"I was told that you'd wanted to hunt today?" Situ asked Feng Luodi as he entered the tent.
Feng Luodi shook her head. "Nope. Rose isn't feeling too well these few days."
Situ nodded, and quickly turned to return to training. Just before he left the tent, Feng Luodi swallowed a bite of breakfast and stopped him. "I'd wanted to play chess. Have some breakfast and join me in a game. I'll definitely do better today!"
"Alright then. We'll have a game in our tent." Situ nodded, and set down his armor on the stand. He strode to the other side of the screen and started taking off his clothes.
Feng Luodi swallowed. "Are you changing here?"
"Nope. I'm going to bathe." Situ said calmly. Warm water was already prepared for him in the tub behind the screen.
"Don't...don't you normally bathe in the other tents before coming back here?" Feng Luodi quickly stood up with her bowl of porridge and scurried over to face her own tent, trying her best not to turn around. Situ had always changed and bathed in the other tents before returning to rest in his tent, leaving the space in the tent for Feng Luodi to use for herself. It'd prevented much embarrassment and awkwardness in the past, but the sudden change rendered Feng Luodi helpless.
"The water will go to waste if I don't use it." Situ's logic was flawless.
I can hear him bathing! Feng Luodi swallowed again, and quickly hid in her tent. The rest of her breakfast was finished without paying any attention to the food. Only when Situ was done with bathing and his breakfast did Feng Luodi return to the main tent.
"Why are your cheeks so ruddy? Is it too cold for you?" Situ looked at her earnestly.
Feng Luodi glared at him, and started setting up the board. "Let's do this. I'll definitely be able to survive for more than an hour today!"
"Well, good luck to you then." Situ was already idly flipping through the stack of reports on the tea table beside him, barely paying any attention to the game in front of him.
What! How dare he underestimate me like that! I'll definitely prove him wrong!
Fifteen minutes later, Feng Luodi looked in desperation at the board in front of her, now dominated by black chess pieces. "How did I lose again? And so quickly this time round! I'm not stupid...but I don't understand why I'm always losing!"
"You're not stupid, but..." Situ swallowed the second half of his sentence. You're not stupid, but your every move can be read from your expressions and eyes. This girl can't hide her thoughts and intentions at all...
Feng Luodi was not one to admit defeat so easily, and she quickly steadied herself. "Let's go for another round."
"As many as you like." Situ gathered back the black pieces on the board.
"General Situ, General Zhang has returned." A shout came from outside the tent.
Situ looked at Feng Luodi, and Feng Luodi pursed her lips in the direction of the tent flap.
"I'm coming." Situ stood up, and turned to Feng Luodi. "I know you're dying to come along. Let's just go together."
Feng Luodi leapt to her feet in delight, and the two of them quickly made their way to the meeting tent. Inside, Zhang Xin and Cheng Shifei were discussing animatedly about something, Zhang Xin still clad in the dusty clothes he'd worn to the expedition.
"Are there any good news?" Situ smiled as he walked towards them.
"Of course! I'm the General of the Left of the army, after all." Zhang Xin beamed. "I've already located the Remembrance of the Desert, and it is indeed a maze like we'd suspected. But it's situated in the middle of quicksand, and we were unable to get close."
"Let's check it out for ourselves then." Situ lifted an eyebrow. "I assume you've talked to the villagers?"
"Of course! I've never messed anything up before." Zhang Xin grinned, and patted Cheng Shifei on the shoulder. "You can ask Shifei if you don't believe my words."
"Oh? You haven't? What was it last year when..." Zhang Xin had an arm over his mouth before Cheng Shifei could finish his sentence.
"Last year?" Situ turned back to Zhang Xin. "Are you hiding anything from me? If you can't do your job properly in Yunzhong Pass, you can swap places with Shifei and guard Yanmen Pass instead."
"Situ!" Zhang Xin roared.
Feng Luodi was surprised. What is going on? Situ turned away from them, a slight smile on his lips. Zhang Xin ran and knelt in front of Situ.
"I promise it wouldn't happen again! You know you can entrust Yunzhong Pass to me!"
Situ coughed. "On account of you finding the location of the Remembrance of the Desert, I'll let you off this one time. No second chances."
"Thank you, General!" Zhang Xin dashed out of the tent in joy. "I'll gather two thousand soldiers, and we'll head to the Remembrance of the Desert immediately!"
As soon as Zhang Xin left the tent, Situ and Cheng Shifei exchanged smiles and fist bumps. The confused Feng Luodi finally caught on to something, and widened her eyes.
"That was planned?"
Cheng Shifei smiled, and answered her doubts. "Zhang loves to ask for credits for the things he does, easily becoming arrogant and rash when he does so. Now that he has found the Remembrance of the Desert, we knew he'd be at it again."
"Oh..." Feng Luodi nodded in understanding. "But why do I feel that Situ just merely wants to deprive him of his reward? Did he perhaps...put you guys in a difficult position when he'd asked for his reward previously?"
Cheng Shifei turned to Situ, surprised, but quickly masked it with a cough. "I'll...go check on how Zhang Xin's doing."
Shaking his head, Situ smiled, left the tent as well. Confused, Feng Luodi could only follow behind him.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was two hours before they'd reached the place where Zhang Xin had found with the expedition. The scene that unfolded before their eyes was the stuff of legends and myths. The desert was calm, and not a single wisp of wind trespassed the area. However, it was a different story in the distance. Winds howled and sand flew across the lands, pools of quicksand sifting with the force of the winds. One could catch glimpses of palaces beneath the sands, the stones old and worn, their carvings starkly different from those of the neighboring countries.
