Ch58 - Traitor

Mu Hanzhang smiled but didn’t say anything. Holding the letter in one hand, he started to read it. After reading two lines, he remembered that it was a private letter between brothers. He turned to see Jing Shao, and found the man holding and kneading his other hand, playing happily. He shook his head helplessly. 

“Oh, right, you still haven’t told me what the deal is with the second brocade bag.” Jing Shao rubbed and fiddled with the jade-like hand for a moment, feeling that it really looked quite delicious. He couldn’t help but put it to his mouth and nibble on it. When he saw his Wang Fei look over, he let go of his hand sheepishly and hurriedly found something to talk about.

“Wawu!” The little tiger that had woken up from its nap at the foot of the bed used all its strength to claw and climb up the bedsheets. The hand that Jing Shao had just put down was hugged by the furball. 

Mu Hanzhang crooked his finger to tease the little tiger’s head before he pulled his hand back under the quilt and chuckled. “That was just a contingency; if Zhao Meng didn’t fall into the trap, and broke through the gate at the pass as he should have, he would naturally fight his entire way through – how would he have time to look?”

That was why Zhao Meng was repeatedly told not to open the bags in advance, because the two strategies contradicted each other!

“Hiss…” The little tiger couldn’t find its master’s hand, so it pounced on Jing Shao’s hand and gnawed on it. Jing Shao was given a painful bite. When he pinched the tiger’s mouth and pulled back his hand, he saw that there was one more little tooth mark that had turned blue on his thumb. “Huh? Did you grow another tooth?” He reached out and tried to open its mouth to see if there was one more tooth.

Mu Hanzhang pulled at Jing Shao’s hand and rubbed the area where he had been bitten. “Don’t let it bite; if it breaks the skin, you’ll get sick.” The elderly often said that it was unlucky to be bitten by animals since you could get incurable diseases. 

Jing Shao flipped the little tiger over so that it was on its back with its four paws in the air, and held all four paws together. No matter how the tiger struggled, it couldn’t escape.

“Wawu!” The little tiger craned its head to bite Jing Shao resentfully, but couldn’t reach him. It was so angry that its long tail kept whipping around on the quilt. 

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When in the depths of a sea of misery, turn your head and you will see the shore. One must suffer in the sea first in order to realize the deep meaning within the message. If it was a smooth journey which went with the flow, however, someone as single-minded as Zhao Meng would definitely be too impatient to decipher the meaning of the cryptic message.

“…Jun Qing, you…” Jing Shao was immediately speechless. This was an extreme deception. It was a good thing that Zhao Meng blindly admired the military advisor. 

Tickled comfortably, the little tiger rubbed against the quilt and then unexpectedly fell asleep with its belly in the air. Mu Hanzhang smiled and rested his head in the crook of Jing Shao’s neck. “That is why since ancient times, the words of advisors have never been conveyed in full. The so-called mysteries of heaven must not be revealed, because the advisors themselves aren’t sure of everything.” In some way, there was no difference between a military advisor and a fortune teller.

Jing Shao helplessly embraced the man in his arms and picked up the letter to discuss the matters of court with his Wang Fei. The provocation this time could be traced back to their investigation of the accounts before leaving the capital. Any slight change would have led to a completely different series of subsequent events. It was better to be cautious in the future. The experiences of his last life may not always be useful in this life. 

Mu Hanzhang wanted to go for a walk after lunch, but Jing Shao forced him to rest in bed. Unable to persuade the latter, Mu Hanzhang could only just take another nap with the tiger cub. The little tiger felt too hot under the quilt, so it climbed up the pillow and hugged its master’s head to sleep. When the right protectorate general came to find Mu Hanzhang, he saw that the peacefully sleeping military advisor was wearing a tiger skin hat that was utterly at odds with his temperament… 

“Hehe…” The right protectorate general couldn’t help but stifle a laugh, immediately waking Mu Hanzhang up from his light doze. 

Seeing that the right protectorate general had come, Mu Hanzhang moved the tiger from his head and slowly sat up. “Right protectorate general has come, what is the matter?”　　

“It’s like this: Wang Ye arrested Wang Er, who was in charge of keeping the accounts for the rations. In the evening, the cook went to get food and there was no one doing the bookkeeping. I came to ask the military advisor who can replace him.” Because of the assassin who had disguised himself as a menial laborer, the right protectorate general had to clean up military affairs and had been busy all day, checking on suspicious people. Stomach rumbling with hunger, he was going to get the cook to start preparing dinner for the officers, but as a result, was told that the food rations had yet to be received. 

