Rebirth of a Star General 100
A Woman
This was a face that Ding Yi had never seen and there were no signs of disguise.
Before coming to the Sun’s mansion, Yuan Baozheng had also once said that he came together with Xiao Jue, that he was his nephew, the Young Master of the Right Premier House, and the famous “Useless Young Master” of Shuojing City. This was just a casual mention and wasn’t spoken in great detail. After all, none of them expected such a harmless and useless young master would bring such disruption to their plans.
He wouldn’t be the real Cheng Lisu, the young and precious young master raised in Shuojing City would never have such fierce eyes.
Who is he? Someone whom Xiao Jue arranged? But if it was so, why would he give him such a look? As if both of them had strong hatred.
Looking at the young man in front, Ding Yi said, “Are you trying to pretend to be a ghost here?”
He Yan smiled, “Are you scared?”
Ding Yi slightly kept his smile closed, “Your mouth is so stiff that it makes people unpleasant.” After that, the dagger in the sleeve suddenly grew a few inches, and he quickly stabbed towards He Yan.
He Yan whirled and flew up.
The two figures scrambled together, and the silhouette reflected on the window was extremely strange. If the servants of the Sun mansion passed by at this moment, they would have confirmed the rumors of ghosts haunting.
He Yan was slightly surprised.
Back then, she fell into He Rufei’s trick — which was the poison sent by this person in front of her that made her blind. She always thought that Ding Yi was a young man who merely ran errands for He Rufei. Later, when she saw Yuan Baozhen, she knew that this man was skillful, but it was only when she came up to fight against him that she realized that Ding Yi was stronger than she thought.
His skills were far above that of Yingyue, the assassin. Not showing such skills, and being extraordinarily cautious and conservative, he definitely wouldn’t have made a move if he was not confident. Therefore, during the assassination on the banquet, he being the last pawn, was not supposed to make a move until the very last resort. The incense ball was also the same. It was meant to wait till Xiao Jue got poisoned and weakened before he could make a move to kill him off in a shot.
The trap that Ding Yi set up for He Yan to fall in today, was only to further show how outstanding He Yan was — a mere 16 years old boy would not be this good.
This person is both conceited and careful — his conceit came from his conceit in his own skill and ability, his carefulness in being careful in doing things without failure.
He cannot be underestimated.
Ding Yi was also shocked.
He had never seen such an opponent.
It was said that Xiao Jue, the general of the Right Army, is a rare opponent who was intelligent and skillful in martial arts. He wanted to have a duel with him but He Rufei had specifically told him not to fight head-on with Xiao Jue, so he could only secretly attack and wait for the opportunity. People like him can never duel openly with others and can only hide in the dark, like a mouse hiding in a ditch. Possessing great martial arts but having nowhere to display them, just like Imperial Secret Police patrolling at night.
Ding Yi felt a little dejected deep within his heart.
The mysterious background of this young man made him eager to try. He wanted to defeat him openly and then make use of him to scheme Xiao Jue. By doing so, he could also display his capabilities. But with just this exchange, he knew he got too full of himself earlier.
This young man was in fact not weak at all.
The dagger brushed the top of He Yan’s head. Ding Yi slapped He Yan’s left shoulder, causing her to take a few steps back and knocking down the Buddha statue on the table.
“You are being disrespectful to Buddha.” He Yan said, “Aren’t you afraid that Buddha will come to you at night?”
Ding Yi looked at her with displeasure. This young man could still speak to him as if nothing has happened after being hit by him? He sneered, “Do you know that each Buddha statute here represents a dead person? You will join them soon.”
He Yan reached out her hand to touch her shoulder. Revealing a horrified expression, “Don’t tell ghost stories in the middle of the night when everything is fine!” While saying this, the dagger in her hand came stabbing towards Ding Yi without any hesitation.
Ding Yi avoided it. The dagger lifted his hat away and dropped it on the ground.
He Yan sighed. She didn’t have any weapons when she came out. This dagger was also the one used to cut venison during the banquet in Sun’s mansion. At that time, Xiao Jue was stabbed, and she rushed in to help after she snatched it in a hurry. This dagger, at this moment, seemed overly gorgeous but impractical.
