Chapter Sixty-Eight: Dispelling Inner Demons

By the time Chen Ying led his troops back to the main camp, settled his men, and handed over the fish tally at the Ministry of War, it was already dusk when he returned to the Chen residence.

"The master has returned! Quick, come out and welcome him!" Zhao Yuanqiao shrilled, "The master has returned! Quick, come out and welcome him!"

Watching Zhao Yuanqiao and Li Qiqi dance about with excitement, Chen Ying smiled faintly. "Has anything unexpected happened at home while I was away?"

"No... nothing!"

Li Qiqi's eyes darted evasively.

Chen Ying looked gravely at him. "Qiqi, do you know that whenever you lie, your face turns red? Touch your face and see if it has."

Li Qiqi, confused, instinctively reached up to feel his own cheek.

"What happened?"

Before Li Qiqi could answer, Chen Ying noticed that the sisters, Hongxiu and Lvzhu, looked as though they'd returned from a trek across Africa. The two girls, once as delicate as porcelain dolls, now appeared dark and battered. Lvzhu and Hongxiu, weeping, rushed to his side, each clinging to one of his arms.

The sisters' voices overlapped in lament, echoing from either side.

"Master, Lvzhu has suffered so much!"

"Hongxiu too!"

Hongxiu stretched out her arm, revealing once smooth and supple skin now mottled with bruises and crisscrossed with scars.

"Master, have pity on me, I truly cannot endure any longer."

Lvzhu rolled up her trouser leg, exposing a shocking purple bruise, coiling and hideous like a serpent.

Chen Ying's heart sank, his face growing darker with every word.

"I almost didn't live to see you again, Master!"

"Just seeing you, Master, is enough for me to die in peace!"

"Wait!" Chen Ying quickly pushed them aside and asked solemnly, "What happened to you two? Who mistreated you?"

"Princess Pingyang!"

At these words, Chen Ying was momentarily struck dumb. "This..."

He was utterly bewildered. "Why would Princess Pingyang trouble you two sisters?"

"We don't know either!"

Lvzhu and Hongxiu, in chorus and tears, poured out accusations against Li Xiuning's cruelty.

It turned out that while Chen Ying was away suppressing the rebellion in Pangqi, Princess Pingyang had summoned the sisters to her residence. At first, they thought themselves fortunate to be called upon by the princess, but upon entering her household, they found themselves in a living hell. Each morning before dawn, they were required to report to Princess Pingyang’s mansion and train with Li Xiuning’s hundred-strong guard of female soldiers.

They had to run, and they had to practice combat.

Neither Hongxiu nor Lvzhu was cut out for fighting; pitted against the princess’s guards, they were nothing but punching bags. After more than a month, the two had grown dark from the sun and were covered in a latticework of wounds.

After hearing their story, Chen Ying spent no small effort to comfort them, eventually calming the distraught sisters. Still, he was left at a loss, unable to decipher Li Xiuning’s intentions. Did she wish to train them into skilled bodyguards? But that seemed unlikely—he knew little of the princess’s own martial ability, but he was certain she lacked for nothing in the way of personal protectors. After all, Li Yuan indulged his daughter’s every request.

He racked his brains, but could make no sense of it.

Just then, a cold voice sounded behind him.

"The master has returned?"

Chen Ying turned to see Lan’er.

Her wounds had only just begun to heal and her body was yet frail, her face still bearing the pallor of illness. Chen Ying, gazing at her bandaged hands, asked with concern, "Lan’er, are you feeling better?"

Her expression was blank as she answered coolly, "Thank you for your concern, Master. I am fine."

Chen Ying was no fool; from her every word and gesture, he could sense a change. Once cheerful, lively, and sunny, Lan’er now seemed as cold and distant as an iceberg.

"As long as you’re all right, that is well." Chen Ying stepped forward, intending to pat her gently on the head, but she shrank away as if startled, retreating three steps.

"Master, the meal is prepared. Please dine."

"Something is wrong," Chen Ying murmured, tilting his head as he watched Lan’er walk away.

Liang Zan said, "Anyone would be out of sorts."

"What do you mean?"

"Have you forgotten, Master?"

"Forgotten what?"

"Lan’er was tormented to the brink of death by Li Xiaoguang. Anyone would find that hard to overcome, let alone her. If it were me, I couldn’t get past it so easily either."

Chen Ying nodded, knowing well that Li Xiaoguang’s cruelty had left a shadow in Lan’er’s heart.

Psychological trauma is a technical term in psychology, but soul wounds, if left untreated, can have a profound impact. They may cause someone’s mental state to be subject to sudden or lasting negative influences, hindering social, daily, professional, and familial interactions, and inflicting endless suffering.

Carrying these worries, Chen Ying ate in silence, while Lan’er sat mute as a statue.

Though he understood that Lan’er’s psyche was warped by trauma, he was no miracle worker. He knew that if things continued, her personality would grow ever more extreme, perhaps even dangerously so, but he truly did not know how to help her heal.

Thus, his hatred for Li Xiaoguang only deepened.

That night, Chen Ying tossed and turned, unable to sleep.

If he did not avenge this grievance, it would trouble not only Lan’er’s heart, but his own conscience as well.

He was no sage, nor a gentleman who suffers indignities in silence. At heart, he was just an ordinary man. He didn’t know how to mend Lan’er’s soul, but he knew that her demon was Li Xiaoguang. Once Li Xiaoguang was dead, the knot in Lan’er’s heart would untie itself.

With that thought, Chen Ying called softly, "Lan’er, Lan’er!"

"Here!"

"Call Liang Zan for me."

"Yes, Master!"

Secretly, Chen Ying reflected that Marquis of Changguang, Li Xiaoguang, was someone whose rank and status made him untouchable. Yet it wasn’t that Chen Ying dared not provoke him—rather, he’d never sought out trouble, but trouble always seemed to find him.

At last he understood: the weak have no rights.

Within a quarter of an hour, the door opened once more.

"General!" Liang Zan appeared, exhausted, his eyes weary. "What are your orders?"

"Lan’er, step outside for a moment," Chen Ying said quietly.

"Yes, Master." Lan’er obediently withdrew, closing the door softly behind her.

"Sit. We’ll speak slowly."

Chen Ying suddenly said, "I need you to do something for me: I need you to find something."

"General, do you mean...?" Liang Zan, connecting Chen Ying’s odd behavior, vaguely guessed his purpose.

"You needn’t know or concern yourself with anything else," Chen Ying said. "Just carry out my instructions and find what I ask."