Chapter 1

2024.5.15

Preface/Text by Chen Wenhe

-

The horses were walking through the forest. There were dead branches all over the ground, and every time the horses' hooves took a step, they made a squeaking sound.

Yan Cheng looked around and rode his horse to the person in front.

"Your Majesty, here..."

"Young Master! Can you save my brother?" The person who spoke had a childish voice.

Xiyuan had just won a battle, and the remnants of the enemy army might come to seek revenge. Yan Cheng was afraid that they might be in danger, so he drew his sword and pointed it at the young girl kneeling in front of their king.

Her clothes were shabby but the material was probably luxurious. There were many wounds on her body and face, and she was dirty all over. Yan Cheng saw that she did not look like a Hun. He glanced at the silent man next to her and put the knife back.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?"

The girl didn't answer him. She just knelt there, staring stubbornly at the man riding on the tall horse.

Looking back at Lin Ruili, the little girl was obviously scared, but she straightened her body while pretending to be calm.

"My...my brother is injured. Can you save him?"

October in Xiyuan was cold. If the girl was wearing thin clothes, she might not be able to survive for a few nights. Huilin hesitated for a moment and said in a deep voice, "Lead the way."

Qi Chaoting was overjoyed and quickly got up from the ground. Although his foot was injured and he walked with a limp, he still walked very fast.

Yan Cheng passed by and pulled her onto his horse. Qi Chaoting looked at him in surprise. Yan Cheng controlled the horse and said nonchalantly, "Can you still walk?"

Qi Chaoting looked down at his feet and said softly, "I'm fine. My brother must be fine."

She has a good relationship with her brother.

"How do we go? Point."

Qi Chaoting pointed ahead and said, "Just keep going forward. It's not far."

Hui Lin heard it and walked in front, while Yan Cheng walked a little slower as he was with a little girl, and the distance between the two horses gradually widened.

Hui Lin searched the ground with his eyes, but before he could find her, Qi Chaoting spotted Qi Xinglan with his sharp eyes, "Brother!"

Huilin also saw the person lying on the ground. Although the red clothes were worn out, they were very conspicuous.

Seeing people, Qi Chaoting struggled to go down, but Yan Cheng held her tightly, "Don't go down, the king is here."

Qi Xinglan had been lying on the ground exhausted for a long time. His body was very weak after being fed medicine and he couldn't even get up. He didn't struggle anymore. The worst that could happen was death, which meant he wouldn't get his revenge. He didn't know whether the little girl Qi Chaoting was safe or not. Apart from that, he had no other thoughts.

Hearing the sound of horse hooves, Qi Xinglan thought that the soldiers escorting them were chasing after them again, but he vaguely heard Qi Chaoting's voice. Since he was lying on his side, he could still use his right hand, so he propped himself up and looked up.

But I saw a man standing not far in front of me.

Meeting Qi Xinglan's confused and wary eyes, Hui Lin was visibly stunned for a moment. Before Hui Lin could say anything, Qi Xinglan fell to the ground.

Hui Lin immediately jumped off the horse, and Qi Chaoting watched the man pick up his brother and put him on the horse.

Qi Xinglan was unconscious and his body was swaying, as if he was going to fall off the horse any moment.

Fortunately, Huilin quickly mounted his horse. Qi Xinglan bumped into his chest, but Huilin remained calm and said, "Return to camp."

—

Qi Xinglan thought she had died in the wilderness. When she slowly opened her eyes, she saw decorations all around her.

It seemed like the tent he and his father had stayed in when they followed the emperor on hunting trips in the capital.

Just as I was lost in thought, someone opened the curtain and walked in.

When Qi Xinglan saw the person coming, she struggled to get up and went back to the forest to change her clothes. However, the clothes she wore were the common clothes for the children of the noble families in Xiyuan. As soon as Qi Xinglan saw him, she knew that he was not a Han Chinese.

Hui Lin ignored the wariness in his eyes and sat down beside the bed. "How are you?"

Qi Xinglan felt it carefully and found that except for the dull pain in her lower abdomen, the injuries elsewhere on her body didn't hurt much.

So she looked up at the man who was speaking softly in front of her. Although she didn't know what his intention was, she was saved after all. Qi Xinglan answered honestly: "I'm fine. Where's my sister?"

Perhaps because she was afraid that the man didn't understand, Qi Xinglan added, "It's the girl who was with me, the twelve-year-old with the big eyes."

"Don't worry, she's fine. The military doctor has already seen her and she's fine."

Qi Xinglan breathed a sigh of relief, but her body tensed up the next moment because he reached out his hand to her for no reason.

Hui Lin noticed his stiffness, but still pressed his quilt down. Qi Xinglan was so anxious just now that the quilt had slipped to his waist.

Qi Xinglan was not used to someone being so close to her, especially a stranger whom she had only met once.

"Who are you?" Qi Xinglan guessed that this man must be in a high position of power in Xiyuan, but she was not sure who he was.

"I am Huilin, the king of Xiyuan."

