6
Old habits die hard. The next morning, I woke as soon as the sky began to brighten.
Luckily, I was used to marching off to war. An ordinary young lady would probably have been unable to get out of bed.
I slowly moved Xiao Hezhong’s arm off me, braced my aching lower back, and got up.
I got dressed. A sound came from behind me.
I didn’t hide. He was mine now, so what was there to be embarrassed about?
Without turning around, I said, “Don’t tell anyone about this. If you do, it’ll be treason, and your entire clan will be punished.”
Xiao Hezhong put on his underclothes, then got up and helped me dress.
He pressed his lips together and said nothing. The usual smile was gone from his face.
I sighed. “You’re the one who slept with me. Why are you the one sulking?”
He lowered his eyes and fastened the jade pendant at my waist. His voice was so flat that I couldn’t tell what he was feeling as he asked:
“Why did Lord Marquis sacrifice himself to help me last night?”
Now that he knew I was a woman, I didn’t need to hide it from him anymore.
“Why?” I answered seriously. “Of course it’s because I like you.”
Xiao Hezhong looked as if he’d been struck over the head. He lifted his gaze to me in disbelief, confusion plain on his face.
“You’ve surely read far more books than I have.” I stepped closer and looked at him. “Are the words ‘I like you’ really so hard to understand?”
Bright daylight streamed behind Xiao Hezhong, casting him in a pale golden glow. His eyes and brows shone, but the calm he usually wore was gone. He stared at me, stunned, without saying a word.
Suddenly, I was nervous. I could command the two hundred thousand troops at my disposal with ease.
But now there was only one man before me, and a single expression, a gesture, even his black hair stirred by the breeze, was enough to unsettle and disorient me.
I planted both hands on the table behind him, lifted my chin to look at him, and left him no room to avoid me:
“It’s too late to regret it now. As long as people call me Lord Marquis, you’ll be my wife.”
Xiao Hezhong came back to himself and suddenly smiled. The light in his eyes and at the corners of his mouth made it impossible for me to look away.
He leaned down, letting me keep him penned in before me, and said with a soft laugh, “Lord Marquis could afford to be a little more greedy.”
My heart pounded like a drum. I couldn’t make sense of what he meant.
Xiao Hezhong braced one hand on the table and rested the other on my waist. His eyes were full of tenderness as he said:
“I’ll be Lord Marquis’s wife for the rest of my life.”
…
I ran away again. Xiao Hezhong seemed gentle, with a scholar’s refinement, but in truth he had none of a scholar’s musty propriety. He was downright bold.
After leaving the residence, I changed course for the barracks. I had to find out exactly why Tống Liễu had drugged me.
And that son of the Minister of War—I’d have to make him understand that no one got to covet what belonged to Lord Marquis.
I had only just sent out my men to investigate when someone from the palace arrived.
His Majesty wanted to see me.
Tống Liễu had been sent to Tấn Dương that very night, never to set foot in the capital again. A young lady raised in luxury and comfort would surely have a hard time in such a desolate place.
As for that son of the Minister of War, the old emperor had already taught him a lesson for me.
He told me to let the matter drop.
The Fifth Prince was behind Tống Liễu, and the emperor still needed him to keep the Crown Prince in check. For now, he couldn’t make a move against him.
Before I left, the old emperor dismissed all the servants and spoke to me privately.
7
On the way back to the residence, the shock kept surging inside me, refusing to subside.
The old emperor’s words kept echoing in my head.
He’d known I was a woman for a long time. Over the years, he’d dealt with many people on my behalf; otherwise, the memorials exposing me would have reached him long ago.
That wasn’t all. He also knew Xiao Hezhong was a man.
Xiao Hezhong poured me a cup of water and asked softly, “Is Lord Marquis tired?”
My feelings were complicated. Looking into his gentle, water-soft eyes, I told him everything that had happened in the palace.
Xiao Hezhong furrowed his brows slightly. “Since His Majesty let Lord Marquis return, I doubt he’ll make things difficult for the Ôn family anymore.”
I’d thought it all through on the way back. I had conquered half the territory north of Đại Yến. The old emperor had said that as long as I wore this black robe, I would always be Đại Yến’s Marquis of the Black Robe.
None of that was a big deal. I was willing to guard the passes at the frontier for him and keep the realm safe behind them. That was the ancestral teaching passed down through the Ôn family: protecting Đại Yến was a duty I could never cast off.
But…
I stood up, agitated, and paced back and forth.
Xiao Hezhong looked puzzled. “Now that everything’s all right, what is Lord Marquis worried about?”
I braced my hands on the table and looked down at him. “Haven’t you thought about leaving me?”
Xiao Hezhong looked up at me, puzzled. “Why would I think that?”
I snapped, “His Majesty knows who you are. If you stay by my side, you’ll have to wear all that scrap iron for the rest of your life!”
“Scrap iron?” Xiao Hezhong looked displeased and protested, “The gold-plated hairpin, the gold earrings—I chose the most expensive ones so I wouldn’t embarrass Lord Marquis. They’re real gold and silver that I bought, not scrap iron!”
It was the first time I’d seen him so worked up, and for a moment I forgot to be angry.
I stared at him and blinked:
“Calm down.”
Xiao Hezhong smoothed his sleeves, folded his arms, and lifted his chin. “I told you long ago that I chose to wear those clothes. Why won’t Lord Marquis believe me?”
He told me long ago?
Hearing him say that, I couldn’t help asking, “Did you know all along that I was a woman?”
