Surviving in the General's Mansion - Chapter 80

“Ah Heng, Ah Heng!”

Xia Heng was still drifting somewhere between sleep and waking when she vaguely heard someone calling her name.

She opened her eyes to find a pitch-black figure crouching in front of her, and a quintessentially Chinese curse flew straight out of her mouth.

“Holy shit!”

The figure seemed just as startled by her shout and toppled backward.

From beside her, Chuqing’s eerie voice floated over. “That’s Miss Xiao…”

“Miss Xiao? Xiao Yaqing?”

Xia Heng stared for a long moment before finally making out that it really was the young lady herself.

“Miss Xi— What in the world are you doing in the middle of the night?”

Xiao Yaqing looked rather embarrassed. Sitting on the carpet, she twisted her fingers together without daring to speak.

Xia Heng turned to Chuqing. “How did you know it was her?”

Chuqing sat up as well and draped the quilt around herself until only her head showed.

“I woke up as soon as Miss Xiao came in. She smells lovely!”

“…Then why didn’t you wake me?”

Being woken by Chuqing would still have been better than being roused by Xiao Yaqing in this horror-story fashion.

“I thought the King of Hell had come to collect my soul…”

Chuqing glanced at Xiao Yaqing. “I didn’t know she was going to call you so quietly…”

Xia Heng pulled the quilt over and wrapped herself up just like Chuqing.

“All right, Young Miss Xiao. What instructions do you have for us at this hour?”

“…”

“If you’re not going to talk, I’m going back to sleep.”

The moment Chuqing heard that, she started lowering herself back down. She had been sleeping wonderfully just now.

“Don’t, don’t, don’t! I’ll tell you!”

“I think you were right this afternoon! So I want to go ask him and get a clear answer!

“As a woman of the new era, I can’t keep being such a pushover. If he won’t do, I’ll find another!” Xiao Yaqing declared through gritted teeth.

“What era? And ask who?”

Chuqing was still completely lost.

“She means right now,” Xia Heng explained, then looked back at Xiao Yaqing, hardly daring to believe her own guess. “So you’re planning to…?”

“Yes! I’m going to ask him right now!”

Xiao Yaqing knew Xia Heng must have realized by now that the so-called “friend” she had spoken of was herself.

After remembering the things Dongfang Wei had said to her that day, she had tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep. In the end, it was Xia Heng’s advice that finally helped her make up her mind.

Xia Heng sucked in a breath. *Sister, look at you growing a spine…*

That morning, she had barely dared to say more than a few words. Now, by night, she wanted to storm the Emperor’s great tent? Where had she found the courage?

Complaints aside, Xia Heng resigned herself to getting up and pulling on her clothes. While she was at it, she dragged Chuqing out from under the covers and stuffed her into a padded jacket too.

“I’m going as well?”

Chuqing looked bewildered. She had not even understood what the other two were talking about.

“Of course. Your eldest and second sisters don’t trust you to stay here alone. Besides, how could we not go together when there’s gossip to watch?”

And with her eldest and second sisters both awake, what made her think she still got to sleep?

For all that, the three of them stopped when they were still a hundred meters (about 330 feet) from Dongfang Wei’s tent.

There was no helping it. Security within that hundred-meter perimeter was extremely tight, and several patrols of guards were making their rounds.

“…This plan suddenly seems a little rash. Why don’t we go back and think it over?” Xia Heng suggested, losing her nerve at the sight of the countless guards ahead.

Xiao Yaqing, however, said, “Don’t worry. I came prepared.”

With that, she took out a small green whistle shaped like a bird.

“We made an agreement when we were children. Whenever he hears this sound, he’ll come and find me.”

Xia Heng nodded at the whistle. Fine. She was the female lead. Whatever she said went.

Blowing a whistle next to someone else’s tent would make them far too conspicuous, so they walked a little farther and circled around to the woods behind Dongfang Wei’s great tent.

At that very moment, another uninvited guest arrived outside the imperial tent.

“We Tujue came here for a marriage alliance. Are you telling me you didn’t know? You’re nothing but a petty captain of the guard, yet you dare bar my way? Open your dog eyes and see who I am!”

