I can't forget you
Five days ago, Liangchuan
"It's terrible, Your Highness! Our supplies have been burned by the Naqsh!" A soldier rushed into the camp.
Xia Chengen and Pei Qinzhou exchanged a glance. Before they could speak, another soldier reported, "Your Highness, Naqi has sent a message. If Your Highness is willing to negotiate with them personally, Naqi can postpone their march and attack. Otherwise, they will kill all the captured Xia people."
Xia Chengen clenched his fist: "What peace talks? This is forcing me to become a hostage by taking the lives of the people! But right now, Liangchuan is short of food, and winter is coming. Not to mention the soldiers, even the people can't get a full meal."
Pei Qinzhou pondered for a moment, then opened his palm to Xia Chengen: "Token."
"What?"
Xia Chengen was puzzled, but still handed the token to Pei Qinzhou.
Pei Qinzhou hung the token on his waist: "I'll go in your place."
“No, Naqi is ruthless. Your health has deteriorated in recent years. How can you withstand it? For the sake of the country and the people, I am the Crown Prince. Now that the people are in danger, how can I back down? We have been through so many life-or-death situations together. How can I let you put yourself in danger?”
Thinking of the years of life-and-death experiences they had shared, Xia Chengen's eyes welled up with tears.
“Your Highness is overthinking it. I did not ask you to step back.” He said coldly, “Your Highness still needs to send a message back to the capital. The Crown Prince has already entered Naqsh, and Pei Qinzhou has abandoned his army and fled.”
"You... this is a crime of deceiving the emperor."
"Therefore, Your Highness must deliver the message. Once I have rescued the person, you can apologize to His Majesty as you see fit."
Xia Chengen was speechless. He should have known that Pei Qinzhou was this kind of person... He squeezed Pei Qinzhou's shoulder and forced a smile: "As expected of General Pei."
On the day of the battle
On the city gate, only the banners of the Great Xia Dynasty fluttered in the wind; apart from that, there was no one else in sight.
"Report—General, our camp has been burned down!"
"What?! Where is the Crown Prince of Great Xia?"
"They ran away..."
"waste!"
The Naqi army was deployed at the foot of the wall, ready for battle. Their general looked at the empty city wall with suspicion: "Send down the order, the whole army is on high alert, and no one is allowed to relax!"
After saying that, he sent an elite force to break into the city gate.
Dark clouds loomed over the city, and lightning flashed across the sky. Just as the Naqi army was about to enter the city, they saw thousands of arrows aimed at them from the hillside illuminated by the lightning.
Liangchuan is surrounded by mountains, and Naqi is skilled in mountain warfare and has an army that far outnumbers Daxia. The only solution is to lure the enemy deep into the mountains and neutralize their advantage.
At this moment, Pei Qinzhou wore a red headband that fluttered in the wind. He donned armor, leaped onto his horse, and placed the jasmine wood pendant he once owned on his chest.
"Are you alright?" Xia Chengen looked at Pei Qinzhou beside him, whose bandaged hand was bleeding slightly.
Pei Qinzhou wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, raised his head and took the reins, not responding to Xia Chengen's worries: "Your Highness promised me, don't forget."
War drums beat, horns sound.
A major battle is imminent.
"drive!"
Sand flew up and leaves rustled as Pei Qinzhou's warhorse charged down the mountain.
Like a raging flame.
Inside the general's mansion, candlelight flickered.
"Brother, Liangchuan, I am determined to do it."
The speaker was Qi Yuning, daughter of the Qi family from the General's Mansion, and the brother she mentioned was General Qi, who was returning to the capital from Liangchuan with serious injuries.
To be honest, General Qi was unwilling to return to Shangjing this time, but his leg injury was too serious, and the Emperor issued an edict to force him to return.
Left with no other choice, General Qi returned to the capital and wrote another letter requesting to join the battle.
