Chapter 89

The moonlight was gentle, and the river flowed with a soft murmur.

Xie Zheng tilted his head slightly and looked at Fan Changyu for a long moment without speaking.

Meeting his gaze, Fan Changyu froze briefly. Then she seemed to realize that patting his head like that had been a little too intimate. Awkwardly, she withdrew her hand and placed it on her knees.

The atmosphere between them became somewhat strange.

Just as she was about to excuse herself and leave, Xie Zheng suddenly said,

“If you’re still feeling troubled, I can spar with you for a few rounds.”

After what had just happened, simply leaving now felt oddly uncomfortable.

Thinking of the ghost-like speed he had displayed earlier, Fan Changyu found herself wanting to test her skills against him. She nodded.

She carried only her boning knife.

After putting his shirt back on, Xie Zheng stepped forward empty-handed, not even bringing a weapon.

Fan Changyu felt she was being underestimated.

Pressing her lips together, she said,

“You should at least take a dagger.”

Xie Zheng placed one hand behind his back and simply said,

“Come.”

The posture clearly indicated he intended to fight her with only one hand.

Fan Changyu’s lips tightened further.

Without another word, her eyes instantly became as sharp as those of a hunting beast. She shot forward like an arrow released from a bow.

One hand reached to control Xie Zheng’s free arm while the boning knife slashed toward his throat.

But once she closed the distance, she discovered he was as slippery as a fish.

Whenever she tried to grab his arm, he always evaded her a step ahead.

Unhurried.

Effortless.

As he turned sideways to avoid her blade, a palm strike swept toward her face.

Fan Changyu hurriedly dodged.

Unexpectedly, that same hand hooked her elbow and pulled downward and backward.

Her center of gravity immediately shifted, and she nearly fell flat on her back.

The pulling force suddenly changed.

Xie Zheng grabbed her arm, intending to help her back up.

At that moment, however, something cold touched his neck.

Smiling, he asked,

“What is this? Repaying kindness with hostility?”

Fan Changyu’s boning knife rested against the side of his neck.

“All warfare is based on deception.”

The smile on Xie Zheng’s face deepened.

“You have a point.”

Looking into his smiling dark eyes, Fan Changyu withdrew her knife and pressed her lips together.

“My skills are inferior.”

Noticing her disappointment, Xie Zheng said,

“Close-quarters combat relies heavily on speed. You’re skilled with heavy weapons. Using a lighter weapon limits many of your usual techniques. If, after over a decade of training, I still couldn’t match your striking speed, that would make no sense at all.”

Fan Changyu remembered the move he had used to unbalance her.

“What was that technique just now? The one where you hooked my elbow and pulled down?”

Instead of answering, Xie Zheng repeated the movement.

Again, he hooked her elbow and pulled downward and backward.

This time, Fan Changyu immediately tensed her body.

Her feet remained rooted firmly in place.

“Do you understand now?” he asked.

Recalling what had happened earlier, Fan Changyu realized that when his palm strike came toward her, she had instinctively shifted her body to evade it. She had not been standing firmly in place.

She frowned.

“The key wasn’t the pull itself?”

Xie Zheng nodded approvingly.

“Sometimes you don’t need brute force. Go with the flow. Borrow your opponent’s strength. Use a small force to redirect a much larger one.”

Fan Changyu tightened her grip on the knife.

“Again!”

The earlier exchange had merely served as a warm-up.

Her joints had only just loosened up.

Since she excelled at aggressive offense, she abandoned any attempt at maneuvering around Xie Zheng’s techniques and simply attacked relentlessly.

Her knife strikes became increasingly fierce.

Though the boning knife was only a little over three inches long, she wielded it so quickly that it seemed to leave afterimages.

Xie Zheng quickly realized she was playing to her strengths and covering her weaknesses, using offense as defense.

A flash of surprise crossed his eyes.

So she had been holding back earlier as well, merely testing his style.

The realization brought a faint smile to his eyes.

His attacks, however, showed no mercy.

Only through genuine sparring could she improve as quickly as possible.

Having learned her lesson, Fan Changyu no longer tried to seize his arm.

Her knife hand attacked.

Her free fist attacked as well.

Blow after blow followed in rapid succession.

Her goal was simple—to force Xie Zheng into constant defense and prevent him from finding any opportunity to counterattack.

Yet this exchange lasted only slightly longer than the previous one.

After several rounds, Xie Zheng once again slipped behind her like a phantom.

