Chapter 74
Fan Changyu quickly put down his bowl and patted him on the back: "What's wrong with you?"
It would have been fine if the video hadn't been taken. As soon as the video was taken, Xie Zheng fell on the bed and spat out a mouthful of dark red blood.
Fan Changyu was terribly frightened. She looked at her hands, then at Xie Zheng, then turned around and shouted outside the tent, "Military doctor! Call a military doctor! Someone is vomiting blood!"
The personal soldiers guarding outside the tent heard the sound and opened the curtain to see the blood on the ground. They ran after the military doctor who had just walked out of the tent.
The other wounded soldiers in the big tent were also talking about the situation. Some said that Xie Zheng was recovering from his illness, while others told Fan Changyu not to worry too much and to wait for the military doctor to come and see him.
Fan Changyu used a handkerchief to wipe the blood from the corner of Xie Zheng's mouth, holding his hand tightly, and muttered: "It's okay, it's okay..."
I don’t know whether I was talking to Xie Zheng or to myself.
Xie Zheng had a mouthful of blood stuck in his chest for many days. This coughing helped the blood come out. The stuffiness in his chest suddenly eased, and even his breathing became much smoother. However, because he coughed too hard, the wound was probably pulled, and the gauze was faintly stained with blood.
He glanced at Fan Changyu's hand that was tightly grasping his. His lips, which originally had little blood color, had gained a brighter color due to the coughing up of blood just now, which made his face look even paler, making people feel inexplicably distressed.
He half-closed his eyes and said weakly, "You want to divorce me?"
Fan Changyu's eyes were filled with tears: "I won't leave you, I won't leave you!"
Her voice was even a little choked with sobs: "You were captured by the conscription because you bribed me. If we had talked nicely that day and you had signed the divorce agreement, the soldiers wouldn't have taken you away, and you wouldn't have been injured like this. Don't be afraid. I won't ignore you now that you are like this. I had thought about it on the way here. If you die here, I will help you collect your body. There is no one in your family anymore. In the future, I will burn offerings for you during festivals..."
Speaking of the latter part, she might have been really afraid that the person in front of her would die here, and her tears fell on the quilt in large drops, leaving small wet marks.
A hand pressed against her back, and she was pressed into an embrace that smelled of blood and herbs.
Fan Changyu was afraid of pressing on his wound, so she pressed her hands on his shoulders and tried to push him away. However, Xie Zheng tightened his arms and tightly held her in his arms. He rested his chin on her shoulders, which were trembling slightly from crying, and said in a hoarse voice, "Don't move."
Fan Changyu was afraid of aggravating his injuries and did not dare to move. However, her chest was filled with inexplicable emotions, which made her feel stuffy. Her tears rolled uncontrollably and hit the fabric of his shoulders.
Xie Zheng said: "Don't cry, I'm glad you can still come to see me."
After a pause, he added, "I'm sorry about what happened that day."
Fan Changyu knew what he was talking about. She pursed her lips and was about to speak when the curtain was drawn aside and the personal soldiers hurried in with the military doctor. Gongsun Yin was afraid that Xie Zheng might have been in trouble, so he also came over to take a look. When they saw this scene, they all stood there with different expressions on their faces.
Fan Changyu turned his head and saw that the other wounded soldiers were also staring at them. His face flushed and he quickly pushed Xie Zheng back to the bed. His movements were too swift and he groaned. Fan Changyu quickly withdrew his hand and said, "Did I hurt you?"
Xie Zheng said with a pale face that it was nothing.
The wounded veteran in the tent smiled and came to their rescue: "The young couple just experienced a life-and-death separation, and they are very scared!"
The other wounded soldiers also laughed in good faith.
The military doctor came forward and asked about Xie Zheng's coughing up blood. After taking Xie Zheng's pulse again, he did not dare to be overly cautious and only said that it was caused by physical weakness and that his physical vitality was severely damaged, and he needed to be nourished and recuperated.
"You are weak..." Gongsun Yin looked at Xie Zheng teasingly, raised his hand and touched his chin, and said: "Let the Fire Battalion prepare some delicious food for the injured soldiers to nourish them."
The wounded soldiers in the tent were all grateful.
Gongsun Yin added: "Those with serious injuries and those with minor injuries should be taken care of in different tents. This will also make it easier for the military doctors to prepare medicine."
As he spoke, he pointed at Xie Zheng and said, "It just so happened that the soldiers had set up a few new tents for the soldiers from Jizhou who had gone up the mountain this afternoon. They were not far from here, so this man went to the new tents."
Xie Zheng glanced at him coldly, and Gongsun Yin smiled at him in a sly way.
Xie Zheng was injured, so several personal soldiers disguised themselves as soldiers and carried him and his bed into the newly set up military tent.
Fan Changyu followed over and was surprised to find that although there were many military beds placed in the military tent, no one was living there at the moment.
Gongsun Yin explained that more soldiers with serious injuries were found later and would be transferred here one after another.
When Fan Changyu went to Huotouying to help collect food for the sick camp, Gongsun Yincai sat on a military bed opposite Xie Zheng and raised his eyebrows and asked him, "Should I arrange another military tent for the girl to live in, or let her stay with you?"
