Chapter 3#
The Bitter News#
Jin Gang had not been asleep long when he was woken by Bai Ni. She quickly helped him into his protective armor, then draped a fur cloak over him.
Someone approached the tent flap, their steps steady, their voice heavy: “Centurion of the Northern Rong, Helan Jinying, requests an audience with the hostage prince.”
The man was over eight feet tall, broad and robust. His dark brown hair was bound back from his face, his gaze sharp. His eyes, like Helan Feng’s, were wolf-like pupils of black concealing deep green.
Helan Jinying scrutinized Jin Gang. The youth before him stood with hands clasped, back straight, his expression calm yet holding a trace of tension. Though only in his teens, there was not a hint of fear in him.
He had never set foot on a battlefield, yet possessed a soul that concealed thunder and harbored storms.
Helan Jinying shifted his gaze to the felt tent behind Jin Gang and Bai Ni. He did not wish to look at the young man while speaking these words.
“General Jin Mingzhao, perished in battle at White Sparrow Pass half a month ago.”
He delivered the news in one breath, then paused before lowering his gaze to Jin Gang.
Jin Gang showed none of the reaction Helan Jinying expected. His eyes stared blankly, as if he hadn’t understood.
Helan Jinying was about to repeat himself when Jin Gang spoke: “What about the Cloud-Rushing Cavalry?”
The Cloud-Rushing Cavalry was the elite mounted unit of the Northwestern Border Army, personally trained and led by Jin Mingzhao. They were immensely famous, almost considered an extension of Jin Mingzhao himself. Bai Ni’s husband was their youngest Captain, and he had been on the battlefield with the Northwestern Border Army opposing the Golden Qiang this time.
Helan Jinying replied: “The Cloud-Rushing Cavalry has been utterly annihilated.”
Bai Ni swayed on her feet.
Jin Gang’s eyes reddened. His fingers clenched tightly inside his sleeves, fighting the tremors wracking his body. He tried to speak, but the manners ingrained in him since childhood told him he must not show discourtesy before Helan Jinying. He should offer thanks, should express gratitude for Helan Jinying delivering this terrible news so calmly.
But not a single word came out. He bit down hard on his lower lip until the taste of blood spread between his teeth.
Only after Helan Jinying departed did he collapse to his knees, powerless. Bai Ni hurriedly braced his shoulders.
Jin Gang clutched the fur rug beneath him, the bones on the back of his hands standing out white. He dared not cry, dared not ask, but his mind swirled with confusion and doubt.
“Impossible. Father and the Cloud-Rushing Cavalry… this couldn’t happen…” In his daze, he still tried to comfort Bai Ni, but when he looked up and saw her expression, all his emotions crumbled. He threw himself into her arms, holding her tightly, and finally let out a choked sob.
The news of Jin Mingzhao and the Cloud-Rushing Cavalry struck like a giant hammer. After his frantic weeping, Jin Gang felt searing pain in his chest, his mind hazy, and even breathing became difficult.
Remembering they were in a foreign land, Bai Ni forced herself to pull together. She instructed the Great Yu soldiers and accompanying officials to heighten their vigilance, especially regarding the horses and carts.
Jin Gang couldn’t sleep, and within days, he had visibly thinned. The journey had been harsh, sleeping in the wind and dew, and now his spirit was utterly depleted. Occasionally, when he drifted into dreams, he saw the battlefield littered with ruins, wreathed in thick black smoke, the scene awash with blood.
Though he seemed outwardly composed, he eventually fell ill, burning with fever, delirious.
He woke that night to utter quiet within the tent. Hearing the wind outside, Jin Gang sat up and called for Bai Ni.
There was no answer. His mouth was parched, his throat burning painfully. He drank a little water, then turned to see the folded fox fur cloak beside his pillow.
It was the one he had given Helan Feng.
The lining still held faint, impossible-to-wash-out bloodstains. Jin Gang draped the cloak over himself, unable to recall when Helan Feng had come to visit. He stepped out of the tent, a sudden, violent fear seizing him.
“…Bai Ni?!”
Still no response.
His heart pounded with terror. The Great Yu soldiers who usually guarded the tent were nowhere to be seen. The area around the tents was eerily silent, not a single routine patrol from the Yetai people in sight.
