Black Mourning Robes
Thud-thud-thud!
Had I waited about half a shichen—roughly an hour? From afar came the hurried sound of grass being kicked aside. A woman of small build came running frantically, constantly glancing back over her shoulder.
It was Xiahou Yuan.
"What the hell? Don't tell me you stayed here waiting for me this whole time instead of leaving?"
Xiahou Yuan said the moment she saw me, looking thoroughly fed up. Just where had Xu Rong locked her up that she knew nothing of the outside world?
"Are you an idiot? You don't even know what happened these past few days?"
"What happened? Come to think of it, isn't it about time Mengde showed up?"
"He already came and went. Got his ass thoroughly kicked like a dog and barely escaped with his life."
"Hey! What the hell did you do? You think I let you go so you could pull this crap?"
Xiahou Yuan got angry, as if wondering what kind of guy I was. How on earth was I supposed to explain this from the beginning?
"That was the best I could do. In exchange, I got you back, didn't I?"
"Got me back? What are you talking about? I escaped on my own when Xu Rong was interrogating me and stupidly loosened the ropes."
"Let's not argue. If thinking that makes you feel better, go ahead."
Xu Rong probably didn't want it known that she'd been captured. She must have pretended to reconnoiter the enemy, reassured her allies, then released Xiahou Yuan to keep her promise.
Clip-clop! Clip-clop!
Anyway, it was best to get out of here fast. Xiahou Yuan and I pushed our horses to the limit and barely made it to the Bian River.
Then we floated a raft out onto the water. Only then did Xiahou Yuan seem to relax, leaning her back against the mast and letting out a sigh of relief.
"I really thought I was done for. Figured I was being hauled off to Luoyang."
"Glad you're safe. But Miaocai? Why did you let me escape? Wouldn't it have been better for you to run yourself?"
"That? I knew you were too dumb to seize an opportunity even if it came. Don't tell me you're moved? Or is it that you still can't forget the pleasure from that day?"
Now that she was feeling better, she clung to my side again and started flirting. Of course, the part about 'not forgetting' was true.
"Still, you were pretty useful, Dohoji. I never expected you'd come to rescue me."
"Earlier you said you escaped on your own."
"Of course you failed, but I'll take the thought. What exactly were you planning to do?"
"What was I planning? I was going to throw a thousand rotten fig fruits and wait for them to drop one by one."
Silly jokes continued. But perhaps the joy of survival was too great? Xiahou Yuan just kept smiling softly with her head resting on my shoulder.
"Hoji? Come with us to Peiguo. We'll gather troops there again and this time catch Xu Rong for sure."
"Impossible. I can't go there. Your brother might be fine, but Bao Xin will try to kill me."
Regardless of the reason, Xu Rong is Bao Xin's mortal enemy. Having returned that enemy without permission, he'd want to chew me up and spit me out.
"Bao Do's death has nothing to do with you, right? What the hell happened that you're like this?"
"Go ask and you'll find out. Well, if we keep wandering the world like this, we'll meet again someday. Like it or not, we're still in the same coalition, right?"
"Is it because of that bitch Liu Bei? Is she better than me?"
"What the... Liu Bei and I aren't like that. Though I've never tried, I doubt she'd be better than you."
"Was it that good? Should we just do it again right here?"
"No. You'll call out Cao Cao's name again."
"Got scratched pretty bad, huh? Who knows? Later you might call my name while doing it with Mengde?"
"..."
No matter how I think about it, Cao Cao doesn't seem like he'd see you as more than family. And though it feels weird to think this, I don't want to give you to Cao Cao either.
We arrived near the main camp. Xiahou Yuan spoke with an uncharacteristically sulky face.
"Last chance. I can put in a good word with Mengde and get you a seat at the bottom of the table at least."
"Really impossible. The moment I go in there, you'll understand why."
"Why reject me? You're scared you'll never get over me, right? Right?"
"I'll say that's one of the reasons. But you're not planning to tell Cao Cao about that incident, are you?"
"Wasn't that the whole point of doing it? Or are you afraid you'll end up like Ye Baishi?"
"Not at all. No matter how I think about it, I don't think Cao Cao would kill me."
"Bullshit..."
She said that, but she seemed terribly disappointed. She must have grown a bit attached to me too.
"Ah, by the way, thanks, Miaocai."
"For what?"
"The trap you made. I used it really well."
"...?"
Xiahou Yuan tilted her head as if she had no idea what I meant. But she'd find out once she returned to the main camp.
"I'm grateful too."
"Did you just say thank you? Does that word even exist in Xiahou Miaocai's dictionary?"
"You came to save me, didn't you? Actually, while I was locked up inside, I cursed you out a ton. But you seem to have a conscience, so I'll say thanks for now."
"I did go prepared to get caught. As a top-tier wanted criminal, if only you got caught and died, I'd be the only one left in the records, right?"
"Hehe..."
Xiahou Yuan laughed. She always spun all sorts of lies with those seductive eyes, but Cao Cao's words that her nature was pure might actually be true.
"Were you very scared?"
"Not at all. You think this Miaocai has anything to fear?"
"I really hope so. If I think of you trembling alone in fear in there, it'd be too hard on me."
"Cut the sweet talk. I'm not planning to put out again just because of that."
