Chapter 105: Pengpeng, I Fancy You (7)

On the wall, Qi Sheng calmly commanded the soldiers on battle to guard the city with a sword in his hand. When he saw me approaching, he couldn’t stay calm anymore. His face turned livid, “Why are you coming back again? Where is Li Hong?”

Li Hong hung his head and hastily approached. He answered, “I’m here!”

Qi Sheng was left in a daze for a while, then he kicked Li Hong.

I covered my eyes with my hand, and sighed that he was asking for this by answering to Qi Sheng under such circumstance.

After the kick, Qi Sheng turned around and asked me with a cold face, “Are you leaving or not?”

I firmly shook my head, “No, you are the most deceitful and cunning person I’ve ever seen, so I will only be safe staying by your side.”

Qi Sheng was too mad to say anything, clenching his teeth and staring at me for a long while. Then he turned to Li Hong, who was still kneeling on the ground, “Where is the armor? Where is her armor?”

Li Hong was awestruck. He gave the armor to Xie Yi in the yard. Then I ran with a sword, so he concentrated on chasing me, paying no attention to the armor at all.

One of his guard were quite smart, and took his own armor off and presented it to me with two hands.

Qi Sheng scoffed, took the armor over and straightly put it on me.

It was now a matter of life and death, so I didn’t refuse. I fastened the belt of the armor, and in the meantime turned around to tell the guard, “Thank you, little brother.”

The guard’s face suddenly reddened and he was too nervous to say anything.

I gave him a glance and said unreservedly, “Ah? Let me try on your helmet as well.”

The guard was struck for a moment and then quickly took off his helmet. Before he could hand it to me, Qi Sheng took it over and put it on my head. He said to me coldly, “You just stay behind. If anything happens, listen to Li Hong’s instruction.”

I nodded and looked at him. I urged him in a serious tone, “Qi Sheng, we both have to live. Even if the city was broken, we have to try and survive. Wei’er and Hao’er are still waiting for us in Sheng City. We had to survive for their sake.”

Qi Sheng was fastening the helmet for me. He went stiff for a moment hearing what I said then after a while, he nodded, “Okay!”

The helmet was a bit too large on me and I felt uncomfortable.

To inspire the soldiers, Qi Sheng held the imperial flag high up in the sky. Not only everyone on the wall could see it clearly, so could the Northern Desert soldiers outside. So they drew all their forces and attack the wall.

The shouts and sounds of battles were so loud that it made me anxious. I couldn’t help myself but complain in a low voice, “Qi Sheng, oh Qi Sheng. What should I say about you? This is called a wise man may be ruined by his own wisdom. How can you be so bold? You only have thirty thousand soldiers and you dare to pretend you have twenty thousand. Do you think everyone else is an idiot? And you brought me into the Pingning City as well. Good, the Emperor and the Empress are both here. If the city is broken, they can catch us both…”

All of a sudden, Qi Sheng lowered his head and sealed my mouth with his lips.

His lips were a bit dry. But his breath was fresh, his tongue was as flexible as ever, so it felt nice. The beard in his chin was a bit prickly, though.

Stop! Was there anything wrong?

I was shocked and pushed him away immediately. I took a glance around, Li Hong and the other guards nodding with their face reddened. It made me more agitated, and I scolded Qi Sheng in a low voice, “What is wrong with you?”

However, Qi Sheng smiled. He didn’t respond to me but turned around to instruct Li Hong, “Take care of her.”

Then he didn’t pay any attention to me.

Qi Sheng was at the north gate, so the Northern Desert concentrated all their power to attack the northern gate. The battle started in the afternoon and carried on to the dusk. The daylight was short in winter. In a blinking second, the sky went dark, and the Northern Desert finally beat the gongs and withdrew their army.

I was watching from besides, with the shield soldiers protecting me. Watching the Northern Desert army retreating like tides, I was finally relieved and walked out from behind the shields. It was already a mess on the wall. Though many guards were injured and many died, they were all motivated fighting by the side of their Emperor.

He Bingze was treated with some bandages tied over his wounds. He went up the wall again, and now he was instructing soldiers to amend the wall at the truce, arranging guards and saving the injured.

Qi Sheng talked to him for a moment then he walked towards me. Without speaking a single word, he took my hand and descend the wall along the packway.

Watching him like this, I reckoned that he might’ve mistaken something. After a while of hesitation, I couldn’t help but shake his hand and explained in a low voice, “Qi Sheng, I think you might’ve mistaken something.”

Qi Sheng didn’t stop, but only answered “um”.

