Chapter 12#

The Wolf Arrow#

The Wolf Arrow was the sharpest arrow in the Northern Rong arsenal.

On the vast and boundless Chiewang Plains, the Gaoxin people possessed the finest iron ore and the most masterful iron-smelting techniques. Over twenty years ago, the Jin Qiang invaded Gaoxin territory, massacring the people and seizing the Blood Wolf Mountain that belonged to the Gaoxin. The Gaoxin prince, covered in blood, arrived in the Northern Capital and begged the then-Heavenly Lord of Northern Rong for aid.

The old Heavenly Lord sent troops to reclaim the land and mountains for the Gaoxin, but the few remaining Gaoxin people were powerless to defend their territory. The Blood Wolf Mountain range, rich with superior iron ore, and the Gaoxin’s iron-smelting arts all fell to Northern Rong. The Gaoxin people lost their homeland and became wanderers ever since.

The Wolf Arrow was forged by the Northern Rong from the refined iron of Blood Wolf Mountain, used exclusively to guard the Heavenly Lord of Northern Rong. Unlike the Golden Grain Arrow, its appearance was entirely black, its arrowhead unadorned, fashioned into two layers of sharp diamonds. It pierced the wind with immense power and was extraordinarily keen; its fletching was pure white, made from the feathers of Northern Rong’s unique white hawks.

“The Wolf Arrow is a symbol of status. In Northern Rong, only two kinds of people may use it: first, the Heavenly Lord’s closest guard,” He Lansong’s eyes were filled with longing. “Second, those who have rendered extraordinary merit—the Heavenly Lord will bestow upon them the Wolf Arrow.”

Jin Yue understood. “You want to be the second kind.”

“I want to be the third.” He Lansong suddenly sat up, his gaze sharp, his wolf-like pupils hiding a dark gleam. “A Gaoxin person who can freely use the Wolf Arrow.”

Before departing, He Lan Jinying had confessed his past with Jin Mingzhao. Only then did He Lansong learn that the “Wolf Arrow” he had yearned for was actually the embodiment of the Gaoxin arrow. Northern Rong had obtained the Gaoxin’s iron and technology, and the world no longer knew the weapon called the “Gaoxin arrow.”

In his bullied childhood, he had countless times desired the Wolf Arrow or the Golden Grain Arrow. The Golden Grain Arrow, once obtained, was quickly sold by He Lan Jinying. But He Lansong knew that if he obtained the Wolf Arrow, he could keep it forever—it could prove that He Lansong was a genuine Northern Rongman, acknowledged by the Heavenly Lord.

However, now, he had lost his obsession with his Northern Rong identity. After confirming the arrow’s origins and his own identity, a new wish had taken root—he wanted to see it with his own eyes, to touch it, to search for traces of the vanished Gaoxin arrow within it.

He shared this secret with Jin Yue. Jin Yue silently ate his dried meat. When He Lansong thought he didn’t understand, Jin Yue spoke up: “You will get the Wolf Arrow.”

He Lansong: “Are you the Heavenly Lord of Northern Rong?”

Jin Yue: “…”

He Lansong suddenly laughed, climbed up by the tent flap, and faced the small pine grove and the pure white snowy plain, letting out a long howl. Before Jin Yue, he seemed like a child who did everything on a whim. After howling, he turned and wrapped Jin Yue in a hug, patting his back repeatedly: “Good brother!”

Jin Yue laughed along with him, caught up in the inexplicable moment. After laughing, he realized he was being held by He Lansong and felt a bit embarrassed. He pushed He Lansong away and changed the subject: “I wonder if you remember General Bai Ni’s arrow? That was the standard arrow of the Mangyun Cavalry. I think it’s very similar to the Gaoxin arrow. My father truly loved the Gaoxin arrow. He…”

Before Jin Yue could finish, He Lansong pulled a broken arrow and a blood-stained scrap of cloth from his chest.

Jin Yue recognized it at a glance—it was the Mangyun Cavalry’s standard arrow, also Bai Ni’s. Among their current escort, only Bai Ni was from the Mangyun Cavalry.

However, He Lansong did not immediately give the broken arrow to him.

“Give me your promise,” He Lansong raised his hand, keeping it out of Jin Yue’s reach. “Never lie to me again.”

Jin Yue argued stubbornly: “I never lied to you. That matter with the horse riding, I was fooling Hun Da’er and Du Ze. I know you’re clever and sharp; you saw through it immediately.”

He Lansong: “That sentence is also a lie.”

Jin Yue: “…”

The two stood in a standoff for a moment before Jin Yue conceded. “Fine, I promise. I will never lie to you again.” He reached out to grab the arrow.

He Lansong still refused: “A man of Dayu keeps his word.”

Jin Yue, growing fierce, jumped up and snatched the broken arrow from his hand: “If I break my promise, you may do with me as you please!”

