A Lonesome Fragrance Waiting to be Appreciated 3

26

The King of Gui Le and Le Di continued to discuss national affairs. Le Di only managed to get out of the Royal Residence when the sky began to brighten. The moment he left, he got on his horse and murmured a command. "Go to the Main General Residence, hurry!"

The driver rumbled on in the dawn to the General's Residence. General Le Zhen and his concubine had been binge drinking the past night and had yet to sleep when he heard his father's arrival. He hurriedly climbed out of bed.

"Why are you here, Father? What's wrong? Just send someone to pass the message on." Le Zhen answered the gates before seeing his father's dark expression.

Le Di didn't say anything. He headed straight towards the office. Once he was in the office, he looked left and right before personally closing the door. He sighed in relief and lowered his voice, "The King of Dong Lin is suspicious."

Le Zhen said "Ah" once before hurriedly asking, "What did the King say?"

"The King kept on mentioning Bai Pingting, about how he should have added her to his harem." Le Di stared at his son and harrumphed. "That is a warning to us that the Queen's prized throne is not very stable."

Le Zhen replied in disdain. "A maid can be compared to our Queen? Our Le Family has produced several generations of ranking officials and our Queen was designated as the heir's wife by the previous king."

"Several generations of ranking officials? The House of Jing-An is an example! Not to mention, the Bai Pingting of today is not very simple. She is related not only to the Prince Consort of Yun Chang but also the Duke of Zhen-Bei of Dong Lin. She even has reliable contacts with several of Bei Mo's generals."

"Father..."

"Have you dealt with the one who sent the message to He Xia?"

Le Zhen replied, "Father, rest assured. I have already arranged for him to leave the capital as far as possible. The King will never notice him."

"No!" The light in Le Di's eyes dimmed. "You must get rid of the other end of the chopped root, so it will never grow back to form trouble."

A painful expression surfaced on Le Di's eyes. "Fei Zhaoxing is one of my rare generals. He has always been with me, very loyal..."

"Don't say any more. Just do as I say." Le Di replied coldly. "The King sent an ambush to He Xia, but we secretly reported the letter to him. If this news is to reach the King, it will become a treason, resulting in the complete destruction of our family. Our Le Family's fame has only been shortlived. If the King is indeed suspicious and manages to find our tail, then what happened to the House of Jing-An will happen to us." His voice lowered slightly, a coldness sweeping across his eyes. He gritted his teeth and muttered, "Fei Zhaoxing must die! As long as he dies, there will be no witness. Even if the King is suspicious, he cannot do anything against the Queen or to the Main General."

Le Zhen's expression revealed some hesitation. He thought about it for a while before finally making his heart ruthless. "I understand."

Half of the berries that had been harvested were eaten.

The cold wind had blown all night. Pingting luckily hidherself in a rocky cave to escape the danger of being frozen. She reached a hand out from the cave. The sky was gray-white. She hoped today would be a fine day, so that the hurrying Zuiju would not come across a snowstorm until she safely reached Yangfeng's side.

Three days weren't long enough to say so but weren't short enough to say so either.

Even though Pingting had made several promises to Zuiju, her heart was not empty in the slightest. The child sat quietly in her womb. She did not feel the extreme abdominal pain from the last few days. She felt particularly concerned about it even more.

My child, you'll be fine.

She gently pressed down on her belly, hoping to feel the movement of the child inside. He was slowly growing older. On their journey, Pingting was sure she had felt him kicking his little feet inside his mother's belly.

Zuiju said the child was still young and could not kick yet, but Pingting knew he was moving. The little life's actions were full of vitality. Every little movement made her move to tears.

"My child, please protect Aunt Zuiju and protect Mother through this obstacle." Pingting gently stroked her belly, gently whispering a few words.

She knew these dreamy like whispers were not useful, yet in her dream, this child had the same indomitable spirit like his father, both with the power to protect anyone.

Protect?

The corners of Pingting's mouth lifted into a bitter smile. There were still a few remaining berries Zuiju plucked by her hand. The smooth skin that rabbed the plump fruit inside seemed a little wrinkled. Their colours were not as good as the day before. She was temporarily dazed, her thoughts drifting to the Cloud Valley Route.

That person had gone through the dense forest, landing on top of the berries that grew in the valley.

She and Chu Beijie exchanged suspicious looks at each other.

Chu Beijie's outline had been very clear in the moonlight. It was determined, full of strength and heroism.

She had bluntly said, "I was the one who ordered to stop you from reaching our command tent. Sorry for forgetting to tell you."

Chu Beijie's tiger-like eyes had flashed with a coldness. He stared at her for a long time. He raised his head to laugh loudly and mournfully at the sky. "Geez geez, Chu Beijie, you're such an idiot!"

His laughter had pierced through to her bones.

Pingting suddenly recovered, falling back to earth. The berries in her hand had been crushed to pulp, completely dying her fist in its red juice.

Ah, the berries.

That time, she had plucked a few berries too. That person was angry. Even though he was a dignified general, when he was angry, he was more like a child. He didn't care about his own injuries, pretending to be brave. He refused to let her bandage his wounds as well as to eat her berries.

Those berries were very bitter and very hard, like these ones now.

Yet, why have they still ended up together?

That man smiled at her, kissed her on the lips.

His warm breath drilled into her heart and lungs as if declaring to the world several times that Bai Pingting belonged to Chu Beijie.

He said, "I'll wait for you in Dong Lin."

He smiled, truly believing the future would be both simple and happy.

And then?

And then what?

It seemed that God did not allow them to be together, by creating all sorts of controversies. Pingting's rolling tears began to drip onto her clothes. Only then did she realise her cheeks were full of tears.

No, don't think about him any more. It will not end well. No matter how true or hard work put in until bleeding, nothing good would come out of it.

Don't think any more, don't re-injure my heart again.

Pingting tried hard to expel the warmth out of her heart. One night of rest had finally given her back some energy. She leaned against the wall, using it as support to help her stand. She planned to gather some more fresh berries. After taking two steps, she felt a sharp jolt of pain in her lower abdomen that then rippled through her body like a red hot knife stabbing into it.

"Ah!"

Pingting screamed, clutching onto her belly as she fell towards the ground.

Cold sweat began to surge out.

Child, my dear child, what's wrong?

Do you hate how bitter the berries are?

Do you hate how cold it is?

Your father is not here, so Mother will protect you.

"Ah! Ah!" Bursts of immense pain in Pingting's lower abdomen sent her rolling to the ground. Bean-sized sweat drops began to ooze out of her forehead as her ten fingers helplessly grabbed at nothing or clawed the yellow mud leaving long scratches.