The old soldier that they'd picked out for his knowledge of the desert walked forward. "This is...stunning! I've never seen anything like this in my 60 years of living in the desert. The sands..."
Zhang Xin quickly interrupted his reverie. "Can you estimate when the quicksand will stop? What is the window of time we have before it starts again?"
"Give me some time, General Zhang. I have never seen such a sight before, but all quicksand follow the same patterns."
The Generals and the troops kept quiet, as the old soldier slowly examined the quicksand. Finally, he spoke up again. "It looks very intimidating, but it is nothing but quicksand of the most ordinary kind. It will stop in three days, and it'll start again after the next three."
Suddenly, music floated from the direction of the palaces. It was light and mythical, as if it reached their ears across the seas.
"It's the sound of a zither." Feng Luodi exclaimed. "But it's not playing any melody nor score. It feels like someone is just playing the strings haphazardly." There's a zither in the Remembrance of the Desert! Could it be...Remembrance?
"It is indeed music from a zither." Situ nodded. He too, knew his instruments well enough.
"General, what shall we do next?" Zhang Xin asked. "We'll have to guard the place for three days! Not to mention that there might be traps in the maze itself."
"Don't worry, we have Shifei with us. You know how good he is with such traps and machines." Situ nodded at Zhang Xin. "Go back to the Pass and gather a hundred-and-fifty-thousand troops to guard this place. Shifei and I will explore the maze in three days time, and solve the problem for once and for all."
"A hundred and fifty thousand?" Zhang Xin widened his eyes. "That gives the other countries more than enough reason to suspect us!"
"That is what we want." Situ snapped his fingers. "Get to it now, and make sure the other countries know about it."
"Yes, General." Zhang Xin mounted his horse, and quickly disappeared from view.
"Can I join you guys when you explore the maze?" Feng Luodi turned to Situ. "I wouldn't be a burden to you! I promise!"
Before Situ could reply, Cheng Shifei stopped her. "Miss Feng, the maze is extremely old and dangerous. There will definitely be many traps waiting for us in the maze. It isn't safe for you."
"But..." Feng Luodi hesitated, not knowing if she should give the reason for her insistance.
"I know you want to check out the zither, now that you've heard its music." Situ spoke up, his voice steady and confident. "Come along, then. We'll bring in the Covert Guards with us instead of the normal foot soldiers."
Feng Luodi was delighted, but also diffident from how Situ had seen through her so easily, knowing that he does not approve of her actions. Cheng Shifei wanted to object, but he knew that there was nothing he could do.
They chatted idly, Feng Luodi asking Cheng Shifei about the traps that might be in the maze, and learning more about the legends of the desert from the old soldier. Finally, the troops that Zhang Xin had gone to fetch, arrived. Just as Situ ordered, Zhang Xin made sure that the news of the troops' redeployment was known. Fifty thousand cavalries stormed across the desert in unison, and a hundred thousand footmen followed behind. The sounds of their marching echoed across the empty desert, as if announcing their movement to the entire world.
Of course, that caused a stir in the capitals of the surrounding countries.
"Situ has found the secret weapon, and is guarding it with his army? Quick! Send fifty thousand of our troops to the vicinity, in case he turns around and attack our country!"
"Yes!"
In a matter of hours, fifty thousand troops each from the Huns and the Xianbei kingdoms, and thirty thousand troops from the Fuyu and Sushen kingdoms were deployed. Watching over Situ from 100 miles away, they quickly sent ambassadors to ask Situ for his intention in the redeployment of troops. \
Situ's answer was simple. "It's just a routine exercise for my soldiers. Why don't you guys pull more of your troops into the area, and we can have a joint exercise between our armies?" Of course, the other kingdoms did not believe his words, and spent their days trying to decipher the true intention of Situ.
The hundred and fifty thousand troops from the Xuan kingdom surrounded the entire area that contained the Remembrance of the Desert, stopping any caravan that attempted to pass through the area.
"General, what is going to happen next?" Zhang Xin was excited, thinking that Situ had a secret move to make against the other armies.
"Guard this place for the next three days, and you can return back to the Pass after that. A few of us will head into the maze when the quicksand stops."
Zhang Xin hesitated for a moment, but decided to speak his mind. "General, why are you heading in? We have no idea what is in the maze...and the North will be doomed if anything was to happen to you."
"There is no reason to worry for my safety. The Covert Guards will protect me well." Situ was unmoved.
Feng Luodi agreed with Zhang Xin as well. If anything happens to Situ, the army of the North is doomed! And with that, the Xuan kingdom will be in trouble as well. Why is Situ acting so stubbornly this time? He has always heeded the advice and criticisms of others!
Situ sighed and turned to Cheng Shifei. "Can you explain to him our plan?"
Cheng Shifei smiled and shook his head, pulling Zhang Xin to the side. Feng Luodi stared at them in confusion, Situ ignoring her pleading looks for him to explain his plan. Zhang Xin quickly returned, a huge grin on his face.
He slapped Situ on his shoulder. "You could have told me earlier! You had me worried back there. No problem, I'll wait for your good news then!"
Situ rolled his eyes inwardly.