Rebirth of a Star General 108
The Spy
With many things hidden in her heart, He Yan couldn’t sleep soundly at night. The next day, He Yan woke up at dawn. After the morning training, she went to talk to Hong Shan.
Hong Shan said, “Yesterday, Shi and I took turns guarding for half the night but found nothing wrong.”
He Yan looked at Shi, who nodded to her.
“Nothing happened all night?”
“No, he just slept more soundly than us.” Hong Shan looked at He Yan suspiciously, “You are thinking too much. Hu Yuanzhong is just an ordinary hunter. I see nothing wrong with his words. His family is poor till this state, it’s quite pitiful.”
“Brother Ahe, what’s wrong with him that made you suspect him like this?” Mak wondered.
What’s wrong? After all, it was just a red rash on his wrist between his finger and thumb, which wasn’t really a big issue. It was just that the timing of his arrival coincided with Xiao Jue’s departure, making her feel that something was wrong.
Having walked on the edge of life and death in too many battles, sometimes the body is far more capable of making direct judgments than the mind. One of the veteran generals she had worked with used to say, “Ordinary people’s intuition may be wrong, but for people like us, our intuition about danger is true nine out of ten times.
She pondered for a moment and said, “Allow me to take another look.”
Hong Shan shrugged his shoulders and stopped asking questions.
By evening, when all the daily training was over, He Yan first went to Shen Muxue’s room to get the medicine, and then went to Hu Yuanzhong. Hu Yuanzhong was alone in the room, looking down at a piece of paper.
When He Yan pushed the door in, he immediately hid the paper he was holding in his arms.
“Brother Hu, what are you doing in the room alone?” She asked with a smile as if she didn’t see his movement.
“Nothing,” Hu Yuanzhong sighed, “I can’t get out of bed because my leg has not healed, so I can only stay in the room, which is causing you trouble.”
“It’s nothing,” He Yan said with a smile, “You’ve been hurt so badly, of course, you should take care of yourself.”
She rolled up Hu Yuanzhong’s trouser and squatted down to apply medicine. She did not look closely previously, but since she came today with suspicion, she was being extra careful.
The two legs of this hunter were full of scars — the largest one was probably cut by a stone. Even the bone was deeply visible, which also made that cut the most serious.
“I heard from Miss Shen that Brother Hu encountered a bear when he went up the mountain,” He Yan asked casually, “Are there still bears at this time of the year?”
The bears in Baiyue Mountain are probably hibernating during the day, so it should not have been easy for Hu Yuanzhong to bump into one.
“Yes,” Hu Yuanzhong scratched his head, “it’s my bad luck that I didn’t find a fox but met a bear instead.”
“How can you say that you have bad luck?” He Yan shook her head, “Not everyone can escape after encountering a bear. I have heard that bears don’t have good vision, but their sense of smell is extremely sensitive. Brother Hu, you were injured and covered in blood, yet the bear did not catch up. Brother Hu has formidable luck.”
“And,” she did not look at Hu Yuanzhong’s expression, even her hand movements did not stop as she continued, “Brother Hu was buried in the snow and was coincidentally rescued by Miss Shen. The new recruits of our Liangzhou Guard only go up the mountain every three or five days. If Brother Hu had been in the mountain for a day or a night earlier, or had fallen in the wrong place, you would not be in Liangzhou Guard now.”
Hu Yuanzhong froze, nodded, and said, “Indeed, it’s all thanks to Miss Shen.”
When Hu Yuanzhong took the bowl of medicine, He Yan’s eyes fell on his wrist again. He pulled the sleeves of his clothes longer but the red color could still be faintly seen between his thumb and finger.
“How many years has Brother Hu been a hunter?”
Hu Yuanzhong said as he drank the medicine, “Seven to eight years.”
“Have you always hunted in the Bai Yue Mountains?”
She asked quickly. Hu Yuanzhong hesitated for a moment before saying, “Yes.”
“Then have you been up in the Bai Yue Mountains on snowy days like this in the past few years?”
“No, I have not.”
“So why did you decide to go up this year?”
