Chapter 66 "Xie Qinglang, are you in pain?"

The silver lamp flickered, casting a mournful red shadow over Xie Zhuo's strong back, illuminating his old scars clearly and in minute detail.

Like a ruined city, it lay there with traces of blood and flesh pierced by swords and spears, too painful to look at.

Xue Mingyao's fingers trembled as she touched the most horrific spot, a scar similar to the one on his chest, but longer, almost splitting his back open, likely exposing the bone back then.

She finally understood why Xie Zhuo considered twenty strokes of the cane so insignificant, and why he was so good at enduring pain and could read peacefully in the middle of the night.

Xue Mingyao could no longer hold back, and large tears fell onto him.

This is her Xie Qinglang!

She knew how beautiful this body had originally been. She had played with it countless times in the boudoir of Xichuan, and had been intimate with it in her dreams for years. How could it have been ruined like this now?

Xie Zhuo trembled at the heat of her tears and looked up at her in surprise.

Xue Mingyao actually cried; she actually cried for him.

He pulled down his shirt to cover up all his ugliness, like a person with a flawed appearance trying to hide their ugliness, and felt a sense of desolation.

"Don't cry..." He slowly sat up, his gaze complex as he looked at the woman crying uncontrollably in front of the bed, his voice hoarse.

Xue Mingyao cried even louder, "Xie Qinglang, are you in pain?"

Xie Zhuo's eyes were filled with turmoil. "It doesn't hurt. It looks scary, but it's not that serious."

“You’re lying,” Xue Mingyao said, her eyes blurry with tears. “How could it not hurt? The scar is so deep and so long!”

“I’m more prone to scarring. Do you remember the one on my forehead?” Xie Zhuo explained to her earnestly.

Xue Mingyao sobbed, "Why are you pretending to be a tough guy!"

Xie Zhuo lowered his eyes. He had never seen Xue Mingyao cry like this before. He raised his hand and clumsily wiped away her tears.

The man's rough hand brushed against the corner of her eye, and Xue Mingyao stopped crying, her watery eyes staring at him. Xie Zhuo calmly looked back at her, his dark eyes like still water, concealing all the undercurrents and gathering all her emotions.

He was no longer Xie Qinglang. Xie Qinglang's eyes were like frozen spring water, with a slight chill. She felt even more pierced by knowing how gentle his gaze could be.

"Xie Zhuo, why did you choose martial arts—" Xue Mingyao's tears welled up again, her sobbing voice like a child's, "Why can't you just be Xie Qinglang properly!"

He continued to be a pure and stubborn scholar, passed the imperial examination, and like those young talents, celebrated with flowers in his hair at the Apricot Garden Banquet, rode his horse across the imperial street, entered the imperial library as a promising proofreader, and then reunited with her.

He had feelings for her, and she had feelings for him; wouldn't it be better to rekindle their romance openly and honestly? Why did he have to suffer so much, going through life and death together, only to come back and call her his enemy?

The story written by God is not only unsatisfactory in the first half, but also disappointing in the second half.

Xie Zhuo remained silent.

"Tell me, what's the reason!" Xue Mingyao cried.

Xie Zhuo touched Xue Mingyao's wet face, and it seemed that the solid dam in his heart had been mostly breached by her tears. It turned out that Xue Mingyao did have a heart made of flesh and blood after all.

She cried for him, and all the pain she had endured was worth it.

Xie Zhuo was now certain that Xue Mingyao had not completely forgotten him.

Even when the intense emotions of the past have vanished, something always remains. Xie Zhuo tasted the embers, finding them sweet on his tongue, and the pain that tormented him vanished completely.

But should I tell her? If I told her that I loved her so much that I would risk my life for a chance to be with her, she would probably find it hard to believe.

Even he himself found it hard to believe.

"If I were still Xie Qinglang, I would be nothing more than a mediocre civil official, perhaps not even qualified to attend court, let alone be granted a title," he said calmly.

"But you almost died! How can you be so sure you'll be promoted to a high-ranking position?"

She dared to say that Xie Zhuo's path was unparalleled in the past few centuries. Cen Zongjing's rise from a low-ranking military officer to a fourth-rank general was already a remarkable achievement, an extraordinary feat. Xie Zhuo, on the other hand, started from nothing, fighting his way out through countless dangers and hardships. Only after seeing his numerous wounds did Xue Mingyao realize that Xie Zhuo's survival to reach this position was truly a blessing from heaven.

"You really don't care about your own life at all!"

Xie Zhuo smiled and said, "My worthless life is just right to bet on wealth and glory."

Xue Mingyao couldn't believe he would say such a thing. "Weren't you always so aloof, regarding fame and fortune as dirt? You even told me that people are not divided into high and low, noble and lowly! What's the use of you risking your life for wealth and glory?"

Xie Zhuo gazed at her silently, offering no reply.

Xue Mingyao couldn't stand his composure any longer. She sniffed and said, "Have you ever thought that if you had died on the battlefield these past few years, you would never have seen me again? You say you like me, but you don't even care about your own life. How can you talk about marrying me—"

She suddenly stopped, unsure how to continue.

Xie Zhuo sighed, took her hand in his palm, and said softly, "What's the use of wealth and glory? Wealth and glory can make me marry you."

