Chapter 114 Farewell, Wait for Me to Return
Just as their noses were about to touch and their warm breaths mingled, Xu Zhiheng's ears suddenly twitched.
The next instant, he sat up abruptly and moved to the side with lightning speed, creating an arm's length distance between himself and Lin Yao.
Lin Yao felt the movement of the person next to her and opened her eyes in confusion. She saw Xu Zhiheng rubbing his nose somewhat awkwardly, with the tips of his ears turning an unnatural red.
Before she could even ask, the kitchen door was pushed open.
As Jin Yu and Man Tang walked, they sniffed the air: "Good heavens! I could smell this fragrance from far away. Miss Lin, what delicious food have you made this time?"
The two people moved closer to the stove and saw the instant noodles on the table. "What's this? Is it really noodles? It smells so good!"
As soon as they finished speaking, Su Niang and Wang Xiaoyu walked in together.
Wang Xiaoyu was still rubbing her eyes, her hair a little messy. "Master! I woke up and didn't see you. I was so scared!" As she spoke, she glanced at the bowl on the table and was immediately distracted. "What new food is this? It smells so good!"
Su Niang also leaned closer to take a look: "I got up to cover Xiao Yu with a blanket and saw that your kang was empty, so I figured you must have been busy in the kitchen again."
Lin Yao was startled by the sudden opening of the door and broke out in a cold sweat. When she heard them ask about the noodles on the table, she hurriedly replied, "I thought that the soldiers were working hard on the march and it wouldn't be good for them to always eat dry rations, so I came up with a new food called instant noodles."
Xu Zhiheng cleared his throat: "These instant noodles are indeed practical. You can eat them just by soaking them in boiling water. They're convenient, quick, and you can even have a hot meal."
Su Niang was taken aback at first, then picked up the flatbread from the bamboo sieve, smelled it, and looked at the softened noodles in the bowl: "This method is good! There is such a convenient food. Just soak it in boiling water. It is much better than eating cold dry food!"
The most excited were Jin Yu and Man Tang.
The two exchanged a glance, their eyes gleaming with unbridled elation.
Jin Yu rubbed her hands excitedly: "Miss Lin, you're amazing! You have no idea, last time we marched, we carried hard flatbread for three days, and the flatbread was so hard it could break your teeth! Now we can actually eat hot noodles, this is simply heavenly!"
Mantang nodded in agreement, his eyes fixed on the bowl in front of Xu Zhiheng: "Exactly! During the march, even a bowl of hot soup was a luxury. This noodle looks so soft, it must be delicious!"
The two approached the bowl from either side. Before Xu Zhiheng could react, Jin Yu had already picked up her chopsticks and reached in to take a big bite. Mantang was not to be outdone and followed suit, scooping out half a bowl of food.
"Hiss!" Jin Yu swallowed the noodles despite the scalding heat, but couldn't help but exclaim, "Delicious! It's piping hot, and one bowl warms me up from head to toe!"
Everyone chewed quickly, nodding in agreement: "Delicious! Miss Lin's cooking skills are far superior to those of the cooks in the military camp! I wish you could come with the army."
Xu Zhiheng watched helplessly as the noodles in his bowl were devoured in an instant, and even the soup was drunk by Jin Yu.
He stared at the empty bowl, then glanced at his two subordinates who were eating with obvious satisfaction. His lips twitched, and his eyes were full of helplessness.
Damn it! This was specially brewed for him by Lin Yao.
"Alright, stop eating all the time." Xu Zhiheng glared at Jin Yu and Mantang. "You two will come to the kitchen first thing tomorrow morning to help make more pancakes. If you miss our departure time, see how I punish you!"
Jin Yu and Man Tang nodded hurriedly, still savoring the moment: "Don't worry, General! We guarantee to complete the mission! We'll definitely be the first to arrive tomorrow!"
In the days that followed, the entire village revolved around the kitchen.
Even with such continuous work, the amount of instant noodles produced was still very limited. On the evening before departure, everyone drained the oil from the last batch of noodles, let them cool, and counted them. At most, there were only ten noodles for each soldier, along with a small packet of dogwood salt, dried meat, and chopped wild vegetables as seasoning.
Looking at the pile of dough in the kitchen, Lin Yao said to Xu Zhiheng with some concern, "If we had enough flour, we could make more."
