“Quick, get back to the house!” Duan Ling wraps his arms around the man in black’s neck, but the man puts him down instead, and grabbing his hand, takes him past another wall.
Next, they’re attacked again out of nowhere as two daggers come at them from the side. The man in black responds to it just as swiftly; the attacker slices his daggers at the man in black’s wrist, but instead of letting go of Duan Ling, the man in black thrusts his sword back behind him, right for the attacker’s throat!
Seeing yet another man dressed in rogue’s blacks, Duan Ling is immediately dumbstruck.
With a light clink, the dagger hits the man in black’s wrist, the weapon glancing off something metallic. At the same time, the attacker dodges, moving his neck out of the path of the sword.
Duan Ling’s already confused. Who on earth is this now?!
The man in black quickly grabs Duan Ling and lands in the courtyard. While Duan Ling is looking this way and that, the man’s grip loosens and lets go of him. As soon as he does, the other man in black who’s just arrived grabs Duan Ling’s arm and pulls him behind himself.
The first man in black doesn’t seem in any hurry to leave, however; he simply takes a half step back, his sword thrusting forward once more. He’s actually going to fight the dagger-wielder for Duan Ling!
Duan Ling is simply dumbfounded.
The man in black second to arrive pushes Duan Ling away from the fighting, and with a wave of his hand, darts fly off in every direction, the projectiles stopping the other man in black’s advance.
Duan Ling runs out of the way and looks on while the two exchange blows. He can’t tell which one is which; one is slightly taller — is that one Wu Du? With a start he recalls that when Wu Du left the house, he didn’t take his sword with him! Yet as soon as that thought crosses his mind, the sword-wielding man in black and the daggers-wielding man in black’s weapons tangle together as they deflect each others’ attacks, sword and daggers flying out of their hands, the daggers bury themselves into a pillar while the long sword falls into the bushes. The two men abandon their weapons and get into close range to begin fighting hand-to-hand.
Damn it! Now that the two of them are locked in hand-to-hand combat, and it’s so dark at night too, he really can’t tell who’s who now!
Then there’s a flash of metal as one of the men in black leaps into the air and grabs the daggers, while the other man in black rolls along the ground to pick up the long sword.
The dagger in the left hand of one man brings up ripples in the pond, his qi sending droplets of water into the air, then his right hand brings up another dagger to cross the one in his left.
Duan Ling has learned this move before, and cannot help himself but cheer at its ingenuity! Li Jianhong was the one who taught him that move; it’s called “arc light”! It can be used with either one’s palms or a sword! He never could have imagined that it can also be used with twin daggers.
The dagger-wielding assassin has to be Wu Du!
Wu Du makes a cross with his daggers, channelling his qi behind it through both hands to make a wall of force that only the Zhenshanhe can withstand. Just as he expects, the two daggers curl into an arc in the air, the light arc flickering with moonlight.
The other man in black immediately leaps up higher in the air, and with a side flip, his slender figure spins with his sword as he meets the arc head-on!
The arc light lands, lifting the sword’s qi; with the inertia he’s thrown behind that sideways flip, the sword-wielding assassin neutralises the energy behind the twin daggers in four clangs of metal on metal. The daggers-wielding assassin gives off a great shout, and Duan Ling is finally certain! It’s Wu Du!
The forward momentum of the arc light hasn’t completely dissipated. It draws a line of air over the man in black, sending his mask flying while he’s still in the air.
In that split second, Duan Ling’s heart seems to stop.
Yet the man in black doesn’t dare stay and fight. He grabs the mask and moves up the wall with a back flip, disappearing behind the wall.
Only then does Wu Du remove his mask. He turns to look at Duan Ling, his eyes full of bewilderment.
“Who was that?” He asks Duan Ling.
Duan Ling shakes his head, looking just as bewildered.
Shouts are coming from inside the courtyard. They’ve clearly just come across the escaping assassin. Having recovered his wits, Duan Ling says, “Come on! Let’s go!”
He grabs Wu Du’s hand and rushes them back to their room. Wu Du knowingly grabs a robe to throw it over what he’s wearing, but Duan Ling is saying to him, “No! Strip!” And quickly strips Wu Du of his rogue’s blacks.
