The Winter Snow
He Yan’s entire body was drenched that night. When she returned to her room, she re-fetched the water and took a bath before changing into dry clothes. As she was the one who wet Xiao Jue’s cloak, she went to Shen Muxue to find some soap to wash it. After that she took a rope to tie on the branch outside the door to hang the cloak up, intending to dry it before returning it back.
Although she was being tossed around all day, the good intentions of Liangzhou Wei’s instructors were not all in vain. When she woke up the next morning, she felt only comfortable and warm.
The hot springs can cure illness — it was not just nonsense.
She quickly got up and freshened up, catching up with the run. When it was time to eat, she saw the people from the Forward Camp training in the martial arts field.
Lei Hou stood at the forefront. There was a difference in the attire between the Forward Camp and the ordinary recruits. Ordinary recruits only had two pieces of suit — a red and a black, single-piece for spring and summer, and thin layered pieces made of cotton for autumn and winter. Besides the belt, there were no other decorations. The attire even only had a single size — for those who found it big, they could simply pull up their sleeves; for the bigger body-sized people such as Hong Shan, they looked taut in it, as if the clothes would rip the next moment.
The people in the Forward Camp wore dark green riding uniforms. The fabric was more delicate than theirs and it looked particularly nice. This group of people was selected amongst the thousands of outstanding people from the Liangzhou guard — all dignified standing there, and looking intimidating.
Lei Hou was born tall and outstanding, and his uniform, when worn by him, looked as if it was tailor-made for him. Yesterday she had heard from the instructors that he had performed very well in the vanguard battalion, and it was probably for this reason that the instructors let him stand at the front of the line, making him seem majestic and eye-catching.
She was so focused that she was surprised when Hong Shan came up behind her and patted her shoulder when he saw her actions, “Why? Are you uncomfortable in your heart?”
“No,” He Yan said, “I just think that the clothes of the Forward Camp are really much better than ours.”
“Just clothes?” Mak smiled and interjected, “I heard that they also eat better than we do. They get two more steamed buns and meat porridge every day.”
“Come on, don’t say anything more,” Hong Shan interrupted Mak’s speech, “Can’t you see that your brother A-He is bothered?”
He Yan, “I am not jealous of him.”
“That’s right,” Mak was afraid that He Yan was sad, and echoed the words, “He was already defeated by Brother Ahe. What’s so great about him?”
He smiled and was about to say something when Lei Hou seemed to notice the gaze from their end and turned his head to look, and was stunned to see her, but he quickly turned his gaze away and concentrated on his training.
“This kid is still terrible.” Hong Shan sighed, “No wonder.”
He Yan did not make a sound, and continued to stand in place, watching Lei Hou train for a while, and only gave up when Liang Ping urged them to hurry over..
As those instructors said, Lei Hou’s step was also very good, agile, and flexible. He was indeed worthy of becoming a member of the Forward Camp. But He Yan still remembered that many days ago on the Bai Yue Mountain, she had fought with Lei Hou for the flag. At that time, even though the situation was urgent, she felt a trace of something unnatural but she couldn’t seem to figure out what it was, so she put this matter behind. Seeing Lei Hou today brought back her memories of that day’s encounter.
But she still did not come up with a conclusion.
What was unnatural?
Liang Ping urged them all, so she went to the weapon rack to get a gun, thinking that, since they’re all in Liangzhou Wei and can’t really go anywhere, she’ll find an opportunity to fight with Lei Hou again someday.
But before she could fight with Lei Hou, she got the news that Xiao Jue was leaving.
The Liangzhou Guardhouse received an urgent report that the people outside Zhangtai City, which was a thousand miles from Liangzhou, have been frequently harassed by the Utoh people recently. The magistrate of Zhangtai Prefecture was in great distress and had asked Xiao Jue for help. He requested Xiao Jue to lead his troops to expel the Utohs.
