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Spoiled and Pampered
墨書 Inktalez
In the second year of Yongzheng, in the spring of February, the sky was shrouded in a dull gray gloom. The heavy snowfall from the previous night had buried the entire Ulan Bator in a vast expanse of white.
The soldiers in the valley, after a long night of arduous travel, finally caught up with the fleeing remnants of Luo Bu Cang Dan Jin's forces at dawn, but they were utterly exhausted.
Their hands trembled slightly as they relied solely on their survival instincts and years of honed intuition to fight against the enemy.
"All commanders, listen up! The remaining forces of Luo Bu Cang Dan Jin number only about two hundred. Victory is within our grasp! Let us all rally together; whoever beheads their leader will be promoted four ranks and will return to the capital with me to receive rewards!"
With Nian Gengyao's command, the three thousand soldiers were instantly invigorated, shouting three times in unison: "Kill! Kill! Kill!"
The echoes reverberated through the deep valley, reaching up to the clouds.
At that moment, a swift shadow suddenly burst forth from behind Nian Gengyao's camp.
On a chestnut-colored warhorse stood a young boy.
Dressed in black armor that accentuated his slender frame, his face was flushed red from the cold beneath a bright red plume, yet it was filled with an air of deadly intent.
With his left hand tightly gripping the reins and his right hand wielding a sword, he charged into the enemy camp towards their leader Chulak, who sat atop a magnificent black horse.
The boy galloped fiercely, his sword slicing through the air as he moved, and the sweet metallic scent of blood mingled with the biting cold wind.
As he approached Chulak, the tip of his sword trembled slightly in the snow, and in an instant, he closed in on him.
Chulak quickly dodged this fierce attack, sweeping his spear towards the boy's horse.
As soon as the spear grazed the horse's side, it reared up in fright, its mane bristling and whinnying loudly. Chulak smiled slightly, feeling confident that he had gained the upper hand with this strike.
However, before his smile could fully form, he saw that the boy seemed oblivious to the danger. Instead of retreating, he stood up on his horse's back and swung his sword downwards with a diving motion.
Caught off guard, Chulak had no choice but to raise his spear to defend himself.
Amidst the neighing of warhorses, his gun barrel barely grazed the boy's face, and the dull sound of a blade piercing flesh echoed in his ears.
On the vast battlefield, a sudden silence fell.
Looking again at the boy, blood poured from his face like exquisite rouge spreading in the snow, accompanied by the helmet that was lifted by the tip of Chulak's spear, causing a cascade of dark hair to tumble down like a waterfall.
Nian Gengyao was momentarily stunned. He spurred his horse forward and narrowly caught her as she fell from the saddle.
A faint, delicate fragrance brushed past his nose, sending a tremor through his heart.
She laughed lightly, her voice like a string of shattered jade ringing in the wind: “General Nian, we won!”
In the second year of Yongzheng, summer, June.
Inside the central military tent, behind the commander’s desk, Nian Gengyao held a teacup, sipping tea absentmindedly. Occasionally, he glanced up at Xiao Man, who was sitting under the lamp mending her clothes.
This was the woman who had bravely fought like a man in the icy wilderness and had drawn a perfect conclusion to his fifteen-day campaign in Qinghai.
At this moment, her fingertips delicately twisted the thread while the remaining three fingers formed a white orchid under the lamp's glow.
Beneath her long lashes, her eyes sparkled with gentle laughter like a serene lake.
Nian Gengyao felt as if a feather had brushed against his heart. His gaze flickered as he casually asked, “Xiao Man, why did you disguise yourself as a man to join the army?”
Xiao Man shot him a playful glance, her brows curling into sweet smiles: “Did Xiao Man say or do something wrong that angered the general? Is he planning to punish me? But you must think carefully; if you punish me for being with the army, allowing women to follow soldiers is no small crime…”
Nian Gengyao set down the scroll in his hand and suddenly stood up, startling the candle flame. He moved around to stand behind Xiao Man: “I merely wanted to hear you say a few flattering words about me. Yet here you are threatening me? I am a grand general of the state, honored with a first-class title. I pacified Tibet and settled Qinghai; even the emperor wouldn’t dare speak to me this way. How dare you take such an attitude with me?”
“Yes, yes, yes, General Nian, I wouldn’t dare!”
Xiao Man tossed aside her needle and thread and gently caressed Nian Gengyao’s chin adorned with stubble. Her misty eyes gazed up at him. “Since childhood, I have trained in martial arts and admired General Nian’s unmatched reputation. However, I feared that you might be just a man of empty fame. That’s why I took such a great risk to disguise myself as a man and serve under your command. Little did I know…”
"Unexpectedly, what?" Nian Gengyao's thoughts were thrown into disarray by the faint fragrance that enveloped her. Ever since that snowstorm when she had taken his breath away, she had become a treasure in his heart.
He had heard countless flattering words throughout his forty-eight years of life, but when they came from her lips, it felt as though all his past achievements paled in comparison to the delicate beauty of her slightly pouting, tipsy face.
In his life of conquest, the women he encountered were like fleeting sunrises and sunsets, ephemeral and insubstantial.
Only Xiao Man stood apart, her unguarded sincerity shining through from the very beginning. She never concealed her admiration for him.
On that day when he was to punish her, she simply expressed her long-standing admiration for the general's reputation, saying it was her fortune to contribute to his achievements. She hoped that if she were to die at his hands, it would not be in vain for the feelings she harbored for him, filled with youthful affection and admiration.
Just the thought that in this fateful year, there existed such a delicate woman, willing to entwine herself around him like a vine, trusting him and yearning for his protection, made him want to present her with the most beautiful things in the world.
His hands trembled as he held her tightly, rolling into the softly scented Sinking Incense drapery.
Xiao Man's body moved beneath him like a wild deer.
Unintentionally, a strand of his white hair fell onto her smooth hand, and Nian Gengyao's heart sank; what had started as gentle caresses turned into fierce bites.
He wanted her—he wanted her to always submit to him, to have only him in her heart.
The more he sensed his own aging, the stronger his desire grew to keep her close and prove himself worthy.
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