There's Something Wrong With My Little White Flower - Chapter 18

Chapter 18: Princess of a Weak Nation in a Peace Marriage X Barbarian General

Mid-July, Shaming Pass.

The air was so stifling that not a breath of wind could be felt. The rolling yellow sand absorbed the sun’s heat like a sizzling iron plate. The camels drooped their necks, moving slower and slower.

The guide, with a wrapped turban, looked up at the sky, a look of worry on his face.

Behind him was a long, winding camel train, laden with silk, tea, and heavy sacks of grain. Most conspicuous among them was a luxurious scented nanmu carriage, set with a dazzling gold dome, with red gauze drawn across the windows, obscuring the view inside.

A small soldier, sweating profusely, ran over from the other end of the procession: “General, the Xiji people are asking again: how much longer before we can move?”

In the shadows cast by the camel train, many soldiers lay scattered. Their armor had long been taken off, revealing thin cotton summer garments underneath, but even so, it couldn’t block the dryness of the intense heat. The leading General tossed aside his paijiu tiles, spit out sand from his mouth a few times, and cursed:

“I told you, are you a pig-head? Asking when we’re leaving in this heat? Even if we can take it, can the Princess… can she handle it?”

He jutted his chin toward the carriage behind him: “Go tell them that the Princess is indisposed and we will rest here for today. We will depart after the sun sets.”

The small soldier dared not disobey. He went toward the other end of the train with a bitter look. After a moment, a man wearing a Xiji robe approached.

“General Chengen…” He gave a chest salute to the General. “We heard the Princess is indisposed, so I came to inquire about her health.”

The General frowned, seemingly quite impatient: “The desert is scorching hot. The Princess has always been delicately raised like a golden branch and jade leaf. It’s inevitable that she is finding it difficult to adapt. If you don’t believe me, just ask her.”

As he spoke, he tapped on the carriage wall with his finger: “Your Highness, the Princess, what do you say?”

The gold and red carriage curtain hung quietly. After a long silence, a faint, delicate female voice said: “General Chengen is right… I… I am indeed a little tired.”

Hearing this, the General smirked at the envoy: “What did I tell you? It’s just that your Xiji is too remote. This desolate, miserable environment is truly terrible.”

The envoy listened to the contempt in his words without changing his expression. He only bowed again toward the carriage: “Since the Princess is unwell, we shall rest for a while. However, the wedding day is approaching fast. It would be best for the Princess to adapt to the environment here as soon as possible.”

With that, he turned and walked away without looking back.

The General waited until he was far away, then spat heavily on the ground, cursing: “Barbarians, daring to be so arrogant to us?”

The officer beside him said flatteringly: “They are all an uncivilized bunch of savages. Naturally, they cannot compare to us, the superior nation of the Jing Dynasty. If His Majesty had not been benevolent enough to bestow a Princess upon them for marriage, hmph, these barbarians…”

“Come on, come on, let’s play cards.” He smiled and pulled the General away. He suddenly remembered something halfway through: “But if the Princess is unwell, should we send a doctor to check on her?”

The General hooked a triumphant smile: “No need. Besides, whether she is unwell or not is up to us, isn’t it?”

He didn’t say it aloud, but the Princess was merely the daughter of an unloved concubine. If not for the continuous wars depleting the national treasury, how could these Xiji barbarians have been so lucky as to break through Qianshan Pass, forcing His Imperial Majesty to grant them this favor of a peace marriage?

What did a day sooner or later matter? They would return as soon as the marriage was delivered. As for this little Princess, she was on her own.

The sneering laughter gradually faded away. The soldiers, seeing their superior return, began a new round of card games with loud yells and shouts.

The weather grew hotter day by day, and the procession’s journey became longer and longer.

“We rush day and night, barely getting a proper meal, and yet you Xiji people keep urging us!”

“We are envoys of the superior nation! How dare you make such unreasonable demands?”

No matter how the Xiji envoy pleaded, the arrogant Jing Dynasty soldiers refused to move an inch.

“General Chengen,” the envoy suppressed his dissatisfaction and continued to negotiate with the General, “We should have reached Yumen Mountain three days ago. We are now days late. If this continues, I fear we will truly miss the wedding date.”

The General didn’t take it seriously. Perhaps the attitude of the Xiji people these days had restored his confidence: “I am not deliberately making things difficult for you. It’s truly too hot, and the Princess… she can’t travel either.”

The envoy’s brow furrowed so deeply it could squash a fly. He wanted to plead further, when he suddenly heard a rumbling sound.

It was truly a rumble, a heavy, thundering sound spreading from the other side of the sand dune. The yellow sand beneath their feet seemed to tremble slightly, like a beating heart.

As the sound grew closer, it could finally be distinguished as the pounding of horse hooves.

Dozens of Western Region warhorses galloped from the distance. Their manes were glossy and stunning, their long, well-muscled legs churned, kicking up billowing clouds of sand with every leap. The riders were all robust, their white clothes fluttering, like a sudden thunder on snow.

The envoy was astonished to see this company. His knees gave way, and he immediately knelt on the sand. The Xiji people behind him also quickly knelt down, trembling uncontrollably.

The Jing Dynasty soldiers, who didn’t understand what was happening, were simply dumbfounded to see the Xiji people suddenly drop to their knees.