When the previous emperor was on the throne, the country of Utoh bowed down to Wei and paid tribute every year. However, since the current emperor rose to the throne, the Utoh people have been on the move. After the Southern Barbarians and the Western Qiang Rebellion were put down, the Utoh people also stopped for a while. But for some reason, they have recently become more aggressive and dared to harass the people at the border.
As His Majesty has a benevolent nature, he turned a blind eye to the Utohs’ behavior, coupled with the fact that there was a faction of Xu Xiang’s being a peacemaker. As such, the other generals do not dare to take this big shot. It was for this reason that the Zhangtai prefect turned to Xiao Jue in Liangzhou for help.
“General, when will you depart?” The instructors were all standing in Xiao Jue’s room, and He Yan was sitting at the spot where Cheng Lisu usually wrote, and the middle door was open, so they didn’t mind He Yan listening to it. Because there was nothing to hide about this matter as it takes about one month to travel to and fro from Zhangtai, and people would obviously notice if Xiao Jue was not there.
“Tomorrow.”
“So soon?” Liang Ping was surprised, “But the army hasn’t had a chance to speak to the Forward Camp yet…”
“No need,” Xiao Jue said, “I don’t plan to bring them with me.”
The instructors looked at each other, but He Yan, who was listening, was not surprised. Even though the new recruits of Liangzhou Wei have undergone more than half a year of training, they had never been on the battlefield. It was not the best idea to rush them to Zhangtai by boat or carts and then engage the Utoh’s at Zhangtai. The consumption would be too much, and the Utoh’s are cunning and fierce. The new soldiers may not be their opponents. After much deliberation, Xiao Jue’s Southern Army was the most suitable.
Xiao Jue came to Liangzhou with his new recruits, and the Southern Army should be stationed elsewhere. With the military power in his hands, he could just lead the troops forward. If he gets a victory, His Majesty will be happy and reward him with something, and she can also follow him to rise up.
Thinking of this, she nodded secretly, thinking that Xiao Jue did a good job in making this decision.
He also explained the things that the head instructors needed to pay attention to in the next few days. It was late at night by the time they all left. Xiao Jue stood up from the table and walked to the door, reaching out to lock it, but the door was unexpectedly blocked from behind by someone, and He Yan’s head came out from behind the door.
“What are you doing?” He asked.
He Yan wouldn’t let him close the door and looked at him with a crooked head, “General, you’re leaving tomorrow, huh?”
Xiao Jue ignored her and closed the door. Half of He Yan’s body was stuck between the door, and he couldn’t close it. So he simply waved his hands away and walked inside the room. He Yan jumped across the door easily, entered his room, and followed behind him. She asked, “General, did you think of taking me with you when you leave for Zhangtai?”
“You?” Xiao Jue snorted, “Why would I bring you along? Do you think there aren’t enough people dragging my feet?”
In this man’s eyes, maybe everyone other than him was a drag.
“That’s an understatement. I can help you deal with the Utoh.”
“It’s just that,” he looked her up and down and raised his eyebrows, “A single guard can already make you injured, yet you still want to talk about fighting the Utoh people? Miss He, dream on.”
“That was a special situation last time and Ding Yi was not an ordinary person.” He Yan argued a couple of times, but knew in her heart that Xiao Jue had a point. She was still wounded. These days, she was careful even during training, afraid to worsen her existing wound. If she followed him to Zhangtai, on the battlefield, she may just add to the trouble. And she was good at troop formation, which was not useful in the battlefield. In a team, only a general was enough.
“Okay.” He Yan said with some regret, then suddenly remembered something and looked at Xiao Jue, “General, it will take a month from this place to Zhangtai and back. Plus fighting with the Utohs, I’m afraid that it will already be late winter when you come back. My wounds would have long healed, so what else do I do these days? Even if it was three times of the day training, if you are not around and I did it, you would not deny it, right?”
“Or?” She stared at Xiao Jue suspiciously, “You actually want to use the battle of Zhangtai to perform a blinding act? You’re not going to go back to Liangzhou and plan to leave me here alone, are you?”
Xiao Jue stopped packing up the scrolls on his desk and turned around, startling He Yan who was looking up at him.