Xu Zhiheng smiled and shook his head, "This is already very good. They'll have hot noodles to eat on the way. Aren't they secretly happy?"
Sure enough, when the flatbreads were being distributed, the line at the village gate was neat and orderly. The soldiers' eyes lit up as they looked at the ten golden flatbreads wrapped in oil paper and the small packet of fragrant seasonings in their hands.
A young soldier took the flatbread, carefully touched it, and then brought it to his nose to smell it. He couldn't help but say to the person next to him, "Remember the last time we marched to the Western Frontier? We carried hard flatbreads for three days. The flatbreads were so hard they could be used as weapons. Now we actually have hot noodles to eat, and ten of them!"
Another soldier carefully put the flatbread into his close-fitting cloth bag, nodding with a smile: "That's right! This flatbread was made by Lin Xiaoniangzi, it must be delicious. We can boil some water and eat it while traveling, it's a hundred times better than eating cold dry rations! I have to eat it sparingly."
After Jin Yu and Man Tang received their portions, they went to the back of the line to look. Seeing the soldiers all smiling, Jin Yu couldn't help but mutter to Man Tang, "Look how happy they are! I should have asked General Yang for a few more bags of flour back then!"
Mantang patted him on the shoulder: "Don't be greedy, ten loaves are enough for us to go halfway."
Lin Yao stood aside, watching the soldiers carefully put away the flatbreads, some even stuffing the seasoning packets into their clothes.
Only now, looking at the scene before her, did Lin Yao realize more clearly that these people who were now rejoicing over a bowl of hot noodles would soon be donning armor and heading to a battlefield where life and death were a matter of life and death.
The soldiers' smiling faces were so vibrant, almost blindingly so.
Many of the young soldiers still had a touch of childishness, joking with each other about when they would eat the newly acquired instant noodles.
Lin Yao stood to the side, looking at these real faces, her heart felt like it was stuffed with cotton.
No one can say for sure how many of these people will truly emerge from the smoke of war in the North, or how many will still be able to hold a bowl of hot noodles in their hands again...
Lin Yao's heart grew heavy, tinged with an indescribable sense of melancholy. She quietly turned her face away and wiped her eyes.
The next day, before dawn, wisps of smoke rose from the village chimneys, but the usual liveliness was gone.
The villagers got up early and stood quietly by the roadside at the entrance of the village.
A moment later, the sound of orderly footsteps came from behind the village.
Xu Zhiheng, clad in silver armor, rode a tall horse, followed by a line of soldiers standing straight, each carrying a bag on their shoulder. The clanging of their armor as they moved was particularly noticeable in the quiet village.
"Young man Zhang, take good care of yourself when you get to the North!" Aunt Fang tremblingly grabbed a young soldier's sleeve and stuffed the dried dates in her hand into his pocket. "These dates are sweet. Chew a couple when you're hungry, they'll keep you full for a while."
The soldier nodded with red eyes: "Don't worry, ma'am, I'll be fine. I'll come back and eat your steamed cornbread again."
Jin Yu and Man Tang walked in the middle of the group. When they saw Lin Yao, they waved vigorously. Jin Yu even grinned and said, "Little Miss Lin! When we come back, we'll eat your cooking again! Make sure you cook a lot for us then!"
Mantang chimed in, "Yes! And it has to be served with your sweet bean sauce!"
Lin Yao looked at them, wanting to laugh, but her eyes reddened first.
Xu Zhiheng dismounted and walked up to her: "Ayao, I'm leaving."
"Mm." Lin Yao nodded and handed over the small cloth bag in her hand. "This is dried meat. Take it and have a snack on the way."
Xu Zhiheng didn't say much, only nodded emphatically: "Okay. Wait for me to come back. No matter what happens, you must wait for me to come back."
Lin Yao listened to this absurd and unreasonable talk, smiled slightly, and all the words she wanted to say turned into one sentence: "Okay, I'll wait for you."
Xu Zhiheng took half a step back, placed his hand on the saddle, nimbly flipped himself onto the horse, his Adam's apple bobbed, and finally repeated only once more: "Wait for me to come back."
The soldiers followed closely behind, and the group disappeared in no time, leaving only hoofprints on the ground.
Lin Yao withdrew her gaze and stood quietly in place.
Su Niang walked over and gently patted her shoulder: "Don't worry, they will come back safely."
In the first few days after Xu Zhiheng and his group left, the village was much quieter.
