Chapter 51 Be Finale In March, the Xirong Army and Da Qi sacrificed...

In March of the spring, the blood of the soldiers of the Western Rong Army and the Great Qi who died dyed the Huaixi River on the left side of Linzi City red. The blood flowed along the Huaixi River all the way to the city of Great Qi, passing by the homes of every soldier who died.

Zhou Jiu waited in the government office for three full months.

He waited for the fire in the Xirong camp.

Waiting for Mrs. Chai to come.

Then came the news of Chu Yanhuai's triumphant return and the Jingnan Army's triumphant return.

In the end, they found Chai Heng lying unconscious in the lower reaches of the Huaixi River, but there was no news from Yang Yan.

Later, even Cui Miao was picked up by nearby villagers, and the person he was waiting for did not show up.

In desperation, Zhou Jiu had to stay with Chai Heng with Madam Chai, waiting for her to wake up. He wanted to ask her what happened in the Xirong camp that day after she woke up.

But she remained unconscious and would not wake up no matter how Mrs. Chai gave her acupuncture.

Zhou Jiu also learned the story from Cui Miao, who had survived but was still unable to move. Knowing that Chai Heng had tricked her master into going to the Western Rong for Cui Miao's sake, Zhou Jiu actually felt a little resentful of her. After all, everyone's life is life. She couldn't just treat her ex-husband's life like that for her new love.

So every time Madam Chai gave Chai Heng acupuncture, he wished she would just go deeper. But when he actually saw Madam Chai's useless needles piercing her head, Zhou Jiu thought, if his master were here, he would definitely feel distressed.

Therefore, when Mrs. Chai was about to give Chai Heng acupuncture for the umpteenth time, Zhou Jiu also began to persuade her not to do it.

Mrs. Chai was very angry about this: "Are you doubting my medical skills?"

Zhou Jiu: "I do doubt you, but that's because you stabbed my wife's hair all over, and she hasn't woken up yet."

Madam Chai said, "What do you know? I started studying medicine at the age of five, and acupuncture is my foremost specialty. Besides acupuncture, I'm also very skilled in using poisons. Many of the medicines in the Imperial Hospital these days are formulated by using poison to counteract poison. I even made the silver mulberry that I imported from the Western Regions years ago this year. How could you doubt my academic proficiency?"

Zhou Jiu also didn't know what the point of preparing the poison was.

He just said: "This poison can't save people..."

Mrs. Chai: "Who says we can't? Hunters in the mountains are often attacked by wolves and tigers. When I first made the silver mulberry poison earlier, I gave it to the hunters in the mountains. They used it to smear on the animal traps, and it worked very well."

Xizhimen, where Zhou Jiu stayed, was the richest place in Beijing. Because it was close to the market, it was deeply harmed by those hunters.

"Those hunters are really shameless. They throw things around all the time. A few months ago, some hunters who came from nowhere threw bloody wild animal claws at the gate of our house and spit everywhere. When we asked the servants to clean it up, they cursed at us. What if one day these hunters throw animal traps around and hurt people on the road?" Zhou Jiu worried subconsciously.

Mrs. Chai disagreed: "Who is so stupid?"

"Besides, who would be so unlucky?"

*

Chai Heng slept for a long time.

She slept until the Jingnan Army returned triumphantly to Furong Mountain without waking up.

Before returning to Furong Mountain, Yin Yuzhen went to the government office in Linzi City and took her away. Madam Chai wanted to stop him, but she couldn't beat Yin Yuzhen. After being taught a lesson, she watched Chai Heng being taken away.

Chai Heng also lay on Furong Mountain for half a year before waking up.

The year she woke up, great changes took place in the court. The sage passed away, the crown prince was deposed for losing the military map, and the sage passed the throne to the young Prince Yong.

The master and his wife gradually realized that their bodies could not support the Great Qi. It happened that Chu Yanhuai was indeed a general who was very suitable to command troops, so they handed over the Jingnan Army to Chu Yanhuai for training.

When the master and his wife were having dinner with Chai Heng, they would also mention old friends who had come to the capital, such as Cui Miao and Cui Rushi, but they never mentioned Yang Yan.

On that last night in the Xirong military camp, after telling Yang Yan to let go, they decided to give it one more try. If they failed once, trying twice was better than dying.

So Chai Heng took out the fire starter from his sleeve and gave it to Yang Yan, and informed Cui Miao next door. This time, they were going to burn down the entire Western Rong camp, so they were setting fires along the way.

