How Can I Yield to the Traitor! - Chapter 7

Qi Zhan took a deep breath and nudged the hall door open just a crack. Outside, shadows moved everywhere. Soldiers were busy hauling supplies, and no one seemed to be paying special attention to this secluded palace courtyard.

Seeing a gap in the activity, he grabbed Fu’an and, with heads lowered, they blended into the flowing crowd. They clung to the shadows of the walls, mimicking the hurried pace of the busy laborers as if they, too, were on a mission to move equipment.

His heart hammered against his chest like a drum. Every time they brushed past a patrolling soldier, Qi Zhan broke out in a cold sweat. We have to head for a remote side gate or a corner! The main gates will definitely be heavily guarded.

Relying on the routes he had memorized during his idle walks over the past few days, Qi Zhan wound through the complex, specifically choosing dim, deserted paths. At one point, they nearly ran into a squad of Xie Gebai’s personal guards who were assembling; the two scrambled behind a rockery and held their breath, not daring to move until the soldiers had marched away.

As they reached the deeper parts of the palace grounds, the guards grew sparser. Finally, they approached a side gate that was rarely used. It appeared to have been requisitioned as a supply route. There were soldiers on guard, but compared to other areas, the inspection was clearly laxer, with focus mostly on outgoing carriages and crates.

The chance!

Qi Zhan and Fu’an blended in behind a group of laborers pushing carts of junk, keeping their heads low and shrinking their presence. The gate guards were impatiently urging the people in front to move faster. Their eyes swept over the two dusty faces but didn’t linger.

One step, two steps… they were just about to pass through the archway…

“Halt!” A cold shout came from behind.

Qi Zhan froze, his blood turning to ice. Were they discovered? He didn’t dare look back, his hand quietly tightening around a silver hairpin he had snatched from the table earlier for defense.

Footsteps approached. A voice that sounded like a minor officer barked: “You two, what are you dawdling for! Get to the back and help load the carts!”

They had been mistaken for lazy laborers! Qi Zhan and Fu’an felt as if they’d been granted a divine reprieve. They mumbled a vague response and quickened their pace, practically stumbling out of the palace gates!

The cold night wind instantly filled their clothes, bringing with it an unprecedented scent of freedom. Behind them was the brightly lit, chaotic palace; before them was the dark, unknown wilderness and streets. They didn’t dare stop or even look back. They plunged into the deep night, running along the shadows of the walls until their lungs burned. Only when the noise of the palace had faded did they dare duck into a filthy alleyway, leaning against the damp walls to gasp for air.

“S-Sovereign, did we… did we make it out?” Fu’an’s voice trembled with disbelief.

Qi Zhan wiped the sweat and grime from his face. Looking at the blurred silhouette of the palace in the distance, his eyes sparkled with the light of survival and a newfound determination.

“We’re out,” he whispered, his voice broken by pants but carrying a grit born of heavy pressure. “The ‘Old Dog’ has run, Xie Gebai is retreating. Now, we have to find our own way to live.”

Dawn was breaking, and the deepest darkness was passing, but the chaos within the palace reached its peak. The rumble of carriages, the clip-clop of hooves, and the shouts of soldiers merged into a cacophony. The Linzi Palace was like a destroyed anthill busy and disordered.

Xie Gebai was fully armored, his black plates glinting coldly. He stood on the high platform before the palace gates, overseeing the final preparations for the army’s departure. His expression was as calm as water, but a deep exhaustion and irritability lay hidden in his eyes. The decision to retreat was correct, but it was still a failure a lingering regret that he hadn’t personally put his enemy to the sword.

A deputy hurried over. “General, all units are reorganized. We can depart at any time.”

Xie Gebai nodded slightly. His eyes swept across the brightening sky, and he thought of Qi Zhan. He asked casually, “The side hall… is everything settled there?”

The deputy blinked, clearly not immediately realizing why the General was suddenly concerned with a female dependent. He quickly said, “This subordinate will go inquire at once…” He signaled to a guard and gave low-voiced instructions.

The guard took the order and ran toward the hall where Qi Zhan had been staying. Xie Gebai withdrew his gaze, no longer paying attention, and continued to inspect the ranks below.

However, a few moments later, the guard returned with a panicked face. “General! The side hall is empty! The… the person is gone!”

“What?” Lu Xun, who was walking over, was the first to cry out in shock.

Xie Gebai snapped his head around. His sharp, cold eyes reflected clear astonishment, which was quickly replaced by a terrifying layer of frost. “Gone?”

His voice dropped low, carrying the pressure of an approaching storm. “When did they disappear? Where were the guards!”

The guard’s legs went weak with fear. “This subordinate does not know. There is no one in the hall. General Luo went to gather the vanguard last night. The remaining brothers said… they said it was chaotic last night and they saw no one come out. They thought she was resting inside…”

“Useless!” Xie Gebai barked. He said no more, striding directly toward the side hall, his black cloak snapping behind him. Everywhere he passed, the busy soldiers fell silent and scrambled out of his way, sensing the suffocating low pressure radiating from him.

Lu Xun followed quickly, his mind filled with suspicion. He actually ran? A mere woman, in this time of war and chaos where could she go?

Indeed, the side hall was empty. The bedding was messy, and while most of the expensive jewelry on the dressing table remained, a few inconspicuous pieces were missing. The wardrobe was open, and several beautiful silk dresses had been discarded on the floor.

Xie Gebai’s eyes swept every corner like a hawk, eventually settling on a small mud smudge by the window frame. He walked to the bed, reached under the pillow, and pulled out a dropped, simple silver hairpin not the type a palace consort would normally use, but something snatched up as a makeshift weapon.

