Chapter 5: Stairs "The night before Yongzhou, didn't you carve a...

Chai Heng asked once but got no response, so he didn't ask again. He simply took Xu Jianxian into the house, lifted the curtain and got the ointment from Yang Yan himself.

Xu Jianxian sat down in front of the bed, drank some water, and took a breath before saying, "Is that Mr. Yang at the door your husband? He looks handsome, not as picky as you say. It's just that his words aren't very pleasant."

Chai Heng knew he was referring to Yang Yan's indirect criticism of him, saying he was a bit clueless. In fact, when she first saw him, she also felt that Yang Yan was right. But everyone has their downfalls, and Chai Heng couldn't say Yang Yan was right in front of Xu Jianxian. She could only smile and say, "Don't judge a person by his appearance. You probably misjudged him."

"Really?" Xu Jianxian took a breath. "Years ago, you asked me to buy you a piece of agarwood. I asked the porter who was on his way to Beijing to bring it to you. Is it suitable for your wood carving?"

Chai Heng had no particular hobbies other than carving unusual wood. In a previous life, she had purchased a large quantity of agarwood from Xu Jianxian, all of which she used to carve puppets for Yang Yan. Yang Yan was extremely particular about wood; ordinary wood was not to his liking. Furthermore, there were many swindlers among the merchants in the capital, so every year, she would do business with her old friend Xu Jianxian.

"smoothly."

"It's top-notch material." Chai Heng commented sincerely.

Xu Jianxian: "It's all right. By the way, this year the Jiangning Weaving Bureau said that there was news from the palace that the Sage, who was originally going to negotiate peace with the Western Rong, suddenly changed his mind and said he wanted to go to war. Did you know that?"

Chai Heng shook her head. She really didn't know this.

When she was just reborn, she thought that this life would develop in the same way as the previous one. She took Yang Yan's letter to Tuoba Yuanli's camp to rescue several other Qi people. Then Yang Yan used a strategy of sowing discord to cause internal strife among the royal family of Xirong, thereby weakening the power of Xirong and forcing them to negotiate peace with Da Qi.

But in this life, many things are obviously starting to go wrong. Take Xu Jianxian at this moment, for example. Logically, he shouldn't be here now.

Thinking of this, she sat down and listened to Xu Jianxian continue: "The troops in the southwest are now heading towards the Suzhou border. The military power that your master, Prince Jing, had previously surrendered has also been returned by His Majesty. His old man's Jingnan Army has always been our Great Qi's external guarantee. I heard in Jiangnan that the army needed food for the war, so I hurriedly donated most of my property. The government saw that I gave too much and didn't dare to send their own people to deliver the food, for fear that if something happened to the food on the way, they would be beheaded. So they asked me to find someone to escort it, which is why I came here."

Xu Jianxian has always been a generous businessman, and it is really not something that an ordinary person can do to donate most of his property at once.

Chai Heng admired him from the bottom of his heart, but at the same time, he had a question: "Shouldn't the grain be sent to the Suzhou border? Then how did you end up here?"

Speaking of this, the usually good-tempered Xu Jianxian also felt a little depressed: "The porter we hired didn't know the way, and brought me here along with a girl named Xue and a boy named Chu who we met along the way."

The girl surnamed Xue he mentioned should be Xue Ruyue, and the boy surnamed Chu should be Chu Yanhuai.

Chai Heng didn't have time to think about anything else, and subconsciously asked, "What about the food and grass?"

Xu Jianxian sighed: "I was also brought here."

After hearing this, Chai Heng was completely lost. When two armies were at war, food and fodder were always of paramount importance. Now, this was tantamount to delivering food to the enemy. She suddenly felt that their situation in this life was even more difficult than in the previous one.

Xu Jianxian's expression was also very embarrassed. At this point, there was no point in saying more. The flesh on his back was aching badly at the moment. He turned to Chai Heng and said:

"Ah Heng, I'll apply the medicine first. Please step aside for a moment."