His eyes fell on He Yan’s face, he lowered his head and said, “Firstly, I’m not as bored as you are. Second, you are not my fiancée, I don’t have to say anything to leave you alone here, regardless. Third, me not being not around, isn’t this exactly what you want?”
“What do you mean by what I want?” He Yan said, “You can’t wrong me.”
He stared at He Yan with a smirk, his dark eyes were deep, he only asked, “Oh? Then why are you inquiring so much? When will I come back, whether or not I will come back… Is it important?”
“Of course it’s important!” He Yan blurted out, “I will miss you!”
Could she not? Only when she performs better in front of Xiao Jue could she have the favor and trust of Xiao Jue and the faster she could get closer to He Rufei more openly and righteously. Such a Saviour, Goldfinger — how can she not think about him?
Xiao Jue turned his head away for a moment, saying, “You really can say anything.”
“I’m not being a liar. I’ve never lied to the General except about my identity, and I meant what I said just now.
Xiao Jue, “Not really.”
He Yan: “… At least we had experienced life and death together once. You don’t have to be so heartless.”
Xiao Jue asked, “Are you done? If you’re done, please go back to your room. I’m locking the door.” He grabbed He Yan’s shoulder and pushed her toward the middle door.
“General, I sometimes wonder if our identities are reversed. You’re being so defensive of me as if you’re the woman whom I’d tarnish your innocence.
“You talk too much nonsense.”
He Yan was being tucked into her room, knowing that this man really didn’t want her to stay in his room, so she took advantage of the time when her upper body could still move, and quickly fished out a handful of scraps from her arms and stuffed them into Xiao Jue’s hands.
With a bang, the door was closed.
He Yan said through the door to the other end, “Although you are so ruthless, I am still a person of great righteousness. On this trip to Zhangtai there’s nothing I can do for you, but to give you these. Take your time to eat on the way. I will wait for your good news at the guardhouse.”
After saying that, she did not wait for the answer at the other end, went up to the bed, blew out the lamp, and went to bed.
On the other side of the door, Xiao Jue looked down at his palm.
It was a handful of persimmon frosted soft candy, wrapped in a thin layer of cake paper. Just looking at it, it was sweet.
Song Taotao, like Cheng Lisu, had been sending small gifts to her now and then since she arrived. As she loves sweets, she often asked Chi Wu to go to the city to buy a lot and also gave many to He Yan.
He Yan recalled that Xiao Jue used to carry around a bag of osmanthus candy when he was younger so it was a fact that he had a sweet tooth. Previously he rejected the sugar gourd she bought last time but this was likely because the second son of Xiao refused to eat roadside snacks bought from a vendor in the city. But as this persimmon candy was bought for Song Taotao, Chi Wu went to a proper restaurant to have the chef make it. So it should be able to meet Xiao Jue’s eyes this time.
If he refused to eat even this, he would be too picky.
Hopefully he knows how to return the favor of sugar in return for money!
…
The next day, He Yan woke up and went to the martial arts field for day training. When it was almost noon and lunchtime, Cheng Lisu came running over.
In the past few days, in order to avoid Song Taotao, he had moved to the bunkhouse where He Yan once lived. Everyone thought that he would not be able to hold on for long. It’s just that compared to the house he used to live in, it was a lot simpler so no one thought he would last this long. It was too shabby for him to maintain his flashy young man’s appearance. Looking at his face, he had lost some weight. He even forgot to match his hairband with the color of his clothes.
He ran up to He Yan, who was drinking wild vegetable soup and was almost knocked down by Cheng Lisu. She asked, “What’s the hurry?”
“My uncle,” Cheng Lisu said, “Big brother, my uncle is gone!”
“I know.”
“You know?” Cheng Lisu froze, then spoke angrily, “Then why didn’t you tell me? If Godfather Shen didn’t tell me today, I wouldn’t have found out that he had left by now!”
“He has already left?” He Yan was also slightly surprised. She hadn’t paid attention to Xiao Jue in the morning and thought he would leave later, but she didn’t expect him to leave so early. He probably did so because he didn’t want to alert the others.
