Stubborn Ox
Li Muyun had to go to the military camp to train soldiers every day, and this monotonous life became quite boring until Qin Ziyou arrived, which made the training life much more exciting.
The soldiers stood motionless, holding their rifles. Everyone watched as Qin Ziyou, his feet wrapped in sandbags, ran lap after lap on the training ground. The sun was high in the sky, and an ordinary person would be out of breath and drenched in sweat after running two laps in such weather. But the boy on the field gritted his teeth and didn't utter a sound, like a stubborn ox.
Isn't he just a stubborn ox? If he were only willing to lower his head and say some kind words to the princess, wouldn't she have let him off the hook? Why does he have to be tormented every day?
Infantry Captain Fan Shuang whispered in Mu Yun's ear, "They've already run twenty laps. If they keep going, someone's going to die!"
Li Muyun snorted coldly, unconcerned: "It's good that he's dead, so I don't have to worry about how to kill him!"
Fan Shuang knew that this kid was from a different camp, but over the past few months, he had seen that he was intelligent and hardworking, a promising talent. It would be a real pity to kill such a good person so casually!
When he tried to plead for Qin Ziyou, Li Muyun saw through his intentions and said, "Go ask him. If he's willing to stay in the Southeast Camp, I'll let him go!"
This... that's why the Princess deliberately made things difficult for Qin Ziyou. How could this kid possibly agree?
The Southeast Camp was a large camp set up by Li Muyun specifically for the people of Pingdu. It was used to house idle people, all of whom were young men sent from Pingdu for training. Although it was called training, they actually wanted to get a share of the pie in the Northwest.
Li Muyun forbade them from training together in military exercises, and forbade them from interfering in any battles. Even the weapons he provided were rusty.
The soldiers stationed in the Southeast Camp were all young men from relatively well-off families, accustomed to a comfortable life, and unable to bear the monotony and boredom of military life. With no one to restrain them, they were content to live this way, sleeping until sunrise each day, then gathering to gamble and frequent brothels, indulging in fine food and drink. Having just arrived in the Northwest, they were still quite ambitious.
People will be worn down and ruined.
Qin Ziyou entered the Southeast Camp as soon as he arrived, and after only a few glances at the chaos, he understood what was going on.
Unwilling to stay in the Southeast Camp, he knelt before Li Muyun, begging her to relocate him. After several such attempts, he finally offended the Princess.
"You want to train every day like ordinary soldiers? Okay, I promise you!"
So, after each day's training, all the soldiers watched as the princess tortured him in various ways.
Fan Shuang was also in a dilemma. Li Muyun squinted at the person on the field whose pace was getting slower and slower, and even his voice became much sterner: "If Pingdu sends some good-for-nothings, I am willing to feed and take good care of them. But if people like this are sent, we have to be on guard."
She stood up and said to Fan Shuang, "I am not one to kill innocent people indiscriminately, but what kind of thoughts does Yang Fujin have? Fan Shuang, if you soften your heart now, one day it will be you and me who die at his hands. You decide what to do!"
She strode away from the training ground without glancing back at the person behind her. Even Fan Shuang, who valued talent, gave up on the idea. He looked at the young man who had fainted on the ground and ordered the soldiers to carry him away.
In the evening, Mu Yun was feeding the pigeons when Fan Shuang came in and told her that the boy was still practicing his martial arts!
She ignored him and only told Fan Shuang that she had something to do the next day.
"You pretend to be a bandit, kill someone for me, and then steal all the valuables from that person!"
Fan Shuang didn't ask any further questions. He had always trusted this princess, and there was a reason for her name.
Ten days later, Fan Shuang returned, and the person he wanted to kill only had some loose silver and a package on him.
Mu Yun unwrapped the package, revealing a yellow silk cloth that only royalty could use.
Fan Shuang exclaimed, "An imperial edict?"
She opened it and saw that it was true!
He simply tossed the imperial edict on the ground and said, "Burn it!"
Fan Shuang hurriedly listened to her and threw it into the brazier. The two of them watched as the bright yellow fire slowly turned to ashes.
"Your Highness, what trouble has the court sent this time? Why is there another imperial edict?"
Last time they said they wanted to reduce the military, what are they going to do this time?
Li Muyun sneered: "As long as neither of us sees this imperial edict, trouble will never come our way. Just pretend we don't know the court sent this edict. We'll kill as many as they come in the future!"
After running more than twenty laps, Qin Ziyou came to the training ground again the next day.
There was no designated spot for him on the field, so he found an open space and trained with the other soldiers.
Li Muyun went over and gave him a deep look: "If you come again, I'll break your legs!"
Qin Ziyou showed no fear, just as he had when he first arrived. Standing beneath the city gate, his eyes held the honesty and courage of a newborn calf. He said, "Come on, come on."
Li Muyun laughed, a laugh that frightened Fan Shuang. He wasn't afraid of Li Muyun getting angry, but he was afraid of her laughing.
Sure enough, he heard Li Muyun order, "Bring me my spear!"
Fan Shuang knew she meant what she said, so he handed the spear to Mu Yun. He immediately stepped back and watched as she gripped the spear and began fighting the young man.
Although Mu Yun was a woman, she was a veteran of countless battles and subdued Qin Ziyou in just a few moves. When the spear in the young man's hand was broken in two, its tip pointing towards his throat, Qin Ziyou closed his eyes, thinking, "That's enough!"
