“Clean yourself up. You’re my trophy, how can you be so dirty?”
Ying Wutu’s face was covered. He withdrew his hand, picked up the silk cloth, and carefully wiped his mouth.
He knew there was blood at the corner of his mouth.
His movements were slow, and his hands trembled. Before he could finish, he noticed the woman’s expression had changed.
Following Jiang Shouzhu’s gaze, he saw a half-blood handprint on her pant leg.
She had just noticed it when he let go.
Earlier, when Ying Wutu pleaded, he had grabbed her pant leg, but his hand was bloody, and in his panic, he had forgotten.
“I… I’ll clean it for you… cough cough…”
Ying Wutu had stopped coughing when he saw she kept her promise, but seeing her pant leg dirty again, he started coughing in fear.
“You’re really disobedient.” Jiang Shouzhu sighed, looking regretful. “It seems someone needs to be punished tonight.”
“Punish me! It’s all my fault. I made it dirty. Please don’t take it out on them…”
Ying Wutu pleaded while trying to get up, but he was beaten half to death and barely saved. He had no strength to get up. As he struggled, he rolled off the stretcher and fell to the ground.
This made things worse.
Jiang Shouzhu’s tent was different from others, with carpets covering the floor, making it very warm.
But Ying Wutu was still bleeding, and when he fell, he stained the carpet.
“Punish you? But in your current state, if I punish you any more, you’ll die. You’re my trophy, and I’m not allowing you to die. So, what should we do?” Jiang Shouzhu deliberately teased him with a cold face.
“I can clean myself. When I can move, I’ll wash up… cough cough…” Ying Wutu thought that since she didn’t mention the prisoners, there might be hope.
“You should clean yourself anyway, but why should I wait for you?”
Ying Wutu was momentarily speechless. He couldn’t figure out this woman’s thoughts, but he racked his brain for a solution. After all, the lives of those three thousand people depended on her whim. He had already led them to defeat and didn’t want to cause their deaths.
“How about this: tell me the story behind this short sword. If it’s interesting, I’ll give you a chance.” Jiang Shouzhu finished speaking and turned Ying Wutu back onto the stretcher, then stood up, returned to her chair, poured herself a cup of tea, and took a sip.
Ying Wutu tried to negotiate: “If I tell the story, will you spare them?”
Jiang Shouzhu found this cunning little rabbit quite audacious. She didn’t answer, just gave him a cold look.
Ying Wutu shivered, not daring to say another word. He took a deep breath and began, “This short sword originally belonged to my mother, who was a hunter in the mountains…”
“Stop!” Jiang Shouzhu interrupted, “I want to hear something interesting. This is boring.”
Ying Wutu was so frustrated he choked on his words. He changed his approach and continued, “This short sword is a relic left by my father. The year he died, I was the only one left at home. One night, a thief came to steal money. I couldn’t resist and my identity as a man was discovered. I pretended to comply, then, when the thief was off guard, I used this short sword hidden under my pillow to kill her.”
“Oh?” Jiang Shouzhu finished her tea, placed the empty cup on the table, and asked, “So, did you comply?”
“No… I would rather die than ever…” Ying Wutu couldn’t finish the last word, but he dared not continue.
The current situation was no different from when he was fourteen.
The difference was, back then, the thief underestimated him, and he successfully resisted. But today, he couldn’t resist this bandit.
“Would rather die than what? Keep talking,” Jiang Shouzhu urged as he fell silent.
“Back then, I would rather die than surrender,” Ying Wutu cautiously only spoke about the past. He truly feared that this woman might suddenly grab another person and kill them in front of him.
“Quite a temper. You’ve been fierce since you were young, huh? Did anyone ever tell you that you look particularly cute when you’re baring your fangs and claws?” Jiang Shouzhu picked up the teapot, only to find it empty.
Ying Wutu: “…”
He didn’t know how to respond to that.
Jiang Shouzhu’s tent was very warm, with thick wool carpets on the floor and high-quality charcoal braziers everywhere, producing no smoke or sound.
Yet at that moment, it was unusually silent.
Ying Wutu’s heart was pounding. He didn’t know if his story pleased her or if he had said something that might anger her.
“Guards!” Jiang Shouzhu suddenly called towards the door.
Ying Wutu almost jumped up, but he couldn’t move. He was still holding the silk cloth she had given him. He hurriedly said, “I have many more stories to tell, don’t… I beg you…”
Deputy Yan entered from the doorway.
Jiang Shouzhu just glanced at the empty teapot on the table, and Deputy Yan understood immediately, leaving the tent.
Ying Wutu became even more nervous, not knowing what kind of signal this woman had given her subordinate.
Jiang Shouzhu saw the little rabbit’s misunderstanding and deliberately didn’t clarify, coldly staring at the doorway as if expecting something.
Ying Wutu, in his anxiety, crawled off the stretcher. He managed to move a few steps before he was too exhausted to continue, pleading, “Don’t… don’t kill them… you can do whatever you want to me…”
At that moment, Deputy Yan returned, carrying a full teapot. She walked straight ahead, ignoring the person on the ground, placed the teapot on the table, and immediately left.
Ying Wutu stopped calling out and crawling.
This time, Jiang Shouzhu couldn’t help but laugh. She picked up the teapot and poured herself another cup of tea, then asked with genuine curiosity, “What did you think I was planning to do?”
