067.Avoidance
It doesn’t make sense actually.
Qing Ling shouldn't have cared about these things. He regretted asking the question. Seeing Shang Changheng stunned, he felt even more inexplicably embarrassed. He was about to pretend nothing happened and turn around with his back to Shang Changheng when he heard the man speak.
"No." Shang Changheng was looking at him. "The Great Zhou and the Dongyi have been fighting for decades, especially in autumn, sometimes they can fight for two or three months in a row. When I was young, I became a disciple of the Grand Marshal Wei Shanfu, and I was stationed in Yangcheng with the army. It takes four months to go back to Luyuan from Yangcheng even if I ride a fast horse. After I left the capital at the age of fifteen, I never went back. In that kind of world... I never thought about getting married."
A deep sense of unwillingness resurfaced in his expression, as if his entire body had been entangled in pure, cold, dark resentment, and his originally gentle eyes had turned into a boning knife.
But within a few breaths, Shang Changheng realized that he had lost his composure, so he stepped back and lay flat on Qing Ling's side.
He added: "Qingling, I only marry you, and you alone."
Qingling clutched the quilt tightly, and the little joy he felt at these words was drowned out by bitterness.
No matter how young and naive he was, he knew why he had these thoughts and why he cared whether Shang Changheng had ever been married.
There seemed to be a breeze blowing under the eaves. Qingling was sleeping soundly on Shang Changheng's shoulder. Faintly he heard the howling of mountain pines in the wind, which seemed to have come from thousands of years ago. The sky and the earth were vast. He looked up and saw another fight in the mountains.
Some people were wearing Ming armor, and blood splattered wherever their long swords passed, and they were invincible on the battlefield.
Qingling watched him ride his horse into the enemy formation and disperse the enemy soldiers with shields in the front row. When they were so close, even arrows were useless. Shang Changheng just charged in. His heavy armor was stained with blood, and his long sword was also dripping with blood, but he was completely unaware of it, and there was only indifference and murderousness between his eyebrows.
After he led the charge, the enemy's formation became disorganized, and following closely behind Shang Changheng were the cavalry of the Great Zhou!
Qingling did not see the most common chariots in the ancient Zhou Dynasty in this war. The cavalry was obviously more flexible and fierce. They broke through the shield formation one after another. Although some of them fell under the rain of arrows, those who were still able to breathe struggled to stand up again. They used knives to cut off the exposed arrow tails and let the arrow tips pierce their bodies. They were covered in blood and mud, picked up their weapons and ran forward roaring.
"kill!"
"kill!"
"kill!"
Their voices were earth-shaking. Even if their comrades who had been with them day and night fell beside them, they would just rush forward shouting "Kill" with tears in their eyes.
No one looked back.
When the two armies were fighting in one place, arrows could no longer be used, otherwise they would hurt their own people. What followed was a pure fight of weapons. The battle lasted until dusk before both sides withdrew their troops.
But Qingling knew that the outcome had not yet been decided. This was just a small battle among the countless battles they had fought over the past decades. Shang Changheng sat high on his horse and gave orders: "Don't leave the wounded behind. Take them back!"
In this small battle, the Great Zhou had the upper hand. They seized the position and had time to look for their comrades who were still alive. The corpses on the battlefield were piled on top of each other, and the military flag inserted diagonally into the ground was soaked in blood.
"Hou Su!" Shang Changheng called out.
Soon, a short general came running over, holding his helmet in his hand, revealing a still somewhat childish face, smiling with eyes narrowed, "Hey, here it is! Your Majesty, we can report this victory to the capital later. The Dongyi barbarians have asked us to fight back again."
Shang Changheng turned over and got off the horse. His hand holding the knife was wrapped with cloth, which was soaked in blood and its original color could not be seen.
"Don't take it lightly." Shang Changheng asked, "What about the other two positions?"
Hou Su was still smiling, a little heartless, "It's earlier than us. General Zuo and his men attacked the granaries. The Dongyi barbarians always steal our food. Hey! This time we'll steal their food too. General Wei also sent people to say that the barbarians have retreated, and asked you what you're going to do next."
"That's good."
Qing Ling saw that Shang Changheng seemed to be relieved, but it was only for a moment, and then his relaxation was put away, and he became the seemingly invincible commander again.
"What about you?" Shang Changheng led his horse back, "How are you doing in the army?"
"That's good." Hou Su followed him half a step away and shrugged. "It's good to be able to kill the barbarians, but I don't know when this world will end. Hey, they started cooking."
Qingling also saw smoke rising from the battlefield, and the survivors had to continue moving forward.
This might be just one of the times Shang Changheng had experienced war in his life. He looked so accustomed to it. Qingling followed him all the way back to his military tent and saw Shang Changheng put down his sword and take off his heavy armor. Nothing could be seen from his black clothes, but when he took off his lining, he could see the wounds all over his legs, some deep, some shallow, crisscrossing, new and old.
He treated his wound so calmly. In fact, he just smeared crushed herbs mixed with wood ash on it. Then he put on his clothes without changing his expression, wiped the blood off his face, and then bent over the desk to look at the map, deducing the tactics over and over again, and he didn't even bother to eat the food brought to him.
