Reign of the Phoenix

Chapter 54 – Princess Fengyi’s Fury
Chiyun Yuexuan once again took Murong Zhining and return to the main road after easily luring Gao Chenghao and his troops down the small path. While Gao Chenghao was wasting time studying the traps, he and Murong Zhining had been hiding in the trees nearby. And as Gao Chenghao followed further down the small path, he brought Murong Zhining out the opposite direction.

Flash galloped like the wind as it carried the two along the main road, the horse carrying their belongings followed closely behind. Chiyun Yuexuan was well aware of how vicious and cunning of a character Gao Chenghao was. He felt an urgent need to take Murong Zhining to a safe place.

On the road, Chiyun Yuexuan recalled the look of delight in Murong Zhining’s eyes when he had returned to her. He quietly tightened his embrace. He knew the delight came from her heart. It was always the most honest reaction that came out when a person was in a panic.

The thought of Murong Zhining worrying about him was like honey to his heart – it tasted sweet. He looked forward to the effect of his gentle advances in the future to come.

At the sky gradually darkened, instead of finding an inn as usual, Chiyun Yuexuan chose to enter a small path.

He picked a riverside field with a broad range of view as their resting place for tonight. In a terrain like this, he could guarantee to bring Murong Zhining and escape quickly even under a converging attack.

The field had just been through a harvest, there were piles of soft straw lying everywhere. Chiyun Yuexuan lifted Murong Zhining off the horse, then spread a thick layer of straw over a big area. “Princess, I have to do you wrong and ask you to bear with this wild place for a night.”

Murong Zhining pouted. “Is there a day that you don’t do wrong by me? Oh heavens, how harsh is this life of mine.”

Chiyun Yuexuan gazed intently at Murong Zhining with those charming eyes of his. “As for me, so long as you’re by my side, even hardships are the blessings of heaven.”

When two sat on the straw eating dried rations, Chiyun Yuexuan spotted a peach orchard not far away. The trees were full of peaches, ripe for the picking. He ran to the orchard and plucked several red and big ones, then placed a piece of silver on a tree fork. After washing the peaches in the river, Chiyun Yuexuan presented them to Murong Zhining with an ingratiating smile.

Murong Zhining pursed her lips with a reserved expression. “I don’t eat stolen things.”

Chiyun Yuexuan laughed out loud. He squeezed her chin with one hand and stuffed a peach into her mouth. “Just eat. Special circumstances call for special treatment. During marches and battles, I would occasionally borrow food from the farmers’ fields, always leaving them some silver after that. I know it’s not easy for the farmers to grow these crops and their entire families rely on the harvest. I’m not a bandit.”

Murong Zhining flushed red. “Mhm… I have blamed you wrongly.” Her eyes looking at Chiyun Yuexuan lacked a little of the chill from before.

Chiyun Yuexuan handed the waterskin to Murong Zhining in a fawning fashion. “My wife, please drink first.”

Murong Zhining glared at him. “What wife? Are you flouting this princess?!”

Chiyun Yuexuan smiled obsequiously, “There are many mouths on the road it’s inconvenient for our trip. It’ll bring unnecessary trouble if we keep addressing each other as princess and general. From now on, I’ll call you ‘wife’ and you’ll call me ‘husband.’”

Murong Zhining snatched the waterskin from his hand. “In your dreams!”

Chiyun Yuexuan put an arm around her. “That’s right, I’ll keep dreaming. After we return to Huayan, I will ask the retired emperor to decree our marriage.”

Murong Zhining broke away from his arm and deliberately humiliated him, “Should I thank General Chiyun for his kindness now, hmm? Have you finally decided to show me some mercy and take me in as your concubine?”

Chiyun Yuexuan covered his face with his hands and shyly buried his head on her shoulder. “Princess is the biggest. I’m willing to be your little concubine, please take me in.”

Murong Zhining spat in disdain, “Do you still have any shame left?!”

As the sky grew darker and darker, the half moon rose and the stars twinkled brightly.

Chiyun Yuexuan let himself fall back on the haystack, pulling Murong Zhining down with him while at it. He took out a cloak and tenderly draped it over her.

Pressing her head to his chest, he gently stroked her hair. “Never thought that on our way home, I can accompany my wife to watch the stars. I’m so happy just thinking about it.”

Murong Zhining pushed him. “Go away, I want to take a bath.”

Chiyun Yuexuan was very cooperative to turn his back to her. “A husband doesn’t dislike his wife’s stink. Aren’t you afraid I will sneak a peek?”

“You dare?!”

“I dare what? Dare to dislike your stink, or dare to peep?”

“Both are forbidden!”

“See, so you admit you’re my wife.”

Don!

That was Murong Zhining picking up a stone and throwing it at his back.

Taking a stone to his back, Chiyun Yuexuan still obediently lay on his side. Under his calm appearance, his heart was pounding as though it wanted to jump out of his body. His face burned as the blood in his body surged like mad.

Chiyun Yuexuan really, really wanted to turn his head and sneak a glance at Murong Zhining. He was full of curiosity that put him under an irresistible temptation of her body. But, the more he liked her, the smaller his gut got. He often despised himself for his own dirty fantasies. In his mind, Murong Zhining was sacred and inviolable.

In all actuality, Chiyun Yuexuan was only a newbie in love. After all those years, his head was full of “Little Tabby,” and he had fought against Yan Feng’s decree to appoint him a marriage over and over again. In the past few years when he had guarded the border pass, while the other soldiers passed their nights drinking and playing with women, he was the only one to either play the qin by himself or read books. Never for one day did he dare forget the Little Tabby whose face he couldn’t even see clearly under the black smear.

