Joy of Life - Volume 2 - Chapter 187

Chapter 187

Having left the capital, the diplomatic mission immediately quickened its pace on the road . No longer under the contemptuous and distant gaze of the garrison commanders, the members of the diplomatic mission, including the officials of the Overwatch Council, seemed to be more at ease .

It was March, and as they headed north, the remarkable spring scenery became more and more prominent .

Each county had its own local government office that greeted them . They all knew that the diplomatic mission was headed for Northern Qi, and so no local official dared to slight them . What was more, among the officials of the diplomatic mission was the illustrious Master Fan, so every official who greeted them was particularly attentive . Although they did not dare delay the mission's schedule,, there was always a great banquet and good company at every stop, and endless flattery of Fan Xian at the banquet table .

It was at this point that Fan Xian finally realized just how far his reputation had spread throughout the Kingdom of Qing . He could not help but feel elated, and at the start he could not say no to each banquet . But as they continued on, he inevitably grew tired of them, and each time he had to repeat his oath that he would no longer write poetry . It was quite troublesome .

Wang Qinian quite enjoyed the whole thing; he found the elegant dancing of the singing girls at the banquets was very entertaining . At each stop, the local magistrate would make extravagant arrangements for the company of local escort girls . Every night was ecstasy, and the things they got up to far surpassed anything he could have done with his aging wife back in the capital .

But these sorts of arrangements did not interest Fan Xian, because the diplomatic mission included one woman who even the Emperor of Northern Qi thought of constantly: Si Lili, the most beguiling woman in all the capital .

So Fan Xian gradually lost interest in attending the banquets, only stopping to chat with those high officials who were old friends of his father . More often he stayed at the diplomatic mission's encampment: he could keep a close watch over Xiao En, and also spend more time in Si Lili's carriage .

Counting on his fingers, they had left the capital around half a month ago . In that half month on the road, Fan Xian had spent most of his time in Si Lili's carriage . He was also getting rather tired of spending time with all the men and their jokes; how could it compare to talking with a beautiful woman?

Si Lili carefully peeled the skin and scraped the pith from an orange before placing the flesh into Fan Xian's mouth .

Fan Xian was the most senior in the diplomatic mission, and the officials of the Overwatch Council followed him and him alone; the Tiger Guards were even more devoted . No matter what he did, no one would dare say a word .

But as Fan Xian closed his eyes and slowly chewed the orange, he found himself somehow thinking of his sister . In the capital, Ruoruo had also often fed him oranges . Then he thought of his wife Wan'er, left at home . His eyes opened slightly, and through a gap in his eyelids, he secretly watched Si Lili as she prepared the oranges . He began to feel somewhat uneasy .

In truth, on this journey, he and Si Lili had not done anything; they had simply talked and eaten fruit to while away the boring hours . They rarely even brought up the matter of making arrangements once they had reached Shangjing . . . Of course, occasionally there was the massaging of tired bodies, the holding of hands, the watching of scenery outside the window .

"What are you thinking?" Seeing Fan Xian's dumbfounded look, Si Lili smiled sweetly . In these days of contact, all she had seen was Fan Xian's gentle and exquisite face . She had faintly forgotten the horrors of being taken advantage of as a feeble woman in the Celestial Prison . The young woman seemed to like the feeling of sitting and chatting in the carriage . Deep in her heart, she secretly wished the trip would never end .

"I was thinking, uh . . . you've recuperated pretty well over the past few days . Your figure is coming back . " Fan Xian teased her . "When I touched you once we'd just left the capital . . . it made my hands hurt . "

Si Lili blushed slightly . "Then don't touch me . "

Fan Xian smiled and took her hand, grasping her wrist and pulling her into his embrace . His palms slowly caressed her body . "Don't you like it?" he said quietly .

"I was born under an ill-fated star . After all, I was bullied by you, drugged by you in the pleasure boat, tormented by you in the Celestial Prison, and now in this carriage, I cannot escape your clutches . . . " Si Lili said all of this while leaning on Fan Xian's chest . The young man's embrace was gentle and warm, and she didn't want to leave . She felt his hand parting her clothing and moving onto her buttocks . Her heart skipped a beat, her crimson lips parted slightly, and she breathed into Fan Xian's ear .

Fan Xian's ear turned warm and tickled, and he unthinkingly put more weight into his palm .

Si Lili spoke gently, her flattering voice soft as silk, quietly gasping in his ear . "Do you want me? In any case, there's no happy ending for me in Shangjing . "

Some time later, Fan Xian left the carriage with a strange smile on his face .

There was a poison in Si Lili's body, a slow acting drug . In the past few days of their close contact, Fan Xian had ascertained this early on . It seemed that the Overwatch Council had planted it in advance .

The poison was one that Fan Xian had seen in the book Fei Jie had left him, but he had never seen it in practice . The poison would slowly spread through the woman's body, and then could be spread by contact with a man . All that was needed was for the Emperor of Northern Qi to be intimate with Si Lili, and then he would contract the poison . The symptoms would look just like a sexually transmitted disease .

