Fei Li sighed deeply into the silence. The sound echoed back against the cold, unforgiving stone beneath him. His hands had been bound tightly and he could feel the rope biting against his skin. But the cold of the storage room he had been haphazardly discarded in was still worse by far. Fei Li hated the cold.
He had been left with nothing but the pitch black darkness, silence and far too much time to contemplate where he had gone wrong. Had he been experiencing a moment of madness? Had he really never thought there was a possibility this would happen? He of course knew it was theoretically possible for Lu Qinyi to turn on him. The man had plenty of reasons to and far fewer reasons not to. Despite knowing, he had… simply believed Lu Qinyi wouldn’t.
Naive.
Had he not learned this lesson already?
Stupidity.
Fei Li looked at the darkness above him for answers as to why he had done something so foolish, trusting Lu Qinyi like that. He had walked himself straight to his own doom. But not a single answer came.
Lu Qinyi fiddled restlessly with the crudely carved wine cup in his hand. He couldn’t tell how time was passing in the depths of the caverns, but surely it had been a long time now. The rebels had been much more welcoming after his ‘present’, with Gao Yi dropping all suspicions to welcome him into their ranks and the others left with no choice but to follow his lead. There had been much merriment, chatter and ridiculous amounts of drinking in celebration of it. Lu Qinyi had been playing along, but even as he encouraged them to drink more and more, he himself had been faking every second sip. He’d given the illusion of drinking along with them but kept sober enough to keep his wits. Thankfully, Lu Qinyi’s constitution was good to begin with. He had watched the rebels gradually pass out in a drunken stupor, one after another, while he remained alert under the intoxicated appearance.
Besides the snores and grunts, it had been quiet for a while now.
Soon.
Time seemed to crawl by.
Finally, Lu Qinyi slowly rose from where he was sitting. He carefully pulled the corner of his robes free from where it had gotten wedged beneath a snoozing body. After making sure the man’s chest continued to rise and fall in the steady rhythm of sleep, Lu Qinyi picked his way through the bodies strewn across the floor. He held his breath as one person rolled and tossed his beefy arm over Lu Qinyi’s shoes. Lu Qinyi didn’t bother suppressing the look of mild disgust. After another loud snore, Lu Qinyi felt it was safe enough for him to shift one shoe free from its lecherous prison, then the other. He stepped over him, edging closer to the door. He reached it and cast one last glance over his shoulder, but not a single person stirred. He turned and continued down the long carved out passage.
…Now where the fuck did they put him?
The heavy wooden door groaned as it was pushed open and light flooded in. Even the dull glow cast from a light pearl was enough to sting Fei Li’s eyes, filling his vision with nothing but white. When he had finally adjusted and his vision slowly returned, he saw Lu Qinyi crouched before him. The glow of the light pearl casted upon the sharp edge of a dagger. His only thoughts were that perhaps Lu Qinyi had decided to end it at last so he could only stare stupidly as the other man wedged the point of the blade into the rope at his wrists and slashed it with a hard pull of his hand. The rope fell away and Lu Qinyi stood. However, Fei Li was slow to react. He didn’t move, staying frozen in place on the dirty floor. Lu Qinyi frowned at him. “Are you going to get up?”
Fei Li’s brows furrowed and again as he couldn’t understand what was happening. When Fei Li still didn’t move, Lu Qinyi frowned further and immediately crouched again, using his hand to pull away the loose fabric of Fei Li’s robe so he could inspect his legs. “Did they injure you or something? I told them to do that tomorrow and just drink tonight, and I thought they fell for it.” He prodded at Fei Li’s leg with the handle of the dagger, and Fei Li instinctively moved his leg away. Lu Qinyi seemed more confused but he frowned less. “Doesn’t seem broken.” He lifted his gaze to Fei Li’s face. “So what’s wrong with you then?”
Fei Li said nothing but something in his gaze must have betrayed him because Lu Qinyi suddenly seemed to understand. He scoffed at him. “Unbelievable. You really believed I’d sold you to them? I thought you were meant to be smart. Get up, we have to go before they wake up and see that I’m gone.”
Lu Qinyi’s unamused sneering finally broke Fei Li from the confused daze. He tried to get up but his limbs had gone numb from the long exposure to the cold and so he fell right back down. Just as he had been about to try again, Lu Qinyi grabbed his arm and hauled him to his feet. “What’s with you?” He asked with narrowed eyes but Fei Li lightly brushed off the hand still holding him.
