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Conference
Yang Ming Hua was a rather handsome man.
With an upright and dignified look, a sense of righteousness in his eyes, and mastery in the rippling inner force technique, he still looked like a man in his thirties, despite being over fifty years old. So naturally, he had an air of elegance about him. His pair of very bright eyes was filled with care and love. When this was combined with his respectable and amiable smile, he looked like a reliable and righteous elder in every way.
ZiChuan Xiu smiled slightly, recalling the appraisal ZiChuan Ning gave Yang Ming Hua: “He was so despicable that you couldn’t even entrust him with your toothbrush!”
Yang Ming Hua waved his hand, merely acknowledging everyone’s presence, except ZiChuan Xiu’s. He approached him directly, smiling, and like an old friend he patted his shoulder saying: “Our handsome lad is back!” He looked him up and down, smiling: “Not bad, I hope Luo Bo didn’t let you starve? When did you come back? You should have told me and I would have given you a warm welcome!” His enthusiasm could rival that of a caring father or brother.
ZiChuan Xiu saluted: “I came back yesterday and today I’m here to see you, Sir. I didn’t intend to intrude while the High Command is in conference. I sincerely apologize. Please allow me to excuse myself.”
“Well, now that you are here, you may as well sit down and listen in!” Yang Ming Hua replied bluntly: “You are a Deputy Commander now; it is only a matter of time before you have to join us at the High Command!”
“You would kill me first before you let me into the High Command!” ZiChuan Xiu was not blinded by his ardor, acting flattered: “You are too kind, Sir. I’m not worthy of such praise. The rank of Commander is the highest of honors bestowed upon a soldier of ZiChuan, the perfect combination of the three virtues, benevolence, wisdom, and courage. How could a lowborn like me hope to reach such important position?”
“Hahaha.” Yang Ming Hua was delighted; it looked like ZiChuan Xiu’s flatteries managed to hit the mark: “Come, sit down!”
Though ZiChuan Xiu wouldn’t dare to sit at the table, he grabbed a chair and sat against the wall instead, while keeping his mouth shut.
…
The first topic to be discussed during the conference was raised by Commander Ming Hui – How to handle the conflicts at the border with House Liu Feng.
But the discussion was actually just Yang Ming Hua’s soliloquy. All the other commanders simply chose to abstain from voicing their opinion. Commander Ge Ying Xing even closed his eyes, napping. But he was sick, so nobody blamed him.
The next topic was rather trivial. Black Banner Army Commander Fang Jing questioned the Chief of Staff Luo Ming Hai on the issues plaguing the Black Banner Army, like unpaid wages, bad food, lack of vegetables, etc.
Luo Ming Hai replied nonchalantly: “I have already filed an inquiry to the logistic department.” Despite Fang Jing’s fierce protests, that was the only reply he gave.
Central Army Commander Lei Xun demanded that the Central Army should have the priority this year in choosing graduated officers from the Far Eastern Army Academy. His reason was that the quality of Central Army was worse than the other armies. But his suggestion was quickly and vigorously refuted by Fang Jing and Ming Hui.
Fang Jing raised his voice: “The lack of quality in an army is the result of having idiotic commanders!” That was just short of accusing Lei Xun straight to his face.
Ming Hui calmly elaborated on his reasoning: “Border Army is the front line against House Liu Feng. There is simply no reason to not give us the best qualified officers!”
The discussion quickly escalated to a shouting match, and in the end it was Yang Ming Hua who put an end to it by voicing his support for Lei Xun.
Throughout the entire debacle, Luo Ming Hei didn’t say a word and Ge Ying Xing didn’t open his eyes. No one knew if he was really asleep. Pi Gu was so far gone that he started drooling.
Afterwards, a few more topics were discussed, and for quite a few times, Yang Ming Hua had asked ZiChuan Xiu: “Ah Xiu, what is your opinion on this matter? Tell us.”
Every time, ZiChuan Xiu would firmly reply: “Thank you Sir, for allowing me to participate, and bear witness to the wisdom and greatness of our commanders. How could I dare blemish their calculated foresights with my ill-educated opinion? It would be an atrocity!”
ZiChuan Xiu knew very well that given his current inappropriate position, no matter what he said, right or wrong, it would be wrong! All Yang Ming Hua needed to do then would be to accuse him of “obstructing military operations”, and he would be done for!
Ge Ying Xing, whom everyone thought was sound asleep, peeked at him and smirked in approval.
…
“I’ve got a question.” Ge Ying Xing finally spoke in a drooping fashion after everyone else was done talking: “During the Campaign of Heng Chuan, Deputy Commander Xiu captured over ten thousand Demon soldiers, including the third Princess of Demons, Ka Dan. She has already been escorted to Di Du. As to what we should do with her, I leave that to the Supreme Commander.”
Yang Ming Hua: “What do we usually do with the Demon captives?”
Ge Ying Xing replied: “We usually send them to the Wagela work camp as laborers. We sometimes let the captor keep the goblins and dwarves as a reward or sell them at the slave market.”
“But this girl is different. So far, she is the most important POW we have, and she is royalty. If we deal with her like we usually do… It may cause repercussions…”
Ge Ying Xing didn’t specify, but everyone knew what the repercussion entailed. When the Great Demon God King found out that his daughter was sold to the slave market, he would come with several millions of Demon forces at his back… No one liked the thought of that.
Fang Jing spoke in a serious tone: “So what, we just give him his daughter back on a silver platter, and say – Your Majesty the Great Demon God King, here, this is your daughter in pristine condition, even her hymen is still intact. Please check if everything is in order, and don’t let her run off next time. There are many bad guys out there; it was fortunate that we found her first and not them!”
