Unyielding Spring Mountains - Chapter 64: Embracing

The courtyard was covered in pure white snow. A girl in a red dress was helping the man in front of her slowly stand up. Snowflakes fell from the sky, sprinkling over their shoulders. Their bodies were soaked, looking utterly disheveled. The palace attendants around them couldn’t bear to watch any longer.

The Jin King’s expression finally softened as he said, “Take Qi Yan away and bring the princess inside.”

After speaking, the Jin King glanced at the person beside him, “What was Prime Minister Wei trying to say just now?”

Wei Yu cupped his hands and saluted, “It is still about our princess. During the banquet today, Your Majesty demanded that Wei provide a definite deadline for when a princess could be sent to Jin. I was thinking, would the end of this year be suitable?”

“The end of the year?” The Jin King seemed dissatisfied, but his attention wasn’t on that. He was only looking at the girl being led in from outside.

Wei Yu’s gaze followed, landing on Wei Zhen. He said, “Yes, the end of the year.”

Currently, the State of Wei had no princess to offer. How could they present one? Wei Yu was merely trying to buy time, to stall the Jin King for as long as possible.

During a break at the banquet today, a man named Zuo Ying approached Wei Yu and showed him a treasured jade pendant. Wei Yu recognized it at once as the very pendant the Wei King had left for the princess. He immediately asked Zuo Ying where he had obtained it and who the pendant’s owner was.

Under Wei Yu’s persistent questioning, Zuo Ying revealed the name “Wei Zhen.”

After learning what had transpired in the palace hall, Wei Yu hurried over.

He could never have anticipated that the princess, who had been missing for so many years, was not only still alive but had also become the marriage alliance princess sent by the State of Chu.

Wei Yu looked at the girl kneeling inside the hall and took a step closer to her. She kept her face lowered. The candlelight traced her delicate profile. She was beautiful, her brows and eyes rich and charming, a natural-born beauty.

When she lifted her head, her tearful eyes looked at him, and for a moment, his heart was struck. On that face, he saw traces of the Wei King and Queen.

It was truly her; there was no mistake.

She was his cousin, the princess of their State of Wei.

Wei Yu’s heart stalled for a moment, then began pounding even more intensely.

The girl bowed to the Jin King, her voice trembling as she said, “I know I am guilty, but General Qi has done a great service. I beg Your Majesty to spare the general.”

The Jin King looked coldly at the girl kneeling on the ground. “By saying this, are you determined to be with him?”

The girl knelt there, unmoving. The crabapple blossom hairpin in her hair was tilted, and the pearl pendant knocked against her cheek.

Her voice was soft but clear, “Yes.”

Behind the Jin King, Wei Yu frowned deeply upon hearing this.

The Jin King said, “Wei Zhen, you should be grateful that you still have some use to me. Otherwise, for deceiving the ruler, I would have executed you today.”

Wei Yu quickly spoke, “Your Majesty…”

The Jin King replied, “Why is Prime Minister Wei paying such special attention to the princess of Chu?”

Wei Yu smiled apologetically, “I only noticed the princess is injured. With the weather so cold and the ground covered in ice, wouldn’t it be better for Your Majesty to allow her to stand up first?”

The Jin King looked at Hong Shuo, who understood immediately, “I am here.”

“Take Wei Zhen to the side hall. Keep her confined and do not allow her to leave.”

Wei Zhen raised her head, her face pale and her lips drained of color, looking at him with pleading eyes.

The Jin King was unmoved and turned his back on her. Only when the person behind him had been dragged away and the great hall returned to silence did the Jin King turn back around.

At a glance, he saw a faint trace of blood on the ground. A palace servant walked out and knelt down, wiping away the blood with their sleeve.

The Jin King’s gaze flickered, but ultimately, he said nothing. When he spoke again, his voice was calm and devoid of any emotion, “Prime Minister Wei, let’s go inside to discuss matters.”

Wei Yu snapped back to his senses, “Very well.”

However, even though they spoke of discussing matters, Wei Yu’s mind remained fixated on Wei Zhen.

Wei Zhen was taken by Hong Shuo to a side hall behind the palace. As soon as they arrived, he ordered the palace maids to light the warm braziers inside the hall and instructed someone to summon a physician.

“The princess’s injuries are severe. A physician must treat and bandage them properly; otherwise, not only will scars remain, but it could cause ongoing issues in the future.”

But Wei Zhen didn’t listen at all. She walked from the inner hall to the entrance, her eyes searching in panic as she looked outside. “How is Qi Yan?”

Hong Shuo replied, “The general has also been taken back to his sleeping quarters. Princess, you should ease your mind and stop worrying about the general.”

