the commotion outside. After a moment, he instructed Ru-Yi, “Go and see if the Boss is free. Invite her in for a chat.”

Ru-Yi responded and went out, returning a moment later with a smile. “The Boss said she will be here soon.”

Not long after, Li Sangrou entered the tent, carrying a cup in one hand and a teapot in the other.

“Why did you bring your own tea?” Gu Xi, half-sitting and half-leaning on the cushions, gestured for Ru-Yi to move the small shelf, used for reading letters and military reports, in front of him.

“You do not have any tea here. This is spring tea from Hongzhou this year, which I got from Advisor Zuo. It is very good.”

Li Sangrou placed the teapot and teacup on the long table, pulled up a chair, and sat down next to Gu Xi, carefully observing his expression.

“Much better. Thank you for the dumplings and the soup. Your cooking skills are as good as your killing skills,” Gu Xi paused, then smiled. “Now it seems your escape skills are the best.”

“You really do look much better.” Li Sangrou sat back down, leaned back, and took a sip of tea.

“Ji-Xiang said you’ve been watching over me these past few days, barely sleeping. Thank you.” Gu Xi looked at Li Sangrou and thanked her.

“I finally managed to rescue you; I cannot let all this go to waste.” Li Sangrou sipped her tea.

“Ru-Yi and the others were also at their limit. If I had not kept an eye on them, several of them would have died from exhaustion, which would have been troublesome. Taking care of you is no easy task; there are so many things to consider.

Ji-Xiang said they had to learn for four or five years before they could take care of you.” Li Sangrou clicked her tongue.

Gu Xi looked at Li Sangrou speechlessly, then sighed after a moment.

“Rest for another day, and I have to set off for Runzhou City the day after tomorrow. Huang Yanming is good at maintaining the status quo but lacks ambition; he cannot handle Wu Huaiguo.” He paused, then sighed again. “I did not expect Wu Huaiguo to make such a swift and decisive decision. In a direct confrontation, Wen Yanchao might be able to hold his own, but Huang Yanming is definitely no match for Wu Huaiguo.”

Li Sangrou did not speak.

Gu Xi looked at Li Sangrou, then, with a hint of unease, asked, “What about you?”

“I will go with you. I am not entirely at ease until you are fully recovered. Besides, I happen to be going to Runzhou anyway,” Li Sangrou said, looking at Gu Xi.

Gu Xi raised an eyebrow, then smiled. “What are you worried about? I do not owe you any money.”

“Back in Jiangdu City, when I was preparing to fight for territory, Blind Mi tried to dissuade me, foaming at the mouth, but to no avail. He got angry, cursing, and told me to wait, saying he had to get me something to protect my life.

It was that little crossbow.” Li Sangrou shook the hand she used to bind the crossbow.

“Later, I asked him, if he did not approve of me fighting and fighting for territory, why did he make me a crossbow to protect myself?”

Li Sangrou paused, laughed for a moment, and then continued:

“Blind Mi said he pulled me out of the river, soaked me in hot and cold water, gave me medicine and acupuncture, racked his brains, and went to great lengths to revive me. When I first came back to life, I was half-witted, and he even taught me to speak.

He said it was the first time he had ever spent so much effort and thought on a person and a thing.

He spent so much effort and thought, and then I would just get into a fight and die. He would be heartbroken, not for me, but for all the effort and thought he put in.”

Gu Xi raised an eyebrow, hesitated for a while, and then finally spoke, “That blind man!”

Li Sangrou smiled, sipping her tea.

……………………

In Jianle City.

Qing-Feng, carrying a brocade pouch, ran into Qingning Palace, skipping the proper way of going around the corner, and went straight to Gu Jin.

Gu Jin looked at Qing-Feng approaching, his gaze falling on the brocade pouch in Qing-Feng’s arms.

Minister Wu, who was speaking, followed Gu Jin’s gaze to Qing-Feng and quickly stopped talking.

“Your Majesty, there’s an urgent message from the Qianshan camp.” Qing-Feng walked directly to Gu Jin and presented the brocade pouch.

Gu Jin took it and pulled it open with obvious urgency.

Minister Wu and the others were baffled. Where was the Qianshan camp?

Privy Councilor Pang knew where the Qianshan camp was.

A month ago, the Emperor summoned him and ordered him to immediately transfer Chu Xing to the outskirts of Raozhou City, to garrison the closest point to Raozhou City—Qianshan. The Emperor said this was to allow Chu Xing to “prepare for unforeseen events.” At the time, he was very puzzled. Now it seemed that something unexpected had indeed happened outside Raozhou City, and a serious one at that!

But what had happened?

Gu Jin opened the brocade pouch. Inside were two items, one thick and one thin: a secret report and a letter. The report was from Chu Xing, and the letter only contained the four characters “Qing-Feng, please forward.”

Gu Jin grabbed the letter, tore it open without even using a cutter, and pulled out a thin sheet of paper.

The paper was the same style as the envelope—incoherent and rambling, containing only a few lines of text.

