After the Alluring Beauty Was Forced into a Political Marriage - Chapter 23

Shiqin Bari returned in triumph.

Grassland warfare did not rely on tactics or strategy like the Han people did; it relied on the strength of one’s fists. The young Shiqin Bari led a great host of Xia warriors, men who feared neither blood nor death, and utterly crushed the tribes that had dared to conspire against him.

Shiqin Bari personally severed the heads of the rebel kings. Grabbing the mastermind by the hair, he held the head high for all to see. Blood still pulsed from the jagged neck, staining the green grass at his feet a vivid crimson. As the biting wind whipped against his face, he wiped the blood from his lips and roared, “Do you see this? This is the fate of any who dare to betray this King!”

The scent of blood incited the Xia warriors to a frenzy while simultaneously demanding their submission. Every warrior laid down his weapons and knelt, forming a vast circle around their young Chanyu. This was the first war of Shiqin Bari’s reign, and he had fought it brilliantly and without hesitation. No one who witnessed his slaughter on the battlefield would ever dare to defy him again. He was truly the successor the old Chanyu had painstakingly raised.

The campaign was expected to take two months, but it was over in little more than one. Shiqin Bari led his army back to the Chanyu’s court, the joy of victory flowing through his veins like fine wine.

As they approached the court, he saw Saren galloping toward him from the distance. When she reached him, she pulled the reins sharply. Her horse reared with a long neigh, stopping directly in Shiqin Bari’s path. To block the Chanyu’s way was an act of extreme disrespect. Shiqin Bari’s face darkened, but before he could reprimand her, Saren nimbly dismounted and knelt before his horse’s hooves. “Great King!” she cried out in terror.

Suspicion rose in Shiqin Bari. “What is it?”

“A disaster has occurred!” Saren looked up, her face deathly pale. “The Khatun, something has happened to the Khatun!”

Shiqin Bari’s hand tightened on the reins, his heart skipping a beat. “What happened?”

Saren spoke urgently, “The Princess insists the Khatun is a spy. Right now, she is administering a public flogging in her tent!”

Horror struck Shiqin Bari. Although Saren did not explain the details, he could guess the gist of it. He assumed Shen Lianzhi had inadvertently provoked Su Rina, who had then unleashed all her old and new grudges upon him. But “spy” and “flogging,” this was too much!

He knew his sister’s methods all too well. If Shen Lianzhi had fallen into her hands, he might be picked clean until nothing but bone remained. He dared not delay, racing toward the Princess’s manor with a frozen expression. Saren mounted her horse and followed, explaining as they rode how Su Rina had caught Lianzhi communicating with the Great Zhou and branded him a traitor.

“The Princess read the letter and demanded he produce three others. When the Khatun could not, the Princess declared it proof of his deceit and tried to force a confession. When he would not speak, she,” Saren’s voice faltered.

“She what?”

“She ordered her men to whip the slave the Khatun brought from the Great Zhou to death! The Khatun, he threw himself over the servant to protect him, weeping and begging the Princess to stop. The Khatun confessed to being a spy just to save his servant’s life.” Saren’s voice trembled. “The Princess did not spare the servant, nor did he spare him. It looks as though she intends to whip them both to death!”

Shiqin Bari took a deep breath, his teeth clenched so hard the veins on his forehead throbbed. “A spy? Like hell he is a spy!”

Saren looked at him, and Shiqin Bari looked back. His emerald eyes had turned dark and murky, brewing a storm of complex emotions that Saren could not decipher.

They reached the Princess’s tent just as the body of the Xia merchant was tossed outside. With a dull thud, warm blood splattered onto Shiqin Bari’s boots. Saren noticed that when his gaze fell upon the man, his breath hitched for a moment as if he were paralyzed by shock. This was rare and strange; how could Shiqin Bari, who had killed countless men on the battlefield, be shaken by such a small amount of blood?

As they neared the tent, the noise from within grew louder. The whistling sound of the whip was enough to make one’s flesh ache. Surprisingly, there were no piercing cries from Lianzhi. Instead, there was the shouting of the Xia nobles.

Shiqin Bari’s pupils contracted. He lunged forward and tore open the tent flap. The scene inside nearly made Saren’s eyes pop out of her head. A crowd of Xia nobles was scurrying about like frightened rats, wailing in panic.

Shen Lianzhi, who had been weeping earlier, stood atop the table in front of Su Rina. His clothes were shredded and soaked in blood. He raised his hand and lashed a whip across Su Rina’s back. His hair was disheveled, and he was covered in filth from head to toe. Whether his pale face was flushed from exertion or stained with blood was unclear. Holding the whip, he spoke with a ghoulish ferocity, “This is for you.”