Chai Heng understood, said "OK", turned around and walked out, only to find Yang Yan and Ji Changqing still sitting at the door. Ji Changqing was blinking his sophisticated yet innocent eyes at her, looking like he had something to say but didn't know how. Yang Yan was fiddling with the branches at hand, and when he saw her come out, he spoke softly:

"Have you found out how he got here?"

Chai Heng also sat on the threshold and said, "He only told half of the story. I only know how he came to the Western Rong. As for how he got to Tuoba Ying's camp, I forgot to ask."

Xu Jianxian was an old acquaintance of hers, but he was not a prisoner in the imperial prison, so she couldn't interrogate him for no reason.

"You guys can stay that long without finding out anything?" Yang Yan spoke calmly, the sarcasm in his words obvious.

Chai Heng had long been accustomed to his sarcastic way of speaking. She told herself that it was okay. After returning to the capital and getting a divorce, she would never have to listen to such unpleasant words again in her life. She did not get angry, but simply said, "The wind is picking up. Aren't you and Master Ji going in?"

She didn't argue with him, nor did she retaliate with sarcasm like before, but simply treated him with an attitude a thousand times stronger than his own. This made Yang Yan's heart even more irritated, like a punch on cotton.

They'd had their share of arguments before, but he'd usually been the calmer one. He'd coldly watch her question him, coldly watch her flare up. Chai Heng actually had a good temper, and after each argument, he'd just give her a little way out in front of the others in the mansion, and she'd back off. But this time, he'd offered her a way out, and she'd pretended not to notice, taking a while to do so.

Ji Changqing sat aside, just watching the two of them going back and forth. The seemingly short two sentences gave people a feeling of tension.

So he coughed lightly and said, "Let's go in." in an attempt to ease the awkward atmosphere.

Yang Yan didn't show any intention of moving in: "You guys go in, I'll go pick up some wood."

Ji Zhangqing was confused: "Why are you picking up wood?"

"Build a house." Yang Yan said it briefly and to the point, implying that the house was no longer suitable for living.

Ji Zhangqing was silent for a moment. Although he also felt that this place was too crowded, he couldn't just sit there and do nothing once the house was built. To save trouble, he persuaded, "There are a lot of people here now, but a house can't be built today. The three of us can just get together."

Ji Changqing thought that Yang Yan was the son of the Marquis's family and was being sentimental again, so he tried to persuade him with hope.

Chai Heng knew that, despite their previous life's trajectory changing, Xu Jianxian had ultimately stayed with them. This meant that soon, Xue Ruyue and Chu Yanhuai would likely be arriving in this place, and a single cabin wouldn't be enough.

The Western Rong are not like the Great Qi that allows them to come and go freely. While Tuoba Yuanli has no time to take care of them these days, they should indeed prepare for a rainy day.

"Go feed Little Thirteen."

"I'll go with him to collect wood."

Chai Heng turned and said to Ji Changqing.

Seeing that the two men were determined to go, Ji Zhangqing knew that his persuasion was useless. He sighed and said, "Chai Si, how about I go with you? I'm a little worried about the whip wound on Lord Yang."

It was the coldest time of the year, and Yang Yan's injuries had just healed. If he fell in the field or something, he would probably have a high fever again when he came back.

As a brother who was abandoned here by the court, Ji Changqing was still afraid that Yang Yan would die from the bottom of his heart.

Chai Heng had actually thought of this a long time ago, but she always felt that this was not a problem she should care about now. When Xue Ruyue really came in a few days, his white moonlight would naturally care for him. But since Ji Zhangqing had mentioned it, she had no choice but to go through the motions and ask a caring question: "Are you okay with this?"

Yang Yan had seen Chai Heng's genuine concern for someone, so he could naturally tell whether it was genuine or fake. This kind of pretense was rather insulting, making him seem like he was asking for favors, which he didn't need.