Gu Jin glanced at the few lines of text, then glanced at them again. A surge of emotion welled up inside him, bringing tears to his eyes.

Gu Jin put down the letter, picked up a pair of scissors, and carefully read through the document.

Minister Wu and the others sat with their hands on their knees, eyes downcast, but their peripheral vision kept darting towards Gu Jin.

Privy Councilor Pang, less composed, occasionally glanced at Gu Jin.

Gu Jin put down the document, took the handkerchief Qing-Feng offered, dabbed at his eyes, and looked at Minister Wu and the others. He said slowly, “The Shizi received news that the old chieftain of the Jiuxi Shidong was seriously ill. He redeployed his forces, risking his life, and led thirty thousand troops to stealthily advance south of Hangzhou.”

Gu Jin paused.

Minister Wu and Minister Du were relatively calm, but Privy Councilor Pang’s eyes widened. In matters of military strategy, he reacted the fastest.

“Afterwards, Wu Huaiguo abandoned Changsha and returned to reinforce Hangzhou. The Shizi, with over a hundred thousand troops from Wu Huaiguo behind him and the Hangzhou garrison in front, suffered a crushing defeat and was severely wounded at Muzhou.

Half a month ago, the Boss infiltrated Muzhou.

This is a report from Chu Xing. Three days ago, the Boss protected the Shizi, breaking through the pass at Raozhou City and safely returning to Chu Xing’s army.

Judging from the attached medical records, the Shizi’s life is at least not in danger.”

Gu Jin’s tone was gentle, but everyone listened with trepidation, exchanging uneasy glances, unsure what to say.

“No wonder His Majesty has looked unwell lately,” Minister Wu sighed.

“Before my mother’s passing, she repeatedly instructed me to protect my younger brother.” Gu Jin’s throat tightened. After a moment, he waved his hand and smiled, “Let’s not talk about this anymore. We will discuss this matter after the Shizi’s report arrives. Let’s continue our discussion.”

……………………

A day later, Gu Xi, Li Sangrou, and others boarded a boat and sailed down the Xin River. Upon reaching Poyang Lake, they transferred to a large warship and led the Hongzhou army. They then joined forces with the troops from Tanzhou and Jingzhou, as well as Qiao An’s troops who had arrived from Shu, in Jiangzhou, before heading east down the Yangtze River.

After entering Poyang Lake, Gu Xi boarded the warship with its commander’s flag flying high. Li Sangrou, Da Chang, Meng Yanqing, and others boarded a warship and followed the commander’s warship.

Wei Fu sat on the side of the boat, holding the mooring rope of a small boat. Dong Chao and the others squatted, stood, or sat beside him, pointing and shouting at Mazha, Datou, and others on the small boat.

On the small boat, Mazha and Datou were each on one side, using a net to catch silverfish.

Xiao Lu was in the water, one hand clinging to the side of the boat, the other slapping the water to drive the fish into the net.

Suddenly, Chuantiao leaped out of the water, clutching a large fish in both hands, and tossed it into the small boat with a thud.

Hei Ma also jumped out of the water and threw a fish onto the boat.

Meng Yanqing, who was fishing on the large boat, pulled up his empty hook and complained repeatedly. No wonder he could not catch any fish; that clumsy Chuantiao and his gang had scared them away!

Da Chang came over, squatted by the side of the boat, looked into the small boat, and shouted, “This will not do! We need to cast a net; these few fish are not enough to eat!”

“We do not have a net! The Boss will not let us buy one, saying we are on a forced march, and casting a net while marching will be a waste of time,” Datou shouted from the small boat.

Wei Fu blinked, imagining the scene of casting nets while marching hastily, and laughed heartily.

On the nearby warship, Li Sangrou leaned on the railing, watching the men on the small boat fishing and netting shrimp. Gu Xi, wearing a summer robe, sat on a soft chair, leaning forward and craning his neck to watch the small boat as well.

Hearing Datou shout that the Boss would not buy nets, Gu Xi looked at Li Sangrou and smiled. “Chu Xing said you told him that once the Sang banner is raised, military rules must be followed. He asked me, ‘With such great merit, should you not be qualified to be an emperor?’

I said that you are a woman; how can you be an emperor?”

Gu Xi paused, seeing that Li Sangrou only glanced at him and did not seem to want to ask anything; he continued.

“Chu Xing stared blankly for a long time, then told me that he had not even remembered that the Boss was a woman.”

Gu Xi laughed as he spoke.

“Yesterday I received a letter from my Elder Brother, saying that you not only saved my life but also the entire war effort, and he asked me how you should be rewarded for your contribution.

I told my brother that saving my life was a private matter between us, not official business.”

Li Sangrou turned around, leaning against the railing, looking at Gu Xi.

“Our first meeting was a life-or-death bond. I will repay this life-saving debt slowly; after all, we have decades to go.”

Gu Xi leaned back in his chair, smiling at Li Sangrou.

Li Sangrou raised an eyebrow, and after a moment, let out a soft laugh.