“Take off your boots too! Bring your daggers with you!”
Wu Du has no clue why but he quietly does it anyway.
The two of them charges out of their room once more, and the only thought in Duan Ling’s head is — that assassin had better not be gone already!
Helian Bo’s Tangut underlings, the Bian estate’s guards, Helan Jie — everyone has chased the assassin to the courtyard just beyond the main hall. The assassin flips up and over the wall, vanishing in front of their eyes.
Bare to the waist, bootless, and dressed in nothing but a pair of pants, Wu Du shouts, “Stop it right there!”
Wu Du charges at the courtyard, but by then the assassin has already gone over the wall. Duan Ling has managed to grab the very last second before the assassin left, and he quietly exclaims in his head: great timing!
Bian Lingbai stares at him in shocked silence.
As soon as Helan Jie turns back to look, he freezes on the spot.
Seemingly completely baffled, Wu Du sweeps his gaze over everyone around him, sneering, “Y’all are a pile of rubbish2 — can’t even beat a single assassin. In the end you had to leave it to your Master Wu to scare ‘im off.”
Duan Ling is speechless at his shamelessness.
Bian Lingbai says, “You … Wu Du, where were you just now?”
Wu Du says furiously, “I was half asleep. Can’t you tell?!”
Bian Lingbai then turns to shout furiously at Helan Jie, “What’s going on?! It wasn’t Wu Du?”
Duan Ling glances at Bian Lingbai, then he turns his gaze on Helan Jie with a questioning look and says most opportunely, “Where’d the assassin come from anyway?”
Bian Lingbai is also entirely in the dark; Helan Jie, on the other hand, has turned to scrutinise Duan Ling and Wu Du with open malice.
Soon afterwards:
Bian Lingbai, Duan Ling, Wu Du, as well as the crutch-leaning Fei Hongde arrive at Bian Lingbai’s room.
“Everything’s still here.” Bian Lingbai says, “The assassin’s purpose is truly difficult to fathom.”
Duan Ling puts on a show of staring at the treasure map on the table, but as soon as Bian Lingbai looks down, both Duan Ling and Wu Du turn their attention to the layout of the room. Duan Ling looks over each of the shelves while Wu Du looks at the floor, at last stopping his attention on a black brick in the corner.
“I’d only come to disturb you earlier in the night to ask where this treasure map could be pointing to, Master Fei. It’s been bothering me to just leave it there unguarded. Since you’re already feeling better, why don’t we go have a look at it in the next few days?”
Duan Ling can feel Bian Lingbai’s anxiety. But if he must think about it, things are more likely to go awry the longer they wait, and since the treasure is just sitting right there, why wouldn’t he want to take it? He merely wonders whether this urgency has anything to do with Helian Da.
“Naturally,” Fei Hongde says, “by sheer chance, you’ve saved my life tonight, General Bian.”
Duan Ling asks, “Where’d the assassin come from?”
“The assassin took me hostage and was about to torture me in order to find out why I went into the Qinling the other day.”
Bian Lingbai shudders as though he’s already made conjectures as to the assassin’s purpose, and what Fei Hongde said has just verified those conjectures.
“There’s no need to worry, general. Only Mister Zhao and I know the basic whereabouts of the treasure. I was planning to slip the assassin a lie, but then you arrived just in time, and that’s why he thought to look for the treasure map itself while he’s here and went to the study.”
“So that’s what happened …” Bian Lingbai nods, narrowing his eyes.
Is that so? Even though Fei Hongde’s deductions seem completely impeccable, it gives Duan Ling a vague feeling like something isn’t quite right about it.
Fei Hongde adds, “This assassin must be the same assassin who ambushed me near those streams in the Qinling. It’s precisely for the suspicions he gained there that he came to investigate personally. Good thing Master Wu managed to scare him off with nothing but a shout …”
Duan Ling keeps quiet.
Wu Du says, “Well, that’s only natural.”
Duan Ling has got nothing to say.