Pasang’s bluster stunned the guard captain. He did know they had come for a marriage alliance, but His Majesty…

“Your Highness, please wait. We will report to His Majesty at once.”

“Report to His Majesty? You expect me to stand here and freeze?

“I’ll go in with you. If you make me miss the appointed hour, which of you can afford to answer for it?”

The guard captain was puzzled too. There was an appointed hour for this sort of thing?

“Well? There are so many of you and only one of me. Are you afraid you can’t keep an eye on me? If the Emperor says he won’t see me, I’ll leave immediately!”

With that, Pasang barged inside. Seeing how confident she was, the guard captain did not dare block her by force, terrified he might ruin the Emperor’s pleasure.

He could only order one of his men to run ahead and report as quickly as possible while he tried to delay the princess and make her walk a little slower.

Xiao Yaqing found a spot with a relatively short straight-line distance to the tent, took out the bird whistle, and began to blow.

“Hmm… He couldn’t really have mistaken it for a bird, could he? Or did he not hear it?” Xia Heng said uncertainly when there was still no response after quite some time.

Xiao Yaqing lowered the whistle and rubbed her aching cheeks.

Chuqing glanced furtively from side to side, then tugged on Xia Heng’s sleeve.

“This is far too close to the Emperor’s tent! Who is Miss Xiao trying to find? What if she calls the Emperor out?”

Xia Heng affectionately patted her sleep-mussed hair. *You precious little fool. The Emperor is exactly who she’s calling.*

“Forget it… He probably doesn’t remember anymore. Let’s go.”

Xiao Yaqing sounded dejected.

The three women pulled their clothes more tightly around themselves and prepared to return.

Before they had even left the woods, however, they saw a large contingent of guards coming toward them.

Dongfang Wei rubbed his brow as he looked at the women kneeling before him.

Xia Heng and Chuqing were bundled up like two balls. Xiao Yaqing’s eyes were red, and anger was written across her face.

“Well? Tell me what happened.”

“My sisters and I couldn’t sleep tonight, so we came to the woods to amuse ourselves for a while. We had no idea we would disturb Your Majesty’s good time. We are terribly sorry!”

Good heavens. From the way Xiao Yaqing said it, Xia Heng feared she might snap her back teeth in half.

Not that anyone could blame her for being furious. No one who saw a disheveled woman emerging from her “boyfriend’s” tent would be in a good mood.

Even if the “boyfriend” in question had not officially earned the title yet.

Xia Heng had thought it would be a good thing if Xiao Yaqing worked up the courage to speak frankly with Dongfang Wei.

Perhaps they could even reach him before Pasang entered the great tent and climbed into his bed. Would that not have killed two birds with one stone?

Instead, after all their rushing, they had arrived for the most dramatic moment and walked straight into a love-triangle showdown.

Xia Heng’s eyes were lifeless. All she could do was marvel inwardly at the truly unparalleled timing.

Chuqing knelt on the ground, frightened. Had she not warned them? They really had called the Emperor out!

What were they supposed to do now? They could hardly say they had been trying to lure out Miss Xiao’s sweetheart.

Dongfang Wei’s head ached when he heard Xiao Yaqing’s words. He had heard Yaqing’s bird whistle and had been about to go outside.

Then a Tujue princess had suddenly appeared. The guard had not even finished announcing her before she barged in and began taking off her clothes.

She was a princess of a nation, after all… In the end, Sixi had been the one to step forward and stop her.

After finally driving Pasang—who had offered herself to him—out of the tent, who could have guessed that Yaqing would see her at that exact moment?

How was he supposed to explain this now? Could someone please help him? Preferably quickly?

Dongfang Wei looked at the two familiar figures beside Xiao Yaqing and said to Sixi, “Have Cang Chuli come collect his people.”

Only then did Xia Heng shrink back in fear.

As Xiao Yaqing’s accomplice…

She knew Dongfang Wei probably would not do anything to them. He had an image to maintain in front of his future wife, after all.

But if he was willing to let them off, he could simply send them away! Why did he have to call that god of slaughter here to fetch them?

Fine. Just fine.

*I’ve worked myself to the bone for your romance, and this is how you repay me—by calling my guardian in!?*