Qin Duan possessed a serene and gentle disposition and was a warm and kind person. He rarely argued with Xie Zhengming, and their day-to-day interactions could be considered mutually respectful and polite. However, as time passed, Xie Zhengming’s feelings toward Qin Duan were no longer marked by the initial reluctance and disdain. Instead, in the heat of passion between the sheets, he would find himself unable to resist asking:
“Do you hold affection for me?”
Every time, Qin Duan would bury his face amidst his ragged breaths, never once giving him an answer. It wasn’t until that year when the rebel army breached the village that things changed. Those frontline soldiers had gone without meat for a long time; elderly women and young wives aside, even youths with delicate and handsome features were frequently ravaged and harmed.
It happened when Xie Zhengming had previously sprained his ankle in the fields, so Qin Duan had told him to stay home and rest while he went out to plow the land himself. Ever since his mother passed away, the two of them had depended on each other in this manner.
While Xie Zhengming was dozing and half-asleep at home, two lustful soldiers burst in. Seeing nothing of value to steal, their eyes fell upon him as he lay on the bed clad only in his inner garments. Before he was fully awake, the two scoundrels had already mounted him and frantically clawed at his clothes.
He woke up and struggled to resist, but the chilling gleam of a blade pressed against his neck instantly cleared his senses.
“You’d better behave yourself. Serve us grandfathers well, and we might just spare your life!”
So said the ruffian soldier, drool practically pooling as he gazed upon Xie Zhengming’s striking looks.
Xie Zhengming had never imagined that he, a man of iron-willed integrity and standing seven feet tall, would one day suffer such profound humiliation. In a flash of furious red, he grabbed the blade with a backhand motion and slashed at the soldier tearing at his clothes. The ruffian was startled, never expecting him to dare fight back, and the two tumbled together in a brawl. Because of his injured foot, Xie Zhengming couldn’t gain the upper hand for a moment. That soldier had just come off the battlefield and was brimming with murderous戾 qi; he seized Xie Zhengming’s throat in a death grip, intending to snuff out his life.
At that very moment of imminent peril, Xie Zhengming watched with wide eyes as the burly, lustful soldier suddenly bulged his eyes, spat a mouthful of blood, and collapsed squarely onto him. Straining with all his might to shove the body off, Xie Zhengming discovered that Qin Duan had returned at some point. At that moment, Qin Duan’s eyes were vacant, and his chest was stained entirely with blood. It was he who had picked up the dropped knife from the floor and plunged it straight into the soldier’s back, saving Xie Zhengming’s life.
Xie Zhengming pulled Qin Duan into his embrace, desperate to snap him back to his senses:
“A’duan! A’duan! I’m fine, I’m alright…”
Coming back to himself, Qin Duan suddenly wrapped his arms around Xie Zhengming, trembling uncontrollably from head to toe.
“A-Zheng, A-Zheng… I, I’ve killed someone.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine, I killed one too. Even if their commander comes, we’ll die together.”
Qin Duan suddenly shook his head, gripping Xie Zhengming’s hand with frantic urgency:
“No, no, you must run—hurry and run! Both of these men were killed by me; it has nothing to do with you!”
Anxiously scrambling up, Qin Duan rushed to the wardrobe to pack a bundle for him:
“Clothes, silver… and there are still a few flatbreads in the kitchen, take them all with you. A-Zheng, hurry and leave! If you delay and their people find out, you won’t be able to escape!”
Xie Zhengming yanked Qin Duan back and said:
“What kind of nonsense is this! If we go, we go together!”
“No, no, they have horses; we’ll be overtaken in no time. I’ll stay behind to take the blame, and they won’t come after you. Please, go!”
Xie Zhengming stared blankly at Qin Duan, unsurprised that Qin Duan could still think with such meticulous clarity even at a time like this; Qin Duan had always been as meticulous as a hair. What he hadn’t expected was that in a life-and-death moment of this magnitude, Qin Duan would make such a choice without a moment’s hesitation. He tested him by asking:
“A’duan, you truly didn’t have to go this far. Even if you want to run, I am willing to stay…”
Xie Zhengming’s eyes widened. Before him was Qin Duan’s magnified, handsome face. Tears streaming down his cheeks, Qin Duan pressed a heavy, lingering kiss upon his lips…
“A-Zheng, in our next life, I hope fate allows us to truly live as husband and wife. Go now; I’ve made up my mind. Don’t let these two filthy scum cost us both our lives hurry!”
In the end, neither of them had to run away. However, they didn’t meet with execution either. When the leader of the rebel army inquired into the origin of the matter, he flew into a rage and strictly ordered a thorough rectification of military discipline, forbidding any harassment of ordinary citizens.
And so, Xie Zhengming officially joined the rebel ranks, bringing Qin Duan along with him.
