He turned to look at Chen Rong’s vague features behind her veil, praising her: “Miss, what a fine example you make. You do not say a word even though it must be hard on you.” He paused and then murmured, “Other masters and mistresses are even fussy about their meals. They make it tiring and time consuming for all of us.”
Chen Rong smiled without answering.
They rushed away at full speed with the reminder that Ximing was just ahead, and especially when they began to see refugees and a few Hu from time to time.
In the evening, Chen Rong and everyone else ate some dry food and quickly went on.
A full moon hung in the clear sky tonight.
After consulting with Chen Rong, Li Cheng decided to continue through the night and stop to camp only after they arrived in Ximing. After his order was passed down, the guards lit torches and urged their horses ahead.
Li Cheng was apparently knowledgeable in militarism. He ordered each guard to hold two torches and tie ten more to each carriage. All of a sudden, a few dozen people had turned into a few hundred. They rushed through the night, their rumbling hooves no longer cautious.
Two hours later at midnight, Ximing’s tall city walls appeared before their eyes.
The guards erupted into cheers, their hollers carried to the distance by the wind.
Li Cheng likewise smiled at the sight of the city. He waved his right hand, shouting: “Set camp.”
“Aye.”
They were used to pitching tents, having spent most of their time in the wilderness. Everything was in order in less than a quarter of an hour. Chen Rong and Nurse Ping’s tent was placed in the center.
After her tent was set, Chen Rong bent down to go inside. She watched Nurse Ping occupying herself with lighting the incense and making her bed. Then, looking at the moonlight spilling into the tent entrance, she whispered, “Nurse.”
“Aye, miss?”
Nurse Ping turned to look at Chen Rong when she didn’t hear an answer.
“Miss, what is it?” she called again at the sight of a pensive Chen Rong.
“Tell me, nurse, if General Ran still wants to marry me, should I accept his offer?”
This was the first time she volunteered to talk to Nurse Ping about this.
Overjoyed, Nurse Ping threw her work aside, ran to her and happily said, “Of course you should, of course you should.”
“Really?”
“Of course. Heaven will spite you if you keep rejecting such a good thing!”
Chen Rong slowly turned to look at the doorway that was dusted over by a silvery light. She didn’t move for a very long time. Just as Nurse Ping was running out of patience and wanting to speak, she heard Chen Rong hoarsely say: “Whenever I think of him now, there is neither hate nor resentment. Sometimes when I try to recall him, even his face has become blurry… Which is great, because I have finally let it go… But him, he’s so noble and extraordinary that even a princess isn’t good enough for him. When will it ever be my turn? I know myself, once I recognize my feelings, I won’t tolerate a grain of sand in my eyes. I won’t be satisfied as his honored concubine let alone an ordinary concubine. If I see him with his wife, I will be driven mad with jealousy… Nurse, since I’ve forgotten my hatred for him, does that mean I can marry him? Is this unhappy ending the only way can I get the peace I want?”
At this juncture, Chen Rong slowly turned around to look at her nurse.
Nurse Ping was blinking her small eyes in puzzlement.
“What are you talking about, miss? You keep saying ‘he’ this and ‘he’ that. I don’t know who you’re talking about.”
The nurse looked up at her mistress, coaxing her: “Why don’t you tell me again?”
“Never mind if you can’t understand,” said Chen Rong, dismissively.
She turned away staring at the silvery light on the ground.