“Why didn’t he take Song Taotao with him when he left?” Cheng Lisu began to complain, “Who is she trying to add to the problem by staying in Liangzhou Wei?”
He Yan was speechless. Objectively, Song Taotao was such a delicate and lovely girl. The young boys couldn’t wait to please her, yet Cheng Lisu actually avoided her as if she was a snake.
She asked, “What’s wrong with Song Taotao? She looks sensible and also has good behavior.”
“Big brother, you can spare me.” Cheng Lisu said with a bitter face, “When I first found out about this marriage, I wanted to sneak a peek, but I ran into her right away. I don’t know how she guessed who I was, but she scolded me at the door.”
“What did she say to you?”
“What else could it be? A failure in literature and martial arts, a wasted son without prospects. It was not like no one in Shuojing knew I was incompetent, so I wouldn’t have been so angry. Then she said that it was okay to marry her, but I must study hard and come first in the imperial examination, and later enter the official career and strive for the top. If it is really difficult to learn, she asked me to take the martial arts path. In short, to be a diligent and hardworking person.”
“How can there be such a cruel woman in the world?” Cheng Lisu talked about this matter, and said with grief, “My beloved lady must also be like me — to not quarrel over frivolous matters, elegant and extra-ordinary, be able to enjoy with wine, and have fun together while doing work. What’s the difference between being with her and going to jail? So big brother, you should stop saying good things about her. I’m really afraid, and do not want to live that way!
This time He Yan also did not know what to say to persuade even if she wanted to. Sometimes when two people get along, it’s one thing to fall in love at first sight but it’s another to stay together for a long time. She wanted him to be hard-working, but he aspired to be a wild crane. They were not the same kind of people. If they got together, it may be difficult to notice at the moment, but time would surely give the answer.
The truth that she didn’t understand after spending her whole life in her previous life, even the two kids understood it better….
“If you really don’t like her, find a way to break the engagement. Then you don’t have to pick your nose at a girl, just be friends with her.” He Yan thought for a while before speaking.
“Forget it,” Cheng Lisu waved his hand as if he did not want to talk more, “I really can’t be friends with her. Our views do not match.”
He Yan turned away from the conversation and then asked Cheng Lisu to move into Xiao Jue’s room since he had left. Cheng Lisu actually refused, saying that he wanted to stay as far away from Song Taotao as possible.
It was like avoiding a plague.
When the day’s training was over, He Yan returned to the room to freshen up, and looked at the locked door.
Although Xiao Jue didn’t speak many words to her normally, she always knew that he was right next to the door. Once the person had left, she really felt that the large room, with just her alone, was very cold. Suddenly, she missed the time when she lived in the bunkhouse with Mak. At this time, listening to the people gossip a few words, wouldn’t have been boring.
It was too quiet but she could not fall asleep. If one can’t sleep, they are prone to have random thoughts. He Yan sat up on the bed. After thinking, she got up, put on her shoes, and walked to the middle door. After that she pulled out a silver wire from her sleeve.
This silver wire was from Cheng Lisu’s hairpin which was made into the shape of a yellow carp. The silver wire was the carp’s whiskers, curved extra cutely. The first time she saw it, she touched it with a little more force and directly stroked the whiskers down. Cheng Lisu only said it didn’t matter and let her throw it, but He Yan was a little distressed, thinking that she may also be able to sell it for tea to drink, so she put it away together.
This time, she took the curled silver wire out, pulled it straight, and stretched it out from the crack of the door, putting her ear pressed to the door, carefully listening to the movement.
This hand trick was a unique skill that a craftsman taught her when she was in the barracks. The craftsman was a locksmith. Sometimes large boxes left by ancestors or accidentally dug up by some big families cannot be opened, so they would visit him for his help. He was also very famous in his hometown. But there was a search in the city to forcefully enlist some strong soldiers, so he hid his children and grandchildren and came by himself.
