He stormed over to his horse and kicked down a tree, coldly glaring at the bandits and their women who were still alive on the ground.
Duo Luo Qi quickly followed him, still looking worried. He had never seen his master lose his temper like this before.
Though Yelü Lie had a short temper, he rarely showed it. That Song beauty must have some serious skills! Now, to divert his master’s anger, Duo Luo Qi needed to focus him on something else.
"Master, what should we do with these wounded bandits and the women who surrendered?"
"And those two whores?" Yelü Lie looked over at the red tent he had collapsed with a single whip, but the two women were nowhere to be seen.
"Let's move," Duo Luo Qi ordered after the master stormed into the tent. He immediately dismissed the two women, knowing that if they lingered when the master came back out, their lives would be in grave danger. Those two women were hardly worth sparing, but Duo Luo Qi worried that the master might regret killing them later. Their crime wasn't severe enough to warrant death—severing one arm each would have sufficed. When Yelü Lie returned, he found the two women outside the red tent, fighting over who would wear the jade ring. Upon realizing what the item was, he furiously snatched it from them. The women, unable to avoid his rage, had their arms severed on the spot. Despite their screams, they managed to stammer out how they obtained the ring from Jun Qiluo. Understanding what had transpired, Yelü Lie had lashed out, destroying the red tent in his anger before storming back to the main camp. Duo Luo Qi had been worried that the beautiful Song woman might not survive, but thankfully, she did. He had already instructed the old woman to tend to her.
"Send the men to the coal mines, and make the women replace those two whores as camp prostitutes!" The women captured in the mountains—whether from Western Xia, Liao, or Song—had already been sent back home, escorted by his men. The remaining women, even though they begged for mercy, claiming they had been forced into the mountains, couldn’t deceive him. Despite their claims of being loyal Liao subjects, their fate was sealed, as their skills and involvement in the plundering made it clear they were guilty.
The robberies didn't target only the Song caravans. Even earlier, Liao merchants frequently went missing in this region. It wasn't until three months ago, when a Liao nomadic tribe heading toward Helan Mountain for the winter was entirely wiped out, that Yelü Lie's fury was truly ignited. Two months ago, after informing the Khan and the Empress Dowager, he brought a force to this area, setting traps while attending to other duties for the Khan.
The people living in this lawless borderland were loyal to no country, brazenly preying on caravans from all three nations. Engaging in such despicable acts while claiming to be Liao subjects made their actions even more unforgivable.
Duo Luo Qi crossed his arms and looked at the six or seven female bandits. Their seductive gazes were all focused on the master, pretending to be pitiful captives. They were probably plotting to seduce him, hoping to become his concubine.
Yelü Lie found them beneath his notice.
"Disable their martial arts, blind those with improper gazes, and make sure the camp is packed and ready to leave by dawn!" he commanded, then leapt onto his horse and galloped down the mountain—he needed to vent his anger.
Duo Luo Qi signaled the twelve riders not to follow, then instructed, "Tie those women up and throw them into the red tent. Send ten men to escort the captured men to the north."
"Understood!"
Duo Luo Qi sighed as he walked toward the master's tent—this beautiful Song woman certainly had a knack for driving the master to madness. And the master—he cared too much for her, and that could be dangerous.
Since Yelü Lie had stormed out, it was now well past dinner time, and he had not yet returned.
Jun Qiluo sat on the newly laid woolen mat, staring blankly at the small flame on the table. Yelü Lie had smashed everything in the tent that could be broken. Although Duo Luo Qi had since cleared the debris, laid out a new carpet and a woolen mat, and brought in a small table, the tent now felt so empty that it was almost chilling.
Her courage wasn’t as strong as she had imagined. Truly, she was terrified of him! But she knew that, even in his raging fury, Yelü Lie had not really harmed her. Compared to the shattered items that had littered the ground, she considered herself lucky. Especially considering he had severed those two women’s hands—compared to the scratch on her body, it was a minor injury indeed.
Every accusing glance silently condemned her. She didn't care! She wasn't wrong! Those Liao people obviously couldn't stand seeing a mere slave girl defy their leader so willfully. In their minds, only he had the right to humiliate her as he pleased, and she was not allowed to resist. But truly, she was not at fault! Even if she died, it would be by her own hand, and had nothing to do with him. The old woman had said his anger stemmed from that lethal medicine and from her trampling on his goodwill. So the medicine would have killed her! Wouldn't that have been better? Dying in ignorance would be far better than clinging to life through deceit.
Not long ago, Duoluoqi and two other men had carried in a large tub filled with hot water for her to bathe in. He had noticed the untouched food and tried to persuade her to eat, but she ignored him completely, leaving him no choice but to sigh and leave. Before leaving, he remarked pointedly, "You are his woman; you should obey him. He treats you well, yet you keep angering him, making life hard for all of us."
When had he ever treated her well? Aside from continually taking from her, ruthlessly breaking down her body, spirit, pride, and dignity, she couldn’t see what kindness he had shown her. Was this supposed to be what they called favor?
Was she supposed to be grateful to him for ruining her?
