Chapter 75 Drinking Flying Snow (Fifteen) Don't you dare take it? ...
Wei Yuanzhan was not in Suyuan.
After parting ways with Yu Yang, he joined the Yun Chuan army.
His fellow recruits were all summoned by the imperial court. Although they were of different ages, they came from similar humble backgrounds. Among them, Wei Yuanzhan, a pampered scion of a noble family, stood out like a crane among chickens.
Therefore, for the first two weeks after he joined the army, no one was willing to talk or laugh with him; whenever he was assigned a task, he was always alone.
Wei Yuanzhan himself didn't care much, but Changhuai and Lanye were furious. Several times, when they heard people making fun of them, they couldn't hold back and even picked up their water pouches as weapons, giving those gossipy people a good beating.
They were both hot-blooded men, and this matter would not be easily resolved.
One day, Wei Yuanzhan returned from washing up at the well and saw that Chang Huai and the other man had bruises on their faces. He gritted his teeth and resolutely went to another camp.
Knowing that Wei Yuanzhan was the heir to the Marquis of Yining, personally appointed by the Emperor, the garrison commander of Yunchuan felt that he was a hot potato. Seeing that he was acting fiercely and violently in the army, he reported to his superiors overnight and sent him and his attendants to Yuyang.
After many twists and turns, he returned to Zhang Jixiao's command as a soldier much earlier than Wei Yuanzhan had expected.
The young man was arrogant and proud, and Zhang Jixiao, wanting to curb his arrogance, deliberately assigned him some difficult and arduous tasks. Unexpectedly, during the execution, he repeatedly disobeyed orders, and Zhang Jixiao, harboring resentment, reassigned him to Suyuan.
The night before the Northern Li army attacked the city, two scouts failed to return. Wei Yuanzhan became suspicious and reported his concerns to Commander Luo.
Firelight flickered everywhere outside the city gate. Zhi Rou's heart was in her throat. She looked at Chang Huai with a mixture of urgency and unease: "Where is he?"
Chang Huai was unable to recover.
Suddenly, an ominous premonition rose in Zhi Rou's chest. As if fighting against it, she struggled to suppress it and asked again, "Chang Huai! Where is he!"
The chaotic neighing of horses echoed in his ears. The battlefield was ever-changing, and in an instant, someone rushed over, wielding a sword to slash at the warhorse beneath Zhi Rou.
Her horse stumbled, and it felt as if a small mountain had suddenly collapsed. Zhi Rou's body sank, and she fell uncontrollably to the ground. Burning pain coursed through her body, but she had no time to feel it. She quickly rolled away from the warhorse, grabbed a knife from among the corpses, and used it to fend off the Yan soldiers who were slashing at her.
As her older brother said, her blade has never drawn blood. But now, in order to survive, she may have indirectly taken someone else's life.
The feeling was terrible; all she could see was blood red, and there was a ringing in her ears that was so loud that she couldn't hear anything else for half a day.
Zhi Rou gritted her teeth and fought back with all her might. Even in such a critical moment, she was still able to spare a thought for Wei Yuanzhan.
She didn't believe he was in any danger.
He absolutely cannot be harmed.
The Northern Li cavalry were fierce and swift in killing enemies; in the vast pool of blood, most of those who fell were Yan soldiers.
Dawn had broken, and the battle would soon be over.
Zhi Rou is still with Chang Huai.
But when she looked at the Yan soldiers who were fighting her, their faces as white as paper lying on the ground, her heart suddenly felt heavy, as if something heavy was pressing on her chest.
She stood shoulder to shoulder with Chang Huai, not only because of their shared childhood friendship.
The flash of the blade was as bright as a sudden storm, and the clanging sound could be heard abruptly, invading from the subtle vibrations, layer by layer.
Zhi Rou's mind finally settled, and she focused on the battlefield, where close combat was taking place.
Such attire and behavior are too eye-catching and too abrupt.
The moment Su Du saw Zhi Rou galloping towards Changhuai, he noticed her. She was a tall, somewhat thin woman from Beili who only hid from the Yan army and never killed them.
Song Zhirou?
Her name flashed through his mind, and Su Du was surprised. He then nocked an arrow, drew his bow, and aimed at the figure.