Fei Hongde grabs Bian Lingbai’s hand then, and says to him quietly, “It may just be the Tangut. General, you mustn’t set out without having a thorough plan first, lest we expose the location of the treasure trove. Give it a few days and give some time for the excitement of this evening to die down, then we’ll go there in the middle of the night and move all of the treasure away in one go. There are less chances for mishaps this way.”
“Master Fei, you’re quite right,” Bian Lingbai says.
It is already very late. Everyone returns to their own room, and as he closes the door behind him, Duan Ling lets out a breath he’s been holding all this time.
“Who was that?” Duan Ling asks, “Was he Tangut?”
“Impossible. There isn’t anyone among the Tangut who can fight like that.” After replying to Duan Ling’s question, Wu Du narrows his eyes and looks him up and down, considering.
Duan Ling has a feeling that Wu Du has his own hypothesis regarding the man in black’s identity, but he’s choosing not to tell him.
“You were really close to the assassin. Did you notice anything? Give me any clues at all.”
“None. I thought it was you at first so I wasn’t paying attention.”
“You can mistake someone else for me?!”
“You were the only one dressed in those clothes. Why ever would I think that it could have been anyone else?” Duan Ling dimly recalls a single clue. “There was a smell.”
“What smell?” Wu Du presses him.
“Sweat. He hasn’t bathed in days.”
Wu Du stares at him silently for a few heartbeats before he says, “Let’s go to sleep. This whole night has been nothing but disaster.”
“Did you find the stuff?”
“No,” Wu Du says, sounding quite cross.
“I’m guessing it’s probably in Bian Lingbai’s room …”
“It’s not like I’ve gone blind. I saw it.”
Duan Ling nods at this and lies down on the bed. When Wu Du lies down on the bed as well, Duan Ling sticks his face close and sniffs him, which makes the still half-naked Wu Du look quite embarrassed. All this thinking hasn’t been able to give Duan Ling any new ideas, however, and so Wu Du asks him, “What is it? You want a man or something?”
Duan Ling goes all red in the face. “What are you talking about?!”
Something else suddenly occurs to Wu Du, and with a wicked gleam in his eyes he looks Duan Ling over. “That Tangut barbarian didn’t grope you, did he?” And speaking of which reaches over to touch him.
Duan Ling says at once, “What’re you doing that for?”
“You’d carry on with a barbarian but you won’t let your Master Wu touch you a little? If I really wanted to take you, there’s no point in calling for help.”
Duan Ling’s face promptly turns a bright shade of red, but when he tries to struggle out of Wu Du’s grasp he’s held down on the bed instead, and Wu Du has a dangerous look in his eyes. Duan Ling has no idea how he should react, but worrying that Wu Du may actually end up doing something to him, his heart starts to beat out of his chest.
But all Wu Du does is reach underneath Duan Ling’s lapel to dig out a gold bead from his inner pocket. Then he gives it a single look before stuffing it right back.
That’s when Duan Ling comes to a sudden realisation — he knows why Wu Du let him see Helian Bo now, and it’s just as he thought, not with the best intentions. If anyone tries to take off his clothes and touch him with a centipede on his person, they’ll quite likely get bitten; a bite may not kill them on the spot, but it’s enough to cause at least a bout of suffering.
“I told you already. He won’t do anything to me.”
Wu Du remarks sarcastically, “Even if he did anything to you it’s none of my business.”
Duan Ling’s mouth twitches, but before he can react Wu Du has taken out a sheet of paper from Duan Ling robe. “And what is this now?”
Duan Ling recalls the evening’s conversation and says to Wu Du, “Helian … Mister Helian said that there are a lot of people in the nearby areas, lying in ambush.”
“What?”
Duan Ling turns over to Wu Du the information Helian Bo revealed to him earlier, and when he’s done, Wu Du looks absolutely stunned. Duan Ling says, “I … um, I think … Tongguan is in a lot of danger. We’ll have to tell Chancellor Mu immediately. Otherwise things may get out of hand.”
“Not necessarily.” Once Wu Du finishes getting the entire set of circumstances from Duan Ling, he sits back cross-legged on the bed. “What if that barbarian was lying to you?”
“He wouldn’t lie to me. What could he ever get out of lying to me?”