Realizing he had been fooled again, Ying Wutu gritted his teeth in frustration but didn’t dare speak. He lay on the ground like a lifeless dog.
Fortunately, he had stopped bleeding; otherwise, the carpet would have been stained again.
“Get back here yourself. I haven’t finished hearing the story. Continue. How did you escape after killing?” Jiang Shouzhu urged.
Ying Wutu was enraged, but as long as she hadn’t killed anyone else, it was fine. He gritted his teeth, crawled back with difficulty, and continued, “I escaped to another village and joined the army.”
“So that’s how it is. I thought you joined the military out of ambition.”
Jiang Shouzhu was a bit disappointed. She had thought this cunning little rabbit had defied fate, disguising himself as a woman to achieve great things. In the past six months, she had faced off against the little rabbit many times, with victories and losses on both sides. She admired heroic women and, seeing the little rabbit attempt suicide on the battlefield, she had ordered the military doctor to save Ying Wutu at all costs. Learning that Ying Wutu was a man made her even more interested, but now she knew he joined the military to escape a murder charge.
Just like that? How boring.
Ying Wutu’s throat tightened, and he almost cried, but he held back. He had long given up crying like a little man.
But this woman spoke of ambition, and didn’t he have that?
When his sister died unexpectedly, he disguised himself as a woman to attend school, studying alongside his classmates. He discovered a vast world with great potential. He didn’t want to marry and have children, confined for life. That night at fourteen, a thief targeted him because he had sold everything during the day, preparing to take all his money to the capital to join the military. The thief followed him from the pawnshop, waiting to strike at night.
Even without that night’s incident, he still would have joined the military.
And this woman thought so highly of him?
He had never been praised before, but this woman had praised him more than once.
But there was no need to explain.
Telling the enemy about his ambitions was sheer fantasy.
She probably just said it casually. After all, she only wanted to humiliate him in every possible way.
Jiang Shouzhu finished her second cup of tea, her interest waning. She planned to wait until Ying Wutu’s body recovered a bit and his facial wounds healed before enjoying him and then executing him on the spot.
The reason she didn’t enjoy him now was that he was too severely injured. Although she was rough in this regard, she wasn’t a sadist and didn’t want to play with someone half-dead. That would be too boring.
A little man is just a little man. She had thought he was special, enduring even the medicine, but now it seemed he was no different from the little servants at her home.
As for his short sword, it was a fine piece, worth keeping as a memento of her victory in this battle.
Jiang Shouzhu stood up, found a pair of pants from her clothing chest, and unabashedly changed in front of Ying Wutu. She threw the blood-stained pants onto Ying Wutu and coldly said, “Clean these for me tomorrow, and the carpet too.” Then she blew out the candle on the table, climbed into bed, and slept fully clothed.
She wasn’t sleepy to begin with, and after drinking tea, she was even less inclined to sleep, just idle with nothing to do.
An hour passed.
Ying Wutu carefully moved his limbs. The wound on his head had been stitched up, and the wound on his chest had been treated with good medicine and had stopped bleeding. Lying in the warm tent for an hour, he had regained some strength.
He removed the pants from his body and slowly got up from the ground. Using the faint light from the brazier, he saw the woman on the bed with her eyes closed, breathing steadily as he approached.
It seemed she was sound asleep.
A heaven-sent opportunity!
Ying Wutu saw his short sword on the table. He crouched, tiptoed to the table, and carefully drew the sword from its sheath.
A high-quality sword made a faint humming sound when drawn. Ying Wutu held his breath in nervousness.
He sneered inwardly, blaming her for letting her guard down, thinking he was too injured to move.
Indeed, even a tiger had moments of drowsiness.
Now, let’s settle all the scores together!
Tonight was no different from that night when he was fourteen!
Ying Wutu gripped the hilt of the sword with both hands, standing by the bed, raising the sword high…
At that moment, Jiang Shouzhu opened her eyes.
Ying Wutu was so frightened that he couldn’t hold the sword, and it fell onto the bed. In the dim light, facing those eagle-like eyes, he stammered, “I… I saw your blanket fall to the ground… wanted to help you…”
The excuse was so awkward that even he couldn’t continue with it.
If she had been asleep and unguarded, he might have had a chance to stab her, but she wasn’t asleep at all.
She was toying with him again!
“Oh? Really?” Jiang Shouzhu picked up the sword from the bed, moved to the inner side of the bed, and smiled, “It’s cold, come up and warm the bed for me.”
“I… I’m dirty.” Ying Wutu wanted to escape in fear, blaming himself for being useless. How could he be so scared by her gaze that he couldn’t hold the sword? He should have stabbed her just now!
But since she was awake, he wouldn’t have succeeded with that stab.
Who was she? He couldn’t defeat her.
“Stop talking nonsense, take off your clothes and come up.” Jiang Shouzhu patted the spot beside her.
Her fingers caressed the blade, the short sword was very sharp.
She had thought the little rabbit had submitted, and she had lost interest. But now, seeing him baring his fangs and claws again, she felt a surge of desire to tame him.
This kind of taming wasn’t just about threatening others’ lives; that was too boring.
So, what would it feel like to tame a snarling wolf into a little dog?
Jiang Shouzhu hadn’t tried it yet.
She could give it a try.