Following the momentum of her strike, he borrowed her force and pushed lightly against her shoulder.

Fan Changyu shot forward instantly and tumbled headfirst into the grass.

In a sense, Fan Changyu was also a martial arts fanatic.

She lifted her head.

A small flame seemed to burn in her eyes.

“Again!”

Xie Zheng stood in the distance.

The night breeze stirred his robes.

Combined with his jade-like features, he looked almost like an immortal descended from the heavens.

Like a charging calf, Fan Changyu rushed at him again with her knife.

A moment later, Xie Zheng smoothly redirected her arm.

She stumbled once more and plunged into the grass.

The black warhorse grazing nearby seemed displeased that she had flattened a patch of its fresh grass.

It even stretched its head over and nudged her.

Climbing up while clutching her knife, Fan Changyu spat out several blades of grass she had accidentally gotten into her mouth.

“Again!”

…

After being thrown who knew how many times, her clothes were stained with mud and grass juice beyond recognition.

Her face was dirty.

Several blades of grass remained tangled in her hair.

Lying flat on her back, she stared at the night sky and breathed heavily.

Every muscle in her body felt weak.

She didn’t even want to move a finger.

Yet she felt wonderfully refreshed.

Her mind was completely empty.

All distractions and worries had vanished.

She felt as though she could fall asleep the moment she closed her eyes.

Xie Zheng took a waterskin from the horse and handed it to her.

“Drink some water.”

Fan Changyu had sweated heavily and was genuinely thirsty.

She sat up.

Perhaps from being thrown around so many times, her head felt slightly dazed.

Taking the waterskin, she drank greedily.

After finishing, she handed it back.

Xie Zheng glanced at it and then tilted his head back to drink from it as well.

Fan Changyu stared blankly.

Only then did it occur to her that the waterskin belonged to Xie Zheng.

She had just drunk from it.

Now he was drinking from it too.

What exactly did that make this?

Before embarrassment could fully surface, she remembered how he had kissed her on horseback earlier.

Instinctively, she rubbed her lips with the back of her hand several times.

Compared to that, sharing a waterskin suddenly didn’t seem like such a big deal.

Unfortunately, there was mud and grass on the back of her hand.

After wiping her lips, she ended up smearing dirt across them.

After drinking, Xie Zheng tightened the stopper and noticed her odd behavior.

“What is it?”

Awkwardly, Fan Changyu replied,

“My face is dirty. I’m going to wash up.”

With that, she stood and headed toward the river.

Xie Zheng’s voice came from behind her.

“You rolled around in the mud. Do you want to wash your clothes too?”

Fan Changyu immediately turned and glared at him.

For a moment she thought he was teasing her indecently.

Yet his expression was completely serious.

Frowning, she looked at him suspiciously.

Seeing the misunderstanding, Xie Zheng explained,

“The army breaks camp tomorrow. We’ll join the Ji Prefecture forces and move against the rebels in Chongzhou. There may not be a chance to change clothes along the way.”

As he spoke, he removed his outer robe and hung it on a nearby branch.

“You can borrow my robe for now.”

After saying that, he turned and walked into the woods, apparently intending to give her privacy.

Only after he had gone some distance did Fan Changyu look toward the robe hanging from the branch.

There was mud and grass even tangled in her hair.

After hesitating for a while, she finally took the robe and slipped behind a large boulder near the riverbank.

She placed the robe on top of the rock.

Then she loosened her hair, removed her mud-covered military uniform, and lowered herself into the cold water.

Although it was already late spring, the river remained chilly enough to seep into one’s bones.

Fortunately, Fan Changyu was strong and healthy.

She washed the mud from her body and then carefully cleaned her long hair.

Soon, the crackling of burning firewood reached her ears.

Peeking around the side of the boulder, she saw Xie Zheng sitting beside a fire with his back toward her.

Apparently, he had gone into the woods earlier to gather firewood.

Fan Changyu watched him for a while.

From beginning to end, he never once turned around.

After washing her hair, she shivered as she stood up.

Wringing out her hair, she picked up the robe and wrapped it around herself.

Only when she tried to tie the sash did she discover a problem.

The robe was far too large.

Even after tying it securely, the collar still hung open.

Frowning, she wrung out her cleaned undergarment as thoroughly as possible and put it back on beneath the robe.

Only then did she emerge from behind the boulder.

Squatting by the riverbank, she began washing her mud-stained uniform.

Xie Zheng must have heard the movement.