As she was thinking, Ding Yi had already dashed forward again. He Yan avoided the tip of his blade but was hit on the back by his palm. She suddenly tasted sweetness in her throat.
Although Ding Yi uses a dagger, he prefers to duel with his bare hands. Clearly, this person is very confident in his own skill.
“To remain standing after getting hit by me twice,” Ding Yi’s gaze shifted slightly, “You are the first.”
He Yan swallowed the blood in her throat and smiled, “You are also the first to remain alive after hitting me twice.”
“What sharp teeth.” Ding Yi said, charging forward again.
He Yan turned and fled for the window.
Young Lady He’s body was still too weak after all. Maybe God is like this — fairness does not exist in the world. A woman’s thoughts are more delicate than a man’s, and her body is destined to be weaker than a man’s. Even though she was brave and performed well at war in her previous life, she is now only a sixteen years old girl. Even before the spring of this year, she barely had a single skill in the martial arts.
Her nei li[1] was not as well polished as Ding Yi’s.
“Are you thinking of escaping now?” Ding Yi laughed. He stretched out his hand to grab He Yan’s placket and dragged her back. Being pulled back by him, He Yan fell into the Buddha’s niche.
The incense ash was spilled into the air.
“No one will be coming here at night.” Ding Yi smiled, “No one dares to come, so you can only wait for death here.”
He Yan stood up, kicked away a Buddha statue in front of her, and smiled, “I am a dead person in the first place.”
She acted casually, but Ding Yi found it familiar and was taken aback for a moment.
Ding Yi is He Rufei’s subordinate and has been with He Rufei for many years. They have been living in another courtyard, far away from Shuojing. In the past few years, He Rufei has nurtured Ding Yi, like a soldier not fearing death. Ding Yi has excellent skills — he could make drugs, could disguise, and has a thoughtful mind. Even if he is someone else’s subordinate, he is also an excellent one.
Being full of skills, it was natural for him to be able to use them. But when they return to Shuojing, Ding Yi’s first task was to prepare a bowl of poison to blind Madam Xu, who was also He Rufei’s cousin.
He was very dissatisfied with this task at the time, and he didn’t know why He Rufei had to order his cousin to be killed. The women’s fight is a matter in the back house, so what can be done with him? Ding Yi is consciously insulted.
Yet, He Rufei told him, “Don’t underestimate her and be careful not to get caught.”
Ding Yi felt very strange. How good could a woman be? Why must he be careful?
Being half curious and half disdainful, Ding Yi entered Xu’s house and stayed for three days.
It was during those three days that made him discover that Madam Xu was not a simple woman. She was extremely sensitive. Sometimes she could also immediately notice something wrong when Ding Yi was hiding in the dark trying to observe her. Several times, Ding Yi almost revealed his traces.
In the end, he had no choice but to hide in Xu’s family as He Rufei’s servant. Although Madam Xu was cautious and sensitive, she still trusted the He family very much, which gave him a chance to act. He could still remember that when the bowl of medicine was given to Madam Xu, she was told that it was a tonic from the He family and she raised her head and drank it all without even thinking about it. At that time, he had an indescribable feeling. A woman like her, with such skill and ability, would have needed to work hard to defeat her upright and take her life. But as long as the people around her acted, he could get what he wanted easily with just such a bowl of medicine.
No wonder people say that the only people around us are those who get deceived and hurt.
During those three days, Ding Yi also noticed some small habits of Madam Xu. For instance, whenever there are things in front of her eyes, like fallen branches, she would always like to kick them away. The way she kicked seemed casual but was very hard. For a woman coming from a big family, this was considered rude. Madam Xu also knew this, so every time she kicked something away unconsciously, she would react. If there was no one around, she would leave as though nothing happened. If there was someone around, she would stick out her tongue apologetically.
Whenever she was doing this, her usual plain face would reveal a vivid look, as if this was the real her. Therefore, after a long time, though Ding Yi almost couldn’t remember the appearance of Madam Xu, he could still remember her action of kicking away the branches in front of her eyes.
And just now, the image of the young man in front of him kicking away the Buddha statue with his foot, and that movement and look suddenly brought out with Madam Xu from Ding Yi’s memory.
