Jingting was staring at the back that was leaving the valley. The back was not straight, high and proud as it usually was, sitting up on the high warhorse. Now it was leaving, crouching, twisted, as if the owner did not want to leave the valley. And Jingting did not want him to leave either. Up high in the sky, the hawk had screeched and slowly descended on the hand of the rider.
Just a few moments ago, their goodbyes were too heavy to even describe.
"Can't you just stay? Don't you even have the freedom to choose?" Jingting asked, but he knew the answer. Yet, Sheng's answer was really heavy, reminding him of the helplessness of his family. Of every subject, every citizen…
"Freedom is just a fancy word people use when they want to believe their lives have value. To those up above, our lives are nothing more than meaningless pawns to prove how much power they hold." That hurt. He was right, and that felt disgusting.
So now, when he was watching Sheng leave, looking really desolate and defeated. The proud general was really nowhere to be seen.
"Why is he taking Lele with him?" Xuhua asked, also watching him go away.
"So the bird does know where to fly. He said that every new location he needs to be brought there first. That's why he sent it with us first before," Jingting said, and she nodded.
"Is he coming back?" she continued, but Jingting's face saddened even more, and he shook his head.
"He did say he will petition for the emperor to be stationed back in Datong with his family, but I have a bad feeling we won't see him anytime soon…"
That happened almost a year ago when winter was lurking in. And he was right. They never saw each other again. But they sent letters.. Letters showing the world of the Capital and what happened. He felt that Sheng was lying to him in the letters. He heard some tales, and he did not like them.
But now, the person was significantly fairer, and somehow less muscled than he was before… more like when he was sick. And he also looked like that.
"What are you doing here in the middle of the night?" Jingting jumped up and looked around at the personnel of the clinic.
"I need your help… Quickly…" Jingting was staring down at the rough hand holding his wrist and at how everyone else around stopped doing whatever they were doing. Then he looked up and saw the ghost of his dreams, looking literally like a ghost.
"Who let you in?" he asked, again ignoring whatever Sheng was talking about.
"Xuhua, but can you take your tools and herbs and come with me? I need you?" Jingting took a breath and shook away the hand holding him. He started packing his things, but he still had a bad feeling.
"What's the problem? So I know what to pack." Sheng looked around. Jingting told them all to get out, and Sheng then dropped his upper robes.
Jingting was right, he was skinnier than before, as if he was starving, but that wasn't the only thing. He had so many new wounds, his hands and his belly were slashed with knives, his back was whipped, probably severely, because there were patches of his skin completely grown anew. He also had two more arrow wounds, one of them looked like it nearly missed his lungs, scratching by his ribs, and the other one on his neck took a bit of tissue with it because there was a slight dent where the neck meets the shoulders.
"How…?" Jingting was speechless when tracing every new wound he found.
"I can tell you during the ride, now I need you to go with me and save the Empress…" Sheng's voice was full of urgency. Jingting had pushed him away and stared at him with his eyes wide open.
"Are you CRAZY?!" he shouted out the last word, unable to hold back his disillusionment. As if he hadn't spoken about his disdain for capital, and honestly, that even he could die if going in, in the best case imprisoned just like his uncle.
"Jingting, the court is really unstable. Every faction is now fighting for the throne because the emperor has no heir. And the empress needs your help." he looked desperate, holding Jingting's hands in his, urging him. But Jingting tore away from him.
"Why should I care? They killed my parents, imprisoned my uncle's family. Why should I care if they die or not?" His questions were valid, given what Sheng told him when leaving.
"Because those who end up suffering are normal people. War will not only be up here in the north but will ravage the entire continent. Because the Prince of Xing is one of the factions, and Xicheng is actually considered one of the heirs. He and his family can die. You and your entire mansion can be dealt with." He stopped for a second, and his voice cracked when he continued, " You can die. And I don't want that to happen. I talked with your uncle. We tried every possible way to find a solution without you. But your uncle is at the end of his wit. We just can't let it all fall apart just because…"
It hurt. Jingting's heart was aching more and more with every word Sheng said. He bit the tissue at the front of his mouth, looked around, his eyes reddened.
"Do you have a carriage or horse?" he whispered, his voice failing.
"Carriage, I knew you would need some things to take with you…" Normally, Jingting would be happy how thoughtful Sheng was, but now he was just sad he had guessed right that Jingting would agree and risk his own life.
"But you will tell me during the ride everything that happened to you." Jingting started packing his things. He took some rare herbs he had and knew the imperial healing bureau did not have. He took some books with him that weren't rare to the Wen family, but you had to be a good and wealthy healer to have them. Sheng nodded and helped him to the carriage.
"It takes 4 days from Hunyuan to the capital. We have all the time in the world," he said that but knew it was not true. Hopefully, the empress could take that long, otherwise, they were just going right into the pit of hell.