093 The Hall of Mount Zhongnan

Soldiers stood on either side, blades in hand, driving the gathered townspeople back with relentless force. Among them were also relatives of those who had been seized away, so this was not only a crowd of onlookers; for some, it was a farewell. Watching those women weep and wipe away both tears and running noses, Chen Yage felt her mood grow increasingly irritable.

After much struggling, she finally squeezed her way in, only to be met by a long whip. With quick reflexes, Chen Yage seized it before it could strike her. Looking up, she saw the soldier who had been lashing people already walking toward her.

“How bold of you, daring to oppose me! I think you’re tired of living.” The soldier had thick brows, square eyes, dark skin, and very full lips; even now he wore a stern expression. Chen Yage found him ugly to the extreme.

The soldier strained to wrench the whip back from her hands. Chen Yage put forth all her strength and refused to let go. Enraged, the soldier shouted, “You bastard. Do you know who we are?”

Chen Yage gave a cold laugh. “I don’t care who you are today. If you hit me, you apologize. If you refuse to apologize, that’s fine. Then I’ll just whip you back with this whip. That would be fair and proper.”

Seeing his cowardly look, Chen Yage understood at once that he was the sort who used the power of authority to bully ordinary people. She had never shown mercy to such men, and she would not start now.

Realizing Chen Yage was no easy target, the soldier grew faintly uneasy. Still, he forced himself to remain calm. “You’re disrupting order and interfering with official business. You deserve to be beaten just like the rest of them. Since this is your first offense, I’ll let you off this time. Now get lost.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, he received a solid punch. Chen Yage withdrew her fist with satisfaction. “Don’t be so certain about getting beaten. After all, anything can happen. How can you be sure the one who gets hit will be me and not you?”

The soldier was seized by Chen Yage with a sharp reversal of his hold and soon began begging for mercy, swearing he would never again rely on borrowed power to oppress the people. Only then did Chen Yage let go. Who would have thought the man would suddenly shout, “Someone’s rebelling! Come quickly!”

With that cry, many soldiers rushed over, knives in hand. Chen Yage found herself with nowhere to advance and nowhere to retreat, so she clenched her teeth and decided to fight it out.

Feeling the short blade at her waist still there, Chen Yage felt somewhat steadier. But as more and more soldiers gathered around her, confidence began to drain from her heart.

“Stop!”

A familiar voice rang out. Bai Li appeared before her in a robe of white. His clothes fluttered softly, his complexion was somewhat pale, and even his voice no longer carried the deep warmth it once had.

“Brother Bai, why have you come out?” Chen Yage groaned inwardly. If she fled alone, her chances were still somewhat greater. But Bai Li’s body was no longer what it had been before; for the two of them to escape together, the odds were vanishingly small.

“Who are you?” The soldier glared fiercely at Bai Li and roared at him.

“I am willing to go to Mount Zhongnan to help build the palace. She is my wife. I beg you officials not to make things difficult for her.”

Chen Yage froze where she stood. She could hardly believe Bai Li had said she was his wife. Wife was such a beautiful word, one she had longed for day and night. At last he had spoken it, yet only because the situation had forced it from him.

“Are you sincere? Do you truly believe I am your wife? Or is it only...?”

Bai Li raised a hand to her lips, signaling her not to go on. Then he bent down and embraced her, whispering into her ear, “I do not wish to see you harmed or wronged in any way, not even a little. Take good care of yourself. When the palace is finished, I will come back to find you.”

“No. Brother Bai, you cannot go. You are still ill. You must not go.” Chen Yage firmly rejected Bai Li’s decision. “Officer, he is a sick man, and he is still unwell. Let me go instead. I am willing to take his place in building the palace. I am very strong too; I can work.” She spoke on and on. Seeing the soldiers hesitate one by one, she added, “With so many people building the palace, someone still has to wash clothes and cook, don’t they? I know how to wash clothes. I can cook too.” At this point, Chen Yage had no choice but to bow her head. Her voice softened considerably, and she even had to lower herself and force a smile.

“No, Yage. Stop making trouble. That is no good place. Be obedient and wait for me here.” In his anxiety, Bai Li seized the hand she had extended toward the soldiers’ clothing and forced her to face him.

Chen Yage said, “As long as I can stay with you, I am not afraid of hardship or exhaustion. The only thing I fear is not being able to see you. Brother Bai, I have made up my mind.”

The soldiers exchanged glances. One of them, who seemed to be the leader, said, “In that case, both of you will come with us to Mount Zhongnan. The woman will wash clothes and cook, and the man will build the palace. Move along. Stop dawdling.”

Chen Yage and Bai Li looked at each other and smiled. Bai Li put an arm around her shoulder and gently tidied her slightly disheveled hair. Then he sighed. “This journey will be hard. If I am not by your side, you must take good care of yourself. Do it for me. Do not let yourself come to any harm. Do you understand?”

Yage nodded, yet in her heart she thought that no matter what, she would never leave Bai Li. For the sake of their future, nothing could break her. “Brother Bai, you must also promise me that no matter what happens, your life is the most important thing. Do you understand? For me, for our future, you must be well.”

Suddenly, a piece of fine silk slipped from Bai Li’s sleeve. The soldier picked it up before Chen Yage could and opened it to read:

By the Han River, near Xianyang, blossoms warm the embankment.
Atop the riverbank below, I wait for our appointed day.
Spring wind, again unfeeling, scatters my soul and dreams.
The one within my sight is gone; the sky is long, and no message returns.

The leader of the soldiers took the silk from him and asked, “Did you write this?”

Bai Li neither admitted nor denied it. Seizing the moment, Chen Yage brushed a light kiss over his cheek like a dragonfly skimming water. “If you think of me, then I am in your heart. No matter the time or place, as long as you wish it, I am there.”

“Big brother, what does this mean?” the soldier asked the leader, looking blank. Clearly, he did not understand the meaning of the verse.

Seeing Chen Yage and Bai Li so deeply attached, the leader roughly understood why that poem had been written. He did not wish to explain it plainly, and only said, “What does it matter to you? Hurry up and move.”

The soldier was left to swallow his grievance. Though somewhat resentful, he had no choice but to lower his head and obey, not daring to utter a single objection.

“Yage, did you find my savior? The one who is your friend?”

Bai Li was worried for Chen Yage, and also for Du Fu. When he saw how panicked that physician had looked, he knew something serious must have happened, which was why he had followed her out.