General Qi slammed his fist on the edge of the bed, his excitement aggravating his leg injury, causing him to gasp in pain, but his voice carried an undeniable air of authority:
"Our parents died early, and I, your elder brother, am like a father to you. I raised you with my own hands. How can I let you go? Liangchuan has suffered from a three-year drought, and the people are living in misery. It also borders Naqi. Do you think you can endure that kind of hardship just because you spent a few years with me? I fought bravely on the battlefield to bring you to Shangjing and live a peaceful life. If you understand my good intentions and appreciate your brother's difficulties, then you should stay in Shangjing obediently!"
“But no one in the court dares to go now!” Qi Yuning interrupted him, her voice clear and bright. “The Crown Prince has been captured, Pei Qinzhou is missing, and you are still recovering from serious injuries. Brother, who knows the terrain of Liangchuan better than me?”
She walked to the bedside, knelt down, and softened her voice: "Brother, I know you are the person who loves me the most in this world... We are from the Qi family, and behind us are the people of Liangchuan and the territory of Great Xia. You can't let go, and neither can I. This time, let me return to Liangchuan in your place and guard Great Xia, okay?"
Just then, someone knocked on the door; it was General Qi's personal guard.
General Qi: "What is it?"
"Reporting to the general, the Pei family has taken a lot of goods and headed towards Liangchuan. The leader appears to be a woman."
"Oh?" General Qi asked, puzzled. "You may step back now. Keep an eye on things and let me know immediately if anything happens."
Only the Qi siblings remained in the room.
He looked into his sister's stubborn eyes, which were just like his own, and gently stroked her cheek with his rough hands. This man, who had never retreated even in the midst of a thousand troops, now had slightly red eyes.
"Yu Ning, you are everything to me. Even if I drag my crippled leg to the battlefield, I will never let you set foot on the battlefield, and I will never let any danger get close to you."
“Brother,” Qi Yuning grasped her brother’s trembling hand, her eyes as firm as a rock, “Precisely because I am a daughter of the Qi family, there are some things I must do.”
Before Qi Yuning could speak, General Qi shouted, "Guards, take the young lady away. Without my permission, she is not to step out of the room!"
As Qi Yuning was about to be carried away by two guards, she stopped resisting and muttered, "I can walk by myself."
As soon as she closed the door, Qi Yining's eyes darted around: "People from the Pei family..."
"General, the young lady..."
"...Send someone to protect Miss secretly." General Qi sighed softly, glancing at the empty table where Qi Yuning had secretly taken the letter of request for service.
The journey to Liangchuan is destined to be extraordinary.
Wen Zhibai, dressed in white, rode atop a horse, his robes fluttering in the wind, exuding a cool and aloof aura.
A storm was brewing, and a strong wind whipped up dust from the ancient road.
Seeing that a storm was brewing and the mountain road was slippery, she ordered the grain convoy to proceed slowly to avoid the rain, while she herself rode ahead at full speed to scout the way.
Suddenly, the sound of rapid hoofbeats came from behind, growing louder as a red figure burst through the rain and instantly blocked Wen Zhibai's white horse.
"Whoa—" The two horses stopped almost simultaneously and stood facing each other.
The woman on horseback, her red robes billowing like flames in the wind, her high-tied ponytail entwined with a flowing red ribbon, looked incredibly dashing.
She is not like a pampered young lady, but more like a sword drawn from its sheath.
"May I ask why you are blocking my way?" Wen Zhibai spoke first.
"I am Qi Yu Ning from the Qi family of Changqing. My elder brother, Qi Yu Feng, has been guarding Liangchuan for over ten years and is a hero of our dynasty!"
"So this is the renowned General Qi, whose fame at a young age is truly admirable. But why is Miss Qi here?"
Qi Yuning cut to the chase: "Miss Wen, let's not beat around the bush. I want to go to Liangchuan, but my brother won't allow it, so I need to borrow your grain convoy to cover my tracks. In return, I can protect you and pave the way for your journey in the name of the Qi family."
