Lu Lingzhang’s condition kept flaring again and again, and in the end, he managed to convince the Empress to grant him a period of quiet rest. Meanwhile, Lu Lingcong, who was traveling under official papers and using the alias “Xie Feng,” had obtained a minor adjutant post under Zheng Xiao, Li Qi’s brother-in-law, and was now spending his days moving about within the military camp alongside him. Now that Xie Jing had some free time, he used all his persuasive power to cajole him into accompanying him to the camp for a few days.
Xie Jing stood beneath the partitioned bedroom door, dressed in a plain, cotton-textured round-collared robe. He loosened his leather belt slightly to let a bit of the fabric tucked into it slip free, so the robe hung more loosely around his waist, neatly concealing the faint curve of his abdomen underneath.
He turned his head and asked Lu Lingcong, “Can you tell this way?”
Lu Lingcong scanned him from top to bottom and shook his head. He then asked the maidservants waiting in the main hall for instructions, “Can you really not tell?”
The girls also shook their heads. Yin Chou laughed from the side and said, “It’s just that the Princess Consort’s face is too refined; you look like you stole someone’s clothes.”
Although he hadn’t stolen them, these clothes were indeed not his own. When Lu Lingcong traveled with the Wu family’s merchant fleet some years ago, he had tailored rough, old clothes to avoid revealing his wealth. They were a slightly smaller size, which suited Xie Jing perfectly now.
Lu Lingcong sized him up and said after a moment, “Indeed, especially your hair,” he said as he gathered Xie Jing’s high-piled long hair with a hand. “Anyone can tell you’re used to a pampered life. No ordinary family could afford to maintain hair like that.”
Xie Jing turned his back to look in the mirror, finding that even when completely tied up into a ponytail, the ends still swayed and fell past his waist, “What should I do then? I’ve been growing it for a long time. I won’t cut it. Forget it then.”
He reached out to undo a button as he said this, but Lu Lingcong quickly stopped him, saying, “Don’t! It’s rare for us to go out. As soon as Lingzhang gets better, you’ll be busy again.”
Xie Jing frowned, looking as if he wanted to see what was going on in Lu Lingcong’s mind: “Lu Zifeng, that is the Western Great Camp, not the backyard of the Prince’s Mansion. It’s bad enough that you come and go as you please as if it were flat ground, but you even shamelessly bother the brother-in-law of the Li family to use public authority for private gain as well. You try having this reported to the palace by someone with ulterior motives; it will cause you serious trouble.”
Lu Lingcong ignored his explanation and simply pushed him outwards, “They are all new recruits, enlisted from the Huai and Si regions. They won’t recognize me and won’t talk nonsense either. Besides, I’m preparing for the rainy day for you. If you were transferred to the Ministry of War one day and knew nothing about military matters, it wouldn’t be easy to perform your duties, would it?”
Xie Jing felt he’d been tricked onto a pirate ship. Upon arrival, Lu Lingcong led him into the central military tent to see Zheng Xiao while addressing the passing soldiers as ‘brother’ all the way. He showed none of the dignified bearing of His Highness Prince Zhao at all while acting entirely like a rascal soldier. This made Xie Jing, who was behind him, look conspicuously out of place, drawing onlookers who asked, “Captain Xie, is that a visitor from home?”
Lu Lingcong replied, “This is my little brother, named Wu Zhi. He came from our hometown north of the river to the capital to seek a mentor for official recognition. He couldn’t immediately find lodging in the city, so he’ll stay in my tent for a few days.”
“A real brother? How come you’re surnamed Xie and he’s surnamed Wu, and you two don’t look alike?”
Lu Lingcong looked at Xie Jing, and Xie Jing met his gaze in return, clearly waiting to see how Lu Lingcong would defuse the situation. At the same time, he was also quietly curious about something he had long been puzzled by; why his elder brother bore the surname Xie, while he himself carried the surname Wu.
“He is the legitimate son, and I am the illegitimate son adopted out to another family. We each take after our respective mothers. My little brother here is used to being pampered at home, and we haven’t seen each other for a long time. I need to spend time being affectionate with him these next few days. I’ll have to miss spending time with you brothers, please bear with me…”
Unsure what outrageous story Lu Lingcong might spin next, Xie Jing interrupted, “Let’s go, Ge.”