Chiyun Yuexuan felt both bitter and sweet at the same time. He didn’t know how long it would take to heal the damage he had done to her body and soul. His heart traveled between expectation and uncertainty while looking forward for that day to come.

Soaking herself in the waist-deep river, Murong Zhining softly rubbed her beautiful smooth skin while often staring at Chiyun Yuexuan’s figure, ready to deal with his foul play at any moment. Fortunately, the guy only lay there quietly on his side.

Countless thoughts spun in her head. She was taken aback by how Chiyun Yuexuan suddenly changed into a completely different person. He treated her with consideration and care all the time, as if the ruthless and cruel him never existed at all. Murong Zhining found herself unable to adapt to his changes.

Her thoughts began to wander off. Did he treat her so well because she was his “Little Tabby”? Or because she was now a noble princess of Shangxia? Or, just because of his Grand General’s dignity?

At this point, Murong Zhining’s heart seemed to have many unsolved knots, and this very fact in itself scared her. She didn’t know why she would even worry herself about such problems.

Murong Zhining’s panic and fear came from her own inconfidence, or to be more exact, her distrust for Chiyun Yuexuan. After all, what he had done to her in the past was all destructive.

An inexplicable fury suddenly arose in her heart. Murong Zhining glared at the elegant figure lying on his side. Under the moonlight, his back appeared so innocent and pure. It was without any impetuosity, not a trace of inappropriate thoughts, as if the man was a saint who never made mistakes.

Murong Zhining returned to the haystack after finishing her bath. Chiyun Yuexuan turned around, looking at her with clear and tender eyes.

“You have finished? Then it’s my turn. You’re not allowed to peek, my wife.”

He was completely unaware that the angry Murong Zhining was trying to give him the cold shoulder.

As her eyes wandered to Chiyun Yuexuan who was bathing in the river, Murong Zhining sulkily stared at his bare upper body. Recalling the humiliation she had suffered, Murong Zhining wanted badly to humiliate him back, big time.

Chiyun Yuexuan could sense her downright provocative eyes on him. He tilted his head to glance at her. “What’s wrong, my wife? If you can’t see clearly yet, you can move forward and get a closer look.”

Murong Zhining had never been braver in front of a man.

She walked toward Chiyun Yuexuan with a pair of almond eyes full of contempt. Chin up, she looked down at Chiyun Yuexuan like a noble, mighty queen looking down at her slave. “Turn around. This princess wants to see your back.”

In front of such a domineering Murong Zhining, Chiyun Yuexuan was tense for a moment, but his fear was masked by the veil of darkness.

Murong Zhining’s cold, condescending eyes rested on his back. On his right shoulder, there was a scar from when she had stabbed him with a hairpin. Next to the scar was a faint tattoo. Murong Zhining couldn’t make out what it was. “What’s that tattoo on your back?”

Chiyun Yuexuan half turned his head. “Take one step closer, my wife, and you’ll see it clearly.”

Murong Zhining entered the river and approached him. The tattoo was finally clear under the moonlight. It was in the shape of a seal with the word “Murong.”

Her calming fury was set ablaze once more. She was reminded of the stigma that he had left on her back.

However, that brand was no longer there anyway.

In an imperious manner, Murong Zhining deliberately insulted him, “Getting yourself a shabby tattoo, do you want to be my slave or something?”

Chiyun Yuexuan’s voice was laced with guilt and pain. “As long as you’re happy, I’m willing to do anything.”

At those words, Murong Zhining’s fury instantly erupted. “This is not like you, Grand General Chiyun. You used to be so high and mighty and treated me like an animal. You ruthlessly trampled on my dignity and savaged my body. It’s been only a short time, yet you act like none of that has happened and ask me to accept you?”

Chiyun Yuexuan remained silent. He knew he had no right to defend himself to her. Murong Zhining angrily strode behind him and pulled off the cloth around his waist, then arrogantly returned to the shore. In the moonlight, her desolate and distant figure looked out of touch with the mundane world.

After cleaning himself, Chiyun Yuexuan lay down behind Murong Zhining, quietly gazing at her back with a tormented heart. He had never once directly faced her anguish, and she had never shown her weakness in front of him. He had taken too lightly the damage he’d done to her.

For a split second there Chiyun Yuexuan considered letting her go. But after much internal struggle, he made up his mind to persevere with tenderness to melt the ice in her heart.

Like he usually did, Chiyun Yuexuan gently embraced her from behind. Suddenly, Murong Zhining turned around to face him. Her bone-chilling eyes clashed with his burning, gentle ones. Like ice and fire, like night and day, they collided and entwined, but they did not merge.

……

Gao Chenghao led his underlings to pursue down the small path for a day and a night. The group was exhausted, but Chiyun Yuexuan and Murong Zhining were still nowhere to be seen. Only now did Gao Chenghao realize that he had been played by Chiyun Yuexuan, again. By leading them astray on a useless road, Chiyun Yuexuan deprived them of the best opportunity to track him down.

The raging fire in Gao Chenghao’s heart was impossible to extinguish. He secretly vowed to make Chiyun Yuexuan pay back a hundred times the price.

Knowing that a blind pursuit would only lead him further away from the target, Gao Chenghao ordered his troops to camp on the spot for rest. He needed to calm down and analyze the situation in order to work out the next plan of action. In the face of a powerful opponent like Chiyun Yuexuan, he was both thrilled and afraid.

Gao Chenghao thought more than twice before finally deciding to split his troops into two. Leaving a small group to search down the small path, he led the rest at an extremely quick speed to intercept at the next official pass. Assuming that Chiyun Yuexuan had no advantage in speed when bringing Murong Zhining, Gao Chenghao planned to arrive at the pass before them and weave a net.