Chapter 53 (Catching Bugs)
Fan Changyu was stunned.
She only reacted when she felt a stinging pain on her lips. In embarrassment, she instinctively raised her other hand towards his face, but he seemed to be prepared and easily caught her hand. He pulled her closer to him, holding her tightly with his hard chest and a pair of iron arms.
Fan Changyu had never been treated like this before. She used brute force to fight back, but was always defeated by the opponent's cleverness.
She was so angry that she used all her strength on her teeth. When she bit down, Xie Zheng hissed softly. When they separated, blood appeared on his lips. He frowned: "You——"
Before he could finish his sentence, Fan Changyu bumped into him head-on, hitting his nose. His nose was sore and he had to pull out one hand to cover it. The next moment, Fan Changyu used his free hand to punch him hard in the corner of the eye.
Xie Zheng felt the pain but did not loosen his other hand that was holding hers. He pulled her back and held her hands against the wall. He directly used his body to push against her back and said in a cold tone, "Are you really so wronged?"
Fan Changyu wanted to bite him to death, but because of the previous injury on his wrist, he was unable to break free from his restraints for a while.
She yelled, "What's wrong with you? If you want to find a woman, there are plenty of women willing to do business with you. Who do you think I am?"
Xie Zheng raised his head suddenly, his dark eyes dark and gloomy: "Is this how you think of me?"
Fan Changyu was held down by him and couldn't move. Sparks almost flashed from his eyes in shame and anger: "What do you think you were doing just now? Taking advantage of someone's misfortune!"
Xie Zheng was probably so angry that he actually laughed softly: "Taking advantage of someone's misfortune? If I really wanted to take advantage of you, I wouldn't have waited until now."
He let go of her and took a step back, his lips curled coldly: "Can't you let go of your ex-fiancé? You have to find someone similar to him in the future? Don't you have a good memory?"
Fan Changyu had just been flirted with by him, and now he was again speaking in a sarcastic and lecturing tone, which made him extremely annoyed. When he reacted, he had already punched him in the face again, "Whether I can let go or not, what does it have to do with you?"
Xie Zheng did not dodge or evade, and took her powerful punch head-on. The corner of his lip was broken, and the red color on half of his face looked unexpectedly beautiful on his jade-like face.
Fan Changyu was stunned for a moment after the fight. She was the one who did it, so of course she knew how strong the force was.
Why... doesn't he hide?
Xie Zheng touched the torn corner of his lips with the tip of his tongue, and after tasting a faint smell of rust, he turned his head to look at Fan Changyu and asked, "Are you not going to continue?"
Fan Changyu couldn't explain how she felt at that moment. Her knuckles still felt a slight pain, and the look on his face was only worse.
But after what he had done to her, she couldn't say sorry. She pursed her lips, turned around and went into the house.
However, he was unexpectedly approached by a person who was one step away like a ghost. Fan Changyu only saw his pair of frighteningly dark eyes, and then he grabbed the back of his head and kissed him again.
Her scalp was about to explode, but because she had lost the initiative, she was restricted everywhere. During the pushing and shoving, her whole body was pressed against the wall. He grabbed both of her hands and raised them above her head, using the advantage of his body size to press her tightly. When he lowered his head, his breath, which was different from the usual light breath, sprayed on her face, and his kiss was more wild and rough than the last time.
Fan Changyu was so angry that she bit him fiercely. He quickly clamped her jaw and somehow used his strength to prevent her from biting again. However, he did not intend to retreat. Instead, he took this opportunity to force her teeth open and swept back and forth in her mouth several times.
At the end, Fan Changyu was out of breath, his brain was temporarily lacking oxygen, and he even forgot to punch him again. He just stared at him in disbelief.
Xie Zheng let her go, wiped the blood off his lips with his index finger, and said, "Now is the time to take advantage of someone's misfortune."
The anger of being offended and flirted with rushed straight to Fan Changyu's head. When Xie Zheng loosened his grip on her hands and feet and stepped back, she pulled out a boning knife she carried with her and pressed it against his neck: "Who do you think you are? You can humiliate me if you want to?"
Xie Zheng leaned against the wooden pillar, with her holding him with a knife, but his face showed no change of expression. Only when he heard Fan Changyu's words did he raise his eyes and look serious, "Rather than having poor vision and continuing to find an ungrateful person in the future, you might as well follow me."