It was just a bowl of porridge mixed with wild vegetables.
Qing Ling squatted beside Shang Changheng and whispered to him, "How can you bear it without eating?"
But Shang Changheng couldn't hear it.
This was just a memory from the past. Qingling used the dream to take a look at Shang Changheng's past.
He had just fought a battle and looked really miserable, but he seemed tireless. There was clearly blue under his eyes and red veins in his eyes. He must be... very tired.
Shang Changheng had to read the battle reports sent from various small positions one after another, and issued military orders one after another. When he finally started to drink the bowl of porridge that had long been cold, it was almost dawn outside. At this time, Shang Changheng did not return to the couch in the military tent, but rested at his desk on the spot.
Qingling also opened his eyes at this time.
The sunlight shone into the house and it was already bright. Qingling was still a little dazed. He sat up in a daze, and when he saw the furnishings of the inn, he gradually came to his senses.
What he saw in his dream was just one day of Shang Changheng's years of war.
Shang Changheng was still beside him and sat up as well. Looking at Qing Ling who was obviously distracted, he gently pinched his face.
"What's wrong? Are you still asleep?"
Qing Ling shook his head, "Awake."
"Why do you look like that?" Shang Changheng pulled Qing Ling into his arms, "You don't look very happy."
Qingling thought to himself, what should I say?
He just felt a little...heartbroken. He never thought that there would be a day when he would pity Shang Changheng. He used to live in the mountains with no knowledge or sight, and had no idea that there were so many sufferings in the world.
He silently reached out his hand and climbed onto Shang Changheng's shoulder, whispering, "I'm not unhappy, I just... Shang Changheng, I'm dreaming again."
After a few moments of silence.
Shang Changheng said softly: "Your physique is too susceptible to spiritualism. Prepare a soothing charm for yourself before going to bed in the future. At least you can sleep well."
Qingling said nothing.
Shang Changheng added: "My memory...is not very good, so don't read it."
"I saw you win the battle." Qingling leaned on Shang Changheng's neck, "What happened later? Is Shang Changjun your brother? He became the emperor."
"Well, he is five years younger than me." Shang Changheng's tone was very calm. "When my mother was pregnant with him, the border was defeated again, the national treasury was emptied, and food and grass were in short supply. My mother was overly worried. He was also born with a weak body and was often bedridden. There were several times when he almost died. I was away from home all year round, so he was the only one left in the capital who could inherit the throne."
Qingling stood up from his arms and suddenly looked at the dragon pendant on his chest. Shang Changheng once said that this was the Emperor's Jade.
"Then this..." He picked up the jade pendant, "Is this a jade pendant for the emperor? Is it Shang Changjun's?"
"This is mine." Shang Changheng lowered his eyes and gently stroked the jade. "The emperor's jade must also be placed in the imperial mausoleum. According to the rules of the Great Zhou royal family, the reigning emperor will find a good jade for the next prince, carve a ring of dragons on it, and give it to the prince when he is crowned. This jade was given to me by my father when I left the capital. As for him... my father should have given him another piece."
Therefore, the original crown prince should have been Shang Changheng, but after he became Wei Shanfu's disciple, he never returned to the capital and had been dealing with the invasion of the Dongyi people at the border.
But in the end, this piece of jade fell into the hands of the Qing family.
The Qing family is Shang Changheng's tomb-keeping family, which means that a thousand years ago, they were definitely not unknown people. The note from Taizhu Jie clearly stated that he wanted to borrow Shang Changheng's luck to continue the destiny of the Great Zhou Dynasty, but in the end, Shang Changheng's luck was given to the Qing family, which seemed like the Qing family had tricked Taizhu Jie.
The tomb keeper stole the Qi and used it on his own family. He also embezzled it thoroughly, and the inheritance was cut off. Later generations robbed the tomb again and took out the Broken Life Awl that suppressed Shang Changheng.
As a result, Shang Changheng was released by accident. The evil ghost who had been buried for a thousand years was filled with resentment and returned to the world of the living to settle the cause and effect.
"Then...what about the Qing family?" Qing Ling put down the jade. "Who were the Qing family a thousand years ago?"
Shang Changheng did not answer, but stared at Qingling for a while, then rubbed his already messy hair and whispered, "Okay, you know it's useless, are you hungry?"
Qingling felt that Shang Changheng seemed reluctant to bring up this topic.
He has remembered a lot.
Qing Ling did not answer but asked: "Then do you know who is the karma in the world? And your grave... why did you destroy your own bones?"
Shang Changheng did not answer the first question. After hesitating for a moment, he said to Qingling, "I haven't remembered yet, but since my body has turned into dry bones, it doesn't matter if it is destroyed. Although it is peaceful to be buried in the ground, it is not peaceful to be dismembered and buried. It is better to... just like this. Okay, stay in the city and rest for a few more days before continuing your journey. You haven't had a good rest since leaving Lincang."
Qingling said nothing.
It was hard to tell whether Shang Changheng's words were true or not, but Qingling felt that he just didn't want to say it and was clearly deliberately avoiding the question.
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