Shiqin Bari stood frozen, unable to take another step. He stared at his Khatun, who was almost unrecognizable. The shock he felt was beyond words. In his mind, the Khatun was weak, someone who only knew how to cry and would lose his spirit at the slightest fright. How could such a person hold a whip and, without a shred of hesitation, lash Su Rina, a woman even he treated with some measure of deference?

He could not imagine that this chaos, these panicked nobles, and his enraged sister were all caused by Lianzhi. How could this be his Khatun? On his way there, he had imagined his poor Khatun weeping, begging for mercy, and pleading for rescue. Now, reality stared him in the face.

It told him all his assumptions about Lianzhi were wrong. He was not a coward. He could hold a whip; he could fight back. Shiqin Bari’s heart hammered against his ribs more violently than when he had beheaded the rebel king. A surge of hot blood rushed to his head, making his scalp tingle. This heartbeat was not just from anger or shock; it was mixed with a strange exhilaration. It was like seeing a sheep sprout fangs, terrifying yet marvelous.

At that moment, Lianzhi turned his head. Across the chaotic tent, his eyes met Shiqin Bari’s. What kind of look was that? It was a mixture of extreme hatred, madness, and defiance, burning like a fierce fire. Yet, it was also desolate and sorrowful, like a dried up river. That one look nearly sucked out Shiqin Bari’s soul.

Shen Lianzhi smiled. Shiqin Bari had always thought he was alluring when he cried, but he had not realized that Lianzhi was also beautiful when he smiled. He said nothing. Looking utterly exhausted, he dropped the whip. The moment before he hit the ground, Shiqin Bari finally snapped out of his trance and rushed forward to catch the fainting Lianzhi.

Lianzhi was not heavy, but Shiqin Bari’s hands shook as he held him. On the short walk from the tent, he thought of many things, from their first meeting until now. He thought he had seen through Shen Lianzhi long ago, but he realized he did not understand him at all.

Xuri Gan opened the tent flap for him, and a cool breeze brushed his face. He looked out at the swaying green grass. The vast grassland looked like a verdant sea stretching to the horizon. Shiqin Bari had known that winter had passed and spring had arrived, but he had not noticed when the grass had grown so tall. Only today did he realize it.

Lianzhi was settled into the Royal Tent. The outburst in the Princess’s tent had exhausted his remaining strength. His injuries were far more severe than Xiao Anzi’s. Xiao Anzi had only taken two lashes, but Lianzhi had shielded him and taken countless blows. There was hardly a patch of unmarred skin on his back.

A Shaman doctor arrived, carrying a goatskin medicine bag, and knelt by Lianzhi’s couch. She spread the bag out, revealing a large piece of leather covered in ancient totems. Ignoring the herbs on the skin, the doctor reached for ritual tools and began chanting incantations.

Shiqin Bari stood by the bed, refusing to leave. Seeing the doctor wasting time with these superstitions, he grew angry. Without a trace of reverence, he snatched the ritual bone from her hand. “Stop this uselessness and apply the medicine to the Khatun!”

It was custom for Xia doctors to pray before treating a patient, but Shiqin Bari did not care for customs and could not wait. As the Chanyu, his word was law. The Shaman doctor could only curl her lip in dissatisfaction as she began crushing herbs and applying the juice to Lianzhi’s wounds.

Several servants stepped forward to help turn the Khatun and remove his clothes, but with the Chanyu standing over them like a vengeful deity, they were too nervous to work properly. Their fingers kept poking at his wounds. Shiqin Bari let out an annoyed hiss and drove them away. “I will do it myself!”

The servants stepped back and watched in astonishment as their usually ill-tempered Chanyu carefully gathered the Khatun into his arms to undress and turn him. They stole glances at each other, seeing the shock reflected in their companions’ eyes.

When the clothes were removed, the crisscrossing lashes on Lianzhi’s back were revealed. It was a gruesome sight. Shiqin Bari watched as the doctor applied the herbs. Although Lianzhi was unconscious, he had not entirely lost sensation; the medicine made him wince in pain. Shiqin Bari looked down at him and used his thumb to smooth the crease between his brows.

Lianzhi’s back was usually as smooth as jade and white as snow. Normally, Shiqin Bari would want to glue his eyes to it, but this time, he could not bear to look. He wondered what his timid Khatun had been thinking when he threw himself forward to take those lashes. He wondered about Shen Lianzhi. What kind of person were you, truly?

Lianzhi lay in bed for several days, and his external wounds began to look less horrific. However, before Shiqin Bari could breathe a sigh of relief, a new trouble began. Shen Lianzhi developed a fever and began coughing up blood periodically.