“It’s because I don’t have enough food to eat.” Hu Yuanzhong finished the last sip of the medicine and looked at He Yan strangely, “Brother He, why are you asking this?”
He Yan smiled, “I’m just a little curious.”
She reached out to take the empty bowl in Hu Yuanzhong’s hand.
Hu Yuanzhong stretched out his hand.
When He Yan stretched out her hand toward the medicine bowl, she suddenly changed the direction of her hand and slammed directly towards Hu Yuanzhong’s chest. He was unable to dodge it and retreated sideways in a panic, as He Yan’s hand struck his chest.
The young man did not pause in his movements, and went straight into Hu Yuanzhong’s lapel and pulled out a piece of paper.
“Give it back to me–” Hu Yuanzhong shouted, but because of the impact of He Yan’s palm, he became like a deflated ball. His voice was hoarse and hard to hear, half of his body slumped on the bed, futilely reaching out towards He Yan.
This movement was too loud, alarming the people nearby. The surrounding recruits heard the sound and ran in one after another. As soon as they entered, they saw Hu Yuanzhong covering his chest and spitting blood, while He Yan stood at the edge of the bed, holding a piece of paper.
“What’s going on? What’s happened!”
Hu Yuanzhong said with difficulty, “He robbed me of something…”
“What did you rob him of?” The recruit asked.
He Yan looked down at the yellow paper in her hand.
On the yellow paper was a poem, “Remembering your heart is like the water of the West River, flowing east, day and night without rest.”
The handwriting was beautiful, seemingly written by a woman.
“What is this?” He Yan frowned and asked him.
Hu Yuanzhong stared at him, furious, and did not speak.
“What’s wrong?” Shen Muxue’s voice sounded from behind her. She happened to be nearby and heard the commotion so she followed the people over and saw such a saber-rattling scene.
“He Yan?” She suspiciously looked at He Yan, and then at Hu Yuanzhong who was covering his chest. She walked to Hu Yuanzhong’s side and asked in surprise, “Why did your injuries worsen?” Seeing the blood on Hu Yuanzhong’s lips again, “Who did this?”
Hu Yuanzhong stared at He Yan.
Shen Muxue frowned, “He Yan, what did you do?”
“I just patted him lightly.” He Yan laughed, “I probably didn’t get the strength right.”
“Nonsense! He is still injured. How can he withstand your strength?”
Hu Yuanzhong struggled to get up and extended a hand towards He Yan, his tone still angry, “Give it back to me!”
She shrugged and gave him back the paper with the love poem.
“What’s this?” A recruit asked, “What did you rob him of?”
Shen Muxue also looked over. Hu Yuanzhong said gloomily, “This is written by my deceased wife…”
It was a memento of his late wife.
“He Yan, what are you doing with other people’s mementos?” Some recruits couldn’t look past it, “No wonder he was so angry.”
“I didn’t know it was a memento. I was just messing around with Brother Hu,” said He Yan, ashamed, “Brother Hu won’t be angry with me, right?”
Hu Yuanzhong looked at He Yan, seemingly angry, but finally held back and said, “Nevermind, don’t do such things in the future.” After saying that, he coughed violently again, looking very weak.
Shen Muxue’s look was ugly when she saw this scene and only said to He Yan, “Fine, He Yan, there is nothing left for you here. You should go out first. And from now on I’ll be responsible for Hu Yuanzhong’s medicine. In the future, you do not need to come here every day.”
It was as if He Yan was a plague that caused trouble.
“Okay.” She did not get angry and only replied with a smile. After that she just glanced at Hu Yuanzhong, turned around, and went out.
As soon as she stepped out of the room, the smile on her face dissipated.
She was indeed deliberate earlier. People in a critical situation will instinctively react, just like in Liangzhou City when Ding Yi was testing whether she was really blind or not. If Hu Yuanzhong was not as badly injured as he appeared to be, he would have naturally struck back.
But he didn’t and took a hard slap from He Yan. If that was all, it would have been fine. But when He Yan unleashed that palm, she also controlled herself.