But how could he be Madam Xu?
After drinking that bowl of poison, Madam Xu became blind. Ding Yi thought that the matter would end there, until this spring, when he was in the He family and he heard that Madam Xu fell into the pond and drowned to death.
Ding Yi did not think that she indeed fell and drowned, likely because when He Rufei and the He family heard about this, except the second Madam, were not surprised, as if they knew it long ago.
What would have made the entire He family ruthlessly kill a daughter that was married off, in which turning her blind was not sufficient but taking her life away would calm their worried hearts? When he recalled it afterward, he gradually had a little idea.
After He Rufei lived in the other courtyard for many years, he returned to Shuojing and instantly became General Feihong. Ding Yi thought it was the He family who had found a substitute for He Rufei. Since He Rufei was back, the substitute should die. But what if the substitute was a woman?
This sounded hard to believe, but not impossible. Especially when Ding Yi thought of Madam Xu’s alertness and skill, it was definitely not something an ordinary woman could do. Especially after he heard that Madam Xu was blind, she didn’t feel helpless but tried to listen to the sound to distinguish the situation. Perhaps it was because of this that made the He family feel uneasy.
What they needed was an obedient blind person. If this blind person could still walk, move, and speak, it would not be reassuring enough.
Madam Xu, whom he had blinded, might be the famous General Feihong. Whenever he thought of this, Ding Yi felt proud yet regretful. He was proud to have suppressed the Xiqiang Rebellion, that General Feihong, who was feared by many, was defeated by such an insignificant man. Regrettably, since he had calculated against Madam Xu, it was not an open defeat but just a bowl of medicine after all.
The lights were glimmering, causing the figure of the young boy reflected to blur. The corner of He Yan’s eyes curled, “It’s not a good habit to lose your focus in a fight.” Following her voice was her movement, which was as brisk as a ghost, and she reached Ding Yi in the blink of an eye.
“Psssh”, the dagger slashed across his sleeve, leaving a trace of blood. He Yan has cut his arm.
“Are you only capable of this?” A hint of excitement flashed across Ding Yi’s eyes, and there was a little disdain. This young man is definitely not General Feihong, General Feihong was…more capable than that.
He disapprovingly tore off the loose sleeves and looked at He Yan with a smile, “Be it you are a human or a ghost, you will die today!”
He rushed towards He Yan.
The room was initially very spacious, but because it was filled with Buddha statues, it appeared narrow and cramped. Ding Yi had practiced martial arts since he was a child so his nei li was profound and his methods were treacherous and dangerous. Otherwise, He Rufei would not have taken a liking to him. He Yan exchanged four or five moves with him, and the areas where she was being hit were filled with injuries, with her back being cut by the tip of Ding Yi’s dagger was the most injured.
The window was right in front of her yet it was difficult to flee. She was caught and thrown to the ground. Ding Yi grabbed her head and looked at her suspiciously, “Who exactly are you?”
“Who do you think I am?” Blood came out of the boy’s lips, but his expression was nonchalant, as if he didn’t know the pain, even his smile remained unchanged.
In a daze, Ding Yi thought of Madam Xu again. This association made him unhappy, and the hand gripping He Yan’s neck tightened. He said: “If you don’t tell me who you are, I will kill and bury you here. There are Buddhas and talismans everywhere to stop you from living beyond birth,” he said softly and coaxingly, “Who exactly are you?”
This young man’s skills were already outstanding, giving him a deja vu again. Ding Yi was unwilling to let the truth slip through his hands.
When He Yan heard those words, she instead laughed till she coughed up some blood, and said while smiling, “Haven’t I already told you that I’m an evil spirit that crawled out of the underworld and am disdained from living beyond birth? Besides, I can even come and go freely so these talismans and Buddha statues are merely just clay sculptures and papers that cannot be taken seriously. Does your owner, He Rufei, know how foolish you are?”
Ding Yi was taken aback that he even knew He Rufei. His expression changed abruptly, “What else do you know?” He subconsciously touched his back, but it was empty.