Half a year later, after they joined the army, Qin Duan contracted a severe cold and succumbed to debilitating chills and fevers, rendering him unable to continue marching. Yet the army was scheduled to mobilize immediately, and Xie Zhengming, having already been promoted to Deputy Military Advisor and trusted heavily by the commanding general, had no choice but to settle Qin Duan in a village along their route, entrusting his care to the local villagers. Upon parting, he held Qin Duan close and swore:
“When I achieve glory and success, I will surely return with an eight-bearer sedan chair and formally take you as my primary wife.”
Xie Zhengming seemed trapped within a lingering nightmare. He couldn’t tell whether this was the final delirium of a dying man or if he had already perished and his soul had returned to the great void.
In his dream, he beheld once more that howling blizzard of a day when Qin Duan knelt in the courtyard, bracing himself for the full force of his monstrous fury.
At that time, he had just returned in triumph to the capital from the southern frontier campaigns, having learned of Princess Yanning’s miscarriage the day before, which sent him flying into an uncontrollable rage.
Originally, he had thought that accepting the imperial mandate to marry Princess Yanning was already an injustice to Qin Duan, and he was determined never to take any secondary concubines. Thus, prior to his departure, the news that Yanning was pregnant had brought him immense joy. Yet he never expected that during the three months he was away, the child would be lost.
Yanning had colluded with the servants, acting hand-in-hand to frame Qin Duan with ironclad evidence. And Qin Duan had been utterly unable to clear his name.
From beginning to end, Qin Duan simply stood there, gazing straight into his eyes and insisting that he had done nothing of the sort.
Yet at that time, blinded by righteous indignation, Xie Zhengming was entirely incapable of reading the disappointment, heartbreak, and profound desolation mirrored in Qin Duan’s eyes.
It wasn’t until Yanning’s tearful wailing frayed his composure that he ordered Qin Duan to kneel in the courtyard and undergo punishment. Qin Duan’s gaze lowered, and across the swirling curtain of snow, Xie Zhengming could no longer see those eyes. A sudden, frantic panic clawed at Xie Zhengming’s heart.
Yet right at that moment, the estate servants presented the bloody, mangled corpse of the child. Yanning and her maid wept into each other’s arms, and as Xie Zhengming looked upon the fully formed, bloodied corpse of the infant boy, his own vision turned blood-red. With a trembling voice, he ordered twenty strikes of the heavy rod to be administered to Qin Duan.
At the time, Xie Zhengming had even thought that bestowing twenty strikes was an act of extraordinary mercy on his part, failing to realize he had already fallen squarely into Yanning’s trap. The executioner had long since been bought off by her, delivering lethal force with every single blow, ruthlessly shattering the bones in Qin Duan’s legs. Qin Duan had passed out from the agony, yet the beating did not stop until the flesh around his broken limbs was shredded and pulpy, soaked in gore.
As for Xie Zhengming, because he was situated far away from the courtyard where the punishment took place, and amidst the blinding blizzard, he failed to notice anything amiss in time. He merely assumed Qin Duan was simply too frail to withstand such a punishment and had collapsed under the strain. But with Yanning watching closely at his side, surrounded by a throng of estate servants, how could he go back on his word without losing his authority as master?
Gritting his teeth, Xie Zhengming listened as the servants shouted out the count with each strike. His heart felt as though it were being slowly sliced to pieces, as if those heavy rods were falling upon his own chest. His vision blurred, and for a moment he couldn’t tell whether losing his child caused him greater agony, or witnessing Qin Duan’s punishment. Lowering his gaze, he sat rigidly, his finely-jointed hands gripping his wide sleeves so tightly that the knuckles turned white and prominent.
He had always believed that if Qin Duan truly loved him, he should have loved everything connected to him, holding a merciful heart toward his child. Yet he never imagined that Qin Duan would actually harm his offspring!
When the punishment finally concluded, Xie Zhengming lifted his eyes only to see that the freshly fallen snow covering the ground was stained a vivid crimson. Qin Duan’s blood had dyed the earth beside him, congealing into ice before being blanketed anew by the fluttering white flakes. At that instant, blackness swept over Xie Zhengming’s vision, and a buzzing roar filled his brain. He sprang to his feet, only to stagger and nearly crash to the ground.
“Though we live on separate days, in death we pray to share the same grave; our sacred covenant shall endure through eternity…”
The vows sworn when they became pact-brothers still echoed clearly in his ears, yet circumstances had completely transformed.
“A’duan, do you hold affection for me?”
“When I achieve glory and success, I will surely return with an eight-bearer sedan chair and formally take you as my primary wife.”
Scene after scene of the past crowded into his mind, leaving Xie Zhengming with a splitting headache.
The dream shattered, and Xie Zhengming jerked his eyes open, greeted by the ceiling of the estate’s study.