Substitute again
The next day after the Mid-Autumn Festival. It was a rainy day. When He Yan woke up, the others were all asleep on the bunk, probably because they hadn’t awoken from the wine last night. It was because the order to run outside had been sounded. Even if it was raining, they had to train. She got up from the bed and started waking up everyone in the room.
“My head is so dizzy,” Mak was too young to resist his hangover, and was still feeling the aftereffects, “Brother Ahe, what are you doing?”
He Yan handed him the water bag, “Hurry up, take two sips, wash your face, it’s time to run.”
Mak took the water bag and drank, Hong Shan saw this, smiled and said, “Mak, you and your brother have to train more. How can you drink only that much? You aren’t as good as your Brother Ahe.”
Mak glanced at He Yan and said, “Brother Ahe, can you drink really well?”
“Just so-so.” He Yan said perfunctorily. She wasn’t even feeling a headache, but instead she was feeling quite refreshed. However, she has forgotten how she returned to the room. She only remembered that she was drinking with Huang Xiong in front of the bonfire and after drinking a few bowls, it seemed that she has opened the 18 immortals… right, what happened to the 18 immortals?
“Why don’t I see the jar of wine rewarded by General Xiao?” Hong Shan also remembered, “That’s a good thing, it cannot be lost.”
“Maybe it’s with Wang Ba.” He Yan replied. After carefully tracing back her memories again, she recalled nothing.
She originally drank alcohol and was known as not being drunk even in a thousand glasses, but in fact, it was not true. She would also become drunk if she drinks too much, but He Yan was different from others when she gets drunk. Whenever she was drunk, she never showed any signs on her face, and would look particularly sober. When she was in the army, she was drunk once and still was able to discuss the art of war with the military commander in the camp for a night, while looking radiant. On the next day, the military commander even praised He Yan as a rare hero. In fact, He Yan did not even remember what she did last night.
Even if she’s drunk, people can’t tell. Nor will she walk in vain and talk nonsense. So, it would be impossible for anyone to see the gaffe. But what did she exactly do last night?
She couldn’t think of anything, so after everyone hurriedly washed their faces and cleaned up, they went outside to get dry bread and run.
After the rain, the ground was wet, so they couldn’t run too fast to avoid slipping. He Yan ran, feeling that someone was looking at her. Following the gaze, she saw the chief instructor Shen Han standing at the end of the horse path, staring at her unblinkingly, with a complicated expression.
Seeing He Yan looking over, Shen Han looked away. This all felt very strange, she was extremely sensitive to people’s gazes, and Shen Han’s appearance seemed to be thinking about something. She looked at Shen Han again, but Shen Han had already walked away.
Probably He Yan’s gaze at Shen Han was too obvious, and a recruit who was running next toher said, “The chief Instructor is so fierce, but he is still very good to you. What is the relationship between you two, how come he is taking care of you like this?”
“Taking care of me?” He Yan inexplicably, “How come I don’t know.”
If Shen Han really took care of her, he wouldn’t have ordered Lei Hou to go to the forward camp.
“Last night, when we went back, we watched Chief Instructor Shen personally carrying you back to the room.” The recruit seemed to be dissatisfied. “You are too ungrateful. If it was me, Chief Instructor Shen would not be so considerate at all.”
He Yan was stunned.
She asked, “Did you really see Chief Instructor Shen carry me back last night?”
“Yeah,” the recruit looked at her strangely, “You don’t remember? You probably don’t remember, you were drunk.” He said, and after that because his companions in front of him were begging him to catch up soon so regardless of He Yan’s expression, he hurried to the front.
He Yan was left behind alone, and her surprise was hard to conceal. Was she drunk? Shen Han actually carried her back?
What was the reason for all this? She asked Hong Shan and the others in the morning, Hong Shan and the others were drunk early, and were dragged back by the recruits in the same room. When He Yan came back, no one was awake, and they didn’t know when He Yan came back or how she came back.
He Yan didn’t think that Shen Han was being a considerate person.
