Chapter 1: Can I sleep With You? (1)

“Will you do anything I ask of you?”

” I-I will…”

“Can I sleep with you?”

“…Y-you can . ”

Shu Nuan sat in a carriage with her small blood-stained hands chained together . The little girl’s head was slightly lowered, and her long eyelashes trembled . Her mind was abuzz with thoughts of an incredible encounter .

In the midst of the war, she had knelt in front of his horse . Flustered and afraid, she had looked up to beg him to take her in .

At that time, she had not known the identity of the rider, only that he had been leading the Beiguo Army home in triumph . Behind him the Beiguo flag had been flying, and behind that, smoke had surged towards the heavens .

Shu Nuan had been captured along with the concubines and palace maids, all of whom had been forced to follow behind the troops . A long journey in freezing weather had followed, with the cold chains all the while scratching their hands and feet .

All they had known was that the captives would be branded as slaves, to be rewarded to the Beiguo soldiers upon return .

So along the way, many prisoners had discussed which general would be a good one to follow . After all, if they got the chance to follow a general, even becoming a simple concubine would be a fortunate outcome . Being sold as a slave could never result in something good .  

Although the country had died, the people had to live on . Their freedom had been taken away, and fear and uneasiness filled their hearts . Perhaps the truest sign of enslavement was that the people dared not even think about forming a grudge, let alone acting on one .

When the army unit had stopped to take a rest, she had used the opportunity to take care of some “unladylike matters”, almost getting run over by a raging red steed in the process . Scared, she hadn’t even dared look up to see who the rider had been .

Thump

Shu Nuan had thrown herself on her knees, and softly spoken words the snowstorm had threatened to hide .

“General, please take me in!”

The rider had calmly taken a sip of wine while holding no intention to dismount . Upon hearing the soft voice he had looked at the girl kneeling beneath his steed, with her shivering form covered in bloody rags . Looking at her snow-covered face, he had been able to see how very scared she had been .

Then two soldiers had come to take her away, but Sheng Qianmo had stopped them .

“Let her go,” he had ordered .

The soldiers had hesitated for a moment before letting the girl go .

Sheng Qianmo had looked at the girl kneeling on the ground, and she had looked back up while trembling with fear and cold . Frost and snow had continued falling on her disheveled head of hair . The clothing on her chest had torn during the travel . Looked at from afar, proverbial flowers seemed to bloom around the scene of a kneeling little girl meeting the gaze of an indifferent man seated high above her . She had looked at him as one looks at a saviour, reverently, with her head tilted back . Her eyelids had been flushed pink by the cold wind, and two quivering black pearls had conveyed to him her uneasiness .

What had interested Sheng Qianmo was a tiny tear mole at the corner of her right eye .
   
Although the girl’s small face had been dirty, her eyes had been like dewy flowers in full bloom, with a tear mole printed beneath the right one .

“General, please save me! I don’t want to be a slave to anyone else…”

Her voice had been weak and quivering like a kite barely holding onto its string: fragile, but pleasant to experience . Yet even these words like water droplets had  caused ripples in his heart .

Sheng Qianmo had dismounted his horse, looked calmly down at the girl at his feet and uttered in a low voice, “Will you be my slave?”