Chapter 5
Chen Wu worked quickly and without mercy.
Xu Zhaozhao’s attempt to kill him the moment she took the medicine had destroyed his last shred of trust in her.
Helping me was now his only choice.
In less than seven and a half minutes,
Chen Wu’s knife had left Xu Zhaozhao’s face a bloody mass of cuts and scars.
Except for her eyes, there was no way to recognize the woman she had been.
I put on Xu Zhaozhao’s armor.
We were already alike in build. Once I had disguised my face, even Chen Wu could not help saying, “You look just like her!”
Wearing her armor, I walked openly back to her tent. Then I used her general’s seal to do two things.
First, I promoted Chen Wu.
In an instant, he went from commanding a hundred men to serving as a captain. I also rewarded him with a hundred taels of gold.
I knew perfectly well that loyalty could only be forged through profit.
Second, I submitted a document to the officer in charge of assigning the camp prostitutes.
I would be taking the prostitute Song Yun back to the capital!
Unfortunately,
Something still went wrong on the journey home the following day—
My carriage had barely reached Ximen Pass when the guards stopped it.
“A moment, General Xu. Our governor would like to see you.”
I frowned.
“The governor?”
The guard said, “Didn’t you send up a signal flare this morning to ask him for help?”
I looked at Xu Zhaozhao, barely alive inside the carriage.
Ah.
So she had sent it up in secret.
Xu Zhaozhao finally opened her eyes too. Weak as she was, her words were defiant.
“You’re finished, Song Yun. Did you really think I’d disguise myself as a man and enter the army without taking any precautions?”
“Governor Li used to be one of my father’s advisers. Once he sees you, he’ll see straight through your disguise.”
“Then I’ll have your wrist and ankle tendons severed. I’ll let countless men torment you. I’ll make sure you die horribly!”
Then she raised her voice and shouted outside.
“Governor Li! Come and save me! Someone is impersonating the princess, impersonating the general! Save me!”
I clapped a hand over her mouth.
Too late.
Governor Li had already lifted the carriage curtain.
His gaze was hawklike as he stared at us and demanded coldly,
“Who’s making this commotion? Who is impersonating the princess?”
Xu Zhaozhao bit hard into my palm.
The pain made me let go.
At once, she shouted to Governor Li.
“It’s Song Yun, the camp prostitute! She’s impersonating me!”
“Have her dragged away and killed!”
Governor Li pressed his lips together and said nothing, apparently considering the matter.
When he failed to react, Xu Zhaozhao frowned in anger.
“Li Changzhi, you fool! Don’t you recognize me yet?”
“When my father nearly had you beaten to death, I begged him to spare you.”
“Have you forgotten?”
Governor Li’s pupils contracted.
Only the duke, the young princess, and a few others knew about that incident.
Looking at the filthy, disheveled woman before him, her face covered in scars, he could not help murmuring,
“You really are the princess?”
Xu Zhaozhao nodded at once. “Yes! I—”
He cut her off before she could finish.
“Good. As long as you’re the princess! Guards, bring the muting poison and pour it down her throat!”
Xu Zhaozhao froze.
She stared at him in disbelief.
“Li Changzhi, have you lost your mind? Do you know what you’re doing? Aren’t you supposed to rescue me?”
Governor Li laughed coldly.
“Rescue you? And then what? Let you go home and tell the Duke of Zhenguo that you were disfigured and defiled on my territory? Hah. I’ve no desire for another sentence of death by beating from your father!”
Xu Zhaozhao shuddered. “H-how do you know I was defiled…?”
Smiling, I spoke up. “Because I told him, of course.”