She thought about it until the end of the run but still wasn’t able to figure out what was going on. So she made up her mind and waited until the end of the run to find Huang Xiong and the others before the start of the drill. Perhaps Huang Xiong knew, but if Huang Xiong didn’t know either, she would directly ask Shen Han.
After the run was over, everyone ran to sheltering straw sheds or tents to hide from the rain and drink water. Cheng Lisu also came.
This young man was holding an oil-paper umbrella with a few red and white koi painted on it, which looked quite interesting. He couldn’t find He Yan, so he asked around and finally found someone under the straw shed.
“Brother He!” he shouted.
He Yan didn’t expect Cheng Lisu to come to her, so she got up and walked to him, strangely said, “It’s raining so heavily, why didn’t you stay in the house?”
“This is not a place to talk.” Cheng Lisu took her to hide under the umbrella. After looking for a long time, he found the side of the long frame by the back of the flag stand in the martial arts field, then stopped, looked at He Yan and said, “I was drunk yesterday. But this morning I heard my uncle talking to Big Brother Fei Nu, and I got to know that you went to look for my uncle last night.”
“I went to find your uncle?” He Yan was shocked.
“Correct.”
He Yan couldn’t believe it, she actually went to Xiao Jue’s? Lately, she was feeling quite unhappy with Xiao Jue. It was also because of the matters of the Forward Battalion. So looking for Xiao Jue would definitely not be to be drinking tea or catching up about the good old days. If not this, then…
“What did I do when I looked for your uncle?” He Yan asked slowly.
Cheng Lisu hesitated to say, “Last night, you were probably drunk…”
He Yan, “…”
She tried her best to make herself smile as usual, and said, “Carry on, I can handle it.”
“You challenged my uncle for a fight and you crushed his zither.” Cheng Lisu answered honestly.
He Yan closed his eyes.
“Who won?” she asked.
Cheng Li Su didn’t expect that He Yan was still concerned about the result at this time. He scratched his head and said, “It’s probably my uncle. I heard that he asked Master Shen to take you back.”
He Yan, “…” Okay, she really went to Xiao Jue while she was drunk, and she even lost. Now, Xiao Jue would not like her even more, and she was even far away from entering the Nine Banners Battalion.
He Yan felt discouraged, thinking that it would be impossible to get to enter Nine Banner Battalion through Xiao Jue. Only if there was a different path… Or as before, she could just slowly rise through the ranks, although this plan might be a little slow… And she just doesn’t know how many ranks she would have to reach up to be as close to He Rufei?
Cheng Lisu looked at her sympathetically, and tried to comfort her, “Brother He, in fact, you don’t have to be discouraged. My uncle… My uncle is actually not so careless. I came to tell you that these days, you’d better not go to my uncle and save him from getting angry. That zither is very expensive. He didn’t let you pay for it, he’s already being very generous.”
“I can’t afford it either.” He Yan replied in frustration.
“Look, things aren’t so bad.” Cheng Lisu added, “You don’t have to be too sad, I will put in good words for you in front of my uncle!”
He Yan said listlessly, “Thank you so much.”
Cheng Lisu left, and He Yan looked at the distant figures of the red and white koi, feeling weak for a while. Originally, the brothers from her camp used to say that drinking was a mistake. She never took it seriously. But now it seemed to be true. She had only gotten drunk once after coming to Liangzhou, and she stirred up such a big trouble.
Why did Shen Han carry her back to the room? Was it because he witnessed such a chaotic moment, knowing that I will no longer be favored by Xiao Jue in the future, and my career would be hopeless, so he was being sympathetic to me.
He Yan said in her heart, “Anyways, let’s find a chance to go to Xiao Jue to apologize, apologize sincerely, maybe I still can be saved?”
…
At this moment, Xiao Jue was sitting at the table in the room of the prefect of the right military general, looking at the post in his hand.
The post was made by Sun Xiangfu, the Governor of Liangzhou, saying that in a few days, Yuan Baozhen, the supervisor from the capital, will arrive in Liangzhou. The Governor would be hosting a banquet for him, and together with Xiao Jue, Cheng Lisu is also invited.
Fei Nu was right behind Xiao Jue and said, “Master, it is inconvenient to take Master Cheng to the city. It’s a welcoming banquet, I’m afraid there might be threats.”