Laughter erupted from inside the room and even Yang Ming Hua had a hard time catching his breath. He pointed at Fang Jing: “You… you are the number one troublemaker here in the High Command!”
“It is definitely a delicate matter. If we just hand her over, we will have tarnished the family honour, because everyone will think we are scared of the demons. But if we keep her, we may cause problems for later…” Border Army Commander Ming Hui lowered his head, deep in thought.
ZiChuan Xiu’s head started to hurt. When he first captured Ka Dan, he thought it had been a great accomplishment. But as it turned out… he seemed to have brought more problems for the High Command than it was worth.
…
Yang Ming Hua asked: “Did we get anything useful from her? How is she, anyways?”
Ge Ying Xing smiled wryly: “She didn’t tell us anything… and without permission, we didn’t dare torture her. Every day she just ate, drank, and slept. She only eats things like sparrow liver, agave root, and bird’s nest; she drinks only three hundred year old honeydew and morning rain water after being filtered seventeen times… And she sleeps in a way even more demanding. We had to hunt over three hundred peacocks and pluck out their feathers to make her bed. When she sleeps, there can’t be any noises within fifty meter of radius. If we fail to comply with any of her demands, she will commit suicide. In fact, she has already tried twice. One of the guards died from a heart attack because of it.”
“By now I don’t hope for anything, as long as the Demon God King is willing to take his daughter back; I would even pay him a year of my salary!”
A wave of laughter later, Ming Hui spoke: “Perhaps the Great Demon King let us capture her on purpose, because he couldn’t stand her anymore and wanted to get rid of her.”
Fang Jing: “Surely we can’t give her up for free? How about this, why don’t we use her as leverage and initiate a peace talk with the Great Demon God King? The truth is, if we wish to exert our dominion over the great plains of Western River, our foremost enemy is the House Liu Feng. Fighting against the Demons drains our resources greatly.”
Lei Xun: “Great idea! Why don’t we send you to talk to the Great Demon God King?”
“You asswipe! I knew you would say that, why don’t you go?” Everyone in the room was amongst the best fighters of House ZiChuan, but neither the courageous Fang Jing nor the braggart Lei Xun would dare volunteer to meet with the invincible Great Demon God King.
“I have a suggestion.” No one knew when the feeble Pi Gu had woken up from his slumber, but he spoke, trembling: “Why don’t we select a few from the demon captives and let them deliver the news to the Demon God King?”
“Good idea! Wisdom does come with age!” Yang Ming Hua cheered in approval, and everyone else did the same.
Only Ge Ying Xing opposed the idea: “Tomorrow, I’m going back to the Far East. All the negotiations for peace will take at least half a year. I can’t just sit here and wait! Someone else will have to watch over Ka Dan.”
ZiChuan Xiu suddenly got a bad feeling about all of this…
…
Of course, everyone, including Ge Ying Xing, then fixated their gaze on him.
“I’m not ready to die yet!” ZiChuan Xiu resented the idea, teeth chattering. He hurriedly declined: “I don’t think this is a good idea! I just came back to Di Du; I don’t even have a place to call my own. I’m not suited for this task.”
“Aren’t you staying at Lady Ning’s place?” Yang Ming Hua’s smile was gentle and kind: “Let Ka Dan stay there as well; it will be a place worthy of her royal stature!”
Everyone echoed their approval in unison. Fang Jing even winked at Ming Hua: “I’m so jealous of his position!”
Ming Hui laughed evilly in kind: “Indeed. I heard that girl is super hot!” In that instant, he didn’t look like a prestigious Commander of the three hundred thousand soldiers of the Border Army. He sighed: “Why do I never get easy tasks like that?”
“Commander Fang.” ZiChuan Xiu wanted to bite him: “If you like it so much, I’m more than willing to let you have her!”
“I can’t do that, man! I have an angry lioness at home!”
…
Ge Ying Xing spoke, smiling as well: “Ah Xiu, since it was you who captured her, it is only fitting that you should be the one to guard her. A man has to wipe his own ass!” Clearly, his biggest concern at the time was finding a scapegoat… He didn’t care if ZiChuan Xiu was even on his side!
ZiChuan Xiu stared at him bitterly, but Ge Ying Xing pretended to not have noticed. Pulling his head back inside his cotton coat, he was once again that sickly person on the verge of death.
“Very well, as the Supreme Commander, I hereby approve of this suggestion!” Yang Ming Hua smiled: “It is an order!”
“But Sir…” ZiChuan Xiu wanted to cry, but he didn’t utter another sound… Once the order was given, disobeying it would be a serious offence.
“Don’t be the guard and the thief at the same time!” Lei Xun hinted at the underlying malicious intent.
“It is ok if you do!” Fang Jing seemed to have forgotten about his dispute with Lei Xun earlier:
“Who knows, perhaps you can become Demon God King’s son-in-law, and the war will be over in an instant!”
“That’s right. For the greater good of House ZiChuan, Ah Xiu, give her your best!” Ming Hui burst into laughter.
Soon the entire room was filled with a sneaky sound of laughter typical from a bunch of good-for-nothing boys. It made ZiChuan Xiu wonder if he was in a private room at the local brothel and not the conference room of the High Command…
Suddenly, the door opened soundlessly and an icy cold voice pierced through: “ZiChuan Xiu, are you still alive?” The voice permeated bone-wrenching hatred and killing-intent…
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