Rebirth of a Star General 85
A comparison of Miseries
Autumn geese flew diagonally across the sky, the osmanthus trees were fragrant and the summer heat finally faded, leaving the coolness of dew in late autumn.
He Yan got up early in the morning. Mak handed her a pear, “I picked it in the woods next to the martial arts arena. It has been washed. Try it.”
He Yan freshened up. She took a bite and almost lost her tooth. Seeing her eyes narrowed from sourness, Mak scratched his head embarrassedly, “The ones in the wild forest have not fully ripe yet. It should sweeten after some days. Since it is now autumn, there are many wild fruits in the mountains and forests. We can secretly pick a few after practicing every day. This sour pear can also be marinated in sugar and eaten as candy. It’s really delicious!”
Seeing how this child only wanted to eat all day long, He Yan said, “There is no sugar here.”
Mak was stunned for a moment. After seeming to react, he was somewhat disappointed, “Ah right.”
“Not necessarily,” Hong Shan, who was watching them talk, interrupted. “Aren’t the rewards for your merits announced today? Ahe, you and Shi won the first prize in the competition, so there might be some sugar in the rewards given to you today. There might be other delicacies too, even sweetened snow pear could be there!”
Listening to this, Mak suddenly got excited and said, “Yes, Brother Ahe, Prizes are going to be announced today. Have you thought about what you want?”
“It’s not like I can get whatever I want,” He Yan smiled, “The guardhouse is not like the capital. The supplies are limited here.”
“Hey, he just wants to enter the Forward Battalion.” Hong Shan also took a bite of the pear, and said vaguely, “This request will definitely be met.”
He Yan smiled. Over the past few days, despite behaving calmly, she was a little excited. Once she enters the Nine Banners Battalion, she would be one step closer to Xiao Jue and also a step closer to proceeding He family’s matters more openly. She thought that she would be able to achieve her wish tonight. So far, her military journey has been quite smooth.
After all, everyone would want to have General Feihong for themselves. Thinking this, He Yan felt pleased in her heart.
The daytime was the same as usual, and they still went to the martial arts arena to train. But at night everyone gathered together and watched the moon in the open space near the foot of the mountain, outside the martial arts arena. In terms of moon viewing, Liangzhou was no better than the capital. Naturally, it was not like the old days where the wealthy would set up banquets, either in their yard or in the restaurant and boats, inviting colleagues and friends to enjoy delicious food. Appreciating the moon in Liangzhou was nothing more than lighting a bonfire, where recruits would sit in a group and eat something good that they usually do not eat. Perhaps they might also get some rice wine. The companions would brag and gossip with each other while drinking or eating meat together and looking at the moon.
After leaving the martial arts arena in the afternoon, He Yan went back to the room, carrying a change of clothes on her back. The recruits in Liangzhou Wei all have strong clothes for spring, summer, autumn, and winter. The clothes for spring and autumn can be worn throughout the year. There are two pieces, one is red and the other black. The style is simple and stain-resistant. He Yan changed into a red one and went to meet Cheng Lisu first.
Cheng Lisu had already been to the martial arts arena in the morning and asked He Yan to look for him in his house in the evening. He Yan guessed that Cheng Lisu was going to send her something to eat. Sure enough, upon seeing Cheng Lisu, the young boy handed her a mahogany basket.
The basket was exquisitely made, with the carvings of Goddess Chang’e flying to the moon on it. When she opened it, she saw mooncakes neatly arranged in it. The mooncakes were really fragrant and appeared delicious.
“Brother He, this is for you,” Cheng Lisu whispered, “Liangzhou Wei’s moon dumplings are too coarse. These were gifted from someone else. Take it.”
He Yan said, “Thank you.” She was actually not particularly interested in pastries. But if she were to give this basket of mooncakes Mak, that child would probably jump up happily.
“You’ve never eaten these before, right?” A hint of sympathy flashed in Cheng Lisu’s eyes, but there was also some smugness, “These are not the best. The cakes at Shuojing city’s Drunken Jade House are the world’s best. When we return to the city, I’ll invite you to eat there. Let me tell you a secret,” Cheng Lisu said as if offering treasures. “My uncle also likes the food at Drunken Jade House.”
He Yan thought that Cheng Lisu, like He Yunsheng, had the same unconditional and mindless admiration for Xiao Jue. As if the one who has got Xiao Jue’s approval would not fall short of expectations.
