The water began to boil with a soft, bubbling rumble, and a pot of hot water was ready.
The young cultivator wrapped a cloth around the scalding copper handle and carefully poured a serving of tea into the red-clay teapot.
This was a three-room house, with only a narrow little sitting room. A blue cloth curtain on the left concealed the small kitchen, while the thin door on the right stood half-closed, with the bedroom inside.
He wiped the table three or four times before finally bringing over the tea tray. Besides the freshly brewed hot tea, there were also two plates of nut pastries.
“Marshal Mo, please have some tea.”
At least the form of address was normal this time. Earlier, back in the alley, the little cultivator had probably been so frightened that he had lost his wits. Otherwise, no matter what, he would never have blurted out and called Mo Xi his “stepfather.”
“And this gentleman…” He timidly raised his eyes and looked at Gu Mang with fearful respect. “Uh…”
What should he call him?
Stepmother? Little Mom?
The man’s face was covered by a mask, so his appearance could not be seen. Thus, the little cultivator was not entirely certain how he ought to address him. But just now in the alley, he was absolutely certain he had not seen wrong. Their godlike, cold and indifferent Marshal Mo Xi, Lord Xihe, had definitely been trying to kiss the other person’s face.
Although Mo Xi had later coughed lightly and explained to him that his friend had gotten sand in his eye, and he had merely been helping blow it out, who would believe that?
The little cultivator could not help feeling frightened and nervous, as well as curious and terrified.
Good heavens! He had actually stumbled upon Lord Xihe’s affair while on his way home from buying groceries!
What should he do? What should he do? Would Lord Xihe kill him to silence him? What kind of celestial beauty was this stepmother? How long had the two of them been together? Was Princess Mengze being kept in the dark?
The expressionless Mo Xi sitting at the table had no idea that this seemingly respectful subordinate’s mind was currently bubbling over with thoughts, each bubble containing an extremely dangerous question.
Mo Xi took a sip of tea. The little cultivator stared at his pale, thin lips, and several more bubbles popped inside his head.
They say men with thin lips are heartless. He had once thought Lord Xihe was an exception, but it turned out he was the same after all. Sigh. Princess Mengze was truly pitiful. She had waited bitterly for so many years, only to be abandoned just like that. How miserable!!
But then he thought again: this “stepmother” had not spoken a single word since meeting him. He did not know what her voice sounded like, nor what she looked like. And the robe she wore was loose, making it difficult to tell her figure.
Could she perhaps be Princess Mengze herself?
The princess wanted to travel together with Lord Xihe, and wearing a face covering so that idle onlookers would not recognize her was perfectly normal.
Perhaps the fluctuations in his thoughts were simply too great, because they unconsciously showed on his face. Mo Xi looked at him rather speechlessly and set down his teacup.
“What are you thinking?”
“N-Nothing! I wasn’t thinking about anything! I’m a piece of wood with no thoughts whatsoever!”
Mo Xi: “…”
The little cultivator covered his face. After a while, he peeked out through the gaps between his fingers and muttered in a muffled voice, “Marshal Mo, what would your… uh, friend… like to drink?”
“He can have the same as me. We’re only here on Elder Qingxu’s behalf to deliver some Duanyang dragon zongzi to the ward. We won’t stay long. You don’t need to trouble yourself any further.”
As he spoke, he took out some sweet and savory zongzi that had been wrapped at Jiang Yexue’s residence from his Qiankun pouch.
Mo Xi did not know how many zongzi he should leave, so he asked, “How many people are there in your household?”
The little cultivator scratched his head. “Just me.”
Gu Mang, who had been listening from the side, could not help letting out a soft, “Hm?”
The little cultivator abruptly turned his head at the sound and looked at him suspiciously.
It was no wonder he was alarmed. Although Gu Mang’s voice just now had been soft, it was very obvious that it was low and husky, clearly not the voice of a woman.
Gu Mang immediately thought, Oh no.
Just as the situation was becoming awkward, he suddenly heard Mo Xi say calmly, “He caught a cold last night, so his throat is a little hoarse. He can’t really speak. Could I trouble you to make him a pot of hot ginger tea?”
