A Lonesome Fragrance Waiting to be Appreciated 2

5

The sides of Hongqian's eyes were red as she hurriedly shook her head. "No, it's not that...it's not for the Duke; it's for Miss. You shouldn't damage your health like this. At least eat a little. If you get sick on such a cold day, what will I do?"

Pingting measured her for a moment and couldn't help but soften her heart. "Sit here." Pingting pulled the maid to sit and helped her smooth out the stray strands undone from her vigorous shaking. Pingting chuckled, "Silly girl, you don't need to worry."

"Dear god, how could I not be worried?" Thanks to Pingting's soft persuasion, Hongqian's tears ended up falling instead. "The Duke said that if anything happens to Miss, your servant would be punished according to the army's ways." She wiped away her tears, "The Duke has never gone back on his words." She shuddered at the thought of Chu Beijie's angry chilling gaze.

"The ways of the army are harsh, I can't help you either." Pingting was still acting leisurely, slowly leaning backwards.

At this state, Hongqian knew there wasn't the slightest change of heart and hurriedly stood back up. She shook her sleeve, saying, "Miss, of course you can help me. If Miss eats some food, then you've done me a huge favour."

Pingting seemed far away, out of earshot, thinking about something unknown. She appeared dazed out. Her gaze paused slightly on Hongqian before tightly closing her eyes, seemingly intending to sleep.

Hongqian however refused to give up. She begged. "Miss, you have a great heart. Miss, you couldn't let me die right?"

"Your life or death is in the Duke's hands," Pingting replied vaguely. "My life and death is also in the Duke's hands. Don't beg me, go beg the Duke." She turned to face the wall, refusing to say any more.

Moran observed coldly for the entire night. The second morning, he hurriedly arrived at Chu Beijie's bedroom. Chu Beijie's attendants apologised, "The Duke went to practice swordsmanship at dawn." Moran then rushed to the small courtyard where Chu Beijie practiced. When he reached the door, all he could hear was a sonorous voice overpowering the roar of wind and snow, followed by rattling sounds of clashing swords. Moran, surprised, quickened his approach to the courtyard.

Chu Beijie was sparring with his men, the blunt sword in his hands cleanly slicing horizontally and vertically; his tenacity was not easily stopped. It seemed that with every clash, at least one man would always fall out of the fight, but all his men were all battle-hardened, well-seasoned warriors. It wasn't for long before they retrieved their weapons to attack once more, despite still having difficult time to breathe. To a person unfamiliar with them, the fight between these two parties appeared to be a question of life and death.

When Moran had just placed one foot into the courtyard, his vision blurred as a shadow rushed towards him. His reaction was swift. Moran raised his hands, grabbed, and pinned Luoshang by the face against the courtyard wall. He whispered, "How's that?"

"You're finally here." Luoshang was also one of Chu Beijie's personal guards. He sighed in relief the moment he saw Moran. "Calm the Duke down, he's crazy today. We've been sparring in the snow for almost half an hour. There's no sign of stopping. Us brothers will probably have to rest in bed for eight to ten days now." Despite it all, Luoshang stooped down to pick up his sword and roared before rushing back into the spar. Chu Beijie countered his blow. The two struggled, locked by their swords.

Clang! The clash of swords rang.

Luoshang's two shoulders were almost completely numb. His blunt sword fell to the ground with a single thud. Chu Beijue's face was expressionless as he spat out, "Haven't worked hard enough." His left foot extended silently. Without warning, he kicked Luoshang near his waist, causing him to roll outside the fight.