The young man’s face was still in front of him, with a bright smile. Ding Yi noticed something was wrong, and his dagger pierced forward. But the young man, as if he woke up suddenly, gently withdrew, and escaped his control.
Leaning on the altar, she held a small plum blossom dart in her hand and played with it, and said, “Is this your assassin weapon? Even hiding this in your arms, if I hadn’t been beaten so many times, I really wouldn’t have found it.”
Ding Yi’s face instantly sank: “You fooled me?”
“I wouldn’t dare,” the young man said with a smile, “It’s just that I can’t be schemed by the same person twice, so I came prepared. It’s not your fault. You have hidden it perfectly.”
In her previous life, He Yan was blind when this person brought a bowl of poison. Seeing him again in this life, the glass of wine at the banquet seemed strange. In Yuan Baozhen’s house, Ding Yi even gave her an incense ball. If it weren’t for people who often used poison, they wouldn’t carry such poisonous things with them.
With a preconceived impression, she paid special attention to this person. Ding Yi’s fingertip turned black as if it had been soaked in poison all year round, and his skin was chapped. This pair of hands was that of someone who uses poison, combined with the intentions of the previous assassins, it was clear that this person was also sly and had hidden a poisoned weapon in his body. The dagger is just a blind trick, the real ultimate move was this poisoned plum blossom dart.
It was actually not difficult to fight against him close-up. The difficulty was that if this person was pressed into a hurry, he would use his assassin weapon. If lucky, she would only be seriously injured and if unlucky, she might lose her life instead. He Yan didn’t dare take her life to gamble.
She was very conceited when she observed Ding Yi. Although she had a dagger with her, she was accustomed to fighting her with bare hands and was confident that she was not weaker than him. Therefore, He Yan deliberately exposed her flaws, pretending to be physically weak but was just a skilled yet slightly inferior ordinary teenager. Sure enough, in just a while, Ding Yi began to underestimate his enemy.
While she successfully removed Ding Yi’s “ultimate move”.
Ding Yi said ruthlessly, “I must kill you.”
“Do you think you still have the chance to?” He Yan snapped her fingers, “It’s now your turn to be beaten up.”
The two figures collided together. The young man who appeared to have a weaker nei li was definitely pretending it. Her movements were faster and more fierce and in a short while, she kicked away the dagger in Ding Yi’s hand and her short figure avoided his punch. Without looking back, she returned with a stab, and the dagger pierced into Ding Yi’s waist.
“You…” He widened his eyes in disbelief.
He Yan kicked his knee and Ding Yi fell to his knees. He Yan grabbed his hair and said, “Now it’s time for me to ask questions.”
“Why did He Rufei want to kill Xiao Jue? Are you doing things for Xu Xiang? What benefits did Xu Xiang promise you? What exactly is He Rufei trying to do?”
She said quickly and hastily, Ding was taken aback for a moment and slowly smiled.
“I won’t say it.” He said, “If I do, you will kill me immediately. Why don’t you try and see if there is any other way to make me speak.”
His smile even showed a little ridicule.
He Yan had seen such an expression on his face many times and was not foreign to it. When she was in the Fuyue Army, whenever they captured the enemy’s troops, some of the prisoners would quickly surrender and turn sides, while others would rather die than speak. No matter how they were forced, they would not speak. In the end, it would only make the interrogator full of frustration.
The expression on Ding Yi’s face was exactly similar to the expression “dead pigs aren’t afraid of boiling water”. What he said right now may be pleasing to hear and did not say anything ruthless, seemingly as if he had given himself a way out but he was actually fooling He Yan. If it was an ordinary person, they would have been fooled and probably let him go and in the future when there is an opportunity, Ding Yi’s comrades would save him.
She looked at Ding Yi and suddenly said, “You kept asking who I was earlier on. Who were you thinking of?”
Ding Yi’s face changed and he stared at her without saying a word.
“Don’t you find it odd? We have only met a few times and yet I knew that you’ve hidden poisoned weapons in your body and was even wary of it beforehand. Also, I was the one who sounded out about the wine during the banquet. How did I know?”
Ding Yi sneered: “Stop fooling around. Kill me if you have the ability.”
“If I have no grudges with you, I will definitely not kill you. But what is the use of keeping you alive? I lived only for revenge.”
