After their intimacy, their hearts were pounding, and the air around them seemed unbearably hot. Everything else seemed to have nothing to do with them anymore—time, hatred, sin, dawn. At this moment, they were simply like the two young men who had fallen in love with each other more than ten years ago, wanting nothing more than to remain entwined with the person they loved until the end of time.
When they became intimate once more, Gu Mang wrapped his arms around Mo Xi’s neck and began to cry, unable to bear it any longer.
Mo Xi heard Gu Mang call his name. Then he called him shidi, called him princess, called him brother. Every identity and relationship they had once shared in their lives—as long as it had been something beautiful—Gu Mang murmured them all to him in the midst of their passionate intimacy.
It was as though he wanted to make up, in this one moment, for all the sincere words of love that had gone unsaid throughout the fourteen years they had loved each other.
“Hey, hey, hey, did you hear it around noon today?”
By evening, all the commanders of the stationed forces had gone to the main command tent for a meeting, while several idle young cultivators gathered together and whispered among themselves.
“Are you talking about the… sounds coming from Marshal Mo’s tent?”
“Yeah! So you heard it too? I thought there was something wrong with my ears!”
“But I’m not sure… No one would dare get too close to Marshal Mo’s tent. It might have been some other kind of noise. After all, that’s Marshal Mo we’re talking about.” The young cultivator awkwardly licked his lips. “We’ve followed Marshal Mo on campaigns for so many years. We should all know what kind of person he is. He wouldn’t fool around with any of the women in the military camp.”
Everyone felt that what he said made sense.
But before long, someone quietly said, “That’s true, but don’t forget—the Princess of Mengze has already come to the front lines too.”
As soon as he said that, several people suddenly looked enlightened.
“So that’s how it is!”
“But have the two of them really progressed that far in private?”
“Probably not…”
“Why not? I heard from Xiaohua in the neighboring camp that during the Dragon Boat Festival, he happened to see Marshal Mo meeting secretly with the Princess of Mengze in an alley! The Princess of Mengze had dressed as a man for convenience and was even wearing a face covering. But Xiaohua happened to see them kissing, and Marshal Mo was incredibly cautious—he immediately covered the Princess of Mengze’s face for her! The way he protected his wife, tsk, tsk, tsk. It was absolutely something to behold.”
With every part of the story he told, everyone let out another astonished “wow.”
Before long, almost every cultivator who had gathered to join in the gossip became firmly convinced that the Princess of Mengze must have gone to Mo Xi’s military tent at noon—and that she and Mo Xi had spent the night together.
“That went on for at least an hour, didn’t it? Our stepfather really has some stamina.”
“The Princess’s health is so delicate. I wonder if she can handle it.”
Some people were even bored enough to start worrying seriously. “They’ve already gone that far. Does His Majesty know? I feel like what our stepfather did was wrong. He hasn’t even married her yet, and he’s already gone and made things official first. That’s not very proper.”
“Do you think the Princess might accidentally get pregnant…?”
Inside the main command tent, Gu Mang, who had put his golden face covering back on, stood against the wall and couldn’t help letting out a quiet sneeze.
“Achoo!”
The people in the tent were discussing how they should fight the next battle, and there were many of them. Gu Mang, standing inconspicuously in the corner as an ordinary attendant, was hardly noticeable.
But after sneezing and raising his eyes, he saw Mo Xi standing beside the sand table with his arms crossed, looking at him from across the room.
The moment Gu Mang saw him, his face grew hot, and his heart burned even hotter.
There were so many people in the room. Murong Lian was standing before the sand table, biting the stem of his pipe as he explained his thoughts. The Princess of Mengze was dressed in black-and-gold military attire, her golden hair tied back with a band, and was listening attentively beside him. The other squad leaders and captains were gathered around the sand table and maps, along with the attendants brought by the various commanders.
Yet Mo Xi had deliberately looked at him across all those people simply because he had sneezed.
In full view of everyone, Gu Mang couldn’t help feeling guilty. He wanted to meet Mo Xi’s gaze, yet he was afraid someone might notice something unusual between them.
Fortunately, he didn’t have to struggle with it for long. Murong Lian’s strategy was soon rejected by Mengze. With only two adjustments to the deployment of troops, Mengze disrupted Murong Lian’s entire offensive route.
Murong Lian bit down on his pipe and narrowed his eyes as he examined the situation on the sand table. In the end, he spat out a few words.
“Women are the most ruthless. I concede.”
Mengze didn’t take offense. Instead, she smiled apologetically at him.
“Lian-ge, I’m really sorry.”
Murong Lian snorted.
Next, it was Mo Xi’s turn.
Mo Xi withdrew his gaze from Gu Mang and walked directly to the sand table. Looking at the unfinished strategy Murong Lian had left behind, he lowered his head and pondered for a moment. Then he rearranged several military flags representing their forces and began explaining his offensive strategy.