She said that, but she was deliberately avoiding my gaze. Even pouting her lips—a demure look that didn't suit her at all.
"That day, I deliberately called out Mengde's name."
"To mess with me?"
"No. I felt like I had to. Otherwise, I might have called your name."
"What does that mean..."
Thud!
Instead of answering, Xiahou Yuan slammed a solid fist right into my stomach. Guh... Do you know how big the martial power gap between us is, pulling this kind of stunt?
Then without even a goodbye, she scampered off into the main camp. What a girl with no manners...
Regrettably, this was goodbye again. But only after parting with Xiahou Yuan did something suddenly come to mind.
I hadn't returned the Shadow Runner.
[Sanzhao, Allied Forces Camp]
The destination I chose was neither the camp in Henei nor Yawang. There was someone I needed to meet one last time here in Sanzhao, and now—before Cao Cao returned—was the only chance.
Creeeak...
When I opened the door and stepped in, a woman spun around in surprise. Then the moment she saw me, her eyes went wide.
"Y-you... why are you here..."
"What? Did you think I died along with Cao Cao, Chen Gong?"
It was Chen Gong. Not in the loose attire she'd worn before Cao Cao, but dressed in black mourning clothes that covered her entire body tightly, burning incense on some unidentified altar.
"What are you talking about..."
"You already know, don't you? Things got a bit twisted in the middle, but Xu Rong wiped out the scouting party perfectly even though Xiahou Yuan didn't open her mouth once. Meaning she already knew where it was."
"..."
Chen Gong kept her mouth firmly shut. Clear proof that I was speaking the truth.
"Actually, back then I overheard part of the conversation you had with Cao Cao. I didn't know what the 'letter' you mentioned meant, but looking at it now, it all connects, doesn't it? Cao Cao... probably sent a letter to Xu Rong under your name. Roughly saying he'd inform her of the location of top-wanted criminals like me and Xiahou Yuan. Because he believed Xu Rong would want to catch us more than Cao Cao himself."
"I... I only did as Lord Cao ordered."
Chen Gong admitted it readily. Surprisingly, Cao Cao had used both me and Xiahou Yuan as bait.
That was the true identity of the unpleasant sense of dissonance Cao Cao had shown all this time. The reason he went out of his way to Henei to bring me along was to double the bait that would make Xu Rong salivate.
So he sent the letter to Xu Rong informing her of our location, and by making the sender Chen Gong, he added credibility that it wasn't a trap.
Otherwise, there was no way for Xu Rong to know the scouting party's location. Even more shocking was that he included none other than Bao Do there.
Probably to turn Bao Xin into a vengeance-obsessed ghost. So he'd have no choice but to remain loyal to him for life.
But the story doesn't end there.
"Cao Cao planned to cut off the rear and counterattack while Xu Rong went to hit the scouting party. But amazingly, Xu Rong saw through even that and counterattacked. This doesn't make sense. Whether Xu Rong believed that letter or not, she couldn't have seen through and reverse-utilized all of Cao Cao's schemes."
"What... are you trying to say?"
"Someone tampered with the letter. While pretending to send it as Cao Cao ordered, they cleverly hid a code that only Xu Rong could recognize. Conveying the meaning that this was all a trap."
"..."
There was no other explanation. Cao Cao had done his best in his own way, and if Xu Rong had fallen for it, it would have been a fight he was guaranteed to win.
But an unknown variable occurred in the middle. It couldn't simply be explained by Xu Rong being outstanding.
Because while Cao Cao might not know, deceiving me with my Intellect of 100 is impossible.
In the end, I had no choice but to think there was some backstory I couldn't even dare imagine. And the only one capable of that was the Chen Gong right in front of me.
"Hehehe... You really are an amazing person, aren't you? Seems you can do everything except save one woman?"
"...?"
In that instant, Chen Gong's expression twisted grotesquely. The timid, anxious mere woman I knew was nowhere to be found; a monster burning with vengeance sat there instead.
"That's right. All sorts of people have gathered here in Sanzhao. Finding out Xu Rong was from Youzhou was easy. Finding out a local idiom used only in Youzhou was even easier. Cao Cao probably thought I was a fool who didn't know my place and just used literary expressions, but in fact, the real core was contained in that phrase."
"Why did you do it?"
"Why did I do it? Are you really asking because you don't know? That man killed my husband and all my children. And as if that weren't enough, he pinned me under him and violated me several times. Didn't you say it back then? That if I came here, I'd know what I had to do?"
"..."
As I thought. Chen Gong doesn't like Cao Cao. Far from liking him, she thoroughly wants to destroy him, the enemy of her family.
"I'm sorry. I truly didn't have the ability to take you with me."
"It's fine. Rather, I think it's more fortunate that I seized the chance for revenge. So... could you please just keep that mouth shut?"
Chen Gong doesn't know whose side I'm on. I could tell Cao Cao everything, or I could cut her down right here.
But Chen Gong had long since transcended life and death. If she dies, she dies; if she survives, she continues her revenge.
That is the sole reason she lives.
"I hope your revenge succeeds."
I left those words and closed the door. I still hadn't managed to change history, and I didn't have the confidence to dare resent Chen Gong.
After all, this was something that happened because I couldn't take Chen Gong with me, wasn't it?