Duan Ling hasn’t followed that line of thought at all, but now that Wu Du has brought it up, he’s been reminded to consider it. Would Helian Bo lie to him? No, he wouldn’t, even though his friendship with Helian Bo is what makes him so sure. But from all that’s happening Duan Ling also believes that Helian Bo needs to keep the situation in his government under control, and he wouldn’t do something so pointless as to fabricate a map to lie to him.
With doubt in his eyes, he looks up at Wu Du.
Wu Du looks at the sheet of paper carefully, flipping it over. As soon as he turns it over he nods. “Hm, he won’t lie to you. Seems I worried too much.”
Duan Ling notices that a portrait of himself is drawn on the back of the map, and goes quite quiet.
Wu Du gives Duan Ling a look. “Not bad. Looks a lot like you. I see he restrained himself, observed the necessary propriety, and didn’t remove your clothes. Did you spend the entire evening cooing sweet nothings at each other and let him draw you?”
Duan Ling says immediately, “We weren’t …”
Wu Du makes to get off the bed, and Duan Ling hastens to stop him, lamenting, “Spare me! I’m serious, there was nothing of the sort!”
The bed is like a tiny little room of its own covered on every side in mosquito netting, and the way he’s clinging to Wu Du in a small space like that is making the mood between them extremely questionable. Yet Wu Du seems to be becoming quite distraught and distracted; he puts one hand back and pokes Duan Ling below the ribs, and Duan Ling immediately feels a numbness spread through half of his body, a weakness overcoming his limbs. Wu Du gets up and leaves the bed.
Seeing that Wu Du is about to fly off the handle again, Duan Ling gives off a loud shout and collapses on the bed.
Wu Du is quite taken aback and turns to look at him as soon as Duan Ling falls over. Duan Ling puts his hands over his stomach and groans, “My stomach hurts, my stomach hurts …”
Wu Du can but come back to check on him. And so Duan Ling simply lies still and watches Wu Du with pleading eyes.
Wu Du feels all the anger drain out of him; after Duan Ling throws a fit like that, he can’t even get angry anymore.
“Why you …” Wu Du pokes Duan Ling’s head with a finger. Duan Ling opens his mouth, as though he’d like to say something, but according to everything he knows about Wu Du, none of his excuses are going to work.
“Alright alright, I’ll lie down.” Irritation written all over his face, Wu Du gets on the bed.
Only then does Duan Ling feel more at ease. He says quietly in Wu Du’s ear, “What are we going to do next?”
Wu Du doesn’t want to listen to him babble on though, and turns his back on him.
“Hey.” Duan Ling grabs his shoulder and tries to turn Wu Du to face him. “We’ll have to think of some way to hold Tongguan. If those twenty-thousand men ever charge their way in here, Tongguan will be in danger.”
Without looking behind him, Wu Du puts a hand on Duan Ling’s face and pushes him back to lying down again.
“Why’re you worrying about all that stuff? It’s not any of our business.”
“But …”
Wu Du pays him no mind, and Duan Ling’s thoughts keep circling back — what’s he going to do about that letter? He’ll have to think of some way to send news back. But will Mu Kuangda agree to the terms he proposes? They definitely can’t just kill Bian Lingbai and leave; if they do, this place is sure to fall into chaos.
Their original plan was to kill and steal, then get out of here once they got the stuff. But if they get rid of Bian Lingbai now, the Tangut are eyeing the area just waiting for their opportunity to strike, and they could charge into Tongguan at any given time. Duan Ling closes his eyes and falls asleep, feeling as though there are problems every way he turns. Also, they don’t even have any evidence yet — Bian Lingbai may be trying to stage a rebellion, but there’s nothing to go on other than his words … even though he really does have the intention to do so.
I do not monetise my hobby translations, but if you’d like to support my work generally or support my light novel habit, you can either buy me a coffee or commission me. This is also to note that if you see this message anywhere else than on tumblr, do come to my tumblr. It’s ad-free. ↩︎
In the Taiwanese print copy of this book, this slang is marked with a note since it’s distinctly northern. The original was 廢物點心 / garbage dimsum, and the note explains that it means “dim sum that is pretty to look at but not good to eat”. ↩︎
“Quick, get back to the house!” Duan Ling wraps his arms around the man in black’s neck, but the man puts him down instead, and grabbing his hand, takes him past another wall.
