Nightfall

Dark Blue As the Waist

In the night, it was windless around the border camp. So the red fire flames on a pyre could gently shake. Dozens of the Tang Empire’s border army elites dispersed around or fell a sound sleep or vigilantly stood guard. Only Ning Que and that captain sat next to the bonfire.

During the daytime, the captain called Ning Que as Mr. Thirteen, as if not knowing Ning Que’s true identity. But at this time beside the warm bonfire, he had already changed the appellation in a soft voice. “Your Excellency, we’re really going to Dongsheng Stockaded Village tomorrow? It’s too close to the Yans. There may be some troubles there.”

Ning Que took a branch to fiddle with the sweet potatoes in the bonfire and looked up at him upon listening to these words. He could not help shaking his head and looked at the army elites around who did not pay attention to himself before saying, “I’ve been at the frontier fortress for over one month and never got into any trouble. In my eyes, this is really troublesome.”

He looked at the captain’s seemingly dull and honest face before saying with a sigh, “Don’t you think our luck is too bad? There is only one secret guard in Tuyang City, you. And only you were sent out to follow me. I don’t know who to ask when I want to ask the situation of Tuyang City.”

The captain said with a bitter smile, “When I knew I’d be the one taking a personal protection for Your Excellency, I also feel helpless.”

“Could it be that General’s Mansion knew your identity as a secret guard and was too embarrassed to deal with you? So they simply drove you away from Tuyang City and ordered you to follow me around… or did they even find out my identity?”

The captain shook his head and said, “Please rest assured, Your Excellency. They should not know my identity. As for Your Excellency, I think neither the army adviser nor the camp couldn’t guess you’re actually his Majesty’s secret guard.”

Ning Que pulled two roasted sweet potatoes out of the bonfire and gave one of them to the captain. Then he slowly torn the skin of another sweet potato with the tips of his fingers and lowered his head eating the white hot pulp with steam. He vaguely said, “It’s great they did not find out our identities. I don’t want to do anything under someone’s secret watch.”

The captain picked up the cooked sweet potatoes that had rolled to the bottom of his feet, watching Ning Que’s face under the shining flames, and did not know what to say.

As for Mr. Thirteen beside, his feelings were complicated. Other soldiers might not yet know who he was, but as a secret guard he certainly knew that Ning Que was a core disciple of the Headmaster of Academy. Why such a noble bigwig came to the frontier fortress? What made him more puzzled was why Ning Que came here even if it was so troublesome.

This was a deserted wilderness where battlefield white bones were hidden in long grasses. If General Xia Hou was really enraged, he wouldn’t care whether one was a student of the Second floor of the Academy. He would kill and throw Ning Que to the depth of grassland. Who knew how he died? Even the Headmaster of Academy could not judge it.

A faint noise came from afar, and the cavalryman in charge of night safety stood up and walked to the periphery. The captain glanced there and changed the appellation for a reason of security. He whispered, “Mr. Thirteen, what kind of thing do you come to check this time? If you let me know, I can make relevant arrangements.”

“I was ordered to come here not for some investigation but to have a look for his Majesty.”

Ning Que threw the sweet potato that was almost bitten off into the bonfire, wiping the cuffs on his face with ends of his sleeves. He said, “But in terms of current situation, there is no way to see it.”