She struck Hu Yuanzhong with a palm. On the surface, it looked aggressive, but in fact, she used little force. Hu Yuanzhong would only have suffered some superficial injuries and shouldn’t have to bleed. After all, He Yan also didn’t want to hurt people’s lives. If everything was just her overthinking, wouldn’t Hu Yuanzhong have suffered for nothing?
The problem laid here. He Yan was extremely confident in her grasp of the force. How could such a harmless strike make Hu Yuanzhong vomit blood? If she hadn’t misjudged her own strength, this person was obviously lying.
He Yan thought that Hu Yuanzhong was lying.
The paper with the love poem in his arms was even stranger. A person who carries his dead wife’s memento with him is naturally an affectionate man, and an affectionate man should not have other thoughts when facing a beautiful medical girl.
He Yan looked at all this as if she was watching a crappy drama. Unfortunately, even though she felt suspicious, she was afraid that if she told others that the slap was a vain strike, they would think she was avoiding responsibility and deliberately speaking lightly.
This was indeed a bit tricky.
As she walked, not long after, Mak and the others followed her over and were relieved to see her, whispering, “Brother Ahe, they said you beat up Hu Yuanzhong. Is it true?”
It’s only been an incense stick of time. Why did the whole of Liangzhou know about it?
“It’s true.”
“You’re still suspecting him?” Hong Shan frowned, “If you suspect him for something, we are here to help you keep an eye on him. Why did you have to beat people? Do you know that now all the people of Liangzhou Guard say that you…you…” he hesitated and stopped.
He Yan asked, “Say what about me?”
“Say that Brother Ahe bullies the weak and is being arrogant and domineering,” Mak said.
He Yan was silent.
Things have become even stranger.
“Brother Ahe, what now?” Mak looked at him worriedly, “Should we explain to the others?”
“It’s not necessary.” He Yan said with her eyes closed. Since this person dissipated rumors so quickly, he was aiming at her. Explaining these would also be futile. Compared to explaining these unnecessary rumors, she was more suspicious of Hu Yuanzhong’s purpose and concerned on how she could expose this person’s footsteps.
“You guys continue to keep an eye on him at night.” He Yan said, “I will take another look.”
Mak and Hong Shan looked at each other and stopped talking.
…
A few days went by and everything was all calm and quiet.
In the Liangzhou Guard, there was no movement. Mak, who day after day helped He Yan watch Hu Yuanzhong, also did not find any flaws. Hong Shan and others did not sleep well at night and were scolded by Liang Ping for being absent-minded.
As for He Yan, she was eager to check out Hu Yuanzhong’s situation everyday, to see if she could get more information. However, Shen Muxue prevented her like a guard and strictly forbade He Yan to go near Hu Yuanzhong, fearing that He Yan would “play around” and carelessly injure Hu Yuanzhong again. So after a few days, He Yan did not even touch a single edge of Hu Yuanzhong, not to mention catching his flaws.
Tonight, He Yan walked alone to the martial arts arena. Because of her injury, He Yan changed her routine of night training to once every three days.
Xiao Jue has been gone for almost a month, and there was no news. He Yan secretly asked Cheng Lisu if there was any news from Zhangtai, but Cheng Lisu didn’t know either. When Xiao Jue was here, she didn’t feel anything. Once he left, she felt that the Liangzhou Guard couldn’t do anything without him. Otherwise, if she had revealed a little to Xiao Jue, with this person’s mind, he would have been able to spot the signs. Now that she didn’t even have anyone she could talk to, it was really difficult.
She walked over to the crossbow and was trying to practice her bow when she heard a noise at the other end of the road. She looked up to see a black figure riding towards Baiyue Mountain.
It was late at night. Why would someone go up the mountain? As these days have been sunny, the mountain snow has melted some, the mountain road was easier to take than the past few days. He Yan wanted to call someone, but the martial arts arena was too far from the recruit’s bunkhouses. If she calls someone, she wouldn’t be able to catch up with this person.
Seeing that the man was running farther and farther away, about to disappear in the darkness of the mountains, He Yan did not care about anything else. She pulled out a horse from the stable, jumped over, and leaped on it to catch up.
