Chapter 5

Xie Heng scooped up some porridge and forced it into my mouth.

I choked and coughed repeatedly. My vision went dark.

“But I still have one way. I outrank him by a level, so he has to obey my military orders.”

Xie Heng patted my back to help me breathe. When he spoke, his voice was strangely gentle.

“Tell me, if I give him only five hundred soldiers and order him to raid the enemy’s western camp, then capture the enemy commander alive and bring him back…”

“Will that many soldiers be enough?”

I suddenly looked up at him in horror.

The enemy’s western camp held at least twenty thousand soldiers.

When the troops were counted, Xie Heng had given Qi Ye only five hundred men.

He was clearly using a military order to send Qi Ye to his death.

16.

From that day on, Xie Heng stopped appearing in front of me.

But the number of soldiers patrolling and guarding the outside of the command tent only increased.

I tried to escape, too, but every time I got near the tent entrance, someone stopped me.

Through the tent flap, I heard two guards whispering to each other.

They said Qi Ye had led his troops out. Three days had passed, and there was still no news from the front.

I had been imprisoned for so long, and I was constantly worrying about whether Qi Ye was alive. My spirit soon began to fail.

The old illness that Qi Ye had stabilized little by little with medicine returned under the strain of fear.

My face burned. Before long, I had such a high fever that my mind grew hazy.

It felt as though a block of cold iron had been shoved into my head. Wave after wave of sharp pain made me so miserable that I nearly lost consciousness.

I didn’t know how much time had passed when a rush of hurried footsteps suddenly came to my bedside.

Someone crouched beside me. One hand held my wrist while the other checked my forehead for a fever.

My wrist would not obey me. I couldn’t stop it from trembling slightly.

My fever-clouded mind spun for a long time before I could make sense of it.

It wasn’t my wrist that was trembling. The hand holding it had been shaking all along.

The newcomer carefully helped me sit up, then gathered me into his arms.

When the spinning in my head had eased a little, I finally managed to open my eyes.

The first thing I saw was Qi Ye’s sharply defined jaw, clenched tight.

Above it were his bloodshot eyes, fixed on me without blinking.

I blinked once. Tears suddenly rolled down my cheeks.

“My husband.”

My voice was so weak I could barely hear it myself.

“You finally came back safely. You finally found me.”

I had been worried for so many days, and afraid for so many days.

After waiting so long, Qi Ye was finally standing in front of me again.

He was alive. His arms and legs were all there. That was wonderful.

I had waited so long for this day.

17.

The Xie family finally fell.

Hundreds of people in the residence were implicated and punished.

When Xie Heng was escorted to the execution ground, he threw back his head and laughed.

“Qi Ye, you ungrateful, disloyal dog. You really are faithless and heartless.”

“I valued you and promoted you. I even treated you as a trusted aide, yet you colluded with outsiders and turned around to bring down the entire Xie family.”

Qi Ye’s face showed no emotion.

“All my military merits came from fighting and killing the enemy on the battlefield. Each one was earned with lives. No matter who held your position, no one could suppress those achievements without recognizing them.”

“You were the one who repeatedly let others take credit that belonged to me, just to force me to bow to the Xie family.”

The smile on Xie Heng’s face gradually disappeared. He stared at Qi Ye with a vicious look.

“Why dress it up with so many noble excuses? You hate me this much only because I stole Jiang Lingyi away from you.”

“That wretched woman told me to my face that she was only using you, then secretly got involved with you behind my back. The two of you really do have some sort of affection for each other.”

In the very next moment, Qi Ye kicked him so hard that Xie Heng staggered several steps backward.

He held nothing back. Xie Heng fell to the ground and immediately spat out a mouthful of blood.

“Your mouth doesn’t deserve to say her name.”

After hearing that, Xie Heng still wanted to laugh, but the pain was too great for him to manage it.

Before he was taken away, he glared at Qi Ye.

“You were willing to be someone else’s dog just to bring me down. That’s too bad. You may look glorious today, but you’re still just a blade in someone else’s hand.”

“I lost this round. I admit it. But your ending may not be much better than mine.”

“I’ll wait for you underground. One day, I’ll watch you fall into the same miserable state.”

18.

After taking her medicine, I remained unconscious for two days before finally waking.

Someone had been watching by the bed the entire time. My slight movement as I opened my eyes did not escape Qi Ye’s notice.

He carefully gathered me into his arms and gave me a few sips of warm tea. At last, my dry, sore throat felt a little better.

Qi Ye held me tightly, burying his face in the hollow of my neck.

Several hot drops fell against my skin, warming the place again and again.

He stayed silent like that for a long while. When he lifted his head, he had regained his usual steady, reserved expression.

