Chapter 72 The Seventy-Second Nightmare
Some nightmares are reality; as long as you're alive, you'll never wake up from them.
Bottles of snuff were found and placed in front of Qin Sihai. Unable to control his emotions, he grabbed a lightly wounded soldier and roared, "Do you know what this stuff is? Why do you smoke this kind of thing?"
The man's feet were off the ground. He was so frightened by Qin Sihai that he couldn't speak, but he didn't dare to struggle at all.
Suddenly, another wounded soldier couldn't stand it anymore and said indifferently, "Why is the commander in such a hurry? This was given by the higher-ups. We poor soldiers don't have the money to buy such good stuff."
Amidst the boos and jeers, Qin Sihai's hands and feet had gone cold.
What was given above?
One piece of bad news after another seemed to be crushing Qin Sihai. He collected all the snuff bottles, rushed into Fan Qi's military tent, threw the snuff bottles on the table, and said with bloodshot eyes, "Master, I need an explanation."
Fan Qi glanced at the snuff bottles indifferently, told the servants to tidy them up and leave, and then said, "It's just like what you see. Without the snuff bottles, we can't win."
"They're all soldiers, why can't we win!" Qin Sihai roared, feeling that his master was an absolute stranger.
"Why?" Fan Qi put down the document, stood up, and walked step by step towards Qin Sihai. "Why do you think so? Of the 100,000 soldiers, tens of thousands belong to the emperor, tens of thousands to the Xia family, and tens of thousands to the Qiu and Liu families?"
"A single rope splits into three directions! Such a good opportunity, just because I'm not on his side, he wants to call me back! Just because I'm not from a noble family, all these years I've been stationed on the border, when have the military pay and provisions ever been on time? Qin Sihai, I taught you to be loyal to the country, not to be soft-hearted!" It was a guilty conscience, but Fan Qi became more and more agitated and forceful as he spoke.
Decades ago, Fan Qi almost destroyed the State of Sui, but because he lost to Zuo Qinghou, he lived a prisoner's life for decades. He had to submit to a woman he didn't like, he had to live in anonymity and serve the enemy state, he couldn't have his own preferences, and he couldn't make his own choices.
Fan Qi felt an urge to devour the flesh and blood of those unbearable days of humiliation just thinking about them. He could have rightfully destroyed the enemy country that had humiliated him, but his plans were disrupted by infighting among his own people.
He was resentful and furious. What's wrong with using some of their people? As long as we can win, isn't that enough?
Qin Sihai opened his mouth, but in the end, he didn't say a word. After a long while, he finally said, "So those soldiers aren't important? Those who died before aren't important?"
"It doesn't matter, there will be the next generation, and the generation after that."
"But what about this generation? Did they deserve to sacrifice themselves?" Qin Sihai's voice was low, but it blocked Fan Qi's attempt to continue speaking of righteousness. Tears fell the moment he turned away. Qin Sihai couldn't forget those mindless civilians throwing rakes and shovels at the soldiers, swinging hoes at the soldiers who had fallen from their horses, and those without tools pounced on them, grabbing with their hands and biting with their teeth, layer upon layer, tearing the people inside to pieces.
They were merely making mistakes by those in power; no one cared about their lives or deaths.
Perhaps because Qin Sihai's appearance was so fragile, Fan Qi couldn't bear it and said, "Those wounded soldiers who weren't going to live long anyway, it can be considered that they served their country."
Qin Sihai suddenly remembered Zuo Qinghou. Back then, in order to deceive those who had confirmed his death, Zuo Qinghou had lost a subordinate. Zuo Qinghou didn't show it, but he kept infusing the corpse with life force. The corpse couldn't absorb the life force, so it overflowed onto the ground, and flowers bloomed layer by layer, but it never passed by anyone or across the wilderness, and the person never woke up.
Qin Sihai suddenly said, "If I kill Zhu Huantang this time, can I meet with Zuo Qinghou?"
“Sure,” Fan Qi readily agreed, but quickly changed the subject. “She’s in the capital. We can see her as soon as we return victorious.”
Stepping out of the tent, Qin Sihai looked up and sniffed hard. He was surrounded by his comrades, but he didn't want to cry in front of them. It seemed only he was putting in the effort; everyone else was indifferent. They seemed separated by a barrier, forever unable to unite as one.
The sky remained a hazy gray, with the occasional vulture circling overhead, seemingly foreshadowing some kind of ending. Qin Sihai ate nothing and went to bed early, dreaming...
He didn't know what had gotten into him, but he went back to the tent, tied Zhu Qingyan's hands, carried her onto a horse, and the two of them rode towards the enemy camp.
When the soldier reported, Fan Qi didn't care. He knew that Qin Sihai was not Zhu Huantang and would not do the thing of a good bird choosing a good tree to perch on. His loyalty stemmed from his hatred for snuff bottles. Unless there were no more Zhu Yanhua in the Sui Kingdom, he would rather rot in the Wu Kingdom than betray them.
As Fan Qi had predicted, Qin Sihai stopped outside the army camp and challenged Zhu Huantang.
Zhu Huantang didn't refuse. He rode his horse to the camp and carefully observed Qin Sihai, whom he hadn't seen for a long time. He smiled gently and said, "The last time we met, we were at each other's throats. We haven't had a proper conversation in a long time, and you didn't reply to my letters. But I'm glad you're still alive."
Not to mention Zhu Huantang, Qin Sihai himself thought he was doomed. Qin Sihai genuinely didn't know about the letter, but he was powerless to investigate who had stopped him. He pulled Zhu Qingyan off his horse, saying, "Here's your sister back. Anyway, I know this isn't exactly leverage against you."
Zhu Qingyan was puzzled and simply stood there looking at Qin Sihai. She had already prepared herself to atone for her sins, so why was he letting her go?
Tears welled up in Zhu Qingyan's eyes as she took a step toward Qin Sihai. Qin Sihai looked down at Zhu Qingyan, as if sighing, "Sister, go on."
Let it go, it's all in the past.
Zhu Qingyan's tears fell in large drops. She knew she had let Qin Sihai down. He had been very harsh to her that day, but she felt better about it.
But now, guilt prevents Zhu Qingyan from finding a way out; she would rather Qin Sihai use her.
Having grown up together since childhood, Zhu Huantang clearly sensed that something was wrong with Qin Sihai. He helped Zhu Qingyan onto his horse and asked, "What happened?"
Qin Sihai did not answer, but only asked what he wanted to ask: "In the Sui Kingdom, those who smoke snuff bottles are to be killed without mercy, right?"
"yes."
"Will it always be like this?"
"Without the Wu Kingdom, there's no point in keeping it."
Qin Sihai suddenly laughed, a laugh as cool as a summer night breeze or as warm as the winter sun. He seemed to still be that young master protected by his parents. But this laugh made Zhu Huantang feel inexplicably uneasy. He heard Qin Sihai say, "I know! It's been a long time since we had a fight. Let's have one another day."
"Senior brother!" Zhu Huantang called out to Qin Sihai, but didn't know what to say.
Qin Sihai turned around with a smile: "What's wrong?"
To try and persuade Qin Sihai to surrender would be an insult. The words caught in his throat, but he swallowed them back. Zhu Huantang solemnly said, "Take care."
Upon hearing this, Qin Sihai simply smiled and suddenly said, "Zuo Qinghou has been taken away by Master. If you want to find her, just ask Master."
After saying this, Qin Sihai spurred his horse and whipped it, gradually becoming a small dot in the vast grayness.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
