The Princess Is On Top (GL) - Chapter 12

Su Luoyang stayed here for only a few days before she had to return to Su Qian and report back.

Over these few days, she did not go see Xiao Le again. She was busy moving between the various tents, discussing the next stage of strategy with the generals. As for Qi Han, he seized every opening, clinging to her whenever he had the chance, leaving her somewhat exhausted. But for the sake of the overall situation, she had no choice but to deal with him.

On the day she left, a faint trace of expectation actually rose in her heart. Perhaps Xiao Le would come to see her off. But in the end, she was still disappointed.

“Commandery Princess, we should go,” Ah Zheng reminded her softly from behind.

Su Luoyang nodded. After bidding farewell to He Yan and the others, she immediately mounted her horse. A trace of melancholy stirred in her heart—she wondered what level Xiao Le would have grown to the next time they met.

On Xiao Le’s side, she was actually feeling very conflicted as well. While drilling troops that day, she kept losing focus, glancing now and then toward the camp gate, though she could not see anything from where she was. Liu Yu’s words from yesterday lingered in her heart and would not leave. She was not surprised that she had a special fondness for Su Luoyang; she only feared that she might trouble the other party.

After all, she was now a “man.” If she approached Su Luoyang like this, it would feel like deception. But at this point, no matter what, she could not possibly return to living as a woman. Besides, even if she confessed that she was a woman, in the modern world—whose thinking was far more open than this place—acceptance of such things was still very low, let alone among ancient people. And then there was the matter of status…

Why think so much? Nothing had even begun yet.

“Commandant Xiao! Commandant Xiao!…”

A messenger ran into the training ground, shouting from far away. He was panting so hard he could barely catch his breath. From the look of him, the matter was urgent.

“…The marshal… summons you urgently… Less than an hour after the Commandery Princess left, she was ambushed… Someone escaped by chance and returned to request reinforcements.”

The moment she heard that the Commandery Princess had been ambushed, Xiao Le did not wait for him to finish before hurrying out of the training ground. Du Fei and Xiao Kai exchanged a look, immediately understanding the situation. They quickly gave orders to stop the drills and ready the troops for deployment.

“Marshal!” Xiao Le lifted the tent flap and entered without waiting for someone to announce her. “The Commandery Princess has been ambushed. We cannot escape responsibility. The urgent matter now is to begin the rescue immediately.”

“This subordinate requests permission to go!”

He Yan’s expression was grave, his brows tightly furrowed. Clearly, he too was badly overwhelmed. “I called you here precisely because of this matter. This marshal has already ordered General Wu to lead one thousand light cavalry ahead to provide support. I do not feel at ease entrusting this matter to anyone else. I once heard the Commandery Princess say that the two of you had a good personal relationship. Immediately assemble your troops and set out. You must ensure the Commandery Princess’s safety.”

Su Luoyang said she had a good personal relationship with her?

Xiao Le had no time to carefully think over those words. After receiving the military order, she returned to camp, gathered her men, and rushed on horseback toward the place where the ambush had happened.

When Xiao Le arrived, what she saw was yellow earth dyed red with blood, as well as their own soldiers clearing away broken corpses. Some surviving soldiers were badly wounded and receiving treatment from the military physicians. Qi Han was among them.

“Commandant Xiao!” A man walked toward Xiao Le. He was one of Wu Qian’s subordinates.

“Commandant Song, where is General Wu? Where is the Commandery Princess?” Xiao Le did not dismount. Instead, she threw out a string of crucial questions, because she had not found Su Luoyang anywhere.

“I was just about to explain. The traitors planned this thoroughly. This ambush was aimed entirely at the Commandery Princess. According to Staff Officer Qi, the Commandery Princess was forced to flee with a small number of men into Sanfeng Mountain nearby. General Wu has already taken men inside to search…”

This was a small road that could not be called spacious. Presumably, the ambushers had been hidden on the mountain.

