Nyoi-Bo Studio

  Nyoi-Bo Studio

  Hearing the neighing of a horse, it was followed by the sounds of a horse galloping away. The servants chased behind while shouting, “Master! That is His Highness’ horse!”


  “Since young, she was alone. It is only natural that she is not very well mannered.” Yan Xun gazed in the direction which Huanhuan disappeared, and gently smiled.

  Looking at him from his side, Chu Qiao saw a gentle expression which she had never seen before on his face. She knew that was his expression of familial love, something she had not seen on his face for a long time.

  The last of the sun’s rays vanished as the land sunk into darkness. The starlight shone from above, like eyes glowing in the dark, observing all of the Yan Bei Highlands. Taking a deep breath of the cold air, Chu Qiao felt like as though she had just breathed in a chunk of ice.

  “But actually, I am a lot luckier than her!” the man suddenly declared. He did not turn around to face Chu Qiao, but instead kept his gaze on the distant horizon. Yet, his left hand gently grabbed Chu Qiao’s palm.

  After eating dinner, Chu Qiao sat in the temporary study room while flipping through the recent war reports of Yan Bei. She knew that Yan Bei was still not in an optimistic situation. Timing the uprising in Zhen Huang City, Yan Bei had carried out a rebellion on the same day. The Da Tong Guild and the men who followed the late Yan Bei King commenced attacks on the key cities in the East and West. However, Yan Bei forces had been unable to crack the tough nut of the Meilin Pass in the North. As a strategic location, that city usually stationed over 10,000 troops, and would not easily be sieged, even normally. Moreover, the news of the uprising had reached this pass from the east, so by the time the rebel army arrived, they were already ready for combat.

  Although the Da Tong Guild was famed to be full of talents, they were still lacking in master strategists. Their strategies were mostly still at the most elementary level and relied on the morale of their troops to win. Chu Qiao understood that when facing the elites of the Xia Empire, that morale would be insufficient for them to last until the end. War is a form of art, yet, within Da Tong, few could fully understand this art.

  Quickly tidying up the reports, Chu Qiao marked important points using a red brush. By the time she had sorted through everything, night had completely fallen.

  A flurry of knocks sounded from beyond the door. Chu Qiao acknowledged it, and the door was pushed open very slightly. Huanhuan stuck her head in, and like a thief, looked around anxiously, before whispering, “Where is my brother? Is he around?”


  “He is not around.” Chu Qiao stood up to welcome her. “He is currently in the front hall meeting guests. Princess, were you looking for him?”


  “Ah, then that is good.” Hearing that Yan Xun was not around, Huanhuan suddenly brightened up and walked in. With large strides, she walked up to Chu Qiao and said, “I was actually looking for you. Come, let us go for a walk.” Having said that, she did not even wait for Chu Qiao to agree before pulling her. In the rush, Chu Qiao was only able to grab her coat before getting pulled out.

  “Princess, so what did you look for me for?”


  Passing through the streets, they reached the west of Lü Yi. The city was situated on high grounds, and there was a slope in the west where most of the army was garrisoned. Before dusk set, there were many campfires lit up. The warriors did not recognize Chu Qiao, but seeing Huanhuan approaching from afar, they happily greeted, “Yo! It is the master! Have you eaten! Do you want to sit down and eat with us?”


  Huanhuan cheerily joked, “Go away! I have eaten abalone, lobster, and pettitoes back there! Who would want to eat this plain noodle soup?”


  The soldiers laughed heartily, and made way for the two ladies. They paid a bit more attention to Chu Qiao out of curiosity.

  “Erm. That one is my present to you!” Huanhuan laughed, pushing Chu Qiao forward. Chu Qiao’s eyes lit up when she saw the scene in front of her. There was a deep maroon horse tied to a big tree. With an entire body of dark red fur, its hooves were even shiny. With a fluff of white fur in front of its nose, it was in its prime, as it was healthy and strong. With crystal clear eyes, it was obvious that it was a good horse.