“Nothing. I’m fine.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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Fei Li held onto the robe draped over his shoulders uncertainly, but finally he pulled it over his arms and took the dagger from Lu Qinyi. When he looked at it more closely, he realised it was his own that had been confiscated earlier when he was being tied up. He slipped it away out of sight before following Lu Qinyi, his movements easier as the stiffness slowly left his body and warmth seeped back in.
They began to make their way through the dark pathways of the hideout in silence.
“You didn’t sell me out.” Fei Li didn’t know if he meant it as a question or a statement.
Lu Qinyi pressed himself against a wall as he peered around the corner before them. He deemed it clear and continued walking. “No. I didn’t.”
Another bout of silence. They walked with the only sound being the faint echoing of their steps against the cold stone.
“Why?”
This time Lu Qinyi paused. He turned to face Fei Li, but his expression was hard to make out in the half-smothered glow from the pearl held in Lu Qinyi’s hand.
“I’m here to stop them from another war, not join it.”
“You said you kept them from injuring me.”
Lu Qinyi stiffened and swore under his breath, seeming to regret his slip of the tongue. He turned his back to Fei Li resolutely, or maybe as a cover while he scrambled for a reason, or an excuse. “So what? You think I want to carry your broken body out of here? I thought I told you not to hold me back. Why are you so chatty anyway? You never talk and now you’re suddenly full of things to say.”
Fei Li fell obediently silent after that, but he stayed closer this time as he followed Lu Qinyi through the twisting path.
Lu Qinyi’s steps slowed as the darkness gradually gave way to outside light that poured in from the gaping entrance, along with the indistinct sounds of chatter. Two men stood watch, much like when they had approached the area earlier that day. It would be best to take them both out immediately, but Lu Qinyi could only handle one at a time, especially bare handed… So he would need Fei Li to act with him. When he turned to try and find a way to signal to him, he found Fei Li was already creeping up behind the first one. Lu Qinyi had to move as quick as the silence allowed to catch up, barely making it into position in time when Fei Li struck out. Lu Qinyi tightly locked the man’s head in his arms, exerting enough strength to apply pressure. He held tight as his opponent struggled but quickly succumbed to unconsciousness after the blood flow was cut off. Lu Qinyi released him, letting the man’s body fall to the ground. When he looked over in Fei Li’s direction, he found him with his dagger out, slashing off a strip of his own robe. He made quick work of tying first his opponent’s mouth, then took off another strip to bind his hands behind him.
Even Lu Qinyi begrudgingly had to admit to being impressed with the speed Fei Li acted with. When the general looked up, Lu Qinyi held out a hand. Fei Li only had to think for a moment to know what Lu Qinyi meant and tossed the dagger in his direction. Lu Qinyi caught it and spun it around in his hand, cutting from the clothes of the unconscious slump at his feet. He had finished sealing his mouth and just began on the hands when he began to move again, consciousness slowly seeping back in. Lu Qinyi hurriedly used his knee in the man’s back and wound the fabric tighter around his hands before his captive could truly begin to struggle. Fei Li was at his side to help him and with a hard pull of the strip of fabric, both guards were bound tightly.
After dragging the writhing bodies to be dumped in a ditch behind some trees, the two men headed towards the designated meeting place. But just before they arrived, Lu Qinyi pulled Fei Li to a stop.
“What?”
“My robe. There are enough rumours about us as it is.”
Fei Li had gotten so used to the warmth that he had pretty much forgotten he was wearing it. He hurriedly gave it back to Lu Qinyi, who managed to get it on just in time as half a second later, Xi Ming had found them. Xi Ming rushed to greet them as they walked over, but before he could, Zhao Mei cut him off.
“Well?” Zhao Mei asked expectantly as she stood, ready for her instructions.
Fei Li didn’t know what to say, but Lu Qinyi didn’t even hesitate.
“I asked around the subject a bit but they were completely resistant to the thought of giving up the rebellion. They were convinced they could win, even when I pointed out how little chance they stood. They just tried to convince me to lead them no matter what I said. It was pointless trying to talk with them, so you’re free to bring them down. Alive.” He took a stick and drew in the dirt at their feet. “There are two points of entry and exit, one here and another here.” He poked at two openings in the basic map he had drawn. “There are many adjoining tunnels and paths inside, I couldn’t explore them all but I’ve drawn all the ones I did.”
Zhao Mei contemplated the map. “Do we have materials we can burn? Wood would work best if we wet it, and some green plants.”
“You want to smoke them out?” Fei Li asked as he inspected the dirt map.
Zhao Mei nodded. “Yes.”
Lu Qinyi hummed approvingly. “Like rats. That’s rather fitting actually.”