Next, they’re attacked again out of nowhere as two daggers come at them from the side. The man in black responds to it just as swiftly; the attacker slices his daggers at the man in black’s wrist, but instead of letting go of Duan Ling, the man in black thrusts his sword back behind him, right for the attacker’s throat!
Seeing yet another man dressed in rogue’s blacks, Duan Ling is immediately dumbstruck.
With a light clink, the dagger hits the man in black’s wrist, the weapon glancing off something metallic. At the same time, the attacker dodges, moving his neck out of the path of the sword.
Duan Ling’s already confused. Who on earth is this now?!
The man in black quickly grabs Duan Ling and lands in the courtyard. While Duan Ling is looking this way and that, the man’s grip loosens and lets go of him. As soon as he does, the other man in black who’s just arrived grabs Duan Ling’s arm and pulls him behind himself.
The first man in black doesn’t seem in any hurry to leave, however; he simply takes a half step back, his sword thrusting forward once more. He’s actually going to fight the dagger-wielder for Duan Ling!
Duan Ling is simply dumbfounded.
The man in black second to arrive pushes Duan Ling away from the fighting, and with a wave of his hand, darts fly off in every direction, the projectiles stopping the other man in black’s advance.
Duan Ling runs out of the way and looks on while the two exchange blows. He can’t tell which one is which; one is slightly taller — is that one Wu Du? With a start he recalls that when Wu Du left the house, he didn’t take his sword with him! Yet as soon as that thought crosses his mind, the sword-wielding man in black and the daggers-wielding man in black’s weapons tangle together as they deflect each others’ attacks, sword and daggers flying out of their hands, the daggers bury themselves into a pillar while the long sword falls into the bushes. The two men abandon their weapons and get into close range to begin fighting hand-to-hand.
Damn it! Now that the two of them are locked in hand-to-hand combat, and it’s so dark at night too, he really can’t tell who’s who now!
Then there’s a flash of metal as one of the men in black leaps into the air and grabs the daggers, while the other man in black rolls along the ground to pick up the long sword.
The dagger in the left hand of one man brings up ripples in the pond, his qi sending droplets of water into the air, then his right hand brings up another dagger to cross the one in his left.
Duan Ling has learned this move before, and cannot help himself but cheer at its ingenuity! Li Jianhong was the one who taught him that move; it’s called “arc light”! It can be used with either one’s palms or a sword! He never could have imagined that it can also be used with twin daggers.
The dagger-wielding assassin has to be Wu Du!
Wu Du makes a cross with his daggers, channelling his qi behind it through both hands to make a wall of force that only the Zhenshanhe can withstand. Just as he expects, the two daggers curl into an arc in the air, the light arc flickering with moonlight.
The other man in black immediately leaps up higher in the air, and with a side flip, his slender figure spins with his sword as he meets the arc head-on!
The arc light lands, lifting the sword’s qi; with the inertia he’s thrown behind that sideways flip, the sword-wielding assassin neutralises the energy behind the twin daggers in four clangs of metal on metal. The daggers-wielding assassin gives off a great shout, and Duan Ling is finally certain! It’s Wu Du!
The forward momentum of the arc light hasn’t completely dissipated. It draws a line of air over the man in black, sending his mask flying while he’s still in the air.
In that split second, Duan Ling’s heart seems to stop.
Yet the man in black doesn’t dare stay and fight. He grabs the mask and moves up the wall with a back flip, disappearing behind the wall.
Only then does Wu Du remove his mask. He turns to look at Duan Ling, his eyes full of bewilderment.
“Who was that?” He asks Duan Ling.
Duan Ling shakes his head, looking just as bewildered.
Shouts are coming from inside the courtyard. They’ve clearly just come across the escaping assassin. Having recovered his wits, Duan Ling says, “Come on! Let’s go!”
He grabs Wu Du’s hand and rushes them back to their room. Wu Du knowingly grabs a robe to throw it over what he’s wearing, but Duan Ling is saying to him, “No! Strip!” And quickly strips Wu Du of his rogue’s blacks.