Shiqin Bari stayed by his side throughout these days, rarely leaving. Lianzhi’s condition often worsened at night, forcing Shiqin Bari to stay awake to tend to him until his eyes were bloodshot. Lianzhi had not yet fully regained consciousness; he lay weakly on the couch, and even when he opened his eyes, he was disoriented.

While Shiqin Bari was already agitated, another trial awaited him. One day, Xuri Gan entered the Royal Tent. After bowing, he said, “The Princess has sent me with a message. She says she has an important matter to discuss with the King.”

“Important matter? What important matter?” Shiqin Bari raised an eyebrow impatiently. “Is she just unhappy that she did not manage to kill the Khatun?”

Xuri Gan stood to the side, silent and with his head bowed. Shiqin Bari glanced at him and snapped, “Where is she? Lead the way!”

Where else could Su Rina be but in her own tent? With a grim expression, Shiqin Bari walked with Xuri Gan toward the Princess’s tent. No matter how reluctant he was, he knew Su Rina would not let this go.

On the day he had taken Shen Lianzhi away, Su Rina had been incandescent with rage. Even after he was far from her tent, he could hear her screaming that he was “absurd and foolish.” Now, after several days of silence, she was calling him to settle the score.

To Shiqin Bari’s surprise, as they neared the tent, the usually silent Xuri Gan spoke up. “Great King.”

“What?”

“Does the King also believe the Khatun is a Great Zhou spy?”

Shiqin Bari looked at him in disbelief. “What nonsense are you talking? If he were truly a spy, I would have whipped him to death myself. Why would I go to such lengths to have the Shaman heal him?”

Xuri Gan seemed to breathe a sigh of relief, though he did not look entirely at ease. His handsome face quickly became solemn again. “But as for the Princess,”

“I will settle things with her,” Shiqin Bari said.

“That may not be an easy task. The Khatun communicated with the Great Zhou without permission, which is against the rules of the Xia. If the Princess insists on pursuing it,”

Shiqin Bari interrupted him, “What are you trying to say?”

Xuri Gan paused before continuing, “The Khatun,” he sighed. “I ask for the King’s forgiveness. I took the liberty of reading the Khatun’s family letter. The words in it were truly sincere. Even I was moved by them.”

Shiqin Bari’s tone grew heavy as he realized the implication. “Xuri Gan, are you pleading for the Khatun?”

Years ago, Xuri Gan’s father had been the old Chanyu’s right-hand man. Following the tradition of sons succeeding their fathers, Xuri Gan had become Shiqin Bari’s trusted lieutenant. Shiqin Bari knew his subordinate was cold and loyal; he did not think Xuri Gan was the type to plead for anyone. He looked at him with newfound scrutiny. “Why?”

Xuri Gan lowered his head and did not answer. Shiqin Bari narrowed his eyes and watched him. Xuri Gan’s face was hard and resolute, like an impregnable mountain. Shiqin Bari let out a cold laugh, his eyes darkening. “You should know who he is.”

He took two steps forward and pressed his unsheathed Crescent Blade against Xuri Gan’s abdomen. Shiqin Bari used great force; even through the clothes and scabbard, Xuri Gan felt a dull ache. “If there is a next time, if I find your intentions are not pure, you know what I will do.”

Only then did Xuri Gan react. He looked up, placed a hand over his heart, and knelt. “Yes. I understand.”

Shiqin Bari did not look at him again. He strode into the tent and saw Su Rina sitting on high. Her hair was down, boldly exposing the whip wounds on her shoulders as she applied herbs to them. Her face was set, and she did not so much as flinch.

When Shiqin Bari saw her, he was the first to speak. “Eldest Sister.”

Su Rina looked up at him with a smirk. “After guarding him for so many days, you finally decided to come?”

Shiqin Bari did not take the bait. He walked forward and said in a deep voice, “I had to come eventually.”

“Why?” Su Rina sneered. “Have you come to hold me accountable?”

Shiqin Bari nodded firmly. “I have!”

The force of his response momentarily stunned Su Rina. It took her a moment to recover. “What did you say?”

“I want to ask you, how dare you lay hands on my Khatun? How dare you brand him a spy so easily? How dare you commit such an act of insubordination!”

Su Rina slammed the table and shouted, “Who do you think you are talking to?”

“Do you still have any respect for me as the Chanyu?” Shiqin Bari was not to be outdone. He took a deep breath and smiled wickedly. “That is right. I suppose you never had any respect for me, Sister!”

Su Rina’s eyelid twitched. She looked at him with cold mockery. “I expected you to go mad over that spy, but I did not think you could be this stupid!”

“He is not a spy,” Shiqin Bari said. “It was just a family letter. You read it.”

