Chapter 145
The rumors in the army were absurd. Fortunately, as the soldiers went to work at the ice rink, the talk gradually died down.
The frozen Hun River was being transformed little by little when Liaozhou’s second blizzard arrived.
It came swiftly and fiercely, an exceptionally heavy storm confined to Liaozhou. Bitter winds whipped the snow through the air. Dense white clouds of it obscured roads and houses. Chickens and ducks kept in courtyards were driven indoors. Some thatched roof coverings put up to keep out the wind and cold were torn away and blown several li into the distance.
Anyone walking through such a storm who fell and lost consciousness could be buried under the thick snow, their body never found.
Yet even in these dreadful conditions, many soldiers struggled through the blizzard, patrolling Tianshui City, which had taken their army in.
Most local homes were wooden; only the slightly wealthier families could afford stone. Heavy snow could easily crush these houses. Although the court had distributed disaster relief funds for people to reinforce their homes, no one could say how effective the work had been, or whether the houses would collapse in the storm.
Heavy snow was common on the frontier, too. Whenever it snowed, Xie Shoujun sent a squad into the city to patrol, lest someone turn to crime out of hunger and cold, or be trapped under a collapsed house with no one to save them. In Tianshui City, he continued sending soldiers on patrol.
The soldiers neither resisted nor complained. They were used to it. Compared with fighting the Xiongnu in bloody battles, where the slightest mistake could cost them their lives, patrolling a city was hardly a burdensome task.
To the standing troops made up of former bandits, however, they were fools.
“Making yourselves suffer for no reason. Who patrols in snow like this?” The former bandits, brought in to stand ready if needed, sat around a coal stove with contempt on their faces. The soldiers returning through the storm to change shifts had ice crusted over their faces, soaking clothes, and legs and feet nearly numb and rigid with cold.
“They say they’re worried about people going out in the snow or houses collapsing. If you ask me, saving a handful of poor idiots isn’t worth putting yourself through all that,” another former bandit said disdainfully. “I still miss our free and easy days. Ever since joining these standing troops, I’ve been worked to death. Clearing snow, clearing more snow… It’s fucking boring!”
“Exactly. If it weren’t snowing so hard, I’d go back to being a bandit. Sweeping snow and cutting ice every day – my hands and feet are practically falling off. They’re really using us as slaves!”
One of them whistled at a soldier about to head out for the next patrol, offering some friendly advice. “Hey, brother, take it easy. Nobody’s watching you anyway. Just pretend to go out, then come back!”
The squad looked at the former bandits sitting beside the coal brazier, shook their heads without speaking, and continued outside.
“Hey, why are they all so damned stubborn?” the former bandit complained to the others. “Forget it. Leave them alone. If they like suffering, let them suffer!”
“Right. Why bother with them? As long as we don’t freeze!”
The former bandits exchanged smiles and kept warming themselves. But as they watched wave after wave of soldiers come back and head out again, a few unfamiliar feelings began stirring within them. Some soldiers had been struck in the leg by beams while rescuing people from collapsed houses. Even biting down on a stick, they couldn’t keep from crying out in pain as the army doctors treated them.
These soldiers seemed rather different from the local government troops they had fought before.
…
After three days, the blizzard finally ended.
The standing troops, who had finally managed to get a little rest, were dragged off their warm heated brick beds again. Cursing, they took up snow-clearing tools and halfheartedly swept the road to the Hun River ice rink. When the soldiers came to help, they grew even lazier, trailing behind them and making a few token sweeps to look as though they were working.
They were bandits by origin, after all, and not easy to discipline. Shen Yuan watched it all without comment.
These standing troops had been tricked into working by methods that weren’t entirely honest to begin with. After being worked so relentlessly, they were bound to cause trouble sooner or later. Shen Yuan had already prepared himself for it.
He had intended to train them gradually. But now that Xie Shoujun was here, leaving the matter to the Eldest Prince would be more appropriate.
Having handed command of the standing troops to the kindly Xie Shoujun, Shen Yuan went off at leisure to find Xie Chengze.
Xie Chengze was with Elder Gu. When Shen Yuan arrived, he saw him putting on a pair of shoes fitted with blades, then taking Su Qinghe’s hand to stand.
“Be careful, Your Highness.” Su Qinghe firmly supported Xie Chengze’s hand and waist. The blades on the soles were sharp and very thin; he was worried Xie Chengze would fall and hurt himself.
“It’s fine.” Xie Chengze flexed his ankles and found the skates quite stable. “We’ll try them at the ice rink in a little while. If they work well, we can make them in quantity.”
He sat back down on the wooden chair and was about to remove them when Su Qinghe crouched and began undoing the laces for him.
As Su Qinghe lowered himself, Xie Chengze saw Shen Yuan approaching behind him. “Oh? What brings you here, Lord Shen? Nothing to do today?” he teased.
“Mm. I dumped the work on someone else.” Shen Yuan approached unhurriedly, glanced at Su Qinghe on the floor, and raised a brow. “Where’s Wuji? Why not have him attend to you instead of making Young Master Su do such menial work?”
Su Qinghe was about to say he didn’t mind when someone lifted him by the back of his collar. Shen Yuan said calmly, “Young Master Su is delicate. Don’t bully him, Your Highness. Leave this sort of menial work to me from now on.”
Su Qinghe looked at him in bewilderment.
Was Big Brother Shen standing up for him? Why did something feel odd about this?
“Then do it.” Xie Chengze cheerfully raised his foot. “Don’t just talk.”
Shen Yuan arched a brow, lowered himself onto one knee, and copied Su Qinghe’s movements as he began undoing the skate’s laces.
Elder Gu glanced over and clicked his tongue in disdain. “Spoiled rotten.”
“You’re just jealous, Elder Gu.” Watching Shen Yuan take off the skates and pull his tall boots on for him, Xie Chengze looked utterly matter-of-fact. “Jealous that I have a friend to pamper me, and you don’t.”
Elder Gu, struck by that unexpected jab: …
So what if he didn’t have friends?! What had he ever done to deserve that?!
They packed up the skates and headed to the Hun River ice rink, where the soldiers had already cleared a patch of ice. Xie Chengze put the skates on again. Su Qinghe was about to help him stand when someone suddenly darted in front of him with their back turned, blocking the Second Prince entirely from view.
He looked up. Shen Yuan again.
Shen Yuan casually held out an arm. “Up you get. Let’s see what new trick you have in mind, Your Highness.”
Xie Chengze gave him a puzzled glance. Somehow, everything Shen Yuan said today seemed to have a barb in it, yet what he was doing looked perfectly normal.
Perhaps he was tired after these last few days and a little out of sorts. Fine. Xie Chengze would be generous and understanding.
He took off his outer fur coat, rested his hand on Shen Yuan’s arm, and stood.
It was time for his performance.