But… well, to be honest, Xiao Jue is also not too bad.
After thanking Cheng Lisu for the autumn gift, the sky was getting dark. So He Yan carried the basket of snacks and went out. At this moment, a bonfire had been lit in the wild, at the foot of the mountain. The bonfire was bright, and many recruits had already arrived, sitting on the ground near the campfire. It seemed that each recruit had received a meatloaf and some oranges. The wooden branches were erected near the bonfire, with rabbits and fish skewered on them, which were hunted on Baiyue Mountain.
Looking at the scene, it seemed that there would be meat to eat today.
He Yan was in a very good mood as she tossed the basket in her hands back and forth. The aroma of roasted meat lingered nearby, making people hungry. She also saw a big wine jar near every bonfire. The wine wasn’t of good quality, and the smell was a bit pungent, but at this time, only strong wine was needed to fill the belly and relax.
She came a little bit late so she went to find Mak and others first. When passing by other recruits, they all looked at her with a strange expression.
Perhaps speculating on what rewards she would be receiving today.
He Yan walked forward happily. When she reached a place near the foot of the mountain, she saw Mak and the others. They were gathered around a bonfire. He Yan waved to them from a distance and greeted them, calling out, “Mak!”
Hearing the voice, the young man turned his head to look, but he didn’t respond enthusiastically to her as usual. Instead, he seemed hesitant. He Yan came closer and saw that, in addition to Hongshan and Shi, Jiang Jiao, Wang Ba and Huang Xiong were also there. Seeing these three people also gathered together, He Yan put down the snack basket from her hand, and sat down cross-legged, opening the basket lid, saying with a smile, “Look what good things I brought for you? No need to be thankful.”
She picked up an exquisite mooncake and handed it to Mak. The child was used to being greedy, she said, “Here!”
Mak froze for a moment, slowly reached out his hand to take it, and mumbled with his lips, seemingly wanting to say something but not uttering a word. He Yan said to the others, “Help yourself, you want to eat.”
No one answered her.
He Yan raised her head, everyone was staring at her, looking at her with strange eyes. Even the careless Hong Shan was silent. He Yan asked suspiciously, “What’s wrong? Why do you all look like you’ve seen a ghost? What happened?”
Hong Shan turned away, Jiang Jiao’s eyes flashed with sympathy, and he said, “He Yan, don’t be sad.”
“What would I be sad about?” He Yan was confused.
The atmosphere became suffocating again. He Yan looked at Huang Xiong. Huang Xiong looked away, rubbing the Buddha beads on his chest as if the world had nothing to do with him. But Wang Ba couldn’t help it, and said, “…Well, even if you didn’t get into the Forward Battalion, don’t be too sad. It all depends on the efforts.”
He Yan heaved a sigh of relief and said, “I thought it was something big. How could it be possible that I didn’t enter the Forward Battalion, I…” Her words stopped suddenly, and she looked at the crowd again. They couldn’t bear it, and she moved her lips. hearing her own voice, as if floating in the air, “Really didn’t enter?”
“When you were away, the head Instructor Shen came here, and announced that Lei Hou entered the Forward Battalion, there was no… no mention of you.” Mak carefully considered his words.
“Did you miss it?” He Yan still had a trace of hope in her heart, “perhaps because I wasn’t here.”
“I asked the Head Instructor for you,” Shi said softly, “We didn’t enter the forward battalion this time from the flag fight. Among the others, only Lei Hou got in.”
He Yan fell silent.
Everyone stared at him nervously. Everyone could see how much He Yan wanted to enter the Forward Battalion. When he first came to Liangzhou, he could barely even run with a heavy load. At that time, the boy forced himself to carry it down just to enter the Forward Battalion. He was so outstanding that he won first place in the fight for the flag. Not to mention that he didn’t understand it, even in the eyes of the people around him, they found it incomprehensible.
“It’s okay, there’s no need to be upset,” Hong Shan comforted her, “Isn’t it just a Forward Battalion? We can go to other battalions, like infantry battalions, and cavalry battalions? As long as you have the ability, why worry about no one appreciating? They don’t want you since they don’t have any vision!”
“Correct.” Jiang Jiao also felt sorry for her. It was far more convincing for someone like He Yan to be seen as an opponent than Lei Hou. “You are so powerful, and you will see the genuine gold in the strong fire. You will eventually be known in the future.”