However, she had started to doubt Yelü Lie’s true identity. Earlier, she had seen real bandits—vicious, filthy, with brutish faces and lecherous, dull eyes. They were nothing like Yelü Lie, who had an innate aura of authority. Since Yelü was a powerful ruling clan in Liao, wasn’t his name quite prestigious?
From what little she knew, when the Khitans were still using the name “Khitans,” there were over twenty tribes, each ruling independently, with eight major tribes standing out in strength. To unify their military power, they elected a supreme leader, the khan, every three years, calling him the “Eight Tribes Leader.” Each tribe had its time of glory; known in Northern Wei, they grew powerful in Tang Dynasty and were nearly destroyed by An Lushan during the reign of the Yelü clan. The true rise to power began with Emperor Taizu of Liao, Yelü Abaoji, who united all tribes during his tenure as the Eight Tribes Leader, founded the Liao dynasty, and centralized the military and government, ending the triennial elections. From then on, the Liao dynasty was ruled by the Yelü clan.
The Liao dynasty's golden age began with the current generation. The ruler, Yelü Longxu, ascended the throne during the reign of Empress Dowager Xiao, who ruled as regent and appointed the capable Han Dejian as prime minister, and trusted him as the emperor's mentor. This allowed the twelve-year-old emperor to mature into a wise ruler, much to the chagrin of the Song dynasty.
And Yelü Lie, what was his status as the "young master"? Being the captive of a bandit leader was one thing, but being the woman of a Liao noble was quite another. With the two nations viewing each other as mortal enemies, she was nothing less than a traitorous slave. If he was a noble, he would be expected to father pureblooded heirs. If—if she bore him a child, what would become of that child? It wouldn’t be accepted by the Khitans, and in the Song dynasty, it would be a hated outcast.
Who was he? Was it possible that he was just a commoner?
The sound of hooves in the night was particularly clear—was he back?
The hoofbeats stopped outside the tent, and soon, he swept inside. She looked at him; his clothes were damp with sweat, clinging to his body. His eyes no longer held rage, but they were still cold.
“Come here!” He sat down in the chair by the table.
She walked barefoot to him and saw that his hands were embedded with tiny splinters, his palms streaked with blood, and his clothes stained with dust.
Naturally, she knelt on the carpet and carefully picked the splinters from his hands, then brought a basin of warm water to wash them.
Whenever there was no threatening or dangerous atmosphere, she would instinctively understand his needs from his gaze and quietly do things that she later found humiliating.
It was like a kind of enchantment! She didn’t understand why, but sometimes he could be gentle—when he looked at her quietly, when he combed her long hair with care, when he sat at his desk reading… In those moments, she would keenly sense an indescribable intimacy between them, something she couldn’t resist and would let herself fall into.
He suddenly pulled her onto his lap. She wanted to struggle—“Don’t move!” he murmured in her ear, holding her tightly. “Just stay still.”
She stopped moving, her face pressed against his chest, letting him hold her. She asked, “Who are you?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he asked, “Who do you want me to be?”
“You’re not a bandit, yet you act like one. How many women have you taken? What’s become of them now?”
He tilted her chin up and said firmly, “I’ve captured women, but I’ve never touched them! Some became camp prostitutes, others were married off, depending on whether they were guilty.”
“Then why are you treating me like this? What crime have I committed? What did I do to deserve this? If you judge a woman’s fate by her guilt, shouldn’t you be arranging my marriage?”
Here we go again! Every time he saw her for less than a minute, he wanted to strangle her!
“You have no right to demand anything from me!” he growled through gritted teeth.
“If you’re not a bandit, then I do! I wouldn’t ask a bandit for fairness, because a bandit has no humanity, killing and looting without reason! But you—you’re probably a powerful Khitan, aren’t you? The two nations are at odds, but the people are not at war. You can’t treat me as a war captive!”
“A commoner? A commoner carrying secret documents should have been killed long ago.”
She responded coldly, "Oh, so I am guilty then? That means I should be a camp prostitute, right? When will you throw me into the red tent, 'young master'?"
"When you learn how to serve a man! When you master all the seductive arts! When you understand how to use your body to please a man! Right now, you're stiff as a board, cold as a corpse—are you that eager to offer yourself to every man in the world?"
"Enough!" She raised her hand to strike him, but he caught it.
"You won't get another chance to hit me! You bring this humiliation upon yourself!"
"What exactly do you want from me, Yelü Lie?"
"I want you!" he growled, seizing her lips in a fierce kiss, silencing her before she could utter more words that would provoke his anger.
What did she want him to do? The last thing he wanted was to hurt her, yet after every argument, he found her hating him even more. If he could harden his heart to kill her, that would be one thing, but every time his rage subsided, he was relieved that he hadn't harmed her. She was still whole.
Only when he stirred her body's desires, when they were both naked and vulnerable, would she show any hint of shyness, would she heat up for him. After an inner struggle, she would surrender, time and time again. In those moments, she was as beautiful as a river in autumn, almost drowning him, and only then did he feel she was warm, alive!
He could see her loneliness, her despair, her longing for home. But he would not let her go, and he would never allow her to leave him.
For the rest of her life, she could only be by his side!
"You are mine! I want you to bear my children, do you hear me? You will bear my children!" he whispered relentlessly in her ear. "Qiluo..." His sighs echoed endlessly.
0 Comments