If reason had come even a moment later, she would already be a dead woman under his arrow.
But when Sudu drew her bow, she hesitated for a moment, thinking of all the care that Urituya had shown her and the strange appearance of her there.
Finally, with a flick of his finger, the sword, accompanied by a sharp whistle, flew towards Zhi Rou.
The powerful arrow grazed her cheek, and by the time she realized it, it was too late. The arrow pierced Chang Huai's right chest, and blood flowed from the deep wound. He was already injured, and now he collapsed, half-kneeling, supporting himself with his spear.
Zhi Rou turned around, but Su Du was still sitting high on his horse, his cold eyes silent, as if no words were needed.
Many people died on the battlefield, and those who remained were almost all from the Northern Li Army. They were bloodthirsty and stared at her as if she were a traitor.
Zhi Rou felt that those eyes were like beasts in the jungle, gleaming green light in the darkness.
They approached, intending to surround her and Changhuai.
A moment later, the sound of horses' hooves approached, and Su Du's figure leaped in the firelight. Zhi Rou could feel the oppressive atmosphere, thick with the scent of blood.
He stared at her for a long time: "Do you know what crime you have committed?"
He did not speak Chinese in front of the Beili army.
Zhi Rou stood with her sword hanging down. The low breathing behind her suddenly stopped. She turned her head to look at Chang Huai and saw that his head was slightly bent and his body was stiff and motionless.
Her heart skipped a beat, and she hurriedly dropped the knife and rushed over. Before she could even crouch down, Su Du's calm voice came down from above.
He is dead.
Zhi Rou ignored him, placing her hands on Chang Huai's shoulders and arms, and kept calling his name.
Her voice was trembling.
Su looked down at the figure on the ground. In the months they had known each other, he had never seen her call out to anyone so timidly.
After a long pause, he gave the order: "Drag her away. Take her into the city."
He then turned his horse around and led the Beili army straight to the city gate.
Inside Suyuan City, cries and screams rose and fell, and the people fled in all directions. They saw the Beili cavalry as if they had seen demons. Several young and weak Yan men, unable to bear the humiliation of the city's fall, still stubbornly resisted.
Su Du returned their contemptuous glances, but ordered the Bei Li soldiers: "Those who surrender will not be killed."
Perhaps because she had never seen so many corpses in her life, let alone witnessed the scene of people being plundered by foreign tribes, Zhi Rou felt exhausted, dizzy, and as if something in her stomach was about to come out, so she ultimately did not make a move.
Upon arriving at an inn in the city, Su ordered his men to set up camp in the vicinity. He then ordered his men to bring Zhi Rou over, bind her hands tightly using the method of binding wild animals, throw her under a pillar, and give her a bowl of water.
The Bei Li man who had previously verified Zhi Rou's identity had died on the battlefield, and without Su Du's orders, no one else was willing to care about Song Zhi Rou's life or death.
With her hands confined, she couldn't drink water. Cold sweat poured down her forehead, and her lips had faded. She looked like a dying puppy, huddled in a corner.
When Su looked down at her, her face and body were covered in blood.
She was injured.
After a moment's hesitation, Su got up and went over, picked up the teacup, and held it to her lips, feeding her the water.
As she gradually recovered a little, she raised her eyelashes, and the first thing she said was, "Will you kill me?"
Zhi Rou looked directly at Su Du without flinching, her voice weak but her gaze resolute. He couldn't understand why such innocent and clear eyes could make someone's heart race.
He couldn't help but avoid her gaze, and softly questioned, "Shouldn't you have killed her?"
Unlike before, Zhi Rou was genuinely frightened this time, and her usually sharp tongue was rendered speechless by his presence.
Su wanted to kill her, so she had no chance of escaping.
She went to great lengths to leave the grasslands, not to die there.
The people cleaning up the battlefield hadn't returned yet, and it would probably take several days to receive news from Enhe. Su Du wasn't in a hurry to deal with Zhi Rou; he took off his armor and found an open space to change.
The heavy rain poured down at dusk, shrouding the world in a mist. The bloodlust within the city dispersed, staining the rainwater in the cracks of the stones red, while the victorious Northern Li army laughed and talked loudly in the rain.