Since they had come prepared, there was no way they had no follow-up plan. It might be even more dangerous on the mountain. The moment Xiao Le thought of this, she could no longer remain calm. What was even more hateful was that aside from some minor injuries, Qi Han was basically unharmed, while Su Luoyang was missing.

“Hyah!”

Before he could finish, Xiao Le had already urged her horse toward the mountain.

Sanfeng Mountain itself was not large, but it was connected to Erfeng Mountain and Dafeng Mountain beside it. With that, the difficulty of searching increased greatly. Even if several thousand people were sent into the mountains, it would still be difficult to find one person there. Xiao Le made a swift decision and immediately ordered the troops to spread out and search.

“Ten people to a group. Split up and search separately. The moment you discover the Commandery Princess’s tracks, light smoke to send a signal.” In this era, there was a special kind of signal smoke. Once it was lit, as long as conditions allowed, it could be seen within a radius of ten li.

“Commandery Princess, this can’t go on. They have too many people and are pursuing us too closely. Besides, you’re injured,” Ah Zheng said worriedly as she pulled on the reins.

Su Luoyang’s shoulder had been struck by an arrow earlier, and there was no telling whether the arrowhead had been coated with poison. But she felt terrible now, as though she might fall from the horse at any moment. Even so, at this moment she could only grit her teeth and hold on. “It’s fine. Keep going.”

“This won’t work…” After thinking it over repeatedly, Ah Zheng ordered someone to help Su Luoyang down from the horse, then exchanged armor with her. Su Luoyang immediately understood what she meant. Ah Zheng wanted to draw away the pursuing soldiers so Su Luoyang would have a chance to escape. “Commandery Princess, if there is still a chance, please forgive Ah Zheng for the crime of offending her superior.”

Su Luoyang clutched the wound on her left shoulder and leaned against a tree, her lips pressed tightly together, her face frighteningly pale. “Ah Zheng, I forbid—” Ah Zheng had been rescued by Su Luoyang from human traffickers. She had followed Su Luoyang since the age of eight, and twelve years had passed since then. Although the two addressed each other as master and servant, Su Luoyang had never treated her as a servant. Ah Zheng did not like speaking, but her loyalty to Su Luoyang was absolutely real.

Ah Zheng ignored Su Luoyang’s “I forbid it.” She hid Su Luoyang away, then mounted Su Luoyang’s horse, dressed in Su Luoyang’s armor, and led the few remaining people onward in another direction. To let the pursuing soldiers see clearly that “Su Luoyang” was still with the group, she even deliberately waited a moment for them.

The figures of a woman and a man could be distinguished at a glance. On top of that, Ah Zheng wore Su Luoyang’s armor and rode her Wuyun Daixue. This made it even easier to mislead the pursuers. And indeed, the other side was deceived, chasing closely after them without letting up.

Only after everyone had left did Su Luoyang stagger out from her hiding place. She had to leave this place as soon as possible. Otherwise, once the other side discovered that Ah Zheng was an impostor, they would definitely turn back.

When Xiao Le found Ah Zheng, she was lying in a pile of dead bodies, covered in wounds and already at her last breath.

Ah Zheng half-opened her eyes and used all her remaining strength to raise her hand and point in one direction. “Save… the Commandery Princess…”

“Don’t worry, Miss Ah Zheng. I will bring the Commandery Princess back.” Xiao Le ordered people to hurry and send Ah Zheng down the mountain for treatment, while she herself led others in the direction Ah Zheng had pointed and continued searching.

There were more and more soldiers on the mountain, and the ambushers had also lost Su Luoyang’s trail, so they had no choice but to give up. Su Luoyang had been struck by an arrow and was badly wounded. They could only hope she would be found later—better yet, that she would die in some hidden corner.

Time passed second by second. Suddenly, a violent rainstorm began pouring from the sky. Xiao Le was so anxious she felt as though she were burning. She broke the ten-person groups apart again, scattering everyone to search individually.

Because of the heavy rain, she no longer rode her horse.