Wen Zhibai's eyes flickered slightly as he immediately weighed the pros and cons: "Miss Qi is straightforward. In that case—your 'reputation,' my 'food,' let's cooperate on this trip and each get what we need."
One red, one white; one strong, one gentle; riding horses galloping across the vast天地 (heaven and earth).
During a break along the way, Wen Zhibai took out the purple booklet that Pei Qinzhou had mentioned. Gazing at the winding, seemingly endless road under the starry sky, she lowered her head and silently wrote: "Pei Qinzhou, if you can hear my heart's voice, I want to tell you that you are standing in the light, and I am coming to find you... wait for me."
Just like you used to wait for me.
She closed her eyes and drifted into her first sleep after days of traveling.
Wen Zhibai seemed to see the person who had been waiting for her all along again.
The young man, still dressed elegantly, sat alone on the steps, counting down to dusk, the moment that drew ever closer to her.
In the blink of an eye, a short sword pierced the boy's heart, and pure white jasmine flowers, stained with blood, fell before her tombstone.
Tears, mingling with the dawn light, awakened Wen Zhibai.
Qi Yuning: What's wrong with you?
"It's nothing..."
“I asked the grain delivery team, and they said you’re not surnamed Pei, but rather the daughter of Minister Wen.”
Wen Zhibai readily agreed without offering further explanation.
"What exactly is the relationship between Miss Wen and Lord Pei? Why would you help him at all costs?"
"Just friends."
"Just... friends?" Qi Yuning raised an eyebrow, not believing her words at all, and then probed, "Have you ever thought about what use it would be if Lord Pei really escaped? Besides, you did something that the court did not allow, aren't you afraid of being implicated?"
"Does Miss Qi have someone she trusts most in the world?"
"Of course there is. My parents died early, and in this world, I trust my brother the most."
“I also believe in Pei Qinzhou.” Wen Zhibai looked at Qi Yuning: “I believe in him, I believe in him without regard to cost or spare any effort.”
Qi Yuning smiled and nodded, harboring a different kind of suspicion about the relationship between Wen Pei and Qi Yuning.
Seeing Qi Yuning's "I see" expression, Wen Zhibai coughed twice, trying to ease her increasingly flushed cheeks, and quickly changed the subject: "Miss Qi, do you know how far we are from Liangchuan right now?"
"Traveling day and night, at the pace of the past few days, we expect to arrive in as little as two days."
——
Along the way, there were many skeletons of people who had starved or frozen to death. When the refugees saw Wen Zhibai's group, they rushed up one after another and knelt down to beg.
People kept kneeling down to Wen Zhibai. She and Qi Yuning dismounted and tacitly distributed all the dry rations they had with them.
But it's still a drop in the ocean.
Her voice choked with emotion as she spoke, and she parted the grain supplies to temporarily alleviate the immediate crisis.
A child was already blue from the cold, with only an elderly white-haired man holding his hand beside him. Wen Zhibai stepped forward and draped the cloak over the child.
Xie An wiped away her tears: "Miss, I was like that back then... But luckily, I met the adults, and they met you."
She patted Xie An's head without saying a word.
“Miss Wen, look.” Qi Yuning pointed to the vast line of refugees in the distance: “We can’t save them all in a short time.”
"Even if we can't save them all, we must..." She exhaled a breath of hot air: "Send a message to Tao Zhi that all the shops under my name will do their best to provide disaster relief and set up treatment points on the road to Liangchuan. I will bear all the losses."
On the way there, heavy snow blocked the mountains, and as far as the eye could see, the mountains were covered in pure white.
The horses' hooves slipped, so they had to walk on foot.
Several times, she almost slipped down the mountain, but fortunately Qi Yuning was skilled in martial arts and pulled her back.
Several times, Wen Zhibai wanted to cry, but everyone's hopes were on her shoulders, and she could not be the first to fall.
Wen Zhibai braved the wind and frost, taking one step at a time. She dared not think of Pei Qinzhou's name or his face.
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