Chapter 5
After that public humiliation, Feng Jinwu allied herself with the Noble Consort and her son, swearing to fight me to the death.
I went to considerable trouble to find a superb blood-sweating horse. I intended to keep it at my residence and train it with care, then send it to the army to breed warhorses.
But the fine horse had barely arrived at my training ground before Feng Jinwu set her sights on it.
Standing on a viewing platform, she raised a hand and gave a piercing whistle.
The horse heard it and grew wildly agitated.
It broke free of its trainer, smashed through the rail, and galloped away.
In its headlong charge, it almost trampled pedestrians several times.
Feng Jinwu paid them no heed.
Only when the horse followed her whistle to her side did she calmly spring onto its back.
Taking the reins, she rode straight into the crown prince’s training ground and presented the horse she had ‘found’ to him as a favor.
When my pale-faced steward went to demand its return, she folded her arms in front of the crown prince. Before the great crowd of noble onlookers, she declared shamelessly,
“You say it belongs to Princess Xunzhen? Call it Princess Xunzhen’s horse and see whether it answers. I say it’s the crown prince’s horse!”
“Fine horses have always belonged to heroes. Tell your princess that getting there first doesn’t mean you get everything. His Highness is heaven’s chosen heir. Naturally, he deserves this one-of-a-kind blood-sweating horse.”
Pei Jie knew my temper.
He tried to lead the horse back and beg my pardon.
But Feng Jinwu planted herself in his way.
“Pei Jie, you may be mortal, but you’re still a man.”
“If I were you, I’d rather be broken jade than an intact tile. I would never slave for an ugly princess. When you wake in the middle of the night and see that face, doesn’t it give you nightmares?”
“If you really loved her, why would you make such desperate love to me? The truth is, you still love a beauty. You’ve only bowed to her power. And I’ll have all that too.”
She flicked her whip, lifted her chin, and turned away.
“I found this horse. I’ve given it to the crown prince. If she wants it back, tell her to come to me.”
And so the blood-sweating horse I had worked to obtain for breeding warhorses was detained in the Eastern Palace.
Blade in hand, I meant to fight my way through its gates.
But Pei Jie was already waiting beneath the corridor eaves.
A bundle of thorny branches was strapped to his back. Blood had almost soaked through his single layer of underclothes.
At the sight of me, he knelt.
“I beg Your Highness to be merciful. Jinwu… did save my life.”
The rain was heavy.
A pool of bloody water spread beneath his knees.
We faced each other for a long time in the downpour.
When he could barely hold himself up, I saw the old wound in his left shoulder.
I owed him for that.
In the end, I lowered my blade, put the horsewhip in a guard’s hand, and turned sharply away.
“This once. I owe you nothing now.”
A guard who betrayed his master received thirty lashes.
Pei Jie would receive the same.
That night, lash after lash left him drenched in blood. He passed out in the pouring rain and was carried back inside.
My maid was worried.
“I’m afraid this may turn your husband’s heart against you.”
I did not look up from the letter sent from the frontier.
“When have I ever asked for his heart?”
But putting away my blade did not end the matter.
My mother’s family had kept the Noble Consort in check for years. Now, thanks to a pheasant that had cultivated a human form, she finally knew the pleasure of seeing me thwarted.
For three days running, she held banquets for the phoenix immortal, flaunting her delight and triumph.
To wound me further, she even had the crown prince organize a horse race himself.
She meant to use my blood-sweating horse to break my ten-year undefeated record and humiliate me thoroughly.
A pity.
She had forgotten who had found that horse.
And no one else was allowed to touch what was mine.
At the racecourse, Wei Huaiyu confidently declared that he would settle which of us was the better rider.
Sure enough, Feng Jinwu used her whistle again to manipulate the spirited horse.
This time, I cracked my whip through the air.
The horse charging madly at me whinnied. With the crown prince on its back, it hurtled recklessly through barrier after barrier and slammed into Feng Jinwu on the viewing stand.
She was knocked off the platform and fell to the ground.
Her hair and ornaments were in disarray, her clothes torn, her head bleeding, her face deathly pale.
The horse reared, its hooves poised to trample her to pulp.
The guards drew their blades and sprang forward.
Just as the nearest spear was about to pierce the horse’s neck,
the trainer whistled. The horse drew back its hooves, wheeled, and hurled the crown prince off its back. He struck the ground and rolled several yards.
Then it galloped toward me.
As I crossed the finish line and claimed victory,
it rushed to my side and kept rubbing its head against me, full of grievance and affection.
The crown prince was bleeding from the head. Three of his ribs were broken.
Feng Jinwu, also covered in blood, lay barely breathing in Pei Jie’s arms.
The Noble Consort was beside herself with hatred.
“What punishment do you deserve for plotting against the crown prince?”
I met her gaze with a cold laugh.
“Taking what belongs to me doesn’t make it yours.”
“This is only the beginning.”