The cavalry team finally approached. General Chengen could see that this was obviously a well-trained cavalry unit. The horses were of superior bloodline, with strong limbs. The most beautiful among them was a pure black steed, marked only by a snow-white stripe on its forehead. Its long neck was proudly arched, like an arrogant king.

Riding that horse was also a figure in white. The sunlight cast a silhouette behind her, making her features indistinct. The horse ran right up close before she gently reined in its head, dismounting with the swiftness of a swallow.

This was a young woman, about eighteen or nineteen years old, with a pair of clear, dark phoenix eyes and thin, elegant lips curved into a smile. The smile was extremely beautiful, compelling, and made it difficult to look away.

She didn’t even spare a glance for the kneeling Xiji people, saying coldly: “Where is Anjisa?”

The Xiji envoy raised a trembling hand: “General… I, I am here.”

“It was agreed that you would arrive at Yumen Mountain on the tenth of July. Why have you been delayed? Xiji military training dictates that soldiers must be punctual. Have you forgotten everything you were taught?”

Anjisa didn’t even dare to lift his head, lacking the courage to explain. He could only keep kowtowing.

Jiang Peifeng coldly looked up, her phoenix eyes sweeping over the faces of the people present. The Jing Dynasty soldiers, seeing the woman’s imposing presence, now felt a sense of awe and no one dared to meet her gaze.

“A bunch of pampered soldiers, no wonder the Jing Dynasty is losing battles year after year,” she turned away haughtily. “Has the Princess been delivered?”

General Chengen, seeing her so overbearing, stiffened his neck and asked: “Who are you?”

Jiang Peifeng ignored him, focusing on straightening out her own troops: “Delaying the auspicious time for the marriage procession is unacceptable. After we set up camp, go find the military law officer yourself and take twenty lashes. It’s about to get hot; hurry up and prepare to leave.”

“Hey, I said, you—!” General Chengen, seeing her ignore him, walked forward: “You are nothing but a woman, yet you dare to treat me… Put that sword down!”

A gleaming sword tip was pointed directly at his face. A sharp, aggressive aura made General Chengen’s breathing stop. He hadn’t expected her to turn hostile so quickly. He stammered nervously: “We are the marriage envoys!”

“I know,” Jiang Peifeng smiled. “That’s why I didn’t kill you, isn’t it?”

She deftly returned the sword to its sheath: “Now that you’ve delivered the person to me, you can go back. Xiji is scorching hot. If we have to accommodate your stamina, I fear the wedding won’t happen until autumn.”

General Chengen, having narrowly escaped death, was still unconvinced: “We received the imperial decree to escort the Princess into the Royal Capital.”

The smile on Jiang Peifeng’s lips widened: “Then can you keep up with my Snow Cavalry?”

As she spoke, her thumb slowly slid over the sheath. The dazzling gemstones on the golden sheath glittered, hurting General Chengen’s eyes.

He vaguely felt that the name “Snow Cavalry” sounded familiar, as if he had heard it somewhere, but his memory was blocked and he couldn’t recall it.

The Vice-officer cautiously looked at Jiang Peifeng and whispered a prompt: “White clothes, black horse, and a woman… General, she, she is General Peifeng!”

General Peifeng, the favored daughter of the Xiji Old Wolf King, and the leader of Xiji’s strongest cavalry regiment.

General Chengen involuntarily swallowed hard: “Gen… General, my apologies.”

Jiang Peifeng was indifferent: “Still want to follow me?”

General Chengen thought to himself, If I follow you, I might not get any credit, but I could end up in the Shrine of Loyalty. Thinking of this, he wiped his sweat: “Since you have come personally to receive the Princess, then we shall… bid you farewell.”

He turned around and called to his soldiers: “Pack your bags! We’re preparing to return!”

The bewildered soldiers thus handed over the marriage procession to the Xiji people. Jiang Peifeng stood at the front of the team with her arms crossed, watching them shove and hustle to pack their belongings, scrambling onto the camels. Not a single person remembered that they should say goodbye to the lonely Princess.

No wonder she’s the little white flower; this fate is truly something.

Thinking this, her smile widened unconsciously. After the Jing Dynasty soldiers had departed far away, Anjisa nervously came forward to request orders: “General, we are all ready. We can leave immediately!”

Jiang Peifeng looked deeply at him: “Leave for where? Don’t you see how high the sun is? The Princess is delicate. How can we treat her like this? Rest where you are. We’ll move after the sun sets.”

Anjisa looked at his superior, whose face had instantly changed, and was speechless. Jiang Peifeng ignored him, turning gracefully to walk toward the nanmu scented carriage.

Finally, I get to see you again.

She placed her fingers on the curtain and said gently: “I am Peifeng, the Xiji Royal Daughter. Little Princess, I have come to receive you.”

There was a long silence inside the carriage. Remembering the little white flower’s consistently gentle and timid nature, Jiang Peifeng smiled: “You don’t need to be afraid. With me to look after you all the way, you will be fine. I heard you were unwell during the journey. May I come in and check on you?”

Worrying about the little white flower’s frail constitution, and still receiving no response, she decided to support herself on the carriage shaft with her right hand and lifted the heavy gold and red curtain directly…

“Slap—”

Jiang Peifeng froze.

The Xiji soldiers waiting nearby to set up camp also froze.

Did their unrivaled female General just get slapped?

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