Helian Zheng quietly bumped his shoulder against Feng Zhiwei’s, waggling his brows as he said: “She only ever smiles that beautiful for Gu Nanyi.”
Feng Zhiwei was slightly disgruntled as she replied: “And I was the first to hold her, truly an ungrateful little brat.”
“All women are this way.” Helian Zheng sighed loudly. “I was the first to propose to you, and even now ou do not allow me in your room.”
“I’ve already gone to your room, and you’re still not satisfied?” Feng Zhiwei replied, calmly cutting her lamb leg.
“If you climb on…” Helian Zheng began, but his words were swiftly interrupted by a huge piece of meat Feng Zhiwei shoved into his mouth.
“I mean… do you truly wish… to go to the battlefield…” Helian Zheng said as he chewed.
Feng Zhiwei lidded her eyes, hiding away her gleaming gaze. After a moment, she asked: “Helian, the steppes should be yours and only yours. Whether or not Wei Zhi returns should have nothing to do with your steppes, so why do you insist that I lead the Shunyi Steel Battalion?”
“My steppe is yours.” Helian Zheng replied, swallowing the meat and patting his belly. “I cannot say what will happen in a hundred years or in a hundred generations, but as long as I live, you will have to suffer my protection.”
Feng Zhiwei fell silent, her eyes misty under her long lashes.
Helian Zheng knew that if she stepped onto the battlefield as Wei Zhi, she would be reentering the Imperial Court. There would be no reconciliation as she fought against Ning Yi for the world; no matter what happened after, no matter what risks or what evils had to be done, there would be no turning from that road. A King who clearly loved his lands should never step into such muddy water.
But he did not hesitate in supporting her.
“Don’t say you do not need my protection.” Helian Zheng said, cutting some meat for her and calmly pushing away Dowager Queen Mudan as she came to steal some slices. “And don’t say you are not lonely. Zhiwei, my only hope is that when you walk through this night, you will not choose to do so alone.”
He stabbed a slice of meat and chewed it thoughtfully, before suddenly tossing the knife aside and shooting to his feet, stretching his arms to the sky as he roared: “Feng Zhiwei, this man will always be yours!”
The unexpected roar astonished everyone as surprised eyes turned to stare. Dowager Queen Mudan gaped in shock, some chewed up meat dripping down her chin with lines of saliva.
“Daddy!”
A higher voice roared, delicate and lovely yet just as imposing as Helian Zheng’s.
“Yours!”
Everyone turned to stare in stunned amazement at little two year old Gu Zhixiao.
She either never spoke, or her words startled the heavens.
The Gu Family’s little Zhixiao stood beside Helian Zheng with her little belly thrust forward, her arms thrust in the air like Helian Zheng’s as she roared again: “Daddy! Yours!”
She did not need a full sentence, just the two words were enough. She clearly had the same intent as Helian Zheng.
A large man and a small girl stood in the breeze, their faces solemn and serious, and everyone could only stare at them like so many frozen statues.
Zong Chen coughed.
Feng Zhiwei stared dumbly, a slice of meat halfway into her mouth.
The Eight Valiants rolled around in the back, barely able to muffle their laughter.
Dowager Queen Mudan quickly pulled Tsamuttu over and hurriedly said: “Son, look, don’t copy them, that’s not the way you should…”
Hua Qiong was struggling to shift her large belly away, afraid that her son would be infected…
Only Young Master Gu was calm, the stay at home dad to this tough little baby. He calmly picked up his little girl and wiped away some spit from her mouth before pointing at Feng Zhiwei. “Hers.”
“Yours.” Gu Zhixiao insisted.
Feng Zhiwei was finally recovering, coughing as she signaled for Young Master Gu to shut up, but the little dummy never understood her hints. He lifted his baby girl so they were face to face as he calmly explained: “I am hers, you are mine, so you are hers.”
Helian Zheng spat out his buttered tea.
Feng Zhiwei clutched her forehead… please, Young Master Gu you don’t have to speak so fluently.
Gu Zhixiao did not understand, so she thought that her daddy was abandoning and began weeping and screaming.
Tsamuttu immediately joined in for a duet, and Feng Zhiwei could only helplessly plug her eyes and stare up at the bright moon in defeat. All around, quiet smiles crept over every lip, and all the people she cared about surrounded her. In the distance, someone began playing a long, hanging melody on their Dongola.
When the sun dawned, Feng Zhiwei opened sleepy eyes to find herself leaning against Gu Nanyi’s leg, Helian Zheng leaning against her’s, Dowager Queen Mudan snugly against Helian Zheng’s belly, and Tsamuttu balancing atop her’s. Gu Zhixiao was a koala bear against Gu Nanyi’s waist, traces of tears still on her face.
The young man who used to shun everyone now slept so calmly in a huge pile.
But across the steppes, far from the happy family, a wave of horse hoofs pounded across the land, blades clattering against armor and long, sweeping trumpets filled the air.
…
In August of the Fourteenth Year of Chang Xi, the Hu Zhuo Tribe, avenging the tragic deaths of four thousand Irgi Warriors, dispatched ten thousand soldiers to the northern battlefront between Tian Sheng and Da Yue.
That same month, the Shunyi Queen was said to be pregnant, and because of the abnormal position of the fetus, she had sealed herself in the palace to care for the fetus. When the news spread to Dijing, the Imperial Court immediately had the border Li County send a huge supply of nourishing medicine.
In August of the Fourteenth Year of Chang Xi, the Da Cheng army were forced back time and time again. The Tian Sheng Imperial Court had dispatched a military inspector alongside the Li, Ping, Yu, and Yü county forces and the Mobei Province’s twenty thousand strong army, sending them to the decisive battlefield by White Head Mountain outside Yu County.
Northern Expedition General of the Army Chunyu Mung paced restlessly in his tent.
Generals and lieutenants from every camp sat before him, watching their leader with eager eyes.
The war had lasted for over a year, and Tian Sheng and Da Yue both had victories and defeats. The tide seemed in Tian Sheng’s favor as they forced Da Yue out of the five border counties the enemy had gained, but in defiance of tradition, the new change in the enemy General of the Army had lifted the enemy morale.
The new overall leader, His Highness Jin Siyu, fought with eccentric cunning. He had turned the Hu Zhuo Golden Roc Tribe and acquired a military map for the East É Pass, completely annihilating a contingent of Hu Zhuo cavalry on a scouting mission. This destabilized the formation on Tian Sheng’s left flank, and so the left wing armies had to retreat out of the Qi County they had just reclaimed.
Afterwards, Prince Ji Siyu suddenly attacked Liu Jia Gou, and in the battle of Shuang He Valley, General of the Army Qiu Shangqi was injured gravely and forced to return to Dijing.[1]
[1] Didn’t Qiu Shangqi die?