“We should be able to gather wood from around here quickly, should we act now? The sun will be rising soon.” Xi Ming asked, looking to Fei Li for guidance. When Fei Li nodded, he immediately sprinted off. Zhao Mei crouched and took Lu Qinyi’s stick to draw some things on the map only she would understand. She was likely running through possible ways the scene could play out and making counter plans if Lu Qinyi had to guess. She then got up and swiftly left to catch up with Xi Ming.
Fei Li had moved to follow them, but he was stopped before he could. Fei Li looked first at Lu Qinyi’s hand that had firmly caught his sleeve, then at the man himself. Lu Qinyi returned his look stubbornly.
“I want noodles.” Lu Qinyi declared, much to Fei Li’s obvious confusion.
“…Okay?”
“I want you to get me noodles.”
“…Alright. There is a town that isn’t far from here, later we can-”
“No. I want them now.”
Fei Li’s mouth fell agape, staring at him in disbelief but Lu Qinyi showed no signs of joking. “We are about to launch an attack, and you want to go get noodles?”
Lu Qinyi raised his chin. “Yes. I thought you said your men were competent. Then let Mei Mei and Xi-whatever-his-name-is handle it. There is no need for us to be involved.” He insistently pulled at Fei Li’s sleeve, forcing the other to take a step to keep his balance. He then pulled it again, forcing yet another step.
Fei Li could hardly believe it, but when he tried to open his mouth to argue, Lu Qinyi pulled at his sleeve even harder. Fei Li stumbled for his balance. “This is ridiculous!”
“This is nothing. I can do far worse. Noodles or else.”
“No, I’m not-” Another hard pull interrupted him mid-sentence, like Lu Qinyi was going to drag him there unless Fei Li acquiesced. Fei Li tried to pull his sleeve back but Lu Qinyi had an iron grip. The fabric was sooner going to tear than be freed from it. Fei Li’s lips twitched and he pressed at his temple. He looked at the rising sun, then in the direction Xi Ming and Zhao Mei had left in.
He sighed deeply and when Lu Qinyi pulled next, he simply let himself follow it.
Author’s Notes:
“Give me noodles or give me death!” – Rae, 2023
I may or may not once more be sitting in my lecture room editing and uploading a chapter before my class starts.
Who guessed it was a bait last chapter? You get a cookie 🍪
LQ wouldn’t actually betray FL, he needs him for his noodle supply c; Anyway, I’ve been spending a lot of time mapping out everything from now until the end of the novel and fitting in all the final pieces and scenes, and its finally all starting to fall in place. Its going to be an interesting journey, and I’m very excited to continue sharing it and seeing everyone’s thoughts as it unfolds!
Thanks for reading and have a lovely week all!
Ooh, Lu Qinyi. Saying too much, not giving eye contact, changing the subject. You were deeeefinitely not shaken by the question. I thought you were supposed to be smooth?? 😂
Haha, yes exactly. He’s not slick, were onto him. He doesn’t want to admit that he doesn’t hate FL as much as he should 😉
Thanks for the chapter! For some reason, I thought a lot of the scenes were rather funny; maybe it’s the writing style or visualising the scene in my head, but it made me laugh. Hopefully there was the intention to make the chapter light hearted? 😅
Good!! That was exactly my hope. I set up a bait and switch, making it look like a serious chapter but then made it light-hearted and silly. We’ll have more angst soon, so its good to have some more fun first. I’m very glad that it made you laugh! I couldn’t stop giggling when I wrote it 🤭
always love coming back to this, another really great chapter!
Always happy to welcome you back! I’m glad you enjoyed it!!
Anyone know the schedule for this? I’d like to bribe someone with a coffee for a new chapter.
Hi! Author here! Lucky for you, the next chapter goes out today!
I’m writing these chapters and upload them a few days after I finish writing them. At the moment, thats about once a month. I hope to write and upload more since soon since its my goal to complete this series by the end of the year.
Thank you for enjoying and supporting the series 💕I’ll do my best to get them out quickly (I do accept chocolate bribes however)
Haha. Chocolate bribe sounds good too. Let me know how to send over. Nothing beats a little bit of sweet encouragement now and then. Thanks for the new chapter! ❤️
Thank you very much! I will accept it here in my virtual mailbox 📪 Shipping to Australia is too expensive, virtual is much cheaper!
You’re very welcome, thank you for reading and enjoying! It makes it so much more fun to write
You should totally create a Kofi account.
You’re very sweet, thank you. I prefer it go towards other hard working authors and translators, but its really sweet that you want to support me, it means a lot to me.
❤️