Xie Zheng had just drunk a bowl of medicine, and his mouth was still bitter. He sat up and poured a glass of water to drink. He held the cup and lowered his eyes to think for a moment, then said, "Find another place for her."
Gongsun Yin smiled and said, "That's fine. I almost forgot. I have a little girl with me. Now that her sister is here, it would be nice for the two sisters to live together."
Thinking of the scene he saw when he opened the curtains, he couldn't help but teasing, "It was worth it for you to be shot. The girl cried for you. How could she be heartless..."
At this point, he paused and looked at Xie Zheng: "After Sui Yuanqing knew about her relationship with you, she thought of arresting her sister to threaten you. If Wei Yan also heard about it... you know what he would do."
Xie Zheng's five fingers holding the ceramic cup suddenly tightened and said, "No news of today's incident is allowed to be spread outside."
Gongsun Yin said, "The only ones who know about it are the military doctor and a few of your personal guards. You promoted those personal guards and they are very tight-lipped. I have warned the military doctor and have secretly had people watching over them these past two days. Nothing will go wrong. Even the wounded soldiers in the camp know that the girl is looking for you. If they knew your identity, it would be difficult to deal with..."
Xie Zheng said, "Then keep it a secret for now."
Gongsun Yin asked again, "Where is Miss Fan?"
Xie Zheng half raised his eyelids and said, "I will find a chance to explain everything to her."
Gongsun Yin said: "As long as you have a plan, it's fine."
After he left, Xie Zheng rested his head on his arms and stared at the ceiling of the tent in a daze for a long time.
He was not sure whether Fan Changyu would still decide to be with him after knowing everything.
Fan Changyu would accept Yan Zheng, who had nothing, but would not necessarily choose Xie Zheng, who bore a blood feud.
A large part of her kindness to him now stems from her guilt towards him, thinking that he was forced to join the army in order not to cause trouble to her and the neighbors.
When she knew that he was originally going to return to the army, this guilt would disappear.
He knew how much she cared about her sister, but because of him, her sister fell into the hands of the bad guys and almost lost her life.
He was not sure whether she would blame him, but he was sure that if she chose to follow him, she would probably encounter such a thing again in the future.
Given her personality, she would probably cut ties with him just for the sake of her sister's peace and security. She liked peace and quiet, just like she once said, she wanted to find a down-to-earth and humble scholar as her husband and live a simple life.
The kindness she showed him now seemed like something he had stolen.
If you are a thief, you will be exposed one day.
He understood the consequences, but when he thought of the way she looked at him while crying and the words she said, the lump of flesh in his heart began to throb uncontrollably.
He had never wanted something so badly and yet been so afraid of losing it.
For a moment, Xie Zheng even thought, it would be nice if he was really just Yan Zheng.
In the end, the corners of his mouth only formed a mocking arc.
-
When Fan Changyu came back with the food, he saw Xie Zheng with one hand in front of his eyes, as if he was asleep.
When she came in, he lowered his arms and looked at her.
Fan Changyu smiled at him: "Are you awake? The Huotou Camp has caught a lot of pheasants and made chicken soup for the injured soldiers. Drink it while it's hot."
She held the large bowl in one hand and supported him with the other. Xie Zheng's face was extremely pale due to excessive blood loss, and his eyes were dark from not sleeping for several days, but his facial features were so beautiful that even in this state, he still had a decadent and haggard beauty, and looked particularly fragile.
After Xie Zheng sat up leaning against the pillow, he wanted to reach out to take the bowl and drink it himself, but Fan Changyu scooped it up with a spoon and fed it to him, just like he had fed him medicine before.
Xie Zheng hesitated for a moment, opened his mouth and drank it, then frowned silently.
——It’s hot.
But Fan Changyu seemed not to notice this problem at all. After all, she had never fed medicine to anyone before. When her parents passed away, Changning was already five years old, so she didn't have to worry about her eating or taking medicine.
The previous medicine had been cold for a while. This soup was just brought over from Huotouying and was in a wooden bowl, so she could hardly sense the temperature.
When the second spoonful was brought to Xie Zheng's lips, the corners of his lips twitched, he seemed to want to say something but stopped himself, but he still opened his mouth and drank it, then reached out to take the bowl of soup: "I'll do it myself."
Fan Changyu looked at his sickly face and felt pity for him. He did not give him any soup. Instead, he used a wooden spoon to stir the soup bowl, scooped up another spoonful and fed it to him, saying, "You are so badly injured. Rest well. I will feed you."
Xie Zheng looked at the spoonful of steaming soup that was placed in front of him, and finally resigned himself to drinking it.
After feeding him that bowl of chicken soup, his tongue was burnt and numb.
Fan Changyu looked at the empty bowl and strangely felt a sense of accomplishment.
She takes such good care of people!
Xie Zheng wanted to pour a cup of cold tea, and she rushed to pour it too. When she handed it to him, she asked in confusion: "You just finished a bowl of chicken soup, are you still thirsty?"