In the winter of Bai Yue Mountain, the soil was cold, especially with the melting snow, and horses were likely to slip on such roads. The person in front of him did not light a fire but only walked under the starlight in the forest. He Yan also couldn’t see clearly, and followed him silently, unable to surpass.
The person also seemed to know the terrains of Baiyue Mountain, as he looked for small paths, and repeatedly tried to bring He Yan into the ditch. However, over the years, He Yan has remembered the way more clearly than others. She had once fought for the flag and then for cutting firewoods, so she has memorized all the dangerous places to not be fooled. After trying several times the man found that she did not take the bait, so he turned his horse around and went in a different direction.
He Yan chased him closely.
She suspected that this person was Hu Yuanzhong, but what was Hu Yuanzhong doing up in the mountains late at night? It couldn’t be to take advantage of the late-night when no one was around to cross over the mountain to go home.
Once a seed of suspicion was sprouted, it was difficult to pull it out. Since the suspicion could not be pushed, there was no need to waste time, directly pulling out the source and asking for clarity.
She must catch this person today.
Without being on the small paths, the road was much more spacious. He Yan harnessed the horse to catch up, as their distance became closer and closer. When it was only a few feet, she directly jumped over, throwing half of her body onto the other horse. The man dodged but was forced by He Yan to stop the horse. As he tried to escape, He Yan pounced on him and fought.
She came in a hurry and there was only an iron-headed rod left on the weapons rack, so He Yan brought it with her — it was better than being bare-handed. At this moment under the night, the man turned over and leaped up. He Yan only then saw clearly, this person’s face was covered with his whole body wrapped tightly, only revealing a pair of eyes. His figure was similar to Hu Yuanzhong, but the light was dim, so it was difficult to identify by a pair of eyes. He stood still, carrying a large knife in his hand, the blade like a curved moon, flashing a biting light in the night.
“Scimitar?” He Yan’s heart jumped wildly.
Qiang soldiers loved to use curved knives because they were convenient for cutting meat. Not only could they kill people, but also be used to eat meat. He Yan was well aware of the power of a scimitar, she had seen a comrade slashed by a scimitar — before the blood could flow out, the head had fallen to the ground. In the years when the Western Qiang invaded the Central Plains, what the commander Ridamuji loved to do was to use the scimitar to cut off the heads of the prisoners, string them together and tie them to the tails of his beloved horses. This made people frightened, wherever he went.
At this moment, seeing this scimitar, He Yan knew that this man was from Qiangs.
She frowned, “Are you really a Qiang?”
The man smiled and laughed strangely, his voice hoarse and chaotic, “How do you know?”
“Cut the crap,” He Yan struck the rod on the ground and stared at him coldly, “Tell me, what is your purpose of mixing into the Liangzhou Guard?”
“Shh–” The man held out his index finger to his lips and said, “Keep your voice down, lest someone finds out.” When he saw that He Yan did not say anything, he seemed to be amused and added, “If you defeat me, I will tell you.”
“Insolent!” He Yan reprimanded before the voice reached the ground, she threw herself at the man.
The iron-headed rod was not as sharp as the scimitar but was simple and hard, so it was difficult for people to get close to it when one swung it. He Yan was previously injured, and her wound has yet healed. There were many constraints between her movements, but even so, to fight with this person, there shouldn’t be much difference.
The masked man used his scimitar extremely well, so skilled that it was eye-catching. His actions were also very ruthless, every move was aimed at He Yan’s heart. He Yan was forced to retreat steadily, and suddenly her footsteps stopped. Because of the hastiness of the stop, the snow was upturned by her feet and when she looked back there was already a cliff behind her.
“Have you discovered it?” The man laughed and said, “Why not fall for it?”
“Because your technique is too lame.” He Yan coldly said. After saying that, she struck the iron-headed stick to the ground, and her body leaped forward with the stick, landing directly behind the masked man. Her movements did not stop, as she ruthlessly slashed the stick towards the other’s head.