After breaking away from the crowd and reaching a quieter place, Xie Jing was just about to confront him when Lu Lingcong suddenly leaned in, scrutinizing him with careful attention. The close, deliberate inspection made Xie Jing feel inexplicably unsettled, and before he could react, Lu Lingcong spoke, “Do we really not look alike at all?”
Xie Jing glared, “How could I possibly look like you?”
“That’s not certain. The Xie family must have had imperial concubines throughout history, right? Who’s to say we aren’t distant relatives?”
Xie Jing flatly denied, “But they absolutely never bore an amperor. We are completely unrelated.”
Lu Lingcong watched him eagerly trying to distance himself and decided to tease him, “Don’t speak too absolutely. Who knows—” He paused, lowering his voice. “Maybe you are?”
Xie Jing was startled and instinctively looked around. Seeing that there was indeed no one nearby, he said, “You’ve lost your mind today, talking nonsense one sentence after another.”
Lu Lingcong only shook his head and smiled, “You’ve also become increasingly restrained this year. Last year, you even dared to show off verbally and call me ‘Your Majesty,’ but now you’ve become timid and cautious.”
Xie Jing said lightly, “If I hadn’t become Princess Consort Zhao, I naturally wouldn’t have learned this restraint.”
Lu Lingcong fell silent for a moment, then suddenly asked, “Even if you and I don’t look alike, what about the child? The child should resemble the parents, right? Who do you think… the child will look more like?”
Xie Jing was quiet for a long time, then gave an answer he had clearly pondered deeply: “That also seems hard to distinguish. Maybe the outer tip of the brow will resemble mine, and the inner part will resemble yours. When viewed together, it might even seem as though the child doesn’t resemble either of us at all.”
Lu Lingcong nodded in agreement but didn’t reply. The two simply continued walking.
The feeling of silently sketching the most unfamiliar yet also the most intimate face in their minds was wonderful. Every facial feature could trace back shadows of both of them, clearly displaying the subtle, abstract notion of blood relation. Every unrelated person could see the connection between them, allowing them to constantly share an unspoken intimacy, a secret understanding.
Initially, Xie Jing thought Lu Lingcong’s position as captain was just for show, but after observing for a day or two in the camp, he realized it was far from it.
Ostensibly, apart from sleeping at night, Lu Lingcong lived and trained alongside the soldiers. In private, Zheng Xiao would still seek his counsel, and the soldiers below would come to him to report matters for his judgment. Lu Lingcong had genuinely taken on an important position within the “Western Great Camp,” a fully structured and standardized standing military formation.
The clamor ceased as night fell. Lu Lingcong scooped up water and was washing clothes by the riverbank. Xie Jing sat beside him while watching him by the nearby campfire for a moment, and asked, “You know you can work here for a maximum of one month, right?”
Lu Lingcong nodded: “I told people early on that I was transferred from the Yulin Guard to help Zheng Xiao. I might be transferred back at any time, so even if I leave suddenly, no one will be suspicious either.”
Xie Jing pondered for a moment, then asked, “Are you quite satisfied with this job?”
Lu Lingcong stopped what he was doing and glanced back at him, “It’s not about satisfaction; it’s just that the opportunity is rare; if I miss it, then it’s gone.”
Xie Jing thought to himself: Given Lu Lingcong’s identity, it would indeed be difficult for him to genuinely gain military authority in this lifetime. But then, he didn’t feel that Lu Lingcong had any particular obsession with something like “military authority” either.
“Then, if you were now granted permission to lead an army on campaign, would you be willing?”
Lu Lingcong thought for a moment and said, “Whenever there is a call to arms, it means there must be either internal strife or external threats. If it’s the former, nine times out of ten is due to banditry, and the immediate victims are the common people. If it’s the latter, it likely won’t be resolved in a month or two and will require huge sums of funds and provisions to sustain the war. How little is left in the national treasury now? In the end, they will still have to find ways to squeeze it out of civilian taxes.”
He paused for a long time before saying, “I can only say that I have aspirations and ambitions, but I cannot say that I like it.”
Xie Jing instantly understood his meaning—Lu Lingcong’s birth determined that when he took command, his relationship with the court was by no means a simple employer-employee one.