“Take off your boots too! Bring your daggers with you!”
Wu Du has no clue why but he quietly does it anyway.
The two of them charges out of their room once more, and the only thought in Duan Ling’s head is — that assassin had better not be gone already!
Helian Bo’s Tangut underlings, the Bian estate’s guards, Helan Jie — everyone has chased the assassin to the courtyard just beyond the main hall. The assassin flips up and over the wall, vanishing in front of their eyes.
Bare to the waist, bootless, and dressed in nothing but a pair of pants, Wu Du shouts, “Stop it right there!”
Wu Du charges at the courtyard, but by then the assassin has already gone over the wall. Duan Ling has managed to grab the very last second before the assassin left, and he quietly exclaims in his head: great timing!
Bian Lingbai stares at him in shocked silence.
As soon as Helan Jie turns back to look, he freezes on the spot.
Seemingly completely baffled, Wu Du sweeps his gaze over everyone around him, sneering, “Y’all are a pile of rubbish2 — can’t even beat a single assassin. In the end you had to leave it to your Master Wu to scare ‘im off.”
Duan Ling is speechless at his shamelessness.
Bian Lingbai says, “You … Wu Du, where were you just now?”
Wu Du says furiously, “I was half asleep. Can’t you tell?!”
Bian Lingbai then turns to shout furiously at Helan Jie, “What’s going on?! It wasn’t Wu Du?”
Duan Ling glances at Bian Lingbai, then he turns his gaze on Helan Jie with a questioning look and says most opportunely, “Where’d the assassin come from anyway?”
Bian Lingbai is also entirely in the dark; Helan Jie, on the other hand, has turned to scrutinise Duan Ling and Wu Du with open malice.
Soon afterwards:
Bian Lingbai, Duan Ling, Wu Du, as well as the crutch-leaning Fei Hongde arrive at Bian Lingbai’s room.
“Everything’s still here.” Bian Lingbai says, “The assassin’s purpose is truly difficult to fathom.”
Duan Ling puts on a show of staring at the treasure map on the table, but as soon as Bian Lingbai looks down, both Duan Ling and Wu Du turn their attention to the layout of the room. Duan Ling looks over each of the shelves while Wu Du looks at the floor, at last stopping his attention on a black brick in the corner.
“I’d only come to disturb you earlier in the night to ask where this treasure map could be pointing to, Master Fei. It’s been bothering me to just leave it there unguarded. Since you’re already feeling better, why don’t we go have a look at it in the next few days?”
Duan Ling can feel Bian Lingbai’s anxiety. But if he must think about it, things are more likely to go awry the longer they wait, and since the treasure is just sitting right there, why wouldn’t he want to take it? He merely wonders whether this urgency has anything to do with Helian Da.
“Naturally,” Fei Hongde says, “by sheer chance, you’ve saved my life tonight, General Bian.”
Duan Ling asks, “Where’d the assassin come from?”
“The assassin took me hostage and was about to torture me in order to find out why I went into the Qinling the other day.”
Bian Lingbai shudders as though he’s already made conjectures as to the assassin’s purpose, and what Fei Hongde said has just verified those conjectures.
“There’s no need to worry, general. Only Mister Zhao and I know the basic whereabouts of the treasure. I was planning to slip the assassin a lie, but then you arrived just in time, and that’s why he thought to look for the treasure map itself while he’s here and went to the study.”
“So that’s what happened …” Bian Lingbai nods, narrowing his eyes.
Is that so? Even though Fei Hongde’s deductions seem completely impeccable, it gives Duan Ling a vague feeling like something isn’t quite right about it.
Fei Hongde adds, “This assassin must be the same assassin who ambushed me near those streams in the Qinling. It’s precisely for the suspicions he gained there that he came to investigate personally. Good thing Master Wu managed to scare him off with nothing but a shout …”
Duan Ling keeps quiet.
Wu Du says, “Well, that’s only natural.”
Duan Ling has got nothing to say.