But the stick fell short, the man sidestepped, and the iron-headed stick struck the man on the shoulder. Even so, it was enough. He Yan practiced with stone locks day after day, her strength has long been different from the softness she had when she first entered the Liangzhou Guard. Even a man with a physique like Huang Xiong would suffer, not to mention this person.
The masked man screamed in pain after being hit by He Yan. The scimitar in his hand also became unsteady. His right hand lost strength, and for the time being, he could no longer wield his scimitar.
“How’s this?” He Yan sneered.
The other party did not say anything, turned and ran forward, just about to escape, He Yan frowned, followed closely, she had amazing endurance and physical strength, so she ran fast enough, for a while, the masked man could not get rid of He Yan.
As long as she caught up with this person, peeled off the scarf on his face, she would be able to know his identity. If it was really Hu Yuanzhong, Shen Han should be able to ask what they were plotting by torturing him.
As she was thinking, she suddenly saw the person in front of her stop, as he yelled at He Yan, “A gift for you!” The scimitar was thrown towards He Yan’s heart, He Yan subconsciously caught it, holding by the hilt, but saw in the jungle with a “grunt” a man rolled out.
In the night, the person who rolled out was actually wearing the red uniform of the recruits of the Liangzhou Guard.
The road was a long slope; the recruit rolled all the way down, and further down, it was a ten thousand feet slope. He Yan watched the masked man as he smiled, fleeing deep into the jungle. With a gnash of teeth, she turned around to chase down the rolling recruit.
The recruit in uniform rolled faster and faster. Without even a groan, He Yan’s heart sank, as she flew up and swept across the center of the long slope, catching him under her embrace, the two rolled together to the side. After a while, they finally came to a stop in front of a tree.
The body in her arms was still warm but did not say a word. He Yan looked down, a youthful face appeared through the starlight.
She was stunned for a moment.
Within Liangzhou Guard’s tens of thousands of recruits, she couldn’t remember everyone’s name. But this person’s face, she remembered, was the cowardly Wang Xiaohan whom she met on the way down the mountain during the flag fight.
A few days ago, the boy was blushing to thank her. Now, there was no longer a trace of blood on his face, his eyes were wide, seemingly in horror before his death. His clothes were red, making it hard to see anything, but were too wet sticking to the front of the body. He Yan looked down to her hands, full of blood. She trembled and untied the teenager’s shirt. There was a huge bloody hole in his chest. Even some flesh was hooked away, looking a little hollow.
He died under the scimitar.
No matter how many lives and deaths she saw, she couldn’t take it calmly every time she faced the death of people around her. She closed her eyes, a wave of anger arose in her heart, murmuring, “Bastard!”
He was still so young; he hadn’t even been on a real battlefield and died in the desolate night of the Baiyue Mountain. If He Yan hadn’t followed the masked man up, he would have even died quietly, and might only be found by the brother guarding the area the next day.
Why… such a person?
Why should the teenager be dragged to the mountain to kill? Did he bump into something to be silenced, or was there another reason?
No, no!
The hand of He Yan holding the teenager tightened, she was trapped!
She just thought of this, then heard a rustle of voices ahead of someone shouting, “Have you seen anyone, ah? Where the hell is it?”
Suddenly, the bushes in front of her brushed aside, and a recruit’s face was revealed, holding a torch in his hand, just in time to meet He Yan’s eyes.
One didn’t need to think to know how hideous the picture was at this moment.
She held a scimitar in her hand. The scimitar was still stained with blood, and her hands were also covered in blood, as a Liangzhou recruit was lying on her back, dead, with a bloody hole in the chest, shocking to the eyes.
“F-found him!” The recruit cried out in fear, crawling backward, “Murder! He Yan killed someone!”
The people swiftly arrived close behind, and when He Yan raised her head, she saw dozens of people, including Shen Han, Liang Ping and other groups of instructors, coming over. They stared at He Yan, their eyes astonished. Du Mao shouted, “He Yan, how dare you kill someone?”
The murder weapon was in her hand, the corpse was at her feet, late at night on the mountain. It was suspicious, no matter how one looked. She looked like a spy with evil intentions, killing to silence people.
This was the real gift that the masked man gave her.
