Chapter 12 The Terrain Map
The wind of the West Border wrapped grit and hissed against the post-station window paper.
I bound my hair before the bronze mirror. When my fingertip passed my temple, I touched a grain of cinnabar that had not faded—Xiao Huai An had dotted it for me before I left. He had said the West Border was heavy with evil, and this bit of cinnabar could ward it off.
The person in the mirror had thinned features. The black close kit made my shoulders and back look even thinner.
I dug the silver whistle from the luggage. The cold metal pressed my palm.
The camp Wen Shu held was thirty li away at Langjuxu Mountain. It was said moonlight there could shine on white bones, and the mountain wind always wound with the whimpers of souls who had died in battle.
"Young Master Wen, the carriage is ready." An attendant knocked outside.
I tucked the silver whistle back into my sleeve, then felt the Qianji Yin in the medicine pouch at my chest.
I had stolen it from the Imperial Hospital before leaving. Colorless, tasteless. Half a cup of tea's time was enough to make the five viscera rot to mud.
When Elder Brother died in the last life, the imperial physician said this was the poison he had taken.
I had not understood then why the fiercest poisons always took the most lingering names.
The camp at Langjuxu Mountain was as grim as the rumors.
Wen Shu wore rust-spotted armor. When he saw me, a flash of surprise crossed his eyes, then turned into a cold laugh. "The head of the Wen Clan has raised quite a son. Now you have become a claw of the Eastern Palace, and you still have the face to see me, a man wearing guilt?"
I handed over the family letter I had brought—written in Father's own hand. Between the lines was an old father's concern for a nephew far away.
The hand Wen Shu used to pinch the letter trembled slightly. His throat moved for a long while before he said in a hoarse voice, "What did you come to do?"
"The secret letter of General Wang colluding with the barbarian tribes," I said without preamble. "Does Uncle know he plans to trade three cities of the West Border for barbarian cavalry to pass through?"
Wen Shu's head snapped up. Blood threads burst in his eyes. "What did you say?"
I looked at the white hair at his temples, similar to Father's, and suddenly remembered the last life when he was escorted to the execution ground.
He had rounded his eyes like this too, and roared at the supervising platform.
"My Wen Clan has worn official caps for generations.
How could we produce a sycophant like you! "
At that time I had been standing behind Xiao Huai An, watching him bring down the vermilion brush, and write the four characters "remnants of the Wen Clan" with force that went through the paper.
"This nephew needs Uncle to help with one matter." I took from my chest a scroll of blank silk. "The trading place between General Wang and the barbarian tribes is at Black Wind Pass. This nephew needs a Terrain Map drawn and signed by his own hand."
Wen Shu stared at me, then suddenly laughed. Blood foam bubbled at his lips as he laughed. "You want to use this to trade for the Eastern Palace's trust? Wen Yan, do you know this is iron proof of collusion with the enemy?"
"This nephew knows." I pushed the silk in front of him. "But this iron proof will only fall into my hands."
"The Wen Clan will be unharmed."
His gaze fell on the faint scar on my wrist.
"You child." He suddenly sighed, and patted my head as he had when I was small. "Truly a stubborn seed."
Three days later, I obtained that Terrain Map.
Outside the tent Wen Shu killed three of General Wang's confidants. When the smell of blood drifted into the tent, he was stamping the silk with blood-stained fingers.
"Tell the Crown Prince." He stuffed the silk into my arms. "The snow of the West Border is colder than Changan's. Take you home sooner."
I did not tell him I had long had no home to return to.
The lintel of the Wen Clan had been hollowed by my own hand. The warm pavilion of the Eastern Palace was the cage that held me.
And the peach blossoms of Jiangnan had only ever bloomed inside Xiao Huai An's lies.
The ghost of the last life could not return to this life's home.