He couldn’t, like other generals, serve the state for official pay and quit or retire at any time; he ought to be the representative of the Imperial Family, a symbol of the parents of the common people. Winning a battle didn’t signify military merit but rather unconditional protection and nurturing of his subjects.
Therefore, if he were to talk about whether he “liked” leading armies to war without changing his expression, it would be a disregard for all the sacrifices his subjects made for the war and even trivializing these costs, which would be an act of utter inhumanity and cruelty.
“Those who long reside in high positions easily become arrogant, placing their own desires and ambitions above the lives of soldiers; a single general’s success is built upon countless corpses,” Xie Jing said softly, attempting to deduce. “So, you lower your own posture. You think that someday I might also be transferred to the Ministry of War, so you are making me lower my posture as well.”
Lu Lingcong wrung out the clothes and said, “That is the principle, but my true intentions are not so magnanimous. When I talk about ambition, I mean the secular idea of achieving great deeds and expanding territory so that when later historical records write about me, there is more than just the title ‘Prince Zhao.'”
He refilled a basin with water, walked back, and placed it over the fire to heat. He turned his eyes toward Xie Jing: “But towards you, I have none of these thoughts. My original intention was simply to get you out for a change of scenery.”
In the previous days, Lu Lingcong had been living with Li Qi. Inside the cramped tent were two narrow beds, one on the left and one on the right. In this weather, they didn’t need much in the covers, and they just made do. Now that there was an extra person, Li Qi went to stay with his brother-in-law, yielding the tent to Xie Jing.
Although they could have slept separately, they still pushed the beds together. There was no prior discussion, nor was it a conscious mutual decision; it seemed to have become instinct. Both subconsciously felt that sleeping beside the other was the norm, using “being used to it” as an excuse for the seemingly natural act of sharing a bed.
Xie Jing sat on the edge of the bed and loosened his clothes. Before long, Lu Lingcong carried in the basin of heated water and said, “Soaking your feet will help you sleep well.”
The water was still steaming hot. Xie Jing rolled up his trouser legs and stepped in, but the heat was so intense it nearly scalded his skin; he cried out in pain and quickly pulled his feet back up.
Lu Lingcong then pulled a stool over and sat down opposite him. He removed his shoes and socks, slipped his own feet into the water first, and only then slowly guided Xie Jing to follow, letting him rest his feet atop his own as he eased them in.
The scene stirred Xie Jing’s memory of their wedding night in the side room’s hot spring, when he had also been afraid of the heat and instinctively stepped onto Lu Lingcong’s feet and held steady in the same way by him.
Lu Lingcong watched as Xie Jing gradually adapted to the water temperature. He first used his palms to rub up and down Xie Jing’s calves several times, then leaned down to gently hold his ankle, using the other hand to massage his toes one by one.
Xie Jing froze and reached out instinctively to stop him, but Lu Lingcong raised an arm, easily blocking him.
“What are you doing?” He asked in astonishment.
“I heard from Li Qi that his elder sister’s feet and legs often swelled when she was pregnant, making it uncomfortable to wear shoes when it was serious. So I thought I’d massage them for you every day as a precautionary measure.”
Xie Jing could sense that Lu Lingcong was deliberately holding back his strength; even as he let Xie Jing’s toes slowly relax, there was no pain at all, only steady, controlled support.
The stiffness in his back, tight with embarrassment, gradually eased. He leaned his hands back against the couch for support, tilting his face up slightly as the tension in the nape of his neck loosened.
After several rubs, Lu Lingcong’s fingers slid to the sole of his foot and started pressing in circles. Xie Jing, who was caught off guard by the tickle, yanked his foot back abruptly and accidentally splashed water onto Lu Lingcong’s face, soaking the fringe of hair on his forehead. Water droplets glistened on his nose tip as he lifted his gaze and shot Xie Jing with a look of indignant reproach.
Xie Jing laughed at the sight, lowered his hand, and used his sleeve edge to wipe Lu Lingcong’s face while also letting his foot fall back into his hands.
His fair skin had taken on a reddish tint under the combined effect of the hot water and massage. Xie Jing had high arches on his feet, and faint blue veins were visible through the skin, which was as thin as porcelain. His arch curved into a soft line, and the ankle held in Lu Lingcong’s hand was exquisite and slender.