“Oh, oh, oh… so his throat is hoarse…” the little cultivator muttered, letting out a sigh of relief. “Of course.”
After finally getting past that incident, the two of them drank their tea, left the zongzi with the little cultivator, exchanged a few more words, and then departed his home.
As they walked along the road, Mo Xi asked, “Why were you so surprised when you heard him say that he was the only one in his household?”
Gu Mang said, “Ah, it’s a long story. That child… he used to be one of my subordinates.”
“…I know.”
“You know? Back then, my thirty thousand remaining troops were eventually incorporated into your Northern Frontier Army. I thought you couldn’t tell which ones had originally been my brothers and which ones you recruited yourself later.”
Mo Xi said, “They’re pretty easy to recognize.”
“How?”
“The cultivators you led all call me ‘stepfather.’”
“…”
The black leather military boots, inlaid with iron plates, walked along the bluestone path, making crisp, hard sounds. Mo Xi said calmly, “They thought I didn’t know. Actually, I know all about it. That one just now was the same. He got nervous in the alley and immediately called me ‘stepfather.’ I could tell at once that he was one of your people.”
Gu Mang awkwardly rubbed his nose. After a long while, he finally managed to say, “Those bunch of unruly little brats. How could they just casually give you such a ridiculous nickname?”
“It’s nothing. It’s pretty good,” Mo Xi said. “Compared with me, you really are closer to them. Look, even after all these years, you can still remember what a little cultivator looks like. I, on the other hand, don’t really have much of an impression of them. I’m not good at remembering such things. Nor have I ever been that close to the soldiers.”
Gu Mang laughed. “Your brain is all occupied with remembering spell scrolls and frontier reports. Of course you can’t remember people.”
“…”
If they continued, they would probably end up talking about the reorganization of the Northern Frontier Army back then. Mo Xi had no intention of continuing the topic—he did not want Gu Mang to learn about the Oath of Heavenly Tribulation.
In truth, his way of commanding troops was just like his personality: stiff and cold. It was easy for people to misunderstand and think that he did not care about the soldiers at all. He was not good at inspiring people with words, nor was he good at winning over soldiers with tenderness.
Thus, even though he had taken over the Northern Frontier Army for so long, his cultivators still respected him and feared him, but they did not love him.
Aside from the Sovereign, very few people knew that he had once spent ten years of his lifespan vouching for an entire army. The soldiers of the Northern Frontier Army also had no idea what their “stepfather” had actually done for them.
Although now, looking back, the Oath of Heavenly Tribulation no longer seemed important. Gu Mang had already vouched for them once before, and Mo Xi’s oath had merely been exploited by the Sovereign a second time. Even if he had not made that poisonous oath back then, the Sovereign would never have let those thirty thousand passionate souls down.
But so what?
When one was caught up in the situation, no one knew what the truth really was.
Their “stepfather” was rather stuffy. He did not like saying nice things. People were not divine beings, and they could not see what secrets lay hidden beneath appearances. Perhaps he had all sorts of shortcomings, but he had already been using his own life to protect, with all his strength, those people whom he had once believed were about to suffer.
And yet, all he received in return was one trembling, fearful “stepfather.”
And a sentence:
“Marshal Mo is a nobleman after all. He would never stand with people like us.”
Who said discrimination between clans only went from those above to those below?
A commander from a noble clan who had stepped into the mud was, in fact, already being discriminated against by his own soldiers down to the very marrow without even realizing it.
Mo Xi said, “Tell me about that little cultivator. Why were you so surprised when you heard that he was the only one in his family?”
“Oh, it’s like this.” Gu Mang said, “Don’t let his young age fool you. He joined the army when he was sixteen. At the time, he was among the youngest of the youngsters under my command. I asked him why he wanted to enlist, and he told me that he had three older brothers, all of whom had joined, and he couldn’t just sit around either. He didn’t want to be left at home.”
When Gu Mang said this, his gaze dimmed slightly.
“His three elder brothers were all outstanding men, and all upright. If I remember correctly, in the year I left Chonghua, all three of them should still have been alive. I never thought…”
Mo Xi was silent for a moment before saying, “Blades and swords have always been merciless. Don’t think too deeply about it. No one can protect every single person. Do what you ought to do, and that is enough to have a clear conscience.”