After these words were spoken, not only Fan Changyu but Xie Zheng himself was stunned for a moment, and then he felt a numb pleasure as if his rationality had been forcibly destroyed.
Yes, isn't it better to keep her by my side than for her to marry someone else in the future?
After saying this, the rest of the conversation seemed much easier. He was silent for a moment, then slowly said, "I have a very powerful enemy outside. I may die at his hands, or he may die and I live. If you are willing, just wait for me for two years. If I die, someone will send you a letter, and then you can marry someone else."
Fan Changyu stared at him coldly: "You keep saying that Song Yan is an ungrateful person, but how are you any better than him? You flirt with me, and then tell me that you are interested in me?"
She put away the knife, and the anger of being offended overwhelmed other emotions for a moment. She lifted her sleeve and wiped her lips vigorously: "I beat you, so we are even. The things are on the table. Once the city gate is opened, you can leave."
Xie Zheng watched her back as she walked back into the house, and there was not even a hint of a cold curve at the corners of his mouth.
So, he was rejected?
From birth to now, this man had only suffered defeat once, on the battlefield of Chongzhou. This time, he tasted defeat again in another place.
He did not take anything from the table in the main hall. He stood against the pillar for a while and then walked out of the Fan family's courtyard.
Because of the siege of the city by rebels in Qingping County a few days ago and the current strict martial law imposed by the government, the streets of Lin'an Town were very crowded, with almost no farmers coming to gather.
Xie Zheng wandered aimlessly into the pine forest along the river outside the town. The ground was covered with a foot of snow. The river water originated from the undulating terrain and the current was fast. The thin layer of ice that had just formed on the river surface last night had broken apart, and only the sound of the spring water halfway up the mountain could be heard.
He lay down on the snow on the gentle slope, put his arm behind his head and stared blankly at the vague outline of Lin'an Town in the distance.
He was not panicked when his life was hanging by a thread on the battlefield of Chongzhou, and he was lucky to save his life. He was not afraid when he was chased by assassins for more than a hundred miles. He fell off a cliff and was carried to Jizhou by the river. He woke up on the bank of the river, and went to find a village despite the wounds from swords and the cold and high fever. He fainted in the wild and was picked up by the woman.
At that time, all he was planning was how to stabilize the overall situation in the northwest and then take revenge on the Wei father and son step by step.
When did you start to feel reluctant to leave?
There was always noise and fuss in that small house. He had seen too many people whose backs were bent by suffering, but that woman would straighten her frail back to bear the consequences even if the sky fell.
Maybe... it's just been a long time since anyone has been so kind to him?
The stale candy when taking medicine, the red envelope for the New Year... A mocking smile crept up to the corners of Xie Zheng's mouth, and for a moment he thought of the four words "wagging the tail to beg for mercy".
She was probably just too kind-hearted. Even if it wasn't him who was rescued that day, but anyone else, she would have taken care of him with all her heart, bought him candies, and packed him red envelopes for the New Year...
She was nice to him because he was pitiful, not because she had any affection for him.
His words "follow him" have become a joke.
A person who has been proud for half his life is not willing to admit this ridiculous setback.
In the sky, a Saker Falcon was circling and crying, as if looking for someone.
Xie Zheng took a long time to blow the whistle this time. He turned his head slightly and saw a tender green grass sprout breaking through the snow on the river bank where most of the snow had melted, standing out in the snow.
When the ice melts, the springs begin to pulsate; when the snow is gone, grass sprouts begin to grow.
This was the New Year couplet he wrote for her.
He looked at it for a while, closed his eyes, half sat up, tore off the grass sprout, threw it into the rushing water, and watched quietly as the river water swept the grass sprout away.
If your heart is in chaos, just unplug it.
The Saker Falcon circling in the sky finally saw him, and when it swooped down, Xie Zheng did not raise his hand to catch it. The Saker Falcon landed and stood there for a while, but seeing that Xie Zheng did not take its trust, it tilted its head to look at him, walked closer, and gently pecked the back of his hand with its beak.
Xie Zheng raised his hand to smooth the feathers on the bird's head, his eyes still fixed on the distant water flow. It took him a while to remove the letter paper from its feet.
He finished reading the letter in three lines at a glance, and the letter turned into crumbs at his fingertips. He took one last look at the distant Lin'an Town and said, "Let's go. It's time to go back."
-
Jizhou.
An urgent report from Jinzhou was delivered to the government office of Jizhou. All the officials in the prefecture were shocked when they read it.