“Yuan Baozhen has a private association with Xu Jingfu and has long been one of his men.” Xiao Jue played with the post in his hand, looked at the sweet-scented osmanthus tree in the window, and said calmly, “This time it was aimed at me, but I happen to want to know what chess pieces Xu Jingfu has planted in Liangzhou.”
“What does the Young Master mean?” Fei Nu asked hesitantly.
“Yuan Baozhen is Xu Jingfu’s person. Sun Xiangfu may not be different.” Xiao Jue said, “The governor of Liangzhou should have changed a long time ago.”
“Young master is planning to go to the banquet, and I would also follow along, but Young Master Cheng needs someone to protect him if he stays in the guardhouse. Else, if someone tries to commit a crime…” He didn’t finish, he was referring to He Yan. Currently, in Liangzhou wei there is a young man whose identity was unknown and extremely dangerous. The person was He Yan.
“Besides, Young Master Cheng trusts He Yan very much. If the Young Master is not here…” If Cheng Lisu listened to He Yan, or was simply calculated by He Yan, the gain would not be worth the loss.
“When will Luan Ying arrive in Liangzhou?” Xiao Jue asked.
“Luan Ying is still in Lou County right now.” Fei Nu replied, and looked at Xiao Jue again, “Master, how about rejecting the invitation?”
“No,” Xiao Jue lowered his eyes, “we must go to this banquet.”
…
When Cheng Lisu came back, he saw Xiao Jue sitting at his desk reading a book. It was a messy book of words he had quietly bought from the Chief Instructor with silvers. He was shocked. He stepped forward and said, “Uncle!”
Xiao Jue was flipping through his book. Hearing this, he shook his hand, looked at him, frowned and said, “Who are you?”
“I… I was wrong!” Cheng Lisu said.
“Wrong about what?” Xiao Jue looked at him calmly.
He didn’t seem to be angry? Cheng Lisu was surprised that Xiao Jue didn’t scold him for not practicing his calligraphy. Looking at those messy scripts, he guessed that Xiao Jue was in a good mood today, so he shyly said, “Right, I’m acknowledging a mistake on behalf of my elder brother. I heard that my eldest brother asked you for a fight last night… No, for sparring, uncle. You are not angry, right?”
Thinking of the madman who went mad last night and breaking his zither, Xiao Jue’s eyes darkened and his tone was as indifferent as before, “No.”
“That’s good! Uncle, you are still so generous!” Cheng Lisu hurriedly flattered.
Xiao Jue glanced at him, took out a post from his arms and threw it on his face, “See it for yourself.”
“What is this?” Cheng Lisu picked it up and looked at it as he said, “Isn’t this a post? Someone sent a post to my uncle and my name is there too. Is this for visiting Liangzhou City? Great! I’m almost growing mushrooms on my brain*, staying all day in the guardhouse. Let’s see… Supervising Imperial Official Yuan Baozhen… Why does this name sound familiar?” He looked suspiciously at Xiao Jue, “Uncle, who is Yuan Baozhen?”
[Editor note: Growing mushrooms means he’s getting bored from staying all day in the guardhouse.]
“Don’t you remember?” Xiao Jue curled his lips and reminded him, “The marriage between you and Miss Song was suggested by Lord Yuan and your father. Song Ci was once Lord Yuan’s superior.”
“Song, Song family?” Cheng Lisu loosened his hand that was holding the post and the post fell to his feet as if he hadn’t seen it. He just stared at Xiao Jue blankly, looking uncertain, “Why did the Song family come to Liangzhou? “
“It’s not the Song family,” Xiao Jue said calmly, “It’s Yuan Baozhen.”
“Isn’t that all the same…” Cheng Lisu murmured, “They came to Liangzhou and specially invited me over to a banquet. Could it be that they wanted to take me back to Shuojing. I don’t want to marry her…I don’t want to get married…” He seemed to recover suddenly, grabbing Xiao Jue’s sleeve, “Uncle, you can’t just watch your own nephew jump into the fire pit!”
“What does it matter to me?” Xiao Jue pulled his sleeves out of his hand and flipped through the book carelessly.