He Yan still remembered that the locksmith was a little older, and when he smiled, there was a missing tooth, which made him look comical. Because He Yan and his grandson were similar in age, he was close to her and also taught He Yan one or two tricks to open the lock.
The locksmith has long been killed in the battle of Desert County, but He Yan still remembered locksmith’s skills. The locksmith could open the “士” type locks for noblemen and “吉” type locks for wedding celebrations, but only taught He Yan the “一” type locks used by the commoners. He probably had the idea that one day she could return to her hometown and work, and she would still be able to make a living with this craft. He didn’t want to teach his disciple to starve to death, who knew that this idea did not realize eventually.
He Yan took the chance to unlock the lock. Fortunately, the lock of the middle door between Xiao Jue and Cheng Lisu’s room was exactly in the shape of “一”.
But after a while, there was a “click” sound, and there seemed to be the sound of the lock breaking open on the other end. He Yan gently pushed and the door opened.
The moonlight fell on the desk in front of the window. The window was not closed and the shadows of the trees outside were swaying slightly, falling on the ground like water plants in a pool. He Yan tiptoed in and stood still after entering. She did not know why she did this kind of thing and was annoyed for a moment.
If someone was hiding in the dark at this moment, they would probably think she was a thief. She hadn’t come to steal anything, and it wasn’t the first time she’d come to Xiao Jue’s room. She merely opened the door because she couldn’t sleep and was bored to death.
But since she was here, it’s a bit of a shame to say she’s giving up now.
She looked around and saw that there was no sword on the wall that Xiao Jue usually hung. Instead, there were two or three books scattered on the table. She went over to take a look; they were all military books. He didn’t take his zither but hid it to the side, and it glowed under the moonlight as if it was a foreign treasure.
Actually Xiao Jue’s house was not very gorgeous. As compared to Cheng Lisu’s room, it seemed a little so simple that it felt a little bit bleak. But He Yan remembered that the former Xiao Jue when he was in Xianchang Pavilion, was very sophisticated. The room where he stayed alone was even more luxurious than the instructors’ rooms, even the blankets on the floor were not cold at all when stepped on during winter.
He seems to be a bit afraid of the cold. As soon as the winter approached, he would always be dressed in fox fur. But now it was cold everywhere in this house, there was not a bit of warmth from the past.
What exactly has he gone through over the years to become the current right army General?
He Yan thought for a while, unknowingly she had already walked to the table, and her finger touched something. She looked down and saw that beside the pen holder, there were a handful of colorful pellets scattered around. She picked them up and looked at them in the moonlight. They were the persimmon frosted candies she had slipped into Xiao Jue’s hand yesterday.
The soft candies had been left outside for a long time and were not as soft as before. The sweet scent also seemed to have faded quite a bit. He Yan counted. None of the candies were missing. She thought: Did he actually not even touch one and just placed them here? Neither tasted one or two, nor brought them up to Zhangtai?
Why was that?
Even if she thought that the sugar gourd was too crude and he was still the arrogant Second Young master Xiao, so he didn’t want it. But the soft candy was made by the dim sum chef in the city’s restaurants. Although it was not a delicacy, it was definitely not crude. As she had closed the door last night after she gave it to Xiao Jue, no one knew whether he took it or not and what his reaction was. But if he really liked sweets, he would not have left them here.
It was as if she could see the man casually throwing the candy onto the table, stingy to even give a weak glance.
Was he afraid she’d poison it? Or has Xiao Jue even changed his tastes over the years?
This question had no answer. He Yan pondered, as she suddenly felt something sweeping on her face. It felt slightly cool, damp and furry. She raised her eyes to see that there were salt-like things falling outside, along with the wind flying to the front of the case.
The night was late to know that the snow was heavy, she could often hear the sound of bamboo breaking.
She took two steps forward, and through the window, she could see the Bai Yue Mountain looming in the distance. The moonlight was cool and far away, falling in the wilderness, dancing with the snow before her eyes.
“It’s snowing.” She said silently in her heart.
It turned out that the winter snow in Liangzhou Wei comes this early.