I wanted to explained my behaviors today, but Qi Sheng calmly interrupted me after I was only able to mutter an “I”, “I’m tired, very.” He turned around to look at me, his eyes gentle but weary, “And I’m hungry as well. We’ll talk about things between us later, okay?”

I looked at him, nodded and said no more.

Qi Sheng didn’t leave the wall that night. I patrolled all gates with him, then hid into the north tower, covered in his cape. Just when I was about to take a nap, Xie Yi came, bringing me quilt and a pillow.

I was so touched that I almost cried. I let the feud between us go for a moment and complimented that Xie Yi was a good girl. Then I took off the armor and wrapped myself in the quilt. As soon as my head landed on the pillow, I fell asleep.

At midnight, I felt someone else was sleeping beside me.

I was half in my dreams and unconsciously moved, making some room for him. I mumbled, “Is everything okay?”

Qi Sheng groaned yes, then held me tightly in his arms. He told me in a low voice, “Have some sleep now. We’ll have a tough battle tomorrow.”

I was so tired so I immediately fell asleep.

As expected, the battle the next day was fiercer. Only in the morning, the Northern Desert launched three attacks. Qi Sheng stood behind the battlement with an arrow and only in this way was he able to hold them off.

After the noon, after the final attack of the Northern Desert, it strangely turned quiet under the wall. The Northern Desert soldiers retreated in an organized way, then a large carriage was slowly pushed forward from behind the Northern Desert army.

I was confused that it suddenly went quiet so I poked my head from behind Qi Sheng to have a look. There was a wooden cross on the carriage. It was a woman tied up to the cross, her hair disheveled and her body weak and thin.

I couldn’t believe what I saw and I rubbed my eyes. I pointed at the woman in white, who was tied up to the wooden cross. I stammered and asked Qi Sheng, “Is that, is that Jiang shi?”

Qi Sheng looked calm and it couldn’t be told whether he was delighted or mad. He only nodded, “It looks so.”

Why is Jiang shi on the battlefield? How did the Northern Desert capture her? Why is she in such a situation? I opened my mouth and closed it for several times. In the end, I could only sigh, “Why… why is she still dressing in white?”

There was finally a crack in Qi Sheng’s calm face. His face twitched and he replied, “I don’t know.”

A man came out from the Northern Desert army, riding a horse. He circled around Jiang shi’s carriage, then he looked at Qi Sheng, pointed the rein towards Jiangshi and shouted, “Emperor of Nanxia, do you recognize this woman?”

No one on the wall answered.

The general laughed and shouted again, “Your Empress travels such a long way for you. If you don’t answer, I’ll reward her to my men.”

After hearing his words, all the soldiers guarding the city and I were struck dumb.

Qi Sheng sneered and answered, “I don’t know where you found this woman and claim her to be my empress. How funny is it?”

The Northern Desert general was stunned. He returned to the carriage on his horse, leaned over to Jiang shi and lifted her chin to show Qi Sheng. He smiled, “She claimed that she was your empress and she knew everything in your palace. You have to take a clear look. Don’t turn back on your wife only because you’re embarrassed. If she is your empress, I’ll return her to you. But if she’s lying, she’ll be served as a camp whore.”

I didn’t know whether Jiang shi did pretend to be the Empress, but this Northern Desert general meant nothing good. No matter how Qi Sheng responded, he would be hugely humiliated.

Qi Sheng pressed his lips hard and reached out his hand to Li Hong, who was standing next him. Li Hong hesitated for a moment, and then handed an arrow to him.

Jiang shi was quiet, and she didn’t speak a single word up to now, only looking at Qi Sheng silently.

Qi Sheng put the bow on his arrow and took his aim. He was planning to kill Jiang shi on the spot.

I hurriedly stopped him and shook my head, “You can’t do this. It only shows we are guilty. Killing a vulnerable woman will only dampen soldiers’ morale.”

Qi Sheng turned around and looked at me inquiringly.

I took a deep breath, held my hands against the battlement and jumped. I shouted as loud as I could, “You unscrupulous bastard. What the hell are you talking about! I, the Empress, is right here. How dare you find someone to impersonate me? Shame on you!”

Then I took off my helmet and unleashed the band that tied my hair. My hair washed down. Listen to the voice, look at my hair and look at my appearance. He would be blind if he couldn’t recognize that I am a woman!

Everyone looked at me. It was quiet on and off the wall.

I wonder whether they didn’t believe I was a woman, or they didn’t believe I was the Empress Zhang Pengpeng. If they didn’t believe I was a woman, I would take off my armor and stood on the crenel to show them Zhang Pengpeng’s excellent body. Though dressed in a lot of clothes, they could definitely see her curve.