“The gods and Buddhas can testify that I’m not lying.” He Yan smiled as if to welcome the weird atmosphere. On an autumn night, thunder suddenly sounded and the lightning shined through the room. The kind-looking Buddha statues watched them as if they were rounding up their unfinished business from many years ago.
“You’ve once fed a bowl of poison to a woman and that woman turned blind,” the young man lightly said.
“Guess whether I was that woman,” she smiled.
Ding Yi struggled and said, “You are…”
Before finishing his words, his eyes suddenly widened, and a trace of blood leaked from his lips. The expression in his eyes quickly dissipated.
The plum blossom dart pierced his throat, piercing very deeply, and in a moment, he died.
He Yan stood up and looked at the person by his feet. Ding Yi’s body laid on the golden Buddha statue as if it was mocking him. She whispered, “It’s your turn to die here alone. Let’s see whether you can be reborn.”
Ding Yi must not be kept alive. She didn’t even know where she could have kept a person like him hidden. If Xiao Jue knew about this and questioned how she knew about the He family, He Yan wouldn’t be able to explain herself. Since he was not afraid of death and refused to reveal any secrets, keeping him alive was meaningless. Also, since this person had done a lot of evil, it was not a pity to have him dead.
Dying here was his best ending. It will take several days for someone to find his body since this yard is haunted.
There was a thunderstorm outside, and autumn rain fell as He Yan stumbled towards the house.
Although she used herself to lure Ding Yi into letting down his guard, she also suffered a lot of injuries. Now that her current body is no better than her previous life, Ding Yi was not someone who would slack off. Perhaps she had underestimated He Rufei’s power. The injuries on her back were drenched by the rain, the bloodstains flowed into the yard with the rain, and were quickly washed away. He Yan could feel all her strength fading away.
Now that the body is no better than the previous life, Ding Yi is not a generation to wait, she may have underestimated He Rufei’s power. The wound on his back was drenched by the rain, and the bloodstains flowed down the rain into the yard and were quickly washed away. He Yan felt that all his strength was disappearing.
This is probably the most pathetic state she was in since she was reborn. Fortunately, when she left, Xiao Jue and Feinu were not there. In such a short time, they still haven’t come back. She had to hurry back and quickly change her clothes to pretend that nothing happened.
The house was right in front of her, He Yan leaped in from the window. She was relieved to see that it was the house dark with no one inside.
She mumbled softly, “Thank goodness no one realized.”
When the words just fell, someone’s voice came in.
“You’re getting happy a little too early.”
“Pop,” the room suddenly brightened, and He Yan froze.
In the middle of the room was a person sitting and playing with the lighter in his hand. The lights on the table were flickering. The person had handsome eyebrows and neat clothes. He turned and looked at her faintly, “You’re back?”
It was Xiao Jue.
He Yan trembled, and quickly returned to her senses. She quickly said, “Uncle! This is a misunderstanding. I also just found out that I can see and I met an assassin outside…”
Before she could finish her words, she saw that the young man, who was sitting down, stood in front of her eyes. He drew a sword and stabbed her towards her chest. He Yan frantically reached out her hand to block it, but the tip of the sword wasn’t trying to take her life so it turned around and tore her clothes.
“Chiff—”
The blood-stained clothes were all turned into pieces. The girl’s body was pale and weak, wrapped in layers of white cloth around her chest as if it was wrapping a gudou[2].
He Yan’s face instantly blushed.
Xiao Jue looped around her back, his scabbard pressing against He Yan’s neck. With the sounds of their breathing being heard, the atmosphere was hostile and tense.
“The liar has shown up.”
He curled the corners of his lips, like the lazy and wild young boy in a white robe under the batch tree back then. With slight ridicule in his voice, he smiled indifferently, “Should I call you He Yan, or Young Lady He?”
End of Volume 2.
[1] Nei li loosely translates to inner force, which ties into the Chinese kungfu concept of Nei kung, leveraging on a person’s breathing and meditation techniques for martial arts.
[2] Guduo is a Chinese ancient melee weapon that is held like a hammer, except that the head of the hammer is a sphere filled with spikes.