Jin Gang rushed towards where the convoy was stationed, his fear growing more intense.
Bai Ni was gone. All the Great Yu soldiers were gone. Even the Great Yu convoy had vanished without a trace!
Jin Gang suddenly forced himself to calm down. This was far too abnormal; something was wrong. He bit his own face hard. The pain reminded him this was no dream.
The wind howled. The vast sky was filled with stars from beyond the world. The Chivwang Plain gleamed under the snowlight. Jin Gang was blown to a stagger, standing blankly for a long time where the convoy had been.
When he returned to the tent, Helan Jinying was already waiting inside. Unlike before, this time he was seated while Jin Gang stood, and he showed no intention of rising.
“Bai Ni has taken the Great Yu convoy,” Helan Jinying said. “Young General, she has abandoned you.”
Jin Gang said nothing. He walked towards the wooden chest holding documents. A sword was placed over his hand, its weight light but firm. Helan Jinying said softly: “Don’t bother looking. She’s truly gone. She took your finances and all the documents with her.”
“Impossible.” Jin Gang’s voice trembled slightly, but held no fear. “Even in death, Bai Ni would not leave me.”
Helan Jinying: “Why are you so certain?”
“She is part of the Cloud-Rushing Cavalry. She is Great Yu’s first female general.” Jin Gang looked at Helan Jinying; like Helan Feng, this young man possessed those wolf-like pupils, dark black mixed with deep green. “Protecting me, delivering me to the Northern Capital—that was the military order Bai Ni received. She would never disobey orders.”
He took a deep breath, his voice rising. “Moreover, Sister Bai Ni is like family to me! If Helan Feng were in peril, would you abandon him and flee?”
Helan Jinying: “What if the orders she received were not to protect you all the way?”
Jin Gang was stunned.
“What if the Great Yu Emperor only tasked her with delivering you to the Yetai, only ensuring you fell into our Northern Rong generals’ hands?” Helan Jinying chuckled softly. “Hostage Prince, you are a hostage. Why did the Northern Rong Son of Heaven, ignoring all other Great Yu princes, demand specifically you? You are merely Jin Mingzhao’s son. What right do you have to represent Great Yu as a hostage in Northern Rong?”
Jin Gang was shaken, silent for a long time. What Helan Jinying asked was precisely what had tormented his own mind.
When the news came that Great Yu had chosen him as a hostage, his father wasn’t in Liangjing. His mother was terrified and confused. The Imperial Guard spirited Jin Gang away to the palace, and he never returned home.
During his time in the palace, none of those who had once been kind to him visited.
From entering the palace to his departure, only ten days passed. It was too fast. He had been virtually thrown into the freezing wilderness of Northern Rong, unable to even say a proper goodbye to his mother. All the warm clothing and his favorite foods and items had been packed by Bai Ni.
Thinking of his mother, Jin Gang felt another wave of suffocating agony. Did his father know he had been chosen as a hostage sent to Northern Rong? Had he really fallen in battle? Was the Cloud-Rushing Cavalry truly annihilated? And his mother? What would become of her? Though she was a princess of the former dynasty, she had no closeness with the Great Yu Emperor. Bai Ni had told him that, in a desperate plea to spare him, his mother had knelt outside the Empress Dowager’s Cixuan Hall for two days and two nights, yet he was still put on the convoy heading north.
“Your father’s body was collected by me,” Helan Jinying said suddenly.
Jin Gang glared at him fiercely. Those eyes, bright as black pearls, gradually filled with moisture, the rims reddening as if stained with blood.
At this moment, amidst the chaos in his mind, he seized upon a single thread.
“You are a Northern Rong general!” he demanded harshly. “Why would a Northern Rong general appear at the battlefield where Golden Qiang and Great Yu clash?”
Helan Jinying rose abruptly to his feet. As he lowered his head, his gaze was piercing, tinged with mockery: “What do you think?”
Jin Gang’s vision swam. He was still burning with fever, Bai Ni was gone, and the last shred of his sanity forced him to hold on. He dared not collapse.
General Loyal and Vigilant, Jin Mingzhao, was Great Yu’s sharpest spear. Northern Rong feared him, Golden Qiang feared him… and the Great Yu royal family feared him too.
A conspiracy to encircle and annihilate Jin Mingzhao and the Cloud-Rushing Cavalry!