Fei Hongde grabs Bian Lingbai’s hand then, and says to him quietly, “It may just be the Tangut. General, you mustn’t set out without having a thorough plan first, lest we expose the location of the treasure trove. Give it a few days and give some time for the excitement of this evening to die down, then we’ll go there in the middle of the night and move all of the treasure away in one go. There are less chances for mishaps this way.”
“Master Fei, you’re quite right,” Bian Lingbai says.
It is already very late. Everyone returns to their own room, and as he closes the door behind him, Duan Ling lets out a breath he’s been holding all this time.
“Who was that?” Duan Ling asks, “Was he Tangut?”
“Impossible. There isn’t anyone among the Tangut who can fight like that.” After replying to Duan Ling’s question, Wu Du narrows his eyes and looks him up and down, considering.
Duan Ling has a feeling that Wu Du has his own hypothesis regarding the man in black’s identity, but he’s choosing not to tell him.
“You were really close to the assassin. Did you notice anything? Give me any clues at all.”
“None. I thought it was you at first so I wasn’t paying attention.”
“You can mistake someone else for me?!”
“You were the only one dressed in those clothes. Why ever would I think that it could have been anyone else?” Duan Ling dimly recalls a single clue. “There was a smell.”
“What smell?” Wu Du presses him.
“Sweat. He hasn’t bathed in days.”
Wu Du stares at him silently for a few heartbeats before he says, “Let’s go to sleep. This whole night has been nothing but disaster.”
“Did you find the stuff?”
“No,” Wu Du says, sounding quite cross.
“I’m guessing it’s probably in Bian Lingbai’s room …”
“It’s not like I’ve gone blind. I saw it.”
Duan Ling nods at this and lies down on the bed. When Wu Du lies down on the bed as well, Duan Ling sticks his face close and sniffs him, which makes the still half-naked Wu Du look quite embarrassed. All this thinking hasn’t been able to give Duan Ling any new ideas, however, and so Wu Du asks him, “What is it? You want a man or something?”
Duan Ling goes all red in the face. “What are you talking about?!”
Something else suddenly occurs to Wu Du, and with a wicked gleam in his eyes he looks Duan Ling over. “That Tangut barbarian didn’t grope you, did he?” And speaking of which reaches over to touch him.
Duan Ling says at once, “What’re you doing that for?”
“You’d carry on with a barbarian but you won’t let your Master Wu touch you a little? If I really wanted to take you, there’s no point in calling for help.”
Duan Ling’s face promptly turns a bright shade of red, but when he tries to struggle out of Wu Du’s grasp he’s held down on the bed instead, and Wu Du has a dangerous look in his eyes. Duan Ling has no idea how he should react, but worrying that Wu Du may actually end up doing something to him, his heart starts to beat out of his chest.
But all Wu Du does is reach underneath Duan Ling’s lapel to dig out a gold bead from his inner pocket. Then he gives it a single look before stuffing it right back.
That’s when Duan Ling comes to a sudden realisation — he knows why Wu Du let him see Helian Bo now, and it’s just as he thought, not with the best intentions. If anyone tries to take off his clothes and touch him with a centipede on his person, they’ll quite likely get bitten; a bite may not kill them on the spot, but it’s enough to cause at least a bout of suffering.
“I told you already. He won’t do anything to me.”
Wu Du remarks sarcastically, “Even if he did anything to you it’s none of my business.”
Duan Ling’s mouth twitches, but before he can react Wu Du has taken out a sheet of paper from Duan Ling robe. “And what is this now?”
Duan Ling recalls the evening’s conversation and says to Wu Du, “Helian … Mister Helian said that there are a lot of people in the nearby areas, lying in ambush.”
“What?”
Duan Ling turns over to Wu Du the information Helian Bo revealed to him earlier, and when he’s done, Wu Du looks absolutely stunned. Duan Ling says, “I … um, I think … Tongguan is in a lot of danger. We’ll have to tell Chancellor Mu immediately. Otherwise things may get out of hand.”
“Not necessarily.” Once Wu Du finishes getting the entire set of circumstances from Duan Ling, he sits back cross-legged on the bed. “What if that barbarian was lying to you?”
“He wouldn’t lie to me. What could he ever get out of lying to me?”