Speaking of which, this was the first time Gu Mang had ever seen Mo Xi strategizing as a commander-in-chief.
The year Gu Mang had “betrayed his country,” Mo Xi had still been too young. Although he had experience commanding troops on his own, none of those battles had been particularly large.
Later, Gu Mang left, and Mo Xi grew into his own.
Yet by then, he had become Gu Mang’s sworn enemy for so many years.
“Have the cultivators from the Red Feather Camp prepare a healing formation on the left flank. At the places I’ve marked with blue flags, leave two hundred medicine cultivators there to provide support.”
Mo Xi’s long lashes lowered as he removed the two blue flags Murong Lian had previously placed at the Southern Peak and moved them instead to the lakeside outside the city.
“The Northern Frontier Army will send three thousand soldiers to coordinate with these medicine cultivators. Activate the Black Tortoise Formation and the Demon-Repelling Formation.”
Leaning against the wall at the farthest point from Mo Xi, Gu Mang quietly watched this man become the focus of the entire tent. He listened as Mo Xi meticulously and comprehensively laid out the entire battle strategy.
That position had once belonged to him.
Now Mo Xi had taken his place, becoming the backbone and core of the Northern Frontier Army.
Gu Mang felt that there could be no better arrangement than this.
It was only that he faintly felt his memories fading faster and faster lately. He didn’t know how much longer he would be able to watch Mo Xi so clearly and lucidly.
“Hey, you. Yes, you.”
Someone suddenly entered the tent and called out to him in a low voice.
Gu Mang was slightly startled.
“Looking for me? What’s the matter?”
“Aren’t you Lord Xihe’s personal guard? The official transporting the magical artifacts and talismans supplied by the imperial capital has arrived. Could I trouble you to go through the supplies first?”
Gu Mang turned his head, wanting to take one last look at Mo Xi.
But because Mo Xi was explaining everything in such detail, and because his battle strategy was so unpredictable, many of the people who had casually been standing around had gathered around the sand table.
From Gu Mang’s angle, he could no longer see Mo Xi’s entire face. He could only vaguely make out the side of his face through the gaps between the people.
For some reason, this left Gu Mang feeling both melancholy and comforted.
Actually, he had known this would happen long ago.
When he had once seen Mo Xi sitting beneath the trees at the academy, earnestly reading through scrolls, he had already known that one day Mo Xi would become the person standing at the center of everyone’s attention.
His precious pearl was shining brightly.
That was wonderful.
Gu Mang agreed to the young cultivator’s request and quietly left the tent.
The former commander-in-chief of the Northern Frontier Army was now so inconspicuous that he slipped away without a sound, and no one paid him any attention. No one even noticed.
Mo Xi had always been completely focused whenever he strategized an advance. He didn’t feel tired while he was speaking, but by the time he finished, the sky had already grown completely dark.
His strategy had been so ingenious that no one found the meeting boring. Instead, many people felt chills running down their backs and sweat soaking through their clothes because of his step-by-step planning.
After he finished explaining the entire siege, several captains let out heavy sighs of relief.
“That’s terrifying…”
“Stepfather really dares to think of anything…”
When the military meeting dispersed, those people walked back toward their own tents while gathering together and whispering among themselves.
Mo Xi had been completely absorbed while speaking and hadn’t felt tired. Only after he sat down did the fatigue finally hit him.
He raised a hand to support his forehead and slowly massaged his brow.
The people in the main command tent gradually left.
Although everyone who had listened felt that Mo Xi’s strategy was flawless, and no one present had been able to find a way to break it, Mo Xi himself still felt that the losses could be reduced further.
So he remained seated before the sand table, intending to rest for a while before going through the strategy himself once more.
As he massaged his brow to ease the tension, he heard the sound of tea being poured nearby.
After a moment, a cup of warm tea was handed to him.
By then, everyone else had already dispersed.
Naturally, Mo Xi assumed that the only person who would remain here quietly beside him was Gu Mang.
With his tired eyes closed, he said, “Sorry. I was busy the whole time just now and didn’t have a chance to look at you. What kind of tea did you make?”
“Ling Mountain Wonderful Rain.”
Mo Xi abruptly opened his eyes, his expression changing slightly as he raised his head.
“Mengze…”
Murong Mengze smiled gently.
“Of course I know you were explaining the sand table to them just now. You were so focused that I was engrossed in watching as well. How could I possibly be angry just because you didn’t look at me even once?”
This misunderstanding was rather enormous.
But Mo Xi had no way to explain it.
What could he say?
That the person he had wanted to look at wasn’t her, but the attendant standing beside him?
That would practically be pushing Gu Mang into the center of everyone’s attention.
Seeing Mengze’s eyes shift, as though his unusually gentle words had given her the slightest glimmer of hope, Mo Xi was silent for a moment before saying, “It’s getting late. We still have to launch the second siege tomorrow. You should go back and rest.”
“But I want to stay with you.”
Seeing that Mo Xi was about to speak again, Mengze immediately stopped him.