  Chu Qiao stretched out her hand to lightly caress its nose. With a gentle neigh, the horse blew warm air onto Chu Qiao’s hands. Chu Qiao smiled at that gesture, as Huanhuan cheerily said, “AhTu likes you.”


  “AhTu?”


  “Yes. That is the name that I gave it.” Huanhuan patted the horse while proudly smiling and elaborating on its origins, “This was the leader of the drove of horses at the base of Hui Hui Mountains. I was only able to capture it after seven days, and trained it for over a year. Now, it is yours.”


  Since she had lost Liu Xing, Chu Qiao had yet to find a good horse. Seeing how this horse was indeed an excellent one, Chu Qiao was particularly grateful, and quickly thanked Huanhuan, “Thank you, Princess.”


  “Can you stop addressing me as ‘princess’?” Huanhuan requested. “I was born to the main family. Even when my father was still alive, I was never addressed as such. Even more so now.”


  “Sure, then what should I call you?”


  “Huanhuan will do. I will call you AhChu, the same as Brother. With that, we will be fair!”


  Chu Qiao smiled. “Sure, Huanhuan.”


  Hearing that, Huanhuan grinned from ear to ear, as her eyes turned into two thin lines. Seeing that, Chu Qiao was suddenly overwhelmed with a mixture of emotions. This lady in front of her had not even been 20 years old when the entire Yan family had been slaughtered. She was the only daughter of Yan Shicheng’s brother Yan Shifeng. But as she was born to a mere mistress, she was spared. When she was about to be arrested and brought to Zhen Huang City as a slave, she was rescued by the Da Tong warriors. All these years, she remained the spiritual leader of the Yan Bei people in place of Yan Xun. As the only bloodline of Yan family in Yan Bei, she had gathered the talents of the old followers of Yan family and those who were acting against the Xia empire. As she grew up, she had even thrown herself onto the frontlines, experience real war. Slowly, she had become a great general. In this messy world, almost anyone’s story would be written into a legend.

  “AhChu, is Zhen Huang City fun?” Ultimately Huanhuan was still a child, and after chatting with Chu Qiao for a short while, the topic eventually headed that way. “I heard from rumors that it was extremely grandiose over there, and even the Fu Luo people who lived beside the sea head there for business. Fu Luo people all have red hair and blue eyes, have you seen them before?”


  Chu Qiao smiled in reply. “I have seen them, but they were rather rare. Speaking of grandiosity and foreigners, I think the Tang Empire would be more well known for that.”


  “The Tang Empire?”


  “Indeed.” The duo, while leading the horse around, had sat down on the top of a slope. Sitting next to each other, the moonlight shone brightly upon the duo.

  Chu Qiao elaborated, “That is a beautiful country. They don’t have snow throughout the year, nor winter. They spend the entire year basking in the warmth of spring, and their commerce is extremely well off too. Just their capital, Tang Jing, alone already has a population of over three million. That is almost a fifth of the entire Yan Bei population.”


  “Wow!” This girl who had never left the soil of Yan Bei marveled, “That is so cool!”


  “Indeed.” Chu Qiao laughed while the image of Li Ce brimming with pride surfaced in her mind. “They are indeed pretty cool.”


  “When I get the chance, I must go and take a look.” Huanhuan waved her fist up in the air. “After we win the war, we will go!”


  Chu Qiao nodded in agreement, “Sure. After we win the war, we can go there together.”


  “Alright! That’s a promise! Do not back down when the day comes!” Huanhuan loudly proclaimed, before pointing to the horse that was quietly eating grass beside them. “AhTu, did you hear her? You are my witness!”


  That horse was very smart. Hearing that its name was called, it lifted up its head and looked over.

  Chu Qiao smiled. “Sure, AhTu will be the witness.”


  It was then some noise came from below. Huanhuan jumped up, and her face brightened immediately. Waving her hands frantically, she called out, “Xiaohe! Xiaohe! Come here!”