Xue Mingyao was completely stunned.

"What do you mean..." she murmured, "You abandoned your studies for martial arts because you want to marry me?"

"Yes." Xie Zhuo looked at her. "I have indeed married Xue Mingyao. You can never get rid of me again."

After he finished speaking, he kissed her still tearful face and said, "Don't cry, go to sleep."

He turned off the light, and the two of them were once again in complete darkness.

Xie Zhuo lay down on his side, and Xue Mingyao silently got into bed and lay down beside him. The two shared the warmth of the same quilt, and he still held Xue Mingyao's hand tightly.

His willful and capricious princess seemed genuinely frightened by him, curling up quietly beside him, with only her heartbeat echoing his, thumping and thumping, like a drumbeat in the dark night, never ceasing.

After a long silence, he heard her say, "You're a madman. Xie Zhuo, you're the madst person in the whole world."

......

The next day, Xue Xingtai came to thank him. He had gone to the Dali Temple prison and confirmed that he had not killed anyone. However, punching Feng Sheng while drunk was still unseemly, and he lost his official position in the Yulin Guard. Xue Xingtai accepted this well and thanked Xie Zhuo profusely, vowing never to act impulsively and fight with anyone again.

The mistress of the Feng family didn't stay in jail for long, because she was diagnosed with pregnancy very quickly. The Feng family was grieving the young death of Feng Sheng without an heir, and upon hearing the news, they didn't pursue the matter of her stealing money and abandoning Feng Sheng to run away. Instead, they took her home and cared for her well, hoping that she would give birth to a son to continue the family line.

Xie Zhuo was flogged by the Emperor and has been recuperating at his residence for the past few days as a matter of course.

Despite claiming to be recuperating, he didn't treat his injury as a serious illness at all, behaving as usual, only applying medicated oil once every night. Every time Xue Mingyao asked him if he was in pain, the answer was always no, leaving her wondering whether he was telling the truth or lying.

Xue Mingyao offered to apply the medicated oil for him, but Xie Zhuo flatly refused.

Xue Mingyao recalled how he had always been reluctant to let her see his body. "Are you afraid I'll see those scars?"

"I don't want you to cry again," Xie Zhuo said.

It is said that scars are a man's badge of honor, but Xie Zhuo did not think so. His back was covered with hideous scars, and he himself felt ugly when he saw them in the mirror. Xue Mingyao loved beauty the most, and he only hoped that those scars would be erased from her memory as soon as possible.

Xie Zhuo was acting awkwardly, and Xue Mingyao couldn't do anything about it. If he were still Xie Qinglang, she would have simply pinned him down on the bed and lifted his clothes. But he was Xie Zhuo now, and he was the injured Xie Zhuo. She couldn't force him.

Besides, he wasn't the only one who felt awkward.

Xue Mingyao would occasionally recall Xie Zhuo's words from that night, and a dull ache would rise in her heart.

There were too many things about Xie Zhuo that she couldn't understand. The more she pried information out of him, the more he seemed like a mystery to her.

That day, she summoned Ah Lian.

"I heard you've been following General Xie in the Northwest, so you must know a lot about him," she said.

Allen nodded cautiously.

Xue Mingyao asked, "How did he sustain all those old injuries?"

"Actually, I don't know either," A-Lian said with difficulty. "Most of the injuries were sustained by the general in his first two years in the army, when I wasn't by his side. I heard that the general was extremely brave in battle, often taking the most heads in the entire camp, and was promoted to captain the fastest, so he suffered many injuries. Later, after he was promoted to fifth-rank general, he gradually stopped charging on the front lines, and that's when he was less injured."

Xue Mingyao frowned and asked again, "He said he injured his throat. Do you know what happened?"

Alian's face immediately darkened. "That was three years ago. The general's army was lured by the enemy into the depths of the desert, where they suffered a brutal massacre. The commander-in-chief and deputy commander were both killed in action, and only a small number of soldiers escaped the enemy's encirclement. But the desert was scorching hot, with sandstorms raging, and there was a severe shortage of water and food. It was simply unbearable for a human to endure. When the general emerged, he had almost lost his voice. He was busy gathering the remaining troops and counterattacking the enemy, and he didn't receive timely treatment. Even after taking medicine, his voice never fully recovered and remained somewhat hoarse."

"It was in this battle that the general turned the tide, won a small victory, seized the opportunity to be promoted three ranks, made a great contribution, and became the de facto commander of the Northwest Army."

Xue Mingyao said in a low voice, "So every step he took was so difficult."

“Who says otherwise?” Ah Lian sighed. “Madam, you have no idea how clear and pleasant the General’s voice used to be. It was so comforting to listen to.”

Xue Mingyao lowered her eyes.

Of course she knew how beautiful Xie Qinglang's voice was, clear and melodious like spring water, making even the most unpleasant words sound pleasant.

Alian added, "And the old wounds on the general's body have been tormenting him ever since. When the general was injured, he was just an ordinary soldier, so he probably didn't use any good medicine. Although the wounds have slowly healed, they always hurt on rainy days. The general can even predict the weather based on this, and he is right every time, without ever making a mistake."

Xue Mingyao felt a lump in her throat; so that's how Xie Zhuo acquired his weather-predicting skills.