The expected pain did not come, and Li Muyun withdrew his spear.
She looked at the boy and said, "There is a group of Qiang people burning, killing and looting in Yandang Valley. Their leader is named Aru. Go to Yandang Valley tomorrow. If you can bring back Aru's head, I will grant your wish!"
To take the head of a Hu leader with hundreds of men by himself is simply wishful thinking; it would be tantamount to suicide.
But Qin Ziyou agreed.
This trip lasted for a month.
Even Yang Qi, the military supervisor who had come with them, had to write a letter to report the death of Qin Ziyou from Pingdu. The boy, covered in blood, had returned.
In front of all the soldiers, he threw a severed head in front of Li Muyun: "Your Highness, you must keep your promise."
Fan Shuang kicked the man's head and, after checking, said, "It really is Aru!"
Mu Yun sat in the chair, looking at the young man, her tone light and casual: "We're moving to the kitchen camp today."
The cookhouse was full of soldiers who cooked for the army. Even when Fan Shuang was secretly cursing his master for being unfair, Qin Ziyou bowed and withdrew without uttering a single word of dissent.
This ability to be flexible and adaptable only made Li Muyun more wary.
The Northwest Frontier Army had two days of rest each month. Those whose families lived there would take this time to go home and reunite with their wives and parents, while those whose families did not live there would go out with a few friends to drink and have fun.
No one in the camp dared to speak to Qin Ziyou. Everyone was wary of the people from Pingdu. The soldiers were all ordinary people, and they felt that they were separated from the nobles from the capital by a great divide, so they had nothing to talk about.
Qin Ziyou stayed alone in the military camp for training. It wasn't until evening that he left the camp to take a walk in the city.
Compared to Pingdu, the Northwest is indeed a completely different place.
On her way here, she passed through the desolate Gobi Desert and saw the distant, snow-capped mountains. Qin Ziyou thought to herself, "So this is my hometown, the Northwest hometown I've mentioned a thousand times."
If he had given up everything and insisted on leaving with her back then, they would have come to this Northwest and settled down. At this moment, she would definitely be by his side.
But now, she is not in the Northwest. Where did she go?
When Qin Ziyou headed north from Pingdu, he deliberately changed his route and took a long detour just to go to Yongye. He remembered that Jingwan had said that her home was in Xiaoxing Village, Yongye.
Following the path of Xiaoxing Village, the villagers gave her directions, and behind the apricot grove, she found the few small thatched huts.
The door was tightly closed, and it didn't look like anyone lived there.
"Jingwan, she did come, but she left again!"
When the villagers were asked where she had gone, no one knew.
Qin Ziyou sat disappointedly at her doorstep; she must no longer be in the Northwest.
He came, but she left; their lives seemed to be a constant series of missed opportunities.
Pengcheng was an important border town, where many merchants from the Western Regions conducted business. Qin Ziyou wandered aimlessly through the streets, looking at the peaceful scene. He remembered that Jingwan had praised this princess several times, praising her for her effective governance and her courage and resourcefulness. In short, the people and soldiers of the Northwest praised her endlessly.
He didn't care how capable Li Muyun was; he just wanted to get what he deserved in the Northwest.
He once scoffed at power, but later realized how naive and ridiculous he had been. The facts made him admit that power is freedom, and freedom is power.
Supreme power would allow him to be free from being controlled by others, to pursue everything he wanted, and to avoid being manipulated like a puppet.
Unfortunately, he realized it too late.
Coming to the Northwest was voluntary. Although she had only been married to Li Changying for half a year, the Prince of Runan still agreed to it.
More than his daughter's happiness, he needed to plant a sharp blade in Li Muyun's chest.
Seeing his cold face as he packed the package, Li Changying said to him angrily, "Don't even think about letting him go!"
"Qin Ziyou, if I'm not doing well, you won't be either!"
He still wouldn't look at her, still wouldn't say a word to her; he turned his silence into a blade, cutting into Li Changying piece by piece.
When Qin Ziyou took the last piece of clothing away, he saw the brocade box.
He opened it, and inside was a pair of jade bracelets, but one of them was broken into several pieces. He searched for many jade craftsmen, but none of them could restore it to its original state.
He gave the jade bracelets to Jingwan, but after they parted, he saw them on Li Changying's wrist.
He still remembers when she held Li Changying's hand and asked her where she came from.
The long-handed man gripped her like an iron clamp, and she kept crying out in pain.
He let go of her hand, and she took off the bracelet, asking him, "Wasn't this a gift for me? Was it for your little lover?"
Before he could answer, she threw the bracelets on the table: "Here you go!" She stormed off, and one of them broke in the process.
That day, Qin Ziyou went to the Gao family to find Jingwan again, but the servants said that she had returned to the Northwest early.
He didn't know why she left so suddenly; the bracelet in his arms grew colder and colder, and so did his heart.
The cries of passersby interrupted Qin Ziyou's reverie. On that day at the training ground, Li Muyun had taken his life in ten moves; it was truly shameful.
If he didn't hone his skills properly, he wouldn't survive on the battlefield. Having made up his mind, he was unwilling to waste any more time and strode back to the military camp.
At that time, Li Muyun was also in the military camp. Seeing him training alone in the training ground, she was so angry that she threw down the document in her hand.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