Duan Ling hasn’t followed that line of thought at all, but now that Wu Du has brought it up, he’s been reminded to consider it. Would Helian Bo lie to him? No, he wouldn’t, even though his friendship with Helian Bo is what makes him so sure. But from all that’s happening Duan Ling also believes that Helian Bo needs to keep the situation in his government under control, and he wouldn’t do something so pointless as to fabricate a map to lie to him.
With doubt in his eyes, he looks up at Wu Du.
Wu Du looks at the sheet of paper carefully, flipping it over. As soon as he turns it over he nods. “Hm, he won’t lie to you. Seems I worried too much.”
Duan Ling notices that a portrait of himself is drawn on the back of the map, and goes quite quiet.
Wu Du gives Duan Ling a look. “Not bad. Looks a lot like you. I see he restrained himself, observed the necessary propriety, and didn’t remove your clothes. Did you spend the entire evening cooing sweet nothings at each other and let him draw you?”
Duan Ling says immediately, “We weren’t …”
Wu Du makes to get off the bed, and Duan Ling hastens to stop him, lamenting, “Spare me! I’m serious, there was nothing of the sort!”
The bed is like a tiny little room of its own covered on every side in mosquito netting, and the way he’s clinging to Wu Du in a small space like that is making the mood between them extremely questionable. Yet Wu Du seems to be becoming quite distraught and distracted; he puts one hand back and pokes Duan Ling below the ribs, and Duan Ling immediately feels a numbness spread through half of his body, a weakness overcoming his limbs. Wu Du gets up and leaves the bed.
Seeing that Wu Du is about to fly off the handle again, Duan Ling gives off a loud shout and collapses on the bed.
Wu Du is quite taken aback and turns to look at him as soon as Duan Ling falls over. Duan Ling puts his hands over his stomach and groans, “My stomach hurts, my stomach hurts …”
Wu Du can but come back to check on him. And so Duan Ling simply lies still and watches Wu Du with pleading eyes.
Wu Du feels all the anger drain out of him; after Duan Ling throws a fit like that, he can’t even get angry anymore.
“Why you …” Wu Du pokes Duan Ling’s head with a finger. Duan Ling opens his mouth, as though he’d like to say something, but according to everything he knows about Wu Du, none of his excuses are going to work.
“Alright alright, I’ll lie down.” Irritation written all over his face, Wu Du gets on the bed.
Only then does Duan Ling feel more at ease. He says quietly in Wu Du’s ear, “What are we going to do next?”
Wu Du doesn’t want to listen to him babble on though, and turns his back on him.
“Hey.” Duan Ling grabs his shoulder and tries to turn Wu Du to face him. “We’ll have to think of some way to hold Tongguan. If those twenty-thousand men ever charge their way in here, Tongguan will be in danger.”
Without looking behind him, Wu Du puts a hand on Duan Ling’s face and pushes him back to lying down again.
“Why’re you worrying about all that stuff? It’s not any of our business.”
“But …”
Wu Du pays him no mind, and Duan Ling’s thoughts keep circling back — what’s he going to do about that letter? He’ll have to think of some way to send news back. But will Mu Kuangda agree to the terms he proposes? They definitely can’t just kill Bian Lingbai and leave; if they do, this place is sure to fall into chaos.
Their original plan was to kill and steal, then get out of here once they got the stuff. But if they get rid of Bian Lingbai now, the Tangut are eyeing the area just waiting for their opportunity to strike, and they could charge into Tongguan at any given time. Duan Ling closes his eyes and falls asleep, feeling as though there are problems every way he turns. Also, they don’t even have any evidence yet — Bian Lingbai may be trying to stage a rebellion, but there’s nothing to go on other than his words … even though he really does have the intention to do so.
I do not monetise my hobby translations, but if you’d like to support my work generally or support my light novel habit, you can either buy me a coffee or commission me. This is also to note that if you see this message anywhere else than on tumblr, do come to my tumblr. It’s ad-free. ↩︎
In the Taiwanese print copy of this book, this slang is marked with a note since it’s distinctly northern. The original was 廢物點心 / garbage dimsum, and the note explains that it means “dim sum that is pretty to look at but not good to eat”. ↩︎