"The Northern Jue people really attacked Jinzhou!"
"Fortunately, Marquis Wu'an has not disappeared in Chongzhou. With Marquis Wu'an in charge of Jinzhou, I think the barbarians in the north will be frightened when they hear the name of Marquis Wu'an!"
He Jingyuan, who was sitting at the top of the meeting room, had a gloomy face. Before he could say a word, another guard outside the meeting room reported: "Lucheng is in danger! General Guo Xinhou under the command of Prince Changxin has led 50,000 troops to besiege Lucheng!"
As soon as these words were spoken, all the officials in the meeting room were even more shocked.
How long has it been since Prince Changxin led a group of assassins to disguise themselves as farmers and instigate the people of Qingping County to rebel?
If the riots in Qingping County were not suppressed and the people really rebelled, Lucheng would be the first line of military defense between Jizhou and Chongzhou, with Qingping County right behind it. At that time, Lucheng would be attacked from both sides.
An official cursed: "The rebels clearly planned this long ago! Jinzhou is in danger, and the heavy troops stationed in Huizhou by Wu'an Hou will definitely be transferred to Jinzhou. They will have no power to delay the rebels! The rebels want to take advantage of this opportunity to invade the northwest!"
A general said: "The most urgent thing right now is that the rebels have already arrived at Lucheng. How can we defend Jizhou?"
Once Lucheng was lost, Jizhou would lose its defense.
Amid the clamor, He Jingyuan said, "Guo Xinhou is an old general who is good at using military tactics. I will go to Lucheng in person to take charge of the situation."
"Sir, you must not do that! Lucheng is in danger right now. The rebels have 50,000 troops pressing in, and Lucheng only has 20,000 soldiers. If anything goes wrong with you, we will be held responsible!"
Amidst the humiliation, He Jingyuan raised his hand to signal his subordinates not to say anything more. He said, "If I go, will it be dangerous? Will the soldiers defending Lucheng be less dangerous? If I go, the bandits will be jealous of me, and Lucheng will be less dangerous. You will also have enough time to recruit soldiers from the people."
As soon as the meeting was over, cavalrymen rode on horses to various counties with conscription orders.
-
Lin'an Town.
Fan Changyu was sulking for the entire afternoon because of Xie Zheng's recklessness.
She opened the book on the table, trying to read it to distract herself, but when she saw the densely packed small annotations on it, she felt a lump in her throat, unable to let it go.
The annotations in this book were all written by him during those days when he stayed up late at night.
After his anger slowly subsided, Fan Changyu felt uncomfortable again when he thought about what he said, that he might die at the hands of his enemies.
He keeps saying he wants to leave. Is it because he has a huge grudge against him?
She walked out of the room and passed the main room. She saw that the pile of things she had prepared for him were still on the table, along with the divorce papers. Both papers only had her name on them, and he had not signed them. She couldn't help but feel even more complicated.
Changning and Yu Baoer went out to play with the kids in the alley and haven't come back yet.
Fan Changyu walked to the door of the south room, hesitated for a moment, and knocked on the door.
No one answered.
Fan Changyu pursed his lips, knocked twice, and said, "Yan Zheng, are you there?"
She was still met with silence.
Fan Changyu thought about the harsh words he had said in anger, and that Yan Zheng might have left without saying goodbye, so he pushed the door open forcefully. He saw that he had not taken any of his belongings with him, and his heart suddenly settled down.
So he probably went out to relax?
Fan Changyu closed the door and was about to go back to his room, but he heard a lot of noise outside the alley, including crying and soldiers shouting and cursing.
"Mr. Soldier! Mr. Soldier! You are my only son! Please have mercy on my mother and me..."
"The rebels are about to attack Jizhou. Are you going to wait for the rebels to attack and massacre Jizhou?"
Fan Changyu's heart skipped a beat. He opened the gate and looked outside. He saw soldiers in armor and sharp weapons breaking into every house to arrest males.
The one sitting on the ground crying for her parents was Mrs. Kang.
She held her son tightly in her arms, but was no match for the strong soldiers, who took her son away.
Mrs. Kang cried, "Don't be afraid, my son. I will go to the Song family and ask Mr. Song to ask him to ask the county magistrate to let you go."
When Fan Changyu saw that these officers and soldiers were wearing the military uniforms of Fuzhou Prefecture, he knew that it was useless to ask for help from the county magistrate, unless the county magistrate was willing to humble himself and get close to the chief officer in charge of conscription, in order to gain some benefits.
