Chapter 101 Jealousy snowflakes fell on his face, melted by the warm tears...
Chuqi had been with her for thousands of days and nights. He and she were like twins, and he knew the meaning of every expression on her face. He could read every frown and smile, and he knew the bittersweet taste of every tear.
Feeling the cold fingertips on his palm, he knew she was terrified. She didn't cry, but he seemed to taste the bitterness in her heart, a bitterness brewing in his eyes. He looked at her and asked again, "Eleven, what are you afraid of?"
Lin Meiju shuddered violently, and then, as if unable to bear the coldness around her, she pulled the collar of her cloak tighter, and her whole body began to tremble slightly.
What are you afraid of?
She feared her decision would harm innocent people. She feared the intelligence she passed on to Chu Qi and Lu Qingyan would affect the entire war effort, that the situation would deteriorate beyond her control. Deep down, she harbored a hidden fear: she'd wrongly accused someone.
Shen Changfeng could not produce any evidence to prove his innocence, but she also did not find any conclusive evidence to prove that he was the mastermind behind the incident.
She just had doubts. Once the seeds of doubt were planted, they would quietly take root, constantly absorbing nutrients and growing wildly until they were deeply rooted and could no longer be removed.
But what I'm really afraid of is being with him.
Ever since leaving the palace, she vowed never to turn back. After arriving in Jingzhou, she had her own home and her own pharmacy. Her life was simple but warm. She loved this kind of life; she could see the end of it, and it made her feel grounded and at peace.
But the arrival of Shen Changfeng broke the peace.
She had never thought about what it would be like to let go of the past, be with him again, even fall in love with him again, and have children for him. She had experienced this kind of life once, and she couldn't accept the same thing happening to her again.
Just thinking about it, the oppression brought by the heavy shadows of the past almost made her breathless. So, with the determination to kill him by mistake rather than let him go, she drove him out of her world.
Suddenly, chaos broke out in the back streets. Lin Meizhu heard screams: "There's a fire! There's a fire!"
The gray sky was dyed red by the flames. Lin Meiju looked up at the building engulfed by the fire, and only then realized that a small corner of the terrace was facing the courtyard of her home.
The cool fingertips in Chuqi's hand shrank as if frightened, and she withdrew her hand.
The shouting from the back street grew louder. A middle-aged man coughed and howled in a hoarse voice, "Village leader! Qingsong! Suozhu! And Chenyue, where's Chenyue?! Chenyue...! Is everyone out yet?"
He was answered by the sound of galloping horses.
The trembling of the ground soon subsided, and the back street gradually became quiet, leaving only the roaring sound of flames licking the building. At a certain moment, the building broke in the middle in the flames, and after a huge bang, it collapsed into a pile of twisted ruins.
Lin Meizhu suddenly closed her eyes and buried half of her face in the collar of her cloak. The white mist from her breath blurred her face, and her voice was also covered by a layer of mist, muffled and damp. "It's the seventh day of the lunar year. Let's move."
This was the first time she took the initiative to propose changing residence, but Chuqi did not feel happy at all.
There was still some warmth from her in his palm, but it was fleeting and quickly blown away by the cold wind.
Ever since returning to Jingzhou, he had sensed a subtle change in her attitude towards him. To outsiders, they remained close, but as sensitive as he was, he noticed something was amiss from the first moment he saw her.
She would subconsciously avoid suspicion.
At this time last year, they were incredibly close. When she learned about his past, she'd wiped his tears with a wistful look, gently reassuring him that they had a family. Back then, they were both filled with hope and joy for the future. He believed that, sooner or later, this home would give birth to a small family for him and her.
But after returning, he learned her decision from a conversation between her and another person: she would not remarry, and would not fall in love with anyone else, including him.
It's hard to describe the shock he felt at that moment. His first suspicion was that he had misheard, but then he saw the serious look on Lin Meizhu's face, and in that instant, a mixture of loss and the pain of dashed hopes washed over him—it was like a thunderclap that struck him out of nowhere, leaving him dizzy.
Without any arguments or explanations, she just calmly declared her own end.
He wanted to rush out and ask why, but he couldn't. He couldn't let her know that he was eavesdropping, intentionally or unintentionally. He couldn't lose his composure, couldn't act impulsively, couldn't let himself be reduced to the point where they couldn't even be brother and sister.
All he could do was freeze in place, enduring the heartache with every breath, swallowing all the sour, bitter, unwilling, jealous, and depressed feelings along with the dead expectations back into his stomach and letting them rot in his heart.
He didn't want to force her, he respected her every wish, he wanted her to be happy. But that didn't mean he wouldn't feel lost, sad, or jealous when he saw her being attracted to another man.
She wants to leave Jiangling because she is afraid that she will waver, or is it that she has already wavered?
Chuqi closed his eyes, suppressing his trembling breaths, and swallowed hard through his swollen throat. Snowflakes fell on his face, melting with his warm tears.
He replied softly, "Okay."
The snow was still falling, fluttering down in large flakes, swirling and being caught by the flames, making a painful sizzling sound.
"It's so cold that a dog would freeze to death if it stayed outside for too long!"
A tall man carrying two hares went into the low mountain slope. Someone threw him a wine bag, which he caught and drank. The pungent taste of the wine made him choke on it and he couldn't help coughing a few times.
The dark-faced man squatting by the fire, warming himself, mocked him mercilessly: "Look at you, you're such a loser! It's been almost three years and you still can't stand this common burning knife. Don't tell anyone outside that you're a soldier of the Fu Bo Army. It's shameful!"
Qingsong scoffed, "What bullshit! I've only been in Xuanfu for a year, and it's not that I can't handle it, I just drank too fast."
While the two men were arguing, the one closest to the wall had already bled and skinned the rabbit.
