75 075 Yuan Yue VS Eighth Prince◇

◎A naive and passionate young soldier and a general who openly distrusts but secretly protects him◎

When Yuan Yue first came into close contact with the enemy, she was so frightened that she cried.

From a young age, she loved playing with swords and spears, but her mother forbade it, saying that she was a young lady from a wealthy family and should be trained in music, chess, calligraphy, and painting. But her grandmother supported her and let her do what she loved.

Fortunately, she and her second brother were raised in their grandmother's courtyard since childhood. Their grandmother hired a female tutor who knew martial arts to secretly teach her some self-defense techniques.

She grew up slowly like this.

Later, her grandmother passed away, and she grieved for a long time. Under her mother's constant nagging, Yuan Yue put down her weapons and began to study and practice calligraphy day after day.

Joining the army under the pseudonym Yuan Xiaoba, without her parents' knowledge, was probably the most unconventional thing she ever did in her life.

She tied up her hair, changed into men's clothing, roughened her face, and carefully endured her days in the male-dominated military camp.

Sometimes she didn't know why she persisted like this. Perhaps being able to catch a glimpse of the Eighth Prince from afar when he was overseeing the army gave her the motivation to endure another day.

Until that day, during her rest time, she secretly went to his tent, and he saw through her identity at a glance.

He had already forgotten about her, and sat down imposingly in the general's seat, staring at her with disdain: "What's your name?"

Yuan Yue lowered her head: "Yuan Xiaoba."

"How dare you!" The Eighth Prince covered his nose and snorted, then whispered a rebuke: "To have the same name as me, do you not want to stay here anymore?"

“No, no, then…” Yuan Yue thought for a moment, “Then let’s go with Yuan Xiaosan.”

The Eighth Prince scoffed, "Fine, then what are you, a woman, doing in the military camp instead of staying at home?"

She had already thought of these words, and upon hearing them, she immediately raised her arms excitedly: "Of course, it's to serve the court! To serve the country and the people, to devote ourselves to the cause until our dying breath! Your Highness, as a member of the Great Qi, I naturally have the obligation to protect every inch of the Great Qi's territory! You men must go to the battlefield to fight the enemy, and we women must naturally contribute our small strength!"

She became more and more excited as she spoke, until she was almost standing in front of the Eighth Prince.

The Eighth Prince held his sword sheath against her body: "Keep your distance from me."

"Oh." Yuan Yue took two steps back in a fawning manner, clasped her hands together, and pleaded pitifully, "Your Highness, please take pity on my desire to serve the court and let me stay."

The Eighth Prince raised an eyebrow: "Yuan Xiaosan, is that right?"

Yes, yes.

"Alright," the Eighth Prince stood up arrogantly, "Since you're so eager to serve the court, then I'll reluctantly keep you. However, there's one condition: from now on, you must obey my orders. I'm heading south..."

“I will never go north!” Yuan Yue answered quickly.

"Smart." The Eighth Prince said, "Go and make preparations. I'm going to catch a petty thief. You'll come with me."

"Yes!" She followed him eagerly outside, asking doubtfully, "Your Highness, isn't catching a thief a matter of... Yes! I'll go prepare right away!"

The Eighth Prince then withdrew his displeased gaze, picked up his longsword, and left the tent.

He brought nine men, making ten in total, to capture a thief who had stolen military supplies from the camp.

That was the first time Yuan Yue had ever come into contact with real blood and death.

The passion of her companions, who had just been chatting and laughing with her, was like boiling water, dripping onto her face and hands, numbing every nerve in her body, rendering her unable to move an inch.

The Eighth Prince knocked the thief to the ground and signaled his men to tie him up and take him back to the camp.

He turned around and sheathed his sword, then saw Yuan Yue standing there, frozen in terror, and sneered, "Scared yourself to death?"

Yuan Yue looked up at him, two lines of clear tears silently streaming down her face.

The Eighth Prince ignored him: "Since you don't need to pee, hurry back. The military camp is not a place for a bunch of girls like you."

These words were like a bucket of cold water, waking Yuan Yue from her daze. She stepped forward, trying to grab the Eighth Prince's arm to stop him, but he shook her off. Undeterred, she quickly followed his pace: "Eighth Prince! I think what you said is wrong. There's no place a woman shouldn't go! You're discriminating against women!"

