Female General (9)
"A Chou, you don't have to persuade me!" Gou Su's clothes rustled as he shouted impatiently at the nagging A Chou behind him, "I really don't understand what there is to worry about."
Even though Gou Su was running like a rocket, Ah Chou kept on giving him advice, even though his mask hurt his nose, he still refused to give up: "General, please don't be impulsive! The envoy's visit to the capital is a very difficult matter. You have elite soldiers under your command, and using them only to escort the envoy is really an overreaction. Besides, you have never handled this matter before, so you don't know what we need to be vigilant about!"
"What's there to be wary of? It's just an escort, isn't it easier than fighting on the battlefield?"
"General!"
"A Chou!" Gou Su was impatient and stopped immediately, a hint of impatience in his eyes. "Huang Heng saved me before. He rushed into the sea of fire without hesitation just to save a stranger like me. I don't believe he has any bad intentions. Besides, he will only report this matter to the emperor. The final decision still lies in the hands of the emperor. I am just doing a little favor. How about helping him?"
The two men were arguing fiercely in the front, while Xiao Lin and Mu You followed behind in fear, fearing that if they took another step forward, the war would engulf them.
Xiao Lin really didn't know why Ah Chou kept denying it. After all, what Gou Su said made sense. Helping Huang Heng could be considered as repaying a favor. What was wrong with that?
Besides, Huang Heng's official rank was much lower than Gou Su's. He was just a small fry in the Ministry of Rites who did things according to his superiors' orders. How much trouble could he cause?
This time, Achou was really too extreme.
But Ah Chou didn't seem to agree. His lips kept moving and he didn't notice the anger growing on Gou Su's face at all.
He stopped nagging until she completely lost control and drew the sword from her waist, the sharp edge of the sword piercing through the mask into Achou's eyes.
"I said, stop talking."
Gou Su's words were cold, but even in the dark of night, one could still detect the fierceness in her eyes.
Perhaps realizing that she was really angry, Ah Chou had to step back a few steps and secretly lower his head.
I can’t persuade him, absolutely not.
She was in a bad mood right now. If he said a few more words, the sword would not just be unsheathed.
Xiao Lin and Mu You were standing behind him and were also frightened by Gou Su's posture. Their legs were trembling and they could not move.
Seeing that he had finally forced Ah Chou to retreat, Gou Su stopped pushing his opponent further. He swiftly retracted his sword and turned around to escape into the night.
His eyes were fixed on Gou Su's back, and Achou's eyes, trembling slightly due to loss, were vaguely visible in the moonlight.
"General...ah..."
In such a situation, no matter how slow-witted Mu You was, he could still sense Achou's decadence.
So he covered his injured shoulder, quietly moved forward, walked to Ah Chou's side, and gently patted his sleeve: "Brother Ah Chou, are you... okay? The general didn't mean to hurt you..."
Realizing that his mood might have disturbed Mu You, Ah Chou looked calm and even shook his head with a hint of apology: "I'm fine. Let's go to the kitchen. The general will probably need to take a shower and change clothes later."
Mu You: “…”
The chirping of cicadas and the night wind merged together, and the flowers and plants planted in the mansion seemed to wilt a little under Achou's dark shadow.
From time to time, the two wooden doors of the back kitchen were wide open, and the flames in the stove licked the bottom of the copper pot.
Ah Chou opened his empty eyes and casually fiddled with the fire tongs, sparks splashing on his loose linen trouser legs. He raised his feet to rub them, and the soles of his cloth shoes were soaked black by the stove ash.
Mu You had a shoulder injury, so Xiao Lin took the lead in taking on the responsibility.
She scooped water from the water tank with a wooden ladle and poured it into the copper pot.
The boiling water splashed on the stove with a sizzling sound, and the rising heat waves wrapped in the smell of soapberries went straight into people's throats.
When a drop of sweat dripped from Xiao Lin's chin from scooping water back and forth, Mu You stopped watching and stretched out his left hand to take the scoop from her hand.
Xiao Lin wanted to struggle, but he couldn't get rid of him.
She had no choice but to give up and chat with Ah Chou amid the crackling of firewood: "Brother Ah Chou? You don't have to be angry. The general must have been impatient at the moment, so he said those harsh words. He doesn't mean to blame you."