No wonder Chen Pingping had been so serious about the matter . Operation Red Sleeve was not a copy of Xi Shi's infiltration of the Kingdom of Wu . It was a poisoning plot .

The poison was not untreatable, but it could effectively weaken the target's body and nerves . Just think . If Si Lili was truly a favorite of the Emperor of Northern Qi, after their nights of passion, perhaps he would very quickly fall ill . The factions of the royal court of Northern Qi were gravely opposed to each other . If he were to fall gravely ill, perhaps the political situation of Northern Qi would fall into chaos once more .

Fan Xian sighed . Si Lili knew that there was poison in her body, but she presumed that it was only a way for the Overwatch Council to control her . She didn't know that she could transmit it to the men that she liked .

He felt somewhat uncomfortable about the fact that Chen Pingping had not told him . If he had not felt that something was strange during his close contact with Si Lili, then he would not have discovered it . Of course, even if he had contracted the poison, he could treat it quickly, but this feeling of secrecy was still not good .

"Operation Red Sleeve?" He sat in his own carriage and laughed bitterly . "So it's operation White Sleeve . A conjuring . " [1]

He knew that compared to Chen Pingping, Fei Jie, and even Xiao En in the carriage behind him, his methods were not cruel enough and his heart was not cold enough - Si Lili was only a chess piece that could be thrown away at any moment, but he didn't know what Chen Pingping could have promised her that would make her blindly willing to be such a pawn .

But what really surprised Fan Xian was something else . It was the real reason that nothing had happened in all their days of close contact .

Si Lili was still a virgin .

The diplomatic mission had reached the northern region of the Kingdom of Qing, and before them stood the kingdom's northernmost city - Cangzhou . Looking at the vast expanse of city from a distance, Fan Xian narrowed his eyes . The sky had become somewhat darker and the north wind was strong, dispelling the spring air in all directions . The heavens were covered by a canopy of black cloud; it was ominous weather .

Finally, the county guard responsible for escorting them came forward to salute them and began to turn back, leaving behind their own convoy . Although the convoy was long, in the wastelands outside the walls of Cangzhou, it still looked rather tiny and pitiful .

"How long does it take to reach the border after setting out from Cangzhou?" Fan Xian narrowed his eyes, looking at the northern horizon .

"We're going around a big lake, so it's rather longer," replied Wang Qinian respectfully . "At least 20 days . "

Fan Xian frowned . "The real danger will be within those 20 days . " He turned his head to the side and looked at the still-quiet carriage . "How is Xiao En now?"

"You have injected him with poison every day, and I presume he is taking great efforts to dispel it, so he has been calm . He’s been quiet these past few days It seems he is thinking of something . "

"Be careful . " Fan Xian sniffed the air, seemingly smelling the thickening odor of blood from the carriage .

"Yes sir . The county guard has retreated, and I am not put greatly at ease by the Cangzhou garrison . You know full well, sir, what happened the last time Si Lili was escorted back to the capital . "

Fan Xian smiled . "Do not be afraid . Passing through Cangzhou will be the least of our security concerns . What I am worried about is issues from within the diplomatic mission . "

As soon as he had said it, a cavalry attachment appeared over a low distant hill in the wastelands . There were around 500 men, all wearing black armor . In the dim sunlight, they conveyed an air of cold menace .

Wang Qinian smiled . "So the Black Knights have arrived . We have nothing to worry about . "

The wind whipped past them, and the stones on the ground rolled slowly along . Wang Qinian and Fan Xian prepared to get into their carriages and head toward Cangzhou . Fan Xian suddenly paused and slowly turned around . Si Lili had already left the carriage, and stood by its side, looking at him with a frustrated glare .

"Have someone give Miss Si some more clothes . It gets colder the further north we go . This spring is damned late in arriving . " Fan Xian looked calm as he spoke, but his heart was pounding; he had barely entered Si Lili's carriage at all these past few days .

Wang Qinian looked at Fan Xian a little strangely, then waved a hand to set his subordinates to work . There were three handmaids in the diplomatic mission; they were there to wait on Si Lili as a future woman of the Emperor of Northern Qi . But Fan Xian had spent so much time in the carriage over the past few days that those three women could only follow behind the convoy . A little while later, the handmaids came to Si Lili's side, and gave her a purple-red cloak before urging her to return to the carriage to rest .

Si Lili allowed them to fasten the cloak to her, but she did not return to the carriage . She simply stared calmly at Fan Xian, seemingly trying to find something in his face .

The distant black riders approached the feeble woman in the purple-red cloak . The dull sun hung in the sky . It was a beautiful scene that made one feel powerless .

[1] A reference to an internet novel called White Sleeve Contamination, which involves a woman who dies after falling in love and being spurned by a crown prince who gives her poisoned wine, and comes back as a powerful vengeful ghost in her own body .