"Yes, I am discriminating against women, so what! You've seen the facts," the Eighth Prince pointed to the bloodstains on her face, "You're scared like this just from a little blood, what right do you have to talk to me about discrimination!"

"This is my first time encountering something like this, so I'm a little scared. Weren't you scared when you saw someone kill for the first time?"

“I’m not afraid, that’s why I was born to fight on the battlefield. But you’re not!” After saying this to her, the Eighth Prince waved for two soldiers: “Take her back to the Yuan residence!”

Yuan Yue was taken aback: "You know me?"

The Eighth Prince said, "Yuan Chongyue's sister, he has already spoken to me. I'm letting you stay here for two days out of respect for him. But Miss Yuan, you've had your fun, it's time to go back to being a proper young lady."

"I'm not leaving!" Yuan Yue insisted.

The Eighth Prince didn't want to waste any more time on her: "Whatever."

Yuan Yue wiped away her tears, and as she let go, she saw a few drops of blood on her palm that had been smeared down with her tears. Unconvinced, she wiped it clean on her clothes and rushed over to follow the Eighth Prince back to the military camp.

She thought she would be met with all sorts of obstacles from the Eighth Prince, but to her surprise, after learning that she insisted on staying, the Eighth Prince specially instructed that a separate barracks and bathhouse be arranged for her.

Yuan Yue thought that the Eighth Prince was being lenient with her because she was a girl. She was secretly pleased and enjoyed this 'leniency' with peace of mind. But after only two days, she discovered that because of this leniency, everyone in the military camp had begun to treat her leniently as well. She received more food than others, her clothes were cleaner, and her training was much more relaxed.

She became the 'lenient' person that everyone in the camp knew about.

Naturally, her companions also began to distance themselves from her.

Yuan Yue understood that the Eighth Prince wanted to use this plan to make her voluntarily leave the camp.

She won't give up so easily.

Yuan Yue put on the straitjacket, refused those 'special treatments', and began to eat and drink with the soldiers in the camp. No matter how difficult the training was, she did not shed a single tear.

In just over ten days, he looked a bit rougher than before.

The news of the army's break camp came suddenly. Her unit belonged to the Eighth Prince's command, and only a little over an hour had passed between receiving the news and setting off. Yuan Yue hadn't even had time to inform her family before she left the capital with the army.

"Third Sister, I heard that the Fifth Prince has rebelled. We're going with him this time to capture him." Quan Bao, the bodyguard of the Eighth Prince, had become familiar with her and casually mentioned this while they were eating together that day.

Yuan Yue took a big bite of the steamed bun and mumbled, "Who knows? Hurry up and eat, we still have to travel later."

Not getting an answer from her, Quan Bao didn't give up and turned to the security guard opposite her, saying, "Hey, security guard, you've been following His Highness the whole time, have you heard?"

He and Anbao were bodyguards who served the Eighth Prince since childhood. Later, when the Eighth Prince joined the army, they followed him and became his two bodyguards. Unlike the taciturn Anbao, Quanbao was lively and energetic, and his constant chatter could drive anyone crazy.

The security guard didn't say anything, just kept his head down and ate his food.

Neither of them paid him any attention. Quan Bao pouted, picked up a couple of bites of food, then seemed to remember something, leaned closer to Yuan Yue, and said with a mischievous grin, "Third Sister, I saw His Highness looking for you this morning. What did he say to you? You two, are you...?"

Yuan Yue stuffed a steamed bun into his mouth: "Can you be quiet! His Highness has important business with me!"

"Tch." Quan Bao sneered, "It's just that kind of thing between men and women, what are you trying to argue about!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than the tent flap was lifted, and the Eighth Prince, dressed in plain clothes, strode in. Upon hearing Quan Bao's words, he immediately tried to kick him: "Shut the hell up! If you say such filthy things again, I'll throw you in the swill bucket to wash your brains."

Quan Bao rolled on the ground, but the steamed bun in his hand remained completely clean. He felt wronged; they usually exchanged all sorts of vulgarities when they got together, so why was he being beaten today? He secretly glared at Yuan Yue, knowing full well that something was definitely going on between her and His Highness!

The Eighth Prince walked to the main seat and sat down. He glanced at Yuan Yue and said impatiently, "Third Brother Yuan, why are you here again?"

