The room fell silent for a moment.
Luo Sheng handed her the medicine: "Let me apply the medicine for you again."
Xiao Yunying was still embarrassed and reached for the medicine bottle, saying, "No need, I'll do it myself."
Luo Sheng didn't give her the medicine bottle. Instead, he dragged a stool over and placed Xiao Yunying's ankle on his lap, saying, "Don't twist your leg. You might aggravate the injury on your buttock."
Xiao Yunying pursed her lips but didn't say anything.
Okay, she admitted that Luo Sheng was right; rubbing her injured feet while sitting cross-legged would aggravate her buttocks.
Luo Sheng quietly applied the medicine to her feet. After the medicine was applied to both feet, he looked up and said, "Yun Ying, I have something I want to tell you."
Here we go again.
Xiao Yunying avoided his gaze, afraid that he would say those sentimental things again: "Why do you talk so much? What do you want to say now?"
"Actually, it wasn't me who married you back then... no, I should say it wasn't me who married that Miss Xiao back then."
Xiao Yunying gently swung her legs to let the ointment dry faster, and said casually, "I know, you've regained your identity as a general, you're not that poor boy anymore."
"That's not what I meant. That really wasn't me. I was just one of my bodyguards. He disguised himself as me and got married to that Miss Xiao."
A straight ball made Xiao Yunying pause in her movements: "What did you say?"
Luo Sheng carefully chose his words and continued, "You know about Xin'er's background, but actually her mother wasn't killed by bandits. She was accidentally injured by assassins sent by the Empress Dowager. In other words, her mother was implicated by us, simply because she followed the same path as us."
The rain outside was getting heavier and heavier, and the large raindrops were hitting the window frame, making a pattering sound that disturbed the peace of mind of the people inside.
It took Xiao Yunying a while to process the news: "And then?"
Luo Sheng said, "At that time, the Emperor had secretly sent someone to talk to me, asking me to lead troops to guard the border. The court was beset by internal and external troubles. This was the country and the world that my Luo family had sworn to protect for generations. I could not ignore it. So after arriving at Xiaqu Village, I went to the border and left a secret guard named Shi Sheng disguised as me here in case of emergency."
Xiao Yunying looked at him: "So... from the very beginning, that girl didn't like you."
"I think so, after all, I have never lived in Xiaqu Village, and the Luo Sheng she saw was not me from the very first glance."
Xiao Yunying remained silent, and Luo Sheng continued, "He agreed to marry that girl out of necessity. At that time, the Empress Dowager's spies brought a large number of assassins to force that secret guard, who was disguised as me, to do things for her by threatening the lives of my mother and children."
Just then, this girl got involved. She fell into the river, and my bodyguard rescued her. She then used this as an excuse to force my bodyguard to marry her.
My bodyguard initially wanted to refuse outright, but the spies sent by the Empress Dowager, in order to show their so-called sincerity, asked him to choose one of my mother and children to accompany him to the capital—in other words, to take a hostage.
Comparing the two options, it was clearly more dangerous to be hostages. My mother couldn't bear to see the children suffer like that, so she discussed with Shisheng about letting the children stay. However, the children were too young and needed care, so he could only agree to marry the girl, hoping she could help look after the children for a while.
Xiao Yunying found it absurd: "Just because he has no other choice, does that mean he can make someone else take on the responsibility of raising his child? Do you know how much this girl has suffered in the past year and a half? And your children, they didn't treat her this well at first. Why should she suffer this injustice?"
“I know, I know how difficult it is for her to raise several children alone. But Shi Sheng is a secret guard of the Luo family. It is his duty and mission to put the protection of the Luo family’s offspring first. At that time, he was outnumbered and had no other choice but to make the best of a mistake by using this girl. I know that the Luo family has indeed wronged her in this matter.”
Just as Xiao Yunying was about to speak, Luo Sheng hurriedly added, "But I swear, Shi Sheng is not the kind of ungrateful or irresponsible person. He said that since he married this girl, he would definitely take responsibility to the end."
Besides, he hadn't expected this girl to suffer so much. He had heard that her parents and brother loved her very much, and he thought that with her family's support, her life wouldn't be too difficult. Who knew..."
Hearing this, Xiao Yunying's anger had just subsided a little when she suddenly remembered that the original owner of this body was no longer there, and her anger rose even higher: "What nonsense! Anyone can make empty promises! The original Xiao Yunying never saw him before she died. Where is he? Why hasn't he come back yet!"
Luo Sheng paused for a moment before saying, "He... died in early spring last year."
Xiao Yunying was stunned: "Dead?"
Luo Sheng said in a low voice, "You keep blaming me for not sending back messages. It's not that I didn't want to, it's just that I couldn't."
When Shi Sheng brought my mother to the capital under the pretense of surrendering, they ran into the people sent by the Emperor on the way, and the Empress Dowager's people and the Emperor's people started fighting.
In order to prevent any escapees from spreading the news that the children were temporarily staying in Xiaqu Village, they desperately killed all of the Empress Dowager's people. Afterwards, they split into two groups: Shi Sheng escorted my mother to the capital, while the people sent by the Emperor went to search for and eliminate the remaining spies and assassins.
Unfortunately, many of the Empress Dowager's people had already been lying in ambush around the capital. Shi Sheng had been fighting off assassins all the way and was already seriously injured. He dared not break through, nor did he dare to return to Xiaqu Village, fearing that it would expose the children's location. After discussing with my mother, he went to the south, which also diverted their attention. He hid here and there all the way, without a single day of peace.
At that time, I was leading troops at the border to resist invading nomadic tribes and was unaware of this matter. I didn't receive the news until several months later.
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