Wang Er had been arrested? Mu Hanzhang frowned. “Transfer the scribe who is in charge of letters for the menial laborers for now.”

“All right.” The right protectorate general turned to walk out, but after taking a few steps, he turned back and watched the military advisor slowly put on his outer garments; he wanted to say something, but hesitated. 

“Is there something else?” Mu Hanzhang looked up at him. That rascal Jing Shao had taken off his outer garments and pants for him. With the right protectorate general poking around here and there, Mu Hanzhang wasn’t able to get out of bed and put on some pants.

The right protectorate general scratched his head. Though he felt that he shouldn’t foolishly ask about it, he was so curious to death that he moved a stool and sat down next to the bed. “Military advisor, what on earth is the relationship between you and Wang Ye, eh?” 

Mu Hanzhang was stunned, and he slowly lowered his eyes. “If it’s not about work, right protectorate general should quickly leave.”

When the right protectorate general saw his expression, he immediately felt that his guess was right. Wang Ye must have forced the military advisor to wholly give himself to him. He sighed and said, “Military advisor, you are a man of real ability and talent. If Wang Ye is truly bullying you, you don’t have to be afraid. I’ve followed Wang Ye for many years. Although the words he says may be fierce, his heart actually isn’t bad…” 

“I think right protectorate general must have misunderstood something.” Mu Hanzhang lifted his gaze and looked at him with a smile that wasn’t a smile. “My friendship with Wang Ye is just like what is between right protectorate general and left protectorate general.”

“Ah?” The right protectorate general jumped up. How could it be the same? Could the emotions born out of the many years he and Little Left fought together on the battlefield be the same as the ambiguity between the military advisor and Wang Ye? If Little Left wiped his sweat and tucked him in the way Wang Ye did… the right protectorate general couldn’t help but shiver; that was too frightening. 

The right protectorate general was frightened by the scene his mind conjured up. He looked at the military advisor who was smiling and yet not; the man seemed to see right through him. The right protectorate general immediately couldn’t sit still any longer, and bade farewell before he left like he was running away.

After the right protectorate general left, Mu Hanzhang frowned slightly. Now even the right protectorate general had seen that things were ambiguous between the both of them; he didn’t know what sort of rumors were now spreading throughout the military. Furthermore, why had that Wang Er suddenly been arrested?  

He got up and dressed neatly. He went to find the rascal who had caused all this trouble to settle the score with him. As soon as he entered the center tent, he saw Jiang Lang handing Jing Shao a small booklet.

“Jun Qing, you came just in time. Come and have a look at this.” Jing Shao raised the booklet in his hand. The cover was yellow and the paper was warped; clearly, it had been handled for many years. 

Mu Hanzhang took the booklet and opened it to see records with many numbers and some sentences inside. He couldn’t really understand the first part, but when he flipped to the back for a look, his eyes widened slowly. “Where did this thing come from?”

“It was found among Wang Er’s belongings,” Jing Shao confessed. 

Mu Hanzhang didn’t have time to bicker with him about his careless behavior earlier, and solemnly said, “I don’t know what the accounts in the front are, but the pages in the back are complete records of the army rations and fodder as well as the amounts used daily. These are things which I have expressly forbidden them to make private copies of. Moreover, the last page should be an excerpt from a letter.” Saying this, Mu Hanzhang turned the booklet around and flipped to the last page for Jing Shao to have a look.

Jing Shao took it and looked at it carefully. Line after line, it seemed to be what the person whom Wang Er was in contact with had promised him. Jiang Lang said that he had searched Wang Er’s residence and didn’t see any letters or whatnot of the sort. 

The ration and fodder amounts… Jing Shao silently pondered the booklet in silence. At first, he wondered if these were meant to be reported to the fourth prince. But the main force was now away, so reporting the food and fodder amounts to the fourth prince was useless. Then, the people that these accounts would be the most important for would be the Southeast King and the Southwest King!

“Have the left protectorate general immediately go and interrogate Wang Er. Be sure to find out who he was in contact with and how he was contacting them.” Jing Shao ordered Jiang Lang to go take care of it immediately.