“I know what you’re going to say again. You’re going to tell me to cherish my reputation and stop following you around every day. Or you’re going to say that you have no romantic feelings for me at all and tell me not to misunderstand.”
Mo Xi: “…”
Mengze lowered her elegant, slender neck. Though she still maintained her composure, there was already a trace of sorrow in her expression.
“You’ve been saying these things to me for so many years that I could recite them backward. I also know very clearly that you feel only gratitude toward me, nothing more. I’m not asking you for any other kind of affection. But can’t you at least let me look at you, stay with you for a while?”
Mo Xi said, “If you keep looking at me and staying with me, you’ll miss the other person you truly ought to be looking at.”
Mengze raised her eyes. Moist light shimmered in them.
“You don’t have to worry about me. Whom Mengze chooses to look at and whom she chooses to stay with in this lifetime is for Mengze herself to decide. Whatever the ending may be, I will never regret it.”
“I don’t ask that person to turn around and look at me even once… I only want to know, Big Brother, is there already someone else in your heart?”
Mo Xi had not expected her to ask such a direct question.
He was silent for a moment, then set down the untouched cup of tea and raised his head to look at her.
“There always has been.”
Hearing those four words, Mengze wasn’t particularly surprised, but her body still trembled.
After a long while, she forced a smile onto her pale face.
“…That’s right… When you rejected me before… you already told me that you wouldn’t fall in love with me. It’s just that I, I…”
She couldn’t continue, and her voice trembled slightly.
She didn’t finish her sentence, but Mo Xi understood what she meant.
He had already made his feelings clear to her long ago. He had told her that there was no room in his heart for anyone else.
But how could Mengze have believed him back then?
She had simply taken it as another way for him to reject her.
After all, he had never had an especially close relationship with any woman. And because he could not name the person to whom he had given all his love as Gu Mang, no one had ever believed that Mo Xi’s words about having someone in his heart were true.
Until recently.
The ambiguous traces had become increasingly difficult to conceal, and countless tiny details had gradually surfaced.
Only then had Mo Xi’s words finally become believable.
Mengze held onto the edge of the table and steadied herself for quite some time before forcing another smile.
“Which family’s young lady is she? You… how did you hide her from everyone for so long…?”
“She’s not some young lady from a noble family.”
Mengze’s face grew even paler.
“Is she… a commoner?”
“…”
In the silence, Mengze’s gaze swept over the ribbon tying back Mo Xi’s hair.
The crown Mo Xi had accidentally worn that day had naturally been changed long ago. The man cared so little about such small accessories that he hadn’t even noticed he had once been wearing a silk ribbon that clearly did not belong to him.
Mengze said softly, “Big Brother, you’re a member of the imperial nobility.”
Mo Xi folded his hands together on the table and looked up at her.
Mengze said sorrowfully, “Do you really think you can be with an ordinary girl? Don’t even look far away. Just look at Lord Xianwangshu. With so many precedents involving Chonghua… you… you grew up in the royal city. It’s not as though you don’t know…”
Mo Xi said, “Do you think Xianwangshu didn’t know that back then?”
“Then you should also think about how he ended up!”
Mo Xi paused for a moment and sighed.
“Mengze, thank you for reminding me. But what happens between him and me has nothing to do with anyone else. I will protect him.”
“…”
“Because I love him.”
Mengze’s eyes were already filled with tears.
Mo Xi stood up and continued, “I will also protect you.”
Mengze asked through her tears, “Because of what?”
“Because I am grateful to you.”
At his words, Mengze closed her eyes and smiled bitterly.
“I told you long ago that I owe you my life. If you ever need me, I will do everything I can for you.”
“But this heart…” Mo Xi pressed his lips together before saying, “is the one thing I cannot give you.”
Mengze raised her eyes again and asked in a trembling voice,
“…You won’t change your heart again, will you?”
As a noble princess, how humiliating it was for her to ask this much was something Mo Xi could not possibly fail to understand.
But whether it was humiliating or not could not change the outcome.
Mo Xi looked into her eyes and said,
“I won’t.”
After a moment of silence, in that deathly quiet atmosphere, Mengze let out a soft, sorrowful laugh.
She tilted her head back in grief, choking on her words.
“…Fine… Fine…”
She did not force him any further.
Or perhaps it would be more accurate to say that over all these years, everything that needed to be said had already been said, and everything that needed to be done had already been done.
“Big Brother Mo…”
“I actually wish you could be a little more hypocritical. If you could lie to me, even just once, that would have been enough. But you won’t even give me a dream.”
“You really are… really are…”
She didn’t know how to bring this conversation, which had already ended in complete defeat for her, to a close.
She wanted to force a smile to preserve the last fragments of her dignity, but the tears were once again threatening to spill over.
She opened her eyes wide and desperately tried to hold the tears back.
Then she turned around and slowly—almost stumbling as she walked—left the main military tent.