“The Son of Heaven is merciful; he did not kill you.” Helan Jinying lifted the tent flap, not looking back. “If the people of Great Yu learned that the son of their loyal and vigilant general was destined to become a slave for the Northern Rong, what would they think?”
The words had barely fallen when a heavy thud sounded behind him. Jin Gang had collapsed unconscious on the ground.
The high fever left Jin Gang in a daze. He seemed to have fallen into a vast, endless dream—sometimes the streets and alleys of Liangjing, sometimes an infinite darkness. He called for Bai Ni again and again, but only a hawk circled overhead, its eyes wide and blood-red. No one answered him.
A pair of very small, very soft hands stroked his forehead, timidly speaking words in the Northern Rong language he didn’t understand. A piece of dried pear was pressed into his mouth, then hastily plucked away by someone else.
White Sparrow Pass was shrouded in dark clouds, snow falling heavily, covering the sky and earth. The bodies of the Cloud-Rushing Cavalry littered the ground. He stood atop the mountain of corpses, hoarsely calling the names of every soldier he remembered.
He saw Bai Ni riding her horse away into the distance, growing farther and farther. He could not catch up.
A searing pain in his chest, breathing rapid—when he awoke, he found himself lying in an unfamiliar felt tent, his mouth filled with the bitter taste of medicine. Beside his pillow lay a piece of oil paper holding half a lion candy and several slices of dried pear.
The tent was small, its furnishings haphazard, filled with the strong, peculiar smell of yak butter tea and sheep dung mingled. Jin Gang recognized this as Helan Feng’s family’s tent. He forced himself to get up, draped the fox fur cloak over himself, and walked out.
The Yetai people were few, the camp not large. Helan Feng’s home was at the edge of Yetai. At this moment, soldiers patrolled in twos and threes within the camp, but not very attentively. Jin Gang crouched and crawled for a stretch. Seeing no one noticing, he scrambled up and sprinted towards the Chivwang Plain.
Inside Tiger General’s tent, Helan Jinying had just finished mixing himself a bowl of yak butter tea.
“When you left, you were an ordinary soldier. Now you’ve returned as a centurion,” Tiger General didn’t bother with indirect official speak, asking while eating. “Just what merit did you earn?”
Helan Jinying did not answer.
“Then why did we Northern Rong rush all the way to White Sparrow Pass to join the fray between Golden Qiang and Great Yu?” Tiger General asked again. “I heard you were the one who relayed the battle reports? What exactly happened?”
Helan Jinying just shook his head, smiling.
“You’re truly a copper kettle that can’t be pried open… Speaking of which, since you’re a centurion now, stop living in that broken tent. I’ll arrange a new tent and some oxen and horses for you.” Tiger General was accustomed to his silence. “You three siblings, you need slaves. I’ll 分配 a few to you.”
“No need.” Helan Jinying finally spoke. “We have slaves.”
Tiger General was startled. “Where from? Are they registered?”
“No need for registration.” Helan Jinying tore off a slice of lamb leg, eating and smiling. “That Great Yu hostage prince.”
Tiger General watched him eat merrily, hesitating for a long while before asking: “I heard the Son of Heaven originally wanted to kill that Great Yu hostage prince, but later spoke with you privately and changed his mind, sparing his life to make him a slave in Northern Rong?”
Helan Jinying: “Mm.”
Tiger General looked at him eagerly.
Helan Jinying: “Why aren’t you eating? This lamb leg is good.”
Tiger General was so exasperated he raised the lamb bone in his hand as if to strike. “You child, can’t you speak more clearly?”
“If I say I can’t speak, then it’s not something I can speak about,” Helan Jinying said solemnly. “The Son of Heaven entrusted this boy to me; he naturally has his purpose.”
Tiger General remained uneasy: “But how should we handle it? He was a hostage prince; we could just raise him well before, but now…”
“Don’t worry,” Helan Jinying said. “We certainly can’t let him live comfortably, but we absolutely cannot let him die. I know my limits. This matter has nothing to do with Yetai; I’ll bear the responsibility.”
Tiger General looked at him, still worried. Helan Jinying dressed casually, his long hair loosely tied at the nape, his features handsome, his expression easygoing. Though Tiger General had watched him grow up, he dared not claim to fully understand this young man.