Turning toward her, he asked,

“Aren’t you going to dry your hair first?”

Thinking she would finish washing the clothes and then dry everything together, she replied,

“I’m not cold.”

Footsteps approached from behind.

When they neared, she looked up.

Instead of stopping beside her, Xie Zheng walked straight past and stepped into the river shirtless.

“You’re taking a bath?” she asked.

Xie Zheng glanced at her.

“Before you arrived, I was swimming here.”

With that, he dived into the water like a silver fish.

Moments later, he had already swum several yards downstream.

Judging by his actions, he intended to continue swimming.

Since she was washing clothes by the riverbank and he was swimming in the river, they were not really disturbing each other.

Fan Changyu lowered her head and continued washing.

Suddenly, ripples disturbed the water before her.

Looking up, she saw Xie Zheng emerge from the river holding a fish.

Water splashed everywhere, soaking her.

His dark hair and elegant jawline dripped with water.

Like a carefree young man, he laughed brightly.

“We’ve got fish to eat!”

The fish in his hand struggled wildly.

Its tail slapped back and forth, spraying fishy water all over Fan Changyu’s face.

She could only turn her head away and raise a sleeve in front of herself.

Half annoyed and half helpless, she said,

“Move the fish away first!”

As she lifted her arm, however, the robe she had carefully wrapped around herself loosened.

The wide collar fell open once more.

Almost instantly, she felt a chill across her chest.

The person before her suddenly went silent.

He simply stared.

The fish slipped from his grasp and splashed back into the river, drenching his face.

He didn’t seem to notice.

Realizing something was wrong, Fan Changyu looked down.

The robe hung wide open.

The undergarment beneath was still wet and clung tightly to her body, outlining soft curves.

Even the faint shape of her nipples was visible through the fabric.

Her face instantly turned crimson.

Without even thinking, she kicked out.

“Pervert!”

The kick landed squarely on Xie Zheng’s face.

Caught completely off guard, he was launched backward into the river.

He swallowed a mouthful of water and disappeared beneath the surface.

For a long time, he failed to reappear.

At first, Fan Changyu thought he was pretending.

But after waiting and still seeing no sign of him, she finally realized something was wrong.

“Yanzheng?”

She instinctively used his courtesy name.

The river remained completely still.

Not a ripple answered her.

Afraid she had actually knocked him unconscious, she immediately forgot her embarrassment.

Human life came first.

Throwing his robe onto the riverbank, she jumped into the water to rescue him.

A short while later, she dragged the waterlogged man ashore and dumped him on the ground.

Pressing forcefully on his chest several times, she finally saw him turn his head and cough up a mouthful of water.

Only after he slowly regained consciousness did she collapse beside him in exhaustion.

She was tired.

Her breathing was heavy.

Her face, however, was completely expressionless.

What in the world had happened tonight?

The moment Xie Zheng opened his eyes, he saw Fan Changyu sitting beside him wearing only her trousers and undergarment.

Her wet hair hung loose around her shoulders.

The portions of pale skin not covered by her hair or clothing gleamed white as snow beneath the moonlight.

The expression on her face was difficult to describe.

Was it indifference?

Or the numb resignation of someone who had suffered one blow too many?

Either way, she had completely captured his attention.

He froze.

Then a sudden warmth surged through his nose.

Realizing what it was, Xie Zheng immediately raised a hand to cover it.

His ears turned bright red.

Flustered beyond belief, he hurriedly looked away.

“I’m… I’m sorry…”

Fan Changyu was so irritated she wanted to hit someone.

“Shut up!”

She grabbed the robe she had discarded and wrapped it tightly around herself.

With nowhere to vent her frustration, she continued fiercely,

“You didn’t see anything tonight! Understand?”

After saying that, she stomped away and plopped down in the distance to question her entire life.

Xie Zheng looked at her retreating figure wrapped in his robe.

Then he looked at the unfinished laundry by the river.

Splashing cold water onto his face, he suppressed the heat there.

Afterward, he washed her clothes clean, carried them to the fire, and hung them nearby on branches to dry.

Then he returned to the river and caught two more fish.

After cleaning them, he skewered them on sticks and roasted them beside the fire.

When the fish were done, he carried one over to Fan Changyu.

Carefully choosing his words, he said,

“Eat something.”

Wrapped in his robe, Fan Changyu still seemed unable to recover from the series of disasters that had struck her tonight.

She merely widened her round eyes and threatened him again:

“Not a word about tonight to anyone!”