But Ah Chou chuckled softly from his throat and fiddled with the dry firewood that had been burned black.
Xiao Lin quietly put his hand on his shoulder and patted him a few times: "It's okay, it's just a small matter."
"It's alright, you don't have to worry about me. I have no regrets about my argument with the general today. As long as she understands my intentions, no matter what the outcome, I have done my best."
"Yes, yes, nothing will go wrong. The final decree regarding the escort of the envoys is from the emperor. This way, it's no different from a formal assignment from the imperial court."
"Yeah, I know, thank you."
But even though Ah Chou said "thank you", there was no sign of relief in his eyes.
At this moment, the atmosphere in the kitchen fell into an unusual silence.
Xiao Lin knew this was inappropriate, so he changed the subject: "By the way, Brother Chou, I have a question that I'm not sure if I should ask you..."
"But it's okay."
"That's right..." Seeing Xiao Lin suddenly hesitant, he picked at the dead skin under his nails with his two fingers unnaturally. After rubbing for a long time, he finally muttered softly, "I'm quite curious. You said before that your face was burned like this by fire. How did it happen..."
Suddenly, Ah Chou's hand holding the tongs froze in mid-air, and his fingertips twitched from time to time.
There was only the heat lingering around, and Xiao Lin suddenly realized that he might have said something wrong.
But just as she was about to change her words, Ah Chou's watery voice resurfaced: "More than ten years ago, a fire broke out in the countryside. My face was burned beyond recognition. I barely managed to survive, but to avoid scaring the children, I've been wearing a mask ever since."
"A big fire?" Xiao Lin's sixth sense told her that she might be familiar with the big fire that Ah Chou mentioned. "Which... which big fire?"
"It's the fire the general mentioned, the one that would have engulfed her if it weren't for Young Master Huang."
Sure enough, it was that one.
Ah Chou's busy hands never stopped, sometimes poking the stove, sometimes lifting the lid of the pot to look at the clear water that was getting warmer.
Then he took the wooden ladle from Mu You and scooped hot water into the small wooden barrel one spoonful at a time.
At this time, Xiao Lin was still standing there in a daze, with all kinds of thoughts running through his mind.
Ah Chou said that his face was burned in the fire, so didn't he also enter the fire? In that case, he might also be the one who saved Gou Su?
No, it wasn't him. He had admitted before that Gou Su's savior was Huang Heng.
Maybe it was because he had watched too many TV dramas, Xiao Lin always felt that there must be something wrong. Otherwise, how could it be such a coincidence that Huang Heng had a birthmark on the back of his neck, and so did Achou?
However, she was still enthusiastically moving herself, but Ah Chou's words brought her back to her original state -
"I was in that fire, but I couldn't save the general..."
Xiao Lin and Mu You froze: "?"
"That day, I heard a fire broke out at a house in the suburbs. Looking off into the distance, I spotted the thatched cottage where the general lived. In a moment of panic, I rushed over without warning. But when I recklessly rushed into the sea of fire, I found myself engulfed in smoke and flames. I couldn't even open my eyes, and the flames threatened to lick my hair off..."
"I wanted to save her, but I forgot to dip my finger in water. A moment later, before I could find her, my clothes caught fire. I was busy putting out the flames and didn't pay attention to the red-hot beam above my head. It fell straight down, and I had no way to avoid it, and it fell directly on me..."
As he spoke, Ah Chou stopped scooping water with his right arm and rolled up his sleeves a few inches.
The candlelight swayed the mottled earthen wall covered with stove ash. The hot steam rising from the big pot was wrapped in the smell of sweat. Ah Chou used his left hand, which was dripping with water, to lift the linen sleeve of his right arm.
In the dim light of the oil lamp, centipede-like scars and scabs snaked from the forearm to the elbow, the dark red flesh was curled into clumps, and beads of sweat slid into the grooves along the wrinkles.
The boiling water in the pot was bubbling, and the crickets under the chopping board suddenly fell silent.
Xiao Lin couldn't help but turn his head away in fright after just one glance.
Ah Chou knew that his body was extremely ugly, so he quickly pulled his sleeves back to his wrists and said, "My face is the same, but it's too horrible, so I'd better not let you see it."
"Then...did the general know that you went to the fire scene?"
"I told her about it some time ago, and she knew about it."