Qingsong chuckled and said, "Chenyue is so virtuous and capable. No wonder he receives flowery handkerchiefs from so many girls every time he goes out."
Jiang Jin roasted one of the rabbits over the fire and laughed heartily, "Who would flirt with this saw-mouthed gourd? Do you believe that even when my children go to school, he will still be single?"
Chen Yue remained calm after hearing his teasing. He said calmly, "I'm the one who's going to pass that on to the general."
When talking about Shen Changfeng, several people paused at the same time. The oil on the roasted rabbit popped, and soon a burnt aroma came out.
Qingsong was growing taller and had a voracious appetite, wanting to eat everything. Looking at the sizzling rabbit, he swallowed hard and said, "I'll save a rabbit leg for the general later."
Jiang Jin greased the rabbit with oil and sprinkled salt on it, saying, "He must be refusing to eat it because it's too greasy."
Qingsong retorted, "He didn't even eat a few more bites of the light meal. It's not a good thing to not eat all the time."
Jiang Jin sighed, "He's almost becoming an immortal, the Wine Immortal."
Chen Yue said, "The general had a stomachache again two nights ago. I heard the noise and went in, but he chased me out."
Qingsong hesitated and said, "Or should we find a doctor to take a look?"
Jiang Jin said, "He's a waste of money. Every time he sends us away before we even reach the camp. And he gets even more upset afterwards and drinks even more. Better not."
Shen Changfeng never wanted to see a doctor, he was simply afraid of seeing a doctor. The three of them were silent for a moment.
After leaving Jingzhou, Shen Changfeng and his brothers from Fubo Village traveled to several places, successively going to various prefectures in Henan and Huguang to suppress bandits, and then led the army northward, passing through Datong, Jizhou and other places to fight against foreign tribes that harassed the border. After more than half a year, he was promoted from a small general to a guerrilla general and was ordered to garrison in Xuanfu.
It was when the Fu Bo Army passed through Henan that Jiang Jin defected to Shen Changfeng. In a moment of desperation, he decided to follow him and make a name for himself. However, he did not expect that after almost three years, the civil and military officials of the court still did not like the Fu Bo Army and regarded them as just a ragtag army.
If Shen Changfeng had not risked his life to accumulate military merits and climb up the ranks, I'm afraid they would not even be considered a ragtag army now.
After running around for the past two years, they now have a station and the border is safe. They follow the daily routine of training, standing guard, studying, repairing fortifications, and growing food. Although they are busy, compared with before, they can be said to be comfortable and at ease.
The Fu Bo Army had a break, but Shen Changfeng didn't seem to have one. He was still very busy. He became more and more smooth-talking, saying one thing to one person and another to another, mingling with the local soldiers, welcoming and seeing off civil and military officials, and accepting all the fine wines that were brought to his mouth, drinking bowl after bowl, just to get the soldiers' wages in time and improve the equipment of the Fu Bo Army.
He also became more and more silent. In his spare time, he would sit facing the Cangshan wilderness from sunrise to sunset, accompanied by cans of liquor.
Qingsong took a big bite of the meat and suddenly felt that it was not as tasty as he had imagined. However, he continued to chew and said, "How about asking Miss Lin to come over and persuade her."
Jiang Jin and Chen Yue both looked up at Qingsong.
Qingsong immediately realized that he had said the wrong thing. He could say "Lin" or "Miss," but he could never say these three words together in front of someone. So he changed his words and said, "Yueniang, ask Yueniang to go and persuade her."
Shen Changfeng knew that most of the people in Fubo Village were of commoner origin. He was well aware of the importance of education. Since accepting the amnesty, he recruited several teachers for the soldiers. After training, the soldiers had to attend classes, starting with the simplest reading and recognizing characters, and then step by step, learning basic military tactics, battle examples and other military-related content.
This custom has been maintained to this day, and there was even a soldier who entered the Wei School, passed the Tongshi, and was preparing to take the provincial examination.
One of the teachers in the army was Lin Liangsheng. He and his daughter were rescued by Chen Yue in Black Wind Village. While recuperating in the medical tent, he heard about Shen Changfeng's recruitment and immediately joined the army. As a military dependent, Lin Yue'e followed her father around.
When Lin Liangsheng was lecturing and discussing with the soldiers, Shen Changfeng would sometimes listen in behind the tent. One time, Lin Yue'e ran to the school at the station and asked Shen Changfeng if she could study with him.
The people in the border areas are open-minded and there are not many rules and regulations for women. Perhaps seeing that she is eager to learn, Shen Changfeng let her go.
Chen Yue knew there were some rumors outside and said, "It's better not to say these things. The general will be unhappy if he hears them."
Jiang Jin thought back to Lin Yue'e's appearance, stroking his chin and saying, "I find it strange too. These two... girls are completely different. Why does the general seem to treat her quite well?"
One is a plump, beautiful, gentle and quiet young widow, and the other is an evil little witch who dares to quarrel with her brothers in the army. How come Shen Changfeng's preferences have changed so much?
Chen Yue said in a muffled voice, "General, who are you not good to?"
This is fair. Shen Changfeng rarely loses his temper now. Compared with before, his temperament can even be considered very easy-going. However, people are less and less willing to laugh and joke in front of him, even Qingsong and Chenyue who have been with him since childhood.
Qingsong was very curious. He nudged Chenyue with his shoulder and asked, "Didn't the general ask Mr. Lin and the others to compile the local annals? I heard Yue Niang is here too, is that right?"
Chen Yue nodded.
Jiang Jin came over with a sly look on his face and asked in a low voice, "While they were busy, what was the general doing?"
Chen Yue replied: "Sleep."
Qingsong and Jiang Jin's eyes widened and they asked, "With whom...?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