Every sign pointed to one fact: this wasn’t a panicked flight, but a calculated, meticulously planned escape that exploited the chaos of the army’s departure!

She dared! She actually could!

Xie Gebai’s face was terrifyingly dark. He remembered those eyes in the dining hall seemingly submissive yet vivid with life. He remembered that slightly awkward but determined riding posture at the stables. All the minor inconsistencies he had ignored now flooded back like a tide, piecing together a completely different truth.

That woman was not the weak, helpless creature she pretended to be! She had been faking, deceiving him the whole time!

A surge of fury at being played erupted, nearly scorching his logic. He, Xie Gebai, who had conquered battlefields and read the hearts of men, had actually been blindsided by a woman! She wasn’t fearful; she was calculating. She wasn’t relying on him for survival; she was waiting for a chance to escape!

“General…” the deputy said, looking at Xie Gebai’s increasingly cold face with terror. “Perhaps she’s hiding in the palace? I will send men to search immediately…”

“Search?” Xie Gebai interrupted, his voice cold enough to drop ice shards. “Search for what? She’s long gone from the palace!”

He squeezed the silver hairpin in his hand until it dug painfully into his palm. After the anger came a deeper, almost shocking realization. She hadn’t just lied to him; she had successfully escaped right under his nose, using his own army’s withdrawal as her cover!

What did this mean? It meant she likely wasn’t a Chu Princess at all! Would a real princess of a fallen nation have such courage and cunning? And why would she need to plan such a desperate escape from her “own” General?

Her true identity was practically shouting at him. She must be a Qi Princess! Someone closely connected to the “Consort Chen” and privy to the inner secrets.

Xie Gebai closed his eyes and took a deep breath. When he opened them, a terrifying storm brewed in his pupils.

“Pass the order,” his voice returned to a cold calm, which was even more frightening than a roar. “The vanguard will depart as planned. Xie Lin, you take the troops and lead the way. Lu Xun, you stay behind to handle the aftermath. Take your personal guards with you.”

Lu Xun was dumbfounded. Wait, why is he staying behind? I need to go cause trouble on the road! “General?”

Xie Gebai stared out at the vast, unknown world beyond the palace gates. He said, word for word, “I must go see who that person really is! I will rejoin the army as quickly as possible. Everything else proceeds as planned.”

He wanted to see for himself just who this bold woman was the one who had played him for a fool!

Lu Xun: ??? Are you sick! She was a spy, it’s normal for her to run in the chaos, dammit!

Lu Xun had had enough. He didn’t want to play with someone who didn’t follow the script anymore. Besides, he really did need to return to the State of Yan. The Crown Prince of Yan wanted the Qi lands. Xie Gebai had finished the conquest; now the Yan iron cavalry could trample in. Qi was an empty shell; it couldn’t be left for Wei to pick up. As for Xie Gebai, he’d deal with him later.

“Understood.”

It could only be said that Qi Zhan’s disguise as a woman was too successful. The two men, in their guessing, never even considered that he might be a man.

But that disguise was fragile. If Xie Gebai had assigned an old maidservant to wait on him, the secret would have been out. These men had spent their lives in the army and rarely saw women but a woman would have known.

Furthermore, once they reached Chu lands, escape would have been impossible. Qi Zhan didn’t want to deal with that man, and according to the plot, it was time for Lu Xun to start his schemes. Staying near Xie Gebai was too dangerous.

Now, the land of Qi was like a prime piece of meat, eyed by wolves from all directions. In three days, the Wei army would arrive, followed by the Yan swallowing this dying land. Qi Zhan felt helpless. The people of Qi would become slaves or fugitives in the wilderness, just like the people of Chu before them. War was ravaging this land, turning them all into lambs for the slaughter.

At this moment, Qi Zhan was by a river. He had stripped off the filthy soldier’s clothes to wash his body and hair. Having escaped danger, he could no longer tolerate the stench. He was, by nature, a man with a bit of a cleanliness obsession.

He wasn’t afraid of Xie Gebai chasing him. At this time, if the General didn’t retreat, his own army wouldn’t be happy. They fought for glory and land, not to play house. To maximize political gain, Xie Gebai should have never marched this far; wouldn’t it have been better to just force the King of Qi into a treaty?

But Xie Gebai had been blinded by hatred, and with Lu Xun fanning the flames, he had destroyed Qi. The path of slaughter had made the Qi people hate him to the bone and placed him in a dilemma.

Qi Zhan had no solution. Right now, he didn’t even know where to run, let alone how to save others. He could only flee for now, before the Wei army swept in. This chaotic, warring world was truly exhausting.

The cool river water washed over his skin, rinsing away the layers of makeup, sweat, and the sticky residue of fear. It also washed away the sour stench of the stolen soldier’s clothes. Qi Zhan let out a long breath, feeling several pounds lighter. He scrubbed his long hair thoroughly, wishing he could wash away all the frustration and terror of playing “Consort Chen.”

Qi Zhan took a deep breath, submerged himself for a moment, and then snapped his head up. Water droplets rolled down his sharp, clean jawline. Stripped of the “lead makeup,” he revealed the clear, slightly angular, and handsome face of a young man. Though he was still eye-catchingly beautiful, the suppressed sharpness in his brow finally had room to breathe.

Fu’an kept a nervous watch nearby, clutching a set of coarse cloth clothes they had traded a piece of jewelry for from a fleeing refugee. He whispered urgently: “Sovereign, hurry, please. We shouldn’t stay here long.”