"Can."

Since it was possible, there was nothing more to say. To prevent encountering wolves or bears in the mountains, Chai Heng went back in and strapped his bow to his back as usual. He also prepared a small curved knife for Yang Yan, which would be convenient for chopping trees. With everything ready, the two of them set out again.

Yang Yan is an expert at finding wood and cutting trees.

In her previous life, when she arrived in Xirong from Daqi, Yang Yan and Ji Changqing had already been there for two full months. While Ji Changqing didn't come from a wealthy family, he had a wife, Chen Lianyi, who loved him dearly. Chen Lianyi would rarely let Ji Changqing do anything except study, so he didn't know how to do anything. By the time Chai Heng arrived in Xirong, Yang Yan had already mastered tasks like fetching water and chopping wood.

In just one afternoon, the two of them had already carried three trips of wood back and forth.

When preparing for the fourth trip, Yang Yan lowered his sleeves and said, "I'm going to Tuoba Yuanli's camp. If I don't come back tomorrow, you take Ji Changqing east along the road to the left of the Wuyue River. Tuoba Ying's camp is a hundred meters from the water source. Tell him that you are Prince Jing's adopted daughter, and he will let you and Ji Changqing go."

When two armies fight, the best way is to attack the enemy's heart.

Tuoba Ying wasn't as skilled at fighting as his brother, and only managed to win the military command from the Western Rong by coaxing the Khan into submission. However, the Western Rong knew that once a battle broke out, his brother, Tuoba Yuanli, would lead the army. The Western Rong also valued brave leaders, and if Tuoba Yuanli won, Tuoba Ying would suffer a crushing defeat in the battle for the throne. Therefore, for his own personal benefit, he didn't want Tuoba Yuanli to win at all; he even hoped he would lose, the more disastrous the better.

However, the conflicts between these brothers have not yet been brought to the surface. If someone could ignite the conflict and maximize it, the Xirong army would collapse without a fight.

And the letter in Yang Yan's hand was the fire.

"Are you going to deliver a letter?" Chai Heng put the wood in the basket out one by one, and suddenly realized what he was going to do.

If he were to deliver the letter now, who would build the wooden house? She only knew how to carve wood, not build a house. Ji Changqing didn't look like someone who could do this job either. If Ji Changqing had to do it, the house would probably collapse.

This time she was really worried, but her worry was not about Yang Yan as a person, but about this pile of wood.

It had been a long time since Yang Yan saw such genuine concern in Chai Heng's eyes. His heart softened suddenly. He suddenly remembered a time many years ago when he, on a whim, taught a lesson to a bastard who always bullied her at Nanyang Academy. He was punished by the teacher to kneel in the hall and was spanked with a stick twenty times. She looked at him like this at that time.

He couldn't help but think about many past events, and when he did, he could always taste a different flavor in them. He suddenly felt that it hadn't been easy to support each other for so many years. Although they had both made mistakes in the past, the pit she fell into was indeed dug by his orders, so it was normal for her to feel resentment towards him.

Thinking of this, he nodded slightly and couldn't help but give her another chance: "Didn't you carve a puppet for me the night before in Yongzhou?"

Chai Heng frowned: "Why do you bring this up?"

She didn't understand what he meant.

Yang Yan felt that he had made it clear as possible, so he lowered his eyes and said, "I didn't want it at the time, you can carve another one."

Whenever they had a quarrel, Chai Heng would give him a puppet. As time went by, Yang Yan's study was filled with these ugly things. Whenever he accepted one, it meant they were reconciled. This was their custom.

Although Yang Yan never apologized, he didn't hold grudges. Normally, whenever she gave him a puppet, he would accept it.

The only exception was the night before in Yongzhou.

He was bringing up something that was completely off topic. Chai Heng instantly recalled how he felt that night. He had happily prepared things for half a month, but instead of sending them out, he was humiliated and died two days later.

Without thinking, she said softly, "Go away."