“It has a lot to do with you!” Cheng Lisu walked around the table and came to Xiao Jue’s side, “Uncle, you know I don’t like Miss Song! If I were to marry her, I would rather die. I will hang myself on the day of marriage! Uncle! You won’t have to see me die if you save me!”
Xiao Jue stopped his movements, looked at him indifferently, drew out the long sword around his waist, and put it on the table.
Cheng Lisu stammered, “What, what is this?”
“You can kill yourself now and see if I really bear to see you die or not.”
Cheng Lisu stared at the knife and said with a sobbing face, “Uncle, I really don’t want to return to Shuojing. I have been with you for half a year. I have long been used to the life of the Liangzhou guardhouse. I really can’t live without you.” He hugged Xiao Jue’s leg and started crying.
Xiao Jue pressed his forehead, seemingly unable to endure more, and said, “Get up.”
Cheng Lisu didn’t move.
“Don’t let me say it again. Get up.”
Cheng Lisu still held Xiao Jue’s leg and looked at him while blinking his eyes, “Unless you promise me that you would not hand me over to the Song family.”
“Didn’t you say that you’ve gotten bored from staying at the guardhouse and wanted to go to Liangzhou City?”
“I don’t want to anymore!”
The youth’s voice was faint, “That’s Yuan Baozhen, the Supervisory Official.”
“Uncle, you are still Fengyun’s General Xiao Huaijin!”
“Yuan Baozhen has met you and also knows that you are hiding here in Liangzhou. What if he complains to the Song family about your negligence?”
Cheng Lisu immediately replied, “How could he have seen me? I have never met him. I look like this and my parents don’t even see me that much. If he had met me, he would not recommend me to Lord Song. Miss Song and I wouldn’t have been matched up at all!”
“Really,” Xiao Jue’s eyes moved slightly, looking at the grieving young man, “I must go. Since he hasn’t seen you, it’s not impossible.”
Cheng Lisu’s eyes widened.
“Find someone to replace you and go to the banquet.”
Cheng Lisu was stunned for a while and finally realized it after a long time. He stopped howling and didn’t hold Xiao Jue’s leg to fake a cry. He stood up and clapped his hands, “Wonderful! What my uncle said is very true. Anyways, since he hadn’t seen me, I can just find someone to replace me”
“Do you have someone in mind?”
Cheng Lisu looked at him, “I…”
“In Liangzhou guardhouse, it seems that there is no teenager who is the same age and stature as you.” Xiao Jue said, “If the difference is too large, you will be found out.”
In the entire barracks of the Liangzhou Guards Station, most of them were big and thick men. Even younger ones were more sturdy and dark. Cheng Lisu was a young master from the capital, who was raised in gold and jade, with fine skin and tender meat. He was different from the recruits in the barracks.
“If you can’t find anyone, you’d better go yourself.” Xiao Jue said nonchalantly.
“Who said I can’t find anyone!” Cheng Li was anxious, and his heart had an idea, “My elder brother, my elder brother is almost like me!”
Xiao Jue raised his eyebrows, noncommittal, “He Yan?”
“Yes, my elder brother. My elder brother is about the same age as me, he has a similar body, and he is smart, so he will be able to deal with Yuan Baozhen well. Yuan Baozhen may be able to take me away, but not necessarily so for my eldest brother.”
Cheng Lisu was very biased towards He Yan. In his opinion, He Yan was the most omnipotent person besides his uncle. He Yan would definitely be able to do things that others can’t do.
Seeing that Xiao Jue was silent, Cheng Lisu’s heart tightened. Recalling that He Yan went to fight with Xiao Jue last night, at this moment, Xiao Jue was definitely still angry at He Yan because of it and may not even want to see He Yan. Just as he was trying to figure out how to persuade Xiao Jue, he saw his young uncle closing the book on his hands and saying indifferently, “Okay.”
Cheng Lisu’s words of persuasion stuck in his throat. He only had the time to say, “Ah?”
Xiao Jue looked at him, “If you can persuade your elder brother, let him replace you.”