She immediately became worried about Yan Zhenglai.
Once they were drafted into the army, they had no idea when the war would be over and when they could return home. Most of them died on the battlefield, and there might not even be a place to bury their bodies.
When the children playing outside saw this, they no longer dared to act naughty and ran home.
Changning and Yu Baoer ran to the front door of their house and hid behind Fan Changyu, only half of their heads exposed as they timidly looked at the soldiers who had broken into the alley.
Chang Ning raised his head nervously and asked Fan Changyu: "Sister, Yan Zi's eldest brother was captured by these soldiers. Will my brother-in-law be captured by them too?"
Fan Changyu was also unsure, as this was the first time she had seen conscription.
I heard from Aunt Zhao before that it was possible to use silver in exchange for the head of a conscripted soldier, but it seems that this time it is not possible.
She rushed the two children into the yard and said, "Go inside first."
As soon as she closed the gate, she saw the sergeant in the alley and his soldiers arriving at the gate of her house.
According to the laws of this dynasty, people are grouped into groups of five households and groups of ten households. Taxation and conscription are all based on these ten neighboring households. If anyone shields someone, all ten households will be punished.
The sergeant looked embarrassed and told the soldiers the truth about the situation of Fan Changyu's family: "This is the head of the household. Her surname is Fan, her name is Changyu, and she has found a husband."
When the officers and soldiers heard that it was a bribe, they were surprised. When they saw that only Fan Changyu was outside and the gate was tightly closed, they looked unhappy and shouted, "Where is your husband?"
Fan Changyu pursed her lips. If she said at this time that she and Yan Zheng had already divorced, and Yan Zheng had not yet put his fingerprints on the divorce agreement in the house, she would undoubtedly be pushing the other nine families into the fire pit.
But if Yan Zheng was taken away, it would be an unprovoked disaster for him.
Fan Changyu thought about it again and again, and said truthfully: "He is not at home."
The soldier seemed to be used to this kind of talk, and he was about to kick the door with an unfriendly look on his face. The soldier holding the document next to him was probably literate, and had already found Fan Changyu's name in the Lin'an Town list, and hurriedly called out to his companion, "Wait."
He carefully looked at the list again, then looked at Fan Changyu: "Fan Changyu, right?"
Fan Changyu said in a neither humble nor arrogant manner: "It is my daughter."
The literate soldier said to his companion, "Her husband is already on the conscription list. I think he was among the people we just caught on the road."
Fan Changyu's heart was beating wildly, and she asked hurriedly, "My husband has been taken away? Junye, are you sure you didn't see it wrong?"
The literate officer glanced at the list and said, "Isn't your husband's name Yan Zheng?"
When he heard this name, Fan Changyu lost all his last hope.
She said hoarsely, "He's my husband."
The sergeant led the officers and soldiers to the next house and knocked on the door. Fan Changyu, with cold hands and feet, squatted at the gate of the courtyard.
With Yan Zheng's kung fu, it would be impossible for the soldiers to stop him if he wanted to leave.
He had read so many books and was well versed in the law. Was he afraid of bringing trouble to the nine neighbors, so he was willing to be taken away by the soldiers?
Fan Changyu thought of the pile of things she had prepared on the table in the room, as well as the unpleasant encounter between the two of them not long ago, and she felt increasingly depressed and uncomfortable, not knowing whether it was due to guilt or something else.
She sat there for a while, then suddenly seemed to remember something. She looked up and asked the soldier who was knocking on the door, "Sir, where is my husband now? Can I see him again? He was taken away outside, and I want to get him something."
The soldier glanced at Fan Changyu and said, "The group we caught on the way have been taken to the county town and are about to follow the army to Lucheng. I don't know if you can catch up with them if you rush there now."
Upon hearing this, Fan Changyu thanked her, entrusted Changning and Yu Baoer to the care of the neighbor's aunt, rushed into the house, picked up the bag on the table, stuffed two bags of stale candy into it, and hurried to the county town.
She thought the ox cart was too slow, so she borrowed a horse from someone. When she rushed to the gate of the county town, she was still a step too late. The first batch of soldiers recruited from the county town had already gone to Lucheng with the garrison.
Except for those on the conscription list, ordinary people were still not allowed to enter or leave Qingping County easily.
