The horse trotted in the deep mountains. It was not very fast, because it was the night road, so it also could not see clearly. It was a pity, He Yan finally got to ride on the green ears, but wasn’t able to experience the meaning of the legendary “crossing the mountains and river, like walking on the ground”.
It was really too much of a loss.
The starlight and moonlight leaked down from the branches and leaves of the forest, He Yan rode on the horse and finally had the heart to look at the surrounding scenery. When she looked, she saw a wolf lying not far away, as it was dead.
She was surprised for a moment and then walked a few steps forward, and there was another wolf’s corpse.
After seeing about three such wolf corpses, He Yan sensed that this was not a coincidence. She swallowed her saliva and asked cautiously, “Xiao … General, did you do all this?”
“Since I met them on the way, I removed them for convenience, otherwise it’s troublesome if they followed all the way.” He replied.
He Yan sighed in her heart, look at this, worthy of being a teenage killer general, killing at the drop of a hat[1], no wonder she didn’t encounter any wild wolves along the way, originally the bold ones were all killed by Xiao Jue, right? She looked at the wolf corpses again, all of them had their throats sealed with a single sword slash, and the wounds were extremely small and precise.
Her gaze shifted down slightly and fell on the sword that was on Xiao Jue’s waist. Everyone knew that General Feng Yun had a famous horse and a precious sword. The horse was called Green Ears, and the sword was named Drinking Autumn[Yinqiu]. The blade of the sword shines blue and can cut iron like mud. Rumor has it that Drinking Autumn has a crystal clear body, like frost and snow. Now, as Drinking Autumn was worn on Xiao Jue’s waist not sheathed, she could not see what it looked like.
These wolves should have died under the sword Drinking Autumn, since ancient times,cherished swords were only given to heroes, He Yan felt that she can barely count as a hero. Seeing the sword, she couldn’t help but want to touch it.
She then quietly reached out and touched the back.
Suddenly, feeling her body stiffen, He Yan immediately let go and shouted, “I did not mean to touch your waist, I just wanted to touch your sword!”
After a long while, the person’s voice came from behind who seemed to hold back his anger, “You don’t need to talk.”
“I’ll die of boredom if I don’t talk.” He Yan said, “General, actually you don’t have to be so serious.” She said, “Look, you’ve killed so many wolves but didn’t take them away, these wolves ended up being cheap for the foxes in the mountain. Not to mention eating meat, the wolf skins are the top-quality ones. The furs of the ones I killed are incomplete and can only be used for boots. But the ones you killed didn’t damage the fur and are enough to make a big cloak. But wolf’s fur cloak is not very suitable for you, I think your clothes material is more expensive, why not give me a bargain? I can roll in the snow with a wolf’s fur cloak in winter.”
Xiao Jue seemed to be dizzy from her nonsense, and actually took her words, though his tone wasn’t very nice as he hooked his lips and said sarcastically, “You like wolf skins so much, no wonder you didn’t even let go of the dead wolf in the trap.”
“That’s not true, I was just too cold.” He Yan shook her head, “The general loves cleanliness, does not like dirt, and cannot allow the blood of animals to stain his clothes. We’re different, not to mention dead wolves, I’ve even slept in a pile of dead people.”
After a moment of silence behind him, Xiao Jue asked, “When?”
“When I was a kid, I can’t even remember clearly.” He Yan looked at the stars in the sky, “At that time, in order to save my life, I could not help it. Letting the dead pile up, after all, I was the only one who survived amongst the pile of the dead.”
She thought that Xiao Jue would ask what happened, and was about to make up something, but she didn’t expect Xiao Jue to ask nothing and the rhetoric that she prepared fell flat.
He Yan’s thoughts went back in time.
It was not long after she arrived in Desert[Moxian] County when a group of recruits from the Fuyue Army encountered the Western Qiang at the edge of the desert.
They were all new soldiers and did not know how to fight, but only relied on their bloodlust. But this spirit was soon dispersed by the fierceness of the Western Qiang. In the end, the whole team of recruits was wiped out.
Though He Yan was also seriously injured, she was still alive. She hid under the corpses of the group and still had a little breath left. The Western Qiang people set all the corpses on fire and left. At that time, He Yan thought that she would probably die in the desert.
But who knew God wouldn’t let her die. The rain suddenly doused the fires on the corpses. He Yan neither had the strength to move, nor did she dare to move, let alone to even cry.
The young man who was playing with her yesterday became an immobile corpse, and the elder brother who scolded her in the morning had long since been disembodied. She lay amongst the broken limbs, and for the first time, she learned the cruelty of war. She was in the pile of the dead, smelling the blood and shedding tears with her eyes open all night.
At dawn, a pedestrian passed by and buried all the bodies in place, collecting them for them, and also found the dying He Yan, saving her life.
Later on, He Yan thought countless times that although she used to be a man in the capital, in the end, she was not strong enough, and in her heart, she probably had left herself a way out. But after that night, she often did things, no longer leaving a way back for herself, she was not a girl, no one would dry her tears on the battlefield, the only thing to do is to struggle for life in every battle.
At any time, survival would always be the first priority. In order to survive, what about being next to the wolf corpses? When necessary, if she really couldn’t get out, she could even eat the raw wolf meat.
But Xiao Jue probably couldn’t understand.
In her heart, He Yan let out a soft sigh. At this time, she really felt a little cold.
The young man was dressed in black clothes and armor, his cloak shielding the coolness, and He Yan was a little afraid of getting his clothes dirty, so she didn’t dare to lean back too much, but she couldn’t help but look up at him, and from this angle, she could just see his beautiful jawline.
Xiao Jue was really good looking, in her past life or be it in the present life, He Yan had to admit this fact. He was born both handsome and heroic, with a beautiful posture, although indifferent, but with a touch of charming carelessness.
He gave birth to the most beautiful pair of eyes, like autumn water clear thin and cold, as if nothing has ever been reflected in his eyes, people can’t help but think, if one day this pair of eyes were to seriously look at a person, what extent of gentleness could be shown.
She also remembered the hand Xiao Jue extended to her in the trap, and inexplicably thought of “fingers long and sharp as spring bamboo shoots and eyes as clear and blue as autumn waves”, and felt that it was too suitable for this person.
No wonder he had a beautiful name called “Jade Face General”, thinking about it, she felt unfair. They both are young generals, but why was he called “Jade Face General”, while she could only be called as “Mask General”? He Yan thought to herself, if she had taken off my mask at that time, she might have been able to get the title “Pan An of the Army”[1] or something.
She thought to herself, but did not know that she was staring at Xiao Jue’s face with admiration and awe, and then sighing with frustration and loss as if she were a madman which was inexplicable in Xiao Jue’s eyes.
And rather stupid.
[1]Like the four beauties in ancient China, there are divergent opinions. There are several widely spread theories.
The most common sayings are Pan An, King Lanling, Song Yu, Wei Jie.
These beautiful men have a common feature: they are both talented and handsome, or they are extremely well-trained in literature and music, or they are powerful in culture and martial arts. It is said that these people have caused scenes where thousands of people are rushing to meet when they travel.
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