…
After the drill was over in the afternoon, He Yan was sitting outside the martial arts arena to rest. Huang Xiong and a few people came looking for her. He didn’t say anything else, first gave He Yan an ingot of the silver that Shen Han sent over last night, and then asked He Yan where the eighteen immortals had gone.
“I remember you took it away in the end,” Huang Xiong asked, “I went to find a few empty wine jars today. Brothers can each share a little, what do you think?”
“I think it’s very good,” He Yan said, “It’s just that we may have to wait until the next fight for the flag.”
“What do you mean by this?” Wang Ba was a little impatient, and suddenly understood something, and looked at He Yan, “You, you shouldn’t have… drink it all up.”
Facing everyone’s burning gaze, He Yan nodded and said, “I’m sorry. I was careless and drank it all”
“He Yan!” Wang Ba said loudly, “You are too much! That’s our prize. You drank it all by yourself, even the bandits are not as domineering as you!” He rolled up his sleeves and thought of beating He Yan. Halfway through, he remembered that the person in front of him could not be beaten by himself, neither was he able to retract his hand, nor move so it became very embarrassing for a while.
Jiang Jiao and Shi didn’t feel anything. The two of them weren’t greedy or interested in wine, so they didn’t say anything. Although Huang Xiong was not as excited as Wang Ba, his eyes were full of accusations.
If it was on normal days, He Yan would be sorry for her behavior. But the bad news from the past few days has made her a little numb. She was really unable to deal with the thoughts of the few people in front of her, so she just sat there without saying a word.
Seeing her silent and dejected, several people looked at each other. Thinking that he had not been selected for the Forward Battalion this time, was a great blow dealt to He Yan. That’s why he must have used the wine to deal with the sorrows last night. Yet, he was still so depressed today. But after another thought, his sorrow was really too expensive. Others were only willing to spend a few bucks of rice wine, while he used a few hundred taels of silver, and was still unable to pour his sorrow down. This hatred might cost a lot of money.
Just when a few people didn’t know what to do, someone’s voice broke the silence.
“Brother He… Brother He, so you are here!” Cheng Lisu ran over panting, with beads of sweat on his forehead, as if he had run all the way.
This was the second time He Yan saw him today. But as soon as she saw him, she remembered that she had offended Xiao Jue last night, and felt a headache. He Yan raised her head and asked faintly, “Why are you here?”
“I came to you to discuss something important.” Cheng Lisu looked at the surrounding people, pulled He Yan up and said, “This is not a place to talk, Brother He, come with me.”
He was Xiao Jue’s nephew, so naturally others dared not say anything. Even if it was the matter of the Eighteen Immortals, they could only watch Cheng Li Su pull He Yan away, leaving themselves in the same place staring at each other.
He Yan was dragged by Cheng Lisu all the way for a trot and even ran to the place where Cheng Lisu lived. He Yan didn’t want to go in when they got there. She knew that the next door to Chen Lisu’s place was Xiao Jue. If she went in, it would have been embarrassing if she bumped into him.
Cheng Lisu’s brain was finally smart for once. Seeing He Yan’s face turned awkward, standing still and refusing to move, he said intimately, “Don’t worry, my uncle is out. There is no one here!”
He Yan walked in with him after hearing this.
As soon as he entered, Cheng Lisu looked around, then closed the doors and windows, as if he was about to discuss murder and arson. Seeing him like this, He Yan was speechless for a while.
“You came to me, wasn’t it because you wanted to talk about your uncle again?” He Yan greeted in advance, “Cheng, I am very grateful for your care, but I really don’t want to hear about him these days. Please also leave some face for me.”
As soon as she finished saying this, she felt her shoulder was pressed by someone, and Cheng Lisu turned her around and clutched her hand against her chest.
He Yan almost punched this man subconsciously.
She restrained her urge to hit someone. Although she got along with men a lot, she hadn’t done more than hooking up with the back, this kind of finger interlocking was very awkward.
However, the young boy in front of her had a clear face and was not aware that his actions have caused misunderstanding. However, in his eyes, there were only two men, so there was really nothing awkward.
“Elder brother, please save this little brother!” Cheng Lisu said miserably.