  Before long, a horse trotted over. A handsome young man jumped down from the horse, and ran up toward the two ladies. Somewhat out of breath, he asked, “What happened? Why did you urgently send someone to look for me?”


  “I want to introduce a friend to you!” Pointing at Chu Qiao, Huanhuan proudly declared, “Do you know who is this? You might be shocked to death if you knew! Hahaha! This is Chu Qiao, the one who led the Southwestern Emissary’s Garrison to victory against that whole bunch from Northwest.”


  “Wha—?” Xiaohe’s mind took a moment too long to process that information. He was extremely surprised, with his eyes wide open in disbelief. He muttered, “She is so young?”


  Rolling her eyes at him, it was as though Huanhuan was making fun of his lack of knowledge. Then, she turned to Chu Qiao, and introduced the man, “AhChu, this is Xiaohe. His full name is…… Right, Xiaohe, what was your full name again?”


  Xiaohe was instantly overwhelmed with speechlessness, as he depressingly asked, “You even forgot my full name?”


  “Who bothers to remember this sort of stuff?” Huanhuan frowned, saying it as though it was a fact. “No one ever uses your full name, so it would be pointless.”


  Xiaohe rolled his eyes before turning around and introducing himself to Chu Qiao, “Lady Chu, My surname is Ye, full name is Ye Tinghe. I am the administrative officer of the First Army. They all call me Xiaohe, you may do the same.”


  Chu Qiao smiled. “General Xiaohe, nice to meet you.”


  “Bleh! Him? General? Maybe only in his next life!”


  “Oi! Huanhuan, saying such mean things before a new acquaintance is not nice!”


  With her hands on her hips, Huanhuan replied, “So what if I am not nice? Bet you were too amazed by her beauty. Let me tell you, AhChu is my brother’s fiance. As for you, do not think too much.”


  Xiaohe was completely embarrassed, as he refuted, “Since when did I think that way? You are tainting my image!”


  Huanhuan poked his chest, while overbearingly saying, “So what if I am tainting your image?”


  Xiaohe’s face grimaced in anger, as he snapped, “This unreasonable woman! It’s impossible to reason with you. Lady Chu, I still have other matters to attend to. Let me take my leave.”


  “What do you possibly have to do? Administrative officer, hmph, I do not even know what type of officer that is! Mister Wu merely gave you a title for doing simple stuff.”


  “You……”


  Seeing how the duo started heating up in their argument, Chu Qiao quickly interjected to de-escalate the situation, “Now, with the reorganization of our troops, the administrative officer would naturally be busier with so many responsibilities.”


  “AhChu, do not speak so highly of him.”


  Chu Qiao shrugged it off. “That is not true! With the beginning of the war, administrative officers are extremely important in the backline. They are in charge of a wide variety of matters, from recruitment to training, from enforcing military law to organizing the limited strength of the militias. They even organize reinforcements and arrange for the policing of the newly occupied areas in order to calm the population. There are a lot of details involved, and it is not something anyone could do.”


  With her description complete, the two listeners just stared at her mindlessly, completely ending their previous bickering. Seeing that, Chu Qiao felt strange, and asked, “What’s wrong? Did I say something wrong?”


  “N-nothing is wrong?” Huanhuan turned around and asked Xiaohe, “You are doing that now?”


  “No.” Xiaohe shook his head. “I was merely in charge of recording the battles, and sometimes I help the soldier write letters to their family.”


  Chu Qiao was lost for words. How was this an administrative officer? This was clearly just a normal clerk.

  “Xiaohe, seems like you will need to visit AhChu more often. She will teach you a lot,” Huanhuan blinked her eyes as she said.

  Xiaohe quickly agreed, “It’sno wonder that you can win battles. You are so insightful.”


  Chu Qiao could not help but sigh. It seemed like Yan Bei’s army really needed a lot of reorganization.

  After chatting a while more, they parted. Looking back at them, Chu Qiao could see them resuming their bickering as they poked and pushed each other back and forth. Seeing that, she actually felt a bit amused.