Strange. The direction Ah Zheng pointed to was clearly this way. Why couldn’t she find anyone? Xiao Le searched inch by inch. Without realizing it, she had already moved far away from the main force.

“Commandery Princess.”

Xiao Le pushed aside a cluster of bushes and saw Su Luoyang lying unconscious on the ground. Half an arrow shaft was still lodged in her left shoulder. From the look of it, Su Luoyang must have broken it off herself. Rainwater beat mercilessly against her face. Xiao Le’s heart ached terribly. She had clearly been so full of life before, but now she looked completely different. Xiao Le scooped her up in one motion and found a place beneath a protruding cliff to shelter from the storm.

“Commandery Princess, wake up.” Xiao Le gently patted both sides of her face.

As Su Luoyang had walked, her feet had grown heavier and heavier, and the trees before her eyes had begun to blur and overlap. Then she had lost consciousness, her entire body sinking into confusion. Suddenly, she seemed to hear someone speaking to her, and the voice sounded unusually familiar.

When Su Luoyang opened her eyes, she saw Xiao Le’s face full of worry. Xiao Le was soaked all over, as if she had just been fished out of water, looking utterly disheveled. “Xiao… Le…” She wanted to ask Xiao Le what had happened to her, but she found that her own voice was unusually hoarse. Immediately after, sensation returned to her body, and the pain in her shoulder reminded her of what had happened before.

Su Luoyang’s voice made Xiao Le feel that something was wrong. She reached out and checked Su Luoyang’s forehead. Sure enough.

“Commandery Princess, you have a fever.” Xiao Le’s expression was grave. Su Luoyang’s condition was extremely bad. Her forehead was so hot that even without a thermometer, Xiao Le could tell she had a high fever. If a high fever did not go down for a long time, it could very likely burn and damage a person’s brain nerves. There were countless such cases in modern times. And now, there was not a single dry spot on either of their bodies, which would only worsen the illness… There was also the arrow wound on her body. It had not been treated, and the wound had been soaked by rain for so long…

When it rains, it pours. This was terrible.

“Cough… cough… Commandant Xiao, don’t worry… I won’t die yet…” Su Luoyang slowly propped herself up and weakly leaned against the stone wall. Even in such a miserable state, her beauty still could not be hidden.

Xiao Le still preferred a healthy Su Luoyang.

“What is Commandant Xiao thinking about?” Su Luoyang asked weakly.

“I’m thinking I may have to offend the Commandery Princess a little.” Xiao Le pointed at the arrow lodged in her left shoulder.

Su Luoyang closed her eyes and smiled weakly. “It’s fine. Go ahead.”

Seeing her agree so readily, Xiao Le’s admiration for her grew another degree, though what she felt even more was heartache. Su Luoyang was so strong. Even injured, she refused to bow her head before anyone. If it were someone else… Xiao Le drew the dagger she carried with her and lightly cut open a small portion of the clothing around the arrowhead. What entered her sight was the faint outline of the woman’s collarbone. The arrowhead was completely buried in her fair skin, and there was no telling how deep it had pierced. The edges of the wound had already begun to turn pale, clearly because it had been soaked in rain for too long.

Xiao Le had learned battlefield first aid back in military academy, including how to handle gunshot wounds. But arrow wounds… they should be similar to bullets, right? Both involved removing a foreign object from the body. She had no time to think too much. She could only treat a dead horse as if it were still alive.

“Commandery Princess, this will hurt a little. Bear with it.” Su Luoyang did not answer. Xiao Le could not help glancing at her and saw that she was still quietly keeping her eyes closed, as though she had fallen asleep.

She was a beauty by nature, so why… did she have to suffer this kind of torment? She should have been someone held carefully in everyone’s hands.

Xiao Le sighed inwardly, picked up the dagger, and began to move. She could not pull it out directly. The arrowhead was embedded too deeply; if it broke inside, it would be even harder to deal with. She could only cut open the flesh first, then slowly remove the arrowhead.

Author’s Note:

Xiao Le: I am a wife-protecting maniac.