He Lansong took Jin Yue straight to the bear cave, telling him along the way that Bai Ni had likely last been with He Lan Jinying before she disappeared.

The bear cave remained as the hunting party had cleared it the day before. Jin Yue looked around with a heavy heart. Bai Ni had fired her arrow, which meant she had encountered an enemy requiring resistance. Was the enemy a person, or a bear? Among those eaten by bears, were there soldiers and civil officials from the Dayu escort?

At this thought, a cold chill settled in Jin Yue’s heart.

On their ride back to the Yetai tribe, Jin Yue sat silently in front of He Lansong, holding Bai Ni’s broken arrow. He Lansong said to him: “I will help you find General Bai Ni.”

Before Jin Yue could answer, He Lansong added: “Don’t run away. No one can escape the Chiewang Plains alone in winter. The plains are beautiful in spring. We will migrate closer to the Yinglong Mountains, where the best pastures of the Chiewang Plains are.”

His arms circled Jin Yue’s waist, gripping the reins. Seeing Jin Yue had fastened his small knife to his belt, though he had never received a direct response, He Lansong had already privately claimed Jin Yue as his brother and true friend. Jin Yue remained silent. In truth, he hadn’t really been listening to He Lansong’s words; his mind was constantly retracing the many strange and unclear events of their journey.

Once New Year’s Eve passed, the long winter seemed to shorten. Taking advantage of He Lan Jinying’s absence, He Lansong took it upon himself to arrange for Zhuo Zhuo to live with him, while Jin Yue and Ruan Buqi moved into Zhuo Zhuo’s tent.

Jin Yue felt his head buzz. Although Ruan Buqi was young, she was still a girl—how could she be left alone in a room with men?

He Lansong immediately changed his plan: Ruan Buqi would live in Zhuo Zhuo’s tent, and Jin Yue would move in with him.

Jin Yue still remembered his status as a slave and slept on a small bed by the tent flap. The draft from the door was cold. He Lansong wanted Jin Yue to move to Zhuo Zhuo’s small bed. Jin Yue was reluctant to accept this strange kindness, but the warmth of sleep was hard to come by in Northern Rong. He used his “slave” status to convince himself to accept He Lansong’s proposal.

The days were peaceful and boring. The only unusual occurrence was that Zhuo Zhuo caught a cold and fell ill. He Lansong invited Akula, the tribe’s shaman, to treat her.

After examining Zhuo Zhuo, Akula suddenly took hold of Jin Yue’s hand. He did not sprinkle water on Jin Yue’s head as he had for Zhuo Zhuo, nor did he use sticky herbal ash to draw incantations on his forehead and the back of his hand. Jin Yue stared in shock at the old man’s withered fingers, which precisely and swiftly pressed on his wrist pulse.

Akula determined that Jin Yue needed to eat more lamb and beef, drink more oily tea and wine, to survive the equally harsh early spring that lay ahead. Jin Yue was stunned by the old man’s skilled pulse-reading technique. How did an elder who had lived his whole life on the Chiewang Plains know the Han method of diagnosing illness?

As Akula left, he glanced at Ruan Buqi, who was sitting by Zhuo Zhuo’s bedside. He suddenly walked over and grasped Ruan Buqi’s wrist. Ruan Buqi was startled, but Akula quickly released her and pointed at her, saying a sentence to Jin Yue in Han Chinese: “She is even healthier than you.”

Because of Akula’s words, He Lansong, Ruan Buqi, and Zhuo Zhuo began enthusiastically stuffing Jin Yue with all kinds of food.

While nothing major happened in He Lansong’s home, many events followed one after another within the Yetai tribe.

For instance, Hun Da’er got a fiancée—the daughter of the leader of the Northern Rong’s Green Deer tribe. Her family’s horse ranch was half the size of the Yetai camp, and they owned countless sheep.

For example, stars fell one after another from the west on moonless nights. Jin Yue said it was because someone had died, but He Lansong claimed that in the hearts of the Gaoxin people, it meant the Heavenly God had sent down a divine child.

Or how Du Ze wanted to propose marriage to Zhuo Zhuo and got a beating from He Lansong that left his face bruised and swollen, crying all the way home.

For instance, He Lansong taught Jin Yue and Ruan Buqi how to fish through holes in the frozen river. Ruan Buqi learned fastest, fished best, but was also the most unreasonable: she gave all the fish she caught to Zhuo Zhuo, who then released them all back into the ice holes.

Or…

Listing them all, they were trivial matters. Compared to these things, He Lansong taking Jin Yue to learn how to ride on the snowy plains, venturing deep into the Chiewang Plains to hunt rabbits, delving into the woods to find traces of wild beasts, and teaching him how to judge a bear’s path by the butterflies dancing in the forest in summer—these were far more interesting.