Xie Zheng made up an excuse: "It smells fishy, so I'll suppress it."
There was still a little soup left in the bowl. Fan Changyu took a sip and found that there was no salt in the chicken soup at all. It was so fishy that it was almost unpalatable.
She frowned and said, "Maybe Huotouying was too busy and forgot to add salt. Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
Xie Zheng was silent for a moment, his face became a little solemn, and he said, "There is no salt."
Fan Changyu was stunned for a moment, then he understood what he meant. Their army was supposed to fight a battle and then run away. They didn't even have food or fodder, so how could they possibly prepare salt?
The reinforcements from Jizhou only brought food and medicine.
Here, staying alive is a luxury, who cares whether the food tastes good or not.
Before going up the mountain, Old Man Tao told her about the predicament on the mountain. Yixianxia is close to Chongzhou. After the defeat in Lucheng, Prince Changxin made a desperate move and surrounded Yixianxia in order to cut off the food supply and force the Yanzhou army on the mountain into a desperate situation.
Although the continuous heavy rains drowned Prince Changxin's 50,000 troops, many soldiers on the mountain also caught a cold from the rain.
Prince Changxin knew that Tang Peiyi's siege of Chongzhou was just a sham, so he only withdrew half of his troops down the mountain just in case. But even if he withdrew half of his troops, there were still 20,000 Chongzhou troops left at the foot of the mountain. If the main army went down the mountain at this time, even with the help of the two or three thousand reinforcements that were scattered outside, it would be like hitting a rock with an egg.
Fan Changyu didn't know what kind of situation he would face after the food on the mountain was eaten up. He just looked at Xie Zheng and said seriously: "Don't worry, I heard that Wu'an Hou is very strategic. He has won so many battles. It is impossible for him to be trapped and killed on the mountain by the rebels. Even if we eat up all the food on the mountain and the rebels attack the mountain, as long as I still have the strength, I will carry you and escape."
Xie Zheng felt mixed emotions, looked at her and asked, "It has come to that, you should just protect yourself, why are you bringing me along?"
Fan Changyu said as a matter of course: "I said I would support you in the future."
This sentence touched Xie Zheng's heartstrings. He stared at her for a long time, and suddenly said, "Fan Changyu, you don't have to do this for me out of guilt."
"I joined the army not because I was afraid of getting you and your neighbors into trouble, but because all the power I wanted was here. I was injured because I was trying to gain military merit on the battlefield. It has nothing to do with you. What are you feeling guilty about?"
At this moment, his expression was almost indifferent.
Fan Changyu didn't quite understand why he suddenly became so strange, so he asked him, "Don't you want me to come find you?"
Xie Zheng's dark eyes were cold, and he suppressed his extravagant hope: "If it's just because of guilt, you shouldn't come here. You don't owe me anything."
Fan Changyu understood a little bit what he meant. She pursed her lips and said, "Before I came to the military tent, I didn't finish my words. Before I came to find you, I had already thought about the two situations of whether you were dead or alive. When you left, I beat you so badly and said harsh words to you. Then I never saw you again. Every time I think about it, I feel very uncomfortable and feel guilty."
She paused, raised her eyes and looked at Xie Zheng, as if she was a little confused: "But I came to you, it seems that it is not just because of guilt. You don't know, I almost died once, Qingping County and Lin'an Town were massacred. The rebel who pretended to be a grain-collecting officer mixed in with the bandits and wanted to seek revenge on me. They had more people and I couldn't beat them, so I hid Changning and Aunt Zhao. I was cut off by that bastard. I was almost drowned by a bandit leader. Later, Changning was kidnapped again. On my way to find Changning, I met Uncle Zhao. He said, "You came here. I was afraid you would die here. I thought, come and see it anyway. If you are dead, I will bury you. If you are not dead, I will talk to you and tell you that Changning is gone. I can't find her, but I will continue to look for her..."
She told him incessantly about everything that had happened to her after he left. Her vision inexplicably became blurry, and she blinked, a large tear rolling down her cheeks.
It's really strange, because she rarely cries since she was a child.
She couldn't see the expression of the person in front of her, and the next moment she was hugged by someone, even tighter than the last time, and it made her bones ache.
He pressed the back of her head and made her lean on his shoulder. His force was so fierce that his fingertips turned white. He wanted to say something, his throat moved, but he fell silent again and closed his eyes. Everything was contained in this silent embrace.
The mixed smell of blood and medicine was not pleasant, but at this moment this embrace made Fan Changyu's eyes even more sour, and his chest was filled with an unprecedented feeling of grievance.
After her parents passed away, she suffered a lot, but she never complained to others and would never shed a tear in front of others.
Just today, I took advantage of this hug to lie on his shoulder and cry my heart out.
-
Outside the tent, Gongsun Yin led Changning here. When they heard the noise inside, they didn't know whether to go in or not, and their face was full of confusion.
The author has something to say:
Changning (jumping): Hurry up! Give me the camera!
----------------
This chapter is the emotional drama that stupid authors are most afraid to write. It took a long time to write. I am sorry to have kept you waiting for a long time QAQ. I will give everyone 100 red envelopes~
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