Everyone was rushing to comfort her, but it was their first time seeing that the young man, who had always had his eyebrows and eyes opened wide, had his head lowered without saying anything. He was withering with frustrations written all over his body, as he gradually calmed down.
Hong Shan stabbed Mak’s arm and motioned for Mak to say a few words. Mak was trying to speak with all his brains but He Yan suddenly stood up, without saying a word, and was about to go out.
“Hey hey, where are you going?” Huang Xiong grabbed her.
The young man said bitterly, “I am going to go to Xiao Jue and ask clearly, why did he choose Lei hou over me? What exactly about me is not as good as Lei hou? Why was my name in the Forward Battalion!”
Hong Shan was taken aback. He didn’t expect He Yan to call the general’s name directly. He hurriedly stopped He Yan’s actions, “You can’t be so impulsive! Going to the General Xiao now will only make the General unhappy, and there will be even fewer chances for you to join the Forward Battalion in the future.”
“Yes, yes,” Mak persuaded clumsily, “Ahe, General Xiao may be deliberately keeping you for something else, such as going to another camp. You are so powerful, there is no reason not to choose you!”
“I’m already great,” He Yan’s face turned blue. “Let Xiao Jue stand in front of me. Let’s fight. I don’t think he can beat me either!”
Jiang Jiao quickly went to cover He Yan’s mouth. Her saying all these things showed that she was really angry.
Fearing that she would go down to find trouble with Xiao Jue out of anger, the people hurriedly pulled her back to her original spot and sat down. Huang Xiong said, “Young people can’t be so impatient, staying in the wild and not worrying about the firewood, he is a general, and you are a recruit. If you want to speak on equal terms, wait for you to be appointed as a general in the future, before talking to him again!”
“That will have to wait ten or eight years,” Wang Ba muttered, “and even this much might not be enough.”
Jiang Jiao also said, “This General Xiao is also really… Clearly, we are the first and Lei Hou was defeated by He Yan. How could he abandon He Yan and choose Lei Hou?”
“I heard,” Wang Ba thought for a while, “That Lei Hou seems to have something to do with an Instructor here. He may be a relative and might have just gone through the back door. I think these nobles are so powerful and arrogant, they don’t care about the lower class.”
Mak couldn’t help but speak up, “Instructor Xiao is not that kind of person! There must be some misunderstanding here!”
Wang Ba glanced at him, “Whose side are you on?”
Little wheat closed his mouth and promised not to speak.
“Everyone,” He Yan said with restraint, “I have a terrible headache. Can you let me be quiet for a while?”
Everyone fell silent immediately.
The bonfire throbbed in front of her, as the night reflected by the flames turned red. In any case, He Yan couldn’t understand why Xiao Jue would admit Lei Hou into the Forward Battalion.
She thought that she had been blind all along, but it was nowhere near Xiao Jue’s blindness. Could it be that all this time her performance in Liangzhou Wei was not good at all? She thought she couldn’t have performed any better or that she did not collect enough flags. But she had left no remaining flags for the others. Even the formation that ordinary recruits found difficult was broken by her. With such a talent, Xiao Jue was not at all tempted?
She wanted to take back her words when she said Xiao Jue was really good!
He Yan only felt her liver ached with anger and never thought that this was not the end of it. After a few moments later, Head Instructor Shen came over.
Under the eyes of everyone, he brought a small box over and said to everyone, “You are all here. It just so happens that you won first place in the flag race this time and tonight is also the Mid-Autumn Festival. This is your reward.”
Mak opened the box but saw that there was only a small jar of wine and a few silver bars in it.
“This is Eighteen Immortals, just such a small jar is worth a hundred taels,” the Head Instructor Shen said with satisfaction, “You can drink it tonight, don’t be greedy.”
“Eighteen Immortals,” Wang Ba smacked his lips, “I didn’t expect to be able to drink eighteen Immortals here. My old life is worth it!”
He forgot in an instant that he was still cursing, “Powerful nobleman”.
Huang Xiong also swallowed his saliva. They were all heroes who loved wine. Besides, it was a precious wine. Even someone as young as Mak who didn’t like wine grabbed an ingot of silver and took a bite in his hand.
This reward was not too big, but it was also by no means small. In the midst of joy, only He Yan seemed particularly out of place.
She just glanced at the box, let out a chuckle, and said, “It seems that our general is not doing very well.”
Shen Han was stunned.