Wei Zhen lifted her foot to head outside, but Hong Shuo reached out and blocked her way.

She struggled against him, her eyes shimmering with tears. “Eunuch, I know you have a kind heart. Just now, in the hall, you spoke up for me and the general. Please, let me go see him.”

Her thin eyelids were flushed red, and her clear, tear-filled eyes were misty. She looked like she had been frightened beyond measure, and Hong Shuo couldn’t help but feel pity for her.

Just then, the hall door was pushed open from the outside, and a physician walked in. Wei Zhen saw Liang Chan anxiously waiting at the door and quickly asked, “How is Qi Yan?”

Liang Chan trembled as she replied, “Princess, His Majesty’s men have taken the young general away and locked him in his sleeping quarters, not allowing anyone to treat him.”

Wei Zhen’s brows furrowed. “He has so many whip marks on him. How can he not be treated?”

Wei Zhen tried to break free from Hong Shuo’s hold. But as Hong Shuo’s strength gradually waned, he hurriedly called for the guards to come in.

He shook his head and advised, “Princess, please think this through. Your affair with the general has already angered His Majesty. If you insist on leaving this room, His Majesty may never forgive you.”

At that moment, Wei Zhen shoved him away.

Hong Shuo staggered and barely steadied himself by leaning against the table’s edge, watching the girl already running out.

Heavy snow was falling from the sky. The girl in a red dress ran forward, her luxurious robes sweeping the ground, fluttering in the wind. The golden hairpins and jade ornaments in her hair swayed and clinked against one another, producing crisp, clear sounds.

The snow was too heavy. She stumbled and fell to her knees but pushed herself back up. The hairpin in her hair slipped out and dropped to the ground, but she paid it no mind. Lifting her skirt, she started running again, her wounds on her back exposed to the bitter wind and icy snow.

Hong Shuo looked at the figure growing more distant, deep worry etched onto his aged face. The guard beside him asked whether they should chase after her. After a long silence, Hong Shuo sighed and said, “Forget it. Let the princess go.”

Tonight, the palace was still hosting a banquet, and many guests had not yet departed. They all saw the girl running wildly through the snow.

The hem of Wei Zhen’s dress rolled and twisted at her feet, the wind howling past her ears. A thin layer of frost had already formed on her eyelashes, and she couldn’t tell whether the moisture on her face was her own tears or melted snow.

The piercingly cold wind stung her eyes. She wiped away her tears with her hand, her legs nearly numb from the cold.

Meanwhile, inside Qi Yan’s sleeping quarters, there was no heater. The chill seeped into every corner of the hall.

Qi Yan was lying face down on the bed, his upper body bare, as Zuo Ying carefully tended to the wounds on his back.

As the medicinal powder was applied, Qi Yan felt a burning pain. Enduring it, he turned his head and asked, “How is she?”

Zuo Ying hesitated for a moment, then shook his head. “The king has locked the princess in her hall and does not allow her to leave.”

Qi Yan lowered his gaze and said softly, “Then that’s fine. As long as the king hasn’t harmed her, it means he’s sparing her.”

He paused, then suddenly tried to get up. Caught off guard, Zuo Ying accidentally spilled a large amount of medicinal powder on Qi Yan’s back.

Sweat covered Qi Yan’s forehead, his damp hair sticking to his skin. He said, “There’s no need to tend to my wounds for now. Zuo Ying, go and deliver a message for me. Tell her not to worry about me. I’m fine. She should stay put with the king and wait for a few days until his anger subsides.”

He stressed each word, “Tell her not to defy the king for my sake.”

Zuo Ying looked at him with a complicated expression, but Qi Yan had already said, “Go!”

But just as he finished speaking, the sound of approaching footsteps echoed from outside, followed by the crisp clang of guards’ spears hitting the ground.

“Princess, you cannot enter!”

The girl’s voice was weak, but it came through the window screens clearly into Qi Yan’s ears. “Let me in.”

Zuo Ying was stunned and turned to look at him. Qi Yan was already gone, striding toward the threshold.

Outside, the girl had pushed past the guards and rushed in from the courtyard, cutting through the thick snow mist as she ran toward him.

The guards tried to grab her, but their hands only brushed against a strand of her long hair.

She ran through the vast snow, and the moment she saw him, tears welled up in her bright, dark eyes.

She climbed the steps in just a few strides and threw herself into his arms, bringing with her a damp, icy chill.

Wei Zhen’s soaked hair fell against his chest, her wildly beating heart pounding against his. Her tears spilled into the hollow of his neck. Qi Yan tightened his grip around her waist, and at that moment, all the emotions he had been suppressing surged toward her.

In a gentle voice, he called, “Ah Zhen.”