Baoyue stared straight at Xiao Luan with her almond-shaped eyes, fire burning in their depths:
"He saved my life!"
Xiao Luan lifted his eyelids slightly:
"Oh? How?"
With some parts detailed and others skimmed over, some embellished and others trimmed, Baoyue told the story of how the two of them had gone from captives to Divine Envoys among the Yidu Barbarians.
The detailed parts were the scenes involving Wang Yang's wisdom, courage, and quick thinking as he maneuvered among the barbarians. There were far more parts she skimmed over: the two of them, a man and a woman, sharing a room alone at night, for instance. Or how she had lost their wagers until she was sniffling in tears, massaging his legs and sitting on his lap. Or the Yidu Tribe's almost terrifying fanaticism and obedience toward Wang Yang.
That last point had not appeared in Wang Yang's secret memorial either. Wang Yang had merely said that he had entered barbarian territory as an envoy on Wang Yi's orders, been captured unexpectedly, then used a stratagem to pass himself off as a Divine Envoy, influence the tribespeople, and befriend their chiefs, finally persuading the Yidu Tribe to submit.
The embellished parts concerned Wang Yang's loyalty and devotion to the Imperial Court-how, even in mortal peril, he had disregarded his own safety and exhausted every means to bring the Barbarian Tribes into the nation's fold, and so on. There were several omissions too. Baoyue's new title, "Lord Moon Slave," became "Lord Moon" in her telling. And "insignificant" "minor characters" like Chen Qing Shan were, naturally, "trimmed away"...
Night pressed down upon the mountains, and bonfires sprang up throughout the stockade.
In the firelight, the barbarians knelt in worship like a surging tide, recited King Pan's name three times, then raised