Liu Wu Sheng waited until the Si Ma brothers left before speaking to Luo Wei, “Why did the commander want to have a peaceful discussion? This is a chance to get rid of all Northern Yan soldiers!”

Luo Wei answered, “Does big brother Liu really think so? With the snow closing off all the roads, even if we surround the Northern Yan army and trap them here, our own supply lines would be cut, so how do we keep going? Mount Wu’s southern foothills are treacherous, easy to defend but hard to attack, are we certain to win?” Luo Wei stopped here and suddenly grinned, “Maybe big brother Liu is playing with me, seeing as how it’s the first time I’ve been out in battle? Otherwise, how could big brother Liu not understand rationale behind our move after this many years of serving as a general?”

Liu Wu Sheng grinned back. Luo Wei’s demeanor vacillated between honesty and falsehood, mixing lies with the truth, making it impossible for someone to understand. Liu Wu Sheng wished he could bring his sword down on that neck and end Luo Wei once and for all, but he knew he couldn’t do that.

Luo Wei pushed the tea set away and stood up, “Let’s go back and make our report.”

The group returned to camp. Luo Wei addressed Liu Wu Sheng, “Go and see the commander first, big brother Liu. My clothes are covered in snow and it’s soaking through, I’m going to change first.”

Wei Lan was a step behind Luo Wei as Luo Wei returned to his tent, but he could only watch as Luo Wei brought a blade down on his own hand, chopping off the tip of his middle finger on his left hand.

“Young master!” Wei Lan panicked and rushed forward to see the wound.

“Don’t worry,” Luo Wei’s face was pale as a sheet. The fingers are intimately connected to the heart(1), the pain of him breaking a finger like that was drenching him in cold sweat.

Wei Lan looked at the piece of flesh and bone on the ground with surprise. It was black.

“I dipped it in poison,” Luo Wei finally came out with the truth.

Wei Lan suddenly remembered the way that Luo Wei touched the tea being offered to the princes of Northern Yan.

“Help me bandage this,” Luo Wei was biting back the pain as he spoke.

Wei Lan turned himself around and helped Luo Wei to a seat. He pulled out a medicine kit and quickly helped Luo Wei to get rid of the rest of the poisoned blood before bandaging the wound. After the flurry of motions, Wei Lan was silent as he stared at Luo Wei’s injured finger. Luo Wei’s hands had always been elegant and long, but now it was marred and ruined. The thought sent a shiver through Wei Lan. He wished he was the one missing the tip of his finger instead.

It took Luo Wei a little while to come around after taking the painkillers, but he smiled at Wei Lan, “Why do I feel like you’re in a lot of pain right now?”

Wei Lan responded, “How could the young master hurt himself like this? Why do you did you have to do it yourself instead of asking others?”

Luo Wei tipped his head up to look at Wei Lan, “I thought of the plan myself, if I don’t do it, who will?”

Wei Lan replied, “I would have!”

Luo Wei’s smile did not wane, “How could I let you get hurt again?”

Wei Lan felt powerless against Luo Wei. In the battle at Ye Qie, he hadn’t suffered major injuries, but Luo Wei had gotten ten or so wounds, some big, some small. And now he’d lost the tip of one of his fingers. Did this person want to be Wei Lan’s bodyguard instead?

“It’s only a little bit of a finger,” Luo Wei saw Wei Lan shaking, and quickly changed his tone to comfort instead, “Missing or not, it doesn’t make any difference to me.”

Wei Lan asked, “And the young master doesn’t want to play the qin anymore?”

Luo Wei replied, “The qin? It’s only something I do to pass the time when there’s nothing else at hand, I can always find something else to do.”

The careless look on Luo Wei’s face finally stoked the anger in Wei Lan, “Young master, you’ve read the Four Books and Five Classics(2), how could you not understand that every part of your body is gifted to you by your parents?!” As the words tumbled out of his mouth, Wei Lan regretted it immediately. He was looking for death now, how could he be disciplining his own master?!

But Luo Wei seemed happy as he heard Wei Lan’s words, seeing it as a sign that Wei Lan was no longer watching himself so carefully around Luo Wei anymore, “Alright,” He spoke to Wei Lan as he pulled his sleeves down to hide his injured hand, “I was wrong. I should have consulted with you first and I won’t do it next time. Lan, can you forgive my misconduct this time, please?”

Wei Lan opened his mouth but he didn’t say anything else. Finally, there was someone in this world who cared enough for him to think of him, who didn’t want him to be injured on their account. Wei Lan was happy, but Luo Wei’s injury hurt him somewhere deep inside. Before he’d become a shadow guard, Wei Lan had always thought about how he was going to survive another day. After he’d become a shadow guard, he’d only lived for his master, Luo Ting Chao, without happiness or grief. After he’d been at Luo Wei’s side, even though Luo Wei had asked nothing of him, Wei Lan would gladly sacrifice his own life for Luo Wei. He wanted to spend his life protecting Luo Wei from everything else in the world, but he realized that he was unable to. This discovery sent Wei Lan’s heart tumbling into the depths of a valley that he could not see the bottom of.

FOOTNOTES:

1. the fingers are connected to the heart – In Chinese medicine, there is a saying that the ten fingers are connected directly to the heart. The belief was formed due to the fact that many heart diseases had symptoms related to the fingers, but it also worked backwards in that people often believed your hands showed the health of your heart. Thus, any pain that your fingers suffered felt more intense because it goes right to your heart.

2. Four Books and Five Classics – The original text says sheng xian shu, which is a colloquial way of referring to the books concerning core values of the Confucian ideals. Learned people in historical China would study these books as a way of guiding their ethics and morals. Many concerned the family, and the hierarchy between children and their parents, as well as the idea of filial piety. Luo Wei’s comment about forgiving his misconduct specifically used the word ‘de’, which refers to virtues, and in this case referring back to Wei Lan pulling out Confucius on him.