The Rebirth of an Ill-Fated Consort (Chapters 1- 203)

Chapter 171 : Jiang Xin Zhi's Whereabouts

Translated by : Shl

Edited by : Anks & Ely

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When a tiny butterfly in the capital flaps its wings, it can only set off a small, almost imperceptible wind, but when these intricately connected winds come together, they become a storm of irresistible force many thousands of miles away. Yet no one is aware. Moreover, presently, the minuscule changes in the capital did not seem to have any effect on the battlefield far away.

This was a vast and boundless desert. The vegetation was sparse, such that there was hardly any livestock grazing there. Looking over the land, one could see tents pitched by military infantry. Additionally, the tents were covered with thick felt to prevent people from freezing to death at night.

Within the unique square shaped formation the tents were organized in, there was an outlier. It was an extremely luxurious tent to the extent that its top was adorned with thick tassels. Furthermore, the exterior was guarded by no less than ten armed soldiers. These men's clothes were a little different from those worn in the Great Jin, and there was a palpable sense of their being foreign.

While holding a basket, a young girl clad in emerald green walked towards the tent; the armed guards allowed her passage. Her head was lowered throughout, and after entering the tent, she silently placed the basket on the table and lifted out the food. When the dishes had been arranged, she said, softly, "Deputy General Jiang, this slave, Jin'er, has newly arrived to serve you. Sir, please come and eat."

The young man sitting on the chair within the tent raised his head, revealing his handsome face. His complexion was rather pale, and there was fresh stubble on his chin, but he did not cut a sorry picture at all. On the contrary, there was a special kind of unrestrained confidence that arose from his dire situation. He started slightly on hearing the young girl's voice, and it took him quite a while before he said, "You speak Mandarin[1]; are you from the Great Jin's capital?"

[1] 官话 (guan hua) – lit. the language of bureaucracy i.e. Mandarin, so named because it was commonly used in officialdom in the Ming and Qing dynasties.

The girl lowered her head and whispered, "This slave is indeed from the Great Jin's capital, but was captured by people from South Xinjiang. They were looking for people to serve Master, so they sent this slave here."

Jiang Xin Zhi slowly rested his eyes on the girl. She was in the bloom of youth, perhaps sixteen or seventeen years old. Her skin was delicate, and her eyes were big and lively, but she had a noticeable burn scar on her left cheek which shockingly marred the beauty of her entire face, and caused her to look extremely fearsome. On thinking about it, she could only have been sent to serve this captive precisely because of her disfigurement, otherwise, if she had been some exquisite, jade-like female, she would have long been ruthlessly ravished by the soldiers.

Jiang Xin Zhi narrowed his eyes and said, "You are from the capital; how did you come to be captured and brought here?"

Jin'er was momentarily stunned. Then, she said, "This slave was following the servants from the laundry department of the Great Jin army. A few nights ago, this slave went out with several sisters and just so happened to encounter a pair of soldiers, stragglers, who seized all of us."

There was nothing wrong with her statement. There was always a group of womenfolk following behind the marching troops to take care of their daily needs, such as mending and washing their clothes. These women would normally stay somewhere else, and it was naturally not possible for Jiang Xin Zhi to have seen every single one of them. As for going out at night and encountering stragglers, this also was possible.