"So...it was really Young Master Huang who saved the general?"
"Yes, I also hoped that it was me who saved her that day, but in the end, it wasn't me..."
Ah Chou's tone was terrifyingly calm. It seemed that he must have tried his best to soothe his heart full of regrets countless times late at night, which was why he could be so calm.
But, how can I not feel regret?
She saved his life, but he couldn't save hers.
If that's the case, could it be that he was jealous when he stopped Gou Su from agreeing to Huang Heng?
Is it jealousy that he, Huang Heng, has become a treasure in her eyes?
Xiao Lin gradually became confused. Human hearts are really hard to predict.
But one thing is certain, and that is the love that Ah Chou has buried deep in his heart.
When he was young, she gave him hope when he was most vulnerable; when he was young and helpless, she took him in and covered him with a fur cloak.
In this case, how could he not have other thoughts about her?
It is like the loess that has suffered from drought for many years, and suddenly catches a handful of clear spring water at some point in time. Even if the clear spring water cannot fill the cracks, it is enough to make people greedy.
But the clear spring gurgles forward, and the loess eventually returns to its hometown.
He has been guarding the house for her all year round. Over time, he naturally cannot keep up with her pace and cannot touch her red tassel.
He was ugly and could not stand the public, so he could only live in a small house, tending flowers and plants for her. He hid his love for her in his bright eyes, the fragrant glutinous rice cakes he brought out from the oven, the neatly folded clean military robes, and the polished swords and guns.
Although Mu You was standing on one side, he inexplicably resonated with him.
Achou loves Gou Su, but because of the distance between them, he cannot speak.
But Mu You was different. His love for Xiao Lin was no less than that for Achou. Even though he had nothing and no moral principles to abide by at this moment, he kept his lips tightly closed and could not speak.
He was afraid that if he told her the truth, they wouldn't even be able to be friends anymore.
So he kept silent, and waited until the time was right before he made his intentions clear.
After chatting with the two of them for a while, Ah Chou remembered his work and hurriedly picked up the wooden bucket with splashing water and walked towards Gou Su's bathhouse.
Seeing this, Xiao Lin quickly stepped forward and snatched the bucket away: "The general is a woman after all, it would be safer for me to deliver it."
Achou paused for a long time before handing over his hand.
A gentle breeze blew through the curtains in the corridor of the general's mansion, making a long, crisp sound. When Xiao Lin retreated with the wooden bucket, the tassels on the eaves shattered a piece of moonlight.
She rubbed her palm on the hem of her skirt, leaving a winding water mark on the ground, which spread all the way to the sandalwood door with Taotie patterns carved on it.
Three light taps made her palms burn. She put the tip of her ear to the crack of the door and said, "General, it's time to wash up."
"General Aso?"
"General Zhaowu?" Seeing no sound from inside, Xiao Lin tapped again with his knuckles.
The words fell into the night filled with the fragrance of agarwood, causing the candlelight on the desk to flicker, and in just a moment, it lit up the sky outside the window.
"General Zhaowu, listen to my command!" Bright yellow silk unfurled from the back of the eunuch's veined hand, his shrill tail hanging in the scorching air. "General Zhaowu Gou Su, loyal and brave, renowned for his meritorious service, your virtues known far and wide, your achievements unparalleled throughout the world. I hereby appoint you as escort envoy, assisting the Grand Herald, and specifically responsible for the affairs of foreign envoys entering the capital for the pilgrimage. You must appease the distant people, promote the prestige of our country, rectify the rituals, and carefully guard the borders. In every prefecture and county you pass through, you must demonstrate our court's courtesy to the distant lands; any courier messages you send back and forth must demonstrate our superior country's conciliatory spirit. This is my order—"
"Gou Su obeys the order! Long live the emperor!"
When the silk fell and the golden edge of the imperial edict brushed against her fingertips, her knuckles twitched uncontrollably.
The jade shaft had been warmed by her father-in-law's sweaty palm. Her drooping eyelashes cast fine gray shadows on her cheekbones, and she was holding on to this sudden mission.
Xiao Lin and Mu You knelt side by side on the ground, not breathing hard.
Her heart was beating wildly, perhaps due to the pressure of this scene, and she could not hear anything the eunuch who announced the decree said.
The emperor has issued an order, nothing will happen, nothing should happen...
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