The Xirong soldiers didn't react at first, but later they realized what was happening and started chasing them. Yang Yan grabbed a horse and pulled her onto it.

In the middle of the journey, Lu Shichu came out of the tent and asked someone to capture them, but for some reason, the Western Rong soldiers seemed to be killing madly, not distinguishing between friend and foe, and slashed at him with their swords.

There were pursuers behind her, and she was protected in Yang Yan's arms, unable to hear anything. When she fled to the Huaixi River, she only remembered that Yang Yan suddenly bit her ear fiercely, smiled and said, "What should I do, Ah Heng, I have suffered a lot of grievances in this life," and then pushed her away.

He pushed her forward to follow the horse, while he jumped off the horse and distracted most of the pursuers.

She was chased by the few pursuers and accidentally fell off her horse into the Huaixi River. She floated downstream and was rescued.

At this point, she knew nothing.

When she was in the camp, she said to Yang Yan, "Let's never meet again in this life." Unexpectedly, her words came true.

The master and his wife were afraid to upset her, so they didn't dare mention it. She herself never mentioned it, and never thought about it. Over time, she seemed to have forgotten that she had such an ex-husband.

"It's been almost a year, and the lord's life or death is still unknown. Madam, don't you miss him?" Zhou Jiu has never stopped looking for Yang Yan's whereabouts.

There had to be some definite news about whether he was alive or dead, although they all knew that Yang Yan was a civil official and that it would be disastrous if he led away the pursuers.

Moreover, as long as he is alive, he will not fail to come back.

"I don't want to." Chai Heng was lying under the crabapple tree on Furong Mountain basking in the sun. When Zhou Jiu came to find her, she only said these two words.

Almost a year has passed, and she has not completely recovered from the battle in the Xirong camp, but one must always look forward.

Zhou Jiu had worked so hard to find Furong Mountain, and was very sad to hear these two words: "But if something happened to you, the adults would find you no matter what."

Chai Heng lowered her head and brushed away the crabapple petals on her knees: "I never asked him to look for me."

"...Forget it." Zhou Jiu hesitated to speak. He came from thousands of miles away and finally left from thousands of miles away.

Cui Miao still came to see Chai Heng as usual, but after this incident, the two never mentioned their relationship again.

Chai Heng loved to eat beef from the taverns in the city, so Cui Miao would always bring it from the city to the mountains for her. He would buy her whatever she liked.

Chai Heng didn't want to accept Cui Miao's efforts any longer, so she persuaded Cui Miao under the tree: "Do you want to take a look at the girls that Master Cui introduced to you?"

Life is very long.

He couldn't just hang himself on her tree.

Cui Miao rarely mentioned Yang Yan: "I originally wanted to go on a blind date, but I keep dreaming about Lord Yang these past few days."

Chai Heng's fingertips paused: "What did you dream about him?"

"I dreamed that he asked me to take good care of you. He asked me not to quarrel with you, saying that you would look fine after a quarrel, but you would think about it for a long time. He also said that if we really have a conflict, we should sit down and talk it out, and he would never ignore you. If one day you have a dispute with someone else, I must help you and not others." Cui Miao said, and glanced at Chai Heng's expression carefully. Seeing that she didn't react, but seemed to be thinking about something, he hated himself for being quick-witted.

He continued, "Master Xiaoji said he would come to see you today. His wife Chen Lianyi is also coming, and she brought their child with her. Do you want to make some preparations?"

Chai Heng then remembered that the Lantern Festival was approaching. Ji Changqing had written to him a few days ago saying that he wanted to take his wife and daughter to Furong Mountain, a place with beautiful mountains and rivers, to spend the Lantern Festival this year.

She arched her eyebrows and smiled, "Okay."

As she spoke, she stood up from the rattan chair, rolled up her sleeves, and prepared to receive the new guest. Cui Miao saw her smile and hurried to follow her, muttering behind her.

It’s the Lantern Festival again.

There were lanterns everywhere, and Furong Mountain also hung its own lanterns. Cui Miao snatched a river lantern from the hands of several other junior disciples and gave it to Chai Heng, asking her to make a wish.

Chai Heng closed his eyes and quickly opened his clasped hands: "Alright."

Cui Miao asked, "What wish did you make?"

"Peace every year."

【over】

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The author has something to say: As I was writing this story, it started to feel off after the first dozen or so chapters. I felt like I was breaking down, so I didn't want to waste everyone's expectations by continuing, so I finished it in one day. I can only apologize.