Quan Bao said, "Your Highness, I ran into Third Sister on my way to get the food box and invited her to eat with me."

The Eighth Prince didn't say anything more and started eating on his own.

Quan Bao stuck out his tongue at Yuan Yue, quickly finished his meal, and then left with Yuan Yue.

"I knew it! His Highness treats Third Sister differently. If any other woman entered His Highness's tent, she would have been thrown out long ago. How could she possibly eat with His Highness? No, wait, in our camp, where would we find a woman like Third Sister? You're the first one!" Quan Baoju laughed, giving a thumbs up.

Yuan Yue looked at him irritably: "Say less, or you'll suffer a great loss because of this one day."

"Hmph, I only have a mouth, can't I even speak?" Quan Bao said arrogantly. When they reached the fork in the road, he led the security guards to join their group.

Not long after the convoy left the capital, they were ambushed.

Compared to the last time she captured the thief, Yuan Yue was much calmer this time, and together with her comrades, she killed quite a few enemies.

By the time the battle was nearing its end, it was almost dusk. After the Eighth Prince announced that they would set up camp there, he went to count the number of people. Only Quanbao came running over, asking, "Third Sister, Third Sister, are you alright?"

Yuan Yue was helping the military medic clean the wounds of the injured soldiers. Seeing them lying on the ground, groaning helplessly, Yuan Yue felt very distressed. She was holding the wounded down so that the medic could do his best to bandage them.

Upon hearing Quan Bao's words, Yuan Yue checked herself up and down, only to find that she had a cut on her calf that was bleeding and had already stained the fabric of her trousers.

"Oh dear, Third Sister, you're injured!" Quan Bao exclaimed, quickly reaching out to help Yuan Yue up. "Quick, quick, sit down and let me see. Women are often anemic, you can't just bleed like that."

Yuan Yue: "..." Forget it, arguing with him would only shorten her life by three years.

Quan Bao knelt down in front of her and carefully examined her wounds. Just as he was about to take out the wound medicine from his pocket, his eyes darted around, and he looked up and said, "Third Sister, don't say I didn't help you. Come on, let's go to His Highness's place."

Yuan Yue was lifted up by him and almost dragged forward: "Why would I go to see His Highness? I'm not going!"

She's already injured; if she goes to see His Highness, what good will it do her besides being looked down upon by him?

"Tsk, Third Sister, are you stupid?" Quan Bao said disdainfully, "You're injured. If His Highness doesn't see it, the injury will have been for nothing. At the very least, you should make him feel sorry for you."

As the two passed a tree, Yuan Yue quickly hugged it, saying, "I'm not going. He'll definitely laugh at me if he sees this."

“How could that be? This medicine of mine,” Quan Bao said, taking out the prepared wound medicine, “was specially given to me by His Highness. He even told me to come and check on the wounded. Isn’t his statement a blatant invitation for me to come and see you? If you ask me, His Highness is just worried about you, but he’s a shy man and doesn’t want to say it out loud.”

Yuan Yue was somewhat surprised: "Really?"

Quan Bao nodded: "Of course, how could I dare to lie to your third sister? Let's go, let's go."

Although the medicine was given to him by His Highness, and checking on the wounded after the battle was always his job, he considered himself to understand His Highness's little thoughts best. Judging from His Highness's frequent attention to Xiao Sanjie's training, he must have a special feeling for Xiao Sanjie.

Yes, that must be it!

Quan Bao helped Yuan Yue, who limped to the Eighth Prince's tent.

The Eighth Prince had not yet returned, so Quan Bao helped her sit in a prominent spot inside the tent: "Yes, right here. Little Third Sister, stick your leg out again so that the Prince can see your injury as soon as he comes in. That way, he will definitely feel sorry for you."

Yuan Yue hesitated for a moment: "Isn't this a bit inappropriate?"

"What's the big deal? If you want to win His Highness's heart, you have to put in some effort. But your wound," Quan Bao squatted down and examined her wound, "the bleeding has stopped. Why don't you bear with it a little longer, Third Sister, and I'll help you tear the wound a bit wider?"

Yuan Yue: "...Quan Bao, is that even human language you're talking about?"

A note from the author:

My family's full-time insurance is such a cheeky, warm-hearted cutie~