Gu Mang said nothing. After a while, he suddenly said without any apparent connection, “The eldest brother in that family once said that once he had enough money to buy a house, he wanted to marry a wife and live a peaceful life.”
“…”
After a long silence, Gu Mang sighed.
“…If only the war could end soon.”
The war could not possibly end soon. Instead, the ceasefire ended very quickly.
Not long after Duanyang, an urgent report arrived from the Northern Frontier stating that the Liao Kingdom had broken its word and violated the agreement to maintain a two-year ceasefire. They had suddenly launched a lightning attack on Lion-Camel Pass, the weakest point along Chonghua’s frontier.
Lion-Camel Pass was in urgent danger.
When this news arrived, the Sovereign’s cold illness was at its most severe. He could not even get out of bed and could only entrust Murong Mengze with handling the overall situation in his stead.
However, the civil and military officials who did not know the truth behind the matter were deeply dissatisfied with the Sovereign’s actions. For a time, discussions spread throughout the court.
“What illness has befallen the Sovereign’s honored body?”
“If the Sovereign is unwell, shouldn’t the three elders of Shennong Terrace conduct a joint examination and then inform the important ministers of the court? How can he simply throw out a single statement and then enter seclusion without attending court? There has never been such a precedent throughout the dynasties!”
Mo Xi could actually sense the undercurrent running through the court very clearly.
People did not know that the Sovereign was suffering from an incurable illness, but paper could never completely conceal fire. Many sharp-minded people had already begun making guesses that were very close to the truth. They simply could not be certain yet and did not dare to probe recklessly.
There were also some unintelligent old holdovers from the previous generation. Although they had not noticed anything unusual about the Sovereign, Mengze’s acting authority had undoubtedly struck a nerve with them. For the time being, they still did not dare target the Sovereign, but targeting Mengze was more than within their power.
Mengze wanted to dispatch Chonghua’s Feima Battalion to provide reinforcements, and then draw part of the garrison from two nearby major passes to strengthen Lion-Camel Pass and stabilize the dangerous situation.
In Mo Xi’s view, her handling of the matter was indeed cautious and appropriate.
Unexpectedly, however, a large number of people rejected it.
“The Feima Battalion is directly under the Sovereign. How can it be transferred away from the royal capital so easily?”
“Deploying military forces is a major matter. Even if the princess wants to do so, she must first convene the military and government council.”
Those objections could still be considered reasonable.
But there were even worse ones. Relying on their status as honored elders of meritorious families, some directly confronted Mengze.
“Murong Mengze, you are merely a woman. What right do you have to interfere with military orders?”
“If Lord Wangshu were acting in the Sovereign’s stead, that would be one thing. You don’t even have an official title. We are all members of the royal clan, so who is higher or lower than whom? We obey the Sovereign’s decree and allow you to preside over court sessions, but surely we cannot let some little girl command troops and deploy soldiers? Who will bear the responsibility if something major happens!”
With such wrangling and delays, and officials counterbalancing one another’s authority, even though several important ministers of the Military Affairs Office, led by Mo Xi, were willing to vouch for Mengze, the military order still could not be issued quickly.
And so, Lion-Camel Pass eventually fell.
The Liao Kingdom’s Black Demon Army swept southward with their banners flying, successively capturing the three frontier cities of Feng City, Daze City, and Di City in a single offensive. They seized large numbers of civilians from the cities and slaughtered more than ten thousand defending soldiers.
By the time this news arrived, the Sovereign had already recovered enough to attend court.
But it was ultimately too late.
He sat upon the throne, with the frontier reports from the past twenty-odd days spread out before him. His expression was terrifyingly cold.
“Before Lion-Camel Pass sent its emergency distress call, it had already urgently requested reinforcements fourteen times and held out for seven days.”
The Sovereign slammed that stack of military reports onto the table. He raised his head from within the white fur collar of his cloak, his gaze icy.
“At the time, I had entrusted Mengze with full authority. Did all of you die, or did all of you get pregnant and need to stay in bed to protect your pregnancies? Why the hell did you all turtle up and refuse to send troops?!”