This was within Qi Xinglan's expectations, so her expression did not change. She stole another glance at him, and then she remembered that people in the capital always said that people from Xiyuan all had full beards and smelled bad. Now it seems that this is not entirely true.

"Oh... hello." Qi Xinglan didn't know what to say next, and there was only silence between the two of them.

Hui Lin saw that Xinglan had been silent, so he started a conversation on his own, "What's your name?"

Qi Xinglan looked up when she heard this. He had saved her. In order not to arouse suspicion, Qi Xinglan felt that she should indeed tell the man in front of her her identity truthfully.

"I am the son of Qi Liang, the great general of the Zhou Dynasty. My name is Qi Xinglan. In June, my father went on a long expedition to fight against the barbarians in the south but was defeated. He returned to the capital after his defeat. This gave the villain an opportunity to fabricate evidence and accuse my Qi family of treason! The monarch was incompetent and listened to the treacherous ministers..."

Hui Lin listened quietly to the boy's accusation, and saw the change in Qi Xinglan's facial expression and the redness in the corners of her eyes.

His breathing stagnated, and his hand unconsciously touched the boy's thin shoulder that was shaking with anger. Qi Xinglan did not dodge, but looked up at Hui Lin and finished what he had just unfinished.

"So he beheaded my father, and my mother hanged herself to follow him. The remaining 162 people of the Qi family were all exiled to southern Xinjiang."

Qi Xinglan looked away, not knowing what she was thinking of. Her words were somewhat embarrassing. "The soldier who escorted us saw that Ting'er and I were getting along so well and had evil intentions."

"I couldn't stand the humiliation, so I ran away..."

After hearing this, Hui Lin felt distressed and perhaps a little sympathetic. He took a deep breath and asked again, "Don't you know how to use force?"

He was born into a family of generals, so how could he not know how to use martial arts?

Qi Xinglan's tone was very unnatural, and she stammered, "I...I will but..."

Qi Xinglan looked at him and lowered her voice, "Can I not say it?"

Hui Lin thought there was some hidden story here and stopped asking, fearing that the boy's heart, which had just opened up with great difficulty, would close again.

Anyway...there will be plenty of opportunities in the future.

Hui Lin tightly grasped Qi Xinglan's hand which was outside. Qi Xinglan couldn't break free and looked at him warily.

Hui Lin's usually cold and sharp eyes now had some emotion, and his tone was different from that to others, "Everything will be fine in the future."

With me here, everything will be fine.

Even if Qi Xinglan was slow and dull, he should have realized something by now. What's more, he was considered smart.

"You...you want to save me and tell me all this, what on earth do you mean?"

Qi Xinglan asked a serious question, and Hui Lin finally let go of his hand. Then he turned his shoulders around to face her and said seriously, "Will you marry me?"

Qi Xinglan was frightened at once, and she struggled away from his hand, her ears blushing, "You and I are both men..."

Hui Lin asked back, "What about men? I remember that many men in the capital were married to other men. Aren't there any medicines for having children?"

I don't know what they were talking about, but Qi Xinglan's face suddenly turned pale and she stopped talking. Huilin was a little at a loss. The eight-foot-tall, muscular man sat in front of the bed, staring at the boy on the bed, afraid to miss his every move.

Finally, Hui Lin sighed in a conciliatory manner, stood up and walked out, "Your sister is staying in the tent next door, you can go see her, and you can think about getting married again."

"I am serious about marrying you, no matter how difficult it is."

Huilin had already left, but he took two steps back and left these two words before leaving.

He lifted the curtain and walked outside the tent, where Yan Chengzheng was just emerging. His eyes lit up when he saw Hui Lin: "Your Majesty, has this young man... no, the queen, promised to marry you?"

Hui Lin glanced at him calmly, and Yan Cheng immediately felt something was wrong. Hui Lin said coldly: "Whether he agrees or not, he has to agree in the end."

He left after he finished speaking. Yan Cheng stayed there and wondered, does this mean she didn't agree? She didn't even agree to be the queen?

The people in the Central Plains are very arrogant.

After returning to the forest and leaving, he went to discuss the deployment of troops with the generals. Then he became worried about Qi Xinglan's situation. He spoke very seriously to Yan Cheng, but in fact, only he knew that as long as Qi Xinglan looked at him with red eyes and didn't nod,

He really can't do anything to anyone.

—

After returning to the forest, Qi Xinglan also slowed down.

Maybe he should think about it again. After all, he was now the son of a criminal. If he said he disagreed, Huilin would be angry and throw him back to the soldiers...

Qi Xinglan didn't even dare to think about it.

Those people gave him fertility drugs, which caused his health to deteriorate significantly. Now his lower abdomen still aches due to the changes in his physiological structure, and he will surely die when the time comes.

Instead, it is better to...

He could be hypocritical and flattering to the King of Xiyuan, allowing him to use him completely, while keeping himself and his sister safe. In time, when Xiyuan became stronger, he could help him avenge his blood feud.

Thinking of this, Qi Xinglan was about to get out of bed to look for Hui Lin, but she stopped outside the tent because she had to go see the girl Qi Chaoting first.

At least tell her all these things so that she won't worry.