The Rise of Phoenixes

Chapter 213

It was the first time she had received a thoughtful gift in all of her sixteen years and she wanted to savor the moment just a little longer.

After an hour of staring and daydreaming, she finally reached out, lazing unhooking the clasp.

She dipped the tip of her finger is the ornamental hook and gently flicked... but the clasp refused to budge.

She shifted her hand, gripping the clasp now, budging it this way and that, twisting it her and there, gently shifting it back and forth... but she just could not click it open.

Feng Zhiwei sat up straight, picking up the box and bringing it to her. As she leaned in and carefully examined the gift, her mouth began twitching.

The clasp was a simple ornamental piece, completely unfunctioning! She’d been fooled!

Feng Zhiwei held the box, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. As she thought about how rare it was for Ning Yi to be in the mood to joke and prank, a quiet, warm smile filled Feng Zhiwei’s eyes.

She moved her hands over the sides of the box; it was sealed tight with only a narrow slit at the bottom.

Was that the opening?

Feng Zhiwei stared confusedly at the gift, wondering if it was even meant to be opened.

It looked like she really had just been dreaming to imagine elixirs, jewelry, and pen monkeys.

The slit at the bottom was long and narrow with barely enough width for the tip of her finger as she felt around inside. Paper seemed to be fitted inside, but try as she might she could not get enough of a grip to pull anything out. Finally, she began violently shaking the box.

Eventually, a light green envelope stamped with that distinctive golden sandal slipped out. The paper was clearly quite special, smooth and stiff.

Feng Zhiwei bit her lips, holding back a smile. That man really came up with strange things!

The turn was, Feng Zhiwei was a little disappointed. If the box contained letters, it probably held no other surprises, and with the difficulties surrounding Ning Yi’s eyes, he must have had a scribe write for him, so this was probably just business.

She examined the envelope for a moment before slowly opening it, careful not to damage it.

When she unfolded the embossed, pale white paper within, Feng Zhiwei began chuckling.

What ugly characters!

At first, all she saw were indecipherable blots of ink, but slowly the writing improved to barely readable. It was clear that the hand that wrote these letters had a profound foundation in calligraphy, but the characters were still incredibly ugly, and strange, jarring lines marked the bottom of every line.

Feng Zhiwei focused, her smile disappearing.

Ning Yi had written this himself.

She was familiar with his handwriting, and even though everything was marred beyond recognition, she could still see his touch. He must have written this by himself, alone in his tent late into the night.

Heavens only knew how he had written with his blindness. He must have used a ruler to mark his lines.

“Such ugly writing,” Feng Zhiwei quietly murmured. “Such shamelessness.” She scolded, smiling.

Feng Zhiwei brought her light closer, carefully deciphering the letters.

The first ink blot should be her name.

“Wei, how is my writing? I’ve practiced a lot on military reports, but Ning Cheng never understands my letters. When he could finally read my words, I knew that I could write you letters.”

The army began its march today, and we camped thirty miles out of Feng Zhou City. I’ve been planning with the generals since nine in the evening. There are two factions among the commanders and they’ve been arguing incessantly. The first group is headed by the South Sea Generals, and they’re sticklers. They recommend that the vanguard lead the way for the main army and strive for steadiness. The radical party is led by the new Minnan General, and he wants to take the cavalry out as an advance party so that when we cross Magu Pass, they can flank the Chang Family and catch them unprepared. As they were talking, I kept wondering what would you do if you were here?

I guessed that with your sneaky evil, you would come up with some sort of diversion and subtle trick or tactic, so I ordered the South Sea General to take the cavalry to attack Ledu County first. The Minnan General could take ten thousand soldiers to set up an ambush at Ba He, the only route we are certain the Chang Family must pass. After we’ve hit them, the South Sea General and the Minnan General will form the two prongs of my trident and we’ll attack from three directions. What do you think?

But don’t worry about me; Minnan will definitely fall into my hands. You just have to focus on getting better.

We passed Feng Wei County today. There is a wood here called Feng Wei[1] wood with a naturally smooth texture and beautiful pattern. I had some dyed with the Feng Wei leaf’s juice, a pretty light green. I commanded Ning Cheng to make this box, and he followed all my instructions, but he added a gold hasp as a “diversion tactic to confuse the enemy.” I told him to piss off and bring his diversions back to Dijing.

The drum beat four times[2], so I have to stop here. I hope this letter finds you well. Take care.

Feng Zhiwei read through the letter four times before carefully folding it. She eyed the ornamental hasp, between laughter and tears as she burst out: “What sneaky evil! That’s you!”

She closed up the envelope and looked around for a place to hide it. In the end, there was no better place than the box in front of her, so she stuffed it back into the slit and shook out a second letter.

Feng Zhiwei smiled again. She felt like she was a young child once more, bringing her brother out for candy. The hawkers had used boxes as well, though of course not as pretty. The simple gears in those boxes would drop a little colored paper wrapper every time you pushed a button — a red wrapper meant a large candy ball, a yellow wrapper was a small candy, and a green wrapper meant thin malt sugar.

She had always had bad luck and gotten malt sugar every time.

Today, she felt her luck had improved.

She picked up the enveloped and read the label “Three.” Feng Zhiwei guessed that she had ruined the order of the letters when she had stuffed the first one back in.

But there was amusement in the chaos as well, so she just smiled and opened the letter.

“Zhiwei, we reached Creek Tower today and camped not far from a reed marsh. It is wide and vast, and Ning Cheng says that the reeds are beautiful. When the wind blows, it looks like a white sea, and when I stood by the reed and listened, I almost thought I could hear waves. A type of bird flitted among the reeds and its song was clean and clear. A white feather fell on my sleeve, and I had Ning Cheng find the largest and most beautiful reed for me so that I could attach the feather to this letter. Maybe you’ll be able to hear the wind as well.”

A pure white feather and a yellowing reed were attached to the letter, faintly reflective in the light of the oil lamp. Feng Zhiwei gently brushed the fine feather and the velvety reed, imagining that beautiful, elegant man standing next to the reed marsh, a pure white bird flying overhead as the wind swept at his robes, that golden mandala swaying domineeringly in the breeze. Those snowy reeds swaying around his moon robes, as if so many strands of white fire burning brilliantly under the sun.

[1] 凤4尾3 wood, phoenix tail

[2] The drum beating four times marks 1am.