Journey to the East 35

Zheng Nan had cleaned up a little it seemed. At the very least, he no longer looked entirely like an oversized scruffy beggar. A steel breastplate, an armored circlet and face guard, bracers, and armored boots replaced sandals and ragged tunic. As soon as he saw her approaching, he smirked at her and turned to put himself in profile against the rising sun, posing like a heroic statue and flexing his arms. “Hey! Am I lookin’ good or am I lookin’ good?”

“You at least look like a warrior instead of a man looking for a bottle and a gutter to curl up in,” she sniffed, any and all deference she might have had for one of his rank was worn away to dust by this point.

“Aw c’mon no call for that,” Zheng Nan laughed. “No point in dressing up for a lil cross country, but even we Zheng know you outta throw on some boots when it’s ass-kicking time! Keeps your toes from getting smelly at the least!”

She scrunched up her nose in disgust at the crude implication. “Ugh… You really cannot help yourself can you?”

“Made you smile, dinnit?”

“No,” she replied, pressing her lips together in a thin line. She rolled her eyes though, this man…

“What brings you out here anyway, Zheng Nan. The last I had heard you were attending my Father, lounging around in our baths and drinking our wine.”

“With things wound down for a moment, figured it couldn’t hurt to stay in one place for my Master to reply to my, uh… message,” Zheng Nan said, even his irrepressible cheer faltering a moment.

Ah yes, he’d said that his Elder could ‘come drag him back if they wanted him to leave so badly’ or something much ruder to that effect.

“I take it the message was positive, seeing you're still here.”

“Oh no, Master is gonna whoop my ass the next time I’m in the sparring ring for sassing like that,” Zheng Nan chuckled. “But uh, got some time before that at least. Seems the Guo were willing to talk a little, so… The clans gonna send some more of us out, gesture of goodwill, you know? Master sent me some wargear, said there was no point in dragging me back just to go right back again.”

She raised an eyebrow at that. It seemed obvious that Zheng elders must be very permissive for their young scions to be like this, but the proof of it staring in her face was still mind boggling.

Honestly, she’d been a little… impressed with his resolve to bring down his clans punishment on himself. She should have known that wasn’t really much of a threat.

“Why do I suddenly feel like you’re looking down on me…” he asked, squinting at her.

“Because you’ve been out in the sun for too long,” she sniffed. She shifted her stance, turning to glance back down the shallow slope toward the tracks and rings below. “Regardless, what brings you here?”

“Can’t just say hi to my battle buddy?”

‘Battle buddy’ she mouthed silently, turning back around. “You can. But you’d have waited for me to return to Pheonixhome if you just wanted to drink and chatter.”

“I’d have brought the wine!” he agreed cheerfully, puffing out his chest.”Well look, your old man’s been given proper marching authority on me, and… He’s assigned me to you! Looks like we’ll be having some fun again, eh, Ms villainess?”

“I will not refrain from scorching your eyebrows off,” she replied darkly. “But… why?”

Did Father still imagine she needed a protector, a nanny? Surely…

She forced her feelings down. She looked up at the grinning, ‘too proud of himself’ ape of a Zheng.

…He was trusting her to keep him out of trouble.

Was that worse? She couldn’t be sure if that was worse.

“Well, at least I know you can pull your weight,” she sighed, pinching her nose. “I hope I can at least trust you not to undermine me in front of the men.

“Eh you Fielders are way too stiff on the discipline,” Zheng Nan said. “Nothin bad about letting your guys see you can have a bit of fun. Side;s your squads used to me by now.”

“I will be vetting plenty of new recruits tomorrow, but… fine. It’s not as if anyone expects courtly etiquette from a Zheng.” Gu Xiulan sighed

“I’ll keep a lid on it.” Zheng Nan chuckled. “What’s on the docket today?”

“I am putting a prospective second through her paces before the exercise tomorrow,” Gu Xiulan replied. “I was about to begin personally sparring her when you arrived…

“Don’t let me stop ya then! You know you don’t have to wait on me like a prissy guest.”

“I suppose not,” She sighed. “Follow me, I suppose I’ll introduce you to Shan Qiao.”

Descending the sandy slope with Zheng Nan on her heels, brawny arms folded behind his head like a child, Gu Xiulan found Shan Qiao dutifully performing warm up exercises in the sparring ring. Going through the slow, sliding motions of what she suspected was a kata from the girls cultivation art, she snapped to attention the moment Gu Xiulan fixed her attention on her, even though they were still half a field away.

“Good work, I see you’ve smoothed away the small deviations in your qi from the last exercise,” Gu Xiulan called out, giving the girl a once over. Shan Qiao’s qi was still not at its peak but its flow was no longer irregular from her exertions on the obstacle course.

“Thank you, Captain Gu,” she replied standing at rigid attention.

“Oh boy, you picked up a real puppy didn’t ya?” Zheng Nan laughed.

Shan Qiao’s eyes flicked to him, irritation in her eyes. Gu Xiulan approved. Being irritated with Zheng Nan was the only proper response to seeing him. “Shan Qiao has proven to have potential, give some respect, Zheng Nan.”

“Ah right, right, sorry about that sir Shan, just havin a bit of fun huh?”

Shan Qiao went even more still.

“Zheng Nan! Honestly, that is too rude even for you,” Gu Xiulan snapped, turning to give him a real glare, even if she had been briefly mistaken she had certainly not said that. 

“Huh?” He appeared genuinely confused, glancing from her back to Shan Qiao. Only then did a flicker of realization enter his eyes. “Huh. Well alright, even more sorry Miss Shan.”

“I accept sir Zheng’s apology,” Shan Qiao replied stiffly. “May I ask what our guest is here for Captain Gu?”

“Father has assigned him to me as an auxiliary,” Gu Xiulan said. “So he will be joining exercises… In fact. I had intended to spar you myself, but it may be even more useful to have you practice your cooperation with me. Zheng Nan, you will not object to being our opponent will you?”

‘Punching bag’ Her eyes said.

Degenerate that he was, he only grinned even more.