Lin Yao was down for several days, feeling empty inside, but being as resilient as she was, she quickly found new ways to have fun.
These mountains have inexhaustible resources, so she can go back to her old ways.
Lin Yao, along with Wang Xiaoyu and Su Niang, gathered many mountain delicacies in the mountains. They spent their days in the kitchen preparing all sorts of food, and three months passed by in the blink of an eye.
That afternoon, Lin Yao was helping Wang Xiaoyu seal the pickles when they suddenly heard a shout coming from the village gate: "Letters from home have arrived! The soldiers' letters from home have been delivered!"
Wang Xiaoyu jumped up first, grabbed Lin Yao's clothes and ran outside: "Master! There must be a letter from General Xu!"
A large number of villagers had already gathered at the entrance of the village, their eyes filled with urgency as they surrounded the soldier delivering the letter home.
Lin Yao squeezed at the back of the crowd, her heart tightening, until the soldier pulled a thick letter from his bag and called out to her, "Young lady Lin, this is what General Xu asked me to deliver to you!"
She took the letter, and before she even opened it, a smile had already crept onto her face.
Back in her room, she unfolded the letter, and Xu Zhiheng's elegant handwriting leaped off the page.
Lin Yao couldn't help but laugh and cry as she watched. This person immediately complained that the cooks in the military camp were really perfunctory. The porridge was so thin that you could see your reflection in it, and the flatbread was so hard that you could use it as a weapon. Last time, she almost broke her teeth while biting into a flatbread.
She turned the page, and Xu Zhiheng wrote again: "I hid the sweet bean sauce you gave me in the very back of my bag. Jin Yu stole half a jar, and I punished him by making him carry water for three days."
Lin Yao could almost see the two of them bickering, and shook her head helplessly.
The rest of the text focuses on how winters come very early in the north, how the wind feels like knives on the face, and how even wrapped in two blankets at night, it's still cold, while the south is much warmer.
Lin Yao held the letter, and the corners of her mouth couldn't help but turn up.
Wang Xiaoyu leaned closer and asked slyly, "Master, what did General Xu say?"
Lin Yao carefully folded the letter and put it back into the envelope. "It's all just some trivial and unreliable things."
Su Niang winked and said, "What trivial matter is so interesting that it can make the shopkeeper smile like a flower?"
Lin Yao's cheeks flushed slightly: "I'm not talking to you anymore."
Life in the village was peaceful, and before they knew it, the end of the year was approaching again.
But this calm is like the prelude to an impending storm.
Every time the messenger arrived, the villagers were on tenterhooks. As the war intensified, the list of fallen soldiers sent back with each letter grew longer and longer.
The day before New Year's Eve, the sound of horses' hooves suddenly came from the entrance of the village.
"The messenger is here!" someone shouted, and the villagers quickly walked towards the village gate.
The soldier dismounted, his pack bag bulging on his back.
After he finished distributing the letters home, he began reading the list of fallen soldiers. For a while, the crowd was silent; no one spoke, only intermittent sobs could be heard.
The wind seemed to grow colder, making the red cloth on the lanterns at the village gate rustle.
There was no news of Xu Zhiheng from either side. After the crowd dispersed, Lin Yao called out to the messenger, "Brother, wait a moment!"
The messenger stopped and turned to look at her: "Is there anything else, young lady?"
Lin Yao asked, "Do you have a letter from Xu Zhiheng, General Xu?"
The messenger shook his head: "No, all the letters have just been sent out."
Lin Yao pressed on, "Does my brother know how General Xu is doing? I heard last time that things weren't peaceful at the border, and I've been worried about him ever since."
The messenger looked apologetic and scratched his head, saying, "I'm really sorry, young lady. I'm just a messenger. I run to the city every day after receiving a letter from the military camp. I can hardly see any officers, let alone the young general."
Hearing this, Lin Yao's heart sank. She forced a smile and bowed slightly to the messenger, saying, "Thank you, brother."
The messenger waved his hand, turned around, and walked away quickly.
Seeing that her face was pale, Wang Xiaoyu comforted her softly, "Master, don't think the worst. No news is a good thing! General Xu is so capable. Maybe he's been busy training his troops lately and hasn't had time to write. He'll definitely send you a letter when he has some free time."
Lin Yao nodded. She understood the reasoning Wang Xiaoyu was giving, but her unease grew stronger.
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