Zhi Rou was imprisoned in a small room.
The dim space allowed her to calm down and carefully consider her options.
She wasn't the type to sit idly by and wait for death; if she stayed here waiting for Su to make a move, she would only face certain death.
Su Du fed Zhi Rou something, and she regained some strength. When they were alone together, she suddenly said, "Urentuya."
Su turned her head to the side.
“I have something given to me by Urentuya in my left sleeve,” Zhirou said calmly.
Su looked at her suspiciously, but didn't move.
This woman managed to infiltrate the army, only to have her tracks exposed today, demonstrating her cunning and shrewdness. And what trick is she up to now by suddenly mentioning Urentuya?
Zhi Rou continued, "Although I do not know what she means, she has entrusted me with this matter. Since I am not going to live, please ask the general to return the item in my sleeve to her on my behalf."
What could Urentuya possibly need her to do? Su had a feeling she was lying.
After a short silence, he walked over, grabbed Zhi Rou's left hand, and searched her wrist upwards with his palm, finding a flat, hard object.
Seeing how wary he was, Zhi Rou suddenly curled the corners of her lips.
"Aren't you afraid to take it?"
The voice was soft, but the tone carried a hint of incitement and provocation.
Su Du's eyes suddenly sharpened. He stared at her for a moment, and perhaps out of arrogance, he stood up with a cold smile, pulled her up with him, and intertwined his hands with the ropes to untie her.
After gaining her freedom, Zhi Rou immediately drew the short knife hidden in her right sleeve. At the same time, Su Du took out a jade pendant from her other sleeve pocket.
In a flash, a cold touch pressed against her throat. Zhi Rou showed no mercy and said, word by word, "Let me go."
The person in front of him did not react much, his gaze fixed blankly on the jade pendant.
Zhi Rou glanced at her briefly, the languid light pressing down on her slightly pursed lips, cautiously remaining silent.
That jade pendant belongs to my mother.
One year, Luozhou was hit by a flood. Days of torrential rain submerged vast areas of villages and farmland, leaving people homeless and filled with sorrow. Although the government sent people to provide relief, the relief efforts were slow due to various pretexts.
Lin He and Zhi Rou ran out of food, so she pawned her jade pendant to fill their stomachs.
Zhi Rou was still young, but she knew very well that it was a precious thing to her mother.
After the flood receded, life gradually returned to normal. Zhi Rou made fans for Xiao E's mother at her house and saved up a small amount of money.
She took out all her resources to redeem the jade pendant, but it was far from enough. Zhi Rou then discussed with the shopkeeper that she could do other things for him for a year.
Such a young child, yet she spoke of these things without a hint of joking; she was very serious and made her requests sincerely. The shopkeeper, seeing how well-behaved and adorable she was, and having bought her from Lin He for relatively little money, agreed to her request.
Zhi Rou presented the jade pendant to Lin He, who was stunned. After learning the whole story, she felt like crying, then laughing. In the end, she told Zhi Rou to put it away and said to her, "Do you see this gap? When desires are fulfilled, they become deficient, and so it is with the human heart."
Zhi Rou didn't understand and kept it with her.
After Zhi Tu Guan was sold, she wanted to retrieve it, but by sheer coincidence, it ended up in Wei Yuanzhan's hands.
The day he first taught her to ride a horse, he returned the jade pendant to her.
After an unknown amount of time, Su Du withdrew his palm, and a thin line of blood seeped from his neck.
Zhi Rou's breathing was steady, but her hands were somewhat uncontrollable, probably because she was exhausted from fighting this morning and was trembling slightly.
Su Du smiled slightly, his voice unreadable: "Enhe is right, you are very cunning."
Zhi Rou did not refute: "I shouldn't have been on the grassland in the first place. My marriage to the princess was a last resort. I just want to go home."
The room remained quiet for a long time, then a low, slightly teasing laugh could be heard.
He asked her, "Do you have a home?"
Before she could answer, Su suddenly twisted Zhi Rou's knife and subdued her.
When Su Du stepped out of the small room, his face was cold, like a lonely star hanging in the sky, which was heartbreaking.
He ordered his men, "Keep a close eye on her, don't let her die."
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