Xiao Hezhong looked rather pleased with himself, a smile curving his lips. “I’ve never been wrong about reading people.”
I suddenly asked, “Then what if I really were a man?”
Stars glimmered in Xiao Hezhong’s eyes, and his smile deepened. “I like men and women alike. I only like Lord Marquis; it has nothing to do with anyone else.”
He said it so casually, yet it made my face burn. Since when had I become so easily flustered?
I covered my mouth with one hand, gave a quiet cough, and bashfully turned my eyes away.
Seeing my expression soften a little, Xiao Hezhong smiled gently. “Are you feeling better now, Lord Marquis?”
My expression shifted slightly. So he… had been trying to cheer me up?
I nodded, the corners of my mouth curling. “I suppose.”
He asked again, “Then there’s one more thing I’d like to ask you, Lord Marquis.”
“Go ahead.”
Xiao Hezhong’s eyes gleamed as he smiled seductively. “Do I really look bad in earrings?”
The sadness in my heart had passed. I raised an eyebrow, lifted his chin, and said roguishly, “You look good. It’s just that those earrings are too tacky for you.”
“The Western Regions sent a pair of white jade earrings as tribute. I’ll ask the old emperor to give them to you tomorrow.”
Xiao Hezhong obligingly tilted his head back and laughed. “That’s bandit behavior, Lord Marquis.”
I clicked my tongue. “Bandits rob people. I’m openly asking the old emperor for them.”
That evening, I submitted a memorial to the palace.
The old emperor was about to retire for the night when he heard that the Marquis of the Black Robe had submitted a memorial. He got up and put on his outer robe.
He insisted on reading it, wanting to know what had prompted me to submit my first memorial.
In the end, the old emperor glowered and cursed me for being out of my mind. With a wave of his hand, he granted me not only the earrings but a pile of other things as well.
I paid them no mind. I rummaged around for the jade box containing the earrings and tossed everything else into the treasury.
When I brought the earrings to Xiao Hezhong, he was reading military treatises in my study.
At the sound, he looked up from his book and smiled warmly at me.
I lifted my chin to indicate the box. “See if you like them.”
Xiao Hezhong set down his book and opened the box. I glanced inside: the two white jade earrings were intricately carved, each set in the center with a red coral bead the size of a bean.
“Would you like me to put them on so you can see?” Xiao Hezhong asked softly, his snow-white robes flowing across the desk like mist.
I leaned back in my chair and looked at him nonchalantly. “Whether you wear them is up to you. But if you put them on, I’ll enjoy looking at you. Do you understand?”
Hearing that, Xiao Hezhong carefully put the box away.
I sat up straight, feeling a little flustered.
Did he not like them?
But Xiao Hezhong smiled and said, “Something this beautiful deserves a special day to wear it.”
Relieved, I shook my head with a smile. He really knew how to keep me on tenterhooks.
I picked up the book he’d just been reading.
“You’ve been holed up in the study these past few days. Have you been reading military treatises? I didn’t think you’d be interested in this sort of thing.”
I reached over and flipped through the books piled beside me. Besides military treatises, there were also some books about the customs of Bắc Quan.
“Why read all this? If there’s anything you want to know, just ask me.”
Bắc Quan was like a second home to me. I protected everything there.
Bắc Quan meant more to me than anything; everything there was etched into my bones.
Xiao Hezhong smiled faintly. “It’s just a few little things. You’ve been busy with military affairs lately, Lord Marquis, so I didn’t want to disturb you.”
Remembering what the old emperor had told me, I sighed. “I’m setting out on campaign in three days.”
“Didn’t you say a few days ago that it would be a month?”
“The old emperor told me the spies sent back a report.” I looked up and wearily rubbed my temples. “There’s a traitor in Bắc Quan. If I don’t return, everything I’ve built there will be handed over to someone else.”
I sat up and smiled at him. “This time, I’ll let you stand proudly by my side as a man.”
On the day we set out, banners fluttered and the army marched forward. Under the sun, our armor gleamed.
The soldiers set off on a journey whose outcome was uncertain, carrying with them hope and longing.
When would they return? Where would they return to? There was no telling.
All I could do was give everything I had to bring them home.
After a month of forced marching, we reached Bắc Quan.
So Xiao Hezhong could appear as a man, I announced that he was an adviser I’d hired.
As for the Marquis’s wife, she would follow behind the army and arrive a few days later.
Xiao Hezhong sat at the table in a white-and-blue robe, with a silver-white mask beside him. He seemed to be waiting for someone.
I set the food I was carrying on the table.
Xiao Hezhong turned his head. Seeing me staring at the white jade earrings in his ears, he smiled. “Well? Do you like them, General?”
“I don’t just like them!” I said. “I want to lay every beautiful garment and piece of jewelry in the world before you. You wouldn’t have to do a thing—just sit there dressed to the nines every day, and I’d be grinning from ear to ear.”
Xiao Hezhong chuckled. “Then, once the war is over and the land is at peace, I’ll wear red and gold every day and sit properly at that desk, so you can admire me to your heart’s content, General.”
When I didn’t answer, Xiao Hezhong’s smile faded. “Is something the matter, General?”
“Scouts report that the Đột Đạt army is encamped thirty miles from here. They may attack in as little as two days. We still haven’t found the traitor. This imperial edict could save your life at a crucial moment.”
I took out the imperial edict the old emperor had granted me the last time I went to the palace. My expression solemn, I said, “This time, I’m entrusting my life to you.”