Yue Lianlou never came looking for him again. Sometimes, Jin Yue even suspected that his encounter with Yue Lianlou might have been an illusion conjured by the heavy snow.

Starting from New Year’s Eve, Jin Yue developed the habit of marking the days. He taught He Lansong and Zhuo Zhuo Chinese characters, while he himself noted down the days and solar terms in the corner of his paper.

On the day of Lichun (Start of Spring), a strange message arrived from the Northern Capital.

“General He Lan asked me to come and escort you siblings to the Northern Capital.” The man introduced himself as Balongge’er, a soldier under General He Lan, and he was extremely respectful to He Lansong and Zhuo Zhuo.

He Lansong: “…Who is General He Lan?”

Balongge’er: “Your eldest brother, He Lan Jinying.”

Also summoned to the Northern Capital along with them were Hun Da’er and Du Ze. General Hu had his own residence in the Northern Capital, and they would stay there. But until their departure, Hun Da’er and Du Ze still looked confused and asked He Lansong: “Why are we going to the Northern Capital?”

He Lansong, however, caught a whiff of something odd. “My brother has gone from Centurion to General.”

Zhuo Zhuo was reluctant to part with Ruan Buqi and threw a tantrum, crying and making a scene to force Balongge’er to bring Ruan Buqi along. Balongge’er was in a difficult position, his face even scratched by Zhuo Zhuo, leaving bloody marks.

He Lansong also had a new idea: “If Ruan Buqi goes, Jin Yue goes too.”

Hun Da’er laughed that he couldn’t be apart from Jin Yue for even a day. Before He Lansong could answer, Balongge’er slapped his thigh on the side: “Jin Yue, that Dayu hostage, right? I know! Bring him, bring him! Since he’s a slave under strict guard, of course he must be brought along!”

He Lansong didn’t explain, letting Balongge’er interpret as he wished.

They set off early the next day. Hun Da’er even brought two camels from his home to carry luggage.

It took at least half a month to travel from Yetai to the Northern Capital. The snow on the road was deep, and they relied entirely on Balongge’er to navigate. The carriage was wrapped thickly with felt, blocking all light from inside and out. After traveling for three or four days, heavy snow began to fall, and the felt flapped loudly in the wind. Balongge’er faced the wind, driving the horses, his face completely covered, unable to even curse.

The people inside the carriage could only occasionally hear the whip’s crack and the crisp jingle of camel bells, mingled with the fierce howling of the wind—the horses and camels were struggling forward.

“This weather… why must we go to the Northern Capital?”

The carriage reeked of alcohol, making Zhuo Zhuo and Ruan Buqi wrinkle their noses and retreat into a corner. He Lansong was drinking with Hun Da’er and Du Ze. Balongge’er had arrived in a hurry, unwilling to tell He Lansong more details or explain the purpose of this trip to the Northern Capital. He had no answer to Hun Da’er’s question.

Strong liquor could ward off the cold, but it also further fueled Hun Da’er’s desire to talk nonsense. “Jin Yue, why aren’t you drinking?” He reached out and pawed at Jin Yue’s face as he tended to the brazier. “Are the women of Dayu as pretty as you?”

Before the words were out of his mouth, He Lansong had already clamped down on his hand. The pain sobered Hun Da’er instantly. He struggled to pull his hand back, grumbling in a low voice: “You lost my family’s horses, and I never blamed you. Drinking a couple of cups with me could be considered an apology.”

Jin Yue didn’t speak. He Lansong was blunt: “Shut up.”

The carriage fell silent immediately. Jin Yue had noticed that since returning from the bear hunt, Hun Da’er and Du Ze seemed to have become afraid of He Lansong. But what had happened then, he didn’t know.

The carriage struggled forward a bit further and finally reached the border river between the Yetai tribe and the Green Deer tribe. To liven the somber atmosphere inside the carriage, Du Ze reminded Hun Da’er that his fiancée wasn’t far away, which only earned him another beating from Hun Da’er.

The group crowded into the riverside relay station, finally finding a moment of peace and warmth. Though small, the station had hot water, hot wine, and flatbread ready. Balongge’er flashed his military token, and the驿卒 (station keeper) became even more attentive, serving up roast mutton reserved for private use.

The border river was frozen, and their carriage couldn’t cross it; they had to take a detour. Balongge’er explained in Northern Rong how they would proceed next, and Jin Yue quietly pricked up his ears to listen.

Suddenly, the main door of the relay station was pounded. A series of rough Northern Rong words came through the wall.

The station keeper hurriedly opened the door. Bursting in with the snow and wind was a Northern Rong scout commander clad in a thick padded uniform. He took off his hat, surveyed the station, and suddenly shouted joyfully: “Balong!”

Author’s Note:

The new arc “Northern Capital” is about to begin.

Today, please ask He Lansong to teach everyone how to fish on the ice river!

Ruan Buqi: No, the fish in this river are all mine.