• Here is a funny bit: The tribe leaders were duly impressed when Master Gu easily delivered them up the rocky hill. “Your martial art is impressive!” The Badger tribe leader praises, “Would you be willing to come and teach the men of my tribe?” Everyone else also turned their fervent gaze towards Master Gu. Any good lad raised on the wild grassland would be excited when they see a super martial artist. Zhi Wei had assumed Master Gu would simply ignore the question and even prepared an excuse to smooth over the situation but who would’ve thought that Master Gu would look down at Gu Zhi Xiao in his arms, thought seriously for a moment before asking “Do you have milk?” 

“……………” (The wording Master Gu used would make it obvious that he meant breast milk and not other sorts of milk) 

The Badger tribe leader almost fell against a rock pile. Zhi Wei too was stunned but she could tell from Master Gu’s tone that he wasn’t joking…not that he would joke anyway. Obviously, Master Gu has been sufficiently scared by Peony lately. Right now, Peony is the only one who has milk and unfortunately, Peony also possesses an overactive sense of curiosity which causes her to be extremely interested in Master Gu. Day in and day out, Peony is always pondering on ways to flip open Master Gu’s face cover and continuously use her milk supply as a threat. For the first time in Master Gu’s life, he is feeling intimidated by a person. So this is him trying to find another nursemaid in order to escape from Peony. 

Outside of the mountain valley, thirty thousand guards belonging to the various tribes are at a standstill against the ten thousand royal armies. The explosion earlier had alarmed everyone but without an official order, no one dared to enter into the valley to interrupt the holy meeting. Seeing Helian coming out in one piece and is even linking arms with the Blue Bear tribe leader on one side and the Iron Leopard tribe leader on the other, the royal army knew immediately that the danger had passed. “King!” Their yell vibrated through the valley, causing loose rocks to tumble down. The tribe leaders looked at each other in complete surprise, none of them had thought this young king had already tamed the unruly royal army. 

“My brave warriors!” Helian jumps onto a high mountain rock and yells with his arms raised high “The wild thundering storm will not stop the eagle from soaring in the sky. Hong Jile’s scheme was destined to fail! Your king is still your king! From today, the Gold Croc’s claw will be retracted and move out of the fertile grass fields in the east. Glory to the Golden Lion forever!” 

“Glory to the Golden Lion forever!” Hearing that the Gold Roc tribe will be forced to give up their fertile land, all the royal warriors’ could feel their blood boil with excitement as they pound their heavy swords against the ground in unison. 

“The money from the sale of Gold Roc’s land, their cows and sheep will be shared with everyone!” Helian’s arms waving in the air, stirring the excitement even further. 

“Share the money!” The yell got even louder until Zhi Wei could feel her eardrums hurting. 

“We will let Hong Jile live a couple more days so he can dutifully deal with the compensation,” Helian yells out vehemently, “The family left behind by warriors who lost their lives will get double compensation!” 

“Hail to our king!” 

“I had declared before that I will #%^&! Hong Jile’s mother!” Raising his head high, Helian’s tall and handsome figure basks in the sunlight “His mother is too old so I decided to #%^&! his daughter!” 

“#%^&! his daughter!” The enthusiastic yell almost topped the rock mountain. Hearing the cheer, the tribe leaders exchanged another look and smiles in admiration. Hearing the cheer, Nata’s face turned pale. Hearing the cheer, Zhi Wei stumbled back and puts out a hand to steady herself against Master Gu….What sort of cheer is this… However, Zhi Wei has to admit that Helian has performed impressively. He had first enticed the royal army with concrete gain, then lightly glazed over the reason why he didn’t kill Hong Jie by pointing to the need to have Hong Jile handle the compensation process. This explanation was of course the one that would be the most easily accepted by the royal army. His last cheer was of course the perfect way to end his speech. From beginning to end, he never diminished his dignity as the king nor allowed the fervor to lessen. The fact is that he was forced to go back on his vow and has even become the guy’s son-in-law. But, thanks to his cheer, it has now become that the Gold Roc tribe has been forced to compensation them AND deliver the tribe leader’s daughter to Helian’s bed. Zhi Wei was in the middle of giving Helian the look of approval, the guy jumps down from his rock, strode to her side and whispers into her ear with a low laugh “Of course I won’t really sleep with her…” Whipping around, Zhi Wei walks away leaving the new king stuck with rest of his confession. 

  • Helian and Zhi Wei make it back to Helian’s home. Helian introduces Zhi Wei to a woman named Mei Duo who harbors obvious animosity towards Zhi Wei. Mei Duo is a maid who is six years older than Helian and due to the fact that she saved Helian back when they were kids, her treatment in the palace is more of a princess than a servant. Knowing full well that Mei Duo wants to marry her son, Peony publicly announces that Mei Duo is like a sister to her. Sensing that Mei Duo could bring trouble later on, Zhi Wei advises Peony to marry Mei Duo off as soon as possible which Peony quickly agrees. I am including this bit on Mei Duo because I believe she will come up later during the story again. 

Riding by on a horse, Helian sweeps Zhi Wei into his arms. Without the time to even let out a gasp, Zhi Wei could only put her hand up against Helian chest and lower her head “shyly”. Helian lets out a hearty belly laugh as he races across the field with her in his arms. His silver cloak and her black one dancing together in the fierce wind, casting a beautiful shadow under the brilliant sun. Tens of thousands of people knelt down in unison, shaking the very ground they are on “Our King!” In the midst of such passionate and thundering cheer, Zhi Wei clearly heard Helian’s surging heartbeat, heard the wind of the wild grassland blowing towards the mountains and seas, heard Peony following behind them with her head raised high yelling with a smile “Ku Ku!” (Her nickname for the old king.) 

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This next part is going to be a little confusing since Ning Yi starts to reminisce about his past with Zhi Wei while writing the letter so it was hard to tell which part he is reminiscing and which part he is actually writing the letter. To minimize the confusion I will italicize the reminiscing portion, the unitalicized portion would be Ning Yi’s thoughts, the bolded parts would be what Ning Yi actually writes to Zhi Wei.

A scene flashes across his mind. Leaning against the grand and majestic old Da Cheng bridge, light dusting of snow on the railing, sharing a bottle of crudely brewed wine. He pointed at the city in front of him and says with arrogance in his voice “On that day, the former officials of Da Cheng knelt in capitulation, all submitting to my family.” She drank the wine silently then broke out in a chilling smile “They were simply capitulating to swords stained with blood.” The night is about to end, the wine bottle empty. “This last drop of wine is a toast to this lonely bridge. The years and events come and go but only this bridge has stood unmoved.”  Things of this world are indeed forever changing. Neither of them is the same anymore. The only thing that remained unchanging is that lone bridge standing in the chilling wind. 

“…It has been a long time since we have last seen each other. Is everything well with you?” 

….Leaning close to her cheek, he had caressed her fingers. Their heads pressed so close together until their breath and hair are entangled together. When he turned his head, he felt the velvety soft feel of her cheek but his emotions shook like a fallen leaf had landed on the calm water surface sending seemingly never ending ripples out.  Are you well, are you well? That day, in that small dwelling outside of the palace, the tenderness then has now been buried deep into the snow. 

“…Since we parted in South Sea, it has been six months…”

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