It was snowing heavily. Fan Changyu was standing at the city gate, carrying a large bag and leading his horse, looking at the official road extending into the distance outside the city gate.
Her heart felt extremely stuffy, and she led her horse back without saying a word.
Someone bumped into her on the road and the contents of her bag were scattered on the ground. Fan Changyu picked them up in silence. When she picked up the two packs of tangerine peel candies, she twisted one and put it in her mouth.
She thought, it’s a good thing that she didn’t catch up, the two bags of chenpi candy she bought were too sour and not as sweet as before.
Even if I gave it to Yan Zheng, he probably wouldn't like to eat it.
After packing up his things, Fan Changyu hung the bag on the saddle and rested his head on the saddle for a while.
How did it end like this?
She was annoyed with him, but he was drafted into the army without even saying goodbye, and she always felt as if she owed him something.
When he returned to the town, he happened to meet the second batch of soldiers who were escorting the newly recruited soldiers to the county town.
The relatives cried and saw them off all the way. The men who were conscripted had red eyes and asked their families to stop seeing them off.
Fan Changyu discovered that the elderly carpenter Zhao was also in the crowd.
She couldn't help but shout, "Uncle Zhao, why are you going to Lucheng too?"
Carpenter Zhao frowned and said bitterly, "I chose the wrong career. I was a veterinarian when I was young and a carpenter when I was old. The soldiers said that if I joined the army, I could treat war horses and build city defense equipment."
The officers and soldiers whipped the crowd to hurry up.
Fan Changyu was afraid that Carpenter Zhao, who was too old, would die of exhaustion on the road just from hurrying, so he hesitated for a moment and said, "Uncle Zhao, take the horse!"
When the officers and soldiers saw Fan Changyu approaching, they wanted to drive her away, but when they heard that she was going to send a horse, they immediately turned a blind eye.
Horses are good things. They can carry people and goods. If you are attacked, you may be able to save your life if you ride your horse fast.
Carpenter Zhao refused: "This Mark Gold is very expensive, where can I get it?"
Fan Changyu handed the reins of the horse to Carpenter Zhao and said, "Take it with you. The things in the bag are what I prepared for Yan Zheng. I didn't catch up with him. Uncle Zhao, if you go to Lucheng and see Yan Zheng, please help me give these things to him."
Carpenter Zhao stopped refusing when he heard this. He felt sorry for the young couple and said, "Don't worry. As long as I am still alive, I will definitely deliver the things to you."
Fan Changyu watched Carpenter Zhao walk away before walking back to the town, getting some silver to pay for the horse.
When they went to Aunt Zhao's house to pick up Changning and Yu Baoer, Aunt Zhao heard that Fan Changyu had bought a horse for Carpenter Zhao, and she cried and expressed her gratitude to Fan Changyu.
If the soldiers brought their own horses, they would become their private property and would be assigned to the cavalry battalion when they arrived at the barracks.
Even if you are in poor health and cannot go to the cavalry barracks, you will not be treated unfairly.
After Fan Changyu comforted Aunt Zhao, he took Changning and Yu Baoer home. The two children seemed to have stopped making noise because there was no one at home. Fan Changyu was enveloped by the silence and felt that the house seemed to have become strangely deserted.
It's really strange, Yanzheng is obviously not a talkative person.
Why is everything suddenly different now that he's gone?
Fan Changyu went to the south room to clean up the house and found that the desks he had used were very tidy and she hardly needed to tidy them up.
A pair of leather wrist guards were placed in a corner of the desk, with tools such as files next to them and a piece of paper underneath.
Judging from the size of the wristband, it doesn't look like it belongs to Yan Zheng.
Fan Changyu took it and looked at it. There were only eight words written on the paper: "Happy birthday, and may you live happily forever without worries."
The memory of Yan Zheng asking her about her birthday came to her mind, and Fan Changyu suddenly felt that the pair of wrist guards on her hands weighed a thousand pounds.
She lowered her eyes and looked at them carefully, and found that one of them seemed to have been re-polished, and when it was buckled on her wrist, the leather fit perfectly.
When Fan Changyu tried to unfasten the buckle on the wristband again, she didn't know whether her hands were shaking slightly or her knuckles were aching from the punch she had given Wang Yanzheng in the face, but she failed to unfasten the wristband despite trying several times.
She simply didn't understand, so she leaned back in her chair, staring at the wristband on her hand in a daze, feeling inexplicably empty in her heart.
The author has something to say:
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