“Poor as hell.” The young man didn’t even look at him, taking a branch to fiddle with the firewood. He lowered his head and mumbled to himself. Still, everyone could hear the essence in the words.
Hong Shan covered her mouth and smiled at Shen Han, “Our brother here is drunk, really drunk… muttering nonsense, the Head Instructor should be understanding with a child.”
Shen Han left inexplicably.
After Shen Han left, He Yan looked at the box on the ground and couldn’t help but sneer, “These meager things should be carried out to the beggars”
“Brother, this is a good thing.” Huang Xiong said patiently, “You are relocating your anger.”
He Yan was holding her anger and didn’t want to talk.
Huang Xiong sat down next to her, holding her shoulders, looking at the flames dancing in front of her, and said in a deep voice, “Young man, don’t be discouraged. It’s just a bump in the road. Look at me,” he pointed to himself. “You’d only lost a chance to enter the Forward Battalion. Whereas I lost everything back then.”
He was not willing to touch the jar of Eighteen Immortals, only pouring two large bowls of yellow wine from the jar next to He Yan — one for He Yan, and the other for himself. He took a sip and said, “What a strong wine!”
Seeing He Yan not speaking, he pointed to the Buddha beads on his neck and said, “This is my mother’s.”
The Buddha beads were dark and gleaming with a warm light, which appeared extremely disproportionate on his sturdy physique. Despite this, Huang Xiong had never taken it away. He pointed to the knife beside him again, “This knife has killed nineteen people.”
These words were a bit horrible, for a while, even Wang Ba and the others looked at him. He Yan moved his eyes slightly and looked at him.
Seeing her finally reacted, Huang Xiong said in a jarring voice, “I was as old as you back then. Our family had a sword manual that was passed down from our ancestors. When someone learned about it, they came to buy it. But my father refused to sell it.”
“I went to cool off with my companions at the time. After returning, our house was completely wiped out. All the belongings were in the house, only the manual was missing.”
Mak exclaimed, “This…”
“Someone killed my Huang family for the sake of the sword.” When Huang Xiong said this, his expression was very calm, they didn’t know if it was because that too much time had passed, or it was because of something else. He said, “I reported to the officials but the local officials couldn’t manage the matter at all. So I personally investigated this matter. I ran away with my wealth, carrying the knife for thousands of miles and went away looking for the culprits. It took me three years to find where they were. “
“I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to seek revenge and would end up giving my own life. I was not afraid of death. But I didn’t want to die in vain. I was the only one left in the Huang family. If I died, there would be no one to seek justice for them. “
“So I pretended as a laborer for a long time and entered that mansion. I observed the terrain and their usual habits during the day and practiced swordsmanship hard at night. After a year and a half, I found an opportunity to take revenge for our Huang Family one night.”
This story was thrilling, but he told it lightly. The danger can be imagined. But there was only calmness in the eyes of the bald man. He looked at He Yan and said, “It is not too late for a gentleman to seek revenge ten years later. I tried my best to seek justice from them. In the end, they were still a powerful foe. But you see, now that the enemy is dead and I am still alive. I can still drink and eat meat with you here. So you say, who won?”
He wanted to take advantage of his own affairs and tell He Yan, not to be impulsive in a moment of anger.
He Yan smiled and was about to speak, but when Jiang Jiao stretched out his hand and poured himself a bowl of rice wine, he raised his head and took a big mouthful. He was not as good at drinking as Huang Xiong. His face was flushed with hot redness. He reached out and wiped his lips. With liquor stains, he blurted out, “That is, who doesn’t have a sad time. Just look at me, the young master of a martial arts school, as good as it might sound. I also had a fiancee. We were supposed to marry this year but she died.”
Mak’s eyes widened. As he was about to ask a question, he was hit by Shi and he quietened down.
“Do you know how she died?” Jiang Jiao’s eyes were a little red, and he muttered, “She died because of love. She liked someone else and refused to marry me, so she died because of her love with that scholar! You say, are you more miserable than me?”
It was no wonder that Jiang Jiao, with such good looks and skills, came to join the army. It might be after this incident, he became afraid, discouraged and simply wanted to stay away from his hometown.
Everyone looked at Wang Ba. Wang Ba was inexplicable, and then he was ashamed and said, “What are you looking at me for? I don’t have a story! What’s wrong with all of you? Why are you all bringing up the damn past? Are you here to compare who is worse off?”
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