“…What happened to you?” He Yan asked.
“You, first promise me that you’ll help this little brother, otherwise you will never see you little brother again in the future, elder brother!”
“It’s that serious?” He Yan asked, but in her heart she didn’t agree with him. Cheng Lisu has always liked to exaggerate, and could always make small things seem big. And if anything went really wrong, since his uncle is Xiao Jue, so he would naturally help. “You tell me what is going on first, so I can help you figure out a solution.”
“Big brother can you still remember what I said to you, I escaped from marriage. My family wanted to betroth me. I really don’t want to, so I begged uncle to take me to Liangzhou.” Cheng Li Su said this with a sad face, “Now, people in my family still refuse to let me go. The colleague of my old man, who picked a bride for me, has now come to Liangzhou. He has sent a post to my uncle and I to invite my uncle to a banquet. I am just a kid with no official position or fame. So why would my name also be written on the post? Obviously, it is to calculate me. They want to take advantage of my presence so that they can take me away!”
What he said was similar to kidnapping a civilian’s daughter. He almost didn’t go to the gate of the Magistrates’ Office to beat the drums and complain of grievances.
“Just that,” He Yan said, “If you don’t want to leave, your uncle will naturally protect you. Can they still take you away forcibly in front of your uncle?”
Cheng Lisu can’t really say that Xiao Jue might really watch people take him away. In fact, he might even be happy to get rid of a drag. He coughed slightly and said, “Brother, you also know that my mother was very venomous towards my uncle. If he came forward for me, wouldn’t it be that he would fall into injustice again? My mother would hate him, I don’t want to cause him trouble!”
Unexpectedly, Cheng Lisu actually wanted to protect his uncle in this way. He Yan sighed in her heart. It seemed that this was the kinship of blood which could not be changed anyway.
“Then what do you want me to do?” she asked, “Let me help you beat an official up? Assaulting an official is a violation of the law.”
“What are you even thinking, brother!” Cheng Lisu let go of her hand, “I am not that rude. I think that Official has never seen me before, and he doesn’t know what I look like. Brother, we are about the same age, equally elegant and handsome, and have similar figures. Why don’t you go to the banquet instead of me? If the Official wants his men to catch me, you can easily escape with your skills. This way, it’s their fault for not catching, and not my uncle’s.”
“I, replace you?” He Yan said, “No way, no way.” She turned around and wanted to leave, feeling a sense of resistance in her heart. She has to become a substitute again. In her previous life, she had been a substitute for He Rufei for a lifetime. And now that she can live by her name in a fair manner, how can she become a substitute for another person?
God, is this you deliberately having trouble with me!
“Big Brother——” Cheng Lisu cried heartbreakingly, “You really can’t just stand here and watch me die! Think about it, you and my uncle, going to a banquet. You’d be next to my uncle, day and night, you can do a better job. Seeing you being so considerate and thoughtful, my uncle will definitely change his opinions about you. Besides, you are standing up for his nephew. In order to thank you, my uncle might… might even let you go to the Nine Banners Battalion!”
He Yan, “…”
Cheng Lisu really didn’t want to go to the banquet, so he was just spouting nonsense. Xiao Jue was not a trader. She might not be able to follow Xiao Jue day and night, but instead can arouse Xiao Jue’s anger. If anything went wrong, she would really be struck off.
Seeing her resolute unwillingness to help, Cheng Lisu collapsed on the ground, pointing a finger to the top of his head, cursing and howling, “God, why are you doing this to me! Yuan Baozhen, what kind of hatred do I have with you in my previous life? Why do you have to push me into the fire pit again and again like this!”
He Yan was about to go out, and had already reached the door. She stopped after hearing the words and looked back, “You just said… Yuan Baozhen?”
“Yes,” Cheng Lisu looked at her, and replied subconsciously, “The Official who arranged my betrothal is Yuan Baozhen, the current supervisory official.”
He Yan’s eyebrows jumped, and after a while, she walked quickly to Cheng Lisu and stretched out a hand to the juvenile who was sitting on the ground.
“Stop howling. Isn’t it just going to the banquet? I’ll help you.”
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