His thoughts were heavy, while Helan Jinying ate quickly. Just as the cups and plates lay in disarray, someone arrived to report: the hostage prince had fled.
Helan Jinying showed no panic. He grabbed a cloth from the table to wipe his mouth and hands, then turned, smiling: “General, don’t worry. That boy is half-dead already; he can’t get far. I was actually waiting for him to run. Once he makes this attempt, he’ll learn that it’s utterly impossible to leave the Chivwang Plain alone.”
Tiger General was so furious smoke seemed to rise from his head. “It’s freezing cold! If he dies, how do we explain it to the Son of Heaven?”
Before the words were fully out, Helan Jinying had already dashed out.
Jin Gang did not believe Helan Jinying.
He had watched the convoy’s departure point for a long time the previous night. The convoy had left in a different direction—not the road back to Great Yu. The snow bore numerous footprints. Even beneath the thin snow, he could feel arrowheads. The snow held a smell of blood that could not be concealed.
They had been ambushed, defeated, their convoy driven off elsewhere.
But where was Bai Ni? Jin Gang could not find a single trace of her.
He walked for a distance in the direction the convoy had gone before his strength failed him. He collapsed to his knees in the snow. Fine snowflakes landed on him, melting instantly against his feverish body, trickling down like sweat.
His limbs felt weak, his lungs burning and painful. The coughing wouldn’t stop.
This was not the time for a forced escape, but staying in Yetai a moment longer increased his fear. The Northern Rong Son of Heaven did not recognize his status as hostage prince, indicating Northern Rong intended to break the Pingzhou Pact. If the pact was broken, Northern Rong might invade Great Yu at any time. He could not stay here. Firstly, it wasn’t safe. Secondly—his mother and sister were still at home. He had to go back.
Suddenly, the whistling sound of a whip cutting the air came from behind. Jin Gang struggled to rise, stumbling forward a few steps. A sharp pain struck his back, and he plunged face-first into the snow, unable to get up for a long while.
“Caught a slave!” Hun Da’er laughed loudly, riding in circles around the fallen Jin Gang with several other youths.
Jin Gang had been struck by the whip, the pain searing across half his back. He didn’t dare move carelessly. Snow had entered his nose and mouth.
“Is he dead?” Hun Da’er asked.
“Still breathing.” Du Ze sounded a bit nervous. “Isn’t this Han Chinese the hostage prince? How did he become a slave?”
Jin Gang felt a surge of strength from an unknown source. He pushed himself up on his arms and roared hoarsely: “I am not a slave!”
“My father says you’re a slave, so you’re a slave,” Hun Da’er laughed again. “Hanging around with that Han-born Helan Feng, you can’t be any good either.”
Jin Gang finally struggled to his feet. He braced himself on his knees, refusing to fall. His vision was blurred, showing only the blinding sun and the shadowy forms of horses and people swaying. A whip shadow, accompanied by laughter, lashed straight towards his face.—But the whip did not land on him.
Someone stood before him, gripping the whip torn from Hun Da’er’s hand.
Hun Da’er scrambled up from the ground, jumping and shouting: “Helan Feng, you dare kick me! This is Yetai’s slave! He hasn’t been claimed yet; whoever finds him first gets him!”
Helan Feng held the whip in one hand, not retreating a single step: “You are not allowed to touch him.”
Author’s Note:
From the previous chapter:
" 官家 (Guanjia)" – The Emperor; " 圣人 (Shengren)" – The Empress; " 帝姬 (Diji)" – Princess.
" 樱桃煎 (Yingtao Jian)" – A famous delicacy from the Song Dynasty. Cherries are pitted, pounded, and pressed into cakes. When eating, a bit of honey is added, and it’s called cherry cake (Yingtao Jian). For a more elegant version, one can boil water with plums, place the cherry cake in the plum water, then add flower honey. This cherry cake is actually a dessert with a very beautiful color. During the Song Dynasty, families who could afford it would make it themselves, and shops on the streets also sold it. The flower honey used in Jin Gang’s home is a special osmanthus honey, with a unique flavor.
Today, I’m treating everyone to Jin Gang’s home-style Osmanthus Honey Cherry Cake! (Paired with iced plum juice bought from the street by Jin Gang’s brother-in-law.)