Su Rina was furious. “That one was, but what about the other three? Besides, he confessed to it himself! He said with his own mouth that he was a spy!”

“In that situation, he had to say it even if he was not,” Shiqin Bari said expressionlessly. “I believe him.”

Believe what? Even if he did not say it explicitly, she understood. He believed the other three letters were also family letters, and he believed Lianzhi was not a spy. Su Rina was nearly breathless with rage. “Utterly foolish.”

“The Khatun is innocent. I have told you many times. Last time, I thought you had listened.” He was referring to their meeting after the banquet incident. “You should not have touched him again.”

Su Rina gradually calmed down. Once the wave of rage had receded, she saw her own mistake. But she was so proud, and she had been lashed by the very man she loathed. How could she swallow this insult? She did not expect her useless brother to not only ask her to swallow it but to apologize to his Khatun as well.

“It was only a few letters; it is nothing. Since everyone says he broke the rules, I will change the rules for him. If he wants to communicate with his home country in the future, I will personally send an envoy to deliver them!”

Su Rina’s pupils dilated. “What are you saying? What are you saying?”

“The Khatun is still in bed, and his life is still uncertain. Even if you have a great grudge against him, this flogging should have settled it. When the Khatun wakes, I hope you will go to him and say a few kind words.”

Su Rina was almost too exhausted by his madness to respond. She stood in a daze for a long time before getting up, stepping onto the wooden table, and delivering a hard slap to Shiqin Bari’s face. The slap left his ears ringing. She pointed outside the tent and screamed, “Get out! Get out!”

And so, Shiqin Bari was kicked out of the Princess’s tent. Before he could catch his breath, the Shaman doctor came running and collapsed at his feet. “Great King! Great King! The Khatun is awake!”

“How is he awake? Is it like before, or,”

The doctor gasped, “He is awake! Truly awake! He is even asking for water.”

Shiqin Bari raced back, the doctor having to run to keep up. He burst into the Royal Tent without waiting for the servants and shouted urgently, “Shen Lianzhi!”

He looked around but saw no one. He turned to the doctor with displeasure. “I thought you said he was awake!”

The doctor pointed to the closed bed curtains. “He is awake.”

Shiqin Bari had assumed “awake” meant he was up and moving as usual. He did not expect Lianzhi to be huddled in bed like a sickly bird. When the curtains were pulled back, a cold draft blew in. Lianzhi curled up and let out a soft cough.

Shiqin Bari was both pained and angry. He turned back to the doctor. “You said he was awake! How is this different from before?”

The doctor opened her mouth but could find no words to defend herself. Shiqin Bari turned back to Shen Lianzhi. Just as he was about to speak, Lianzhi opened his eyes and glanced at him sideways.

The words died in Shiqin Bari’s throat, feeling like a cold stone he could neither spit out nor swallow. His mind went blank, and his heart pounded. “Shen, Shen Lianzhi.”

Lianzhi glanced at him again. Although he was awake, he was still feverish, and his face was flushed. His lips were as red as blood. Because he was cold, he was wrapped in furs, and he was drenched in sweat. The sweat matted the hair at his temples, clinging to his face like a tiny, winding black snake.

“You, you are awake.” Even though he had been by Lianzhi’s side every moment, he did not know what to say now that he was awake.

Shiqin Bari wanted to say something comforting, perhaps ask if he was in pain or how he felt. Instead, the words that came out were the opposite of his thoughts. “I told you! I told you to behave! I told you to stay away from my sister! You were looking for trouble by approaching her. You deserved to be hit!”

As soon as the first sentence left his mouth, he regretted it. But words are like spilled water; regret was useless. Lianzhi did not know the turmoil in his heart. His eyes widened slightly, and a flash of resentment appeared on his pale face. He had just woken up with a splitting headache and only wanted some peace. To see Shiqin Bari, who looked so much like Su Rina, was annoying enough, but to hear such infuriating words was too much!

Lianzhi turned away, refusing to give him another look. Shiqin Bari looked at his thin back and felt a strange sadness. But he did not want to show it, so he masked his loneliness with arrogance. He turned his anger on the doctor behind him. “How did you treat him? Why is the Khatun silent?”

The doctor wiped the sweat from her forehead and offered a helpless excuse. “The Khatun was flogged; he was likely terrified. His Qi is blocked, and his spirit is exhausted. That is why he is,”

“Lacking energy!” Shiqin Bari finished for her.

“Yes!” the doctor agreed. “Lacking energy!”

Shiqin Bari felt slightly better. Shen Lianzhi, who was fully conscious, let out a soft sneer and rolled his eyes while his back was turned. “Idiot,” he thought.

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