“What are you pondering?” Xie Jing wiggled his lower leg. Lu Lingcong kept his head down, focused only on working on his feet without speaking. Xie Jing felt like teasing him, so he leaned in closer, tilted his head, trying to observe Lu Lingcong’s expression from the side, and whispered, “Are you thinking of something degrading to a scholar?”
Lu Lingcong paused and swiftly delivered a light but definite slap to the top of Xie Jing’s foot, saying, “Where did you learn such things!”
Xie Jing stretched out a finger and poked his earlobe, leisurely saying, “It’s red.”
Lu Lingcong finished the massage before quickly wiped his hands on his clothes and stood up while looking intently at him.
Xie Jing cautiously flinched backward: “Don’t mess around.”
Lu Lingcong just stared at him, watching so intensely that Xie Jing was ready to flee onto the bed at any moment. Then, his legs suddenly felt wet. He saw Lu Lingcong lift his foot from the basin and splash the half-cooled water onto him.
Xie Jing instantly retaliated, stomping the water so it splashed loudly, all of it spraying onto the hem of Lu Lingcong’s robe. The basin was too small; having two pairs of feet stacked inside was the absolute limit. Nine out of ten of his kicks landed on Lu Lingcong’s feet. The latter yelped twice, sprang up, and retreated several feet, staying out of Xie Jing’s reach.
Unexpectedly, Xie Jing’s competitive spirit was suddenly stirred, and he refused to back down so easily. He got up and chased after him barefoot, only to find the cramped space inside the tent cluttered with scattered objects in his way. After circling around a few times, he still couldn’t close the distance to Lu Lingcong, and finally stopped in place, slightly out of breath.
Lu Lingcong, who was on his side, raised his hands to signal, “Truce. Be careful not to slip. Stay right there.”
He walked over and half-lifted Xie Jing like a child while supporting him under one underarm and cradling his backside with the other hand.
Xie Jing wrapped his arms around Lu Lingcong’s neck and said, “That’s your unilateral surrender.”
Lu Lingcong didn’t argue. He set him back down by the bed and sat beside him, then pulled Xie Jing’s feet onto his lap, and wiped them clean thoroughly with a cloth.
Xie Jing was about to turn over and crawl into the bed when he suddenly exclaimed, “Ai,” turned his head, and looked at Lu Lingcong with confusion.
Lu Lingcong absolutely couldn’t hear Xie Jing utter interjections like “Yi,” “Ei,” or “Ai” now. His nerves would instinctively tighten, his heart would race, and his palms would sweat, fearing that an unpredictable situation he couldn’t handle was awaiting him.
He then saw Xie Jing straighten up, kneel halfway on the bed, and quickly lift his robe hem to expose his lower abdomen right in front of him without any reservation.
Lu Lingcong froze where he stood: “…What are you doing?”
Xie Jing, however, just looked down while wearing an expression of disbelief, “He’s moving! He’s really moving; come and feel it!”
Lu Lingcong’s first thought was indeed an emergency he couldn’t handle. He stepped forward two paces but dared not move, only asking, “Does it hurt?”
Xie Jing became impatient with his slowness, “What do you mean by hurt or not? No, it doesn’t hurt. I mean he’s moving!”
Lu Lingcong carefully placed his palm over Xie Jing’s belly, as cautious as when he received his first real dagger from his uncle in childhood and tremblingly touched the turquoise on the sheath. He held it there for what felt like an eternity, without blinking, murmuring, “I don’t know, I can’t tell the difference… is it your breathing or… him?”
Infected by Lu Lingcong’s serious anxiety, Xie Jing couldn’t help but question himself as well, “Is it my breathing?”
The silence beneath his palm and the belly seemed to answer his question soundlessly. However, just as the tent fell into an uneasy, strange quietness, a sharp leap simultaneously transmitted to both of their senses, clear, strong, and impossible to ignore.
Lu Lingcong and Xie Jing simultaneously widened their eyes while staring at each other in what could almost be called “horror,” yet their mouths hung open, unable to utter a single word.
After a long while, Xie Jing tried to articulate his thoughts, “What do you think this time?”
Lu Lingcong stared back at him with a stunned expression for so long that the mischievous movement completely vanished, hopping and skipping away like a rabbit. Only then did he awaken as if from a dream before murmuring:
“I want to see him right now… right now.”
