Nightfall

Nothing in the Snow Mountain

Hua Shanyue stared at the forest around him and noticed that there were many corpses from both sides. Seeing the blood and other evidence of the fierce fight, he picked up a thin hiltless mini-sword, and he finally realized how brutal the assassin was last night. The color drained from his face with this realization.

He gave his subordinate the hint to get the horses ready and said, “Your Highness, the following support troop is already on its way. We should leave as soon as possible.”

Princess Lee Yu nodded in agreement and got ready under the protection of the armored cavalries.

Then Hua Shanyue glanced at Ning Que and gave him a cold and emotionless look, the look that was so emotionless it made the others feel cold. He was trying to guess the real relationship between this young soldier and the princess. However, no matter how hard he tried to find a clue, he could not see any potential threats from the young soldier. Therefore, his vision became more and more indifferent.

The indifference in his vision actually consisted of multiple probabilities, of which Ning Que was fully aware. While looking at his back, Ning Que remembered the previous warmth and gentleness in his eyes. Ning Que knew that he would not do any harm to the princess and that he was just overprotective.

Honestly, the Young general’s drastic love for the princess had nothing to do with low-ranking soldiers like Ning Que. However, Ning Que really disliked Hua Shanyue’s indifferent attitude expressed by his cold glances. He knew that most of this indifference represented a strong power to support the conduction of a culling operation at any time, but it also represented scorn.

Ning Que did not like him, so he stood up and smiled at the princess, who was about to mount a horse. With his jaw raised, Ning Que said, “Your Highness, in fact, I have been trying to say something to you since we were in City of Wei…”

Hua Shanyue suddenly looked back at the pretty princess sitting on the white horse. Frowning she turned around and stared silently at the young soldier standing by the bonfire. She seemed to be blaming him, but at last, she said softly, “Tell me when we return to Chang’an.”

Hua Shanyue asked the head of the bodyguards about the situation, in a whisper, before setting out. Hua Shanyue got a general understanding of what the princess had gone through since her entry and Ning Que’s performance in dealing with the assassination attempt. He remained silent for a while and then walked over to Ning Que. He then said without emotion, “You made a great contribution this time. We’ll award you after we’re back to Chang’an… Good job, boy.”

Ning Que took Sangsang to their shabby tent and began to pack it up.

Sangsang fastened the big black umbrella to her own back with difficulty. Then she suddenly turned her head up towards Ning Que and asked, with her eyebrows furrowed, “Young master, did you say ‘you have something to say’ on purpose just now?”

“Yes,” Ning Que replied casually as he cleaned the coagulated blood from his blade. “The guy named Hua Shanyue is so hypocritical and boring that I don’t like him. So, I look only to irritate him.”

“Young master, what’re you going to tell the princess?” Sangsang stopped what she was doing and asked curiously.

“I don’t know.” Ning Que pushed his sword into its sheath and shrugged his shoulders. He said, “After all, I can’t say some stupid words, like ‘I have fallen in love with you since the first time we met in City of Wei’ or ‘I have been crazy about you’…”

“But, Senior Captain Hua may think that way, and so may the princess…”

“Idiots think in an idiots’ way. I’m not surprised about that,” Ning Que answered.