Only the rims of his eyes were still red.

I looked at him for a long time, then suddenly couldn’t help laughing.

Qi Ye asked hoarsely, “You just woke up. Why did you suddenly start laughing?”

I pressed my forehead against his chest.

“When you used to look at me and laugh, whatever you were thinking then is what I’m thinking now.”

A servant came in and refilled the empty teapot.

I had been lying in bed too long and wanted to get up and walk around.

Qi Ye did not leave my side. He kept holding my wrist and accompanying me by the bed.

As we walked from the room into the outer corridor, his eyes stayed on me. He could not bear to look away for even a moment.

The residence was spacious, with a garden in the courtyard and a small pond.

I looked around, then turned and asked him, “My husband really is capable. Now you can afford such a spacious home in the capital.”

Qi Ye answered, then said earnestly, “There’ll be bigger homes in the future. I’ll buy several more—one in the east of the city, one in the west, one in the south, and one in the north.”

At last, I couldn’t help laughing.

“One person can’t live in every courtyard. Why do you need to buy them all?”

I leaned against him and watched the evening glow sink toward the horizon.

Qi Ye lowered his head and kissed the crown of my hair.

“I’ve been promoted to Thousand-Man Commander. The court’s official appointment has arrived, too. If I earn more military merit, I can keep rising.”

I leaned against him and gently advised, “Dear, I don’t ask you to become some high-ranking official. I’m already content that you safely made it to Thousand-Man Commander.”

The words “military merit” sounded so light.

But behind them lay countless drops of blood, wounds, and sweat.

Qi Ye was silent for a long time before answering.

“Moving forward is my own wish, too.”

He pulled me a little closer.

“Actually, I knew long ago that Xie Heng had hidden you in his command tent. But I had no way to save you then.”

“His men were all around the tent. I couldn’t rush in and take you away, and I wasn’t strong enough to escape the frontier with you.”

“I was useless. I wasn’t as capable as you said.”

The last light of day shone in Qi Ye’s reddened eyes. The scars on his palms were clearly visible.

Those hands were holding my thin, pale wrist, weakened by a long illness.

I stubbornly contradicted him.

“My husband is very capable. In my heart, you’re more capable than anyone.”

Qi Ye fell silent. He did not answer my question.

He had clearly rescued me from the command tent, yet his heart remained trapped in those days.

The ropes that had once bound me had all wrapped themselves around Qi Ye’s heart instead.

They tightened until his heart hurt every day, and every night he blamed himself for arriving too late.

I suddenly turned and kissed the corner of his reddened eye.

Qi Ye’s dim gaze froze.

“Xie Heng used to make everyone afraid of him, yet in the end he lost to my husband. How is that not impressive?”

I opened my mouth wide in exaggerated amazement and drew out my words.

“What happened that day really was just like something from a storybook.”

“The heroine in the story went into the mountains alone and happened to meet a man-eating monster. She clasped her hands and prayed for a deity to save her. Just as she was about to be swallowed, the Mountain God descended from the sky and killed the monster with a single palm strike.”

“When I was little, I often couldn’t sleep. My wet nurse would tell me stories. She said that if I went to bed obediently and ate my meals, I’d grow up able to run faster—and even if I met a monster, it wouldn’t catch me.”

“But I’ve always been in poor health and get sick at the slightest thing. So I was afraid I’d really meet a monster someday.”

“That day, I was so ill I was about to lose consciousness. All I could think was that I wanted to see you one more time. I never imagined I’d open my eyes and actually find my husband standing in front of me.”

“Even a wish that seemed impossible came true.”

A smile returned to my eyes. I leaned close to him and asked happily,

“The Mountain God heard my wish and brought my husband to protect me, didn’t he?”

For a moment, I couldn’t read Qi Ye’s expression.

He looked at me for a long time, as though trying to engrave my appearance into the depths of his heart.

“I am your Mountain God.”

Qi Ye answered without hesitation.

“What does it matter if I’m someone else’s blade? If they want to borrow my strength, I can use the opportunities they offer to keep moving forward.”

“The real Mountain God is strong and steadfast. Whatever happens, no one can stop him.”

Night gradually fell.

Qi Ye helped me pull my cloak closed, then held me as we looked up at the stars.

His embrace was warm and peaceful. I leaned against him and, little by little, my eyelids grew heavy.

Just before I drifted off to sleep, I heard Qi Ye’s low, gentle voice.

“Your Mountain God will protect you for the rest of your life.”

“Because he was summoned by your wish.”

“As long as you stay by my side, your Mountain God will never disappear.”

Even with empty pockets, a young husband at one’s side is better than all the riches in the world.

—The End—

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